Alpha Nocturne’s Contracted Mate by A E Randell
Chapter 144 They Would Get There
“I wanted to talk with you about the office block you bought for me actually.” Ann said as soon as she had swallowed her mouthful of bacon.
Adam took a sip from his mug of coffee as he sat back on the chair and nodded slowly.
“Okay… have you decided what you’re going to do with it?” he asked curiously.
“Well actually… I’m in two minds. As much as I would have loved to run a new real estate business out of there, its a little redundant now that we have control of my fathers company isn’t it? It seems silly to be in direct compet*ition with each other and they already have an established client list and a good reputation. So I was thinking of other options actually.”
Adam nodded along as she explained and he could see the wisdom in her thought process.
“So actually, at least to start with, I was wondering what your plans for Lexi were?”
Adam almost spat his coffee out laughing as he looked at her incredulously with a twinkle in his eye.
“How did we get from the office block to talking about Lexi?”
“Just, bear with me Adam. Don’t tease me, I’m being serious. You said you wanted her to stay and potentially lecture on her knowledge of Daemon’s and Witchcraft, right?” Ann answered quickly, well aware that it seemed as though she had gone off on a tangent.
“Yes, that’s already been agreed. She’s willing to teach us because in her words, ‘perhaps some of the raging hormones and primal instinct might be replaced by some intellect, critical thinking and reasoning,'” Adam snorted. “I don’t understand why she has such a low opinion of us though…”
“Probably because the majority of the shifters she encounters outside of pack boundaries are exactly as she describes.” Ann laughed, “You forget that she’s worked as a reporter and photographer on various issues for years now so she has easy access to a whole host of weird and wonderful personalities.”
“Point taken.” Adam frowned. “So, what does the office block have to do with Lexi?”
“Well, I was thinking…” Ann started carefully, “Her relationship with Allen seems a little… ‘fraught’. As much as it’s obvious to me that Lexi has a bit of a thing for Allen, I think that Allen is still struggling with the whole hybrid situation.”
Adam narrowed his eyes slightly.
“He’ll get over it” He stated bluntly, leaning forward and grabbing his coffee again.
“But that’s just it… what if he doesn’t? You know how sensitive pack’s can be with new ideas, or with new people integrating, especially from a different background, let alone one as complex as Lexi’s. Unless everyone is on the same page with her being here, then it’s going to be difficult, not just for her, but for them.” Ann explained patiently.
She could see that Adam was getting into the stubborn mindset that he often adopted when someone suggested something that might go against his own plans, but Ann knew that what she was suggesting was the right course of action. She just needed to get Adam to see it as well.
“Adam, you know as well as I do that if they sense even the slightest hostility from their own members, let alone from their Beta, then things can go south very quickly. Lexi won’t take things quietly and once we are officially inaugurated, then we simply aren’t going to be able to be here as often to play referee between her and Allen and the pack members. Don’t you think it would be safer, for everyone involved, to offer the cla*s*ses elsewhere? Somewhere a little more… neutral?” Ann finished, leaving the question hanging in the air between them so that Adam would see that ultimately, he had the final decision on this.
Although Ann intended to present the option to Lexi as well, she at least wanted Adam’s approval. If she couldn’t obtain it this way, then she would appeal to Lexi to see which she would prefer.
Adam was silent for a little while, the scowl on his face seemed to be fixed in place as he stared into his cup. After what seemed like forever, he exhaled heavily and lifted his gaze to meet Ann’s patient stare. “I don’t think the pack would have an issue…” He said slowly, “But I think you’re right about Allen. So am I right in thinking you want Lexi to take a floor in the office block for teaching, seminars, and whatever else she comes up with?”
Ann nodded, forcing herself not to breathe a sigh of relief. She had no need to be nervous around Adam, but it was the first time that she had felt really compelled to intervene in one of his decisions that affected the pack and she would hate for him to think that she was worried about what his reaction might be.
“Yes. I mean, there’s a lot of space available and if I’m not wrong, then if the Excidium Coven are planning on only escalating their attempts at a takeover, which I would a*s*sume is highly likely, then aren’t more packs going to need access to the knowledge that she has?”
Adam nodded slowly, immediately understanding where she was going with this.
“So what you’re saying is, you want to turn it, or at least part of it into a training center?”
Ann nodded and beamed at him.
“I think it would be a good idea, honestly. It’s also a solid financially viable source of income with minimal outlay and huge potential for uptake. There isn’t a single other person in this city, perhaps the whole kingdom, that can teach on this subject.”
‘At least that we know of… I bet Ada and Narcissa could have taught a lot if they weren’t such c*oc*k-wombles…’ Maeve snarled.
As much as she hated to admit it, Maeve was right. Both Narcissa and Ada had a mountain of knowledge, but they weren’t on the same side at all and Narcissa at least was beyond redemption.
“Okay, then see what Lexi thinks about it all. If she agrees then there’s no reason that we can’t do that. I think you are right about the potential as well. We have conference rooms that can be used to lecture and if demand is greater than we anticipate, then I can see about having one of the floors modified to accommodate a larger number of people.”
“Who knows, perhaps other hybrids will emerge, or even magic users that have stayed hidden if they see that their kind of their heritage is being talked about openly again.” Ann smiled.
“It’s perfectly plausible, but so is the potential for attack from people that don’t want these individuals to be accepted by society. We have to tread carefully here Ann. I think increasing security measures inside and outside of the venue might be beneficial.”
The fact that acceptance of others on an individual basis wasn’t prevalent in their Kingdom bothered Ann, but she knew there was a lot to do in her reign if she was going to get the rest of the Kingdom anywhere near as progressive as the Dark Moon Pack was.
But she was confident that eventually, they would get there.