Sous

They wore their Sunday best-as the humans would often say. Diamond, Zhiliary, Brien were in their finest black suits as they walked the steps to the city hall. They walked past the security guards, nodding their heads in acknowledgement then finally coming to the room filled with some citizens and at the front, sat the seven person council team. 

The three of them stood before them at the podium ready to speak. They were there to argue their case for needing the list consisting of children of the parents that were killed for being betrayers of the Apex Pack. 

After sometime, the seven council member team stopped speaking amongst each other and and met eye contact with the wolves. The man in the center was wearing the black gown, something they all wore. He slammed his hammer onto the gavel and cleared his throat. The others concentrated on making eye contact with the wolves. 

"Hello Elites, welcome to our seasonal meeting about continuing our contract with the Apex Meat and Supplies company." He paused for a beat. "Shall we sign the extended agreements and terms?"

"We have a new demand," Diamond stated. "I sent you an electronic message about needing the names of the children of the parents who are deceased. For that list, we will cut the price to twenty-five percent." 

They whispered to each other which made Diamond and the others smirk; it was a done deal or so they thought until a woman with black skin and curly spoke.

"What do you need the names for?" 

There was a pause.

"What do you mean?" Diamond asked. 

"The children are mutts. Your pack has always disassociated from them and now you desire a list of their names. What are you planning?" 

Zhiliary stamped her foot. "Tsk, is it any of your concern?"

"Yes," she said. "It is. Your pack has a history of killing just everybody. My husband is a vampire. He told me about your pack and what you did to his entire clan. The small amount who you didn't kill had to escape to Nadia. There are no other magaes around because of your pack."

"You think we're going to kill the children?" Brien asked. 

"Yes," the woman said. 

The council man who sat in the center looked back at the wolves. He placed his hammer down and leaned forward on his elbows, covering his mouth with his hands. The others watched him until he was ready to speak. "She's right. These children-or 'mutts' in which you call them are registered with us in the human community. And even though they're not allowed to do magic-"

"We don't hunt them down to kill them!" The woman interrupted. 

"Please," the council man said. "Let's not interrupt each other." He took a sip of his water. "We accept them here and we protect them. We will not hand them over unless your Alpha presents an argument on why we should. For centuries, the humans and wolves have had a very cordial relationship; I'd hate to see that fall apart."

"You want our Alpha to come to you?" Diamond asked. 

"Yes, we want her to argue her case but if these children are only wanted to be killed then the answer is no." 

Another man spoke, his hair dark black and with a tattoo on his neck of a six pointed star. "Are we to extend the contract or should we wait?"

The three wolves stepped down the steps of the city hall, disappointed and angry at the conversation that was presented to them by the mere humans. They transformed into their wolf form and ran toward their pack out of the human community back to theirs. And a couple of weeks later, Doureena made her way to the city of Red Woods Spring. Just like the others, she wore her finest suit and she stood before the council having to have made up some lie about why she needed the list of children. Those filthy mutts. 

"Tsuk," she smacked her lips in a frown. She straightened her tie and stood before the council, offended the council would even dare to ask the Alpha to appear to argue, they said argue her case. 

"As mentioned a couple of weeks ago by my SIC, we will cut the contract to twenty-five percent for the names of the children of the parents who are…are missing." 

"Missing or deceased?" 

"Missing." 

The woman from the previous meeting spoke. "Your Second in Command said 'deceased'."

The Alpha merely smiled. "He was incorrect. They're missing." She felt their skepticism at her answer. "How about a thirty percent discount on the contract? We will sell the deer and elk meat at an even lower rate, thirty." 

They were quiet and as they were in their thoughts, Doureena took the moment to look within the eyes of each of the council members to see which one she would be able to manipulate. Which one would be greedy enough to accept a bribe that was under the table. The woman with the curly hair and black skin was a no. The man with the tattoo on his neck of a six pointed star was also a no. The council man who led the meeting was a no. Three down and four more to examine. 

There was a woman who the Alpha could smell was pregnant so she was a no. There was an elderly man with a hunched back and he was no. There! There on the end of the table where the council members sat, on the far left stood two individuals who appeared to be twins. A man and a woman. They were young, early twenties, fresh out of high education, the Alpha was sure. She smiled at them and nodded her head. They responded to her in the same fashion. 

Doureena fixed her suit, satisfied she made a couple of allies. She wondered how much they would ask for. "How about this?" She started. "I'll let you all sleep on it and I will come back next week. If the answer is still no then we will continue on with the contract at the same price. If the answer is yes, then we will continue on with the contract at the thirty percent discount." 

There was no need to wait for their answer so she turned around, proceeded to walk out of the hall. By the time she got back to her pack, the twins would have had made a phone call to her pack and would request to speak with and it was true. When she made it back to her pack and transformed back into her human form, she was greeted by Diamond who said she had a message for her. She spoke to the twins who went by the name Sarah and Sam Winter. Two humans who were drowning in student debt and Doureena had a glorious offer for them that would allow them to retire at the small, tinder age of twenty-seven. Four million dons, two million for each of them and the list was in her hands by the time that Monday came around. The council agreed to extend the contract at the normal price and when the Alpha was there, she noticed the twins weren't present and when she inquired where they were, it was mentioned they had stepped down for personal reasons. 

"So you're going to have elections to fill their positions?" Doureena inquired. 

"Yes," the lead councilman said. 

"Hmm, and who is allowed on board?" 

"Anyone…"

"Of any species?" 

"Of any species of course as long as they live within Red Woods."

Doureena nodded her head and saw her way out.