ANTHONY'S NOMINATION

"There is an off-chance the young beta Anthony might be selected." Delta Oran admitted, "Part of the selection process involves the delta votes."

"As if any Delta would vote for him." Ben sounded way too confident, "I mean, think about it, would YOU vote to run under him? Even if you wanted to accept a bribe, how much would it take for you to accept Ant as your gamma?"

Delta Oran made a face like he was remembering the taste of the revolting beer.

It was Coach Em who replied, "Sure, young beta. But Deltas with gambling debts, extravagant addictions, and scandalous affairs are not in their circumstances because of their ability to consider the consequences."

"How many votes can Ant buy through bribery and blackmail this way?" Ben argued.

Delta Oran's hand was over his mouth as he considered this, "It might just be enough."

And just so we wouldn't think that the majority of deltas in the Lorent Pack had huge gambling debts, addictions, or scandals, he added, "One must also include into our considerations that his grandfather, our pack treasurer Delta William, is favored by Alpha and holds no small amount of influence among the older Deltas."

"The longer you run in a pack, the cheaper your loyalty becomes." Coach Em told us.

"Really?" I couldn't just sit there and accept that, "Then why did you come back? Was it because of a gambling debt, addiction, or scandal?"

Coach Em didn't hesitate, "Scandal, Blue. My niece has done something foolish and our family estate is at risk of bankruptcy. If word of this gets out, our Emerson name would be dragged through the mud and kicked out of town."

Oh. But that still didn't explain why coach came back. It's not like his family was paying him to help them.

I smiled, "Your loyalty to your family must have cost more than your own freedom then."

Coach Em opened his mouth and then shut it again.

"Loyalty that can be bought is not loyalty at all." I said. Because you know... I think Wolfgang was a bad influence on me, "But loyalty that you would pay any price for is worth more than all the gold in the Mountains."

Bell smirked, "My princess speaks rightly, as usual."

Yes, I felt quite proud of my little Lycan speech too.

"Very well then. I will accept Anthony's nomination." Bell nodded, "Make sure to raise his hopes before the selection. I want him to fall hard and flat on his face."

Ben agreed, almost sounding enthusiastic in his deadpan, "Yeah. The more public the better."

"Why? Does our Young Beta have a grudge?" Ki asked, his smiling mask on.

No, Ben was helping out of the goodness of his heart.

"Nothing serious." Ben shrugged, "He was rude when we visited the Lorents the other time."

And then because Ben was really my bad beta, he added for Bell's sake, "And you and Harvey both saw it too. That creep keeps leering at Sam when he thinks no one's looking."

Bell's response was quite immediate, "What?"

He's low growling made the entire room tense and the air feel static. He looked at Ki, "Is that true? Why wasn't I told?"

Ki only smiled, "A hundred apologies."

Bell was even more angry now. The poor Lorent wolves looked down at their papers. I don't think they shared the same joy as mine in antagonizing their alpha.

Ben was smirking now, "Tell me you're going to gorge out his eyes."

But we were all underestimating Bell, "Not yet."

And then Bell smiled, his beautiful smile, "Let nature take is course, we will simply help it along the way."

"That's all?" Ben was unimpressed.

Bell's beautiful smile was unperturbed by the Young Beta's doubt, "Don't you know? Nature can be very cruel."

I mean, Bell was Lorent after all. If he were plotting revenge, it would never be as straightforward as punching the other guy in the face.

No. It would have to be done in the most indirect way possible.

But more seriously, was I the only one who got the feeling that Bell and Ben could be really scary together. It was true that Anthony had made me feel uncomfortable at dinner that night, but he was otherwise harmless.

"Just don't go too far." I said, I tried my best to be offhanded about it. Maybe I was trying to balance out the seething emotion from my Mate, "He isn't worth it."

I might as well as talk to thin air, Bell turned to Ben, "Do you have any dirt on Delta William?"

"Not more than what I've already dug up and given to you." Ben shrugged, "If I can get access to his phone or computer, I'm sure I can find more."

"Granted." Bell nodded, " When's all said and done, Anthony won't have a leg to stand on. Someone make it happen."

The Lorent wolves looked at each other. It took a while before Dom raised his hand, "Exactly what do you mean by direct access, Young Beta? Do you need us to steal his phone for you?"

Ben smirked, "No. Just send him an email for me."

Ben made it sound so innocent, I felt quite sure that whatever the email contained was equally nasty.

"Who has an important email to send to Delta William?" Ben asked, "An email with large attachments."

"My brother owes Delta William some accounting reports." Coach Em very reluctantly admitted, "I can help him to send them..."

"Okay. Send those files to me. I'll pack them in a zip file." Ben said, "Attach the zip file to your email for Delta William to open. Don't open it yourself. It will autorun."

Coach Em blinked, and then nodded, "Alright, that's easy enough... But if I might be so bold to request, Young Alpha..."

Bell raised a brow.

Coach Em took it as permission to make his request, "If... If after you have accessed Delta William's ah... dirt.... And it should surface that some of that dirt would also soil the Emerson name, if you would be so kind as to possibly use the other dirt for your smear campaign?"

Suddenly the other Lorent wolves sat up too. Dom raised his hand, "Although I doubt my Dad would knowingly dirty his hands, just in case...you know..."

Delta Oran smiled, "Please consider the risk we are ALL putting our family and lives on by supporting your agenda young alpha and be merciful to us your servants."

So technically, only Coach Em was outright admitting to family dirt. I couldn't decide if it were because he was the most straightforward Lorent of the lot, or because his family had so much dirt, he wasn't even going to hide it anymore.

Ben's grin was evil now, "You know Luna, if I can access your pack's Alpha Office IT infrastructure..."

Bell smiled back, "And how would I know what and when you choose to collect from the Lorent Alpha Office in the future?"

Ben smirked, "You'll just have to trust me."

Bell smirked back, "Permission denied."