With the betas busy tending to the tasks I'd assigned them, I was left to do my own thing. At the moment, it was standing in the bathroom, looking at the non-existent belly in the mirror.

"I can't believe it," I grumbled, trying to push the belly out.

I said that, but when I saw the skin ripple, I knew that proof was given to me. Pressing my hand against the skin, I felt the pressure of a limb. When another limb pressed out on the other side, my face crinkled. Either there was one large baby in there or there was more than one.

"Megan?"

Lowering the shirt, I opened the bathroom door to Konrad. He was leaning on the wall with Ezra lingering nearby.

"Thanks for coming back so soon."

"It's okay. We stopped to get some lunch."

"Great. Can you tell Pete that you're letting us buy from him again?"

"Already have."

"That was a dick move, by the way."

Ezra smiled. He was the one that I'd seen near the car, and he was the one that spoke with Pete.

Konrad wrapped his arm around my neck as we walked back to the main section of the pack house. My Betas were waiting, seated at the table in preparation for a meeting.

"We'd like to create an agreement with you once you take over as leader."

Ezra sat down after helping Konrad into the chair. He seemed interested.

"As you know, we have been given the right to consume Blood Moon land. Sitting between us are Dark Claw and Iron Fang. We know that they won't enter into any form of agreement for safe passage and it leaves us in a position where we want the rights but we cannot easily access the land."

"You could get a boat," Konrad teased.

"I suppose that as a last resort, that would be an option. A bad one but one, nonetheless. It leaves me questioning your future as my Beta."

Konrad rolled his eyes with a mocking smile. Done with the teasing, I turned back to Ezra.

"Our proposal is based on your assistance in consuming the two packs."

Ezra's eyes widened in what looked like disbelief.

"In return for your help, we would offer you a corridor of Dark Claw into a portion of Iron Fang and the majority of Blood Moon."

His mouth hung open in shock. Even Konrad's smug mood had dropped.

"And, of course, open borders for everything we possess."

"Between the two of us, we'd consume the entire west bank of the river?"

I smiled at Ezra.

"Yes, we would. There is one small addition that we would like to add to this, and that is that Brian Miller and his family must not be permitted to remain in Blood Moon land. If they are residing in your section of the land, then you must banish them."

"Of course. We don't want their kind in our land. I would suggest that we both issue a dead wolf notice once the changes are complete."

Frank pushed the agreement over the table to Ezra. The changes in their power structure hadn't changed yet, but in our eyes, Ezra was the Alpha of Black Ridge.

"This is acceptable. What plans do you have to ensure that this is successful?"

"Once the paperwork is submitted and we accept the offer of the rights for Blood Moon, we have one week to travel to the land to ensure subservience in the pack members. During that week, we cannot make any moves that could be construed as an act of war against either pack. Mick has prepared a rough schedule of events. You need to go home, announce the alterations to your pack and take up the role of Alpha officially. Konrad comes here, his initiation is completed, and he will be accepted into my pack. In the interim, the paperwork will be submitted and we should receive notification of our travel dates by the time Konrad returns. At that point, we will make the official offer to you as the new Alpha. It will be based on the successful coup of the two packs. Then we will travel to Blood Moon land."

It was going to be a rough couple of weeks, and I got the feeling that I wouldn't be going anywhere. Every time my stomach wriggled, I thought that I would go into labor sooner rather than later. It was not a good thing to happen when I was preparing to take over three packs.

Maps were brought out as the betas began discussing what they thought would be a good parcel of land to offer Ezra. Feeling my stomach quiver, I felt the anxiety regarding the future hit me. Konrad smoothed his hand over my shirt, searching for the baby. When it pushed against his hand, Konrad smiled.

His gaze lifted to me, and at that moment, I felt a lot of love but also a lot of fear. This could go so wrong that this odd form of perfection became a nightmare. I didn't want that to happen but there was no way to predict the future. All I could do was try to plan everything so that if something did go wrong, we had a strategy to deal with it.

By the end of the hour, the acceptance had been sent, and we would hear about the travel dates soon. Ezra had agreed to the plans and signed the temporary agreement.

Once it was done, it was time for them to leave. Ezra returned to their pack land with Konrad. I could tell that Konrad was reluctant to leave me. It was guaranteed that he would get everything done in under a week just so that he could return.

"Okay," Charlie began as we sat at the table again. "I have contacted the Dark Claw Beta and mentioned that the notification regarding the travel would be coming through to them soon. He was rather vague and offered little in the way of information. I played it cool and mentioned the meet-up and how you were there recently and of course, other pack members including our gay barman. It wasn't easy trying to be casual about the conversation but I mentioned that you complained there wasn't enough inclusiveness at the event. You know the whole, it's aimed at the straights thing. I made it appear as if I wanted to chat which he bought. He asked if we'd be prepared to accept an urgent and extremely secretive transfer application that could not be sent at the moment. I replied that if anonymity and safety were needed, then the wolf or wolves would be permitted by law to present the application in person. Then I reminded him that a wise wolf would not pack weapons but rather all his worldly possessions."

"And he's due here, when exactly?" Gus asked.

"Later tonight. Once he's finished his duties at the pack house, he plans on going home, packing everything they can fit into the car and driving straight here. They'll offer their applications, and I would suggest that we decide now rather than leaving it to that moment. Their nerves will be fraught and it would be bad form to make them wait. Once we approve them, they will bunk down in a hotel for a few days and when the dust settles, they will emerge as new members of our pack. So, do we agree?"

"I think that we offer a conditional agreement. Allow them to remain temporarily without issue. It would be unwise to rush into this. However, I do agree that they would be rather nervous, given the situation. The conditional agreement will be weighted heavily towards approval. You can sell it as merely waiting for things to end with the takeover of Blood Moon. What about Iron Fang?"

Charlie shrugged, giving a vague look.

"They are strong, but they are divided. The whispers tell a story of a leader who, and you will love this Megan, likes to indulge in his Alpha status. He is the epitome of everything that you hate about male Alphas. He sees the women of his pack as a harem for him to select from. It doesn't matter if they're mated with another, he will proposition any and all. The acceptance of lone females is much higher than lone males, creating quite a disproportion between the genders. I think that you could roll in there, take the Alpha down and then call a meeting where you state that as the Alpha, you have no interest in bedding their mates. Watch them flock to accept you."

I smiled at Charlie.

"Good. For once, an Alpha that drops his pants regularly is actually doing something for me."

The betas chuckled, and I sat back, thinking that itseemed impossible that a womanizing Alpha could benefit me.