Warming The Cold One - 25. 300? But this isn't Sparta.

The room exploded in sound. Everyone started yelling out asking what Tala was playing at. Owen turned the microphone volume up and yelled into it. “Quiet! This council will come to order.” The room quieted a bit. “I said be quiet, everyone!” Once the room settled down again, Owen lowered the volume back down to normal. “At this time, the council will request a written copy of the amendment and the supporting documentation be submitted before we can consider it. Master Tala, please follow the guard back out of the chamber. At this time, is there any other business items not related to the amendment proposed?”

After a few seconds Vukasin spoke. “I move that the council recess again until all requested reports have been finalized.”

Jay turns to Tala who is sitting next to him in a rideshare SUV. “I didn’t expect security to tell us to leave.”

Bjorn piped up from the seat in front of them. “It was for all of our safety. I just wish Hawk would have come with us. I worry that all the ire will fall on him.”

Tala sighed. “He’s strong. He knows that he is safe as most don’t know he is related to me. I’m more worried about Toby. I couldn’t get a hold of him.”

“I got a text from his team. He is already at the airport and waiting for us.” Jay saw that Tala relaxed a bit. “This information does change the level of security we may need.”

Tala thought for a second. “Do you think we can get Peter to send some people, so we have our own security force for the 17th floor? I know when I go to Florida, I’ll make sure they send some people for the 21st floor.”

“That is a great idea. I’m sure Peter would be able to find a way, if only for a short time. As we are adding in the packs we can ask if they have the ability to fill in a slot here or there.” Jay turned to Bjorn. “Do you think we should start having a guard for you personally or just someone that is in the office and rely on building security outside of our floors?”

Bjorn frowned. “Please limit it to someone on the floor only. I don’t want to feel followed all the time.”

They arrived at the airport a few minutes later. They thanked the driver and topped well. Toby was waiting for them by the plane.

“Are you ready for the flight back home,” Tala asked.

“Now that we have shaken the place up? Yes, get me out of here,” Toby exclaimed.

The pilot poked his head out. “We are cleared for takeoff in a few minutes. Please take your seats.”

Once settled inside the plane and it had taken off, Tala got up and walked over to where Toby was sitting. “How bad do you think this will go? Do we have a chance of getting anything?”

Toby looked conflicted. “I can say that the money that was stolen can be taken care of. The land can be restored but it won’t be fast or easy. The rest is hard to tell. We will have to wait and see.”

“I just hope this whirlwind slows down,” Jay interjected. “At this rate we may never get to visit all the packs we need to get to. We also need to deal with all the requests we have gotten to join our pack. Entire families have been sending requests. Edward and Sean don’t know what to do with them when they try showing up with moving vans.”

“What have they been doing?” Tala turned to Jay. “I mean what is there to do?”

Toby spoke up. “I had my beta talk to Sean and in the transition space between the pack lands is where those people are being directed. There is plenty of space and it is well guarded by both packs.”

Tala nodded. “Sounds like a good place. I’ll go check on the groups once we check-in with the girls. I’m sure they are itching to go over plans.”

“Good idea,” Toby added. “I’m just going to go home and show my mate that I’m not dead from being lynched by the angry council.”

Several hours later and back on the ground, everyone but Toby climbed in to one of the jeeps and headed toward Bjorn’s house. As they approach, they see that the outside of the house has been all torn up. They get out and see Lisbeth on the side of the house with trays of flower bulbs. “I got bored.”

Bjorn laughed. “I see that. Did they not let you run the construction crane again?”

Lisbeth shot Bjorn daggers. “As a matter of fact, no they wouldn’t.”

Tala and Jay just silently shake their heads and chuckle. Once he has himself together, Tala finally speaks. “I guess we can see you are doing fine. How is the town shaping up?”

Lisbeth brushes the dirt off her hands and stands up. “I am great, and the town is really coming together. I have some bids for the stores already coming in and will have you look over them once they are all finalized.”

Tala smiled. “Wonderful!” He turned to Bjorn. “We will leave you and Lisbeth alone to plant bulbs. Jay and I want to check in on my mom and Hank before we call Edward.”

Bjorn gave Tala a pleading look but seeing no relief in sight resigned to his fate. “Tell them hi for me.”

Tala and Jay got in the jeep and headed toward where Karla and Hawk were staying. They could hear Bjorn complaining that he hates planting bulbs. After the two-minute drive, they got out and knocked on the door of the thrown together guest house.

Hank opened the door and smiled widely. “Come in, come in! Honey, the boys are back.”

They walked into the house and saw Karla in the open kitchen putting a few dishes away. She turned and walked over to squeeze her son and his mate. “I am so glad to see you safe. Edward told us they rushed you out of the council building.”

Jay wrapped his arm around Tala. “I think he could have taken them if they tried anything. I watched him force transform the Senior Council when they disrespected him. A small mob would have been easy.”

“As a mother, I still worry about my little boy.” Karla pinched Tala’s cheek much to his chagrin. “So, what are you up to today?”

Tala rubbed his face. “We were just checking up on your before we called Edward and headed out to the barrier land to see about the refugees. We heard there were a few families that packed up and headed out.”

“More than a few,” Hank said. “Michael called and said that about a dozen families are at his border seeking to leave their pack. I guess someone in the Yamika Tribe pack is speaking very poorly of you and any wolf that has more than a hint of American clan in them.”

Tala looked surprised. “A dozen? How many do we have here?”

“I’m not sure but it is a lot,” Hank responded.

Jay chimed in. “Does Lisbeth know how many are out there?”

“No,” Karla answered. “They didn’t want to burden her, but it is getting to the point that we won’t have enough land to build the town and not be noticed by the locals soon.”

“We are building a big box store and getting a fast-food franchise. We are not going to be under the radar much longer.” Tala started pacing. “I still am going out there to see who we have and figure out what kind of skills we can use from them. I’ll call Lisbeth and Bjorn on the way out and let them know that we need to see what kind of planning she has available.”

“I’m sure some of them would be willing to help build their own homes or at least work in town,” Jay suggested.

Karla walked back in the kitchen and returned a moment later with a couple of lunch bags. She handed them to Jay and Tala. “I guessed you’d be going out there and I figured you were hungry.”

Tala smiled when he opened the top and saw the very thick corned beef sandwiches inside. “Thank you, mom. You know these were always my favorite.”

Karla smiled and walked them out to their jeep. When she got back inside, she went to see what Hank was working on. She found him hunched over a small laptop. “What are you working on?”

Hank looked up. “I ordered a small laptop for notetaking and records lookup. It folds over to a thick tablet and has a stylus pen. I am putting the records you’ll need on it and making sure that it is set up to take notes or annotate on top of the records so that they don’t get accidentally changed.”

“It looks really good so far. What kind of battery life will it get,” she asked.

Hank grabbed the quick start guide and looked it over. “Says it should get twelve to eighteen hours, but I’m guessing you’ll get more since I doubt you’ll have it on all the time.”

“That should be perfect.” Karla hugged Hank. “Want some lunch? I got the rest of the corned beef sliced.”

Tala and Jay were still on the phone with Edward when they got to the area being used to contain the flood of people. “We see Aaron Jones by one of the jeeps. We’ll hook up with him and get the information. See you soon.”

They parked next to the line of jeep and got out. Aaron saw them and walked over. “Sirs, welcome to the staging area. I’ll be your escort. We currently have about three-hundred lycans requesting asylum.”

Jay’s jaw dropped. “Three-hundred?”

Tala looked surprised too but already had plans running through his head. “We can still make that work. Part of the plans was to have some apartments and condos. We can also modify some areas to be townhomes instead of small plot houses. Once we assess the level of need and what they can contribute, I’ll let Lisbeth know what we need.”

The three men started walking along the temporary fencing. Aaron pointed to the first section. “This section is the one we have set aside for families with kids. We have fifteen right now. Some came with campers but most piled everything they owned in their car and drove here. The farthest is from Georgia.”

They came up to the first family and saw three kids playing on a shared laptop computer. Tala walked over to the car and a woman got out. He greeted her warmly. “Good afternoon, my name is Tala. This is my mate Jay and one of my security staff Aaron.”

“Good afternoon Master Tala and Master Jay. My name is Tess Peck, and these are my three kids.” She started sobbing. “You have to understand. We have nowhere else to go.”

Tala’s eyes watered a bit as he saw the hurt in her eyes. “Tell me what happened.”

“We heard about you resurrecting the American Clan and we started looking in to seeing how to move. I have known for most of my life that I had some American Clan in me and so did my husband. We decided to see if we could join one of the packs that has already switched and started to pack our things silently. When we were ready, he went to talk to the alpha. It did not go well. He came home and told us to quickly leave. They showed up in the night and he died making sure the four of us got away.” Tess full on started bawling. “My babies had to watch their daddy die to save them.”

Tala wrapped his arm around Tess and held her close. “It’s okay now. You’re safe here.” He looked over at Aaron. “Make a note that Tess and her kids have joined our pack. We’ll see what we can do to make sure they are taken care of.”

Tess grabbed him close. “Thank you so much. Is there...”

Tala spoke the answer to her question before she could finish. “I’ll call your former alpha personally and see if I can get him back for you. Even if I can’t, we will have a ceremony for him on the full moon in a few days.”

Once she was calmed down, the three men moved on to the next family. They too had quickly fled to come here for protection. Three hours later, they had visited every family and all but two were the same. The two that weren’t had all been without a pack for a few years. Tala had welcomed them all with open arms.

Jay had walked back to the jeep to grab some water bottles when Sean pulled up. “Hey Sean! What kind of resources do we have to take care of the families with kids?”

Sean got out of his truck and helped Jay with the water bottles. “Not much right now. What did you have in mind?”

“I don’t think this will be a shock but all fifteen families with kids have been accepted already. Most of them are stable but we need to extra support for the Peck family. The kids had to watch their dad get killed trying to protect them so they could get here. Tala is going to work on getting the body, but they need some help getting things stabilized. Can you see if you can get their bank accounts and finances looked at?” Jay leads them back toward where Tala and Aaron are wait.

“I know what family you mean. She was a wreck when they got here. I don’t think the kids really understand yet.” Sean thought for a second. “Let them know they will be staying with my family. I’ll have to let my wife know, but she would kill me if I didn’t do everything I could.”

“Thank you, Sean. You know this will mean a lot to them and to us.” They get back to where the families are camped out. Jay finds Tess and her kids. “Tess, this is Sean. He is our pack beta.”

“Hello Sean. I think I met you once before when we first arrived.” Tess shakes Sean’s hand.

“Hello Tess. Welcome to the pack.” Sean smiled. “I wanted to let you know personally that until we have better housing arranged, I want you and your family to say with my family.”

“I couldn’t impose on you.” Tess’s tears fighting to flow again.

Sean gave her a hug. “I insist. My wife would kill me if I didn’t.”

Tess started to cry again. “Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome.” Sean hugged her tighter. “Now when you are ready just head over to this address,” he gave her his address on the back of his business card, “and tell Selma I sent you. She’ll understand and make sure that anything you need is taken care of.”

Tess hugged him one more time and then went about getting their things together.

Jay and Sean met up with Tala and Aaron at the far end of fenced off section. Tala shook Sean hand. “I heard what you did. Thank you. Tess and those kids deserve the best we can offer them.”

“I told Jay this and I mean it. Selma would have kicked my butt if I didn’t do everything I could to help a packmate.” Sean let a tear fall. “I am just so happy I was luckier than that. I know firsthand what it is like to be under the thumb of an abusive alpha.”

Tala nodded. “I know. It makes you a better beta for it even if it did hurt. However, call Selma so she can start cooking. You know she is going to feed them everything in your house.”

Sean laughed. “Yes, she is. I’ll make sure to call the store and have more stuff added to our normal deliveries.”

Jay turned to Aaron. “What is the next group?”

Aaron checked his notes. “The next group are people that are here to help. Most of them have letters from their alphas giving them permission to stay as long as we need them. There are about twenty men and a dozen women.”

Tala nodded. “Sounds great. Lead the way!”

The four men walked into the next fenced section and saw all huge group of trucks. They were all set up as a giant central camp with hot food and lots of music. Tala went to the center of the party.

“Excuse me,” Tala’s voice boomed over the music. It was turned down and everyone had eyes on him. “I am Tala. I have with me my mate Jay, my beta Sean and one of my security staff named Aaron. We are here to meet you all and figure out how to use the help you are offering us.”

A man and woman with a teenaged son came over to them. “Good afternoon. I am Don Storm and this my wife Carrie and our son Seth. We came from the Northwestern Pennsylvania Pack.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Don.” Tala shook his hand as well as Carrie and Seth’s. “I am glad you were able to come.”

“My son and I run a construction company back home and I can see you need a lot of things built in a hurry.” He pointed at the massive amounts of people. “I’ve been networking and have talked to all of the laborers and we have already formed teams with foremen and specialty groups.

Tala looked pleased. “Yes, we do need a lot of building done. Give me your number and I will pass it over to our pack planning manager.”

Don grabbed two of his cards and gave them to Tala. “I look forward to hearing from him.”

Jay busted out laughing. “She. Our planning manager is a woman.”

Carrie brightened up. “I like that! Finally, I won’t feel like the only woman in a man’s game. I run our office by the way.”

Sean looked worried. “Are we going to have enough supplies? We had scaled everything back.”

“Multiple packs have sent along funds,” answered Don. “All told there is about half a million dollars donated so far and about another two hundred thousand in free supplies that are in route.”

Jay smiled and turned to Tala. “I’ll let Toby know that we are getting a ton of help and that they should talk to Lisbeth to figure out what projects are going to be done by whom. We will also let Lisbeth know about your skills, Carrie, as I’m sure she would love some help.”

A few hours later, Tala and Jay had talked to all the volunteers and visitors. They thanked them all and made sure they had the information on who to call if they needed anything. As they walked back to their jeep, they pulled Sean and Aaron aside.

Tala started with Aaron. “Aaron, can you talk to Edward and see if he can get everything together for the full moon on Wednesday? I want a welcoming potluck, a first full moon celebration and I need a remembrance pyre for Tess Peck’s husband. We will also want to remember our Red Pack ancestors.” Tala turned to Sean. “Can you meet us here tomorrow morning so we can go to the last section of refugees? It is the biggest and I want to kind of spread the work around to gauge who we have and make sure they are not a threat. I know that Don has talked to the one that want to work and I want Edward, Aaron, or myself to talk with them specifically.”

Sean nodded. “I’d invite Karla and Hank to join you. There are a lot of skittish women, and it would be better to have someone they can connect with.

Tala thought for a moment. “Good idea. I’ll call her after I call Lisbeth.”