Silver Moon: A Change Ch. 05

Tony sniffed at the food and couldn't help but let a smile cross his face. "Can I steal her? Well either that or send my cook over? That is some good smelling stew." He had heard what Dan had said and had a feeling that if he had to, he would do just that and frankly that sort of determination almost scared him. What he had seen today sort of indicated that Dan might just be the most powerful Alpha he had ever seen, if not one of the most powerful. When it came time to challenge him he was tempted to roll over and not worry about it.

"I can imagine. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I am glad you killed the fucker. He was a real piece of work. I like how you have started making this a better pack. I can't wait to see just where you go with it. Now if you don't mind my inner wolf, I mean tummy, is growling." He had heard Dan say that to the cubs and it had really amused him when he had said it.

The rest of the visit went fairly smoothly and Tony left the mansion after the noon meal with a great deal to think about. That Dan character had some odd ideas as well as very good ones. In a way he rather hoped he never had to see a real pack from Dan's world show up or they would take over the world, or at least New Nordlan and that was a scary thought.

***

Once Tony had left, Dan had pulled his team into the office and finished the meeting they had started that morning. Now that they had more money they could afford to keep feeding people as they had been. The tithe was going to be very helpful. Dan had also debated on sending someone to the other alphas for their tithes but decided to wait until he officially took over. That decision had been hard to make since his pack was still not very well trained but after an hour or so of discussing it he had finally decided to schedule the dinner in two weeks. He had also decided that most of the pack was going to be kept away from the dinner and god help anyone that broke one of his rules.

The following two weeks were a blur of activity as he worked on training the pack, working with Angie on the menu, dealing out the cash for the food, and any number of other issues. At the end of the week before the dinner he finally sent out a notice to the four Alphas, including Tony, who had been under the old one that there had been a change of leadership. As soon as he did that he started increasing patrols since he didn't want anyone getting close until the day of the actual event.

After talking to Angie they had settled on two entrées. First pulled pork sandwiches and second rare rump roast, potatoes both mashed and baked, veggies, a variety of drinks but not too many and a variety of deserts.

They were going to be getting ready for a good portion of the week and he had a feeling that two or three of the alphas were going to be pigs and that thought really annoyed him. It was something he had to do and if he was going to do it he was going to do it as best possible. Angie had a few other ideas as well that she was going to work on but the basic menu had been settled on and whatever else she ended up with he wasn't going to complain.

At the first of the week before the dinner, Saul came to him with the shopping list. "Dan, I need to place the order and after conferring with Angie, here is the list but I need your approval before I can order." He handed the list over to Dan and waited for him to review it.

Dan leaned back in his chair as he contemplated it and mentally calculated how much food was ordered and then leaned forward and placed the list on the desk. "I am going to make a few changes simply because I want to make sure the Alphas don't have a reason to complain." He grinned at Saul. "Well that and the more I stuff them with meat the less work I have when I beat the shit out of them." He changed the amount of meat and then on a whim added steak as well. "Go ahead and place the order and when it is time to get it, I am going to go with you. I need to actually see the town and the humans."

Saul looked at the list and listened to what Dan had to say and had to cover his laugh with his hand. "I am not really worried about you beating them into the ground sir. I have a feeling it is going to be a short fight and you could probably take all of them with one hand tied behind your back." He tried, really tried, not to laugh but wasn't able to. "When they see you in your wolf form I am more worried about having to clean the crap out of the circle than anything else."

Dan stared at him for a moment and then started snickering and had to turn away from his assistant. Eventually he gave up and groaned. "Oh god that is so wrong Saul and I should beat you for even mentioning an Alpha shitting their britches, or whatever, when they see me." By the time he calmed down he had coughed a number of times, tears were rolling down his cheeks and he had to take slow deep breaths to recover. When he looked back Saul was gone and he was glad or he would have started to laugh again.

***

It was two days later when Saul let him know that the order was ready and the truck was going to be leaving for town shortly. Dan looked up and nodded. "Thanks for letting me know. I will go get ready and then we will leave." Saul had given him a general idea of how much money they were going to need but he pulled out a bit more just in case. One thing he really needed was to find the safe where the rest of the money had been stashed, but things had been so busy by the time he rolled into bed at night he passed out almost instantly. Even having a series of cubs sneaking in his door wasn't enough to wake him up, and as a lycan that was saying something.

Dan ran upstairs and changed from the sort of glad rags he wore when he was doing pack business to some jeans and a shirt. They were still old fashioned but the woman who sewed some of the clothes had altered some more to his tastes and he had to wonder how they would go down in town. One thing he had made sure was that they weren't form fitted since he didn't want to have too many people staring at him. Little did he know that from the vehicle alone they would probably know that he was a lycan.

He finally made it to the vehicle and climbed in the passenger side and leaned back. Saul was driving and Dan tried to relax. "Saul, I am going to try not to stress you but I normally do all the driving. But I need to learn what is needed around here. If I grunt, groan, or tense it is just me and not a comment on your driving." Dan really hated being driven around. Go control freak Alpha wolves.

Saul groaned and rolled his eyes. "Thanks for telling me that before we leave, now I am going to be stressing the entire drive." He fired the truck up and after putting it in gear pulled out of the drive. The drive to the town was actually fairly decent once they got off the property and onto the road. It took about a half hour to make it to town and he pulled up in front of a reasonably sized store.

Dan hopped out and waited for Saul to lead them into the store. When they walked in Dan couldn't help but smile at the woman behind the register when they made it up there. She was tall for a woman but had all the right curves in the right places. She had brown hair and light brown eyes. He didn't realize it but his wolf sat up and contemplated her and then suppressed the scent of her. His human wasn't ready for that type of relationship and his wolf would do what was needed to keep him from mating before it was time.

"Good afternoon Pam, we have an order waiting for us." Saul handed the order form over and waited for her to pull it up on the screen and nodded. "Nice order, if you pull your truck around to the side it is waiting in the cooler." She used the touch screen to enter the information and then gave him the total.

Dan mentally nodded since the additions he had made increased the price. "Here is the money ma'am. We will get the truck around the corner in a moment and get out of your hair." Dan pulled a wad of money out and just for good measure added a bit more. "For the hassle of gathering the food." He gave her a warm smile.

Saul had to smile when he handed the money over and a tip to boot. It was something he should have expected from his Alpha, but it hadn't even crossed his mind. "Back in a moment Pam." He headed out to the truck to pull around and waited for Dan to come out. He would load the truck while they were clearing the account.

Moments after he had pulled the truck around he was surprised to see Dan there and starting to grab boxes and cases from the fridge. He really hadn't expected his Alpha to actually help. He probably should have since Dan had helped around the house fixing problems as well as cleaning, but it was still so weird to have one that cared. "Um, you don't need to help Alpha." That slipped out before he realized it.

From inside there was a slight gasp from Pam as she turned and looked at Dan. "You are an Alpha, I mean their Alpha?!" There was fear in her voice and she backed up a few steps. Everyone knew that the Alpha was bad juju.

Dan sighed but kept the slight smile on his face. "New Alpha, I replaced the old alpha a few weeks ago." So the town knew of the old alpha. "Changes of command can be sort of awkward but I want to think this has been good for all of us." He kept hauling out the various boxes and crates that had been set aside for them and handing them to Saul. Once they were done, he stood up and smiled at her again. "I really appreciate your help Pam. Oh, my name is Dan." He held his hand out to her.

She couldn't help but flush when he informed her he was a new Alpha and wondered where he had come from. Something about him sort of drew her to him but until she knew him better she wasn't going to go near him. Pam had once felt the draw of another Alpha and later learned that he was bad news. "You are welcome Dan and I will talk to you later. I need to get back up front." She did hold her hand out and grasped his. When he bowed and kissed it she was totally shocked and turned and scurried away.

Dan wasn't sure why he had done that and when he sort of prodded his wolf he simply got a sleepy grumble before he went back to sleep. He hopped down from the loading area and climbed in the truck. "Home James and make it snappy..."

Saul looked at him totally confused. "Um who is James and why are you calling my by his name?"

Dan sighed. "Sorry, a line from where I come from. Ignore it and let's get home. I have some things to do." Saul pulled out and Dan looked out the window and tried not to feel sort of put out. Why he was he wasn't sure, but something that had happened was putting him out of sorts.

Eventually they made it home and backed up to the storage area. Dan climbed out and stretched. "Some of you males get your lazy asses out here and help Saul unload the truck." He looked at Saul. "Talk to you later, there are some documents I am sure you or Felanzi left on my desk to sign or burn, or hide for later." He walked away as several males walked out and started helping him unload the truck.

~~~

The day of the meeting had finally arrived. They had been cooking and cleaning and everything else prior to the meeting and Dan was starting to get edgy. He had a feeling that it wasn't going to go smoothly and had plans for all the women and pups to have their food in the pups' room before the others arrived. Most of the servers were going to be the males, though there were going to be a few females around as well.

"Listen to me; all of you males and females, if anything happens call me. I don't really care if it is just an insinuation or actual forced contact. Call me and I will deal with it. I am not going to put up some sort of false front for the damn alphas, their mates, or their betas. I will deal with whatever goes on as soon as it happens." He looked at each person when he said it. All of them nodded.

Since the meal was at noon, Dan settled on the porch with a cup of coffee and simply waited. When Tony showed up shortly before the agreed on time Dan had to smile. "I would get up and greet you but that would ruin my image. Come on up and have a seat and have some coffee. So who is your beta?" Dan knew that he wasn't mated based on comments he had made two weeks ago.

"Morning Dan and this is my Beta Hose Manuel. Hose this is Alpha Danilo Legarith." He introduced the two and hoped they would get along. Hose could be irritating at times, but he was a very good beta and he valued the day he had accepted him into his pack.

Dan stood up and looked at the new man. He was still taller than Dan by a few inches and was bulkier than Tony though not as bulky as Dan. He had black hair, black eyes and was of obvious Spanish decent. "Pleased to meet you and hope you enjoy today." They shook and Hose looked in his eyes and then looked down though it appeared to be a conscious decision.

*Mari, come and show the beta to the great room please.* Dan smiled again. "One of my pack will show you to the great room. I am sure that Tony mentioned it but if you ask and they say no, accept it. For today I would have to say don't bother asking."

Tony nodded. "I did inform him of that and he obeyed." Actually Hose had looked rather interested at that requirement before nodding. His younger sister was getting very close to 18 and he didn't want anyone to bother her.

When Mari showed up he nodded slightly to her and followed her into the house. Moments later one of the men showed up with a cold drink for Tony who took it and settled down in the chair next to Dan. Over the next fifteen or so minutes, the others arrived and received much the same speech and the Betas ended up in the great room and the Alphas remained on the porch with something to drink.

The three other alphas were not very pleased with the situation, though they did take the cold beers and slugged them down before Dan finally stood up. "I know why you are here and we are going to have a good meal before we deal with pack crap. Come with me and we will have a good meal and then go have fun." Dan smiled at them, though there wasn't a smile in his eyes.

Three of the four almost snarled at him before they stood up. They had expected to be brought in, offered a woman of their choice, and food and booze as they wanted. They hadn't expected to sit on the porch waiting for the others to arrive and given a plebian greeting. This alpha that had taken over the head pack was smaller than they were and entirely too polite and almost a sissy from the way he treated the women.

When Dan got up to lead them into the manor, they grumbled at the fact that he actually led them as if they weren't worth worrying about and one or two actually considered taking a shot. They didn't since this was a formal occasion which meant they would be able to legally challenge him in the circle. Then they would take advantage of the women who were obviously not attending to them. When they did walk into the house the smell of the food was pretty good. The smells coming from the kitchen were good enough to appease their appetites for the moment though and put thoughts how they had been insulted by this new alpha aside to be dealt with later.

Dan led them into the dining area. "Please have a seat and the food will be out momentarily. I do hope all of you enjoy it and after that the festivities will really begin." At the head table only Dan sat and at the other tables were the visitors. None of his pack was seated with them and he could feel the mental grumbles as well as vocal grumbles from the visitors.

"This is pack business and therefor the junior wolves and pups are not here. Once lunch is dealt with they will be outside to witness the contest. Have no worries, all of you will have an interesting day." As in Dan was confident that he could kick their asses. What bothered him was that he had to do all four of them in one day. Tony he wasn't worried about since they had sort of sorted their issues out already. The other three were going to be interesting.

Once everyone was seated some of the pack started coming out and serving food to the various tables. One Beta growled. "Where are the damn women, why am I being served by a male? This is below both of us."

Dan looked at him and his eyes started to change. "Are you challenging me on my territory? Well challenge accepted and I will meet you in the challenge ring after lunch." Once he said that he turned away and started eating. It was like he was saying that the male wasn't worth even bothering with.

That got another growl and his Alpha smirked. The male was a vicious fighter and he couldn't wait for the fight that would happen. If nothing else it would weaken this uppity Alpha they were dealing with. He looked at the male and shook his head to tell him to back down. His turn would come and if he succeeded he might have to kill him and take his place.

The rest of the lunch went in fits and starts until everyone had been fed. Dan had been right that any number of the visitors had been pissy about the food and its quality. Most of the ones who had complained were betas so he figured it had been set up to test the new Alpha. Dan smiled through it and kept eating. It was sort of hard since he was used to having someone at his table but he wasn't about to subject one of his pack to this crap.

Eventually the meal was over and he leaned back in the chair. "Well we have had the food part dealt with. Now for the fun, each alpha, and one beta, have to challenge me to a fight to see who ends up as the lead alpha for this region. Since I am leading the fun and excitement we are going to step out and my pack is going to follow to watch the fun. Does anyone have a problem with that?" His tone was casual and relaxed.

"Yah, what pack? All I have seen is mostly males and one or two females. Where are the cubs and rest of them?" Miguel Rizon of the Galazion pack growled.

Dan simply stared him down till the other was forced to lower his eyes. "They will be outside waiting for us to come out. I have a pack and you will see the rest of the males, females, and pups. Now shall we?" Since he was the master of ceremonies, so to speak, he stood up and without a look back, walked out of the room. He intended it as a direct insult to enflame them so he had a better chance.

When Dan walked outside, his pack was off to one side so that the others couldn't directly interact with them. Most of them didn't look concerned, and especially the pups. Giani couldn't help herself. "Go my alpha and show them who rules!!" Her little girl voice floated over the silence.

Dan wanted to smirk but instead pretended to growl. "Hush pup, this is an adult matter." *Good girl but remain quiet now.* Dan had set this up to irritate the other alpha's, well other than Tony since he had met Giani.

"God he can't even keep control of the pups. What sort of fucking alpha is he?" One of the more belligerent commented.

Dan simply smiled. "I would have to say I have a cheering squad, what do you have?" Once he entered the circle, his entire body posture changed. "Now where is that insolent beta? Come forward and show yourself. I accepted your challenge and then will deal with your alpha." His voice almost dripped a lack of concern when he said that.

The beta moved forward and tried to stalk into the ring. To himself, he looked confident but to Dan's pack he looked rather pathetic. "So are you going to fight me as a human or a wolf? Too chicken to fight me as a wolf?" The man snarled as he started ripping off his clothes.

Dan gave him a hard grin and quickly pulled off his clothes. "I would hate to get any blood on them you know. Too expensive to keep replacing them." Dan was stripped before the other man was and had shifted. That got a gasp due to his size and snarling mouth. *Come little one, come fight me. I am going to take you quickly so I can gut your alpha.*