The Inauguration
Chapter 35

“This is where we separate ladies and gentlemen,” Kobus says smiling sadly at them, "if you go through this door it will lead you all to the hall where everyone is waiting for you and everything shall be explained,” he gave Solani a small smile with a nod before slightly bowing to Lugar and he walked away from them in the same direction they had just came rom.

Lugar and Solani look at each other before turning to look at the elite members of their pack. They were in front of what looked like an abandoned building, they were surrounded by forest and the rest of their pack was separated from them from early on. Their cars and vehicles had been led by the Beta’s men.

“It looks like an abandoned factory,” Solani heard the one of the men behind them mutter and she couldn’t help but agree with him.

“Looks may be deceiving,” someone replied and she hoped so too.

They pushed through the doors, and they were immediately hit with the sound of chatter. They were astonished to find all the different pack leaders inside talking amongst themselves. The room looked bigger than the outside portrayed. Looks were really deceiving, the walls of the building were plain old block red bricks that looked to be falling apart but inside the floor was polished with wood and the walls were white with the rims of the edges highlighted in brown to match the wooden floors.

The ceiling was made of glass and you could see the blue sky clearly, or the trees that shadowed the building. It was a beautiful sight to see and all Solani could imagine was herself in this room on a daily basis just lying on the floor and looking out to the sky. She could only imagine how glorious it looked in the evening when the moon and stars were dancing in the sky.

Hanging from the ceiling were silver lamps.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”, She turned to the female voice and she smiled, agreeing with Melinda who had a glass of what looked like whiskey in her hand.

“We arrived here two hours ago and honestly I don’t mind waiting,” Melinda smiles pointing to the ceiling, “I mean who could get angry with a view like this”.

“Speak for yourself Melinda,” they watch as Kellen walks towards them sipping the same drink as Melidna’s, “I don’t appreciate waiting, especially in a territory I don’t know anything about ‘’.

Solani couldn’t help but roll her eyes while Melinda let out a small chuckle, “well you got one thing right Kellen,”

Kellen rose an eyebrow in question and Melinda smiled, “you don’t appreciate a lot of things,”

Melinda laughed at Kellen’s small pout and Solani let the small smile decorate her face. She continued to listen to Melinda boat and tease Kellen who fell for it everytime.

She took in the room.

She spotted Alpha Perla in the corner smiling with one of her pack members, she was wearing a black suit that hugged her curves and complemented her beautiful brown skin. Her hair was tied in a fluffy and curly bun, her eyes were shadowed with orange and yellow, Solani thought her a fire goddess.

She turned away from Perla and focused on her pack members, mostly females surrounding her. Some wore suits and others were dawned in comfortable flowing dresses.

She heard Melinda laugh and her attention was brought back to the conversation before her. She finally looked at Melinda, she also wore a pantsuit but hers was nude and it was hanging from her body. Not in the sense that it was too big for her but more in the sense of fashion and comfortability. She wore a silver necklace with a few charms around it. Solani could make out a few, one of a moon, the other what looked like a cross. Melinda’s black hair was loose and flowing swiftly that any movement she did, affected the hair as well.

She turned to Kellen. His white hair was silk and combed to the back and tied loosely behind him. His blue eyes were lighter now that she was paying attention and his brown skin seemed to complement the contrasting features. He wore a black suit with no tie, and on writs lay a Rolex but it looked more vintage than new.

It was only after taking everything in did she notice that Lugar was not by her side. She does remember entering the building with him but she couldn’t remember if he was by her side the minute Melinda started talking to her. Her eyes scanned the room and she couldn’t spot the male, she was about to ask the male and female before her if they had seen him but a brush on her elbow pulled her attention.

And she turned to meet his blue eyes, her heart sank with relief. She held onto his hand, “where did you go?”

He smiled lightly at her, holding her hand tightly, “I had to step out for a bit,” he said before letting go of her hand.

“Is everything alright?”she asked, seeing his disheveled hair, wondering what had set him off.

“Yes”, he answered, “William had a little panic attack when he woke up and couldn’t find neither of us,”

“Maybe I should go check on him,”

“No Lani its okay, I handled it,” she gave him a nod and watched as he turned away from her and smiled at Kellen who called out for his attention.

“How big do you think his territory is?”, Kellen voices out his thoughts.

“I’ve been asking myself that question to Burke,” They all turn to Perla who smiles in greeting to all of them, “I mean I felt his barries 5 kilometres before his Beta stopped my pack to search it and even then we had to travel through forestry before we finally arrived here. And through all that I did not see a single building and yet here we are in this abandoned building in the middle of the forest, where does it really start and end?”,

“It was an abandoned building,” they all quickly turned to find Kobus standing behind them. He smiles at them, “It was an abandoned building Alpha Ruine. I’ve been trying to convince Lucius to paint the outside walls but he says he wants people to see where we started.”

They all looked at him perplexed and he smiled at them before coughing awkwardly. His eyes grew wide and he chuckled, “silly me, I forgot what I was here for,” he passed them and walked towards the stage in front of the hall. They watched him climb up the stairs and just by him standing there, the hall quietened down giving him their undivided attention.

He smiled and the group of alpha’s were convinced that, that is the only emotion the Beta of the Fanhide Furs could do.

“We deeply apologise for the wait, Alpha Black was just getting everything ready for you all. I’m glad to see you all have helped yourself to the drinks and horderves that were carefully laid out for you all. Do not fret about your packs, they have been shown to their designated areas and you shall join them soon, but the Alpha just wishes to have a few words with you all”, he says with a nod and leaves the stage.

A few minutes passed before multiple footsteps echoed through the hall and Lucius finally graced everyone with his presence, and behind him Genhji and her mate followed. Lucius scanned the hall and he exhaled before finally speaking, “I’m not going to keep you all waiting any longer I just want to make a few things clear”, with those words the same twins that had sued their magic that searched through everyone’s vechiles and persons joined the group on stage.

“I'm sure you all are familiar with Kgopotso and Kgotatso here”, the twins waved at the crowed with a smile, “don’t fret they’re not here to do anything. They are just here to represent the rest of the pack. The FanHide Furs isn’t made up just by wolves, we have many different species here, including some humans we trust. We have Fae, as you have seen, we have sirens but they mostly stick to themselves and I’m hoping Alpha Kellen you can understand why”, he nods to Kellen.

“We have witches and vampires and I can assure you they are all good. Here at FanHide, we don’t discriminate, nor do we let our differences affect how we live. My pack understands the purpose of your stay here and they know to be welcoming but at the same time I have given them permission to fight back if an incident had to occur. I hope they receive the same respect that they will be giving,”

Lucius turns to the twins and gives them a subtle nod. They both close their eyes, and Solani watches as the silver mist start flowing around them like earlier and the mist covers the whole group and bit by bit the hall starts disappearing and their engulfed in a ball of white. She watches as Kellen reaches out to touch the mist and they all do in anticipation.

His fingers grazes the surface and he lets out a bubble of laughter, “it’s as soft as it looks”, and Solani got curious. So her hands reached out and they brushed the surface of the circle, she let out a small giggle, agreeing with Kellen. It was as soft as a feather and what she thought clouds felt like.

But the experience soon started dying out and at first she heard nothing but a second passed and she could hear the chirping of birds and the next the laughter of a child and then the loud chatter of people as if they were all around her.

The white cloud dissipated and there they stood in the middle of a clearing. They could see their pack members and she could see the other packs. She turned back to Lucius to find his pack standing behind him.

“Welcome to FanHide”.

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