"It's a start at least," I said with a sigh. "Shall we?"

Noah nodded and led the way to Gordon's office. Liam stayed behind, happy to have been excluded from the drama.

"I... I want to apologize for how I behaved last night," he said softly after a moment.

I shook my head. "No, you're still well within your rights to side-eye me."

"Still..."

"At least you were still polite," I added with a warm smile, holding the plate up as a pseudo peace offering so he could pick something off if he chose.

He snagged a piece of bacon and popped the end in his mouth like an overly large cigarette and chuckled.

I could tell he wanted to say more, but simply shook his head and walked the rest of the way in companionable silence.

By the time we reached Gordon's office, the warm smells of coffee and pancakes felt like they belonged to another world, one we were leaving behind as the weight of politics settled over us again.

Noah opened the door to Gordon's office and I watched his posture shift into Beta mode. A wooden table had been set up in the space, two chairs facing the camera and a large screen.

Gordon brought his laptop over to the new space and set it down. I could see he was already firmly in Alpha mode.

"Noah, status report on the task assigned to you," he said, taking a seat.

"As I mentioned to Allison," said Noah, taking the second seat. Gordon frowned and flicked his eyes my direction disapprovingly, "we have reached out but the recorder's office is going to have to get back to us. So while we have things in motion, there are no concrete answers currently. I've tasked Liam with following up if he hears nothing by eight tomorrow morning."

"Good." Gordon's hazel eyes speared me. "As for you, silence is your name."

I nodded, settling in on a small couch out of view. "You already said that. If I need to share something, I'll hold up a paper where you can see. Other than that, I'll take notes and write down observations. I also brought snacks... just in case." I waved a hand to the plate on the table.

"Thank you, but that is not necessary," he replied gruffly, turning to his computer screen. I shrugged and chose a pastry from my pile.

Hello cheese danish, you look tasty today, I thought with a smile, chomping into the flaky bread eagerly.

I could hear the call connect and Gordon sat up straight. "Good morning, this is Alpha Hale and Beta Corvera of Bitteroot." I crossed my legs, and Gordon glanced my direction before adding, "I also have a scribe off camera to take notes."

Scribe? Really? What am I now, an overpaid medieval monk with a quill? Fantastic. I rolled my eyes and took another bite of the pastry. Except I had taken a bit more than I could chew in my anger and had to reach for my coffee. Damn karma.

"Ah, Alpha Hale, we connect at last," drawled a familiar, insufferable voice.

I choked on my coffee violently. No. No. No way.

"Oliver Elijah Boveri," I croaked between coughs, blotting my mouth with the back of my hand. I may have been going for an angry snarl but it sounded more like a dying raven.

Gordon's head snapped toward me so fast his chair creaked.

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end and the voice asks, "Allison? What the hell are you doing over there?" After a moment, he added in an incredulous tone, "Did you just full name me?"

Of fucking course the Alpha on the other line is my dick cousin. Of fucking course.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

Everyone has a chaos-gremlin cousin. Allison's just happens to be Alpha-shaped.

Good luck to everyone involved.

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