Chapter 192
Marcus's POV
I thought that the Beta's office was big, the Council Chambers are an exquisite extension of the Throne Room, Víctor and Jana herded us to a good sized conference room in the North Wing with a great view of Itiba City and partial view to The Gardens, it was really nice! It's a simple conference room with it's table and chairs, yet it lacked that stale coldness many conference rooms have.
The table itself is different than the one in the Council Chambers... That one is large but simple, what makes it special are the legs that are carved with an elongated wolf running in chase of it's prey with fangs exposed. They're both similar in that their both round but this one has a whole carved motif of wolves in battle in the center. The wood is also dark, but the carvings in the center are of different colors of wood layered. The weather is just as nice here as the rest of The Fort, and the sound barrier that doesn't allow sound to leave the room also blocks cold air from leaving if we do decide to turn on the AC, like in any other room. It's just usually not necessary, the weather is perfect and I just found out from Nina how the insulation of their walls work and how they mix their stucco and incorporate old spells. It makes air-conditioning really unessential and heating isn't necessary, although I did see hearths all around Hacienda Florencia and Adam and Everett were recommended to put a few in those houses in Caney City they're building.
I still haven't spent a winter here and Tali says that the weather stays pleasant but in her memories I can feel that it does get nippy in the mountains. Fireplaces are there in case the cold gets uncomfortable, but there aren't any in the coast with the exception of fire pits. The Osupa love bonfire nights, especially the ones that they have Friday nights in the large open grass lawn in front of The Fort with music and dancing. Before the Lady Yaya or Izz would just repair the damage of the fire, now they built a big fire pit and many more on the beaches. The ocean is the tribe's shield and wolves of all ages love spending their off time from dawn to late into the night enjoying them, and in some beaches many of the pups have dug little canals so that the Mermaids can join in and tell them stories of their people.
"We really haven't had much use for this room for years, it used to be the beginning of the Natural Science Museum until the one we have now was constructed. And this was the original table that used to be in the Council Chamber, the carvings in the center may be beautiful but Agüeybaná the 2nd hated it and Imotonex just thought it was unpractical as fuck since they had to exchange so much paper work, but for the purpose of what you guys are going to be doing this should be fine right?" Víctor asked his cousin Professor Ibarra who studied the layout as he slowly nodded.
"Yeah this is fine for now Vic! If this works according to plan we shouldn't be here so often later on, but for the next year or two this will be our HQ! This should be fun cousin if you two want to stay--" Víctor was already giving his cousin a look.
"Pfft!" Was Janaína's response.
"Fuck no Sebastián! We already have enough shit going on, this battle is all yours guys... Enjoy!" Jana and him just left the rest of us to it.
"He's always been moody... Anyway, let's get to it guys." Every Alpha and Beta in 'The Corporate Committee' took a chair. The moment we sat, a holographic touch screen appeared where each of us had to place our finger print and it scanned our face and retina. Every security measure keeps getting amped and Wolf Skull has one of the contracts so Maco and Gadiel are making bank! Their main competition are not complaining though since they have the contracts for the security systems of all the buildings, laboratories, wearhouses, factories and distilleries we'll be using. That's a lot of ground to cover so they are getting well paid for that too! It's our job to make sure that the cash flow for this endeavor keeps coming into Karaya.
"Alright is everyone in the system?" It's pretty user friendly and it gives us access to every account and contract each company has.
"Yes Professor, I'm in the surveillance and security system and my men are ready to clear out the lab in New Delhi." Captain Bruno who's heading security mentioned. The company Ishaan and Viyaan ran for Chandrama with their now dead Alpha that nobody's mentioning, is a good sized pharmaceutical. However because of the surge of Chis, Phis and Omegas we have the manpower to run the entire laboratory without humans is possible and many recently graduated wolves are standing by.
"Ok, let's stop right there! No more calling me professor. I'm not calling any of you Captain, Beta or Alpha, so just call me Sebastián, Sebas or Chago. Otherwise I'm going to be thinking about grading your work, I don't think anyone wants that especially me! I already have enough papers to grade. Now we have to establish the first order of business and that is who's going to be Chairman of THIS Board and how we're going to re-structure these companies. Good thing is that those who are going to be lobbyists have already started their work and those who will run for public office are in place in opposing political parties, so no matter who wins we still get that chair!" This plan is a massive undertaking! I never thought I'd be helping take over the world!
"Look, I'm saying it right now. Louis and myself have a LOT of restructuring we have to do with our company and Cesar and Basili know the area and the market, they're investors after all. Captain Bruno and the Third Regiment were able to clear out the building up in La Défense without anyone noticing and the factories were empty, so we'll be coming and going until all the security system is in place, however we have to work on the new marketing about adding the new products and getting the correct equipment for the factory. Merde! If we didn't have to focus so much on those fucking attacks from The Council we wouldn't have to fix this mess!" Louis slaps Antoine in the back of the head.
"Is this what you still have in your head?! I bet you're missing my input every waking minute! Ha! Antoine mon garçon, we SURVIVED! We got most of our people out! They're ALIVE thinking about how next to experiment with their pattè and what nitro tank to mount on their ride, instead of patrolling day and night and still be in panic mode when one happened! I love it when I forget about WORRYING about the pups while I blead in battle. I REALLY don't miss that at ALL! Have you seen how THEIR pups, no offense Captain, train? I NEVER had to endure that amount of pain at that age! I never had to run battle strategies or calculations that precise at the different ages I'm seeing. Their pups not only can EASILY defeat any of ours, some of them scare ME! And what's scary as fuck is that they REALLY ENJOY IT! I'm glad that not only do I get the damn luxury to SLEEP! Like imma right guys?! Intense training, precise education and nurturing what everyone's good at and POOF! You have a recipe for a harmonious functional wolf pack! We had our loses frère, but do you think YOUR father or mine for that matter would have even considered the offer The Osupa gave us?! Merde, WE almost didn't take it! Sebastián, what Antoine means is that we have a lot to fix so we definitely can't LEAD the project, Cesar and Basili could help us negotiate with other packs nearby we know were not doing so well. We might be able to unite them to our cause! I personally think it should be Viyaan who leads us, he wasn't pack Beta but still was the one who kept it afloat in the middle of everything they endured." The room is silent. We felt it in the Link.
There was a time when sleeping through the night without a fucking care was a LUXURY! Is this how humans in well off countries feel? Beta training is intense, but when I see the pups I feel like a weakling! Louis is right, some of those kids could probably take me on, especially the ones who can already shift!
"I'm going to second that vote and would like to add Marcus and Ioana as well. I must admit that working around human laws to register their territories was a smart move, it gives the pack two ways of fending off invaders, if they can't be wiped out, we could contest in human court and risk exposure! And I don't know about you guys, but how jittery the humans are right now I don't think any pack would want them to get trigger friendly or get the attention of the Hunters Guild. And let's face it, Betas are better at this part of business... So what do you guys think? CEO, CFO and COO respectively and the rest of us remain as directors?" Palu says determined, she lost her Beta fending off The Council.
Kayden tells me that she and her little sister Pua who's also an Alpha have been putting in a lot of work. For a while they were thinking of taking another island of their archipelago, however without the same technology that The Osupa have they would have still been wiped out. Right now none of them are thinking of going back or reclaiming their territory.
"I definitely can get behind that! Louis is right, Cesar and I depend on making sure Mach 8 is successful again... I personally don't like being broke or having some of our people broke and taking out loans they shouldn't have to, those from Oceani Luna lost most of their investments. It's our responsibility to make sure they get it back and make sure they thrive. After going through the restructure plan again last night, and Louis, I'm with you! I fucking LOVE being able to go over this boring shit with a glass of wine instead of thinking that everyone is in danger 24/7! So checking it out I think we need some Kappas for the new marketing." Basili's focused on the plan, but Oceani Luna didn't move as rapidly as Lune Premier to move their assets.
Basili's pretty pissed at Cesar's and Tali's father, Alpha Franco, for not moving fast enough, especially when Antoine's father had advised him to do so. Apparently my mate's father was kind of a bum! He didn't have a problem cheating on his mate and fathering pups with Ayiti, didn't listen to council and if he wouldn't have been killed in the attacks it's more likely than not that there would be no more trace of the members of Oceani at all. That credit goes to my amazing mate! I go into her memories of those days and it was REALLY bad with almost a nightly attacks, they were tiring them to give a final strike. Antoine did listen to her about how to change the defenses to something better organized than what we achieved at Blood Moon. But when she heard about what happened to her home she, along with Lola and Umbros were devastated. She still kept at it, she was so sure that they would get their home back and even though she showed total confidence on Izz, she was a tad unsure when she heard about the plan for the mating ritual. It was Lola who wasn't worried about it... She had worked the most with Izzy out of the three of them and wasn't fazed at all and assured Talia so that she could continue to work without doubt.
"Don't worry about the marketing for now Basili, I already have Ibáñez Ideas LLC. already on it, good thing is that they have dozens of interns from the University with new ideas for every product. So about Palu's and Louis's suggestions, where do we stand? I personally don't have a vote, I'm just a consultant for now, but I think it has good potential." I kinda gulp... Viyaan, Ioana and myself look at each other, none of us look to sure about this.
"I vote yes. Louis and Palu give good reasons for this. Out there we'll have a different structure for each company independently, however with those three minds at the helm I feel much more confident staying as CEO of my company. Goddess knows how irritating it is contending with human directors and we at least can't get rid of them right now. Viyaan was going to help us oversee the vineyard in Nappa, but I like this plan way more!" Kayden looks at me shrugging.
'Don't give me that face Marcus! This should be extremely easy for you!' That's not what worries me, Kayden can be a little too impulsive in business, I'm going to be coming and going too and checking every account. But since we're all going to have access to every single one of EVERY company everyone will be on the lookout for any anomaly. Yeah, I think I can do this.
"Guys I don't mind taking the reins with those conditions, like Basili, Ishaan and I also had the luxury of going through the numbers the past couple of nights. He's still recovering from what he had to do but we already have most of the work and new products in development, right now we have to focus mostly on getting that lab up and going as fast as possible. To be able to introduce these new products we have to go through the regular process that humans ask for before sale and distribution, we know that Tunu and Hayan potion work and how it's definitely going to blow the competition of other sleeping and anti-anxiety medication out of the water! But we have to break down the chemistry and it has to go through both animal and human trials whether we like it or not, have them approved by not just the Indian government, but every Health Department of every country, good thing is that the patents are already getting settled. Ishaan, myself and a great number of our people know this process like the back of our hands, Svasth Pharma isn't in the same distress as Mach 8 by far, Moonshine Liquors LLC is also in pretty good shape are we still moving operations out of Richmond?" The only reason Viyaan wasn't pack Beta was simply because Ishaan is older, stronger and faster and with Ishaan not at his strongest Viyaan has been training with all he's got and taking charge of their family.
"Not yet Viyaan, but we already secured the new headquarters in Miami. Marcus, Ioana? Before we go ahead and take it to a vote do any of you have any objections?" Sebastián looks at us taking a sip of coffee Domingo sent up for us with some pastries... I love that man!
"I don't have a problem handling operations, it's nothing new to me and I must admit I was surprised when I heard Marcus had done the same thing I did. If Viyaan handles executive and Marcus handles finance I can manage my part without any problem. What do you say Marcus? Three Betas without the Alphas messing with our numbers, this actually should be fun! The combat training is what's killing me! Actually it's more like Hayami is killing us! Damn girl, you're even giving the OG's a run for their money!" Ha! Ioana isn't wrong! Alphas always fuck up our numbers, they're more useful handling the Board Directors and debating with the competition.
I've seen her tactics and her numbers are impeccable, but Haya has the advantage of being a hybrid and having a Beta mate who's in tune with both Víctor and Bayoán who know The Osupa Beta training. It's like she IS one of the OG's! The Betas understood and we had a little chuckle at Haya's little blush, she looks like an angelical vision but she's really HADES! Some Betas from her old pack still give her some shit and that's when Carlos decides to pair them up so that she can wipe their ridiculous smirks, the Ayraguay family have taken on the task of training the Betas. That's the thing with bullies... Once nobody cares for their stupid crap they lose their edge and HERE the pack doesn't give a shit how you look, The Osupa care about ability. If you have it, you EARN your own respect, and those who used to taunt her are now singing new tunes since their prejudice is what's frowned upon here and they're in the minority. They're slowly coming around.
"We can always do extra sparing Ioana!" Hayami offers but Ioana just let's out a...
"Pfft! Sure Haya, I enjoy getting my ass kicked to a pulp so much that I'm going to go ahead and do it in the weekends! Fuck no! First invite me for a beer at Clemente's before asking to fuck me up!" We do laugh at that! Ioana and Haya have become thick as thieves and both are getting a lot of notoriety at The Drag! We're supposed to be able to get our cars next week, don't ask me what Kayden told the Lady Moira, but she's going to handle it along with other stupid shit we want!
"I've been doing this since I was a kid and besides a few changes we have to make in Moonshine Liquors, we're ok. I'm fine with it." Kayden's right, I'm not pack Beta anymore and don't have to focus on the pack's security, I can definitely do this without a problem, Talia hates staying on island for long periods of time and she can definitely give us a hand. I know she's taking time off to spend time with me and with this she has a way to have her cake and eat it too!
"Any objections with this plan?" Sebastián sends us all how the Board would be structured and everyone agrees with it. Viyaan is now CEO of The Osupa Corporate Committee... OCC for short.