Not Strong Enough

Caught

I closed my eyes, exhausted.

“Do you want some coffee?” Josh’s voice came from somewhere above me.

I just grunted, too tired to form a sentence. Apparently, too many people were interested in holding a position in the pack, and voting would be a mess with that.

I had never expected such a positive response to my idea, but if things kept on going like this, things were going to backfire, big time.

What we needed, me and Josh had decided, was a set of rules for the voting process.

So we had called in trusted senior elders, and sought their advice. Held talks and meetings and brainstorming sessions. And finally busted our asses for two days and two nights to finalize the rules, taking into consideration all the advices and suggestions we had received. It was finally done, but every cell in my body and my brain were protesting. Being Alpha was tough work. I just hoped that this would pay off, someday.

I was going to announce the rules out to the pack tomorrow, so that they could be made official, but for now, as Josh had just kindly reminded me, we needed to get started on the next step, finalizing candidates.

After a lot of thought, we had decided that no more than 5 candidates could be allowed to stand for the voting. Too many candidates cluttered up the list, and also, gave lesser time to the people to actually know and analyze the candidate that they would vote for. So we had narrowed it down to five.

We would accept the applications, and then hold personal interviews of each candidate in front of the council, but the final word, would of course, be mine. So out of all the applicants, I would choose the five that would be chosen for elections. We almost had the completed lists. We need to start scheduling the interview right away.

Josh came out of the kitchen, and kicked me, “Coffee.” He said.

I groaned as I got up, “All I feel like doing is sleeping for one week straight.”

Josh laughed, and I saw that he looked as refreshed as ever. He had been with me the whole time, worked almost as hard as me, if not harder, and he still looked like he had just woken up, fresh as a daisy. How the hell did he manage that?

“I know I am hot, but quit staring. It’s creepy.” He joked.

“Ha ha. Seriously man, I feel like a dead man right now.” I said, sipping my coffee. It was delicious. I almost moaned in delight.

“By the way, how is Gabriel?”

I looked up at him, “Why are you asking me? How would I know?”

“Did anything happen between the two of you?” he asked with a half-smile.

“Nope, not really. Oh, by the way, the lenses work.” I answered.

“They do?” he asked, surprised.

“Of course they d-“and my eyes widened, “You bloody idiot! You weren’t sure they would work, were you?” I shrieked.

“There is surety of nothing in this world except death.” He stated.

“Death, my ass. How could you Josh? What if it hadn’t worked? What if-?”

“But it worked, didn’t it?” he cut me off, “Why do you want to get into the what-ifs?”

“Okay, I will drop it, but only because I am too damn tired to yell at you.” I took another sip of his coffee, and I realized my mug was empty.

“That’s it!” I announced, “I am going to sleep.”

I looked down at Josh, who was still lying on the floor looking up at me, expecting him to object. But he simply smiled, and said, “Go on, get some rest, love.”