*Media pic of Leif.

"You did what?" Leif boomed at Gloria just before he picked up a heavy glass paperweight from his desk and flung it at the wall by her head to demonstrate just how furious he was. He wasn't the kind of Alpha that kept his anger bottled up - not even for his sister-in-law.

The paperweight broke through the drywall and sunk into the insulation, but not before the force of the impact knocked a large 16 by 20 inch framed picture off the wall. Gloria only flinched. She knew she was in no real danger of him hitting her. He might fly off the handle, shout, growl, and throw things, but he never took his anger out on pack members. Especially not family. 

"Who are you to interfere in Hale's love life? You aren't his mother, his lover, his sister, his anything! You don't get to speak to his mate about him before he does." Leif wouldn't have been so angry if she hadn't bungled the whole thing so badly. "When are you going to grow up, Gloria?"

He turned to Kris, his assistant, and instructed him to clean up the mess in his office. He then strode back to his desk and took up his seat once again. After five or six minutes of total silence, Leif spoke up once more.

"You are being demoted," he told Gloria.

She hadn't made a fuss at all until this point. But a demotion at her age was just too embarrassing. She was thirty five and in her prime. If she were benched from the Board of Directors now, it would cripple her career.

"Please Leif, please think it over. So, I made a little mistake. It's not so big that it can't be fixed. I can find her and apologize. I can do it. I can get her on Hale's side. I'm good at getting people to do things. You know I am."

"This isn't the first time you've screwed up Gloria. You think Hale's going to let you off so easily? Do you think he'll let me off if I don't severely reprimand you? Mates are sacred business whether they are weres or humans. You had no right to interfere. And if I don't deal out a suitable punishment now, before Hale comes home, he's going to do it. Is that what you want?"

Gloria paled considerably despite her beautifully dark skin. "You wouldn't?" She half whispered half accused.

"I would," Leif said without hesitation. "Gracefully take the demotion or be publicly held accountable in front of Hale and the pack for wilfully interfering in a mate-relationship."

"Publicly," she coughed.

Lief nodded. He had her there.

"I'll do it," she said quietly with her head bowed.

"Do what?" Leif wanted her to clarify before Kris, who was taking notes.

"I'll accept the demotion."

"Good," Leif said with a firm nod and a grave expression. "Write it down Kris. Gloria Nieminen is stripped of her powers as one of the Board of Directors and is banned from the Board for a period of five years."

"Five years!" Gloria cried out. "That's so unfair!" She declared with genuine indignation.

"Make it ten," Leif growled, his patience totally worn thin.

Gloria slipped into the nearest plush leather seat and tried to calm her breathing. She was shaking like a leaf. A ten year ban was a disaster. She wanted to vomit. Ultimate power in the pack was kept securely in the hands of the Alpha. However, the Board of Directors had significant influence over day to day decisions regarding pack business matters and policy, which were Gloria's life's blood.

She was devastated to think she would not be able to shape the business practices and policies in her pack and wider community for the next ten years. It was a tremendous blow to her ego, and detrimental to her plans to build from her entrepreneurial success on the lower south side of the city.

But, being publicly denounced and humiliated by Hale, whom she loved almost like a brother, was far, far worse. Kicking herself mentally she closed her eyes and groaned. Why had she messed in his love life? What had possessed her?

After an eternity she asked, "What will you tell him?"

"The truth," Leif replied his voice void of any tenderness or sympathy.

"Maybe, maybe I should tell him?" Gloria offered. If she broke the news to him, well, there was a good chance she could spin things in such a way that he wouldn't think too badly of her, that he wouldn't be too pissed.

"Ha," Leif scoffed. "You think Hale will go easy on you if you tell it to him gently - use just the right words?"

"Tell me what?" Hale asked with genuine curiosity as he pushed open the office door and stepped in.

Leif shot to his feet and turned frightened eyes on Gloria, who had slipped out of her comfy chair and landed on her knees where she remained with her head bent submissively. She didn't dare breath a word as her entire body began to tremble with wave upon wave of sickening dread.

She wasn't ready to face him. She hadn't rehearsed any good arguments yet. She needed time to prepare. 'Oh Goddess,' she prayed silently. 'If you can hear me, help me.'

Hale stepped into the room, closed the door gently behind him and cast an amused look at Gloria. Anyone else on their knees in Leif's office and Hale would think some grave error must of occurred. But, with Gloria, it was likely a calculated move intended to soften Leif up. Her life was a constant melodrama since the moment he'd met her years ago and nothing about her had changed in all these years.

"What's she done?" he asked with a friendly laugh as he came and sat on the arm of the large, heavy leather chair that faced Leif's desk.

"It's an honour ..." Leif began, but was cut off by a wave of Hale's hand.

"Forget the formalities. It's just us," Hale said with a sincere smile.

When Gloria did not move from her spot or bother to greet him he looked to Kris, who stood at the door with his head bowed in reverence, and then back to Leif for answers. "Should I come back another time?" he asked a little perplexed by the strange atmosphere in the room.

Hale reached out, in the deepening silence and turned Gloria's face ever so slightly in his direction. She closed her eyes and refused to look at him. This struck him as highly unusual and he felt greatly concerned. What could be so awful that she could not bring herself to look him in the eye?

"You'll feel better if you tell me," he tried to coax her gently.

"It's not her place to speak," Leif said soberly as he came around his desk and walked toward Hale. "She's been told not to say a word."

Hale frowned at Leif but didn't object. He was her Alpha after all. If he told her to keep quiet, then it was well that she did.

"Well then, I suppose it must be up to you to tell me?" he asked Leif with some doubt. 

With every passing second he was more and more convinced that this had something to do with him. But what exactly, he couldn't imagine, since he'd been gone for the last four months. How could she make trouble for him when he wasn't even around?

"There's no excuse for what she did, but I have punished her already. So, please keep that in mind as I explain the situation," Leif asked as he came and took up a seat across from Hale.

Hale slipped down into the leather chair and gave a nod. "How have you punished her?" he asked. Knowing the punishment might give him some idea just what kind of hot water she'd gotten herself into.

"She's been stripped of her powers on the Board of Directors and banned from the Board for a period of ten years."

Gloria to whimpered in response.

Hale let out a low whistle and looked at Gloria with new eyes. This was no small thing. Leif was hitting her where it would hurt the most. Hale felt sorry for her. What could she have possibly done that would elicit such a severe punishment?

He knew she was cocky, over confident sometimes, and from time to time recklessly irresponsible, but she also had a big heart and was relatively harmless. If she did go too far, usually things could be smoothed over with an explanation and a sincere apology. Gloria was not too proud to say she was wrong. At least, Hale had never known her to be. But, if her punishment was any indication, she hadn't just pushed boundaries, she had broken pack law.

"You'd better just tell me Leif. No need to sugar coat it. Just give me the facts," he told him as he pulled his eyes from Gloria's bent head and teary cheeks.

"Gloria had a special meeting with Meadow Rask, the woman from the Bureau, and told her that she had a lycanthrope mate. Ms. Rask responded diplomatically asking Gloria to discourage the mate's interest in her. Gloria responded by throwing insults at the woman until she got up and left the Bistro. She hasn't been back. That was a week ago and I just heard about it this morning, which is why I pulled Gloria into the office now. I've just handed her her punishment and was going to make arrangements to contact you and talk to you about it."

Hale crossed one lean leg over the other, while folding one arm over his chest and using the hand on his free arm to rub his face while he thought on this news. No one uttered a word, a sigh, or a whimper while he sat this way, with his head turned from all of them as his eyes roamed the empty parts of Leif's spacious office.

This was his fault. He should never have told Gloria about Meadow Rask in the first place.  He felt gutted. Gloria was like an older sister to him almost since the day he arrived in Rutherford. He'd been confiding in her about little personal matters for over a decade now and she always had a solution for him. But, knowing her personality, he shouldn't have told her about the human woman.

It's just that when he'd gone to the Bistro and spotted his mate there one evening, he couldn't help but ply Gloria with all kinds of questions about this particular customer. And Gloria, being quite sharp and intuitive, had easily picked up on the reason for his interest.

She asked him straight out if he had romantic feelings for the woman. The question so surprised him that he blurted out she was indeed his mate. But, they weren't acquainted and he wasn't sure he should even let her know he was her mate. Of course, now that he looked back, that conversation was tantamount to asking her to solve his love life for him.

He should have known better then to spill his guts to her about a human mate of all things, and she should have resisted the urge to meddle. Hale bent over his legs a little and rested his face in his hands. This was a mess. What had possessed her to interfere? It was an enormous taboo. He groaned as he got up from the chair and began to pace.

"What exactly did you tell her?" he asked Gloria after a few minutes of anxious pacing.

Gloria looked to Leif who gave her a nod.

"I asked her if she knew about mates. And told her I had a friend who had more than a passing interest in her," Gloria explained quietly.

"Did you give her a name or any details?"

"No, no," she responded with some vigour. "I didn't say anything about you or your rank or anything of the sort." She felt relieved to be able to say that much.

Leif cleared his throat though and that brought everyone's eyes to him.

"Well, she did tell Ms. Rask that she didn't know who she was rejecting and implied through numerous insults that this friend of hers was very important in the lycanthrope community."

Hale took up pacing again, but after a few minutes, ended up at the large windows behind Leif's desk where he let out a long sigh and leaned up against the cool window pane. Leif, Gloria and Kris kept a close eye on him fearful he would fly at Gloria in a rage. However, the more they watched him the less he looked like a man ready to rip out throats and shed blood in Leif's office.

"I'm to blame," Hale admitted to them all as he turned from the window and faced them. "I should never have been so open and unguarded around Gloria. I know what she's like. I should have had better sense," he spoke with deep regret.

Gloria blinked back fresh tears.

"Even so," Leif replied, "she's a grown woman and knew that she was breaching pack law when she invited Ms. Rask specifically to sit down and speak with her about her lycanthrope mate without your express permission."

There was silence in the room.

"It's settled then?" Leif asked. When Hale looked confused he explained further, "Gloria's punishment will stand regardless of whether you think this is your fault or not."

Hale looked at Gloria a moment, but she still couldn't bring herself to look at him. He wasn't sure who he was more disappointed in - himself or her. Sighing deeply he nodded at Leif.

"Understood," Leif commented quietly. "Gloria, you are dismissed," he said in as professional a voice as he could muster. "If you want to appeal the decision, you have seven days to do so."

She got up from her kneeling position and walked straight out the door without acknowledging anyone. She was too embarrassed and brokenhearted to even look the administrative assistant, Kris, in the eye as she slipped out the door and disappeared down the hall.

Part of her hoped that Hale would run after her, embrace her, and tell her all was forgiven. But, when she rounded the corner and there were no hurried footfalls behind her, she was also desperately relieved that she didn't have to face him after screwing things up so badly.

Once she was sure she was out of sight, she went from slinking down the hall to stomping her way out of Leif's office building. She hated that Rask woman more than ever.  It was all her fault. If she'd had any sense she would have been thrilled to find out she had a lycan mate, and none of this would have blown up in Gloria's face.

Gloria spent the next several weeks dreaming up ways to torment and torture Meadow Rask the next time she saw her, but the woman never made another appearance anywhere near the Bistro. She wasn't the only one who wasn't coming by anymore. Even though Hale was in town, after that dreadful meeting in Leif's office, he was a no-show as well. And that, more than anything else, ate away at Gloria like aqua regia eats away at platinum.