APEX - Season 2

Ch. 30: The Vote

Calla

The days leading up to the referendum vote evaporated into a misty cloud of dress fittings, cake tastings, going over the rules of the lunar ritual, and processional rehearsals. The processional would begin with me, my family and Aamon's family, plus other top-ranking members of our packs, parading through Sury's streets while streams of spectators looked on, cheering, and throwing flowers at us.

My mother had insisted that we would sit upon the Victorian era horse-drawn gilded floats that were a traditional part of Crown weddings. Gerald and Aamon had scoffed at this. The Apex pack preferred modern conveniences—fancy convertibles with clean lines and sleek surfaces, but my mother had insisted upon the more ornate, gaudy floats Crown brides had ridden upon for generations. I didn't care one way or the other since this wasn't a union to my true mate, but I went along with my mother's wishes for the sake of not having to wage one more war I couldn't win.

Before we knew it, the wedding plans were set, and the vote loomed. I studied the polls and poured over social media posts to gauge how we might fare. Humankind First had persuasive arguments. They'd paid for billboard ads all over the city that depicted young, vulnerable women about to be set upon by big bad wolves. The ads contained slogans like, "Is your daughter next?" or "Make sure your daughter makes it safely to Grandmother's house. Vote Yes on Referendum 43."

This vote was going to be a nailbiter. From what I could tell, the city remained divided. Most of the polls were within the margin of error, and there were plenty of anti-werewolf sentiments being bandied about on social media. But we had our champions as well. Memes depicting Henry Fowling pressing down on a switch to set off the explosion that destroyed the Neutral Isle bridge and killed humans peppered feeds. Tobias's story had made an impact. And then, of course, there was my upcoming mating to Aamon. While some humans, to my delight, did express disappointment that Rhys was not my intended, the Aamonatics were beyond thrilled. Most people didn't care which brother I was entering into this union with. They wanted the show our ceremony would bring, along with the city-wide party that would follow it. For these people, a vote in favor of werewolves was a vote for the continuance of the entertainment value we brought to them. Mating ceremonies, monthly full moon bad guy takedowns and agility displays, and of course, the Lunaris Tournament—werewolf culture was Sury culture, and everyone benefited from it.

Well...everyone except Tonya and Zara—and Vicki, who was still messed up emotionally from what a werewolf had done to her. Then, there were the people who died on the bridge—not that that was our fault but...

I frowned, trying to reconcile all the pros and cons of our existence. We entertained people, but sometimes we were violent in ways that crossed lines. We killed humans, but usually only those who people preferred were dead. We were wild beasts, but we'd conformed to human society. Mostly.

The polls opened at eight AM. I'd told Gerald the day before that I wouldn't be into work until after I'd voted, and he'd looked at me like I'd grown an extra head.

"Voting is part of your work schedule today," he said. "You'll go with your mother to your local polling place—Chester Public Library—and make sure you're camera ready."

"I'm always camera ready, but why..." There was no need to finish that sentence. Of course, they'd want to turn my civic duty into a publicity stunt. "You've alerted the media, I take it?"

"Naturally. Also, expect a small crowd of Crown Aamonatics. Once you've voted, you and your mother will have a short interview on the street outside the library, and then you'll be brought over to Apex, where you'll accompany Aamon as he goes to vote."

"Aamon is voting? Does he know how to do that?"

"Probably not, but thankfully, he'll have his loving and adoring mate-to-be with him to make sure he fills in a circle correctly."