Elijah Mikaelson is the best Original

But he had also taken the time for himself to go at least one time into the tent city and stroll around a bit. No one had given him a second glance, something Scott had thoroughly enjoyed. Due to Deaton's warning, he knew full well that this blessed anonymity would come to an end after the welcoming ceremony.

An old man stepped into the space between the chairs. "As the Speaker of the Alpha Council, I welcome all alphas and their packs to the summit." He turned in a slow circle. "It pleases me to see that the internal communication among the alphas works so well that so many of you were able to attend with so many pack members despite the short notice."

Scott’s lips twitched slightly at the hint of sarcasm in the man's tone. Theo had told him a bit about the speaker who didn't belong to any pack. He was an omega whose pack had once been highly influential before hunters had wiped it out. To honour his pack, which had founded the council and had rendered many other valuable services to the packs he had been appointed the speaker of the council. He was so old that nobody could remember his real name anymore; everyone simply called him the Speaker.

On one hand, his position was purely a ceremonial role devoid of any executive authority but as soon as there were disputes about the interpretation of the Pack Law, his role was that of a final arbiter. All the packs respected him as unbiased, non-aligned to any pack and a very honest man. He was not afraid to act against the interests of the alphas on the council too if it seemed right to him.

He disliked underhanded tactics, and it was well known that he didn't think much of many of the current council alphas, a fact they were clearly aware of, judging by the slightly sour expressions on their faces at his dig. The only exception was Danners, who seemed rather amused about the Speaker’s dig.

"I hereby declare the summit as officially opened, let us begin. In accordance with the Pack Laws, the Alphas will now take their places. This follows the order of seniority: the most experienced Alpha goes first, and the newest Alpha goes last.

I repeat this because this year we have a new Alpha with a young pack among the council alphas." The Speaker glanced toward Scott and his pack, and the crowd, previously silent, began to murmur quietly among themselves. "Alphas, you may take your places!"

Scott already knew he would be the last, as all the other alphas had been present at the previous summit.

One by one, the alphas stepped away from their packs, they took their seats as dignified and measured as was possible for them. Each of them was aware of the significance of the first summit in ten years.

Scott waited patiently for all the other alphas to sit down before taking a deep breath, then he stepped forward and sat down too.

The low murmur that had greeted the announcement of a new alpha and pack was nothing compared to the reaction when everyone saw who was taking the seat. Scott was by far the youngest alpha; the others were all twenty to thirty years his senior. The crowd began to talk loudly among themselves.

Scott noticed the surprised expressions of the other alphas, except for Danner, who merely smiled slightly and then nodded respectfully at him. So, Danner hadn't told his council colleagues anything about their encounter.

The Speaker also appeared stunned before he called the crowd to order and asked them to respect the proceedings. Finally, it was quiet again. "Now, let the First Betas and the Emissaries take their places."

In this instance, there was no specific order; instead, they all stepped forward together and took their places next to their respective alpha.

This time, even Danner was shocked when he saw Liam stepping forward and taking his place at Scott’s right side. Scott could literally see him adjusting his previous assumptions regarding Liam’s position in the pack.

The crowd reacted to Liam’s youth the same way they had reacted to Scott’s. The Speaker roared loudly and powerful and the crowd fell silent, intimidated.

“Alphas, please stand up and introduce yourselves! Tell the assembled alphas, why you have the privilege of holding a seat on the Council.” Once again, the Speaker insisted that everyone followed the prescribed procedure for the welcoming ceremony, even the alphas.

Scott could only admire his determination and unwavering composure.

The alphas stood up, again in order of seniority. They introduced themselves and explained what was special about their territory, what in it had earned them a permanent seat on the council.

When it was Scott’s turn, he stood up and took a step forward. He had rehearsed his speech with Alan, Lydia, Derek, and Theo, and now he just hoped he would remember everything and not embarrass himself too badly. Speaking in front of such a huge crowd was definitely a new experience for him.

"My name is Scott McCall, and my territory is Beacon Hills County, including a big nature preserve. Located within the preserve is one of the world’s five Nemetons, which is the reason I’m on the council, like Talia Hale as the Alpha of the Hale Pack before me.

The Nemeton attracts all kinds of supernatural beings, not all of them friendly or peaceful. Many of them are causing massive trouble and destruction.” Scott smiled self-deprecating. “It’s never dull in Beacon Hills and sometimes it gets downright dangerous.

I am aware that, as a new member of the Council, I need to share some details about myself, including how I became a werewolf and then an Alpha.

I’m not a born werewolf as some of you already know; Peter Hale bit me when I was fifteen years old. He didn’t ask me; he ambushed me and turned me against my will. He wanted me in his pack so that he could use me to do his dirty work for him. He thought he would have it easy to manipulate me because of my youth."

Scott straightened proudly. "But I refused to kill for him, and despite various, sometimes brutal, attempts on his part to change that, he failed. Afterwards I wanted to remain an omega.” Scott tactfully omitted Derek's attempts to change his mind. “After my nasty and unpleasant experiences with Peter I had no desire to ever join a pack and accept an alpha above me."

Danners had narrowed his eyes upon hearing the name Peter Hale, then exchanged telling glances with his fellow council members.

"When I was seventeen, I’m twenty now by the way, Deucalion came to Beacon Hills with his Alpha Pack. He wanted me in his pack but first I was supposed to murder my old pack, something unthinkable to me, so I refused once again to kill for an alpha. With the Alpha Pack came a Darach, the sole survivor of one of the murdered packs, a former emissary, who wanted revenge. She needed power so she scarified innocents to get this power. After several deaths, a showdown took place between Deucalion, the Darach, Derek Hale, and myself.

Jennifer Blake, the Darach, managed to protect herself against us with a ring of mountain ash. She had taken my mother and two others hostage, her intent was to sacrifice them too to finish the ritual and so get enough power to even kill the demon wolf. The only way to stop her and save them was to pass through the ring of mountain ash.” Scott swallowed hard. “I forced my way through the mountain ash, and when the barrier collapsed, I was an Alpha.

Alan Deaton, formerly Talia Hale’s emissary and now mine, informed me that I am what is commonly known as a True Alpha.”

After dropping this bombshell, Scott sat back down and waited for the inevitable reactions.

Theo had told him that, as a new alpha on the council, he was required to introduce the pack members he had brought with him to his first summit. It was custom because it allowed the other alphas to gauge his power and the kind of pack he had. Scott knew that it was pointless to keep speaking for the moment, since no one would listen to him now while he introduced his pack.

The crowd grew again loud as the various packs discussed the news among themselves. Even the pack members standing behind the alphas, who had remained silent until now, began murmuring to one another.

This time the Speaker did not even attempt to restore order. He likely realized like Scott that any attempt to calm the crowd down would be in vain. Instead, he studied Scott with an unreadable expression. However, Scott didn't get the feeling that he was hostile towards him.

The alphas remained silent but Scott could see from their faces that they were just as flabbergasted and stunned as everyone else was. More than that, he could see that they didn't like the news at all.

The only alpha, who remained relatively neutral, displaying primarily only curiosity and fascination, was Danners. He leaned back in his chair and studied Scott as thoughtfully und unreadable as the Speaker.

Eventually, everyone calmed down, and the Speaker managed to restore order to the gathering. "Alpha McCall, please introduce the pack members you have brought with you to your first summit."

Scott stood up again; this was something else he had practiced with Alan, Lydia, Derek, and Theo. "My pack is quite varied, and it doesn't consist solely of werewolves and humans."

Scott pointed to Liam first. "This is Liam Dunbar, a bitten werewolf like me. He is my second-in-command and my first beta.

Alan Deaton is, as mentioned, my emissary; it is likely that many of you already know him as he was originally Talia Hale’s emissary."

Scott turned to face his pack. They had discussed the order beforehand, as well as that everyone had to step forward when he called their names.

"Mason Hewitt, an emissary-in-training and a human. Alan Deaton will be introducing him as his successor at the Emissary Summit.

Derek Hale, the son of Talia Hale, a born wolf." A murmur ran through the crowd again.

"Lydia Martin, a banshee." The crowd fell dead silent, and the alphas straightened up.

"Chris Argent, a human and a hunter before he joined my pack." Now the alphas stared at Scott in utter disbelief; after all, the name Argent had a certain reputation among werewolves.

"Theo Raeken, a chimera.

Corey Bryant, he is also a chimera.

And last but not least Jordan Parrish, a hellhound."

The crowd murmured again, clearly impressed by the members of this pack. They hadn't reacted to the term ’chimera’, so it clearly meant nothing to them.

It was a different story for the alphas; however, they reacted more to Theo’s name than his species. Even those who had previously appeared most unimpressed from the outside now sat up straight, eyeing Theo in a distinctly different way than they had even looked at Chris upon the mention of his name.

"Other members of my pack who couldn't make it include a werecoyote, a kanima, and, of course, other humans and werewolves. One of those werewolves, by the way, is Ethan Steiner, a former member of Deucalion’s Alpha Pack."

Scott sat back down. While introducing his pack members, he had practically watched the alphas' initial assessment of him shift with the reveal of each new species. Until now, they hadn't taken him entirely seriously, due to his youth and his status as a bitten werewolf. This had even been the case after his revelation of him being a True Alpha but that had changed now. They had clearly revised their assessment of the threat he and his pack posed to them and their objectives.

Scott could practically feel the hostility but since the earlier condescension and disdain had all but disappeared, he could live with it.

The only exception was once again Danners, who was studying him with a deeply thoughtful expression. Scott wouldn't be surprised if Danners reached out to him for another meeting.

"Well, it looks like we have a very interesting and pivotal summit ahead of us." The Speaker smiled with amusement. "The first council meeting will begin tomorrow at 8 a.m. As always, observers are welcome, though I will not tolerate any interruptions. Everyone should be aware of the consequences and my reaction to it, when repeated disruptions occur. I now adjourn the assembly."

Scott watched as all the alphas abruptly stood up and then hurried off with their packs to their quarters. He assumed there would be more than a few emergency meetings overnight to adjust to the changed situation.

Well, considering how he and his pack had pulled all-nighters for the past three weeks, it seemed only fair to him.

He stood up and walked toward his pack; they parted ways to let him take the lead position. As he left the platform, a crowd was already waiting for them, ready to bombard him and his pack with questions and invitations.