“Huh, I bet Kim laughed him out of the building.”
“They’re getting married tomorrow evening.”
“Whaaat?”
“He threatened to publicise your pregnancy and place a bounty on you and the baby. She put you first.”
“Oh my God.”
“Anyway, Darius did not accept this plan. So he’s become Alpha of his pack and has a meeting with Jett tonight. It was basically a declaration of war and so this evening it is likely that either Jett or Darius may not survive.”
“So what’s the plan? What do we do?”
“The plan is that Darius and his pack go take down the Hogsthorpe pack.”
I sat with my head in my hands. “And that’s it? Does he not think Jett will no doubt have some spells or potions ready for this if he has a wizard in his pocket.”
There was silence at the other end.
“We’d not thought of that.”
“Well I’m thinking about it. What time is this meeting?”
“Nine pm.”
“Right, I’ll be there and so will Theo.”
“No, Shelley. Kim would never forgive you, or me, if something happened to the baby.”
“And I’d never forgive myself if something happened to Kim or Darius. Anyway when you see me, you’ll realise trying to keep my pregnancy secret is no longer an option. Now, I’m going to call Darius, then my mother. We need to get our battle plans together. How’s my best friend doing?”
“Not good. She’s in the office and staring at the walls a lot. Apparently Jett has commanded that she move in with him. She spent last night in his room. He told her he wouldn’t touch her until the mating but she still was made to share his bed. He’s told her she will be there tonight at the meeting.”
“In order to show Darius she belongs to Jett. He no doubt intends to parade her like a trophy.”
“It would appear so.”
“Yes, well it’s about time Jett found out who rules things around here and it's not some jumped up mutt from Hogsthorpe.”
“God, it’s good to have you back, Shelley.”
“Well, I’d like to say it's good to be back but once again someone is causing shit around the place. Time to clean up.”
We said our goodbyes with an agreement that we would meet up with Darius later.
Now it was time to talk to the man himself and get our battle plans drawn up.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kim
It was time. We were sitting in the middle of one of the warehouses on the industrial estate. The room was vast. There were seats in a circle in the centre and Jett had a larger seat at the top of the room with a smaller one for me at his side. Like we were King and Queen.
Jett’s mother had been on holiday and had returned this morning. She’d taken me to one side to let me know that although I would be an Alpha wife in name, she was the top woman of the pack and I would need to learn my place. She wasn’t impressed therefore at having been relegated to one of the circle seats for the meeting.
The Hogsthorpe pack walked in, every one of them, around twenty in total. They took seats at the left-hand side of the circle. A tall man joined them. He was dressed in a suit. There was a knock on the door and Jett shouted “Enter.”
In walked Darius and some of the Withernsea pack. I felt my heart might stop with shock.
But he didn’t look at me. Not at all. His eyes were fixed on Jett’s.
“Brother, so good to see you again.” He said to Jett, and then he laughed. “I have brought some interested parties with me.” He turned to look at the suited man. “I note you have the same, so I presume you have no objections?”
“Not at all.” Said Jett.
“Come.” Commanded Darius.
In walked Lucy, Frankie, Theo, and Shelley. My eyes were almost out on stalks at seeing Shelley’s pregnant belly. What the fuck? Had I been in a coma for a few months? Time travel? Had my dreams about flying around the world with David Tennant in the Tardis come true and then I’d been struck by a cruel form of amnesia?
I saw Jett’s calm demeanor shake a little when he saw Shelley.
“Where is your Alpha, brother? We cannot start the meeting without your packs Alpha present.”
“Oh, didn’t you get the memo?” Darius smirked, taking a sheet of paper from his pocket and handing it to Jett. “I’m the Alpha of Withernsea now.”
“You are?” I said loudly, forgetting myself.
“SILENCE.” Jett roared.
Then all hell broke loose.
“DO NOT TELL MY MATE TO BE QUIET.” Darius snarled.
“She is not your mate!”
I nodded at Darius behind Jett’s back and mouthed. “I am.”
One by one the pack turned into their wolves and then the suited man said an incantation and the Hogsthorpe wolves grew to twice their normal height and took on an eerie yellow glow.
Shelley rose. “Jett Conall. I command that you refrain from this course of action.”
Jett looked at her. “Which would be great if we were on Withernsea turf, but we aren’t. We’re in Hogsthorpe, and you don’t rule here.”
Shelley looked shocked. The suited man smirked.
The wolves got up until one wolf flanked every one of the other pack and each of my friends. I had a wolf from both packs appear either side of me and Jett stalked over to Darius.
We had no chance. I knew Shelley was a powerful witch and I could see her calculating moves, but how could she possibly do anything without the loss of life here? I just didn’t see a way out.
There was a stalemate, and I knew that as they had made the protest it was down to Darius and his pack to make the first move, or withdraw and give in.
I watched as Darius bowed his head.
I wanted to cry. I wanted to yell for him to fight for me, but I knew to do so would be to put his pack and my friends at risk and I couldn’t do that. But there was one thing I could do.
“Whether you win against Darius or not, I will not marry you. You might be the leader of Hogsthorpe but you are not the boss of me.”
“Or me.” A familiar voice came from the ceiling. As she dropped she changed into wolf form and she landed directly on Jett’s body. He had the room surrounded, but he’d not had the ceiling watched, and Alyssa had decided to join the party. I’d never seen a wolf like it. She was lithe, her muscles rippled, and her teeth when she roared were pincer sharp. Jett swung out with a claw knocking her to the floor and Darius roared moving to his sister’s side. I looked over at Shelley who smiled at me as her eyes turned blue. Then she lifted her hands and her blue webs wrapped around the suited man. He’d been so distracted by Alyssa, he’d dropped his guard. The minute Shelley wrapped him in her webs, the spell on the Hogsthorpe pack broke and they returned to their normal size. But where I expected Hogsthorpe to launch into an attack on Withernsea for attacking their Alpha they stood still, and watched as Alyssa leaped back up from the ground and bit down on Jett’s neck, tearing at his jugular. Blood spurted across the room and Jett’s body slumped across the floor, remaining in wolf form. Red blood pooled around his black fur.
His mother let out a howl of anguish and then leapt for Alyssa, but she was no match either and succumbed to the same fate as her son.
There was silence and then Alyssa returned back into her human form. Blood dripped from her mouth.
One by one the wolves also returned to their human forms. Whoa. That was a whole lot of naked.
“And the lesson is don’t threaten the family of a female wolf with pre-menstrual tension.” Alyssa spat.
“How the hell did you do that?” I asked.
Darius turned to me. “It would appear that while I thought my sister had been up to no good with teenage boys, she’d actually been training in an aerial circus appearing in town. She’s been making pocket money appearing at 8pm every night.”
He shook his head. “Sisters.”
“Just got your ass out of trouble.” She said, and
then she turned to the other pack. “What’s going on anyway? Why didn’t you fight?”
One of the men, an older one, stepped forward. “Our Alpha had become dangerous of late. Unpredictable. And it is not of our ways to war using magic. It is against the rules of the shifter handbook.”
Darius spoke, though to be honest I was having trouble keeping my eyes on his mouth.
“You can elect a new leader now, or you can pledge allegiance and join Withernsea. It is up to you.”
“May we have a few moments?”
“Of course.”
They went over to one corner of the warehouse. I ran to Darius. He flung me around in his arms and I wrapped my legs around his waist. We kissed each other over and over. Then he put me down.
“What happens now? With Jett and his mother, I mean?”
“The Hogsthorpe pack shall bury their bodies somewhere undetectable.”
“He would have killed you, wouldn’t he?” I said.
“Yes. We are not like humans. In animal form sometimes we have to fight to the death. Jett would have had us all slaughtered.”
I nodded as I knew he spoke the truth.
“I must go to see Shelley.”
“And I need to talk to Alyssa and speak to the pack.”
I walked away and went up to my best friend. Frankie was currently sat next to Mr Suited and Booted.
“So, who’s the dude?” I asked her.
“He’s shy and doesn’t want to give his name. He’s being taken to the Caves where he’ll be imprisoned until he wants to speak. I’ve disabled his powers, so he’s no threat to anyone.”
“How come you didn’t detect the potions though? Does that mean his powers were stronger?”
“No. I believe mine were weaker. My pregnancy was taking it out of me, making my human body weaker. My wyvern and witch side were supporting my humanity and therefore weren’t operating at one hundred percent efficiency. Now I’ve been turned and have no human part, I’m stronger than ever. And my mum was distracted that day. I was having a good old whine about life.”
“You appear to be ready to give birth. I’m guessing that’s due to the vamp mojo?”
“Indeed.” Theo joined us. “And has thus given me quite the dilemma. It would appear the B&B shall be delayed once more as now all my attention needs to be given to the nursery and to organise things for our daughter seeing as she’ll be making an appearance a lot sooner than we thought.”
“Hey, what’s happening?” Shelley looked over my shoulder.
The Hogsthorpe pack one by one stood in front of Darius, went to their knees, dipped their heads and murmured something. We moved closer to hear the words.
“I pledge my allegiance to the Withernsea pack and to you Alpha Darius…”
“I pledge…”
Every wolf there did the same and then Darius spoke to all of the assembled wolves.
“I thank you for your pledges. After speaking to my younger brother just now I would like to note our future plans. I will happily rule you all until such time as my sister, Alyssa, becomes eighteen years of age. At which time, in the interests of modern times and with my pride at her courageous actions today, I shall offer the Alpha position to her. The first time a woman will have been offered the post.”
A joyous roar came from the rest of the pack which surprised me given how a lot of men still thought women belonged in the kitchen. Then again she did still have blood stains around her mouth and had killed an Alpha and his mother like swatting pesky flies, so I guess they might just be shit scared of arguing the point.
Alyssa’s mouth dropped open. “Thanks, bro, but I’m planning on going away with the circus. No one else has an aerial artist who turns into a wolf by ‘magic’.”
“Please tell me you have not been revealing yourself.”
“Calm down. I shall behave, but only until I’m eighteen and then you’ll just have to put up with it.”
“Not as Alpha, I won’t.”
“As a brother, you will.”
“Okay, okay.” I said stepping between them. “If all business is concluded then can we get out of here? I’d quite like to go home now.”
“Could you kindly get us some robes, or spare clothes.” Darius asked one of the ex-Hogsthorpe shifters.
Once dressed he took my hand. “Come on, I’ll take you back to your place.”
I stared at him. “I said I wanted to go home, Darius.”
His forehead bunched in confusion.
“To my future pack. To my future family. I belong with you, Darius, and I don’t want to waste another minute.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kim
I looked at the quickly printed invitations. With the short notice I think I’d done an excellent job.
You are invited to the wedding of:
Kimberly Louise Fletcher and Darius Wild
Friday 9 February 2018
10pm
The Main Hall
Withernsea Caravan Park
A celebration party will take place straight after the ceremony.
**Please be aware that guests at the wedding MAY see naked bodies during the celebrations due to wolf/human transition**
It’s so good when your boutique owning friend has contacts. She managed to get me the most beautiful dress. It wasn’t a full proper wedding dress. A sleek dress with white lacy sleeves, it came to just below my knee and looked elegant. She curled my hair into ringlets and did my make-up.
I looked in the mirror. I looked happy. Something I’d not seen in my reflection in quite a while.
“Thank you, Ebony.” I said.
“I told you so. Told you, you were meant for him.”
“Yes, alright, Mrs Clever Clogs. You were right. There I said it. Are you happy now?”
“Yes darling, I just needed to hear you say the words.”
Shelley was walking around whining. “Look at me. I’m a walking marquee.” She’d had to be changed into a larger dress due to her ever-expanding stomach.
“Excuse me. Today is all about me.” I reminded her.
She burst into a peal of laughter and clutched her tummy. “Oh it is good to have my best friend back.”
Freya stood in the doorway. “He’s here. It’s time to go.”
I turned to her and smiled. My own mum wasn’t here, but I didn’t need her. I had Freya now.
Frankie walked me down the aisle taking the place of my father. I’d thought about who could accompany me and had decided that Frankie was kind of my male best friend. He’d been honoured, and Lucy had looked really happy when she’d found out, although for some reason she thought I’d asked him ages ago.
And then I was at the front and everyone else faded from my attention. It was just me and Darius.
The registrar spoke. Before I knew it he said the words I’d been waiting for.
“I now declare you Alpha and wife.”
And the celebrations began.
At midnight, Darius and I walked down to the yurt together. The whole inner woodland had been decorated in fairy lights.
“Finally, I’ve got you alone.” Darius said, his voice low and husky. Last night his mum had insisted we sleep in separate beds and that he didn’t see me today as it was bad luck. You’d think she’d have let tradition ride after we’d all just survived a pack war but no.
“You have.” I looked up at him. His eyes flashed his wolf look for a moment. Desire pooled low in my belly.
“Wife. I have needs and I command you come into this yurt and attend to them.”
I bellowed with laughter. “If you’re going to start talking to me like that, we’ll be divorced before sunrise.”
“Never.” He growled. “You’re my mate for life.”
With that he picked me up and carried me through the yurt’s opening and put me on my feet next to the bed. He turned me so that my back was to him and he unzipped my dress. I let it shimmy to my feet and he picked it up and placed it over the back of a chair. I was n
ow standing in front of him in my bridal undies. White, lacy, and oh… already off.
He in fact had peeled my thong off with his teeth, eliciting shivers down my spine. Goose bumps rose on my arms. He stood behind me, his erection against my ass and he cupped my breast in his hand.
“All mine.” He said.
I turned around in his arms and cupped his pec.
“All mine.” I repeated.
He threw me on the bed. “You leave me no choice but to shag this insolence out of you.”
“Ooh if you insist.” I replied, and then I couldn’t speak any more because his mouth was on mine.
He trailed his mouth down the side of my neck and all the way down to my thighs and then he nestled between them and his mouth fastened on my core.
“Oh my God.” I screamed as his tongue flicked over my nub and inside me. He drove me wild which was ironic given that was now my last name. I was Mrs Kimberly Wild. Oh. My. God. My name was Kim Wild—with the exception of a missing ‘e’ on my surname, I now sounded like a 1980’s pop star. I felt like bursting into a chorus of ‘You came’ but given we were having sex right now I felt it might be a tad Freudian.
I exploded on his mouth. While I got my breath back, Darius moved up and over my body. “Babe, I saw stars. It was that good.” I told him. He shook his head at me. “Kim, you can see stars. There’s a space in the yurt roof, where the smoke from the fire exits.”
“Oh yeah.”
“But maybe I caused some extra ones.” He said, lining himself up at my entrance.
“Are you ready to properly become my mate?” He asked.
“Yes.” I nodded, “now get inside me already.”
He pushed deep, and I moaned in lust. He took his time building us up to our climaxes and then just as I started to lose it I felt the graze of sharpened teeth and he bit my neck.
“Oooooohhhhh.”
We both came hard and then I felt a fizzing sensation throughout my body. I saw Darius change into his wolf before my eyesight went blurry and then a weird rippling sensation took over. It wasn’t painful, it was just very, very, strange.
Hate, Date, or Mate? (Supernatural Dating Agency Book 3) Page 14
