by Tamara White
“Oh god. This is embarrassing,” I whisper into his chest hiding my face. Thankfully his shirt is long enough to go to my knees so it covers everything but that doesn’t take away from the fact that everyone, and I mean everyone, got a peak of my goodies.
“Um, sorry, I forgot that we’re naked when we shift back. It just kind of happened,” I say blushing profusely.
“I’m not complaining,” Pete says, followed by a smack making me laugh. Nate really loves smacking him around.
“Are you okay Dani?” Jason asks while I sneak a peek at them from under Cam’s arm. I move him to the side and gesture the others to come forward.
I’m almost knocked over as they each try to hug me or touch me to make sure I’m safe. “Guys, I’m fine. I promise.”
“You gave me a heart attack. We heard a howl but weren’t sure if someone was playing or not. When we heard your howl, we just knew you needed us so we bolted here to find you hovering over Jake, a dead wolf that looks to be gutted, and you protecting the Alpha King’s enforcer,” Nate deadpans, shaking his head frustrated.
“What’s going on here?!” My dad says storming into the area with Tim, Laura, Monique and Walter on his heels. I run to him hugging him tight, the relief that the enforcers didn’t kill me finally taking over.
“Oh you know, killing wolves who attack me, making the Alpha King submit to my authority. The usual,” I say lightly waiting for my words to register.
“What?!”
I don’t know whether he’s shocked or angry. Either way it’s probably not good.
“Jake and I were walking back to the house after I’d calmed down, when he kissed me, before telling me we were being followed.”
“You kissed Jake?!” Mitchell asks me incredulously.
“Yeah it was so he could tell me without them hearing us,” I say as if that should be obvious. “Anyway, one attacked him while I ran for the house but two got to me before I could. I grappled with one and made him stab himself but the other I did, voluntarily.
I circled back to help Jake and saw him on the ground bleeding out from a silver wound so I attacked. My wolf was in control of my actions then we gutted this guy here when James pounced on me. We fought and my wolf pushed her power out. He submitted telling me who he really is. His name is James. He’s here to help me. Without him, I wouldn’t have been able to save Jake,” I finish looking at Monique seeing her eyes light up, understanding who James is.
“You’re obviously insane. His name’s Chase and he’s a wolf who disobeyed my orders. We will bring him to the Elders for punishment,” Luke says, finally getting the balls to talk.
“No, you won’t. He’s under my protection as future Alpha Queen,” I state standing up tall. “James may have hurt me unintentionally to begin with but he was doing what he was told.”
“Why on earth do you keep calling him James?! His name is Chase! Chase!” he all but screams at me.
“His name isn’t Chase, it’s James. I know because he’s the first male from my line. You would know too if you were a real heir to our heritage. If you don’t believe me, just ask him,” I say moving aside so he can see James from where he is behind me.
“She speaks the truth. My real name is James Jackson of the Jackson family line. My wife was Malina Jackson and our daughters were, Petra, Lucinda and Nora. I’ve never revealed my true self as I was waiting until my true heir was ready. She is now,” he says looking over at me fondly.
Man, this dude is weird. His moods keep changing like a light switch. First, he’s disgusted with Jake, then terrified of Luke and now all warm and fuzzy towards me? I don’t know for sure, but he must have a bigger agenda to be this all over the place.
“What?! Why didn’t you ever say something?!” Luke asks clearly pissed off but trying to rein it in. It’s kind of funny to watch.
“Because you were never the true Alpha King. You stole the position by using threats and bribery. Maybe now the rightful heir to our society can fix all that you’ve managed to screw up,” he says spitefully.
All? How much did Luke ruin? This is so not looking good for me and my plan to back down.
“Alright you two, before this gets into another fight, we should go to the house and contact the Elders. They’ll want to know of this development,” Monique says, interrupting them before Luke can fire back whatever response he had planned.
I’m expecting more of an argument but they just start trekking back to the house. What about the bodies out here in the forest? Won’t they go gross being out here? What do you do with a dead wolf body? Dad never mentioned this part of wolf society.
“Um, guys? Aren’t you forgetting something?” I ask waiting for one of my mates to acknowledge the ‘dead body’ situation.
“It’s fine Dani. We’ll send someone back to get them. We just want to get you inside where you’ll be safe,” Jason says, begging for me to leave it alone.
I want to argue and bring the wolves with me. I feel horrible that they’re dead but survival of the fittest is a big lesson my father taught me. They weren’t going to back down so I had no choice.
Sighing, I follow after them until we all reach the movie room. Jake and Rick say their goodbyes, separating from the rest of us when we pass their room. I don’t blame them, it’s been one hell of a day but I still need to iron shit out with my mates before it eats me up inside.
Once everyone’s all sitting, I take my cue standing in front of the TV, hands on my hips, glaring at them showing how upset I am.
“You guys may think because I got distracted with James and Jake, that I forgot why I stormed off, but I didn’t. Jake explained a bit more to me about why you guys reacted the way you did. That doesn’t excuse you from your behavior though. I’m still hurt and upset. I’m not a piece of property that you can just wish clean,” I tell them, my anger leaving me. I don’t think I was ever truly angry but hurt, over the way everyone reacted.
“It’s just all we’ve ever known. A female stays pure for her mate,” Nate says, his head hanging down but that just sparks my anger.
“Fine, you want to be like that. How many people have you slept with? Human and Wolf. Go,” I demand, watching their surprise.
I gesture to Jason first, “I’m serious. Each of you want to judge me on my one sexual partner before I knew I had mates, then I want your numbers. Now!”
Jason finally relents but I can tell he hates doing so, “Six.”
“Nate?”
“Three, but they didn’t mean anything,” he says guiltily.
“I’m sure they didn’t but I’ll get to my point,” I tell him, moving on to Mitchell.
“Two,” he says, before I ask.
“Jonnie?”
“I’d rather not say,” he says, refusing to meet my eyes.
“And I don’t care. You all felt you needed to have a say in my personal business so, I want to know,” I say, trying not to get irritated but he sighs and gives in. “Fine, five maybe six.”
“Cam?”
“One. She was freaked out by my scars so I never let anyone get that close again,” he says sadness in his eyes. For a moment, I forget the point I’m proving and give him a hug.
“I’m sorry. She wasn’t worth it,” I tell him, holding on tightly.
“It’s okay,” he says, letting me go back to my position, facing them. Only Pete is left and his answer is the one I’m most afraid of. He must have slept with at least twenty women by now. No one could turn down someone as cute and funny as him.
“Ah, I’d rather not answer,” he says, blushing after a few moments.
“Just get it over with,” Nate says frustrated.
“Okay but it’s not because I didn’t want to. I’ve had lots of offers but turn them down,” he says turning bright red. Is he saying what I think he is? He’s a virgin? “So, my number is, zero.”
“Wow! Seriously man?” Nate asked shocked. Those two are extremely close so it surprises me that Nate didn’t know.
&nb
sp; “Well then, apart from Pete and Cam, the rest of you have had more than double the number of sexual partners than I have so why do you think it’s fair that you can have sex with whomever you please but your mate must be ‘pure?’ Don’t you think that concept is a little outdated? What if I said I won’t be your mate because you aren’t virgins?”
I watch all their jaws drop in satisfaction until Pete rushes me, swinging me in his arms laughing. He puts me down still smiling. “I won,” he smirks. I shake my head at his tendency to lighten a situation.
“You won’t really say no to us if we aren’t virgins though, right?” Mitchell asks not quite sure if I mean it or not.
“No, I wouldn’t and that’s my point. Your past, is your business. Who am I to blame you for what you did before you met me? It may seem more human of me to think that way but if you guys don’t drop the subject then I may not want you as mates.”
I take a deep breath before continuing on, “I have feelings for all of you, it should be obvious by now, but I won’t stay in a relationship with anyone who is going to judge me for something I can’t change.”
I watch each of them absorb my statement and almost jump out of my skin when the door to the movie room bursts open. Walter rushes in like his pants are on fire.
“Oh Dani, thank God. You need to get dressed and ready. The Elders demand your testimony in the case of Chase. Or James. You know what I mean. Quick, go put some nice clothes on, we don’t have much time but you must be pristine when we face them,” Walter says, crossing the room and dragging me out. I didn’t even realize I was still just in Cam’s shirt.
“Okay, okay, I’m coming, jeez. They can wait five minutes while I get dressed,” I tell him shaking his hand off.
“Dani, when the Elders request your presence you get there as fast as you can so as to not piss them off. Now hurry,” he says, pushing me in my room, slamming the door in my face.
I rush to get changed, hoping a simple jean and t-shirt will do because I’m not putting much more effort in my outfit than that.
Chapter 21
Wow, these guys don’t look old at all. All the guys freaked when Walter burst in saying I’d been summoned by the Elders. I didn’t see what the big deal was, a couple of old dudes in robes questioning me. What was the harm?
They are definitely not old dudes, and they aren’t wearing robes. Instead, I’m facing four older men and a woman, but they only look to be in their forties rather than hundreds of years old, which is what I expected.
“Do you understand why you’ve been brought to the Elders today?” the one on the far right asks.
They’re all spread out in a semicircle facing the one chair which is supposed to be mine. It feels like I’m being sentenced to something but at least everyone is standing behind me, showing the Elders the support I have.
The man on the far right has bright red hair and beard, which makes him look like a big biker. Well apart from his brown eyes. There’s a softness in them that makes me feel safe.
The one to his right, my left, is tall with black hair. Tattoos covering every inch of what is visible on his arms and snake up his neck. His eyes are also brown but more of pale chocolate.
The Elder in the middle is female and the only one of the Elders. She’s so beautiful, it’s hard to determine her actual age. Ebony hair flows down her back and her blue eyes scream evil. My wolf is on high alert watching her warily. We both know something’s off.
The fourth Elder looks slightly younger than the others but just as wise. His hair, midnight in colour making his blue eyes sparkle. There’s a humor there, as well as a knowledge that lasts ages.
The fifth Elder is staring at me with such hate in his deep green eyes, that it unnerves me. Why would someone hate me when it’s the first time I’ve met them?
“Well, I believe the reason you’ve brought me here is because Luke has said I’ve done something wrong in killing the three wolves who attacked me and offering protection to the fourth. What I believe we should be discussing however, is why four of his enforcers were allowed to attack me on a friendly pack’s lands. I trust you, as the Elders of our society, to know what issue we should be focusing on,” I respond being as diplomatic as I can under the circumstances.
Walter told me they would try to bring me up on charges against the pack and to use the skills I’d learnt over the past few days. There was a lot of diplomacy subjects mentioned in the journal too so I’m pretty sure I can handle this effectively.
“You say they attacked you but we have no proof of this,” the female Elder says, sitting back in her chair with a smirk on her face.
“On the contrary, I do. I have a wolf who assisted in my protection as I said before. He can relay the course of events if you need. He’s right here,” I say gesturing with my head in James direction. He takes this as his cue to step forward.
“Be that as it may, you can’t call a wolf you’re protecting to testify for you as he would do anything to keep your favour. Unless you have another viable witness, we will have to rule in favor with Luke.”
The red headed man is staring at me, glancing between James and I for some reason. If I didn’t know any better, I’d assume he was trying to tell us something.
“What about Jake? He was there the whole time and helped me fight them off?” I ask, knowing they will dismiss him for being my mate. I already told him before coming in, he might need to confess he and Rick aren’t my mates so they could back me up.
“Again, he may be a witness but as your mate, he would side with you regardless,” The bitch in the middle sneers at me. I want to smack that look off her face. I definitely think she’s in Luke’s pocket.
“Actually, he’s not. Sorry to interrupt your eminence but I wanted to clarify that Rick and Jake are not Dani’s mates. They’re two of my newer enforcers entrusted with protecting the future Alpha Queen. I made sure one of them was always near her in case something such as this happened,” Tim says interrupting, making the bitch suck a lemon. If she could leap from her chair and strangle Tim, she probably would.
“Very well. Jake, please step forward to recount your version of events and remember, if you tell anything other than the truth, you will be punished to the full extent of the law,” the tattooed Elder says sitting forward, a gleam of curiosity in his eyes.
“I understand,” Jake responds, his respect for the Elders clear. I listen as he goes into his version of events, telling them how he distracted them while I ran, hoping to give me a chance to get to safety before I was hurt. Now that I’m thinking about everything he’s saying about being stabbed and me saving him by using his wolf to heal, I have time to focus on a detail I missed. The wolf stabbed Jake with a knife. There was at least two knives, one which I took with me to Jake but what happened to the one the other wolf had when Jake was stabbed?
James didn’t have one and there wasn’t one near the wolf I killed, yet he stabbed Jake. So where did it go? I’ll ask James after and see if I can figure out what happened. Maybe the other wolf lost it but it’s seems too unlikely to be the case.
“Ms Jackson, are you listening?” one of the Elders asks, causing me to jar out of my mind.
“Yes sir. Sorry,” I say sheepishly. My mates chuckle. They must have thought I dozed off.
“As I was saying, we understand your need to defend yourself so no crimes were committed in murdering your fellow wolves. However,” he says ominously, almost making me roll my eyes. Any time the word ‘however,’ is involved it usually means something bad.
“You still protected one and you were wandering on pack lands without an introduction. As enforcers, it was their right to kill a perceived threat on pack lands when their Alpha is around. You hadn’t formally introduced yourself so they had no idea you were not a threat. Seeing that you killed three of them, I would have assumed the same as they did when seeing you,” the red headed biker guy says to me.
“These actions will result in the trials happening tomorrow morning
at dawn. Your mates will be penalized for your actions and I hope you learn your lesson from this,” the black-haired bitch says smiling evilly at me.
As much as I want to rant and rave at the Elders, I know that won’t change anything so I pull up my big girl panties, “Thank you for your lenience and understanding on this matter. We’ll leave you. Until tonight,” I say bowing my head to show my appreciation.
We walk out of the room together, each of us keeping quiet until the door closes behind us. As we walk away, my dad breaks the silence, “Who are you and what did you do to my smartass daughter?” he asks, feigning shock.
“Very funny. I knew no matter what I said, I wouldn’t win them over. As far as they’re concerned, I’m an imposter. They need to trust me before they’re on my side. Dinner tonight gives me the perfect chance to show off my charm.”
It’s not a ball like the trials require but more of an evening dinner with everyone. I’m still going to have to dress up so they may have well of just called it a ball. Besides, I still don’t have a dress to wear so I may not be going. Maybe Laura has a spare I can borrow?
“Hey Laura, speaking of tonight,” I begin seeing a smile light up her face.
“Don’t worry, honey. I’ve got you covered,” she winks.
Oh, thank God. I don’t want to be dressed in jeans and a t-shirt when I meet the Elders formally. That means I’ll be wearing a dress though, damn!
“Okay guys we’re going to get things ready for tonight. Behave or I’ll send Jake and Rick after you,” Alpha Tim says grinning.
“If you don’t mind, could we have a word Danielle? We haven’t really had time alone. I need to tell you some things before tonight,” James catches my attention as Dad and Nate’s parents walk away.
“Um sure. You can come with us if you want? We were going to watch a movie and pig out on snacks before we have to get ready.”
He nods, following us down the hall, taking multiple turns that I’m finally used too. It was so hard not to get lost in the first few days. Especially with all the shortcuts the guys showed me.
