“They are on our borders, they haven’t crossed, nor will they unless there is a rogue sightng as we agreed on, or do you need me to send the contract to you again?”
“If you don’t remove them, I’ll contact The Elders,”
My eyes widened, would this really be seen as an act of war? I knew they weren’t under Cresent Moon’s jurisdiction. I knew enough to know that packs within a jurisdiction had different rules on how to handle conflict than when they were faced with packs outside their territories.
“Do, we have a contract in place and we haven’t broken it. Once we see you move more men to the borders and keep them there, then we will remove some of our excesses. We don’t want to spread thin our warriors either to pick up your slack.” The line was silent for a minute.
“Remove them now,” He demanded.
“Griffen, do you mind sending a copy of the contract to Alpha Jasper?”
“Physical or digital?” Griffen asked.
“Both.” Caspien responded, “Re-read the contract, and come back with any questions. I don’t have time for this,”
“I swear-“
Caspien hung up the phone and dropped it on the desk.
“What is his problem?” Holden asked.
“Power struggle and personal vindictiveness,” He turned to me, “He has a grudge against my father that was transferred to me.” He explained, “Alpha Jasper challenged the previous Alpha for the title; my dad accepted any pack member that wanted a new start without completely uprooting their lives or going too far from their family that chose to stay.” “Commendable,”
“It was,” Caspien agreed, “Alpha Jasper doesn’t see it that way.”
“Generational grudges, the fun part of being an Alpha,” Holden smiled.
“I’m sure you’re going to start many grudges for yourself and your family,” Griffen looked at him.
“I can only hope,” Holden flashed a smile.
“What do you want us to do?” Griffen asked Caspien.
“Nothing, we hold our position; the contract will protect us. Inform those at the border that there has been some tension.”
“They can try to be more discreet.” Griffen nodded, “They already know to inform me of any new big or small.”
“Good, then we’re done here,” Caspien turned to me, “Sorry, I thought that might be a bit more eventful, and I want to keep you in the loop, just in case,” He looked away from me, something he rarely did.
“No pressure, though,” He reached for my hand.
“Just in case,” My mouth formed a thin line.
“I value your opinion even if you don’t want the title, we’ve accepted each other,” He took my face into his palms and titled it up, “I’ll still ask for your opinion and want you to join in anything you want to. No titles necessary,” His full lips tugged up and I knew he meant ever word.
“Okay,” I looked into his eyes, his intense stare meeting mine.
“Okay then, I guess we should maybe get out of here,” Holden coughed.
“Stop asking to be dismissed,” Griffen said, and I laughed.
“Let’s go check on Emmett, and then I have to go see my parents, you can sneak away if you’d like.”
I was debating it, but his parents were in Griffin’s apartment. Grace was playing with Emmett on the floor, her legs folded under her.
His dad was studying something so intently in his hand that I squinted to see what it was.
“Okay, so this one is going to work; I changed the wings as you requested and streamlined the nose.” His dad said.
“What’s streamlined?” Emmett asked.
“It’s uh, Grace help me out here.”
“Making something more efficient, making it work better,” She nodded at him.
“Mom?” Caspien stopped in the doorway where I was frozen to the spot, “Dad? What the he- heck, what the heck are you doing?” He sounded angry.
“We wanted to meet him,” His mom stood up, brushing off her dress that still was immaculately pressed. This woman was a witch or something. “That was out of line,” Caspien lowered his voice, filling it with ice.
“If he is to be part of this family, you can’t keep him away from us forever,” She shot back, matching his tone.
“This is up to Willa,” Caspien stepped into the apartment. The entire room fell silent.
“Who is ready for cookies?” A cute petite brunette walked in, her stomach swollen, “Oh,” She paused when she saw the scene in front of her. Griffen pushed past us and walked over to his mate, taking the plate from her.
“You shouldn’t be lifting-“
“Its a plate,” She protested, giving him a look that shut him up.
“Hi, I’m Willa,” I said, walking towards the girl, “These smell amazing,”
“That’s Nora,” Emmett bounded up next to me, ignorant to the tension, “She promised me two cookies,” He whispered, “I’ll share with you,” “Thank you,” I looked down at him, placing a hand on his head, “And thank you for watching him.”
“He is such a pleasure, plus I didn’t do much; I had help.” Nora looked toward Caspien’s parents.
“Mr. Rendell was showing me how to make an airplane,” He paused for dramatic effect, and I widened my eyes, “Out of paper.”
“What? No way, show me.” He tugged me towards Caspiens father was sitting on the couch surrounded by paper airplanes.
“Remember when-” His mom started to say.
“Yes, mother.” Caspien cut her off.
“Don’t be so formal with me.” She scolded.
I felt Caspien come up behind me; he placed a hand on my shoulder and gently squeezed it before leaning down, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t-“
I put my hand over his, “Its fine,” It was; it was bound to happen eventually. I was just glad that they liked him; I never thought that they would have wanted to meet him this bad; I was hoping for cool indifference at best.
“I used to make these with Caspien when he would come to my office,” His dad explained, holding up a paper airplane, “We would make them, and I would tell him stories of our pack history.”
“We got pretty good at them,” Caspien stood closer to me, and I settled into his warmth.
“That we did,” His dad swallowed, “It’s so nice being able to do it again with another future Alpha.”
“He will be a good Alpha,” Caspien looked down affectionately at Emmett.
I smiled at him, but it hurt my heart. He would have been a brilliant Alpha, but that was taken from him. Even though I was finally coming to terms with everything else, that was one of the hardest things. Having a true Alpha stripped of his title before he got a chance to take it.
“He would have been,” I sighed, leaning into Caspien; whatever life would bring him now, I knew he would be great at whatever he chose to become, and that would be enough.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.