Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
The next morning I awoke to the aroma of freshly brewing coffee that my parents, who are saints, had going downstairs in the kitchen while they made breakfast. I slunk out of Ben's bed, tired as shit, and padded down the stairs to fuel my body and prepare myself to update Dad on all the bullshit that went down last night.
I knew he wouldn't be angry that I'd fought with my all and won.
He'd told us in very deliberate words after the dinner at the Alpha's house that we were to defend ourselves and not worry about the blowback.
But it was still a bummer to deliver the news that our bubble of anonymity had burst yet again, and this time in a much more spectacular fashion.
"Good morning, honey," Mom said from the table where she was playing around on her tablet. "How was the party last night? Did you kids have fun?"
Ben appeared, wearing his pajama pants and nothing else, and headed for the tea kettle.
"Yeah, you could say that," he snarked from the kitchen.
Dad was plating bacon and eggs, and he handed me a mug of coffee as he brought everything to the table.
I sighed. "Dad. Some stuff happened last night."
He quirked a brow as he slid into his chair at the head of the table. "Oh? I know that tone. Pack nonsense?"
"Pretty much."
I launched into the recap of last night as we all ate breakfast around our dining room table.
I started with Harriet’s kidnapping, the confrontation and challenge from Nikka, her dirty cheating by having her friends jump into our fight when she was about to lose, the appearance of Knox and his buddies, and how I decided to finish the fight, leaving no room for questions as to my Alpha bloodline.
Dad mulled it all over for a minute, chewing his bacon. He didn't look upset, just thoughtful.
"Well," he said finally. "We knew this was probably going to happen.
As soon as the fated mating occurred and you drew the attention of the Alpha and his son, it was only a matter of time before someone pushed too hard.
I'm just sorry that happened to Harriet.
It sounds like this really all could have been avoided if Knox Monroe would just have been nicer to his girlfriend. "
Ben snorted. "You can say that again. She's not going to fuck with Mave anymore, though. You should have seen how terrified she was when Mave Alpha-commanded her to shift back into human form."
"Regardless, we will need to be prepared for the Alpha to step up his manipulations.
Now that our bloodline is semi-public knowledge, or will be soon, he will have to figure out how to explain why he hid it from the Pack, including his top betas.
He can't exactly blame Mave for defending herself, but he's going to be angry that his carefully laid plans all went to shit. "
"Also, Knox was already sniffing around Mave more this past week," Ben added. "Now that he knows she’s actually a power match for him, plus the pressure from his dad, I can only imagine he's going to start pushing harder to repair and accept the bond."
I huffed. "Probably. But you were there, Ben. I don't know how I could have been more clear with him that it will never happen, not in a million years, especially if he's only interested now because of my power."
"I'm proud of you, Mave," Mom said, reaching over to rub my back.
"As much as you would make an amazing Alpha Mate, I'm glad you are sticking to your convictions and going with your gut on this one.
Don't ever settle for less than you want.
Even if I do actually really like Bianca as a potential in-law," she added, winking at me.
"Uh, yeah so, maybe now is a good time to tell you guys that I kind of have a boyfriend?" I said, just deciding to throw that one out there.
Ben snorted again. I glared at him and kicked him under the table, but he just grinned at me. I'm sure he was looking forward to me trying to explain this one to Dad.
"Sweetie! That's great, who is he?" Mom gushed. Dad looked at me curiously.
"I failed to mention in my story that he was actually there last night. He saw me rush out of the party in a panic, followed me out to the woods, and cut Harriet down from the tree. He hid from everyone else, so none of the other wolves saw him out there."
"Wait, he's not a wolf?" Dad asked, confused.
"Not exactly."
"Mave! And he saw you shift?"
"Calm down, Dad," I said, defensively. "Here's the thing. He's definitely human, but I think he's also... not."
"What the hell does that mean?" Dad demanded.
"Well, he told Harriet that he had a wolf great-grandfather, so we can at least work with that as far as not having blown the secrecy of wolves to an unsuspecting human.
" I paused. "However, I have a feeling that he is something more.
He's mentioned being able to 'sense' that I was powerful.
I think he knew I was a wolf the day he met me, somehow.
" I decide to leave out the fireballs and the glowing and, you know, the library sex.
"I don't know if you noticed this last night, Magic," Ben added, "but he had masked his scent somehow. I didn't smell him until I came right up on him after tracking Harriet. He was able to hide from the other wolves."
"Huh," I said. More questions to add to my list for today.
"Well, that's very interesting," Dad said, cautiously. "Does he know you suspect he's... something else?"
"He does, and we are planning to meet up today to talk about everything. After last night, the doors were kind of blown off all of our secrets."
"He's super hot, too," Ben chimed in helpfully.
Dad gave him a look, and I quickly added, "That's true, but he's also been such a rock for me through all of this shit, Dad.
Like I'm not sure when he figured out what actually had happened with Knox, but he just kind of was there for me as a friend in silent support all of these weeks.
And, he's always stood behind me, like he knew I was capable of handling all the shit from Knox and his betas and everyone else.
Now that I know he's at least sort of read into our world, it's kind of like having another Harriet—someone we can be open and honest with but who isn't a part of the Pack and its drama. It's pretty perfect, actually."
"That sounds... good to me," Dad said, relaxing and smiling at me. "Bring him over here soon so I can do the Dad thing for two seconds, but really I'm just interested to learn what you find out today."
"Will do, Dad."
I only hoped it would all be good news.