20. Finley
Finley
Aknock came at the door, surprising us all since we hadn’t heard anyone approaching the house.
Closing my eyes, I called on all my senses, trying to figure out who could be at the door.
It smelled of wolf, but one I didn’t know, yet had a hint of familiarity, almost as if their scent reminded me of something.
They weren’t alone, which made it even more alarming that we hadn’t heard them coming long before they reached the door.
Magic was the only thing I could think of, and right now, that meant they could be our enemy, or the witch who ruined Peggy’s mind was still around.
Zander swore under his breath and set me aside, rising from the couch. “No matter what happens, I need you to trust me.”
Not giving us a chance to say anything, he headed for the door. I stood to follow him, but Elias was at my side, pulling me behind him, the others creating a wall of bodies between me and whoever was at the door.
“Mother, Peter, what the hell are you doing here without giving me a warning that you were going to show up?” Zander asked in a harsh whisper. “If I’d known, I never would have told you to come up the front-drive and show up at the alpha’s house in the fucking middle of the pack.”
“Zander! That is no way to talk to your mother,” a deep male voice barked out.
“Don’t fucking talk to me, Peter. You might be my mother’s not-so-secret lover and bodyguard, but you are on my pack lands,” Zander snarled. “That is unless you are here on official Senate business, Senator Vaughan?”
A woman let out a sigh. “Zan, why must you always make things so difficult? Do you really want to have this discussion out here on the porch for anyone to hear?”
“I’m not letting you into our space without knowing if this is personal or professional,” Zander countered, his voice clipped.
“Morwyn, let’s just go. I told you this was a bad idea,” Peter muttered. “Your son has never been one to see reason or trust his own family.”
“Really, Peter? I wonder why that is? Could it be because my parents’ mating is a sham and was only used to gain power between two packs?
That you are Mother’s true mate, but you have to keep it hidden from the world, yet you make me seem like I’m the traitor in the family for being what I am? ” Zander shot back.
“This is going nowhere, and we can’t afford to piss off the Senate no matter if it's his mother or not,” I said, reaching out silently to my three soul bonded mates.
“Let me pass so I can go to him and defuse this. I’m an omega, they can’t do anything to me without cause, and there are too many witnesses with the pack around us. ”
Elias’s stiffened, and Lane scowled at me, not liking this plan at all, but Rath shifted giving me room to slip by him.
Elias’s hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, shaking his head.
“My heart, this is not a good idea. If she is here to kill you or take you from us, stopping her will bring the Senate’s wrath down on us in the blink of an eye.
Let Zander deal with his mother. I can’t lose you. ”
I gave Elias a sad smile knowing he was caught in a storm of remembering his past and it clashing with his present.
Stepping into him, I kissed him, letting my confidence and reassurance flow ingot him.
No matter what happened, we would have to face this moment eventually, and having it occur here on our pack lands gave us some protection. “All will be well,” I assured him.
He let go of me but followed right on my heels as I walked to join Zander at the front door.
“Finley,” Colt whispered brusquely. “What do you think you’re doing? Get back here right now.” Colt tried to add an alpha command to that last statement as he stepped forward.
Feeling his order, I steeled myself and chose to ignore it, knowing he was reacting out of fear, not for what was best in mind for the pack as a whole.
I glanced at him over my shoulder and gave a slight shake of my head, and mouthed, “Trust me.” Colt’s eyes flashed in anger, and I knew I was going to be in trouble later with him for doing what I’d just done, but if I could resolve this without anyone getting hurt, it would be worth it.
Zander had left the front door open and was blocking the entrance with his body instead.
Peering past him, I found a striking woman with long blond hair neatly styled loosely around her shoulders.
Her face showed her age with slight wrinkling around her eyes and mouth, her skin a little more weathered over the years but still beautiful.
Her eyes told me where Zander got his silver color from and the proud nose and sharp jawline.
Morwyn Vaughan was poised as she stood there on the porch of a stranger’s home, facing off with her son, who was a stronger alpha than she was, from what I could sense.
She wore a simple tailored dress that fit her body to perfection and heels that made her stand out in this setting but portrayed the woman of power that she was.
Everything about her countenance told me she wasn’t someone to be fucked with or to underestimate—it made me like her instantly.
In many ways, she reminded me of Margaret, and I wondered if all women in powerful roles had the same way they carried themselves.
Placing my hands on Zander’s hips, I moved him to the side just enough for me to slip past him. “Finley!” he growled, wrapping an arm around my waist to keep me from getting closer to his mother.
Morwyn looked at me with curiosity and a slight warmth in her gaze. “So this is your mysterious mate, just the woman I was hoping to speak with.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Senator,” I greeted, nodding my head. “Forgive Zander for being overprotective. We’ve had an unusual few days that’s set all my mates on edge.”
“Mates?” a short, stocky male who was standing next to Morwyn asked.
Morwyn gave him a warning look as she turned to the silent men who were waiting at the bottom of the stairs. “I’ll be joining my son and his mate for dinner. Wait here until we are ready to leave. I’ll keep Peter with me in case of any trouble.”
“Yes, ma’am,” they both answered with a nod, turning to face out toward the rest of the pack lands.
Peering up at Zander, I poked his arm. “You need to move so they can get in.”
He looked down at me, not at all happy with the turn of events. “I wasn’t planning on letting them in.”
“Zander,” I warned. “This is your mother, and clearly, she is here to meet me and spend some time with you. Wouldn’t it be better for us all to have a nice meal and talk? You never know what you might learn if you give a person a chance every once in a while.”
I willed him to understand what I was trying to say without giving anything away.
Zander wanted to believe that his mother didn’t have anything to do with what was going on, and this would be the best time to let her prove that.
This would be so much easier if I were soul bonded to all my mates.
That was something I wasn’t going to wait on much longer.
The moment I had time with Zander and Colt, I would fix that, then I needed to claim Mason and Noah as well.
They were mine and I was theirs. We just hadn’t had our moment yet.
Zander grunted but stepped aside, pulling me with him, waving an exaggerated gesture for his mother and Peter to enter ahead of us.
“You, little dove, are in so much trouble,” Zander whispered in my ear.
“Seems this elf side of you needs to learn when is the right time to be assertive and when to be submissive. Letting Mother into this house was a foolish idea.”
“Do you really believe your mother is evil?” I challenged. “If so, I am more than happy to deal with the problem here and now. Two bodyguards, Peter and your mother won’t be much of a difficulty to handle since they would never see it coming.”
He blinked at me a few times before he shook himself out of the shock my words left him in.
“I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to the fact that you are more deadly than all of us put together.
Come on, let’s get this over with since it seems like you have a plan or logical reason for all of this. ”
“Just trust me,” I purred, nuzzling into his neck.
Zander groaned and darted in to give me a searing kiss that left me breathless as he pulled me into the house behind him.
Back in the living room, Morwyn was in one of the armchairs with Peter standing behind her like she was his queen.
Looking at how he watched Morwyn, she might be that to him, but it was more.
It was an expression I’ve seen on all my mates' faces at one point or another. He loved her even if he couldn’t have her to himself or even claim her as his mate.
Even so, he was willing to take what he could get.
The rest of my mates stood behind the couch, looking with uncertainty at me as we joined them.
“Noah, would you mind seeing what we have to offer our guests?” I requested, running a hand down his arm as I passed by.
“I’m sure, even though the flight from Washington wasn’t long, traveling always makes me thirsty.
” Morwyn watched me with interest as I sat on the couch across from her.
Noah did as I asked and returned with glasses and a large pitcher of iced tea and water. “Do you have a preference, Senator?” Noah asked.
“Please call me Morwyn. We are all family here. No need to stand on formality,” Morwyn said with a kind smile. “Ice tea would be lovely, thank you. I find it always tastes better when I’m in the south. Not sure why that is, but I try to never turn it down when offered.”
Noah’s gaze flicked to mine and I just smiled, letting him know that I wasn’t bothered by her comment about us all being family. If she knew I was an elf, then having more than one mate wasn’t going to be a surprise.
“Feel free to share why you are here, Mother,” Zander sassed, flopping onto the couch.