The Defiant Luna
Chapter 20

Nathan POV

It was good to hear from Stephen just how happy Jay-la was. It was even better to hear Kora all excitedly calling to Havoc to come and look at their pups, that they were playing so happily, she wanted her Mate to see how happy they were.

He and Havoc could see it, Jay-la and the triplets weren’t that far from the pack-house, saw it the moment they stepped out of the pack-house, could not only see it but hear it. The genuine joy in their little voices as they were being chased around by their uncle Brad, they were squealing and laughing.

Nathan-stopped and watched from the pack-house stairs, he did not want to interrupt that family moment. Knew that Brad was likely to just turn and leave the moment he stepped over there. Their relationship was more than strained. The man missed his little sister, they had been very close and then she was just gone and not allowed to return. He’d been pissed off for years. Had a right to be.

Brad dealt with him only after he had actually become the Alpha to the pack. Before that day, the man had simply turned and stalked away from him at every moment. Had only once spoken to him in all those years, well at him. It wasn’t a conversation. Brad had strolled past him one day and stated “You reap what you sew.” As he’d walked towards him and then, as he’d walked past him muttered Got what you deserved finally” Nathan had known what he was talking about. Had even let it go.

He’d just ended things with Sophia, the whole pack had been on edge about Havoc’s behaviour, but not Brad. That man had seen him and Sophia arguing on more than one occasion, had smirked when he saw it, then just walked away. He seemed to enjoy his future Alpha’s pain and misery.

Nathan understood that Brad hated him and why. Wasn’t likely the only wolf in the pack to think what Brad did, about him banishing Jay-la. He however, was the only one with the guts to say it out loud and show his pleasure at Nathan’s broken bond with Sophia. Brad thought he’d gotten a horrible Mate, because he was a horrible person.

It could well be that the Goddess had been testing him, giving him a Mate he didn’t know when he had desired no other than Jay-la for a solid year, had “updated by jobnib.com”never looked at another, only wanted her. Perhaps he had been supposed to stop and think about it, make a choice between them. He’d chosen wrong obviously and then she had punished him for it. Who knew.

He’d lost so much that day, without even knowing it, wondered what would have happened if he’d known she was pregnant, would he have stopped and thought about it. He didn’t know, though it was unlikely Havoc had bolted for his Goddess Gifted Mate, the minute he had scented her.

Nathan could feel Havoc was pushing him to go over to them, he wanted to be closer to his Mate, to his pups, who were so very happy.

Nathan was actively denying him, to let Brad spend time with his long lost sister and his nieces and nephew, and he could feel Havoc was annoyed with him.

Watched on as the game was played, and as the triplets all pounced on their uncle all excitedly, ‘Our turn! Havoc shot at him and suddenly they were on the move, his bloody wolf so impatient. Had taken control of his body to make him go over there, he was done waiting, it seemed.

Though he did relinquish control half way there with Nathan telling him. he’d continue to walk over.

His eyes were on Jay- la, she was all smiles, and then laughing, seemed so very happy he could even hear it, in her voice, and all because she was there with her sibling. That he was playing with her children. They could also feel it through their bond, how happy she really was, Kora was letting him and Havoc feel it, wanted them to know she was happy.

This made him happy, he had not seen her like this since the day she’d played with the triplets at the beach. Slid his eyes over her, she really did look good in that pencil skirt suit. She was dressed for work today and he liked that suit on her a lot. Already knew there was a silk blouse under that jacket, was itching to touch her, heard Havoc growl a little inside his mind, his wolf knew what he was thinking. Liked it as well.

Moved his eyes back to Brad and the triplets before it was very obvious to all around, just how much he wanted her right now She wasn’t likely to feel the same way, not after their last two conversations, neither had

gone well

He saw Brads eyes lock on him and that was it, the game was over, like Nathan had thought it would be. Smiled right at him, didn’t want Brad to feel that he had to stop playing with the children, just because he was now here. It was the very reason he’d not walked over here in the first place, he wanted to give Jay-la space and time with her brother.

Heard the man’s words to his sister and sighed softly, he was going to have to talk to him, though he had a feeling that was not going to be so easy. Brad might never forgive him, it might stay as it was, the man and his wolf were not wrong to have those feelings. Though Brad never spoke to him, he did follow orders and turn up when requested to, listed to what Nathan had to say, stared right at him, not much emotion in the man. Then just gave a curt nod and dismissed himself.

Did as was asked, just didn’t speak to him

It was a better interaction than Vera, Jay-la’s mother had with him, that was certain. Her whole family actively avoided him, and he’d not seen Ivy, Vera’s wolf on a pack run since he’d taken over either, avoided that.

He wondered now if that was still the case. She had let Abbey injure her to bring Jay-la home, for him. That was odd in itself. Also knew the woman had dressed Jay- la for their dinner that night, Jay-la had told him so.

He’d also been in Jodi’s presence, in that man’s house, while she’d been angry after finding out what had happened, though Jodi hadn’t said anything to him that day either, could only hope that would also be different now.

Nathan was the first to roll up his sleeve, to show Jay-la that yes, even he and his unit would be giving b***d, that no-one was exempt. It had been Ethan’s idea “Make evervone donate b***d.” He’d suddenly said into the quiet of his office, as they had all been trying to figure out a way to get her to give b***d without her asking a million questions as to why.

Nathan didn’t want to freak her out, with the information he had read, wanted to keep that out of it. If there was nothing wrong with her, she did not need to be worried or stressed about it.

“A mandatory b***d donation.” Jackson had smiled. “Good thinking.”

It had been a brilliant idea, which had also given him a reason, a valid reason to mind-link to the entire pack, without being told to and he could use that moment to announce her as the Luna. He’d not mentioned the children at all, kept them out of it. This was about her. It had also given him a chance to acknowledge his mistake to the entire pack, and show Jay-la that he was willing to accept the blame for what he had done, sending her away.

Jay-la had brought it up, the fact that she thought he was going to try and blame her, to the children. This should resolve that, or hopefully help her to realise he wasn’t going to do that, had not been going to do that.

Jackson had smiled right at him after the announcement, seemed happy with it. “Now you just need to give her choices.”

“What do you mean?” he’d asked, a little confused.

“Ask her, not tell her, when you want something. Give her a choice. She didn’t get one in coming here. She didn’t want to come here, remember. Kora and Havoc Mated before she had a choice in it and you have a mentality of ‘I’m the Alpha, you’ll do as I say” had glared right at him for that “Which is a good thing for running the pack, but not good when dealing with your Mate.” He’d sighed “You might want to stak acting like a Mate around her, put your Alpha mentality aside and try to..” saw him stop and think about what he wanted to say.

“Be more like you were in the old days, when you two were lovers.”

Ethan had finished for him. “You two were always fun.”

“Not always.” Nathan smiled.

“Yes you were, even with you seriously hunting her to sate your Alpha needs, after she’d been away for weeks at Uni, you enjoyed tormenting and toying with her, all serious like ” Ethan chuckled

That was true, he did recall that, stalking through the pack all serious. like, hunting her down to pull her into his bed, toying with her via the mind-link as she actively avoided him, telling him he could wait, it was just s*x, and she wanted to be with her family. Though her words were always tinged with humour. She’d never stopped him grabbing her and having his way with her. She’d liked being hunted by him, liked being in his bed with his insatiable needs.

Watching Jay- la give b***d, he could only hope the test would come back normal. He excused himself to speak with the pack doctor, as he’d not informed him of this prior. The man looked flustered by the sudden influx of wolves and his work load for the day had more than tripled. Nathan apologised to him for that and motioned for him to head for his office. Once in there, he explained the situation to him. He was going to be on the needs to know list.

Franklin stared right at him and then frowned deeply, after some thought on it stated “I’ll want to see those entries myself, and talk to both your parents as well.

Nathan agreed to send them over. “I’ll want her b***d work done right away. She likely has no idea. If its normal we can forget about it, but if its not, I have to bring her in and tell her what is going on, show her everything we found out. So she understands.”

“Agreed, there’s likely a better chance she’ll understand it and remain calm. Though today’s medicine is much better than back then. That may also help if she is adrenalized. I’ll do some research myself on excess adrenaline within the body. If it turns out this is the case with young Jay-la. Do me a favour, don’t freak her out or tick her off till we know exactly what is going on.”

“I’m trying not to Franklin” Nathan nodded.

He found her standing with his unit just outside the pack hospital, and smiled at her. Not upset her, not get in a fight with her, not so easily done. Though he had a feeling it was more about fear than anger. So, as long as she didn’t fear him or have a reason to fear anything inside this pack, all should be good.

“Now that’s all taken care of, I thought, Jay-la, we could spend sone time together, as a family.”

“Aren’t you busy? You have the council coming, I believe.”

Let it go, he told himself, at the slight tone that was in her voice. ‘It’s all been taken care of, rooms are being prepared and if I have missed anything, Jackson here can handle it.”

“I certainly can, boss.” Jackson nodded “Come on boys, let’s go make sure it’s all sorted. So the boss is completely free for the rest of the day and night to spend time with Jay-la.” Then he was gone, turned both Stephen and Ethan around and they all walked away.

Nathan smiled at her, “Free, and easily done. I thought we could have lunch together. Then, if you’re not busy, a movie. We do run the latest in the theatres.”

“Will there be popcorn?” Lilly was tugging at his pant leg. He smiled down at her.

“Yes, triple butter, just like your mum likes it.” he told her. This would also allow Jay- la to know he recalled how she liked her popcorn.

He watched as all their eyes turned to her questioningly. He doubted she was going to say no, and he knew she wasn’t busy. Also was unlikely to be able to say no to their three little faces all looking up at her. He wouldn’t be able to. They were too bloody cute, the lot of them Moved his eyes to her and realised he had an ‘in’ so to speak. He could and would use the children to spend time with her, until he didn’t have to that was.

She was looking down at them, and he smiled and slipped his hand into hers. She wasn’t going to say no and they all knew it too, were bouncing excitedly on the balls of their feet, after just ten seconds. He realised they knew how to read their mother when asking for something.

Alright,” she nodded “But you all only get one small popcorn.” She told them, a little sternness to her voice he heard. Her mum’s voice, he thought and smiled, hadn’t really heard that before.

“If they re anything like you Jay-la, one won’t be enough.” He chuckled softly as they moved away from the pack hospital, towards the pack house.

“If you let them have more than that, you can deal with their grumpy butts, and crashing after all the sugar.

“What sugar?”

“Popcorn won’t be the only thing they all want.

“They can have whatever they want. Just like you can.”

He watched the children barely eat their lunch. Apparently, they were leaving room for snacks. That’s what Lilly told him. Jay-la shook her head. He just chuckled and thought it was cute.

Jay-la was not wrong, they did want other snacks, not just popcorn, they wanted nearly everything at the snack bar and hearing him tell them to get whatever they wanted, it was all free today, saw their eyes light up, and then they were gone running around grabbing all their favourite snacks. Heard her sigh as they brought it back for him to carry and ran off to get slushy’s to drink.

“They are yours to deal with after the movie is over.” She muttered at him, looking at the pile of candy in his arms. He was loaded up with skittles and Maltesers, the popcorn of course, bags of mixed lollies and chocolate.

He just smiled down at her, their little stash of candy was no different to what he and her and the boys used to do, when they were all watching movies back in the old days. It made him a little nostalgic. It didn’t seem to do that for Jay-la, she was just frowning. Didn’t actually get anything for herself other than a coffee flavoured thick shake.

All three of the children were actively interacting with him, even Nate was smiling up at him. It was a good feeling, to have his son starting to come around, though he did want what he’d seen with the children and Brad. Was a little jealous on that front, but it was going to take time, what with the boy’s concerns and all. Like his mother said, he had time on his side where the child was concerned. He needed to be with Jay-la make her feel she wasn’t just there because of the children.

He walked them into the theatre after letting the children pick a movie, and sat them in the row in front of him and Jay- la. That would give him a chance to watch them, but be with just Jay-la herself.

They were all talking to each other, very chatty and happy right this minute, he set them up with their snacks and took his seat next to Jay-la, smiled and leaned over to her “Are they always like this?” He’d not seen it before and was curious if this was their normal or were they just like this because they had been happy playing with Brad

“It is their normal state, yes.” She nodded at him *once they are settled and comfortable.”

There were others in the theatre, but he kept his row and the children’s row clear of pack members. Would have cleared the whole theatre if he thought she’d have been comfortable with that. But he thought she needed more time on that one. Had to give her more time, and not rush her.

Though sitting this close to her, his hand still in hers made him want to be alone with her Lifted her hand up and pressed his lips to the back of it, in a soft lass as the lights dimmed for the previews She didn’t seem to object to him holding her hand, and had not onde snapped at him since he’d walked over and joined them either. He knew Havoc and Kora were happy and settled, she’d not shut them out either, had to be a good thing. Thought about that, when they were out in the pack together. She didn’t really actively pick fights with him in full view of the public.

She was stern with him but there was no yelling or screaming at him

Getting fully ticked off with him like there was when they were alone and away from the pack She also hadn’t removed his hand from hers, not once, it appeared she was actively trying to get along with him around their pack members

He got to see the triplets turn and look right at them, well her more specifically, ‘Mum can we see that one.” They indicated to the movie that was being previewed, and also saw her get her phone out and pull up the Notes. Added it to a list she had in there, glanced at it himself and made a mental note to have her show him that list later, so he could get these movies here for the children to watch.

He smiled right at her, when she looked up at him, mind-link to her as the movie started ‘T’ll order all those on your list, if they’re not here in the pack already.

‘Will make them happy.’ She replied.

‘What movies would you like to see, I’ll get you anything you like as well.’

‘I’m not fussed!’ She shrugged.

‘You always liked a good action movie. He smiled, she liked the fight scenes, she also liked corny, stupid funny movies that made you laugh because they were so stupid. Might have to see what’s out there, get a few of those, just to hear her laugh.

‘I just watch what they watch nowadays.

Well, I can fix that. He smiled and he could. Here inside the pack he had many who could look after the triplets for them, so they could go and have a meal together, watch a movie together, or even go out of the pack for a real date, dinner and dancing in Rothchester. ‘I think your parents and mine, probably even Bradley would all be willing to watch them for us, so that we could spend some quality time together.

‘Likely. Was her only reply.

It seemed she was still trying to keep her distance from him, it would get harder to do with the more time they spent together. Needed to make time for her, hadn’t thought it was going to be necessary, but things just hadn’t fallen into line like he thought they would So he was making the effort, he needed to try and connect with her once More.

She’d told Jackson they didn’t know her anymore. So he was going to get to know her.

Found himself kissing the hell out of her at one point, didn’t even recall how it happened, only that he wanted her a lot. His need to be with her was high right this minute. He had both his hands on her face as he was kissing her, could smell her arousal as she kissed him back as well as his own. Slid a hand down her neck and over her mark spot briefly to cup her breast and caress it, he was hard and ready for her, his c* *k straining at his pants.

Heard her gasp as he teased her n****e softly and then she was gone from him, yanked herself away from him. His eyes snapped open to find she had put a full seat between them. “Jay-la?” He didn’t know what had just happened, he knew she wanted him, knew she would know he wanted her just as much.

the children. She shot down the mind-link at him.

His eyes turned to look at them, and found all three of them looking right at him, he bit his l*p a little. “Sorry children, I got a bit carried away.” That was an understatement. He had completely forgotten they were there actually, turned and looked at Jay- la, smiled a little, reached out for her, only to have her slide her eyes over him and then shake her head. She could see he was aroused, couldn’t hide that. Havoc was chortling inside his mind, as was Kora, for that matter, “TIl behave.” He chuckled himself, well he would try, heard a few other chuckles roll around the theatre.

Saw her head turn and look at the others in the theatre, kind of looked mortified, he realised. Leaned over and grabbed onto her, brought her back to the chair next to him, mind-linked to her ‘Hmm, our pack just got an eyeful! He murmured amused it’s embarrassing”

‘Why? It’s not like they have seen it before?’

‘It just is! She muttered.

‘We used to get hot and heavy all the time!’ He reminded her softly and they had. Everyone had known he was sleeping with her back then. It had been no secret.

‘Not in public! She muttered once more.

Smiled to himself, there had been kissing in public, but she was right.

All their real hot and heavy had been behind closed doors, but that was because he was selfish and hadn’t wanted anyone to see her naked body. Her body had been for his eyes only back then. Leaned over and kissed her temple. Now it really was just for his eyes only.