The Defiant Luna
Chapter 33

Nathan POV

Alpha Austin had stayed in the pack the entire time jay-la was in heat. he didn’t seem to mind being away from his pack. Apparently, he took the time to speak with the children and Jay-la’s family, settled himself nicely inside this pack, it seems.

Jackson was currently with Margaret, she’d gone into heat just two days ago and Ethan had been in charge since. Stephen had not left the pack, this surprised Nathan, but he had started video calling Suzy during the past five days. Her mother’s place had nearly been completely destroyed

He had called her on behalf of jay-la for some reason and had actually gotten to lay eyes on Suzy himself, he was much more settled, he got to flirt with her over the video chat and gotten her to smile at him quite a bit. Now he just called her to talk to her. It seemed the two of them were getting along

He’d even extended Jay-la’s offer for her and her family to come here, once more. A trial and a place to live. He’d gone so far as to show her a three bedroom suite on the first floor, fully furnished for them if they came, walked through the room and showed it to her while he was video calling her, so he could actually show it to her.

Right this minute, Jay-la was off walking with Alpha Austin and his Gamma Clark. Nathan was not allowed to interfere or interrupt them in anyway, no one was, he’d had to send out a pack wide mind-link on the matter. He was only mildly concerned right this minute. The last five days he’d not spent more than a few minutes away from her, and they’d gotten along as well.

More than gotten along at times, he’d see the way she’d looked at him a few times, with those green eyes full of l**t for him, not even when her heat drove her to mate either, he had not denied her anything.

Smiled to himself, it had been like the old days when she had come home from uni, for semester break or on the weekends. They would just lay in bed and talk. She’d not once stopped him from touching her, running a hand through her hair, had seemed comfortable in his presence, stretched out in their bed next to him. Not once had she gotten annoyed with him or shut him out either.

They had chatted casually about the small things, changes he’d made here to the pack, things that she did outside of work, though he tried to keep the children out of their conversations. He found that to be really hard to do, for when she wasn’t at work, she was with them. He had been trying to keep it all about her, but being a mother of three on her own out there, meant that her life revolved around the children when she was not at work.

He’d let her bring them into the conversations, better if she brought them up than if he did. He didn’t want her to continue to think he just wanted them and not her.

Though he didn’t think that was the case anymore, Jay-la had told him a lot about them now, the things they liked to do, had even told him she had been really happy to see them riding around on Havoc and her father and brothers wolves. That it made her happy they were adjusting to life here.

He’d commented that he thought Nate had been wanting to see Kora, the way he reacted to her, he thought Nate had probably always wanted to see her, hug her. That he liked how Nate had really just hugged into Kora, wished he had gotten some pictures or video of it. Told her it was the sweetest thing he’d seen, ever. She’d smiled right up at him.

Nathan looked at the time, it was nearly midday and she’d been off with Alpha Austin for well over an hour now, pulled on her tether to him and found that she was all the way on the other side of the pack, pretty much as far away from him as one could get he thought.

Exactly what Austin wanted, what he’d told her. They weren’t going to be back anytime soon, though they were moving, still walking, it seemed. He couldn’t mind-link to her, no one could, it would be more than frowned upon if he interrupted council business.

He was only told that it would take as long as it would take, there was not a standard amount of time, he would ask what he wanted to ask and they would walk for as long as he saw fit. He’d watched the three of them walk away from him and the pack-house and had gone to his office, the children were with Bradley and Victoria and would be having lunch with them as well. Their time, while Jay-la had been in heat, had been split between his parents and Jay-la’s family, but they had slept in his parents’ suite, inside the packhouse.

He took the time that she was off with Alpha Austin to catch up on pack-related business. He looked up from the emails that needed his attention, from over the past five days, as his office door opened. He saw a worried looking Michael coming into his office. This was the first time he had seen him since his mother had beaten him. He was all healed up. “What is wrong Michael?” he asked.

“Rae-Rae is freaking out, about the full moon, tonight. Yelled at me to get out of our room.”

“She’s likely scared, Michael. This is the consequence you get from your actions and not following proper protocol with your human mate.”

“She wants to see Jay-la. I tried to explain she was in heat, and that she couldn’t see her right this minute.” Shook his head “She didn’t really understand it.”

“Mm,” there was not much he could do about that. Usually, the process inside this pack would take a month and marking one’s mate would be done the day after the full moon, the human would have agreed to let their mate Mark them, after it had been explained to them what they were and what would happen, then they would have a full month to get used to the idea, and see other wolves shift and be given full education and all their questions answered, not just a few days.

This full moon would be upon them at 1926 tonight, and Rae-Rae knew it. “What’s your plan for the full moon and has she met your wolf

Yet?”

“I don’t really have a plan. Every time I brought it up, she just shut me down and snapped she didn’t want to talk about it.”

Nathan sighed, it sounded like she needed her sister or mother. Jay-la had been out of action and she couldn’t tell her mother anything. “Your wolf?”

“Yes. She got to see him. He was very well behaved, shifted for her, Stephen was there and Robin even lay down so he was not so imposing, gave her time to come to him.”

“He’s more patient than you, I see.”

Michael glared right at him for a moment and then muttered “I guess so. When is Jay-la coming back?”

“When Alpha Austin is satisfied with her answers to his questions about her being here, watch your bloody tone Michael, I’ve not dealt with you and your error with Rae-Rae yet. You’re on reprieve due to her first shift is all.” He warned his brother, but internally sighed a little, he hated that thought of Alpha Ausin out there trying to pick apart Jay-la.

He knew that Jay-la felt that Kora didn’t give her a choice in being Mated to him. Although there was nothing he could do about it, he only knew that she was not going to leave, she still said she would not separate Kora from Havoc.

Would like to hear her just once state she was not going to leave him.

Still going to take time on that front, he supposed. He was not going to ask her to reword it or state it the way he wanted to hear it. It needed to be on her terms in her own time. He knew that.

“Do not interfere with Jay-la and Alpha Austin.” he stated flatly, “You do that Micheal, and I will toss your a*s in a cell for a month.”

“I’m aware I got your mind-link.” Michael sighed “But the moon will set in just hours.”

“Jay-la will come back when Alpha Austin is finished questioning her, that is all I can tell you. I suggest spending the next few hours working on setting up for Rae-Rae’s first shift. She’s not going to like standing out there naked in the freezing cold snow. You need to prepare a place for her. She is still human, remember, other than that. I suggest you wait for Jay-la to become available. Now you get to see what consequences your actions have.”

“Well you’d know all about consequences, wouldn’t you, brother.”

Michael shot right at him.

Nathan’s eyes moved right to Michael. “State that again, I dare you, because you have Havocs’ full and undivided attention right this second. Or get the hell out of my office and sort out your own s**t, before he is out of me.”

Watched as Michael turned and stalked out of his office, away from him and sighed. Yes, he understood the consequences of his actions, was currently working through them every day as best he could to try and regain Jay-la’s trust and the need to get her to realise he did love her and that it wasn’t just Havoc. This still weighed on him.

He mind-linked to Stephen to have him go and sit with and talk to Rae-Rae, until Jay-la was available to be with her. He could keep her calm, all he had to do was get her to let him in the door.

It was just over an hour and a half later when Alpha Austin and his Gamma strolled into his office. Gave two brief knocks on the door as he walked in, Nathan waved him in, not that the man had stayed out, watched as his Gamma closed the door behind him.

“She’s an interesting young lady, who gets annoyed and cranky quite quickly, I see.”

“I’m aware, been on the receiving end of it more than once.” Nathan acknowledged.

“Likely not going to be easy with her. She has a single-minded purpose at times. Is confused a lot about being here as well.”

“Yes I know. There is a lot to work through, which I am willing to do. To be patient on, and work through it with her.”

“Good to know.” He sat himself down casually across from Nathan.

“May I ask, why you decided to come here? I wouldn’t think this would be council business.”

“It can be, I saw your battle, the state of her injuries, it didn’t really add up to me. Clara and I, we were hedging our bets that she was your mate, but that wolfsbane in her system didn’t let her know what you were to her. Though I’m curious as to when you yourself knew, realised what she was to you.”

“When she stepped into this office, covering in wounds from trying to escape, I had no idea until then. Though my wolf had an inkling, but didn’t bother to tell me about it. If he had, things would have been very different, I assure you.”

“If you had known and tried to bring her in like that. It would not be so good for you, right this minute. I would personally have collected her and removed ker from here on council orders and put her and your children as well, some place safe.”

Nathan frowned now, he did not like hearing that. He did know the council had secret places they put wolves for safe keeping.

“I’ve been around a long time son. The fact that you wanted mediation, to be in a room with her, that spoke volumes to me and Clara as well.

I’m not particularly impressed that you brought your children out into the open, which could have put them in danger. That was stupid of you, no-one knew about them, being yours until you outed them.” He already knew that “Your offer to her?”

“Was very sincere. In fact, I had every intention of bringing her in, settling her into my pack, contacting you for what I suspected and then letting you do things the right way, but something’s just don’t go to plan.” Saw that man shake his head. “I believe your sister took matters into her own hands.”

“She did and I de-ranked her for it. All the way to warrior status.”

“A fairly good punishment, how’d she handle it?”

“Cried like a baby.”

“Effective then.” He nodded.

“I believe so.” Nathan nodded, “though Jay-la is still mad at her, looking for a piece of her once she’s had that pup, I heard.”

“Not much I can do about that.” Austin shrugged,

“Wolves fight, I’ll stay

till your human gets her wolf and then Clara, Clark and I will head on home. I’m satisfied that young Jay-la will settle and be happy here. It might take some time, but it will happen. She loved you once, will again. Her wolf is very happy.”

“I know,” Nathan smiled. “As is mine.”

“Good keep it that way.” Austin nodded “I have one request.”

“Ask.”

“Let her close out her human world, the way she needs to. I feel it’s a sore point. If you don’t, it is likely to be a potential problem, I feel it could well be the make or break of your Bond.”

Nathan sighed now “She wants to do that without me.”

“I’m aware of what she wants. You should let her, she’s lived her life alone, without a pack Alpha telling her what to do for a very long time.

That is all on you. Her defiance, so letting her close out her humans world life her way, will go a long way to showing her you love and trust her, care about her feelings and what she wants, respect her and her choices, likely stop the difance as well.”

“It’s difficult, my enemies could still be there.”

“Again, that is on you, young man. You should have just strolled into her office or home and knocked on her door, not attended a press conference and out the girl to all of the wolfen society, monumentally stupid of you.”

“My image.”

“I don’t care for your human world image Nathan, you could have addressed everything that needed to be done, without bringing your relationship or the children into public knowledge. It was stupid and very selfish of you…put more fear into her is all it did. Fear you were going to come and take those children from her. It’s one of the reasons she refused you at every turn.”

Nathan could feel Havoc getting agitated by Alpha Austin’s words, but they did both know he was right, couldn’t and wouldn’t argue with him.

He simply nodded his head “In hindsight.” He agreed.

“You must learn to think before you speak son, in future. I’ll be visiting and checking on her regularly, there is something different about her.

Her aggression is off the charts at times. Clark here picked up on that.””

Nathan nodded and sighed heavily “It is.” He nodded “She’s got a condition, is over adrenalized all the time.” He told him, he was a council member and did seem to genuinely care about Jay-la,

“Let me

show you what we know. I have told her what I know, she is aware and has her own concerns about it.”

“Alright.” Alpha Austin nodded though he was frowning deeply now