HAVEN
Wesley and I both changed our clothes and after that, he walked with me to the packhouse, where he dropped me off with a kiss that promised more to come later.
“I love you, Sugar Plum,” he said, his hands cradling my face. “Have Nolan mindlink me if you need anything.”
“I’ll be fine, Wes.” I smiled. He kissed me one more time. “I love you too,” I said before he turned and made his way to do his laps.
The cool autumn air sent a small chill over me as the warmth of his body moved away from me. I rubbed my arms and turned around to see Nolan standing on the porch waiting for me.
“Morning, Nolan,” I said as I climbed the porch steps of the packhouse. “Morning, Luna. I mean Haven,” he said, shaking his head. “Sorry, it’s an
instinct for us to use titles,” he told me, rubbing the top of his buzzed hair. “It’s all right,” I said. “I’m not upset.”
“So, how did Wes do on his groveling?” Nolan asked as he opened the door for me.
I smiled. “He did okay, I guess.” I shrugged. Nolan laughed out loud, and I chuckled with him. “He made me a dance studio in our house,” I confessed, my cheeks heating as I remembered the sight of Wes fucking me in the reflection.
Nolan cleared his throat and looked towards the lake as I moved past him into the house. “That was pretty smooth,” he replied, and I nodded.
“Did you accept him?” he asked, and I nodded again. “I mean, I figured you must have since you’re still here and Wesley isn’t curled up in a ball of misery, but you never know.”
I shook my head as we went down the hall. “You guys all love to give him shit, don’t you?”
He put his hands in his pockets. “Mostly Reid, but yeah, that’s kind of our job, you know?”
“Mostly me what?”
Reid came up behind us and threw his arm around Nolan’s shoulder as we all kept walking, then smiled at me. “Morning, Haven.”
“Morning, Reid. I was just telling Nolan that you all seem to love to give Wesley shit about anything and everything.”
“Oh. Yes,” he agreed. “I am probably the worst,” he mused, rubbing his chin in thought. “Although Seb is a very, very close second,” he added. “I’m still annoyed that he won that bet,” he grumbled, almost under his breath.
“When will you learn that Seb never loses a bet?” Nolan asked. “Apparently never.” He shrugged.
“What did you two bet on?” I asked, peering around Nolan to see Reid.
All these werewolves were so damn huge.
Reid’s blue eyes widened, and then his face turned the brightest shade of pink I’d ever seen. “I—well, you see—there was, um…”
“When we were kids, Sebastian bet Reid that you and Wesley would be mates, and Reid took the bet. And even when Wesley shifted for the first time after you were adopted by someone else, Reid still didn’t think the two of you would be mates,” Nolan said, messing up Reid’s blonde hair.
Reid reached up and smoothed it down with a huff after Nolan removed his hand.
“What do you mean when he shifted for the first time?” I asked.
“Well, normally, lycans shift at thirteen and regular werewolves shift at fourteen,” Nolan explained after a beat. “But, when my parents were trying to adopt you, the day we found out you’d been adopted by someone else, and we didn’t know who or anything, Wesley’s lycan pushed forward and forced him into shifting early.”
“And I’m guessing that’s not a normal occurrence?” I ventured.
Nolan shook his head. “No. Shifting for the first time is painful enough as it is, but when it happens unexpectedly like that, it is worse. Most who have a forced shift don’t…”
He trailed off and glanced at Reid, whose face was unreadable as they reminisced about their friend’s first shift. I didn’t need Nolan to finish his sentence, though. I knew what he was saying—most didn’t make it.
“So, is that what Sebastian meant when he told me Wes ‘freaked out’?” I asked, remembering our conversation that day he’d taken me to see Jack and Shirley.
“Yes,” Nolan answered. “And this fool still didn’t think it meant anything other than Wesley being protective of another friend,” Nolan teased Reid.
“Nolan…” Reid whined, tilting his head to the ceiling. “I was twelve! Wes was twelve! Who meets their mate when they’re twelve?” he argued, gesturing wildly.
“Lots of people, Reid. We live in packs. Sometimes, people are mated to someone they grew up with. It is very common for us,” Nolan explained, dragging each word out.
“Do you see this?” Reid said, looking at me and pointing at Nolan. “Do you see what you’ll have to deal with every day with him as your gamma? The attitude and sass—I feel for you,” he concluded, with his hand over his heart.
“Better attitude and sass than poor life choices like bets you’ll never win.” Nolan shrugged, leaning against the wall.
I just shook my head and laughed at both of them, and the door across from us opened, saving me from having to say anything to either of them.
“Haven,” Harrison said, poking his head out the door. “Frederick is ready for you. Do you want Nolan with you?”
I swallowed and felt Nolan straighten up, ready to do his job as my friend and gamma. I still didn’t quite understand their world, still didn’t feel like I fit in to it. But the love and acceptance they all gave me was almost more than I’d ever had in my life.
I glanced back at him, taking in how his demeanor had switched from teasing and joking to serious and protective in almost no time at all, his hazel eyes watchful and ready. I didn’t know what the council member would ask me or how it would make me feel, but I knew I didn’t want to face it alone.
Nolan’s presence wasn’t the same as Wesley’s, but it provided me with some level of security to have him around. “Yes,” I told Harrison. “I don’t
want to be alone.”
“I’ll come too,” Reid volunteered, raising his hand, and I gave him a grateful smile.
Harrison nodded, then held the door open for Nolan, Reid, and me to walk through.
The office we stepped into had a rustic but modern feel, with gray wood flooring and large windows that looked out towards the lake and the rest of their lands. There was a fireplace on the far wall, with a door next to it. Under the simple wooden desk was some type of animal fur rug, and across from the desk were two chairs and a couch for visitors to sit on.
Seated on a chair was an older man, probably in his sixties. His hair was silver, and so was his beard, and his face was lined with a few wrinkles. His fine clothing made me self-conscious about my casual outfit of jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt. He looked serious but kind, easing my worries about speaking to a stranger about my ex-boyfriend.
He stood as I entered and held his hand out to me.
“Hello there, Miss Haven,” he said as I shook his hand. “I’m Frederick, and I am a member of the royal council,” he told me. “Before we begin, I just wanted to congratulate you on being the future luna here at Crescent Lake.”
“Thank you.” I smiled as I released his hand. “I’m still absorbing all this… werewolf stuff,” I told him.
“Of course,” he said. “It can be a lot to take in. But Selene knows what she is doing when she selects a mate for us, and I have no doubt you will be a wonderful luna for this pack.”
I smiled again, then turned and sat on the couch. Nolan took a seat at the other end, sitting straight instead of leaning back into the cushions. Reid
leaned one shoulder against the wall next to the window, his arms crossed.
“As I mentioned, I am a member of the royal council. The council comprises former alphas who help the king with his duties. He is only one man, of course, so we are given some authority to execute his decisions and our laws,” he told me as he sat back down and Harrison moved to his desk. “I understand your future delta is out searching for Lennox. However, the king has asked me to ask you some questions about him and his family so we can investigate them and figure out how they were unregistered.”
“Unregistered?” I asked.
“Ah, yes. You see, each supernatural species has a registry of every member and where they live. Now, of course, this can be somewhat inaccurate. If a wolf goes rogue—gets kicked out of their pack—and then mates with another rogue wolf, well, that can make it difficult for us to keep track of those wolves. Which is why we’re working to eliminate rogues by imprisoning those wolves instead of just kicking them out of their packs. But that’s not important to this discussion,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Can you tell me Lennox’s last name?”
“Shelton,” I replied.
“And his parents? What were their names?” “John and Mary.”
His pen scratched across the pad of paper on his lap as he made notes of my answers. “How long did you know them?”
“About eleven years. I met them shortly after the Wainwrights adopted me. Our parents spent a lot of time together, so we were around each other a lot. They would always make comments about how we would make such a cute couple,” I explained, making a face.
Reid and Nolan made matching expressions of annoyance and disgust, and Reid muttered, “Don’t let Wesley hear that.”
Harrison’s lips twitched, and the council member’s eyes twinkled.
“We did end up dating,” I continued. “For about two years, when I turned eighteen. I—” I hesitated, glancing around at all the men in the room. “I honestly only agreed to be with him because he wouldn’t leave me alone about it,” I murmured, looking down at my fingers. “I thought if I agreed, he’d leave me alone once he realized we weren’t compatible. But he was controlling and possessive. He wanted me to quit ballet and marry him and have his kids. That was when I finally dumped him and then I moved here.” My eyes closed, and my cheeks heated as I finished explaining our relationship. I hated that I had ever let him get what he wanted with me. I hated that I’d given in to him after so many years of holding him off by dating other boys from school. It was so embarrassing that I’d let him
control me in that way.
“Melissa and Matthew still tried to push me to get back together with him when we broke up,” I continued. “But I’d never told them what he was like with me.”
“Did he ever hit you? Hurt you?” Frederick asked.
“No. Nothing physical. Not until the other night when he attacked me,” I said. “He just always wanted to know where I was, what I was doing, and who I was with. Wanted to control what I wore and what I did.”
“When he attacked you, did he say anything?”
“He said, ‘You were always meant to be mine, and you will always be mine.’”
“And did you ever notice him doing anything… wolf-like? Growling?
Sniffing?” Frederick asked. “Or his parents?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Not that I can remember, at least,” I clarified.
“And your parents—your adoptive parents—are Melissa and Matthew Wainwright?” he asked, and I nodded. “And did you ever notice any wolfish behaviors from them?”
I shook my head.
“Does no one else find it odd that Lennox was so set on claiming her?” Reid asked, looking around the room.
“It is odd, but it could just be his lycan had formed an attachment to her. It happens from time to time. And when she turned twenty-one, and she wasn’t his mate, well, that probably upset his lycan. But these are questions we’ll have to ask him. When we find him,” Frederick answered. “We will look into these names, but none sound familiar. I’m not aware of any alpha lines with the surname Shelton, but that doesn’t mean anything.” He put his notes into a leather satchel on the floor, then looked at me. “Is there anything else we can do for you?”
A terrible thought occurred to me, a thought I was ashamed to admit I hadn’t had until that moment.
“My parents,” I said. “Jack and Shirley, I mean. They live near here. I’m worried Lennox may try to hurt them to get to me. Is there a way—can you
—?”
“Shit,” Harrison muttered, grabbing his phone and standing up. “I’ll get Delta Sullivan and his mate to bring them here as soon as possible,” he told me as he walked out of the office.
“Thank you,” I breathed out in relief.
“We won’t let anything happen to your parents. Your family is now our family,” Frederick said as he stood up. “And wolves protect their family.”
