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7
“And I end up with a concussion, dislocated shoulder and bruised wrist?”
“Yeah. I know he feels terrible about it, we all do.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I should have handled it better. It’s not the first time some asshole has tried to grope me. I don’t like working there, but I need the money, I need a new place to live, I need a lot of stuff.” I leaned back against the headrest, my eyes closed. “I can’t thank you enough for your help tonight.”
The car turned off the road onto a gravel drive, and I looked out as we traveled a mile or so along the driveway before it opened up to a group of houses. They were beautiful, log homes with green roofs, big lawns going to the forest edge which was lit dimly by the outside lights. “Wow, you live here?” He nodded. “My dream home is one of these. I like being close to nature, but I don’t get to enough.”
His father pulls up next to the second largest house, a two-story home. A woman meets us at the door, she is a striking beauty in her forties, the grey hair just starting to show in her brown hair. “Mom, this is Jessie Donato. Jessie, my mother Abigail.”
“Call me Abby,” she says as she pulls me into a hug. “Come on, I’ve got the guest room ready for you. I hear you’ve had an eventful night.” She pulled me away from the men so fast I didn’t have a chance to thank them. She opened a door upstairs, it was a nicely decorated room with an attached bath. Abby helped me get undressed, thankfully not commenting on my barely there Hooters uniform. “Try not to move your arm much, you can’t wear the sling in there.” While I was taking a shower, she went and got some pajamas; well, a pair of shorts and a big T-shirt that said ‘Highland Games.’ She helped me put my bad arm in, then get the shirt on. It smelled amazing as it went past my face, I had to pull it back up to smell it again. I put my sling on, then she tucked me in to bed.
I fell asleep dreaming of the man who had come to defend me.
Beta John’s POV
The police brought me through a service door, avoiding the crowds and patrons, then led me around to an elevator before taking me in the back of their station. Yep, the mall was so big, the police have their own small facility here, complete with a jail lockup. I was sat on a bench, my cuffs attached to a rail behind me, as the arresting officers completed their report.
I had my passport and other identification with me. “Scottish, huh? What brings you here?”
“Business,” I said. I was mad at myself, I was in no mood for small talk, though I would be polite. It wasn’t their fault I had lost my control, it was my own. I hadn’t had an episode like this since I was a juvenile wolf.
“All right, you were read your rights on the way down the elevator, do you have any questions?”
I thought about it. “I would like to make a phone call to arrange a lawyer,” I said. “Where am I to have him meet me?”
“Hennepin County Jail,” he said. “The transport van will be here in an hour. You can expect to be processed tonight, but you won’t have a court hearing until Monday.” Shit. Our flights were on Sunday, looks like I won’t be going home with them.
“What am I being charged with?”
“That’s up to the county prosecutors, but you have been arrested for multiple counts of felony assault consummated by battery, plus disturbing the peace.” I nodded, I expected that. “You better hope that guy makes it, or you could be facing a murder rap.”
“What?”
“You beat the living shit out of him, the EMT’s taking him to the hospital said he has a fractured jaw and skull.” I sat back, the guy didn’t deserve to die, but I wasn’t exactly in control as I pounded on him. I’d been taught about the mate bond, I’d seen how friends had been affected by it, but only now did I understand the depth of the protective drive it causes. I would have killed him and all his friends if I hadn’t been stopped.
I was taken to an interview room, where I was given a phone. I called my Alpha, he answered after one ring. “Esca,” he said in his gruff voice.
“Boss, it’s John. I fucked up, sir.”
“I know you did, son, I’m still here with the others trying to clean up your mess. At least the wings are good,” he said. “What do you need?”
“A lawyer for sure, I’m going to be charged with felony assault and battery. I’m being taken to the Hennepin County Jail. They said I can’t get a court hearing until Monday.”
“Already on it. The St. Croix friends of ours are taking care of it, Patrick’s father is taking the lead. You are temporarily under their authority after we return home. You are to follow their instructions as if I was giving them to you, do you understand?”
“Yes boss.” There was a pause. “I’m sorry, I lost it tonight.”
“No shock it was over a girl. Congratulations, but you sure complicated things with this.”
“I did.” We talked for a minute more, then he hung up. I was just glad we had an allied Pack nearby to help, so I wasn’t left alone. I had no idea how long I would be here, and I was facing years in prison. I called for the officer, a detective came in, and I declined making a statement until I had counsel.
The rest of the night was a blur. I was loaded into a prisoner transport vehicle, taken through inprocessing at the jail where I ended up wearing an orange jumpsuit, and finally found a cot at four in the morning.
Morning count was at six, and you couldn’t use your bunks during the day. I didn’t talk to the other prisoners, and they left me alone. I was big, and they sensed something wild in me as I kept my wolf forward.
Beta Peter’s POV
Lunchtime next day
“Where is this woman,” Alpha Stan Larsen asked as the door was opened by his mate Larissa.
“Still sleeping,” I replied. “Abigail is staying with her. We had to wake her ever two hours last night for concussion checks, so she probably will be out until this afternoon.”
The Alpha nodded and led us to the table where his housekeeper had laid out an early lunch. Patrick was behind me, and Charles was already standing behind a chair. We waited as he pulled the chair out for Larissa, then sat after they did. “Anyone have an idea how a human can be John’s mate?”
I shook my head. “No sir. We all smelled her, she’s human. I even brought her hand to my nose and took a good sniff, no trace of a wolf at all.”
“And John is sure she’s his mate?”
“He was sure last night,” Patrick said. “He had all the signs, he smelled her as soon as we entered the place. His Alpha heir, Sean, he had to Alpha command him to not react in front of all the humans. I fully expected to find a shewolf in there, we were all shocked when he said it was Jessie.” He looked at his Alpha, holding his gaze for a moment. “And there was no doubt as to how his wolf reacted when that man put his hands on her and threatened her. He behaved like a jealous mate who hadn’t marked her yet.”
“Still, it’s impossible to be both human AND her mate. If she’s fully human, there’s no wolf for his to be bonded to. If she’s a wolf, we’d smell it, and she would have reacted to his wolf.” Stan just shook his head and took a drink of water. “Anything on her family?”
“We’ve looked into her mother, nothing unusual there. We found no connections to any known Packs or wolves. Her father, we don’t know. She told us in the car that after her mother died, she found adoption papers from Russia. She was brought over when she was only a few months old, her father killed her mother after she was born. She had been raped and went back to claim paternity.”
The Alphas looked at each other. “So, it’s possible her father was a wolf?”
“Yes, I suppose it’s possible, but we all know the results of humans and werewolves mating. They either get the wolf gene, or they don’t. There’s no ‘got a wolf but you can’t tell’ and I’m telling you, she HAS NO WOLF.” I was leaning forward, the Alpha glared at me and I immediately sat back and lowered my eyes.
“Then we need to figure out how his wolf is being fooled. I have a friend in the local coven, I will ask her. I need you two to contact the other Packs, have them search their histories and see if anything like this has been seen before. Keep her name out of it, though.”NôvelDrama.Org owns all content.
“Yes sir.”
“Keep her close, help where you can. She’s important to the Highlands Pack, and I gave their Alpha my word we would keep her safe and help his Beta through this. Transfer other duties as required, this is your priority right now,” he said to me.
“I will protect her with my life,” I said.
Beta John’s POV
On Sunday I was taken to an interview room, and waiting inside was an older man in a nice suit with a briefcase. He was a werewolf. “Sit,” he said as I made my way to a chair. “My name is Charles Thompson, I’m a criminal defense lawyer who Beta Peter retained for your representation.”
“We can talk freely here?”
“Yes, since you are with counsel they can’t listen in or record this conversation. Assume any other conversations are being recorded, including family or friends, and act accordingly.” I nodded. “First off, congratulations on finding your mate, even if it is baffling our entire Pack as to how it is even possible.”
“Thank you. Is she all right?”
“She had a dislocated shoulder, bruised wrist and a slight concussion, but she will be just fine. Patrick and Peter drove her to the hospital, and convinced her to stay with them. Right now Anne is mothering her, she’ll be fine in a few weeks.”
“Does she hate me?”