The defiant mate by Fennifer Francis novel Chapter 16

Jay-la POy

Jay-la leaned away from the door frame, she slid her hand down her body slowly and brushed imaginary dust from the bottom of her skirt.

Jackson’s eyes followed the movement automatically, Stephen reached out and cracked him up the back of the head, with quite a hard hit, causing him to growl slightly. His eyes glazed over as did Stephen’s for maybe 15 seconds, when his eyes returned to her she laughed out loud and winked playfully at Jackson.

It was time to play. She thought this could be fun. She hadn’t played with either of them in a long time, and now she was a fully fledged and un-mated female wolf, she could flirt with whoever she wanted. She internally chuckled to herself. Game on.

Jackson had used to stare at her sometimes, she had caught him a few times and he’d always cleared his throat and turned away or walked away. She’d noticed his interest in her since she was 16, the minute she had gotten Kora, but he’d never done anything about it.

Neither had she, her eyes had already been else where, she wondered if he’d know about her interest in their Alpha and that was why he’d never acted on his interest in her.

She waved them into her office and made sure to accidentally on purpose miss step and bump into Jackson, as he walked past her, her hand landing right on his h!p as if to steady herself, her other hand on his muscular chest “oops, so sorry.”

She smiled up at him all innocent like, his entire body stilled, his grey eyes turned to hers, she leaned away from him sliding her hand off of his chest slowly but allowed the one on his h!p to linger a few seconds longer, pressing in to feel the v-line she knew was right there as she stared up into his grey eyes.

She saw his eyes darken slightly and Jay-la knew he was still attracted to her in someway. Stepłfen the spoil-sport spoiled the moment by pushing Jackson through the doorway roughly and Jay-la walked in after him. She caught the disapproving frown on Stephen’s handsome face, his caramel brown eyes hard on her, almost a warning in them, she thought.

“So what do I owe the honour of your company for?” she asked, closing her office door. “have a seat” she indicated the chairs in front of her desk ‘oh how sweet this was’ they both out ranked her in the pack and yet here in her office in the human world she could tell them what to do and when, she got to sit behind the desk and they in front of it like good little warriors ‘oh such a sweet feeling’ she must savour it.

The smile on her face was friendly and the non-nonchalant way she leaned her chin on her hand on her desk told them she wasn’t afraid of them.

“Jay-la” Jackson stated flatly, “you can not entertain the idea of going to another pack”, straight to the point, she thought.

“Can’t 1?” she wondered aloud “why not?” she questioned him.

“You know why!” he shot right back at her, raising an eyebrow at her as if to imply she was faking the reason not to know why.

She got his meaning.

Jay-la allowed herself to lean back in her chair and take in her once childhood friend. He didn’t look all that much older, his jaw line was more defined now, his skin was just as tanned as before from years of training out in the open sun. He clearly still worked out, his shoulders broader and his chest was definitely bigger and harder, she’d felt that herself. His V-line appeared to be deeper now too, than when she had trained with him, all muscle and good looks.

His light brown hair was a little longer than she remembered but she decided it suited him, his light grey eyes as clear and direct as ever, she could see Apollo behind them watching her, there was a flicker of green in them now, he was taking her in as she was him.

She winked playfully right at his wolf “Hey Apollo.” she acknowledged his presence with a seductive smile playing about her l!ps. A light, almost playful growl came from him.

Jackson punched himself in the chest lightly and cleared his throat, pulling his wolf into line. She heard Stephen snap his name and turned her green eyes on him while she chuckled at Apollo’s response to her.

Interesting.

Her smile for him was just the same, quite playful and hinted of teasing seduction, but his eyes were hard and unyielding on her. He too was more defined, not as broad shouldered as the Beta, but still noticeably bigger than when she had been 20, his skin a shade darker in its tan, and his jaw very square and set, his jet błack hair, shaved short on either side and longish on top, styled with gel and set swooped off to the right, he had definitely turned into a hot specimen of a wolf, though she could see he was not interested in the slightest, no flirting with this one and Rafe was not near the surface either.

“l can actually. Any wolf can leave one pack for another, if the other pack is willing to take them in.” she picked up the stack of messages Jordan had handed her this morning and waved them at him, returning her attention to Jackson, “and it seems, there are plenty willing to offer me a place too.”

“You don’t know how dangerous it will be for you and your pups, Jay-la.”

“I’ve a fair idea,” she nodded, “but better than the alternative, considering how much my current Alpha hates me.”

Stephen sighed “Jay-la… honey”. His voice -oozed Gamma Charm. She hated it instantly. “He doesn’t hate you, I assure you.” he leaned forward. “Take the chance to mediate with him.” His soft tone now had a sudden slight southern accent and was making Kora practically lay down and roll over. She wanted nothing more than to listen to his every word and fulfil them.

“Stop that crap.” Jay-la shot at him annoyed, knowing full well he was using his goddess gifted, Gamma Charm, to attract all her wolf’s attention. She may not find him attractive or desirable, but Gamma’s could sweet talk any she-wolf. It was a gift to calm Luna’s under times of stress, to get them to comply when they didn’t want to, to run when their mate was in trouble and wanted her out of harms way, when they were dying or dead and the Gamma had to save their Luna’s life from another alpha or his men, to protect her.

They could use all that charm to sway even the most distraught wolf to get up and move. To take their hand and run away from trouble, even when grief overwhelmed them completely, they would listen and comply and Kora was no exception to the damned rule, so it seemed.

Stephen smiled at her, he knew exactly what he was doing and doing it on purpose. Ah, that was why he was here instead of back in the pack protecting his actual Luna. He was here to try and make her comply using the gift the goddess had blessed him with, as*s-hole.

“Jay-la…honey, what harm could it do. 1 meeting on your terms!’ he practically drawled with that slight southern accent coming out of him now in deeper under tones. He was really trying to get to her wolf.

We should’ Kora whined at her, she was lying in Jay-la’s mind all submissive and calm.

Ready to comply with his will.

Jay-la was just as stubborn as he was and forced Kora to the far reaches of her mind with a great effort. Glaring at Stephen she took a long drawn in deep breath, to help steel herself against that goddess gifted Gamma Charm and turned away from him on purpose, losing eye contact with him, hoping to refocus her mind on Jackson and pull herself back to normal or it would be all over for her.

“I will hear all offers and make a decision myself, you will have no say or, influence on my decision.” she bit out the last 4 words stilling trying to fight that bloody charm. Not looking at him was better, focusing on something else was better. She could feel herself starting to come back to her normal self.

Or he had let go of her, stopped using his gift on her for the moment. More likely that was it.

Jackson was glaring at her. “Do you even know who our Packis in alliance with? At war with? Who are our enemies?” he shot at her “how could you be so stupid as to entertain anything any other Pack offers!”

Jay-la was now glaring back at him. She was not stupid and of course, she knew there were many risks to her and her babies, as did Kora, but what choice did they have? He had dragged her back and hadn’t even cared about the injuries she’d sustained, just stared at her with those furiously angry eyes of his.

If the FED’s hadn’t turned up she would probably be dead or in a dungeon somewhere in pack territory. Fortunately, she was fully ensconced into the human world, where the people around her noticed she was missing and cared about her enough to report it and take action for her.

“I should just roll over and comply to the Alpha.” she snapped right back at him “After what he did to me?” Jay-la opened the top draw to her desk and pulled out the stack of photo’s full of her injuries and threw them on the desk in front of the 2 of them, showing just how bloodied and injured she had been the bruising from being strangled and man handled, the red raw marks from the silver handcuffs, the bruise and puncture wound from the needle that had been used to force-ably inject wolfs-bane into her “the worst of the worst.” she shot at him, hurt lacing every word “I made 1 mistake in my entire life and that’s all he can think about even all these years later.

I’m sure the Luna healed quickly enough, not a scar would have been left on her face. 1 hit and this was worth all my injuries, the trauma of being kidnapped, drugged and separated from my babies. I bet that wasn’t even the worst to come. Just the beginning, I saw how he was looking at me, still so angry for just 1 hit to his mate 6 years ago, not to mention that she hit me first.”

Stephen had picked up the photo’s and was frowning down at them. She had been running away when he had joined Jackson, coming to help capture her, probably hadn’t seen the full state of her injuries. Jackson, on the other hand, had seen it all. It was 1 slap, was it really worth anything she had been given?

Jackson ran his hand through his hair roughly.”Jay-la it wasn’t like that, as for the men who hurt you.l had sent them and they were instructed not to harm you at all.”

“Did I look unharmed to you Jackson?” she yelled angrily at him.

“You started the fight, I believe, in the back of the van. If you hadn’t, you would not have sustained any injuries at all. l assure you.”

“Was l just supposed to let some strange wolves drag me away to beat and probably r*e me Jackson, multiple times before being handed over. Of course, I was going to defend myself, any wolf would.”

“Jay-la no harm was going to come to you.” he repeated firmly.

“But I didn’t krow that. Worst of the worst. That means that those who come for you, can do as they please, no matter what, and there will be no repercussions because the one who ordered it doesn’t give a damn. As long as the detainee is actually alive and still breathing, they don’t care about the state of said detainee. Isn’t that correct?”

Anger laced every word, she knew she was correct, she knew that he also knew it.

“He was just angry Jay-la, that you were defying his request to come home and the minute he knew you had called, he was very sorry for his words and rescinded them, but wouldn’t pick up the phone and let me explain or reassure you. So you need to take some responsibility here too.”

“I need to take responsibility! Are you f**cking insane? I was coming in. I’d made the arrangements but did he care? No he didn’t. I am not f***g responsible. GET OUT:” she yelled, her anger starting to boil over. Kora was up andfórefront in her mind, ready for a fight, they had complied and he’d wanted to send the worst of the worst.

She was standing now, her hands on her desk her claws were out, digging into the wood of her desk, Kora pulling forward.

Jackson stood “Calm down.” he said softly, trying to placate her.

“I won’t” she growled, allowing him to see Kora right there ready to fight him.

“Okay, maybe I was wrong.” his hands were raised defensively in a gesture that showed he
didn’t want to fight with her.

Stephen got up, dropping all the photo’s and stepped between them. “Out” he said softly to Jackson, “I’ll talk to her.”

Jay-la watched as Jackson pushed something into Stephens’ hand, “make sure she knows” he said, and walked away out of her office and close the door behind him.

That łeft her alone with Stephen and she could already feel his calming aura radiating off of him. Damn Gamma, she was spoiling for a fight and Jackson could take the brunt of it, as*s-hole. All flirtatious thoughts were now gone, where he was concerned.

“Please, Jay-la honey, sit down.” Stephen said softly, slowly walking around the desk towards her.

She could feel her anger starting to ebb away. Her eyes were on his and his directly looking at her. She and Kora both watching him carefully, waiting for something, anything. He technically was the enemy or belonged, to her pissed off Alpha and goddess only knew what his orders were, where she was concerned.

“Please… Jay-la honey, sit down” he repeated softly and she couldn’t help it, her body sank down into the chair “just relax,…. I’m not here to harm you in any way” his voice was barely above a whisper, all his Gamma Charm falling over her in full force, and she realised just how little he had used on her before to make Kora submit.

“I hate you.” Jay-la murmured, as Kora submitted and lay down.

He chuckled, not offended in the least. “That’s okay right now.” his eyes lit with amusenment, his hands moved to the arms of her chair and he turned her to face him directly, leaned down and looked right at her mere inches away from her face, his Caramel eyes soft on her, she actually felt like he truly cared about her at this moment.

“Stupid Gamma.” she hissed at him, all the fight going out of her.

“Yes…I’m the Gamma,” he smiled right at her “Your Gamma, so please listen to me”.

“No…” she closed her eyes and shook her head “I don’t want to.” she whispered, knowing it was a losing battle but still trying desperately to fight it.

“Jay-la… honey. Yes you do” his mouth was right there against her ear. “please don’t make any rash decisions.” he placed a piece of paper in her hand “read this, take it very seriously.”

She nodded her head, opened her eyes and he was right in front of her, staring right into her eyes. It felt like her very soul. “l know you’re hurting right now Jay-la…and need time, take the time.. just please give us a chance too. That is all l am asking of you.”

Tears filled her eyes “I hate you.” She whispered again, she was drowning in his Gamma Charm aura.

He smiled softly at her, placed a light k!ss on her forehead “Just breath.” he said softly and stepped away from her, dropped his Gamma Charm, he walked towards the door, his hand on the handle and turned to look at her “have a nice dinner on Friday.” he winked at her and then was gene from her office.

She felt the weight of his Gamma Charm lift the minute he stopped using it and was starting to feel better and more her normal self with every minute that he was out of her office. Her eyes hardened and she glared at the door where he had been, ‘have a nice dinner on Friday’. He was just letting her know that he knew exactly where she was going to be, and would likely be reporting as much to the Alpha.

She took several minutes to recover her composure from the effect he’d had on her. She felt real sorry for his mate. The poor creature never stood a chance against that power, she was never going to be able to stay mad at him.

Her eyes turned to the paper in her hand, she unfolded it, read it. There was a list of pack names at the top were the words ‘None of these’ Enemies she guessed. Along with the pack names were the names of the Alpha, Beta, Ganima and Delka of each pack. Jay-la guessed that was just in-case they tried to fool her. She didn’t quite understand why they had given it to her, and stated’none of these’ almost implied she was going to be allowed to get a new pack.

Were they actually starting to believe she was going to be able to find a new pack? Preparing for it, she supposed, she could reject her pack any time she liked, and go rogue. Perhaps he would rather know where she went with his children than just disappear with them, which she could. She guessed.

3 of those packs were right out there in her waiting area. She would take it seriously, she did not want harm to come to her,babies, or her and Kora either. She got up after putting the paper away in her desk draw. Walked over and brought in her next appointment.

He introduced himself, smiling politely and sat down, seemed nice. He didn’t even look her over, as most male wolves would, could be mated, but his mark spot was currently covered, so she didn’t know. He handed her an envelope. It had the Eclipse Pack seal on it. “My Alpha sends an offer of friendship and an invitation into our pack” Delta Ryan Jay-la opened the letter and read it. It was addressed directly to her and offered sanctuary and protection to her and her 3 pups until they were to turn 18. He offered her a position in his pack’s legal department along with a nice-sized salary attached. And accommodation in the Pack House itself on the Gamma’s floor.

A full suite for her and the children. All she had to do was pledge allegiance to him and swear her loyalty and her children’s as well, and then he would take her in and protect her from her current Alpha and all threats from the Blood Moon Pack.

It was a nice offer, but all she saw was the deadline for the protection of her children at 18. After thathe could simply do as he pleased and harm her and the children. Do whatever he wanted to them. No she was not so stupid.

She looked up at Delta Ryan “only til my children turn 18? why?”

“I didn’t write it.” Ryan stated with a simple shrug, “I was only instructed to deliver it and await your reply.”

“I’m currently fielding many offers” she indicated the stack of message slips on her desk, “you should return to your Pack. Tell your Alpha, thank you for the offer. I will consider it. However, an expiry date on protection and sanctuary is a turn off. I want complete assurance no harm will, ever, come to me or my children.”

“I seriously doubt youll get that from any Pack.” He nodded and stood up “My Alpha, however does have a son about 3 years older than your girls. Perhaps a mating bond alliance could be a better offer.”

‘Hell no’ Kora roared in her head. Jay-la agreed totally, she would not sell off one of her children to any man or wolf. The goddess would gift her children Mates and only then would she allow any of them to be bonded to another. There would be no chosen Mates for her babies. Certainly not one from an enemy Pack.

“Perhaps” she bowed her head slightly, showing respect, she did not want to offend this
man or his Alpha.

“I will let my Alpha know,” was all Ryan said before leaving her office.

Jay-la shuddered, she felt as though grubs were crawling all over her skin. Are all offers going to be like this? She hoped not.