The defiant mate by Fennifer Francis novel Chapter 28

He was sitting in what could only be a sitting room, in a large white brick mansion in a gated community, about 40 minutes outside the city. He had noted the coded gate and the 10-foot high brick fencing around the property, the security camera’s at the gate and along the driveway covering the front door.

He was willing to bet this was where she was when he couldn’t track her down after she had run from his pack.

They had been met at the front door, both Tony and Lauren waiting for him. He had not smiled at them and neither of them had smiled at him. A basic greeting and introduction had been given by his father.

And they had all pretty much just nodded at each other.

He had been led inside.

The place exuded wealth, there was white marble everywhere, with floor-to-ceiling columns off to the side of the entry way, a wrought iron railing with a redwood handrail going up the curved stair case to the second floor, with matching stairs, a deep red carpet runner that was held in place with small thin golden rods at each tread.

It was more luxurious than even his pack house. His pack members wanted for nothing and the ground floor was all for them, a massive home theatre, games room with entertainment tailored to their needs, multiple gaming consoles and TVs, table tennis, pinball machines, pool tables, air hockey, everything they wanted, they just had to ask.

There was a gym, an indoor heated swimming pool, spa’s and a sauna. The library that hosted multiple sitting areas’s where all the teenagers liked to hang out with each other and listen to music or just sit and chat. He could only imagine this house had many of the same things within its walls, it was extremely large and though it was just Tony, Lauren and Rae-Rae, it was clear they did not want for anything.

His mother and father were sitting next to him on the very plush couch, and both Tony and Lauren were sitting opposite him, an antique coffee table between them. Micheal and Rae-Rae were standing across the other side of the room. Micheal had had the sense to step well away from him the minute he had walked into the room.

Nathan had locked eyes with him and Havoc had looked out from his eyes right at him as well. His wolf may not yet understand, why Nathan was angry with his little brother, but he was letting himself be known to Micheal, that he was back and the boy had better bow down and do as he was told by his Alpha.

Micheal had clutched at Rae-Rae’s hand and pulled her away to the other end of the room. She had looked more than confused, but had gone with him. Nathan guessed this family unit did not know what Micheal had done to Jay-la with her triples just meters away.

He supposed that would not go down so well and would hinder the Mate Bond proces, so his parents and Micheal had probably not told them.

Tony and Lauren had watched the interaction between the two brothers with interest. He did not know what to expect from this visit, all he knew was that Jay-la had been here and taken away by Jackson and his unit at roughly 8am this morning. It was already 3pm.

He had been unconscious until almost 2pm out cold for a day and a half, annoyed him to no end, but he finally did feel well rested for the first time in weeks.

Seeing as he had barely been sleeping since Jay-la had run away from him, defying him at every turn. ‘we’ll su**ck her good; Havoc chortled, happy knowing that they would be with their mate tonight.

It would be late at night, after midnight likely, but still his mate and pups were there. They were finally going to be able to sort out everything that had happened between them, which had lead to this goddess awful situation. Hopefully, she wouldn’t blame him for the current situation she found herself in at the pack.

He had taken his mother’s advice, showered, shaved and styled his hair, pulled on a black suit, but removed the jacket he didn’t want to appear too formal. He was wearing a light grey dress shirt, left the top button undone, he had decided in the shower he would at least try to placate this family, seeing as these were the people who had taken in Jay-la and helped her with the triplets because he had not been around to do so, he had also recalled how Jackson had report her reaction to the man when he had gone to her office.

Jay-la appeared to really love these people, which meant he was going to have to get along with them, so he had to be polite and give them what they wanted, well to a degree anyhow.

He would show respect to them. He sat across from them, there was still no smile on his face, as he wanted to appear neutral at this point.

“Where is Jay-la? I recognised your men. They were the ones who came and took her this morning as well as the children?”

“I didn’t know anything about that until just over an hour ago,” Nathan answered honestly, “but I believe her mother was seriously injured, on the verge of dying. I just found out myself. My men acted on their own..they were friends with Jay-la growing up. They probably just wanted to help her in a time of need, I imagine”.

“The woman in the video.” Lauren frowned is her mother? We didn’t think she had a family.”

“What video, and she still has both parents and a brother” Lauren produced a phone from a pocket of her jacket, and accessed it. Showed him the video of Vera on the hospital bed, bloody wound dressings covering her arms, chest, part of her face, her abdomen and down her legs ‘bloody Abbey, how stupid could she be’ he thought. He sighed heavily, it was no wonder she was pouring out distress.

He turned the phone off, having seen enough, “her phone?” he enquired and at Lauren’s nod, he simply put it in his shirt pocket, he would give it back to her once he was back, at the pack.

“Looks like it was an animal attack.” Lauren pointed out.

“It was a wolf, I believe,” his mother spoke. “We live quite close to a forest and there is a natural wolf population there. Both Tony and Lauren’s eyes moved to their only child. He could see worry written on both of them “She will be safe”‘ Nathan assured them “Wolf attacks don’t happen often and when they do we deal with them quickly and put the blood-thirsty ones out of their misery… As for Jay-la and the triplets” he avoided calling them his children he didn’t think that would go over well with them just yet. they are perfectly safe, and completely unharmed.”

“I’d like to know of your intentions where our dear Jay-la is involved? I’m sure you can see why we are troubled about her, where you are concerned.” Tony’s attention was returned to Nathan as he spoke, his brown eyes boring into him, just like a good dad trying to be threatening and authoritative.

Nathan was not currently giving off any alpha aura, Havoc was sitting at the back of his mind listening but not participating, he wanted to appear human and of no threat to this family. “Marriage.” he stated simply “l know we have some issues to work out. But we will work them out.”

“Some?” Tony frowned at him, shaking his head slightly.

“Yes…l assure you it is all just a misunderstanding, Jay-la has read things wrongly, and we will work them out”

“Your wife, Sophia?”

Now that did surprise him. Just how much did they know.

“Divorced, 2 and half years. Didn’t work out,” he shrugged.

“Do you think she’ll marry you? Just because the two of you share children. Because I don’t” Tony said, being very direct.

“love her, always have.” Nathan replied calmly. He had in fact thoroughly enjoyed being in a relationship with her, he had not actually had s*x with anyone else while he was sleeping with her, not even thought about it actually, so he could suppose that somewhere deep down inside, a part of him felt that very real connection to her, a bond, that is now the Mate Bond. Once she scented him out everything would be able to be worked out.

“Then why tell her to leave and marry someone else?” Rae-Rae shot at him from across the room, anger lacing her words.

His eyes moved to her, she had some guts. He thought to himself “extenuating circumstances.” He shrugged, he couldn’t answer that question truthfully, none of them would understand. Rae-Rae would eventually understand it. Once marked and mated by Micheal.

“That’s bullshit. She told me herself, you loved your wife.” She called him on it, right away.

He watched as Micheal tried to get her to stop and just be quiet.

To his complete surprise, she shoved his hands away from her and stomped right over to him, right next to him and pointed a finger right in his face, anger still coming from her. So much like his mother, he thought absently, very ballsy.

“lf you loved her, how could you send her away and tell her never to come back?” she demanded.

“Again” extenuating circumstances, perhaps one day you will understand Rae-Rae” he replied calmly. He quite liked the little human and he could see why Jay-la did, she had a fierceness about her. Probably reminded Jay-la of a wolf.

“I should beat you,” she snapped, “like she was,” Nathan frowned at her. “I have never wished harm on her Rae-Rae, I assure you. I just wanted her to come home. I missed her… had no idea about the triplets at all. I’m sorry for that. You have no idea how sorry.”

She stood there glaring down at him, completely unaware that she would never be allowed to do it again, never get away with this behaviour and attitude towards him in the future..

“Rae-Rae calm down” he heard Lauren say softly.

“No, let her be angry, she has the right to be angry, you all do. As does Jay-la, so go ahead yell and scream, get it all out:” Nathan shrugged, he could not deny them their own emotions over everything that had gone on.

“I would like to talk to Jay la,” Tony stated flatly, “you can call her, I presume?”

“I can call Jackson, but she was asleep when called earlier, passed out from emotional exhaustion, our doctor said.”

“Try,” he stated simply.

Nathan nodded, pulled out his phone and dialled Jackson’s number. It only rang 3 times before he picked up. “Yes boss.”

Nathan hit the speaker button, “Jackson you’re on speaker, I have Tony and Lauren here, they want to speak with Jay-la.”

“Still sleeping Nathan,”

“You have eyes on her then?”

“Yes, I can send a photo if you like?”

“Do it,” Nathan stated.

It only took a minute to come through, it annoyed him that she was clearly sleeping on the bed next to Jackson, but he had to trust him, she had a hand clutched into his shirt. Clearly, hadn’t wanted to be alone ‘to close’ Havoc huffed.

“He’s not her mate Havoc, just close friends, always were remember.” Havoc huffed again but stayed quiet.

She looked exhausted, her face puffy from crying and she was mostly covered by the duvet that Jackson had tucked around her, he was on it, she was under it, her hair was a mess and she wore no make-up, not that she needed it in his eyes.

He pushed his phone across the table for them to see the picture for themselves.

“Thank you Jackson” he said when they had all seen the photo, and was about to hang it up when Lauren chimed in.

“The triplets, even though I do not believe you would hurt them, may we please speak with them?”

“I’ll have to get Jody and Ethan to call you back on that one. They are with Jody.”

“Do it,” Nathan said and ended the call. “it might take a few minutes. Jody is Jay-la’s father, by the way”

They waited…

Ethan actually video called, which was great because the triplets were all there and he and Havoc got to actually see them in real-time. They too looked tired and worn out, but were okay.

They spoke with Tony and Lauren. He handed them his phone, so they had full control of the conversation. It was good to hear their voices. They answered all Tony and Lauren’s questions without hesitation, were happy to see Rae-Rae. He could hear it in their voices.

They were safe and okay with their Grandpa, their words and Nathan couldn’t help but smile, they were already adjusting to the pack. He just knew it. Could feel the kinship with Jay-la’s father, they had accepted him easily.

They were excited to tell Tony, Lauren and Rae Rae that it was snowing outside, “come and look” They all yelled excitedly at the same time Ethan had trailed them with the phone. It was the first snowfall of the season. They all ran outside to play in the snow. He watched as all three of the humans in front of him visually relaxed at seeing them so happy.

He held his hand out for his phone. “May 1?” Tony handed it back to him and he got to watch them for himself for a short while, they looked very happy. It warmed his heart just to know that they could be that happy inside his pack. They looked at home. “Ethan, snag them. It’ll be too cold for them and I want to speak with them myself for a minute.”

Ethan called them back inside and sat them on the couch once more. Nathan couldn’t help but smile at them, even HavoC was purring quietly inside, excited to see them so happy, knowing that they would get to see them very soon.

“Hello, I’m Nathan. I thought you might like it if Rae-Rae came for a visit, right away.”

They all yelled “yes” excitedly and he actually chuckled, couldn’t help himself, it wasn’t the introduction he wanted with them but just talking to them, even though they had no idea who he was and hearing them answer him so happily brought him and havoc pure Joy.

He didn’t want to end the call but needed to, had to get back to the pack.

He turned back to Tony and Lauren, who were staring at him now. They didn’t like what he’d said to the triplets. That was clear, they weren’t ready to let their baby girl go off to another part of the country with a man they clearly didn’t trust, but he was going to gain their trust the easy way.

“If Rae-Rae is willing,” he said to the both of them, “Td like her to accompany Micheal and my family back home and that way Jay-la has someone she trusts completely with her and you both can call Rae-Rae for updates anytime you like, I’m sure your daughter wouldn’t lie to you.. this also should give you some piece of mind, that I mean Jay-la no harm.”

They seemed to be thinking it over. Rae-Rae looked excited at the prospect. “Can I?” she asked them eagerly.

“And when will we be invited?” Tony asked.

“I would like a few days to sort things out with Jay-la, but after that anytime you like. I’l let her call you and make the arrangements. Would that suit you?”

“If you think she will stay…she has a whole life here,” Tony said, disbelief in his voice. He didn’t believe that she would willingly stay ” a boyfriend.”

Nathan frowned “l’m sure | can sort everything out and I don’t think she is serious about Timothy Bolton.” he used the man’s name so they understood that he knew who they were talking about. “About Rae-Rae?” he questioned them “I would like to get back and make sure Jay-la is okay and has everything she needs.”

He could see Rae-Rae nervously biting her lower l!p, waiting for her parents’ permission. Technically, she didn’t need it, she was 18 and could make the decision herself, but clearly wanted their approval, she was ever so slightly bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Mum, dad…can I please go and see where Micheal lives?” she was practically begging them.

Lauren caved in first and Tony sighed and nodded after Lauren agreed, so the man, it seemed, went along with his wife’s opinions, he would have to remember that. Rae-Rae practically squealed with delight and excitement, then ran out the room yelling about packing a suitcase.

Lauren turned her eyes directly on him the minute her daughter was out of the room, they were hard and devoid of all emotion “I will call randomly. If either of my girls don’t pick up. I will come for them, and that will be it. Do you understand me? Am I making myself perfectly clear to you” Her tone implied she was not to be argued with and that she would indeed follow through, the unsaid threat being she would remove both her girls and neither he nor Micheal would be allowed to see them! Little did she know that would never happen.

Nathan liked her instantly. He could see where Rae-Rae got her guts from. Lauren appeared to be a lovely, well-mannered lady, but underneath she was a warrior of a woman. Not really surprising considering who she was and how she was raised. Probably didn’t have to exert her authority much, but when she did, it was all there for everyone to see, she was not a woman to be messed with.

“Agreed. Will you bring your father’s goons with you?” he half laughed.

Tony frowned at him. “Yes, we will, a whole platoon of them.”

Nathan smiled and stood, he was ready to leave. Both his parents stood with him. “We’ll wait outside for Rae-Rae” he nodded.

Still amused by the two of them. They would likely all get along really well once everything was cleared up and he was Mated to Jay-la.