Jerald came down to get a bottle of water and his jaw nearly dropped to the floor when he witnessed the scene in front of him. His sister, Lynn, was pinned to the wall by Carson and they were staring at each other, about to kiss. They were too engrossed to notice Jerald standing there with an ashen face that instantly morphed into anger.
“GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF HER!” Jerald bellowed as he grabbed Carson and punched him so hard he toppled to the floor.
“Jerald, wait, it’s not what you think.” Lynn said as she tried to hold Jerald but he glared at her and she paused.
“I told you to stay the fuck away from her.” Jerald said as he picked Carson up from the floor.
Carson tried to speak, but Jerald didn’t give him the chance to do so before another punch landed on his face. Some members of Jerald’s pack came out but they wouldn’t interfere with their Alpha’s fight so they just stood and watched. The others heard the ruckus and came down too.
Keith grabbed Jerald and dragged him away from Carson but Jerald kept struggling to get back to beating Carson to a pulp.
“Chill the fuck out, man,” Keith growled as he tried to restrain Jerald.
Carson was sprawled out on the floor, he hadn’t even been trying to defend himself.
“What did you do?” Thomas said with a scowl as he lifted Carson off the ground.
“I caught him trying to force a kiss on my sister after I warned him to stay away from her.” Jerald grunted as he tried to free himself from Keith’s choke hold.
Carson chuckled and wiped blood from his split lip before speaking.
“She wanted that kiss as bad as I did.”
Hayden joined Keith to hold Jerald back as he moved forward to grab Carson’s neck. Vance held Lynn from behind to pull her away from the scene and Carson turned to him with a fierce glare.
“Hands off.” Carson growled at Vance.
Margaret’s eyes widened as she put the pieces together and she turned to Silver who had also realised what was going on.
“Excuse us.” Silver turned to the members of Jerald’s pack that were there.
They hesitated but eventually left one after the other. When Silver’s attention returned to the rest of them, the tension in the room had multiplied. Carson was facing Vance whose hands were still around Lynn, and Jerald was still glaring daggers at Carson while struggling to free himself from Hayden and Keith.
“Are you deaf? Get your fucking hands off of her.” Carson growled, his eyes were golden as his wolf rose to the surface and his voice was now deeper.
“Vance, let her go.” Thomas said as he too also realised what was going on.
Vance scrunched his face in confusion but he released Lynn as Thomas said. Carson’s gaze didn’t move from Vance’s face, and the rage in his eyes didn’t falter. Margaret gave Lynn a look and Lynn moved towards Carson.
“Hey.” Lynn said as she approached Carson to calm him down before another fight would start.
Carson pulled her closer and pressed his face into her hair. His shoulders visibly relaxed as he inhaled deeply.
There was stunned silence as the rest of them realised what was happening, even Jerald stopped struggling so Hayden and Keith let him go.
“No.” Jerald said in disbelief even though the evidence was right in front of his face. “No, that’s not possible. There must be a mistake somewhere, this has to be a fucking joke.”
“I’m afraid not.” Thomas said.
“Carson is Lynn’s mate, they are the next mating pair.” Silver said.
“No! Fuck, no!” Jerald said.
“How is it even possible, they’ve met before now, if they were mates, they would have found out before today.” Hayden said.
“The quest. Each mated pair is like a piece of the puzzle. It wasn’t the right time for them to mate yet, that’s why the mate bond never showed itself. Now we know what pack is next on the quest, Carson’s pack, the blue moon pack.” Margaret replied.
“Whoever is weaving these mate bonds sure has a sense of humour. Of all the people to mate together, Carson and Jerald’s sister?” Raymond said.
“No, I won’t accept this union.” Jerald said.
“I understand why you’re so angry, Jerald, but you need to calm down for a minute.” Hayden said.
“No, you don’t fucking understand a thing. I’m not letting him have my sister. She deserves better than that piece of shit.” Jerald growled.
“There’s nothing you can do but accept this, Jerald. There’s nothing you can do to change the fact that they are mates.”
“I may not be able to do anything about it, but she can. She will reject him right now and put an end to this madness. Case closed.” Jerald said and they gasped.
“They were mated for a reason, Jerald. If you separate them, who knows what consequence that might have on the quest.”
“I don’t give a shit about the damn quest if it means that bastard gets to have my sister. She will reject him and that’s final.”