Morning came WAY too early. I reached for my alarm clock, knocking it on the floor, then I rolled out of bed and fell on my hip when I was trying to reach it. “Hell of a start to the day, Ella.” I untangled my legs from the sheet and limped my way to the bathroom. My hair was a mess, I had bags under my eyes, and I was still a little sore in a good way down there.
I did my best to clean up but gave up on the hair. When I got downstairs, Remi was reading on her laptop, Marge already had breakfast made and I asked Mabel if she could braid my hair while I ate. “Sure honey,” she said. “Now what did that boy tell you last night? It must have been good for you to come home with that smile on your face.”
Clearly, the teasing wasn’t going to stop after last night, they knew exactly what I had been doing. “I told him I was pregnant. He was shocked, of course, even more when I told him I didn’t know if it was his or David’s. He was concerned for me, but once he found out I was keeping the baby, he told me he would be by my side for everything.” I looked down at my stomach and put one hand over it. “I have to say I’m glad I had that night with him. It makes the pregnancy much easier knowing it is most likely his.”
Marge came over and gave me a hug while Mabel finished up. “He is a good boy, just like his Daddy. Very loyal.”
“He is, and I’m falling for him hard. Once I got past the idea of having a mate to wait for, I saw what had been in front of me the whole time. He makes me happy.”
“That’s a good start for any man,” Remi said. The moment was broken up when Jimmy and Melody came into the room hand in hand. “Good timing, food’s on the island. You need to be on the road in thirty minutes to make sure you get there early.”
I was just about done with my food, there was enough time to get dressed. I looked over at Jimmy. “You brought the pelts, right?”
He nodded. “I thought you were going to make those into a rug or something, don’t you want them in the house?”
“No, I’ve got other plans for them now.” Remi was just closing her laptop. “Sooo… how should we handle this, Aunt Remi?”
She put her laptop in her bag. “The goal of today is to find out what it is they want, and see if there is advantage in that,” she said. “You’re essentially meeting under a truce flag, so it wouldn’t be good for your reputation to do anything to her. Also, we don’t have to agree to anything. I would prefer you didn’t, at least until we can bring Doug into the decision. Since he is protecting you, you need to respect his position too.”
“I am, that’s why I asked him for the pelts in the first place. They need to stay in the back of Jimmy’s car, we can’t risk them scenting them beforehand. I’ve got two private security guards who will be in the restaurant, they will look like a normal couple and are both human. They know what I look like, other than identifying me they are not to do anything unless someone tries to hurt us. I was thinking we have Jimmy inside and leave Melody outside watching the parking lot? She can link you two if anything seems wrong.”
Remi nodded. “I’m not worried about Luna Kayla, but I wouldn’t put it past Scott to try something if we don’t agree. He’s getting desperate.”
“You really think he’d endanger his grandkid and risk war with your mate?” I couldn’t believe someone would be that stupid.
“We have to assume so. He’s lost three sons to stupid already.” She looked at Jimmy. “I want you guys within three cars of us at all times. We have to be ready.”
We got on the road on time, Aunt Remi was driving. Other than a comment about her recommended leather cleaning product, she didn’t say anything about the smell- which was noticeable even to my human senses. She did have the window down for a while despite the cold. I pretended to ignore it, reclining the seat to take a nap. We got to the steakhouse thirty minutes before the meeting; we stayed in my truck until Jimmy had cleared the lot and the inside. We asked for a table with some privacy, and were escorted to a booth with high back benches in the back.
The waitress took our drink order as we told her we were waiting for a guest. By the time the drinks arrived, so had Luna Kayla. And next to her was her daughter and my former friend, Carol. I was glaring at her, ready to rip her face off, but Aunt Remi was holding the back of my blouse so I couldn’t stand up.
“Luna Remi, Ella, thank you for meeting us,” Kayla said as she motioned for Carol to slide in so she was opposite me.
“I wasn’t aware you were bringing your daughter, Kayla,” Remi replied with a soft growl. “That wasn’t in the agreement.”
“She’s my security,” Kayla said. “She asked to come because she needed to say something to Ella.”
I slammed my hand on the table, startling them all. “Why in the hell would I listen to anything this deceitful bitch says to me?” Remi rubbed my back, and I sat back down.
“I’m sorry for what I did,” Carol said quietly as I glared at her. “I shouldn’t have betrayed your trust like that, it was wrong to drug you.”
“How… how could you do that knowing what your brother was going to do?”
“I thought… well, I thought that if I could just get you to sit there and think about how it would be good for you and the Pack in the long run, you’d be all right with it and I would have you as a sister in law.”
I leaned forward. “You thought I’d be all right with losing a chance at my true mate and being raped by your brother? Having to chew my thumb off to escape? Losing my wolf? What part was I going to be ‘all right’ with?”
She was crying now, and couldn’t look me in the eyes. “I didn’t think any of that would happen. Dad said once you were marked, that your wolf would take over and everything would be all right. I didn’t think my brother was capable of doing that.” She looked up into my eyes. “I know you probably won’t forgive me, but I had to say that.” She moved her Mom out of the way and walked quickly to the ladies room. I watched her, making sure Jimmy was watching as well. I didn’t want any Godfather moments where she grabs a gun from behind the toilet and comes out blasting.
Carol came back and Kayla moved until she was opposite me. She was about to say something when the waitress arrived with menus and took their drink order. “I’m starving,” I said, “and the food here is supposed to be good. We may as well enjoy the meal.” We put business on hold until she left with our food orders.
“So,” Remi said, “What is it your mate wants?”
“He wants to protect his grandson,” she said. I looked at her like she had grown a third eye. “The alliance we have with the St. Cloud, Brainerd and Grand Forks packs isn’t as strong as you might think. We know Alpha Goodwin made a side deal with you, then he broke it by allowing us on his territory to try and kill you. The man has no scruples, and with our sons gone he smells blood in the water. Any treaty he has with us is worth just as much as the one you signed.”
“I can’t argue with that, the man has no honor.” I despise that man.