CHAPTER 47- Indecision brewing
HUNTER’S P. O. V.
I am trying really hard to trust Jasmine, but it is obvious that she is hiding something from me. I don’t know what it is, but I know it has to do with that Alpha. She hasn’t been sleeping. Hardly eating. Quiet and lost in thought. I know the deadline is looming but it seems like it is something more than that. She seems to be pulling away from me.
Constantly she is trying to push the meetings with the humans. It has been two days and we have met with at least fifteen humans. I think she is rushing it. On the brightside the humans seem to be accepting it.
I even talked to Jay about it but he doesn’t have a clue why she is acting this way. He has noticed it too though so it’s not just me.
I am sitting in the room with her. She is pacing again. “Baby, you need to sit. The stress is not good for the baby.”
“I know Hunter. I am trying here. There is just a lot riding on this. Having to move and find new land for the pack is not going to be good for the baby either. I am trying here Hunter.”
I stand up and pull her into my arms. “Baby, we are going to do this. We are already making great progress. So far no one is running away screaming.”
“I know, I’m sorry I am stressed about it. I really just need this to work. With dad down, there is a lot on me.”
“Let me give you a message, baby. You need to relax, for the baby’s sake.”
“Hunter, I’m not really in the mood.”
“I am not really giving you a choice here.” I pull her down on the bed. “If you keep going like this then you are going to burn out. You aren’t sleeping, you aren’t eating. You can’t keep going like this.”
“Hunter I love you, but I really just need to stay focused on what I am doing.”
“Jasmine, I am serious, you are going to relax. One hour is not going to kill the whole deal. You aren’t even scheduled to do anything in the next hour. No sense pacing around waiting for something to happen.” I start rubbing her back. Not easy since she is laying on her side, but she is so tense that anything helps. “I know how much rides on this. I am stressed too, but that doesn’t mean that we can burn our candles at both ends.”
She starts moaning and I feel her muscles start to relax under my fingers. I keep working her back and watch as her eyes flutter shut. By the time I am slipping off her shoes to massage her feet, she is slipping off to sleep. I haven’t seen her sleep in the last two days. Sure she lays in bed, but every time I roll over she is awake.
As soon as I am sure that she is asleep, I kiss her forehead and leave her alone to sleep. I plan to get her to sleep as long as possible. Then when she gets up I am going to make her eat. My girl is not going to stress herself out too much.
The bottom floor of the pack house is pretty quiet. Most everyone is at extra training. We plan to fight if it comes down to it. We are not leaving our land. We just haven’t told Jasmine that yet. I find Jay in the library.
“Hey, man. We need to work on this plan a little better. We need more people at one time.” I sat next to him at the table.
“I know. What is bothering me is that Jasmine is too stressed for this just to be a deadline. I have known her for a while and I can tell that something is up.” He is fiddling with his computer. Not really sure what he is doing but it looks like he might be researching something.
“Yeah, I have known her my whole life and I know something is definitely wrong and she isn’t telling me. Do you think that guy said something that set her on edge?” I really don’t like that guy.
“You mean the rogue? Yeah I am sure it has something to do with him. I was looking it up and he actually has quite a bit of money. His family owned a few companies and he runs them in the shadows. This pack thing is like a rebellion or something. His parents are still quite upstanding people. I reached out to them and they said that he kind of lost it when his mate rejected him. That was when he left his pack and started this.”
“How does this information help us?”
Jay shrugged. “It doesn’t really. I am starting to get an idea about what it might be though. He seemed to really like Jas. Do you think that he tricked her somehow? Like if she doesn’t make this deal she would have to date him or something? I know it sounds far fetched, but this guy doesn’t play on the same level as us.”
I think for a minute. “Actually that makes sense. According to Christian, he would always meet with the Alphas one on one on their land, give a deadline and that was it. As soon as he saw Jasmine it all changed. The dinner. Like it was a date. Afterwards she was more stressed than before. She smelled a lot like him. Then his statement when we left. Remember what he said?”
Jay shakes his head looking confused. “I was more worried about getting the hell out of there.”
“He said, ‘take care of her for me’. That sounds like he is planning on laying claim to her soon.” When will all this shit stop. I want people to stop trying to take my mate from me. It’s bad enough I feel like she is pulling away from me. I want her to love me and only me.
“That explains why she is so stressed. I also got an idea on how we can move this introduction thing along. The city mayor. She can move things along more quickly. Call a town meeting. But we need to convince her first. I already scheduled an appointment, but it isn’t until the twentieth. Her assistant said she is really busy this time of year so that was all we could get.” Jay sounds disappointed.
“That will only give us five days. So we need to keep working in the meantime. Any suggestions?”
Jay shakes his head. “I had one but Jasmine shot it down. Said it was too risky.”
“What is it?” Anything is better than nothing.
“The school is having a rally in three days. If we showed up and some of you shifted in the middle of it. Like you and some other younger ones. That would make a whole school worth of people on our side. I am sure they wouldn’t go crazy. If we presented it in the right way. Jasmine thought it would make them all freak out and make things worse.”
I lean back in my seat and ponder what he said. “You know I think we can make it work. If we get Tyler to shift too, that would build momentum. Plus having the humans that we have on our side already there, it will help build support. With that many people on our side it will be easier to win over the mayor and then the rest of the city.”
Jay shook his head again. “I am not sure that Tyler can shift. He hasn’t been shifting during the attacks.”
I lean forward. I know something that Jay doesn’t. That’s a first. “When my dad and I talked to him before we met with Zoe we got the information on that. It isn’t a problem any more. He was rejected by his mate and it made him unable to shift. But then he was defending some pups when the last attack took place and something triggered his wolf and he shifted. Really great timing actually because we wanted him to start Beta training.”
“That sucks about his mate though. Although it seems you get more than one.” He looks thoughtful.
“What do you mean?” I am confused now.
He laughed. “You didn’t know. Zoe is Christian’s second chance mate.”
I think about it. “That explains a lot. He hasn’t been around as much. I just thought he was giving up. I have been so busy and worried about Jasmine that I didn’t really think about it. I have heard about that happening, but it is really rare. I wouldn’t bank on that.” That is another reason why I want to hang on to Jasmine.
“So are you going to convince Jas that we need to do the rally?”
“Yeah, we need to do it. It is really going to boost the numbers. Start making preps with the pack members that you think will be best for it.” I slap the table as I stand. “I am going to check on Jasmine, I left her sleeping. I really hope she still is. She hasn’t really slept in two days.”
“When is Tyler starting this Beta training? I love helping Jas and all but it seems like this should be something he should be doing.”
I nod. “It is, but Jasmine wants you to be her Beta for now. She knows it can’t be permanent because you aren’t a wolf but she wants to treat you like one. That is your best friend perk. All best friends of the Alpha have the Beta position.”
Jay laughs. “Then how the hell were you going to be the Beta. You sure the fuck weren’t her best friend.”
“I was getting it because she didn’t have a best friend in the pack and I was born into it. I was supposed to be her best friend. I screwed that up and you know why.” He is still laughing while I leave the room. I am checking on Jasmine, hopefully she is still sleeping.