James' POV
"Carramel, come on! It won't be that bad." I tell my bean, but her butt won't move from where she's hiding under her favorite blanket in my bed. It's finally the weekend but every other Saturday morning there's a pack meeting that's takes place.
As the future Alpha and Luna, I think it'll be a great idea for Carramel to start sitting in on meetings and maybe even start brainstorming with me and the rest of the pack. I brought up the idea this morning and she easily panicked. She claimed she's not important enough to be in there and that it would make me look bad to have a Mate as a Luna and I told her I didn't care. It doesn't seem like that argument is working so well.
"I don't want to go! I'll just sleep until you get back!" Carramel whines and I have to hold back a smile of adoration. The other reason she doesn't want to go to the meeting is because she doesn't want to change from her pajamas and as comfortable and cute as they look, I don't blame her.
"Bean, come on. It's just an hour meeting to catch up on things and go over progress from the last meeting." There's silence that meets me from beneath the covers and I groan as I try to meet her halfway. "What if, you bring your blanket and we call our friends for a lunch date?" I ask her and she peeks out of the the hole she makes in the cover to look at me.
"Which friends?" She asks skeptically and I try to hide a smile, knowing I have her hooked.
"Alex, Art, Taylor and his Mate." I tell her and she instantly perks up at the thought.
"Wait where are we eating?" She asks me, her eyes squinting at me since her cute little glasses are sitting in the bedside table. My adorable Carramel-bear is is blind as a bat without them and I think it's as funny as it is cute.
"How does pasta sound?" I ask shooting my shot in the dark and I inwardly sigh in relief when her smile brightens.
"Sounds like you should get a kiss." She tells me with a blush fluttering across her cheeks and I perk up and grin before moving towards her for just that, but the little bean face palms me, pushing my face away with a giggle. "But I have to get dressed. No time for kisses." She tells me laughing evilly as she gets off the bed and scrambled to the bathroom making me pout.
She closes the door and I get to work making sure the plans I promised Carramel will get to happen. I whip out my phone from my pocket and scroll through my contacts until I find Alex's number. I click his name and want through two rings before he picks up.
"Hey, Alex." I say in greeting and I can hear the glare from here.
"You're not calling out of the meeting are you?" He asks me and I laugh with a slight blush knowing I do so way too often lately, wanting to spend as much time with my little baby as possible.
"No actually. Carramel will be joining us as a matter of fact." I tell him a bit sassily and I feel Sloan snort in amusement but I ignore the wolf.
"Oh." Alex says sounding shocked and more than a bit confused. "Does Carramel know this?" He asks and I can't help my laugh at the valid question especially after how he just reacted to it.
"Yes she does but that's not why I'm calling." I tell him and he hums as he waits for me to explain. "One of the conditions for her coming is that we all get to go out for lunch today. And before you get any ideas we're eating pasta." I tell him, knowing his fat ass would suggest a barbecue or burger place.
"Well if it's Carramel's choice I guess that's okay." He grumbles and I roll my eyes knowing that if I tried to pick pasta he would say I was a noodle head and drive us straight to the restaurant he wants.
"Whatever. See you in a bit." I tell him and he laughs before I hang up on him and look for the other contact I have in my phone. Once I find it, I click on this one before putting it on speaker and straightening up the bed in pure boredom, wanting my bean in my arms instead of in the shower.
"Princess Artemis speaking. How can I help you serve me today?" My friend answers the phone and as always I can't help the laugh that comes at the airy greeting her mother ingrained in her, her voice sounding way too stiff and professional to be any sort of fun.
"Hey, Art, it's James." I tell her and there's a sigh of relief as her voice changes into it's smooth raspy pitch that anyone in their right mind would find extremely sexy.
"Hey, James. Please tell me you're staging a rescue mission to get me out of Court this afternoon." She sighs and I cringe, remembering all the backstabbing and horrid stories of males and females alike making the royal family's life a living hell.
"Actually I am, princess." I tell her and she groans at the title though I can hear the excitement in her voice at the prospect of having to deep with the shallow spiteful Court members.
"Call me princess again and my tiara will be shoved so far up your ass, you'll be sitting straight as a board for a week." She tells me using her 'royal' voice and I shudder at the threat falling from her sweet lips.
'I could marry this woman.' Sloan sighs, relishing in the shared love language they share: sarcasm and violence.
'Wouldn't everyone?' I ask him and I get no argument in return.
"Well Carramel wants me, you, Alex and some friends of her to get together for lunch in exchange for her participation in a pack meeting. You down?" I ask her, taking her off of speaker to raise the phone to my ear.
"Sure. Send me the place and I'll come. Jasper will try and tag along though."
"Try to lose him. I'll text you." I tell her and we say our goodbyes just as Carramel comes out the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her whole body making my cheeks raise in a smile at the unexpected serotonin.
She catches me looking at her and she blushes before turning to go to her drawer that we cleaned out for her last week. I try to advert my eyes from her shy form knowing she's still hesitant around me and I have to think about black licorice and sour cream to keep my wayward thoughts in check.
"I'm ready." Carramel says from behind me and I turn around to see her in a soft pink hoodie and some skinny jeans. Perfection.
I grab my phone, keys and wallet from the table and wait for Carramel to grab her own before turning towards me but I stop as we head to the door. "What about your blanket?" I ask her and her cheeks imitate a cherry as she shakes her head harshly.
"No, it's okay." She tells me and I frown.
"I wouldn't let anyone say anything about it or you, you can bring it, Carramel." I tell her wanting her to trust me to take care of her properly the way she deserves.
"I know. I just don't want to." She tells me but her eyes can't hold mine.
'Don't push it. She trusts you but she has to keep getting comfortable with herself. Just give her some time.' Sloan advises and I take the words and hold them to me as I let the disagreement go.
"Okay. Come on, it's about to start." I tell her and I see Carramel breath a sigh of relief and I thank Sloan with a mental rub between her ears form saving me from an upset bean.
I grab her hand as I open and close my door and the two of us make our way downstairs and to the right, heading down the hall that's filled with offices and finally arriving at the meeting room.
I hold the door open for my lover and follow her inside. Usually I'm the first one in, but getting Carramel to agree to be here was a struggle within itself. I catch Zee's eye and smile when I see Alex standing behind her.
I feel Carramel step behind me and walk close to my own steps as she hides herself behind my arm, her hand gripping mine tightly but I don't mind at all.
"Hey, Zee." I greet you her, smiling at her gorgeous face and she returns to look.
"Hey, James. Hey Carramel." She says softly, leaning around me slightly to wiggle her fingers at my shy Mate. She gets a smile smile and a finger wave in return making Sloan and I beam in pride.
As much as Carramel has grown to be herself around the two of us, there's still a long way to go before she's confident enough to interact with those she doesn't already know and trust.
We continue to chat as Carramel slowly begins to emerge herself from behind my body but as soon as I'm sure she's about to add to the conversation, a middle aged man named David walks in clapping his hands.
"Alright people, lets get this meeting started." He says and our little group rolls our eyes as we turn to take our seat at the table.
There's an extra chair that's lined on the wall and I pull it beside my chair at the head of the table off to the left. Carramel sits in it but her gaze falls to the table as she scoots it closer to me.
I let my hand fall to her knee and start giving it reassuring strokes with my thumb making her sigh softly. Much to my annoyance, David moves his chair from the right side of the table and places it at the head in the other end making me frown but a quick kick from Alex under the table has me straightening out my face. Barely.
"Good morning, guys." I start off smiling after those assembled around me and they greet me back. Zee hands me my notes from the last meeting and I use my free hand to flip to the correct date.
"Okay so the last time we were here we went through ways to help increase living in the pack house and job opportunities for young wolves that want to help out their families or want to gain a sense of responsibility." I say and of course David is the first to speak up, clearing his throat in interruption.
"And as I stated, young wolves are lazy. They don't want or need jobs so there's no reason to waste our resources into creating some just for them to slack around with them. They probably don't even want the jobs." David argues and I take a deep calming breath.
"Actually, it's wolves between the ages of fifteen and nineteen who agree that they want a job that's packowned so they don't have to go far from home. They want the practice for when they're grown wolves with Mates and kids of their own." I tell him and he scoffs in clear disbelief.
"That'll be the day, when lazy little kids want to work." He says and I barely hold back a snarl but before I can answer, Carramel speaks up, her voice clear as she speaks up with a tiny frown.
"That day is yesterday, sir. You're just not keeping up." She says sassily and Alex has to hide his snicker with a cough as David glares.
"And who are you to speak against me." The ignorant older wolf says and it's so very clear to me how he and my father were thick as thieves.
"Your Luna. But please, carry on." Carramel says, leaning forward in her seat and I feel my dick twitch at the confidence and lack of fear in her face as she stares down a dumbstruck David. When the annoying asshole doesn't say anything more I clear my throat happily as I rub Carramel's thigh in reward.
"Now. As we were saying.. ..."