I sat there looking at the beautiful woman sitting in front of me. She looked like she could be some princess out of a Scottish fairytale. Long fiery red wavy hair just as long as mine and piercing green eyes and beautiful ivory cream skin. The way she spoke made me think of someone who grew up in a high class society. She had grace. Something I didn't have.
"We can talk freely since Ronald's hearing has been cut off. Is there anything you would like to ask? We can fill you in on whatever we can if we know the answer." Ruby asked, resting her hands in her lap.
"I want to know about my father. I thought he was human since my wolf never woke up. Just tell me what ever you can." I asked with excitement in my voice.
"Very well. I'm not the best person to answer this question though. Jesse if you would." Ruby said looking to the couch where Jesse, Mac, and Alex were sitting. James was sitting in a chair he had pulled up next to the couch after moving my mother to my bed. I didn't want them to put her in the room she shared with Ronald. Never again would she have to lay there.
"Well your father and I first met when we were on a mission for the government. We were both fulfilling our military contracts. We were rescuing some political hostages from a group of dragons. He was strong for a wolf and thought quick on his feet. I don't remember what clan he belonged to but I do know he was supposed to become the High Alpha when he was done serving his military contract. I know that your mother was from a rival clan so he kept her a secret. His plan was once he became high alpha he would bring both of you to his clan. He told me no one could say anything once he was High Alpha." Jesse said looking over to me. "You both were very important to him. All he wanted to do was protect the both of you. That's why he was trying to finish his contract as fast as possible."
"That's why we chose to protect you when he died. We knew your mother's clan was looking for her but they didn't know anything about you. If her clan found out you were an Alpha as well, they would take you instead of your mother. Kidnapping a child was easier than dealing with your mother." Alex said. He had relaxed now and didn't flinch every time I looked at him. I didn't mean to scare him like that. It had felt like someone else had taken over my body and was doing and saying all those things when I lost control.
"Wait Mom told me all males in a clan had to serve at least two years. How could he finish faster?" I asked Jesse.
"That's true for most shifters but for those strong enough to be in a counsel or stronger like your father could make a choice to complete twenty-four missions. Those missions were on a different level then normal missions a shifter unit would go on. In a normal contract you have to do two years one mission a month. His choice to do them faster comes with a risk. The missions are more dangerous. Most High Alpha are put in units who go on more dangerous missions anyways so he chose to complete them faster. He was doing missions back to back sometimes doing three in a month. I told him to slow down." Jesse growled.
"Were you close with my father?" I asked looking at my hands.
"Yes I was. I'm not a High Alpha but I have the strength to become one. My brother is the High Alpha of our clan. So I was put on a lot of the same missions as him. We became close during that time. He only needed three more missions to be done. I'm sorry I couldn't protect him." Jesse said his voice shaking a little.
"It's not your fault." I told Jesse. I looked up to see tears starting to form in his eyes.
"You're wrong. The bullet that nicked his heart was meant for me. He pushed me out of the way. I owe him my life. Had he not pushed me out of the way that bullet would have hit me in the head." Jesse replied putting his head in his hands. "That idiot should have just let me die. He had a kid to worry about I didn't."
"Stop it!" I exclaimed standing to my feet. I walked over to the couch and knelt down in front of Jesse who was trying to hold back his tears by clenching his teeth. He looked up at me with a couple of different emotions showing in his eyes.
"What?" Jesse asked confused.
"From what you told me, you two were close. When you see a friend in danger can you just sit there? I wouldn't be able to. I think my father moved before he had a chance to think about it. So there's no reason to beat yourself over it." I said putting my hands on his knees. "You took care of us after his death. You didn't have to do that but you did. Thank you for all you did for my father and us. I'm grateful to you."
"You sound just like your father right now." Jesse said wrapping his arms around me. He squeezed me tight letting his head rest in the crook of my neck. With a sigh he realized me looking me in the eyes. "I'll make up for what I've taken from you for the rest of my life. If you ever need anything just call."
"I'll hold you to that." I told him patting him on the shoulder. As he nodded I stood an walk back over to my seat and sat down turning to face Ruby. "What about this whole ability thing. How can I do that?" I asked her.
"I'm not sure. Only dragons should be able to use abilities. I want to go back to my father's Clan in Scotland so I can go through our records. My father's Clan is one of the oldest dragon clans in the world. We kept records of everything since the beginning. Even through the dark ages when Christians were going through village after village destroying everything that wasn't of their god. We were able to keep all of our records safe thanks to an idea of the High Alpha at the time. He had fake records made, some were even copies of the originals to make them more authentic. He hid the real records in a secret underground room. They burned the fakes and moved on." Ruby replied.
"That was smart. What do you hope to find?" I asked.
"Well I don't think you're an Alpha although you're aura is no different than an Alpha. That being said I believe you're something more. It was fine thinking you were an Alpha but now that you're using abilities I want to see if our records can shine some light on what you are. Having more information can only help you my dear." Ruby said with a smile. "Also I'll be taking your mother with us. It would be best to just let others assume you're a female Alpha. Don't bring too much attention to yourself."
"What? That's not good. If Tony finds out Mom's gone he'll come for me." I exclaimed as I jumped out of my seat.
"Calm down. Please sit down." Ruby said standing up and guiding me back to my seat. "Who's Tony?"
"He's this guy from school. He's an Alpha wolf who seems to be stuck to me and won't leave me alone. He used threats against my mom to keep me from breaking up with him." I said balling my hands into fists.
"Could he be your mate? I'm assuming he's a rogue since he's using tricks like that to keep you." Jesse growled.
"I didn't feel any pull to him like a mate but I had really strong feelings for him so I thought he might be my mate at one point but then he started using my mom as a tool against me even though I never gave him a reason to believe I would leave him so most of those feelings are gone. And yes he's a rogue. So is his dad but they have a lot of money so they're not some run of the mill rogue." I replied looking at my feet.
"Most of those feelings are gone? So there's still some feelings there?" Ruby asked watching me closely.
I answered with a nod not wanting to meet anyone's eyes. There was silence as Ruby seemed to be thinking something over.
"Honey look at me." Ruby said, reaching out to place her hand under my chin, raising my head to look up at her. "I'm pretty sure he's your mate. You wouldn't feel the pull with your wolf being suppressed but he would. You said he was from your school so he's young and only behaving that way because that's how he's been taught. There's still a chance for him to change. Especially if you get him away from the one who's teaching him to behave this way which I'm assuming is his father."
"Yes it's his father. It's always his dad said to do this or his dad said to do it like that. I hate that." I growled raising my voice a little.
"It's too late to change his father but there's still hope for him. The fact that you still have feelings for him shows how strong your mate bond is. Even with your wolf asleep she still doesn't want to give up on him. First let's get you out of here. I don't want to keep both you and your mother together. If her pack finds her and you're with us then they'll learn about you. Once your wolf starts to wake up you can find your mates. They'll be drawn to you. They can protect you." Ruby said looking around to her mates. "The question is who is going to stay with you until you find them."
"Mates? As in more than one?" I asked confused. That's when I realized that all the men here were her mates.
"Yes my dear. Every female shifter has a total of five mates. Keeps things interesting doesn't it?" Ruby laughed. My face turned bright red as I realized what she was saying.
"Wait you said my mates will be drawn to me. If Tony really is my mate wont he be drawn to me too." I asked panic starting to set in.
"Yes he will. But if you have your other mates with you then he wont be able to take you. You can use this as an opportunity to get him to change. Since he's a Rogue he can chose to leave his dads pack. If you can get him away from him then he can learn how to treat you from your other mates." Ruby said with a huge smile. "It'll be okay. He'll chose you in the end I know it."
"Alright then I decided, I want Ronald to take me to Mexico. His father doesn't have any business in Mexico. I can gather my thoughts and figure out what to do from there. Mexico has a lot of wilderness where I can go into heat and not worry about anyone as I wait for my wolf to wake up." I said deep in thought.
"You can't be serious!" Mac yelled, jumping to his feet pointing toward Ronald. "Why this bastard?"
"He put me in this mess. He needs to take responsibility." I said, reaching out to take Mac's hand to try and calm him.
"Whatever. I don't like it, Ruby. Pick someone else." Mac growled and walked out of the room.
"Jazmin, think about this for a moment. That power you had earlier is gone. Do you know how to pull that power out again? If you can't then what are you going to do if he tries to hurt you. Mac's upset because he care about you. I think he may even like you if you catch my drift." Jesse said putting a hand on my shoulder.
"But he has a mate!" I exclaimed. My face turned bright red.
"All of us are old enough to be your father except for Mac. Mac isn't Ruby's true mate. He's just a pack mate that can be easily broken if he finds someone he really wants to be with.. Ruby and Mac have never had a physical relationship. We took him in when his entire family was killed by Rogue dragons when he was fifteen. Ruby sees him as a son. He only joined the pack because he had no one else Since Ruby and Mac have never slept together he can develop feelings for other people. Mac's only nineteen so I don't think he's sorted out his feelings yet. He likes you. Maybe you should chose Mac instead Jazmin." James said, looking in the direction Mac went.
"No Ronald needs to pay for what he's done." I growled looking at Ronald. He was still passed out on the floor. His face had already started to look normal. It made me want to smash his face in again.
"We could tell Ronald she's had an awakening. He would think twice about attacking her then." Alex said with a sigh. "I wish you'd pick someone else though. Shit I'd go with you as long as it isn't Ronald."
"Awakening?" I asked Ruby.
"An awakening is where your limits have been removed. It allows you to use a hundred percent of your power. The problem is using that much power can damage your body if you're not ready to use it. Everyone can have an awakening but that doesn't mean they will. It takes a lot of training to be able to do it. It could take years to finally open those doors. Most don't have the drive to put in that kind of effort. Some can become awakened under extreme circumstances like having their life in danger." Ruby replied. "That could work. Plus I have contacts in Mexico that owe me a favor."
"Doors? What do you mean." I asked.
"Think of it as a bunch of doors inside you. Through training you can open those doors one at a time increasing your power each time. Or you could think of them as levels too. With you kids always playing games maybe you'll understand it better that way. So a full awakening can happen with a trauma. Its like a cheat code to level you up to max rank real fast but you don't know how to use all the traits this leveling up has unlocked doing damage to your body in the process. That's why your supposed to open them one at a time." Jesse said looking at me. "But will Ronald believe it?"
There was so much I didn't know. Why did mom keep all this from me. If she was trying to protect me she was tying my hands behind my back instead. Thankfully Ruby and her pack didn't look at me like I was stupid. All that information my mom had spent hours telling me only helped me as a human not as a shifter. Did she think she could keep all this from me forever? Suddenly I grabbed my chest in pain as heavy pressure began to push its way into me.
"Jazmin what's wrong?" Jesse yelled rushing over to my side. Hearing Jesse yell caused Mac to come running back into the room. He ran up to me wrapping his arms around me.
"Breath Jazmin breath." Mac said. That's when I realized I hadn't been breathing. I felt the air sting my lungs as I took a deep breath in.
"Stop fighting it Jazmin. Let me suppress her." came my mothers voice from upstairs.
"Enough Roxy. This is your daughter. You're hurting her stop." James screamed at her.
"You're right she's my daughter and your running your mouth. Mind your own business." Roxy growled. "Stop fighting Jazmin!"
"No! I did things your way all these years and it was nothing but hell. Enough!" I growled. The pressure that was invading my body was suddenly pushed out with a pressure of my own. This caused my mother to fall back onto her butt.
"Jazmin, stop. I'm trying to help." Roxy pleaded. Standing to her feet again.
"You call leaving me in the dark about who and what I am and having me watch that bastard beat on you at least once a week help? I don't need that kind of help Mom. I don't want that kind of help. I'm done following what you want. It's time for me to do what I want. You're going with them and I'm going my own way. Do you understand?" I growled as I let the anger fill me.
The pressure I had been pushing out now had a dark layer added on top of it. Everyone dropped to their knees clutching their chests struggling to breath. Everyone was sweating and their faces had gone pale.
"Jazmin stop, this is why I suppressed your wolf. She's too strong. Look at what you're doing." Roxy said through gasps of air. "If she keeps waking up she'll become too strong for me to suppress. You're stronger than me. I have to suppress her while she's weak."
I took a step back and looked at everyone. I pulled the pressure back in and watched as everyone was able to breath again. The color to their faces returned to normal. What the hell did I do? I thought. The pressure trying to invade my body brought me out of my thoughts.
"Enough Mom. You're not going to suppress me anymore." I yelled glaring up at my mother. She pulled her pressure back and turned her eyes to the floor.
"They're find you baby. Why cant you understand?" Roxy sobbed.
"Wow that's one hell of a strong Alpha aura." Laughed Mac as he stood to his feet. "Do you remember how you did it? If so, use that if you're in danger."
"Mac!" Roxy exclaimed as she rushed down the stairs. She wasn't happy with the way things turned out but what choice did she have. Like she said I'm stronger than her.
"Roxy dear, did you think you could protect her forever. Your way of protecting was only putting her at a disadvantage. What if your clan found her and took her. She'd have no idea what was happening to her and why. She also would have no way to protect herself. By the time her wolf would have woken up your clan would have already sold her to that research facility where it would be too late by then to even consider using her wolf." Ruby said, reaching out to take my mothers hand.
"What choice did I have. Ronald wasn't covering our scents so the only way to protect her was to suppress her wolf and make her seem like she was half human. Giving her more information would have just confused her." Roxy sobbed.
"Why didn't you tell us what he was doing to you?" Jesse growled looking over to the now awake Ronald. He had woken up when everyone was having a hard time breathing.
"I didn't want to bother you guys. You were doing enough by providing all the income we needed to survive." Roxy said sitting down in the chair Jesse had brought over for her.
"So letting your daughter watch you go through all that was better." James said. Disapproval reeking from his voice. Roxy's shoulders slumped when she heard this.
"No but I put us into this situation so I felt like it was my punishment." Roxy replied.
"Do you think Vincent would have been happy with what you've put Jazmin through knowing all that he went through just to protect you too. Come on Roxy. I felt like I failed him walking into what was going on tonight. This isn't just about you!" Jesse said his voice becoming louder and louder as he went on. Mom was slumping her shoulders and wouldn't meet Jesse's eyes. "Ugh you're so frustrating."
"It's not your fault you were born Roxy. You didn't have to take responsibility like that." Ruby said rubbing Roxy's back. "Let us help you."
"Alright, thank you." Roxy said with a sigh, wiping away her tears.
"Allow Ronald to hear." Ruby said to James. James walked up to Ronald and touched both his ears.
"Can you hear?" James asked with a low growl.
"Yes I can?" Ronald replied looking at the floor.
"You will be taking Jazmin to Mexico. We have some contacts in Mexico so I'll get ahold of them before you leave. Jazmin has had a full awakening thanks to the trauma caused by you almost killing her mother. So don't think about trying to get even with her cause you will lose. Do what I tell you and you might be forgiven and allowed back into the pack." Ruby said with a domineering voice.
"What's the point? You already severed our mate bond." Ronald growled.
"The point is we're letting you live for now. Or do you want to die. If so I can arrange that for you right now." Ruby said with a sneer as the nails on her hands extended into claws.
"Fine. All I have to do is take her to the contact, right?" Ronald asked not taking his eyes off of Ruby's claws.
"That's right then you can either come back to the pack or go your own way. Just as long as Jazmin arrives safe and unharmed." Ruby replied.
"Deal," Ronald said looking to James. "Well release me."
James looked to Ruby. She nodded and James touched each of Ronald's limbs. Ronald stood shaking his arms while glaring at me.
"We'll leave in the morning." Ronald told me and turned to walk into his room. That's when he stopped, looking around at all the damage he turned around. "Who did all this?"
"That would be our newly awakened princess here." Mac said with a laugh pointing to me. Shock crossed Ronald's eyes as he looked at me but as quick as it appeared it disappeared. With a grunt he turned back around walking into his room.