~Alaric~
We made it in the packhouse, and my parents were there in the living room sitting, talking when we came inside. Bella saw them and bowed her head to them.
"Hello Alpha and Luna, I'll just take this stuff upstairs while you all talk.
" My mother said, "go to the garden when you're done, I'll come find you and we can talk in my office and finish the quarterly reports." Bella nodded.
"Yes Luna" and she went down the hall that led to the upper floors of the house. I took Azaria's hand and led her to the sofa, and we sat diagonally from my parents, my mother sitting comfortably on one side while her legs were in my father's lap. He shamelessly rubbed her feet and legs, something he always did for as long as I can remember. It made me happy to see because it meant that there was love there. It wasn't just all political games. Azaria sat next to me and snuggled herself under my arm and I wrapped that arm around her keeping her close to me. My mother smiled at us, and I spoke first.
" This Is Azaria, my mate. Azaria is my mother and father. Diana and Samuel." She waved at them a bit shy.
"It's good to meet you both, your home is lovely." My mother smiled.
"Our home, it's yours now too" she smiled brightly at Azaria, and she returned the smile.
"Thank you, I will do my best to take care of it when it's my duty." She waved a hand at me.
" Oh, dear you won't be alone, we will still be here to help just don't bother us when we take our retirement vacations." She giggled and so did my father and Azaria joined in; I smiled a bit hating I had to make the mood serious.
"I think we will be busy enough we wouldn't dream of it." I smirked and my mother and father jokingly rolled their eyes in unison.
"We are having a guest at dinner, and we would like for you to play along with our plan tonight" they both exchanged looks and surprisingly Azaria spoke up.
"Janet is her name, she wasn't very nice to me in the hospital....and I think.... Me and Al think she needs to be taught a few lessons about..." I interrupted.
"Respect, manners, compassion.....and I need to fix this.....our past dealings gave her this complex of thinking she is higher than what she is...this is my fault, if I had dealt with her earlier and put her in her place...she wouldn't look down on you...." I turned to look at Azaria and she placed her hand on my chest and rubbed there.
"Yes, this is your fault...but I trust you to make this right" she smiled at me even though I heard my father chuckling. I smiled at her and placed my free hand over hers keeping her hand on my chest.
" I will, I promise" I kissed her temple and she nestled herself into my side where I still held onto her.
"Well, what's the plan son?" He smirked mischievously and there was no doubt my wild streak came from my father in that moment.
"We don't need much, just a little bit of acting on your parts if you're up for the task" I smirked and mind linked my father the plan and he nodded and probably shared what I told him to my mother when I saw her smiling and she even giggled a bit. She usually didn't approve of me and my father's antics, but she surprised the both of us sometimes by playing along. But I knew this time she was going to be all for it. Mates were sacred to her and disrespecting that bond, was always a good way to get on her bad side. My father spoke up next.
" Well now that we have the fun part out the way I got to bore you with business son and there are some things you need to know that I can't tell you until you two have marked each other. " he gave me his best serious look and I nodded and he kept speaking " I know marking is personal but as Shaman probably expressed to you, you should wait until we can get you two to the cabin, we have it set up for this after your mother blew a hole in the ceiling" she playfully shoved his arm and he started laughing
" That was your fault!" I felt Azaria giggle beside me and how I loved that sound and I smiled. My father cleared his throat and kept talking.
" We looked at the calendar and the next full moon is perfect, it also falls on the summer solstice so that is a good sign its less than a month away, but the pack run is on the new moon, and we want to make the announcement then." Azaria stiffened beside. "We will have to reassess that due to Azarias's health. I don't want a target on her back before she is strong enough." My mother nodded.
" We will do everything in our power to assist in her healing, but I'll be honest here. You'll have some time, but not very much. We can hide her true identity for a while but at some point, the coalition will figure out she isn't who we say...and they will come for her..." my father rubbed my mother's back as a frown formed on her face. Azaria spoke up again.
" I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me...." my mother spoke next.
"Nonsense! We will protect you no matter what dear, don't ever doubt your place here." She smiled at me, and my mate and I realized how hard it was when my mother first came here as a non-wolf. Wolf society has always been tough, wolves follow power and if you're a pushover they will devour you. It was good my parents showed their support to Azaria, she needed to build confidence. Those monsters made her feel worthless, like a thing to be used and discarded. My father broke my thoughts and addressed my mate.
"Is there anything that you can remember about what they wanted with you? Don't feel bad if you don't but people are flawed, and you may have heard something you might think was nothing at the time. She nodded and sat there a moment thinking.
" There was this one time a long time ago I heard some people talking about me and the program I was in....it was early on.... They called it the fountain of youth program...and they mentioned I was a primary candidate..."
My blood went cold at those words and my father muttered.
"Shit..."
my mother hugged onto my father, and he soothed her, and I looked at my mate, confusion on her features and I kissed her softly.
"It's ok, I will protect you love..." she kissed me back.
"Al, I don't understand.... what does that mean...." I frowned.
" It means that they meant to use you as a breeding machine and a very highly valued one.... humans have been trying to gain immortality. And in their efforts, they have force bred many people trying to make a hybrid to serve this purpose. " Worry etched her face and she squeezed onto me, and I held her close.
" It's going to be ok; you have me now; I will protect you" she nodded looking up at me and I kissed her again and she kissed me back.
This was good, she was doing things to keep close to me, so I took that little victory and tonight I'll have a plan of my own, seduce my mate, at the very least she gets her mind off this new revelation. One that turned my stomach and made Bax's unease grow just thinking about it. We needed a distraction and I mind linked Bella revealing my second plan of the night to her because I needed back up for this one.