DESTINY
"Mattie, there's no way I am letting you get stuck into whatever is going on!" Devin was really raising his voice to her.
"I want to get involved, and so does my mate," another stranger said next to him. "Papers."
"Whoah, whoah." Devin looked angry. "You have no right to do that!"
"Why not?" he pushed. "Where do I sign to join and contribute?"
"Grayson, you are out of your mind," one of the others said to him.
Everyone was out of their mind. Why was everyone trying to join into my miserable future? Didn't they understand at all what they were putting on the line? The judge had someone hand out papers and the one Devin called Grayson started to sign off on it.
"You can't do that, are you serious?" Devin was much more interested in the Grayson man's actions. "Grayson!"
"Can't exactly highjack me to your private islands for experimentation if I get into something legal here," Grayson said to him. "Besides. Sounds like someone is in trouble, and just like your kind, you are leaving them behind." He passed the paper to the next man. "Sign it, Billy."
I had no idea what to even say. The worst day of my life had become a circus of strangers I didn't even know, trying to join into hell with me? "I move to some explanations?" I requested of the judge. Maybe they didn't understand what they were getting into.
"Grayson. Billy. You both have mates already," Devin gritted his teeth. "You cannot sign that, without involving them so would you just-!" He was trying to stop the one called Billy, but Grayson already signed it.
Another stranger tried to help, but the woman called Mattie went over toward me. "Hi. I'm Mattie. I'm sorry my brother is so dense, he doesn't know this area." She grabbed my hand. "You're going to be in hell if you're the only one, so I'm joining in with you. That will change your den, okay?"
It would. Still? "Why are you putting yourself through this for me?" I had to ask.
"Because Devin was a clueless moron, but he's good. Devin will sign here soon to protect me, and since Grayson and Billy over there signed, the other two women will get dragged in at least a little while." She just smiled at me. "We just went from den to luxury hotel. Will that bring back any of your fancy courters?"
"They all signed off not to go after me. I don't think you understand what you are starting," I warned her. While she might think her brother was 'clueless', I couldn't help but think she had been too. Adding others might make it easier, but it didn't change the end result.
I watched as Devin glared at Mattie, looked pitifully toward me, and then also signed the paper.
"I can't believe you all did that," the other man I still didn't know the name of said. "This spoiled everything, Devin. We've got work to do, and it doesn't involve living here!"
"Sorry, Mads, but even Mattie is getting involved, and this is my mess." He started whispering something that I couldn't hear to him.
Oh. Look, some actually sane people. Women were coming to yell toward the whole group. Mattie left my side and went to tell them they were involved now that their mates were involved.
Mates? If they already had mates, why were they getting involved in a den?
"No, no, no, and there is no way you can make this happen!" Someone of course grabbed the poor women since their 'mates' signed them up. How terrible.
"I feel like this situation is out of control, and I'm sorry, but I need to take advantage of it," Zoan said to me. He let go of my hand and went toward the paper himself. He signed his own name on it too.
This whole place felt insane. There was Devin who was trying to smile, Mattie who looked like she won the lottery, a man named Grayson and Billy who were smirking like they got away with something, and two normal women trying to fight the officers holding them so they couldn't run.
To top it all off?
"Just because that guy smells like egg to me, doesn't make him my mate!" One of them said. "They are full-blown werewolf killers, they will kill us!"
"Wait," the judge interrupted. "Are you officially mates based only on scent?"
"They say so," one of the women said. She looked toward one of the guys. "Eggs aren't my favorite."
"Scent attraction. It's fairly rare." The judge looked like he was debating it. "Scent attraction is a very good sign. I don't understand the relationship, but staying within the same area would help build that connection, or help to understand it, so we'll keep you in there too."
"You are a really weird judge," Mattie told him. "You made the rulings. You won't break them because of money issues. You really are going to shove the others in the house because of their idiotic mates without even trying to work with them? Who are you?"
Wow. I looked over toward Mattie. Yes, I knew it, they really didn't understand at all what they were doing. "He's the court judge of den arrangements." Almost everyone but Zoan looked toward me, like they didn't understand that at all. "We already went through our court of law issues. We are now in the court of love issues."
"He's in charge of the incarceration thing of that brother of yours," Mattie said to her. "I heard that, when we were coming up. That's an official court judge ruling law thing!"
Oh. "Yes. Incarceration." Maybe the wording meant something different to her. "He's going to put my brother into a den as a mandatory requirement for a certain amount of time." It wouldn't be fun though, he would be assigned to a terrible den because of what happened. "Except, now he can spend his incarceration time with me." I looked toward Zoan. He still wasn't smiling yet, and I knew why. Even with the insanity happening for me right now?
It wasn't over. There was still something wrong, and no one seemed to understand how things worked, so this could go horribly wrong.
"Now?" The judge started. "Coupled or shared?"
"I am not staying coupled with guys I don't know!"
"I'm not getting shared with anyone, I want out of here."
"Vote for no couple," the judge said. "Anyone else?"
"Coupled," Zoan said.
No! "Zoan."
"You'll be safer, and you will be out much sooner," he assured me. "Coupled is safer than share."