Chapter 30
Xavier POV
She surprised me today. Regan. With the ultimatum, she issued Looking back on it, I can admire her tenacity to see things change and her unwillingness to simply submit to us even as the pack pressured her to do just that. She was unlike any other female in the pack and I could feel a small smile resting on my face as I faced an equally thoughtful–looking Xander.
“What do you suppose she means by changing things?” he asked attempting to get clarification from me, even though I was reasonably sure that he already suspected how I was going to answer
“Well, maybe she wants us to show her that she’s going to be treated differently. I mean, she’s not even gone on a date before, has she?” I pointed out, trying to think about it logically
My wolf growled at the thought of another man taking our mate out to dinner. I soothed him as Xander shook his head, a frown on his face. “See,” I said nonchalantly “we take her out, we show her a nice time, we try and establish a relationship the normal way. Just because we’re shifters, doesn’t mean we can’t date” I pointed out, nodding smugly to myself.
“Yeah, but it’s not our normal custom” Xander muttered, sounding slightly irritated.
“So?” I asked glancing at him sharply, trying to make him see that this was almost nothing in comparison to what Regan could have asked for. “Maybe the expectation that we simply just accept each other without putting in any effort is wrong?” I countered back, making him look taken aback.
He fell silent. I smirked, silently gloating that I had made my brother speechless. It was unusual to best Xander and for once I had come out the victor. I inwardly celebrated.
“Did you see Isabelle’s reaction” he frowned “She looked, unhinged might be the best way to put it. She was screaming like a damn banshee‘ he exclaimed, creasing his brow and looking at me exasperated.
“She just found out that her father lost the fight, and she would no longer be allowed at the pack house. I don’t blame her for being upset My voice was dismissive.
I had seen Isabelle act far worse for far less. She was not worth mentioning in the grand scheme of things. There was nothing she could do now that Regan was safely ensconced in the pack house. Was there?
“You think that’s all it was?” Xander’s voice was cautious as he tried to tread lightly. “She tried to hit her Xavier. Right in front of us. That doesn’t scream entitlement to you? We’ve allowed her to do that to Regan before” he pointed out and 1 scowled at the reminder that we had been none too gentle with our mate before now,
mate. All of
“You’re right. We never stopped her before. Something else we did that was wrong, not to mention harming our that stops now. We have to make sure that the pack understands that if anybody lays a hand on our mate, they will be punished accordingly. We’ve let things go too far and now we have to fix it” I told him firmly.
“It would go a long way if Mother and Father didn’t tend to show hostility towards her. That bit surprises me because Mother was best friends with Celeste Lourdes, wasn’t she?” Xander murmured thoughtfully. “Yet when she died, she blamed Regan along with the rest of the pack and condemned her just as much as everyone else did.”
His tone was reflective rather than damning or condemning.
I glanced at him “Father just went along with her because as his mate he didn’t want to upset her. He’s never laid a hand on Regan, but he’s never attempted to intervene either. I don’t know whether he’s been blind to what’s happening to her or if he simply does not care.”
“We’re also to blame” Xander pointed out, “we’re not innocent of the harm she’s endured. It’s a miracle she didn’t reject us outright again. I know she wanted to” he exhaled.
1/3
know. We need to establish new rules. If Regan can’t trust us, she’ll never accept us. Did you see the way she was moving
12:21 Fri, Jan 10
Chapter 30
today?” I asked out of the blue, frowning heavily “Her movemens, they were so stiff and slow. Almost as though she was in pain, but she didn’t say anything about it. That shows she’s too fightened too or she’s not willing to let us in just yet.”
“Do you think somebody’s hurting her?”
Xander sounded furious as he asked the question..
“Look at Isabelle. She looked too comfortable hitting Regan. He father and mother didn’t make a move to stop her. Isabelle always claimed Regan was the one causing trouble, but what if it was the opposite? Tabelle does have a temper” I pointed out, looking at my twin whose expression was now mutinous.
“But wouldn’t the Beta…” he began, and I slowly shook my head him, hating that I had to point out his naivety.
“He blames Regan just as much, if not more than any of us for Celeste’s death. He might not be complicit, but he certainly wouldn’t intervene if Isabelle did it right in front of him.”
The bastard didn’t seem to show even an ounce of care towards Regan.
“At least Regan is safe in the packhouse for now then,” Xander sal tightly “Do we punish Isabelle? “he asked looking at a loss.
“With what–proof?” I scoffed at him-“Unless there is evidence it would be her word against ours, Regan isn’t coming forward. For now, we’ll just have to keep a close eye on her. I don’t trust her not to try something with Regan again, given her reaction earlier. I want somebody on Isabelle at all times. One of our most trusted men. She’s not to know she’s being watched. The same for Regan.”
don’t think Regan will appreciate being watched when she wants to be able to trust us. This would be breaking that trust” Xander pointed out and I scowled, recognizing the wisdom of his words.
Damnit. He was infuriating when he was right, Regan would be furious if we kept tabs on her without permission. I exhaled feeling exasperated with our mate who was making things difficult for us.
“Fine, then either you or I are on her at all times. We can take shifts. She wants to establish a relationship anyway, this is one of the ways to do it” I shrugged, feeling slightly better about it. Only slightly.
He nodded. “We have to find a Bera as well” he reminded me “but that can wait until the ceremony.”
“Beta Jackson will be removed from his title and put into a new position. I’m not sure how I feel about him continuing to train warriors” I commented “Given how easily I was able to beat him, it might be time to find somebody new to train them. Somebody a little younger and more agile.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Xander said, sounding slightly surprised at how easily we were getting along.
I sighed and gave my twin a crooked grin. “Well then I urged ashe looked at me bewildered “how did Regan look during the fight?” I asked cockily “Was she worried about my safety? Did she forget to breathe?” I teased.
He laughed out loud, flinging his head back, his eyes twinkling merrily. “Oh brother, I think you’re about to be sorely disappointed” he chuckled. “She watched the fight with interest, but I don’t think she was intending to fling herself in the way to save you if that’s what you were wondering” he joked.
“But she watched” I confirmed, pinning my gaze on him and he nodded.
“She couldn’t take her eyes off you. Think what you will but on some level, she feels the mate bond. It will only get stronger when she gets her wolf. She can fight the attraction now, but later he trailed off, a smile curving on his lips as he considered what would happen in the future.
“Later when she has her wolf, the bond will be too strong for her to resist and the likelihood of her rejecting us will be practically nil concluded, glancing at my twin smugly. “Regan will be ours for sure and we’ll finally have the Luna we’ve been waiting for our entire lives.”
12:21 Fri, Jan 10 G.
Chapter 30
Everything was going to work out exactly the way we willed it to
We were so confident, so arrogant, it was astounding the moon goddess didn’t strike us from above simply to humble us slightly. Both of us were eager to claim Regan, and the desire to mark her was only growing stronger with each second that passed us by.
