~Alyce/Faelyn~

  I stepped up beside Mat, greeting them all and apologizing for my reaction. I was still processing it all, but I could, at the very least, be polite. They were guests and had done nothing wrong. I looked up at them all, “Breakfast is getting cold, you all should eat, and Miss Kami has been waiting far too long for some coffee.” I looked at Mat, “You should stay for breakfast too. Thank you for coming when I called.” I murmured and leaned up to kiss his cheek, which elicited a growl from Tristan.

  I spun on my heel and narrowed my eyes at him, moving from Mat to thrust my finger up into Tristan’s chest, “Listen here, you will not growl at him. If you hope to have any chance of me even considering this mate bond you will behave!” I could feel my alpha aura starting to leak out and quickly reigned it in. That was odd, I’d never had a hard time keeping my aura under wraps.

  Tristan looked down at my finger poking at him and then at my face, both astonishment and amusement evident in his eyes, “You’re a feisty little thing aren’t you?” He grabbed my hand and I resisted the urge to react to the tingles his touch sent across my skin, “I will do my best to behave. It would help if you didn’t deliberately do things to agitate my wolf.”

  “Hmph. I’m not about to change who I am just because your wolf has his boxers in a bunch over my best friend. If he has an issue with that then he will just have to learn to deal with it.” I pulled my hand from his grasp and stiffened a little as I heard loud steps pounding down the stairs, I drew in a deep breath drawing in the scent of the approaching wolves. Theo, Dean and Andrew. Fuck. I was so fucked.

  Tristan gave me a funny look as he watched my body language and I watched his eyes glaze over as he mind-linked someone. I turned and walked as quickly as I could toward the back door without raising suspicions. I needed to get out of here. I saw Mat shake his head at someone, probably Tristan who wouldn’t understand why I was suddenly trying to escape.

I wasn’t quick enough, I heard Andrew bellowing as he entered the kitchen. Too late. I’d been seen. I froze and turned, my head held high. I felt like a yo-yo with all the emotional ups and downs these last couple weeks. I was glad it would be over soon.

~Andrew~

  I was just stepping out of my room when I heard yelling and growling coming from downstairs. Theo and Dean were coming out of their rooms with perplexed looks on their faces as well. It was not a normal event for the pack manor. The pack house, sure, but not the manor.

  “What now?” I muttered as we all ran down the stairs to find out what was going on. I could smell breakfast as we hit the bottom of the stairs, which was odd as I had told Alyce all her attention needed to be on the banquet. Clearly she decided to disobey me this morning.

  There was more yelling coming from the kitchen, and it sounded like Alyce. This caused Theo to suddenly look concerned but he quickly masked his face. Hmm, he’d never shown any emotion towards her before, why now all of a sudden. I would worry about that after I dealt with this.

  We reached the kitchen and I glanced around briefly, “What is going on in here?” I caught sight of Alyce beelining for the back door and I had to choke back a growl, “STOP. Alyce, what did you do now, and why did you directly disobey me and cook here, when you are supposed to be focusing on the banquet?” My anger was growing. She was nothing but a pain in my ass. Once our guests had gone, I would scar her myself.

  Alyce turned, holding her head high in defiance as she looked directly at me, “I didn’t do anything, and as for the banquet, everything is ready to go. I can’t start heating dishes until later so I had time to cook breakfast for our guests.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “We could hear you yelling upstairs, don’t tell me you did nothing. Do not lie to me, you will not be disrespectful to me or our guests!” I growled at her. Theo was shifting on his feet and I could see him fighting with himself out of the corner of my eye. I made a mental note to talk to him later.

  I turned my attention to our guests, “I do apologize for Alyce. She has always been a troubled girl. My mate has a soft spot for her though, so we tolerate her to an extent. I assure you, her behavior will be dealt with after the banquet.”

Matheau stepped forward, “Alpha Andrew, you’ve misunderstood the situation here. Alyce truly did nothing wrong, she doesn’t need to be punished.”

  I spun to look at him, my anger boiling again, “You dare question me pup? Would you like to join her? She’s just an Omega and a rather useless one at that. Is she worth getting punished over? I can string you up right next to her.” I hissed the last sentence out at him at a very low volume, but maybe not low enough as I heard Alyce growl, so she had heard me.

  Tristan was starting to bristle, I could feel his aura seeping out. He was incredibly powerful for a young Alpha, especially an unmated one. I once again looked at him, “Truly, I’m sorry for the blatant lack of respect and manners from my pack members.”

~Tristan~

  I couldn’t believe the reaction of Alpha Andrew. He refused to let Alyce even explain herself. The fact that he would threaten to punish someone for the simple act of standing up for her. And who the hell did he think he was? To speak about my mate like that. To threaten to string her up, and his Delta’s son with her? Though I suspected we weren’t meant to hear that last part. The rumors were starting to look a lot more like facts.

  *Can I sew his lips shut? Rip his vocal cords out? Anything to teach him not to talk about my mate like that.* Ryder growled in my head.

  “Truly, I’m sorry for the blatant lack of respect and manners from my pack members.” Andrew apologized to me and I nearly lost it.

  I growled at him, “She is not just some Omega, and even Omegas deserve respect just like every other pack member. Omegas are the glue that binds a pack, keeps it running smoothly.” I motioned for Alyce to come over to me, confused when she shook her head at me a little.

  There was so much to her and I knew nothing. Clearly Mat knew plenty and would help her when she couldn’t or wouldn’t help herself, he pushed her toward me gently. I gripped her wrist and pulled her behind me as Victor came up to stand beside me, both of us shielding her from Andrew’s gaze.

  I heard Theo start to growl when I touched her and then quickly swallow it down. There was definitely something complicated going on and I planned to find out what it was, very quickly, “Father, Kami, please take Alyce out of here, Mat should go too.”

  I looked at Andrew, “You won’t mind if I borrow them for a little while right? With us being guests and all, having a couple of your pack members to show us around would be handy.”

  I watched as Kami and my Father escorted Alyce away, her head still held high. Mat followed behind before Andrew could even respond.

  “No-no, of course not. Whatever you need.” Andrew sputtered, regaining his composure.

  “Good,” I stepped to him and got in his face, “And if I ever hear you threatening to string up your pack members again, I will take you out myself. That is not how an Alpha handles things.” I wanted to tell him that I would kill him if he even looked at my mate again, but something told me that was not a good idea.

  I turned, leaving him there in shock and followed after the others. One of Andrew’s other pack members ran in as we were leaving, “Alpha Andrew, the other packs are starting to arrive!”

~Andrew~

  What the hell just happened? I looked at Theo and Dean, “Let’s go greet our guests. We can deal with this morning's fiasco later.”

  The three of us headed out to the front entry area, the Beta and Gamma families joining us to officially greet the Cold Moon and Dark Forest packs. I noticed Jake and Faith were missing, but then I realized they were likely running training as Ethan and Levi were with me.

  I greeted the ranked members of the pack, gauging them. I needed to get rid of Alyce and I needed to do it soon. I quietly wondered if we could make alliances in the next couple days, and mulled over which of the visiting packs, if any, would be willing to take her as a parting gift. I just needed to know that they could keep her in line properly.