Chapter 15: It's better if you Don't.

**Raegan**

It felt right to have him meld so well with my friends and my brother. Seeing how much Morgan liked him, and how much he was letting Morgan get away with without so much as growling once at him I knew he would love John and my mother. My step-father though would be a different deal. Jayce was an Omega, but he was protective of his step-pups. All three of us. Even Morgan. He'd been dreading the day one of us found our mates, explaining that he would need to have a sit down with them the second we brought them home. When I told him about my concern about the bond, he seemed a little relieved, and then he seemed a little angry. He didn't enjoy the thought of me rejecting a gift from the Goddess. If I told him I was questioning my faith in said Goddess though, there would be hell to pay.

I bit my lower lip between my teeth when thinking about him. Morgan had told me that he would call him and discuss helping me shift when we got back to Stone Moon, and I was worried how my distrust in my wolf would hurt him. He wasn't my dad, and he wasn't in my life until I was about seventeen, but he was a father figure to me. He cared about me greatly, and I cared about him greatly. I didn't want my lack of faith and percieved disrespect of the Moon Goddess to hurt him. Thinking about my wolf and the conversation I had with Morgan, Shawn, Donnovan, and Cris, I got angry.

Cris had butted into the conversation when I explained to Morgan that I wouldn't be able to reject The King when we went back to Stone Moon. To say Cris was pissed would be an understatement. He started off with expressing his care for me as a friend, and then explained that the bond would make me weak and put me through physical pain to call me back to The King if I left it as it currently stood. He told me I would cave eventually, and that I would become a simpering housewife when I ran back to The King, tail tucked, and pride shattered. He painted a picture of me without choice, taken by the symptoms of the mate bond so that I had no passions, no drive, no career left as it would be completely replaced with *him*.

He told me that I would become an incubator for a mate I didn't even want, living in a state of semi-permanent pregnancy. When I didn't respond, he threw the fact that I didn't want the bond back in my face, and shortly there-after, The King interrupted his tirade.

I was relieved when the door opened, because I was getting closer and closer to losing my shit and absolutely wailing on Cris for what he was saying.

The King didn't need to know about that though. I glanced at Liam, his jaw ticked as he looked at Cris with disdain.

"Soups on," I called as I finished the food and stepped back from the stove after turning the burners off.

My friends, brother, and mate served themselves straight from the stove, and I took the oppurtunity to also signal the guards to eat.

As Liam got closer to me, I pinched his arm.

He hissed and spun on me, eyes wide, and lips parted.

"You're not going to speak a word of the conversation before the King arrived, do you understand?" I whispered to him.

He narrowed his eyes, "why would I do that?" He whispered back, keenly aware that I wanted to keep this conversation away from The King's ears.

"Because I would like for my friend to keep his head attached to his neck and shoulders," I folded my arms over my chest, raising my eyebrows at him. Daring him to challenge.

He clenched his jaw, and folded his own arms over his chest, "with all due respect, Miss Martin, my job is to protect you from potential threats. A jealous wolf with a belief he has a claim is a threat."

"He wouldn't hurt a fly," I rolled my eyes.

"No, but he clearly hurt your feelings," Liam raised his eyebrows, "what he said was over the line, and I *am* going to tell The King because if you were my mate, and a friend spoke to you like he did, I would want-- no I would *need* to know."

"Difference being he can kill my friend, my Pack Gamma, without so much as an eye being batted at it," I shook my head, "*please.* I don't want to lose a friend because he's a little off today."

Liam scoffed, rolling his eyes, "there's a little off, and then there's what he did. Two different things, Miss Martin."

"Liam, I will not beg you to do the right thing."

"I am doing the right thing," he shrugged, and turned away to serve himself. The King sat at the island, and patted the stool next to him, motioning for me to join him. I swallowed when I realized he'd also gotten me a plate.

I smiled softly and sat beside him in front of the plate he'd set for me.

"What was that about?" He furrowed his brows, and started to eat.

"Nothing," I shook my head, pursing my lips as I started to eat as well.

He looked at me like he knew I was lying, I sighed.

"He'll probably tell you about it later," I murmured, glancing to Cris who was staring at his food like it killed his mother.

The King shifted, looking over at me, he placed his hand on my thigh, "do I need to be worried?"

"No," I tried not to squirm under the feeling of his large warm hand on my thigh, "but I do."

Sparks travelled straight in between my legs, and I shifted, trying not to look at him as arousal started to pool in my body. Goddess, just one touch and he has me like this? Maybe Cris wasn't wrong. I had my theories that the bond was a move of nature to produce the strongest offspring out of werewolves. When there weren't that many of us, I could see how it might be a necessary evolutionary step pushed towards us to protect our species from being killed off entirely. It also gave our wolves a fierce desire to protect our mates, which in turn made us fierce warriors to stand against when our mates were even mildly threatened.

If just a single touch was making me want to jump on him and tear his clothes off, maybe my theory wasn't so far off.

"You sure you don't want to just tell me yourself?" He asked, concerned as he tried to make eye contact with me.

I sighed, and looked over at Liam. He was watching Cris like a hawk, and I shook my head. "No, I really don't want to tell you."

He nodded, and removed his hand, going back to his food. I started to eat again as well, happy to have a little bit of a distraction.

"Not as good as my mac and cheese," Morgan pouted. "But it's alright," he smirked at me.

"Just alright?" I raised my eyebrows.

Cris elbowed him in the ribs, "don't disrespect the *master,*" he shot me a smirk and a wink.

I rolled my eyes. Liam growled lowly as The King grimaced.

"Kiss ass," Shawn muttered.

I grinned at her, and she shot me a small smile.

"Yeah," Morgan glowered at Cris, "she's not gonna appreciate you defending her mad skills the way you want her to, so you might as well quit while you're ahead of yourself," he looked down his nose at Cris.

"*Morgan,*" I groaned his name.

Morgan's eyes shot to me, "he should know his pathetic attempts at fixing what he said earlier aren't going to work."

The King went rigid beside me, and his hand slowly reached out to hold mine. I let him take it, understanding he was angry, and he didn't want to lose his shit.

"Morgan, we'll talk about it later. Can we please just enjoy lunch?" I asked as my mate gave my hand a squeeze.

Morgan sighed, and nodded, "fine." He glared over at Cris one last time, and we all went back to eating.

The King finished his food first, scarfing it down quickly with appreciative grunts and moans.

He looked to me when he finished, "that was really good. You really taught yourself?"

I nodded in between bites, then shrugged, "but it's also easy when you have access to the internet and ample resources at your finger tips."

He smiled, and placed his hand around my waist, letting his fingers trail on my hip.

I inhaled sharply, "but uh, things like bread, I can't do those for shit."

"Bread?" He asked, chuckling a little.

I nodded, "yeah. Yeast scares me."

He laughed.

"It's not funny!" I shook my head at him, "bread stuff is a staple to so much food, I hate that I'm bad at it."

"I'm not laughing at that, I'm laughing that your hang up is *yeast,*" he chuckled.

"It's a *germ*," I countered, looking at him.

"Techincally it's a fungus," Shawn said, grinning ear to ear when I glanced at her.

I frowned, flipping her off.

The King laughed again, "goddess, you're bratty," he shook his head, smiling at me brightly.

"*Bratty?*"

He nodded.

I gaped, "take that back."

"Nope," he shook his head, then looked at my plate, "you should finish eating though. You only had that bearclaw for breakfast."

"Okay, *dad,*" I scoffed at him.

He rolled his eyes, and pushed my plate closer to me, "eat."

"Y'know, I don't like being told what to do." I raised my eyebrows, and folded my arms over my chest.

"*Eat*," his wolf said, trying to use his Beta Command on me.

I huffed, "that won't work on me, sweetcheeks," I pinched one of his cheeks harshly, then looked down my nose at the wolf that was surfacing in The King's body, "I'm of Alpha blood." I grinned wickedly, as he growled lowly at me.

"*Eat,*" his wolf repeated.

I tilted my head to the side, "quiet." I commanded, using my own rank to prove a point.

He grimaced at me, as he was forced to fall silent.

I patted his head, "good boy," I turned and finished my food.

His hand on my hip squeezed gently as I took in bite after bite.

I continued to eat until I finished, then I leaned back and nodded my head in approval of my own cooking.

The King shifted beside me, and Morgan looked amused.

I looked over at The King, "are you going to keep bossing me around, Your Majesty?"

He glared at me, his eyes flashing between wolf and human. I tried not to grin.

"Well?" I raised my eyebrows.

His nose scrunched up, when human finally won over wolf, and he shook his head.

"Good," I grinned, "you can speak." I dropped the command.

He whimpered, and cleared his throat.

"You're going to pay for that," he whispered lowly to me.

My body responded to the promise in his tone.

I grinned, and shook my head, "no," I leaned towards him, looking down at his lips, "I won't."