Raven’s POV
I was stunned to hear that Reagan was actually in our cells. I can see that I was not alone in my shock either, the look on her parent's faces was so funny, that I almost started laughing out loud. There was no one more deserving than her. It startled us all, but after I thought about it, it was the best thing I had ever heard. My dad could barely keep the smile off his face too. I see Luna Cassandra looking around in a panic as if she would suddenly locate her daughter in the room like they were being pranked. Miraculously standing there on the side, as if just by looking around Reagan would just spring up, as if my dad had just lied to us all. I knew that wasn’t a lie. My dad doesn’t lie, Alpha Graham does. I see sweat breaking out on both of their foreheads as they really started to worry. I see the relief on Cassandra's face as she called past me and said, “Justin, have you seen Reagan?”
I don’t even want to turn around to look at him. Emerald is fine with keeping our back to him too. I felt nothing when his voice comes from directly behind me and said, “No, I haven’t seen her, Luna Cassandra, why?”
There was a time, even before I found out that we were mates, that hearing his husky voice did things to me. But that time is past us now. I saw Alpha Graham and Luna Cassandra take off to go search the venue looking for Reagan. I find myself hoping that they end up in the cells tonight too. I feel Justin is still standing right behind me, and he is close. Austin stepped up to place himself between me and Justin. Austin didn’t say a word, but I know that he is leveling his stare at Justin. I have no idea where Carter is, but I do not want to interact with Justin at all. What if seeing him will cause me pain again? I won’t take that chance.
“You can turn around Raven, our mate is here, he is behind Justin. He will keep us safe” Emerald tells me, and my knees get weak. I dip a little and feel my dad grab me and look down at me in concern.
“Emerald said my mate is here dad, I am scared” I whispered to my dad. I heard Justin sigh, as he knows that he is the reason for my fear. I know he feels bad about it now, but that didn’t stop him from burying himself in my sister now did it? It also doesn’t take my pain away from him having deliberately chosen her, over me. Even with the knowledge that he was my mate.
“You have a good man for a second chance mate, Raven. I know him, Brandon had scented you at the mall when we went shopping. Even though it was hard on him to not come and claim you then. He has done nothing but be patient and prepare his pack for your arrival. He already loves you, baby. We had a few things to settle tonight. I will tell you all about it later on. I am right here with you, do you want to meet him?” my dad asked me. I nodded, but my heart feels like it is about to beat right out of my chest. Justin scoffs at what my dad just said but stops making the noise when dad looks at him. That’s just jealousy rearing its ugly head, he doesn’t know my mate or his pack.
I turn around and before I can see my mate, Justin steps in front of him and then drops to his knees and said, “Raven, please baby. I made a horrible mistake. I want you, I have since I first time that I touched you. I was wrong, and even if it takes me the rest of my days, I want you to come back to me. I still feel the bond between us, baby, I feel it every day. You haven’t moved on. I helped you out tonight. Just remember that. I came and told your father last night so Reagan’s plans would fall through. Just remember that, OK. You don’t have to take me back today. The contract is for 5 years, I will wait for you, but I wanted you to know that it could be even sooner than that. Reagan could get enough charges against her, that she could be put to death. I will be free of her then, and we can be together. Just don’t forget me, please, Raven. I will love you until my dying day, please just give me another chance.”
Justin’s voice rang out in the room, and all present could tell that he was speaking from his heart. Well, I guess it would be if he were to have one, but I seriously doubt it. He just didn’t get it. I had already told him that I was done. He made his choice, it was the wrong one, but you can't cry foul when it was him and his actions the whole time. He can hang it up, Emerald and I won’t be accepting him, for any reason. He went too far and that was entirely because he slept with my sister. That is a line that should not have been crossed. It doesn’t matter what he says to me anymore. He may say that he feels a bond with me, but I feel nothing toward him. Our bond cannot be repaired, no matter what sweet words he tries to speak to me.
“That dying day that you are speaking of, may just be today if you keep harassing my mate” a deep voice sounded behind Justin, and my eyes flew up to see the most handsome man that I have ever seen.
My mate, Brandon, is clearly a couple of years older than me, but he is gorgeous. Brown hair with a little wave to it on top where it is longer, soft brown eyes that are pulling me in to drown in their depths. He is at least 4 inches taller than me, and he is strong. The power radiating off of him gives me a shiver as he lets Justin know the big mistake that he is making right now. I am drawn to him and want to just throw myself in his arms, but I control myself. I realize that we are surrounded by a group of people watching us like a soap opera right now. I know that I am blushing, and I hope my makeup covers it, but I cannot wait to be in his arms. This is how it is with real mates, the urge to touch, and comfort, is intense, and I cannot resist the pull of it. I take a step forward to go to my mate, when Justin wraps his arms around my waist, effectively stopping me, and pulling me into him.
“You dare to threaten me over there and then have the nerve to rush over here to touch my mate? Do you have a death wish?” Brandon tells Justin. His anger is powerful, but Justin is too dumb to let me go. Justin is continuing to beg me to give him another chance, pulling me even closer into his chest, and then boldly touching my bare back. I tried to pull away again, but he will not release me. I see Stella and her mate Truett both step forward from the entryway to see what is going on between me and Justin. Stella came up and steps behind me, next to my dad and Austin. Brandon slowly walked up to Justin.
There is very little space between Justin and me, so I heard it clearly when my mate leaned down to Justin’s ear and said, “Let. Raven. Go. Now, Justin. I will hurt you if you don’t. She is not yours anymore, you made that decision all by yourself. So stop blaming others that it didn’t work out the way you thought it would when that choice was made by you. Not Reagan, not Raven. YOU made the deal, Justin, now you have to live with it. You are making bad choices again today, and if you want to, we can step outside and finish it tonight. But you WILL be releasing her Justin.”
Justin seems to suddenly realize what he is doing, and in front of so many guests. He was so overcome with emotion when he was trying to tell me how he felt that he didn’t realize that we were definitely not alone. I felt his arms loosen from around my waist, as he got up slowly from the floor. He looked around and his ears got pink at the top because he just did this in front of a number of people. He didn’t even know the worst of it, Alpha Graham and Luna Cassandra were back in the room and had seen him holding me. I hope they didn’t hear what he had said, because they would have really been pissed. I was just glad that he was letting go of me. He doesn’t know me, I doubt he knew anything at all about me. But those feelings I had long ago were completely gone, I didn’t feel anything at all for him, and he needed to be set straight.
“Justin you need to get with the Sullivans and go ahead and leave Blood Walker. The only thing you ever felt for me was the tingles from us being mates. You ruined that. Our bond being broken was all because of you. I didn’t get to make any decisions about it. Only you and Reagan did, so just leave me in peace. You have distorted my opinion of mates to where I was honestly terrified to get another one. You just grabbed me right now, and I didn’t feel tingles, I doubt you did either, so you need to be honest with yourself now. You need to leave me alone, from now on. I have a new mate now, and I won’t lose him, especially not over the likes of you. I think you just finally clued in that you actually ended up with the “lessor” sister. She is not the gift that you thought she was, right? I guess you fell for all the hype in the pack, right? I guarantee you that you will never be happy with her, but you two truly deserve each other. You just need to be patient and wait to see if the Goddess will bless you with a second chance mate. If you did save my mate Brandon tonight, or me, as you are professing, then we certainly do appreciate it. But you won’t be getting another shot at being with me. We are forever done” I told him in a low tone and then walked away from him to go to stand with my mate.
The second Brandon’s arm came down around me, he pulled me into his side, and I felt much more than a tingle. I looked up at him in shock, as I had never felt anything this strong when Justin had stroked my face. This was much stronger, and I felt safe nestled up to him. I put my arm around his waist for him to snuggle me even closer to him. I felt safe and loved, tucked into his side. I wanted to be in his arms all night, every night, for the rest of my life. The smile that blooms across his face at our touching each other lets me know that he feels it too, and is just as excited as I am about it. The comfort that I get as he gently strokes his thumb on my lower back, makes me want to get even closer to him. I continue to look up into his face, and I know that he is the blessing that the Goddess is giving me for all the pain, and suffering that I went through. I keep hearing Justin clearing his throat to try to get my attention, but I can’t look away from my mate. Brandon drops his head down, and I received my first kiss.
It was soft, sweet, and absolutely perfect. I cannot stop myself from putting my free arm around his neck and holding his head down. I slid my other arm up from his waist, to also slide around his neck to make sure he wouldn’t stop kissing me until I wanted him to. I wish I could stay here wrapped in his arms forever, but suddenly I remember my father and brother are standing behind me, with Olivia, and no one at all is speaking in the room. My mate ends the kiss, and I turn towards them blushing, but they are all smiling at me, visibly happy for me. Justin is just looking at me like I betrayed him, as if. He is the only cheater here.
“Raven, you are absolutely shameless. You set your sister up, try to steal her mate for the second time, and then lie to get her imprisoned here. What won't you do to your poor sister?” Alpha Graham said loudly to everyone near us.
A few gasps are heard and then the familiar murmuring starts racing through the crowd. I see Olivia go to step forward toward Alpha Graham, but dad gently takes her hand in his to stop her and calm her down.
“I didn’t seduce anyone, Alpha Graham. This is my mate, Brandon, and I will be accepting him. I didn’t approach Justin or ask him to touch me. That was all his idea. You need to remember Alpha, when you start messing around with bonds that the Moon Goddess has put together, you are crossing her, and disobeying her wishes. Selene does not favor those who do that. But I bet not only are you well aware of being punished for disrespecting her wishes, but you knew what Reagan was going to do tonight too, right? I mean you usually do, as you and she make your evil plans together usually. So don’t play like you didn’t know she was up to something, even if you didn’t know, you created that monster” I told him and the guests around us got even louder.
“Don’t talk to your father like that, Raven. You are too disrespectful. Is that how we raised you?” Luna Cassandra said and now I am looking at her stunned.
“Are you kidding me? You two didn’t raise me at all. You taught me nothing at all. You never supported me, and you were never kind to me. The only thing you two ever did was take everything I had from me, allowed my sister to take my true mate, and allowed your pack to do their worst to me my whole life. I don’t know what my precious half-sister is up to, but knowing her my whole life, I do know that it wouldn’t be anything good. Considering all Reagan does is take what she wants, or tries to hurt me, or both if she can. So, I am going to guess, since she is in the cells, that she was trying to hurt me again, and got caught. That is on her, and not me. So stop trying to pin all of this on me, when clearly she is the one who needs to be lectured by you two, not me. Is she so stupid that she thought that she could come here, to my father’s pack, and cause problems here for my party, and NOT get in trouble? She can only do that at Silver Blade. In the real world, where she is nothing but a malicious slut, there ARE consequences for your actions” I told them, and Luna Cassandra’s mouth hung open at what I said.
“You disappointing little bitch. I knew I should have killed you when you were born” Alpha Graham yelled out and rushed over to me with his hands turning into claws to rip me apart.
Carter Meets his Mate