Chapter 105

Jethro decided that he had waited long enough for Rashel; he was beginning to fear that she had changed her mind about marrying him, and if so, he wanted to know. He waited a few days after the council’s declaration before going to her for answers. Things had started to return to normal, and the pressure seemed to have disappeared; and Jethro saw that it was the right time to ask Rashel, or at least talk to her about it.

If she still wanted to go ahead with the wedding, there was the other issue of the wedding arrangements. After the council’s suspension of Rashel from the seating, Jethro made a decision that he feared might cause disagreements between himself and Rashel, but it was something that had to be done. Rashel wanted a small wedding, and he was more than happy to oblige, but now with Rashel’s suspension hanging in the air, the council would expect to be witnesses to their union, if only to fill their curiosity. Now, if they were going to invite the members of the high seating, then some other high-standing members of the council and the elite society of Denver, too, would need to be there.

The wedding they had envisioned had just gone from intimate to a high-society event that neither he nor Rashel wanted but were obliged to do. They could go ahead and have their wedding the way they envisioned, but it would prove their foes right and leave room for more people to undermine Rashel and her place in Scepter. This was what Jethro was trying to avoid at all costs, even if the cost was an argument between himself and Rashel.

He found Rashel in the garden, scrolling through her phone and munching on a burger. She didn’t see him approach, so he took a moment to rethink and prepare himself before walking up to join her on the bench where she sat.

“Hey.”

Rashel turned around sharply; she hadn’t seen him come up behind her, so she was a little frightened.

“You scared me.” She said.

“The fearless Rashel, defender of the Scepter pack, afraid? I can’t believe this.” Jethro teased, his eyes widened in mock horror.

“Come on, don’t be that way.” Rashel giggled and moved on the bench, giving room for Jethro to sit beside her.

“I’ve been looking for you.”

“Well, you found me. What’s up?”

“Rashel, do you still want to marry me?” The look on Rashel’s face when he asked the question made Jethro wish he had said it differently or even said something else entirely. Her face turned red, and she looked like she was about to choke on the burger she was chewing. If the idea of being married to him repulsed her so, he wondered why she was still with him in the first place.

“I’m sorry if I ambushed you. I’ll come back later, and we can discuss this or something.” Jethro apologized quickly.

“No, no. Jethro, I’m sorry if I reacted the wrong way. I just wasn’t expecting you to ask me that question.”

“You weren’t?” Disappointment started to spread across Jethro’s face. Rashel turned to him quickly and took both his hands in hers as she spoke.

“No, that’s not what I meant. Why would you ask if I still want to marry you when you know I want to? I want to spend every day of the rest of my life with you, and there’s nothing I want more than that.” Rashel said,

“That’s a relief. That’s such a big relief, Rashel. Getting you to accept my proposal the first time was hard enough, and I was beginning to fear I had lost you.”

“I would never do that to you, Jethro. Never.” She saw something suddenly shift in his eyes, and she knew something was up. She thought maybe it was the Kael issue she had thought about, and Jethro had finally changed his mind about who he wanted to succeed him. Whatever the case, she would not change her mind about marrying him; he had accepted Kael as his, and that was enough for her.

“So, you’d still marry me, even if I said we can’t have a small wedding?” He watched Rashel’s face go from soft to annoyed in seconds and knew that the words shouldn’t have left his mouth.

“What do you mean we can’t have a small wedding?” She asked, holding strongly to her quickly vanishing shards of self-control.

“I’m sorry, babe, but the council is going to want to witness it. The other Alphas in the seating would also want to witness it, and not letting them be a part of this would be proving them right.” Jethro explained.

“Who are they, and what are we proving?” Rashel asked, more confused than annoyed.

“The ones who think that you do not have a place here or amongst the higher members of society. The ones who think that you don’t mean as much to me as I know you do.”

“But I don’t care about these people, nor do I care what they think.”

“Rashel, please. I know you’re a strong, capable woman. A force to reckon with, and I am a testament to this. But I won’t be around forever. Anything can happen; I might even be out of town, and you would need something done. I’m not saying we should bend to their whims or beg for acceptance, no. But this is like a rite of passage, and I need you to do this with me.” Jethro pleaded.

Rashel didn’t speak for a long moment as Jethro stared at her expectantly. She was relieved at first because he didn’t even mention Kael or his legacy, and so she didn’t have to make any hard choices. This was a small request that Jethro had asked of her, and even so, it was all for her. As he spoke, she realized that protecting both her present and her future, whether he was around or not, was his top priority. This made her respect him even more and influenced her decision not to give him any trouble. She was going to make this as seamless as possible for both of them.

“How many guests do you think we’re going to get?” Rashel finally asked. She watched Jethro’s face light up immediately and knew she made the right choice.

“To be honest with you, I don’t know yet. But it’ll be strictly by invitation. No plus ones that weren’t invited as well.”

“I suppose I can work with that.”

“Thank you, commander.” Jethro teased.

“You’re welcome, Alpha.”

They didn’t realize it yet, but that moment had changed the dynamics of their relationship. It had broken whatever walls were left between them and bound them in ways that they didn’t know yet. Even their wolves had just become one, hearing and feeling each other even when apart.

Viola couldn’t believe her luck; it felt like she had just struck gold. She turned the card over in her hand and smiled like someone who had just won a lottery. This was her free ticket to Jethro’s estate, and this time, she was being invited by Rashel. She was definitely going to RSVP because she would never miss the wedding for anything in the world. Before going to find Seth, she called Merikh to inform him that the first step in their plan had been activated. The phone rang the first time, but Merikh didn’t answer the phone. She had begun to become impatient when Merikh suddenly answered the phone.

“Hey! Rashel has set the wind in motion. Your brother and I have just received an invite to the wedding of the year.” Viola babbled on the moment Merikh answered the phone.

“You want me to strike now?”

“No, I changed my mind. I want us to wait a little longer. Just until the wedding day. They’re not going to get married because something is going to happen, and we’re going to make it happen.”

“Understood. So, what do you need me to do while we wait?”

“What I need you to do is reach out to our contacts in Scepter and get into the security details and settings for the day. We need them to be able to operate smoothly.”

“I understand. I’ll get on it immediately.” Merikh paused, and when Viola didn’t say anything, he spoke again. “How’s my child doing?”

Viola didn’t reply immediately; instead, she remained so silent that she could hear Merikh breathing on the other side.

“My child is fine. Don’t think for one second that you can waltz in and claim this child, Merikh. You made it clear that you didn’t want it from the beginning.”

“But he’s mine, and you can’t deny that fact. He doesn’t have my brother’s blood running through his veins, and he never will, no matter how much and how long you try to pretend.”

“Merikh…” Viola gave a low growl. I was a warning.

“Why are we even arguing about this? In a few months, it won’t even matter, right? Because Seth will be no more.”

“Goodbye, Merikh,” Viola said and ended the call without waiting for a reply.