Chapter 44

Agnes had a deer in the headlights look on her face, causing Graeham to feel a great deal of anxiety about their situation.

"Will it bother you to have your face scattered all over the gossip pages, Agnes? Is there someone whose attention that you don't want to draw?" At her nod, he felt like already knew, but he needed her to say it. He couldn't protect her from someone if she didn't tell who to protect her from.

"My parents." She whispered, her face pale.

"Anyone else?" Graeham pushed her to answer.

"My....my..." she stuttered.

"Say it, Agnes. I cannot protect you if you don't say it." Graeham said, rather forcefully.

"My ex-husband."

Silence. The room went completely silent.

"Ex-husband?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes, her ex-husband." Graeham watched Charlotte observing his woman. He knew what she was seeing. The pale face, the eyes dilated because of fear, the trembling hands. It all spoke of a survivor's reaction.

"Agnes, we can help you. We can protect you. No one will get to you." Charlotte assures her. Then she says a word that, in her mind, seals it. "Ever."

"Ever?" Agnes's voice was tortured.

"Ever, love. Never ever. I promise." Graeham replied, taking one of her hands in his. He held it to his chest and looked into her eyes, allowing her to see his emotions and intentions.

Relaxing, Agnes sat back and looked from the older man holding her hand to the younger woman, so earnestly trying to project safety and security.

"He got out two months ago. He told me that he was going to find me and take me home with him." She whispered.

Graeham's face was a mask of rage. Picking up his phone, he dialed a number. Never taking his eyes off of Agnes, he spoke into the phone. "Find a Dalton Jeffers, Jr. Locate and detain. The reason?" Graeham growled into the phone. "For f**king with my fiancé." Snapping his phone back into its case, he looked Agnes in the eyes and said, "Problem solved."

"Well. Now that is settled, let's enjoy this wonderful breakfast that you have ordered for us, dear." Miney said.

Upon mutual agreement from everyone, they finished eating.

"I really think it's time to go home. I'm going to go to pack and get ready to leave." Charlotte kissed her grandfather on the cheek, then leaned in to kiss Agnes.

Ages was shocked. The kiss implied a familial connection. Then she leaned down to whisper in her ear. "You're going to be a wonderful addition to our family."

Graeham's eyes lit up with pride. He knew that his granddaughter would welcome Agnes to the family. "All right everyone. Let's all go back to our suites and get packed. I'll call down to the concierge and have them send someone up to take care of our luggage. The cars will be here in an hour."

Everyone did as suggested and returned to their suites to pack. Each couple had a different conversation in their suites.

"I know there is more to Agnes's past that we have no clue about." Rio was placing the last of his clothes in his suitcase and was snapping it shut. Looking over at Amber, he said, "I really want to run her for a full background."

"She's already been run." Amber said, quietly.

"What!"

"Yeah. Graeham's investigators ran her the night she served us." Amber replied.

"Oh. Okay."

In Anders and Miney's suite, they were quietly discussing what a broken woman she had been and how she seemed to be flourishing under the care and attention that Graeham had been given her. They looked at each other and smiled. They thought that she would be a wonderful wife for Graeham.

In Charlotte and Jaxson's suite, an almost identical conversation was happening.

Jaxson was helping Charlotte pack as they were speaking. "Jax, she looked so broken when she spoke about her ex-husband. It had to have been bad."

Jaxson looked over at his mate. He knew she was thinking about what had happened to her. Speaking up, he said, "Charlotte, Agnes is a strong woman, and she looks like she has come out on the other side. Stronger and a better person because of it."

At precisely one hour later, they were all loading the luggage carts and getting ready to enter the elevator. Since there were two elevators, three couples went in one elevator and the last couple went in the other elevator with the luggage. Exiting the elevator, several camera flashes went off, taking pictures of the couples. Mostly of Graeham and Agnes.

Hunter and his team immediately surround all of the couples with firearms displayed prominently. The AR-15's that each man carried were loaded as well as the side arms that each man carried. When one particular member of the paparazzi tried to press in closer, Hunter pointed his assault rifle in his face. The crowd suddenly quietened down.

Just then the hotel manager came out with several local police officers. "That's enough. You are all on private property. If you do not disburse, you will all be arrested or, I can just let them shoot you."

The paparazzi starting leaving.

Hunter and his team escorted the four couples out and stood guard while the luggage was loaded and they got into the two limousines. Soon enough they were on the road and headed to the mountains.

The ride only took a little over an hour. When they arrived in town, Jaxson directed them to the Alpha House in the center of town. During the previous day, his mom had called and had someone air it out, dust it, clean it and stock the pantry and fridge. All the bedrooms had fresh linens and the bathrooms had all the necessary items.

Getting out of the limo, the men helped the women out as several women and two men came out of the large house. As their luggage was being unloaded, Bill and Misty pulled up in Bill's black truck. Getting out, the couple were smiling and waving.

When Graeham and Agnes exited last from the second limo, Bill and Misty turned to Charlotte and pointed to her grandfather and the woman that was with him.

Charlotte smiled and waved Bill and Misty over so that she could introduce the couples to each other.

As the sheriff and his mate came closer, they both noticed that the woman stepped closer to Charlotte's grandfather. When she did this, Graeham reahed around her and brought her closer to his side.

"Hello Sheriff. Good to see you again." Graeham reached out and shook Bill's and Misty's hands. After releasing their hands, he turned to the woman standing next to him.

"Bill, Misty, this is Agnes, a dear friend of mine. Agnes, this is Bill and Misty. Bill is the town sheriff and clan gamma. Misty is his mate and a coroner for the

FBI."

Agnes shook hands with both and smiled at them briefly. "I'm going inside to get unpacked."

Jaxson walked up up Bill and Misty to welcome them inside.

"It's going to be lunch soon. Do you two have any plans? Rio and I really need to discuss our plans for the Alpha and Beta ceremonies, as well as our weddings."

"We would love to stay for lunch." Bill replied, smiling.

Agnes, Graeham, Bill and Misty all walked into the house.

One of the servants was laying food on the sideboard. It was a cold buffet lunch. There were cold cuts, cheeses, olives, fresh cut vegetables, a selection of breads, condiments, fresh fruits, and various dips.

They all take a seat and one of the servants asks them about drinks. After bringing them their drinks, the group got up in pairs and fixed their plates, with the male taking the lead.

After everyone had fixed their plates, they all sat down.

Jaxson suddenly realized something. "Mom! The servants haven't eaten yet!"

The oldest servant there was a woman in her late forties or early fifties. "Young Alpha, we are more than pleased that you would consider us. But, we always eat before we serve you. If we do not or do not have a chance to eat, then we will eat after your meal. Please," she gestured to the entire table filled with people, "Eat, young Alpha. What you and your family and friends do not eat, we will save for our meal tomorrow"

Miney smiled at the woman, "You haven't changed a bit, I see, Jamie. Except to climb the ranks. Good for you."

"Thank you, ma'am." She said, nodding.

The group finished eating their lunch and went into what used to be Anders's office, but was now recognized as Jaxson's office. As they all took a seat, Jaxson called Charlotte over and pulled her into his lap before he began to speak.

"We have planned our weddings to be on one day with the reception to follow. The Alpha and Beta ceremonies will be the following day. The Beta ceremonies will be first. Then mine will follow after that. The reception will be in the town square with tables full of food and cakes and various drinks." Jaxson took a deep breath before going forward. We will reveal ourselves during the reception, and we will be wearing loin clothes during the ceremonies. I do that traditionally it was done in the nude, but, Charlotte and Amber have decided that they don't not want us to show everyone our 'junk.'"

"I have arranged for two journalists that I trust, that will be here later today." Turning to Jaxson, Graeham said, "If possible, I would like them to stay here. I feel the need to keep an eye on them, regardless of how much they have been vetted. This can and most likely aid in them telling your story. Plus, even though I trust them to a degree, I am not going to ask you to."

Charlotte looked at Jaxson and then at Rio, before replying to her grandfather. "I think we can arrange for Diane and Jasper to stay here with us in the Alpha house and also, they can be watched. what do you think Jaxson?"

Rio and Amber nodded their head in agreement, as did Anders and Miney. " Excellent idea, Charlotte. We can take them in hand and show them all about our history." Turning to her mate and husband, she asked, "Anders, that book on the history of shifters? Is it still here in the library?"

"I believe it is. What are you thinking, my love?" he asked her with a smile, already knowing what she had in mind.

"Mom! You're a genius! What better way to let everyone in on our secret than to share the story." Smiling, Rio sat back and reached over and clasped Amber's hand.

"Caterers. We will need caterers and food. Lots of food." Graeham quickly took out his phone and sent a text to his grandson that had the list that Charlotte had provided them with at her and Jaxson's home days earlier. "I have the list of food items that you gave us last week, Charlotte. Should we add to it in any way?"

"Momma Miney, would you handle that with Granddad for us? That is unless Amber or Rio want to give any input?" Looking at the couple, she waited to see what they had to say.

"Not really. I think the list you came up with is fine. Maybe refine it a bit. But, that's what the caterer is for. I'm good and I think Rio is too."

"Perfect. Graeham, I have a list of caterers that we have used in the past. Let's put our heads together after this meeting. I would like this done as soon as possible. The faster that we can start advertising the weddings, the faster we can draw out Liam and then move on to the reveal. Our goal, after all, is to keep our families safe. Especially with the news of what we are. Some people are going to be frightened, some are going to hate, just because we are different, and some are going to be so fascinated and enthralled that they will be drawn to us in the most unhealthy of ways. This is what we need to discuss with the journalists for the reveal."