Chapter 72 - The Alpha King and His Second Chance
Jackson
"Happy anniversary love." I said, kissing my mate good morning.
"Mmm. Happy anniversary." Ella said in a sleepy voice.
"I think the pups have a surprise for us." I chuckled, hearing them outside of our door discussing who was going to bring in what.
Ella laughed quietly, kissing my cheek before sitting up in bed and stretching. I joined her as we waited patiently for our pups to compose themselves. Joy, Ben, and Jane got quiet, then knocked on the door. "Come in." Ella said with a smile.
"Happy anniversary!" They yelled.
Joy came in first with a tray in her arms. Our first born was eleven now. It was hard to believe how fast time had gone by.
"We made you breakfast!" She said proudly, handing me the tray of slightly burnt toast, cereal, grapes, muffins Ella made last night, and orange juice.
"This looks wonderful!" I exclaimed, proud of our pups for putting in the effort.
"I have flowers!" Ben said, handing a hand-picked bouquet of flowers from the garden to Ella.
"And I have gifts!" Jane smiled. She gave Ella and I a hand-made construction paper coupon book. Free hugs, a promise to clean her room, and a few other promises that would probably go unkept.
"You are all so thoughtful! Thank you so much!" Ella said. "Do you three think you can help us eat breakfast?" She asked, looking at the pups who were looking at our food longingly. They nodded their heads, climbed onto our bed, and began digging into the food they had just brought us.
"How did you and mom meet again?" Jane asked between bites of food.
"Oh Goddess, let me think back....It was shortly after Uncle Edward had been made king. He was hosting a mate ball for singles in the kingdom. I had been to one once before while our father was still alive, but not since I had shifted for the first time. It was the end of the night and I thought another year had passed without finding my mate. I was about to leave when I smelled the most perfect chocolate chip cookie scent. I stopped in my tracks and followed it, and low and behold I found your mother."
- - - -
Ella
"Um, excuse me, but I think you are leaving out a few details." I corrected my mate.
"Oh?" Jackson asked, his eyebrows raised in shock.
"Let me tell you how it really happened....Your father is right, we were at the mate ball Uncle Edward was having. But he forgot to mention that he didn't come alone. He came with another woman. I caught a whiff of his campfire scent here and there through the night, but I wasn't sure if it was coming from my mate, or an actual fire. So I searched high and low for him. My feet were killing me in the heels I had worn so I eventually took them off to keep looking. I was about to give up when I felt a hand on my shoulder, sparks erupted and I knew it was him."
"And then you lived happily ever after?" Joy asked.
"Not exactly..." Jackson said sheepishly.
"The girl daddy came with was his girlfriend." I said.
The pups all gasped in horror, shooting Jackson daggers. He sighed defeatedly and I laughed.
"Daddy had to make a choice, her or me. He had been with his girlfriend for almost a year and they were planning on marking each other soon. But daddy eventually smartened up and chose to be with me." I smiled.
"Woah, woah, woah, I think you are leaving out the fact that you started dating a guy after we had met." Jackson said triumphantly.
Our pups quickly switched sides and shot their daggers my way.
"How could you?!" Jane asked in complete disgust.
"Well, I didn't think your father was going to choose me and I had a very good friend at the time who wanted to pursue a relationship with me, so I went on a few dates with him before daddy broke up with his girlfriend and said he wanted me as his mate." I answered honestly.
"And then you and daddy were together?" Ben asked. He and our girls perking up at the prospect of things going right.
"Not exactly...Grandma and Grandpa wanted me to prove to them that I would be a good mate to mommy before they gave us their blessing, so to speak." Jackson chuckled.
"Grandma and Grandpa didn't like you?" Joy asked Jackson.
"No, they liked daddy. They just wanted to make sure he was going to treat me right. Daddy is a Beta to the king, he holds a lot of power. And sometimes, people with power take advantage of other people who don't have as much power. My mom and dad were just looking out for me, like how we look out for you three now." I said. They mulled it over, seeming to accept that answer.
"But after that, then were you together?" Jane asked.
"Well then, I needed training to be Hope's assistant. She was Uncle Edwards' first fated mate. Grandma Sylvia wanted to be very...through...and make sure I was right for the job which took a lot of time away from being with daddy." I carefully answered, not wanting them to turn on their grandma too. The truth was she didn't like that I was from a lower class, unlike Jackson's previous girlfriend who was from a very influential family. I spent over a year trying to prove myself before I finally snapped on Sylvia, which inevitably earned her approval, try figuring that one out. But that was another story for another time, when the pups are much older and can understand feelings and people better.
"Please tell me it worked out!" Jane huffed.
Jackson and I exchanged a look, holding back our laugh from our sweet, innocent, very unaware little girl.
"Yes it did. And then some time passed and mommy and daddy decided we wanted pups, and here you are." I smiled.
"Where do pups come from?" Ben asked.
"And that concludes today's story time." Jackson butted in. "Who wants to go to the lake for some swimming and burgers for lunch?"
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Joy exclaimed.
"I want to go!" Ben yelled.
"Me too!" Jane whined.
"Nice save daddy." I winked and kissed my mate's cheek, earning disgusted scoffs from our pups.
"Later you are having a sleepover with Uncle Edward and Aunt Sierra," Jackson added.
"Oh really?" I asked, confused, while our pups celebrated even more.
"We don't need little ears hearing you scream my name tonight." He winked.
"Jackson!" I linked back, my face turning red.
"Im not even sorry." He laughed from down the hall, a parade of pups following him.
I thanked the moon goddess every day for him, for our pups, and for the life we live. It might not have been easy getting her, but it was so worth it.