Chapter 9

To my pleasant surprise we ate in comfortable silence. Miss Mary didn’t ask a bunch of questions and we all just enjoyed the food. That being said once the food was consumed, you could start to feel the tension.

“So what did you want to talk to me about dear?” Miss Mary asked with a small smile.

“Well, I have some news.” I answered.

“Well is it good news or bad news?” she asked again looking at me kind of suspiciously.

“Good news ma’am.” Jackson stated with a polite smile. “We found out today that Leana and I are mates.”

“Has she told you what happened?” she asked.

“She has.”

“Knowing what you know, do you still accept her?”

“I do.”

Her smile grew more and more at his answers. “Then that is good news. I'm happy for you sweetheart.”

“You’re okay with it?” I asked.

“Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I be?”

I just shrugged in response. It was like an automatic response of mine. Make sure I don’t disappoint anyone, which was kinda a huge fear of mine. But I had a horrible feeling that his pack wouldn’t be as happy, or accepting. And that thought made me realize that we should start thinking of how to tell Jacksons pack. So I turned to Jackson to get his attention.

“How are we going to tell your pack?” I asked as Miss Mary went to do dishes.

“Everyone should be back from school by now-” He was interrupted by someone knocking on the door.

“Leana, can you get it?” Miss Mary called out.

I knocked on the table once to let her know I would, before going to the door. Opening the door I was met with the last person I wanted to see, Aaron.

“Hey, I didn’t know this was the cave of the sea witch.” He said with a smirk on his face. “Did you come here to beg her for your voice back?”

I rolled my eyes at his ‘joke’ and signed and half hoped he understood half hoped he didn’t. “And I thought you could at least come up with some new material.”

“What did you say you little-”

“AARON!” Jackson called out.

“Alpha!?” He practically squeaked in surprise. “My brother sent me to find you and when I found your car here I was a bit confused. But your father called a meeting said that you had some news for us.”

“I’ll start heading over now.”

Aaron nodded and turned to leave.

“Oh and Aaron?” Jackson once again called out.

“Yes Alpha?” He responded a little bit of fear sneaking into his voice.

“Did you forget my warning?”

“No sir.”

“I’ll make sure you’re dealt with accordingly after the pack meeting.”

“Yes sir.” He bowed before going back to his care and leaving.

“I guess now is as good a time as any to tell the pack.” He said turning to look at me. “Miss Mary, I’m gonna take Leana for a while. Is that alright?”

“That’s fine dear!”

Taking my hand he pulled me to his car so we could start making our way back to his pack. I guess sometime along the way I had fallen asleep because the next thing I knew Jackson was gently shaking me awake.

“Leana, wake up. We’re here.”

I yawned and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes before getting out of the car.

“Are you ready?” he asked me as I stretched.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” I signed back. “Although I am nervous.”

“Don’t be. I’ll be right there.” He said with a small smile taking my hand in his and giving it a comforting squeeze.

Taking a deep breath I allowed him to once again lead me inside. Unlike last time there were a lot of people walking around and talking as they were waiting for the pack meeting to be called to order. As expected everyone’s attention immediately went to Jackson when we walked in, then to our joined hands, and then their attention was focused on me. They started to ask questions amongst themselves, like who was I? What was I doing here? and most importantly who was I to be holding their future Alpha’s hand? My discomfort made itself known to Jackson immediately.

“Don’t worry about them. They’ll understand soon enough, okay?” He quietly said into my ear.

I nodded before my attention was drawn to Alpha John calling Jackson and I over.

“Good I was hoping you would bring Leana. Your mother and I thought it best to let the pack know as soon as possible.” The Alpha said as soon as we got to him by the stage.

“I understand father.”

I opted to observe those around us while Jackson and his father spoke. Hearing their not-so-quiet whispers and seeing their not-so-subtle glances and stares. Of course when they saw that I had seen them, they quickly turned away trying to act as though they weren’t just talking about how they didn’t think I was that pretty or how they wanted to beat me up for getting to be so close to Jackson.

“Okay I’ll call you both on stage when it’s time to make the announcement, okay?” His father said placing a hand on my shoulder, before heading onstage to start the meeting.

Just his presence onstage made everyone go silent and give all their attention to him. That showed that they respected him as their leader and I could only hope that they would still respect Jackson like that with me as his Luna. As the meeting went, he spoke about how long it would take for the school to be rebuilt and then to be up and running again, and what they could do to prevent further attacks. Towards the end of the meeting was when my nerves really kicked in.

“Now before this meeting is called to an end, my son Jackson has an important announcement to make.”