25. Jax

25

Jax

The meeting concluded much as it started. Same as yesterday and the day before. Last week and the week before. Every day since I installed Anna into my home.

The elders were unhappy.

Normally, I met with the elders once a month, but every day for weeks, they found a way to call an emergency meeting.

There were two still in my office when the phone rang. The line that only a few others had.

The other alphas.

Celine and Calden stilled. After a second of consideration, I nodded to them and answered the call on speaker. "Jax."

"Maeve."

Ah, Maeve Frost. Alpha of Indigo Peak. "Maeve, you're on speaker with two of my elders.

Are you calling to share your displeasure again?"

Maeve was the alpha who threatened Finn's death as a child unless his father came clean about who he was feeding information to. His father refused.

Maeve, apparently, couldn't go through with the threat. She exiled him instead. I gave her a courtesy call when I returned to let her know that Finn was mine now. She was not pleased.

"No," she said in a clipped tone. "Although that is not a finished conversation."

It was, but I did not tell her that.

"Your elders may stay, but their council is not needed. Just yours. I want to call an emergency meeting of the alphas."

Immediately, I straightened. We had an annual meeting, but there hadn't been an emergency meeting since the previous alpha of TK tried to challenge me.

He was no more.

"Why is that necessary?"

"My witch was murdered."

That got my attention. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"He was a good witch. His daughter is stepping up, but I fear she'll be next. Before he died, he told me what the witches wanted with him. Power to cook the voice until it provided them with the ultimate magic. I have no idea what that means, but I know it can't be good."

"So they're not just after Irene," I mused. "They'll need more witches. More magic."

"And then they'll target the wolves," Maeve said darkly. "We cannot let them reach full power. She would convene with our witches and learn the truth."

"So you want to put all the targeted individuals in one spot?" I asked dryly. "Maeve, your strategy skills are usually a little better than that."

"You have the most defendable land, and our witches will be protected. It will be the safest place for them. You're my first call, Jax, but I only need two more alphas to agree, and the meeting will be on your land. Consider this a courtesy call."

She hung up, and I couldn't help but chuckle. Maeve could be vicious on the ground, but she also enjoyed her mind games."

"As you can see," I told my lingering annual members, "some people are more concerned with this threat of consolidated power rather than my choice in bed mates."

"Just because a second witch was killed," Celine started….

"This," Calden interrupted sharply, "just means that we need to replace Irene. We have a list of witches…"

"Irene is fine," I cut him off. "We do not need another witch. Irene will be fine. Maeve is right. This was a courtesy call. The other alphas will agree, at least Emerson and TK will. "I need to strategize. This is our focus. Not another word about Anna. My decision with her is final. You want a new alpha, find someone worthy enough to challenge me. Until then, we need to prepare for our guests."

Hate glittered from their eyes, and I pushed my power through the pack bond. Enough to make them gasp and remember that I was their alpha.

They bowed out quietly, and I glanced at the time. The day was over.

It was time to do battle.

I told Anna she could have complete freedom of the territory as long as she returned home at seven every night to eat with me. Every day, I stationed a guard to follow her, but she never left until today.

Time to see if she returned.

"Jax," a voice squealed just as I approached the house. Briella, a young and pretty redhead, was waiting for me on the front porch. She'd spent her early years as a rogue until she and her family had been chased into my territory. They claimed sanctuary, and I allowed them stay. Now, then years later, she was a lovely girl of twenty and looked at me with stars in her eyes.

"Briella," I greeted as I opened the door. "How can I help you?"

With a giggle, she fell into step next to me. "I just haven't seen you in a while, and I wanted to let you know that I'd missed you. Have you had dinner yet?"

"I'm about to right now." The house was quiet, but that was nothing new. Unlike the other alphas, I didn't keep a staff.

Someone came in to clean once a week, but I ate with the others at the mess halls and restaurants. Not lately. I'd been grabbing take-out dinners with my mate.

A trying time for us both.

"Is that from the food hall? Oh, let me cook for you! Please, alpha! My wolf has been feeling a little wayward lately, and I think spending some time with you would do me some good!"

"Actually, I think you'll find the exact opposite will happen if you don't get your fucking hands off my mate," Anna said coldly when we reached the dining room.

Anna was at the table waiting for me. Some nights, she had an interesting surprise. Once, there was a formal dress from a closet of discarded clothes she'd found.

A scandalous red that looked much better on her than it did on its former owner.

The next night, she wore a pair of filthy jeans and a jean jacket.

Tonight, she is in a pair of green panties and a bra with a gem dangling between her breasts.

For fuck's sake.

I heard the danger in her voice, but apparently Briella did not. She didn't remove her hands, even when Anna rose from the table, violence in her eyes. "What are you doing in his house? Aren't you supposed to be in some attic somewhere?" Briella said in an annoyed voice. "Jax, what is she doing here?"

I didn't say anything. Anna advanced, and I felt the wolf glowing in her eyes. Well, shit. This was an unexpected turn of events, although I couldn't say I didn't like it. Knowing that Anna was jealous, watching her defend me, made me harder than I wanted to admit.

"What the fuck did I tell you?" Anna hissed as she lunged. I caught her quickly, wrapping my around her mid-section and sitting her back down. At the same time, I stepped away from Briella.

"It's all right, baby," I assured her. "I'm yours."

"Don't call me that," she snapped at me. "What's your name?"

Briella was clearly shocked that I'd taken Anna's side. "B…Br…Briella," she whispered.

"Briella, I'm going to need you to spread the word that I am Jax's mate. I am living in his house. I am sleeping in his bed. And until I say otherwise, he belongs to me? Got it?"

Tears sprang to her eyes as she sputtered an apology, turned and left. Releasing, Anna, I watched with some amusement as she stepped away from me like my touch had burned her and sat back down. I looked over her body appreciatively.

"Were you hot, my dear?" I asked as I sat our bag of sandwiches on the table.

Leaning back, she gave me a cold smile and dragged a finger along the grain of the wooden table. "I was anticipating you bringing me something hot to eat," she said sweetly.

Except I knew Anna. She was not sweet. At least, not toward me. "You're angry with me."

"Most men would not assume a half-naked woman waiting at his table was angry."

"That is because most men don't know you." Pulling the chair out, I sat and let my gaze linger. When the mating bond first snapped into place, she was skin and bone. Her father was a monster in more ways than one. "And since you didn't know that Briella was going to walk in with me, then it's not about that."

She's filled out since then. Not thanks to me but to Parker.

"She's just a young girl, Anna. I don't deal with girls. I have my hands filled enough with you."

Still nothing.

"You don't like Finn," I guess.

"Finn is wonderful. He's going to teach me how to drive."

The fuck he was. A growl rose inside me, but she looked me directly in the eye. "They could have burned it to the ground,"

The vandalism. I should have known. "They've been punished."

"You didn't tell me."

Opening the bag, I pull out the subs. "I have a pack to protect and a great darkness to prepare for. A little vandalism slipped my mind."

"Did you order it?"

Her words struck deep. "Excuse me?"

"It was the only thing I asked for, Jax. You must have known how important this was.

Did you order them to wreck it to strike at me?"

"You have all the funds of the pack to fix whatever is broken, Anna. I'm not petty or stupid enough to strike at you this way," I said quietly. "Is this really what you think of me?"

Taking a deep breath, she shook her head. "It won't take much money. Some new chairs. A little paint to cover the slurs and crude poetry writing on the walls of my room." Standing, she pushed the sandwich away. "Should probably replace the mattress. Someone defiled mine."

Shit. I'd asked about the damage to the restaurant, but I hadn't asked about her old room.

"I'll fix it."

"I'll fix it," she snapped. "With all the funds of the pack. I dressed like this so you'd get a good last look. I'm done with these games, Jax. You can have your room back. I'm moving into one of the guest rooms."

"You can't."

"Don't you get it, Jax? It isn't working! Your pack doesn't care if I smell like you. They hate me more at the thought of me fucking you. Oh, if only they knew the truth. That even you don't think I'm good enough for your bed."

"You can't, Anna, because in a couple of weeks' time, maybe less, the alphas and their witches will be here. Including Emerson Triggs."