Mated with the Alpha's Daughter

Chapter 6: Here's the Whole Story (pt. 1)

***JUSTIN POV***

    When Alpha James and I got back to my office on the third floor of the pack house, I sat down and immediately put my head on my desk.  There was something that needed to be done about the Robertson family, and nothing was immediately coming to mind.  I wanted to inflict some form of massive punishment, but I didn't know if Alpha James was going to play along.

    "Talk it out, Justin," James said to me, completely breaking my train of thought.  "What's going on in your head?"

    "It's just...I wish that there was something that we could do about the Robertson's.  I really do.  They have gone after Mira, and now they're going after Mike when Mike isn't even here to defend himself and knows nothing about us."

    "That's the thing, right there, Justin," James said stoically, and sat back in the visitor's chair.

    "What do you mean?" I asked, more than slightly confused.

    "You're wanting to make decisions for the Alpha-in-Waiting, and you can't.  The soonest he can ever be involved in one of these decisions is when Mira turns him and when he can begin his training to be an Alpha himself.  I don't like it any more than you do, but I think we're just going to have to hold off on holding their feet to the fire for the time being.  We'd come very close to violating Pack law," James explained.

    He was right.  Our Pack's chartered oath and agreement was based largely on the human judicial system.  You had to be present in order to defend yourself, and you had to play a direct involvement in your defense.  Having a proxy speak on your behalf was never heard of, especially for a human involved in pack affairs.  It wouldn't be fair to Mike, Mira, or the rest of their family.

    "Here's what I want to do," I said.  "I want to put Richard on two-a-day training rotations.  I want him there in the morning session at 5:30 in addition to the one for the junior warriors for when they get home at 3:30 after school.  In fact, I want him helping out Raul, being his sparring partner for both sessions."  Raul was our trainer, a man so ripped I once witnessed him pushing Alpha James' super duty diesel pickup truck to the garage by himself, with it having a flat tire as well.  It took a super strong wolf to take him on in training, because the pack hospital got sick of having Deltas and Omegas getting their noses broken into hamburger patties, so generally speaking only James, my dad, our Gamma Craig, and our Delta Marcus--at least before he died in battle--trained with him.  Raul had yet to start training his successor, so now would be as good of a time as any.

    James laughed.  "Are you seeing if you can put Richard into some sort of authority position it might force him to focus and take his mind off of Mira until she can get Michael up to speed?  You're still trying too hard to force things together.  I know you're anxious to become Beta, but you have to make sure Michael is up to snuff.

    I groaned because he was exactly right.  I have wanted to be Beta ever since I turned 18, but I can't get the position until an alpha appoints me to be his Beta.  I'm literally waiting for Mike to take the reigns of the pack before I can fulfill my calling, so I will absolutely cop to that.

    "Fair enough," I conceded.  "I'm just worried long-term.  That family has been this pack's generational ne'er-do-wells that we let exist because we're too kind to cut them loose as rogues.  I just really don't want him to harass Mira anymore.  That s**t got old a long time ago."

    "I agree, but I also don't want you making decisions about your future Luna without consulting her first.  I want you speaking with her about all of this when you get home from Michael's place tonight.  I want a full report about his state of mind and what he's like when you get home," James said as he stood to leave and while exhibiting his alpha aura, putting me on my feet as well.

    "Yes, Alpha," I said, and he nodded and left.  I stayed on my feet thinking, but coming up with nothing, I went to mine and Kristy's bedroom to make sure she was ready.  I found her putting on a top that tried to hide her ever-expanding baby bump, and smiled when she looked at it, covering her hand with it as well.

    "Mommy loves you, Baby," she said to her belly, making me tear up in happiness.

    "And Daddy loves Mommy," I responded, doing something that was quickly becoming our thing.

    Kristy looked up and said, "ready?"

    I smiled and said, "yes I am," and we walked downstairs to my truck hand in hand.

***MICHAEL POV***

    I decided to go with a stout from my family's hometown in Ireland for Justin and got a big bottle of orange juice for Kristy and set to making my homemade guacamole recipe and a buffalo chicken dip concoction for myself and Justin.  I wanted to make a good impression for my new friends, and hoped to knock this out of the park.

    When all of that was done, I decided to bring my amp and the guitar I wrote most of my own creations on into the living room while I waited for the food to finish.  Ever since my second class, I began to get some riff ideas in my head that just wouldn't go away, so after running scales, I started to play around with them.  I was so absorbed in my thoughts I jumped out of my skin when I heard the doorbell ring.

    I ran to the door and was out of breath when I opened it and saw Justin with an extremely beautiful woman with him.

    "Hey Justin!  Thanks for coming, and you must be the famous Kristy.  Gosh, you're the most lovely woman I think I have ever laid eyes on, " I said to Kristy as I kissed her hand, making her blush and both her and Justin laugh.

    "Why thank you, Michael," she responded after she stopped giggling.  "The pleasure is all mine, and might I say, you have an absolutely lovely piece of property."

    "Much obliged, Kristy," I said, bowing my head a little and sweeping to the side to let them in.  "I've got guacamole on the coffee table already with a glass of orange juice for you, Kristy, and for Justin, I've got this," handing him an Irish ale.

    "Thank you, Mike!  What is that smell?  I'm absolutely drooling right now," he responded.

    "Oh, that's my mom's recipe for buffalo chicken dip," I responded.  "It's my go-to when trying to impress new friends.  It'll be ready in five minutes," I said, glancing at the timer.

    "Wonderful!"  Justin said.  I smiled as I led them to the living room where Kristy saw my guitar rig set up.

    "Michael, you play guitar?" she asked.

    "Yes I do!  I started about 8 years ago in high school as a reward for getting my Eagle Scout.  I still have that guitar in my studio downstairs, but this is the one where I do the majority of my song writing."

    Kristy squealed.  "You write songs?  Do you have anything you can show us right now?"

    I smiled.  It had been a long time since someone had taken interest in my music besides Juan or my other family members.  "Yes, in fact I was working on something just now."  I walked over to my rig and turned my tape recorder on with a mic right next to it.  "I think I have it to where I can demo it right now, if you don't mind."

    They both shook their heads, and took each others' hands as I closed my eyes and played and sang.  When I get into this type of mood, my hands just simply take over and I can't control anything.  I played them all that I had on what was going to be the lead guitar track that I'd layer several times.  The vision I had in my head was to be a ballad that I'd play for whenever I found the woman I'd marry.  When I opened again, I saw they both had tears in their eyes.

    "Did you not like it?  Did I cause you guys some sort of pain by playing that?" I asked, feeling my anxiety go through the roof.

    "Michael, that was the single best piece of music I think I've ever heard.  I don't know where or how you came up with that, but that was incredible," Kristy said.  "It felt like you were playing and singing our wedding song."

    "Oh please, it wasn't that good.  You're just giving me lip service to make me feel better," I said, not believing her.  This made Justin look at me fiercely.  He stood up and got right in my face.

    "Mike, my wife is the most hard person to please when it comes to anything artistic.  When she pays you a compliment, it's from the heart.  If she says it's the best thing that she's ever heard, then you can take that to the bank."

    I nodded, still not trusting it.  "I'm sorry for my reaction.  I'm not used to people caring about my music.  This is something that I want to play for my wife when I finally meet her."  With that, Justin returned to his seat, just in time to see Kristy's entire face light up.

    "You're not married?"

    I laughed and said, "no.  I don't think that's in the cards for me.  I've had some truly awful relationships in my past, and they've screwed me up so much that I don't think that I'll even trust it if I meet Ms. Right."

    Justin waved his hand and said, "meh, I'm sure you're exaggerating.  A good-looking and intelligent guy like you, you've probably had lots of beautiful women fall at your feet."

    I shook my head and I heard the timer go off.  I stand up to go to the kitchen, but as I leave the room, I said, "I've been beaten, slapped, manipulated, psychologically tortured, and warped into an empty suit so many times by my last two girlfriends that I don't even want to go down that road again.

    "EXCUSE ME?!"  Justin roared, causing me to jump and turn around to face him.  Again, I was convinced that I saw his eyes turn yellow.

    "Yeah," I responded.  I turned to the oven, got the buffalo chicken dip out, and set it on the stove to cool.  I then reached up to my liquor cabinet, got my bottle of blended Scotch whiskey, poured myself a glass on the rocks, and came back and sat down.

    "Here's the whole story..."

    And when I replayed the story about my final fight with Jaden, which led me to getting my teaching license and leaving her.

***FLASHBACK***

    It was my 24th birthday party, and Jaden was sitting next to me, scrolling through sss on her phone.  It was her favorite hobby, and while I had the cash on hand to pay for whatever she wanted or needed, it took a lot for her to step back and see what needs and wants I had.

    "Baby, please put that thing away.  My parents and brothers are going to be here any moment.  They're going to want to have you engaged in the conversation about their work and the things they are up to," I pleaded with her, praying this wouldn't start another fight.

    "But I don't like your family!  They're so boring!  Who cares about roads or library books?  So what Terry plays junior doctor in an ambulance?  All Juan wants to be is a teacher.  He'll never be rich in a million years!"  She whined, and immediately went back to her phone.

    "There's more to life than money, Jaden.  It's about finding a purpose.  It's wanting to do something you believe in all the time.  Money is arbitrary after that," I explained, having repeated something like this a thousand times to her before, so much so that I could guess what her next remark was going to be.

    "There isn't anything more important than money.  Money lets you buy stuff, and stuff makes me happy.  By the way, when you go engagement ring shopping, I'll be calling the jewelry stores.  If I find out that you get me something that's less than $10,000 the answer is going to be no," and with that, she went back on sss.

    I took her phone, and put it in my shirt pocket.  "Please, at least chat a bit."

    Jaden rolled her eyes and said, "fine.  But after 30 minutes, I want my phone back so I can shop again."

    "Whatever," I responded, as my family and Juan walked through the door.  I sprang up and hugged all of them, and got lots of happy birthday wishes.

    "Well son, you seem to be doing well," Dad said, which put a smile on my face.

    "Yes I am, and thank you all for coming, especially you Terry.  Did you have to put in a special request from your house to come here?"

    Terry laughed and said, "nah, I brought someone back to life yesterday with mouth to mouth.  That got me a 48 hour pass."

    My eyes became as big as saucers.  "You saved someone?!  What happened?!"

    Terry sat back and explained.  Apparently, someone had been almost killed in their bathtub by a home invader.  By the grace of God, the landlord fought off the attacker and called the cops and medical, which meant that he was riding in the back.  When they got there, the landlord had pulled the woman out of the tub and had straightened her airway the best he could but was afraid to start compressions.  When Terry came in, she had been out for a minute.  When she coughed on the third set of ten compressions and spat up water, she came to and later thanked Terry for what he did.

    "Congratulations, Bro!" I exclaimed.  "That's incredible!"

    "Thank you, Mikey!  I thought so too.  "After all was said and done, all I could say was, 'This job is beautiful,' and I can't imagine doing anything else."  I nodded, thinking about the news I had to share with everyone, but got pulled out of my thoughts by Jaden.

    "Big deal, Terrance," she scoffed.  From day one, she refused to call Terry by his preferred name.  Always Terrance.  "You didn't do anything a doctor wouldn't do.  Why don't you go back to school and become a doctor so you can make money?"

    Terry rolled his eyes.  "This is my calling.  I don't want to do anything else," he replied.

    Jaden rolled her eyes.  "Michael hunny bunny, could I have my phone now.  The 30 minutes are up and I want to shop."

    Mom looked like she was ready to blow a gasket, and before I had to break up another fight between these two, I said, "Sure, but in a moment.  I have an announcement to make."

    Jaden looked at me skeptically, while the rest of my family looked at me excitedly.  "What happened?  Did the President Pro Tempore not want you on his staff this cycle?"

    I smiled and shook my head.  "No, quite the opposite.  He asked me to be his chief of staff, but I turned him down."

    Jaden turned beet red.  I knew a massive tantrum was going to be coming, so I kept right on speaking.  "In fact, I told him that I was resigning.  I'm out of politics starting yesterday.  I got accepted into teaching school at the university up the road a little bit.  In a year, I'm going to be a licensed Civics teacher!"  I excitedly exclaimed.

    Dad beamed with pride at me, and Mom looked like she was going to cry.  Terry, Steve, and Juan all broke out into applause, saying how proud they were of me.  With that, Jaden stole her phone out of my pocket, and ran towards the bathroom of the restaurant.

    I sighed.  "I've told her I wanted to become a teacher since I started dating her a year ago.  I don't know why this is such a big shock," I groaned.

    Steve got up and walked toward the bathroom.  "I'm curious about something," he said, as he walked over in the direction where she was standing.  I then explained exactly what the program was going to entail and how hard I was going to have to work.  All turned out well, until Steve walked over to the table with a look that made me terrified for the life of whoever he was upset with.

    "Michael, you've got a problem.  You need to check your credit score, right now."

    I looked at him weirdly, and did just that.  My score said it was a 235.  I flipped out.

    "What the f**k?!  How did this happen?!"

    Steve glared.  "I know how," and proceeded to show the entire table a video of Jaden talking to her mom, saying that she was only in the relationship for all of the money I was making as a campaign operative, and that she had taken 5 credit cards out in my name, which explained my junk rating.

    I nodded, and knew that was it.  When she came back to the table, she noticed that her chair was missing.

    "Hunny bunny, where's my chair?  I want to celebrate your birthday, regardless of how bad of a decision you're making," she sweetly said.

    "No," I responded simply.  I then pulled out my phone and called our landlord, and had her name removed from the lease on the apartment.  She proceeded to make such a scene that the cops had to be called and she was escorted out in cuffs.

***END FLASHBACK***

    When I finished the story, Justin and Kristy were staring with their mouths wide open.

    "So you were a cash cow, and nothing more?"  Justin asked.

    "Yep," I responded.  "But you have to know, she's not the worst relationship that I've ever been in.

    "Are you kidding me?!"  Justin responded.

    "Nope," I stated simply.  "That is a long story as well."  I got up and refilled my glass of Scotch.  This was going to be a long night.