The Blood Rose pack

New beginning

(Jace POV)

I had left my poor mate in her room with Judy. I could hear Hunter howling in the back of my mind as the distance grew. I felt sorry for him since I had already started missing her as well. Once I made it to my father’s office, I quickly straightened out my clothes from yesterday. I didn’t bother to change because of the situation with her being here. After giving the large oak door a couple of swift knocks, I opened it and poked my head into the room.

“Hey, do you have time to talk? It’s about Scarlett.” My voice was silent but stern to gain his attention from the multiple stacks of papers that sat on his desk.

He kept his face down while his eyes looked up at me, looking over the glasses that sat on the edge of his nose, “Yeah, just one more second then I can speak of my discoveries.”

I stepped in and closed the door behind me as I walked over to the desk, then took a seat in front of it while shuffling my thumbs in my hands, waiting for him to finish. Once he was done signing two more papers, I quickly looked up towards him while sitting up straight to show he had my full attention.

“OK, so what did you find about this? Can we fix it? I don’t want to suffer having a human as a mate and I don’t want Scarlett to suffer. I don't want her to feel forced to become a werewolf and I don't want her to be stuck here for however long you plan on keeping her.”

He leaned back in his chair after removing the glasses from his face. He set them down on his desk, then grabbed a book filled with several bookmarks carefully placed in a nearby drawer, “So. From my knowledge, we’ve known her father, Mr. Prince for some time. He actually contacted me last night regarding Scarlett, saying she isn’t what we believe she is and that it would be fair to give us a warning.”

I looked towards the book and raised a brow at him while narrowing my eyes with slight confusion, “And what might she be then if she isn’t what we believe?”

He gave a small sigh while scratching his chin and opening the dusty book to an old yellowed page speaking about hybrids, “Well, he spoke of the Blue River pack very fondly.”

My confusion only grew as he spoke of her father along with the page on hybrids being opened. Once he spoke of the Blue River pack, I nearly lost my breath. The pack has been dead for nearly 30 years after an attack. Plus, how could a human know about werewolves and the names of the packs?

“What? How the hell does he know? You said you kept everything hidden from him. First you bring home Scarlett without any warning and now this!?” I couldn’t help myself but yell at him. How could he speak so casually about a human knowing about the werewolf world?

He raised his hand to keep me from speaking, “Her father claims to have been a warrior for the pack and instead of making the logical decision and joining another pack, he had gone rogue and proceeded to attempt to live as a human, but he ended up finding a woman to continue his blood line and ended up having Scarlett. So she’s a werewolf technically, but she’s also a human. So we’ll have to look deeper into it and even speak to Scarlett about it so she can understand her roots if she doesn't already know all of this, along with making the choice to become a werewolf and your mate, possibly becoming a Luna. Or make the decision to remain a hybrid mutt and end up being our live kill for the hunt.”

The second he finished speaking, I couldn’t help but slam my hands onto his desk and stand up. Hunter seethed and threatened to come out, but I maintained my composure while glaring at him.

"Scarlett is not a mutt, she’s a beautiful woman and my mate. I’ll be damned if you dare hurt her or think about putting her in harms way. I swear if anything happens to her I’ll leave the pack and become a rogue.” As I spoke, a growl undertoned my every word.

He glared right back at me while crossing his arms and went back to speaking, “Go get Scarlett. We can speak to her and make her decide her fate. If she wants to be food, you can’t stop her from making her decision. So please don’t make any harsh decisions without properly thinking about them thoroughly. I’d hate to see you end up like your brother.”

Hearing him speak of Luke made my chest feel as if a ton of bricks were thrown onto it. He had died several years ago and I missed him every waking moment of every day. My father decided that he'd be executed for becoming a rogue after getting rejected by his mate and attempting to kill the man in another pack that she had left him for. After he was taken into custody by the other pack, they sent him here so he could be charged accordingly and to show that he had brought dishonor to the Alpha bloodline and the Blood Rose pack.

“You don’t get to talk about Luke. Not after what you decided would happen to him.” I only spoke with resentment towards my father. I have never trusted him since.

He shrugged his shoulders while remaining in his seat, “Go get Scarlett. I won’t ask again.”

I grunted at him, then walked out the office, making sure to slam the door behind me. As I walked I made sure to mindlink with Judy.

Judy, I’ll be in the kitchen to get Scarlett for the Alpha.

She responded with a teasing tone, Are you sure she’s for the Alpha and not you?

I promise, the Alpha needs her for a short meeting. I rolled my eyes and smirked to myself as I gave her the real reason as to why I planned to take her away from the kitchen.

I made it down the stairs and made my way towards the kitchen, passing the den that had a few people sitting in it playing board games on the coffee table. Once I made it to the kitchen, I noticed Scarlett speaking to Hazel. She looked slightly sad as she spoke to my mate, who seemed to have been crying. The sight made me feel heavy and sorrowful. She was going through a lot. I could feel it.

Hazel noticed me then looked down at the pan she was drying off that Scarlett had handed her, “Jace, nice to see you. Breakfast is ready if you want to start digging in.”

I ignored her while walking towards my mate. Her sweet scent filled my senses as she turned around to face me. She looked scared and it made me feel hurt as I tried to keep my anger at bay so as to not frighten her more.

“Alpha Michael wants to speak with her. Judy already knows.” I attempted to keep a regular tone to keep my mixture of anger and pleasure at bay.

I grabbed her arm and walked over to my father’s office, making sure to keep a slow enough pace for her. As we walked towards the stairs she remained silent. The small sparks that came through my hand from my grip on her arm caused Hunter to howl and act like a puppy. He was never like this, so it was a new feeling. It was rather hilarious.

Once we made it to the office, I let go of Scarlett as I opened the doors. I did't bother to knock this time. My father was right where I left him. Sitting at his desk with the book still in front of him.

“Scarlett. I’ve been wanting to speak with you about some things.” he kept a smooth voice while he kept his eyes glued on the book infront of him as he gestured to one of the chairs in front of the desk.

She looked frightened as she slowly walked in, then took a seat as I walked over and sat next to her. The urge to pull her onto my lap made me just stare at her with lustful thoughts going through my mind.

My father leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest, then cleared his throat to shift my attention away from my sinful thoughts.

“So, Scarlett. What do you know about werewolves?” He spoke in a cold tone.

I wished he hadn’t started the conversation so bluntly. But he has always been the type of man that would immediately jump straight to the point and not even give a second thought about sugar coating it. In all honesty, his words even shocked me slightly.

“Werewolves? Like the creatures in those sappy movie dramas? Like Twilight? Yeah, they’re not real. Why?” she spoke in a low tone. It was adorable and I couldn’t help but just fall in love with her voice.

He nodded, then noticed how I looked at her in awe, then gently tapped the edge of the desk to take me away from my trance of the gorgeous woman next to me.

“So, you know of them, but not the truth about them? Interesting.” He wrote something down on a notepad, then put his hand on his chin while clearly deep in thought.

“Has your father said anything to you regarding werewolves? Maybe your mother?”

She shook her head then looked at her hands in her lap, “No, my parents haven’t said anything about them. What do you mean, the truth? Are you saying that werewolves are real?”

Goddess she was perfect, and all mine. Even covered in flour and some stains, I still wanted to take her to my room and claim her then and there. Even Hunter wanted to make an appearance, but I had to hold him back. Now was not the time to act out any sensual thoughts.

“You’re correct. They are real, and we are led to believe that you’re half werewolf, from your father's side and being Jace’s mate.” His tone remained serious as he looked at her with a face to match it.

She remained silent as a small smirk formed on her perfect face. She then bit her bottom lip as if to stifle a laugh, “Me? A werewolf? You have to be joking, right? I may be young, but I wasn't born yesterday. If werewolves are real and if my dad was a werewolf. Why wasn’t I told about it or why am I not in a pack?”

“Well, your father was in a pack, but some years ago it got attacked and he, along with a small handful of others, were the only survivors. Instead of joining another pack, he decided to go rogue and try to live as a human.” His eyes remained on her and even narrowed at her slight sarcasm.

I let out a small sigh, then sat up in my chair as I realized I started to sit with a slight slouch, “Scarlett, werewolves are real. I know it’s a lot to take in, learning about your father on top of getting taken here so suddenly. You’re probably feeling a lot of emotions and I’ll be glad to teach you everything.” I reached out to touch her hand but she flinched away and looked towards the floor.

“Ok fine, I'll bite. Show me a werewolf. I still don’t believe any of this and I doubt I ever will. Plus, I’ll never be caught dead with you, Jace. Mate or not, I'd never be with someone that's part of a kidnapping and willfully uses me as a maid. You weren’t even nice to me when I first came here. You stared at me then walked away."

I felt my heart break with every word that she said. It left me breathless while I looked down at my feet in both shame and embarrassment. I will admit, I was rude and didn’t even bother to learn her name from her. I f****d up and wanted to show her my intentions were true.

“I promise you werewolves are real and Jace will gladly show you like you asked. Just don’t break his heart like you just did. I don't want to deal with his whining for another four years.” My father, once again, spoke to embarrass me.

She looked at me and looked slightly confused and once I looked up at her, my eyes met hers and I felt a tug in my chest once more.

She can feel the mate pull. I can tell.

What? How do you know? I thought you couldn’t link because she doesn’t have a wolf.

She may not have a wolf, but she still feels the mate pull. She even feels your emotions. It's her wolf half showing.

Hunter spoke to me as he let out small whimpers. He craved to feel whole and to do that, she needed her wolf.

“Fine, I’ll let Jace teach me about werewolves and show me physical proof.” She spoke silently as she returned her gaze to her hands.

My father then chimed in, “ OK, with that, I think this meeting is over. Scarlett, you can return to the kitchen and, Jace, prepare your materials to teach her everything about werewolves.”

I nodded and stood up at the same time as Scarlett, then walked out the office, then went to take our separate ways until I was stopped by her soft perfect voice.

“Hey Jace? Can you show me to the kitchen? I am still trying to understand the layout of this place.” She looked shy as she stared at her little feet.

I nodded and gave a small smile as I gestured for her to walk with me to the kitchen. She returned a small weak smile as she walked next to me and kept her eyes on the floor.