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5. Family Talk

POV:Leila

I touched the ground just as Axel got to the tree. Axel glared at Lucifer as he dropped beside me and grabbed my hand. If looks could kill, my mate would be six feet under.

“I told you not to go far.” Axel ground out from clenched teeth.

I raised my eyebrows and asked, “Where did you think I would take him?”

I knew that he knew I would take Lucifer to the meadow. That’s why I didn’t tell him or the others where we were going.

Axel sighed and said, “Damon wants you back at the house.” I knew what that really meant, it was code for family talk.

I smiled at my big brother and said, “Okay. But you know you could’ve just mind linked me.”

I glanced at Lucifer and noticed how he was trying to hide a smile. We both knew why my brothers didn’t mind link me. It wouldn’t have mattered if Lucifer and I hadn’t been doing exactly what they were trying to stop, but we were.

Axel glared at Lucifer again before he replied with a stiff, "Let’s go.” I couldn’t help but laugh at my big brother.

“I don’t think your brother likes me very much,” Lucifer whispered as we followed Axel.

I chuckled quietly as I replied, “Your thinking is correct. But don’t worry, it won’t last. He’s just being stiff because he saw us kissing.”

Lucifer looked doubtful, but I didn’t give him a chance to reply as I let go of his hand. I walked a little faster to catch up to Axel. I was kinda half jogging. Damn his long legs. Axel must have heard me because he slowed his stride, so I could catch up to him. I looked up at him and smiled that secret smile we shared. He smiled back at me and stopped walking. Axel squatted a little bit and I jumped on his back. We always did this. When I was little I hated being short, so Axel would let me jump on his back, so I could be as tall as the rest of them. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he held my legs up. I ruffled his hair like I always did and Axel began to walk again. Rainer came up beside us and, because I was a little above Axel's head, we were almost at eye level. I didn’t realize it before, but he’s taller than Axel. At least 6’6. I love it. Lucifer smiled at me and looked very amused.

“Don’t get used to it. This is probably the only time you will ever be close to eye level with her.” Axel said, looking at Lucifer.

Lucifer looked a little surprised before he smirked and said, “That’s fine with me. I think midgets are adorable.” Axel let out a startled laugh.

“Hey! I am not a midget!” I protested, smiling.

“Yes, you are.” Axel said before Lucifer could reply.

There was still laughter in his voice, but not enough for anyone that didn’t know him to notice. Lucifer chuckled, and we were in a comfortable silence for the next few minutes. Every minute or so, Lucifer and I would look at each other and, much to my annoyance, I would blush any time he smiled at me. I swear he’s doing it on purpose.

Once again, when we looked at each other, he smiled at me, but before we could go through the cycle, Axel spoke up, “Would you two stop with the lovey looks. You are making me nauseous.”

I burst out laughing and said, “Oh, please, big brother. You are not serious.” I moved bent forward a little to look at his face as I smiled at him. I continued,“You and Joyce could not stop looking and touching each other when you first met. Damon had to literally order you to keep your hands to yourself. And Fox was worried that if you kept looking at each other every second then you’d get whiplash.” I laughed at the end, remembering what it was like. Axel was trying to suppress a smile and shook his head.

“That was different…” Axel began, but I interrupted him.

“How?” I asked.

Axel paused to think before saying, “Your… “ Axel stopped before he sighed and continued reluctantly, “You're my little sister and I don’t want to think about you doing anything even slightly related to … that. But I guess you’re right. There isn’t any real difference.”

I glanced at Lucifer, and he looked like he couldn’t quite believe that Axel was ever so lovey-dovey and maybe a little respect that Axel would admit to that. We got to the end of the trail and I kissed Axel's cheek before jumping off his back. I moved between Axel and Lucifer, so I could hold hands with Lucifer. Axel frowned a little but said nothing. As we walked along, some of the pack members smiled and waved to us. Some looked curiously at Lucifer and me. They also bowed respectfully to us as we passed.

Once we got to the pack house, we went inside and Axel said, “Your pack members are on the third floor. Your room is at the end of the hall on the left. Delta Conner is in the room closest to the stairs on the right and Beta Michael has the room in between those two on the right. If there’s anything any of you need, just ask an omega, or you can speak to any of our brothers or myself.”

Lucifer nodded as Axel spoke. He put out his hand as he said, “Thank you. I’ll do that.” Axel only hesitated for a moment before shaking Lucifer's hand.

Axel pulled away and said, “Come on Lee. Damon’s at the house.” Axel grabbed my hand and began to pull me away, but I tugged at his hand, so Axel looked back at me.

“I’ll be there in just a sec.” I ventured.

Axel glanced at Lucifer before looking back at me and nodding. Axel walked away from the foot of the stairs and waited at the front door, not going outside. Considering he saw Lucifer and I kissing, we’re lucky he even moved away. We both hesitated for a moment, not knowing what to say just yet.

“My parents moved out of the pack house after they had Hunter, so our father lives in a house that’s just a few minute’s walk from the pack house. Damon and Amy live on the top floor of the pack house. Axel and Joyce live on the fifth floor. Fox, Ryder, and I live on the fourth floor. Hunter and Beth live in one of the cottages around the pack house,” I explained.

Most alphas live in the pack house, along with their beta and gamma.

“I figured, but why do you live here and not with your dad?” He asked tentatively.

I sighed and replied, “Mostly because of what I told you already, but I’ll tell you the rest later.”

Lucifer nodded and asked, “Will I see you later tonight?”

I nodded and said, “Of course. We all have dinner together. You know, the Alpha King visiting and all that.”

Lucifer smiled as he said, “I’ll see you later.”

He bent down enough to just brush his lips against mine. Before either of us could move to deepen the kiss there was a loud throat clearing. Far too loud to be normal. We both pulled back, and I risked a glance at Axel. He was glaring at Lucifer again. I laughed and pulled my hand out of Lucifer's.

I backed away toward Axel and said, “Laters, baby.”

I turned around to walk forward as I got to the front door. Axel held it open for me and followed me out. Neither of us said anything as we began to walk to our house. I didn’t mind, I needed time to process everything that had happened. I can’t believe I met my mate and that he’s okay with me being a hybrid. I know I saw that he would be but I still have trouble believing in my visions.

‘I told you not to worry’ my wolf Sia said in my mind.

‘Actually, I think you said it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t accept us because we will be okay no matter what’ I replied. I could practically feel her rolling her eyes at me.

‘Same thing.’ She laughed. Sia paused for a moment before she said, ‘I have to admit though, I am glad that he accepts us. He’s so hot. And goddess, the boy can kiss.’ She made a moaning sound inside my head and I laughed at her.

‘Sia! Down girl!’ I exclaimed.

‘What?! Don’t pretend you didn’t think the same thing’, she said to me. I could hear the smile in her voice. I shook my head at her but said nothing else because she was right.

I didn’t think she was going to say anything else. Sia’s never been very talkative unless she wanted to express her opinion, but she said, “Not to put a damper on the mood, but I hope he didn’t learn those skills with too many other women.’

That made me do a double take. I don’t know why, but I had just assumed that Lucifer was a virgin like me. Of course, now that I think about it, that doesn’t make any sense. He’s 24. Why would he be? And the way he kissed me, that didn’t seem like his first kiss to me. Unlike me, he knew what he was doing. I felt a small pang in my heart that he didn’t wait for me. But that…

“Your wolf have anything interesting to say?” Axel asked, breaking me out of my thoughts about my mate. I looked around and realized we were in front of our father's house.

I answered Axel as I opened the front door, “Not really. She’s just giving her opinion, like usual.”

Axel smiled as he asked, “And what would that opinion be?”

We made our way to our dad’s office as I replied, “She likes her mate.”

Axel nodded and was about to say something when he was interrupted by the sound of arguing coming from our father's office. Axel sighed. When we got to the door, Axel didn’t bother to knock and just walked in. I followed behind him. It got quiet as I came in, but I could tell it had been Damon and our father that had been arguing. They all looked at me as we came in. This time when I came in, Amy, Beth, and Joyce were there, as well as my brothers and father. Damon was standing in front of our father's desk while our father was standing behind it.

I tensed when I noticed our father's eyes were black. Amy had a hand on Damon’s back, trying to calm him. Hunter was holding Beth to him, while he sat on the arm of the couch on the right side of the room. Joyce went up to Axel and held his hand as they moved over to the right side of the room. Joyce smiled at me as they sat. Out of my 3 new sisters, Joyce and I get along the best. The other 2 didn’t seem to like that I was so close to my brothers and that most of the decisions they made were based on me. Plus, Joyce had a sister my age that joined our pack when she did and we became close.

Ryder and Fox were standing in front of the left couch, so I went to go stand between them. Fox put his arm around my shoulders and continued to look at our father and brother with a cool, calculating gaze. Damon and our brothers were looking at me expectantly, but I didn’t know what they wanted me to say.

Damon turned away from our father to face me and asked, “How did it go with your mate?”

I smiled at him and I couldn’t help but play with my hands as I said, “It went great. We talked and I liked him.”

My brothers all looked at each other and I had to divert my eyes. They definitely knew something more had happened.

“I’d say you did a little more than talk,” Fox laughed.

Amusement lit his green eyes. The ones we shared. My brothers were all looking at me, trying to see how I would react, but I didn’t look at them. How do I tell them that I’d practically made out with Lucifer?

Axel put me out of my misery by saying, “I caught them in the middle of a make-out session.”

I gasped and snapped my head up to glare at Axel. I was wrong, he just added to my misery. That little traitor. My brothers growled at this, while Axel smirked at me.

“What have we always told you, Lee?” Hunter said as he moved away from Beth to stand up across from me.

I saw Beth scowl at me, but Joyce shook her head and glared at her. That made Beth fix her scowl. All of which went unnoticed by my brothers. I love them all to death, but boy are they clueless. Axel had moved to stand beside Hunter.

I blushed deeper under their stare and said sheepishly, “I know but… Well I… I did learn 10 things about him and no, Fox, one of those wasn’t his name. I really like him. A lot and he’s just…it’s just… amazing.”

Their eyes softened the more I spoke, and when I finished they were all smiling fondly at me. Damon, Axel, and Hunter all nodded in understanding. Fox and Ryder had a look of longing on their faces.

Damon began to speak, “I’m happy for you, little sister. Have you thought about-”

“Enough!” Our father shouted suddenly, interrupting Damon.

We all faced our father as Damon and Axel stood in front of me. Only enough room between them for me to see our father. His eyes were flashing between gray and black before they settled on black. Amy, Beth, and Joyce moved further away from my father. Hunter, Fox, and Ryder stood at my sides.

“It’s time we got something straight here. You are not mating with that Lycan!” My father spat, spewing the word ‘Lycan’ as if nothing disgusted him more.

“If you want to f**k someone, then you can do it with an alpha's son! A real werewolf! There have been dozens of offers for you and because of the chance that you would be mates with an alpha, I waited to accept them. But since you are not, you will reject this Lycan and I will find an alpha's son, who is a real wolf, for you.” My father demanded.

My brothers growled at him for saying that, and they could feel him using his alpha tone to try and force me to reject my mate. It didn’t work, my father lost the ability to use his alpha command on anyone years ago. It hurt to see my father like this. I remember a time when he would tell me to accept my mate no matter who he turned out to be. But that was before our mother died. Our father flinched at my brothers' growls, but his wolf pushed forward and made him stand his ground.

“Don’t even think you can force Lee to do anything!” Damon snarled.

Damon took a step forward and went on, “You are not going to sell my sister to the highest bidder like some broodmare. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re the alpha just because the King is here, Jax.” All my brothers were glaring at our father.

Axel stepped up beside Damon, saying, “With Blood Moon being here, you get to pretend you’re more than a shell of a man, but don’t let it go to your head. You can’t order anyone to do anything. Least of all, Lee!”

Fox grabbed my hand as he spoke, “If Lee wants to be with her mate, then she will be. And if we find out that you have made any arrangements about her mate, then you will not like how we handle that. Do you understand?”

Our father's eyes flashed back and forth between black and gray again before settling on gray. He suddenly slumped back in his chair and sighed. He looked exhausted all of a sudden. My brothers relaxed only slightly. His wolf could come back at any moment.

My father looked at me and said sadly, “I’m sorry Lee. I tried to make him stop, but he’s stronger than me. He hasn’t made any deals though.”

“Then control him!” Damon growled and used his alpha command on our father.

Damon turned to Fox and said, “Take Lee home, we’ll deal with this.” Damon looked at me and gave me a small smile.

He twirled a strand of my red hair around his finger like he always does and said, “I want to hear all about this mate of yours later. I need to see if he even comes close to being good enough for my baby sister, King or not. Okay?”

He let go of my hair as I nodded and smiled at him.

“Okay, big brother.” I said as Damon nodded to Fox, so he began to lead me away.

We left our father's house and went to the pack house. Neither of us said anything. Both lost in our own thoughts, but Fox didn’t let go of my hand until he left me in my room.