The Imperial Triad

Chapter Three

Amelia POV

I decided to get out of heels and dress from work and take a shower. My eyes are met with an indoor greenhouse. The bathroom is done in black tile. A large jacuzzi tub sits on one end and an open shower with several jets of its own on the other. A beautiful jack and jill vanity softly lights the room. Plants are placed all over the bathroom. Near the widows, around the tub, covering the espresso-stained wood. Several were placed on the vanity. Vines even hung in the shower corners. The sweet smell of the plants mixing with the forest air filled my nose.

I made my way down to the kitchen and found the rest of our group. Jana and Lip looked freshly showered and were in comfortable clothes. I sat on a bar stool next to them and watched as our mates cooked.

“I hope you like breakfast for dinner,” Mikhailo says with a smile.

“Only if there's hash browns”

“Of course! That’s the best part!” he exclaims.

I laugh at his childish outburst and feel a small blush creep up. He was so cute. I watched as they cooked and did dishes as they went. We gathered our plates full of pancakes, hash browns, and bacon. I don’t like scrambled eggs, so I opted out of those. We gathered around a table and Mikhailo explained the order we would sit in officially.

As alpha, he sat at the head of the table. I would sit to his right and the betas would sit next to me. Carter and Jana set to his left. He explained we would sit this way at the dinner table at the packhouse and on official business. Other than that, they don’t follow rank orders.

“So… I know everything has gone to s**t today. But we have a few questions”. Carter says “You three don’t have a scent. If it wasn’t for the mate bonds, we wouldn't have noticed.”

“You smelled human at first, but after your showers it's gone. It's like the smell was on you, but it’s not your own.”

“I have no idea why that would be,” I said.

“There’s also the case of your matching white strip of hair. That’s a bit odd, don’t ya think?” Mikhailo says.

“I didn’t think it was all that uncommon….” Lip added.

“So as far as all of you know, you're human?” He asked. We nodded our heads. “Well, we can call our head pack doctor and find out for sure.”

“You want to do testing on us?” I shrieked.

“NO! That’s not what I meant. I mean she would be able to tell us why you have no smell.”

“Okay… I mean I guess it wouldn't hurt to find out.”

After we finished our food, Jana and Lip and I decided to go to the master bedroom and watch a movie while the guys finished cleaning the kitchen. Lip and Jana snuggled up in the kingsize bed and I laid across the end with my own blanket. We opted to start a new tv series since we weren’t leaving anytime soon.

By the time we started the second episode of OITNB, the guys came into the room. I paused the show. “We would rather stay here with you all for your protection, but in order to do that for a few days we need to go back to the pack house tonight. We should be back by morning.” Mikhailo said.

“We have guards patrolling the area and a few watching the house, so you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. No one will mess with you,” Tobias adds.

“We’re in the middle of nowhere. Do you really think all that is necessary?” I asked.

“We don’t like to take risks with our mates,” Carter adds.

We say goodnight and then leave the house. Lip walks them out and locks the doors behind him. He comes back to the room after checking all the doors and windows in the house. He was just as protective as our mates.

_____

Tobias POV

The stress of the night's events started to take its toll on me as we pulled away from the lake house. I never thought I would find my mate, even if I did. I planned on rejecting them on site. I could never be mated to a man. My father would never allow it. He has already tried to kill me once. If the entire pack knew I was gay he would never allow me to live. I couldn't believe this was happening. I had just announced my plans to take Emmeline as a chosen mate. Our fathers went into business together. He had made the arrangement for me. I felt like I had no choice in the matter. Now that my mate was here, I didn’t think I could go through with the rejection. Being in the same room as him set my skin ablaze. He smelled of winter pines and spices. It reminded me of Christmas eve in the packhouse. Everything would be decorated to the extreme and every room would be full of people. We would open the window to keep the dining room from getting stuffy. The winter-covered trees would mix with the spices coming from the dessert on the kitchen window.

As we pulled up to the pack house, the former Alpha and beta were standing on the front steps. We got out of the car and met them on the steps. My father has murder in his eyes as we approach him.

“Mikhailo, we'd like to know who you’re hiding in the lake house.” his father demanded.

“My office now.” is all Mikhailo says while walking through them to the door.

Everyone is silent on our way to the office. I can feel my father's gaze burning holes in the back of my head.

How the f&$k did he find out?! I thought to myself.

You forget the older members are still loyal to them. My wolf, Orion, says.

So someone on my team told him they were guarding the lake house.

You’ve got a rat. He replies.

A small growl comes from my chest. I took over the security teams when I gained the beta title. I have been leading and training several elite teams for the last seven years. This meant I had someone filling him in on everything the entire time. He was undermining me.

Mikhailo sat at his desk. Carter and I stood on our respective sides behind him. Once our fathers were seated on the other side of the desk, Mikhailo spoke.

“Tell me how you know someone is in the lake house.”

“Thatch linked me.” his father said. Referring to the former beta. He looks at my father quizzingly.

“I was told security was watching the house.” My father says calmly.

“BY WHO” I sneered at him.

“Doesn’t matter, why are they there?” He asked quickly.

“We have special guests. They had some trouble, so the security is just a precaution.” Mikhailo says calmly. I was sure he was holding back the information for my sake. The anger from my father's control over me was starting to take over. He had undermined every decision of mine for the last seven years.

“Who are the ‘special’ guests then?” My father asked.

Tell him! He’s had control over us for too long! Tell him or I will! My wolf screams at me. He was fighting me for control.

“It’s our mates!” I practically screeched out. Saying it out loud was harder than I thought.

“WHAT???” the former alpha yells. “Mikhailo! Why are you hiding your mate?! Why is she not here in the pack house?!”

“Dad, please calm down. I will explain everything. It's been a long night already. They’re human.. At least we think.”

Mikhailo proceeds to tell him how we met our mates. We filled him in on the fact they had no scent and the pack doctor would be running some tests. Carter tells him about Jana's crazy ex and how he burned down their building. After explaining they had nowhere to go and considering the already crazy night we had, they understood why we chose not to bring them here. Throughout the whole story telling, they managed not to reveal that my mate was a man.

“Tobias, you have already chosen Emmeline. You have to reject your mate!” My father yelled at me.

“Thatcher, you can’t be serious! This is a gift from the moon goddess!” the former alpha argues in my defense.

“My son will not mate with a human! Emmeline will make a perfectly suitable mate and she won’t be a liability! I don't care who this human is! You will not accept her!”

“No I won’t.” I said calmly. “His name is Phillip, by the way.” I smirked. It was now or never and he had had control for too long.

My father comes over the desk and I’m slammed against the wall before I can react. “Seems you forgot what happened last time, boy”. He spits in my face. That’s all it takes. I’m shoved to the back of my mind as Orion takes control. My eyes turn black and my fangs extend. “Wrong.” Is all he says. His voice was laced with venom. He shoved his way off the wall and managed to trip my father in one swift motion.

We straddled my father, pinning him to the ground where we delivered blow after blow as he tried to cover his face. I felt his orbital bone crack under my fist and blood started to splatter everywhere. I’m tackled to the ground and Mikhailo and Carter pin me down. “BRING TOBIAS BACK NOW”, Alpha commands. Orion immediately gave me back control. They climbed off of me and helped me to my feet. Several guards come in and gasp at the bloody site of the former beta. “Take him to the pack hospital.” Mikhailo commands. “Yes Alpha” They gently lift my father from the floor and carry him out of the room.

“Dad, I think we can talk more about this later. I’ll inform you of the test results. Please try to keep from telling our mothers. Our mates aren't ready for them yet.” The former alpha nods his head and walks over to me. He pulls me up from the chair and wraps his arms around me. He pats me on the back and says “Congratulations, son. You’re going to make an exceptional mate.” He steps back and smiles at me. Tears started to fill my eyes as he exited the room. He became a father to me after my incident. I spent almost every day with Mikhailo. His father even took over my training as a beta. My parents were bound to never speak to me again. Not that I cared too much anymore. I had a mate. And the support of my pack and the rest of the former ranking members.

I wiped my eyes and turned to my best friends. “Let’s get to work.” I chirped. We dug into the contracts and papers of our individual companies. Mikhailo owned “The Royale” hotel chain, 5 star hotel. I ran “Righ Security”. We contracted security officers to several hotels, businesses, and events. I had several elite security teams and three special ops teams mainly made up of pack warriors and human veterans. Carter owned various clubs and Casinos in the northwest part of the US and in Canada. We had several contracts with each other. We worked for a few hours before switching to pack work. By the time we worked through all the finances and payroll for the next week, it was 6:30 in the morning.

Tobias is your father in the pack house? He never came to bed last night. My mother linked me as the sun started to peak in the window.

He’s in the pack hospital.

WHAT?? She screeches.

I cut off the link and let out a sigh. I tried to rub the exhaustion from my eyes and stand to my feet. “I’ve got to deal with my mother and talk to Teagan. Let Lip know I’ll be there for lunch.” Carter nods his head as Mikhailo wishes me luck.

_____

LIP POV

I kept hearing knocking as I tried to pry myself from the pile. The girls had gotten cold last night and they practically slept on top of me. They both started to wake up as I slithered away. I made my way down the stairs and found the source of my alarm. I opened the door to Mikhailo, Carter, and a petite older woman.

“I just don’t see why your special guests couldn't come to my office.-” the woman stops and turns to me.

“Good morning.” I grinned and stepped back into the house. Her face turns red. I wasn’t sure if it was embarrassment or if she was flustered at my shirtless appearance.

The girl makes their way downstairs and into the living room and joins the group. The woman introduces herself as Dr. Eden. She was mature in her age, probably mid fifties. She had a soft appearance about her but the sass from the door made me think otherwise.

“Special guests, huh?” She snarks and glares at Mikhailo.

“Yes, auntie, they're our mates. We’d like to keep that to a need to know basis right now,” he says.

“Auntie?” amelia asked

Dr. Eden nodded her head and took Amelia's hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you dear.” Amelia blushed as she smiled back at the woman.

“So who do we have here?” She asked. Carter introduced us and explained that we had no smell.

“Yes I can smell that hon,” She waves him off and observes us. “I’d like to take some blood if that’s okay with you three. And an oral swab.” We nod our heads and she claps her hands together and smiles.

“Wonderful. I love a good mystery!” She chirps.

She starts with me and ties a tourniquet around my arm. I squeeze the ball as I watch her change out the vials until she collects three. She handed me a cotton ball and pulled out a swab. Amelia was next. Carter told me Tobias wouldn't be here until lunch. I was a little disappointed. I was planning on making breakfast this morning. I learned how to cook several traditional German dishes while in boarding school. I was planning on making Eierkuchen, it was a german pancake but more similar to a crepe.

I got up from the couch and got started on breakfast anyhow. I started with the coffee. Once I had my pan hot and batter ready, I invited the doctor to join us. She politely declined and said she would be back around lunch with our results. I finished cooking and the girls washed dishes as I used them. I filled my plate and layered it with applesauce and cinnamon.

“What’s this?” Carter asked.

“Eierkuchen. Think of it like a pancake/crepe, but it's German. I like mine with applesauce and cinnamon, Amelia eats hers with strawberry jam and powdered sugar, Jana likes hazelnut spread and bananas with it. Just put whatever sounds good.” I answered.

We all gather around the table and start digging into our plates.

“Oh my god” Mikhailo moans. We all laughed at him.

“This is so good!” Carter said as he shoved a bite in his mouth.

“This is our favorite breakfast!” Amelia chimes. She's dancing in her seat as she eats.

“So where are you all from?” Mikhailo asked.

f$&k…