The Imperial Triad

Chapter Two

LIP POV CONTINUED

“JANA LET’S GO'' I screamed from the doorway. We were all going to be late if we didn't hurry. She finally came out in a red silk pencil dress with white heels in her hand.

“I’m coming! I couldn’t find my shoes.” She screams at me as she races to the door. We raced down the stairs. Both girls carried heels in their hands. Thankfully, since I was just a bartender, I only had to wear black slacks and a black button-down shirt.

We rushed into the back of the restaurant and caught a dirty look from Alec, our manager on duty tonight. We weren't exactly late but we were punctual either. “Sorry hon, you can’t rush perfection.” Jana smiles at him and grabs her tablet. I headed to the bar and jumped into the orders.

Dinner was lively tonight. The entire restaurant was booked through the night with several large groups. “Lip, Amelia!” Alec calls us over. “There’s a VIP table we’re squeezing in tonight. Amelia, you'll be their server. Lip I want you to make their drinks as soon as they order them. Even if you're behind. They get put first.”

“Okay… Who are they?” I asked.

“The new owners. Just do what I asked.” He rolls his eyes and walks away. Amelia and I side-eyed each other and got back to work. A few minutes later, she walks up to me and pulls me around the bar. “It’s the guys from yesterday.” She whispers.

I stared back at her. “Uh no, you are not serving them. I’m going to tell Alec." I started to walk around her but she grabs my arm again. “NO!” she yells. A few people look our way and she lowers her voice. “I’m fine, just try to keep Jana away. She was scared yesterday.” She says.

______

JANA POV

I was swapped tonight. Every single table was full and they were going through bottles and mixed drinks faster than I could bring them. I was internally cursing myself for wearing those new heels. I had saved for months for the Rene Caovilla Snake Ankle wrap heels. They were absolutely gorgeous but were killing my feet. It was the first time I’d worn them and the running back and forth was taking its toll.

I stopped at the bar to adjust my shoes and stopped for a minute. I saw our host walking and turned to look at her. I froze immediately when I made eye contact with the man behind her. This should not be happening. My ex-boyfriend, Noel, flashed a murderous smile at me as he was led into my section. I moved in with him when I was 18. I had nowhere else to go after my parents died. We had only been dating a few months at the time. He started to drink more and was always angry. He would push me around and leave bruises up and down my arms when he grabbed me. He finally hit me in the middle of an argument he started. He had accused me of sleeping with one of the cooks I worked with. I was just nice, and we were friends. But he didnt see it like that. I belonged to him and only him. He promised it would never happen again and even quit drinking for a few weeks. It was never going to last. Over the next year, it continued to get worse. He came home s**t faced one night and wanted to have s*x. When I told him no, he proceeded to beat me until I was unconscious. I woke up in the morning barely able to move. I took myself to the hospital and filed a report. Apparently, the police couldn't do anything to him. I did have grounds for a restraining order though. I filed that and fled a couple weeks later.

“Jana what is it?” Lip asks from the other side of the bar. I feel arms wrap around me as my knees go weak.

“Jana!” Amelia yells.

“HE’S HERE!” I yelled at her. “Noel, he’s here! He found me!” tears start to consume me when a man walks up to us.

“What’s going on?!” He asked.

“Her ex- boyfriend is here. He almost killed her. We need to get out of here NOW!” Amelia answers him.

“Come with me.” He says and turns to walk away.

“What?! no-”

“I own this restaurant and I can help. Come with me.” He demanded.

We walk behind him and Lip follows suit. He takes us through the kitchen and up the stairs to the managers' offices. Alec sits up straight at his desk as the man opens the door to his office. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Pull up the camera feed.” The owner says.

Alec pulls up the feed and the owner clicks on one of the video feeds and points to Neol. “Go downstairs and watch this man. Do not be suspicious and do not talk to him. The police are on their way and my security team will be here in 5 minutes.”

_____

Mikhailo POV

We had just sat down at the restaurant when Tobias started to stir. He was fidgeting in his seat and looking around frantically. “What the f**k are you doing?” I asked him quietly. He leans into our table and says “My wolf smells my mate.”

“What?! Who is it?” Carter practically squeals.

“I don’t know. I can’t see them.” He responds

I heard my mates' angelic voice yell from across the building. I could see several heads turn to look in her direction. “What the- …. Wait here” Tobias says as he goes to investigate.

Carter, it's your mate… She’s in danger. He links both of us.

Link Jeremy. I want his team on their way. I’ll call the police and meet you in the office.

I cut off the link and looked at Carter. “Do. Not. Make a scene. There are too many humans here.” I lowered my voice so only he can hear me. I made a quick phone call to the police and headed to the offices.

______

Amelia POV

We sat Jana down on the small loveseat in the office. Lip pulls Jana into his chest and tries to comfort her. “We’re not gonna let him touch you. I promise.” He speaks softly to her. I sat on the other side of her. There was nothing anyone could really say to make this better.

The door opens and the two men from my section walk in. I realized they were the owners' friends. “How is she?” they asked. Jana peels herself from Lips' arms. “How do I look?!” She yells in her signature sarcastic tone. “I don’t understand how he found me! I moved 2,000 miles away! Nothing is in my name! Amelia and Lip are on the lease. It’s Lip’s car. I use burner phones! I literally do not exist on paper!”

“I’m sorry, that was a dumb question.” One of the men says. “Can we start off with everybody's names?”

“Well, I’m Amelia, if you don’t remember. This is Jana and Lip.”

“Lip?” the owner asked.

“Yeah, It’s short for Phillip,” Lips says.

The owner nods his head and eyes Lip for a minute. “I’m Tobias MacKenzie.”

“My name is Mikhailo Black, this is Carter Alexeyev." The gorgeous man who met me in the alley last night said.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all. Jana, my security team, is here. I need to know if you have any restraining order or anything against this guy,” Tobias says.

She shakes her head “No, not anymore.”

“I’m gonna have my team escort him from the building. I don’t think the police will do anything though.”

“HA! They won’t.” she says and starts to wipe the tears from her eyes. “If he found me here then he knows where we live. I can’t go home.” She laughs maniacally.

“Okay don’t panic. Lip and I can go get our things. We’ll figure this out together.”

A knock at the door got everyone's attention. “Alpha, Can I speak with you?” A man called from the hallway. Mikhailo stepped out of the room. “Alpha?” Lip asked. “As in a pack alpha?”

“How do you know about packs?” Tobias says quickly.

“I f*****g knew it!” Lip exclaimed “They’re werewolves!”

“WHAT?!” Jana and I screamed.

Mikhailo came back to the room. “They lost him. He’s gone.” He says. Jana curls herself into a ball on the couch. So many things are going through my head. “Lip what do you mean!” I shouted. He looks back and forth between me and the men.

“When I was at boarding school in Germany, my roommate was a werewolf. He found his mate our graduating year. It was an all-boys boarding school… His mate rejected him. He was so messed up about it he ended up telling me everything. He told me about mate bonds. Packs and how they work. Even about the moon goddess. He was huge too by the time I left Germany. It just makes sense. Look at them! They’re massive men! And all gorgeous! Plus, when Jana told me about Carter asking her why she was hiding her scent, I got suspicious. So does that make you beta and gamma?” He asked, pointing between the two.

“What the f**k…” I whispered and dropped my head into my hands.

“There’s something else we need to tell you…” Mikhailo started. “We’re your mates.”

What does that even mean?” I asked.

“Our mate bond is something the Moon Goddess blesses us with. Think of it as a soul mate. We can sense them after we turn 18 through smell and touch. It can literally be anyone and only happens once in a lifetime. It’s a connection like no other. It’s fated.”

“So correct me if I’m wrong, but Tobias is my mate,” Lip says. “Mikhailo is Amelias and Jana is Carters.”

“How’d you know?” Tobias asked.

“You each haven’t taken your eyes off your mate.” He laughed.

“We’d like you to come with us. We can keep you safe,” Carter says.

“Girls, do you trust me?” We look at Lip quizzingly but nod our heads. “We all go if she does.”

“I was hoping that was the case. Let’s go to your apartment and you can get some things.”

______

JANA POV

I sat in a ball between Lip and Amelia. Carter, my ‘soulmate’, was sitting in the rear seat behind me. I could feel his eyes on the back of my head. His face was sweet and full of empathy the entire time we were in the office. This wasn’t his fault, but I had no desire to speak to him right now.

As we turned down, our street sirens and lights came into view. The street was full of first responders. Flames poured out of our apartment and were starting to spread to the rest of the building.

“Stop! Stop! Stop!” I screamed. Tobias stopped the car and the three of us jumped out. “HE DID THIS! HE SAT OUR F******G BUILDING ON FIRE!”

I feel large arms wrap around me and Carter lifts me from the ground. “We have to go. We have to get you out of here.” I collapse from the emotions as he carries me back to the car.

This can not be happening… How did he find me?!

______

Mikhailo POV

I watched Amelia's eyes glisten as she watched the flames roaring from her apartment. Her eyes showed a bit of anger I hoped would never be directed at me. “He could still be in the area we need to go!” I pulled Amelia away from the crowd and back to the car. Once everyone is in, I take off to the packs lands.

About 30 minutes into our drive, Jana was finally asleep. Poor thing cried herself into exhaustion. She was sleeping in Lip's arms. Carter looked like he was ready to commit murder.

Calm down… That is Tobia's mate.

I know… He grumbles through my link.

No one had spoken since we left the scene. Amelia was staring out her side window just watching the trees zoom by us. I kept having to peel my eyes from the rearview mirror. She was breathtaking.

“Do you have any questions before we get to our pack?” I asked.

“Where are we going?” Amelia asked.

“Trinity Moon. It’s’ deep in the forest about 2 hours from Seattle”

“So if you're the Alpha, what does that make me?”

“My Luna”, I smiled in the mirror at her. I loved how it felt to say that. “If you choose to accept me, then you would lead the pack by my side. So would Lip and Jana. You would all be ranking members.”

“What do you mean if I choose to accept you? I thought it was fate or something.”

“It is but… you have the choice to reject the bond. Most werewolves treasure their mates. Some will let things like looks, rank, sexuality and things keep them from accepting the bond though.”

She nods her head as she processes what I said. “How big is it, the pack I mean?”

“Our numbers are just under 1,000,” Tobias answers.

“1,000?! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEAD 1,000 PEOPLE?!” she screams. Jana jumps in Lip's arms, waking herself up.

“Why are you screaming?” she asked as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.

“Amelia, that's why there are six of us. We work as a team to lead this pack. It’s not all on one person,” I said, trying to calm her down.

“I can’t do this.” She says and puts her head between her knees.

_______

Our mates were asleep in the backseat as we pulled through the pack border. The guard at the entrance welcomes me home as we pull through. I decided to take them to the lake house on the back of the property. It was a 25 minute drive from the main entrance. As I drove through the streets, the trio started to wake up.

“Wow!” Jana exclaimed. “This is like a hidden world!”

We all laughed as they pointed out houses and small shops. I told them about the 25,000 property and our pack members that live in the homes. The ranking members live in the pack house. And the former ranking member had the option to live in a reserve pack house on the west side of the territory. I told them about the lake house on the East Side that we spent most of our summers in. I told them they could stay there and out of the packs site until they were ready.

We pulled up to the 2-story farmhouse and climbed out of the car. After a few minutes of everyone stretching, I went to unlock the door. The group followed up the front steps behind me. I opened the door and several gasps came from our mates.

“We’ll show you to your rooms. I had the kitchen stocked while we were on our way, so I’ll cook dinner while you get settled.”

I offer Amelia my hand and, much to my pleasure, she takes it. I led her up the steps and to the master bedroom. I showed her around the room and gave her a change of clothes that Teagan brought. “The bathroom is right over there if you want to shower. I’ll be downstairs if you need anything.”