A Secret Alpha Mate
Chapter 65

(Jackson)

Isla did so well last night and today. She charmed everyone she met and everyone told me how great she was going to be, though I already knew that.

She was going to fit right in just fine with the other leaders of our world. She was meant for this, born for it.

I was happy to have her by my side. Events that I used to try to get out of or do the bare minimum, I enjoyed because she was next to me.

The food was incredible, the ceremony was flawless. Well, after Jennifer was taken away, and I could admit to myself I felt perfectly happy.

Until we had the ceremony and marked each other I was worried something would happen, something would come between us. I felt like since I figured out I had a mate it was one snag after the other. I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. After this everything would settle down and we could face anything that came our way.

The guests seemed to be enjoying themselves and chatter filled the dining room. I surveyed everyone, there was a decent turnout, especially because of the last-minute nature of this get-together. I'm sure everyone was curious about the mysterious new Luna. I catch Alpha Benjamin's stare when my eyes roam to his table. He makes a fist and his Luna puts a hand over his that he brushes off. Seth is sitting next to her, looking a bit bruised but not as bad as I expected. His wolf must have put a lot into healing him overnight.

Seth looks down and doesn't meet my gaze. Good.

"Has he said anything to you about last night?" Lucas whispers to me, seeing where I was looking.

"I haven't had the pleasure of speaking to Alpha Benjamin this morning, I didn't see them until after brunch started."

"Hopefully we get lucky and they all get locked up in a few weeks." Lucas scoffs, if only we could, I'm sure he would replace some way out of it.

"I think the best we're going to get is having him removed, but it's going to be a bunch of red tape either way. I haven't heard of an Alpha losing his title like this, it's always been because of a challenge."

"So after the trial challenge him," Lucas shrugs, stuffing his face with a sausage.

"What did you say?"

"Challenge him for the title. You have reasonable grounds. Obviously, after the trial is over if it doesn't meet our expectations, that is." He had a point. From the few stories, Isla had told me he seemed wildly unfit as an Alpha. I wish he would step down, but his son seemed even less competent than he was.

I chewed slowly, thinking that over. I would have to consult the Elders about it, I didn't want to do anything wrong or step on any toes. I didn't know how these things worked. Maybe when they were watching a movie I could pull him aside for a few minutes to see. The more I thought about the idea, the more I liked it.

Logistically, it would be hard, not being able to absorb their pack into mine completely. They were way more established than the packs I've previously challenged. Everyone that decided to join my pack from those ill-established packs has relocated here with little to no problem on their end.

Maybe appoint another Alpha? Or could they become a sort of sister pack to ours and send another Beta or someone to run it and I could control it from a distance?

"What are you thinking about?" I felt a small hand clasp mine, Isla was staring at me with a wide smile, her large eyes sparkling.

"Sorry, I got distracted. Lucas brought something I hadn't thought of before."

"What is it?" She starts rubbing circles on the back of my hand.

"I need to talk to Elder John first to see if it's even a possibility, but." An omega comes up and refills our glasses, "I'll talk to you later about it, sensitive material." She nods and laughs as we get interrupted again as our plates start getting cleared. When the plates are cleared, I stand up to thank the visiting ranked members. I pull Isla to stand beside me.

"I want to thank you all again for attending on such short notice." I look to the audience," Thank you to my mother and Abigail for pulling a flawless ceremony and brunch together so quickly." I smile at them both, "We are happy to have you here celebrate my new Luna, Isla, and we look forward to what the future holds for each of our packs, together." A few people clap at this, "Now stay as long as you'd like, we have desserts on the table over there and still most of a champagne tower to get through." The crowd laughs a bit. I turn to Isla, "Anything you want to add?" She froze and I squeeze her hand. She takes a deep breath.

"I know a lot of thank you's have already been said," More laughter, "But I truly do feel welcome, not only as part of this pack but as an ally to every pack that I've had the honor of meeting last night and today. This was more of a welcome than I could have ever imagined and I am overwhelmed with gratitude to have you show up to help me transition to Moonstone's Luna." She picks up her glass,

"To all of you and our future together." Everyone raises their glass.

Someone shouts, "To the Luna." More cheers, "To the Luna." voices erupt.

I look down to see Isla taking a sip blushing wildly. I kiss her on her forehead before we take our seats again.

"That was perfect, my love." She doesn't move the glass from her face, trying to hide behind it. She was so f*g adorable.

Everyone started mingling and as much as I was enjoying myself with Isla by my side, I was ready to get this over with and have a more relaxed afternoon and evening.

"Shall we say our goodbyes?" I turn to Isla, "People should start to leave soon so we can head to the front to officially say goodbye to the visiting Alphas."

"Think we can grab a cheesecake on the way? I've been eyeing those since we got down here."

"I think that can be arranged." Of course, we get stopped no less than five times trying to make our short way over to get some dessert.

I guide Isla through and guard her while she stacks a plate, trying to keep anyone from starting a conversation with her. I take her hand and quickly lead her out the side door.

"I thought we would never make it out of there." She says as I guide her to a chair in the hallway.

"Sit and eat for a second. You've been doing great. I know these events can be taxing and I've been doing them my whole life." I watch her intently as she scarfs down three of the cheesecakes. "Hungry still?" I question.

"Last night's activities were," She raises an eyebrow at me, "Strenuous."

"Well, then we need to get your energy levels up for this evening." I sit in front of her on the floor and run one of my hands up her thigh.

I could already start to smell her arousal, from just a touch. My member was starting to bulge at the seam of my pants, I wondered if I could sneak her away for a few minutes.

"Jackson?" My mother calls from down the hall.

"s**t," I mutter under my breath and Isla giggles, sitting back and starting on another cheesecake.

"Some of the Alpha's are leaving. I was wondering where you went off to." I stand up and brush off my pants,

"We were heading that way I just wanted to make sure Isla was fed first." My mom comes up to us.

"Oh, well, that's sweet. And don't you worry dear, we have a lot more of those stored in the fridge." She winks at Isla and takes her empty plate.

"Shall we," She reaches her small hand out to mine and I help her up.

I was impressed by how well she remembered the visiting members' names. I even blanked on some of their kid's or Beta's names still and she remembered most of them and what they talked about the previous night or this morning.

She spoke to them like they were the only person in the room and that she was genuinely happy that she got to do so. With Isla, I knew it wasn't an act though, she was actually happy to be there and she didn't have to fake it.

I beamed with pride standing next to her as she won the visiting members over again and left a lasting impression.

"I think we only have a few more left." She looks up at me and smiles. Goddess, I was so lucky. The perfect mate and the perfect Luna.

"Alpha, Luna." A cold voice tears me back to reality. Alpha Benjamin and his family come up to stand in front of us. Isla stiffens for a second next to me as Alpha Benjamin takes her hand in his. He kisses the back of it and I fight off a growl. "My son is right, you do look stunning."

She pulls away, "I would think again before you, or any of your family members try to touch my Luna. Ever again."

Alpha Benjamin smiles and then looks at me, "No need for such hostility, Alpha Jackson. We wouldn't want any ill-will towards one of our closest allies." I didn't like the way he was looking at me and Flint was on edge.

I catch someone else coming down the stairs out of the corner of my eye. I reach out to shake Alpha Benjamin's hand, "Well, thank you for coming and supporting my Luna."

"Julianna, always a pleasure. Hailey, Seth." I nod to both of them, Hailey looks at me and Seth starts glaring. Okay then. They don't budge.

"Thank you for supporting me, it means a lot," Isla says calmly, trying to get them to move on.

"Don't worry, we will be seeing you very soon." Alpha Benjamin says,

"Of course," I cut in, "For your trial," I add icily.

"Ah, yes, I almost forgot about that." He smiles, "That too."

He gives us a wink and walks out, followed by his family that doesn't even look our way again.

Isla and I exchange an exasperated glance. I hope she knew that he was just trying to get her riled up and there was nothing we actually had to worry about from him.

When the last visiting Alpha had finally left, as much as I wanted to get Isla alone for a few minutes I knew I needed to replace the Elder. I wanted to discuss potentially challenging Benjamin after the trial to see if it was a possibility before even mentioning it to anyone. As luck would have it he rounded the corner before I could go looking for him.

(Isla)

"Alpha, Luna." Elder John greets us, "Just the two people I have been looking for."

"I was just going to come to look for you," Jackson says.

"Do you mind if I speak to your Luna first?"

"Of course not. Is it something private or may I join?"

"Nothing private," He turns to me, "Is that okay with you that I borrow a few minutes of your time?"

I nod, "Of course."

"Let's head to my office then." I follow Elder John and Jackson up to his office. Jackson lets the Elder take his chair and we take the seats across from him.

"So, this is regarding something I noticed at brunch." I look down and pull out my necklace, "Yes, that necklace. I've seen it before but I can't quite remember where. Or at least I've seen something like it."

Did he know something about where I'm from? The pack where my parents were from? Jackson took my hand in his.

"I won't regale you with the entire tale, but let me sum it up. In the beginning, all of the packs were one. I'm not sure if you've heard of this."

"I read it, or at least part of it, recently. Just up to the part where Alpha Amos helped the Moon Goddess and was rewarded with a blessed pack."

"Very good, so you understand the gist of it." I nod.

"Well, that tale is true, most of it is, you know how some tales get spun out of proportion." I nod. "The pack that started split off into ten different packs, the moon packs. You might have heard of other packs having, falls or lake, or a form of the moon in their title." I look at him confused not sure what he meant.

"Blue Falls, Silver Lake, Red Eclipse," I nod,

"Yes, I've heard of those."

"Good, even my pack was formed recently enough, well recent enough in the timeline of werewolves. The first ten packs all had the name Moon in them. Red Moon, Eclipse Moon, Blue Moon," He waves his hands and looks between us.

"Silver Moon, Moon Stone." Jackson nods, I remembered he told me both of our pack's histories went way back and we've had one of the longest alliances.

"We don't need to worry about the specific packs. One made it all the way up to Alaska, others scattered across the USA, a few made it across the ocean and eventually settled in Europe and it was said Africa, but we can't be sure." He pauses for a moment, "Of course, many other packs sprang up, people left, started new ones, some packs couldn't control all the new members as more generations began to grow." I nodded.

"So my point, the original packs all had symbols, crests, flags, emblems, whatever you want to call them," He waves his hand, "They created them, in the beginning, to differentiate themselves, have their own identity for the first time. This was hundreds of years ago, so they needed something to show off their territory, show what pack they belonged to. So they marked it with their different symbols." He explains.

"Over time, it became something more about pride and heritage, a symbol that was put around pack houses to show that they were one of the original packs. A status symbol of sorts. Of course, other packs have done something similar over the recent years, but it doesn't mean as much as the original packs."

He pauses, I'm not sure if he was waiting for us to reply.

"That makes sense," I say

"What does it have to do with Isla?"

"Ah, yes, the point of all this. I think Isla is wearing one of those symbols around her neck." My eyes are wide and I look down at the pendant. Still not sure what it means but it felt even more special. Maybe my parents were from an old pack. This would at least tie back to my history. Maybe I even had some family somewhere, an aunt or cousins.

"So Isla's necklace is a crest or symbol from one of the original packs?" Jackson asks.

"That's my theory."

"I'm sorry, but what does it mean?" He turns to me, "No offense, Isla, but we don't know anything about your parents. Maybe they could have stolen it? Or found it? It's just a necklace." Jackson looks confused, he did have a point.

"They are extremely rare to come by"

"Someone could have made a copy recently?" I ask,

"It looks old," I looked down at it, even though it was still shining it did have a bit of a fade to the sparkle.

"I still don't understand what this proves, or what your theory is." Jackson cuts in, I'm glad he said that because I didn't either.

"Not all wolfs were given these treasures, these heirlooms, it was mostly the ranked members that had them. Symbols mostly showed up around the packhouses and in official meeting rooms, when that became a thing." Jackson told me that too, I've seen their symbol a few times around the packhouse and I think it was the pattern on the chalice for the ceremony.

"So you think Isla's descendants were ranked from one of the original packs?"

"I think that might be the case."

I let out a small laugh and they both look at me. I'm not a ranked wolf, I was even lower than an omega, a rogue, not part of a pack officially until last night. There was no way this was true. My parents must have found this as Jackson said. "There's no way to prove that though, is there?" Jackson asks.

"Usually these heirlooms get passed down directly through blood descendants. And blood descendants only. So Jackson, if you had a necklace for Moonstone, your dad and yourself could wear it, your mother and Isla couldn't. Any children you both had would be able to wear it, but their mates could not. It has to be a direct descendant that represents the original pack."

"That makes sense, in a weird twisted kind of way," I say.

"It's very traditional, I don't think it makes much sense." He waves his hands, "Either way, there would be a direct lineage of the pack though; records kept from the beginning of time, usually stored in a safe in the office or a vault. The Elders have a copy, as well, if we're informed of the births and deaths, that is. Sometimes people get lazy about that." He trails off.

"So if we can figure out what symbol this belongs to we can figure out if I'm part of the same pack?" I ask, making sure I understood him.

"Yes. There are only ten symbols, all similar, so it shouldn't be hard to replace out."

Jackson looks at his hands before turning to me, "I'm sorry, Isla we never were able to locate that book, with everything going on." I place my hand on his,

"My son is right, you do look stunning."

She pulls away, "I would think again before you, or any of your family members try to touch my Luna. Ever again."

"Don't worry about it, we can figure it out now. To be honest, I was more worried about the paternity test than my necklace." He smiles at me.

"Do you mind if I get a closer look? Take a picture? I can have it analyzed by someone today." I take it off of my neck and hand it to him, I touch my skin where the necklace used to be and feel naked. I was used to it being a part of me now and I didn't like having it off even for a few seconds.

"There, really a beautiful piece." He turns to Jackson, "I would ask your parents about any family heirlooms of a similar sort you might have."

Come on, Luna. The movie is going to start

One second

"Thank you so much for your help," I say to him

"Of course, anytime, I'm curious to see where it's from. Hopefully, we can replace out before we leave."

I make a motion to get up, not trying to be impolite.

"Isla has a previous engagement to attend to. If you don't mind could I steal a few more moments of your time?" Jackson asks, I look to him gratefully.

"Of course, anything you need."

I kiss Jackson on the cheek, "I'll see you later," and turn to Elder John, "Thanks again, I appreciate everything you've done to help me." He smiles widely. "Anytime. I mean it."

(Jackson)

"I promise this won't take long," I say

"Take as long as you need, I don't have plans until I meet your parents for lunch." He was honestly such a great person, I'm glad he's here in person to help us navigate Jennifer's parents DNA test, and for all this extra advice. "Something came to my attention that I hadn't thought of before. Now, this wouldn't be until after the trial, but could I." Elder John was looking at me so intently I almost caught my words, "Possibly challenge him for his pack?" Elder John takes a deep breath but doesn't say anything for a moment.

"Ah, I see." He sits back in his chair, well, my chair. I wait for his response.

"You will have to wait until the decision was made at the trial. If he is under some form of punishment from the council, then they would have control over that situation."

I nodded, "I see. I didn't want to step on any toes so I figured I would check first."

'It really does depend on the trial. He might be found guilty and removed, or imprisoned."

"Who would the pack go to?"

"Potentially his son, or his Beta. Depending on their level of involvement."

"Thats what we thought. And if they are both involved?"

"We haven't thought about it further, we're just focusing on the trial at the moment, then we will deal with the outcome."

"Okay. I guess I'll wait and see then."

"Jackson?" I look at him, "As an Elder, I can't give you advice pertaining to an upcoming trial outcome."

"I apologize, I didn't want to overstep."

"As your father's close friend, I can say that I support your decision to challenge him." I look up shocked, "But you're going to have to do it the right way and wait for the elders to make the decision first." I smile, at least that was something.

"Thank you, I won't hold you any longer." I stand up to shake his hand and catch the rest of the movie with Isla.

(Isla)

I snuck into the theater room and got glares from the audience. Well, Lucas.

"Come sit by us," Cameron whispered, and I sat in the middle of them and they handed me a bowl of popcorn. Abigail sat on the other side of Cameron. We were the only people in the theater.

"What movie is this?" I whispered.

"Shhhhh." Lucas put his finger over his lips and I could see Abigail roll her eyes and smile behind him.

"It's Tangled." Cameron eyes Lucas, "Apparently another one of Lucas' favorites."

"Sounds good," I take a fistful of popcorn and settle in.

Jackson came down halfway through the movie, earning him a glare from Lucas. He pulled me to a couch behind them and I snuggled in his lap for the rest of the movie. Exactly what I needed after the chaos and excitement of the last twenty-four hours. "Next time I'm picking the movie," Cameron complains standing up and stretching when the lights turn on.

"Don't lie, you love it. You know you want to be Flynn Rider." Lucas retorts.

"I thought that was lovely," Abigail says, I nod in agreement.

"They have to get a full movie education, not just your Disney movies," Cameron says,

"I'm pretty sure Shrek was Dreamworks," Jackson adds, Cameron, sighs exasperated, not liking that he was getting teamed up on even if it was about movies.

"How much time do we have left before dinner?" Abigail changes the subject.

"About an hour," Jackson checks his watch, "Let's get ready love."

We got off the elevator and met Gianna on our floor.

"Just the two I was looking for."

"Is it your mission today to ensure I get no time with my mate?" Jackson complains.

"You asked your father and me for this, sorry for doing you a favor." Gianna waves him off, "I hope your children never treat you with such disrespect." Gianna comes up to me, I smile at Jackson who rolls his eyes but says nothing.

Gianna hands Jackson a medium-sized, black velvet, square box. He faces it towards me and opens it.

A gold necklace with a pendant a bit larger than mine was in it. Wolfs howling at a large Moon Stone moon were etched onto the pendant, identical to their crest.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Gianna muses, "I'm not allowed to wear it because I'm not a direct desendant" She rolls her eyes, showing how much she loves that tradition. "That's what Elder John said." Jackson laughs,

"There's some other things too, a few larger pendants, a broach I think, and some cuff links. Some of the stuff seemed newer."

"Thank you, mother. Do you mind bringing it down to dinner? Elder John might want to see it."

"Of course, darling." She turns to Isla, "Do you need help getting ready?"

"Sur-" I start to say,

"I think she will be fine." Jackson cuts me off, "We will see you in thirty minutes downstairs."

Dinner smelled incredible, the dining room was completely transformed from the bright brunch setup from a few hours earlier, instead, it felt elegant and cozy, an intimate affair. The lights were dimmed and candles were placed around the room, a large fireplace was lit in the corner.

Elder John was there with Gianna and William.

"Isla, I wanted to talk to you before dinner but I heard you were in a tangle." I blush, "We were watching Tangled." I corrected and William and Gianna laugh.

"Do you mind if I share this information with everyone?" He whispers to me.

"No, no, of course not. They are all going to replace out soon enough anyway, this just saves us time actually."

"Perfect then."

Abigail and Jim come in followed by Lucas and Cameron.

"Hello, Elder John." Lucas comes up and shakes his hand, "It's an honor having you for dinner, I was disappointed I didn't get the opportunity to talk to you last night." I gaped at Lucas, surprised at how formal and polite he was being. He snuck a wink at me. "Elder, John. It's always a pleasure." Cameron comes up and shakes his hand.

"Now, shall we be seated?" Gianna comes behind us, "Apparently we have a lot to discuss." She makes eyes at Jackson, I know she wouldn't forgive being left out of the secret DNA test, and she was worried she was left out on something now.

Elder John tells everyone the old tales, and what he thinks of my necklace.

"So, we did replace out what pack the symbol was from, strange that I couldn't remember it before. There was a bit of a snag trying to recover the recent records though, something we're looking into."

I'm nervous again, I'm about to replace out where my parents might have been from. I was excited too, but I had to remind myself that there was a huge possibility this didn't mean anything.

"What pack is it, Elder?" William chimes in.

"Silver Moon."

Everyone looks at me.