Jaded Hearts
Chapter 13

Matt

It didn’t take long for Alpha Daniel to signal us that we were clear to go back inside and finish the meeting. It wasn’t the ending I was expecting it to be, though.

“Gentlemen, in light of the recent discoveries about my son and his ‘situation,’ I’d like to request a small continuation of sorts before these talks conclude,” Alpha Daniel stated.

“How long would this ‘continuation’ be exactly, Alpha?” I asked.

“Three months. My son feels that he was given the wrong mate. If mistakes were made, that could explain his behavior afterwards. We would like to confer with the elders to cover all our bases.”

“‘Mistakes were made’? Since when does the Moon Goddess make mistakes? If his mate is a male, then it’s a male. There’s nothing wrong with being gay,” Xander stated.

“I’m not gay, Alpha Xander. I think all the women I’ve slept with can confirm that. This is definitely a mistake.”

“Fine, but how does the wrong mate justify what you did to Taylor?”

“Emotional distress? Maybe I wasn’t in my right state of mind, Alpha.”

Drew was clearly lying. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he’d still be doing it if I weren’t in the picture. I looked over to Xander, who raised an eyebrow at me. He was allowing me to make the decision here.

“Drew, you say that mistakes were made with your mate, but do you understand that Taylor is not yours? Never was and never will be?”

“Yes, I understand that.”

I let out a huff, then addressed their Alpha. “Alpha Daniel, our packs are rivals, but there haven’t been any active confrontations for years. I’d like to maintain that if we can. We will grant the continuation on the grounds that Drew doesn’t approach, speak to, touch, look at, or even think of my mate moving forward. If at any point he does, we will move back to plan A, which is me immediately ripping his heart from his chest.”

“That sounds fair, doesn’t it, Drew?” This time it was Colton, Drew’s oldest brother and their soon-to-be Alpha who spoke.

“Yes.”

Colton nodded. “I’ll be taking point on this if you all don’t mind. I’ll be assuming the Alpha position in a few short weeks, so by the time this is all over, my father will be retired. I will ensure that Drew is on his best behavior while we figure this out, or he will face the consequences the Dark Woods way.”

“That works for me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my mate. She’s in heat, and I’ve been away from her too long already.”

* * *

As I walked out of the room, I sent Alaia a quick mindlink.

Bean? I could really use your help right now.

I told you I can’t heal heat or anything that comes with it, Matt. Suck it up; you’re almost there.

I don’t need you to heal her; I need an energy boost. I’ve got nothing left in the tank.

I could hear her laughing, and I rolled my eyes. She’s never missed an opportunity to pick with me.

Fine. Come up to the nursery.

I shot a quick text to Taylor just in case she was up and made my way to the nursery. Alaia was burping Angelica while the boys were on the floor crawling or doing their own personal version of crawling. “Thank you, Alaia. I feel like if I sit for too long, I’ll pass out and never wake up.”

“Yeah, yeah. Taylor’s completely handling you. I’ve got to admit, I’m proud of her. Come here and lean down.”

I squatted in front of her and put my head in her lap. She placed her hand on my head and started humming the tune that we all knew all too well at this point. If I would have been looking at her face, I would have seen her glowing purple eyes—the telltale sign of her powers flowing through her.

It only took about thirty seconds before the song ended, and all my fatigue was gone. Muscle pain, sore, burning eyes, all around lethargy, it was all taken away. “Damn, I forgot how good that feels! I feel amazing, better than usual, actually.”

“Good, now go and make sure you make her feel amazing. This is ten times harder on her than it is on you. You think you were tired and sore? She’s been locked up in a room with a dominant male wolf for forty-eight hours. There isn’t an inch on her body that’s okay at this point, and she’s doing it as a regular human woman. Your mate’s a beast, Matt. You should be proud.”

“I am. Taylor’s so strong, much stronger than she gives herself credit for. Now I’ve got to go check on her. Thanks again.” I ran to my room and, thankfully, Taylor was still asleep. I looked at her naked body and saw that it was totally covered in bites and bruises. I didn’t know that things had been this intense, but seeing her now outside of the s****l haze, I was surprised she was still standing.

I sent a message down to have a nice dinner made and sent up for her. Then I ran a warm bubble bath and picked her up from the bed. I slowly lowered her down into the suds, and she didn’t even flutter her eyes. She had nothing left.

I made sure to be as gentle as possible as I washed her body. I didn’t want her to wake up, not yet, but I did want to take as much of the pain away that I could. When she was clean, I took her back to the room and massaged some body oil into her skin. The smell made me want to eat her until she was saw stars, but now wasn’t the time. Maybe later …

A soft knock on the door signaled that dinner was here. I rolled in the tray and found a huge steak, a loaded baked potato, and grilled veggies. Plenty of water and Gatorade were sent up as well. Perfect.

I went back to the bed and softly shook Taylor’s arm. “Wake up, tesoro. You need to eat.”

Her lids fluttered a bit, but that was it. “Taylor? I need you to open your eyes for me. Come on, baby, wake up.”

She snuggled into her pillow and mumbled for me to go away.

“I have food for you. It’s steak.”

That did the trick. Her eyes snapped open, and she looked over at me. “You have steak? Don’t play with me, Matt. If you don’t have steak, I’ll figure out a way to kick your a*s.”

“That’s my girl. Yes, I do. Now come on, sit up, and I’ll bring it over.”

She began to push herself up and looked surprised. “My muscles aren’t sore, and I don’t smell like s*x. What did I miss?”

“What exactly does s*x smell like?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

“You’re a wolf, Matt. I know you know what I’m talking about. If you can smell when I’m in heat or when your sweet-talking is making me wet, then you know exactly what s*x smells like.”

“I guess you’re right. And I gave you a bath and a massage. You needed it.”

She laughed out loud. “Are you telling me I stunk? I smelled like you!”

I scrunched my nose at her. “You smelled like s*x. Lots and lots of it. But the bath was more to help your muscles loosen up so you could feel better. I actually liked you smelling like me.” I passed her a plate, and she quickly attacked it.

“How did the meeting go? Is he still here?”

“It was interesting. And no, he left right after it ended.”

“So, what happened?”

“Before or after we found out that Drew’s probably gay?”

She choked on the piece of potato she was eating and had to chug some water to get her breath back. “What?! Tell me everything!”

I told her what happened, and she listened to it all intently. Every emotion under the rainbow passed over her face while I spoke.

“So, because he feels like someone made a mistake in choosing his mate, I became his personal punching bag? That’s a bullshit excuse, and he knows it. And why does he need three months? That’s even more bullshit. What about me? I’ve got to look over my shoulder for the next three months while they ‘confer with the elders’? How’s that fair?”

“It’s not, baby. But if he even looks in your direction, he’ll regret it.”

“That’s what the cops said when I got the restraining order. We know what happened after that.”

“Werewolf law is a little more hands-on and direct. You’ll be safe.”

“Let’s talk about something else. I’ve already devoted more than enough energy to him.”

“Well, if you haven’t noticed yet, I’ve got my energy back. So, hurry up and finish your dinner. Thor’s ready to get back to business.”

* * *

We went for five hours more before Taylor again needed to rest. She wasn’t as hot anymore, which let me know that the heat was finally breaking. Tomorrow should be much easier for her. I wasn’t as tired, but I didn’t want to leave her side. She had gone through so much in the last few days, but it didn’t seem to change her.

Taylor basically lost her virginity because she felt like she had to. Even if she had wanted it, the situation still forced her hand, and I hated that. I couldn’t help but wonder to myself if we’d created life in the past two days—another thing that had been thrown on her.

It’s one thing to lose your virginity, but to possibly get pregnant by a werewolf in the process? I know she was joking when she said it, but being my mate did seem to be a pain in the a*s for her. So, I wrapped her in my arms and watched her sleep.

Everything about her was the true definition of beauty and love. She really was my queen, and when this was behind us, I’d do everything in my power to make sure she was never sad, scared, or hurt again. I fell asleep and dreamed of her carrying my child and my last name. I hoped that we could make that dream a reality.