Who is Magpie?
Chapter 97- Pulling Punches

The tables were set and most people had already gathered. Jessamine looked over the faces that avoided her gaze as they welcomed their Alpha and future Alpha to dinner. When they reached the end of the table there was only one chair at the head and a separate table for the kids.

Jessamine sighed deeply and let her straight back dip. “Oh thank the Goddess they openly hate me.”

“Jessa….”

“No really, it is a relief. I’ve had enough whispering around me that I’m surprised everyone doesn’t have swimmers ear.” Jessamine refrained from rolling her eyes despite wanting to, however she did sit on Azural’s lap in protest.

His grin showed he was thoroughly impressed with this outcome. A couple of the women snickered, and the men scoffed at her, believing she was a dramatic. When the food was brought out her stomach gurgled loudly in excitement and there were giggles around the table.

“That’s what happens when you don’t eat for nearly a week.” Azural pulled her in, squeezing her against his chest and he could feel the warning growl emanating from her.

“Not like I haven’t been starved for longer,” she muttered, feeling like she had said something wrong but as she looked up others nodded in understanding.

There was a different sort of acceptance with that, some of them had seen the woman carried in the first day and then saw nothing from her for days. They were irritated that their pack had undergone so much for her, but would stand by their Alpha and wanted Oakley to have his mother. Jessamine was glad for the absence of formality here, none of the emotions were hidden behind strict rules and sitting at tables away from her.

Despite the small amount of hostility, she sighed a breath of relief. Azural could feel her strange cocktail of emotions and let go of her to lean around and look at her face. His confusion continued when she smirked and hummed a light laugh.

“Jessamine, what is it?” He asked wearily, but she didn’t look at him.

“This is what I’m used to,” she muttered lowly in return. “Couldn’t even stay in the Garden’s medical bay overnight because someone would try to smother me. In the pack house I felt safe and there were two attempts on my life in 24 hours. Somehow this is more comfortable now. I’ve.. never known when someone is being sincere to me..” She pat the bite she’d made on his forearm.

He looked around, somewhat reproachfully to those who he could hear commenting. Jessamine had lightly closed her eyes, knowing there wasn’t much they could see of her face anyway with the thick curtains of her hair.

‘How much longer do I have to be strong for?’ She wondered, sinking against the man, whose touch still made her flinch, as the only person she knew.

He stood and flopped her into the chair, enjoying her annoyance at being dumped off and went to get a second chair. “No one will smother you while you sleep.”

“I hope not, after everything else it’d be rather anticlimactic.” Jessamine watched him bring the second chair over as a woman stood somewhere down the table. “Mina?” She guessed and he nodded.

Jessamine was stiff and starving, but nothing hurt any more and she stood to stretch out her muscles further.

Mina cocked her head to the side. “Were you expecting a fight?”

“At this point, it’s safer to always expect a fight and the only question is what are the rules.” Jessamine had watched the kids as an older woman took them inside to clean up for dinner, and was glad that they weren’t around.

“Wait until after dinner Mina,” Azural muttered, pushing Jessamine by her shoulder back into her seat. “She’ll hardly be worth fighting while she’s starving.”

Jessamine turned so slowly toward Azural, that when he saw her run her tongue up the side of her teeth and chuckle he knew an apology wasn’t enough.

“Your father made sure I was trained to be able to handle a lot more than five days without food.” Her lips curled with the disgust of those memories, wishing she had never seen the photo of him.

As a sadistic client of the kennels who would come to watch her train, and get beat up, he was forgettable amongst the others. As Azural’s father the memories came back and she could see how their faces and voices compared.

“He didn’t think I was worth it either.” Jessamine turned away from him and he tried to grab her chin.

She hit his hand away and he moved around her into her line of sight instead. “That’s not what I meant. Hey, look at me. .. I’m sorry. He was a prick. You never should have been put through half of what you were.”

“I don’t want pity,” she scoffed, “I don’t need it. I don’t feel sad about what happened, I’m angry, and I want to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else. I’ll fight you Mina. You can set the rules,” she said plainly, not concerned about any she could make up, having already fought to the death twice before.

Mina did as directed, and Jessamine was surprised that they followed the same sparring rules she had followed at the pack house. She had named an older woman as the official, believing Azural would pick favourites, but Jessamine was sure she would win clear enough to avoid her being needed.

Without an official fighting space they move to the edge of where the buildings began. Some followed to watch, while others were fine watching from the tables. Jessamine turned as the kids were brought out and her brows wrinkled.

“What is it?” Azural asked, standing behind her.

“Should the kids be watching this? This seems violent.” Jessamine worried, making a note that she should pull her punches.

“It’s important they learn to fight, and watching is very helpful in that,” he assured.

Jessamine approached Mina, who seemed excited, and they clapped hands. Neither clasped the hand and they both backed up a space or two. As Mina seemed to be waiting, it was Jessamine who threw the first punch, garnishing a miss and a hit into the other woman’s ribs before getting shoved back. As Jessamine realized she was going to fall backward she kicked up and flipped backward, accidentally kicking up dirt with her bare feet.

Mina wiped furiously at her eyes, but was surprised to see Jessamine waiting a good five feet back. “A victory like that would make me no better than Wallace Orman,” she supplied, before they resumed.

Mina closed the gap and swung a leg, Jessamine taking the hit to grab the appendage and take two large steps backward. Mina fell but brought the second leg around to trap her and Jessamine jabbed the side of her knee to escape while her leg spasmed.

As they both regained their footing, Mina charged and their hands clasped each other, trying to force the other down…

“Enough,” Azural called, freezing the crowd in their cheers. Mina was ready to protest, feeling like he had interrupted them because she was winning until he continued. “Mina step aside, I’ll challenge her myself.”

“Alpha?” Mina questioned, moving aside, but Jessamine had returned to giving dirty looks, distracting him.

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice?” He asked her, but she didn’t reply. “You’re pulling your punches.”

Her eyes widened only a fraction but she clenched her jaw and gestured toward the children.

“Don’t you want to show off?” He chuckled.

Jessamine laughed. “You sure you want me to show you up?”

They clasped hands in the middle but she held on, to hold him in place while she flipped over and wrapped her legs around his neck. He braced himself to stay standing and she swung around his neck to sit on his shoulders and then threw her weight backward to flip him onto his stomach.

Her hands landed on either side of his head, but he rolled to knock her arm out so she landed on top of him. Wedging her knee between his legs, she propelled herself away from him and waited for him to stand.

When he did she kicked his side, he grabbed her leg, she punched the soft tissue by his arm pit and he let go. They fought like this in quick succession, one landing a hit and the other promptly disarming them, back and forth as the ones from the tables gathered closer.

No one was cheering anymore, standing in shock as they watched what a fight between alphas looked like. Jessamine punched him in the chest, he caught her arm and she swept his leg, dislocating her arm as he fell.

He was caught up in worry with hurting her, but she hadn’t even noticed. She knelt on his chest and slid her other knee up under his chin, onto his throat, as he grabbed her functional arm with one hand and her throat in the other.

Neither moved until the older woman was startled into acting and confirmed. “Match to our Alpha, Azural.”

They released each other and Jessamine stood up, pulling him with her. They were both breathing heavily, the fight lasting nearly twenty minutes, and she grabbed her arm to set it once she realized it was out.

Mina had slightly paled in seeing what she was capable of, realizing how easy she had taken it on her.

“Let me take care of you,” Azural offered after her first attempt to pop it back in didn’t work.

People hadn’t cheered the way Jessamine expected them to, instead chattering excitedly about different elements of the fight.

“I don’t understand, why did Oakley’s mom lose when she was on top?” One of the smaller kids asked and Jessamine smirked.

“Because we were in a stalemate under sparring rules, with no blood or death, he still had two arms to work with. As the one with more injury, I lose.” Jessamine informed. “Though if I had known you’d try to take me down with you I would have dislocated it myself first.” Azural eyed her and she smirked again. “It’s my party trick.”

He knew how a party trick like that was obtained and set it as gently as he could before they returned to the tables.

“You didn’t take the jeans off,” he commented once they were sitting among the adults.

“There were children!” She scoffed.

Another man at the table laughed. “They are wolven, seeing their Luna’s boxers isn’t exactly a concern.”

“I haven’t seen many children,” Jessamine returned. “I wouldn’t know what is normal for any of them.”

Azural leant over and hugged her, something she allowed because she knew he felt the pain there.

There wasn’t an overwhelming feeling of acceptance in the pack after that, more the feeling of appreciation. Jessamine ate a full plate, denying anything further as she saw how little everyone else ate and hoped they would go for seconds.

That night Oakley slept next to Jessamine in the big bed, and she tolerated Azural laying behind her. The ache in her chest from being away from her mates had never left, but a new one joined it at leaving those that surrounded her now. Even the pack that she knew nothing about, but she didn’t feel like they deserved the hand they had been dealt.

The children had been born rogues, many through affairs wanted or forced, and their parents banished. Most everyone had done nothing explicitly wrong, stood up to the wrong person, said something out of turn, … but not all leaders were good leaders.

Jessamine knew they would be better cared for with the Ashford pack, but that would take the Alpha out of Azural. She wasn’t sure if that was something he would agree to, even for his pack and family.