Order of Protection

Jessie’s POV

One Week Later

I opened my eyes to the first light of the day coming through the gap in the curtains. I felt rested, finally, the long trip back from Russia to Minnesota was not fun for a pregnant woman with bad morning sickness. I’m sure the other people in first class with us didn’t like the three times I threw up before we were even out of the country. We had stayed awake most of the flight, listening to Russian language learning programs together, so we could sleep after we arrived late last night.

My stomach started to roll again, and I rolled out of bed. His arm fell limp off my hip to the blanket. I raced to the toilet, emptying my stomach out before going to the bathroom. I turned on the shower and let it heat up while brushing my teeth to get the taste of vomit out.

I was not enjoying this part of being pregnant a bit.

“Are you all right,” John’s voice came from the other side of the door.

“Fine,” I said. I pulled off his long shirt and stepped into the shower as my mate came in. The curtain made his shape fuzzy, but there was no mistaking the broadness of his chest or the taper down to his narrow waist. Every time I looked at him I wondered how I got so lucky.

“I wonder how I got so lucky too,” he said as he pulled the curtain back and joined me. “Can I help you wash?”

“I’m barely showing, it’s not like I can’t see my toes yet,” I said, but his eyes were dark with lust and I could feel the bond between us pulse as my body responded. He took the sponge from my hand, cleaning my face as I closed my eyes and relaxed my body into his. He took his time, doing my hair before he moved down my body. My breath caught as he started to rub my tender breasts. “Careful, they are sensitive,” I told him.

“Bigger, too. I’m liking you this way.” His wolf loved me barefoot and pregnant as well, and both were even more attentive and protective of me than before. He was always touching me or watching me, never letting me do anything that might get me hurt. My wolf loved the attention that sometimes grated on my human part. He continued down my stomach, kissing the bump before doing my legs and feet. His tongue and lips were busy elsewhere, and I was moaning by the time he finished, and then it was my turn to tease him.

His wolf didn’t like to be teased.

It wasn’t long before I was holding on to the shower head and the wall for dear life as he pounded into me from behind. The wet slaps of his hips to my ass echoed in the small bathroom, joining my loud cries and moans as he worked his fingers on my clit from behind. I came twice before he joined me on the third, holding that thick cock as deep in me as he could go. As his hot seed filled me, my legs lost their strength and he ended up holding me up until I had control of them again. “That was amazing,” I said softly when he finally slipped out.

“Now I get to clean you again,” he said with a smile. There might have been a round two except the hot water ran out, so we quickly rinsed and dried and ran back to the bed. “I’m glad we don’t have to be anywhere until lunch with the Alphas at noon,” he said as I snuggled into his side. “Jet lag sucks.”

“We’ll have to get used to it, we have a Pack on the other side of the world now,” I said. “I can’t wait for our friends to get here.” A private jet from Scotland was arriving at eleven thirty, and a flight from Moscow at two. The guest Alphas and the American and European council representatives would also arrive tonight. “I’m glad I let Larissa and Abigail do the wedding planning, there’s no way I’d be ready for tomorrow without them.” I had texted and talked to them on Facetime a few times from Moscow, and they had performed miracles in a few days. I had found my dress in Moscow, a traditional Russian design, and John’s former Pack was bringing his tuxedo from his old room at the castle.

We talked and snuggled for another hour before we absolutely had to get up and get dressed. Winter had come to the Midwest, so I was dressed in jeans, Uggs, a turtleneck and a wool sweater. John was looking very Minnesotan with his jeans, boots, Vikings turtleneck and a plaid shirt. “We’ll be out in a few seconds,” I told our driver.

It felt weird no longer having a car or being able to just go to the store alone, but that was the life I’d found myself in now. The paparazzi had been waiting for us at the airport, everyone wanting a picture of one of the richest women in the world and her studly fiancé. Alpha Stan had his men doing security, and I had brought a half-dozen unmated wolves from the Moscow Pack to help. I begged Stan to let me have my old cabin back while we were staying because I wanted time alone, and I had to stay on his Pack grounds for security reasons. He wanted to put me up in the visiting Alpha guest rooms, but we declined; other Alphas were coming as well as the Council.

This little cabin I’d rented after the “Hooters Incident” was cozy and comfortable, and a palace compared to the little cabin on the lake up north we’d spent so much time in.

We walked out hand-in-hand and got in the back for the short drive to the Pack house. The place was full of noise as we arrived, with the Pack gathered to greet us as well as see Patrick’s mate. It took a good twenty minutes to get the hugs and handshakes out of the way, and my eyes were a little misty by the time we finally sat at the round table at the front of the room. Council Chair Robert Steele was sitting to the right of Alpha Stan along with his mate Laura, while we were to his left next to Larissa. It was a big honor for him to attend our wedding. “No chance of getting you to stay in the States now, I guess,” he said with a grin as we greeted him.

“What can I say, Chair Steele, they used the Pack children to draw me in and I couldn’t turn my birthright down after spending time with them. And that rooftop pool!”

He laughed. “I know what you mean, that could make those cold Moscow winters a little more bearable. Congratulations on your news, by the way. Twins with your first mating, Luna has truly blessed you.”

I looked down, my hand going over my baby bump. “I’m still in shock from the ultrasound. It’s no wonder my morning sickness has been so bad.”

“It will be over soon,” Luna Marina said. She was with Viktor, Mischa and Patrick, Konstantin was at another table with some of the unmated of the Pack. “I’m so excited about you kids, pretty soon Mischa will be mated and pregnant and I’ll be a grandmother!” Mischa just rolled her eyes while Patrick kissed her head.

“I’m glad I’ll have a big Pack to help out. I couldn’t imagine having twins alone. I appreciate what my Mom did for me more and more every day.” Now it was John’s turn to kiss my forehead.

“You’ll never be alone, I know the old women of the Pack are already knitting things for our babies,” he said. “What we really need is to find Konstantin’s mate. He’s getting a little grumpy in his old age,” he teased.

“No kidding, let’s give Mom someone a little closer to obsess over pups with,” Mischa said.

“Well, there’s going to be a lot of people here this weekend, and I arranged for the singles in my Pack to stay while we are off on our honeymoon and go on a tour of American packs,” I said. Unmated males needed to find their mates, it helped them settle down and become responsible Pack members, plus it brought new blood into the Packs.

“He better hope he doesn’t smell of shewolf when he finds her,” Marina said. “I’d have smacked the shit out of my mate if I found him like that.” She looked over at the table where a young female was rubbing herself against his muscled arm, her shirt pulled low to show her ample cleavage. She must have said something to him over the link because he sat up and moved her arm.

The lunch was over, and we were laughing over dessert and coffee when I heard a commotion outside. The doors opened to reveal Alpha Esca and Luna Eleanor, along with other members of John’s old Pack in Scotland. Betas Jack and Sarah flanked their Alphas, and behind them their son Sean stood with their twin daughters Jane and Julia and Gamma James. “Come on,” John said as he helped me up from my chair. He quickly embraced his former Alpha and Luna, and they both pulled me into hugs as well. I had briefly met their Pack at the castle, and everyone was happy now that the two of us were mated and expecting.

I was catching up with Jane and Julia on the latest gossip when I hear chairs hitting the ground and someone yelling “MATE!” We all froze, and as he came closer, John pulled me out of the way as a frenzied Konstantin picked up Julia and buried his nose in her shoulder.

“LET ME GO,” she yelled, “I’M ONLY FIFTEEN YOU IDIOT.” He immediately relaxed and set her down, where her brother quickly grabbed her and pulled her behind him. Alpha Esca was about to shift, but Eleanor put her hand on his arm.

Konstantin looked at them, then back to Julia, his shoulders slumping as he realized what was happening. It only took a moment before he straightened his back, turning and lowering his eyes to the visiting Alphas. “Alpha Esca, Luna Eleanor, my apologies for my behavior. I am Konstantin Kirolinko, Alpha Heir of the Kstovo Pack in Russia, and the mate of your daughter…”

“Julia,” Eleanor said. “Julia is your mate, her sister Jane next to her, and our oldest son Sean.” She broke the ice, coming forward and giving him a quick hug. I looked over at the twin girls, Julia was crying and ran out of the room, her siblings with her, and James following.

“Alpha Esca,” the old Alpha said brusquely as he shook Konstantin’s hand. He kept the handshake going a little too long, the strain evident in his arms as I heard bones starting to crack in Konstantin’s hand. “Go take a shower, you smell of sex and it’s upsetting your mate.”

“Yes sir,” he said as he turned red.

Viktor and Patrick followed him out as they went back to their rooms, while Marina and Mischa came up next to me. “Never a dull moment,” John said as I watched them go.

“Konstantin needs to go to the florist and ask what arrangement says, ‘Sorry I was a horn dog who screwed anything with a pulse until I found you,’” Mischa said with a sigh.

“Or a Kobe ring,” Marina added. “That boy. Finally finds his mate, and he has three years to wait for her.”

Mischa started to laugh. “This is SO Luna. He was teasing me so much about me having to wait six months for Patrick, now he gets to wait thirty-six!”

Marina just hugged her. “I guess you’re not getting out of the pup pressure anytime soon,” she said.

“Konstantin is a lucky man,” John said. “Julia is a fine young lady, raised to be a Luna, smart as a whip and talented. She has an amazing singing voice and is an accomplished pianist.”

“Why was she crying? I mean other than the obvious thing with him.”

John sighed. “She always wanted to graduate from college and travel the world before finding her mate. Once you are mated and pregnant, she thought she’d rarely be allowed to leave Pack lands. Now she has the overprotective mate without being mated yet.”

John went to schmooze with the other Alphas, while I went with Mischa to check on the twins. Soon we were laughing ourselves silly, with Mischa telling hilarious stories about her older brother while we plotted her revenge. She wasn’t going to reject him for not waiting for her, no… that would be too easy. He was going to have to work for forgiveness before she would offer him her neck.

“Jessie, our Pack members are here,” John said over the bond. I left them to their stories, giving Gamma James a big hug as I left. He was standing guard outside their rooms with orders to make Konstantin bleed if he tried to force his way in, and those orders he was very happy to carry out if needed.

The SUV’s pulled into the driveway, and fourteen young men and women got out and looked around. The weather was similar, but the scents here were completely different. I greeted each and introduced them to the Alphas as they arrived. They had already checked in to the nearby hotel but were here for dinner and a Pack run with their hosts.

When I gave my favorite teacher a hug, Katya Semulskaya froze and started sniffing my shoulder. “He’s here,” she said as her wolf came forward. “WHERE IS HE?”

“Your mate is here?”

She nodded, moving past me to enter the house. People noticed her behavior, the mated ones standing aside, the unmated males with their noses up hoping the beautiful young woman was theirs. She caught a whiff and took off running for the stairs, with me following close behind. She paused at one hall before running down it, and turning a corner she let out a primal growl before she launched herself at a male, wrapping her arms and legs around him. “MATE,” she said as she pulled his shirt aside, biting down with him as he marked her as his forever.

“Wow,” I said as they continued to hug each other. The door opened, and Jane and Julia looked out, Mischa behind them. “Give Gamma James some privacy,” I said.

“Get them to his room before their first mating occurs in the Alpha’s hallway,” Mischa said with a grin as she closed the door. My mate was right. Never a dull moment.