True mates Book Two of Ozark Wolves

The triplets ate with gusto, devouring most of the ribs and potato salad. Margarette ate three pieces of chicken and the beans with as much potato salad as her sons had left after she made an annoyed sound in her throat when Rick had been about to take a third helping. "I missed it Mom. Your potato salad is the best." He said logically as he put the bowl back down.

"I appreciate that, but leave some for others, hmm." Margarette smiled. "Did you want some, dear?" She asked Alexandria who had taken a burger and some beans. Alexandria shook her head with a "no thank you." Margarette smiled and poured the rest of the bowl onto her plate. "So what do you think of our little town?" She asked.

"I did not realize you had so many residences. I was told you were the biggest pack but this did not prepare me." Alexandria replied. "Fifty houses and all occupied."

"Actually seventy-five," Marcus corrected. "Twenty-five are scattered on the border to the north of where we are now." He smiled at her shocked expression. "Yes that is how we found you and your car. You thought the houses out there were empty." Alexandria blushed then. And the triplets shifted in their seats uncomfortably.

The three had been lost in their own thoughts, but mostly along the same line as the conversation between their parents and Alexandria had progressed. How to get her stay. William wanted to force it. To order it. He did not want the pain of knowing she was out there and would die. And she would without proper identification and an education. His instincts to protect and dominate drove him nuts at the prospect. That is why he walked at her back. As protection.

Quincy was much of the same mind. Her smile was captivating. Her laugh was so sweet. She probably did not do it much during her childhood. He wanted to see her smile everyday. Make her laugh with his jokes and pranks on his brothers. The prospect of not having her there to laugh with and make fun of the other two was disheartening. To send her out alone without laughter. A world cold and unforgiving. She would become cold. He liked her warm.

Rick was giving himself another headache at the logic of it all. Or lack thereof. She was perfect. Suitable to all of them. But how if she was ordered here on the pretense to mate with them could she be their true mate? Did the madman know how the call was made? Hell they did not even know and they have scientists of their own on the Main Council who dedicated their lives to unlocking the secret. And yet her scent was driving him crazy.

The three looked up just in time to catch a blush on her cheeks and they had to look back down to their plates. Shifting a little their seats. She was so cute. So small and so cute. Her olive skin and dark hair and eyes. She had an exotic look to her.

"Seth is coming tomorrow?" She asked Margarette ease the tension of the three males across from her.

"Yes, you know him?" Margarette asked a little surprised. The girl was surely not old enough to have met the four boys she had taken pity on and had Marcus set up in packs.

"He looked up to my father I guess. I recall him vaguely. Hanging around with him." Alexandria replied trying to remember how exactly that was. The memories were fuzzy but there.

"I was going to ask about that. Skud said you were like one when the attack happened." William spoke. At the mention of the name Margarette and Marcus exchanged a look of both disgust and frustration.

"So that would put her just a couple years older than you three." Marcus nodded in acknowledgement. "It does happen on occasion. With ratio of males to females being what it is."

"The question is how can she remember anything that far back." Rick smiled finally finding something that could shed a light on the not logical. "The photo albums help us but even then we do have memories that far back."

All of them looked to Alexandria as if she had the answer. "I do not know how I have them. Like old frayed home movies that pop up. Faded with little spots in the center of the film." Margarette frowned and looked to Rick questioningly.

"This just gets better." William said. "How long ago did they start to fade out?"

"Twelve years I guess." Alexandria replied. "About the time I stopped going to special class..." her eyes got wide. She stood up quickly. Margarette stood too but kept a hand up to keep her sons in place. Her entire life? She struggled to find it. To find the memories. The things she had done with her father. The things she remembered him saying.

"I understand. You are not the first. Calm down, dear. Breathe." Margarette said softly. "Do not focus too hard on what you think you know. Focus on what you do know. Skud knew you and your father. The life you thought you had was not. So think about the memories that are real. The memories that are true."

"No. Not those." Alexandria's eyes got hard and her posture changed. The knife in her hand changed to defense rather than as a eating utensil.

William could not sit by and watch her struggle. He got up despite his mother's warning and moved around the table tapping his brothers on the shoulders as he moved. "Easy, sugar." William crooned. "Take a deep breath and focus on what is right in front of you. We are not the enemy." He motioned for his mother to sit back down. "Let me have the knife, sugar." Tears were forming in Alexandria's eyes. All of it a lie. Her whole life was a lie before this. Before coming here. She threw the knife down at William's feet and turned on her heel. And ran into Quincy and Rick.

"Don't run, love." Rick said. "There is nowhere to run to. Everything you need is right here." He reached for her hand. She let him take it. Quincy took her other hand and William, ignoring the knife on the ground put his hands on her shoulders.

Margarette and Marcus watched with pride and awe as the brothers gently coaxed her back to the table. Once she was seated again Quincy retrieved the knife and put it with the dirty dishes. "Betrayal is hard. But you can forgive and forget or you can let it fester like a wound." Margarette said in soft tones as Alexandria struggled to get her emotions under control.

"What would you know?" Alexandria exclaimed harshly. Margarette remained calm in the face of the confusion and pain in the girl's eyes. Her triplets were tense but she needed them to remain calm.

"I know what it is not to want to trust for fear of being hurt. I know what it is to think that someone loves you for the first time in your life just to have them reject you. I know more than you think, child." Margarette replied. "I am not cold because I choose to be. I am cold because the pack I lived in. The pack that was supposed to protect and care for me did not." She looked to Marcus. "This pack showed me differently. My mate showed me differently."

"And the coldness." Alexandria noted. "What about that?"

"Now it helps me to remain calm in the face of turmoil." Margarette smiled. "My heart breaks for you, Alexandria. You do not need to give details on what you have been through. Marcus and I have sat in on many of those confessions from young ones like you. As leaders of our pack we needed to know what it is you face there so that we may be able to help out here." Margarette touched Alexandria's hand. "Nobody expects you to just accept this and move on. Nobody at this table expects you to accept the call and become Luna overnight. But we do expect that you give us a chance." Margarette withdrew her hand. "I will not throw the whole thing at you for it is a lot. Just know that no one here wishes you harm."

Alexandria raised her tearstained face to the males across from her. Their faces were stoic but their eyes were miserable. They wanted to help her. To hold her. To let her cry and scream and tell them all the things that she did remember. All the pain and torture that caused her nightmares. But not a one would push. Not even Rick with compassion and understanding mixed with his misery. "Only on your terms, love." Rick said when she met his eyes. "We are here for you on your terms." She nodded and grabbed a cloth napkin to dab her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she finally said softly.

"There is nothing to be sorry for," Marcus said with a smile. "Let us finish the meal."

And the table went quiet once more. Leaving Alexandria with her thoughts. He lied to me. He lied to me about everything. Even about who I was supposed to be avenging here. No he didn't. These savage mongrels have every reason to lie to you. She pushed the voice aside. She knew from the wording that was not her thought. Then Margarette's words made more sense. She had been confused at first but now she understood. "How?" Alexandria asked in a low voice to Margarette.

"When I was at college. He pretended to be a professor. Long story short. I killed it." Margarette replied knowing exactly what she was asking about. "Had not even known that was the source of my apprehension to accept my mate. He had been trying to use that to keep me alone. Vulnerable."

"And you just killed it?" Alexandria asked sitting back shocked.

"Well I will admit I was pretty angry. Someone had tranquilized me while I was just a few months pregnant. That sent me down the rabbit hole to find the source and finally be rid of it. Being rendered unconscious I had nothing else to do." Margarette smiled.

"But when she woke up." Marcus whistled. "She was really angry."

"Of course I was. They could have hurt my pups. They wanted to hurt my pups." Margarette said and looked Alexandria in the eye. "Do not hurt my boys. I will tolerate a lot of things. But my family is everything."

"Mom, really, at this point." Quincy cut in with a grin. "She is harmless to anyone but a fly. And I do not pity the fly." Alexandria's pride was hurt by that. She thought she was ready. He had said she was ready. Then raised her eyes again to the three sets across from her.

"Teach me." She said. All three laughed.

"One step at a time." William replied.

"We are not saying no, just not yet." Quincy amended at her crestfallen expression.

"We like not having broken furniture in the house." Rick added.

All at the table turned their heads at the same time with smiles. Dana and Gregory were walking around the side of the house. The triplets immediately turned into teenage boys. Jumping from the table to all but attack their maternal grandparents. Marcus and Margarette stood. Alexandria did not know what to do. "I brought my special cheesecake y'all." Dana said as she handed the huge pan to Rick after he gave her a kiss on the cheek and said thank you. William and Quincy followed suit and then chased each other to the kitchen to get the pie cutter and more plates. Laughing and whooping the whole time. Alexandria actually smiled at their antics. They were really cute.

"Hello, Alexandria," Gerald said warmly as he pulled a chair out for his mate next to her. "I am Gerald, this is Dana. We are Margarette's adopted parents." He held out a hand to her and she took it hesitantly.

"Pleased to meet you." She said softly.

"I wanted to come sooner but Gregory did not to disrupt the family too much." Dana said with a smile. "I see we got here just in time." She surveyed the empty platers where the beans, potato salad, and ribs had been.

"Indeed, Mother," Margarette replied. "Did you eat yet?"

"Of course not. Pass me some of that delightful chicken, please." Dana said with a laugh. The boys came out of the kitchen calmer now with all the utensils, plates, and cheesecake in hand. They set the empty platter from the ribs aside and replaced it with the cheesecake. Handed the pie cutter to their mother and looked at her pleadingly.

"Go rinse your plates and the rib platter while I cut. You make me nervous standing over me like that." Margarette laughed. The boys did as they were told. Then to Alexandria in a low tone. "They will stand there and whine if the pieces are not cut just so. Distracting them makes the process easier." Marcus raised his eyebrows and Gerald laughed. "They do." Dana nodded as she put a cut of chicken in her mouth.

"Tips for the mate?" Alexandria asked surprised.

"I do not hold a grudge, child." Margarette replied. "I am watchful however."

"When is Seth do in tomorrow?" Gerald asked Marcus.

"Early. He called earlier to say he was to be here about sunrise. So seven perhaps six. Not sure what to make of it." Marcus replied with a shrug. "It's only a six hour drive." Dana flashed a look to Alexandria.

"Does he know of our guest?" Dana asked.

"I do not see how. But perhaps." Marcus replied with a nod. The triplets reappeared pushing and shoving each other playfully. Calmed immediately to take their seats and their plates from their mother and slowly ate the delicious cold dessert.

"Did you want some dear?" Margarette asked Alexandria who looked at her plate of half eaten hamburger and beans.

"No thank you. I might have gone overboard with the ice cream earlier." Alexandria replied. A blush crept into her cheeks again. The three males across from her cleared their throats and shifted a little again. She had no idea what their deal was.

"I understand the lure of ice cream." Margarette chuckled. "I will save you a piece here. Sending with you may not be a safe idea."

"We resent that statement, Mom," Quincy said with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. "We would never."

"Rick's debate finals?" Margarette replied with motherly disbelief. They all three looked abashed at that reminder. "Quincy's science fair finals?" They actually shrunk in the chairs. "William's art fair?"

"We get it." Quincy replied. Though the humorous twinkle was still in his eyes. Margarette winked to Alexandria.

"Those were just to name a few." Margarette said. Alexandria laughed.

All three pairs of eyes focused on her. Moon she was adorable. Her laugh was like a windchime. Soft and sweet. They rose as one to go and rinse their plates once more. Needing room to breathe. How in hell were they going to last until she gave consent? She had to give consent or they were going to explode. Everything about her was tantalizing. Sexy. Sweet.