Celestial and the Alpha

Chapter 7 P.1: The Three J's

"Gentlemen," Xavier greets them. The angry one snorts and receives a nudge in his side from the one beside him. "Thank you for meeting us here." Xavier closes the door behind him. I glance back and he motions for me to walk further into the room. "Celeste this is Jared," he motions towards the familiar tall one, "Jacob and Josh," he motions towards the angry one and the long haired one. They all nod, the long haired one giving a polite wave. "Boys, this is Celeste. My mate." I blush at the introduction, I'm not quite sure why. I do know that my heart is beating and that they can definitely hear it and I think that alone is making it beat even faster.

"Hi," I mumble. I clear my throat, "Nice to meet you. . Officially, I mean," there goes that damned blush again. Xavier pulls a chair to sit jointly at the head of the table and motions for me to sit. I lower myself gently before leaning the crutches against the table. Xavier sits next to me and the guys all follow our actions. "I um. . . I wanted to apologize for any trouble I may have brought you all. I never meant to-"

"No," Jared interrupts. "I should apologize. I- We have been having rogue problems lately and when I saw you, I assumed you were a ploy. I shouldn't have been so aggressive that day." Xavier seems to deflate. I hadn't even noticed he was tense.

"It's okay," I looked down, fiddling with my fingers. A silence rang through the room.

"So can we g-"

"Well I'm very excited to meet you!" I looked up at the duo on the left side of the table. The angry one, Jacob, rolled his eyes but I could see a smile twitching on the corner of his lips. I looked at Josh who has a wide smile on his lips. "I've been telling Jacob for years now that Xavier needs to find his mate," he gave a small chuckle.

Xavier grumbled for a second, "What, was there something wrong with me without a mate?" I looked at him, he has a lazy smile on his lips.

"No!" Josh insisted a little too quickly.

"Just always thought he'd be better if he got laid," my eyes widened at Jacob's words. Xavier growled as I turned completely red, my cooling skin once again blazing. Jared burst out laughing.

"Admit it Xav, you've always been a little tense!" Xavier turned his glare to Jared. "As the only one with a mate previously, I think there's many benefits to finding your mate. I can already tell you're a bit less tense. Hell, I didn't even have to fight you to take on some of your work while you dealt with everything with Celeste and Zay."

"That's true," Josh interjected. "Even when you've traveled before for business, you've always put up fights insisting that you can get the rest of your work done before or during the trips." So he does have work he's allocated to them for me? That's very nice of them but I hope they don't do it for much longer. I mean, I want to get to know Xavier, yes, but I also know that an Alpha's job is important work and that it takes years to train for and take on the job.

"Do you remember when we were younger and your dad gave you that treaty to go over, fix, and take to another pack? You literally forgot my birthday because you were so focused!"

"Hey! I did not forget your birthday! I forgot what day it actively was. . . Which is probably much worse but that treaty hasn't needed any adjustments since!" I laughed at the bickering boys, bringing Xavier's eyes back to me. I gave him a smile and he gently put his hand on my arm, rubbing soft circles with his thumb.

"So you've all known each other for a long time then?" I've often thought about what it would have been like growing up regularly. Having a pack, having friends, a close knit community. My 'community' broke the second we accepted the after effects of the attack. Sure, I had friends for a bit but they quickly moved to giving me hell once I guess they realized they had nothing better to do. I even had a best friend before the attack. Mom used to say him and I made a cute pair. I always felt that was weird to say about two literal children but to each their own I suppose. I also made a friend in my rogue days but he wasn't always there. I loved when he was but. . . I don't like to think about it. . .

Jacob laughed a bit too loudly but it was brief. "No, no, no. Josh and I joined the pack years ago. We ran from our former pack, ended up near here and Xavier was. . kind enough to let us join."

"I'm very grateful for it," Josh says. "I was never happy at our old pack but when I came here, I realized just how good people, a pack, could be." He turned to Jacob and gave him a smile. Those two. . I thought I caught Jared saying he was the only one with a mate before Xavier but. . . Maybe I shouldn't assume things.

"You were with another pack?" I question instead and they nod. I turn to Jared, "And you?"

"I have known Xavier for a long time. We've been friends since before we both even formed memories. I'm older than him but only by a few years so I don't really remember life without him. My dad was the previous Beta like his was the previous Alpha so naturally we trained together, went to school together, did occasional vacations together both with and without our families. Zay is my sister so we also spent a lot of time with her as well. Her and Xavier are much closer in age, they were in a lot of the same classes growing up. I was actually with Xavier when I met my mate, Katherine. We were at the beach and I literally pushed Xavier into the water and out of my way when I first caught her scent," he gave a slight chuckle as I also giggled with the picture of Xavier being shoved into the water without warning. "Xavier was there when our little girl was born too," he aims his smile at Xavier now, "And I'm glad that I got to be here for you finding your way to him." I turn to Xavier and gave him a wide smile. Xavier has a bestie. "And I'm sorry this has been so short but I really must be going now. Katherine has an appointment in about an hour and the human town is a bit out of the way. It was nice to meet you Celeste, I look forward to getting to know you."

"I'll walk you out." Xavier's hand leaves my arm and chairs scrape as the two leave. I dance my eyes between Jacob and Josh.