"That son of a bitch." Jason seethed as he poured a glass of scotch with a shaking hand, as he and two of the three betas stood around the long dining room table, feeling a vibrating anger radiating throughout his body at the end of Jacob's phone call.
"We made some headway, I'm sure we'll come upon a positive resolution." Jacob said with a nod, as Jason passed him the decanter and he poured his own glass, matching Jason's three finger length pour. Passing it to Mark, who sat there with a heavily blackened eye that swelled his lid shut.
"He's a dick, and so is his son." Mark stated as he took a more liberal pour of the dark liquor, hoping it would provide some relief to his pulsating eye.
"I'm sure if we provide a nice picture for them during her call with the Master Beta, they will be more willing to assist us." Jacob said as he took a quick sip of the beverage.
"And how the fuck are we going to do that? She's fucking bipolar." Jason said with a hard glare. One minute she was trembling in pleasure provided by his cock, and the next moment she's crying in the closet upset about being showered in expensive clothes.
"The hospital did provide some mood stabilizers. They may prove useful in tempering her demeanor." the Master Beta responded. "Let's not forget that she has experienced extreme fluctuations in her hormones and that this may be playing a factor in her emotions right now. Now that she is marked, her affection towards you should only intensify." the ever present logic slipping out with each of Jacob's words.
"She wont take the medication willingly, not after you forced a needle into her arm." Mark said, showing a remarkable amount of thought that was not normally indicative of his character.
"She's in her first week of her cycle. Now that we know its her first heat, we can expect it to be intense. She will be hungry, and we can slip it into her food. She would be none the wiser." Jacob responded in his same usual even tone.
"Mary." Jason called out to the closed door she stayed behind since she came to reside in the home during Elizabeth's transition.
After a few moments of shuffling behind its depths the cook emerged at the table, "Yes Alpha?"
"I need you to prepare some food. Something sweet, something loaded with carbs." he said as he recalled other women's craving during the beginning of the cycle. "Something chocolate."
Her mind knowing instantly where he was going as she had overheard their mention of the young Mistresses heat. "I can make a double chocolate muffin, with extra chips?" she said as a suggestion.
"Yes. That would be perfect." he said agreeing wholeheartedly with her suggestion. "Mark, go get her medication." Jason said with a light glare in his eyes, still finding him irritating from earlier.
'Yes Alpha." he said as he took a heavy swig of the drink, and stood up from the table to run out to the car.
"And bring in the flowers." Jason shouted out to him before he made it out the front door.
"You got it." he did a small salute upon his exit.
"How much did you administer? How long will she be out?" Jason looked over to the Master Beta as he remained lost in thought.
"The muffins will still be warm by the time she wakes. I only gave her enough to stop the storm and provide her with some rest to ease the tension." Jacob replied. "Did the mating go smoothly?" he questioned looking at the Alpha, delving for further details into how the situation had turned.
"Perfectly." Jason replied in irritation, recalling the events and trying to discern where the change happened. "She was only upset that I didn't use a condom, she said she didn't want to get pregnant, but she was practically begging me to fuck her."
"Is she aware that you need an heir?" Jacob asked smoothly.
"I haven't discussed it with her, there was never an appropriate time to do so." he responded. "She took me by surprise earlier and I acted accordingly, Mark upset her."
"I noticed his eye. What did he do?" the Master Beta questioned as he looked at the front door where Mark had exited.
"He was being his typical asshole self, and made her feel like she was fat, or getting fat, or going to be fat... I don't know," he said in slight confusion with his hands going up in the air, "but it ended up working out in my favor... I'm still mad at the prick though." Jason said as he took a sip of the scotch, his hand no longer shaking as they seemed to have formulated a good plan to influence her behavior when she was to inevitably make the phone call.
"He should have known better. Shewolves are extremely sensitive in their first week of the cycle, he deserves the week of blindness you gave him." Jacob said with a nod. "However, it's good that she now bares your mark as a result of his prodding. We can begin to make preparations for the Luna ceremony so that you can introduce her to pack, maybe if she felt included by becoming a member, she would begin to become more accepting of her new environment."
"This should not be this hard." Jason said in frustration as he took another sip of the drink.
"No, but we're in an uphill battle when you consider her background. She seems to be doing as well as she can... and now that you've made your mark, you'll be more adept to handling her." Jacob said with a nod, relief in his eyes knowing that Jason would have a firmer grasp on his own emotions now the insecurity was gone of her being unmarked. He himself taking another draw of the pungent brown liquid.
Mark reemerged in the front door carrying five vases in his crossed arms with strain, depositing them on the table before handing the pills to Mary who studiously looked at the instructions on the label. He disappeared once more to grab the rest of the vases out of the SUV, as she opened the bottle and pulled out a capsule opening it up and spilling the powdery contents on the countertop where she deposited a finger in it and then gave it a faint lick. "I'll have to use dark chocolate chips." she said to herself out loud as she disappeared into the pantry, as if lacing muffins with mild sedatives was no big deal.
"I think you may be right on her needing to be included." Jason trailing back to Jacob's previous words. "She needs friends. Maybe some girl friends." he said in thought.
"She may benefit from having someone to talk to." Jacob nodded. "Now that she is marked, you could consider giving her a bit more freedom, maybe allow her out around the pack perhaps without you." he suggested mildly watching for his reaction. "It may help her from feeling isolated." he added.
"Not by herself." Jason said sternly, after her recent behavior between her incident that resulted in the hospitalization, and then the fresh episode in the closet, he had no trust he was willing to give her.
"Well... she seems to be fond of Joseph." Jacob replied receiving a hardened stare from Jason immediately.
"She slashed her arm from wrist to elbow under his care." his words were heavy and stern with disapproval.
"I think we can all agree that we were rather uneducated when it comes to your mate and her accompanying attributes..." the master beta responded coolly trying to appeal to Jason's senses. "And from what I understand, she already looks to him as a friend. You wouldn't want to take that away from her as she's currently in such a fragile state."
Jason hated how Jacob could reason with him so smoothly. He hated that he was right and could persuade him of it so effectively. He still hated Joseph with a burning passion, but if he removed one more thing from Elizabeth, it would assuredly not go well.
"Maybe he can show her around the grounds. Introduce her to some people." the Alpha mumbled in consenting agreement.
"I think that would be wise." Jacob nodded, wording his response as if Jason had come up with the idea on his own.
"But if anything happens to her again under his watch, I will fucking kill him.... and you will not be able to stop me." Jason said sternly looking to Jacob who recognized that he was in fact dead serious.
"Nothing will happen." Jacob replied smoothly, looking back at the opening front door as Mark returned with the rest of the vases. "In fact, lets return to the topic of the ceremony. I feel like that would be a more than appropriate place for us to start. The pack has been waiting for several years for you to adopt a Luna, and they would shower her with excitement."
"Everyone except Amber." Mark smirked as he returned with the final three vases of roses and deposited them on the table.
"Why are you still breathing?" Jason said to the beta with a hard stare, a harsh intensity laced in his eyes.