It had taken a bit of wrangling, but Cecilia had gotten the three members of her own little pack seated around the table, food in front of them. Oscar had found a pair of basketball shorts to put on and sat next to Franny, one arm across the back of her chair, eating silently. Franny had her feet on the seat of her chair and her chin resting on her knees. Her usual pep seemed to have drained away. Hammer sat next to Cecilia, he stared at the plate in front of him, occasionally poking the omelet without actually eating.
Alright Cecilia, you were raised and taught to be an Alpha, to command a pack. And your little family is suffering right now. Time to put up or shut up.
Cecilia gave herself an internal pep talk as she surveyed the table. Oscar looked up from his food and meet Cecilias eyes. They maintained eye contact for several moments before Cecilia nodded. They had known each other for Cecilias entire life and had spent months together as rogue wolves, they knew how to communicate without speaking to each other.
Cecilia cleared her throat, Hammer and Franny both looked at her expectantly.
"Zachariah's actions this morning made it very clear he is not going to let things go as easily as I hoped. I think we can all agree he will not back down so we need to be prepared for whatever his next actions might be." Cecilia rested her elbows on the table and folded her hands together, "Part of that means laying everything out on the table."
Cecilia looked between Oscar and Franny, her eyebrows raised and a slight smirk on her face, "Would you two like to start?"
Franny blushed and looked over at Oscar, who was unfazed by the question.
"Seems like you already know." Oscar replied.
"Well, I didn't, until I saw you two coming in from your run last night."
"I told you she would see us Ozzy." Franny buried her face into her knees.
Oscar reached over and turned Franny's face toward his and leaned in. "And I told you I didn't care if she saw. I'm tired of pretending you mean less to me than you do. I'm tired of hiding. We may not be able to be together in the eyes of the pack yet, but I want to have the freedom in our home."
Before Franny could respond Oscar leaned over and kissed her, hard. Cecilia gave them a minute before clearing her throat.
"I'm not sure why you felt you couldn't tell me about being Mates, but it doesn't matter now. The four of us are our own pack, no matter what happens, we will always have each other." CR looked at Hammer making sure he was paying attention, "I will not let anyone hurt my pack or.... My Mate."
"You're saying I'm your Mate?" Hammer asked wanting to clarify. He had heard it multiple times this morning, but he needed her to be straight with him.
"I was going to tell you last night, but we got sidetracked. I'm sure you felt it when we first made eye contact. I don't know how it feels for non-wolves but my entire being knows you are my other half."
"It felt like pure magic." Hammer whispered, "Like I had put my whole body into a ley line and pure lightening was running through my veins. Mages don't usually find their Mates. Now that I think about it, two Mages together can have a chaotic type of energy. If is rare for there to be any actually long-term relationships in a Coven. This all seems so strange and fast."
"I'm sure it does. It's a wolf thing, we don't normally do slow when it comes to Mates. But we don't have to rush anything, look at those two. All I know is I want to see where things between us can go."
Hammer looked into her eyes, those metallic grey eyes that reminded him of storm clouds and thought about what he already knew about her. She had been through such horror but was still open, she had so much strength and power, but she was humble, smart, talented, tenacious, kind, protective, gentle, and sharp tongued.
Instead of answering Hammer grabbed the back of her head and kissed her, hard.
A minute passed and Oscar cleared his throat.
"Right, focus." Cecilia thought briefly about telling them about Hammers coven, but this wasn't the time and it was his story to tell.
"I created the potion that helped destroy your former pack." Hammer blurted out, "I swear I didn't know what was happening until it was too late. I'm so sorry."
Hammer looked at Oscar, ready for any reaction.
"Fate is a funny thing."
Well, he hadn't expected that one.
"Many things have led us here and the Moon Goddess has many plans. What I do know is that our pasts have brought us here, to our True Mates. That does not happen often. Better to focus on the villains of the present than the ghosts of the past."
The weight of Oscars words sank in, and the table was silent for a moment.
"Alright." Cecilia said, rubbing her hands together, "Zachariah."