Uncle Anthony said something but I didn’t hear it at first. I turned to look at him, “What?” I glanced back but Beta Cain was gone. What the hell was that? A check in? “-Dessert.” I turned back to Uncle Anthony, “You want us to make dessert too?” He laughed, “I was saying, let’s race again to see who makes dessert but since you’re volunteering, nevermind.” I threw my head back, “Aw no!” I laughed and looked back at him, “Alright, what do you want and I’ll do my best to make it.”

We spent a couple more hours at the pool till about four then headed back to our rooms to shower and get ready for dinner. Abby and I made dinner. Uncle Anthony ended up requesting chocolate cake for dessert and it all turned out alright. Nothing like Aunt Lynelle’s cooking but still tasty. Over dinner we let them know about our change in plans to return home tomorrow afternoon. They were sad but were understanding albeit concerned after I declined to answer their questions. After dessert we said our good nights and headed to bed.

The next morning I woke to a knock at my door. I shot upright in my bed, my bicolored eyes wide and locked on the door as deja vu of yesterday morning flooded me with fear. After a moment the knock happened again, “...Yes?” I had been afraid to respond, hopeful that whoever was at the door would leave, “Miss Murphy?” My heart sank into my gut. It was that butler guy again. I pulled my covers up to my chin as if to hide myself from the person on the other side of the door, “Miss Murphy doesn’t exist thank you.” There was silence for a moment before I heard him clear his throat, “Miss Murphy, the Alpha and Beta have requested you.” I laid back down with a heavy sigh and buried myself under the blankets, “I’ll take a rain check thank you.” Then I heard the door open and I shot back upright, “HEY!” He stepped into the room, “GET OUT!” He shook his head, “I’m sorry Miss Murphy, I was given specific instructions to insist until you complied with their request.” I rolled my eyes and then laid back down, rolling over so my back was to him, “Best of luck to you then.” And I snuggled the blankets back around myself to further make my point.

It was quiet for a moment then I heard him move behind me. Good he was leaving. Then I was grabbed about my waist through the blankets, “HEY!” The butler heaved me up blankets and all and slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, “WHAT THE HELL!!! PUT ME DOWN!” He adjusted me on his shoulder, securing a firmer grip on me, “I was told to bring you by any means necessary Miss Murphy.” He then carried me out of the room and down the hall as I kicked and struggled against his vice grip on me. 

The next thing I knew I was thrown from his shoulder into a pile on the floor, “What is this?” I heard Cain’s voice followed by Tobias’ chuckle. Footsteps and then the blankets were peeled away from my face and I was greeted by Tobias and Cain standing behind him leaning over his shoulder, “It would appear this pile of blankets is our mate.” I glared up at them before yanking the bit of blanket he’d been holding from his hand and wrapped myself in the blanket as I sat myself up to a sitting position on the floor. My face barely peeked out of the blankets. They just stared at me with amused looks on their faces, “Well!?!...You got me here ‘by any means necessary’. What do you want?” Cain leaned over to look at me, “Why don’t you come out? We’d love to see your beautiful face.” I rolled my eyes, “No.” I was not coming out of the blankets and tugged them tighter about myself. I’m sure my hair was an absolute mess, not to mention, I wasn’t wearing a bra under the tank top I was wearing for a pajama shirt.

Cain crossed his arms, “Well, you’ll have to come out eventually. We have a meeting with the council in ten minutes.” My eyes went wide and shot to Tobias, “WHAT!?!” I stood up, the blankets falling from my head but I held them tight about my shoulders, “You guys couldn’t have given me a little more warning!?!” I put the sole responsibility of holding the blankets shut in my left hand while my right hand snuck out the top and started messing with my chaotic hair, “I’m not decent enough for such a meeting. Why couldn’t you guys have even given me twenty minutes!?!” Tobias, who was standing closer to me leaned forward pretending to try to peek in my blankets, “You’re not decent? A treat for us?” My right hand retreated back into the blankets, “NO!” 

A heavy sigh drew my attention back to Cain as he started unbuttoning his shirt. He took it off, leaving a black form fitting undershirt and offered it to me, “This should cover you enough for the meeting.” I eyed his offered shirt cautiously before finally reaching out from under my blankets to take it. I let the blankets fall around my feet and quickly flipped my hair over my shoulders to cover my chest while I pulled the incredibly oversize button up shirt on, “Oh!…smooth Cain.” I shot Tobias a glare at the comment as I buttoned it down to just below my belly button then tied the shirt so it was down to my hips instead of my knees. Then frantically started trying to brush through my red curls with my fingers. This was a task all on its own since my hair was very full and long. Tobias came over and started to gently try to help me with the otherside. I’d jumped at first before I realized that he was just brushing through my hair with his fingers to help me tame it, “I think this is good enough. We need to head to the meeting now.” I glanced at Cain who nodded. There were no mirrors so I just had to trust their word that I was presentable.

On the way there Cain and Tobias filled me in about the council. It was made up of both lycan and werewolf elders. The rare few werewolves who survive beyond their 60’s and well into 100 to 120 or so along with 300 or 400 plus year old lycans. All their survival and collected wisdom was what pack leaders for both werewolves and lycans would turn to for answers and guidance on things unknown. So, in a nutshell Cain and Tobias are hoping that at least one of them will have seen something like our situation at least once in their extended lifetimes.

When we entered the council meeting room, I followed Tobias and Cain in. Three walls of the room were lined with a raised platform so that we could only see the upper half of the council members who sat behind it. This set up left Tobias, Cain, and myself to tilt our heads to look up at them like they were judges and we were on trial. It really felt like this room’s design was meant to stroke their superiority complex they gained in their late years. It really made me feel even smaller than I already was. 

All eyes lingered on me before the first council member at the center in front of us spoke, “Alpha King Tobias, you rarely request an audience with us. Let alone on such urgency. What has brought this on and why have you brought a human with you?” His hair, much like most of them in the room, was white, his face weathered with an angry scar over a murky left eye. Tobias gave him a respectful nod, “The purpose I have requested you and the reason I have brought her here are related. My beta and myself have encountered something he and I have never even thought possible.” He gestured to me, “She is both, his fated second chance mate and MY mate.” Murmurs hummed about the room, “He and I are doing our best to cope and understand this but we wished to pull upon your great wisdom and experience to find out if any of you know how or why this could even be possible. And if you have any guidance on how we should handle this?” 

They continued to mumble and whisper amongst themselves, looking at me then back to each other. As we waited for some form of response from them, I finally really looked around the room. There were a total of nine of them but it looked like there might have been an empty seat, either someone who couldn’t make it to this meeting or a seat that had yet to be filled. But one thing was consistent among them other than white hair, they were all men. This didn’t seem odd to me since I understood that physically, even among humans, men had a tendency to be stronger and in this world hidden from human awareness, the dangers must have been far more threatening. Literally, survival of the fittest. 

The murmurs and whispers hushed, “Has she accepted you both as her mates? I see neither of you have marked her yet.” Marked? They can’t be serious. Is that a real thing? I thought that was just made up for fantasy books. I’d stopped reading such things once I learned of how real werewolves and vampires were. Though I’ve never seen a vampire. Aunt Lynelle has mentioned them in passing but werewolves and lycans are real so I won’t ignore the possibility of other creatures originally believed to not exist, “If she is Beta Cain’s second chance he should mark her before he loses himself any further.” Loses himself? He seemed a lot less…crazy or loony than I had originally been led to believe. I hadn’t thought about it since Aunt Lynelle had told Abby and me about him losing his mate.