“Bye, Luke,” my dad said, hanging up the call. I sat at the kitchen table, staring at the cell phone in my hand.
After some time, Blake walked in, checking the stove to see what had been made for lunch. He then turned to look at me and said, “What, did you knock someone else up now?”
“Fucking A, Blake. Did you know that Jasmine comes from a family of alphas?”
“What? No.” Blake raised his eyebrows, staring out into the distance. He then turned back to me and continued. “But it does make sense. That girl lifts and fights like a badass.”
I stood up, put my empty dish in the sink, and walked out of the packhouse. I got into my car to drive to my college classes. I was dazed as I drove, lost in thought. The community college was in the town near the casino, which was a bit of a drive from the pack territory. I couldn’t lie and say that I never once considered rejecting Jasmine. It’s not that there was anything wrong with her—no, she was perfect. It was just that I had already been in love with someone else when we realized we were mates.
When Jasmine and I were together, it felt like we were the only two people in the world, lost in each other. But when we were apart, I couldn’t help but long for Lucy. And now that she was pregnant with my pup—I would be lying if I said I hadn’t considered Lucy’s proposal to be a family. But I tried to brush my feelings aside and would now have to try harder. As I drove, my car alerted me to texts coming in from Lucy. I kept hittingIgnoreon my screen. She had been texting me incessantly since I told her I wanted to be there for her.
Once I parked at the community college campus, I pulled up my text thread with Jasmine and wrote,Have class and training today, but would love to see you tomorrow night:).
Immediately after, I pulled up Lucy’s frantic texts and began responding, assuring her everything would be okay.
Chapter 48
Jasmine
Ihadsignedupfor my weekly two hours of sparring on Friday morning. I arrived early, sitting down on the bleachers while I waited for the group on the field to end their session. I sensed someone sit down next to me. Blake’s scent alerted me to whom it was. I turned to look at him to see him smiling at me.
“Well, hello there, Miss Alpha.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“You didn’t tell me you come from a family of alphas. You’re just full of surprises.”
“Oh yeah, I always forget about that. We don’t really keep in touch with my mom’s side of the family. How’d you find out?”
“Luke told me.”
“Oh, I don’t remember telling him that, but maybe Lucy told him.”
“Seems like a pretty big flex for you to keep this hidden from everyone.”
“It’s not really a big deal. It’s not like my dad’s an alpha.”
“Still, it’s pretty fucking hot. Now I know where you get it from.” The bell rang, signaling the end of the current sparring session. Blake got up and put his hands out to help me up. “I can tell you that this alpha,” Blake pointed to himself, “can’t wait to see what Miss Alpha does today.”
“I didn’t see your name on the schedule when I signed up for this session.”
“There’s been some logistical changes.” He smiled, leading the way to the field and taking his place at the head of the group. Had Blake been trading places with trainers to spend time with me? My stomach fluttered at the thought.
Mygrandparentscameoverfor dinner that night. They had, of course, met Luke in the past, him being beta of the pack, but they were excited to finally meet him as my mate. I had let my family know that he would be picking me up for our date. My mom still wasn’t completely happy about the situation, but she did her best to hide her feelings.
I wasn’t looking forward to telling her about Lucy. People at temple had always gossiped about Lucy and Luke’s relationship, especially since they had always been so open about it, something that wasn’t common in our pack. Now that I was mated to Luke, I’m sure people had something to say about it and would have even more to say once Lucy was showing and everything was out in the open.
At six the doorbell rang, and my dad went to answer. He brought Luke into the living room where we were all sitting, waiting for him. My grandfather got up first and put out his hand. Luke extended his own hand to shake it.
“Congratulations, Beta. You have a good girl here. Jasmine was the top of her class in school and learned how to cook from the best—her grandmother. Of course, you’ve already met my mate, Mary.” My grandma got up and shook his hand next.
“Thank you both. I’m very lucky to have Jasmine as a mate.”
My dad nudged my mom to stand up and brought her over to Luke. “Miriam wasn’t available last time you came over, but she was very happy to learn that our Jasmine has met her mate.”
“Yes, very happy, Beta.” My mom put her hand out limply, a scowl on her face. Luke shook it.
“I’m so fortunate that the Moon Goddess thought I was deserving of Jasmine. I’m a lucky man.” Luke smiled at everyone.