The Unlikely Mate

Chapter 33

Jennifer, Lennox and Jackson sat at a table in the pack house, now accompanied by Alpha Dante who had recently arrived. Jennifer was feeling back to her normal strength, having healed almost completely from the wounds she'd sustained in her fight with William. Lennox was also healing quickly, the cuts and bruises he'd sustained now barely visible.

"Tell us what happened, how did this all start?" Dante asked, looking between Jennifer and Lennox.

Jennifer knew this conversation had to happen. She knew that her alpha needed to know about her involvement with a Werewolf Council member, who she had just killed. She also knew that he would need to know about the human beside her, who had helped. She was nervous about explaining everything to him. They all knew Lennox was a hunter and had killed a few werewolves, but he was her mate, and she would do anything to protect him.

"William and some of his cohorts attacked Lennox and his fiancée in the woods, a couple of years ago" Jennifer began to explain.

"They killed her and left me to live" Lennox replied. "When I woke up in the woods, she was gone. Nobody would believe me about what had happened. So I took matters into my own hands."

"And you're part of an entire community of hunters, who are trying to kill us all?" Dante asked accusingly.

"Not anymore" Lennox said, with a glance over at Jennifer. "Everything I knew and learned about werewolves stemmed from that incident. As I hope you can understand, I had no idea that werewolves like you all existed. My only exposure was to William's friends, and the ones who let the attack happen."

"How did you get involved in all this, Jennifer?" Dante asked her directly. "Why was William so obsessed with bringing you here?"

"After meeting William at the council, he got a ride with us out here, as you know. We started chatting and he asked me out" she replied sheepishly, avoiding looking at Lennox.

"Jennifer, what were you thinking? What about your mate? You'll meet him some day, and you don't want to have that kind of baggage." He said, with a genuine effort at friendly advice, while still feeling somewhat responsible.

"I know that you and I considered dating, before I found Jade" he continued, at which point Lennox took a sharp look at Jennifer, the jealousy showing plainly on his face. "But, that was hard enough knowing we'd only kissed. I'd hoped you'd realized just how important it is to reserve intimacy for only your mate. And why on earth, did you mark a human?"

"Ahem" Jackson interrupted, recognizing that Lennox and Jennifer were both becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation. Dante stopped speaking and looked at everyone staring back at him, and realized that he was missing something.

"What?" he asked. "What am I missing?"

"I wasn't concerned about the mate-bond" Jennifer replied quietly, staring at her shuffling fingers on top of the table.

"Why not?" Dante asked her with confusion.

"I knew my mate was already dead" she said softly, without raising her eyes. Lennox then put one of his hands on top of hers, immediately bringing her comfort.

"What are you talking about? Who was your mate?" Dante demanded of her.

"I was mated to Luther. He rejected me before I joined your pack" she said, now looking Dante in the eyes.

"Oh my Goddess" Jackson muttered under his breath. Dante was too shocked to reply.

"That's why you weren't healing, after he died, isn't it?" Jackson asked, his voice full of compassion.

"Yes" Jennifer replied.

Once that thought had registered, Dante continued with his questions.

"So what about you two? How are the two of you mixed up together in all this?" he asked.

"She threw up on me" Lennox offered with a smile at Jennifer.

"What?" Jackson asked in confusion.

"I walked into the restaurant where she was working, and she threw up on me. That's how we met" Lennox said.

"There's obviously more, please keep talking" Dante requested.

"He's my mate" Jennifer finally said, looking back and forth between Jackson and Dante. She knew it had to come out, but was afraid of what they would say. She'd never heard of a werewolf being mated to a human. It especially didn't make sense, because she'd already had a mate. She didn't know if Dante and Jackson would believe her, and if they did, she didn't know what they would want to do about it.

Dante looked surprised, but Jackson just smiled and nodded his head. "I knew it" he said smugly.

"You should have seen them, Dante" Jackson said as he turned to face his alpha. "Jennifer was fighting William, but Lennox was helping. Then when Lennox was fighting him, Jennifer was throwing the punches. I don't know how else to explain it."

"Wait, you're telling me that you have a second mate, and that he's human?" Dante asked Jennifer. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm positive" she said, and she turned to smile at Lennox, who was still holding her hand on top of the table.

Jackson and Dante looked at each other for a few minutes, and it was obvious they were having their own conversation, via their mind-link:

"What do you make of all this?" Dante asked.

"I've never heard of anything like it, but it's legit" Jackson replied. "I have no doubt they're mates, and the way they fought together after Jen marked him, they're going to be incredibly powerful together."

"I can't believe she was mated to Luther, and never said anything" Dante said, a new sense of understanding having developed for her.

"She's been through a lot, and most of us never knew anything about it" Jackson said.

"So what now?" Dante asked. "I'm going to have to fill the Werewolf Council in on all of this. From William's malfeasance to this... a second-chance, human mate."

"Do they need to know all of it?" Jackson asked.

"Maybe not everything, but they're going to find out. This isn't the kind of thing that can be hidden. Besides, everyone here saw them fighting" Dante replied. "On top of all that, there still isn't a leader here. And things are even worse, since William's time here. They're going to want me to find someone else to step in as leader."

"Yeah" Jackson said, having noted the mass pandemonium and chaos among the ranks, having talked to many of the pack members after William's demise, as they awaited Dante's arrival.

"You know, she was meant to be Luna of this pack" Jackson pointed out. "She was mated to their Alpha, by the Moon Goddess."

"Do you think she's ready for that?" Dante asked.

"Alone? Probably not" Jackson replied. "But she's not alone anymore" and he nodded toward Lennox.

While Dante and Jackson had their conversation, Jennifer and Lennox were having their own. It wasn't like the mind-link, with actual words and direct communication, but it was similarly effective. They were able to express emotions and feelings, which can sometimes be even more effective than just words. They're bond was real and genuine, put in place by the Moon Goddess.