Jealousy Can Be Flattering

Chapter Twenty

After the odd little interlude where I relived a seemingly harmless moment from my childhood, things got weird. I immediately denounced Matthew as my mate, releasing him from the false bond. The moment I'd said the words a strange thing happened: the mark on his shoulder disappeared. Before our eyes it faded away in seconds. I even ran my fingers over the spot just to be sure, but it was gone.

Matt left after that and we just kind of fell apart. Obviously without the mating bond holding us together we wouldn't be a couple anymore. There wasn't that mild tugging that drew me towards him anymore, no guilt when I spoke to other males. For the first time since I was six, I was free to do my own thing... mostly. I still had to act within the parameters of the pack, but I wasn't walking around with this weight on my heart, knowing that I loved someone who wouldn't love me. And even when we ended up together, beautiful as it was - damn, I honestly missed it so much - it just wasn't right.

A few days later, the Alpha held a meeting of his highest-ranked wolves. Of course that included his Betas, Jean and Gavin, as well as the thirds, Dominic and Bernadette. Jared an Paul were not present. They discussed the running of the pack, patrols, weak points in the boundaries, which wolves could be recruited into certain positions within the pack. All of this I appeared bored with and played on my phone. In reality I was making notes on the little details that the hunters might find useful. Finally came my chance to ask a question I'd been dying to know the answer to.

"What happened to the school after the attack?" I had asked. And there came the explanation from Dominic.

"We have considerable influence in the media and local authorities. Living longer than the average humans has it's perks. We managed to keep the story quiet and contained."

"But, what about the humans who were present? And the kids who were injured?" I asked, unsure.

This time, it was Jean who spoke. "That is a concern of ours of course. Most of the teachers got the students to safety before anything major happened. Moran does have a contingency in place-"

"Which he still refuses to share with us!" Her husband, Gavin interjected. Jean silenced him with a pointed glare.

"As I was saying, Moran has a contingency in place in case of accidents like this. So far we've had no students going home telling their parents about us so we've had no reason for complaint." Jean continued.

The Luna spoke up, calm and authoritative, "There is an option we should consider, however." She said, pausing as though the others already knew and would object, but none did. "We need to close the school to humans. It's becoming far too dangerous for the human children."

There was a roar of argument which I couldn't make sense of. Somehow these morons were against the idea. After a few minutes of shouting, standing and slamming hands on the tables like barbarians, the Luna taking it all with quiet grace, the Alpha stood and roared his command for silence. It was Joel who stood and addressed his mother.

"Mom, how can you suggest this? So many wolves find their mates in humans! You take away the humans in our schools we lose the chance of finding our mates!" He said rather emotionally.