Chapter 30

Jasper Hartford’s POV
Adam picked up a bottle of beer from the table and handed it to me before taking one of himself. He took a long drink from the bottle. When he had finished he let out a frustrated sigh and leaned against the table.
“Why do I feel so bad about this?” He asked.
“I don’t know, you do seem to like her a lot. Are you sure she isn’t your mate, the signs might be a bit different with her being human.” I suggested. Adam shook his head.
“I am sure. She smells nice but not enough for it to mean she is my mate and I have looked into her eyes and I didn’t feel that feeling of belonging that everyone talks about.” He said but he didn’t sound completely sure. I didn’t know how that was possible. I had known Lizzy was my mate, I would have known even if all the other signs were missing but maybe that is because I already loved her. Maybe there was one thing that would settle this uncertainty once and for all.
“What does your wolf say?” I asked.
“He won’t talk to me about her or my mate in general. For the last few months every time I mention my mate to him he goes quiet and stops talking to me,” He replied.
“That is strange, maybe we….” I started to answer before I noticed Frankie walking straight towards us. I knew what he was here to ask but this really wasn’t the time of the place, there were people all around us. I looked around for a secluded corner where we could talk but this wasn’t a large house and there wasn’t anywhere to hide.
“Jasper, has your father agreed to my request yet?” Frankie asked as he came up alongside us. Adam looked at me and raised one eyebrow. His suspicions were justified, usually an omega wouldn’t approach another pack member when they were in the middle of a conversation, especially not a ranked one. This was going to be difficult for me to explain.
“I have spoken to him, he will be in touch with you shortly.” I told him. My father hated what Frankie was doing but at the moment he had little option other than to cave into his demands. He was putting all of his hope on Lizzy accepting me and her wolf being strong enough to take the alpha position in a few weeks time. I don’t even know what he would do if that didn’t turn out to be the case.
“I hope so for your sake, you are running out of time.” Frankie said. The shock on Adam’s face turned to anger. This was bad, if he lost his temper with Frankie then he could make things much worse for the pack without having a clue what was really happening.
“You can’t talk to your future alpha like that.” Adam growled.
People from our pack glanced in our direction briefly before making themselves scarce. Nobody wanted to be close to me if I lost my temper. At least one thing was going my way tonight.
“My alpha, that is a joke. He’s no alpha.” Frankie replied with a laugh.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lizzy walk into the room, she smiled as she laid her eyes on me. It made me happy to see her but I didn’t want her anywhere near Frankie. Her training was going well and she was much stronger than she was three weeks ago when he threatened her in training. Even given her increased strength I didn’t want him close enough to touch her, I wasn’t sure I would be able to control my anger.
“You better not be upsetting my mate,” She said as she wrapped her arms around my waist. I don’t think she realised it but she was giving off a very dominant aura, strong enough to make Frankie cower and Adam take a step back. It didn’t have any effect on me because I am her mate but I could feel her dominance and it was turning me on. Garnet purred in agreement.
Frankie mumbled a few words and excused himself. We watched as he walked away but mind was completely on the woman standing next to me. She had grown so powerful recently that I was starting to believe my dad’s assertions that her wolf was indeed going to be an alpha wolf. It didn’t matter to me because I would love her regardless but my dad would be very pleased.
“My friends are sitting in the garden, I thought we could join them.” She said. I smiled at her and pressed my lips against her forehead before telling her to lead the way to the garden. As we walked through the house together I opened a mind link with Adam.
‘I think I need to explain a few things,’ I told him.
‘Her wolf is going to be stronger than yours isn’t it?’ he asked me.
‘Yes. How did you know?’ I had thought that I was doing a good job of hiding my weakness but apparently not. Did everyone know? Were they just watching and waiting for me to get weaker so they could challenge me or follow Frankie’s lead and extort me.
‘When you first turned eighteen I had a strong urge to protect her but over time that urge has faded. Now I have an urge to protect you.’ he said.
That is embarrassing. I have always been much stronger than Adam and now he felt like he needed to protect me. I could deal with being the luna while Lizzy was the alpha but this was going to be a harder pill to swallow.
‘Suck it up princess,’ Garnet said. He didn’t have the patience to deal with my ego.
Lizzy’s friends were sitting near the back of the garden on a large picnic blanket. They were sitting around the edge in a circle and in the middle there was a bottle of whiskey and various shot glasses. I sat down between Oliver and Lizzy. On the other side of Lizzy was Patti. Adam took the space between Patti and Bev.
“Where is Nico?” I asked. The last time I saw him was shortly after we arrived here. I had been so distracted that I hadn’t even noticed until now.
“He is probably screwing some random woman by now,” Lizzy replied. Oliver was visibly upset about something. He listened to what Lizzy said then turned towards Bev.
“That’s true. Why don’t you go join him?” he said.
“That is uncalled for,” Bev replied. The hurt was clear in her eyes, she looked as though she had been crying, her mascara was smudged even though she had tried to hide it.
“I think we should play a drinking game,” Patti suggested. She had adjusted her position and edged closer to Lizzy. She had also turned her body slightly so she was facing away from Adam.
“We could play never have I ever.” Adam suggested.
Patti mumbled in agreement but she didn’t turn to look at him.
“I don’t want to play this game,” Bev replied, pouting slightly.
“I can understand that, you don’t want everyone to know how much of a slut you are.” Oliver said, rolling his eyes. This party was starting to get awkward, there was so much drama and I wasn’t a fan of this kind of drama. It was one of the reasons I had never really dated before Lizzy. It was one thing to sleep with a woman but once you started to involve emotions that was when the real trouble started.
Adam took hold of the whisky bottle and started to pour shots for each of us. He passed them out to each of us in turn until he reached Patti. She was turned away from him so he touched her arm to catch her attention. As soon as his skin made contact with hers his pupils dilated and his heart rate accelerated.
“Whoa, do you feel that?” Patti asked, turning around to look at him for the first time since he sat down.
“Yes, I do.” Adam replied, smiling at her. Patti looked at him for a moment then turned away, shaking her head and mumbling to herself about how weird things were tonight. I couldn’t really argue with her on that one.
“Feel what?” Lizzy asked.
“When he touched my arm it felt all tingly,” she said.
All the werewolves around looked at Adam suspiciously. They were expecting him to claim her or at least make some move to do so but he stayed in place, watching her but not moving a muscle.
‘I thought you said she wasn’t your mate,’ I mind linked Adam.
‘I don’t know what is going on. I feel the tingles but they are faint. Could it be that there is something wrong with the bond,’ he asked.
‘I wouldn’t be so pessimistic, it could just be because she is human. We can speak to my mom tomorrow, maybe she will have the answers.’ I said. My mom was a bit of an expert when it came to love and mates, what she didn’t know wasn’t worth knowing. I was sure that she would be able to help. I closed off my mind link to Adam and pulled my mate into my arms.