Shackled to the Crown

Chapter 1

"You are not serious thinking of putting that monstrosity up, are you?" Tristan raised an eyebrow at Tiff as she stood will a large bunting banner that read 'Happy Anniversary' on it. It was a hot cerise pink colour, with a yellow fancy trim.

"Of course I am," she scoffed as she wobbled a little on one leg on the step ladders.

"It's god awful!" Tristan frowned, moving over to stop her.

Tiff kicked at him to get him to back off, but he grabbed her leg and pulled her expertly off the ladder, catching her before she could hurt herself.

She struggled wildly trying to get away, "Get off me!" she cried, "You're going to tear it!"

"That would be a mercy!" Tristan retorted as he tried to get the banner off of her as she flailed it around out of his grasp.

"It's a good thing I know you're gay, or I could have totally misread that situation from what I just heard," Nick chuckled from the doorway.

"Nick, you're the Beta, tell her that this," he snatched the banner from Tiff's hands, getting an angry 'Hey!' from her, "Is tacky and should not be put on the wall."

Before Nick could even comprehend the situation Tiff stormed forward, snatching the banner back from Tristan and waving it at Nick.

"This is a lovely colour, great make and is not at all 'tacky', tell the decorating guru over here to step off!" she cried, shooting daggers at Tristan.

"At least I have taste!" he muttered.

"Are you saying I don't have taste!" Tiff swung around looking like she was ready to knock his head off.

"Whoa, whoa, let's all just calm down," Nick stepped between them holding his hands up to stop them fighting, "Do the decorations really matter?"

"Yes!" Tiff and Tristan chorused incredulously at the same time.

Nick backed off a little, feeling way out of his depth, "Okay, well, what's wrong with the banner?" he asked Tristan.

"Have you seen it?" Tristan stared wide eyed at him, "It's terrible."

Nick looked at the banner in Tiff's hands and pulled a face before turning his gaze up to Tiff, "It is a bit... much," he admitted.

Tiff's face turned red and her eyes narrowed, knowing all too well what was about to happen, Nick braced himself for the explosion.

"A bit much?" she whispered angrily to start off with.

"Oh god," Nick breathed as he took a few steps back.

"A bit much!" she screamed, marching forward like she was about to murder them both where they stood, when she stopped dead in her tracks by the sound of someone coming towards the lounge.

"What's going on in here?" Michael asked, as both he and Jemma appeared in the doorway, still in pyjamas and looking very tired.

The arguing must have woken them up.

All three of them slapped smiles on their faces and Tiff quickly forced one end of the banner into Nick's hand and quickly unfurled it.

"Happy anniversary!" they shouted trying to sound as chirpy as possible, despite the disagreement only moments ago.

"Aww guys!" Jemma gushed as she ran in and hugged every one of them, "You remembered!"

"How could we forget our Alpha and Luna's anniversary," Nick smiled.

"I love the banner," Jemma commented as she hugged Tiff, earning Tristan the middle finger from Tiff behind Jemma's back.

Tristan just pouted and looked the other way.

Nick couldn't help but smirk at how childish they were being, as he walked over and patted Michael on the back.

"Three years," Nick commented as they watched the silent war between Tristan and Tiff while Jemma was totally oblivious.

"Doesn't feel that long," Michael replied, smirking at the scene before them.

"Plans for today, Alpha?" he asked.

Michael thought for a moment before he sighed, "I think we might have a relaxing day today," he said, "It is a special day after all."

"Ta-da!" Tiff produced the most vibrant cake Jemma had even seen from behind her back.

"You baked this?" Jemma asked, staring at her best friend.

"I baked and decorated this," Tiff said proudly.

Jemma could tell.

Pink was the main colour of the icing, which was typical for Tiff, but it wasn't some sweet pale pastel pink, no, Tiff had picked the most vibrant, putrid hot pink.

She had done a lace effect with the white icing, which for a first attempt really didn't look too bad, a bit saggy and lumpy in parts, but overall a good effort.

The writing was also in white and again, wasn't terrible, some letters were a bit smudged or overlapped but otherwise it was readable.

'HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ALPHA AND LUNA! 3 YEARS TODAY!'

The cake itself looked a little sad and a little drooped, probably from the weight of the amount of icing Tiff had layered onto it.

"It looks amazing, Tiff!" Jemma forced a smile; it wasn't that she wasn't grateful, just the gaudy icing that was really throwing her off.

Jemma grabbed her morning coffee off the counter top and took a sip.

"What is that?" Lily asked screwing up her face as she walked into the kitchen wearing only her bathrobe. Teagan quickly followed behind her, eager to get a glimpse of what she was looking at.

"That, is the cake I made for our Alpha and Luna's anniversary," Tiff snapped back at her comment.

Lily's face quickly dropped, "Sorry, Beta," she said respectfully to Tiff and then turned to Jemma and bowed her head, "Happy Anniversary, Luna."

The anger radiating off of Tiffany could still be felt in the air, but Jemma stepped in before Tiff could open her mouth again and cause a scene about the cake.

"How about we get take out for breakfast?" she suggested.

"I'll pay," Nick said as he entered the kitchen obviously sensing the building rage within his mate.

"Sounds good," Lily chirped quickly, throwing yet another apologetic glance towards Tiff

The lazy day passed by without incident. Tiff managed to stay pretty calm for the rest of the day and the pack spent some quality time together.

Jemma knocked on Michael's office door before entering.

He was sat browsing through some paperwork with his feet up on the desk.

He glanced up and smiled when he saw Jemma enter.

"Do you really need to do that today?" she asked, frowning at him.

"We have a meeting with Brent tomorrow," he sighed, rubbing his face in frustration, "I want to make sure everything is in place and ready for his arrival."

Jemma rolled her eyes and walked over, she put her leg over Michael and sat on his lap, straddling him and forcing the paperwork back onto the desk before giving him a serious look.

"It's the evening of our wedding anniversary," she folded her arms across her chest.

"I know," he rubbed her arms comfortingly, "I'll be done in about an hour, I swear."

Jemma raised a brow at him, "No, you'll be done now," she retorted and the wiggled suggestively on his lap, "Your Luna needs attention."

Lust filled his eyes as he looked up at her and his hands moved to her waist, but he seemed to be trying to control himself, "My Luna will get attention," he promised, "But for the moment, I need to work."

Jemma pouted and wrapped her arms around his neck and leant in, "Brent doesn't even like us anyway," she argued quietly, very much willing him to give up on the work for the evening.

Michael's lips thinned before he answered, "I know, but we need to try and change that," he explained, but his will to work was fading, "His pack is the one closest to our territory and he has good numbers. We would do well to get an alliance with him."

"We're fine as we are," Jemma pouted, "We don't need any other stuck up wolves sticking their noses into our business."

It was Michael's turn to raise an eyebrow at her and a small smile graced his lips, "I'm glad you think so, but there are only eight members in our pack, not including us," he shook his head in amusement, "We wouldn't be able to fend off an attack, there are a lot of rogue sightings in the area and as you know, the neighbouring packs don't like us either, they may want to take the territory or drive us out."

Jemma's face dropped a little, she knew what he was saying was true.

The rogues hadn't really bothered our pack at all, but there had been a few sighting of them creeping about by our borders. In her opinion they were just curious or maybe scoping them out and the risk was low for the moment, but she understood that they couldn't be too careful where rogues were concerned. The other packs were just stuck up in her opinion; they had a really problem with their pack.

Michael had said it was mainly because of their honorary pack member. It was very much frowned upon to be involved with vampires, let alone let one be part of a wolf pack. Jemma didn't care though, Tristan was one of her best friends and he wasn't involved with any other vampires, he was solo and didn't behave like them at all.

The packs also frowned upon other things they did as a pack, such as the Luna being a turned wolf rather than born that way (even though she was technically born a half-wolf) and the Beta female was a turn. They also hated that their pack was so small with no intention of growing, but they were happy and content so screw the other packs.

"If they come for us, we'll give them everything we've got," Jemma said sternly, which caused Michael's smile to widen even more.

"And this is why you're my Luna," he pulled her in for a kiss, his work forgotten.

Jemma pulled away slightly just to say, "And don't you forget it," before deepening the kiss and making the most of what was left of their anniversary.

Jemma woke with a start, she was in her bed. She must have fallen asleep in Michael's office after their love making and he had carried her to the bedroom. What woke her though was the absence of her mate.

She turned over groggily and looked at the clock, groaning when she read the glowing dial that read 3:00am.

She pulled her naked self out of bed, donned her dressing gown and padded out of the room and down the hall.

The other pack members were all in bed as the house was calm and quiet.

She finally reached Michael's office door and the strip of light coming from underneath told her that he was in there.

She reached for the door handle and stopped herself.

Did she really want an argument right now? After the good time they'd just had?

No, not really.

Besides Michael was just doing what he thought was best for the pack, even if it did involve that smug bastard Brent.

She could hear him shuffling papers and a heavy sigh from the other side of the door.

It would be best not to disturb him, but she wouldn't be able to sleep without him by her side.

Making up her mind, she made her way down to the kitchen and poured herself a drink, originally planning on orange juice but in the end finishing the last of the open bottle of wine.

Even after the wine though she didn't feel like she would be able to sleep.

She walked out of the sliding door at the back of the kitchen and out into the grounds.

She shrugged off her dressing gown and hung it on a nearby chair on the porch before shifting and running off between the trees, hoping the fresh air would tire her out.

She also took the time during the run to mentally prepare for all the berating and condescending comments that would no doubt arise from the visiting Alpha tomorrow.

Hopefully she'd be able to control her temper.

Hopefully.