Althena

39. Contracts

Mike and I make love in the morning. Then we make breakfast.

He wraps his arms around me from behind. "You're doing good with all the changes."

"I'm still me. Nothing has changed with that... Honestly, I'm ready to go back to Crystal Falls and put this behind me."

"You don't want to get to know him?"

"No. He killed my mother. He sentenced me to a life I didn't deserve. What did they have that my mom and I didn't? Why did he choose them over us?"

"You would have to ask him, baby."

"No answer would be good enough. He wanted them. He has them. I want to go back to Mystical Moon. Spend some more time with my grandma before I go home. How did you get here?"

He kisses the back of my neck. "Chris had him send a plane."

"Sorry I didn't think of that."

"You were in shock, baby. I got to you. That's all that matters."

"Am I enough for you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to leave me for someone else?"

"I will never leave you. I am yours forever. Nothing could make me change my mind."

"I'm the same age she was."

"I know, babygirl. But we are not them. I am not him. I want my mate. I will settle for nothing less."

"What if it's not me? I'm not old enough to feel the mate pull."

"You're mine. The day in the woods, with my mom. The first time we met Phina."

"Yea."

"She showed me something. It was us. I know you're mine, baby. I had to wait for you to grow up a little more, but we have us now."

"Did she show you anything else?"

He nods and stares at the counter for a minute. "There's more."

"What is it?"

He acts like he's picking his words very carefully. "You have more mates than just me."

"What?"

"Sometimes, people can have more than one. It happens on occasion. We can ask your granny or some other elders. They would know more than I would about it. I'm sure they've known people."

"How many more?"

"You'll have 4."

"Who are they?"

"I don't know."

"How do you know there are 4?"

"I could see them."

I pick up the spatula and point it at him. "But you don't know who they are?"

He takes it away from me. "Easy. We're talking."

"I'm talking, and you're not answering questions."

He hugs me. "I could see them but not clearly. I could see us clearly, and I know you're mine. We can figure the rest out."

"Anything else?"

"No. That's all she showed me."

"Are you certain they were my mates?"

"Yes."

"This is weird."

"Go sit down, baby. I'll bring you some breakfast."

I need to go talk to granny and Phina. They probably know things. And Phina probably knows more than what she showed him. I know he won't lie to me, but this is...

"Why is she in shock again?" Chris is snapping in my face.

"She'll be ok. Still working through everything." Mike puts a plate in front of me. "Eat, baby."

"I want to talk to Phina."

He nods. "We'll go to Mystical Moon after breakfast. Maybe we can catch their morning training too."

I stare off into space for a while. Then we go to training. I give up trying to focus on martial arts and go to granny's house. Her and Phina are making sticks fly around the yard.

"What in the world? It about stabbed me."

"I'll show you how to summon a shield, sweetie. Put it around the pumpkin."

Sure enough, there's a pumpkin in the middle of the walkway now. After some trial and error, I get a shield around it. Then they start trying to stab it with floating sticks.

"What did you need?"

"I have 4 mates?"

"Yes."

Granny falls down a step. "What?"

"She very clearly has 4 mates. I don't know who they are though."

Granny crosses her arms. "You're lying."

"I'M NOT TELLING. YOU CAN'T MAKE ME."

"AT LEAST TELL ME, YOU OLD HOOT."

"YOU'RE THE OLD HOOT. AND I'M NOT TELLING."

I scratch my head. "You?"

Granny hugs me. "I'll get it out of her."

"Is it normal?"

"It's going to be normal for you. The Moon Goddess gave you 4. That's the way it is. I've known people with 2 or 3. You're the first with 4."

"I've never even heard of it."

"It is rare. But it happens."

Granny nods. "So, who are they?"

"I'm not telling."

"At least give us 1."

"Mike."

"HE DOESN'T COUNT. WE ALREADY KNEW THAT ONE."

Phina rubs her eyes. "No. She's too young. She needs to meet and fall in love with him. I only know 3 of them. The 4th is not clear yet anyway."

"She could fall in love with the wrong boy."

"You know how it works with mates, Glinda. If we tell her first, they won't get to go through the journey of discovering their love."

"She can discover it after she knows who they are."

Phina waves her hand. "I'm going home. I'm not telling. Yes sweetie, you have 4. But don't roam around thinking every sexy man is your mate. Mates connect on a deeper level than just physically. Try talking to them."

Granny makes lunch then comes out with plates.

"So, 3 more. I wonder how Mike will take the news."

"He told me. I guess he's known since my 16th birthday."

"It must have been hard for him to stay back and let you grow up. But at 16, he could have been your boyfriend. I don't think it would have made that much of a difference. Especially, since he already knew you were mates."

"He was worried about it because he was so much older than me. It probably would have been fine if he was 17 or 18. But he was almost 22."

"I can understand now. People would have talked. I didn't think he was that much older than you."

"5 and a half years."

She starts throwing sticks at the pumpkin again.

I make the shield stronger so they ricochet off it.

Then Monte walks around the corner and gets stabbed in the arm by one. "I need to stop coming here."

"That's why your grandfather refuses to come over unannounced."

"It's probably fine." I pull the stick out and heal his arm.

"You're lucky she's here."

"Yea, thank you."

"No problem. Thank you for getting injured."

Granny cracks up laughing. Then she stops suddenly and stares at us. "I wonder if he's one?"

I back away from him slowly.

"One what?"

I back up to the steps and fall on my ass.

That brings granny out of her trance. "GO AWAY MONTE." She sends the sticks after him and he takes off running. Then she sits by me. "I don't think it's him. You were going to let him get hit with sticks."

"Yea, I don't think it's him. We don't have any chemistry."

"He did break up with his girlfriend when you showed up though."

"I think she broke up with him."

She thinks about it for a second. "I'll keep an eye on him. We'll figure it out."

"Yea. That's a good idea."

Chris sits beside me. He's laughing his ass off. "What the hell did Monte do? The sticks are still chasing him. They had to summon the Phina."

Granny smiles. "He was here. I think we're safe with this one."

"Yea, we're good. He's not my soulmate."

"If I'm your soulmate, the moon goddess made a hell of a mistake." He gets his phone out. "Wait. What?"

"Mike told me this morning, I will have 4 mates. Phina will only tell me about Mike. She won't say who the others are."

Granny nods. "We don't think it's Monte. She was going to let him get hit with sticks."

"Don't tell anybody though. I don't want people knowing this."

"Fair enough. Now I see why the sticks were chasing him."

I nod.

Then Jax is standing in front of us. "Why did..."

I jump up and throw up a shield around him as fast as I can. A tree bounces off it and lands beside him.

Granny points. "IT'S HIM."

"NO. YOU TRIED TO KILL HIM WITH A TREE. I'M NOT GOING TO WATCH SOMEONE GET SMASHED."

Chris nods. "That was a bad test. She would try to save anyone against certain death. It doesn't have to be her soulmate. Try the sticks again."

Sticks zoom towards him and he runs away.

I sit back down. "A few stab holes are fine."

"Yea, that just gives you something to heal later. We need to come up with a different test. I'll think of something." Granny goes inside.

"Oh yea, I was supposed to get you for a royal dinner again. We have to get ready."

A couple of hours later, we sit at the table. They surround me again and Monte joins us this time.

Then Clayton comes in and pulls out a chair for a girl to sit by him.

"Thank you, sir."

The asshole comes in and sits down. "What is this?"

"My date."

"You don't get a date for dinner. What are you thinking?"

"She gets to bring 5 dates. I can bring 1."

"You don't date. And nobody brings a date to dinner."

"She's not that much older than me, and she has a date." Clayton turns to me. "How much older are you?"

"About 6 months. He had both of our moms pregnant at the same time. Very classy."

"What?" The girl looks around all confused.

I jump up. "THE ASSHOLE AT THE END OF THE TABLE, GOT MY MOM AND HIS WIFE PREGNANT AT THE SAME TIME. THEN HE KILLED MY MOM AND MADE ME AN ORPHAN."

"Baby, calm down. Have a seat."

"I WAS JUST FILLING HER IN."

Clayton smiles. "This is my sister. We haven't known about her very long."

She looks back and forth at us. "You have the same eyes."

"We got them from the asshole." I plop down and cross my arms.

Jax fixes my chair. Probably so I can't jump up again.

"Oh good. We're all here." The queen w***e sits down. "How is everyone this evening?"

Clayton grabs his drink. "My sister was just informing us about how classy our father is."

"What?"

"He had you and her mom pregnant at the same time."

She is pissed. Her aura expands quickly. It's nothing we can't handle. But she is pissed. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

"Oh shit." Chris grabs Monte. "Block me. I'm not getting smashed this time."

"I DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS PREGNANT."

"YOU PICKED ME CAUSE YOU KNEW I WAS?"

"IS THAT WHAT HAPPENED?" I throw a plate at him before I realize I stood up. "YOU MAN WHORE."

"FUCK." Chris dives behind Conner and the girl jumps under the table.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU." The queen grabs a plate.

"I DIDN'T KNOW..."

"ENOUGH." Mike is standing up. His aura filled the damn room. "Calm down and everyone sit. In seats. Clayton help your date."

Clayton is sitting like nothing is going on with his drink. His date is trying to hide under the table.

Monte pushes Chris down. "Just sit."

"They are smashing me."

"There you go. You're fine." Clayton puts her on the seat.

Mike rubs his face. "We are going to let the man talk now. Let's hear his side and figure out what happened."

"We know what happened." I cross my arms.

Mike puts an eyebrow up and gives me a look. Then he helps me with my chair and kisses my head.

The asshole stands up. "I was with your mother. She was my soulmate. Everyone doubted it. They said she was too young. She wasn't royalty. She had nothing. Mary was born to be my mate. The contract was sealed before she was born. She was the daughter of the richest alpha in Darkburn. She was raised to be the queen. She knew what she was doing. I couldn't argue with that. The fact that I was in love with a teenage girl didn't matter. Mary was still made to be the queen. Born to be my wife. Everyone kept saying that my soulmate would never be Aurel. She wasn't royal. They thought she was a crush. They kept telling me to break it off. The future queen was waiting for me. When Aurel came of age and I felt the bond, I was so shocked. Everyone was wrong. She was mine. But they had told me over and over that I couldn't break the contract. The people deserved a real queen. I would be letting the city down. I refused the bond with Aurel. It broke my heart to do it. I didn't want to. And I had no idea she was pregnant. Mary and I were married a month later. We took our places as king and queen. As per her obligations, she had an heir."

Clayton rubs his eyes. "I need a minute. Do you even like each other?"

His mom nods. "We've grown to like each other over the years. It took a lot of respect and patience. We had met each other a few times briefly, before I turned 18. We were wed on my 18th birthday. I had no options. I always knew I would be his wife and queen of the city. I was brought up for those positions."

Mike nods. "The contract stated that you had to produce an heir?"

"Yes. I had 1 year or I would be replaced. I was pregnant within 4 months. I fulfilled my obligation."

"Did you know about his soulmate?"

"Once we had been married for a few years, he told me."

My dad rubs his face. "I was not a nice person to Mary at the beginning of our marriage. I blamed her for losing my mate. She was a true queen through it all. She never let on to anyone that was unkind to her. Eventually, I came around. I started treating her with the respect she deserved. It wasn't her fault I lost Aurel. I did that on my own. I'll never forgive myself. You look so much like her. I wish she was here."

The queen smiles and rubs his back.

Clayton stares at his mom. "Did you ever find your soulmate?"

"No. And I was marked on my 18th birthday. If I met my mate after I was marked, I wouldn't have felt the bond anyway."

I'm starting to feel bad for her. "Do you regret it?"

"No. This is what I was born for. I wasn't given any options. Nobody asked what I wanted. I was trained from the time I was a young girl about how to be queen. What would be expected of me as a wife. How to treat the king. What to do. This is the only thing I was born for. This is my place. It's all I've ever known."

My dad nods. "Mary is an amazing queen. She always has been."

She sits up. "Both of you will receive marriage contract offers. Clayton, we have already turned down hundreds for you. We would never ask you to accept them. But the choice will be yours. Once you turn into adults, we have no say."

My dad nods. "While you are under 18, you will not be signed into any marriage contracts. Once you turn 18, it's up to you. I would suggest waiting for your soulmates."

I get up and walk out. That was enough dinner. I go straight to the helicopter and fly to Night Stalkers packland. Then I run to the garden. I really need to think.