Chapter 12 – The Alpha’s Defiant Mate Novel

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Jay-la POV

She was called to the conference room on Eric’s floor of the building, it was 11 in the morning and she had been back at work for just 2 days and she had been diligently trying to catch up on her case load. Although most of her clients had been very understanding of her situation as it was very public knowledge what had happened to her, Eric had published one of her photos of her injuries sustained. She hadn’t been all that happy about it and had only allowed the one where she was still fully clothed, the original photo of how she looked upon being rescued, before the police had stripped her down to document all the injuries.

Reporters were still camped outside her office building to try and get an interview with her, to which she had so far refused.

As she walked into the conference room she saw not only Eric Stanton seated at the table but also all the senior partners of the Law Firm. She drew in a steady breath when they all turned to look at her, some had pity in their eyes, others had admiration and a few didn’t seem to concerned at all. Eric nodded to the seat next to him, she walked over and sat down as was directed. “what’s going on?” she asked him quietly.

“Mr Browning is about to hold a live broadcast press conference, we as your attorney’s were informed by his attorneys to watch it. It’s about your case against him.” he informed her.

Jay-la froze, this was not going to be good, why was he even responding in the human world way, no wolf cared for that stuff. If it wasn’t wolfen society then it didn’t matter.

She had in all honesty thought he would just sever her tie with the pack and then let his pack lawyers sort it all out for him. Not wanting to deal with her in the human world, currently she actually felt safe, for if she suddenly went missing again or anything happened to her, it would all point directly at her Alpha and he would be dragged back into the human world spotlight of suspicion, be investigated again.

Jay-la knew he would not want that at all, this was likely going to be a blanket statement from one of his packs legal team in order to placate human world public opinion. She could only imagine his human world business’s had taken a hit, that his stocks in his companies had probably fallen as well, not that she was keeping track, in fact she had refused to watch the news in the past 10 days since her ordeal. Not wanting a reminder or recap of it, she had lived it, that was enough, and she didn’t want her children to have to see her in that state again.

The TV was turned on and to her surprise she watched as he strode toward the podium set up, outside the front of one of his business’s. Behind him in the background all wearing immaculate dark grey suits with black shirts and red ties, pack official colours, were Jackson, Stephen and Ethan. As he walked directly towards the podium she could see his muscles straining against his suit, he was wearing a black suit with pinstripes probably grey she couldn’t tell from here, a dark grey vest over a black dress shirt, that matched the boys suits and a red tie, his Alpha dress code.

Kora stood to attention her ears pricked up instantly and she too was watching. She had not gotten to see him that day, having been kept forcibly away due to the them being drugged with wolfs-bane and the use of silver cuffs. She whined as she laid eyes on him for the first time since leaving the pack. The father of her pups.

He was dressed to kill, that was for sure. No female reporter would ask him anything that would incur his angry look directed at them and that was how he most likely wanted it, he wanted all of them drawn to him she supposed, their lust and desire eradicating any torrid questions that might make him unseemly to the public eye.

He was clean shaven and his hear neatly slicked back the way he liked to wear it. He looked better with it slightly tussled she though absently, Kora agreed, Jay-la checked herself. ‘stop looking at him, remember what he did to you.’ she told herself internally also reminding Kora she could feel that her wolf was more interested than she should be, probably due to their connection through the triplets, but it must be kept in check.

He cleared his throat casually and tapped the microphone “I will make a short statement this morning regarding Miss Jay-la Freeman and what happened between us.’ he hushed the reporters with a simple wave of his hand as several questions were yelled at him from many reporters.

“Firstly I would like to apologise to my childhood friend. Yes, I have known Jay-la since we were small children.’

He was trying to establish a friendly long-time relationship with her and gain the reports trust she thought, sneaky bastard, but not to be unexpected. If she was his lawyer she would have suggested as much.

“My apologies Jay-la… Yes, I did send for you to return to our hometown, I however, did not order for you to be kidnapped, drugged or injured in any way at all.”

Jay-la snorted ‘yeah right’ she thought ‘I received that black envelope and the wolfs-bane inside it. Your intent was clear. Very clear’

“I was also completely unaware of your single mother status, as not having spoken to you in 6 years. If I had known you were a mother of 5-year-old triplets I would certainly have never, ever, sent men to bring you home…I would have come myself, to your very door.”

Fear was starting to creep into her every fibre, ‘he knows’ he was speaking directly to her, letting her know that he had fully investigated her and found out about the triplets, her children. His children. Their children. That she had kept from him.

“I did send 3 letters prior to this particular unfortunate incident, to request that you come home.” he went on “My intent was to simply discuss with you, your outstanding debt to my family in regards to us having paid for your Law School Tuition. Which was to be repaid by you by working in the Browning Corporations Law Department over the course of the first 5 years out of school. Which you agreed to do and even signed a contract for.”

Oh, his lawyers were good, they were trying to make it out that she was the one in trouble not him, redirecting the reporters’ focus to her and her outstanding debt that she owed to him. Bastard.

He produced the document which she recognised as the pack agreement for her tuition fees for 5 years’ legal work with reduced wages to pay the money back.

“Due to the current circumstances and the unfortunate and terrible incident that has happened, which deeply upsets me, I would like to take this opportunity to try and offer an olive branch to you. First, this contract, gone.’ she watched as he tore it in half ‘you owe me nothing, I consider your monetary debt repaid. I would not wish to cause you any more grief or harm by forcing you to repay this sum of money.”

“Secondly, I would like us, you and I, to sit down and mediate the current issue between us, please take into consideration our long standing friendship Jay-la…You know very well I never laid a hand on you. Your statement on record says as much. You fully acknowledged that all harm that was done to you, was by the men who took you against your will.

“Thirdly, I would like the opportunity to personally apologise to your children for any distress, or mental trauma they may have suffered due to your disappearance or your current injured state upon returning home. I am certain they were very upset and distressed and I would like to personally assure them I am of no threat to you or them for that matter, none whatsoever.”

Jay-la noted that his eyes never left the camera in front of him, a shiver ran down her spine, he was speaking directly to her, letting her know he wanted to come for his children, her precious babies. Not going to happen. If he forced the situation, it would all back fire on him, and the humans would all bad mouth him again, for they had human birth certificates and he was not on any of them.

“I’ll take questions now.” he informed the reporters.

“ You said you grew up as childhood friends? Is that actually true?” a reporter yelled from the crowd.

“Yes, Jay-la and I were once very close, indeed.” he smiled that devastatingly handsome smile of his, that could make any she-wolf or human woman’s heart melt and she didn’t miss the insinuation in his voice that belied they had had more then a friendship, implying with one sentence they were lovers.

“How close?” another reporter yelled out, a female voice.

“We dated for a time, just over a year if my memory serves me correctly.” his mouth twitched at the corner a suggestive smile.

“Then how could it come to this? Kidnapping and grievous bodily harm you’re charged with, yes?” a male reporter yelled.

His smile was gone in an instant, “Correct, those are the charges.” he did not deny it. “However, I would like Jay-la and I to sit down and mediate the matter as it is not what it seems. It is all a simple misunderstanding that can be resolved with common sense.” He looked right at the camera “Jay-la, please agree to meet me. All your lawyers are welcome. I will agree to any time and place that suits your schedule.” He then simply stepped away from the podium and walked away.

Jay-la watched as Jackson, Stephen and Ethan all followed him back into the building and out of sight.

Many eyes in the room turned to look at her. She knew what they wanted to know, so she answered them “ Yes, we went out for a while, it ended badly.” she stated flatly, for it had ended very badly. She had lost everything and he had gained everything. Even right now he was trying to take more from her, she wondered if he had told his Luna yet, or if she was still in the dark about his 3 pups.

The TV was turned off, Jay-la got up and walked away. She wished she’d never had to watch his press conference, he had used his sex appeal and his charm to sway the crowd, probably filled it with female reporters at his request. He knew he was devastatingly hansom and would use that to his advantage. All wolves do, it’s how they got away with things in the human world charm and sex appeal. Due to the constant training, most wolves had the body type desired by all humans. Trim taught and terrific, or muscled up to the hilt is what she heard most humans say. Humans as well as wolves loved a good six or eight pack abdomen and deep V-lines that dropped off down into their jeans. Drool worthy.

She walked into her office and stood staring out the window. It was an overcast day and there was no sun shining. Good matches my mood she thought absently.

She was not simply going to give up her children to him ‘No’ Kora agreed. She turned at the sound of her door closing and found Eric Stanton walking towards her. She knew she had left the conference room before they were done with their questions but she just didn’t want to deal with it, with him to be honest.

“Did I miss something? Or did I read between the lines correctly?” he stated without hesitation. Staring directly into her eyes.

“Now that depends on what you read between the lines, Eric.” Jay-la said calmly, he was no fool and she was certain he had picked up on the underlining tone of the press conference. Her children.

“Is Nathan Browning the triplets’ father?” Eric asked as direct as always. His grey eyes boring into hers daring her to lie to him.

“ Yes” she stated honestly, “I told you before I was kicked out at 20, that he was the one to remove me from the corporation. I did not know I was pregnant at the time.”

“Why didn’t you tell him when you found out?”

“He was getting married when he kicked me out.” she shrugged “I didn’t want to ruin that, that is not who I am. I honestly was happy for him.”

Eric stared at her for a long moment. “If you didn’t know you were pregnant, you can’t have been that far along, and you said he was getting married…how long between your relationship with him and hers with him?”

Trust Eric to pick up on that. “I’ll be totally honest with you, he broke up with me and was engaged to her within a matter of a day.” she sighed, it had been that quick, but in the wolfen society that’s just how it was. Once you found your Mate, nothing else mattered.

Eric stared at her completely shocked now. “No wonder it ended badly. I guess you did a lot of yelling and screaming.”

“No actually, I didn’t, we weren’t serious. I knew that, but unfortunately she slapped me in the face and I slapped her back. Hence not a good ending.” she shrugged again. She had spoken the truth.

“hmm…” he was thinking, his arms now folded across his chest, it was a good minute before he spoke again “So what response do you want to make?” he returned to his original reason for coming to her office.

“I don’t know yet” she walked over and sat down behind her desk “I need to think about it.”

“Do you think he’s going to order a paternity suit?”

“I doubt it.” It was clear he had no doubts about the triplets being his, a paternity suit was not necessary.

“A custody battle then?”

Jay-la sighed heavily and rubbed her temples, ‘not in the human world’ she thought.

‘ No, he’ll just come along and claim what is his regardless’ Kora piped up.

‘I know Kora, its just a matter of time. Unless we play hardball and stay publicly in the human world’

‘Then stay we will. Hardball it is’ Kora huffed, clearly willing to fight for her pups, even against an Alpha. Kora was just as defiant as Jay-la was herself, she and her wolf were well suited to each other.

“Jay-la?” Eric’s voice interrupted her internal dialogue with her wolf.

“I don’t know, he’ll probably wait for my response before making a decision. He is very careful in his decision-making process and he will be tactical in his approach. He’ll want to make sure it’s all in his favour before starting a battle of any kind.”

“Give it a day…or 2 or 3, to come up with a response to his press conference.”

Jay-la chuckled “Make him sweat, you mean?”

“Yes, let him get annoyed and aggravated, it might just show his true colours to everyone watching.”

“Alright, I will think up a response.” she nodded and watched as Eric walked out of her office.

‘Just don’t piss him off Jay-la’ Kora huffed ‘this is a battle, but technically we can’t win it.’

‘I know. He’s an Alpha and has all the power in wolfen society, but Kora, we are in the human world and only so much weight can he throw around without outing our kind.’

‘Do you really want to go to battle with him?’ Kora asked and Jay-la could feel the worry ebbing off her wolf, she was currently pacing around in her mind as she tried to decide what course of action she would agree to go along with.

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