Chapter Twenty-Nine

Jasmine’s POV

If I had thought the news that the Alpha of the Midnight Wolves pack wanted to make me his mate would put an end to the looks of disapproval from some members of his pack, I was wrong.

Instead, after the public display Regan had made after I had given him the news of my acceptance, the looks of disapproval had grown.

I received glares wherever I went.

And despite the fact that some of the pack members had openly accepted, even going as far as coming to congratulate me, it didn’t reduce the heat from the glares I could constantly feel directed at me whence I walked into a room.

But I had Lena who was determined to shoot daggers at everyone who so much as looked at me in any way she didn’t like.

Knowing I had her undeniable support was a big help. Especially since I had decided to quit being sorry for myself or seeing myself as weak.

Even though it wasn’t easy, I walked with my back straight and head held high, not willing to give them the satisfaction of making them see that their treatment of me actually bothered me.

One she-wolf in particular did not make things easy.

She would always whisper to whatever group of she-wolves she was surrounded by, openly throwing me looks of anger and disgust as she did so, or saying something -probably insulting - and making the other she-wolves laugh at me.

I acted oblivious, simply ignoring them and acting like they could not exist.

The amusing thing about the whole situation was that I had never even recalled having a conversation with the she-wolf in question. I had seen her around in the pack but had had no reason to even speak or engage with her.

It was the new situation I had found myself in that made me aware of her. Or more specifically, aware of her obvious dislike of me.

“Her name is Sooni”, Lena had told me as we sat on her bed, in her room one night. “I don’t really know too much around her since we do not realize mingle. But what I know from rumors that floated around at the time is that”, she informed. “It turned out that her mate was from Blackmoon pack. Once she found him and found out that he was from Blackmoon, she rejected him instantly”, she told me. “Some of the pack members admired her for her loyalty since they all figured it wasn’t easy to reject your own mate. However, I had always been a bit suspicious about her true intentions. We get up together even if we were never friends and never spoke. You knew I would never say something bad about someone without reason but I never liked her. Especially how I once saw her try to throw herself at Regan and then Luke”, she said. “My instinct is always right about people, you know”.

I nodded at that.

I don’t know how, but Lena could feel if people were good or bad.

Just thinking about it sounded quite ridiculous but it was true.

“She is the one filling the head of the other she-wolves with ridiculous notions and rubbish”, she told me. “But until she has the audacity to walk up to you and say something about it, I would advise that you continue to ignore her and treat her as though she doesn’t exist”.

I had nodded and taken Lena’s advice knowing it was true.

Rather than continue to talk about that, we concerned ourselves with how we would convince Regan -and Rage by extension - to allow Luke train me on the art of combat in my human form.

We discussed it and agreed that it would be better to have the conversation with Regan in a place Rage would be calm.

Rage’s sanctuary.

Surprisingly, Lena had never been there before, but I was sure that I could convince Regan to bring her along.

It still seemed unreal that Regan wanted to be my mate.

But I was not going to question the opportunity the Moon Goddess had given me.

I was going to take it without regrets.

I met Regan at breakfast that morning and after pleading with him briefly, he agreed to allow Lena come with us to his sanctuary.

When I had told him to please bring Luke as well, he had narrowed his eyes at me for a moment before rolling his eyes at me and agreeing.

I had given him a kiss on his chin as a form of gratitude. One he took immediate advantage of and stole a kiss from my lips.

We agreed to meet just outside the woods in front of the pack house after the midday meal.

The last to arrive was Luke since he was always very ‘busy’, something he didn’t let us forget on our walk to Rage’s sanctuary.

It had turn out that there was a shorter route to get to Rage’s Sanctuary, Regan just preferred taking the much longer route -especially when he was in wolf form - since it was a good way to get Rage to calm down.

Rage loved runs. And giving him an opportunity to run before coming into his Sanctuary was always a way to enhance his mood.

However, since I couldn’t shift into my wolf form and Regan wanted me to become familiar with the way to get there quickly so I could go there whenever I wanted, we walked instead.

When we arrived at the sanctuary, Luke immediately went behind the large tree and shifted into his wolf, reappearing a moment later to take his usual position.

Laying beneath the tree.

Before Lena could look around and finish admiring the serenity of the place, Luke had fallen fast asleep.

Laughing softly at how that was such a thing Luke could do, I turned to see Regan seated on the fallen trunk of a tree and watching me.

He had been watching me as I watched Lena.

He stretched a hand out towards me for me to take and I immediately moved towards him.

I took his hand and allowed him pull me onto his thighs.

His arms immediately came to wrap around me and he buried his head into my neck.

Before I could loose myself in his arms, I turned sharply towards the sound of someone’s throat being cleared.

I had all but forgotten about her presence in the serene space.

She gave me a look that reminded me of our purpose for coming in the first place.

I withdrew from Regan’s embrace and he reluctantly let me go.

I moved towards Lena and took her hand before we both turned to face Regan.

He eyes out joined hands before looking up at us warily.

“Why do I suddenly have the feeling that I am not about to hear pleasant news”, he said.

Lena laughed.

“We are not hear to deliver any ill news”, she said.

“But I am not going to like whatever it is that has you both holding hands, will I?” He asked with a lift of one of his eyebrows.

She turned to me and we both smiled.

“It is only a simple favor we wish to ask, dear Regan”, she said.

He shut his eyes as if in pain a brought his hands to rub between his eyes.

“Nothing good ever follows you calling me ‘dear’, Lena”, he said.

“What is it you both want?” He asked directly.

“Well”, Lena said, drawing her words as she looked at me briefly. “I and Jasmine were talking. And we decided that as future Luna, it is important that she knows how to properly defend herself”, she said.

“She does not need to defend herself”, Regan said immediately, a frown coming to his face immediately. “She has me. She will always have me to protect and defend her”, he said firmly.

“I know that, Regan”, Lena said. “But you will not always be there at every moment to keep her safe…” she argued.

He cut her off immediately.

“I will always be there at every moment to keep her safe!” He snapped, rising to his feet in anger at her words.

“No, you will not!” Lena snapped back.

I had never seen her raise her voice at Regan before and simply stood in surprise, wondering how it had all gotten to that.

Even Regan looked momentarily surprised at her reaction.

“As much as I know you wish to believe that you will always be there, the truth is you will not”, she said. “You cannot control everything that happens in the unit no matter how much you wish it”, she told him. “It is impossible. And as much as you wish to keep her safe, I wish the same more than you can ever imagine.”, her voice started to sound shaky. “I have already lost one sister”, she said. “I will not loose another”.

I watched a tear roll down her cheek and felt my heart break at the sight.

I took her hand holding mine into both of me hands and squeezed in reassurance, trying to comfort her as much as I could.

Regan, on seeing her tears, moved from where he stood to take her into his arms and brush the tear away from her cheek.

“I just want her to be safe”, she whispered to him.

“I want that as well”, he said, placing a kiss on her head.

For a brief moment, I wondered if Luke was truly so deeply asleep that he heard nothing of what was going on, or is he just pretended to still be asleep simply because he did not wish to get involved with whatever was happening.

Knowing Luke, I was almost certain it was the latter.

“Very well”, Regan said, pulling away from Lena. “I will teach her how to defend herself”.

“That is another thing we wished to ask you about”, Lena said. “I know for certain that you will be a fine teacher to teach Jasmine on how to defend herself”, she flattered. “However, I believe that she should receive lessons on how to properly defend herself in her human form from someone who was used to defending themselves in their human form for quite a while before they had gotten their wolf”, she said, eyes straying towards where Luke’s wolf laid, feigning sleep as he pretended not to hear her subtle insult and teasing.

“Certainly not”, Regan refused firmly. “If there is anyone who will teach Jasmine then it will be me”, he insisted.

“You may teach her as well if you want”, Lena said. “But if she is to learn how to properly defend herself, there is no one better to teach her than Luke, and I am certain you secretly agree with me”, she told him.

Regan grew silent, obviously not liking the suggestion but having no choice but to agree to the wisdom of Lena’s words.

“As much as I hate to agree”, Luke’s voice came from behind the tree and we all turned to look at him as his head poked out from behind the tree. “Lena is right”, he said. “I can teach her thing you cannot possibly do. And you have my word that I will teach her all that I know and by the time she is done, she will best even you in her werewolf form” he promised.

Luke’s words were all we needed to succeed in convincing Regan to agree to our wish.

Seeing that he was clearly defeated, Regan hung his head and finally nodded.

“Very well then”, he said again before turning to look at Luke’s head sticking from behind the tree. “If she gets hurt in any way I will not forgive you”, he said.

Luke nodded his acceptance.

“I agree”, he said.

And that finalized the plan to begin my training.