Mediation 101

Adina’s POV

As the cars drove away, Adina turned to Mateo and Jason.

“Is it okay if I borrow your alpha for an hour or two?” she asked. They both tried their best not to smirk.

“Of course, luna” Mateo said, startling Adina by using the title she would hold if she was to stay in the pack.

“Okay you two, kitchen,” she said to Colin and Sean, making it clear this was not a request.

Colin closed the distance to her and let his arm slip around her waist as they walked. It was a nice habit, Adina thought. Sean was walking behind her on her other side. As they entered the kitchen, she pointed at the island where they had been sitting eating their lunch.

“Sit,” she said, waiting for them to comply.

Colin hesitated. Adina understood. He was an alpha. He didn’t take orders.

“Please,” she added with a smile.

This made Colin move to take a seat. Adina went around the counter, placing herself separate from the two men.

“We need to solve this, whatever this is, between the two of you. Sean and I will stay here for thirteen months,” she started saying, earning her a growl from Colin. “At minimum,” she added.

“I can’t have you two almost shifting, threatening to tear each other to shreds. So, let’s put the cards on the table and see what we can do. Colin, Sean has been my bodyguard for fifteen years. He is used to being with me were ever I go, he is used to protecting me. Sean, Colin is my mate, and he is an alpha. We both know he will be protective of me.” Adina continued.

“Are you going to send me away?” Sean asked and Adina understood the underlying fear in his question, even though he had asked it in a way that sounded void of feelings to outsiders.

“No, Sean, no one is going to send you away. You are family,” Adina said firmly. “Right Colin?” she added. Colin turned to face Sean.

“Yes, if Adina says you are her family, you will always have a place here. No one will send you away,” he agreed, earning him a smile from Adina.

The more she learned about this giant, gorgeous man, the more she liked him. She could see the relief on Sean’s face.

“Good, so let’s set some rules to make life easier. Colin, Sean and I already have a rule and I need you to respect it. When my life is in danger, his word is my law. I listen to what he tells me as he will keep me safe,” Adina waited for Colin’s reaction. She could see that he didn’t like that.

“I will not take orders,” he snarled.

“I am not asking you to, Colin. I am just letting you know that I have no problem taking orders from Sean in a situation like that. He has always kept me safe when I have done so before.”

“You will be under my protection. You are my mate,” Colin insisted.

May Selene save me from male pride, Adina thought with a sigh. Maybe it would be easier if they just took out their male parts and measured them, she thought. That train of thought led to her thinking of Colin’s male parts, that led to a naked Colin and that was a dangerous area, so she quickly tried to refocus.

“Of course, but Sean will protect me as well. Don’t look at it as competition, look at it as help. As a team effort. If I was in danger, wouldn’t you let the pack help protect me?” she asked and got a nod from Colin.

“Well, look at Sean as a highly specialised pack member to help you with that. Sean, you will need to let me and Colin have some space. I know, I know,” she said, raising her hands towards him before he could speak.

“You are here to protect me. But I’m safe with Colin. Colin is never to be seen as a threat to my life. Is that clear?” this was important to establish.

“Yes” Sean said.

“Good, progress. When I’m with Colin, I’m safe. You don’t need to watch me when I’m with him. But I’ll still need you when Colin and I are not together, and I need you as my friend,” Adina concluded, and looked at the two men.

Neither of them was completely satisfied, but not completely unhappy either. Compromise at its finest, she thought as both men nodded, and relief flowed through her. She smiled at them and walked to stand beside Colin.

It felt like too long since she had felt his touch. He obliged without her needing to say anything and pulled her into his lap. She made a surprised little squeal and was proud to see that Sean didn’t react at all. This might just work.

“What do you want to do for the rest of today? I need to train the newest batch of teenagers, and then I was thinking of showing you around the pack. We were planning a small dinner tonight, just the ranking members of the pack and their mates. But if you are too tired, we can skip it,” Colin said. Adina shook her head.

“No, it’s fine. I would like to meet them. I think I will unpack, but I would like to go for a tour as well,” Adina answered.

“Your whish is my command,” Colin said with a smile. “You can come down to the training ground when you are finished unpacking. It’s just behind the pack house. If you haven’t come down when we’re done, I’ll come and get you,” he said.

Adina stood up from his lap and nodded. He stood up and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, which made her long for more, before leaving. Adina needed a couple of seconds to gather herself before turning towards Sean.

“Should we unpack your things or my things first?” she asked.

“Let’s start with you,” he said and Adina realized how strange it was that they would live in separate rooms. Usually, they unpacked together.

They went up to Colin’s apartment, Colin’s and her apartment, she corrected herself. She had little to unpack. She tried to travel lightly and minimize the belongings she had. When you needed to move regularly, it was just easier that way.

She felt creepy opening doors and trying to find places to put things. It felt like she was snooping or invading Colin’s private life. She discovered that one door in the big room, the one that was next to the kitchen, led into an enormous bathroom.

The walls were decorated with rough black stone, and the floor was tiled with grey slate. There was a big shower, a double sink, a bathtub big enough for four people and a toilet.

The other two doors, in each corner on the same wall as the bed, led into a walk-in closet. Half of the closet was empty, so she started hanging her clothes there. She didn’t have that many items, so it looked kind of pathetic. But she was satisfied with not having to have her clothes in a suitcase.

Adina was arranging her few mementos and knick-knacks she had gathered during the years on a shelf in the bookcase that had been empty. Sean was handing them to her from a small bag.

“What are you going to do?” he asked.

He didn’t need to explain. She knew what he meant, and Sean was one of two people that she could talk to about this.

“I need to get him to understand why I can’t stay,” she said.

“And you are sure you can’t stay?”

“Of course I’m sure. I want to, I really, really want to. But I can’t risk it.”

Sean understood, he knew why she wouldn’t risk it. He had been there for her nightmares. He had comforted her when she had slipped into the corners of her memories that she usually kept strictly locked away.

“What can I do to help?” he asked.

“I need you to help me not to change my mind. If you see me falter or go weak, I need you to remind me why I can’t. I don’t trust myself, not with this. My feelings for Colin are strong and they are getting stronger.” Adina said, well aware of the burden she put on Sean’s shoulders.

He nodded.

“What is it like?” he asked.

“It’s like nothing I have experienced. When our skin touch it is like pure magic dancing over the skin. I have known him for less than six hours, but I feel like a piece of me is missing just because he isn’t in this room. I feel like I can trust him and that I can tell him things,” she tried to explain.

“And the… physical part?” he asked with a smirk, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Pervert,” she laughed, punching him in the shoulder.

After finishing unpacking Adina’s things, she asked Sean if they should go down to his room, but he said he could do it by himself later. Instead, they headed down to the training grounds.

The training grounds comprised of a large gravel field with a couple of sparring rings on the side. Sheds stood to the side, presumably containing training material, Adina thought.

It looked well maintained and even Sean looked impressed. They stood to the side and watched as the group of teenagers trained.

Sean’s POV

Sean stood by Adina’s side as they watch the younglings train. He could see that alpha Colin had them on a good starter training. He reluctantly found himself agreeing with the instructions the alpha shouted out.

Sean was divided in what to think of the new development. On one side he saw Adina’s point. Her having an alfa for a mate, would complicate things. But he had also seen the way she acted around the alpha. No one knew Adina the way he did, he could tell that she was already falling for her mate.

A part of him was happy for her, she deserved a loving mate and the safety of a pack. Another part of him feared what this would mean for their relationship. Adina had said that Sean would always have a place in her life, but would that be the case?

“He knows what he is doing,” Sean grunted to Adina.

“Yeah, but I don’t get why he is forcing that poor girl to train. It looks like she will do more harm to herself than any attacker would,” Adina said, worried.

“She will learn,” Sean shrugged. He saw the advantages to teaching all teenagers to fight. It trained not only their body, but their discipline.

Colin’s POV

Colin was shouting at the teenagers to focus for what felt like the hundredth time, when a hint of lilacs and lemons came drifting in the air. He turned around and saw Adina standing to the side, watching them.

That woman took his breath away, he thought as he watched how the wind had loosened a strand of her blond hair from her braid, making it flow freely in the light breeze. When he made eye contact with her, she smiled and he returned it without thinking.

He forced himself to turn around and focus on the young wolfs. Ever since he left her in the kitchen, he had missed not having his arm around her. Her waist was just made for him to have his arm around and his hand fitted perfectly to rest on her hip.

With a new effort, he tried to force all thoughts of Adina out of his mind, focusing on what was going on in front of him. One of the she-wolfs had just tripped on her own feet and landed hard on the ground. Colin sighed and made her do laps.

Twenty minutes later, and the training was finally over. Some of the young wolves were getting the idea, so he at least could have hope for them. But a couple of them would never be warriors. Colin sent the teenagers away and could finally go to Adina.

His wolf seemed to settle down when he got close to her, and he put his arm around her waist and drew her to him in a hug. She put her arms around him and hugged him right back. He put his nose at her neck and drew in a breath. He felt content.

“What do you think of our future warriors, little dove?” he asked as he took half a step back.

“Most of them look okay, but the girl with the blond hair in braids doesn’t seem to belong on the training grounds,” she responded. He felt proud that she had spotted the trouble Felicia seemed to have.

“Does everyone train to be a warrior?” Sean asked.

“No, everyone needs to go through basic training as a way of learning to defend themselves. But it’s up to the individual if they want to train to be a warrior once that is finished,” Colin explained and got an approving nod from Sean.

“Do you handle all the trainings?” Adina asked him as he led them around the training grounds, away from the pack house.

“No, Jason handles training. He is our best fighter, besides me, of course,” Colin added with a smile.

“But I like to handle the training for the teenagers when I can. It gives me an opportunity to get to know them and see what personality they have,“ he continued and got a bright smile from Adina.

“Do you train, baby?” he asked.

“Two to three times a week or Sean would kill me,” Adina answered, and Colin liked that. His wolf was thrilled that his mate could take care of herself.

“We usually train in private at least one time per week because of Adina’s… unique fighting style,” Sean added.

“You should join us next time,” he continued.

Colin was surprised by his invitation, but quickly accepted. Adina looked happy that Sean and Colin had put their differences aside. If Adina was happy, he was happy, Colin decided. If Sean made her happy, then Colin could live with having him around. He looked to be a skilled fighter, if nothing else.

“Would you like to come down and spar with our elite warriors some time?” he asked Sean and got a sunshine smile from Adina.

“I would like that,” Sean replied, and he and Colin talked about what type of fighting style the pack used as they walked.

“This is the pack hospital,” Colin said, nodding at a small, square, building.

It was painted white and had a flat, slightly tilted roof. In front of the building there was a small parking lot. A sign on the side of the door showed a red cross with a stencilled wolf's head in white in the middle of it.

“It’s not much, but our pack doctor, Doc, and two nurses make sure we are taken care of,” Colin said. Adina looked at it curiously.

As they turned and headed down the road towards the village, they heard running and Colin tensed for a moment before catching the scent of Mateo and his mate Julia.

They both came out of the woods wearing their workout clothes. It looked like they had been out running.

“Exercising?” Colin said to his beta, that were panting.

“Yes, Julia wanted to go for a run together,” Mateo answered.

As Julia was a human, the two of them couldn’t go running in wolf shape, but Colin knew they often went running in their human form.

“Julia, you haven’t met Adina, my mate, and her bodyguard, Sean. Adina, Sean, this is Julia, Mateo’s mate,” Colin said, introducing the newcomers to the small woman standing next to his beta.

She had short, brown hair, cut in a pixie style. Her eyes were chocolate brown, and she exuded an air of fragility.

“It is an honour luna” the small woman said, bowing her head to Adina.

Colin was happy with how quickly his beta’s mate had accepted the life in the pack and had taken to their customs. Adina gave her one of her sunny smiles and greeted her. Colin had felt a small squirm from her, as Julia had called her luna. She would get used to it, he thought.

“I’m giving our newcomers a tour of the village. Do you want to join us?” Colin asked. Mateo looked at his mate.

“We would be delighted to, alpha,” Julia said with a small smile.

Colin knew he still made her nervous. But as they started walking again, everyone relaxed and soon Julia was pointing out some of her hangouts in the village to Adina.

The village was quite large and had several shops containing everything from clothes to hardware. There were restaurants, a movie theatre, a coffee shop, a library, and a pub. The main street was lined with businesses. They were all in small, two-storey houses. On each side of the main street, the residential areas of the village stretch out.

“About one-third of the pack lives in the village and the packhouse,” Colin explained.

“The rest are scattered in houses throughout the territory. There are some smaller groups of houses in other parts of the territory, but they mainly comprise of five to ten houses. Nothing like this,” Colin continued as they walked down one side of the main street.

People that they met took a respectful step back to let them pass, bowing their heads at the alpha and curiously looking at the beautiful woman that he had his arm draped around.