5 - Assertive

~Weston’s Point of View~

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” I said, getting to my feet and putting my arm around my mate.

Ohh she was pissed, and it was so hot. Yeah this little scheme of ours was pretty underhanded, and extremely ballsy, but it was perfect. It got her out of her room, we got to meet the parents and she was now super pissed and looked sexy as hell in the process. All in all, mission accomplished.

Her mom couldn’t be happier that she’d be settling down and her dad couldn’t wait to tell everyone she was mated to Alphas. They could have really cared less about us being star athletes, apparently human sports aren’t that big a deal in her pack. Lenox and I had time in the car so we’d made this whole presentation on how to talk to her dad about it, and it was a total waste.

“It makes … something all right,” she said, smiling at her dad, who was holding one of her baby photo albums.

“The shot of you peeing trying to get to the potty on time was just precious,” Lenox said, standing. 

“By the time she got there she was done going,” her dad laughed. We laughed right along with him.

She audibly growled and I’d never been more turned on. The entire way here and even meeting her parents was like a sick foreplay for us. PIcturing her pissed in the car for over two hours with nothing she could do about it? Ohh yeah. Better than scoring a winning touchdown.

It was even better when we got here and her mom said she’d left her cell phone at her sister’s place. Her dad didn’t even carry one. So needless to say, they weren’t even tipped off that we were coming. All the pieces just fell together. Meant to be!

“In … the house … please,” Cade said, clearly seething.

I glanced at her parents and they were too happy to notice or care. I had to imagine this was a very, very big deal for them.

“Anything for you sweetie,” I said, putting my arm around her waist and leading her in.

Lenox was fast behind us and I could practically feel the anger radiating off her. We were desperate to get her shifted, then her wolf would take over and she’d have no say. She’d absolutely submit to us. Part of that felt like it was taking her choice away, but it's just biology. You can’t fight what the goddess has chosen for us. I really believed that. She didn’t want us to reject her so why not move it along?

We made our way into the kitchen, where we’d just helped her mom make fresh squeezed lemonade while we talked about how Cade was in high school. Her many accomplishments and her good grades. No sports at all, but I guess we weren’t too surprised.

Her mom made it quite clear she was not happy with how much her daughter dated now that she was in college, but she knew that would stop now. She knew we’d make her a proper mate. If she only knew our past, fuck I hoped she never did. Whatever Cade’s lifestyle, I was more than certain ours was far worse. The three of us were going to have a clean slate of sorts.

“Are you donkeys mentally ill,” she snapped, getting in Lenox’s face.

He smiled and crossed his arms. 

*Fuck she’s sexy,* he said, over mind-link.

*Absolutely,* I said, wondering how much we should push her.

Lenox rarely had limits, he pushed all boundaries. I did too but I knew when to stop. I knew when it was too much.

“No, just itching to meet the fam. We’ve already told our parents about you, it crushed us to find out you were hiding us, sexy pants,” Lenox said, batting his eyelashes.

I laughed and shook my head. He should have been an actor. Our parents were thrilled though, and they wanted us to bring her home right away to get acquainted with the pack. So we set something up.

They absolutely would never understand Cade having a reluctance to being Luna. Hell, we didn’t fully understand it. A million she-wolves would kill to lead the Moon Bay pack. We were right between the most beautiful coastline you could imagine and a major city. You really got the best of everything.

“Hiding you?! It’s barely been twenty-four hours! I still can’t even… I can’t even… Ugh! Freaking males,” she said, throwing her hands up. 

Something came over me, watching her squirm, watching her breathless. I couldn’t stand it. My body demanded more, it needed it. My skin felt as if it were on fire, my mind raced with what she’d taste like.

She wasn’t dressed up by any means and her hair looked a bit crazy. Maybe she’d napped while she was in her room. She was still absolutely the sexiest female I’d ever seen. I like maps, they were kind of my thing. I needed a mental map of Cade’s body, I needed the blueprint of her in my mind.

*Kiss her, kiss her! She’ll want it once she feels us,* my wolf, Everett pushed. 

My wolf and my brother’s were almost total opposites, but amazingly in the day since finding our mate they had almost flip flopped. 

I stepped forward and put my hands on her waist, catching her off guard. I locked eyes with her and watched as her lips parted, unsure what to do. I pulled her tight and moved my right hand to her face, holding it as I gently touched her lips to mine. 

Lenox wanted to fight over who would get to kiss her first, taste her, be inside her, all that. I said we should let her decide, but he pointed out if we waited on her it might never happen. I ended up thinking about that too much, but my wolf agreed with my arrogant brother.

*She just needs to know what she’s missing,* Everett insisted, as I began to slowly move against her softness.

She stood stiff, not moving or doing anything. She wasn’t pushing me away, or slapping me so that was something right?

My body came alive, more than I’d ever felt. Feeling our breath mingle, our chests against each other. Our skin together, meant to be. My mate, my world now.

*Jealous. Dick, if I tried to kiss her you’d tell me I was being too much,* Lenox said, over mind-link breathing my concentration.

*You wouldn’t be sweet like this,* I said, still kissing her, even if she wouldn’t kiss me back.

*I can be sweet,* he mumbled.

We both knew that was not his strong suit. I was the oldest twin, by seven minutes and he could never get over that. While my parents always treated us as equals and we would be Alphas together, he always felt I held some made up advantage. 

I finally pulled back and waited with baited breath as her eyes met mine. I succeeded in making the mouthy reporter speechless!! I’d call that another win for our side. But I hated all this tension between us, I needed her to talk to us. 

*Compliments!!! That’s what they all want,* my wolf said, beside himself.

He had a point, yeah … compliments. But would she even accept them or just call me names?

*Well you have to mean it, be sincere,* Everett said, as if he were a damn love coach.

“You’re so beautiful, Cadence,” I said, stroking her hair. I kept direct eye contact.

She abruptly grabbed my hand and pushed it away. She then stepped away from us both and put her back against the fridge with a mean scowl.

“This was pretty low, coming here. I can’t believe you did this,” she said in a low whisper, clearly pissed.

“You wouldn’t talk to us, so we had to take action,” Lenox said, taking a step closer. 

“And what in your little caveman minds made you think this would make me come around? This just made our situation infinitely worse,” she whispered, crossing her arms and looking away.

“Are you embarrassed by us,” I said, cocking my head to the side.

I could never accept that, surely she couldn’t be. We were from an amazing family, an incredible pack. We were smart, good looking, had a ton of friends who would do anything for us. Granted the idiots at school were just that, idiots. But the people back at home were real, genuine. They cared about who we were, they didn’t just see us as jocks with money. 

Our dad had a massively successful construction company, and both my brother and I majored in architectural design with business minors. I was much more of a dreamer, I could draw anything and see the big picture. Lenox of course was the mouth, the salesman. He could sell ice to an eskimo without a doubt. But he was amazing with people, he helped dad with a lot of the hiring and HR stuff. He just got along with everyone. 

Our younger sister Brianne was still too young to help much, being only 15. She was more into computers, graphic design. Not drawing with a pencil and paper like I do. Which is usually not something a lot of females take interest in but my parents encouraged her. If Cade thought she couldn’t have it all, we’d just have to show her she could.

*She doesn’t know all that about us,* my wolf said, making a good point.

*She would if she read our interview, the one we spent HOURS perfecting,* I snapped back.

“Not embarrassed just… I can’t get my mind around this yet. I have ambitions, dreams of my own. I can’t accomplish all that if I’m stuck in a damn packhouse making sandwiches and wiping snotty noses. I never wanted that for my life, I want to work, live in the city. I want my own identity,” she said, as a tear fell down her cheek.

My wolf rumbled in my chest, demanding I comfort her. I couldn’t give her what she was asking for, neither could my brother. This was her destiny, caring for our pack. She could have a career of sorts, but she would not be able to live in the city, live … without us.