Bonded ✔️

Chapter 9

Jonathan quickly went into crisis control mode. He pulled one of the arm chairs over to my side of the desk and sat with his knees inches from mine. He grabbed my hands in a fatherly embrace, and looked at me with a reassuring eyes.

"There's no need to panic yet, but there's also no way I can tell you if this is the right or wrong decision right now," he stated calmly.

My mind was torn. On one hand I was optimistic that there was a possible way for Lincoln and I to be together. Comparatively, this entire thing could blow up in my face if it didn't work out exactly the way I had planned. 

"Rowan doesn't like any of it," I sighed. Any chance of this working hinged on the fact that I had my Beta's support. It was unlike him to get so angry with me.

"He is a temperamental young man, but only because he cares about you. I will talk to him after we finish here. There's no excuse for the behavior he exhibited earlier," Jonathan's voice hardened at the end of his statement, and the soft grip he had on my hands tightened slightly.

As a former Beta himself, he understood the toll that the position took on a person. He had guided Rowan when I first appointed him, and had remained a constant advisor for both of us since then.

I looked at our hands, and I started to feel my eyes well up with tears.

"I just really wish my dad was here," my voice was thick with emotion. I pulled one hand from Jonathan's grasp to wipe the evidence of crying from my face.

My father had been an good man, but an even better Alpha. His decisions were always swift and concrete. They never held traces of uncertainty, because he never doubted his abilities.

I knew that he would have been able to evaluate this situation and come up with a foolproof strategy to overcome it. He wasn't here though, and that responsibility fell to me.

Clearing my throat to remove the tightness that had arrived with the thoughts of my father, I began to explain, "Basically, if this works out I'll be out of the hot seat for awhile. After I mark him, the pack will see that I am in control of the situation and not him."

"Even though it would help you, it may not be good for his relationship with his own pack. You have to remember that his people have to respect him too," Jonathan cautioned in response. I nodded quickly in reply.

"I'll tell his father the truth. I backed him into a corner, and it was either let me mark him or face rejection," I stated as if it was the common sense answer.

Jonathan shook his head in contemplation, "I don't think that will be a good enough reason for his pack. You know it's not traditional for the male to be marked first."

Again with the the traditions. I would never understand how my kind prayed to a Goddess, yet thought so little of the women that surrounded them daily.

"Once I've marked him there's no going back. I don't mean to sound selfish, but if his people reject the explanation he can just come here. He won't be Alpha, but he'll be mated to one. Females from strong bloodlines do that all the time and live happy lives," I countered.

My argument was valid, and I'm sure that some of the Luna's in the region would agree because it had happened to them. It probably would have happened to me if my father had been able to have a son before my mother died.

I stood from the chair, letting Jonathan know that I was going to find Lincoln.

I worried that his quick agreement earlier was due to his wolf's desire to complete the bond, and not because he had really given it enough thought.