CHAPTER 28

Jasson leaned forward in his seat. "Then I accept your challenge."

Dean sighed. "You know the drill. Twelve weeks. Twelve weeks must pass before either of you can act on that challenge. Hopefully you can both come to an amicable agreement within that time."

"How many times does that actually happen?" she asked Dean, curious.

"More often than you might think. About forty-five percent of the time disputes are nothing but impulsive challenges that neither side particular cares to follow through with once their tempers have eased. Without that twelve week cooling off period there would be many pointless battles and many pointless deaths. So maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to placate the humans by forming a council."

Darryl snarled. "Unless within that time my nephew agrees to unite the pack, my challenge will be followed through. Those wolves are mine. And I'll very much enjoy taking those caves of yours. Maybe I'll even take your mate as mine."

Jasson's menacing growl had everyone jerking. Feeling him tense as if to spring, she squeezed his hand hard enough to cause pain – a sharp pain that would cut through the anger fogging his thoughts. She curled her upper lip at Darryl. "Call me shallow, but I do prefer good looking guys. And you…well it seems like the best part of you dried up on your mom's thigh." She probably shouldn't have found it so amusing that he didn't seem to be breathing, but, well, it was a bitch thing.

Dean quickly said, "Meeting over. Jasson, I'm going to ask you and your wolves to leave first."

"What do you mean first?" griped Darryl.

"In the interest of preventing confrontations from occurring, the protocol is to keep ten minutes between the time that each party leaves."

Eager to be away from Darryl before his wolf surfaced, Jasson stood upright, pulling Angelina to her feet. "Let's go, baby." Surprising him, she leaned against his arm, offering him support that he hadn't known he needed. "I'll be seeing you soon, Darryl," he growled, his eyes flashing wolf. The temptation to tear off his limbs and rip out his throat for trying to lay claim to what was his was riding Jasson hard. Satisfied by Darryl's nervous expression, he nodded and stalked back to the Toyota.

Once back on pack territory, Jasson closed himself in his office, needing that privacy to fight off the memories haunting him and the grey cloud that seemed to be hanging over him. Yeah he was a brooder. It wasn't the memory of his dad severely wounded that haunted him. Nor was it the memory of how many suddenly turned against him just like that. It was a memory of something far worse, something that he shouldn't be able to shove to the back of his mind to only haunt him from time to time. But he wasn't a person who 'felt' the way everybody else did. He knew instincts, he knew urges, he knew logic, but 'feelings'…not so much.

It wasn't that he was cold, just that he'd closed himself off a long time ago as what he now knew was a defence mechanism. It was most likely a bad thing and strongly linked to his underdeveloped conscience, but it was also one of the things that had made it possible for him to take on the responsibilities of Guardian at fourteen and get his pack through that difficult time of the banishment.

As usual, Daniel never left him to brood in peace for long. A knock on the office door half an hour later was followed immediately by Daniel's entrance. He was the only wolf who didn't wait for permission to enter, and he was the only one who could get away with it. "Are you done?"

"Is Greta back yet?"

"Got back about ten minutes ago. She's in the kitchen packing away boxes of some weird herbal tea. Um, I think you might want to know that on my way here I saw Angelina going to refill her coffee mug."

Jasson groaned. "Shit. Tell me they're not alone."

"Who do you think will start cursing first?"

Sighing, Jasson strolled out of his office en-route to the kitchen to rescue his mate from his rather antisocial, borderline psychotic grandmother.

"I don't like you."

Angelina almost laughed at the growling old woman sitting at the table. The second Angelina had entered the kitchen Greta had begun hovering around as Angelina refilled her mug and then perched herself on the counter, dipping mini cookies in her coffee. Going by how nosy Greta appeared to be, Angelina had been expecting her to ply her with dozens of personal questions. Instead, she had sat in total silence as she watched Angelina's every move, scowling the entire time.

Rather than irritated, Angelina found herself amused. Greta reminded her of her bitter grandmother. She also reminded her of Norman Bates' mother in Psycho. "Now that's not a very nice welcome for your grandson's mate."

"You might have gotten one if you'd been his true mate," she snapped, flicking her short fuzzy greying hair away from her face. "But you're not."

"No, I'm not."

"And I don't like or trust you one little bit."

Angelina gave a slight shrug. "I guess it's a good thing that I don't give a shit."

A dramatic gasp of outrage escaped from Greta. "How dare you speak to me like that! You will watch your language in my presence."

"Yes ma'am."

"This mating-for-a-deal wouldn't have happened in my day. I told him he didn't need a mate to build alliances – Darryl won't go through with his challenge. But did Jasson listen to me? Noooo. And now look what we've ended up with. A tiny little fart with a tarty tongue. All his life I warned him about power hungry females, but has he listened to me? Noooo. He's not only gone and brought one home, but he's mated with her. Well you just remember that you won't be here for long. And don't expect me to treat you as Guardian female. You're nothing as far as I'm concerned. Just some cling-on slut who wants a position she never would have had if she hadn't made a deal with my grandson."

Angelina cocked her head at the old woman. "So…the dead do contact us."

Greta growled and pointed at her. "I've seen your sort before."

"Really?"

"Common. Disrespectful. A hussy -"

"How did you know I was a hussy?" It was a strain not to laugh as the woman became more and more irritated by Angelina's lack of reaction to her taunts. Greta had nothing on her own grandmother.

"- and as if that's not bad enough, you're blonde. That's all we need, isn't it. A bimbo."

"Hmm. I really hope I don't sound condescending – that means talking down to someone – but, you know, you really shouldn't believe everything you think."

Another growl. "My grandson doesn't need a hussy."

"Well he must want one."

"He'll want you out of here as soon as he sees what you're really like. He'll sling you out. Yeah, and he won't be gentle about it."

"Oh I do love a rough touch," said Angelina dreamily.

"Think you're funny, do you? Think you're smart?"

"You want to know what I think? Okay. I think you've been behaving as mistress of the place because your Jasson's grandmother. You look at me and you see a threat to your lovely little world and you don't like it. Well I'll tell you something, Greta. If you think I'll be scared away by a sour crone who's so old she dreams in black and white then you're in for a massive disappointment. I made a deal with Jasson, and I'll be here until I've lived up to my half of it. In the meantime, feel free to keep up the insults and the intimidation techniques – all I ask is that if at any point it seems like I care please tell me because I really don't want you getting the wrong impression."

Greta, her face purple, slapped her hand down hard on the table. "That's it. Out. I want you out. Now." When Angelina just stared at her Greta growled out, "I. Want. You. Out."

Angelina held up her index finger. "Just give me a second. Attempting to give a fuck…Attempting harder to give a fuck…Sorry, there was an error. Fuck not given."