Protect What Is Important

Damien stood there, staring at the woman as she continued to lecture the human on what he should and should not do around shifters.

He was pretty sure that he should care about how disparaging she was of other shifters, especially wolves, but at the same time, he understood it. She was a prey species so small that she could easily be stepped on and even potentially eaten.

The only way for her to survive until now was to be wary of everyone and everything. But that was about to change.

There were four of them now to protect her. She wouldn't want for anything. She could quit this waitressing job and live comfortably and happily with them for the rest of her life.

Hell, she could even bring the human with her if she wanted. While the pack might not be happy about it in the beginning, they would learn to live with it. After all, wolves were meant to protect.

And then it hit him. This vibrant, beautiful woman was his mate. He finally had a mate!

He was about to open his mouth and introduce himself to his mate's guardian when he heard him ask the million dollar question. "Are you going to tell me what happened last night?"

Damien turned his attention to his woman and watched as she cringed, looking more than a bit embarrassed.

"They came to the door just as I was locking it," she said, and Damien could tell that everyone inside the restaurant was leaning forward, eagerly anticipating her next word.

"These for?" asked Paul, raising his eyebrow as he glared at Damien, and the others.

"No, the stupid kids from before. You know… the lemmings that order for their girlfriends, only for the girlfriends to say that they didn't order that and for the plates of food to be sent back to the kitchen," sighed his mate… Adaline… looking decidedly unimpressed.

"Ah, them," grunted Paul. Lucien and Damien looked at each other. All of the pups that followed Jamie were going to be in for an intense training session. They would be lucky to escape with only a few broken bones. How could they think that it was okay to act like that in public?!?

And making their mate wait on them hand and foot? Nope, they weren't having it.

"So, they pushed their way into the restaurant and one of them locked the door behind them. I ran into the staff room and locked that door before getting on top of the fridge, shifting, and getting the hell out of here," continued Adaline so quickly that her words blended together.

"And when you got out of the restaurant?" Paul asked, once again raising his eyebrow to study the smaller woman. "What happened then?"

Adaline let out a long sigh and seemed to deflate in front of the man. "My mouse found these four waiting outside of the front door, realized that they were her mates, and crawled into one of their pockets to take a nap."

Damien watched as Paul pulled Adaline closer and into a hug before kissing her on the head. "There is a lot there that we are going to have to unpack, okay?" he murmured softly into her hair. "But thank you for coming home to me safely."

Pushing her back just a bit the human turned to look at Raphael, the gun now firmly in his hand.

"So, why were you outside when your little brother was inside terrorizing my daughter?" asked Paul, his voice calm and collected, even if his words were.

"We didn't know that they were inside," replied Raphael. While he seemed to not be upset on the outside, on the inside, his wolf was absolutely raging… and not because of the gun.

'Those pups could have taken her away from us before we even knew she was our mate,' growled the wolf. His white fur stood out like a beacon in the darkness of his mind as he paced back and forth. 'They need to be dealt with.'

'And they will be,' answered Raphael, keeping a tight hold on the wolf even as he felt his teeth lengthen and sharped inside of his mouth.

'No. Not by you. You are too soft to hurt your brother. Your heart is too big. You hate seeing anyone suffer. And for that, you almost lost our mate. What are you going to do when the females of our pack start challenging her?'

'It is their right. It is part of our law,' answered Raphael, not liking where this was going for a single second.

'Blah,' sneered the wolf, coming to a stop right in front of him. 'Laws are made by the alpha. If you don't want anyone to challenge your mate, then you don't let anyone challenge your mate. It really is that simple.'

'You don't understand how it works,' hissed Raphael for the first time. 'I will not become a tyrant like my father. I will not force my wolves to come to heal time and again. I refuse.'

'And that is why you don't deserve our mate.'

With those final words, Raphael's wolf disappeared into the darkness of his mind.

Raphael let out a long, frustrated sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I keeping you from something important?" asked Paul, his voice bringing Raphael out of his head.

"Of course not," replied the alpha, trying to take back some semblance of control. "Just having a conversation with my wolf."

Paul nodded as if he understood and then turned back to Lucien.

"You will sort those wolves out before I do," he threatened the enforcer. "I am not putting up with Addy's life being put in danger again and again. You want us to stay in the city? Then you make sure that those pups are kept on a very tight leash."

Raphael expected his wolf to come out of hiding to threaten the human for speaking like that about his pack, but all he could feel was an overwhelming sense of satisfaction and approval coming off the animal.

'He knows how to protect what is important. He is also willing to do it at the potential cost of his death. He might not have a wolf, and he might not be an alpha, but I respect him.'