Who is Magpie?

By the end of the dinner she was invited to tea with the Ashford family . They gathered in the different chairs in his office, finding they were one short and Ezekiel offering her his lap but Jessamine insisted on standing.

That didn’t last long as Ezekiel pulled her into his lap any way. “What? You were too far,” he replied when she moved to elbow him and he took it in the ribs.

“It’s inappropriate,” she hissed at him but Talia laughed.

“Oh dear, we don’t mind. Most mate pairs, especially new ones, are very affectionate, and with the week you’ve had you deserve to be where you’re most comfortable.” She smiled warmly at Jessamine as Ezekiel kissed her cheek.

Willow passed out the tea cups, first handing one to Jessamine. “So Jessamine, what are your intentions with my grandson?”

Jessamine nearly spat her tea, Ezekiel patting her on the back as she choked on the breath and the room turned to reprimand the old woman.

“It’s a fair question, and one you should be prepared to hear variations of going forward.” She paused to sip her own tea. “You heard them at dinner yesterday, you are in a place to be Luna to the Ashford pack. That’s a lot of power, and you will be questioned often because of everything.“

“You don’t have to talk about this now.” Tidas interrupted. “The last few days have been long enough. This wasn’t meant to be an interrogation, - mother.”

“She’s right though.” Jessamine defended. “But… it’s more complicated than that.”

“How is it complicated?” Talia asked, both as Ezekiel’s mother and someone who found their mate very young, as she reached out to hold Tidas’ hand.

Jessamine stood up, putting distance between her and Ezekiel so she could look him in the eyes. “You… I.. I can stand up for myself, I can defend myself, but you would have to choose me knowing that I don’t remember everything. Sev…. Seven-years-” She had trouble getting the words out but when she did she emphasized them. “-Is a lot longer than I thought it was.” She had hid her emotions well all day after Athena’s words, but now, alone with his family, it all came to the surface.

Ezekiel stood as well, moving towards her. “Jessa…”

“No its good this came up now. The Martin is planning something and I’m as much an asset as I am a liability.” Her wolf whimpered inside her, hating that she was pushing Ezekiel away. “I will stand by the Ashford pack, even if it comes to fighting them, but my alpha needs to know that they will use me to hurt you any way they can.”

“They won’t get their hands on you.” Ezekiel assured but Jessamine was shaking her head.

“I don’t mean just physical pain, that I could ...” Her face paled with her thoughts, glancing first at Ezekiel’s family and then back to him. “They keep everything. Paperwork, photos,… videos.. I’ve seen a few; part of this punishment, or that training lesson.” She lowered her voice. “If he would show it to my training group, he would send it to you.”

Ezekiel didn’t need to take long to think about it, he had been thinking about it continuously since the first morning she arrived. “The more of you I saw while the drugs left your system, the more there was to fall in love with. I’m not worried.”

She forced a side smile, but she didn’t believe anyone could still love her after what she had done. She had clasped her hands in front of her, tangling and playing with the digits to try and hide that they were trembling. Chewing on her lips as she pictured the few videos she had been made to see, and what others she believed they had.

“It’s one thing to hear it, but if you had to see me… destroy something, or kill someone,” She looked down, up to meet his gaze, and then down again. “Even a certain mission when I got the short end of the stick.”

Jessamine felt like she had stopped breathing. Nothing had ever wrecked her nerves like this, and she was terrified of looking up. Her wolf felt her own kind of self pity for not being present while they went through this.

As the silence stretched from one second to two, Jessamine felt her flight response taking over, keeping her head down she took a couple of shuffles towards the door. “Athena was right, and you didn’t do anything to deserve a mate like me. Just because you found me innocent doesn’t mean you need to accept me, I know of a settlement up north I can go.”

Her wolf begged her to look at him, needing to see his face, but Jessamine was scared. This feeling felt like a memory of a nightmare, but like everything else she couldn’t remember it. She opened the door, walking briskly down the hall to the opposite end where her guest room was.

She opened the door, throwing it closed with what she hoped was enough force to not sound aggressive but the door didn’t click shut. When she turned, there he was; Ezekiel. He closed the door behind him gently, keeping eye contact with her and she braced herself to hear him speak.

“What else?” He asked.

“Else?” She backed up into the room, finding herself leaning against the foot of the bed.

He quietly locked the door, guaranteeing their privacy. “They recorded the crimes they made you commit and the activities they told you to do to encourage your compliance, on top of the drugs they kept you on. They knew you were strong, maybe not from an alpha family, but they were still scared of you.”

Ezekiel started walking towards her, and Jessamine tried to keep her focus on him despite her fingers tangling together again. “I don’t….”

“They were terrified, so they kept you down by placing you on all sorts of missions so you didn’t feel valuable, by punishing you with an audience so they could feel above you, by causing you pain so you would be grateful for its absence….” He spoke as he walked, pausing when he reached her to take her hands in his. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“Ezekiel?” Jessamine found herself returning the grip he had on her hands with the questions she wanted to know buzzing off in the distance.

He moved his arms to wrap them around her, holding her across her back to her hip and one hand on her head. “I’m not afraid of you.” He said again, squeezing her tightly against him. “It wasn’t your fault.”

She pushed against him, wanting desperately to just be alone. “Ezekiel, stop it.”

He pet her hair gently with his hands, and she could feel his hands trembling. “none of it is your fault, and I’m not afraid of what I could find out because I know nothing you did you did because you had a choice.”

Jessamine thought she could fret a hole through the hem of his shirt with how restless her hands were. “What if I’m a terrible wolven? What if I can’t shift and no one trusts me like she said.”

“I accept you.” He said firmly.

She stopped trying to push him away, the words ringing in her ear with so much volume that she thought she’d misheard him. “Ezekiel?”

“I accept you, Jessamine Hemlock, for all that you are, all that you were, and everything you will ever be,” he whispered into her hair.

Her hands halted in their worry, moving instead to hold him as he held her. She could feel his heart beating against her chest and she knew he could feel hers. She tried to stay the tears in her eyes, but against her wishes they fell anyway. She had never cried so much as she had the last few days, as far as she could remember, but she had also never felt so seen.

“I will bring you the Martin’s head.” He uttered the words before he had time to think about them, his anger winning out over despondency.

The words hung over them, but then Jessamine’s arms held him tighter, just as tightly as he held her. “Not if I get to him first.”