Who is Magpie?

A headache was forming as she tried to hold the tears back. Grabbing the crutch she didn’t break she hobbled to the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face. The will to change out of her dress into her gym clothes was long gone and she was left wishing she had eaten her lunch.

“Mo coille,” she breathed, looking at herself in the mirror as her lips formed the words.

She wished she could remember. Apparently she could a little, knowing she had said the word during the dinner and known the name of the camp but she didn’t understand them. It wasn’t enough for her, to know the words and not what they meant. She knew the word ‘mother’ too, but didn’t know how her voice sounded, or how her hugs felt.

She moved back to the couches, sitting down for only a few minutes before a doorbell sounded in the room.

After opening her second set of doors she could hear quite the commotion coming from downstairs and looked at the girl who had rung the bell. “What’s going on?”

She bowed and then looked up at her, Jessamine believed her name was Prue. “Oh Luna, it’s the Alpha and Beta, they’re fighting outside.”

The words went in one ear and settled between the two of them in her head like a rock. “Where?!” She demanded and the girl pointed a finger in the direction. “Thank you Prue. I’ll take care of it.”

Jessamine strode out in the direction she was given, her steps long and determined, even with the crutch. People seemed to be avoiding the area and looked gratefully at her when she strut past. The light outside aggravated her forming headache, but nothing aggravated her so much as seeing the pair in their wolven forms throwing each other across the yard. Her wolf wanted out, wanted to talk to them and demand answers despite her ankle, but the warning from the doctor won her over.

Ezekiel and Bronx had each others necks in their teeth, digging in and pulling on each other in a fury of growls and snarls. They were completely absorbed in their fight until a soft thud landed on both of their heads. They looked down, still biting into each other scruff and saw one bright blue shoe and an ankle support laying in the grass. They followed the sight line to where they had come from, seeing Jessamine positively seething.

Jessamine had her hands balled into fists, trying to calm herself out of becoming the wolf she could feel so easily now. “What the absolute fuck are you two doing!?” She demanded. Neither moved an inch like their stillness would eliminate them from her view. “If I shift and ruin my dress, neither of you will be prepared for what I am capable of.” They stood stunned, debating to each other what was worse. “Shift-back-now.”

The two wolves slowly released each other, eyes remaining on her and they shifted back. “Jessa…” Ezekiel began but she cut in.

“Stop! I don’t want to hear a word. Both of you will go to your rooms, and we will talk after food.” She took a deep breath, feeling the grumble of her stomach contributing to her head pain.

“Jessamine I…” Bronx tried as well, but she held up a silencing hand.

“Not a single fucking word until you two calm down. To your rooms!” Ezekiel looked momentarily hopeful like he could win but she continued when she felt it. “I’ll be in the office.”

She moved into the house behind them, catching glimpses of people who had hung around within the house to see how it would go. Her marching the two boys in, butt naked, was a sight none of them would have wanted to miss, even at the risk of being reprimanded. She watched them both enter their rooms and close the doors before going to get her food, wondering how, during all of this, she was the calm one.

Jessamine made them stew for forty minutes, eating her Luke warm meal in amiable silence, before moving to collect Ezekiel and Bronx. She led them back to the study, neutral ground, and slid the second set of doors closed before taking Ezekiel’s seat behind the desk.

She pulled a pin from her hair and opened the knife. Both men got increasingly more nervous to sit in front of her but she pointed the knife to Ezekiel.

“As the last one to fuck up and apologize, you can call it, in the air, stab or bounce.” She tossed the knife, flipping it gently into the air above the desk, aiming between the pair.

“Stab,” Ezekiel called, and sure enough it stuck into the floor and he smirked over to his brother.

“Fool’s guess, of course she’d make sure those pins were perfectly balanced.” Bronx muttered, allowing her ruling but not being happy about it.

Jessamine nodded and looked at Ezekiel. “That wasn’t sparring, you were going for pain. What the fuck?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Bronx interrupted and Jessamine shot him a look. “No, listen.” She looked to Ezekiel, who gave the allowing eye brow gesture, and Bronx continued. “You’re already mated, you know I would never…”

“You knew,” Ezekiel interrupted. “You knew an Alpha’s daughter had gone missing after her family was killed and said nothing. We would have looked for her, spread her face around the cities… they didn’t take her that far, we could…”

“Then they would have known I was an Alpha’s daughter.” Jessamine interrupted. “While I was there, only the rogue alpha knew who I really was. If they had known I have no doubts in my mind that it would have been worse, -my wolf would have been exploited in every sick and twisted way. I never would have left the kennels, -and there would have been no tea to numb any of it.”

Ezekiel turned to her, feeling the conflict between the life she had and the one she would have had if they tried and failed; to make it worse and having no way to her. Jessamine waited while he thought about it, feeling better now that there was silence and not yelling. She rubbed her forehead as she sat back in the chair, and wished her headache had improved.

“You used to wear a dalia piercing, and rub it when you had migraines,” Bronx said softly, seemingly lighter now that the big secret was off his shoulders.

Jessamine moved her hand to her ear and rubbed the spot instead, a little annoyed that it was almost instantly better. Turning back to Ezekiel she encouraged him to continue. Bronx didn’t even bother trying to interject and moved to slouch slightly.

“This is a pretty big secret, that you’ve been keeping since the full moon, not only that, but from the last day of trial. We tell each other everything, but you tried to keep this from me, and lied to Jessamine.” Ezekiel shook his head. “I should have bit you harder.”

“That’s what you’re upset about?” Bronx asked incredulously. “That I kept a secret from you? Did you miss the part where I’m in love with your mate?”

“Not ‘in love with my mate’, also mates. You don’t choose who you click with, the Moon Goddess does. You can’t help who she chooses for you, only to accept it- or…”

Jessamine made a squeak sound, not sure what she would do with an ultimatum, but Ezekiel wasn’t pausing for their reactions.

He continued, interrupting them both. “I would never force either of you through that pain, and possible future.”

They both knew the possibility of Bronx finding another mate in his lifetime, and of the pain that they would feel as the bond severed. Bronx would get the worst of it, without a mate to lean on for support, but Jessamine would still likely be down at least a week. Both of them looked at him in disbelief.

“You act like I’m a monster. I know what it is to love Jessamine, to want to protect her and make her happy, and I know you would still do all of those things even without the bond. But I also know that it would always feel like something was missing inside you, and every day you would break a little more.”

Jessamine moved in her chair, feeling like she had been removed from the conversation, when he continued, “It wasn’t that I thought you wouldn’t tell me if you were scared, I wanted to test your emotions on how you would feel if either of us left. And you reacted the same whether it was me or Bronx. I’ve had a feeling there was more between you for a while, and after the full moon I was sure I could feel my brother’s emotions through you. He knew you in ways that I didn’t, understanding what you meant often before me. I thought it might be the bond forming in a different way, but when I found out the truth, that he had known you before.” He growled again, still pissed off about it.

Bronx had stiffened impossibly still. “Having two mates, at the same time, it’s unheard of.” He turned to Jessamine, who had not seen the conversation going this way.

She had been planning on giving them shit for fighting, check their injuries, and then join Ezekiel to take care of pack business, but now… she felt like being happy was wrong. Worse than that no one was consulting her, and in that moment she figured that was for the best. Jessamine wasn’t even sure her mouth would work if they did speak to her or ask her opinion.

“Perhaps the goddess saw what has happened and what is to come and thought she deserved more protections and…”

“I don’t need to be protected like I’m made of ceramic,” she snapped looking at them both now as she found her voice. “This is.. I’m not…” she huffed and stood, moving to the door to avoid the conversation more confidently then she had when she had left the office from Willow’s questions. “I was not prepared for this conversation.”