Thanks again to my editors, MythOFreak and PrincessJezebel. Probably the best editors ever. This chapter is rather far out there and probably not what you were expecting but I hope you all enjoy it anyway. Have a groovy day!
Janette awoke to the sound of birds chirping outside the partially open balcony door. She felt disoriented at first... and sore. It took her a few moments to remember where she was. She lay back against the fluffy pillows with a content smile spread across her face while she remembered the events of the night before. She could still feel Mitch's hands on her and her body began to tingle. When she rolled over to cuddle up next to him she found in his place a long stem red rose along with a note. She bolted straight up in bed clutching the sheets to her naked body. She then picked up the note to read it.
'I hope you don't mind that I didn't wake you. I thought you could use the sleep after last night. Get dressed and come downstairs. I'll have a fresh pot of coffee ready for you along with breakfast. See you soon. Mitch'
Janette couldn't stop grinning like a teenager. She put the red rose to her nose and inhaled deeply, closing her eyes before placing it on the bedside table. She practically leaped from the bed and headed to the closet where she picked out a nice pair of jeans along with a deep purple lacy blouse. She went to the dresser, grabbed a pair of lavender underwear and matching bra, and made her way to the bathroom. Janette was on her way to the shower when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and stopped in her tracks.
She stepped closer to the mirror and gazed at her reflection, gliding her hand gently across the bite mark on the right side of her neck. It looked awful and was slightly sore but she felt proud to bare the mark of her mate. She felt her heart swell in her chest and couldn't wait to get downstairs to Mitch.
After what had to be the quickest shower she had ever taken, Janette searched through the bag of toiletries that Mariah had brought up for her and found a new toothbrush still in the package and a tube of toothpaste. She quickly brushed her teeth, and went to the bed and got dressed. She pulled a brush through her long hair and applied a bit of lip-gloss before heading out the door towards the winding staircase.
As she made her way to the huge kitchen the smells of bacon and eggs hit her nose and she heard her stomach start to growl. She walked around the corner to be met by a large group of people sitting around a dining table, all laughing and joking with each other. She had been under the impression that she and Mitch would have breakfast alone. She hadn't been expecting a crowd.
Janette stopped, suddenly becoming quite nervous at meeting so many new faces. She recognized Mariah, Liam and Jack but the rest were strangers to her. She briefly considered turning around and racing back upstairs to hide but Mitch spied her before she could make a move.
"There's my girl!" Mitch stood and walked towards Janette standing timidly in the doorway. He wrapped his arms around her waist and brought his lips to hers. She tensed and he felt her nervousness at kissing him in front of a crowd.
"Don't be nervous, darling," he said into Janette's mind. "This is my family and now they are your family as well. They are going to love you, I promise." He kissed her lightly on the cheek and turned to lead her into the room to sit next to him at the table. He pulled the chair out for her and waited for her to be seated before sitting to her left.
Mitch looked around at all the smiling proud faces in the room that had suddenly grown very quiet. "What?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders.
Janette took a deep cleansing breath and tried to relax the best she could. Mitch offered her a cup of coffee and a plate piled high with scrambled eggs, several slices of bacon, fresh fruit and whole grain toast. She gratefully accepted both and reached for her silverware, which was wrapped in a white cloth napkin. She was just about to take a bite of her eggs when she noticed all eyes were on her. She looked around the room and a blush rose up into her cheeks.
Mitch had his hand on Janette's thigh and gave her knee a light reassuring squeeze. "You guys, stop staring. You're making her feel uncomfortable." Mitch was beginning to get irritated at his pack's rude behavior.
"We're sorry, Mitch. None of us are trying to be rude or make Jan uncomfortable. We are all just really happy to see you finally happy, that's all." Liam winked and smiled at Janette before turning back to his breakfast.
Janette began eating and found everything to be quite delicious. She took a sip of her coffee and almost spit it right back out when she heard Mariah, who was seated to her right, let out an ear piercing squeal. She looked over at the crazy woman wondering what on earth had just happened and noticed Mariah looking straight at the bite mark peaking out of the top of Janette's lace top.
"Oh my goodness!" Mariah exclaimed. "I have a new sister!" She threw her arms around Janette in a tight embrace.
Janette had no idea what to do. She looked over at Mitch with a look of surprise on her face. "You mean you haven't told them yet?" she said into his mind.
"I'm sorry. I wanted you to be here when I told them." Mitch stood and cleared his throat. "Mariah, calm down please." He didn't begin speaking until his sister had released his mate from her embrace. "I didn't want to say anything until Jan was down here with us but, yes, it's true. We are not fully mated, as you all know, she would have to be turned first, which she is not. However, she has agreed to stay with me and we are as mated as we can be right now." The room burst out in a roar of cheers and congratulations. Mitch tried to keep a straight face but found himself smiling ear to ear. He grabbed Janette's hand and helped her to stand by his side before wrapping his arms around her and kissing her lips.
Everyone in the room came around to the newly mated couple and hugged them both and kissed Janette on the cheek congratulating them. After all of the commotion calmed down and everyone was seated again, the room went back to normal with casual conversation, jokes and laughter.
Janette began to feel more and more comfortable with the group of people surrounding her. They were all incredibly friendly and accepted her right away. She found herself laughing hysterically at all the stories they were telling about Mitch in his younger days. She looked over at her new mate and smiled even wider when she saw him sitting there blushing like a fool.
"I didn't know you blushed," she said in his mind.
Mitch gave Janette a forced smile, wishing his family would leave some of his more embarrassing moments of his youth out of the conversation.
"Oh Jan, you're gonna love this." Liam couldn't stop laughing as he relayed the story to Janette. "There was this one time when we took a trip to Kansas City, Missouri. We visited this topless bar... oh my God... Mitch was crazy drunk..."
"That's quite enough, Liam." Mitch gave his brother a look of unmistakable warning and Liam quit talking immediately.
"Aww, come on," Janette whined. "You can tell me." She lightly jabbed Mitch in the side with her elbow.
Mitch rolled his eyes and let out a deep sigh. "Alright, Liam, go ahead."
"Oh my God... okay... so we're at this topless bar and Mitch is drunk as hell, right? Anyway, one of the dancers pulls him up onto the stage and he starts dancing with her. In case you don't already know, Mitch can't dance. When he dances, he kind of reminds me of... I don't know... a spastic chicken, I suppose. Anyway, so he's dancing up there and next thing you know he starts stripping and swinging around the dancer's pole." The whole group, including Janette, burst out laughing. "We ended up getting kicked out of the club, needless to say. Of course this was all in Mitch's pre-alpha days."
Janette glanced over at Mitch who sat there with his hands covering his face in embarrassment. She patted him on the shoulder, still giggling. "It's okay, baby. We all do silly stuff when we are young."
Mitch stood from his chair, dragging one hand over his face. "Thanks everyone for the utterly humiliating time. I think I'm gonna go hang myself now." He reached down and took Janette's hand pulling her up from her chair.
"Aww, come one... it's all in good fun. Don't be a cry baby," Jack said, wiping a tear away from laughing so hard.
"No, really, I'm going to give my new mate a tour of her new home. She's been eager to see the gardens anyway."
Mariah stood and gave Janette one last big hug. "Welcome to our family, Jan. I, for one, am extremely happy that you are here."
Janette hugged her new sister back and followed Mitch out of the kitchen where he led her to the back door of the mansion. She stepped out of the door and took a deep breath of fresh air. The sun was shining, it was nice and warm, the perfect spring day.
"I'm sorry if you were embarrassed back there, Mitch. Although you have to admit, some of that stuff was hilarious," she said still giggling.
"Well, I'm glad my humiliation brings you such joy, my love." He smiled and winked down at her.
Janette lightly smacked Mitch in the arm. "Oh I didn't mean it like that and you know it. You're just being silly."
Mitch grabbed Janette around the waist pulling her to him and kissed her. "I know you didn't. I'm just giving you a hard time."
Janette was amazed by everything Mitch began to show her on his property. The gardens in the day light were absolutely beautiful. The huge greenhouse on the edge of the property was full to the brim of thriving green plants of all varieties. Everywhere they went there was someone from the pack working away on one project or another. They were even lucky enough to witness one of the pack members assisting a mother goat giving birth in one of the barns.
"Mitch, this is all so amazing. I don't know what to say."
"Well, I'm hoping that you will be extremely happy here with me. Just so you know, your grandmother and aunt are welcome here anytime as well. You are my family now and so are they." Mitch entwined his fingers with Janette's and led her back to the house. Mitch was just about to open the back door for Janette when Liam and Jack approached them.
"Hey Mitch, can we speak to you alone for a moment?" Liam said and walked past them into the house.
Mitch reluctantly let go of Janette's hand. "Feel free to explore the house some more or spend some time in the gardens. This shouldn't take long." Mitch hopped up the steps of the enclosed back porch and followed his brother and Jack up the stairs and down the hall towards the study.
"What's going on, Liam?" Mitch perched himself on the edge of the desk.
"We got a call last night from Officer Stafford. It was about Jan's apartment being broken into." Liam waited for Mitch's response but got nothing but a glare from his brother's dark eyes.
"And why was I not told about this last night, might I ask?" he asked through clenched teeth.
