"You two know each other?" Alpha Haze began with a bright grin upon his face. I glanced over at my father, but chose not to elaborate, simply taking the seat opposite the woman that he indicated. As I had brushed past him, he had already warned me that my mate might be troubled should I not comply and unfortunately, those were not the words he used.

"That's right," Nadine replied, clearly not aware or perhaps not caring about the thick tension in the room. "Michael is working as a doctor in the geriatric's ward of my Uncle's hospital."

I glanced up slightly, how can I not understand the meanings of the words she was saying. I had been scouted to work there, but it seems that was not on my own merit. No matter how hard I worked or how good my skills were, my position was due to some arrangement on her part... her's and Alpha's Rider's. Whether she meant to or not, I felt a little belittled, but I refused to doubt myself. Earned or otherwise, that job had provided me with more than what she ever could. To that end, I allowed a slight smile to curve my lips and replied; "I am ever grateful that I was able to work in the hospital and meet many good colleagues and great friends, one in particular."

There was a slight flicker of annoyance in her eyes, she was aware of what I was referring too, just as I had interpreted her words. My father was very much unaware; "A great friend can become a great future partner," he drawled as he sat at the head of the table, my mother by his side. I tried not to smirk over his choice of words. "It was clearly fate that the pair of you met before this point."

"Fate is such a fickle thing," Alpha Rider said, speaking for the first time. "I don't like to rely on it. I'd much rather arrange things than rely on something that is out of my hands."

"Makes sense," my father agreed with him, his arse licking really horrible to observe. Adriel appeared in the dining room and paused as he saw me, before nodding in greeting. "Did you find your brother?"

Adriel's expression turned slightly cold as he glanced at our father, causing me to raise my eyebrows. Well, this was new. Adriel used to follow the Alpha around like a puppy on a leash when he was a child and hardly changed during his teen years, except the hours he was not at my father's side were filled with training his body to its peak. He changed from a dumpling to a mountain of a man. Until today, I had never figured out why he was so much taller that myself and Gabriel and neither of us lacked height. Of course, that veil had been lifted not so long ago.

He turned slightly as he stepped forward and Gabriel appeared. There was a distinctly feline scent stuck to his clothes. The Alpha curled his nose in disgust. "Why do you smell like cat?" He growled angrily and with clear distrust in his tone.

"There was a skirmish on the border," he replied smoothly and without breaking eye contact. "It has been dealt with, but it caused me to be late."

My father dismissed his excuse, unable to disbelieve it, seeing as it was all too plausible. "Go and get changed," he demanded. "I won't have you smelling like those things around the table." Gabriel excused himself and followed my father's bidding. Adriel sat beside me, his expression like stone. "My apologies," The Alpha again began his routine of sucking up to the other Alpha. "Those animals are nothing but trouble along our border."

"They are the only Pride in the area, are they not?" Alpha Rider said, which, although my father confirmed, I doubted he was actually aware of whether it was true or not. Growing up, I used to think that the Pride was of a similar size to our pack, that they had moved in to the land next to ours just to be difficult. I had no idea that actually they were ten times the size and only bordered us as they had expanded over the centuries until they were unable to expand any more in our direction. Were petty land wars still allowed in this day and age, no doubt they would have already absorbed us. But such wars were dealt with by paper tricks these days and if there was one thing that the many cats I knew seemed to hate, it was paperwork. "And their current King is a werejaguar?"

"A cat is a cat," my father replied in a flat tone.

"King John is a were-jaguar," I replied, wanting to know where this was leading. "A powerful one at that."

However, whatever it was I wished to learn was not forthcoming from this man of secrets.

Once Gabriel returned, he sat beside Adriel and a meal was brought to the table; it was a beef steak marinaded in a peppery sauce, served with new potatoes and green vegetables. If my father was looking to impress the other Alpha, I doubted it worked. A steak is a steak after all. And this couldn't compare to what Eric could produce in terms of flavour. Nadine picked at it as if it was beneath her, I could clearly see her distaste for the meal, while her father was much more subtle, slowly cutting it into bite sized pieces and washing it down with the wine on the table. I didn't touch the wine, my father looked out of his depth when it came to the red liquid, probably craving a beer or whiskey. My mother kept up light chatter for a moment, before a heavy silence came over everyone.

I decided to indulge my curiosity, to see what I could reveal from everyone at this farce. "So I am assuming that your surname is not really Taylor," I said to Nadine, who smiled, gleeful that I had addressed her.

"It's my mother's maiden name," she replied, sipping her glass of wine. Her cheeks were fast becoming flush from it as she drank on an empty stomach. Obviously this was brewed for a supernatural's taste.

"Is your mother human?" I asked.

"No, why do you ask?" She replied, her tongue loosening. I could feel the Alpha's eyes upon me, both Alpha's, but I ignored them, focusing on the woman until she began to blush.

"It's nothing really," I said, smoothly. "Only that the hospital was clearly built with humans in mind, I just assumed wrongly that is all."

"My uncle is mated to my maternal aunt," she advised me, happily contributing to the conversation. My father smiled, content that I was playing my part, perhaps even thinking that I was even warming up to the She-wolf, who did not smell like a wolf at all, just like her father. "The hospital was once a private clinic owned by his family."

I allowed myself to look surprised, although I already new a little about the history of the hospital, how the current owner had built upon the foundations of that clinic to create what was originally a private hospital. Later, he gained that contract when a failing public hospital nearby was forced to close. An A&E was added about ten years ago and later the geriatrics department. It had sounded like the venture of a successful entrepreneur, but now there was an undertone that someone else invested in that rise. "It is a good hospital," I allowed, not mentioning the obvious problems it had been suffering of late. "How long have you been interested in practicing medicine?"

I could sense her father was slowly relaxing, my questioning bringing up no obvious alarms. "Oh, my mother's father was a pack Doctor," she said, warming up to the subject. "I learned many things from him and then took on the small degree of pack medicine at university."

Pack medicine was not the same as the subject I studied, it was not even its small cousin. Pack medicine taught only what was need to know about wolf physiology and seeing as our bodies did not contract even an acute amount of the problems that a human body did, it only took four years to study and the last year could be done under the supervision of a qualified pack Doctor. A woman of twenty three having studied this should not be working in a hospital as they would not have gained a license to practice medicine from the government. It was likely why the new ward for supernaturals had been opened in the private clinic, but as she only knew about wolves, she likely had to rely on everyone else to help with the few patients that they actually received. I had heard rumours from Clover that the ward bled money like water from a running tap.

I almost felt like laughing. This ridiculous woman had forced her uncle to find her a position in his hospital and employ me in order to try and meet me? Make me love her and become her mate? Was she behind Alex's sudden redundancy as well? And clearly this father of hers was stupidly indulging in her every whim!

"How blessed you are, my dear," my mother was happily rejoicing for her, reaching over and patting her hands. There were very few of this pack members who attended college let alone university as isolated as it had become.

"I know," she said, unsubtly wiping her hands upon the napkin after my mother had touched them. I felt a low rumble beginning to build in Adriel's chest, he clearly was not happy. I nudged his arm to get his attention as did Gabriel. He frowned at us, one after the other, but calmed himself down. I sensed he and his wolf were confused and even felt some concern there for.. for my mate? My wolf nuzzled his, reassuring him, asking him to trust us.

"Seeing as you do not believe in fate," Gabriel suddenly asked Alpha Rider, "do you believe in true mates?"

Both Alpha's frowned, but only my father got visibly angry about the question, however before he could speak Rider replied shortly; "I do not."

"Gabriel!" My father growled.

"It was merely a question, father," Gabriel shrugged as if it meant nothing.

"You'll have to forgive my son," Alpha Haze said, with an almost nervous tone to his voice. "A sly she-wolf convinced my foolish boy that he was her true mate and even went so far to conceive his child. If it wasn't for my grandchild, I would have exiled the bitch already." I couldn't help but wonder if my father believed his own lies.

"I quite understand," the Alpha said, his face remaining stoic. "One of our own tried the same thing with my daughter not so long ago. It was quite upsetting, my pack did not like to lose their Omega. It disturbed them greatly. But I had no choice to exile him after my daughter rejected him, I couldn't have such an insignificant wolf sniffing around my daughter while she is planning her wedding nuptials."

There was a fall of silence about the table, my mother went very pale, probably reliving her own rejection. But my father was there to save her, one of the few things I can say he did right. Who was there to save their omega?

"How long ago was this?" I found myself asking, my wolf naturally turning to comfort the whimpering she-wolf close by.

"Oh, must have been six weeks ago?" Nadine said, making me lose all hope for the poor creature. Did she have even an inkling at what she had done? Did she even care? I stood up suddenly, no longer able to stand this farce as I reached for my mother.

"Michael sit down," my father muttered, but there was no heat to it. He understood as much as I, what their words meant, but he couldn't wrap his head around how he felt about it.

"My apologies," I said to anyone who wanted to listen, "but my mother is looking a little pale and I wish to accompany her to her room. I hope you will excuse me." I did not wait for an answer, but heard Nadine say almost carelessly;

"That's okay, my love. When you return, we can discuss the wedding!"

I would rather die. But I would never do that to my mates. All I could do was endure for now. It would not be long until I told her exactly what she could do with her wedding plans.