Page 115 of The Married Alpha And His Arrow: Vol 1

I thought about it, “I know Anne is genuine. She’s an amazing person, but I do believe Susan. That’s the vampire I met. I’ve seen pictures of her and my mom when they were younger.” Chase asked, “Susan Herford? King Matias’ Mate?” I nodded, “Yes, her mate’s name is King Matias.”

Chase admitted, “She is known as being very honest. She hasn’t gotten that devious immortality streak yet, that many vampires have. She would still be alive if she hadn’t been turned. Most vampires become more secretive and devious after they have been around for a few centuries. When everyone they knew have passed on.”

The more I thought about it the more I believed Susan. I told him, “They both seemed really nice. He even wants me to events for him.” Chase didn’t look happy about that. He said, “That’s something. You’ll have to use my plane. I could go with you to those events. It’s out of state and Vampires don’t tend to run in the same circles as werewolves.”

I smiled, “That would be great! King Matias did say I could use his plane though.” Chase wrinkled his nose, “Let’s just use my plane.” I laughed, “You don’t trust him, do you?” Chase shrugged, “Werewolves tend not to trust vampires. I’m a trust but verify kind of guy.” I told him, “I think either way would be fine. If using your plane makes you more comfortable, then that’s what we will do.”

Chase winced holding his head. I frowned, “What’s wrong?” Chase sighed, “Ted wants to see you.” I said, “Alright.” We got up and got dressed quickly. I let Chase walk down the deck in front of me, then I jumped on his back. He was surprised but laughed, “Am I your pack mule?” I smiled, “No, weirdo! You’re my wolf. My wolf who is giving me a piggyback ride over to my friend’s house.” Chase laughed, “You’d better hold on tight then.”

He took off running and I squealed. We arrived at Ted’s quickly and he set me down. Matt sighed in relief, “Thank you for coming over so quickly.” I frowned, “What’s wrong?” Ted came out, “Good, you’re here. I cooked lunch.” On cue my stomach gurgled.

Chase led me inside. Ted quickly spooned out lasagna. I raised an eyebrow. “Did you cook your brownies too?” Ted added, “And the garlic bread.” This was going to be a doozy. I made a ‘come on’ gesture then said, “Ok, out with it.”

Everyone looked at me in surprise. I rolled my eyes, “Ted, you ONLY cook your lasagna from scratch with garlic bread, and brownies when you have news. So, spill.” Matt was confused when he asked, “Ted?”

Ted fiddled with his hands, “You just know me too well, Lex.” I pressed, “And the problem is….?” Ted sighed, “My grandparents heard about Matt.” I cringed, “Oh no.” Ted nodded, “They are coming to meet him.” I laughed, “So you made him your lasagna to butter him up?” Ted shrugged, “Partly.”

My eyes widened, “PARTLY? Lord in heaven what else happened?” Ted said, “Well, I want you to be my person of honor at our wedding ceremony.” He pointed at Matt. I put my hand on my chest, “Of course I will.” I got up and gave him a hug.

I pulled back asking, “It’s Valentine's Day, right?” Ted snorted, “Girl, of course it’s on Valentine’s Day.” I laughed, “We need to get on the plans then. Where are we having it? Lots of places will have Valentine’s Day booked out already.”

Matt raised his hand, “Can’t we have it in our territory?” I wanted to wince but didn’t. Ted wiggled his eyebrows at me, “Haley said you might say that. She’s going to conjure my dream venue.” Relief hit me. Ted threw his arms around my shoulders and squealed, “OHHHH THE PLANS, LEX!”

He brought out his wedding binder. Matt said, “Before we lose you two, what’s the deal with your grandparents?” Ted sighed, “They don’t like me.” I disagreed, “That’s not true.” Ted amended, “They don’t like who I am. They wanted me to be like Tate. I disappoint them constantly because I’m gay.”

Matt growled, “Then they are not welcome here.” He paused then smiled coyly, “Scratch that, let’s have them meet my mother. She will give them what for.” I bit my lip. Ted said, “My mother is having dinner for all of us. She wants your family to come so we can all meet.”

Matt was surprised, and I had a sinking feeling. I asked, “When?” Ted threw me a glare, “Tomorrow.” Chase snorted. Matt said, “Oh, boy.” Just then his phone rang. He answered, “Hi, Mom.” His face immediately changed. I couldn’t understand the words, but I did know his mom was NOT happy.

Matt admitted, “I just found myself. I gather it’s really short notice. His grandparents just found out about us. To be fair, they are having problems with leaks. It makes sense their leader wouldn’t want that many outsiders there.”

Ted happily stated, “Those are all valid point from our leader. Darn, we can’t do it.” Matt said, “One second.” He covered the phone with his hand. Chase raised an eyebrow at him. Matt explained, “Your mom called mine to ask if she would host the dinner because the Hood said that there were too many outsiders in our group to come in the Shroud. My mom doesn’t know what to cook.”

Ted’s face fell again. I stepped in, “We will have the caterer filling in for Sally’s business cook up something. They don’t have an event until this weekend. Ted, you call her and plan the menu.” Ted looked up at me with a grateful smile. He shot out of the room already on his phone.

Matt said, “There you have it mom. All taken care. Oh is she? Alright. Bye.” Chase bit his lip. Matt told me, “Lexi, you are apparently expected at dinner according to Anne.” I frowned. I wasn’t sure I was ready to face her when she’d been keeping this big secret from me my whole life.

On the other hand, she’d almost died and she was like a mother to me. Damn my freaking ex to the pit of hell. He ruined everything. I said, “I’ll be there.” I lowered my tone, “Matt, you need to understand that Ted’s grandparents are the stereotypical older stick in the mud kind of people.”

Matt growled, “So they won’t approve.” I sighed, “I actually think they will. Especially since you are the War Goddesses chosen mate for Ted. It might not make sense, but that WILL hurt his feelings. They wanted to change him. They thought this was just a phase. Them accepting you are his string doesn’t mean they won’t make rude comments that will sting.”

Chase asked, “Where have they been?” I explained, “They run a furniture store in Nashville. They visit every year, but obviously when they heard about Ted’s string, they changed their normal dates around. Anne doesn’t like them.”

Matt’s jaw dropped then asked, “So they are Tony’s parents?” I nodded. Matt said, “Anne is nice to everyone.” I smiled, “She is nice to them, but she doesn’t like them. She has a line and since she wants your parents to like her, I’d imagine some interesting things going down at this dinner. Honestly, I’m tempted to ask Haley to pop in. That would make it even better.”

Matt questioned, “Haley doesn’t like them?” I laughed, “She’s never met them, but she wouldn’t like them though, no. She doesn’t like people who are intolerant. She wasn’t raised here in this realm. So, it doesn’t make sense to her when people can’t tolerate others. Despite what she suffered in Faerie, people were allowed to be who they were there and love who they love. She doesn't like things that aren’t fair. She also doesn’t like intolerance because she was tortured because of who she is. A partial fairy instead of a full blooded fairy. It gets her blood pumping.”

Chase snorted, “Can I come to this dinner?” Matt stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. He stated, “You HAVE to come. Someone has to make sure I don’t hurt my mate’s grandparents.” I shrugged, “I could stop you; the problem will be I might not want to. Anne would probably give you a standing ovation and a glass of the good stuff. Or as Haley says the Hood shit.”

Ted returned to the table announcing, “I just have to swing by after work tomorrow to pick up the food. It’s all taken care of, and I’ll apologize to Isabella. I didn’t think this would be a problem.” I offered, “We can get someone in to clean the house and set the table if she would like.”

Ted sped around to my side of the table and kissed my cheek. “Lexi Scott, you are amazing, and I love you.” I laughed, “Of course you do.” Chase put his arm around me and leaned over. He whispered in my ear, “I love you too.” Matt rolled his eyes.

Ted was a bundle of nervous energy. He and I talked wedding details while Chase and Matt had some silent conversation. When we were leaving Chase paused saying, “Ted, we will need you for a bit tomorrow morning. You’ll probably be late to work.” Ted looked at Matt, clearly linking him, and rubbed his hands together, “Right. The magical powers of TeleTed activate.” I laughed, “Oh lord.” We left.

On the walk back I asked Chase, “What’s that about?” Chase kissed me, “Nothing you want to know about.” I nodded, “Alrighty then. Race ya home!” I took off running. I had just run into the living room when Chase tackled me onto the sofa. He bit my neck lightly and said, “Aren’t we feeling naughty?” I snorted, “You're such a sore loser.” Chase laughed and started to tickle me. I squealed and tried to push his hands away.

Finally, I decided to fight fire with fire. I started tickling him back. We were both breathless by the time we called a cease fire. Our playful mood morphed into another type of mood as we looked into each other’s eyes. Chase declared, “I love you so damn much, Lexi Scott.” I smiled about to say it back when his mouth covered mine. I kissed him back. We made out heavily petting each other.

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