Jax~

Oh, fuck.

'What now, father?'

'You know exactly what I'm talking about!' I sighed and rubbed my face.

'Dad, she is my fucking mate. It was going to happen at some point. I can't help that Ryder took over, as well as Buttercup with Dakota, and they mated first. So, if anything, blame him.' I heard my father roar in anger. This wasn't going to end well. I then felt the link cut off and heard a roar throughout the woods. I cringed and sighed. I decided the lesser of two evils would be Dakota's father. I drove to her place and parked outside. I saw Mr. Kennedy at the door with a bat and I sighed. I opened the door and stood next to my door.

"May I have some time to explain myself, Mr. Kennedy?"

"She's marked, Jax. Why the fuck, if she marked?" He was furious but nowhere near furious as my father. I rubbed my face and walked to the sidewalk and stopped there.

"My wolf took over, as you know. Mainly because of the full moon. But after about an hour or so, Buttercup took over, and I don't remember much but what I do know is that my wolf and Dakota's cat marked and mated first." I cleared my throat and Mr. Kennedy looked surprised.

"They do that as well?" I nodded.

"Yes, it is essential that if both mates have a wolf or an animal of sorts, they also mate one another. I didn't expect it to happen, but after Ryder and Butter mated, it started the mating process for Dakota and me. And in my honest opinion, I really didn't want Dakota's heat starting in school."

"Heat? I know Jane talked about that, but it never happened to her. What is it?" I sighed and I walked closer and sat down on the stairs.

"A female's heat is when they go through excruciating pain. The only thing that helps them is their mate's touch. So, let's say Dakota started heat in school. There are unmated wolves in my pack that attends there. They would smell her scent and would try and mate with her. But to her, it would be rape." Ryder on instinct let out a growl and it came through me. I cleared my throat and continued after I stood up.

"So, because of my wolf and Dakota's cat, both of us marked and mated one another." I rubbed the back of my neck and Mr. Kennedy stood.

"Before you say anything, yes I made sure to use protection. Yes, Dakota and I both made sure that we were ready and wanted to. I would never force her into anything she didn't want to do." Mr. Kennedy groaned and rubbed his face.

"And, by this happening, she is safe from the wrath of your father?" I frowned.

"Legally, yes. However, I don't know what my father is planning. Since we mated, a new link was opened within my pack, and everyone knows it's Dakota. My father woke up to it and he's more furious than you are."

"Why?"

"He doesn't want the mixed bloodline. He tried to get me to be with another Alpha's daughter. Out of every single Alpha, my father is the one that doesn't follow the rules. The only way now to get rid of Dakota's and mines' bond is if one of us dies." Mr. Kennedy nods and I panic.

"Fuck," I run back to my car and Mr. Kennedy runs to join me.

"She's in danger, isn't she?" I nod my head and speed back to her school.

"My father cut off our mind link earlier and he's been silent since. He is either going on a killing spree, or he is going to try and kill Dakota." I made it to her school in record time and quickly parked the car, along with jumping out of the car. I sniffed the air and truth be told, my father was near.

"He's close. Please, stay in the car." I toss him the keys and he tries to say no.

"Mr. Kennedy, you are Dakota's and Layla's last parent. Do you really think that they want to lose the last person that can legally take care of them? Layla is a minor she would go into foster care. Please, if you see a wolf you don't recognize or if they seem like they are going to cause harm, drive far away from here until you are given the okay." Mr. Kennedy hesitated and sighed as he took the car keys.

"Please, don't let my baby die." I nodded and ran into the school. Everyone who was a werewolf knew who I was and they didn't question it. But they looked at me like I was crazy when I started running through the halls. I felt my father's presence become stronger the closer I got to Dakota. I found the class that Dakota was in and I barged inside. I ended up breaking the door down as I entered. I chuckled to the teacher and placed the door on the side of the wall.

"Mr. Reynolds, please indulge me on why you felt the need to break down my classroom door?" Mr. Wick asked as he sat on his desk. Everyone giggled and Dakota blushed. I quickly glanced around the room and felt that everyone was a werewolf except for Destiny.

"My father has gone on a rampage. He is trying to kill my mate Dakota for not being a werewolf." Dakota immediately stood as well as Destiny.

"Where's my father?"

"He's outside with the car, I told him if there was any trouble to just keep driving. He's only human and I don't need you losing another parent." I grabbed Dakota's hand and everyone started to whisper. I scoffed and started to drag Dakota down the hall with Destiny following. I stopped and turned to Destiny.

"Destiny, find Layla. My father will try to use her." I hand her a gun quickly and she squeals.

"Jax, what the fuck?"

"It has silver bullets. Shoot a werewolf, it will die. So that means if you have to shoot my father to survive, by all means, do so." Destiny was hesitant but I growled.

"Layla, dammit!" Destiny hurried away to go find Layla and I pulled Dakota outside to the car.

"Destiny is getting Layla." Mr. Kennedy nodded and I sighed. Destiny and Layla ran to the car as quickly as they could and barely missed my father coming out of nowhere. He tried to swipe at Destiny and Layla but missed.

'Distract him, I'm calling backup,' I linked Dakota quickly and she didn't reply.

'Logan, Jacob; Destiny and Layla are in trouble get to the school now!' I didn't hear their reply as I cut them off but felt their anger.

"Dad, you can not change what the Goddess implemented eons ago. She knew that Dakota and I would be mates since before we were born. She created the bonds of many mates, way before they were even born, let alone created. You can not change what she created." My father growled and tried to nip at Dakota. She hissed at him and a lot of people from the school exited to watch the scene unfold. I noticed that they were all werewolves, and that the humans had been moved to the bunker inside the school, probably being told that there was a suspected gunman around the school, as was the protocol with supernatural fights happening at the school.

My father then circled us and tried to swipe at Dakota. She growled herself and ended up shifting into her cat. I could feel Butter close to the surface and the two circled one another. A lot of people who didn't know Dakota was a werecat gasped and started to murmur amongst themselves. My mother came running up with Jacob and Logan and screamed.

"Stop it! Both of you, stop it!" Logan and Jacob also brought their father's and they held back my mother.

"Mom, they created the wager ages ago. I've trained Dakota enough to where she can fight. Mom, this has to happen now." My mother sobbed as she fell to the floor. My father shifted behind a tree and quickly put on shorts.

"I will kill her Jax, and when I do you will mate with one of them!" He screamed at me and pointed to the werewolf females at the school. I growled and spoke.

"YOU CAN'T CHANGE WHAT THE GODDESS HAS SET IN STONE! We've marked and we've mated already! You can't do anything!"

"I will, I'll kill Dakota, then I'll kill Layla because Jacob needs to be with a werewolf too." This time Jacob growled at my father and grabbed Layla and held her close.

"I will help kill you myself if you try and touch her." Jacob and Layla moved away to the sidelines, and Logan did the same with Destiny. Now, it was just Mr. Kennedy, Dakota and I against my father.

"I have one question." Mr. Kennedy spoke up and before he could speak Sean and Riley ran up to the group after shifting and changing.

"What the fuck!" Sean tried to charge at my father but Riley held him back.

"Sean! You know the rules! They made a wager! You can't break that." Riley was trying to calm Sean down and Mr. Kennedy continued.

"Why did you do it?" My father groaned.

"Do what, exactly?"

"Many years ago, you killed a harmless, innocent werecat. You killed my wife, the mother of my children, and my mate. Why? We hadn't done anything wrong. We were minding our own business. And then we found out we were receiving threats after we had moved to the house we've been in for a while now. Layla had just been born. She was three weeks old. She never got to meet her mother, someone she needed. Someone I couldn't be. Why did you kill Jane?" Mr. Kennedy was in tears and starting to sob. My heart ached for him, as I can't imagine what a human goes through during the death of a mate. I will never understand except for that brief moment Sean showed me what had happened. My father started to laugh and sighed.

"You want to know the real reason why?" Mr. Kennedy nodded and cleared his throat. My father grinned and leaned forward.

"Because she wouldn't let me fuck her," Dakota roared as loud as she could and attacked my father. My father roared back and shifted into his wolf. My mother looked heartbroken and I was very close to shifting and helping out.

But it was too late. The fight had begun. The wager on who could live a fight to the death was here.

And I don't think Dakota is ready.