Alison Brie as Raven Hayes

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Disclaimer: This chapter talks about psychiatry/psychology treatment. I am not belittling the effects of treatment of any mental disorder. This chapter is strictly for entertainment purposes only. If you need help, please see a qualified provider.

A quick call to Salim had me arranging for Raven to come to my store as soon as possible. I had to twist Salim's hand to command Raven to come. I also sweetened the pot by telling them that her visit is to help her 'best friend' Cal. Sheesh! Anyone will think she's afraid to come to my store. I wonder why she feels that way? I grin inwardly while watching my favorite fur coat, Alpha mutt and Lord Leech continue to argue nonstop. Now they're arguing about who gets to spend what day with whom? Another hour of this nonsense? I need some space before I zap all three of them off the planet.

I take my new hot cup of tea outside my store to wait for Raven. I flip the store sign 'closed' to keep everyone out for what is about to go down. I sit down and I say a little prayer to the Sun god NOT to send me any mate. I don't have the patience for all the craziness attached to the whole 'mate' phenomenon.

Raven will have been here quicker if that pussy cat Salim had just given me permission to enter his territory. Why would he even think I will disrupt his pack in just ten minutes. Just because I don't like mutts doesn't mean I can't play catch the yarn with the nice pussy cats.

Almost an hour later, a car pulls up. Raven, Joaquim, and Roland step out of the car. Raven stops when she sees me. I smell the fear. I had to restrain myself from 'toying' with her. Unfortunately, I have no time to play 'scare the mutts and cat', I need her help to get those 'tri-mates' out of my store.

"Raven, so good to see you," I walk up to her. "Listen we need to talk."

"Is Cal alright?"

"Listen for yourself and you tell me." I pull her to my door and motion for her to listen to the ruckus that has been going on nonstop.

"Is that Cal? And Alpha Darric, and Lord Rafe? What's going on?"

"Wow! They are loud," Joaquim grins.

"I don't think we should be listening to their intimate conversations," Roland pipes in.

"They're shouting loud enough for the whole world to hear them, so privacy is not an option right now. Raven, this is why you're here. They need you desperately." I make myself sound pitiful.

"Me? How can I help them? I'm an omega and there are an Alpha and a High Lord in that room with Cal."

"You are studying to be a psychiatrist, right? You plan to work on the human brain and whatnot. Who else is close enough to Cal, a werewolf, and has an inkling of what drives mutts, excuse me, humans such as you lot wacko?"

"But Esme, I'm still in school. I haven't graduated yet."

"I know that you know that, and they know that! But they've agreed to have you help them sort out what the fuck is making them bonkers. Listen, I will make sure you are in control of your sessions. They will not sass you or demean you. They will follow your instructions, or I will fry them. I have your back. I just want you to do what you do and get those 'ingrates' out of my store, capisce?" I give her my 'do it or else' look.

"Ok, I will do my best. We'll need a private place to talk though."

"No worries, you can use my upstairs living room. There's a couch there if you need to hypnotize anyone of them," I quip.

"We don't do that any willy nilly, Esme."

"Whatever! Let's go. And you two go enjoy the town. Raven is going to be busy for a while."

"You heard the woman, let's check out your town," Joaquim pulls Roland away.

We enter my store and they stop. They look at us and promptly go back to arguing.

"This is not going to work, Esme."

"Yes, it will. Take control. In this store, with my support, you are in charge. There is no Alpha, no High Lord, no Omega. Just three people who need your help desperately and one is your best friend. Take charge!"

She turns back to face them, stands up straight, pulls her shoulders back and yells, "QUIET!!!!!!"

Oh, snap, who knew the mild-mannered Omega had such loud pipes.

"My name is Dr. Raven Hayes and..."

"Raven you're not a doctor yet," Cal interrupts her.

"You sir will not interrupt when I am speaking. As I was saying, I am Dr. Raven Hayes and I have been called to help you with your issues. Now to help you, there will be rules you must abide by."

"One, you will address me as Dr. Hayes. Two, you will respect my position. Three, know that all we talk about is confidential, and four, whatever I say goes. Understand? Hopefully, by the end of today, you three will arrive at some point of compromise."

"Listen here Omega..."

"Dr. Hayes to you, Darric! If these rules are not acceptable, I will gladly turn around and go back to my studies. Are we all agreeable?"

"Yes," Cal answers. He nudges Rafe and Darric and they both reluctantly nod their heads.

"Good. Now, our hostess here, Esme, has provided a place for all of us to talk. We will quietly follow her and start our session."

I motion for all four of them to follow me and I think to myself, wow! I might just have created a monster, way to go Esme! Yea me!

"Please make yourselves comfortable. Esme, may I have a writing pad and pencil or pen, please?"

"Sure."

"Thank you, Esme, and we will need absolute privacy."

"Fine, I'll be downstairs. Yell if you need me."

"I think we'll be fine, wouldn't we boys?"

Cal smiles, Rafe hisses, and Daric growls. Despite my tough words and outward appearance, I am inwardly freaking out. Alpha Darric and High Lord Klyne can eat me for lunch if they choose to. Why did I let Esme talk me into this situation? Because I love Cal and will do almost anything to help him and she knows it. What a manipulative cow! Okay, put your big girl pants on and let's begin.

"So, what exactly is the problem?"

No one speaks.

"Come now, I am here to help. Anything we say here is confidential. I am obligated not to share it with anyone. And nothing you say will shock me, so tell me what's the problem? Cal?"

"Well, you know my history with Darric..."

"Let's assume I do not. Tell me in your own words your history and why we're here."

"Okay, Darric bullied me as a kid and..........so when Rafe and I made love, Darric felt everything and thought we made love to hurt him. Honestly, we didn't. It was just in the heat of the moment, I swear."

I write the pertinent points of his story down as he is telling it. I pray that I am not blushing because I really did not want to hear about their sex life, but I am here to help, and help I must.

"Rafe, what is your take on this whole sex thing."

"We made love Dr. Hayes. And yes, I knew that Darirc will feel every touch, kiss, everything but I forgot that when Callum and I made love. I remembered when he called us."

"He called you? During sex?"

"No afterward. He said we were trying to kill him. Why would I want to kill my mate?"

"You try wanking off all night so much that your nuts ache, emptied your balls so no more cum was shooting out of your aching dick, and then tell me you won't feel like you're dying?"

"Emm, so Darric, tell me how you feel, other than the ejaculating part, of course."

"I was jealous, frustrated and to be honest, tired."

"Tired?"

"Yes, tired. It seems I am constantly being forgotten by my mates. I don't know what else to do to get Cal to totally forgive me. I know that is causing Rafe to hold me at arm's length, so I am tired. I am tired of fighting a battle I can't win. I really believed we had started a new chapter in our relationship after the mating, but I guess I was wrong."

"No, you are not wrong, Darric, I love you. Cal loves you. The 'arm's length' you feel is not because of either one of you. I have something I need to tell both of you since the ritual that I have been dreading and it's making me crazy," Rafe injects.

"I knew it. I knew you were keeping something from me, from us. What is it, Rafe?" Cal asks.

"You can tell us anything you know, Rafe," Darric tells him.

"I can't, it's too soon."

"Are you kidding me? Spill it!"

And then they start to argue again. Oh, goddess, this is not going well at all.

SHUT THE HELL UP ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!! I scream.

"Excuse me? Omega Raven?"

"That's Dr. Hayes to you Darric. And quit whining, it all started with you, so own it. By the way, the deal was when in this room, I AM THE BOSS. I do the yelling, growling, hissing and whatever else you higher ups do."

"Darric you blew it with your mates. Admit it, work towards mending it, even if it takes all your life. And try not to let your ego screw things up again."

"Rafe, you say you're keeping something from your mates. That does not build an atmosphere of trust with them and not a good start, I hate to tell you."

I look at Cal and he leans back on his chair, smiling, giving me a thumbs up sign.

"And Cal stop with the smile and thumbs up, to quote that weird witch downstairs, 'shit or get up the potty' already."

"Now that we all know where we stand, let's start over and reach some amicable decisions concerning your relationship."

I lean back and the atmosphere in the room changed. I feel some sense of respect from all of them.

Rafe takes a deep breath and blurts out, "I need to share something with my mates, only my mates. It is a secret and we need some privacy. Please give us about thirty minutes?"

"Of course, I'll be back." I gladly leave the room. Goddess, I need a break. Phew!

"What's wrong?"

"What is it?"

"You have been a bit off since the mating ritual."

"Even I noticed that!"

"It's about Jeffery."

"The stone-faced butler?"

"What about Jeffery?" Callum asks cautiously.

"No questions till I finish okay?"

"Okay," they both reply.

"Jeffery is from a tribe or group called 'Watchers'."

"Watchers? What's a watcher," I give Darric a stony look for interrupting.

"Shush!" Callum twists his arm.

"Ouch! Sorry."

"'Watchers' were created by the Sun god himself. They are all male. No one knows where they live or anything about them. Their only purpose in existence is to protect the Originals and Clan leaders and their families. They are accountable to no one except Sun-god himself. Their motto is simple: 'Safety above order'."

"Jeffery has been with the Klynes as long as I can remember back to the days of my grandfather. I believe he has been here longer than that. He protected my grandfather when he was a Clan leader. The same for my father and mother, and now me as Clan leader and you guys as my mates. And will protect our child when he or she becomes a Clan leader."

"For him to protect us all, you two must go through a ritual only the 'Watchers' know about and in their domain, which no one knows where it's located."

A long silence, after which Darric asks, "and what does the ritual entail?"

"I don't know."

"And where will it take place?"

"I don't know."

"What exactly do you know?"

"Nothing. No one knows anything about 'watchers'. All I know is that if you don't voluntarily go with him, he will take you both by force. You both will be 'recalled'. I don't know where you'll be or how to get you back. And I cannot stop him. He has the right and power since our mating ritual. And you have two weeks to decide to go with him or else. And if he 'recalls' you, I think I will go mad not knowing when I'll get you both back."

"Let me see if I get this right. We," he points to Callum and himself, "must go with your stone-faced butler or soldier as you initially introduced him, to someplace no one knows where, to perform a ritual that no one knows how it's done, and we have two weeks, or he'll take us to Never NeverLand by force?"

"That's the gist of it."

"Mate or no mate, Rafe, you vamps are full of shit!"

"Calm down Darric. Why didn't you tell us before Rafe?" Callum asks. This is not like you to keep things from me, from us!"

"I was afraid okay! I know this is hard to swallow. Even for vampires that marry Clan leaders, it is a hard thing to put your mate through. How much more wolves that have no idea of the ritual. I was afraid that I'll be powerless to help you and scared of the ramification if you choose not to go. I don't know where to begin to search for you. No one can or will be able to help me. I will be lost without the two of you."

"Do you know how long we'll be gone for? I'll have to make arrangements with my Beta to cover for me."

"Same here, I will need to have Esme cover for me with Wood Inc."

"You guys agree to go? I ask in shock."

"Of course, we're your mates and we trust you."

"One more thing, we must be fully mated before you go. A recommendation from my father. Our mating will help you through the process."

I am not about to tell them about any pain they'll endure. Mother did say they will forget so no need to rock the boat.

"Why? Not that I don't want to complete our mating, or anything like that," Darric asks.

"Not sure. Something about sharing the ritual with you even though I won't be with you physically." Forgive me Sun god for telling half-truths to my mates.

"How long will we be gone?"

"My grandmother and mother were gone for three days, so with both of you, maybe a week?"

"Okay that's settled then, we leave in a week. I get to spend alone time with you Cal," he winks.

I just fell more in love with Darric. He just effectively diffused a time bomb. He turned what could've been a catastrophe into a vacation for both of them.

"Good, I just linked Raven to come back in, excuse me, Dr. Raven," Callum tells us.

Raven walks in a few minutes later. She sits down, looks at us and smiles.

"With the looks on your faces, whatever was shared has improved the mood in this office significantly. Wonderful! Looks like we've made a lot of progress. There's just one more thing. The thing that started this all: where have you decided to live?"

"Redwood."

"Bryn Mawr."

"Anywhere."

All three look at each other and just like that, start to argue again.

"Rafe, I cannot leave my pack unattended."

"And I cannot leave my clan unattended either."

"Cal, where do you want to live?"

"Oh no, you will not put the decision on me."

"Why not? You're the one who said 'anywhere'."

"Okay, I'm not comfortable at BloodRose and I'm not used to the Manor. I think we should build a place in the middle for all three of us and start our own family."

"I like that."

"Me too."

"But where?"

The three start to argue again. Goddess, help me, here we go again.

I throw my file in the air and walk out. I need another break.

Only a good friend like Raven will do this much for Cal. Raven, I think you are on your way to acing your classes 😊.

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