Jax’s P.O.V. I am still mad with Dad for letting Hunter go to the bonfire with some guys, but there was nothing I could have done without revealing that Hunter is my Mate. If my Brothers find out I have an underaged Mate, they will tease me with that every chance they get. I know I would if the roles were reversed and Brick chuckles as he mention a few remarks we would be throwing their way. “Those are the ones we will get if they hear that she is our Mate.” I growl and Brick shuts up immediately. I hear someone walk in to the dining-room and when I hear Hunter’s voice, I decide to keep quite. She is talking to the girls, unaware of the fact that I am sitting outside on the balcony and I can hear every word they say. “Do you think Victor and Matt will be at training?” one of the girls asks. “Ella, would you leave your bed anytime soon after you found your Mate?” Hunter asks and Hunter and the other girl start laughing, I assume the girl turned beet-red. “Emma, you better not laugh at your Sister. You will be right there with her.” Hunter states and the room goes quiet. Hunter is right, they are twins and for that reason they will share a Mate. Apparently something the twins hadn’t considered yet, but my Mate did. I have just finished my coffee and I am contemplating on going for a refill or wait until the girls are gone. “Last night was fun, I loved the bonfire.” Hunter says. “I always assumed that if a guy showed interest in me, it would be for my title. Micha showed me last night he doesn’t care about that, he just likes talking to me and he said that he likes the fact that I have an interest in so many subjects.” The girls giggle as Brick is roaring in my head. “What did the two of you talk about?” Emma asks and I want to know the answer as well. “He told me he has been waiting for his Mate for seventeen years now and he finds it hard to keep faith with all his friends finding their Mates. He said that if he found the right woman, he might consider taking a chosen Mate.” She replies and I want to jump up and tell her she can’t see the guy anymore. However I don’t get the chance as I hear chairs moving and the girls get up as they say Goodmorning to Jayce. As I walk in to the dining-room the look on his face tells me that he heard the same thing I did, I watch as the color of his eyes shift between his own and that of Colt and I know he is struggling to stay in control. When he finally is able to he says, “You heard them, didn’t you?” I just nod my head, because I don’t trust my voice at the moment. Martha walks in and Jayce asks her to bring breakfast to his office for the four of us. Jayce and I leave the dining-room to wake up Jason and Justin, we didn’t need to wake up Jason as he opened his door the moment we stopped in front of it. Justin was a different story, Jayce had to pound on the door quite hard and when he opened it, it looked as if he had been vast asleep. He walks back into his room as he mumbles that he will be right there. Once we have our breakfast Jayce tells Jason and Justin what we overheard and just like us they have a serious debate with their Lycans, it takes a few minutes before they gain control. “What are we going to do? Dad made it clear to back off, but I don’t like that he told her he would take a chosen Mate if he found the right woman.” Justin grumbles and we all agree with him. We talk for a while longer, but we can’t seem to find a solution to the problem and Brick is whining in my head at the thought of losing his Mate before we had her. There is nothing I can do to make him feel better and I stop trying. After lunch I go in search of my Grandfather and I hope he will be able to help me, I need to make sure she doesn’t take off because I am getting over-protective. I find him in the Library reading a book on Mate-bonds. “Jax, what can I do for you?” He asks as he closes the book and puts it on the table next to his chair. “Pops, I am afraid I am losing her, before I even had her.” I say as I sit down in a chair next to him. “Dad already told us to back off or he would back whatever decision she makes.” “Well, Jayce. Why don’t you tell me what happened?” He asks and I tell him about the past year, about everything I did to stay away from her. I tell him what that did to me and Brick, I tell him what would happen every time I came home and how she would react. When I tell him about last night and this morning he just nods his head, I want to scream at him for staying so calm and Brick wants a piece of him too. He stares straight ahead and I can tell that he is debating with Reginald about everything I told him. “Jayce, if you could go back to last year, would you have told her?” He asks and I shake head, I wouldn’t have told her, not even knowing what I know now. “If for some reason your Father told you it was okay to tell her, would you?” He asks and this time I wait with answering him. Would I tell her if Dad told me it was okay? Would I be willing to take that chance? What if she laughed at me and told me to get lost? What if she got mad? Would she even believe me if I told her? The questions keep running through my head and I don’t know which to answer first. “Pops, I don’t know. Just thinking about that has my mind running in circles, even Brick is unsure and that is saying a lot. I need to think about your question before I can answer it and right now I am not sure I will ever find the answer.” I mumble before I leave him behind in the Library. I walk back to my room, just staring at my ceiling and I let the questions run through my mind again. Brick and I go back and forth on them and neither one of us is getting closer to answering them. We did agree on the most important question, thou. If Dad told us it would be okay to tell her, we wouldn’t know if we would tell her and that had everything to do with us already being over-protective. I think if we told her and we were allowed to show the world, we would become even more over-protective of her. Which of course would cause her to get pissed at us every moment of every day and Brick chuckles as he pictures those moments. I know he is right, she would try to punch my lights out a few times a day and I wouldn’t be able to really blame her for it. Werewolf and Lycan males are over-protective when it comes to their Mate, High-ranks even more so and when it comes to Royals, well use your imagination. Females deal with it in different ways, but knowing my Mate there will be hell to pay and she won’t be afraid to do it in public. Brick shows me an image of Hunter punching me in the face in the dining-hall and we both laugh, because she would not hesitate to do it. I wonder how she will react if I tell her I am her Mate, but I am also afraid of how she will react and I know I am not ready to risk it. So it is a good thing Dad always said it is best for an underaged male or female to find out themselves, because it will give us some time to work on our relationship with Hunter. The problem is that neither of us know how to improve our relationship with Hunter, I believe we already messed it up enough and it will be hard to convince her to let us in. We will try as we don’t want her to hate us, we will try to let her live her life and we both know it will be hard as hell to see her around other males. The only males we will be comfortable with are our Brothers and only because we know that they will keep her safe. “I know you liked her hair the way it was, but I actually love the way it is cut now.” Brick says and he shows me how she looked last night. I have to admit it suits her, but it will get some time before I am use to it and don’t feel mad at her for cutting it. I think about the girl that walked into our Palace gardens over a year ago and I smile as I remember her reaction towards Macy and Suzy. She still doesn’t hide she dislikes women like them and Dad, Gabe and Brent have had their hands full with controlling her outbursts. I have heard the stories from my Brothers and I have witnessed it myself a few times, making both me and Brick chuckle as we remember a few of those altercations.