Making Plans

Jayce's POV

Hearing a growl, Jayce looked up from the game of poker he was watching to see that the sound had come from Xander. Jayce was curious as to what the bearded man had said to Xander to make him look so angry, but that curiosity soon died as annoyance took over again.

After walking inside the bar, Xander had made a beeline for the other table, leaving Jayce to deal with ten men staring at him like he was something disgusting under their shoe. They were all sizing him up and it was only after he had shown his strength, that they let him take a seat with them.

Jayce sighed, bored and tired. He got up from his seat, deciding Xander had had enough alone time and needed to play the good host now. After all, he was the one who had invited Jayce to the bar.

As Jayce was about to walk over to the other table, a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist. He looked down to see who was trying to stop him, seeing that the tan hand belonged to a middle aged looking man with brown hair and eyes.

"I suggest you sit down, boy. The boss is having a private conversation." The man said, not letting go of Jayce's wrist.

Jayce pulled his wrist out of the man's hand and glared at him. "I think Xander has had enough chat time."

Before the older man could say another word, he walked over leaving the men in shock at his rudeness. But he didn't care. He grabbed a nearby seat and placed the wooden chair next to Xander's.

Xander looked over at him in confusion as he sat down. "What are you doing here?"

"Taking a seat next to the person who forgot that he brought a guest with him." Jayce replied sarcastically.

"I didn't forget you." Xander muttered. "I thought you were fine with the other men and that you could use the time to get to know some of the members of my pack."

"Well, introductions are done there. Now I'd like to meet your Beta, I'm guessing." Jayce looked over at the older male sitting on the other side of the round table.

The older man smirked at Jayce's remark. "The name's Jason Adiman. And you're right, I'm the pack's Beta."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Adiman." Jayce held a hand over the table. "I'm Jayce Tasis, in case Xander forgot to introduce me."

Jason took the young male's hand and shook it. "No, he told me who you were. The newest pack leader of Tasis Pack and Artemis's potential mate."

"Were you talking about that?" Jayce asked, wanting to see if he could get some information.

"Not really. It was just mentioned in passing." Jason's eyes glowed as if in warning. "Anyway, do you want to keep the mate bond?"

"I'm fine with it." Jayce smiled. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No…How could I have a problem with the Goddess's blessing? I was just curious about your feelings on it."

"That so…Xander, you're not having problems with the mate bond are you?"

"No, I just have some…concerns." Xander answered, a blank look on his face.

"Concern?" Jayce stared at the other male. "Don't you think those should be voiced to the parties involved?"

"They have." Xander's eyes glowered.

Jayce glared back at Xander wanting to know what exactly his concerns were. However, he knew that the male was probably not going to voice them to Jayce seeing as he had told Artemis.

"Ahem…" Jason coughed. "Jayce, I had an idea that I wanted to run by you…"

"What is it?" Jayce broke away from his staring contest with Xander to look at Xander's Beta.

"I was wondering what you think about dating Artemis? Forget about mate bonds and your pack. Date her for her remaining week here as you would as a normal girl. See if anything sparks and if you could build anything with her. When she leaves for college, think it over.

"If you come to the conclusion that there's something there, then you three should talk it out when she comes back for the holidays. Figure out what you're going to do next. Of course if you feel it's not going to work, then you should voice your thoughts immediately." Jason explained.

Jayce thought over it for a few moments, the idea not sounding like a bad one. He had only just met Artemis and now they were in the human equivalent of an engagement. It wasn't easy to adjust to something like that, even if there was some initial attraction.

Well, on his side at least. Artemis feared him at first, wanting nothing to do with him. He looked over at Xander who was watching his expression.

"I'm cool with that." Jayce finally said. "What about you?"

"I guess I'm fine with it too…We'll have to talk it over with Artemis tomorrow morning. Although, I'm not sure about the dating other people part."

Jayce stiffened at the last part. "What do you mean by that?"

"Jas, thought during our ''stewing period', we should date other people to see if we really want Artemis and if she wants us." Xander muttered, anger clear in his voice.

"The fu-"

As Jayce spoke, he felt a knock on the back of head stopping him from finishing. He turned to look and see who had hit, finding himself staring at a middle-aged woman with a tray of food and mugs of beer.

"No fighting sweetheart." The green-eyed woman smiled, setting the tray down on the table.

"Thanks Grace." Jas murmured.

"No problem Jason. Just don't cause any trouble in my bar."

She quickly set the items down on the table and left, leaving Jason with two angry alphas. Jason sighed, grabbing a beer.

"Look you two, it was just an idea. You don't have to go through with it. Just remember communication is key to any relationship. Talk everything out, especially how you feel about things." Jason advised. "Now, let's enjoy our time here. I'm tired of giving relationship advice."

****

Jayce awoke to the sound of a whistling kettle, upset to have been woken up so earlier after getting back home late last night. He got up from the couch he had been sleeping on, walking to the doorway to see Artemis in the kitchen.

Jayce found his anger disappear, suddenly glad to have been woken up. She seemed to be making coffee, looking quite peaceful. Grabbing the bandage from his pocket, he quickly tied it over his eyes before heading inside the kitchen.

Walking up to Artemis, who had her back to him, he wrapped his arms around her waist and lay his head on her right shoulder, taking a deep breath of her scent. She stiffened for a second, surprised.

"Jayce?!" She cried out in shock, her body softening again.

"Too soon?" Jayce asked, lifting his head to look at Artemis.

"No…I was just…surprised…" Artemis muttered, turning her head away in embarrassment. "Did I wake you?"

"No, I'm normally up at this time." Jayce lied. "Anyway, what you're making?"

"Just some breakfast before work. You want some coffee?" Artemis asked, pouring some hot water into a mug, the rich smell of roasting coffee filling Jayce's nose.

"No thanks…um…do you have hot chocolate?"

"Hot chocolate?"

"Yeah, coffee isn't really my thing."

"Hmm…I think we have some in the cupboard above you."

Jayce looked up, letting go of Artemis to open the cupboard. With blurry vision, it took him a few seconds to have the can of hot chocolate. Placing it on the counter, he noticed Artemis had disappeared to the other side of the kitchen, bending down to grab a mug for me.

After getting the mug, she hurried back to where Jayce was standing and quickly made the hot chocolate, directing Jayce to the fridge to fetch some milk for her.

He did so enjoying the mundaneness of making breakfast with Artemis. He felt peaceful and happy despite not liking being up so early in the morning.

"Artemis, what do you think about dating?" Jayce suddenly asked, the two sitting at the counter enjoying their hot beverages.

"Dating?" Artemis looked at Jayce with confusion.

"Like a normal couple would…um forgetting all this mate bond stuff and getting to know each other and that. Just until you leave for college that is…Xander can probably explain this better."

"Explain what?"

Jayce looked up to see Xander entering the kitchen wearing nothing but sweatpants. He could smell the forest coming off of the other male, dew dripping from his hair.

"The whole dating thing we spoke about yesterday. And where did you go?" Jayce answered.

"Oh…I was out doing a quick patrol." Xander replied, grabbing the other mug of coffee Artemis had made earlier.

"Do you ever sleep?" Jayce asked, wondering how Xander could look so refreshed after staying up so late.

"Yes I do." Xander rolled his eyes. "Also thanks Artemis."

Artemis nodded her head at the thanks. "So, what's this whole dating thing?"

"Basically, we act as a couple for the week you're here and then stew over it while you're in college, deciding if we should go along with this mate bond. Like a trial period." Xander quickly explained, taking a seat opposite Artemis and Jayce.

"Oh…" Artemis was quiet for a few minutes. "If you're okay with it then I guess we can do that."

"Sure." Xander took a sip of his coffee. "Want to go on a movie date after work?"

"Um…can we relax here instead…I wanna do something quiet after everything yesterday." Artemis murmured.

"Okay, I'll pick you up later then…" Xander nodded. "You're fine with that Jayce?"

"Sure. Let's try this out."