Chapter 18

Abel and Lamia returned back to their home. They were a newly wedded couple. However, they did not have much if any time alone. They were busy with making out invitations. Then there were the preparations for their real wedding with their family and friends. On top of everything else, they also had to prep the two packs for the union. Along with getting the business paperwork all caught up.

All together from the kidnapping to the wedding, they had let nearly a month slip by at work. They had mountains of paperwork that had to be managed. They would not be having their honeymoon anytime soon. That is partly why the wedding had to be had so soon. They had their ceremony two days after returning home. It was so quick, in the wolf world, it was basically a shot gun wedding. However, the kidnapping made it evident to everyone why it had to be done so quickly.

Really Abel felt that this was more political than for love. To be honest, he had no feelings for Lamia. He knew from the get go that there was something weird about the entire issue with her. He did not feel right going through with this wedding, yet he felt he had no choice. There is a whole back story that most of the packs do not know. This does not make things right, nor does it justify anything. But Abel felt obligated due to the circumstances of her change.

You see Lamia comes from old blood in the werewolf community. Most of the pack leaders had been warned off of the old blood families since birth. The older families were known for playing dirty tricks to keep their names prominent in the community. All the old families have been accused of tricks (such as sneaking old blooded "respectful" young women into community leaders beds), blackmail (such as finding pregnant females on their front door claiming to have their baby in their bellies), lies (accusing other packs for things that they did), and bullying to force their way into things. The old blood families have always had a member of each of their families on every council in every clan.

Abel's clan had been weeding the old blood family out of his councils since he took over as Alpha. However, since becoming Alpha, the old families have had the council pressuring him to marry. Even though they were being weeded out, their names did still carry a lot of weight. They had even gone as far as planting one of their prettier young women (Lamia) as his secretary. There had been many forced coercion events since she has been here.

One of the forced events was him waking up when she climbed in bed with him. She said she did not realize he was in the bed when she tried to climb in. She had only just been given the key. She thought it just for her to find a place closer to home to sleep. No one had told her it was his house. Just that the key opened the front door.

He had not known she had even had a key. Then he found out that due to her being his personal secretary she was given one by the council. He took care of that by taking her key. Another time he had had a particularly rough day. It had been a mating moon event. Being around all the hormones had made him tense and horney. When he got to his office he had leaned back and fallen asleep in his desk chair. Just to be awoken by Lamia unzipping his pants. She claimed it was to help him release his pressure. She thought that as the woman he had been seeing that it was her duty. Now he locks every door before he takes any nap's. He took all her keys, except to the office building.

He did not hire her. The council did it for him. He agreed to appease them. He could not fire her because she was their pick. He was going to replace her. He had known just who he was going to use too. He knew he had made the decision recently too. But now he could not remember who that was!

Abel's attempts to appease the council would end up backfiring on everyone. It just had to happen when Thomas got married. With Thomas being Abel's Beta, he could not turn down being his best man at his wedding. Not only that but they had been best friends since birth. It used to be Abel, Prince Yuan, and Thomas running amok, causing all kinds of mischief and trouble. That is until Prince Yuan was taken to his home overseas. Then it was just Abel and Thomas.

Abel, even though he had been the best man, did not plan Thomas's bachelor party. Thomas's little brother (Aaron) did that. He had even approached Abel and made sure that he would not be stepping on any toes if he did. Abel, with running his own company and working as Alpha, did not have the time to plan the party. So, he did not mind. He even offered to pay for the party. Which Aaron excepted graciously.

Abel never thought that Aaron would have hired one of the old families for this party. He truly thought it must have just been an accident. However, by the time anyone would find out, it was too late. You see, the bachelor party started out at Thomas's house. All the men started taking shots and drinking. Then they all piled into several limo's and went out to Mickey Mantle's Steakhouse. Aaron had rented the entire restaurant. Drinks were on the house! Then the party went back to Thomas's house.

At Thomas's house, Aaron had paid for a company to do the whole party. Lamia had suggested and helped him to arrange the whole thing. However, no one found out until after words. Once the party goers were gone in limo's, the company got to work setting up the entire evening. The company was entirely responsible for set up and clean up. They provided entertainment, food and alcohol. They had servers, and people to walk around and keep things cleaned up. They even set up a whole stage for the nights entertainment in the living room. The company was really impressive.

When the men had gotten back to the house with their full bellies, they were surprised to see the entire set up. Not only was there a band playing, but two stripper poles were set up. Once everyone came in and had taken a seat, that is when the show started. By this point there was not one sober party goer there. At that point there was nothing, but everything to worry about.

No one knew until after the party that Abel's personal guards for the night, had a sleeping pill crushed into their drinks. To be honest, no one knew until the morning after. They were slipped the drugged drinks during the live entertainment. No one has been fully accused of this act yet either. Mainly because Abel has his own theory's about who the culprit was.

As soon as everyone was seated, a huge four teared cake was rolled down the isle and up onto the stage. Everyone knew what was in the cake. They were all excited and getting their wallets out to tip the dancers. When the music started and the top of the cake popped open. Lamia popped out of the top of the cake. By then one of the workers on the stage had begun a strip tease around the cake. She was taking off her working jumper. She helped Lamia step down out of the cake and it was wheeled off of the stage over to the tables. Apparently the cake was editable.

When the cake was off stage, the girls began pole dancing on the stripper poles. Their dances would not stay up on stage though. They came down into the crowd and gave lap dances and other favors to the party goer's. Even at one point pulling Thomas himself up on stage, and teasing the living snot out of him. Which always happens to the groom. But everyone was having a great time.

Both the young women were from old blood families. There just was not anyone in that room who gave two cents at the moment. As far as anyone in that room was concerned, the two women were highly paid strippers. Nothing more! Most of the men passed out at some time or other during the entire party. Abel was able to keep his wits for most of the night.

Everyone got a lap dance. Thomas got his first thing. Abel on the other hand was saved until last. All he could remember after words was a woman shaking her butt in his face, right before he passed out. The next day, the very same woman that had given him his lap dance. Well she showed up with her father, pictures, and video in tow. She had taken a selfie of herself in Abel's arms. One of the videos showed her down to her underwear, with his face against her side where she now had a mark. Even though Abel knew he was passed out in the video. You could see when she stood up that he was gone. I mean gone as in unconscious. She could still say it was him. He had just passed out doing it.

He knew it was a set up. As soon as Thomas had found out the next day, he beat the crap out of his little brother. That is when they had found out about Lamias involvement. She was responsible for Aaron even wanting to plan the party. She suggested the venue, the restaurant, and even the entertainment. Aaron felt horrible about it. He thought she was pretty and wanted to make a good impression on her. He had been trying to get her number, and had asked her out many times. Planning this party was his excuse to keep seeing her. He had not known who she was. No one had informed him. In the end, Thomas and Abel both had to forgive him. He can not be blamed for what he did not know.

No one really thought that Aaron knew what was going on. On the surface, it appeared to be a reputable company. After the party though, the company and their wavers disappeared. Everyone signed wavers before the party ever happened. That includes the staff. Aaron at least knew to do that. But he did not get nor keep copies.

To top things off, there is no way to tell who your wolf daddy is unfortunately. No, not even if you are their real father. Even if you are the one that changed someone, the bite will only increase what feelings they have towards you. Weather they be good or evil, that is up to the person bitten. Unfortunately, when transferring the virus, it acts like a rubbing alcohol. Except it kills off the old blood cells, and saliva instead of virus's. Then it replaces them with the new gene. When you bite someone to change them you literally get a taste of rubbing alcohol in your mouth. That is because the bite acts in roughly the same way. Depending on your state at the time. You can not match bite marks either. You could have been at any stage in your change in order to inflict a bite. Therefore, measuring a bite that has been left, is basically useless.

Unfortunately, since that night, Abel felt like he had to take on this responsibility. All the evidence said, he had bitten her. Therefore, now she was his responsibility. He was trying to wolf up. He had denied it at first. He and his parents had even considered hiring a lawyer. This was very clearly a set up. He had tried dating her a few times. But he had gotten to the point he was avoiding her. That party had happened three months before she had been kidnapped.

When she had been kidnapped, he could not remember hardly anything of the last few weeks. He did remember her and their few dates though. He remembered his desperate need to rescue his fiancée. He could only assume that somehow something had changed and she was his missing piece. He had never introduced her to anyone. Everyone had been waiting for the big reveal. Even his own mother had been excited for the reveal until he had told her who it was.

Not one person wanted to correct him, or tell him it could or should have been someone else. Everyone just basically went with the flow. Thomas was the only one who seemed bothered. The doctor, in front of Abel, had told Thomas they just needed to give his brain time to catch back up. Otherwise, Thomas would have told Abel immediately the major issues going on here. The doctor also said that pushing the information or forcing it could cause more damage. The wedding had already been promised. There was not going to be any talking Abel out of it. So even Thomas was caught up with having to ride the current until Abel's memories came back.

Thomas was really between a rock in a hard spot in this area. He knew of Joyce's existence. He knew how Abel had felt towards both women. He had been vary clear on the subject. All he knew to do in this moment was to find his lost fiancée. He did not know until they were on the ship, that both women had turned up missing. The second he found out though, he knew, if Abel picked Lamia over Joyce, Thomas was going to step up and tell all. However, when he did, he did not know what had happened. One minute he was standing next to Abel, the next the ship was at port and he was waking up with a horrible headache with a pain in his thigh.

Thomas flew home that same day. His side hurt him. He only found two puncture wounds on his hip. He did not know what that meant. As soon as his wife picked him up from the airport and got him home he went to talk to able. But when he found him he was carted off straight away to put on his tux. He was the best man after all. It would not be till days later, when he was finally able to sit and talk with Abel about this whole nightmare.

At the wedding, all of their family, friends, and the entire pack from both sides was invited. This was a very political event after all. Neither her or her family cared that she was now a werewolf. But that was not the problem. If it was Abel, he did not just change her. He had given her the acceptance mark. If it was not him, who ever did it, had every intention of marrying her.

Abel felt he had no other option but to accept his fate. He had told her when she had confronted him to prove it was him. All she had were the pictures and the one video. But he knew there was no way to disprove it either. Now he felt that if there had been any other way to combine the two packs, he would take it! He had even talked to Mr. Fisher about other options. Mr. Fisher threatened to out him as a disgrace for not taking his responsibility's. Which would have ruined Abel's company. Possibly bankrupting him. Werewolf's are very prideful creatures. No one would work for a disgraced Alpha.

Because of this, he was locked into this farce. The only thing that could have sealed his fate fully, is if she had gotten pregnant. However, he knew that did not happen. He has a very hard time getting excited around her. It is not impossible. But it has to be worked for. That was one of the reasons he had begun to avoid her. He felt if his body was reacting this way, there must be some explanation.

He knew he was supposed to be in love with his new mate. He was hoping the ceremony would solidify or prove that he had feelings for her. After the ceremony on the ship though, he felt even more distant from her. When he mounted Lamia during the mating ceremony. He could not get hard at first. Lamia was not putting off any sexual scent either. It was more or less like she was assuming the position.

When he did enter her, it was painful. Her sex was dry. When he sniffed the air though. He found a scent that caught his whole being. When he tried to follow it, Prince Yuan stepped in between. He had not realized he had been heading straight towards Prince Yuan's woman. The smell alone made him hard.

Prince Yuan's woman would never be his and he knew it. But in order for him to be able to preform his duties he used her image. She will never know he was imagining her under him, instead of Lamia. With that on his mind he had no problem completing his duties. But his body forced him to pull out before finishing. No one ever noticed though. Each time they have been together since they had been officially mated, he has had to do the exact same thing. Lamia just did not do anything for him. Prince Yuan's woman did, just on her scent alone. He was expected to perform with Lamia. This was the only way he found he could. He just could not finish inside of her. His body would not allow him to.

He thought that maybe he needed to be more grounded. Every time he tried to think of the last few weeks and days, his head hurt so badly. Then the whole scene on the ship with Prince Yuan! He could feel that he was missing something important. He knew that everyone was telling him he should remember. But his head was supposed to be completely healed. It just had not healed properly, and everyone knew that as well.

When Lamia was kidnapped, he had been knocked in the head with a baseball bat. The jerk probably thought he was dead. The baseball bat had been lodged in Abel's skull, and splintered. His men were wise enough not to remove it. They took Abel to the hospital with the baseball bat still in his head. It took the good doctor several hours, and many x-rays to remove all the wood splinters. Then he was able to sew him back up. The doctor though, could not be blamed for what happened next. Only Abel's ego and worry about his woman could have been blamed.

Abel remembered waking up after the surgery. He had felt of his head and knew it was bandaged up. He had such a horrible headache. But his woman was in trouble! His best friend and Beta, Thomas, had come in to check on Abel. Abel pulled him close and told him to find the men who attempted to kill him. He had plans for the ass wipes that stole his other half.

The doctor, not realizing what Abel was doing, smiled, "Thomas when Abel is able to walk he could join in, in the hunt. I imagine that Abel is worrying himself sick. It is, after all, the first time our Alpha has ever shown interest in a woman." The doctor laughed teasingly.

Abel took it upon himself to heal quicker. He sat up and threw himself off of the bed. In which he crumpled down to the ground straight away. Thomas caught him and helped him to stand back up. Thomas had intended to help him back in the bed. But that is not what Abel wanted. As he was standing up, he shifted. By the time he was standing, he was a full wolf. He was standing on his back legs and leaning on Thomas. Thomas chuckled and let him down on the ground. Abel wagged his tail, and he walked maybe four paces. Then he collapsed. He lost all consciousness. He had been out for nearly a whole week after that. During which time Thomas was on a death hunt.

The doctor x-rayed Abel's head, and did several other tests. Abel had forced his delicate brain tissues to realign crookedly. Normally, after brain surgery it takes a few days for the tissues to realign themselves slowly. Instead, they were basically fused in place. The doctor said it would mess with his memories. But all Abel could remember is that he had to rescue his beloved.

The doctor did say that his memories might come back. But it was going to be a painful prospect. It could also be very slow. Then again, something might trigger him. If that was to happen, all of his memories could come rushing back over night. He might even have to have surgery to un-fuse the tissues.

That was when Prince Yuan called. He told Abel about Mr. Fisher's plan. Mr. Fisher, as the leader of the Luainians Pack, wanted to combine the two rival packs. He had wanted to for years. His pack and the Adalwolf pack were warring over territory. If they combined territories the two packs would no longer be rivals. They could hunt together. Also, the Luainians pack was down to twenty wolfs. In one or two more generations, the Luainians would no longer exist. Abel knew that Lamia's father was Mr. Fisher.

Abel had a soft spot for people trying to better the situation of their families. There was much to be said about putting your people first. Instead of killing Mr. Fisher. He decided he would beat him at his own game. He was already engaged to Lamia Fisher. He would rescue her and make it official. There is no way the old man could fight with that logic. Even knowing that technically he would be going with Mr. Fishers plan. Abel was just buying time. When he gets his memories back he can do more.

Prince Yuan, had paid Mr. Fisher to help him to find him a specific bride. He was supposed to be bringing her to him. That is how Prince Yuan had found out Mr. Fishers plan. Mr. Fisher told Prince Yuan he would give him his pick of two separate women. He could have one as a bride, and one as a prize. Prince Yuan did not know all the other things that had been happening. If he had known he would not have gone along so easily with Mr. Fisher's plan. As things stood though, Prince Yuan thought he was doing the right thing. Mr. Fisher had only told Prince Yuan what he wanted the to know.

Abel had a feeling, that one of the women Mr. Fisher was taking to Prince Yuan, was his own daughter. Abel would have never guessed that there had been two women. Let alone that he was supposed to have history with both. Mr. Fisher was desperate to combine his pack with another pack as soon as possible. He did not want to risk his pack dying out like so many of the others have. Also, they were old blood. His daughter had to marry a prominent figure in a pack. He did not really care who.

The fact that there were two women was really bothering Abel. It was like an itch in the back of his brain he could not scratch. Why would Mr. Fisher sale Prince Yuan two girls? But then Prince Yuan informed Abel that Mr. Fisher said, "One of the girls was a prize, the other was a surprise." Which sounded like Prince Yuan was to keep both.

Abel and Prince Yuan had agreed with that information, which ever one Abel picked, would go home with him. Prince Yuan would keep the other. Little did Mr. Fisher know, Abel and Prince Yuan had all but grown up together. Prince Yuan may be the Chinese werewolf Prince. But in order for him to be in that position, his father had to wade through lakes of blood to raise his family to those heights.

Due to this, Abel and Prince Yuan had grown up as brothers. Prince Yuan's mother was Abel's mother's sister. Which made them cousins. Abel and Prince Yuan both knew that they would each keep each other's word because of their bonds. Prince Yuan had only enlisted Mr. Fisher to help with his bridal issues, because Prince Yuan's pack demanded he marry. It was actually Prince Yuan's father who picked who the matchmaker would be.

Mr. Fisher had informed both Prince Yuan and his father of the issues with his daughter. He told them Abel had bit his daughter and was looking for any way to weasel out of his responsibility to her. Prince Yuan did not think that Abel would do such a thing. However, the king who told Prince Yuan how he wanted this situation to be managed and he was expected to follow. This included either killing or drugging Thomas Wolfman. Thomas Wolfman knew of both women. Mr. Fisher feared daily, that the man would ruin the opportunity they had to get them married. Mr. Fisher even went as far as showing them the pictures and video. They had no choice to agree that this may be for the best.

Prince Yuan had looked at both the bridal pictures that Mr. Fisher was willing to provide. You could say that Prince Yuan had fallen in love with a picture as soon as he saw Joyce. Prince Yuan took the picture and refused to show anyone her picture. He thought the other woman was too loose for his taste. That is until the day that Mr. Fisher had brought her to him. Prince Yuan was afraid of Jinxing his opportunity. Prince Yuan had never felt such feelings for a woman ever before in his life, and that was just from her picture. Imagine how he would feel in person.

If the new pressures were not enough already, Abel had had some issues with two unexpected guests during the ceremony. They were Mr. and Mrs. Bullock. They had been invited as family of the bride. They showed up to the wedding looking for their daughter. When they could not find her, they asked him where she might be. They were introduced to him as family of the bride! Their invitation was addressed as Parents of the bride. Though, Lamia's family had died in a tragic car crash. All she had left was her father who was Mr. Fisher.

That is why Abel thought the invitations were fake. He nearly had had them kicked out. That is until he looked at their invitations. That is when he saw that he had address and signed the invitations himself. He had mailed them. He did not remember even filling out the invitations! He must have somehow unconsciously did it. But he did not even recognize the address!

Abel explained to the Bullock's that he was sorry but he did not know who they were looking for. However, it felt wrong to be telling them that. He even went as far as saying that they must have broken up before he had his accident. But he knew better!

When the bullocks left, he dang near walked out with them. He wanted so badly to help them. He felt more attachment to them than he did his own bride. He was not sure how to feel about this. The Bullocks told him Joyce was on a ship with a man named Prince Yuan. Abel told them that Prince Yuan was a good man, and he would take amazing care of their precious daughter. That seemed to appease them.

Abel did have a memory come back to him as the Bullocks were leaving, "Mr. Bullock, do you drive a truck for the Adalwolf packing company?" Mr. Bullock shifted right then and there. Mr. Bullock shifting proved he was a member of the pack. Abel had to apologize. Mr. Bullock reminded him they were part of the same pack. All this really did, was remind Abel that Mr. Bullock knew what all had happened to him. Including all the memory loss issues, due to being part of the pack. The Bullock's probably thought that this wedding was their daughters. Unfortunately, it was not. Abel felt awful for them for this. Mr. Bullock patted him on the shoulder telling him, "We know you have a lot going on right now. When you do remember us, and our daughter, you will know where we live. Come find us then. We can talk. Maybe, we can be there for each other." Abel and Mr. Bullock shook hands and the Bullocks left the wedding.

After the final ceremony, the one that they considered too be their real wedding. Mr. fisher made a point of putting on the pressure to having a litter of cubs. He had the council of the pack, approaching them before they had even cut the cake after the wedding. After which the word had spread like wild fire. The entire pack was on Abel's back now. While Lamia only got congratulations, Abel got all the questions. How many cubs do you want to have? How long until they would try? Are they already trying? And many other questions he was not comfortable with.