-Auggie's POV-

I stood next to her as she called out to her parents, and of course they walked right over.

They smiled at her before their gaze turned to me.

"Alpha and Luna Wylde, it's a pleasure to meet you." I said.

"I hope you don't mind, I invited my friend over for dinner." Grace said.

Her words were a stab to the ego, even though it's what we agreed to be.

'For now.'

"I'm Augustine Andolini, and sorry for this intrusion." I added, "Oh...these are for you Luna Wylde."

"Oh thank you so much Augustine, They're lovely." The Luna said as she smiled kindly. "And no intrusion, any of our girls friends are always welcome in our home...please come in and meet the rest of our family."

As The Luna showed us in I felt as my wolf arose in anticipation to react to any situation now.

We were led into a very formal dining room and Upon our entry a man and woman stood up from their seats.

"Augustine this is my Sister Eloise and my Brother in Law Rocco."

I shook their outsretched hands, "It's a pleasure to meet you both Alpha and Luna Wylde."

"Augustine is Grace's friend." Grace's Mother said softly. "I think given the same titles and same last name,  first names will suffice this evening."

I blushed a little and nodded.

"Augustine Andolini...You're one of Antonio Andolini's boys." Alpha Dylan sounded as he gestured for us to all take a seat.

I nodded, "Yes sir, I'm the youngest out of the brood."

He smiled a little, "So you and Gracie know each other from school?"

"Yes sir, seems we share an interest in photography." I said.

"Oh our Gracie has always loved to take photos." Luna Juliette said adoringly of her daughter.

"Can I just be the one to say..." Alpha Rocco said with a wide grin on his face now. " ...When you two walked in here I thought you were going to tell us you're mates."

"We are." Grace said cooly.

I was going on her lead now.

"You are...okay, and no offense or anything Augustine but you seem a little bit older than Gracie... you're a student with her?" Her Aunt Luna Eloise asked.

"Isn't uncle Roc older than you Auntie Lou?" Gracie asked calmly yet slightly defensively.

I noticed the slight blush dust her aunts cheeks.

But the truth is we need their help so I'd need to be as open and honest with them as I'm willing to be with Grace herself. "I am the photography professor Luna Eloise."

"Oh Shit." Alpha Rocco sounded under his breath but everyone in the room was fully shifted so we all heard him loud and clear.

"Do you mind if we ask how old you are?" Luna Juliette asked.

"What does it matter," Grace got defensive now. "We're mates, we didn't choose each other no matter how old he is or who his family is, or what he does for a living..."

I wanted to grab Grace's hand or rub her back to comfort her and remind her it was alright but I opted to simply her a reassuring smile, before answering her mother. "I just turned 30 ma'am."

Luna Juliette only nodded.

"Look...I love you all and I know this is different, I mean you all know me..." Grace sounded.

And call me crazy, but I'm guessing this is the most vulnerable she's been even around her family...probably ever.

"Truth is I've never really wanted a mate, but we all knew he was out there somewhere." She sighed. "Now as I've said, "Augstine is my friend, we want to get to know each other and being friends is the best choice for us as we learn about one another."

This whole time her father hadn't said anything.

"Is there anything else either of you would like to tell us?" Alpha Dylan finally sounded. His words were eerily calm.

I sighed, "Grace is my mate...and I will always respect her and her choices as well as be honest with her...-"

"We were hoping you'd be able to help us." Grace cut me off.

Alpha Dylan looked at only her now. "What's wrong Gracie...Princess are you in some kind of trouble?"

Grace shook her head, "No...it's Augustine."

"What's wrong Augustine?" Luna Juliette asked sweetly.

"I only recently found out my brother, who is the current Alpha has contracted me to marry someone...you see in our pack if you're unmated, unmarked, or unmarried by 30 your parents or the Alpha (with parental consent) have the right to contract you out for marriage...and as I've just said, I just turned 30 two months back....so My father found an Alpha's daughter for me to marry...all of this was done without my knowledge or consent." I said before looking over at Grace once again.

"It isn't my intention to lead Grace on in any way, but she is my mate, my wolf and I both acknowledge her and she's acknowledged us and our mates pull has started so staying away is going to be impossible now..."

"That's why we're friends only." Grace said. Even I picked up the sadness in her words.

"I don't want to marry this other girl, and I'm sure that girl feels the same about me too...Please, if any of you have any answers, anything I can try...I'm honestly open for trying anything at this point to get out of this contract." I said completely desperate for any solution.

Alpha Dylan propped his elbows up on the table and let his head fall into his hands as he shook his head and let out a deep breath now.

He finally looked back up at us, at me in particular, "I'm sorry Augustine...I can't help you."

"Can't or Won't?!" Grace growled.

"Gracie..." Alpha Dylan and I said at the same time.

Alpha Rocco laughed a little "Awkward." His Luna smacked his arm to get him to stop.

"Gracie baby" Luna Juliette spoke up now. "You should know your Father would NEVER turn his back on someone in need, that ISN'T his character." She said, but we could all tell she was speaking to her husband through the guise of talking to her daughter.

"Look, Gracie...Augustine." Alpha Dylan said calmly. "It isn't that I don't want to help, and trust me I completely understand this contract marriage...we all here in this room understand it better than most to be honest...and that is why I can not help because once the contract is made up, signed off, and presented to the council there is close to nothing that can break that contract."

"Close to nothing." Grace said hopeful, "So there's a small chance."

"Slim to none kiddo." Alpha Rocco said.

"Look we've all dealt with this before." Luna Eloise said.

"You did?" Grace asked.

Her mother sighed, "years before I met your father I was with another man, Alpha Dorian Travers...I was his mate...but he rejected me because he too was contracted to marry another woman."

"I'm sorry Augustine, like it or not...sounds like you're locked in unless either you, your new fiancée or one of the Alphas who signed on the contract just suddenly pass away there is absolutely nothing than can be done now." Alpha Dylan sounded sympathetically.

"But even if one of the Alphas died..." Alpha Rocco put in, "it would be up to their replacement Alpha to sign off on the contract and keep the marriage going or not...you think your other brother would let you out of the contract so easily if anything happened to your oldest brother...because I could bet money the girls family would do anything to marry her off...she's either the youngest of her family, or their pack really needs an alliance marriage."

I shook my head knowing Marco would just do whatever Junior wanted so I'd end up getting married regardless.

After that we had a sufficiently awkward dinner where her sister Hope did exactly as she said she would and her little cousin asked me probably every question under the sun.

When dinner was over, I thanked them all. I was more than thankful that Grace's father didn't try and fight me or ban his daughter from seeing me.

And soon Grace and I left.

It was lightly drizzling when we took off from her parents place but the storm came in fast and flashes of lighting and echoing thunder rolled in with it.

"Gracie we've gotta stop." I said worried because if I couldn't see out of the windshield there was no way she could see. "Pull off to the side and we'll wait it out."

"This is my town, I know exactly where I'm at." She sounded cool, but I could see the slight worry etched in her brow.

I sighed and just then my cellphone sounded with a weather alert, "flash flooding expected to hit Lakeside...which means it'll be over no mans land as soon as it leaves Harmond."

"We'll go back to my place, you can stay with me until the storm passes."

"Gracie..."

"Look you don't want me driving in the rain and I'm not about to let you just disappear into the storm, this way both of our wolves are contented and we're out of the storm."

I finally nodded.

Slowly she drove on and somehow we finally made it to her apartments. We made a mad dash to her building and and I slipped and almost fell twice which caused her to crack up.

Drench and full of laughter we finally entered her apartment.

"I'll go get some towels...you should plug up your phone just in case, I've got a spare iPhone charger beside the sofa."

"You shouldn't leave these plugged in." I sounded as she disappeared. But I plugged up my phone as she'd instructed and then moved quickly back to the front of the door so if I dripped water it'd be all in the same space instead of various puddles around her apartment.

"Here you go...uh I brought you some basketball shorts too, figured I could get our wet clothes washed and dried...plus it's something more comfy for you to sleep in."

"Thanks." I said, taking note of her nervousness now.

"Uh, so if you want to follow me I can show you to the guest room where you'll be staying, there's a connected restroom so you can shower or get changed...it's fully stocked in case my friends stay, even though truthfully they just usually stay with me, but uh...yeah...I'm gonna go to my room and shower so j-just make yourself comfortable and I'll be out in a jiff."