Moonlight Kiss

44. Dining With Allies.

[Jade]

When Mason returned from his meeting, I was already asleep, I vaguely remembered him climbing into bed and pecking me on the forehead sometime at night.

I wasn't able to inform him about Zara's letter and it weighed heavily on my conscience throughout the whole night.

I woke up early but when I got up Mason wasn't by my side, he had gotten up and I found out that there were going to be guests at the mansion for lunch.

The maids got me ready for my day and I went downstairs to have dinner. Everyone was already there except Liya and the baby, she was always the last to come down these days but nobody bothered her because we all knew that the baby usually kept her up at night.

When at last she came down with the baby the maids came out and began to serve breakfast.

"You came up late last night," I spoke in my head, looking at Mason.

"I'm sorry, it was a long meeting, longer than I'd anticipated." He replied.

"Good results, I hope." I smiled when the smell of waffles hit my nostrils.

"Yes." He nodded and looked away from me.

"So we have a huge announcement." He cleared his throat and started after the maids left the table.

"Oh my God, I'm I going to be a grandmother again?" My mother's eyes twinkled as she asked.

"No mom!" I exclaimed, my eyes wide.

"No," Mason repeated formally and then looked at Sirius.

"Yesterday, we went to have a meeting with one of our new allies." Sirius started.

"And they're coming for lunch today, they want to meet the family and the pack," Mason said.

"Well, that's great." I was always excited at the prospect of meeting new people and organizing events so I was really glad.

"Financial ally or what?" Jay asked.

"Yes, we'll be allies in all forms," Mason answered. "I'll need you to draw up a contract with our lawyers but I'll give you the details later."

"What kind of allies are these?" Liya asked and Mason's face brightened with excitement immediately.

"You will not believe it if I tell you." He smiled.

"Well, that certainly got me excited." My mom adjusted in her seat. "Don't tell me it's humans."

"No." Sirius looked disgusted by the idea, I had forgotten how much wolves were disgusted by humans.

"They're panthers," Mason said and the whole table was thrown into confusion.

"Say what now?"

"What?"

"They are what?"

"Yes, I know that you don't know much about night creatures but wolves are not the only shifters in the world," Mason said.

"Long ago, there used to be a lot of shifters like foxes, jaguars, panthers, Lycans, and even lion's but a war broke out and many of these creatures were destroyed, until yesterday we thought the panthers were extinct as well," Sirius explained.

"You're saying these people can shift into panthers?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes, they can change into huge black panthers," Mason said and I laughed loudly.

"You don't say."

"Wow, that's really exciting," Jay said and my mother looked too surprised to talk.

"Black Panthers, are you sure we can trust them?" Liya looked defensive.

"They need us as well as we need them so I guess we can trust them for the most part," Sirius replied.

"They also have an Alpha," Mason said excitedly.

"Yeah, it must be great to meet another one like you," I said.

"Um, he's nothing like me, I'm a true Alpha and I'm a bigger beast than he is," Mason replied gloating.

"I can't believe you're jealous." Sirius shook his head and I laughed. "She's yours, nobody is taking her away from you."

"That's right, she's mine."

"Okay neanderthal, what are the things we have to prepare?" I asked.

"Nothing much, I already informed the kitchen staff to prepare as much meat as they can and some other side dishes," Sirius said.

"You and Liya can oversee them and also the table. I think we should have lunch outdoors like under the garden trees or something but if you have other ideas, they're welcome. Mason added.

"Okay, we'll take care of it."

"Jay, Sirius, and I will take care of the official part of business, the rest of you can engage them in conversation and find out any information we may need."

"Great, something I can do, I'm great at playing hostess." My mother said and I laughed.

"Not too much though, I don't want them to feel too comfortable with you," Sirius said and everyone started laughing.

"Who's the jealous one now?" Mason teased.

We hurried up with our breakfast and the guys left us alone to plan the lunch party.

Liya put the baby in a stroller and the four of us went outside to check out the condition of the garden. The garden was great as always because the servants were really good at keeping it clean and tidy.

After checking it out, we decided that the outside was good enough for us to set up the lunch party but my mother didn't think it was formal enough so we decided to use the terrace.

The terrace was beautiful and well decorated so we all readily agreed. My mother supervised the terrace arrangements since it was her idea while Liya, the baby, and I went to supervise the work being done in the kitchen.

.

.

[Mason]

"I didn't want to speak in front of the women but are you sure taking on shifter allies is the best thing for us?" Jay asked as soon as the door of my office closed.

"Yes, we've thought about it, if the cult decides to attack us or if we decide to attack them, we'll need all the help we can find," I answered, trying to sound certain.

"The Panthers may be cunning and sly but they need our help right now and they are one of the strongest shifters in history, we have no choice but to trust them," Sirius added.

"Fine, we can always put clauses and loopholes in the contract that will favor us no matter what," Jay said.

"Great, that's what we need, as long as we make sure to stay ahead of them, we should be fine," I said.

Sirius was about to say something when my phone rang and I picked up the call.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's me, Alpha." I imagined the man smirking on the other side of the phone.

He still did not tell us his name and we were inviting him to our home.

"I think it's quite fair for me to know your name, after all, I'm inviting you to my home."

"You'll know my name when I'm sure I can trust you." He retorted.

"You have no problems there, I'm the one who is inviting you to my home."

"That's not a problem, we panthers live by a code, we'd never attack a man who opens the door of his home to us, except he attacks us first." He said and I heard some chuckling in the background.

"Say, how many people should we expect for lunch?" I asked.

"Four, I'm coming with my wife, my sister, and my right hand man." He said.

"That's fine, we will be expecting you," I said and the connection went dead.

"He's a family man," Sirius said and I nodded my head.

"Seems like it, he has a wife and a sister, that shouldn't be too bad, they will be four in number, the Alpha doesn't strike me as a fool, he wants this cooperation with us, and his pack needs it."

"Yes, we should tighten up security just in case," Jay advised and I nodded my head.

"It can't hurt," I said.

"We can't be too prepared," Sirius added.

***

We stood on the terrace and watched as two black Mercedes Benz parked in front of the house.

I could tell that the cars were limited edition because they had distinct features and they screamed elegance from the sound of their engines to the way their doors opened as they stepped out of the car.

"They were all dressed in black formal attire but what made me relax my tension was the visible baby bump from one of the women.

I saw the Alpha hold her hand and lead her to that terrace and I smiled inwardly.

The Alpha's wife was expecting a child.

"Welcome, welcome you all." Clarice smiled and ushered them in.

She was right, she was a good host and I could see that they warmed up to her almost instantly.

"This is my Luna Jade, my right hand man Sirius, his mate Clarice who happens to be my mate's mother, my beta Jade and her mate Jayden who happens to be my mate's twin brother." I introduced everyone.

"Oh that's so nice, I love a close family." The pregnant woman stretched her hand to mine and smiled at me warmly. "I'm Phoenix and this is my husband Pierce, you may also call him my mate, this is his sister Paige and that is my brother Brandon."

"Nice to meet you." I shook her hand and smirked at the Alpha who just shook his head at me, now I knew his name.

Nice to meet you." Jade also stretched her hand and soon everybody started giving each other a handshake.

"I'm glad you could come with your family, Pierce." I smiled at him as we all took our seats.

"Don't be creepy about it." He glared at me.

"I thought you all had something with P names before I heard Brandon," Liya said and we all laughed.

"I thought we were going to have lunch with a rather old and ugly fellow, but I'm pleased to see that you are all so young and attractive," Paige spoke for the first time, her eyes on me.

"Yes, you all seem cool," Brandon added, keeping his eyes on the baby. "What is her name?"

"She's baby Dine," Jay answered and he nodded.

"Beautiful name, my sister is expecting a child too, we cannot wait for an addition to our pack." He said a bit sadly.

The table turned silent and a bit sad after he spoke and we were all reminiscing the struggles and the troubles we had gone through. I remembered how many children and families lost their lives during our civil war, not to talk of the great war that wiped out civilizations years before I was born.

"Why, it's a lunch party, let's not look so grim." Clarice stood up and clapped her hands, signaling the maids to bring out the food and drinks.