Who is Magpie?

Through the night Ezekiel found Magpie in every dream, startling him awake. She was the barista at the coffee shop, the first meeting he had in the morning, even his driver to a company event. Each time he woke up feeling more flustered than before.

He would have preferred that Magpie did not sleep in the cells, heck he would have preferred to sleep n the cells with her over so far apart, but that would have been highly frowned upon.

He didn’t find his father after he left the cells, nor did he find Bronx but he didn’t suspect that was related. Bronx had recently shacked up with a wolven employed outside the pack house and was likely blowing off steam, whereas his father would be spilling the tea to his mother.

Getting out of bed he started to wander towards the kitchen, nearly jumping out of his fur to see his grandmother sitting there.

“About time you finally got up. My ass has nearly claimed this seat as a part of it by this point.” Grandmother Willow kidded, standing and waking up her legs before moving to a small breakfast area with a bench seat.

“Gma, what the hell are you doing up?” Ezekiel gasped, glancing around the room and seeing the Baileys and coffee pot already on the counter.

“Waiting for you. I know you better than that by now. I knew you wouldn’t be sleeping with your mate in a cell two stories away, but I didn’t expect you to wait so long for a midnight snack.” The older, wiser woman smiled at him, raising her second cup to her lips.

Ezekiel Madge himself a cup, and grabbed a bag of pretzels before sitting across from her at the table. There was silence. As they had their nibbles and sips no one said a word.

Then Ezekiel sighed heavily. “What the fuck am I supposed to do Gma?”

“There it is.” Willow smiled, happy to finally hear him curse about it. “Go on, tell grandma all your troubles.”

He sighed again. “She tried to kill me Gma, she snuck into my room, and had she not hesitated in the dark she would have done it. Still when I see her I never want to leave her side. Putting her in that cell was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”

She reached over and pat his hand. “And it’ll get worse before it gets better.”

“That’s not helpful.” He snapped.

Willow cackled. “I know, but you need to be prepared for it. I snuck into the medical bay earlier and sifted through that tea bag left there while I watched the security footage of your Magpie from when she entered until tonight….”

“You did all that? And no one stopped you?” Ezekiel asked, baffled that she had removed evidence from where he had left it and watched nearly 24 hours of footage without anyone telling him.

“When you’ve been around this house for as long as I have everyone assumes you’re where you’re meant to be no matter where you are.” Willow giggled. “There’s a long road ahead for that girl, and recovery is going to be a bitch.”

Ezekiel assumed his grandmother was talking about the tea and wasn’t ready to delve into that problem. “You watched all her camera footage?” He asked instead.

Willow nodded. “She worked out or tried that flip most of the day, only stopping whenever you came in, and when Bronx was questioning her.”

“Bronx.” Ezekiel groaned. “I still need to talk to him about that.”

“He’s a good boy.” Willow was saying. “Trust him a little. You told him what she is to you .”

“No I haven’t, I haven’t had the chance. Nor do I know what to say. From everything I’ve gathered being off that damn tea could kill her, but I can’t get her out of the cell without a trial, and as long as those drugs are in her system she’s unpredictable.”

“Sounds like you need some honesty in the pack house,.” Gma concluded soundly.

“How do you figure?”

“Think about every major movie plot, like the Star Wars you like so much? If they had been honest about why they wouldn’t make Anakin a master, or he has been honest about Padame’s pregnancy, or if anyone had been honest about how they felt about Palpatine? How do you think things would have changed?” The older woman had this air of pride that she was able to impress her grandson with her pop culture reference.

“So you think I should tell everyone she’s my mate, before her, and then tell them about how she was drugged, before she’s even able to understand that?” Ezekiel questioned skeptically.

She nodded. “That is how you get her the support she needs. The emotional stuff? You’ll figure that out later, but right now her health is a priority. There is no later without that.”

Ezekiel felt stupid, absolutely idiotic, and defeated; like he had failed as a mate before he’d begun. Her health should have always been a priority, but the young alpha was more worried about remaining correct so early in his time.

“I’m going to check on her.” He stated, standing quickly after downing his coffee. He darted to the door, barely stopping to turn as he said. “Thank you gma. You truly are a hidden gem.”

Willow was touched by the comment, but more importantly she was very self-satisfied that she had given him the advise to light a fire under his ass. She finished her coffee slowly, hoping to catch Ezekiel when he came back up but knowing he would likely lose track of time down there.