After she ensured that the Hearthwood River wolves would not be returning for round two, Jessie mentioned for the boys to follow her, tail lashing out angrily in the process. The monochrome lady whisked her way into the territory and towards a place she assumed no one would dare bother them – Askan and Reyes’ den area. Jessie was being honest when she mentioned that she didn’t make a habit of embarrassing her subordinates in front of others. The Tainn had walked into the area once, on accident, but assumed that most of the members stayed clear of the area because it was a private place for the two men to be together. She didn’t mind it. Who was she to deny that they cared for one another? In fact, they were doing her a favor. Jessie wouldn’t have to worry about either one of them hitting up anyone else in the pack.

When she finally arrived at their destination, the Rye Queen whirled around, her voice cold but eyes blazing like a fire, “What the hell were the two of you thinking?” An almost severed alliance. No no NO, that was not something that happened to Jessie Tainn. Especially not because her two idiot children for subordinates couldn’t keep their mouths shut during diplomatic relations. Her jaw quivered, an offering to almost tell them what she really wanted to say, but Drestig wasn’t here to filter her blunt thoughts and the pepper-and-salt colored woman had the mind to keep her mouth shut until she heard what they had to say.

It was silent for a moment as Jessie stared both of her subordinates down. Jessie was typically a quiet wolf, she enjoyed actions rather than words. Had her boys simply showed up at the borders during the meeting and been her muscle rather than trying to participate, whatever happened at the borders might have gone much smoother than it had been. Askan was the first to speak up – though it wasn’t a big surprise – and Jessie’s eyes gleamed at the man, fury in her emerald gaze. A cold laugh escaped her maw, her voice icy, “You have got to be kidding me? Could have gone worse? It’s not our fault?” Jessie finished with a hiss. Oh, if Drestig could see her now. And then Reyes’ voice broke some of Jessie’s resolve.

The Tainn woman took a deep breath and settled her deep emerald gaze on the dark man. Her grin was anything but kind, “You were always the smarter one, Reyes.” The Rye Queen’s tail lashed behind her irritably. She took a deep breath, her face relaxing into its neutral business-like faux, and voice calmer when she spoke, “You see, Askan, the problem is, you don’t take responsibility for your actions. You two do realize that our alliance was almost – and could still possibly be – at risk? Everything was fine until you cut in. And I realize there are some unresolved issues between Lorcan and it was unfortunate that he was here. But the Hearthwood wolves are family to me. Kisla just died and you both threw that in Inna and my face like it was nothing.” The Rye Queen swallowed. Her lip twitching involuntarily. It would do no good for her to get emotional during their sentencing.

Inhale, exhale. She opened her jaws, “I hope you two don’t take this lightly when I saw this, because I don’t say this to everyone, but I really like both of you. If I didn’t, I certainly wouldn’t allow you here after what just occurred on my borders.” Her cold gaze softened, if only a bit, “But I hope both of you realize that you do have to be disciplined, and I really hope that the two of you learn from this. I was a Scout in the pack that I served before founding Wild Rye Fields and diplomatic relations are very important to me.” She hoped this insight to her life would provide clarity to them as to why she was so upset.

She had not forgotten about her promise to Askan concerning how she would happily bump him to lowest should he step out of line again. But Jessie felt as though he hadn’t been that bad, well, until Reyes jumped into the picture, only making it worse and egging the dark man on. Truly, the thought had not even crossed her mind but Askan’s refusal to meet her eye until he bluntly asked to be dismissed stirred some deep monster inside of her and just as Jessie was about to tell him exactly what he could do. Reyes got quite close, and quite too close for the widowed Tainn’s comfort. Had Reyes been born with yellow-ish eyes instead of silver, Jessie would have certainly believed him to be someone else. She swallowed uncertainly before realizing in her mind that this was her subordinate talking to her that way.

Any kindness that might have softened Jessie was gone now, as she listened to what Reyes had to say. The monochrome woman’s jaw was set and her eyes were cold. The Tainn bit the side of her cheek to keep the anger that was boiling in the pit of her stomach at bay. He is certainly not smarter if he thinks he can speak to me like that. Her jaws parted and emerald eyes slid behind Reyes, towards Askan, “Yes, I admit that I misspoke. I shouldn’t take my anger out on you. I apologize,” and her voice was sincere. But then her eyes snapped back to Reyes, lip curling in what could have been disgust. Jessie knew what would have happened in Oak Tree Bend if she had spoken to any of her alphas like that. Her ass would have been out of the borders before she could blink. It had happened to Hotei. Her heart ached and Jessie finally realized why something she felt never seemed right towards Askan and Reyes. In certain ways, they reminded her of Hotei and herself.

Her lip relaxed and her eyes slid towards Askan again, emerald eyes narrowed in thought. If she kicked Reyes out of the pack, it would only hurt her Guardian (if he even chose to stay) and as much as she wanted to force herself not to care, Jessie knew that she would never be able to do that to the pair. The thought made her nauseous. Instead, she turned back to her gamma, licking her lips in final thought before continuing, voice cool, “You have every right to speak up about what you think is right and voice your opinions, Reyes, but don’t you ever speak to me that way again.” She snapped her jaws together for extra effect, though nowhere near close enough to the man’s muzzle to draw blood.

She let out a breath, drawing back from the man before continuing, “As for your punishments…” she trailed off, not having really thought about it. If she could, the Rye Queen would have kicked both of the males to Lowest, but that would not benefit the pack in any way. The last thing they needed was a shift in the ranks. So she tried to come up with the next best thing – busy work. It would certainly keep them away from one another. “Askan, I want you to increase your border patrols and now that Risaela’s here, I want you to keep an eye on her too, especially when I’m not around. Reyes, I want you to puppy-sit my children. Hell, get to know them better for all I care.” Her tail waved behind her, though there was an angry lash every now and again. She added on one last thing, “I’d also like one of both of you to remain in the main den, at least until Drestig gets back. Risaela and I are going to be staying in the old birthing den and I want someone to be looking after my children still.” It would be no good if something similar happened to Wild Rye Fields.