His Missing Luna

Chapter Twenty Four

Peyton's point of view

"This is ridiculous." I growled as I swept my arm across my desk, causing a stack of paper to fly up in the air before falling all around me. I'd been trying to get stuck into my work for the last few hours, but I couldn't concentrate knowing Amelia was almost within touching distance.

"You feel better now Alpha?" Finlay asked

"Not even a little bit."

I was in a foul mood and it didn't look like it was going to improve any time soon. At around 7 am an irritating and barely dressed female wolf appeared at my borders and refused to leave until she had spoken to me. Two of my toughest warriors tried to forcibly remove her which resulted in one of them sustaining a broken wrist whilst the other lost a tooth. Turn's out she was a warrior from Cerulean Moon pack, in fact she was the Beta.

"Bethany sent me!" Was the first thing she said when she saw me. "You need to let me spend some time with the Luna."

"Over my dead body." I had declared, with slightly more confidence than I actually felt.

"That would be easy, but sadly it's against the will of the Winter Witch. I'm quite happy to fight you to get through your gates, but I warn you, I've put Liam Campbell on his ass more times than he's put you on yours!" She gave me a devilish smile. She was toying with me. She knew it and so did I.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked incredulously. "And why are you dressed for a roller disco?"

"Ha" She shouted without humor. It was so loud it startled me. "Like I'd take fashion advice from someone in sweat pants with a giant hole in the crotch."

My head jerked forward before I could stop myself.

"Made ya look!" she sang at me.

I took a very deep breath and counted to ten. "Play time with the Alpha is over. State your name and your business."

"Erin Brown. Beta to Alpha Lucas of Cerulean Moon.

'FFFUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKK' Dice put in helpfully.

I bowed my head with respect immediately. "My apologies Beta Erin, perhaps next time you could lead with your name?"

"And what would be the fun in that?" She laughed. "It's always a good idea to test your allies' borders. Pleased to see you've got them well covered."

I looked at my warrior Andrew, he grimaced, showing me the gap in the front of his mouth.

"Shall we?" She asked, gesturing up towards the pack house.

Within ten minutes of her being in the building it would be impossible for a stranger to tell whether I was the Alpha or she was. She gave no orders, but spoke to my staff with such a persuasive tone they literally bent over backwards for her. Especially the males. Objectively I could see why their tongues were rolling out of their mouths, but Amelia was the only girl for me so Erin could back flip through the place naked and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference to me.

When we made it upstairs to Amelia's room and opened the door, Erin seemed to become the most dramatic being this world had ever known. She started making retching noises and raced round to throw open all of the windows.

"Are you crazy? What are you doing?"

"You are kidding, right? Can you not smell your mate."

I didn't have a clue what she was talking about. To me Amelia smelt of sweet peas and lillies. Beautifully scented without being overpowering.

"She smells like a corpse." Erin pinched her nostrils together.

"I'll remind you who you are talking to and who you are talking about." I said through gritted teeth.

"Look, you're not my Alpha and Amelia and I are going to become great friends. So chill out!"

"Chill Out?" I screeched at her. "Chill Out?"

Erin rubbed at her temples. "Ok you're starting to give me a headache. You go and do whatever it is that Alpha's do, and I'll make sure your Luna doesn't get mistaken for a skunk."

And with that parting shot, she shoved me out of the open door and then slammed it in my face. And I stood there, like a loser, for a good ten minutes before I slunk off to my office.

I sighed and started to pick up my paperwork. "Why the f**k did I let that, that, woman, send me to my office like a naughty school child while she stays and looks after my Luna."

"Maybe because Bethany sent her? Plus, and I mean no disrespect, Peyton, Amelia was in desperate need of some personal hygiene attention, and I don't think she would let you bathe her."

I gave Finn my pissy look. I hated it when he was right.

Finlay sniffed the air a couple of times. "Looks like your mood is about to take another nosedive." He muttered as he opened the door.

Standing on the other side was Nathan. Head bowed in respect, looking very contrite. Good! He had royally pissed me off yesterday.

"Alpha, Beta." He greeted us. "May I come in?"

"That very much depends on what you want, Nathan." As soon as he spoke my temper hit the roof again!

"I came to apologize, Peyton." I snarled in response and he instantly regretted calling me by my first name.

"I should have mind linked you straight away when I saw that the Luna was hurt Alpha, and followed any instruction that you cared to give. I have not yet been blessed with a mate and therefore I don't understand the bond. Of course, I know it's powerful, but I didn't realize that the heart ruled the head. You've always been so logical. I hadn't figured that you would change so dramatically once the Luna arrived on our territory. I genuinely was just following my previous orders from you."

"And your remarks about me being jealous." I appreciated the apology but he still had some explaining to do.

"You had just told me that Trudy had done a better job than I had. Trudy is an Omega and I'm a Gamma. I was angry with the comparison and said the first thing that came into my head. I am truly sorry. I have apologized to Trudy and I will apologize to the Luna if that is something that you feel you can trust me with."

I looked at my friend. When we first started school he hated me with a passion. I never really figured out why, but Finn had always insisted that he was resentful of my birth line. Until one day both of us had received a beating from our respective fathers. We found a common ground, awful as it was, and built our friendship on that one foundation.

"Nathan, I accept your apology. Of course I do." I watched as my Gamma exhaled in relief.

"We've known each other for a long time, and ever since I can remember I have always wanted you at my side as my Gamma. But yesterday you showed a behavior that I've never seen in you before. Is everything all right?"

If there was something wrong, it was better he told me about it.

"No sir. I'm just very disappointed in myself. I wanted to do the best I could for you, by doing the best I could for the Luna. And I failed."

Christ - This was starting to get a little bit emotional for my liking.

Nathan turned to leave. "Wait." I called after him. "Look I'm getting f**k all done here. I can't concentrate and I won't be able to until I see Amelia and get her to see a Doctor. Apparently, we are running on something called 'Erin time' so I could be waiting for three weeks. How 'bout the three of us grab a beer?"

This was our ritual. We had a problem, we solved it, we had a beer and we moved on.

Nathan swallowed and then nodded.

Thank the Moon Goddess! The drama in my life had increased 10 fold in just over 24 hours. But It meant that Amelia was here, and I wouldn’t change that for the world.