His Stolen Luna

6. Meet the Family

~ LARK ~

Lark had her hands twisted in her lap for the entire ride from the wharf to her home. John-Paul’s luxurious, black car hummed quietly and the leather seats seemed to hug her. But she couldn’t relax.

As the crow flies they only lived miles apart, but Lark’s family was nestled in the suburbs, while John-Paul’s home and work were at the heart of the city. The drive only took an hour, but as the multi-laned highway gave way to black roads and leafy lanes, Lark felt like they had traveled dimensions.

As they got nearer to her house, John-Paul looked at her. “Are you okay? You’re very quiet.”

He didn’t look happy about it.

Lark nodded. The truth was, she wasn’t sure how this would go. In theory, her father should be ecstatic that she had found her mate. But in practice, she feared how he might react. And it had just occurred to her that John-Paul was entering this arrangement for his own convenience. To simplify his life. If she or her family made things too complicated, he might simply reject her after all, and then she’d be right back at square one—except with her father’s laser-eyes leveled directly at her, because she’d been taken again.

“Lark?” John-Paul said quietly, and it was the first time his tone had really softened.

She turned to look at him, the warm evening light slanting over his shoulders through the window behind him as he turned, half-frowning, to look at her. The golden light suited his olive skin. And his striking eyes almost glowed with the sunlight hitting them from the side like that.

Lark made herself turn away. “I’m fine. I just don’t want to fight, that’s all.”

John-Paul didn’t respond and she wasn’t sure if that was because he was worried that she’d expect him to fight for her, or if he just didn’t care.

Soon they turned onto her street and the GPS rang through the car.

“Your destination is on the right.”

Lark’s heart began to pound and she took a deep breath. When John-Paul swung the car gently over to the curb and rolled to an even halt, she unclicked her seatbelt and grabbed the door handle. But his hand landed on her elbow.

It was the first time he’d touched her voluntarily and all the hair on her arm stood up. She snapped her head around to look at him, to find him staring, wide-eyed as well. But he blinked and cleared his throat.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll make sure they buy it, okay?”

She nodded but didn’t move until he let her go. Then she shouldered the door open and got out.

She had barely crossed the sidewalk to reach the path across the lawn when the front door swung open so quickly it slammed back against the outside of the house.

Adam, her youngest brother, only twelve, came flying from the house, his eyes wide and his dark blonde waves snapping in the wind of his passage. He’d hit that growth spurt that all wolves had, especially the males, and his limbs were very long, his feet, knees, elbows and hands all looking too big for the rest of him.

He was going to be massive, just like the others.

She sighed. All her other brothers—one older, the other two younger—had been nice before they went through puberty. Adam was the fourth, and youngest of them all. The last to hit this milestone. He was still sweet. She wondered how much longer it would last.

He raced down the path and threw himself into her chest so hard she grunted, throwing his arms around her neck and whining her name.

“Are you okay, Lark? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Adam. Don’t worry. I’m fine. For real.”

He stepped back to see her, scanning her body for injuries. “What happened?”

Lark snorted. “What do you think?” she asked dryly, trying to make out like it was no big deal. But Adam’s eyes went wide.

“Dad’s going crazy, he already—”

Lark looked up as shadows moved on the porch at the top of the path. Her other brothers—Jake, Morgan, and Kel had followed Adam, though a lot more slowly. They stood like three bouncers on the porch, frowning, thick arms crossed or hanging at their sides.

Jake had a black eye. Dad must really be pissed.

Then her father appeared behind them, growling so the others would give him space. Her three huge brothers all flinched and stepped aside to give him priority as he stalked quickly down the path.

For a moment, Lark tried to see what strangers must see when they saw her father: An older man, in his fifties, but huge and still fit and strong. His blue eyes were bright and warm, softened by wrinkles at the corners now. But his entire body was thick—the kind of thick that spoke of intense strength, even though his middle had developed a softer layer. His broad chest still stretched the confines of his shirt, and the dark jeans he wore pulled tight on muscular thighs with every step.

“Lark,” he rumbled, his tone relieved and tense at the same time. He didn’t even look at Adam, just walked straight for her, expecting his son to give the Alpha space. Which Adam did, of course.

Her father gathered her into his chest and pulled her up and off her feet, his hand cupped around her head.

Stunned, Lark’s eyes pinched with tears. He hadn’t held her like that since she was little.

“Thank god,” her father breathed into her hair. Then he set her on her feet and held her shoulders, looking her up and down as if checking that she was unhurt.

For a minute she thought he must have been genuinely worried. But when he found no obvious injuries, his eyes snapped back up to meet hers and he muttered, “You didn’t invite anyone yet, did you?”

Lark’s stomach sank. She opened her mouth—what was she going to say?

But before she spoke, a dark growl rolled from one of her brothers on the porch. Her father straightened as the car door opened on the street side, and John-Paul stepped out, his face a cold mask, the muscles at the back of his jaw twitching.

At the sight—and more importantly, scent—of another Alpha, Lark’s father immediately pulled her behind him and began to growl.

John-Paul stalked around the car, but he seemed to grow as he moved. Younger than her father, and not yet as broad, he was easily as tall, and his fierce breadth was all muscle.

But her brothers were here too.

“Dad, don’t. You don’t need to—” She tugged at the back of his shirt, but her father was already stepping forward, his hands clenched.

Terrified that he would shift and challenge John-Paul, Lark leaped forward to put herself between them, her hands on her father’s chest, her back to John-Paul, who hadn’t answered her father’s growl, but who stalked, chin down and eyes sharp, like a wolf on the hunt.

“Dad, stop. Stop!” she shoved at her father’s chest, but he pushed forward and she stumbled back. With a snarl, John-Paul caught her and kept her on her feet when her heel hooked on his large foot. At the sight of John-Paul’s hands on her, her father’s eyes widened, then his face twisted into a snarl and he half-crouched. She felt John-Paul sink to center his weight behind her. He was going to shift!

“STOP!” she barked.

They both froze. But she knew they walked a knife edge. Breath shallow and puffing, she put her hands up, pleading with both of them to stay calm.

“Dad, listen! It’s happened. I’ve found him. We have the bond. It’s… really strong. I only came back to warn you. I’ve invited him, but I haven’t taken him yet.”

“Then it’s not too late!” her father snapped, never taking his eyes off of John-Paul.

Behind her, John-Paul’s growl rose with that sickening snarl, his wolf pushing forward, ready to take the challenger.

“No! Dad! It’s absolutely too late. This is what’s meant to be. You told me—he has to be an Alpha at the height of his bloodline. He has to be strong enough to make me submit. I’ve never felt this with any of the other heirs, Dad. This is the one.”

“The f*****g Demon Alpha? Over my dead body!”

“Dad! He’s not… that. You said when we found him you’d let me go. I’m going. I’ve invited him.”

Her father froze again and finally took his eyes off John-Paul, who remained tense at her back, to stare at her.

“You did… what?”

She turned to look at John-Paul over her shoulder, intending to measure him and make sure he was okay with her putting it out there like this, but she found him staring at her, his eyes burning with heat and… lust.

She blinked. Desire slammed into her belly, riding her spine and she let go of a shuddering breath, just as her brothers all exploded with gagging noises.

“Gross!”

“Oh, stop!”

“For f**k’s sake, Lark, we don’t need to smell that!”

John-Paul’s gaze snapped away to her brothers, and his face went dark.

“No,” her father rasped. “He stole you. That’s not the way for a good mate bond to take—”

Lark sighed. “That’s why we came here to see you, Dad. It wasn’t his fault. His family took me. He didn’t even know. He didn’t ask them to, and he didn’t support it when he learned about it. Why do think I’m here?”

Her father’s lip curled up away from his teeth. “Bullshit.”

Lark looked at John-Paul. She was going to need his help with this part. He put a hand to her back, but let his eyes flip between her father and brothers.

“I know it’s difficult that I’m here. It’s always hard for Alphas to be close to each other. Especially under such… tense circumstances. But Lark’s telling the truth. I didn’t know they were taking her, and I disciplined them when I learned about it. With that said, it was obvious the moment we were in the same room…”

He looked down at her and his expression softened again. Lark swallowed and fought a smile. He really was very handsome. And he smelled like her own personal Christmas.

She was pathetic.

John-Paul cleared his throat. “I came to show respect. It isn’t how I would have chosen to find her, but now that it’s happened… I can’t turn her away. The bond is there, and it’s strong. Very strong.”

“You’ve already had a mate,” her father sneered.

“It was never a soul-bond,” John-Paul said. “You can ask anyone who attended us. We chose it. cultivated it.”

“And then you killed her. And if you think I’m leaving my daughter in your hands so you can do the same thing again, you’re stupider than I thought.”

Lark’s heart sank again as they both tensed.