The Alpha and His Blessed Luna

Welcome Home

Ava just blinked at me. I could see her mulling things over in her head, but she didn't seem to know what to say. I could also see she didn't trust us. Not that I blamed her for that. I just couldn't believe she was standing here in front of me.

Truthfully, I hadn't given much thought to her after I heard about her "death". I was sad the world lost someone so gifted, but I'd never met her, and she wasn't part of my pack. But I took her story to heart, and hated her kind because of it. Yet, here she was, her red hair blowing in the breeze, and her eyes staring into mine. Damn, she had beautiful eyes. It was like looking into the ocean. And her lips. f**k. All natural and a red that put roses to shame. I forced myself not to check her body out though, because this was serious.

"No." she finally spoke.

"What?" I barely heard her, too distracted by her damn lips.

"I won't go with you."

I furrowed my brows at her. "Why not?"

"I won't put your pack in danger because of who I am." she said softly.

"You wouldn't be putting anyone in danger. You technically don't exist, remember?"

"But people will figure it out. If anyone saw me use my powers, they would figure it out. They could tell someone. And then you and your pack would be slaughtered to get to me! I'm obviously not a wolf, and everyone knows of the Cursed Elemental. I won't let innocent people die because of who I am!" she shouted at me. I was taken aback. She thought she was cursed?

"Ava, my pack isn't like other packs. It's not just werewolves. We... how do I explain this? Over the years, we've taken in all sorts of supernaturals. We even have humans. Everyone who is there was taken in for a better chance, a new life. That's what I'm offering you, and I think you deserve it more than anyone honestly. Aren't you tired of running?" I asked her.

".....Yes..."

"And next time, you might not get so lucky. Next time it might be someone who kills you, or captures and tortures you. But with me, you won't have to worry about that. I promise."

I could see my words swayed her to agree with me. I could see it on her face. She was tired of running, of always looking over her shoulder. I wouldn't force her to come with us, but I really hoped she did.

After another minute of her chewing it over, she finally said "Okay."

I smiled at her and turned to my guys. "Dom, Leo, take her back to the house so she can grab whatever she wants to bring."

"Not necessary." Ava interrupted. I looked back at her and she shrugged. "I dont have have any personal belongings. And you did say clothes and stuff would would provided. I have no reason to take anything with me."

"You don't have any pictures or books or anything?"

"Only the books that were here, but I've read them all by now. And any pictures I had were destroyed in the fire last year."

My heart gave a small tug when she said that. This girl has had a rough time. I just nodded my head.

"Hold up." Dom said. "What about the front door?"

"What about it?" I asked.

"It's... burning or something. Can you fix that?" He asked Ava. She nodded her head.

"And the trench?" He asked, but I answered before she could.

"Leave it Dom. It might come in handy in the future. But yeah, the door will need to be fixed."

She didn't say anything, but started walking towards the house with us following. When we got to the trench, I was impressed. This thing was at least fifty feet wide, and really f*****g deep. And it went around the whole house. I heard Ava call Wind to support her, and then she walked across the open pit on nothing but air it seemed.

"s**t, that's cool." Leo said beside me.

I watched as she walked up to the house. It was then I noticed the door was orange instead of gray. It did look like it was burning. Ava flicked her hand towards it, and it slowly returned to normal. We waited until she returned and I gave her a look full of questions. She smiled sheepishly.

"It's more efficient than a lock. Nobody wants to break down a door that gives them third degree burns."

"Yeah, no shit." I heard Leo grumble. I saw him rubbing his hand, and noticed it was blistered on his palm.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone who wasn't going to kill me would show up today." Ava said to him.

"Stop bitching. You'll be back to normal in an hour." I said to him. I looked at Ava. "Shall we?" She nodded and we head out.

As we walked into the forest, I kept stealing glances at her. She really was beautiful. Tense too. I guessed that was a combination of not trusting us, and my men who were still in wolf form walking with us. She barely stood to their shoulders.

"Dom, Leo, you stay with us. The rest of you, go on ahead. Tell the cooks to have food ready for us when we get back." I said. They nodded their heads and took off. Ava visibly relaxed.

We'd been walking in silence for about an hour before anyone spoke. Of course, it was Leo. And, of course, it was asinine.

"So Ava.... Did you really go bonkers and kill someone from your Clan?" He asked.

I immediately lunged and smacked him upside of the head.

"HEY! Come on man, everyone knows anyways! No offense was intended!" He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"We just met her. Pretty sure she doesn't want to talk about it. Damn, why do you always have to ask the worst questions?" I growled. I looked at Ava who mouthed 'Thank you', and I nodded. "No more talking about that s**t. If Ava wants to talk, she will. Don't bring it up again." I used my Alpha tone.

"Yes Alpha." Leo said. We continued to walk, Leo grumbling, and Dom smirking at him. We made it fifteen steps before I noticed Ava wasn't with us. I stopped and turned around.

She was standing back a few feet with a look of utter shock on her face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I called.

"YOU'RE AN ALPHA?!" she shouted.

"I'm the Alpha of this pack yes. Who did you think I was?"

"I thought you were a fighter!"

"I am. But I'm the Alpha too."

"What the f**k?" she said. I laughed.I realized I never told her who I was. I walked back to her and held out my hand. "Luke Porte, Alpha of the Silver Mountain Pack, at your service." She blinked at me a couple times before shaking my hand. Her hand was so small, it got lost in mine. I walked her back over to Dom and Leo.

"Dom here is my Beta. He's also the twin to the asshole-" I mock punched Leo, "- Leo, who is my Gamma. The others you saw are actually my head team of fighters."

She shook their hands too. Then she glanced at me.

"Silver Mountain Pack?" she asked.

"Yup."

"The Silver Mountain Pack?"

"The one and only. And before you ask, yes we've killed people. Yes, we've taken down other packs. But they've always deserved it, and I've never annihilated an entire pack. Only the guilty ones, or the ones who tried to cause my pack harm. The members of the packs we've taken out always got the choice to join my pack, or become rogues. I never forced the decision, and I never hunted down anyone who didn't want to join." I said.

She looked at me, then Dom, then Leo. Then back at me.

"Okay." And she started walking again. Not the reaction I was expecting honestly. Ava was a strange girl, alright. She freaked out because she found out I was the Alpha, but she was collected enough to accept my explanation about killing people. It made me wonder about her. I still didn't believe the stories I'd heard about her. If they were at all true, my men would be dead right now. Instead, she barely used any force, and begged me to let her leave because she didn't want to hurt or kill anyone. Not exactly the psycho killing evil type.

I also knew my guys were apprehensive about bringing her back. Not because of her powers, but because of who she was. She had a point when she said people could figure out who she was, and word would get out. My pack would be targeted. But I felt drawn to Ava. Not just because of her story, and not because of powers either.

There was something about her, something beautiful. I didn't sense anything evil about this girl. I watched as she bent down and picked a flower beside her. She lightly petted the petals as she walked. She seemed so... pure. Troubled, and scared, but pure.

"So. Are we going to tell everyone or?" Dom whispered to me.

"Yes. You know we don't lie to the Pack Dom. If they don't like it, they can always leave."

"You're not worried?"

"Yeah, I am. But we can handle it."

"I know." And he left me to my thoughts.

That was another problem. Pack members trying to hurt Ava because of who she was. I wasn't naive, I knew there was bad apples in my pack. I've banished people before and had my fair share of executions too. But Dom knew me. He knew I would not lie to my pack. Maybe he thought this was an extenuating circumstance and I had thought about it too. Briefly. I never lied to my pack. As Alpha, I needed my pack members to trust me, and how could they if I lied to them? No, I would introduce Ava as exactly who she was. And like I told Dom, if anyone had a problem with it, they could leave.

The only precaution I was taking, was having Ava stay at the packhouse with me. Usually, I assigned new members to one of our many cottages. But I couldn't determine whether the pack would accept her or not right away, and therefore, she was staying with me. Suddenly, Leo skipped past me heading for Ava. I grabbed him by the back of the shirt and yanked him back.

"What are you doing?"

"Going to talk to Ava." He said innocently.

"No, you're not. Was my smack not hard enough for you?"

"Don't worry boss, I'm not going to bring it up. I just want to talk to her. Make her more comfortable." I scoffed. He glared at me.

"We are three huge werewolves who just took her away from her safe place. We've been walking for almost two hours without really talking to her. She's coming with us to a new place, with people who may or may not accept her. She's probably f*****g terrified. So, please excuse me if I want to make her smile just a bit." He snapped. When he put it that way, I guess he had a point. I gave him a warning glare to behave and sent him on his way. He jogged up to Ava and immediately started talking a mile a minute. I just shook my head at him, but kept an ear on their conversation to make sure he didn't say anything insensitive again.

"-and there's this really awesome water fountain, I'm sure you'll love it, it's so cool, and do you like blueberries? There's a whole bunch of blueberry bushes in the garden-"

"Uhm, excuse me... but... which one are you?" Ava asked. I choked back a laugh.

"Oh, I'm Leo. You'll figure it out eventually. I'm the fun one, and Dom is the serious stick-up-his-ass one."

"f**k you Leo!" Dom called.

"See what I mean?" Leo said.

"That's not much to go by. I'm sure you can be serious too. How else do people tell you guys apart?" she asked.

"Well, I have a birthmark and Dom doesn't. Here, see-" Leo started tugging down his pants.

"LEO!" Dom and I shouted.

"Oh, alright. Hmm..."

"Oh for f***s sake." Dom said. "I'm married and Leo isn't." Ava looked at Dom and he held up his hand, showing off his wedding band.

"Oh, yeah. Guess that could work too." Leo said. Ava giggled. The sound caught me off guard, and I was a little jealous. I wish I could make her giggle. I shook my head at the thought.

"Anyways, what do you like to do? You know, for fun?" Leo said.

"Oh. Well... I like to swim. And I like to read. A lot."

"Oh yeah? I like reading too. Can't say about the swimming though."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because Leo doesn't know how to swim." Dom replied. She looked shocked.

"You can't swim?" she asked Leo.

"Not really, no."

"I'll teach you." she offered.

"Huh?"

"I can teach you how to swim, if you want."

"That'd be awesome! Right boss?!" He looked back at me.

"Sure." I shrugged. Ava was in over her head on that one. We'd all tried to teach him to swim at one point or another. It would amusing to watch, if anything.

I tuned out their conversation after that. She seemed like she was opening up to Leo, and I was happy about that. He was a happy go-lucky guy, when he wasn't being stupid. Fifteen minutes later, I looked around and noticed we were coming to edge of the forest.

"Hey guys, back here with us. We're coming up to the border." I called.

They stopped walking, and waited for us to catch up. Ava was tense again. All four us broke through the trees and I heard a gasp. I stopped to let her take it in. After a few minutes I leaned over and whispered to her.

"Welcome home."