Loving Luna - Emily

Chapter Five - Choice

The chill of the night woke Carl up and he groaned out as he looked around, he was in the forest, laying under a tree and he was butt naked.

“What the hell?” he growled out to his wolf.

“No hurt mate!” his wolfed growled back fiercely. Carl realized that his wolf had thought he was going to sleep with Jenny. And although she was tempting, he wouldn’t do that, not to Emily and not to himself.

“Couldn’t you at least have taken us home?”

“No, punish you!” Carl felt his wolf drawback and he knew he wouldn’t be able to wolf out and run home. He got up and used his senses to figure out, which way was home. He started walking back and he only had one thing on his mind and that was Emily.

-

“Why didn’t he come home?”

At first, Emily thought it was her that was wondering the question, but she soon realized it was her wolf. She tossed around in the bed and moaned uncomfortably. After dinner, she had come back to the room and waited for Carl to return from his run. She had noticed Jenny at his side before and she speculated if he had gone to see her. She turned and punched the pillow in frustration. She had a sneaking suspicion that there was a history between Carl and Jenny but since no one seemed interested in telling her, she couldn’t be sure.

“What if he had gone to be with that b***h?” her wolf asked but Emily ignored her as she didn’t want to think that he would do something like that. After the extremely sexy shower they had taken, it would be a blow to find out that he had left her to go see Jenny. Worse, if he had been with her and then with Jenny. As early as it was Emily decided to get up. Quickly getting dressed, she left the room to find Peter. He was the only one she trusted, and she needed to corner him and get the truth. As she rounded the corner, she spotted Carl.

“Omg!” she gasped as she saw him naked and dirty. It was very early and still dark out, and he gave her an embarrassed look as he ran towards her, grabbing her in a hug. She quickly pulled him back to their room and closed the door.

“Explain!’ she barked out and he gave her a sheepish smile. “Now!” she added.

“I went for a run; my wolf took over and I woke up under a tree. Now if I may, I’d like for us to take our morning shower, my little-”

“Wait!” she interrupted him. “You really went for a run?” for a split second she thought he looked guilty but as he smiled, she wasn’t sure.

“Do you think I’m naked and dirty because I was visiting a friend or something?”

“No, I just, never mind,” she murmured. He took her hand and led her to the bathroom. He stepped into the shower and turned on the water. Emily stood frozen and felt like a fool. She had almost convinced herself that he had been with Jenny.

“Come, my little mate,” he called out to her and she quickly undressed and got into the shower with him. She didn’t know if she could handle being s****l with him at this point and she was relieved to see him washing his own body. Emily grabbed the shampoo and washed her hair and when he was done, he began to wash her. It wasn’t as sensual as it had been the day before, but he took great care of her. When they were done, they got out. He led her back into their bedroom, and he got on the bed. She laid next to him, still wet and naked. He pulled her close to him and he kissed her forehead.

“I’m sorry Emily, my wolf, he sometimes likes to take control.” He said softly and she felt herself relax in his arms.

Emily slowly opened her eyes, Carl was curled up against her, his head on her chest and his arm over her waist and she smiled. It seemed he liked that position. She gently pushed him off her and she got up. Looking down at his sleeping form she deemed him to be adorable. She quickly got dressed and left the room. The castle was buzzing, and she looked around wondering what was going on. She saw Thelma and went over to her.

“Morning Thelma, what’s going on?”

“Justin returns today,” the older she-wolf said before hurrying away down the hall. Emily went to Vicky’s sanctuary and found the door open, peeking inside she saw her Luna resting on the armchair.

“Morning Luna,” she greeted as she walked in. Vicky looked up and smiled.

“Good morning Emily, did you sleep well?” Emily hesitated to answer, and Vicky appeared to understand that something was amiss. “Emily, I know we don’t know each other all that well yet, but I do want you to know that you can talk to me, about anything at any time.” Emily nodded and smiled at her but decided she wouldn’t inform Vicky of the night’s events. She didn’t quite understand or believe Carl’s explanation but at this point, she also had no reason to doubt him. She wouldn’t embarrass herself by mentioning her fears.

“Everything is ready for his arrival,” Jenny suddenly announced as she entered the room. She stopped as she spotted Emily and just shook her head as she looked back at Vicky. “Thelma made the guest room pink and I instructed her to make it gold,” she shot Emily an irritated look.

“Pink is fine Jenny, thank you,” Vicky dismissed her and the two were alone once again. “Emily, is everything alright?”

“Yeah,” she mumbled.

“If you are sure then please could I ask you a little favor?”

“Yeah, I mean sure you can ask me anything,” Vicky smiled at her.

“Jeffery and I bought Justin a welcome home present and I was supposed to wrap it, but I completely forgot to get wrapping paper. Could I ask you to go into the village and collect some from Martha?” Emily nodded and began to walk out when she spun around.

“You’ll find her easily enough, the wolves will guide you in the right direction and she knows which paper to give you,” Vicky quickly explained, and Emily smiled at her before leaving the room. She speedily left the castle and made her way into the village. Wolves were everywhere and she stopped to ask for directions to Martha. A little boy pointed her in the right direction, and she found herself outside of a small shop. She paused, wondering if it would be open but as she reached out, the door suddenly opened and who she assumed was Martha stood there smiling warmly at her.

“Welcome dear, I’ve been expecting you,” Emily was surprised and immediately she knew that Martha was the pack's oracle. She wondered why Vicky had truly sent her here, but she didn’t say anything as she followed Martha into the shop.

“You have a kind-hearted soul dear, come this way, I have the paper Vicky needs,” Emily followed her to the back room. “Now where did I put it?” Martha asked no one and when she found the beautiful gold paper, she handed it over to Emily.

“Thank you, it is beautiful,”

“Mm, indeed, dear,” Martha was looking at Emily curiously.

“Ok, I know who you are, so just tell me whatever it is that is on your mind,” Emily remarked, she wasn’t fond of oracles. They predicted too many things and had an all-knowing look that she found annoying. Martha laughed softly and Emily moaned.

“Dear child, your road ahead is going to be a bumpy one, in the end, it will be worth it,” Emily tried not to roll her eyes. “The gods don’t give oracles the gift for amusement purposes but for guidance,” Martha said as she frowned at her. Emily blushed and Martha turned, looking around for something.

“Ah! Here it is!” Martha exclaimed as she handed over a square box to Emily. “Don’t open it now, you’ll know when the time is right,” she explained and Emily smiled, backing out of the room. When Martha didn’t stop her, she made a hasty exit.

-

Carl was sitting in Jeffery’s office listening to Peter reprimand him as if he was the alpha. He rolled his eyes and continued to allow Peter to rant and rave about the situation with Jenny and Emily.

“I mean, come on Carl, this shouldn’t be hard. Emily is your mate, she is your future, Jenny is your past. The sooner you get that into your thick skull, the better,”

“Are you quite done?” Carl asked him sarcastically. He wasn’t in the mood for this.

“No, I’m not done!” Peter snapped and Jeffery walked in.

“What’s going on here?” he asked as he looked at the two of them.

“Peter is lecturing me,”

“Carl is being a prick,”

“Will the two of you ladies, please take a chill pill and relax?” Jeffery teased as he took a seat behind his desk. “However, Peter is right Carl, your actions are wrong. Running off to see Jenny? Wrong move. Emily isn’t stupid, she knows something is going on, so you have two choices,”

“Which are?”

“One: Stop-”

“Being a prick,” Peter chimed in and Jeffery shot him a look.

“One: Stop entertaining Jenny, break it off with her for good and concentrate on Emily and the future, or two: reject Emily and claim Jenny as your mate,” Jeffery suggested, and the room fell silent. Carl looked over at Peter, who was pacing the office. He knew what Peter would want; in fact, he knew what Jeffery would want. Hell, he even knew what Vicky would want. The question was, what did he want? He had thought it would be so easy when he met his mate and now it was proving to be difficult. He could feel his wolf stirring and although he knew what his wolf wanted, Carl deemed himself one hundred percent confused.

-

Emily watched as Vicky wrapped Justin’s gift. It looked very pretty and although she wasn’t sure what the gift was, she hoped Justin liked it.

“He is here!” Vicky suddenly cried out, she finished with a cute little blue bow and eased herself up.

“Come, let's go welcome him home,” Vicky said as she grabbed Emily’s arm. The two made their way to the entrance hall and Emily noticed that Jeffery, Carl, Peter, and Jenny were already waiting for Justin. She could hear the pack cheering outside and Justin entered the castle with a girl on his arm. Emily smiled as he gently removed himself from the girl’s tight grip and run to his parents, who had moved forward to greet him. Little Jane came running in and threw herself at Justin. Emily blinked rapidly as she tried not to cry, watching the family reunion was touching. Carl took a step forward and Justin hugged him, then Peter and to Emily’s surprise, he even hugged Jenny. When Justin stood in front of her, he frowned and sniffed. She was just about to introduce herself when he smiled and looked over at Carl.

“Yay Carl, about time hey!” he said before he hugged her. Emily hugged him back and when he released her, he said.

“Welcome,” she smiled brightly at him and he went back to the girl, who stood watching with big afraid eyes. “Dad, mom, I’d like you to meet my mate, Zoey,” Emily could tell that the girl was all human and she watched as Jeffery and Vicky embraced the girl. “She knows everything, so don’t hold back,” he said to them. Jenny took a step forward and Vicky glared at her, which made her stop. Emily wondered what that was all about when Vicky turned to her.

“Emily, come here,” she called out to her and Emily went over to them.

“Please could you escort Zoey to her room, I’m sure she would like to freshen up before lunch,” Emily smiled at Zoey and led her away from the group. “Carl, escort Justin to his room,” she heard Vicky instruct him. Emily looked over at Zoey.

“Are you scared?” she asked the girl.

“Um…Justin told me not to be, but it's hard.” Zoey said softly and Emily nodded.

“I’m new here too,” Emily said, hoping that it would make the girl feel somewhat better.

“Really?”

“Yes, I arrived just a few days ago,”

“Are you human?” Zoey question and Emily shook her head.

“No,”

“Oh, well that’s ok, I hope we can be friends,” Zoey said as Emily opened the bedroom door.

“I’d like that very much,” Emily said as she led Zoey inside. The girl gasped as she looked around the room. Thelma had made the room pink and it looked stunning.

“It's amazing!’ Zoey exclaimed.

“I’m glad you like it,” Emily remarked.

“Like it? No, I love it!” she said as she threw herself back onto the bed.

“I’ll leave you so you can freshen up,” as Emily spoke, Peter brought in the girl’s bags. He nodded and left.

“Will I see you later?” Zoey asked, a worried look on her face.

“Yes, you will,” Emily said, smiling as she left the room and closed the door. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do now, so she went in search of Vicky. As she neared the office, she could hear voices. Without meaning too, she stopped and listened.

“Did I do something to upset you?” it was Jenny.

“No, but as the rightful beta, it is Emily’s place,” came Vicky’s answer.

“But she, but you and her, but Vicky you don’t even like her,” Jenny said, and Emily gasped in surprise.

“That’s not true, I do like her, she is just a bit quiet and shy,” Vicky explained, and Emily relaxed.

“Ears dropping is so unattractive,” someone whispered, and Emily spun around and saw Peter.

“You scared me,” she whispered back. He motioned for her to follow him. They went outside and Emily could see the kitchen staff set up the tables and chairs for the party.

“What were you doing Emily?” Peter asked her.

“I was on my way to see Vicky,”

“And you just decided to stop and listen to what I’m sure was a private discussion?”

“Not internationally,” she argued, and he laughed.

-

Carl left Justin’s room and made his way outside. He immediately spotted Emily and his heart sang. He realized that denying it was pointless, he wanted to be with her and only her. He looked around for Jenny but didn’t see her anywhere. He turned and went back inside and saw her coming out of Vicky’s sanctuary.

“Hey Jenny, wait up,” he called to her, she gave him a smile and waited for him to reach her.

“We need to talk,” he said seriously, and she frowned.

“About?”

“About what happened last night,”

“Oh, you mean where you freaked out and left me hanging?”

“Well, yeah but no, about you trying to seduce me,” he said angrily.

“I thought you loved it when I seduce you?” she asked innocently, and he growled.

“No, Jenny, this has to stop. I am with Emily now and she will be my wife. You have to learn to accept that,”

“And if I can’t?”

“Then alternative arrangements can be made for you Jenny,” Jeffery announced as he came over to them and although annoyed at the intrusion, Carl felt relieved that Jeffery had come to his rescue. Jenny let her head fall in shame and Carl watched as Jeffery led her away. He was sure, that their Alpha was going to put her in her place and he quickly went back outside.

“Emily,” he said as he went over to her. She looked at him and smiled, he pulled her close and kissed her softly.

“What was that for?” she asked breathlessly when they broke apart.

“I want you to know that you are mine and for everyone here,” he looked around and then back at her. “To see that you are mine Emily and you are my mate,”