Finding My Missing Luna

Past Monica POV "No, you have got to try harder, shift back now." I shift back and am heaving on the ground with the physical and mental exhaustion of this training session. My father tosses my clothes to me and turns around so I can get changed in private. I get dressed and face him, "I need a break, we both do. This training takes a toll on me." "Monica, it's been three years since your first shift." "But we've only been training like this for the last few months," I interrupt him and he gives me a stern look. "I'm sorry, I'm just saying it's not like we've been training since the first shift." "I know we haven't, but you could find your mate any day now and we really need to get this down." "I don't know how to stop from shifting when I'm threatened. Can you honestly say you do?" "Yes, honey, I can. As the Alpha of this pack I am threatened often. If I shifted every single time I was, I would spend more time as a wolf than in my human form." I shake my head and look down, I know he's right. I have to try harder, I have to be better disciplined I am an Alpha's daughter, and so much more than that. I look back up at him and give him a nod of determination. "Okay, I can do this, I can. One more time." "Come on Lexi, work with me here. You have to stop taking over so much." "I don't like it when I'm threatened and you know that." "I know, I do, but we have to try please?" "Fine I'll try to stay in the back of your mind." "You ready?" My father asks as he waits for me to finish speaking with Lexi. "Yes I'm ready," I tell him getting into my fighting stance. "Ready for dinner I hope," my mother says coming and walking over to my father to give him a kiss on the cheek. "No ready for the next attack," I tell her waggling my eyebrows. "I don't think so you've been in here for hours. It's time for a break." "Come on Rachel, you know why we're doing this." "I do, but I don't think working her to death is the answer." "Will her real death be the answer? Because that's what's going to happen if she doesn't get the hang of this." He yells at her. "Dad," I say shocked. In all the years they've been together I've never heard him talk to her like that. My mother doesn't say a word just looks at my father with a blank expressing before taking a few steps closer so she's standing right in front of him. "I'm sor-" "No, you don't speak right now you listen," she says cutting him off. "If you are trying to imply that I don't care about the safety of my daughter, you are dead wrong. I care more about her life than my own. I would die for her and what's more, I would kill for her. That does not mean that you can throw her into an endless cycle of training to try to assuage your own guilt over the predicament we've found ourselves in concerning her wolf. The guilt is no one's to bear and I won't let you take your misplaced feelings out on her. Now, Monica, please go shower and change for dinner. You and your father can pick this up tomorrow, with the appropriate breaks in place." Then she turned and left and my father deflated like a teenager and not the powerful Alpha that he was. "Well, she sure showed you," I joke trying to lighten the tension. But he turns to look at me with pain in his eyes. "Your mother's right. I've been working you too hard and I am sorry for that, I hope you can forgive me, and more than that, I hope you can understand why I'm doing it." "It's exhausting, mostly because my wolf is stubborn even over perceived threats, but I get it Dad." "Alright, well your mother, like always, is right. We're done for the day let's go get dinner." "Sounds good," we walk out of the gym my father's arm around my shoulder and head up to our floor of the pack house. I branch off to my room and my father goes to his, presumably to grovel and apologize for the way he just spoke to my mother. I get showered and changed quickly before heading downstairs. Once I get into the dining hall, I see my parents sitting together at their table, my father laughing at something my mother just whispered in his ear, I smile at the fact that they have apparently made up and go to sit next to them. "I forgot to tell you earlier," my father says to me, "but the son of Alpha Atticus, Darren, I think his name is, is planning to visit us the day after tomorrow." "What's he coming for? And you might want to try not to insult him by calling him the wrong name," I chuckle, "his name is Derek." "Ah s.hit I have Darren stuck in my head now though." "Better get it unstuck," my mother teases. "Why is he coming and not his father?" I was curious about that since Derek hadn't taken over his father's pack yet. That and even though he wasn't the Alpha yet everyone knew his nickname was the Arrogant Alpha. That didn't really bode well for him when it came to official pack visits. "He's been doing more and more work for his father, I think he is preparing him to take over. That and he apparently hasn't found his mate yet. I think his father is hoping that by sending him around to conduct pack business he'll get the chance to find his mate. If I recall correctly his father is a bit old fashioned, I would guess he's waiting to hand everything over officially until his son finds his mate." "I guess that makes sense, good thing you aren't that old fashioned," I say winking at my father. My parents had a hard time having pups. Neither of them knows why since infertility isn't really something common in wolves. But I was their only child and would take over the pack one day when my father retired. I was a bit hesitant to find my mate because even though your mate is supposed to be fated to you, and be your other half, I could see how becoming the mate to the sole heir of a fairly powerful pack could have a big impact on whomever my mate ends up being. After dinner we all retire to our rooms. It's not that late but I'm still pretty tired and I know I'll have to train with the warriors, and then with both my mother and father regarding official pack business, and then I'll have to have my private training session with my father again. We will also have to prepare for the arrival of the Arrogant Alpha after dinner, so I'm ready to hit the hay. The next day is as busy as I thought it would be and another early night for me. The Alpha is supposed to be getting here in the morning and I'll be responsible for showing him around the pack so another early night for me it is. I find myself thinking about pack perimeter and security rotations as I wait for the Arrogant Alpha the next morning since he is running late. But my thoughts are soon interrupted by a large black SUV with tinted windows heading straight for the front door of the pack house. Lexi starts to get a little agitated which worries me a bit but I try to push it aside. Until the car stops, the door opens, and the scent of cedar hits me like a semi truck. I stumble back as a man gets out of the back, a man I can only assume is the Alpha. "Mate," Lexi whispers in my mind. Mother f.ucker, I think before I turn around and sprint towards the woods, there's no way I can be mated to this man.