Finding My Missing Luna

Chapter 5

Derek POV

The rest of the day that I spent with my mate was strange. Her father glared at me most of the time, her mother tried to make conversation, Monica barely spoke, and my Beta kept looking between all of us like we were drunk. By the time we all headed into the dining hall for dinner the awkwardness was at an all time high.

"Well," Monica said, finally breaking the tense silence that had fallen over us as we ate. "It's been a really long day, so I think I'm going to go ahead and go to sleep. I'll see you all in the morning." Then she walked out of the dining area without so much as a backwards glance at me. I got up and excused myself to follow her a few minutes later. I didn't get a tour earlier but I followed her scent up to what must be the Alpha floor and straight to her room. I knocked but when there was no answer I opened the door and barged in. I didn't see her in here but her scent was everywhere, this was definitely her room. After a moment, I heard the shower start running so I lay down on her bed as I waited for her to come out.

"What the hell are you doing?" I hear my mate yell a few minutes later. I lift my arm off of my eyes to look over at her and am momentarily stunned. Her long hair is falling over her shoulders, water dripping from it as she has herself covered with the smallest towel I've ever seen, allowing me to get a good look at those long, strong legs of hers. "I asked you a question," she hissed at me.

"Well, when we spoke earlier you agreed to give the mate bond between us a chance. You agreed to spend the day with me and hit all the Alpha stuff tomorrow."

"And? We spent the day together, did we not?"

"We spent the day with your parents and barely spoke to one another. Your father glared at me more than you deigned to look in my direction."

She huffs as she moves towards a door in her room that turns out to be a walk-in closet. "I am sorry about that, but you can't blame him. I thought he might give us some time alone, but I guess the thought of leaving his daughter with a stranger, and an Alpha at that, who had just learned our most closely guarded secret was a little too much for him to handle."

"Hmmm, well I suppose I can understand that I still feel robbed of our day together. So how about we spend some time together tonight?"

She walks back out of her closet with a large towel wrapped around her head, sweatpants, and a big baggy shirt, and she somehow looks even sexier than she did when she walked out of her shower. "I guess we can hang out for an hour or so. I wasn't just trying to get out of that awkward a.ss dinner earlier. I really am tired, I'm sure you are too. Today's been a bit emotionally taxing."

"I hear you, so tell me about yourself."

"Original," she chuckles but sits down at the end of the bed by my feet anyway. "What would you like to know?"

"The secret, the fact that your parents think you're an Alpha. Why are they so afraid of anyone else finding out? I get that you're worried about Lexi but with your size and power, and the power of the pack and your allies behind you, I don't imagine many people would try to hurt you."

"I suppose it's probably not something you would think about, and I think it's actually a good thing you haven't. Means your mind hasn't gone to all those evil places yet."

"What evil places?"

"Derek, Alpha females are unheard of. If word got out about Lexi there are other Alpha's, and their packs, that would do anything to get their hands on her, me, us. Imagine the potential power that a wolf born to two Alphas could have. They could turn Lexi into a breeding machine."

"Never," I say as a growl rips from my chest. "I'll never let anyone get their hands on you," I jump up and move to sit next to her on the bed. "You're right I hadn't considered that, it does make sense now that you're saying it, but do you really think someone would try something like that?"

"Someone tried already," she chokes out.

"What?" Xavier pokes through and pulls Monica into our arms.

"Hey, it's okay," she says trying to soothe me as she starts to rub my arm. That action makes Xavier recede because we should be comforting her right now, not the other way around.

"Will you tell me what happened? Please."

She nods then settles into me, leaning her head on my shoulder and making Xavier howl in my head, "It was a few months after my first shift. I had gone out without my dad, I wanted to have a private run with Lexi and so far every time I wanted to shift he had demanded to be there. I checked the schedules so I knew when warriors would be passing around each check point so that I could avoid them. Everything was great at first, but then after about twenty minutes I heard someone else in the woods and I didn't think there was supposed to be anyone there. So I slowed down and as soon as I did a wolf pounced on me, then another. I already told you how strong Lexi is but brute strength when you don't know how to fight trained warriors wasn't enough to beat back two attackers. Lexi linked my dad, it took him five minutes to get to me.

"Five minutes isn't a super long time, but when you're being attacked it feels like hours. The wolves had also thought to dip their claws in wolfsbane so every scratch and gouge they gave me was torturously painful. When my dad got there he killed them, quickly and easily, and brought me back to the pack house. My mom was waiting to take care of me. Before she found out she was mated to my dad she was training to be a nurse so she knew exactly what to do. She cleaned and treated my wounds, now normally because of the wolfsbane, it would have taken me a while to heal but Lexi started to heal me within hours. By the middle of the night I was perfectly fine, scared out of my mind, but fine.

"The next day my dad and I went to the rooms of the two warriors that had tried to take me. It turns out they had seen us, me and my dad, running one night. They had mapped out a plan to capture me and sell me off on like the black market or something. I didn't even know that was a real thing until that moment. But it became clear to me and my parents that night that people with the wrong intentions would try, and could succeed, in hurting me." I continue stroking her hair as she stops talking.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you Monica, I can't imagine that was an easy thing to go through." I'm working very hard to keep my voice even because inside I'm shaking in rage. The thought that someone could have taken my mate from me and hurt her in unspeakable ways before I ever got a chance to meet her has my skin crawling.

"It was definitely a wake-up call, and one of the reasons my dad is so protective of me. I don't think he has really considered what would happen when I found my mate. But I don't think he expected it to happen this fast, or that we would tell you about Lexi that quickly either. He knows of you, but you're still a stranger, and I know he's met your father, but I'm sorry to say I don't think he was impressed with him so he's worried. Both because he doesn't want you to hurt me physically, or emotionally; and because he fears what would happen if I were to leave and go there, be surrounded by people he doesn't know and an Alpha he doesn't exactly respect."

"Monica, I do agree with your father on this one. My father can never know about you, or Lexi. I know we haven't decided how this will work yet, regardless, he can never know. He isn't a good man and I don't doubt he would do anything to benefit from your power." She shivers before she pulls back and looks at me, her eyes searching mine looking for more before she simply nods. I smile at the fact that she is clearly showing that she trusts me in this regard. Then she surprises the hell out of me by leaning forward and placing a gentle kiss on my lips.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For listening, for taking this seriously, for not trying to push me into something I'm not ready for yet." I respond with another kiss, this one not as gentle, and I wait for her to respond. When she does I slip my tongue into her mouth and taste her for the first time, and realize I'm screwed because I'm pretty sure I'm already addicted to her.