Finding My Missing Luna

Chapter 4

Monica POV

I stand there watching my mate through Lexi's eyes. At first he looks shocked, then confused. He just sits there so Lexi sits back on her haunches and stares at him, daring him to say something, but he doesn't. He just continues looking at us.

"As you can see, Monica and Lexi are, well, they're special," I hear my mother say softly. That seems to finally shake Derek out of his shock. He slowly stands and walks over to us, then he reaches out his hand and pats Lexi's snout. She preens over his attention and hits back at his hand with her nose.

"You're beautiful Lexi," he tells her. "And you're freaking huge, I think you might be the biggest wolf I've ever seen. You're even bigger than me. I should have known there was something different about you when you were so freaking fast running away from me. Is this why you ran?" Lexi whines in response and I look at my father. I'd like to shift back, but I've already shredded my clothes and I refuse to let the first time my mate sees me naked be when my parents are also in the room. I don't care how used to nakedness wolves are, there have to be some boundaries. He nods back in understanding and leaves to grab me some clothes. He comes back a minute later and Derek is still rubbing Lexi's head. Once my father sets the clothes down on the couch all three of them turn around so I can shift and change.

"It is," I answer Derek's question once I'm clothed again.

"But why? I don't care if you're a big wolf, it's not going to bruise my ego or something stupid like that."

"It's more complicated than that," my father says blowing out an exhausted breath.

"I got it dad, I can tell him about it."

"Are you sure?" He asks giving Derek the side-eye.

"No, but what else can I do?"

"Reject him," my father says it so softly, so quietly, that I almost don't hear him. I know Derek does though because his wolf lets out an angry snarl. I look over at him and see the war between his wolf and him raging.

"I know that you all don't know me very well. And I know that my reputation, while false, has preceded my visit here. But I think I have been nothing but accepting given the incredibly unusual circumstances of this particular mate finding. I know I'm a stranger and that none of you have any reason to trust me, but Monica is my mate. Mate's may not be important to every wolf," pain flashes in his eyes as he says that and I want to know why. Was he hurt before? Am I his second chance? "but to me, they are everything. I have been looking forward to finding my mate since I knew what mates were. I won't let you take my mate away from me like this, not without a proper explanation. There's obviously something exceptional going on with your wolf, and I'm guessing that there are few, if any, people outside of this room that know about you. So I get it, you're scared but please believe me when I say that I don't care about anything but loving and protecting my mate." He sounds so genuine I am starting to feel bad about how I reacted to him when he got here. And I'm starting to feel really bad about calling him an arrogant Alpha since he seems to really hate that nickname.

I go to sit down in one of the chairs and he follows, sitting across from me, "can you give us a few minutes?" I ask my parents, he's not wrong. Most mates don't involve their parents as soon as they find their mate, I can't imagine this has been an easy thing for him.

"Fine," my father says, his eyes flashing with annoyance, "just know this," he looks at Derek, "I will protect my daughter at any cost. If I think you are going to be a threat to her, you won't be leaving here."

"George," my mother snaps at him before pulling him out of the room while throwing Derek a sympathetic look.

"Care to explain all the secrets and threats to my life now?"

"Do you swear that whatever I'm about to tell you will stay between us?"

"Monica, I'm not sure you will trust me anyway, but yes I swear it. You have my word as your mate and as an Alpha."

I nod, deciding I can trust him. "You know I'm the only heir to this pack, and have plans to take it over?"

"I've heard rumors about that, but I haven't quite believed them until now."

"Then you also know that females don't often run packs, because they are more likely to be taken over, or their packs taken advantage of. Uusally when the next in line to be Alpha is a woman, her mate becomes the Alpha, and she will become the Luna to her pack."

"Yes," he says slowly. Clearly wondering why I'm telling him things he already knows.

"No one has ever heard of a female carrying the Alpha gene, until now," I look up at him to gauge his reaction. It takes him a moment but when it finally hits him he looks surprised, once again.

"Are you telling me you're an Alpha?"

"We believe so. When I first shifted my parents couldn't believe how big Lexi is. They've tried looking through archives, researching, speaking with pack elders, everything to figure out what could be going on with me. They spent years trying to come up with answers, but since they have tried to do all of this research without involving other people it's been difficult to get those answers."

"So what made them think you're an Alpha?"

"Just Lexi's traits mostly. A little while after my first shift they took me out at night to shift again. I was faster, larger, and stronger than my father every time he tested me. It became clear that there is something special about Lexi, but without any other answers they decided it's just that I'm an Alpha."

"You're large, and fast, and I'm assuming strong, even for an Alpha. Your father is powerful, the fact that you were able to beat him is a testament to that. And I'm a powerful wolf as well, you would have outrun me if I hadn't thought to jump on you."

"Yes, well, that's all we have to go on right now."

"And no one else knows about this?"

"No, quite the contrary. They all think there's something majorly wrong with my wolf and I'm ashamed to shift in front of other pack members. My father has even started training me to fight without Lexi shifting so that I can be prepared to defend myself and this pack without informing everyone of my secret, but honestly, it's only a matter of time. And not just because Lexi loves coming out when threatened, but because there will come a time when I have to defend loved ones and I won't have any other choice but to shift."

"That might be true, but it's smart to bide your time until your hand is forced. It gives you a better chance at figuring out if there might be something else going on. So, you said you ran because of this secret, but it's not like Lexi was going to have to shift in front of me. I didn't have to know any of this. You could have pretended we were just regular mates until you got to know me better. Why didn't you?"

"Well, as you said, your reputation proceeds you. My first thought was that I was mated to an overly ambitious, arrogant, p.rick who would probably take advantage of Lexi. But it wasn't just that. I have always planned to take over my father's pack, I never really thought about what would happen if I ended up mated to another Alpha." I look down before raising my eyes to face him again, he has to know, "I won't abandon my pack, or my duties here. I intend to be the Alpha when my father steps down."

Derek leans closer to me and grabs my hand, "We aren't the first two heirs to be mated to each other. Even when a female heir becomes the Luna of her pack to another Alpha, they find a way. Either through a merger or having someone else take over one of the packs. Now, I know once mates find each other, they usually mate, mark, and move in together. It's a little different for us given we both have responsibilities to other packs, but I would very much like to see where this thing goes, and not have you reject me." I chuckle at that.

"No, I don't think I want to reject you anymore."

"And your secret is safe with me," he moves my hand to his mouth and kisses it. "I meant what I said Monica, finding my mate has always been important to me. I won't put you in danger over ambitions."

"Thank you."

"Now we should probably find my soon to be Beta before he thinks something serious has happened. Maybe we could spend the rest of the day together and get to the Alpha business tomorrow?"

"Okay, sure, we can do that." He stands up with my hand still in his and Lexi melts once again. I never thought she'd act like this once we found our mate, but I guess we're giving it a shot. I still need to make sure I can trust him, mates generally are trustworthy because of the bond. But until we know each other better I'll have to keep my wits about me and make sure he really is everything he seems to be.