His Luna Queen

Beta Tony

Janet ran and ran until she’d completely tired herself and her wolf out. Preferring to stay in her wolf form, she fell asleep at some point somewhere deep in the woods of her pack lands. Her brother and pack beta, Tony, found her during his patrols and was wise enough to leave a bag of spare clothes next to her for when she woke up and decided to shift into her human form.

Janet knew that Tony usually patrolled the woods this side of the woods at night. This wasn’t the first time she’d fallen asleep here in her wolf form. And she knew he’d leave her clothes to change into in the morning. When she finally woke up the next day and shifted, she realized that the tights were a bit too short. Grimacing, Janet realized Tony had probably given her clothes that belonged to Lana. Tony's mate ,Lana, was a strong female-beta and had recently become the head warrior as well. She was something fierce despite her short, petite frame. Janet was tall, at 5'8, she was taller than most of the other females. Except for Alyssa, who was her brother Dylan’s mate. Dylan was the alpha of the neighboring pack that Alyssa's father had been the previous alpha of. Her father had been evil and manipulating. Janet's brothers had overthrown him and now the pack belonged to Dylan. Alyssa and Janet had similiar physiques except Alyssa was rail thin. Janet had five brothers she often worked out with and trained with. Janet’s tall athletic build was not helping her fit into Lana’s clothes. With a frustrated huff, she realized that Lana’s shirt was more like a crop top on her, exposing a fair amount of midriff. She patted her exposed stomach and it grumbled in response. Janet realized she was hungry. The closest place was Tony’s cabin that he’d built nearby on this side of the packlands. He probably had breakfast on the table too since his kids woke up around this time. Making her way to Tony’s cabin, Janet wondered if Xavier had told him everything yet. Probably had, considering Tony was the beta. Now the big question was if her family would back her up on her decision to not go to England. Janet had no sooner made it through the door that she found a ball coming straight at her. Janet caught it expertly and looked around only to find her preteen nephew, David, looking at her sheepishly.

“S-Sorry Aunt Janet,” David said hastily, holding up his hands and hoping she’d throw it back at him. “Doesn’t your mom have a rule about not playing ball in the house?” Janet challenged with a raised eyebrow.

David suddenly paled and looked around nervously. “You’re not going to tell her are you?” he asked fearfully. “Dad said it was OK since Mom’s on an official assignment and isn’t supposed to be back for another few hours.”

Janet clucked her tongue in disapproval. Suddenly, a boy a few years younger than David , came careening down the hallway and nearly crashed into Janet. She jumped back just in time.

“Hey Jax,” Janet said cheerfully, looking down at Jaxson as if this chaos was completely normal. “Auntie Janet!” Jax exclaimed excitedly. “We’re having doughnuts for breakfast!”

Janet raised an eyebrow, sure this was not something their mother would approve of but knowing her brother…Janet rolled her eyes heavenward. There was a sudden crash.

“Ooops,” David muttered sheepishly.

She looked to see that David had somehow managed to break a gold picture frame hanging in the foyer. It was a recent picture of Lana, Tony and their two boys.

“You’re gonna be in trouble,” Jax said in a sing-song voice.

“It was an accident!” David exclaimed. “I was just lookin’!” He looked at Janet with wide eyes. “Please help us!”

Janet suddenly remembered why she preferred visiting Tony when Lana was home. The boys weren’t as rowdy when their mother was around. Sighing, Janet set aside the ball that had nearly smashed her face and went to find the broom and dust pan.

>“Don’t touch anything, you might cut your hand on a shard of glass,” Janet warned as she walked away.

She bumped into Tony who was setting the table.

“What happened?” Tony asked, eyeing the broom in Janet’s hand.

“David,” was all Janet had to say.

Tony immediately knew his son had probably broken something. She eyed the table full of hot donuts, muffins, bacon and some scrambled eggs.

Her stomach grumbled again. She was tempted to eat first and clean up later. A loud wail from the foyer alerted Tony and Janet that something was wrong. Both ran towards the screaming kids only to realize that David had sliced his hand open and Jax was crying at the sight of blood dripping out of his brother’s palm.

“So cool!” David exclaimed, eyes lit up. “I’ve got battle wounds!”

“We have to take him into the hospital,” Tony said worriedly, running to pick David up and put his hand under running water. “Janet-“

>“I’m on it,” Janet replied quickly, scooping up a crying Jax and grabbing Tony’s car keys.

An hour later, with David’s hand all bandaged up, Lana arrived at the pack clinic with an exasperated look on her face.

>“I’m gone for one day…one day! And David ends up in the hospital, honestly Tony,” Lana muttered after hugging her eldest son.

Both David and Tony had the decency to look contrite. Janet was still hungry but trying to keep Jax occupied. Jax ran to Lana and hugged her legs. “David’s blood was e’rywhhherree,” Jaxson wailed.

>“It wasn’t that bad,” Janet couldn’t help but interject. “I think Jaxson just got upset seeing his brother hurt.”

Lana patted Jaxson’s head, her eyes suddenly registering something regarding Janet.

“You’re wearing my clothes? Did David get blood all over yours?” Lana asked sympathetically, not looking the least bit bothered over her son’s injury now that she had been assured it was very minor.

“Mom!” David exclaimed heatedly. “You should be crying and fussing over me right now!”

Lana swerved her gaze, looking sternly at David.

“We will discuss this later, once we get you home,” Lana stated.

>She turned to look disapprovingly at Tony as if everything was his fault. Janet decided it was time to make her exit and maybe find food somewhere else since she was not in the mood to explain to Lana exactly why she’d needed her clothes. She briefly thought about going home and then remembered that 1) she was avoiding her mother and 2) she couldn’t count on her mother to ever provide her an appetizing breakfast. Josie's cooking was something everyone steered clear off. Sighing dejectedly, Janet realized that there was only one place she would be guaranteed to find a hearty breakfast for her starved self.

*. *. *

“Janet,” Rose gushed, opening the door and giving her a near bone crushing hug.

“I-can’t-breathe,” Janet gasped out.

Rose let her go, apologizing.

>“Breakfast?” Rose asked cheerfully.

Janet smiled in triumph, victory was within her reach. She made her way to the kitchen where Rose had a spread already laid out on the kitchen counter. Xavier was wrangling with the twins, trying to get them to finish their eggs. Janet exchanged a cool ‘hello’ with Xavier before reaching for the bacon and helping herself to some scrambled eggs.

“Janet, we need to talk,” Xavier said right when Janet bit into a piece of cut up French toast.

The wonderful taste of freshly cooked French toast turned to saw dust in her mouth. She knew what Xavier wanted to talk about. She could tell from the way he was looking at her.

“You’re going to send me away, aren’t you?” Janet asked accusingly.

Xavier sighed, moving away from his twin sons and towards his only sister.

“We will talk about it. I promise I won’t make you do anything you don’t want too,” Xavier said placatingly.

“What’s there to talk about?” Janet asked angrily, setting her uneaten plate down angrily on the kitchen counter. “I’m not going! I told you I won’t go and that’s final!”

“Now Janet, Xavier only has your best interest at heart,” Rose whispered placatingly.

Janet looked at Rose as if she’d been betrayed. Out of everyone, she’d expected Rose to take her side.

“Not you too?” Janet asked sadly.

Rose looked at Xavier nervously. It was evident Rose felt uncomfortable telling Janet to go along with something Janet clearly was loathe to do.

“I’m telling you right now that you can’t make me go! You are not the boss of me!” Janet yelled angrily.

The twins suddenly bust into tears over the way Janet was shouting. Contrite, Janet took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down while Rose hugged her children and assured them that their favorite aunt was not angry at them.

Janet stared at Xavier, the challenge evident in her eyes. Xavier stared right back at her, an apologetic look on his face. She wasn’t going to go! There was no way she would.

***

I can’t believe you’re forcing me into this,” Janet grunted at the airport where Xavier, Rose and her mother had accompanied her to say good-bye. Tony would be accompanying her along with a few warriors sent by Xavier until she reached British soil. From there, her mate’s security detail would take over.

“Look, I did the one year abroad college-exchange program and had a lot of fun. Made a lot of friends too,” Xavier said amicably with a big smile. “If, at the end of your time as a college-exchange student, you don’t want to stay, you can come back. It’s a win-win situation. You get to study at a University in the U.K. and get all these wonderful new experiences-“ Xavier stopped short when he saw Janet staring at him skeptically.

“Could you sound anymore like mom trying to convince me?” Janet said with a groan.

“You know it’s because he just wants the best for you,” Josie scolded.

“I know…I just wish you’d stop wanting what you think is best,” Janet grumbled.

Xavier let out a good-natured laugh while Rose hugged Janet.

“I’m going to miss you,” Rose said fondly, wiping a tear from her eye.

“Hey how about you don’t send me away, then you won’t miss me,” Janet couldn’t help suggesting.

Josie clucked her tongue.

“We aren’t sending you away Janet. We just think it’s important for you to atleast try and get to know your mate before deciding to reject him,” Josie said gently. “We love you and-and-“ Josie’s lips began to tremble. “Oh sometimes I think if your father were still here…things would be different.”

Janet suddenly felt bad, recalling all the times she’d been difficult. All the times Josie had probably felt inadequate, raising her alone.

“Hey, mom,” Janet whispered, leaning in to hug her. “You and Xavier have always given me everything I’ve needed. Yeah, I wish dad were here…but him being here wouldn’t solve the fact that my mate has been ignoring me for the past ten years and I no longer want anything to do with him,” Janet ended firmly as she pulled back from hugging Josie. “I love you mom, and I’m going because everyone basically ganged up on me and decided what was best. No one took my feelings into account. I’ll be back once I finish my exchange program abroad that Xavier made me apply for,” Janet said reassuringly and turned to look at Xavier challengingly as if expecting him to disagree.

Xavier merely grinned.

“We’ll see a year from now. I give you two months,” Xavier chuckled. “The mate pull…it’s unavoidable,” Xavier warned.

Janet rolled her eyes.

“No offense brother but I’m made of stronger stuff than you.”

“I’m sure you are,” Xavier replied with a twinkle in his chocolate eyes. “But the mate pull is stronger than any of us.”

Janet merely huffed in response. She’d show them all. Even her wolf was angry. Janet was pretty confident that she’d be able to fight the mate pull. With any luck, Nick would accept her rejection and send her on her merry way. The university she was going too was nearby and Janet had looked into accommodations. Because Xavier was right about one thing, spending a year in the U.K. would be an amazing experience. Just as long as it wasn’t anywhere near the royal family.

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