The Luna’s Takeover

The Alphas Truth

~Alpha Aaron~

It took my mind a few seconds to register what Chase had just told me and the hackling in my brain from Jason was not helping anything. 'You really want to laugh right now Jason. 9 years and you couldn't tell me you were gay man! Do you know how confused I've been about getting paired with Jonah and you knew the whole time!'

'Honestly, I thought it was pretty danm obvious I mean come on I couldn't get enough of Eric where you couldn't even look at Jonah for like a month after words. Man, I miss Eric can I play with him just one more time!' Jason pouted playfully looking off to the side wishfully no doubt imagining his night with Eric.

'No, I am not going to let you have one-night stands with your ex-mate and my Beta!' I huffed at him sticking out my tongue.

'Hey, you rejected him not me. I had to go with it, but I liked him.'

'And I feel bad for you, but I had to.' I shook my head deciding to end the conversation because when we talked about Jonah and Eric we just went around in circles. Like I said to Jason I felt bad, but I wanted to be happy with my mate not just okay with it and I knew at the end of the day that Jason understood that.

Slowly, I followed where I had seen Chase enter the dining hall building and followed the noise I heard coming through the two oak doors I saw in front of me. This village must have been made from the trees that surrounded it because everything was done in oak. I opened the door and was shocked to see that the room was the size of a football field! The front of the building was not that wide, but the room expanded well into the forest behind the village. I could see that there were empty hooks along the ceiling of the room probably where they hung drapery for events and that there were recessed lighting throughout the room.

Tables were lined in rows of 5 covering about 70% of the floor. There was a buffet set before me with people around it on all sides grabbing their dinner. At the other end of the room, I could see a small dance area were some of the younger pack members were dancing to whatever ear assaulting song they were playing.

I must have been starring for a moment to long because I hadn't noticed Bryan come up beside me. "It’s nice, isn't it?" His thick accent made me jump which seemed to amuse the man based on the twinkle in his eye.

"It is just something nice to see. In my pack we eat in shifts, and I guess I just took it at face value until now. We do not even have a room big enough to do events with the entire pack at one time like this." I had to admit I had only been here for two hours, and I was already starting to see some things that I desperately needed to change when I returned to my pack.

"Where do you hold your wedding ceremonies?" he raised an eyebrow at me confused and I returned the look.

"What do you mean we do not hold ceremonies. You meet, you f**k, you are mated there is no ceremony." I had never even heard about a wedding ceremony. "What is a wedding ceremony?"

"Wow your pack is all kinds of messed up. A wedding ceremony is where you pledge your love in front of the whole pack and you all get to party and celebrate your joining. We have them here because we are inside so no matter what weather we can have a good time. There is even a room when you first enter to the right that the infants can sleep in and its soundproof." Bryan beamed when he motioned to the room, and I could see why when I saw two three-year old’s waving to Bryan beaming.

"They are cute I am assuming they are yours?" I smiled waving at the twins before I could help it.

"Yep, they were supposed to be our last, but things happen. Their names are Arya and Ava identical twins who turned three last week. And trust me they eat Chase out of donuts just as much as their mother." He chuckled softly.

"You really love your mate, don't you?" I looked away from the nursery my eyes naturally finding Chase. When I saw her my body began to fill with pride as I saw her beaming at her son, twirling him around in different directions to hear him giggle.

"Yes, I love her. I know without a doubt that the moon goddess, Luna, did right by me. I still look at her the same way you look at our future Luna." He grinned crossing his arms in front of his chest with a knowing look.

I blushed looking away from Chase in a desperate attempt to hide the truth, but I knew by the chuckle that came out of the tall Jamaican next to me that I had given myself away more. "It is that obvious?”

"The only thing that is not obvious is why you two did not get together in your pack." He started to walk out of the hall making it clear that I was to follow. Did no one say to follow them before they walked away in this pack! I do not like being a sheep... but I followed him anyways.

Once we were outside, he leaned against a tree hidden in the shadows to the right of the dining hall and staired at me long enough to make me uncomfortable.

"Are we just going to stand here I was a little hungry?" I asked when I needed the tension to break.

"Why are you here Alpha?" He started sternly. "Are you here to make sure our women know how to run the pack? Are you here to mock us? Learn from us? Or are you here to hurt our future Luna now that you know she is here?"

I sighed moving to sit on a bolder near him, "Honestly I do not know why I am still here. I had planned on coming, meeting the women, and then having you take me home. I only brought enough clothes for the night... But seeing Chase again I just." I didn't know what to say because I didn't know why I had stayed myself.

"You just wanted another minute with her." Bryan finished for me nodding in understanding. "Let me ask you a question. Have you had a mate?”

"Yes." I admitted without hesitation.

"Did you or she break the mate bond. I say this because if you are mated and are screwing with Chase, I will hang you myself."

I chuckled at this partially because it was funny and partially because I was a little nervous he would do it. "I broke the mate bond because I am an alpha and HE couldn't." I emphasized the HE part so that he did not go down the same line of questioning that Chase had gone down.

He nodded in understanding with a whispered, "ouch". "And you know that Chase broke her mate bond."

"I was there when she did it. Seconds before she renounced the pack and ran off." I whispered softly looking at my hands remembering how I had wanted to pull her into my arms while knowing I had to let her go. Her eyes were no longer playful like in her youth, and I could see the pain. I wanted that pain to go away so I let her go. "I knew that something had happened and if I made her stay, I would regret it... So, I watched her go."

"How long have you loved her?" He said it so simply, but my eyes shot open as I looked up at him.

"What?" I know its dumb but that was all I could think to say. His question caught me so off guard that I swear my brain shut off.

"How long have you loved Chase?" He added her name to show me that he wasn't backing down.

Standing from my boulder I took a deep breath and looked at Bryan. "I have loved her since the day I walked into the kitchen and saw her covered in flour. She was maybe 12 and I had just turned 10 and I smelled something new from the kitchen and I got hungry. I walked down and saw some of the most amazing donuts I had ever seen and when I turned around, I guess I shocked her, and she dropped the bag of flour she was holding on the ground causing it to explode and "snow" all over the room and us. She sneezed like a mouse when it got in her nose and her hair was covered with bits of red poking out. She shook her head trying to get clean and then looked like she wanted to cry when I started laughing. I rubbed off the flour from her eye lids and the moment I looked into her eyes I fell."

Once I started talking it was like I had Lilly’s word vomit and I couldn't stop and Bryan just smirked listening to me with amusement. "I was thrilled when Jason came early, and I got to shift with just me and her. He gave me s**t from the second I met him, and I wanted to claim her that night even though she was barely 16. I was going to kiss her but... she ran, and I had hoped when she turned 18 that I would find out that we were mates. However, as we all know that wasn't the case and she left after that." I sighed running my hands through my hair in frustration taking it out of the man bun because it was pointless by now. "Bryan, I don't know why I'm staying I just... I guess some part of me hopes she looks at me the way she used to." I sighed softly shaking my head.

Bryan nodded taking everything in before moving to me and placing his hand on my shoulder. "I think you should go get some rest I'll bring you food in a while, but I don't think you’re up to meeting the whole pack tonight. you can meet them another night."

I nodded knowing he was right and smiled sadly heading to my cabin. I hadn't realized how much I needed to vent like that. Before I could leave Bryan grabbed my wrist, "For what it’s worth there are things that you do not know about your pack, and I don't think you should assume that she does not like you. If you say she looked at you the way she did then give her some time." I nodded once more before disappearing into the night returning to my cabin.