Her Unexpected Luna

Chapter 18

Thalia

Thalia became distracted from talking to Molly about her life as the only human In their werewolf pack. It wasn't very often that a human was bonded to a wolf. It seemed only recently that bonds to different species under different gods and goddesses were becoming more frequent. The first mate bond to a human was only discovered a few hundred years ago, ever since then there weren't many to be reported. Maybe 'reported' was the key term. Seeing as how some people seem to react to the moon goddess's pairings, it would make sense why a lot of these bonds don't come to light if there are more out there than what is known.

"He never lied to me or tried to hide the fact that there was something special about him. He always said "I am a man of extraordinary talents". She quoted in an exaggerated impression of her mate making her giggle. "I thought he was crazy but I couldn't resist the pull that I felt to him." She said with a loving smile as she brought her hands up to caress her belly. Thalia could feel the love Molly had for Vincent and their family. If thats what the bond felt like, Thalia wanted it more than anything.

"What was it like..when you found out that you would become an important role model and leader for hundreds of people?" Thalia asked as she stared down at her hands, picking at her fingernails. Molly's delicate hand appeared over the top of Thalias as she gave her a gentle squeeze to stop her from picking at her nails, bringing her attention up to Molly's warm smile.

"I was very nervous when that reality hit me. I doubted myself thinking that I would never have what it takes to lead a group of powerful werewolves. And it didn't help that I wasn't exactly welcomed at first. Vincent and I were almost forced to reject our bond." She said as her eyes started to water thinking about it. Thalia flipped her hands around to embrace Molly with her reassuring hand squeeze. Thalia couldn't even imagine what they went through.

"Something awful must have happened for you both to even consider something like that," Thalia said. Molly nodded her head

"That's all in the past now. It only took me throwing myself in the middle of a rogue attack, doing everything that I could to protect pack members that were more than capable of protecting themselves. It didn't matter that I was a weak and powerless human, I saw someone that was about to get hurt and wanted to protect them because that's what you do for the people you care about. They didn't like me at first, but when they saw I was ready to sacrifice my life for them." She trailed off as her gaze searched around to find what she was looking for before landing on Vincent who was climbing into the ring to get ready for his match. "They realized there was no one better to stand by their Alphas side. Regardless of species" She said smiling happily as he locked eyes with her giving her a wink right before the match began.

Thalia felt better knowing that she wasn't alone in feeling the way that she did. She couldn't imagine the challenges Molly must have gone through to be with her mate. Thalia knew she had plenty of challenges that awaited her before she even thought about going back to Tasia's pack with her. It would be too dangerous to have her past following her to what could be her future pack if they accept her. There was a soft tap on her shoulder followed by the appearance of Lauren who smiled at both of the ladies in front of her.

"Luna Molly, I'm glad you're feeling better today. You look stunning as always" She said with a friendly smile. "Would you be alright if I stole Thalia away for a few minutes?" She asked. Thalia began to protest against leaving Molly alone. Vincent had specifically asked so she wouldn't be alone. As if Molly could read her mind she waved her hand as if to dismiss her.

"Like I told Vincent I don't need a babysitter. I can take care of myself, I loved our talk though and I look forward to getting to know you better, now go on. We will catch up later" Molly said as she all but shoved Thalia out of her seat. "And thank you, Luna Lauren, we'll have to get together before the end of the conference and catch up. The three of us! I'm sure Thalia here could use some Lunas to Luna advice." She said.

Thalia had to admit she liked the sound of that. She went from feeling as if she could trust no one to wanting to trust the people before her immediately. She already felt like she did trust them. Would it have been different if Jasper was here with her? If that were the case they probably wouldn't even be here at this moment.

Lauren guided Thalia through the crowd away from the ring. She looked back behind her wondering if she should have tried to let Tasia know where she was going. She looked back just in time to see Vincent pin down his opponent by the throat with his vicious canine teeth. That match didn't last very long. She had hoped she would be back in time to see Tasia's Match.

"Don't worry, this won't take very long. There are a few people Ryan and I would like you to meet." She said looking back.

Lauren brought her over to where the concession stands were set up with refreshments and snacks. All of the matches were still ongoing so there weren't very many people around. Thalia spotted Ryan talking to four other wolves, one of them seeming familiar but she couldn't place where. All of their attention was turned to Thalia once they reached the group. Thalia wanted to turn and run, her stomach felt as if I were trying to climb up her throat.

"Don't worry, you're safe," Lauren whispered to her. Thalia nodded her head and forced herself to make eye contact with each Alpha and bow her head in respect to them.

"Thalia, I'd like you to meet Alpha Tyler, Alpha Reid, Alpha Brian, and Alpha Councilman Kaine," Ryan said pointing to each man as he introduced them. Thalia focused on Alpha Kaine as she started to remember he was one of the wolves in the infirmary room when she first woke up.

"Alphas," she said nodding her head in respect once more. The first three Alphas shared a resemblance. They were all about the same height and shared dark brunette hair with deep chestnut-colored eyes. Alpha Tyler had his hair pulled back into a bun and had a full clean-cut beard that covered the entire bottom of his face. He had seemed to be the eldest of the three. Alpha Reid let his hair fall to his shoulders and kept his facial hair equivalent to a 4 o'clock shadow. Alpha Brian seemed to be a lot younger as his face was clean-shaven and his hair was a lot shorter and had more of a shaggy curl to it that didn't seem to stay in place. He had the most approachable aura out of all of them.

"Alpha Tyler, Alpha Reid, and Alpha Brian are brothers who Have some of the largest packs in all of the Eastern Territory. Their father split up their original pack lands to allow all his sons to have a chance to grow and lead different areas of the pack on their own. Keep in mind this is all one pack, but split into three. Because of this, they would have been more likely to have any information we might be looking for." Ryan said as he gave Thalia a pointed look.

He's implying they could be possible candidates to testify for her case to be a territories Trial. Thalia began to wonder if this would be the best route to go down. Thalia could still be convicted for many things during their years of running. Many innocent lives were lost and could have been avoided if she went back. She would have found out if her mother was still alive or not, even though her gut was telling her she wasn't. Many Alphas and other Pack leaders they ran into in the past refused to help them then, so why would they help her now?

"Alpha Kaine is the Eastern Alpha Councilman. Also the Father of the Three Alphas that stand before you" Ryan said. That kind of explains why a council member seems to already know about their plan.

"It's nice to meet all of you," Thalia said doing her best to not sound as nervous as she felt.

"Is it? I do recall we have met once before" Alpha Reid said. Thalia looked at him, trying to place when they might have met. She usually tried to make it a point to remember names and faces when she could in hopes to apologize for her actions some day, he was drawing a blank in her mind.

"Easy brother," Alpha Tyler said giving him a stern look.

"Yeah, you're right. It must be hard to remember what packs you've illegally entered and stole from. I'd be lying if I weren't impressed by getting past my warriors and myself. I've met more reckless rogues in my past, but never one to try and hide and steal within my borders." He said as he crossed his arms. Thalia wanted to look away from his harsh gaze. But she knew she needed to make up for the things she's done.

"Sometimes it was safer to be inside a pack's borders. Rogues aren't kind to other rogues, but you're right. They would never try and breach a pack's borders the way we did. I will not try and justify my crime for stealing from you. What we did was wrong, but if we approached you through your front door and asked for food and clothing. Would you have given it to us?" She asked. Alpha Reid was silenced by her question as he thought about his obvious answer.

"Rogues weren't the only ones you were trying to avoid though was it?" Alpha Tyler questioned.

"No, they weren't," She said. Alpha Tyler looked over to Reid with an expression only they seemed to understand.

"You weren't the only ones to sneak into my borders. There were reports of more wolves roaming around, searching for something. My Beta was positive they were warriors from another pack, I didn't believe him thinking another pack wouldn't be dumb enough to cross into another packs lands without a proper announcement or permission." He said.

"Why didn't you report this to me?" Alpha Kaine spoke startling Thalia at first. His voice was deep and loud. Now that Ryan pointed out the relations, The Three Alphas were spitting images of the councilman. He just happened to be a lot older and his hair was silvered out and brushed back neatly.

"It wouldn't have been a proper report. The rogues that breached our borders didn't pose a threat as they laid low and didn't cause much of a commotion. Regardless of the items they stole, we weren't hurting for some scraps of food and clothing. Thinking about it all now, it was the ones who were chasing them who did the damage." He said as his demeanor towards her began to soften. "It wasn't anything we couldn't handle," Reid said with a shrug. Kaine looked at his son with an annoyed look.

"Did your Beta give you a description of the wolves? Something helpful that could point to what pack they might belong to" Kaine asked him losing his patience. Reid thought for a minute before he finally shrugged his shoulder.

"I remember him saying there were a few with red fur coats," Reid said

Thalia looked over at Ryan as he nodded his head quickly at her and turned his attention back to Kaine.

"There was one wolf amongst the ones that I intercepted that had a red coat. Red coats aren't common around here." He said matter of factly.

"The color of their coat doesn't associate them with a specific pack. That's not proof enough of who they are and whom they belong to" Kaine said getting irritated.

"If you're familiar with Northern Territory culture and heritage you would know that Northern wolves typically have thicker and longer fur coats to regulate body temperature in the colder climates. Now if you're also familiar with Northern Pack Territory History you would know that red wolves are more common in the North and were typically found in one specific pack that was named because of the unique colors of coats the pack members possessed." Thalia said as she held her breath while everyone stared at her.

"Scarlet Moon huh?" Kaine said in an emotionless tone this time. "So what exactly are you trying to do then? Trevor said himself he has the right to detain his pack members. In which he does. He wasn't the one in pursuit right? His warriors could claim they had not realized they trespassed onto another pack's lands. You're also saying that there were only a few red-coated wolves at the time on your lands" Kaine said as he pointed at Reid "And only one on your lands" he finished pointing and Ryan. "That's not enough proof unless Trevor confesses and takes blame for the casualties his warriors may or may not have caused in pursuit of this little girl," Kaine said. He was ready to be over with this as he was getting ready to leave. Thalia narrowed her eyes at his last statement.

"What if he was working with a werewolf hunter?" Ryan said. This statement stopped Kaine in his tracks.

"No wolf in his right mind would hire a hunter to pursue one wolf" Kaine scoffed.

"You were there in the infirmary when Thalia was unconscious when they removed the arrow from her thigh. You could smell the wolfsbane and silver emanating off that arrow, everyone could. Why else was that hunter there at the same time as the other wolves that cornered Thalia and Jasper? Whom by the way paid no mind to those wolves, only Thalia and Jasper?" Ryan said now losing his patience. Kaine took a moment to ponder everything that was said.

"Then that would be something that involves all of the council members wouldn't it?" Kaine said finally satisfied with Ryan's statement before he turned and took his leave.

Thalia finally let out that breath she had been holding. She felt a little relieved but knew she wasn't out of the water just yet. He most likely would need to get the rest of the council on board with this before anything was set in stone. Alpha Reid and Alpha Tyler left without any more words even though you could tell they wanted more answers. Alpha Brian who had been quiet the whole time studied Thalia closely before he decided to head off in his own direction. That was a little weird.

"Now we just wait to hear from the council" Ryan started until he jerked his head in the direction of loud cheers and screams that echoed throughout the crowds. It seemed that most of the crowds from the other rings congregated over to the Southern ring.

Without Hesitation, Thalia took off towards the ring as she now tuned in to the other emotions she was feeling that she realized were not her own. It was the feeling of Panic coming from Tasia. By the time she managed to shove her way through the crowd to the row of seats where Luna Molly still sat, she looked into the ring to see her Mate positioned in a defense pose, facing her opponent...opponents?

"Molly! What's going on?" Thalia demanded as she couldn't take her eyes off of Tasia, worried about what she got herself into.

"She's going to fight Marcus and Vincent at the same time," Molly said in disbelief.