Embrace My Rogue Luna

Chapter VII

Fae’s POV

“So, I figure we’ll start on the ground floor. That way we can grab some lunch and work our way up.”

My ears perked up at the sound of lunch.

“Oh? What are we having?” Between all the questions and finding my mate, I really hadn’t eaten much this morning and I was really excited by the thought of eating cooked food.

“I don’t really know, but if you want something specific, we can swing by the kitchen and ask the Anders what they have.” We were walking down the stairs toward the main entrance.

“Okay.”

Over the next half hour, we wandered through every room on the floor. I saw sitting rooms, a game room of sorts with a pool table, a freaking ball room, and a study with floor to ceiling book shelves and a huge stone fireplace that just begged her to curl up in one of the chairs with a book. This was by far my favorite room.

I started walking towards the shelves when Lycus caught my hand. “I don’t think so, little mate.”

I pulled up short hearing the endearment. I looked up at him, seeing something like satisfaction. “I’m not little,” I mumbled.

“If you say so, come on. Let’s keep going.” He tugged my hand.

“But this room…” It looked so comfortable.

“If we go in there, we will never see the rest of the house.”

I pouted a little but walked down the hall with him, my hand still held firmly in his hand. I liked the feeling.

“Can we go in another time?”

“Mate, you will have the rest of your life to find time for that room.”

I kinda liked the idea of having constant access to that room.

We walked through the dining room into the kitchen on the opposite side.

"Hello Mr and Mrs Anders!"

"Oh Lycus!" the lady I presume to be Mrs Anders, stepped back from the stove wiping her hands on the towel over her shoulder. "This must be her!"

I looked up and saw Lycus' face beaming. "This is her."

He pushed me forward straight into the arms of the elderly lady. Mrs Anders held me at arms length, looking me up and down. I felt like I was being more seriously considered than I had been by anyone else here.

"You've known hunger."

"Yes." It wasn't a question, but I still felt compelled to respond.

She nodded knowingly. "Well, not anymore. Come, let's find you something to eat."

Lycus was grinning as the Anders questioned me on my favorite and least favorite foods. My answers were rather disappointing, I would imagine. When you've been as hungry as I have you are excited just to be able to eat. Having different foods to choose from is a luxury I am not accustomed to.

"Really, Mr. Anders, I will be happy with anything. I haven't eaten anything cooked in nearly a year."

"What?!" They all looked shocked but it was Lycus that was floored into yelling.

"What?" I shrug. "I haven't been around any human towns lately and Adeline does all our hunting. I just eat in wolf form. It's easier. Not to mention safer."

"Safer?" Was Lycus totally naive or did he just have this much trouble accepting the difficult times his mate has had.

"Well, yes. I don't have to go around humans. I don't have to beg for money or search dumpsters or go to a shelter and hope they have food left."

Lycus didn't say a word he just pulled me into his arms and held me tight.

"I'm fine Lycus." I look at his face and can't stop myself from reaching up and smoothing the worry lines across his forehead. "Really."

"Whelp." Mrs. Anders clapped her hands. "Those days are behind you now. How about you go sit in the dining room with your mate and we'll bring you a little bit of everything."

"Oh, I hate to put you out. You shouldn't have to feed people between meal times. I can find something myself really."

"You will do no such thing. We want to cook for our future Luna. So go!" She stood one with her hands fisted on her hips.

"Yes, ma'am."

Lycus and I walked out to the dining room and sat side by side.

"So, did you always love reading?" Lycus asked, sounding like he was genuinely curious.

"Yes. Reading was always a nice way to escape reality. When I was little it was a way to be somewhere other than class. When I started getting older, it was a way to understand that everywhere wasn't like the pack I lived in. And after I left, well, libraries became my home. My safety from the weather. My place to stay warm and dry. I read everything I could get my hands on."

Lycus had an odd look on his face. "I thought you wanted to know?" I couldn't help but feel bad for burdening my mate with all my history.

"I do. It doesn't mean it's easy. It's hard to imagine that the mate I was so impatiently waiting for was suffering while I was just sitting here with all these things. I could have helped you. I should have gone looking for you. I mean you were right there."

"Lycus," I didn't know whether to be amused or serious, but after seeing the look on his face I figured he was not up for humor. "No, I wasn't. I have traveled a lot over the years. I just got to this forest the night before last. I decided it seemed like a good place to enjoy the full moon and so I did. I ran into a few other rogues while I was here and we ran together for a couple of nights. If it hadn't been for Rica, I would have been long gone by now."

Lycus' POV

I felt a growl slip out of me at the thought of her being that close and me never even knowing she was there. She reached out taking my hand. "Hey. Everything is fine."

"Alright." I couldn't help myself, "will you tell me about what happened in our room earlier?"

"Our room?"

"Well, yeah."

"So, it's ours?"

"Of course. Wait, are you trying to change the subject?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Uh huh. Come on Fae. Please tell me. I want to understand so I can be here for you. Did something happen to you?"

She rolled her eyes at me. It might be frustrating, but the little smart alek was adorable.

"Fine. Yes, a lot has happened to you, but did something specific happen to you that might make it difficult for us to be together?"

She gave a somewhat humorless laugh. "That's one way of putting that."

I shrug. "I'm just trying to be here for you."

She was interrupted as the Anders came into the dining room one carrying multiple plates loaded down with what looked like nearly everything in the kitchen and the other carrying a tray of glasses. As they sat them on the table, I couldn't resist. "Is that a peanut butter sandwich?"

"It's a comfort food, Lycus." Mrs. Anders looked at him like it was an obvious choice. "We also have a couple pastas, mashed potatoes, chicken, a little steak, mixed vegetables, turkey sandwiches." She pointed to different things on the plates as she spoke. "We also have milk, sweet tea, lemonade and water."

"We weren't sure what you might like." Mr. Anders shrugged.

I was about to make another joke but then I saw the tears in my mate's eyes.

"Thank you so much." She choked out, reaching for, of all things, the peanut butter sandwich. She took a bite and the joy on her face was amazing. After chewing and swallowing, she turned to the Anders, "This is wonderful. I haven't had some of these things since before." She didn't elaborate on what "before" meant, but knowing the house staff, I'm sure they already knew almost as much as I did about their future Luna.

Both cooks looked so proud of their success. Mr. Anders poked his mate and said "Let us know if we can get you anything else."

"Thank you both very much." I replied. I was overwhelmed with relief seeing the joy on Fae's face.

After they left, I picked up half the turkey sandwich and attempted to bring us back to the subject from before.

"So, as we were saying."

She was clearly hoping I had forgotten. She swallowed "Alright, Lycus, what do you want to know?"

"I want to know if something specific happened to you that makes it hard for you to be intimate with me."

"Yes." She took a bite of mashed potatoes clearly enjoying the food despite the conversation.

"Will you tell me what it was?"

"Probably."

"Now?"

"No. Not now. But I will." She looked me directly in the eyes. "But I really did like kissing you and I would like to do more of that."

I couldn't stop the grin from spreading across my face as I pulled her out of her seat and into my lap. She giggled as I kissed her with everything in me.

Fae's POV

Between the two of us we finished all the food. I felt bloated and a little disgusting, but wonderful. I couldn't remember the last time I had had so much.

Hey, we eat just fine.

Yes, but I missed salt and sugar and pasta. All those wonderful carbs!

I giggled aloud at Adeline and my banter.

"What's so funny?"

I looked up into the face of my mate. He really was very handsome. "I'm just joking with Adeline. She's annoyed because she's a great hunter and I can't stop raving about all the delicious carbs I just ate."

He laughed. "Well, Adeline, you and Baron will have to go hunting sometime very soon."

YES!!!! Time with my mate!

"That sounds perfect."

"It does to Baron too."

We smiled to each other as he opened the door to laundry room where there were several washers and dryers. The two Omagas who were folding clothes looked up in surprise.

"Hey you do know where it is!"

Lycus rolled his eyes at me before turning to the she-wolves.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Lycus greeted with a kind wave. "I was just showing my new mate around. Fae, this is Jerricka and Rose, two of our wonderful Omegas who work here in the house."

Both ladies flushed at the compliment. I stepped forward with a smile, reaching my hand out, which they took turns shaking.

"It's very nice to meet you both. I was wondering. When would be a good time for me to come do my laundry? I only have one load but I don't want to be in your way."

"Oh, Fae, please, we will be happy to do it."

"I really appreciate your offer and I don't doubt you would do a much better job than I will, but today has been a pretty big day of changes and I would really like to do it myself if that is okay with you."

Both young she-wolves smiled at me in understanding. "This is our last load. If you will just let us finish we can be out of here in no time."

"Thank you so much Jerricka. Can I help you finish?"

"We couldn't let you do that." Rose looked at Lycus uncomfortably clearly not sure how to respond.

"Please, I want to. Lycus, we finish this real quick and I'll wash my laundry."

"Alright. I'll be back in a bit."He kissed me and waved to the ladies as he left.

I walked to the table joining the she-wolves in folding and placing the clothes in the hamper.

"So, tell me about the pack." I smiled inviting them to be completely open a little afraid of what they might have to say.

They took the invitation without further prompting, telling me all about their mates and their pups. They were very happy in the pack and it seemed like neither had ever known suffering.

After we finished folding the laundry, they took their baskets and smiled at me.

"It was wonderful talking to you, Luna."

I was surprised to hear the title. "But Lycus isn't the Alpha yet, is he?"

"No, not yet." Jerricka confirmed.

"Oh please," Rose waved her hand at him. "We know who is doing the job right now. His father is a very wise man and he has had the sense to have Lycus do the job for several years under him before officially passing the title."

"Yeah." Jerricka shrugged. "Now that you're here, we figure the Alpha ceremony will be any day."

"I see." I was thinking about the position of Luna as the she-wolves left the room.