Embrace My Rogue Luna

Chapter IV

Fae's POV

I know I didn't have much of a basis for comparison, but I found it hard to believe anything could be better than kissing my mate.

I forgot all the valid reasons I had for being unsure of my mate. His hand slipped into my hair holding me close as our lips met. I could feel him through my whole body. My lips opened naturally and he took the invitation. His tongue slipped into my mouth massaging my tongue. My core was heating up, moisture pooling between my legs. I moaned against his tongue which got him very excited.

Lycus' hands slipped down cupping my ass. He picked me up against him. My legs wrapped around him. My body reacting completely on instinct. When he ground my center against his hardened length, the surprise brought me back to the present. I pulled back breathing hard.

He didn't try to stop me as I lowered myself to the floor. He simply played with one of my curls while we both fought to come back to the present.

"Wow" was all he said. I couldn't help agreeing with him. If that is what a simple kiss is like I couldn't imagine what more would feel like.

I took a couple of steps back. The only way I was going to be able to think was to get some distance.

"So...ugh...what is this I hear about..."

Before he could finish whatever he was going to say, there was banging on the door.

"Lycus!" a male voice was excitedly screaming through the door. "You found your mate!"

"Is she really a rogue?" another voice yelled.

"Are you marking her before we even get a chance to meet her?!"

"Come on open up! We want to know the future Luna!"

LUNA!?

Well yeah. You know that's how it works.

Well yeah. But Luna?!

"Plus, we have some news for you."

"I'm going to go ahead and apologize in advance," Lycus said, giving me a crooked smile as he walked across the room.

"For what?" The way he said that made me really nervous.

"This." He opened the door, barely glancing away from me as three huge guys walked into the room. One I recognized from the dining room. He had dark hair like Lycus, but I hadn't seen the other two yet. They were clearly twins. Blonde with blue eyes. They were about 6 ft and slim.

"Wait, you're dressed?! What's wrong with you Brother? Are you done already?" Lycus punched him in the stomach.

I was shocked, but given the reaction of the other man, he hadn't hit hard.

Guys are so weird

You're telling me

Hot though. I rolled my eyes.

"Oddly enough, it's kinda hard to get to know your new mate when your i***t brother and friends decide to invade your bedroom."

"Whatever, you know you wanted us to come up here and meet her," one of the twins said with confidence, throwing an arm around Lycus' shoulders, leading him towards me.

I couldn't help laughing at their antics as Lycus poked him in the side.

"Alright, guys." He laughed. "Come meet her, then tell me your news and leave."

He pointed to the man with dark hair, "Fae, this is my younger brother Conri. He's the third son. Right now, he helps train our pups. He'll be taking over all the training in the next couple of years." I reached out to shake his hand. "This i***t with his arm around me is Carter and the one that looks like him but better is Grayson." Carter pulled back and punched him in the arm. I giggled as Lycus pushed him and then turned back to me. "They are our Beta's sons and some of the best trackers I have ever seen in my life. We all grew up together."

I smiled, greeting the other two.

"Alright, men. Are you satisfied? You met her. Now tell me the news and get back to your jobs."

"We're working right now. Thank you very much." Grayson replied.

"Oh?"

"Yes. We tracked the hunters. It was easy with the amount of blood everywhere."

"Hunters?! Blood?! What? What are you talking about?!" Lycus looked at them in shock.

Oh right. We haven't told him about what happened.

"You haven't gotten around to talking, huh brother?" Conri laughed.

He turned to look at me questioningly.

"I was gonna mention that," I responded to his unanswered question. "You know I found Rica in the forest."

"Well yeah."

"Well, you see, when I found her," I was feeling very awkward with all four of them staring at me. "She wasn't alone." I started fidgeting. "She was cornered by some hunters." I could see concern on Lycus' face.

"I don't like hunters that close to our land, but she doesn't have a wolf. She would have just seemed like a young girl lost in the woods." Lycus shrugged, as if there should have been no real danger to her from strangers.

"Yeah..." I looked him in the eyes to make sure he understood what I was saying. "That seemed to be the appeal." It took him a second. It took all of them a second. No woman would ever struggle to understand my meaning. Damn men are dense to the dangers out there. I saw the second understanding finally dawned. Then I was nearly deafened as all four of them roared.

"She's fourteen!"

"What sick f***s?!"

"I'm going to kill them!"

I stood chewing a nail waiting for them to finish. I figured this might take a bit.

"Wait, Grayson", Lycus turned to the guy that was lounging against the dresser. "What was this you said about blood?"

"Well, it seems your new mate over there took a chunk out of each of them. There was a lot of blood in the clearing where they left their gear," he glanced at me, "I'm assuming that's where you attacked them." I nodded. "plus a very clear trail. Carter and I were able to catch up to them in no time."

"Wait, you caught them?" I asked in surprise. "Rica and I were walking for at least an hour before we found Phelan. Even if you started that way immediately, I figured they would have be out of the forest by then."

Lycus' POV

"Well, we did start that way immediately," Grayson explained. "We were with Phelan when we found you."

"Ahh, you were the other two wolves that came into the clearing with him."

"Yes, so once everyone started back for the packhouse, we followed your trail back to the clearing and then started tracking the hunters, but it wasn't really hard to catch up to them."

"Did you know where to bite them?" Carter asked, looking Fae in the eyes.

"What do you mean?" Her tone sounded a little too innocent in my opinion, but I had just met her. I could be wrong.

"Well, one was bit in the brachial artery and the other was bit on the femoral artery. We found them not far from the clearing. They had both bled out fairly quickly."

"So they're dead?" I asked the obvious question. Both twins nodded identical heads. I turned to comfort my mate as she had just killed two people, but from looking at her face it didn't seem she needed comforting.

"Well, alright then." she looked up at my face. "Did you want to show me around?"

Is it weird she doesn't seem to care? Conri mind-linked me.

It seems kinda weird dude. One of the twins replied. So I guess he mind-linked all of us.

We would have killed them if we had been in the same situation. I replied reasonably.

Yeah, we would have. I think she's a badass! Well, that helped clear up which twin spoke before. The badass comment definitely came from Carter.

I glanced up at my mate who was again chewing her nails. She seemed to do that regularly.

"So, have you guys decided if I'm a monster yet?"

"What do you mean?" Conri asked, while the other two just looked awkward.

"Well, I assume you were just discussing my lack of feeling towards killing a couple of would-be rapists."

"No, baby, it's not like that." I couldn't prevent myself from using the endearment. "We're just surprised you aren't more upset."

"Lycus, I lived on the streets for two whole years before Adeline came along."

I nodded. "Well, yes, you said you have been out there since you were sixteen."

"When I first left I didn't know how to survive in the forest alone. So, I spent most of my time in human towns. Begging for food. Stealing from dumpsters. Making myself invisible. Most nights I would find somewhere to hide in a library until they closed and then stay there for the night," that explains how much she's read, "On the nights I couldn't sleep there I slept on the streets. I have been in a lot of the kinds of situations Rica was in earlier." I didn't know what to say. "I learned to survive. I did what I had to do. Then Adeline came along and helped me make it. This morning Adeline reacted on instinct. She is protective."

I think the other guys felt as awkward as I did in this moment. Nothing in our lives prepared us for how to talk to a person who has been homeless.

"Wait," Conri exclaimed. "You lived in a human town? You were alone? I mean I know you're a rogue, but I just assumed you were a rogue with your parents or something."

She laughed. It was a beautiful sound even when there was sarcasm. "No. I chose to go rogue."

"When you were sixteen?!" Carter exclaimed.

"Yeah." she shrugged like it was nothing.

"How bad could your home have been for you to choose to be a rogue?" Grayson was a pack wolf through and through. He thought people who chose to go rogue were horrible traitors. I could tell he was trying to be open-minded for the sake of the future Luna.

"My father had just told me who my mate was going to be."

"You mean who they hoped your mate would be?" Conri corrected. "I mean you were only sixteen."

"No. Who it was going to be. In my pack we were assigned our mate by our alpha." I could see my own confusion reflected on the faces of the other three wolves in the room.

"I don't understand," Grayson admitted. "How are mates assigned?"

Fae looked a little uncomfortable as she decided how open to be. I couldn't help myself. I reached out to lay a comforting hand on her arm.

"We really want to know. We aren't judging. We just want to understand." I pulled her to the couch. We sat down. Conri, Grayson, and Carter joined. The twins on the armchairs and Conri lounging on the floor.

Fae's POV

How much should I tell them?

Everything. He's your mate. You have to give him the chance to understand you.

I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. I had never told anyone what my pack was like.

"I was the Beta's youngest daughter." I saw the shock on the other men's faces, but thankfully they didn't interrupt. "We had been having trouble with a few neighboring packs and, as a result, we had lost many male wolves in a short amount of time." The men nodded their understanding. "In addition to the numerous losses several of the females in the pack had found their mates outside of the pack. They had left to be with them."

"Well, my oldest sister found out her mate was from one of the packs we had been fighting. To add insult to injury, he was an omega. So the moon goddess chose an Omega from an enemy pack for a Beta's daughter. This was considered...unacceptable." I paused.

"I'm sorry. One question." I glanced up at Lycus. "How old were you?"

"I was ten when this happened." the men nodded.

"Thank you. I'm sorry. Continue."

"Well, our Alpha decided there was a mistake with the mating system. Clearly, something was wrong. Maybe it wasn't even the mate bond these young wolves were feeling, but rather adolescent want." I could see surprise on everyone's faces.

"So...your Alpha was questioning the mate bond?" Conri was shocked. That makes sense considering his mother had been human when his father felt the mate bond.

"Yes. He made the argument that our pack was getting weak. We needed to grow our numbers. Between the wolves who had been killed in battle and the she-wolves who had been lost to the mate bond, things needed to change. So he was going to choose the mates from then on. My sister was forced to reject her mate in favor of one chosen for her."

I could see the horror on their faces.

"But that wasn't all." Their faces changed to confusion. "You see...we had several more female than male wolves."

"Okay...?" Grayson spoke unsure where this was going.

"So our Alpha began assigning multiple females to every male."

"WHAT?!" A couple of the men jumped up. Lycus looked at me in shock.

"To help increase the number of pups being born," I explained. "He had three himself and my father, the Beta, had two. Much to my mother's humiliation. She was, after all, his true mate."

"What kind of Alpha would do that?" Conri asked no one in particular.

"So that's when you ran?" Carter inquired.

"No." I shook my head. "I ran when my father told me I was to be the Alpha's fourth mate."