The Little Luna

What are we?

Luna’s POV:

“Orion?” Celeste was looking around the clearing, staring at the bodies and looking as if she was going to be sick.

“Vespian, can you turn back to human form? Maybe you can answer some questions for us?” I continued patting his head, his fur was so silky smooth it was hard to resist petting him, it didn’t help that Ellie was purring in my head at the contact. Vespians big, glowing eyes looked at mine as his head nodded slowly up and down like he was hesitant to transform in front of me as if he hadn’t just done it moments ago. Then looking at the two naked bodies and the shreds of clothes near Vespains discarded shirt and vest, something dawned on me. Looking him back in the eye I asked softly, “When you turn back, will you be naked?” He nodded his head. “Okay. Orion!” I looked at my brother and knew he was going to hate what I was about to ask him to do. “Take off your pants.”

“Excuse me?” Flabbergasted at my request my brother took a step away from me his eyes getting big.

“Vespian ripped his pants when he transformed, when he changes back he’ll be naked, so he needs something to cover up his… well, his bits.” I couldn’t help the flush that heated my cheeks as I mentioned Vespians ‘bits’, just thinking about them got me hot and I couldn’t focus on that reaction right now. 

Grumbling about sisters and freaky wolfmen, Orion stripped out of his jeans and threw them at me, he was now standing in the middle of the woods in a t-shirt and boxers only, I guess going back to school was out of the question now. Though I knew half the girls in there would kill to see Orion dressed as he was now.

Handing the pants to Vespian he gently cradled them between his teeth and moved to walk behind a large tree. I noticed he was limping and decided the first thing I would do what he walked out as a human was care for the wound on his upper back and check him for others. Moments later, a bloodied and bruised Vespian walked out from behind the tree, buckling the pants around his waist as he watched us wearily. I walked towards him, ignoring my brothers' glares. “Let me see your wounds.”

“You don’t have to the pack doctor will fix me up right as rain, though I would bet I’ll be completely healed in just a few hours.” He shrugged his shoulders to emphasize his words and ended up hissing in pain. 

“Uh-huh,” I muttered, “Turn around, I’m looking you over.”

“5 minutes ago you were scared of him, now you’re tending to his wounds.”  Ellie sounded smug, she was grinning to herself and I could feel she was anticipating me touching Vespian.

As I moved behind him I gasped in shock at the gaping wound on Vespian’s back it looked exactly like what had happened, like a wolf had torn a chunk out of him. The wound was slowly seeping blood but nothing like the gushing I would have expected from such a wound. “Weird, I would expect you to be hemorrhaging blood at this point, but it looks like it’s almost stopped on its own.” I walked over to where he’d tossed his shirt and vest on the ground and picked up the shirt, balling it around my hand as I walked back to Vespian. I placed my free hand on his shoulder to help balance me, but I pulled it back quickly when it felt like I’d been stung by his skin. Electricity danced across my palm when it came in contact with his skin. Judging by his sharp breath he'd felt the same spark I had. It was like I was living my mother and father's first meeting, except for the dead werewolves just a few feet away.

“Put your hand on his back and close your eyes. Think about his wound healing. Focus on it and just breath.”  Ellie’s voice flowed softly through my mind.

“What do you mean Ellie?” Envision the wound healing? Was my crazy half going crazier?

“We have special abilities, one of which is healing. Vespian will heal on his own with time but he and Eli will be in a lot of pain, I can feel his pain, you can’t yet because you aren’t of age.”  She sounded confidant and her confidence gave me strength. I mean, was it really that crazy? I was talking to a voice in my mind and Vespian had just turned into a wolf and back again, It was worth a try to listen to her if it would help Vespian and Eli.

Putting the shirt back on the wound to help stop the bleeding I closed my eyes and focused all of my willpower on healing him. Sealing the muscle and skin back together. Soon I felt exhausted, like I had just got done running a marathon, I could feel the sweat beading on my forehead and I began to feel lightheaded. But when I opened my eyes, I saw Vespian’s smooth back, unblemished. He’d healed completely.

“We healed him.”  This time Ellie’s voice sounded tired, apparently healing another took a big toll on both of us.

Vespian’s POV:

 The fight had been fast-paced and sloppy, but it had served its purpose, the rogues were either dead or gone and my little mate and her brother and sister were okay. Despite Orion having not listened to me to take the girls back to the school. To be fair I think he was more in shock at what had been happening, the things he had seen. Luna had approached me and figured everything out on her own. Well, most of it, and after I had changed back, she had insisted on checking my wounds. There was nothing she could do for me but just having her near was a soothing balm to the burning pain on my back. When she leaned in and placed her hand on my arm, I felt the electricity jump and slide from our kissing skin to the rest of my body, and despite being in a lot of pain from a wound, I could feel my d**k jump to life. She pulled back so fast I felt sad at the loss of her skin against mine.

After a moment she took a deep breath and leaned in again, pressing my shirt to the wound. I assumed she was trying to clean it, and honestly, she needed something to keep her hands busy, to keep her from losing her mind. I wasn’t worried about the wound; it would heal in a few hours. As Luna cared for my back, I watched Celeste and Orion keeping an eye on us, they seemed to be communicating silently and whatever they were discussing was about me, and I had a feeling it wasn’t all good. As I watched them, I was pondering their possible mind linking, or some kind of telepathy, when I felt a warming sensation on my back, the skin was tingling and getting hotter as I stood there, turning to check on Luna I realized she had her hands on my back and her eyes were closed. As I watched, beads of sweat formed on her brow, she seemed to be growing weak and tired, but I wasn’t sure why. A few moments later I saw her waver a bit while standing and helped her to the log she had abandoned earlier, I expected every movement to be torture as my back was so exposed and raw, but instead, I felt normal. Turning left and right, stretching my back, I realized that I felt no pain. Not even a tinge.

Luna’s honey-colored eyes met mine and I knew I looked shocked. I heal fast, werewolf healing is amazing and enables us to survive almost mortal wounds with nothing but a small scar most of the time. But it wasn’t this fast, at least not on its own. Luna’s lips turned up into a soft smile as she watched me come to the only logical conclusion. Luna had healed me with her touch.

“What are you?” I whispered to her as I sat down and cupped her cheek in the palm of my hand, “My Luna, you are amazing.” My little Luna blushed and leaned her cheek further into the palm of my hand, her eyes closing as she enjoyed the scent of her mate and the warm tingles that spread from our skin touching.

“What just happened? Luna, what is going on?” Orion’s voice broke through our moment and Luna and I both snapped back to attention and looked over at Celeste and him, both of which were watching us with a mixture of shock and confusion.

“I healed him.” She shrugged her shoulders, clearly not fully understanding what happened either. “Ellie told me how, she said we had special abilities and that one of them was healing, that I just needed to focus. We’re both tired now but we’re okay.” 

Orion’s eyes focused on me and after a moment he came and sat on the log on the other side of Luna, placing his elbows on his knees he put his head in his hands and just took a deep breath. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I feel like I should be disbelieving more of this than I am.” Letting out a pent-up breath he looked at Celeste, “I think she’s right Celeste. This all looks and sounds just like what mom described as her first meeting with dad. Think about it. We can see further and hear better than almost anyone else we know. We’re stronger, even you and Luna are stronger than some of the guys on the team.” His blue eyes moved to mine and I saw a million questions flash through them. “You said Eli lives in you and Luna says that something names Ellie lives in her, is Ellie like Eli?”

“I think so.” I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face as I answered and looked back at Luna. “I think all three of you are half-bloods. With your mother being human, I think her scent has masked your wolf's scent all these years. It may also be why none of you have shifted, despite being of age too.”

“What age do werewolves shift?” Celeste took a step closer to us and placed her hand on Orion’s shoulder, leaning into him for support, but she no longer looked frightened but intrigued and curious. 

 “Usually at their 15th birthday, unless they’re an Alpha then you can sooner.” I glanced over at Orion and Celeste, they seemed to be doing that telepathy thing again and my curiosity got the better of me. “You two seem to be having a private conversation all the time, that no one else can hear, is that a triplet thing?” Luna shook her head saying she couldn’t do it, Orion and Celeste exchanged a look before meeting my eyes.

“Kind of? It’s more of a 'me and Orion' thing. Sorry, Luna, we tried to include you a few times but you never answered back so we just assumed you didn’t have the same gift.” Celeste shrugged her shoulders apologetically.

“We never told you, runt, because we didn’t want to upset you.” Orion added on, sending an apologetic glance to Luna.

“What did he just call her?”  Eli was growling in my mind, he didn’t like the derogatory remark made about our mate, and though I didn’t like it either, I knew he meant it with love.

“It’s just a family thing, he doesn’t realize how insulting that work is to our kind.”  Eli scoffed in my head, but let it go, for now.

“I am not a runt. I am your sister. It hurts that the two of you have been keeping secrets from me.” Luna’s voice went from offended to upset as she looked between her siblings. I had siblings, though I was not a twin or triplet, and I could only assume the kind of pain she must be in knowing secrets were being kept from her from the people she cared for and trusted most in this world.

“Don’t be like that Luna.” Celeste cooed sweetly, “We didn’t mean to keep secrets that would hurt you, we were just trying to protect you.”

Luna nodded as if in understanding but she scooted a hair closer to me. She was trusting me to support her and the fact that she was looking to me for support was enough to make my heart burst.

“So, what is going on with Luna then? Why is she just now hearing this voice in her head when she hasn’t ever before?” Leave it to Orion to get back to business.

“I don’t know honestly, it could be that meeting her mate pulled her wolf to the surface.”

“Mate?” All three Slade triplets echoed at one time.

“Yeah, so, werewolves have a mate, a person who carries the other half of their soul, kind of like the human term soul mate, but much more. This person is made especially for you by the Moon Goddess Selene. It's almost impossible to resist the pull of one’s mate, and once you mate it's hard to be apart from each other.” I gazed into Luna’s eyes, trying to explain to her personally what it was we were. How important she was to me now. 

“Judging from the way you are looking at Luna, and that her wolf calls you her mate, I guess it’s safe to assume you are Luna’s mate?” Orion spoke softly, but I could hear the undertone of brotherly righteousness seeping through. He didn’t like that idea of me and his sister being together.

“What age do you find your mate typically?” Celeste asked curiously.

“You can’t sense them until they are of age, 18 years old.”

“But Luna is only 17! So how can you two tell?” Orion sounded triumphant like he’d caught me in a lie or had proved me wrong. 

But he was right, I shouldn’t be able to sense Luna as my mate when she wasn’t of age, same for her, unless…

“She must be of alpha blood! Only Alphas can sense their mates early if their mate is an Alpha as well!”  Eli’s voice broke through my mind, coming to the same conclusion I had. My little Mate, and her siblings, were Alphas by blood. Orion’s Alpha tone and the way he was able to rally everyone behind him, even the higher ranking werewolves in the school, made sense now. And if he was able to even help Zander stay in line, his bloodline had to be powerful. I needed to find out who their father was.

“Alpha’s can sense their mate early if their mate is of Alpha blood as well, your father must have been an Alpha and his blood flows through your veins.”

“You’ve said Alpha a few times now, what does that mean?” Luna’s sweet voice broke through my thoughts, her beautiful doe eyes wide as she looked at me for answers. 

“An Alpha is the leader of a wolf pack. He leads his members, fights for their safety and well-being, which is one of the reasons Alpha wolves are so much bigger than other wolves.”

“Like you were bigger than those three were?” Celeste asked while waving towards the bodies still on the ground. 

I really should call someone to take care of that, of course, I’d have to find my phone, it was somewhere on the ground mixed in with the leaves and pieces of my shredded pants, I should have emptied my pockets before shifting.

“Does that mean you’re an Alpha?” Orion questioned me.

“Yes, and no. My father is the Alpha of my pack, but I am in training to take over. I am of Alpha blood, which is why my wolf, Eli, is bigger than others.” I glanced over at Luna to see how she was taking all of this in, she seemed calm enough, but she looked exhausted, healing me must have sapped her of energy. “Listen, I’ll explain everything to all of you soon, but we need to get Luna some help, come back with me to Alpha Darius’s packhouse and we can get Luna looked at and get you the answers you want and need.

“Wait, Alpha Darius?” Now the three of them looked shocked again.

“Yes, I’ll explain once we get there okay? I’m sure Alpha Darius and his Luna would be more than happy to help me explain everything, plus I need to inform them that rogues are on their territory and that these two need to be cleaned up.”

"Rogues?”

“Territory?”

“His Luna?”

All three of them asked a different question at the same time, making me roll my eyes in exasperation. “Luna’s health first, answers when we get there!” The three of them looked between each other and nodded in unison. “Good, let’s go.”