The Little Luna

4. A Kitchen For Days

After she's dressed Kayla walks out of the bathroom to find an empty room. She was confused and looked around. She noticed a door open that was shut before and wandered over to it. When she peered inside she found Jay sitting at a huge desk with his back to her and a phone to his ear. "I don't care how long it takes f*****g FIND THEM or so help me—-" he trails off when he senses Kayla behind him. "Call me when you have an update" he slams the flip phone shut and spins to face Kayla, his emotions making a full turn from rage to calm and collected in moments.

"Do you feel better now that you're all cleaned up?" He asks her softly. She nods, walking over to him, he scoops her up into his lap. She smiles resting her head on his chest feeling safe in his arms.

"Who were you yelling at?" She asks peering up at him. He scratches the back of his head trying to find the words to tell her he was yelling at investigators he was sending to find her parents.

"I—well—-uhm—-" she giggles at his awkwardness in trying to find the right words. "I was—---yelling at the investigators that we hired looking for Moonstone Pack members. You mentioned staying in a cave and they found one not too far from where I found one but they didn't find any scents in it which doesn't make sense if you and your parents had been there for any length of time and it hasn't been long enough for the trail to be gone" he said still scratching the back of his head. He didn't know how to word things in a child appropriate way with situations like this.

Kayla shakes her head "Alayana's spell. The scent can't be caught unless we were still there. So there's no way to track us." She said softly.

Jay's eyes widen "so it could have been your cave that he found" he makes a note to call the investigators back and apologize for yelling at them. "How about we go get you some food" he says as if triggered by his words get stomach growls loudly making him chuckle. He stands up carrying her down to a very BIG kitchen with 10 different refrigerators and appliances covering the vast majority of the counters.

A woman looks up from chopping veggies and smiles "Jay, who's this little cutie" she says with a grin as Jay sets Kayla down on a barstool.

Kayla smiles and Jay looks over at the woman. "This is our long lost Princess, I found her alone in the woods, Jane looked her over and then she got a nice big bubble bath. Now she needs something to eat before attempting to sleep."

Carsen walks into the kitchen and sees Kayla sitting on the barstool "perfect timing!" He walks over to Kayla. "Close your eyes and hold out your hand for me" he says and Kayla does as she'd told. Something soft and fluffy is in her hand when she opens her eyes which widen in surprise.

"YOU HAD FLUFFY?!" she exclaims pulling the bear close to her chest with tears in her eyes.

"After you ran, I found him and a few things that must have fallen out of your bag, Alayana couldn't even track you with him after the cloaking spell she did so I kept him safe knowing we'd find you eventually" Carsen said it's obvious there's a lot of emotion in his voice and eyes as he looks ready to cry.

Jay and the woman both watch them with a smile seeing the royal Beta and his long lost Princess share a precious moment. Carsen then directs his attention to Jay and the woman "Alpha, Luna" he says with a slight now.

The woman smiles "Enough nonsense Carson you know I hate when you use my previous title especially now that I've retired". Kayla looks at the woman eyes wide looking between her and Jay who both chuckle. "Yes sweet girl, Jay is my son, and a damn good Alpha he's made!" She says with a grin.

Jay chuckles his attention solely on Kayla "what would you like to eat? I can make you anything your little heart desires" he asks. Kayla's eyes widen, not sure what she wants. It had been so long since she'd eaten a normal meal. Carsen caught that in her eyes.

"If they're still the same after a year in the wild her favorites are spaghetti, cheeseburger mac and beef stroganoff" he said catching Jay by surprise.

Kayla looks over at Carsen eyes wide "You remembered?! I didn't…..I don't know what I like anymore" she says softly.

Jay frowns at her words "well we're going to have to fix that now aren't we?" He said before pulling out ingredients "we'll do cheeseburger mac now since it's the easiest and then tomorrow we'll have spaghetti and the day after stroganoff and then anything you can think of." He says as he gets to cooking.

His mom and Carsen watch him with wide eyes. "When did you learn to cook?" Carsen asks, making his mom laugh.

"Before he took over Alpha responsibilities his favorite place in the world was this kitchen. He cooks better than I do and we all know that's hard to do" she says laughing. She'd put all the veggies she was chopping in a big frying pan before walking over to Kayla. "I'm Megan, it's good to see you finally found. Carsen has been worried sick about you since the moment he got here. I'm sorry you were alone. You won't have to be anymore there's plenty of Moonstone members who will be overjoyed to see you again. I'm sure you missed your friends." She says Kayla smiles at the mention of her friends.

"Are—--are they all here?" She asks looking over at Carsen who nods, making her smile more. "Annie, Katie, Alice, Abby AND Aiden are all here?!" She asks, trying not to jump out of her chair.

Carsen laughs "Even Mollie and Layla. We found ALL the kids but not all their parents. We've got many pack members both Moonstone and BloodMoon, who have stepped up and taken in anyone who's lost their parents. I'll have to call your grandparents in the morning and tell them you've been found they've been waiting and hoping every single Day." He says

"Can they come visit? I miss them ALOT" she says softly looking down at her bear and clutching it tight.

"We've had arrangements made to bring them out immediately when you and your parents have been found. I've already informed the Pilot that he'll be picking them up tomorrow night just before the Investigators called" Jay says as he brings her a bowl full of food. Her eyes widen as she looks at the food and then at him.

"You mean I'll really get to see them tomorrow night!?" She was bouncing again and almost fell backwards but he caught her quickly.

"Yes you'll see them." He looks over to Carsen "Why don't you go ahead and call them, they'd rather be woken up to know she's safe then find out she's been here for hours before they were informed." Jay says before looking down at Kayla who'd quickly finished her bowl "would you like more?" He asks, causing her to blush but she nods and smiles, filling her bowl. Carsen leaves the room to do as he was told and comes back with the phone and hands it to Kayla.

"Kayla baby, is it really you?" Her grandma exclaims through the phone Kayla giggles and hits the button to make it a video call.

"It's really me" she says once both her grandparents are in frame.

"Oh thank the Moon Goddess we've been so worried! We've had bags packed and ready to go the moment we found out you're safe. You've been given everything you need right? I don't need to come kick someone's ass for not taking care of our sweet grandbaby?' her grandma rambles making Kayla giggles.

"Jay found me and immediately took me to the Pack Dr. She looked me over, cleaned my scrapes up and got me clothes. Then Jay filled a bath and gave me a huge amount of options for shampoo, body wash, bubble bath and Epsom salts. When I got out he was on the phone yelling at investigators to find Mama and Daddy". She said. Megan and Carsen both looked at Jay who was scratching the back of his head.

"What, am I supposed to sit silently and NOT push for answers when she was found ALONE in the woods and running after getting a bad feeling? She was running instead of sticking to the plan of staying out till the next night!" He said.

"She's your Mate isn't she?" Carsen and Megan both mindlinked him at the same time. Jay sighed nodding. Kayla wasn't paying attention to them; her focus was on her grandparents.

"I for one am GLAD that someone is pushing for answers in order to find my daughter and her mate so that we can reunite the family. There aren't very many alphas who would drop everything to make sure a child found in the woods is safe royalty or not. You've led the investigation attempts from the beginning and for that I'm thankful" Kayla's grandfather spoke for the first time.

Kayla's eyes widen as she looks up at Jay who chuckles "How could I not? I was chosen to take in Moonstone members until our King, Queen, Princess and Prince are found. I kept my word, now we must find our King and Queen." He says.

Her grandparents see through his words and the look on Kayla's face lets them know something happened to Casen. "You've done Good especially for such a young Alpha." Her grandfather says.

Carsen chuckles "Of course he has, this makes twice that he's saved her now" he says the look Megan shoots at him almost makes him regret his words.

Kayla looks over confused "what do you mean this makes twice?" She asks, confused.

Jay looks down at her and sighs "on the day you were born there was an attempted kidnapping. I was there with my father. I came in peace but that wasn't his intention. It was late at night, your father and Carsen were talking in the office across the hall, you were fast asleep in your crib and your mom had passed out in the rocking chair after hours of trying to get you to sleep. My father snuck in and had taken you out of your crib but before he could escape I caught him. Things happened that night that I don't like to talk about but in the end at the request of my mother I was the anonymous hero. My father died and I became the Alpha before my first shift. I was 14 too young to lead my father's team but I didn't listen to them and their crap." He says

Megan sighs "I'd hoped this wouldn't come up yet……my mate wasn't a good person but he held a damn good charade until his own heir caught him and his plan. When they questioned me I'd been dealing with my own baby who was struggling to sleep. I felt the bond break before I knew what he'd done. I couldn't believe he'd do such a thing but when Jay told me I knew it was true." She says softly.

Carsen looks to Megan then Jay before Kayla "as tragic of a night it was he was the youngest alpha we knew but he'd done a noble thing that night. So much so that he was asked to be the backup plan Incase something happened. The attack on our home happened on his Birthday, we believe it was his father's followers but we don't have proof yet. I showed up the next day with half of the pack. He was livid, not at us but for us and swore he'd get to the bottom of this and bring Moonstone back to power." He said.

Kayla took in all this information and then looked Jay dead in the eye "is that why you make me feel safe?" She asks not knowing of the mate bond.

He chuckled and ruffled her hair. "It could be, though I don't know how you could remember that day you were only 12 hours old and I was just a kid." He says trying to keep a straight face. Her grandparents could see in his eyes there was more he wasn't saying and had a good guess but wouldn't say it now.

"Actually that makes it more than possible. Think about it, sure we don't SHIFT till 16 and can't find mates till 18 but our wolves are still there. We still have instinctual memories, I'm a kid now and you were a kid when you saved me and now you're an alpha. You were an alpha too young as far as we know my parents could be dead. In their absence doesn't that make me an alpha too? And who better than to learn from them another child alpha who rose from tragedy too" She says sounding much older than 5.

Carsen smiles, Megan chuckles, Jay looks dumbfounded and her grandparents look proud. "Spoken like a true Alpha, that's my girl" her grandfather says with a grin "you're so smart and I'm so proud of you! Now it's late, you've had a long couple of days. I think it's time for you to go to bed and we'll see you tomorrow" he says.

She nods rubbing her eyes "I'll see you tomorrow" she says to her grandparents then handed the phone to Jay.

"I want that plan here ASAP I'd prefer to be there by morning if possible" her grandfather spoke straight to Jay.

"I made arrangements for him to leave first thing in the morning but since you'd like to be here by morning I'll inform him plans will change and he'll need to leave immediately. I'll send you the GPS tracking on the plane so that you'll have active updates and we'll see you first thing." Jay says he knew the pilot wouldn't be pleased but getting Kayla's family here was his priority. The call ended and he handed Carsen his phone "I'm going to get her to sleep before she falls asleep on that stool" he says before taking her back upstairs.

On the way up He called the pilot and informed him of the change. He laid her down on the bed and tucked her in.

As she was being tucked in she noticed he didn't get situated. She didn't want to be alone so she asked "where are you going" as he tried to move.

"I was going to give you the bed and go sleep on the couch" he replied which made her frown. He didn't like that look on her face.

"Can you hold me? I don't wanna be alone. I usually sleep between mama and daddy. I've never slept alone before" she said he could hear the fear at the thought of sleeping alone.

"Alright I'll stay here" he says softly before pulling the covers back and laying down. She quickly made herself comfortable, all cuddled up to him and before long she was asleep.

He looked at the ceiling. His mind was all over the place, in one day he'd found mauling victims on the edge of his territory, a scared little girl who happened to be his mate, as well as the lost Princess he'd been searching for a year for. Tomorrow her grandparents will be there as well. Likely an interrogation on what happened with Casen and whether he was her mate. But that wasn't what troubled him, what troubled him was fast asleep in his arms. That tiny little infant he'd rescued from his own father 5 years prior turned out to be his mate.

The Moon Goddess had an odd way of bringing them together but he knew there was nothing he wouldn't do for that sweet little girl fast asleep on his chest. He was bound and determined to give her everything she needed even if that included the power to reject him when she turned 18.