Gone, Found and Freed

Chapter 12 - Face It

POV Alina

I’m sitting here in my jeep waiting for word from Lily on whether or not Ace is going to get rid of Layla or not. I know what you’re thinking, that’s really petty of me to completely want her gone. I mean, she technically didn’t do anything to me. I’m pretty sure that she has no idea that Ace found his mate because he did try to keep me a secret from the majority of his pack. Not to mention she stated in the text that she was under the impression that he was at an Alpha meeting. I’m not okay with that to be honest. I’m not okay with lying to pack members. If I’m going to be the Luna of this pack, I’m not going to keep secrets or lie to anyone. My father always told me that your pack is your family and you don’t betray family. I’m going to have to have to bring this up to him when we sit down and have our conversation about everything. I don’t want to be the kind of leaders that lie.

‘Alina’ Lily’s perfect voice rang through my ears.

‘Yes?’ I answer.

‘He agreed. He’s getting rid of Layla.’ I swear she was almost cheering in her head.

‘So, do we just go back now?’ I ask cautiously.

‘That is what we agreed upon. How can you expect him to keep up his end of the bargain if we can’t keep up ours?’ She had a point. I guess it’s time that I stop running and face what the Moon Goddess has planned for me. Everything that I’ve been through has led me to this moment. I have to trust that the great mother knows what she is doing.

‘Alright. We’ll go back.’ She sighed in relief and I couldn’t help but smile. I know this whole ordeal has been very overwhelming for her. I’m going to have to apologize to her later I know. I’m sure she already knows that I’m sorry, but I want her to hear it from me personally.

I put my seatbelt on and turn the jeeps engine over and pull out of the parking spot in the random parking lot I found. I pull out and start heading back towards the cabin. To my home. I turn the radio on to listen to some music and I swear the Moon Goddess was messing with me because every song that came on was some form of a love song.

It’s been about three hours and I finally made it back into town. I’m only about ten minutes from the cabin now and I can feel myself getting anxious. It’s a little after three in the afternoon and I am starving. Apart of me wants to stop at the diner and get something to eat but I know that Ace is probably waiting for me. Would that be selfish? To stop and get something to eat knowing he’s anxiously waiting for me?

‘Yes, Alina. That is selfish.’ Lily chimes in on my thoughts and I can’t help but laugh.

‘But I’m starving Lily!’ I whine back to her.

‘I’m starving too! Do you see me complaining? You can eat when we’re home. With MATE!’ she’s so assertive right now. I can tell that she too is anxious to get back home.

‘Fine. We’ll go home.’ I sigh and keep driving.

I get to the entrance of the long driveway that leads me to the cabin and turn right. Just another hundred feet and I’ll be home. Honestly, I’m exhausted, hungry and I smell like car. Hopefully Ace doesn’t turn this whole thing into a huge argument because I’m really not in the mood for that. I just want to get home, shower, eat and sleep.

I stop the Jeep in front of the cabin and put it in park. I open the door and climb out and am immediately shoved up against the side of it. At first, I’m terrified not knowing who the intruder is but I immediately calm down once I feel the tingles and get a whiff of Ace’s perfect scent.

“What the hell Ace! You scared the crap out of me!” I holler trying to push him off of me. I’m supposed to be mad at him remember? Although, I can’t help but want to just fall into him.

“Don’t get me started on who scared who more her love. I promise you, I have you beat!” I can’t help but feel bad for him. It must’ve been terrifying to wake up and find your mate missing from your bed. But hey, I’m mad at him and he honestly deserved it. I’m not going to let him off that easily.

“Oh, sorry! I went to see my boyfriend.” His eyes turned black not even a second later. Now I’ve done it.

“Don’t. Don’t play games with me Alina.” He said through gritted teeth and taking a step back from me. I know testing the patients of an Alpha is a bad idea, but he’s my mate and I know he won’t truly hurt me, would he? I don’t know. I’m hoping he won’t.

“Don’t like it do you?” I rebuttal crossing my arms.

“I swear Alina, nothing has happened with her since I’ve met you. I haven’t seen her, talked to her, or anything. I swear!” He said sternly.

“And how am I supposed to believe or trust that? You kept it a secret from me and I’m pretty sure you kept me a secret from her. You’ve kept me a secret from the majority of everyone!” I’m almost in tears at this point and I think he can tell because he took a long deep breath and stepped towards me again. I stepped back.

“Alina, please let me hold you. Max is freaking out and I need you.” He sounds on edge. Should I care?

“I’m fine where I am. In fact, I was fine where I am before you came here and I’ll be fine after you’re gone. So go do whatever it is you did before you met me and I’ll do the same.” I know I’m testing my limits here, but he needs to know that I’m not going to tolerate any type of nonsense from him like this ever again.

“You can’t be serious Alina! What? You’re just going to reject me?” Now I can tell he’s getting angry.

“I mean, I could. I have every reason too, don’t I? I’m sure the Moon Goddess would take pity on me and give me a second chance mate after my first one didn’t do right by me.” At that, his fist slammed against the side of the jeep. Yeah, now I’ve done it.

‘See you in the locked up cell we’re about to call home for the rest of our lives.’ I swear, Lily can be so dramatic sometimes.

“You are MINE Alina! No one else is ever going to take you away from me! I forbid you from rejecting me!” I swear, Alpha’s are so self-entitled it’s hilarious.

“You can’t force me to do anything Ace! This is my life and if I don’t want you to be apart of it anymore then you won’t be. I can make my own decision Ace. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted any of this, to be your mate, to be a Luna. And when I finally felt like I could trust you to protect me and love me, I find out about your mistress! You didn’t wait for me Ace like you were supposed to and now I’m going to have to be the one to live the rest of my life knowing that MY mate selfishly didn’t wait for me. I will have to live with that pain forever… and I don’t want to. I don’t want to feel like this anymore.” I’m full on crying right now. Hysterically at that. He took a step closer and pulled me into him. I tried to push him away but he wouldn’t let go and I’m honestly just to exhausted to even put up a fight. He turned me towards him and rest his forehead on mine.

“Alina, I’m sorry. You’re right, I was selfish. I should’ve waited but I want you to know, I never slept with her. It never got that far.” I could tell he was telling the truth.

‘He isn’t lying Alina, Maximus just confirmed it. He said they did kiss and hug and hold hands but they never were intimate past that.’ Lily always has perfect timing I swear.

“What?” I say a little shocked taking deep breaths trying to calm down.

“It’s only been you Alina and it will always be you. I promise.” Okay, where was this Ace like five minutes ago? I could’ve used without the theatrics. I just drop my head and step away from him wiping the tears from my face. I look up at him and just shake my head and turn around to walk into the cabin. I walk straight to my room and close the door. I walk into the bathroom and turn the shower on. I’m staring into the mirror at this point and just by looking at myself I can truly see how broken I am by all of this. I want to run. More than anything I just want to run far away from here and never come back… but I know I can’t. I peel off my clothes that are now soaked in sweat from me crying and climb into the shower. I don’t even stand, I just sit down on the ground and pull my knees into my chest and rest my chin on one of them. I start crying and just can’t stop myself. The water is running through my hair and down my face with all of my tears. I can’t run and I can’t reject him. Even though I’ve known him for a total of three days, I love him. That’s what the mate bond does to you, it pulls every emotion you have for your intended mate out of you. He is the other half of my soul and Max is Lily’s. It would kill me to separate the two of them and quite frankly, I don’t want to separate from Max either. Through all of this he was such a huge help and supporter. I love him just as much as I love Ace. I need them and they need us. I get enveloped into my thoughts and eventually my exhaustion gets the best of me because I fell asleep in the shower trying my best to comfort myself.

POV Ace

Yeah, I really messed up. I didn’t realize how much I messed up until she basically told me that she wanted to reject me and was hoping to get a second chance mate. I don’t care how many second chances she gets, I swear I will kill every single one of them. Alina is mine and I swear that I’m going to spend the rest of my life proving it to her. I know she needs time right now to cope with everything that has happened, but more than anything I just want to comfort her.

My thoughts get cut short due to a knock on the door. Who would be knocking on the door right now? Was she serious about going to see a boyfriend? No, she wouldn’t do that. Not my Alina, not my love. There’s another knock on the door and I walk over to it and open it. Fantastic, it’s my mother.

“Hello mother how may I help you?” I greet her sarcastically.

“Well, I had a conversation with your father about your little predicament here and he asked me to come and talk to you. He wants us to come up with a plan to find Alina and bring her back home. We can’t afford to lose her Alexander, the pack needs her. The strength of the pack is dwindling. Your strength is dwindling. You father believes that at this point, if we were to get attacked then our pack would be lost. Every Alpha needs there Luna for strength and comfort.” She explained.

“Mother, that won’t be necessary. You don’t need to wor….” She cut me off before I could continue.

“I do need to worry Alexander. You are my son and the Alpha to my pack I have every right to worry. I’m tired Alexander. I want to retire. You can’t get the same strength from me that you can get from your mate. It’s time for me to retire with your father.” I know she’s exhausted. She was a Luna for over twenty years. She should have been able to retire with my father six years ago when I became the Alpha but she didn’t and she’s been patiently waiting ever since.

“Well, if you would let me finish mother, you would know that you don’t have to worry about trying to find Alina. She’s back now.” I answer her and her entire face lights up.

“She’s here? Where? I want to meet her!” She says excitedly.

“Not yet mom. She’s still very upset about everything. I had Jason help Layla move out of the pack earlier today.” I explained to her.

“Move out of the pack? Why?” She asked.

“That was the stipulation mom. Alina said that she would only come back if Layla was gone. She wanted me to make a choice between her and Layla and I made it. I chose Alina because I love her and she is my mate. I would give up anything and everything to make sure that she doesn’t see another day filled with pain. I just want her to be happy. To be happy here with me. If Layla has to go to make that happen then so be it.” I explained again.

“Well son, I’m proud of you. I know that it wasn’t an easy decision to make but I’m proud that you made the right one. Maybe one day Alina will be more accepting and Layla can come back. I know the two of you were close growing up.” She hugged me after this and I wrapped my arms around her and sunk into her. I guess sometimes a man just needs his mom.

“Honestly mom, I don’t think I want Layla to come back. I sent her over to Alpha Camron. He ensured me that she would be taken care of and set up within his pack. At this point, I think it’s for the best.” I tell her. She let go of me and looked up at me again.

“What do you mean for the best Alexander?” she questioned.

“Layla was under the impression that she was going to be the next Luna even though I never gave her any indication that she would be.”

“If you didn’t give her any indication, then why would she think that.”

“I don’t know. I never told her that she would be or anything like that.”

“Did… you mate wit her?” she asked looking sternly at me. I could tell she was trying to look for any indication of me lying.

“Goddess mother! No I did not mate with her. The most that happened was that we kissed. That’s it. I swear. I’ve only ever been with one person in my life and that is Alina.”

“So then why would she think that Alexander? She wouldn’t just think that for no reason.”

“Well, she never said anything to me about it but she did mention something to Tiffany. She was discussing her plans for the pack house décor with her and Tiffany asked her what she meant and she said ‘for when she becomes Luna’. Tiffany mentioned it to me before the pack house got hit by the tornado.” I explained.

“Before the tornado? Alexander, that was three months ago! That means she been under the impression that she’s going to be this pack next Luna for months now. She’s probably loosing her mind right now!” said concerned.

“Well she shouldn’t be. Alina is the next Luna of this pack and if she causes any problems, I’ll have Camron make her a rogue. I will not let anyone question Alina’s status in this pack. She is my mate and everyone’s Luna.” I say with authority in my voice.

“Well where is Alina now? Is she okay?” She asks.

“She’s in the shower mom. I’m guessing she’s just trying to relax before we continue our conversation from earlier. It didn’t go so well as you can imagine.” I answer.

“Alright then, I will see you both tomorrow. Your father and I will stop by for dinner. Don’t worry about making anything, I will bring everything to make. We’ll be here at four o’clock tomorrow evening.” She said walking towards the door. I sigh knowing that I can’t say no to her and just walk her out.

“Goodbye mother, I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.” She reaches up and gives me a hug and tells me she loves me too and walks out. I close the door behind her and refocus my attention on the task at hand. Operation: Gain Alina’s Forgiveness.

***** I know this one is a little late! I'm sorry, I had a really rough time last night with school and then work and plus I manage my husbands streaming (he streams video gaming as a hobby and he just made it to the affiliate program on twitch? I don't know. Anyways, here's the next chapter. I have the chapter for AY&BY ready, I'm just waiting to post it until later this evening so I can keep up with the schedule. Thank you all again for your support! XOXOXO *****