Beneath a Flaming Sky - Book Three (Moon Child Series)

Chapter Twelve

Mia POV

After I had dressed and dried my hair, I’d started to make my way to my office, but was stopped by Seth before I could reach it and was ordered to ‘rest’ for the rest of the week. I’d stared at him with my mouth and eyes wide. But he had not relented and after he used his Alpha voice on me, I’d had no choice to follow his orders, even if I wasn’t happy about it. So the rest of my week was filled with more than just rest. I had managed to convince Seth to still let me train for the week, saying that it would be better for me in the long run to continue training. And luckily, he’d agreed. So I spent my mornings training with the men. The rest of my days were filled with spending time with my family, avoiding Xander and utter boredom.

Luckily, my younger siblings had school holidays, so I was able to spend long lost time with them, catching up with them on what had happened in the past four years. Axel was now twenty and had already found his mate while away studying but had yet to mark her as she was human, and he was still trying to approach the subject that he was a shifter to her. Luckily for him the new shifter king was not as cruel and ruthless as his father. He allowed the co-mingling of species, which was very much unlike his father who had forced the human to turn or be killed on the spot. My grandparents, my father’s parents, had been murdered this way by the king, so I was grateful for my brother that this was no longer the case. All he needed now was patience and to trust in the mate bond.

MJ was now nineteen and was a bit of a ladies man. He was a little less keen to find his mate as Axel had been, and he was quite happy to play the field until his mate came along, much to the dislike of my parents who had loved each other unknowingly from childhood and never stopped loving each other even when distance kept them apart. But MJ just didn’t want to be a carbon copy of our parents, he wanted to forge his own path and experience things before he settled down. Hailey was now nine! I couldn’t believe I’d missed four years of watching her grow. I’d been ecstatic when Hailey was born. There was another girl besides me and my mother in the family, so we have gravitated together since the minute she had been born. I was extremely sad that I’d missed four years of her life. I was definitely going to make up for it now.

We sat on the swinging chair in the pack gardens, admiring the view of some of the warriors as they helped my brother and Seth build a gazebo by the rose garden. They were topless and sweaty, and it wasn’t a bad view. I turned to my little sister, her smiling eyes looking into mine as she smiled up at me. She leant into my shoulder; her cheek pressed against it.

“I missed you.” She said quietly, making me smile. I kissed the top of her head and leant my head against hers as the couch softly swung back and forth and a soft breeze blew through the air.

“I missed you too, munchkin.”

“You have no idea how annoying it is to only have boys running around the house.” She whined and I laughed aloud, causing some of the men to turn their attention to us before returning to their job.

“If you’ll remember, little sis. Until you came along, that was my life for sixteen years.” She rolled her eyes good humouredly and smiled.

“You know what I mean.” I nodded in agreement and nudged her softly.

“So, tell me more about this best friend of yours. I hear Luca and dad aren’t to keen on you having a boy for a friend.” Her eyes rolled again at that and I smiled at her.

“Yeah. Its so hypocritical of dad, considering him and mum were best friends all their life.” That statement earned a snort from me at her tone. “but, anyway, his name is Elijah. And he’s awesome, definitely the greatest friend anyone could ask for.”

“Is there anyway he might be… more than just a friend?” I had to ask, their connection was too similar to what mum and dad had growing up.

“Ew, no!” her little nose scrunched up in disgust as she shook her head and I chuckled while shrugging my shoulders.

“Sorry, had to ask.” She just kept shaking her head in disagreement. “Alright, moving on. Anything else I need to be caught up on?” she took a moment to think over my question before giving a slight shrug of her shoulders.

“No, not really. Uncle Fergus and Uncle Colin decided to go on a big trip around the world, and Freya is flirting it up with all the French men on her study abroad. But not much has really happened while you were asleep.” My heart filled with joy that my family had continued living instead of mourning me. It made me feel happy that I had not stopped them from doing so. Movement coming from the trees had my eyes falling to the tree line where an awfully familiar figure emerged from the foliage, his bare chest shiny with perspiration as his muscles bulged with a stretch of his arms. My throat closed as my heart reacted at the sight of Xander leaving the tree line. His eyes fell on me and his destination changed, as he came towards me.

I gave Hailey a quick kiss on the cheek and a promise to talk later before I was making a hasty retreat towards the pack house where I ran to my office, pressing my back against the door as I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. That had been close. His large footsteps had been able to catch up to me easily and I’d been afraid he’d catch up to me. But I knew this house better than him and had managed to make it up to my office without him catching me. I’d been avoiding him all week, avoiding the moment that he would finally reject me. I wasn’t ready to deal with it yet.

“Mia?” my eyes snapped open at my name and they fell on Carter, who was sitting behind my desk, a look of confusion on his face and a pen perched above a sheet of paper.

“Carter? What are you doing in my office?” he stood from the desk and came to stand before me at the door.

“I’m helping Luca out with the workload. He’s had to take a step back since Amelia announced her pregnancy, so I volunteered to help out till Alpha Seth said you could resume your duties.” I rolled my eyes at the statement.

“Ah, yes. The decree of the great alpha to ‘rest’” I made air quotes as I spoke and walked further into the office, the familiar space of it making me feel less stressed out.

“Is that the reason for your sudden appearance into the office?” he asked as he followed me and leant against the desk. I looked at him from the side of my eye as I sighed.

“No. That was… something else.” That’s all I was willing to divulge. Everyone knew I had a mate; I mean I was awake, but not everyone had figured out who exactly he was. Some just assumed he’d rejected me and left, others who were much smarter had put two and two together with the arrival of the dragons and had figured it out. But thankfully had not divulged this to others. Carter could tell he wasn’t going to get anything else from me, so he shrugged and returned to the desk, where he gathered up some paperwork and made his way to the balcony outside of my office.

“Let me get you caught up on work.” He said as I followed him and took a seat on one of the outdoor chairs, I’d placed out there.

“But Seth hasn’t released me from my ‘rest’ yet.” Carter shrugged as he placed the papers on the table sitting in front of us.

“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” I smiled at him gratefully, needing the distraction from Xander, and all the other things running through my mind. We spent the next few hours going over all the gamma work I’d missed out on and managed to actually get some work done as well, all the while catching up and laughing our heads off. Carter had always been an amazing friend to me, and I missed him more than I thought.

As the sun began to set, I placed the papers in my hands on the table and stood with a stretch as I walked to the bannister of the balcony and leant against it as I looked out over the view of my home with a content sigh.

“I really missed all this. The green of the trees, the purple and orange of the sunset. It’s all so vibrant.” Carter came to stand beside me, his kind eyes holding a question.

“What did you see while in the dream world?” he asked, leaning against the banister as well. I gazed into the darkening sky as I thought over his question.

“Well... it’s kind of hard to explain. It was exactly like this place, but everything was... duller. Colours weren’t as vibrant, smell not as strong, I didn’t even have to shower or eat while there. It was like being stuck in limbo. But I could hear everything happening around me. It made me miss everyone even more when I could hear them, but not see them. I missed the smells of the grass as I ran, or my mum’s macaroni and cheese. I missed everything.” I felt Carter shift beside me.

“I missed you.” His words had me looking up, my eyes wide as he continued to speak, his eyes turned to the sunset. “When you were cursed it sent a ripple throughout the pack, you’re our gamma. And a great friend.” His body turned to me then and his hand quickly grabbed the back of my neck pulling my lips to his in a soft kiss. His lips were soft, and not at all unpleasant. But they weren’t his. They weren’t Xander’s.

After a few seconds or so he broke the kiss and rested his forehead against mine, our eyes locked together. My hand lifted up and stroked his cheek softly as I went to gently let him down, but before the words could leave my lips his eyes glazed over, and I knew he was getting a mind link. When his eyes returned to normal, he smiled apologetically and pulled back from me, giving me some breathing space.

“I have to go, Seth needs me. Can we talk later?” I nodded dumbly and could only stand there and watch as he walked back into my office. My hand went to my lips where I brushed them lightly.

“So this is where you were hiding.” His voice had my gaze snapping to the far end of the balcony in front of me where Xander leant lazily against the wall as he perched on the edge of the bannister. Goddess, why did he look so scrumptious. “So, while I was searching for you, you were here, swapping spit with some brainless warrior.” He dropped down from the bannister with grace and stalked towards me as he continued to speak. My heart nearly leapt out of my throat as I tried to run away again, but he was too fast and pinned me to the closed door with a hand around my neck, and I ashamedly felt arousal at the action.

Heat practically rolled from his very pores as he leant in an gave a slight sniff, causing his eyes to burn red and the glowing silhouette of scales to appear around his eyes. My nerve began to fray at his closeness and although a part of me was telling me to push him away and run, another part wanted me to pull him close and let him do whatever he wanted to me. I internally shook my head at my mind and stood quietly, my hands pressed to the door behind me as I watched him carefully.

His eyes seemed to be aflame as he scrutinised my face. I’d been so distracted by his assessment of me I was not prepared for his lips clashing into mine as his hand slid from the front of my neck to the back to hold me in place. But he didn’t need to hold me in place, I was frozen there as my heart beat a deadly tempo and my lungs stopped functioning. Tingles rippled from our joint lips as he slanted his head, better fitting his lips to mine. My hands reached as if of their own accord, tangling into his raven-coloured hair.

After what felt like forever, he pulled his lips from mine and I had to hold back the whine I’d almost released at the loss. His hand reached up to his face where he wiped some wetness from his nose, and it was with this action that I realised I’d been crying. What the hell is wrong with me? What was this man doing to me? I thought I saw concern in his eyes before it was smothered with indifference.

“Are my kisses that good that you cry with joy?” He said sarcastically and I felt rage rip through me at his words.

“Could you just put me out of my misery and reject me already?!” My words were harsh as they left my mouth and iterated my frustration with all this. He gave a soft chuckle that only seemed to fuel the fire within me. His hand shot out faster than lighting and he was once again gripping my neck, pressing me into the door as he leant into me, his breath fanning against my face as he spoke.

“Believe me, mutt. I want to but I can’t. So until you convince Nimue to leave I’m stuck here, and you’re stuck with me.” Rage was slowly bubbling beneath the surface at his words, his insult sunk in and I reached forward with my hands and pressed them to his chest. His head tilted down towards my hands, a look of confusion marring his always confident face. Magic rippled through me and straight into my hands and I let a slight electric shock pierce forth from my fingers and into his chest.

His eyes went wide as he was pushed back by the force of my magic, and I took that moment to disappear. Whether he pursued or not, I didn’t care, I just had to get away. My cheeks were cold as the air blew against them as I headed to my room, so I wiped at them, glad that I was nearly at my room. A hand grabbing mine had me spinning and I couldn’t tell if I was grateful to see the familiar deep blue eyes of my twin or frustrated.

I had a lot of emotions to unpack and with him there then there was no way I’d be able to do that. His eyes gazed into mine, full of worry as he took in my tear-stained face as Amelia, who stood beside him matching his look.

“Woah, sis, are you ok?” I attempted to pull my hand from his, but he held firm, frustrating me. I just wanted to be alone.

“I’m fine Luca, I just need some alone time.” He infuriatingly shook his head.

“Uh-uh. I’m not letting you go till you tell me what’s wrong. Why are you crying?” I shook my head, fresh tears streaming down my face as I tried to pull free.

“Please, Luca. I’m fine.” I could tell he wanted to say more, but never got the chance as Amelia placed a hand on his arm and gave him a meaningful look. He reluctantly let go of my hand and I turned from them to bolt into my room, collapsing onto the bed face first into my pillow, fresh tears spilling from my cheeks. A soft knock on my door had me looking up slightly from my newly soaked pillow.

“Mia, can I come in?” Amelia softly called through the door. I unlocked the door with a wave of my hand and smashed my face back into the pillow as I heard the door open and close and three sets of feet walking towards me. The bed dipped in three different places around me and a soft hand on my shoulder had me looking up into Amelia’s concerned eyes. A glance around showed Elizabeth beside her on the edge of my bed and Nimue on the other side next to me. All three of their eyes were full of concern for me and it was nice to know I had friends that cared so much for me. I rolled over and sat up, pressing my back against the headboard.

“What did my brother do to you now?” Nimue asked, her eyes searching mine as I furrowed my brows.

“How did you...?”

“I can smell him on you. So what did the butt-head do now?” I closed my eyes with a big sigh as I leant my head back on the headboard before I set about telling them what happened. How I’d ran from him, how I’d hid in my office, the kiss from Carter, the kiss from Xander, and finally how I’d asked him to put me out of my misery and reject me and his reply. Elizabeth growled at the nickname ‘mutt’.

“What the hell does he mean by ‘I want to, but I can’t’?!” Amelia growled through her teeth, anger flashing across her eyes. Nimue gave a deep sigh and we all looked at her.

“My i***t brother is right about how he can’t reject you; I just wish he’d explained it better and not as cruelly.” We waited patiently for her to continue and our silence was sign enough for her to do so. With a big sigh, she explained it to us. “Ok, so when dragons meet their mates, they’re in it for life. Unlike shifters and vampires, we are unable to reject our mates.” Now his statement made sense. He wanted to reject me, but he couldn’t because of his species ways.

“So what he was saying was that if he could reject me, he would, but he can’t so he’s stuck with me.” Nimue cringed at my wording.

“I wouldn’t have worded it that way, but that’s pretty much exactly it.” Fresh tears stung my eyes as they fell freely, and I buried my head in my knees as Amelia pulled me close to her chest and let me cry. They all sat there for who knows how long as I cried until I couldn’t anymore. When no more tears would come, I sat up and angrily wiped at my cheeks.

“I just wish he would leave and let me move on with my life.” I swung my legs over the side of the bed and began pacing at the end of the bed, my sadness now being consumed by anger. “If he doesn’t want me, then leave!” I growled, clenching my hands into fists at my sides. “and why doesn’t he want me?! What the hell is wrong with me that he wouldn’t want me?!” I was growing hysterical by the end of my sentence and found myself shouting the last few words. Nimue stood from my bed and came to where I was standing, her hands grasping mine as she looked into my eyes.

“I can’t tell you why he doesn’t want you, even I don’t understand why he’s behaving as he is, but don’t you ever, and I mean ever think that anything is wrong with you. You’re worth is not judged by him wanting you, your worth is judged by who you are and how you treat others. Do you understand me?” her tone was firm and all I could do was nod my head in agreeance to her words. “Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go kick some dragon ass.” She pulled me in for a tight hug then stormed out of my room in search of her brother. I wish I were a fly on the wall for that conversation, that was for sure.

After she left, I assured the girls that I would be fine and to go to dinner without me. I wasn’t very hungry anyways and probably wouldn’t be able to keep anything down with my stomach reacting to my feelings. After tight hugs and many kisses, I was finally alone. I got changed into my comfy pyjamas and crawled into bed where I pulled out my latest romance book and lost myself in the pages of someone else’s romance, knowing that I would never have what they did.