The Rising Moon Pack

Chapter 23

Jake POV

I listened intently as Maria described the events of that day to her brother. She told us of how Bella had projected a memory into Maria’s mind, and that it had shown Maria who killed Bella, which also explained Bella’s behaviour towards Kate. I watched as Jase processed all of this information, about how Bella was dead but not really because she was now a wolf spirit, about both his mom and sister being Emerald Wolves, but also Goddesses. It was enough to make any mind spin, but Jase coped surprisingly well. When Maria finished, Jase stood up and paced across the room, hand running through his hair.

“Well,” he said, stressed. “ I guess I’d better go and tell Matt.”

Maria and I both looked at one another, confused.

“Why would you need to tell Matt?” She asked him.

“ Because Bella was his mate, Maz. He felt the pull for her, but she was underage. He started feeling it worse the closer she got to 18, but then…” he trailed off, his voice broken.

I looked at Maria, and she was frozen in shock. I took her hand in mind gently, and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“But Bella isn’t gone, not fully.” I spoke up, quietly.

Maria stared at me, completely mute in shock.

“For all we know, they’re still mates.” I continued.

Maria shook her head, her eyes brimming with tears.

“No.” She said. “He can’t be my mate, I have you.”

“It’s possible,baby. You said it yourself, Bella was her own person until she became the other half of you. Maybe you were always destined to have 2 mates, maybe this was how it was meant to be.” I told her gently.

“But how would this work?” She wailed. “I can’t be a Luna to Sapphire Moon but be here half the time. Matt is a Beta, the Beta for Rising Moon. He isn’t going to walk away from that title, or his pack.”

“We can absorb into one pack.” Jase interrupted.

This time, I looked up in shock.

“You’d give up your alpha title ?” I asked him.

“I’m not saying that, but we could work something out.” He said. “Like being sister packs, but more of a sister pack 2.0.”

“Well, all of this is theoretical until we speak to Matt and find out if it’s true.” I stood, running my hands down my thighs.

“Jake,” Maria begged “Please don’t make me do this.”

“It’s alright, my love.” I reassured her. “I will still love you just as much, and I won’t leave or reject you. I swear that on my life. You are destined to be my wife and bear our pups one day, I promise.” I told her sincerely.

She sobbed, and my heart hurt for her. I knew though that we were doing what was right. I couldn’t sleep at night knowing I had stolen someone else’s mate away from him without giving them a chance to decide for themselves.

“Get Matt over here.” I turned to Jase. “The sooner we get this over with, the better for everyone involved.”

He nodded, and his eyes glazed as he linked Matt. I turned to Maria, who was sobbing harder than I’d ever seen her.

“It’s going to be alright,” I told her softly, my eyes prickling and my vision blurring with tears of my own. “We don’t know what is going to happen, but either way, we’re going to be ok. We can work through this together.”

She nodded, and wiped the tears from her face. I grabbed her a tissue and gently wiped her wet mascara from her eyes, tracing the freckles on her cheeks. She smiled weakly at me, and clasped my hand tightly.

We heard a knock at the door, and Maria took a deep breath.

“Come in, Matt.” Jase called out.

The door opened, and Matt walked into the room. I focused my eyes onto Maria, watching her reaction.

Maria POV

The door opened, and the scent of chocolate chip pancakes swallowed me. My breath caught in my throat, and my grip on Jake’s hand loosened. I couldn’t help myself.

“Mate.”

“Well, s**t. That just made things complicated.” Jase muttered to himself.

Before I could stop her, Bella pushed to the surface. “Matt!”

He stood there looking completely mesmerised. I felt Jake drop my hand and take a step back, allowing space between us. He didn’t want to hold me back from this experience, so he watched in silence.

Matt rushed over to me and pulled me into a bone crushing hug. He inhaled deep into my neck.

“Mmmmmm. Chocolate cake.”he mumbled to himself.

I laughed. “You smell like chocolate chip pancakes.”

He stepped back, realising what he was doing.

“I apologise, Luna. I apologise, Alpha Jake.” He said, looking Jake straight in the eye.

“I’m just Jake, man. We’re all equals here.” Jake reassured him.

I zoned out for a while whilst they got Matt up to speed on what had happened, and instead I spent the time checking him out. I had never really looked at Matt before, and it felt like I was meeting him for the first time right now. His skin was flawless, olive toned and not a blemish in sight. He had a firm, well defined jaw and honey brown hair. His deep brown eyes just swallowed me whole, and I felt like I was swimming in them every time he looked my way.

“…Maria?” Jase was speaking to me, and I had had no idea.

“Yeah?” I asked him.

“Any idea what you wanna do? About this situation with you, Matt, and Jake?” He asked.

“No, I don’t know. “ I admitted. Before Matt had entered the room, I was adamant that I belonged to Jake and Jake only. But now my heart didn’t know what it wanted, either way.

“Why don’t we go get something to eat, then come up with some plans once we’re recharged?” Jake suggested.

My stomach growled loudly at the mention of food, and both Jake and Matt laughed loudly in response.

“My stomach has betrayed me, yet again!” I exclaimed, chuckling. “Come on, let’s eat. Oh, and find Noah. I’m sure he’s going to be mindfucked over this whole double mate situation.”