Kelsey and I arrive at the pack hours later. We fell behind Scott, Thaddeus and the other because we were travelling by vehicle and we had to stop multiple times. When we arrive, my heart beats out my chest. I see some pack members crowd around the pack village as they no doubt see who was in the car. From the crowd, I see Cassie and I find myself grinning. Also, I see my parents and a few other individuals I find myself speaking to alot. My smile is wide and happy.
I was back home.
Kelsey drives slowly past everyone and when we reach the cars area, she parks and we get out. I inhale the scents all around me and watch as Kelsey comes to my side.
"Thaddeus is inside your home right now. If what you said was about Eunice doing the spell, he should be curse free as of right now."
I can't wipe the grin of my face. However, Kelsey looks the opposite of me. "Just to make sure I think you should stay with Jay for a bit."
I nod understandingly and leave the garage full of vehicles. I have my bag on me and as I step out, I'm attacked by none other than Cassie.
"Luna," she squeals squeezing the life out of me. I welcome the familiar feel and return her hugs as well. "Welcome back!"
She leans in and whispers into my ear. "We've all been so worried." She leans back and shakes my shoulders as Kelsey watches us. "Don't ever do that again."
I nod and tell her that we have so much catching up to do. She agrees and leaves Kelsey and I.
"You know about Jay's Mate right?"
I nod and grin at the thought. Jay was finally happy. He had a Mate, Natalia. I was excited to meet her. I wonder what she was like or how they even met. As I made my way to his home, I passed many pack members that nod their heads in respect. I smile back at them.
When we reach his house, or Kelsey's house, actually I'm not too sure who's house. But when we make it there, Kelsey walks in first and then I do as well.
I see a pair of identical twins sitting in the living room watching TV. When I enter, they both look up and I smile at them.
They are Natalia's twin brothers, Mind links Kelsey. I nod and greet them.
"Hi, my name's Annabel," I say. They stare up at me and wave.
"I'm Kasin," one of them says. "This is Kerin."
"Hi, Kasin, Kerin," I say waving at them. "Nice to meet you."
Kelsey and I leave them to watch their show and I move to the kitchen where no one seems to be. "Where are they?"
I watch as Kelsey's eye glaze over as she is mind linking someone. I walk around the kitchen noticing the new scent, Natalia.
"They're just upstairs," says Kelsey. I raise an eyebrow at her words.
"Did we interrupt something?" Kelsey grins and turns her gaze to Jay who is coming down the stairs. He enters the kitchen with a girl a bit taller than me.
"Luna," he says giving me a short nod of indication.
"Jay," I reply in the same manner he did. He smiles as wide as the Cheshire cat. He looked genuinely glad to see me.
"So no greeting to your mother?" Kelsey asks from behind me. "The one who brought you into this world?"
I giggle as Jay scratches the back of his head. He glances down back at his Mate who sports a small smile on her face. "Hi mom," Jay says sarcastically. "Nice to see you're back."
"That's better," she says ignoring the sarcasm in his voice. She turns to Natalia who looks a bit shy at the sudden spotlight. "Hello Natalia."
"Hi," she greets quietly.
"Oh don't be so shy now," she says reaching over and shocking Natalia. She hugs her and pulls away. "I have beautiful daughter in law's."
Kelsey glances at me with a smile. She considered Thaddeus a son to her so I understood the compliment. I take this as my turn to introduce myself.
"Hi I'm Annabel," I say. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to hug or or what not so I settle with a short wave. "Nice to meet you."
"Hi," I smile at her as she returns the grin. "I'm Natalia."
Kasin and Kerin come into the kitchen where we all are.
"Hey guys," says Jay as he walks over to them leaving Natalia, Kelsey and me alone.
I turn to Kelsey as she nods her goodbyes. She couldn't stay too long because she had to go check up with Scott, leaving me with Natalia.
"So how did you two meet?" I ask as Natalia glances at Jay who is interacting with her brothers.
"My brothers and I were rogues- I mean, technically we are until we go through the ceremony of acceptance," I nod.
"I think I could do that," I tell her getting Jay's attention. "I can do that right?"
"It's usually done by the male-"
"That's sexist," points out Natalia. I agree with her.
"I'm not saying the Luna can't do it," Jay says raising his hand up. "I'm just stating that it is usually done by the male Alpha."
"Can we do it then?" Natalia asks. "I want to be able to mind link you. After last night when I really needed you, I couldn't just scream your name could I?"
Jay looks guilty for a moment and I glance between them wondering what happened. "What happened last night?"
"I was getting my ass kicked by a few of my past acquaintances," Natalia says.
I stare at her surprised but then I look closely. She had faint bruises on her arms and other parts of her body that were on display.
"Was there a rogue attack?" I ask concerned.
"No," Jay says shaking his head. Instead of elaborating he turns to me. "I think it is a good idea if you do it now."
Nodding, I raise an eyebrow realizing I have no idea what to do. "I'll be right back," he says. "I'll go get the book and the equipment. When I come back we can do it at the back porch."
Nodding, we watch as Jay leaves and Natalia and I, along with her brothers relocate into the living room. I sit on one side of the couch while the twins huddle together in front of the TV. I turn to Natalia who sits beside me.
"So, how did you two meet?" I ask again remembering that I interrupted her.
"My brothers and I sort of stumbled into the pack," she explains. "Then we met Jay who placed us in cells because the Alpha, your Mate, wasn't there at the moment."
I nearly laugh at her short story. That sounds familiar. I furrow my eyebrows at her suddenly. "Do you know where he was?"
Natalia shrugs. "How old are you?" She asks curiously.
"Twenty," I reply thinking of where Thaddeus could have been. "Yourself?"
She tells me that she's eighteen and I fail to hide my surprise. She looked young but her height knocked me off. I know it was an idiotic thing to say but whenever I see tall people I assume they are much older then they usually are.
"If you don't mind me asking," Natalia says wearily. "Why did you leave?"
"I had pack errands," I say smoothly. "I just had to do some stuff."
She nods and turns her head to the TV where her brothers watch some animated TV show. Suddenly, I remember that I haven't ate anything since last night with Eunice.
Hey Jay? I reach into the familiar setting of the mind link. Do you mind if I grab something to eat in the kitchen?
Jay gives me the okay through the mind link and he chuckles. He tells me it's funny how I ask meanwhile whenever he was at Thaddeus and I's home, he would rummage through the kitchen without a care. I giggle at the thought making Natalia glance at curiously. I shake my head telling her nothing and get to my feet.
"Do you guys want any thing to eat?" I ask everyone.
The twins nod and Natalia gets to her feet following me to the kitchen. "I think Shauna made pancakes earlier," she points out. I glance at the time near the stove. It was eleven forty nearly lunch. When Natalia sees the time as well, she blushes. "Or we could just eat some pizza," she says looking into the fridge and pulling out frozen pizza. I turn the oven on and we place the pizza inside.
"Hey, can I ask you another question?" I nod for her to go for it. "As Luna you help the Alpha with his duties right?"
I nod unsure of what she was asking. "What does the Mate of the Beta do?"
"Well, I'm not too sure but I know you're respected among the pack. I think you attend meetings and just help Jay with his duties," I say thinking over myself.
"What if I don't want to attend meetings?" She asks. When I look closely, I see the nervousness in her eyes.
"It's not that scary," I reassure. "The first time I went with Thaddeus was nerve wracking but after that it just felt normal. The people there are nice and they do look scary at first but when you have your Mate there, you forget about the others and think about what the meeting is about."
She plays with her fingers. "Anyways, if you don't want to go, you could just meet the pack. Interact with them. Everyone is nice and kind and I admit, it's fairly awkward but once you get it over with, you'll consider them as family and everything feels normal."
She nods and tells me she'll think about it. We wait in the kitchen for Jay to come back and also for the pizza to heat up already. I was craving a much needed meal.
Jay comes first. About ten minutes before the timer for the pizza goes off, he comes into the house with a book and a familiar looking bowl and knife. He places the things down and hands me the book. I take it and flip through it taking notice of its old age. Natalia leans over to see it as well.
"I spoke with Thaddeus and he said it was okay for you to do it," Jay comments.
I scoff. "I was going to do it even if he hadn't agreed."
Jay helps me find the page for the ceremony of acceptance and I read through it. Basically, I can do it because the pack is connected to one another. Me being the Luna meant that I can do it and that I just have to recite the words as written.
"First Name and Last Name, then do you accept your new Alpha? Do you promise to be loyal to me? Let our mark be shared and remind you of your promise."
That's it. I remember when Thaddeus had said these exact words. That seemed easy.
"Should we do it now?" Natalia nods and Jay goes to get the twins. I take the bowl and knife to the backyard, leaving the book on the counter. I remember what I had to say.
The twins line up in front of Natalia. Jay stands by me and watches. He holds the bowl in his hand while I hold the knife in mine. I motion for the first twin, I'm not sure which one he is, but he stays stuck to his feet. "Kerin," says Natalia. She follows his gaze to the knife and then back to me.
"It's just a small cut on the palm of your hand," I reassure them. He doesn't look like he wants to go first so Kasin takes his place.
"State your full name," I say.
"Kasin Gunzèla," he says.
"Kasin Gunzèla, do you accept your new Alpha?" He nods his head and Natalia interrupts.
"Kasin use your mouth," she says. I agree with her.
"Yes."
"Do you promise to be loyal to me?" He nods before verbally saying yes.
"Let our mark be shared and remind you of your promise," I cut the palm of my hand and hand the knife over to Mason who does the same. He winces but I connect our palms together over the bowl Jay is now holding between us.
When we are officially pack members I open the mind link between us freaking the young boy boy. Jay can teach you how to block your thoughts from everyone later on, I tell him. He looks at me in wonder whereas I grin at the obviously excited child.
"Kerin," I snap my head up to Natalia who is speaking to her brother. "Come on, you got this."
He steps forward as Kasin turns around excited. "It's so cool! Do it Kerin!"
Natalia, Jay and myself laugh at the gushing child. It was adorable. Kerin nods and steps forward. We do the same thing over and I mind link him saying the same thing I told him. He flinches and I know his brother is communicating with him.
Natalia steps over, an excited grin on her face. "State your full nam-"
"Natalia Gunzèla," she says quickly cutting me off. I hold in my grin as she gives me a sheepish look. "Sorry. Stop laughing."
I turn to see Jay biting his lip to stop laughing. I turn to hurt this up. "Okay, Natalia Gunzèla, do you accept your new Alpha?"
"Yes."
"Do you promise to be loyal to me?"
"Yes."
"Let our mark be shared and remind you of your promise," I finish and cut the center of my palm again. Handing it to Natalia, she cuts her palm but I notice she cuts it too deeply. She really was excited. "That's a very deep cut," I say concerned watching as Jay leans over to get a better look.
"Should I do it to my other palm then," she says confused before shifting the knife to her slit palm to cut her other.
"No, no no," I tell her watching and Jay take the knife from her. He places the bowl of blood in the middle of us and I cup Natalia's hand. Our blood mix together in the bowl and then we pull away. I let Jay be the first to speak to her through the mind link.
Pretty cool huh? Natalia nods excitedly while Jay gives us all napkins to clean our cuts.
"Afterwards," Jay says handing me the bowl. "You dump it into the ground. It symbolizes our connection with nature as Wolves."
Nodding, I walk away from them and find a random spot dumping the bowl of blood into. I turn away after and we all head inside. The twins seem to be having fun as Kasin keeps jumping in excitement. Natalia and Jay speak through the mind link while I head over to the kitchen.
I remove the nearly burnt pizza from the oven. Inhaling the delicious aroma, my stomach aches for it. I don't bother to wait for it to cool down, I cut the pizza up and grab a plate, mind linking everyone to come eat.
By the time everyone comes in, I'm already eating. We all eat in the kitchen, me standing up when I suddenly feel out of place. Natalia and Jay were speaking while the twins were speaking as well. Maybe I should go hang out with Cassandra? Kelsey had said she wants me to stay here to avoid Thaddeus when in fact, I was avoiding everyone. The pack members were going to ask a lot of questions, that I didn't want to answer right now. Maybe it was best if I just stayed here even if I did feel like a fifth wheel.
"Hey," I zone in to see Natalia to me. "So now I call you Luna right?"
"It's a title honestly," I say shaking my head. "I'd rather you call me Annabel at times like these."
Obviously if the setting was different, I'd much rather her call me Luna just as a shoe of respect.
"Wait so do I get a title?" She asks Jay curiously.
"You'll be Beta Nat after we Mate." I watch as her face flushes red and she glances at her brothers.
"Don't say that around my brother's," she scowls looking away from them.
"Twins," Jay says leaning over to them. "Your sister and I are going to have-"
Natalia gasps and slaps her hand over Jays mouth making me giggle. "That is not funny." She tries to say it seriously but fails.
"I have to leave now," Jay says pulling away from Natalia. "I'll see you later."
"Wait, where are you going?" I ask.
"I'm going to go check up on Thaddeus," he says looking for a reaction before grabbing the items he brought. I don't give him a reaction and I grab another slice as he leaves.
We eat in silence before the twins finish first and rush over to the living room. "Hey I'm going to be staying for the night," I say giving Natalia a heads up. She nods and helps me clean the kitchen.
After, we hang out in the living room together for hours. By then, Jay has already returned.
"Hey Annabel," I glance at him. "Do you think you could introduce these three to the pack? You know show them the pack house and all."
I nod seeing Kasin look up curiously. I am guessing he's the sibling that's very outgoing. We stay up for a very long time watching show after show. When it reaches the morning, I turn to the twins that have fallen asleep. Jay leaves to go on his night shift, something Thaddeus had changed for no real reason. I should get Thaddeus to change it for everyone's sake. From what I hear, no one likes the new positions.
Natalia shakes her brothers up gently and I help her take them upstairs. We drop them off in their respectable beds and I turn and exit the room. I make my way downstairs as Natalia follows me.
"Where are you going?" She asks as I head to the front door.
I turn to her. "I'm just going to talk to Thaddeus."
She nods and we stare at each other for a minute. "Do you want to come with?"
She nods excitedly and we leave the house. I wave at the guards stationed outside and make my way to our home. It's been hours- Eunice must have done the spell by now. All I wanted was my Mate and to finally tell him how I feel.
Natalia and I walk in silence and when I get to our house, I notice there are no guards outside. I walk in remembering the key on the porch. When we enter the house, Natalia looks around and I ask her to wait downstairs. I smell my Mate upstairs so I follow his scent.
I jump up two steps at a time and make it to our room in little to no time. I shiver in my spot because this was where I had been beaten until I was unconscious. Knocking on the door, Thaddeus doesn't answer. Slowly turning the knob, I enter the dark room.
I flick the lights on and see my Mate sitting with his elbows on his knees and his head hanging down on the bed.
"Thaddeus," I call out shutting the door behind me. His head goes up but he doesn't face me. I take a few more steps inside the room until I'm standing in front of him now. "Thaddeus, it's me."
His head snaps up and I'm shocked to see rage in his dark orbs. Why was he so angry? He gets to his feet slowly and I take a few steps back. "Thaddeus what's wrong with you?"
My eyes travel over his features before going to his ankles. My heart beats quickly as I take notice of the mark, that still lay there. "Nothing is wrong with me Annabel," he growls stalking over to me. I jump back and my heart hurts. What happened? I thought Eunice-
I'm thrown off my train literally. Thaddeus grips me without any remorse and I find myself being flung against the wall. With my body hitting the wall, it creates a loud sound that doesn't go unrecognized.
Jay! I'm at my house right now. I thought Thaddeus was curse free but he isn't! I express my panic through the mind link to which I could feel his horror.
I'm on my way, he replies worried.
I focus back onto Thaddeus and defend myself until help arrives. I raise my hands up and cover my face. Thaddeus picks me up and I knee him in the groin. He bends over for a moment and I take that as my turn to hit him. I hit his shoulder where I had stabbed him earlier and watch as he moves back with a shout.
I hear running from downstairs and smell Natalia's scent coming closer. Natalia, wait outside! I mind link.
She doesn't respond and for a moment I think she'll listen. While mind linking her, I drop my guard and Thaddeus hits me over the face but this time he doesn't stop. He continues to hit me until Natalia comes in. I don't see her face but I know it was one of horror.
Thaddeus picks me up and then slams me down. I hear a crack occur somewhere and I fear the worse. There was pain all over my body, especially the top half. I hear Natalia rush forward and I watch through half closed eyes as she charges at Thaddeus.
He turns and grips her by the throat throwing her against the wall. He turns back to me and I try to block the punches but they continue. My nose cracks and I watch as blood appears on Thaddeus fist.
Natalia gets up again and moves forward trying to pull Thaddeus off of me. I know she cannot do much and I pray that he doesn't hurt her as well. When Thaddeus turns to her, he hits her across the face with no remorse and throws her against the wall again.
The frames on the wall and the objects on the desk spill all over the floor as Natalia's flail body lands away from us. I take that as my chance to hit him but my body falls short. Thaddeus was much too big for me to stop. He was stronger and an Alpha. My Wolf doesn't tell me anything as Thaddeus turns back to me.
"Thaddeus talk to me," I say through my ragged breathing. My voice sounded rough, almost as if I was going to cry anytime soon. Instead of answering vocally, he answers with a kick to my side. I feel something break and I find myself gasping for air. He had hit me so hard I was out of breath.
I fall onto my side and I'm left staring at his Mark on his ankle. He picks me up roughly and slams me against the wall, pinning me there. I stare into his dark nearly black eyes.
His hands wrap over my throat and I'm left kicking and scratching at his hands. I feel the tears roll down my face as I do this. "Thaddeus please, I-I'm your Mate."
For some reason I thought he would respond to that but he doesn't. In fact, he squeezes tighter and I feel a headache form.
"Thaddeus," my voice comes out raspy. I claw at his hands and see Natalia try to get to her feet. She was dazed I could tell. I knew what was coming and I had to get the words off my chest before it was too late. "I love you. No matter what- you are my M-Mate and I-I love you!"
Thaddeus' eyes flash and he stops for a moment. I thought it was over but in a matter of milliseconds, he hits me again and suffocates me.
I hear Natalia shout in the background and a distant thunder of multiple footsteps. With a smile, I close my eyes and welcome the bright light.
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