His Luna’s Already A Luna
Chapter 55

Lucinda

POV

Nick popped Lucinda on her feet in the bathroom and smiled down at her. "Want to shower together?"

She raised an eyebrow at him and shook her head, watched as he chuckled, no offence taken, he had not been expecting her to say yes, she realised. Nick reached in and turned the shower on for her. Grabbed a towel and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Lucinda couldn't help the small smile that touched her lips. They did have a nice fun event, even she had to admit it, it was not just fun for Ky'ra, she too had found it fun, to be chased by him.

Nick was leaning on the balcony outside, when Lucinda came out of the bathroom, he was just wearing that towel he'd taken with him, all his wet clothes already removed. His eyes moved towards her almost the second she stepped out of the bathroom. Had been listening for her, she guessed.

Lucinda was still in a towel, no dry clothes in the bathroom for her to change into. He stood and walked across the room, smiled down at her "One day. I'll get you in the shower with me." he teased her as he walked by, then his hand cracked her right on the backside. And he went into the bathroom.

"In your dreams," she snorted at him through the closed door and heard him laugh. He had not missed it. It had become her standard response. Lucinda dressed in a pair of jeans and her pink cashmere sweater. It had been laundered and returned to the walk-in. Samantha, she figured.

Took the wet and soggy book outside to look at it. The print hadn't been ruined, thankfully. Though it was going to take time to dry. Might have to use a hairdryer on it. It was going to take ages, getting her answers now would take longer. But what else could she do? It had been the only copy in the library that she had seen.

Lucinda used part of her towel that was still dry to carefully press the pages dry one at a time till she could have access to the bathroom and the hairdryer.

"Why that book?" she heard Nick enquire. When he got out of the shower, he was quite close, she realised.

"Curious about something is all." she answered him.

"Anything I can help you with?"

"Unlikely Nick. It's nothing to do with you or I. Don't worry about it," she said, and tried to reassure him. This was not about her trying to sever her tie to his pack. You didn't need a book for that, going rogue was easy, a simple rejection of the pack, and leaving it would do in that matter.

"I'm not worried Lucinda." he didn't sound it, she thought, "I just thought I might be able to help is all."

She turned and looked at him. He was leaning casually on the open door frame, arms folded across his bare chest. The bloody man was still wearing just his towel, his body on full display for her. She averted her eyes away from him, sometimes he was just too darn hard to look at. What the hell was the Goddess thinking, creating a specimen like him?

She shook her head slightly. "You enjoy being naked, don't you?"

"Yes I do, in our suite. Actually always slept naked till I found you." his tone was light and teasing. The bloody man couldn't help himself, that was for sure.

Got to get him to cut it out, she'd had a nice time with him already today, and with him being practically naked right now, was actually affecting her, she wanted to look at him, to eye him over and see what response she would get.

Ky'ra was chortling in her mind 'do it. I bet we'll end up in the bed.'

"Am I hindering your natural sleeping rhythm?" she shot at him, though couldn't for the life of her muster any annoyance or anger, for her tone.

He laughed softly "Oh, I'm not playing into an argument with you." he seemed to know exactly what she was trying to do.

"I'm just asking. I can sleep else where, if it suits you better."

Nick walked right over to her and leaned down. She turned away from him quickly didn't want to be face to face with his naked body. He chuckled softly right in her ear "Oh no! I like having you in our bed. I can wear pants...till you have your way with me." his arms snaked around her waist and he hugged her gently. His hands touched her bare skin there, set it a light with electric tingles.

Lucinda snorted "My way with you?"

"Yes, my dear..." his lips brushed her temple in a light kiss. 'It's your choice, is it not, so yes, your way with me...I'm certain I'll enjoy watching you seduce me." his voice was deep and husky.

Lucinda tried to shove him away, "In your dreams." her hands were on his hips as she tried to push him away. He was too close and knew he'd be able to hear her heart rate increasing by the second. The longer he stood there wrapped around her, the more she was affected by him.

He chuckled against her ear "Always!" his mouth pressed against the skin of her neck softly, she heard him breath in as he kissed her lingeringly just below her ear, softly sucked on her neck, she gasped at the sensation it created, bit down hard on her lip to stop the moan that was trying to escape her lips as pleasure rolled through her from just such a soft thing.

His mouth let go a moment later, only to kiss her on the temple again before releasing her completely and walking away.

Lucinda turned and watched him go, couldn't help it, she dragged in a deep breath trying to calm her own body and her heart's frantic beating. He'd gone to the walk-in to find clothes. Damned man loved showing off all his muscles.

'We like looking at them! Ky'ra piped up.

'Hmm.' was all she could manage. Averted her eyes very quickly when he turned and looked right at her, a smile on his handsome face. The damned man knew she was looking at him too. After what he'd done, he probably knew she would be. Could probably feel her eyes on him. Lucinda seemed to always know when he was looking at her, part of their Mate Bond, she supposed.

'I like that he looks at us. Ky'ra chortled softly. 'So do you. You can't lie to me.' she was in a very good mood, Lucinda noted.

Her normally grumpy, growly wolf, it seemed, had turned into a happy, playful wolf, since meeting her Mate and coming here to his pack.

'I Like Rip.

'I know you do.' Lucinda shook her head 'Just had to go and bite him, didn't you.'

'Funny. Wanted to see what he would do.'

'Lucky he didn't Mate you.'

'He's a good wolf, would never.'

'He's an Alpha wolf, Ky'ra. Sometimes they just take what they want, when they want it!

'Not my Mate.

"Lucinda. I have to go attend to an important matter." Nick called to her.

"Okay." she called back, a little thankful that he was leaving to be honest. She needed to get herself together and probably wasn't going to be able to do it with him here.

She returned her attention to the soggy book.

Most of the excess moisture wicked away. Lucinda left the book outside in the sun, to help it dry some more, while she made coffee and something to eat.

Casually flipped through the pages after eating lunch, careful not to rip them. They were still damp. Stopped on a chapter about bleeding another wolf into your family. She had a clause in her Mating Alliance about that in-case Nick turned her away after they had a pup. 'He won't, Ky'ra piped up.

'So why is that one clause in there then?' she returned to her wolf.

Ky'ra just huffed in annoyance. Lucinda knew why now. Nick's father and brothers had all done that. Marked, Mated, got an Heir and then rejected their Mates. That was why it was in there. Obviously, Alpha Corey and Luna Lindy knew this. Otherwise, why would they put something like that in?

Lucinda turned the pages carefully as they were still damp and sticking together slightly. She didn't want to damage it anymore than it already was. It was interesting. Children from previously bonded Mates, where one Mate had died could be bled into the new Mates Line. So that they would feel more connected, as though the child or children would feel as though they were their own and the child, in return, would also feel the mother or father's new Mate, was now their parent as well.

Then there was also, if a bonded pair failed to work out for any number of reasons, it was up to the original pair of wolves, to decide if one would allow the bleeding of said child, into the others new Mates Line.

Had to be agreed upon, as the child being bled into the new line would lose its connection to the parent not in the bonded relationship, if the child lived with its mother and the father agreed to allow his child to be bled to her new Mates Line, his connection was severed to his child. He would also no longer have a claim over the child, ever. Even if it was an Alpha born child.

Lucinda could only imagine Nick had not wanted that clause in their Mating Alliance at all. Wondered why he hadn't argued it out. Most likely would have tried, she imagined. As he'd have to relinquish full control and rights to their child if they had one and he didn't want her anymore. Honestly, Lucinda couldn't see Nick doing that, giving up his child. She'd gotten to see his very possessive side today. He'd never relinquish his child, Heir to his pack.

That thought made her wonder if Jeremy was okay. Surely, if Nick had gone off to hunt him down, an Alpha on Beta fight would be very loud and very aggressive. She would hope Jeremy would call her for assistance. Which she would definitely do. Lucinda would get between them to stop it. She liked Jeremy. A bit like Corey, he was.

She could well imagine that underneath all that playfulness and joking around was a very serious and fierce wolf. His wolf she'd seen fight, no non-scene like Ky'ra actually. Probably why he was the Beta.

Nick had clearly hand picked his Alpha Unit, not having grown up as the pack Heir himself, which if he had done he would have grown up with a Beta, Gamma and Delta's kids all around him to help them bond and become a strong Alpha Unit. Not having that, he had chosen the wolves around him.

She shook her head, she was sure he was fine.

Bleeding newborns into a new family grabbed her attention, done only on the rare occasion where both parents were deceased. Usually where the father has already died and the mother died during child birth.

The new born pup would be given just one or two drops of the new mother's blood to drink and they would bond to the new mother instantly.

Lucinda stared at the book, her hands were trembling slightly, as she forced herself to recall the day the twins were born. She had delivered them, had their amniotic fluid and blood on her hands, on her dress and Felecia had cut Lucinda's thigh and put Lucinda's blood on both of the twins, covered their tiny heads and bodies with it.

Lucinda closed her eyes and tried to recall more detailed images to her mind. It had been a traumatic day and things were a bit hazy. Had the twins tasted her blood? Had Felecia known what she was doing, did she bleed them to Lucinda on purpose? Her words echoed in Lucinda's mind, "He'll think they're yours." she had told her that day.

Lucinda had been sitting with them, watching the events between Felecia and Darwin unfold, she'd had tears running down her face, blurring her vision and, as much as she hadn't wanted to watch, had to, was under orders. Lucinda recalled wiping the tears from her cheeks on more than one occasion, and she had not had a chance to wash her hands, after delivering the twins, their blood would have been on them still.

Had Felecia bled them to her and if so....pain started to spread from her chest, tears welled up...she had not known. Goddess she was their mother and she'd given them away. Hadn't understood till right this very minute, she was blood bonded to them...it was why she could still feel them, such a strong connection to them. She felt her tears spill down her cheeks. What had she done? So stupid she was that she had not realised before, had given them up and now they belonged to another.

Lucinda had no idea if Gabby and James had bled the twins to their line.

Lucinda bit her lip when she thought about it. With the new knowledge from this book, she didn't think so. If they had, then surely she wouldn't feel them so much. It also wouldn't have hurt so much for her to leave them. To have James walk them away from her. To feel her bond to them sever so painfully the day Nick had bled her into his pack.

Were they still hers?

Did Alpha Corey and Luna Lindy know anything? After her story to them, did they realise what had happened? If so, did Gabby and James know too? Is that why they never not even once questioned her actions around the twins, why they never, not even when they were tiny, stopped her from seeing them, spending time with them?

She herself had no idea at all. Had told Luna Lindy her story and Luna Lindy had called for her Mate, Alpha Corey, to come and listen to the tale. Perhaps Lindy knew what it meant and didn't know what to do about the situation. The twins were Alpha-blooded children and she, had been wolf-less at the time. Unable to care for them. Not really able to care for herself at the time. An emotional wreck, as were the remaining women and children of her pack.

They had leaned on each other, some of them now housed together, two or three of them and a child if one of them had one. She was the only one to live alone. Couldn't look at their sad faces, couldn't deal with how hollow she'd felt, let alone looking at them and how hollowed out they had looked, especially those that had lost their connection to their wolves for a time.

Thankfully, being around each other, and leaning on each other, knowing and understanding completely each others trauma had helped them all to survive it. Lucinda had, had no wolf at the time. She didn't feel exactly what they had felt, couldn't truly understand all their grief and though she had taken many months to recover. It had taken some of them a year or more to start to come back to a real functional level.

Most of them lived and worked together in a small little community inside of Half Moon Pack. They had learned, as she had to be a part of the pack and gotten jobs and trained, though none had trained like she had.

Lucinda had thrown herself into her training with all she had, trained herself when there was no training, trained at all hours of the day, so she could work and be useful no matter when or what time and attack came. She didn't have the advantages of a wolf- enhanced warrior, and had to do it all on her own.

Learn to be vigilant of every sound that was made, to keep her eyes open for any movement. Trained day and night, dawn and dusk, rain or sunshine, sleet or snow. Trained in all of it. To get that edge, that would make her a proper warrior.

Never again would she let her people face a s*******r, never again would she be useless to them, never again would she not be able to do anything about it, she would stand up and fight for them, stand up and win, she would save them all.

Lindy had said she and Corey knew they still bowed to her, that they both suspected that all of them would come here to live if she and Nick could make it work. All of them would be here for her Luna Ceremony and truth be told. Lucinda wanted them here. Hadn't wanted to leave them back in the Half Moon Pack. Really hoped that they understood, why they'd not been able to come with her.

Lucinda missed them all.

She closed the book, but left it on the table out there between the pod chairs to dry naturally. She had found what she had been looking for, found what she could only believe was the answer to her question. Wasn't particularly happy about it. It hurt to blazes to think about it. She would need to talk with Lindy and Gabby in all likelihood, not over the phone either. It was going to have to be in person.

She had no idea what she was going to do about it. Gabby and James loved those little girls as much as she did. The situation was not a good one and someone was likely going to be hurt by the outcome of it all.

Nick was certainly not about to let her go back to Half Moon Pack, not until they had sorted out their Bond. She knew Lindy wasn't expecting any visit for at least a month or until her Luna Ceremony. Had told her it would only be 4 weeks till she saw the twins again. So, in all likelihood, she was waiting for them to sort things out.

Although they had had a nice morning in the end, despite the start to the day, and actually had some fun together, that moment here on this balcony, it didn't wash away all her reservations about him and their Mate Bond. She also had a lot of stuff he didn't know about her. Had no idea if this pack was, in anyway, affiliated with Alpha Darwin or his pack. That did trouble her a lot. Could well imagine the war she would start if he drove in here for an Alpha meeting.

If that man turned up here, nothing was going to stop her from getting a piece of him, not even her Mate this time. Though the way Rip had reacted, she did doubt that they knew him. If Nick knew Darwin they would likely have shifted and talked about what was going on. Likely she would have rejected Nick on the spot regardless of what he wanted. She could not in any way be affiliated with Alpha Darwin or anyone who knew him either.

Alpha Corey had nothing on Alpha Darwin, as far as he'd told Lucinda, no knowledge of the man, and did not know what pack he'd come from. Felecia had not said what pack either at the time. All Lucinda had was a name and description. 'Jere's?' she reached out for Jeremy though the mind-link.

'Hey Lucinda, what can I do for you?'

'A bit of an odd one.

'I like odd.'

Lucinda chuckled 'You must do, with Nicky around!

Jeremy chuckled 'Oh, he's not liking that name you gave him at all.'

'Did you survive?' she asked cautiously.

'Survive what?'

'The beating he was going to give you earlier, after the duel?'

'No beating, Lucinda. He's not just the Alpha, but my friend and a quick chat and we were all good...besides chasing you around put him in a real good mood.

'Alright. she didn't think it was the chasing around, more like her response to him kissing her neck 'as long as you're okay!

'Awe you gonna protect me, my Luna.' he teased her.

'Of course Jere's you and me a mischievous pair, we will be.' she chuckled and so did he.

Your odd question?' he prompted her.

'Does the pack library hold information on other packs and their Alpha's?'

'Ah! Now if you intend to hunt down Alpha Darwin, I am not helping you!

'No I'm not! Just curious is all.'

'Most of that stuff is in the Alpha's private library!

'Nick never mentioned that, on the tour.

'Still a work in progress.

'So jere's?'

'Ask Nick himself on that one, Lucinda.

'He'll never let me.' she sighed.

'Might if you tell him why and what happened that day!' he sounded a bit concerned to her.

'Hmm'

'Tell me then!'

'I'm not so stupid, Jere's.

He chuckled 'Hey, I can keep a secret.'

I highly doubt that. Where is he?'

'Sitting here with me in his office, reading up on something important!

'Thought he didn't work Saturdays.

'This is kind of really important, I had to call him in on this one!

'Okay'

'Lucinda, just ask him, he's not likely to say no, if you give him a valid reason.

'Thanks' she cut the link.

Sat on the lounge and wondered how she could get what she wanted. She wasn't about to out her whole pack at this point, and had only known the man for six days. So what was a valid reason that he would accept? Lucinda knew Jeremy would have informed Nick of what had happened that day. Reported Beta to Alpha, everything he'd seen. So out right lying to the man was not an option, he'd pick it up right away.

He'd also been there in Alpha Corey's office when she'd gotten yelled at. Not to mention seeing how angry she and Ky'ra had been that day at Darwin. Wanted a piece of him, what it had taken to get her away and now she was here, apparently for her own good. If it was a lie, it was going to have to be a bloody good one at that.