His Mute Luna
Chapter 17

Morgan

I had barely begun questioning before the rogue clammed up, all I had so far was a name and an age. I really needed to get his pack’s name, but when I asked about it, the fear and the pain was written all over his face. Hopefully, we could circle back to it later.

“Why were you made a rogue? No offense, but you don’t seem dangerous or threatening,” I asked.

The frown only deepened on his face and the sorrow that momentarily lanced out from his wolf was soul-splitting. He reined himself in almost immediately, but it was too late. My wolf had felt it. Whatever happened to this man had physically scarred his spirit, his wolf.

‘Alpha? Your brothers are h…’ the guard began, but her mind-link was cut off by Cal.

‘Who is that man?!’ He demanded.

Cal’s voice was full of his Alpha authority, something he never used with me or anyone else in the family.

‘Morgan, we’re serious. That’s our mate, who is he?’ Cam’s voice was filled with desperation and longing; out of the two of them he was the more hopeless romantic.

I tried to school my expression to not give away my astonishment…but holy f**k…

‘This is gonna be hard for you both. But you need to stay where you are and let me do this. He doesn’t seem to be aware of your presence, let me figure out what’s going on,’ and you’ll come on stronger than a 10 ton truck, which won’t help anyone. That last thought I kept to myself.

‘But…’ they both began, but I cut them off. They needed some patience, which was in short supply with the pair of them.

‘I mean it. I think he’s been through something terrible.’

I understood how they felt. I had been in their position not even two days ago. The only difference is that my mate’s life had quite literally been on the line. So they could wait a few minutes.

Luckily, Taylor hadn’t noticed my mind-linking and seemed to be lost in some difficult memory as he had yet to answer my question.

“My mate rejected me…and I left, just like he ordered,” he answered curtly, but I didn’t miss how his voice hitched.

I felt my brothers trying to mind-link again, but I put up my inner walls. I needed to concentrate and I couldn’t do that with them in my head.

“He ordered you to leave? How would he do that?” Had his mate threatened him? What kind of bastard rejects his mate then brow-beats them into leaving?!

Just the notion of pushing June away made my bond scream in protest and that was just a ‘thought’. There was nothing in this world that would make me give her up.

“He was a soon-to-be Alpha, like you…so he could do whatever he wanted,” he replied flatly, the shimmer in his eye gave his emotion away.

I knew lies when I heard them. I could detect the faint irregular heartbeat patterns, the slightest twitch or flinch, or how the pupils dilated. Everything Taylor had said was the truth, he hadn’t divulged everything, but he wasn’t lying.

To reject your mate was one thing, but to take away their home, their pack, their life…was a whole other level of a*****e-ary of its own.

Rejections were peculiar. The bond wasn’t just broken, it was forcefully ripped apart, willingly, by the person meant to cherish it above anything else. Some wolves could bounce back stronger. Others? It devastated them. And he had been mated to an Alpha. Bonds with wolves like ours were the strongest and rejecting that could cause a scar that may never heal. There was no wonder he couldn’t feel my brothers’ presence…he might not even feel the bond straight away.

The door to the interview room on my left was thrown open to reveal both Cal and Cam heaving for breaths and staring at Taylor as though he was fresh meat and they had been starved for days. I loved my brothers more than anything, but they could be the most idiotic dipshits when they thought with their d***s instead of their heads! Didn’t they hear anything this man had just said?

“Mate,” Cam growled out first, followed by Cal, neither of them taking their eyes off of Taylor.

The poor rogue seemed to pale at the declaration, standing from his chair quickly and backing away from the door.

“No…not again…please, just stay away,” he choked out, as his back hit the wall.

“What? No! We want you! We…” Cal started, but I stepped in front of Taylor to halt their advancement.

“Back. Off. Now!” I snarled, exerting my aura fully. They stepped back with their heads shying away to the side.

Being a white wolf, my aura, if I pushed it, could make even Alphas back down. The stronger the Alpha, the more energy I needed to utilise, not that it was something I did regularly as it could cause the recipient immense pain. It was exhausting to expend that much energy into my aura and it felt like a betrayal to my familial bond to use it on my family members. I didn’t want to keep Cal and Cam from their mate, but right now they were terrifying him.

‘Please, just give me a few minutes alone with him to try and salvage this. You need to move at his speed. The mate bond right now, if he even feels it, is tormenting him,’ I begged with my eyes to my brothers, feeling exhausted. I didn’t want them to lose their chance because of their overeagerness.

They looked around me to their mate, their faces full of longing, want and concern, but to my surprise, they backed off without a fight. Cam insisted they were staying nearby, though, in the room next door. That was fine as long as they didn’t burst in again. I turned to see Taylor kneeling on the floor, holding his head in pain. s**t, I could have really hurt him releasing my aura like that.

I crouched down beside him, helping him sit more upright.

“Sorry about that, you’re not hurt are you?”

“What the hell sort of wolf are you?” He bit out, between deep breaths.

I laughed a little at his unexpected sass. Even in a nerve-wracking situation he had found himself in, with three Alphas and feeling scared, he could still show bravery. I was impressed. I had a feeling he would keep my brothers in line…if he gave them a chance.

“Who…who were they?” His voice whispered while he eyed the door.

“Callum and Cameron, my brothers. They’re kinda idiots, but they’re lovable idiots at least,” I could already feel them both trying to mind-link me in rage. But they embarrassed me all the time and karma was a b***h.

I helped Taylor stand and moved back to sit at the table, feeling relieved to just rest a minute.

“Will you tell me what pack you came from? I really do promise we’re not like them.”

After a few seconds of internal debate, he finally answered, “…Monkshood Moon pack.”

I had heard of that pack from Montana. They were known on the west coast because of their name – named after the flower that the wolfsbane toxin was derived from – and because they were incredibly secretive; what little was known about them was brutal. There hadn’t been an Alpha meeting on our side of the country for a year or two, but I was sure I’d heard that pack had changed name recently to something like White Leaf Moon and had changed leaders too. Would that Alpha be Taylor’s ex-mate?

“Ok. Do you want to stay here? In our pack, I mean, I’m not keeping you in the prison,” I clarified. Cal and Cam, I was pretty sure, would’ve killed me if I had.

He looked up to the two-way mirror where I knew my brothers would be watching and listening to everything Taylor did or said. Could he sense them there? Was the bond starting to form for him?

Eventually, he nodded, never breaking eye contact from where he focused.

‘Did you want to get to know them more?’ I mind-linked him, seeing as Cal and Cam would be eavesdropping.

His eyes snapped back to mine, looking unsure.

I sighed, ‘I’ll level with you, they can be a little impatient, full on and definitely immature at times…but they really have a good heart, they’ll both give you everything they have. Just don’t take any s**t from them and don’t let either of them rush you into anything either.’

‘Ok…I’ll try,’ he replied, looking back at the mirror.

I held open the door to find Cal and Cam already waiting with eager faces, eyes glued on their mate.

‘For the love of goddess and for once in your lives, will you please have some self-control?’ I pleaded with my brothers.

‘Would you have some faith? Jeez,’ Cal rolled his eyes at me.

‘I do. That’s why I’m leaving you both to set Taylor up with some accommodation. Whatever he wants, not you. He needs the control right now,’ I pressed.

They were used to getting what they wanted, when they wanted it and now they would have to wait, to go at someone else’s pace, earn the affections. They would have their work cut out for them.

“Will you come with us? We can get you set up and just talk for a while?” Cam began.

“Yeah, or you can just rest. It’s totally up to you,” Cal cut in with a strained smile. I could tell how much he was holding back.

“Ok,” Taylor replied, giving them both a small hopeful smile.

I followed behind the three of them, trying to hold in my laughter at seeing my brothers trying to act casual. I had never seen them like this. It was like they didn’t know whether to lead the way, to stand by their mate, to follow behind him. Seemed I wasn’t the only awkward one in the family after all.

‘I’ll let dad know everything, just focus on your mate,’ I mind-linked as we reached the outer fence of the prison compound.

We went our separate ways and I quickly sent a text to June to let her know I was on my way home. She had already messaged to say she was back and had even unloaded everything. I stripped down and used my flannel shirt as a bundle to carry everything in my wolf form, mind-linking my dad as I ran home.

‘Dad? The rogue situation is all dealt with.’

‘Good. Terrance said he wasn’t a danger to the pack, I take it that’s so?’

‘Yeah, he’s had a rough few years…’ I started and went through Taylor’s entire situation.

‘The poor boy, what pack did he come from?’

‘Monkshood Moon, that sketchy pack in Montana. Don’t worry about the report, I’ll write it u…’ but my dad cut me off.

‘Don’t. I don’t want any paper trail that leads that boy here. I know that pack and they’re dangerous. Come to my office tomorrow and we’ll talk…I’m actually surprised you didn’t come today.’

I wasn’t quite sure which part of my father’s words to latch onto first. He almost sounded worried, nervous even. That was never a good sign.

‘Ok dad, I’ll come over first thing.’

Trust my brothers to find a problematic mate…but it wasn’t as though I could say much on that matter.

‘And son?…I know your time will come…your mate is out there, just waiting for you to find them.’

…He had no idea how right he was.

The thought of June pushed me onwards, wanting to get home to her as soon as possible. Since our date together had been cut short, I had an idea what I wanted to do this evening and where I wanted to take her, or should I say where my wolf wanted to take her.