His Mute Luna
Chapter 20

Morgan

I was still in a dazed state waking up; maintaining a wolf form even in sleep, always zapped the energy of a werewolf. I had given full control over Mars, allowing myself to slip into unconsciousness as he watched over our mate while she fell asleep. Last night almost felt like a dream, whatever I thought being intimate with my mate would feel like, reality had transcended any fantasy I ever had.

I rolled over, reaching out to grasp her…but my bed was empty, still warm, but my June was nowhere within my reach. The sound of the bathroom door drew my attention to my mate, who was wearing nothing but a little towel. The sight of her still slightly damp skin, her glistening thick thighs and shapely legs had my wolf instantly captivated and projecting every pornographic image available in my mind. I caught her smirking at me, her eyes roving over me, settling on my lower half. I looked down, seeing I was uncovered and completely naked with a raging case of morning wood. I snatched the covers back over me, still feeling some inhibition about being bare in front of my mate…even though that rationale was slightly stupid considering where her mouth had been last night.

She wandered over to me, settling down at my side to lean in and brush her soft, sweet lips against my own in a morning k**s. She made a gesture with her hands, touching her chin, palm and then the crook of her elbow bringing her other arm upwards.

“Good morning?” I guessed.

She smiled brightly, nodding and showed me the sign again, taking me through the steps slowly so I could learn it. She clapped for me as I managed to perform the sign on my own, her face lighting up in pride and admiration. Maybe I could convince her to stay home with me again since yesterday was interrupted…

‘You seem to be forgetting the meeting you scheduled with our father…this morning,’ Mars yawned, smugly reminding me.

‘Oh, hell!’ I internally g*****d.

“I really want to spend the day with you again, but I need to meet with my dad. He needs to see me about my brothers’ mate and I’m hoping he’s got some information on the men that took you,” at the mention of her kidnappers she tensed for a brief second, looking down and nodding.

“Are you…dealing with everything ok still?” I asked, pulling her to my chest to lay her back against.

She nodded once more, the tension easing.

In a way, yeah. What you told me yesterday, it really helped. Having you and Mars has been the biggest relief. I get why you wolves go all gaga around your mates now, I’m feeling it too! She grinned, turning to face me a little.

I engulfed her in my arms, nuzzling into the side of her face. This would be my morning every day from now on…how did I ever wake up without her before?

This may come as a shock, Alpha boy, coming from a lowly human, but I’ve got important stuff to get done today too. Even though these arms of yours are very tempting, she smirked as I read her message.

“Oh? What’s so much more important than me, then?” I nudged, cheekily.

Oh where do I begin? She started, while I watched her type, in general, chocolate for one, definitely gin, pizza, cheese, ranch dressing. But today specifically, stat analysis! She waved her hands in the air in mock enthusiasm.

“Wow, didn’t realise I had such stiff competition for your attention” I chuckled while kissing her cheek.

I really needed to knuckle down and learn more sign language so she didn’t have to type everything out. But there was something pretty intimate about it, like I was always receiving little love notes.

After breakfast, which June had insisted on making, we were about to part ways when she asked if I could pick her and Tipper up after work. She wouldn’t be able to take her work’s vehicle home for the next few days and didn’t want to cycle while having her brother’s dog with her. We would also be dropping off Tipper together tonight when Tom was back at around 9pm. With my mate gone, I grabbed a quick shower before I headed off to meet my dad; as much as I hated washing her honeysuckle aroma off, I didn’t want to risk any questions yet about why I had a woman’s scent all over me.

My mom greeted me with a huge hug, being careful to avoid getting any paint on me. She was still continuing her mural in the hallway which was starting to take shape now, a flock of loons on a moonlit lake. As I greeted my dad and began to close the door to his office, my mom’s singing could be heard from the hall. His face lit up upon hearing her voice with a dreamy expression despite the horridly out of tune version of ‘Sweet Caroline’.

“She met Taylor yesterday, didn’t she?” I grinned with a knowing look.

“What gave it away?” He beamed, his gaze still lingering in the direction my mom was butchering Neil Diamond.

“So, while we’re on the topic, then. Why don’t you want any report on Taylor? You said you knew his old pack?” I asked, wanting to get straight to the point.

His face took on a serious edge as he looked back to me, “our packs were allies once, your grandfather, Gordon and their previous Alpha, Nicholas Firth. They had…shared goals. If you think my father was a tyrant…Nicholas could put him to shame.”

My brows shot up in surprise. My grandfather was a monstrous Alpha that led through oppression, if Taylor’s old Alpha was worse…no wonder the guy had been so tight-lipped on talking about it…and he had been mated to that Alpha’s son…

“When I managed to overthrow Gordon…I faced some retaliation from Nicholas. I just about managed to fight him off but it caused a lot of damage on both sides…damage our pack still feels even now. I was surprised my father’s other ally didn’t get themselves involved, but trying to figure out their motives is like trying to grasp fog,” he sighed, stilling uncomfortably as though he had said more than he meant to.

“So this Monkshood Moon pack, they never tried again? To hit back at our pack?” They had 25 years to launch another attack.

“From what I’ve heard, and I don’t even know if it’s true, Nicholas moved onto other things to strengthen himself and his pack. He wiped out a neighbouring pack and took the Alpha’s daughter, but everything is so secretive with them, you never know what’s true and what’s a rumour.”

“That pack though, they’ve changed their name, right? And Alphas?” It wasn’t uncommon for packs to change their name when they wanted to erase their past and start anew. Ashen Star had originally been named Ashen Dust under my grandfather.

My dad nodded. “Hunter, Nicholas’s son. Which is why I don’t want him getting any hint that the mate he rejected is in our pack. I don’t know what kind of man he is, but if he holds even a shred of his father’s ideals…” he paused, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Taylor has been through enough. I want him to have a peaceful life now with us as his new family.”

“Ok, I’ll make sure any record of him being here is hidden,” I conceded. “What about those kidnappers? Did you find anything on that tattoo they all had?” I studied my dad’s face as I asked.

“…No, nothing. Must be some petty gang symbol,” a lie, or at least certainly not the whole truth.

My narrowed slightly in suspicion, “what about the other packs? They have anything similar happen?”

“Yeah…” my dad began.

Some had instances of a similar trend over the course of the last five years. A she-wolf here and there going missing, all with the same description: some shade of blonde hair and blue-green eyes. Some had been returned, or rather dumped, at their borders with little to no details of their abduction. All they knew was that they were taken by figures in masks and knocked out. Some… hadn’t been seen again. My dad had also found a few reports of human women going missing, all in the last year and outside of packs. Not enough to stir attention from the human authorities, but their physical descriptions were too similar for it to be coincidental.

“How’re the four women doing? You said you were gonna check on them and then I don’t see you for two days?” He asked, drawing my attention back.

“Yeah, they’re fine,” I swallowed, trying my best to keep a neutral face. “Sorry I’ve not checked in…I’ve just been busy with training and stuff.”

He quirked a brow at my response. f**k, I was such a shitty liar.

“And that human girl? She’s not feeling any lingering effects? She was shot with wolfsbane after all,” his line of questioning was starting to get a little uncomfortable.

“I’ve not heard otherwise,” technically true, June was physically fit and healthy to my knowledge.

And there was that peculiar expression again on my dad’s face.

Something more was going on here.

Whoever this group were, looking for a woman with specific characteristics… characteristics that matched my mate’s description perfectly; my father asking specifically about her; the scars on her throat from an apparent rogue attack that, miraculously, she had survived. He knew something, I felt it. Maybe there’d be something in his files. He was never this secretive…as far as I knew…what was he not saying?

I wanted to ask him more. But I didn’t want to draw attention to my relationship with June just yet. She was still adjusting to the idea of being the mate to an Alpha, that one day she would be Luna of this pack.

‘Alphas? We have a man at our borders. He’s requesting to see you, Alpha George, with regards to a missing person he’s trying to locate and would like to ask whether we’ve had any rogues pass through recently,’ a patrol tracker mind-linked the two of us.

Our eyes snapped to each other, an uneasy feeling settling in my stomach.

‘What’s his name?’ My dad responded, keeping me connected in the mind-link.

‘He says Hunter Firth, sir.’

‘Keep him at the borders. Do not let him know anything is amiss. We’re on our way,’ and with that he cut the link.

“We need to mobilise our warriors now. I’m not risking anything, this could be a distraction for all we know,” my dad said, rising from his seat.

“Dad, let me do this. You stay here and direct the pack response. I’ll go with Shane to see this Alpha myself. If need be I can make him submit. Shane’s not as affected by my aura if I have to let it loose, so he’s the best to take as back up.”

I stood waiting for a reply from him. He looked conflicted and at war with himself before he finally nodded and agreed to my approach.

I grabbed a pair of bottoms from my parents that they kept stashed for emergencies and stripped once I left the house, carrying the item of clothing in my mouth as I ran in my wolf form to meet this Alpha Hunter. Shane mind-linked me as I ran that he was on the way and would arrive just before me. I didn’t know exactly what to expect from this man, but so far no-one had mind-linked about any secret army nearby or lurking wolves looking to invade. It was just him, alone, waiting patiently at our border; nothing so far screamed ‘despot Alpha’.

‘Morgan, we’re coming too,’ Cal’s voice suddenly sounded in my mind.

‘…By we, you mean you and Cam, right? Because I know you’re not bringing Taylor!’

‘He needs to do this. And with all due respect, there’s f**k all you can say that’s going to stop us,’ Cam’s stern voice now chipped in. Neither of them had ever spoken with this much command and conviction; I never thought I’d see the day.

I pushed on, there was no point in arguing. They were going to do this regardless of what I said. I just had to pray that they’d keep their cool and protect Taylor no matter what.

Arriving at the border, Shane, as he had said, had already arrived and was speaking to a man that I had to assume was Hunter. It all looked quite…civil. I shifted as I approached, stepping into the sweatpants I had grabbed. Coming face to face with the man that I had every negative preconception about was not what I thought it would be. I felt no malice, no hostility, not even any anger from him. There was a deep pain etched into his face, as though he had carried it for many years only to be softened by a flicker of hope.

‘Dad, I’m here now…I don’t think we’re in any danger here,’ the entire run I had geared myself up for a fight and I was now faced with a situation I wasn’t expecting.

‘Don’t drop your guard. His father was a sneaky son-of-a-bitch, he might be the same.’

‘You’re nothing like your father, he might not be like his.’

Hunter turned from his talk with Shane to address me, “Alpha Morgan Anderson, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he politely greeted.

“Likewise, Alpha Hunter,” I replied, a little perplexed by the respectful greeting.

“As I was telling your Gamma here, I was hoping that you would be able to help. I’m sorry I didn’t phone ahead, I’ve not had much free time traveling between packs. I’m looking for someone, from my pack, his name’s Tay…” but his words caught in his throat as a vehicle quickly pulled up.

Cal, Cam and Taylor stepped out, their three sets of eyes fixed on Hunter. He swallowed with great difficulty, his expression was brief but it wasn’t unnoticed; the shimmer in his eyes and the pure longing of his gaze…not what I expected from a man standing in front of a mate that he supposedly didn’t want.

The expression on my brothers’ faces wasn’t exactly what I was expecting either. There was no aggressive stare down, they almost looked curious…and confused?

They weren’t the only ones. Just what the hell was going on right now?

Taylor

Cam was busy cooking up some breakfast, swearing quietly as the eggs and bacon spat back at him as they sizzled. He insisted on remaining shirtless, stating that he didn’t want to ruin my view. Cal was too busy sneaking k****s to my neck to actually help in anything, leaving me to butter the toast alone, which was not helping to distract my flustered state.

We were having a slightly late start, having been up a little late last night. Things had quickly become heated before bed with my twins, nothing too physical as I was nowhere near ready for that. But I was now sporting a hickey from each of my mates on my neck and also along the scar crossing my side. Their lips had trailed over its entire length, caressing the ugly, raised skin with their heated lips. With twin mates, every touch, every k**s, every pleasure was doubled. Two sets of lips devouring my skin and two sets of hands stroking everything, everywhere. When their hands had descended, trying to get into my pants I had pulled away. I was already in way over my head and this was just stirring bad memories.

Cam had made Cal clean up, so he could take his brother’s place of peppering his hickey mark on my neck with k****s.

“This is torture, you know!” Cal grumbled as he scrubbed the frying pan.

“If you had helped cook, we would have helped clean. So tough s**t, bro,” Cam smugly replied, punctuating his comment with a particularly aggressive nibble on a spot of my neck that seemed overly sensitive to his touch alone, making me m**n out loudly.

I pushed away slightly from where we sat on the couch, feeling things escalate a little too quickly for my comfort…but also wanting to escalate the hell out of things, savagely and right now.

“Sorry, I just…this is all getting a little intense,” I tried to apologise.

“Don’t,” Cal spoke softly, as he came to sit at my other side and traced his thumb over my l*p. “You don’t apologise for us pushing you past your comfort zone.”

He pressed his forehead to mine while Cam pressed his to my shoulder. We stayed like this for a few moments until I felt them both still and pull away, silently speaking between themselves.

“Taylor, there’s a man at the border…his name’s Hunter,” Cam spoke, stroking my cheek in comfort.

Upon hearing his name, my stomach lurched, threatening to bring up all the breakfast that I had eaten. I ran to the bathroom, with my mates in quick pursuit as they rubbed my back while I threw up. I had tears in my eyes by the time I finished retching and my breathing was ragged.

Why was he here?!

How the hell had he found me?!

Why now?! I had only just found a brief glimmer of peace.

My wolf felt at war with himself. Wanting our lost mate…but not willing to give up our new ones either.

A sentiment I was ashamed to admit I shared.

“We won’t let him anywhere near you,” Cam soothed.

“Yeah, he can go over my dead body first,” Cal stated rather seriously, while wiping my mouth with some tissue.

I rinsed my mouth out with water and mouthwash and turned, a resolve filling in my chest. I didn’t want to hide. I wasn’t some afraid boy anymore. I was a grown man, I needed to face this myself. I deserved to get the answers I was denied five years ago…even though it scared me shitless.

“No…I want…I need to face him,” my eyes were set with determination.

They looked to each other, sharing some silent conversation again, before they moved, pulling me with them.

“Ok, we’re heading there together,” Cam said as he laced his fingers with mine.

“Maybe put a shirt on first, just saying,” Cal raised a brow to his twin.

———-

The entire drive, I felt my stomach in flips, threatening to vomit up bile this time. I could tell we were drawing closer. My broken bond had started to pull, desperately wanting to be reformed.

…Maybe this was a mistake.

But it was too late to back out as my eyes landed on the huge man stood by who I remembered to be Alpha Morgan and a hauntingly pale man with platinum hair that looked as though he was from some other world.

Hunter had changed and, unfortunately for me and my poor heart, it wasn’t a change for the worse. He was broader, more muscular, more rugged and his Alpha aura had grown immensely…dammit.

I wanted to run to him and latch around his waist. But I also wanted to latch myself to my twins…this was a mistake…I shouldn’t have come.

All I had done was confuse myself further.

How Hunter looked at me, it was as though no time had passed, that same unbridled longing was etched into every corner of his face.

He had rejected me. I had two second chance mates. I shouldn’t be feeling any sort of pull to him…

Cam stood comfortingly behind me, his hands gently squeezing my upper arms. Cal stood in front, like a protective shield, his arm reaching back around my waist, keeping me sandwiched between my Alphas. What was strange was the confusion and almost ‘want’ trembling through the bond from my two mates.

What on earth was happening to the mate bond right now?