Once Rejected, Twice Desired (Book 1 of Blue Moon Series)
Once Rejected, Twice Desired Chapter 30

Alaia POV

We had been back home for a few days, and things were getting back to normal, or as "normal" as they could be with a Luna ceremony around the corner. Katherine was like a mini drill sergeant, providing strict instruction to the entire staff for the event.

I made the mistake of entering the common room one afternoon to find her giving a florist hell because they suggested tulips instead of lilies in the centerpieces. "Xander!" I whispered, while slowly backing from the room.

"Yes, Little One?"

"Has your mom always been this intense? They are just flowers, no big deal, right? I mean, what's it going to be like when we get married?!"

"You want to marry me?" he asked, completely straying from the topic at hand.

"Xander, focus! It was a hypothetical question."

"So, hypothetically...you want to marry me?"

"Ugh! No... I mean not hypothetically, so yes; I guess?"

"Mom!"

When Xander called him mom, I squeaked with shock. Was he going to tell her I called her intense?!

Katherine came over with her hand over the receiver of her phone.

"Xander, sweetie, I'm a bit busy getting the ceremony together. What do you need?"

"I need you also to plan a wedding, Alaia here said that she wants to marry me."

My jaw dropped, and my eyes almost popped out. He did not just do that!

Katherine slowly raised the phone to her ear and said to the person on the other end, "New development, I'll have to call you back."

She quickly shut off the phone then looked at the two of us.

"Xander, don't mess with me, son. You know how long I've been waiting to plan your wedding. Are you serious right now?" "Alaia, am I serious?"

"Uhh. Well, I-he asked if I wanted to, b-but it was hypothetical?"

I was so confused; my statement was absolutely posed more as a question than an answer.

Did I want to marry Xander, of course, I did. One day. But definitely after a better proposal.

Xander looked at my rapidly paling face then roared with laughter.

I let out a whoosh of air and crumpled into the nearest chair.

"Xander Emanuel Black! What is wrong with you? Why would you do something like that to her?"

"I couldn't help it; she just gets so cute when she's nervous."

"And what about me? I thought I was going to be a grandma, finally!"

"I've been working on it, Mom. Vigorously."

Xander sent me a wink then again burst out laughing before leaving the room, leaving an extremely embarrassed me behind to clean up his mess. "Alaia, I apologize for my son. Xavier was the exact same way when we were your age. It was his mission to embarrass me daily in front of his mother." "Oh, thank the Goddess!"

Katherine looked at me, confused before I finally explained myself.

"I'm just so happy that you understand. That man is going to give me a heart attack. Can embarrassment cause a heart attack?

"That I'm not too sure about, but I understand your pain, sweetie. And just to be clear, have you really been working on my grandchildren...vigorously?" She raised an eyebrow, and I immediately saw where Xander got that trait from.

My face turned bright red. Seriously?!

Katherine turned to leave, and before she was out of earshot, I heard her yell, "I'm not getting any younger!"

***

I decided that I would spend the rest of my day without the presence of males around; or Katherine. I'd been embarrassed enough to last a lifetime.

I called Kimmy and Cassie and asked them over for a small barbecue/pool party.

It was insanely hot, and we hadn't yet had the chance to take advantage of the pools fantastic water slide.

The ladies arrived shortly after, along with little Sophie, and after linking my phone to the Bluetooth speaker nearby, we had a party!

"So Alaia, are you nervous? The Luna ceremony is in three days!" Kimmy said while excitedly bouncing on her toes.

I leaned forward on my lawn chair and pulled my sunglasses down a bit to look at her over them.

She looked like a kid in a candy store; I couldn't help but giggle.

"I wouldn't say I'm nervous. I mean, I'm ready for the responsibility that comes with being this pack's Luna, but I have a bad feeling."

"A bad feeling about being our Luna?" Cassie asked with a sad look on her face.

"No. I can't wait to be Luna; I have a bad feeling that something will go wrong at the ceremony."

"Ha! My mom would murder anyone who so much as placed a crouton incorrectly on the salad. I think the ceremony is beyond covered."

"You do have a valid point there, Kim. Maybe it is nerves," I said with a shrug.

Just then, one of the pack's chefs, Geoffrey, came out of the house with a humongous pile of meats on a platter. He headed for the large built-in barbecue area and began arranging it all on a grill. "Wow Alaia, is just three women and a four-year-old. Why did you request so much food?" Cassie asked.

"Uhm, I didn't. I just asked for a few burgers and hotdogs. And I swear Geoff just put a slab of dinosaur ribs in that smoker."

When he was finished, he began to walk back to the house before I stopped him.

"Hi, Geoff!"

"Good afternoon, Luna. Your barbecue will be ready shortly. We already have many of the sides you requested chilling in the kitchen."

Was someone hijacking my barbecue? The only sides I requested were Doritos.

"Geoff, who asked you to prepare so much food? It's just the four of us here," I said, pointing to the ladies behind me.

"The Alpha did, Miss. Maybe he wanted to make sure you had a nice afternoon."

Yeah...sure.

"Okay, thank you, Geoff."

"Anytime, Luna."

He then walked back inside.

"Ladies, I believe we've-"

Then the three pains in my a*s I was hoping to avoid this afternoon walked into the backyard.

Wearing just swim trunks and smirks. They were here to crash my party.

I turned to Cassie and Kim to come up with a quick plan to get rid of the guys, but I immediately saw that wasn't going to happen. I was on my own.

Kim, being an unmated female, began to drool when she saw a shirtless and suntan oil-covered Matt.

Cassie was a little better, but not much.

She had a mate, so Matthew didn't have the same effect on her, but her jaw was damn near on the ground watching the three of them walk over.

I sat back on my chair in a panic.

"Oh, for f**k's sake, ladies! Get your s**t together; they are just men! You're stronger than this! We're stronger than this! And they are here crashing our party," I frantically whispered, not wanting Sophie to hear me swear. And then in unison, those traitors said, "They can stay."

Where was the loyalty?

I threw my hands up in frustration. They did this on purpose. The looks on their smug faces told me so!

Xander strolled right up to me and stopped an inch in front of my face.

I was eye level with his impeccably carved abs and pecs. And he smelled so damn good.

No! He wouldn't just waltz in on my man-free afternoon like this.

"X-Xander...Uh, what..."

Damn you, traitorous hormones!

He reached out and placed a finger under my chin, lifting my face so I could look up at him.

"You don't mind if we join your pool party, do you, Baby?"

Wait! Was he using his Dom tone on me? Now? Well, he had another thing coming.

"It's fine, I guess. You're already here, and Geoff is making more than enough food," I said with a shrug.

He raised his signature eyebrow at me, a question and a warning.

"You sure that's the answer you want to go with, Little One?"

"Yep," I said, popping the "P."

He quickly bent down, wrapped an arm around my waist and scooped me up off the chair.

Then he lowered his voice and whispered directly in my ear, "You're being a naughty girl, baby. And Daddy will punish you for that tonight."

He then nipped at my mark and set me back on my feet.

"Let's go, boys, I think the pool is calling our names."

I turned and watched them jog over to the pool and dive in.

"Damn..."

I was surrounded by traitors.

***

The ladies and I finally decided to get back in the water and enjoy ourselves. It was still a ridiculously hot day.

I dove into the deep end, and when I came up, I ran straight into a wall.

I pushed my hair back out of my face and wiped my eyes to see that Xander was standing right in front of me.

"Xander! You could have broken my nose with this chest of yours. What are you doing standing here?"

He didn't answer; he just looked me up and down. He then reached under the water and wrapped his hands behind my thighs before saying, "Up."

I gave a small leap and wrapped my legs around his waist.

We spent a few moments just looking at each other before he broke the silence.

"You're beautiful, Alaia."

"Yay! Mom was right! You two are working on a niece for me to spoil!"

"Ugh, what is it with the women in your family trying to rent out my uterus?!"

"It's not just the women, Little One."

And there go those damned hormones again.

***

We splashed around for about an hour or so before Geoff came to let us know the food was ready.

We all toweled off and headed over to the tables he had set up for us.

There was enough food to feed a small army and the way the guys were piling their plates; we would have no problem clearing it all out.

We all sat down and began to dig in.

Sophie was sitting between her mom and me when she leaned over and whispered, "He's pretty, can I keep him?"

I looked up to see she was pointing to Matt, and I burst out laughing.

This was perfect. All day I was the b**t of all the jokes, but now it's was someone else's turn.

I was going to seize this opportunity big time; you know...carpe diem and all that jazz.

I took a sip of my Sprite before I cleared my throat, making sure I had the attention of the entire table.

"Hey, Matt?"

"What's up, Bean?"

"Did you know that your powers of persuasion also work on children?"

He looked genuinely confused by my question, so I elaborated a bit more.

"Little Miss Sophie here pointed out to me that you were pretty. She'd like to know if she could keep you."

The usually shy Sophie sent him the biggest brightest smile I had ever seen.

Perfect!

I watched Matt swallow hard and look around the table.

"Uhh, it's what? Keep me? I-I guess? No, I mean, no!"

Matt jumped up and walked off to the house, mumbling under his breath while we all doubled over in laughter.

"Where is he going?" Sophie asked with a small pout.

I said the first thing that came to mind.

"He had to go potty; he'll be right back."

She made a small "o" with those adorable little lips of hers then went back to eating her hotdog.

I laughed to myself, satisfied with the outcome of my afternoon.

Payback is a bitch...

***

Alexi POV

I woke up with a pounding headache, covered in a thick film of dirt, sweat, and blood. My body felt like I had been hit by a train-twice.

I had no idea where I was or how I had gotten there.

Looking around, I saw that I was in a makeshift bedroom decorated in red and black. It looked like a cliché vampire's bedroom. "What the f**k is going on?" I said to myself. Something wasn't right; why couldn't I recollect anything from the past few days? Just then, I heard a knock on the door that made me jump.

Then I remembered, I may not know what's going on, but I was still a beta and a warrior.

"Get your s**t together, Alexi; we're better than this," I said, giving myself a quick pep talk.

Whoever it was, I wouldn't let them intimidate me.

I steeled my voice then said, "Come in."

When the door opened, I thought I was seeing things. This couldn't be real.

The man before me was ragged and torn. He had claw marks covering his face and torso that were oozing infection and death.

He smelled of rot and decay. He was a rogue.

When had rogues captured me? Maybe they were the reason for my memory loss.

"Alpha Maximus, we are ready for you now."

He then bowed his head and backed out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Alpha? Maximus? But why would he call me by my wolf's name?

Don't you see Alexi? You weren't strong enough to get her back. It's your fault she left us. So, I took things into my own hands.

Max? What the f**k have you done? Why don't I remember anything?

Because you're weak and pathetic! I have to do everything. I've been in control ever since we left the pack hospital. And I'll remain in power until I have my mate back. You can thank me later when she's pregnant with our pups.

Listen to me, Max, we have to let this go. She's moved on now. There has to be someone else out there for us. Just let Alaia go.

Someone else? No one else! She's special, rare, and one of a kind. She was mine until you f****d things up for me. Now I'm going to get her back.

Max, you can't do this s**t, man. She's finally happy; she deserves to be happy!

How can she be happy with him?! No, we are her one real mate. You made a mistake, and now I have to fix it. You know what? It's time for you to go back to sleep now, Alexi. My pack needs their Alpha, so I've got to go. Maybe once my plan is complete, and I've gotten her back I'll let you back out so you can witness Alaia writhing underneath us as we ravage her delicious little body, over and over. But that's only if you're a good boy. Talk soon.

Then it was like someone shut off all the lights, and I was consumed in total darkness. My body began to float on what felt like a thick sticky sea of tar that I just couldn't escape.

I was being pushed back to the furthest recesses of my mind.

How was I going to get out of this? I had to save Alaia from myself.