The Defiant Luna
Chapter 16

Nathan POV

Nathan saw his mother walk into his office, she was glaring at him and there was a deep frown marring her face. Wondered instantly what he’d done to tick her off, saw her walk clear across his office and around his desk, then just reach out and smack him up the back of his head. One good hard hit.

Snarled right at her for the disrespect and unnounced hit she had delivered, he didn’teven know what he’d done this time to deserve it. Usually she yelled at him before she tried to beat him. Usually he knew what he’d done to deserve that hit he knew was coming. Not this morning though.

Heard her wolf snarl right back at him and felt her Luna Aura roll off of her.

Oh yes, he was in trouble with her, hadn’t even seen her this morning, other than when she’d strolled in and told him that Halley wanted to play with the triplets, had let her take them after breakfast. Didn’t see an issue with it.

Stared up at her response to him growling at her, it was not unusual, Havoc growled at everyone most of the time, “What the hell mother?” He snapped at her.

“You deserved it. Jay- la just found out about her Luna Ceremony from

Vera. Did you not tell her about it, at all? When it is? Nothing?”

Blinked at her now “No, I just thought you and Vera would be all over that, discussing it with her and dragging her all over the place.”

“Well, son. We thought you would have told her, it is actually your job to tell her when you’re going to hold it. I also thought you would have been excited to talk to her about it, tell her. So now you can add that to the list of things she’s ticked off at you for.”

He sighed. “I guess I can, I should go and talk to her about it then.”

“Don’t bother, she told me and I quote her ‘I’m certain you’ll go and tell him to go and tell me now.’ And yes, here I am having to do just that. It’s too late for you to tell her about it. She’ll only believe you’re doing so because I’m making you do so.”

“Then what do you suggest that I do mother?” He muttered. He couldn’t catch a bloody break even if he fell down the stairs, it seemed.

“I don’t know to be honest with you…but something else, has occurred to me, while she and I had a little chat this morning.”

“Yes.” He could tell from her tone he wasn’t going to like it.

“You have been Marked and Mated for two days now. I have not heard you announce her to the pack as your Luna, not even as your Mate. Perhaps Nathan, Jay- la is annoyed and pissed off with you, for this very reason.

Perhaps she’s been shutting you out for this very reason. You said you didn’t know why she did it. Maybe, your Luna doesn’t feel like a Luna, or that you want her to be your Luna. Due to your lack of acknowledgement of her to the entire pack.” she yelled right at him “It is disrespectful to her, is what it is.”

.

He sat staring at her now, he had not done that either, he now realised, sighed heavily and rubbed his temples. It was highly likely this could be the reason she was ticked off at him, shutting him out and stalking away from him.

His mother was still staring at him and he could actually feel her annoyance rolling off of her. She wasn’t done yet and he knew it, was getting a lecture, likely the most important one of his life. “Do you know how long it took your father to announce me…”

He did, had heard about it from his father.

“Less than one minute after he Mark and Mate me, couldn’t bloody hold it in that I had said yes to him and let him Mate me. He was like a kid waking up on Christmas morning.”

He knew she was right, he should have done it vesterday morning. He had told his parents and his unit but not announced it to the entire pack.

“That is the first thing you should have done. Woken up, and announced her, via a pack wide mind- link. It would have taken you all of ten or fifteen seconds. Could you not find fifteen seconds in your busy schedule at all yesterday? or last night? or this morning? Are you so busy that your Luna is not worth fifteen seconds of your time, at all?”

“Mother.”

“Don’t you mother me boy. You should have announced her and proudly so, welcomed that girl home and back into this pack, after what you did to her.

Told everyone she was home and how happy you were about it, but you didn’t.

Not even after all the trouble of gaining her, did you think to show her one iota of respect. Still haven’t found those fifteen seconds have vou.” she grated out.

“I’m sorry, I did have pressing needs with Nate if vou recall.”

“I don’t care about that, the child, he will come around in his own time.

You have years to work on that. Your Mate and Luna however, can reject your a*s anytime she likes. You do know that, understand that, right?”

“Yes, mother, of course I do.”

“Do vou realise it is likely that she feels unloved by you, right this minute.

You had your father announce, from memory, Sophia the day you Marked and Mated did you not? From what I saw as a Luna. Jay- la likely feels she is solely here because of the children. If they are all you have been dealing with. You might want to consider all your interactions with her since she got here. Do not mistake a Mate Bond for love, when you have a bad history to contend with.” Then she turned and stalked from the room, stopped at the door and looked right at him “I thought I raised you better than that.” She muttered and stepped out of his office and banged the door shut.

He sat there in his chair, he couldn’t even argue with his own mother. She was right, Jay- la had even been here when his father had announced Sophia, ” f**k” he muttered.

“Indeed.” Jackson sighed heavily, he was leaning up against the wall in his usual haunt. Stood there quietly and watched the current Luna rip his Alpha a new one, hadn’t intervened as she had gotten her point across.

Knew that if he all of sudden announced her, Jay- la was going to know and feel that his mother had made him do it. Not feel like, he had wanted to do it, was happy to announce her as his Mate and Luna, likely feel his mother had forced his hand. Might not have been so bad if she’d gotten up and gone to training with him, and some of the pack members had seen them together.

He’d always enjoyed sparring with her.

Thought about that, what the pack had seen where their Alpha and Luna were concerned. They would have seen her walking around on her own and him with the children. Yes, they had been together for a brief moment at lunch and then in the games room. But even those interactions showed her being hostile towards him.

The teens in the game room that had their wolves already would have not only heard their words but the tone of their conversation, seen her walk away from him completely.

He didn’t even know where she was right this minute, knew she had stalked out of the pack- house after having words with Abbey on the fourth floor, not so nice words at that. Had been snarky with Jackson even.

He had punished Abbey, but had not he now realised, informed Jay-la of the punishment for her crimes against her mother, against a pack member who would have not stood a chance against an Alpha female: Sighed and got up, he had to speak to her.

Headed to the accountant’s office first, might need a reason to be near her if she was in this frame of mind, would get those documents for Michael’s prenup. Albert his lead accountant sat staring at him for a moment, it was rare for him to stroll in here, it was more a Stephen or Ethan thing to do. Then the man just nodded after hearing what he wanted and why. “Might take me a minute or two. I’ll go and give it to Jay- la if you like, so you don’t have to wait.

Frowned at the man, “T’ll wait,” he hadn’t called her the Luna, called her by her first name, and then offered to deliver it himself. It seems the pack didn’t know what to make of them, he realised. No wonder she was mad at him.

Nathan stood and waited, he wasn’t one to keep track of his siblings spending pack money, he had no idea how much money Michael spent in a

•month, let alone the last year or three for that matter.

Mind- linked to his brother ‘Michael, what vehicles have you purchased in the past three vears.’

‘None, I have a car, got it for my 18th why?’ came the reply.

Jay-la is working on your prenup, any and all vehicles must be accounted for.’

‘Tust the Mercedes and I didn’t buy it. It was a gift.”

‘Bikes?’

‘No’

‘Nothing at all?’ Nathan frowned now.

‘I’m not reckless or wasteful with pack funds Nathan. That would be

Abbeys domain, though personally, I thought you would have curbed that by now, to be honest. Who needs a new car every year or new furniture for her suite every six months or so. Her wardrobe is likely bigger than yours too.’

Thank you, Michael.’ He cut the link.

He’d not kept track of either of them, they were Alpha’s and if something did happen to him, without an heir the pack would fall to one of them, well it would have gone to Abbey, until two days ago, until she’d been de-ranked by him, that was.

“Albert I’d like to see Abbey’s spending habits as well, since I have been in charge, any and all vehicles she has purchased as well, you can just send that, to my office.”

“Yes Alpha.” He nodded.

He was handed a single manila envelope for Michael’s spending, flipped through it as he walked, the man was a scrooge it seemed, he bought Kuel for his car, used his card at the university to buy meals and books, pay his tition, nothing extravagant there. Just the normal things. Seemed that he went our with his circle of friends once a week and bought dinner for them all, had the occasional holiday or weekend away. There was nothing lavish about the man, didn’t need anything much to get by it seemed, only noted an increase in spending around the time he met Rae- Rae. Even that was technically normal.

Nathan himself had spent more in the past two months than Michael had in the past three vears.

Shook his head, the man barely spent fifty grand a year, that was very unusual for an alpha male.

Pulled on that tether that was Jay- la, he was close enough to her to know exactly where she was, up in their suite, it seemed, walked from the third floor to the fifth and found her in his office, sitting behind the desk, dressed as she would in her office, a suit on. All business, it seemed.

“Morning Jay- la.”

“Morning.” She stated without looking away from her work.

Sighed internally, “I have those documents for Michael, you requested, his statement of spending for the past three years. They’re a bit odd even for me.”

That last statement gained her attention and made her look up at him. He smiled at her as she held out her hand for him to give it to her. Took the opportunity to walk around the desk to stand next to her and place it on the desk in front of her. “My brother.” He said as he turned and leaned on the desk next to her, “doesn’t spend much at all.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” She commented and opened the file, flipped through it, he sat there and waited, watched her slide a finger down each page as she perused it and when finished, frowned up at him.

“Came as a shock to me as well.”

“This reads as though it has been doctored.”

“It hasn’t, he’s a bit of a scrooge apparently. I didn’t know that.” He leaned over and flipped the pages to where Michael had gone to L.A. “this is where he met Rae- Rae, took her out for dinners and dancing, dated her, it’s the only increase in pack fund usage I can see. He had just one car, the Mercedes that mother and father gave to him on his 18th birthday. Is now 24, been using that car for six years. Still looks new, I just presumed he’d bought a new one, just the same model appears not.”

Saw her frown deepen “You’re telling me he still has the same car from when I was here?”

“Yep.” Nathan nodded, not even he had the same car as the one he’d had last year.

“Well, what is acceptable to you, as an amount for the prenup, I can’t put fifty thousand dollars a year on it. Lauren and Tony will never buy it, neither will old man Hill, for that matter.”

“I guess put him down for 20 or 30 million.”

“Rae- Rae is worth more than that.” She shook her head.

“It’s not his pack Jay- la.”

“Who gets the pack if something happens to you? Michael or Abbey?

He was the one frowning now. “You do, then Nate and the girls when they grow up.” Saw her frown up at him once more “You are my Luna, Jay Ja. You now own everything I own, the pack included. If something happens to ge, it’s

vours

• “)

“And if I don’t want it?”

Why wouldn’t she want it, it was her right to take over it, to have his whole unit protect her like they would him. Hell, if something happened to him, she could take another alpha and seat him as the new Alpha to the pack, if the triplets weren’t old enough to take over.

Sighed out loud this time, couldn’t hold it in “We need to sit and talk it seems.”

“About?” her eves moved from him back to the document in her hands.

“You not wanting to be here.” He stated frankly.

Saw her eyes flick right to him, but her expression was bland and unreadable “I never said that.” She eventually stated, when he just sat there staring at her waiting on a response from her.

“Actions speak louder than words sometimes, Jay- la.”

“I’m well aware of that, Nathan. Or should I just call you Alpha like evervone else around here does?”

“Why would you do that?” he sighed.

“Because that is what you are. I’m well aware of the fact I’m only here because your wolf demanded it. Not you, I understand that you want your children here, your heirs to the pack. You’ve made that pretty clear with your actions. Even in the human world, that was clear to me.”

“That’s not fair Jay- la, they weren’t safe out there.”

“They were until you exposed them to your enemies. I kept them safe at all times.”

He couldn’t argue with her on that one, it had been him who’d been the one to bring the children into their battle, mention them specifically and outed them to the wolfen world. “I’m sorry I did that. I really was just trying to get into a room with you. So you could scent me out and know what I was to you. I wanted you to know that I was your Mate. I wanted us to come together. It was not just my wolf Jay- la.”

“Then answer me this. If you’re wolf hadn’t seen me on the TV and missed me. If your wolf hadn’t demanded that I come home. If your wolf hadn’t made you bring me in, where would I be right now?..Did you ever even once become curious about me? Think about me? Wonder if I was alright out there banished by you? Before that moment, where your wolf saw me, wanted to find me and bring me in.”

There was not one ounce of emotion in her words, had cut herself off and become cold and emotionless when asking those questions of him and he knew why, because she already believed she knew the answer to them, didn’t want to hear it, but needed to get those questions out in the open.

He did not need to answer them, didn’t want to answer them, knew himself the answer was ‘no’ to all of them. He’d not once thought about her, didn’t think it was a good idea to actually voice that to her, saying that was not going to help him at all.

She had actively just told him how she really felt, that she believed she was here only because his wolf had demanded it. That she was solely his Goddess Gifted Luna, something that would make this pack stronger just by being here.

That he was only interested in his children. Took her as his Mate bekause of that fact.

Havoc, for once, was not snarling or growling at him to fix it, was very quiet as he looked at her sitting there emotionless, staring at him expecting that answer to come out of him and confirm her beliefs, of their so-called relationship. Knew the minute he did she was going to move out of his suite and across the hall. Was defiant enough to do so.

He couldn’t lie to her, knew she would pick it “I’m sorry Jay- la, I can only apologise for my actions to you. The Mate Bond kind of overrides everything else sometimes.”

“I understand how it works.” She stated flatly and looked away from him, back to the papers in her hand.

“If things had been different Jay- la, if I’d never met Sophia, you and I would have Marked and Mated a long time ago.” •

“I wasn’t your Mate.” She said without looking at him.

“No you weren’t. ” he acknowledged “But I would have claimed you without hesitation. Once I’d gotten over the shock of you being pregnant.”

“Yes, you would have wanted the child.” She muttered.

“That is not what I meant.” He sighed “Jay- la, when we were together, I never once looked at another, never slept with anyone else. I did not want to, I only wanted you the whole time, right from the first time we came together. I would have claimed you, because I wanted to, it would have made me very happy. I loved being with you, we were so good together the whole time, I didn’t want anyone else. Bloody wish I had never met Sophia. None of this would be happening, we’d have been together, been happy. I know I could have made you happy, I would have relished every day being Mated to you.”

“But it didn’t happen like that, did it. There is no point in playing the ‘if

game’ “

“I want you here Jay- la, for me. Not just for my wolf. Yes, it may have been

Havoc who realised what you were to us, before I did. But do not think that doesn’t mean I’m not happy about it. I am. I could have killed Havoc for not telling me what he suspected. Bloody wanted to punch him on more than one occasion for it. If he had told me, things between you and I would have gone very differently. I would have not done what I did, brought you in like that. I would have strolled into your office in L.A. visited you myself and done this, our bond, the right way.”

“Too late now, isn’t it.”

“I guess it is.” He sighed, he was getting nowhere with her and he knew it, he was still in her words talking about the ‘if game’ “I am sorry for how things went down. I, however, did not know about the children, when you were in my office that day. All I knew was the moment you set foot in my office, what you were to me. That I had royally {****d things up. That you were terrified of me.

That I needed to find a way to fix it, to get you back to me. It was not about the children. I didn’t even know about them, didn’t know how many you had, how old they were. Who’s they were, if they were even wolfen pups or just human, who their father was. My only concern was getting you to scent me. Recognise me as your Mate. I wanted that more than anything.”

He reached down and took her chin, tilted it up to make her look at him “

I’m very sorry. I understand I have a lot to make up for, I would like you to give me a chance to do that. To show you that I want you here, that I do love you,and I do Jay-la. Just knowing you’re here makes me happy.” He sicked softly « and yet once again I hear I have hurt you unwittingly, I have not anndynced you or even talked to you about your Luna Ceremony. Got so swept up inbeing Mated to you and the issue with Nate that I didn’t even realise I’d not done what I should have… I’m sorry.”

“Spoke to your mother, I see.” She murmured.

“No, I got yelled at, hit and then lectured by my mother all in front of our Beta as well. Shamed me good and proper.” Shook his head a little “You know vou kind of remind me of her sometimes. Stubborn and defiant. So I am here, to not only apologise to you but to ask you, how you would like me to announce you? What do vou want?”

“That is your job, do what you want to.”

Nope, he was not so stupid as to fall for that one, he had seen that way too many times with many of his wolves, with his own mother and father on the odd occasion with other Alphas and their Luna’s even. Was not going to fall into that trap.

“What I really want, Jay- la, is for you to be happy. I know it is going to take time for us to work through, what I did to you and we will Jay- la. Because I am going to prove to you that it is not just Havoc that loves vou, or solely our Mate Bond that brings us together, I will find a way to prove it to you, to show you that I love you, want you and will do anything to have you by my side, not just as my Mate and Luna, but as the one I love.”

She was just staring at him now, long and hard “Let me go back to L.A. to close out my human world.”

“I can do that.” He nodded.

“On my own, without you.”

“No.” he stated flatly “I can’t do that, Jay- la. Our battle was very public, you are also Marked and Mated by me. Any of the packs, and there were several, that are my enemies, now are your enemy, could still be there. Attack you, take you, harm you to hurt me to hurt this pack.”

“Whose fault is that?” she shot right at him, sounded annoyed with him.

“Mine as well.” Nathan acknowledged, if he had done this quietly, gone to her, or even sent Jackson or Stephen. Hell he could have asked Michael he was already over there to go and ask her politely to come home for a chat, or extend. an invitation for her to come back from him. That would have been the right way.

“Yes,” she agreed with him, “I’m not going to close out my human life from here. They deserve better than that.”

“Timothy, you mean.” He muttered.

“Yes, Tim deserves better than a text or a phone call. So I will not do that to him, he deserves a proper explanation from me, as does Eric for that matter.”

Nathan stood frowning at her, he didn’t like what he was hearing at all, but if this is what she wanted, what he needed to do to help her see that he truly meant what he’d said. He was going to have to agree “Fine, but I have to go with you, you’re not safe on your own, we can sit down and discuss the terms of your conversations with both your humans and I’m sure we can come to some sort of agreement that suits us both.”

“What suits me is doing it on my own.” She reiterated to him.

“Probably not likely to happen.” He raised his hand to halt her words “I’m sorry to state that, but it is a safety issue more than anything else. Nm not concern about Timothy and the nature of your relationship with him. know you would never hurt me Jay-la.”

“If that is the case, then I can talk to them on my own, even if you insisten going to L.A. with me, you don’t need to be there in the room when I speak to either of them correct. They are just humans after all.”