Chapter 11
I woke up to the sun streaming into the windows. Blinking and covering my eyes against the sun, I looked around the room. Trying to orient myself, the memories of all yesterday and last night came over me and I blushed hard. I had passed out mid-sex. I pulled my knees up and buried my red face in them.
'To be fair, you passed out during round five. Not bad.' Kai winked and I pushed her to the back of my mind.
The last thing I needed was her giving me sass about what happened last night. Controlling my heart, I knew Logan wasn't in the room when I woke up. His side of the bed was still warm, so it hadn't been long since he had gotten up. Gingerly, I got off the bed and put weight on my legs. The soreness wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Pushing Kai back meant that I would just have to feel around for the door. Walking slowly, I felt the door next to his dresser, remembering that it was the bathroom door.
I was still naked and so I just turned on the shower. Getting in, feeling the heat of the water melted away the soreness. Another blush made its way to my face and I slapped my cheeks. We would not blush. He was our mate. What we did we were going to be doing for a long time. No reason to be embarrassed about it.
I focused on washing my hair and body. Stepping out, I requested Kai for her eyes.
'Frankly, I didn't think you had it in you to mate the first night.' I could feel her smirking.
I sighed. 'Kai, I would like to just find a towel and something to wear. Without the commentary.'
She chuckled but allowed me to look around for a towel. There was only one behind the door and it smelled of Logan. Shrugging, I used it to dry myself and padded back into the bedroom. I literally had brought no clothes from my house outside of the dress I was wearing and I was not about to wear that again.
I rummaged around Logans drawers until I grabbed one of his shirts that looked like it would reach almost to my knees. I also grabbed some of his boxer briefs which would just be normal boxers on me. The man was huge. I looked at myself in the mirror. I swam in the shirt but it covered everything essential so I concluded it was a win.
'Maybe he will rip his way through this one too once we get to his office.' Kai mused and I threw her to the back of my mind.
Darkness filled my vision but I had had enough of my horny counterpart for now. Taking a deep breath, I walked over to the door and opened it. Listening, I didn't hear any movement directly out the door. I knew roughly where his office was and I pulled down the shirt I was wearing one more time before I started to walk out into the hallway.
The packhouse was huge I realized last night. But it was very modern. Far from our packs very old castle looking buildings. We were on the third floor and there was another wing on the other side but it was a floor down and the wing across where Logan's office was. I heard clanging on the first floor and I shuffled my way down. I frozen when another man was in the kitchen, wearing a peach apron with a cartoon bear on the front of it. He also froze, mid-bite of what looked like to be an orange.
He cleared his throat. "Good morning Luna."
I nodded to him, still hiding slightly in the doorway.
"I'm Bryan, Alpha Logan's Beta. I live on the other side of the house with our Gamma."
"Auri."
He smiled, and motioned to a seat at the island that was about two, if not three times larger than the one we had back in the old pack. "Sit! I'm working on a new pancake recipe."
I tugged down on Logan's shirt but walked over to the chair and sat down. Bryan whistled while he cooked, pausing only to give me a glass of orange juice.
"You can't image how happy I was when I heard his mate was of age."
I chuckled. “I had been talking with my half-sister about him. We had a new member named Suzie, she was thirteen and we were convinced he was going to be her mate."
Bryan threw back his head and laughed. "I'm glad I wasn't the only one joking about him mating with someone ten years younger!"
"Well, he's still older than me. By four years."
"But we can take you to the club!" Bryan winked.
"My Luna is going nowhere near any of your sleazy clubs." Logan walked in, fully dressed in a dress shirt and slacks. He looked beautiful. Even his hair was done and I felt wholly out of place. He came over to me and wrapped his arms around me, kissing my jawline. "Good morning, Auri." Bryan was staring from me to Logan, clearly stunned. "Alpha, since when did you become affectionate. Usually you just..."
Logan growled. "She's my mate, Bryan. You keep your mouth shut. You'll understand when you meet yours."
He shrugged, turning back to his pancakes. Tearing a piece off, he nibbled it and made a face. "How do I make it chocolatey without melting chocolate directly into the batter." Bryan mused.
"Nesquik." I answered for him.
They both looked at me.
"I like to cook and bake." I shrugged.Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.
Bryan mock collapsed against the island. "Oh thank the moon goddess that she blessed us with a Luna such as this one."
"Bryan." Logan growled and Bryan pointed to him.
"Your mate, can't cook for shit. He burns everything he touches. The amount of times the fire department has been out here because of his cooking..." Bryan grimaced. "Luna, please save us from his terrible cooking nights."
I laughed. "I did all the cooking at my homes and so I'm used to it."
"Homes?" Bryan raised his eyebrows.
Nodding, I fidgeted. "I live three month outside the pack territory, and four months in the territory. I've done that since I was eight."
Logan leaned against the island, now looking at my face, his eyes furrowed. "You stayed three months off pack territory while you were working at the factory?"
I nodded. "I don't know if you want to know the details..." I told him honestly. I know he had gotten mad yesterday when he was hearing some of the details of my life.
Logan pulled the chair out and sat down, still leaning to take my face in fully. I blushed, the intensity of his stare was making me uncomfortable. 'You need to tell our mate what you've been through.' Kai chimed in, she pulled back her eyes and seemed to saunter off into my mind. I could no longer see Logan's eyes starting at me.
"Shit." Bryan spilled juice across the island. "Luna, are your eyes okay?"
I realized Logan didn't tell his Beta I was blind. I furrowed my brow at him. "You didn't tell him."
"I mean, it doesn't really matter to me. So it might have slipped my mind in conversation this morning." Logan sounded indifferent.
"Sorry I didn't warn you, Bryan. I'm blind. My golden eyes are my wolfs."
"You shouldn't be apologizing Auri." Logan tucked a hair behind my ear.
"No, you should." Bryan was probably pointing a finger at Logan. "You should have warned me, and we are going to need to adjust how we handle the elders."
"I don't want to talk about them now Bryan. I'm meeting them tomorrow morning, we will go through the plans, and then tomorrow night will be the Luna ceremony."
I stiffened. Nervousness now seeping into my bones. I would not only be connected to a pack for the first time but introduced as their Luna, stepping into the role next to Logan. My hair stood on end. Through the mate bond, Logan felt my sudden change of emotions and he rubbed my back.
"You will do fine, my love. I will be there with you every step of the way."
I nodded, swallowing hard.
"But we are getting away from the subject that I sat down for." Amusement played in his voice. "I'm sitting down, I'm calm. Bryan is within range of a stress ball. We will be good."
I smiled but clasped my hands together in my lap. "Do you know Nelson and Sons?"
"Aren't they a jewelry and watch maker? Pretty popular amongst the middle class." Bryan said matter of factly and I realized I may have upgraded a class coming into this home.
"They have a factory outside the Midnight Howl pack. They keep their prices low by hiring a less than legal workforce."
"But don't they specialize in silver jewelry?" Logan asked next to me.
I put my hands on the island and opened them, palms up, years and years of scars against my normally tan skin. "Yes, they do."
"Shit." Bryan had leaned over the island to look but Logan was deathly quiet. Even his breathing had slowed considerably.
"They would drop me off at the end of the territory and I would walk to the factory. They work three months on, four months off. But they don't offer housing. So from when I was eight to when I was ten, I would sleep on the street or in the pipes or in the forest outside of the factory."
Bryan had stopped cooking, solely listening to me. Taking a breath, I continued.
"When I ten, I was adopted by Morgan. He's actually a mafia boss but he found me and took me in. That year it was really cold and I nearly froze to death. He nursed me back to health and since then, I stayed with him whenever they would drop me off. There is a payphone just outside the city and he would leave money for me to call him and he could come pick me up."
Logan clasp my hand, holding it tight. I figured he might be trying to control himself.
"He was pissed when he found out where I worked. So when I was thirteen, he gave me a job in one of the clubs he owned in town. He would fake the checks of the factory, but paying me for my work in the club. At first, I just cleaned and waited tables. When I was fifteen I moved up to bartender and that was fun. Then Morgan caught me singing with Max, our resident pianist and bodyguard and second in command."
"Caught you singing?"
I nodded. “That's when I started singing at the club in the evenings with Max. I've been doing that for three years now."
I stopped speaking. I was having a hard time, the anger that was rolling off Logan was coming through the mate bond. His hand held mine tight but the anger made me feel like I was drowning.
“Logan..." I gasped, as though I was trying to come up for air.
"So when you got back, they took your check, didn't they? All of it. Never buying you clothes or taking you out. Just paying for whatever they wanted with money you earned."
I nodded, still drowning in the emotions he was giving off.
“Alpha, calm down." Bryan turned serious.
'I can't calm him down Auri. You need to move.' Kai warned me.
"Alpha." Bryan growled.
I blinked, looking at the sight of Logan, hunched over the counter, his eyes the deep midnight blue. One hand had a death grip on mine, one was holding the marble countertop. Tears stinging my eyes from the overwhelming emotions, I threw my arms around him. I held him tight and felt him
shaking.
"Luna, don't!"