Luna
Living in a real house with rugs instead of rags on a floor made of wood instead of dirt, with walls instead of tin and plastic we found in the swamp… It takes a bit of getting used to, but luckily, I’ve been eased in by living with the triplets and Axel. But this house isn’t one that belongs to someone else, where I’m a guest. It’s mine.
I can’t believe I can call something so lovely my own.
Best of all, I get to say who comes and goes instead of Axel or Warrick making the rules. In this one little place in the world, no matter how submissive my wolf is, I am an Alpha. This is my domain, and I treasure its beauty like the miraculous gift that it is.
The triplets still have their home in the deep woods, of course. Warrick says a man needs his space. But they spend so much time in my house that I forget we don’t all live here. Axel stops by each day, too. He brings me anything I need, fixes every loose floorboard and shutter, and does whatever I ask. Maybe he thinks I’m an Alpha, too.
I’m both pleased and hurt by the fact that he never tries to touch me again. His actions convey the world about his character and how much I
mean to him, though, even if I don’t know what made him stop wanting to fuck me. I still want to fuck him-a lot. That time in the woods, when his knot filled me up until I thought I’d tear in two, was the most intense physical sensation I’ve ever had.
Even though Warrick is big, and he satisfies me completely, I’m curious to try the knot thing again. Warrick says he can’t do that, though. Only a True Mate can. And Axel seems uninterested in trying again. In fact, when I hint at it one evening, he leaves like I spooked him as much as the wolf watching us in the woods spooked me.
Still, I know he must care about me in other ways, since he gave me my beautiful home. I keep it in tip-top shape and sparkling clean, which is hard with the three oafs who have taken it over with their muddy boots and stray socks and beer cans. One afternoon I’m doing something called vacuuming with a device that sucks up dirt, running it over the rug in my living, when a paper cup of coffee appears in front of my face.
“Oh!” I cry, dropping the vacuum and jumping back.
Axel bends to pick up the vacuum and turns it off, setting it upright. “I knocked,” he says with a small smile. “I heard the vacuum and figured you didn’t hear me. Seemed safe enough to let myself in. None of those heathens would be cleaning, so I figured I wouldn’t find you…” His smile falters, and he doesn’t finish his sentence.
I wonder what he was afraid he’d find me doing.
He whips a colorful bouquet of wildflowers from behind his back. “I thought you might like these, too. They’re just for decoration, not to eat. Brighten up the place, that kind of thing.”
“Oh, thank you!” I cry. “They’re perfect.”
Axel smiles at my appreciation, watching me take a sniff of each different one.
I pull a ceramic vase from the cupboard over the sink and fill it with water before plunking in the orange, yellow and white blossoms. Then I just stand there, not sure what to do with it. Axel takes it gently and sets it on the kitchen table, which I see immediately is the right place. They look right at home and make the room even prettier.
Axel looks at me, standing uneasily in the center of the room. Then I remember what he told me about manners-that it’s polite to ask if people want something when they come over. Civilized people expect more than sniffs and licks when they stop over. They want something called hospitality. The triplets didn’t teach me that, since Axel says they don’t know the meaning of the term. Even though he doesn’t like the triplets, I take his word for it, because they mostly killed anyone who came by their house when I lived there.
Apparently other people offer tea.
“Can I get you something to drink?” I ask, the way he taught me.
He arches a brow and holds up his coffee cup, a cardboard one that matches the one he gave me. “I can’t stay long,” he says. “I’ve got pack business to attend to. Just wanted to bring you something pretty to look at.”
“Thanks,” I say, hopping up on a bar stool and picking up my coffee. “How’s it going with the pack?”
Axel sighs and leans against the wall, wrapping one arm across his flat stomach to hold the opposite elbow. “Not too good,” he admits, taking a swig of coffee. “Everyone’s uneasy with vampires roaming Creebay and your guys moving in here. They could understand you coming back, but the triplets were part of the pack once, and they chose to leave.”
“It’s my house,” I say. “I don’t know why anyone cares if they’re in my house.”
“Because they know you’re my mate, Luna,” Axel says. “It looks all kinds of fucked up for my mate to be entertaining my enemies right under my nose, and them flaunting it in my face, and me not doing a goddamn thing about it.”
“You agreed they could come on pack land.”
“And I stand by that,” he says, holding up his free hand. “I’ve explained it to the pack as my gesture of goodwill after what I did, but some of them don’t think I’m fit to lead if I’ll let that go on and not put a stop to
it. And when an Alpha’s warriors start to think he looks weak, it’s the end of him. Anarchy creeps in, and the next thing you know, some asshole like Warrick is challenging me for Alpha again.”
“Am I really worth all this trouble you’ve gotten yourself into?” I say, curling my legs under the chair and hooking my toes around the crossbar on the chair.
“Yes.”
My heart expands to fill the room.
Before I can tell Axel how happy that makes me, back door opens and thwacks shut, and Ethan strolls into the kitchen, shirtless and glistening with sweat. He looks so good my tongue wants to loll out like my wolf is eyeing a fresh kill.