“Rebel darling, I don’t mean to scare you. I’m angry that bastard did that to you. I don’t like him anyway but now I really hate his fucking existence.” I tell her hoping to calm her down. I think it works because I see her shoulders relax again. I try to lighten the mood. “You said you needed to eat. When was the last time you ate? I could take you to my pack house for a meal.” I say to her.
“Oh, thank you. There’s no need. I always make extra. We may be chubby but Roxie is fast and burns off her energy faster than normal wolves.” She says while removing her back pack. She starts taking out sandwiches and offers me one. “I like to smoke my meats. This is left over pork shoulder with provolone. I packed too much. Would you like to share a sandwich with me?”
“You my beautiful mate are not chubby. You are thick in all the ways a woman should be.” I tell her. I intend to make her feel sexy, because hell, she fucking is and I am dying to taste her. “And also, if you made it, then yes, I would love to eat with you.” I say, looking at her blushing cheeks. How can I turn down her sandwich when it was made by her? ‘You don’t stupid. You eat it! I bet her food is amazing. I can smell it from here!’ Cronos is salivating.
I take a bite of her sandwich. Without trying, a moan slipped out. This is by far the best pork shoulder I’ve ever tried. “This is delicious Rebel. How did you learn to cook like this sweetheart? Did your mom teach you?” I see her back stiffen. Shit. Did I trigger something else without trying? What else has my mate been through?
“Um, no. Self taught Alpha Austin.” She says and doesn’t offer anything else. Yep, something is definitely going on at home too. ‘I have a feeling mate was hurt by family too.’ Cronos says feeling bad for our mate. ‘We are her new family now buddy. This pack is her family now.’
“Rebel darling, we are mates. No need for formalities. I’m just Austin to you sweetheart.” I tell her. If this is going to be her family and we are going to be mates, I need her to feel at home with me and I will do everything in my power to make sure I’m her home.
She smiles softly and blushes, “Okay Austin.” I swear my name off her lips is like music to my ears. Soon, I will make sure she’s screaming it when I mate and mark her. I don’t think she is ready for that, and that’s okay. I will go at her pace. She reaches in her bag, pulls out some water bottles and a couple of bags of chocolate chip cookies, my favorite. She hands me a bottle of water and a bag that had three cookies in it.
“These are my favorite. Did you make these too?” I ask trying to give her small praises and get her comfortable around me. I really want to know everything about her, but I’m trying to keep things light at the moment and she seems to like talking about cooking, so I will stick with that for now.
Rebel POV
Roxie is over the moon happy with our mate. ‘I can’t wait to meet his wolf. I haven’t said anything to him yet.’
‘Why aren’t you talking to his wolf?’ I ask in case there is an issue. ‘Rebel darling’ she smirks, ‘playing hard to get is part of the fun. His wolf will want me more if I make him chase me.’ She winks. I laugh quietly, but not quietly enough.
“That’s a beautiful sound sweetheart. What’s making you laugh?” Austin says with an amused look on his face.
“It’s Roxie. She says she’s playing hard to get with your wolf.” I chuckle and he laughs. Goddess! Is there any look on this man that isn’t like a sex on fire? Laughing, cocky, amused, mad, hell even furious, every expression is completely gorgeous. It’s really unfair. I don’t even know what he sees in me or what he finds gorgeous about me, but I’m glad I don’t disgust him at least.
“That’s great! Cronos will love to chase her.” He says, “So tell me Rebel, aside from being an excellent cook, what else do you like to do?” he asks me, and follows it up with, “these cookies are excellent. I taste a little something different in them too.”
I feel my cheeks turn red. I’m not use to getting any kind of praise, not even for my cooking. “I added pure vanilla bean to the dough so it would bring out the sweetness of the cookies.” I respond shyly. “As far as other things I like to do, well, I play my guitar and sing a little. Self taught with the guitar too.” Preemptively answering that question before he asks.
“What do you sing? I would love to hear you sing sometime.” He says.
“I sing country mainly. Lots of girl power songs.” I chuckle, blushing again.
“Why are you blushing darling?” he asks.
“I’m sorry. I’m not use to someone asking me about myself or what I like and my hobbies. I’ve never been an ‘in the spotlight’ person.” I say, trying to be vague. I don’t want to tell him the ugly truth that my father hid me away in the attic or how Jules and Rachel sent me out of the house whenever there was company, like tonight.
“Why do I get a feeling there is a whole story to unpack there Rebel darling?” Austin looks at me. Damn. I feel like he is seeing right through everything I say. I’m trying to think of what to respond, when we hear foot steps coming from the same direction Austin came from earlier.
I stand quickly and my reflexes are quick. I stand in front of Austin ready to attack. He put his hands on my shoulders and I feel jolts of electricity go through me. “Easy darling. It’s just my beta Renz. Although, I have to say, that was an impressive reaction. Have you been trained to fight as well?” I hear amusement and approval in his tone.
“Yes, my father was the former beta of Ironclaw. He trained me privately.” I said dismissively, waiting for Austin’s beta to appear.
Just then, another tall man appears and he looks like he is on a mission. “Alpha, there you – oh…” he stops, surprised to see me standing in front of Austin. “You closed off your mind-link and I thought something happened. It’s almost midnight Alpha.” His tone sounds apologetic and amused. Like he is sorry for interrupting us but not really. Then I remember, I’m suppose to be back by midnight. I’ll never get there on time.
I start grabbing my things and packing up. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize the time. I need to get back.” I say almost panicking, when Austin gently grabs me by the shoulders. “Rebel darling, and where exactly are you going?” he smirks at me when I stare at him with disbelief. “Home. I need to go home Austin.” He gives me a lazy grin. “Renz, I have someone very important, I’d like you to meet.”
Renz looks at me and then at Austin, smiling. He must know. I mean, it’s probably obvious, right? “Yes Alpha.” He replies.
“Renz, I’d like you to meet my mate and Luna, Rebel Lawson.” He tells him. There is a sense of happiness and pride as he says it. My chest feels warm goodness, like smelling a fresh gooey slice of delicious apple pie.
“Luna, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Beta Lorenzo. Renz for short.” He says, giving me a huge smile. It’s not as perfect as Austin, but hey, I’m biased over my mate.
“Nice to meet you Renz. Just Rebel. I’m not the Luna.” I say. “I really need to get back.” I say looking at Austin, who just smiles at me.
“My dear mate, I can’t let you go back by yourself to such an unsavory place. Clearly, you are not appreciated there. What if something happens and I have to come in like a wolf in shining armor?” He’s teasing me! Unbelievable. I need to get out of here so I give him the same sarcasm he just gave me.
“Oh my dear Austin. What do you think will happen? Do you think I will run off too far into the woods and meet a strange man who claims me as his mate and introduces me to his beta?” I say with a mocking sweet tone.
Renz starts laughing. “I like her Austin. Moon goddess sure blessed you.”
Austin looks at him with a deadpan look and then turns back to me, “Rebel, I meant it when I said you are mine. I have no intentions of letting you go. Your pack has not been treating you well. Which we need to talk about later. It doesn’t take a genius to see how nervous you get when talking about your home. What exactly are you going back to when you get there?”
‘Rebel, he’s right. What are we going back to exactly? An attic for a bedroom? A father that doesn’t acknowledge us as his daughter but rather a ward? A stepmother and half-sister who despises us and treats us like garbage? How about an Alpha who finds us disgusting and unworthy? We have no friends because our father hid us away from everyone in the pack. Everyday we are told we are unwanted and we are an embarrassment. I’d rather stay here with our mate. He had no hesitation in introducing us to his beta, his second in command. We should stay here and forget about all of them. They didn’t want us around anyway. If your sister becomes Luna there, we will be banished and made rogues.’ Roxie said, making all very valid points that I couldn’t argue with, and if I’m being honest, I don’t want to either.
I look at Austin. “You’re not wrong. There’s literally nothing for me there. I’m not important to anyone there.” I grab my backpack and Austin takes it from me to carry.
“Come on darling. I will show you our pack house.” Hey says as he grabs my hand.
As I start to walk with them, I start thinking about what he said. He called it OUR pack house. I went from having an attic for a bedroom to having a pack house with my Alpha mate. If you would have told me a week ago that this moment would be happening, I would have laughed and called you crazy. It’s all surreal to me.
“So Luna, how old are you?” Beta Renz asks me.
“I’m 23 beta.” I reply. I see him cut a look to Austin. Austin gives him a knowing look, but I don’t understand why my age is important.
“Please Luna, call me Renz.” He smiles.
“Okay Renz. Um, I assume by that mark on your neck, you have a mate, right?” I ask him.
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