One second I was staring into a pair of unfamiliar brown eyes and in the next there was nothing but the cold winter air shimmering above me. I blinked, trying to figure out what had happened when a muffled choke screeched from somewhere beyond my feet.
I jumped into a sitting position and my eyes landed on the handsome stranger. He had his muscular hand wrapped around a she-wolf's throat; the same she-wolf who for some reason had felt a need to knock me off my feet.
Mate, Edria repeated the word in the same disbelieving whisper.
"You dare harm my mate?" His voice was nothing like the soft whisper I had first heard from him. Now, his voice was laced with a sharp edge that had Edria purring in delight.
The she-wolf's complexion turned bluer with each second that ticked by, but I found myself unable to move. All I could see were his dark eyes and the way his arm muscles flexed while he tightened his hold.
He's strong. Edria grinned inside my mind. Our mate is a strong Alpha.
"That's enough." Blake's voice cut like a whip through the silent forest. "Let her go."
"No," my mate growled. "She tried to hurt my mate."
"It was a mistake, right Maggie?"
For a second I thought that Blake had forgotten my name. When I tore my eyes away from my mate, however, I discovered that Blake wasn't looking at me. Instead, he had his eyes focused on my mate and the woman still hanging in his hold.
"She's a Red Moon warrior in training." He stopped right next to my mate, yet made no move to touch either him or the she-wolf.
For two further heartbeats my mate continued to choke the life out of the she-wolf before he loosened his grip. She crumbled to the ground in a messy heap, but the second her butt touched the cold ground, she scurried farther away.
"I'm sorry," she squealed in a high-pitch. "I... I'm a part of the border patrol and I caught herâ"
The she-wolf glanced in my direction, but a low growl from my mate had her squeezing into a tight ball.
"Seriously, Maggie?" Ren stalked closer to her. "You're a Red Moon warrior in training. Act like one."
"I'm sorry LuâI mean Ren." The she-wolf scrambled to her feet.
One glance back at my mate, however, had her sprinting away as if a rogue were chasing after her.
"I thought she had made some fucking progress, but look at her." Ren spit after the fleeing she-wolf. "I need to beat some sense into her."
"She deservesâ" my mate began.
"It's okay," I finally stepped in and rose into a standing position.
My mate's brown eyes snapped over to me the second the first sound left my lips. His cold features melted into a welcoming smile and I felt my lips following his lead.
He shook off the black jacket he was wearing and diminished the distance between us. He wrapped the warm material around my shoulders, which reminded me that I was still dressed in nothing but a pair of strapless rompers.
"Thank you, Bob."
I froze the second the name left my lips. This didn't sound right. His name on my lips was supposed to send tingles down my body, yet all I felt was an empty cold. Something wasn't right.
Before I could draw in a second breath, however, Ren burst in a loud laugh. Because I had never seen the Red Moon Luna show such an open display of mirth, I didn't know how to react. I glanced to Blake to see if he knew what was wrong with his mate, but he was holding back a laugh as well.
"My name isn't Bob."
My mate's voice had my eyes snapping back to him, only to find him grinning as well.
"It's a nickname Ren uses. My real name is Hunter Tate, and I am the Alpha of Black Moon."
"Hunter," I repeated.
In an instant I knew I had the right name this time. A swirl of tingles shot down my insides and stretched my lips into an unconscious smile.
"Lovely to finally meet you, Hunter. My name is Molly Braxton. I'm a Blue Moon warrior."
I straighten my back at the last part. It was, after all, sometimes still hard to grasp that I was able to call myself a warrior.
"Molly," Hunter said my name, which sent another shiver down my body. My name on his lips sounded even better than his name on mine.
"Maggie's attack and your presence here, Ren, tells me our border patrol failed." Blake glanced from his mate over to me and then shook his head.
Despite having my mate a step away from me, I couldn't help but tear my eyes off him and grin at Blake instead. I had, after all, won yet another round.
"Failed?" Hunter glanced from me, to Blake and then Ren's scowl. "What's going on? And why are you hurt?"
The last questioned was aimed back at me, and I was surprised to see he had noticed the careful position I was still holding my left hand in.
"It's an agreement between our pack and Blue Moon, our neighboring pack," Blake said. "Ren and Molly sneak onto the other pack's land to test the border patrol. And Molly's presence here right now means we failed."
Again, Edria added inside my head.
"Blake got the idea from Ren's unannounced visits to our pack." I couldn't help but grin at the pointed look Blake shot Ren. "It got so bad that our border patrol considered banning her from ever entering our land again. In the end we decided to get at least something good out of the neighboring Luna breaking onto our land."
"Speaking of Lunas, I can't believe you're Hunter's mate." Ren pierced me with her blue eyes, but neither Edria nor I even considered backing down. "He deserves better than you."
Punch her, Edria snarled inside my head. I don't care who she is. Hunter is ours.
Before I could even allow my canines to elongate, however, another growl beat me to it.
"Don't talk like that about my mate," Hunter snarled at Ren.
"You just met her and you're already siding against me?" Ren narrowed her eyes.
"Look who's talking." Hunter huffed, but his stiff posture from a second before already loosened. "You already gave the ring away."
The moment the word ring left his mouth, I was reminded of the thumb ring still resting on my injured hand. A ring that definitely wasn't mine.
"Sorry, I forgot I was still wearing it." Without a second to spare I slipped the band off my finger and flung it at Ren, who caught it with perfect ease. "We have an agreement that the moment I get my hands on the ring their border patrol has failed. The ring is just an insurance to prove that I had reached this deep into their land without anyone stopping me."
"You use my ring for a game?"
Before I could gauge Ren's reaction, something else caught my attention.
"Your ring?" My eyes flickered between Hunter and Ren as it slowly began to dawn on me that there was a connection between the two. "Why would Ren have your ring? Isn't Blake her mate?"
"Of course, she's my mate," Blake huffed.
But I paid him little attention because I was too focused on the glance Hunter and Ren shared. Those two definitely knew each other, and not only as an Alpha and a Luna of two packs.
"It's a long story." Hunter scratched the back of his head, while Ren shrugged. "You see Ren and I..."
*
I came to a squealing stop half a foot away from the front door, and swung it open without a second to spare. The moment I entered the big entrance hall I was wrapped into the chorus of shouts, laughter, and whispers; sounds which felt like music to my ears.
Home sweet home, Edria stretched inside my head.
Whenever I came back to our pack house, I was reminded once again of why I never lingered in Ren and Blake's house. It was too quiet.
"You're back already?"
Down the last flight of stairs walked a guy with stiffly square shoulders and a spine so straight it looked like it would snap at any second. And all because the idiot wanted everyone to know who was in charge. He was no one other than my brother, Jared.
"Of course." I raised my still softly injured hand and turned it, so he could see the ring wrapped around my thumb. "I reached their house without anyone noticing me. Only when Iâ"
"You're not supposed to keep the ring." Jared came to a stop at the bottom of the staircase and folded his arms across his chest. "You need to return it to Ren."
"You really think I'd forget to return the ring? Or that Ren would allow me to? No, the ringâ"
"You need to return it." He wouldn't let me finish. "Before you go back though, I need to tell you something."
I stared into the cold blue eyes that everyone claimed were the same shade as mine, but I couldn't see it. My eyes had a much warmer blue in them than Jared's cold orbs.
"All Alphas have been summoned to Silver Moon for a meeting with the Alpha King. I won't allow Naia to travel so far in her state, so I decided to sent you as my replacement."
"You decided?"
I couldn't stop a smile from tugging at the corners of my lips as Jared closed his eyes for a second. There was only one person, other than me, who had the guts to speak to him in such a manner.
A young woman with straight dark locks and the most delicate features I have ever seen, appeared in the open doorway of the dining room. She had a delicious scent of chocolate wrapped around the tips of her fingers; not to mention the crumbs still lingering in the edges of her mouth and the top of her six-months rounded belly.
Her name was Naia, but while I knew her as my sister-in-law in human terms, the pack knew her as the Blue Moon Luna.
"It was my idea to send Molly." She came to a stop right beside Jared, who wrapped his arm around her back and pulled her close to his side. "Your plan was to send Dyson and Sasha."
"You're right." The supposed big bad Alpha didn't even waver before agreeing with his mate. "It was your idea."
Naia shot him a big smile and then turned to me to do the same, however, I didn't miss the soft crease that wrinkled the corners of her eyes.
"I'm sure you didn't mean to, but I think Ren is really attached to that ring. She's been wearing it ever since I've met her... How... How is she?"
Edria groaned at the wishful tone her voice turned into.
One of these days I would need to drag Ren here, if she continued to refuse to visit Naia. The said girl obviously missed her; especially now that her walks through the forest were becoming shorter and shorter.
"She's fine." I forced my lips into smile. "She's very busy, but I'm sure she'll come visit soon. And about the ring... Ren gave it to me."
"Why?" Naia and Jared asked at the same time.
"Because it was given to her by Hunter, the Alpha of Black Moon." My fake smile from before melted into a wide grin. "And he's my mate. Hunter, Alpha of Black Moon, is my mate."
"What?" Jared asked.
Naia opened her mouth, however, instead of the congratulation I expected, she burst into a screeching wail.
No wonder the Red Moon Luna avoids her like the plague, Edria rose her paws to her ears.
Despite Naia being my Luna, I couldn't help but agree with both Ren and my wolf. Ever since she entered what I assumed was the second trimester of her pregnancy, her moods have been rocking from one extreme to the other. One moment she could be laughing her head off and the next bailing her eyes out.
"Shh," Jared pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her. "It's okay. Molly finding her mate is a good thing."
"Of course, it is." Naia sniffled into his shirt. "Molly deserves to be happy. I... I'm just so happy for her."
"Okay." Jared shook his head, wrapped his arms a little tighter around her and then looked at me above her head. "He allowed you to leave right after you met him?"
"Not everyone's like you." I rolled my eyes at him. "But, not really. He's waiting at our border for your permission to enter our land. He is, after all, the Alpha of another pack."
"Do I have a choice?" Jared asked, but I didn't miss the glint in his eyes.
"Of course, not." Naia squirmed in his arms, until he let go of her far enough, so she could look up at him. "He's Molly's mate. You need to allow him to enter our land."
"Fine." Jared kissed the tip of her nose and then turned back toward me. "Tell Tate he can come onto our land. But bring him right here. I want to meet this guy before anything else happens."
***
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- E