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Hi everyone -- well anyone still reading this, sorry, sorry, sorry, I am now moved into my new place so that is a good thing (more writing time) this is not the last part of the story ... in fact I am not even sure if the next submission will be -- but I swear I won't leave you hanging the end will come. Then I'm torn between Lex's story and Gem's ... so many ideas in my head already.

JM

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

"No bloody way! Both of them? You're mated to both of them?" Gem screamed next to Luna.

"You're so greedy Lex," Luna laughed before continuing, "I bet they're hot too, right? Trust you to get two good looking mates."

"Luna, think Calvin Klein model hot," Gem rolled her eyes, "In uniform."

"Wow. Our girl did good Gem."

"Your girl is listening to you both and is totally grinning from ear to ear. I can't believe this has happened either. I stood in the centre of the tattoo studio and smelled my mate. I was so confused, because I couldn't work out which way to run."

"You wanted to run away?" Luna asked shocked Lex would have even questioned her wolf's bond to their mate.

"Fuck no. They were hunting me. One coming from the back and one coming from the front. I could smell them but not knowing there was two of them, well I freaked out. The smells were so similar. They found me whimpering on the floor. It was not exactly the image I wanted to project the first time my mate saw me."

"Honey I bet they thought you were gorgeous, lying there whimpering in need." Gemma teased their friend, "Oh fuck, you three did give Marcus and Nadiya time to get out before you went at it didn't you?"

"OMG you did it in front of them?" Luna gasped in shock. "The three of you?"

"You are so funny LJ. I don't know if you're more shocked by the whole threesome thing or the exhibitionism thing. By the way, no we didn't put on a show for the staff and customers of the local tattoo shop. The parlour was closed and Marcus and Nadiya left as soon as Tyrone and Jared had me in sight."

"We have to get together to do this wedding stuff and now Thorn is whisking me off to the lodge, so is there any way your mates will let you come for a visit in the next couple of days?"

"Our almighty alpha has ordered us to be there by breakfast. My men are packing while I talk to you."

"Although I love that you are coming, I'm pretty sure he hasn't summoned you for a wedding summit. Do you guys know something I should know?"

"Please don't put us in a position where we need to lie to you Luna."

"Bloody alpha's orders, I'm guessing. Okay so how about I just tell you both what I know? First we are now all mated, apart from Rose. Yeah, Kate is mated but she has had a few shocks and is trying to work out some stuff. Her mother had put a spell on her to stop her mate being able to smell her, find her. Oh and big shock number two, her mate is Aaron. Hold the gasps of surprise, there's more. They are off on a bonding exercise. Meanwhile Thorn has a secret mission underway to locate my dad. Dear old dad however, according to the aunties is tied up in something really messy and evil. Oh and big shock number four, or maybe five, Damon, yes that Damon, is apparently my half-brother. Okay digest that lot while I catch my breath."

"You know Thorn is looking for your dad?"

"Damon, is your brother?"

"Kate and Aaron? Her mother did what?"

"Fuck!" Both girls exclaimed, finally managing to get on the same page.

"Oh good you're all caught up. Now let me continue. So on top of finding out I have to somehow overcome the big nasty evil, save this pack, and apparently the pack my father and brother are connected to. I also need to be a good friend to my seconds. Oh yeah by the way you're both my seconds now, hope you don't mind, you've been army volunteered. I don't think, actually I'm sure, you don't even get a say. Neither does Kate. Apparently the price for being me is to always be in the middle of a big nasty clusterfuck, and the prize for being my friends is I take you all to hell with me. So what I'm saying is in order to be a good friend to you guys, I think, recommend actually, you should get out of this car as soon as it stops and then get as far away from me as you can."

"Stop. Now I'm a little bit lost, a lot pissed off and very worried. Most importantly though, Luna you're crazy if you think we will bail, there is no way you're getting rid of us that easily." Gem grabbed for Luna's hand, "Tell us what you have been told."

"I can't, if I tell you what I've been told it may change the outcome. I have to tell Thorn, and you guys some of it, the aunties ordered me to. They told me all this stuff and then we sat there and had a nice lunch while I could barely think straight. Got given our engagement gifts, beautiful gifts. You'll see them later I'm sure. Then as we were leaving I looked in my handbag and Melody had put this book in it. I had a quick look at it and it seems to be really old and I don't think I want it."

"The book?"

"There is something about it, it gives me the heebee-jeebees."

"Have you got it now?"

"Yeah I've had it in my bag all day."

"Okay so we'll have a look at it soon. Lex, you with me when I tell LJ we're with her all the way on this?"

"Of course. Luna the aunties would have told you everything you needed to know. Thorn has been looking for your dad. We aren't meant to say anything, he's trying to look out for you, are you mad at him?"

"Was, but not now."

"Good then it's time to get this privacy screen dropped and get this shit on the table. This pack stand together, our alphas lead us together, got it?"

"Lexi, thank you. That is just what I needed to hear to give me the guts to do it."

Luna leaned forward then after a deep breath knocked on the screen in front of her. It was a moment before it began lowering.

"Screaming all done already?" Lucas teased.

"I can scream if you want Luc? But I think maybe you should find somewhere to pull over for a bit."

"We haven't got time for breaks. You're scent is becoming rather intoxicating to your man here." Lucas tilted his head to his brother who stared at her with a look of complete lust.

"Yeah well I think if I start talking while you're driving there is a high chance we could crash before I get what needs to be said out. Of course you are all highly protected werewolves, hard to kill and all that, but I'm just a wee human and I'm not even wearing a seatbelt. There is also the fact I think by about sentence number four, Thorn will be about eighty percent wolf, minimum, he could even go full wolf, and that would be pretty rough on your upholstery."

Lucas pulled over pretty quickly. Gem laughed at the panic on his face, "Never threaten his truck Luna."

"Luna, are you okay baby?" Thorn immediately opened his door ready to go to her.

"Stay in your seat Thorn. Everyone needs to hear this. Kate and Aaron should hear too. Maybe we should ring them?"

"We'll talk to them later, don't keep me waiting love. Spill."

"Okay now I'll start with the bit you two will find hardest to hear. I know others have tried to tell you. You haven't been ready to hear. Damon never hurt Gem. Not even once. He did everything he could to protect her from the man who tortured them both. She suffered for months," Luna clutched Gem's had tightly as she spoke, "he however has suffered for nineteen years. First at the hands of that monster's father and his own mother. Then by sadistic bullies, there were paedophiles too I believe, the aunties mentioned rape but I don't know how old he was when that began, he witnessed the abuse of his younger sister and her death. He was a victim too."

"I don't fucking care, he never protected Gem. He let that 'monster' as you call him do all that to Gem, My Gem. He watched them all hurt her, abuse her, and on that last day he would have let her die at their hands."

"Luc, he took beatings for me. He stepped between their weapons and my flesh. He would stand up to all of them except him. He could not stop him."

"After you were free you went back to him. Why?"

"Not for the reasons you thought. I went back to say thank you. I didn't climb into his bed because I saw him as my master, he never was, I went to him to say thank you. I climbed into his bed because we recognised the pain in each other. He was soft, gentle, he held me. I swear, he only held me, understood."

"And I'm not, gentle, I don't understand?"

"Of course you are. Fuck, it wasn't about you Lucas. You are perfect for me, you are everything I need. But at that time he was the only man who had ever taken care of me, ever been nice to me. I was scared of how dominant and strong you were. I thought you were more than I could cope with."

"I wanted to be the man to take care of you. I tried to be nice to you."

"Luc, I pushed you away every time you tried. We've put that behind us now. I love you I swear. Damon is still being punished though."

"Thorn, you're not speaking." Luna pushed him to say something.

"I didn't let him plead his case. I never gave him a chance. I told you baby, before you I was black or white. In this I thought there was no other option than him being a bad guy."

"He's not a bad guy Thorn. You need to talk to him and free him. You're about to marry his sister."

"He's your brother?"

"Yeah. Our little sister is already dead. Neither of us got to know her really. He at least had a chance to hold her. He then had the total horror of watching her die. I spoke to her today, she would have been lovely Thorn. She would have been so loved if I had only had a chance to know her." Luna wiped tears from her eyes.

"I'll get him to come to the lodge. I need to apologise in person and remove the collar. I need to introduce him to his sister, and his alpha."

"Thank you for believing me Thorn."

"Luna, Little One, there will never be a day I don't believe you."

"Hold that thought Thorn, because there is more to come. First Gem can you swap seats with Thorn please? I get the feeling Lucas really needs to be near you right now, and well, if I'm honest, I wouldn't mind if my mate could come and make me feel a little better too."

"You are going to be a rocking little alpha Luna." Gem kissed Luna on the cheek and leaped out the door.

"Lex are you still there?" Luna asked into the phone Gem had left on her knee.

"Yeah, nearly hyperventilating but I am still here. Tyrone and Jared are struggling to keep up so I told them to go finish getting organised and I'd fill them in on the drive."

Luna felt Thorn move in beside her and pull her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her. "I really stuffed up didn't I?"

"Thorn, you were hurting too. I think in his own way Damon still feels he deserves the punishment but I think he's punishing himself far more than that collar is. The aunties also told me there is a dark spell on him, he needs my help Thorn. He also needs our dad."

"Luna I..."

"You're looking for him. I know. You're going to have a meeting. The aunts have seen it and I can't tell you about it because I'm scared if I give you details on things it will change the outcome."

"You mad I didn't tell you?"

"At first, then I thought about it as an alpha, if it was a member of the pack, my pack. I would look for him, check him out, and then if he was bad news eliminate him from their life so quickly. I know you will always want to look after me Thorn. I'd rather you could trust me to always tell me what you want and need, however I also understand that won't always be easy. So, amazing mate that I am, I will try hard not to get upset when you act first. I will try hard to trust you'll catch me up as soon as you remember these few words, forever and always."

"Then I'm going to confess, Kate and Aaron are part of the mission to find your dad. There is something evil involved Luna. We've put in surveillance at your mother's place. Someone else has already been monitoring her. We've found a couple of nasty surprises already. Kate has a bad feeling, and she knows someone in the pack is in danger, she just can't say who or where yet."

"There's stuff in this mess I can't even wrap my head around. I need you to tell me if Kate and Aaron are safe. I need you to trust I can handle the truth."

"Sorry to interrupt you two, but we're all still trying to keep up. I think you two forgot we were all listening for a minute there. Kate has these 'feelings' and I have never known her to be wrong. If she says anything we need to listen. I'm still waiting to hear about her mating but is she okay? If she's distracted by that she may miss something." Gem spoke from her new position beside Lucas.

"Fuck, I knew there was something I was missing when I instantly wanted to pull them both out. Aaron wanted to stay and send Kate home. Kate of course refused. She's adamant the loss won't be there, or either of them."

"Stop second guessing yourself Thorn. You are a good alpha and you have a good team of seconds you can trust. You've been leading the pack for years don't start doubting yourself now." Luna growled at him. That caused everyone to chuckle a little.

"Easy for you to say Miss I'm the clusterfuck of doom and you should get away before I take you all to hell." Lexi's voice came strong through the phone.

"What happened to the Moonbeams of hope?" Thorn grinned at his mate who was blushing furiously.

"Moonbeams of hope? What the fuck did you two drink tonight?" Lucas had an arm around Gem, and had settled down enough to be able to smile at them.

"Long story short, the aunties and I had a pretty heavy visit. Harmony in what I guess is her usual style lightened things up a bit. Mel now refers to me as Moonbeam Butt." Luna giggled.

"You have rays of hope coming out your ass? That is bloody awesome, can you show me?"

"My mate's pants, stay on. Only I get to see her glorious moonbeams and her gorgeous ass. It dazzles me every time so I think Harmony and Mel may be right. It's fucking moonbeams of hope."

"Or Harmony's magic brownies."

"OMG are you telling me there are drugs in those brownies?" Luna shrieked.

"No idea but they're bloody addictive." Lucas laughed at his future sister-in-law.

"Shove your moonbeams and your brownies where the sun don't shine and get on with the important stuff, so I can go home and pack." Lex grumbled through the phone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

"Kate, Luna is now all in, she knows where you are and why you're there."

"Is she mad at me?"

"No, not even at me. She's really worried about you though. With the whole mating thing and now this..."

"Don't you two start, Aaron has been trying to get me out of here all night. Thorn I swear, I am needed here. I am not so messed up by everything going on that I can't see the truth."

"Okay. When you get a chance can you ring Luna and try and convince her, or I think she'll be ordering us to come get you in the morning."

"Well you should distract her with some baby making."

"I get the feeling she won't be distracted that easily. I have to go though, she's looking at me contemplating another karate move."

"So we've finished unpacking the truck Thorn, were you planning on chatting to whomever has you deep in conversation all night, or just long enough to get out of helping?" Luna teased as she wrapped her arms around her mate.

"I was checking in with Aaron, and then Kate."

"Oh, thanks, I was going to ring but was worried it may put them in danger."

"I'm pretty sure they aren't at such great risk they can't take phone calls baby, however I have asked Kate to call you when she's free."

"You are definitely a keeper. So I've been checking out the house. I only really saw the room and the entrance last time. I never realised it was so big."

"It won't feel big when the whole gang are with us most of the times we visit."

***

Luna thought over the rooms she had toured in the house with Gem. She had been surprised when Thorn had driven to his house not the lodge as she had expected. Even more surprised to realise how big the house actually was. Gem and Lucas would use the room Luc had used previously. Aaron and Kate would take the room he used to share with Alex, they would need to swap out the décor. Gem said they would do that over the next few days. There was a large guest room which they had decided would become Lexi's room. The super king bed had given them a good chuckle as they made that decision. There was a nursery with an adjoining room, and Rose's room. The remaining room was clearly that of the security crew because it linked to all the camera feeds for the house and the lodge next door.

"I saw the nursery Thorn, it made me think about the next few days. If we need to wait on Shannon and the turning I understand. The pack come first."

"Sweetheart, there is no way I can wait on this. You smell so good I almost jumped you in the truck with Gem and Luc watching. The timing isn't great on the surface, but I have a feeling there is a reason for everything. The aunties would have warned us if any of our plans needed changing."

Luna spun around in a happy dance. She was so happy to hear they could proceed with their plan. It was tempting to drag her man to the bedroom right away, however there was still stuff to do and she had been reading up on ovulation, as much as Thorn had obviously been looking into it. His new expertise in this area made her smile as she wondered if he would study up on pregnancy and babies too. Tonight though, based on both of their homework, she could take her time. She smiled as she grabbed his hand and they walked toward the house, "Have you heard of a wolf mating to more than one partner before?"

"Yeah, but it was hundreds of years ago. The individual circumstances are a bit unclear right now but the theory was something I remember. Poly mating was rare even in the time of the wars. Packs fought for territory, for growth, and for power. There were sometimes pairs of wolves mated to one female, even a case where one female had four mates. I vaguely recall they were cousins, the four males that is. These were wolves at high risk. Sometimes the males didn't survive long due to the price of battle. The other side of it was, even with the high death rates of the males, there were always less female wolves. Hundreds of years ago turning humans was seen as a way to weaken the bloodlines and the pack."

"Wait, are you saying one theory would be that Lex may lose one of her men?"

"I'm saying historically poly mating happened and there were theories as to why. I'm saying I have heard of it. I am not saying anything more than that."

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Thorn what do we do?"

"We continue to be strong. We continue to look after our pack. We do not panic because of some old wives tales or dusty theories that may not have even meant anything then, and certainly don't mean much now. Luna, take a deep breath and think about this. This is a time for change for the pack, especially our core group. I am sure that Lex and her mates have a long future ahead. I am sure the pack is destined for amazing things. I am positive we are all going to be extremely happy. First we deal with this big nasty and get you pregnant and furry, then everything will be perfect."

"Pregnant and furry, then perfect? Okay so I can get with that plan." Luna agreed smiling. While she loved the idea of furry and pregnant she would be keeping her eye on Lex and her men. More so than the others. First the others were all well known, and well connected to the pack. Surely that meant if any of them were in danger there was a bloody good chance the aunts or Kate would have a heads up. The fact Tyrone and Jared were pretty new to the pack and therefore may be flying under the radar, could mean they were the ones at risk and why Kate was struggling to see what would happen. Luna knew one thing for certain nothing was happening to anyone in the core under her watch.