My Luna Mate

"You're good, right?" Jaxon asked when we finally rested against a tree.

I nodded, offering him a weak smile. "It's been rough, but yeah I think I will be fine."

"Your mate is quite decent, you know," he told me. "I hated him at first, but he really does love you."

"Sure, he is my mate, after all," I teased, but I did agree with Jaxon.

I was lucky to have Alexander. I couldn't imagine anyone else supporting me the way he had in the past week, and I felt slightly guilty. He was suffering just as bad, and whilst I should have comforted him back, I had only focused on myself.

"It's been a while, we should probably head back before your mate starts threatening me," Jaxon said, standing up and offered his hand for me to take.

Placing my hand in his, he pulled me up and I dusted off the twigs from my dress.

The walk back to the pack house was short. I was grateful for Jaxon, and that he had taken me for a run. He had let me win the race against his wolf, saying something about how I was rusty and he didn't want to hurt my feelings.

Deep down, I knew it was because I was genuinely just faster than him.

I smiled to myself at the thought, as we entered through the doors to the pack house. Ava and Zynthéa were in the kitchen, they must have been cooking because the scent of food engulfed my nostrils.

Dyami was playing with Luca on the living room floor. Evan and Matteo seemed to be in a heated conversation.

Jaxon strutted over to the pair of boys, wrapping his arms around his mate securely. "'Sup boys," he beamed.

I turned my attention to the girls in the kitchen. Approaching them, I embraced Zynthéa as I greeted her.

"Hello, my love," she said, hugging me tightly before pulling back to examine me. "Are you eating? You have lost so much weight."

Biting my lip, I hesitantly responded, "I suppose my appetite hasn't been the best."

Zynthéa frowned. "Not under my watch," she warned, turning around to check on the pot on the stove. "Ava set the dinner table, food is almost ready."

I appreciated what the ladies were doing, but I didn't want to eat without Alexander. Seeing as he was not home yet, I decided to mind-link him.

'Alexander?'

Not even half a second later, my mate responded back, concerned.

'Baby, you alright? Is something wrong?'

'No, it's just that dinner is ready, are you going to be long?'

'I'll head back soon, Lyra. Don't wait up for me and eat with the others.'

Sighing quietly, I didn't respond back to Alexander, wondering what kept him busy.

When the dinner table was set, my group of friends all took their seats. I joined them, but the thought of food did not appeal to me.

The first few days after finding out about the loss of my pup, I couldn't keep anything down. And only recently, in the past two days or so, had my appetite returned. But even then, it was mostly when Alexander was around.

I played with my food most of the time, and tuned out of the conversation that was happening around me. I was grateful when the others didn't pry, instead, let me stay tuned in to my own world.

After dinner, Jaxon and Evan excused themselves, saying they needed to take care of some business. I thanked them for coming, embracing them before they left.

Zynthéa and Dyami left shortly after, when Luca began to throw tantrums because he was not in his own bed. Zynthéa wouldn't stop apologising, but I only smiled.

A pup throwing tantrums was better than no pup, but I kept that thought to myself.

Ava and Matteo remained with me. We were sat on the couch in the living room, talking about the potential dates for their wedding.

"I want it in the Spring, you know, not too cold but also not too hot," Ava blabbered, gesturing with her hands.

"Spring is a good choice," I agreed, smiling at the auburn haired girl.

"Right," she beamed. "That's exactly what I think too. Matteo says it's overrated."

I glanced at her mate and chuckled softly, realising how fed up he must be by this point of wedding talks. The expression on his face already confirmed what I was thinking.

Alexander stalked through the door in that exact moment. He didn't stop until he was right before me, and without warning, he tugged at my hand and pulled me in to his arms.

"Hey," I whispered, taken aback slightly by how over worked he seemed. "You okay?"

Alexander's arms tightened around my waist, as he inhaled my scent a couple of times. "Give me a minute," he told me, huskily.

"Now that Alexander is back, we will leave," I heard Matteo mutter.

I tried to pull away from Alexander to bid my friends adieu, but my mate only tightened his arms around me.

"Alexander," I whispered, trying to pull back to glance at him. "What happened?"

When the door to our house shut loudly, Alexander finally pulled back enough to look down at me.

"I went to see my mother," he elaborated, his eyes dark and facial muscles tensed.

I frowned. "And?"

Alexander heaved a loud sigh. "She told me what happened that night," he mumbled, his voice hard.

"That night?" I repeated, in confusion.

"The night, um, Jessica, the mourning," Alexander tried to explain, awkwardly. "My mother was there that night."

"Oh," I replied, letting my hands go flop on his chest.

"She told me some things that I would rather not share with you," Alexander said, frustratingly. "You have already dealt with enough, let me handle this, alright?"

I frowned and glanced up at him. "I want to know."

Alexander's brows furrowed, he swallowed hard as his gaze intensified on me. "Baby, nothing good will come out of it."

Shaking my head, I shrugged. "I don't care. Tell me."

Inhaling a sharp breath, my mate tugged at my hand. "Come here."

Taking my hand in his, he plopped himself down on the sofa before he pulled me on to his lap. He wrapped his arms securely around my waist.

"That night," he started saying, his jaw clenched. "I had thought that no one was aware of what happened, when in reality, my mother knew all along."

"Are you serious?" I blurted, anger boiling inside of me. "She knew?"

Alexander nodded, his hand on my back soothingly running up and down. "She did," he confirmed, his voice hard and deep. "There is something else that I want you to know."

"What is it?" I asked, pulling back to look at him properly.

Alexander's eyes were dark and angry, so I tried to calm his wolf by placing my hand on his cheek, stroking gently.

"That psychopath tried to get a pup out of that night," he told me, and I only nodded since the news weren't new to me. "She collected my semen and tried to inject it in to herself to achieve that."

Immediately, I pulled a face of disgust at his words. She really had gone to all lengths to try and birth my mate's pup, but did that mean then that the pup was his?

I frowned, before asking quietly, "So, the pup is yours?"

My mate shook his head, his hand on my waist tightening. "No, baby. The DNA results already confirmed that he is not," he quickly responded, reassuringly. "She tried to manipulate the results but failed."

"Manipulate, how?"

Alexander shifted uncomfortably beneath me, but he simply shrugged. "My mother didn't know, and I killed Jessica before I could figure it out."

"Hmm," I hummed, confused. Biting my lower lip, I quietly asked, "Why only now, four years later?"

Alexander scoffed, shaking his head. "Absurd, isn't it?" he said, exhaling a deep breath. "My mother claimed that Jessica wouldn't let her see the pup anymore, so she began to threaten her. Jessica was tired and thought coming here to tell me the truth would solve her problems."

I narrowed my eyes at his words, not quite understanding why the situation was so dramatic. I mean, Jessica didn't have to lie about the pup being his in the first place if she didn't want his mother involved?

It was all too confusing, but I suppose because Jessica was now dead, Alexander wouldn't get the answers he was looking for.

"Okay, so from what you're telling me, the pup is not yours, thank God, and Jessica is dead," I concluded, trying to make sense of what was happening. "What about your mother. Where is she?"

Alexander's jaw tensed and his eyes turned charcoal in an instant. "She's dead."