Page 41 of Unbelievable Faith
Chapter 18
Luna stretchedand rolled as she came awake but even before she met the cool sheets on the other side of the bed she knew that she was alone. She’d felt it when Michael rose at sunrise and kissed her forehead softly. He’d murmured that he loved her but she’d been so deep in sleep she hadn’t been able to say it back before slipping beneath the darkness again. And now he was gone, again, and she couldn’t help but pout alittle.
After a week of waking up alone, she thought she might start getting used to it but she hadn’t. She wouldn’t. She wanted to wake up with Michael stretched out beside her. Better yet, she wanted to wake up with him wrapped around her. She wanted them to be able to spend their mornings cuddling and talking and making love until they were exhausted and fell back intodreams.
But Michael didn’t know what the term “sleeping in” meant it seemed. Each morning he woke with the sun to begin his day. When she’d tried to seduce him into staying those first few days, he’d smiled and even relented once or twice, but she’d felt the guilt that swamped him once they were done makinglove.
He felt guilty for spending so much time with her. He’d always put the pack first. He’d never had anything that was his and his alone. He’d told her that and he’d also told her that he loved that she was his. He was just still trying to find a way to balance wanting to spend every waking moment with her and running the pack that looked to him for guidance andleadership.
One of the ways he was trying to make more time for them was to start his day earlier than usual. He reasoned that if he woke up before her and handled as many of his duties as he could then once she was awake they’d have more time together in the evening. It wasn’t a bad plan. She liked the part where she got to sleep in for sure. But she missed waking up in his arms with the feel of his mouth on her neck and his hands on her breasts, his rough morning voice in her ear telling her that he neededher.
Luna harrumphed and pushed the covers away as her body heated with memories of all the times and ways her mate had loved her in the last week. It had been a good week. One of the best weeks of her life. She’d found her mate and her place in the world, her home, and her life was starting to settle into something resembling normalcy more and more as the dayspassed.
Her brother had gone back to the Crescent pack to try and mend all that Maddox had broken and though she missed him terribly, she understood why he’d needed to go. The longer the pack went without leadership the harder it would be to takecontrol.
The Crescent pack had undergone a violent upheaval and it was up to Leo to set things right. Those that had helped Maddox and survived the Moirae attack needed to be punished. Those that had been imprisoned and injured during the reign of terror needed to be freed and healed. They needed to be reunited and there was nobody better for the job than her brother, the rightfulheir.
She’d cried when he left. She’d hugged him tightly and made him promise to be careful. She’d insisted he check in with her daily so that she knew he was well. Even still, her nerves hadn’t been soothed until the giant, hulking Enforcer that she now knew as Darius had pledged to keep Leosafe.
There was nothing getting past that big man in her estimation so she’d let her brother go with the knowledge that he was protected, whether he wanted to be ornot.
It had helped that her sisters stayed with her. She’d been certain they would go back with Leo. They were Crescent wolves. The Crescent pack was their family. But when she’d asked them why they weren’t going home with Leo, they’d bothhedged.
Nova had said something about needing to be here. She hadn’t elaborated. In fact, she’d been downright mysterious about it. Luna could only assume that her youngest sister was working off another vision and since the last time she’d been filled in on one of Nova’s visions it had landed her in a basement she hadn’t pressed for moreinformation.
Maya hadn’t verbalized her reason for staying either but Luna thought she understood. In the past few days, her sister had stopped giving the Moirae Enforcers assigned as her guard the slip. Instead, she’d begun to train with them. Maya still wasn’t talking about what Maddox and his thugs had put her through but whatever it was, it had been bad enough that she no longer considered the Crescent pack home. It had been bad enough that she was fully dedicated and focused on learning how to defend and protectherself.
Luna couldn’t say that she wasn’t worried about both of her sisters. She was. She had scars from the ordeal but so did they. She at least had Michael to cling to, to help her push through, and a future to look forward to with him. Her sisters were clinging to what they had, this new life, and she was simply thankful they’d chosen to stay close to her for the timebeing.
They were all three settling into their lives here and she was more thankful than she could put into words that Michael not only seemed to understand her need to be close to her sisters, but supported her completely. Instead of moving them back to his house, they’d visited a few times but ultimately moved their necessities to the lodge for the time being. Michael hadn’t complained at all, in fact it had been his idea and she’d fallen a little more in love with him for thinking of her family as his own soeasily.
Thinking of her mate made that now familiar pull in her chest more pronounced and Luna rolled from bed with the mission to go and find him. She dressed quickly but thoughtfully in a simple yellow sundress. She’d always loved the way the color highlighted her dark skin and features so when she’d seen it on a shopping trip in town with Zoey earlier in the week, she’d bought it immediately. With her lack of curves she could wear it without a bra and since she had only one thing on her mind, she didn’t bother with panties either before slipping on a pair of sandals and leaving her room in search of hermate.
With her enhanced hearing she could make out conversation and voices throughout the lodge. There were grunts coming from the yard out back and she knew that the Enforcers must be training. There was a few people coming and going and she smiled and spoke to each of them as she passed on her way to the business wing of the large lodge. They all returned the gesture along with a small dip of their chin, a sign of deference that she had never imagined would be directed toher.
But as the mate of the Pack Alpha, she was shown nothing but respecthere.
Luna rounded the corner into the smaller hallway that led towards Michael’s office and jerked to a stop at the sight before her. A big, dark-haired man stood a few feet away but she was accustomed to running into big men around here. No, it was what he was doing that made her stop, her eyes going wide before she could avert them. Because the big man had a woman wrapped around him and they were kissing as if they were the only two people in the entireworld.
The woman had her legs wrapped around his waist and was rolling her hips. His big hands were on her ass, holding her to him. The woman had her hands tangled in his hair and was moaning softly as their mouths ate at eachother.
Heat flared through Luna and she cleared her throat loudly to make her presence known before the two went any further. She had no doubt they would. It was just a matter of whether it was right here and right now in the hallway or if she interrupted and delayed theinevitable.
A growl rolled through the hallway as the male jerked back from his female. Hard, intense eyes that glowed gold with his wolf met hers. Recognition struck him only a second later and she had to stifle a laugh when she watched a flush of red stain his perfectly sculptedcheekbones.
“Luna.”
“Wait, what…” The female in his arms twisted her head around and grinned brightly, “Oh, hey sis. Didn’t see youthere.”
“I noticed.” She didn’t bother holding back her giggle now because Zoey was completely unfazed while her mate blushed adorably like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, “Rafe.”
“Good morning.” He cleared his throat as he lowered Zoey to the ground, “Are you looking forMichael?”
“Of course she is. Look at her.” Zoey snorted giving her an eye wag as she waved at her, “Good lord woman, you look gorgeous in that dress. I knew youwould.”
“Thank you.” She smoothed down the skirt, making sure she wasn’t actually as naked as she felt in thatmoment.
“Michael’s in his office, ” Rafe pointed over his shoulder, “we just finished up a meeting but he still has Darius in there giving a report on the Crescentpack.”
