Carlisle

　　After I’d told Damon how I felt, he’d looked at me like he couldn’t believe what I was saying and proceeded to jump out of the window, howling constantly as his wolf raced towards the forest.

　　I ran out of the room in my bid to follow him and as I climbed the staircase, I lost my balance and felt myself toppling down, until I’m enveloped by a hand that caught my fall.

　　“Got you.”

　　I hear a voice murmur. I look up at the face of my savior and it’s a new face to me. It’s a man with brown hair and dark eyes, he’s looking at me in fascination and his eyes roam over my face and start making their way down but he stops himself.

　　“Hi” I say to break the silence.

　　“Hello Luna. I’m Owen. I was sent by the Alpha to protect you.”

　　“Is he safe?”

　　Owen smiles at me slowly, I suspect this man is used to getting attention from women because his smile screams with so much pride.

　　“I wouldn’t know my lady but he’s the Alpha. I’m sure he can take care of himself.”

　　Stopping myself from bothering this man with any more questions, I turn to head back into the room to wait for Damon’s return but Owen grabs my hand and pulls me back. I raise my brows at him, confused at him holding me back, he smiles once again. He really does like smiling.

　　“I was also asked to bring you down to the dinner talker by the former Luna and her daughter. You’ve been holed up in the room ever since you came to our pack, with the exception of when you were abducted of course. After your meal, I can take you on a short tour around the pack, if you’d want.”

　　Pulling my hand from his, I nod at him to lead the way down.

　　“Thank you Owen and I would love the tour.”

　　He smiles and begins to lead the way down the stairs, for the first time, I have time to actually look around Damon’s house. It’s not as big as I’d have expected it to be but it is so well put together. Although, Damon does not strike me as the kind of man that’d have time for decorations, his mum probably has something to do with it or his sister.

　　The path we take to the dinning area is lit up and has the faint scent of roses. The entire house is painted white with black and brown decor, giving it a warm feeling. There are portraits of Damon and his family scattered around the house. I stop in front of one where his mum is besides a man that looks a lot like Damon. His father.

　　“How did the late alpha die?”

　　Owen stops in his tracks and stares at me in shock, “we don’t talk about that in this house Luna but the late Alpha was attacked while on a trip. That’s as much as I can tell you for now.”

　　“Oh. Thank you, Owen. Let’s go.”

　　He walks a little further and opens a door, waiting for me to join him and I’m once again stunned at how beautiful places outside the Fae kingdom are. The dinning area has just 10 chairs and the walls are painted a beautiful sky blue, with pink splattered randomly on it. There’s a huge painting of a wolf on one side of the wall and another painting of Damon’s family on another side. Damon’s mother Emerald is seated at the edge of the table and she seems to be having a serious conversation with Arabella.

　　The maid Aurora is standing besides Arabella and it looks like she’s dozing off.

　　I step into the dinning area and all of them turn their eyes on me, I fight the urge to avoid eye contact and fight my nervousness.

　　Emerald speaks first, getting up from where she’s seated to stretch her hands towards me for a hug

　　“Come in Carlisle. I’m so glad you are safe. Come.”

　　She wraps me in her arms and I breathe in her scent, fighting back tears. This is what a mother should feel like. I blink away the tears in my eyes and any thought of my mother trying to invade my mind.

　　“Thank you Emerald. I’m glad you were not hurt too.”

　　Arabella comes to her mother and I and wraps her arms around us both and all three of us sigh into the hug. My heart breaks again at the thought that I may have to leave this family if I want to protect them against my mother’s plan. I have not even become Luna and they have already become important to me. Like a family I’ve never had. This is what I’ve always wanted and now even with it at the tip of my fingers, I can not have it.

　　We all let go of each other and Emerald asks me to sit, as she orders Aurora to bring something for me to eat. At the mention of food, my stomach rumbles. The last time I had anything to eat was at the troll kingdom and that was a day ago. I’m famished and the moment the meal of chicken soup and bread is dropped in front of me, I devour it all in no time.

　　Damon

　　As I allow my wolf take over, I send a message to one of the Omegas to watch over Carlisle and ask Kieran to meet me halfway so we can run together while I clear my head. I try to sift through my thoughts to think of what could have prompted her to refuse to be my mate, she’d looked so happy when I’d arrived to save her back at the troll kingdom and she’d also seemed like she wanted to kiss me too when I’d sat on the bed.

　　She even looked tortured refusing to be my mate, so why was she doing this? I howled in anger, my wolf was hurt and so was I. There’s not a lot that hurts a wolf as much as being rejected by a mate does. A woman given to you by the goddesses refusing to be with you was a fate that seemed worse than death.

　　Pulling myself to a stop, I sat down in the middle of the forest and began to howl quietly in pain. I would not let her go this easily. I’d waited decades for my mate, she’d been kidnapped and I thought I’d lost her, yet I found her and brought her back home to me. I would not let her push me away.

　　Assuring myself that I’d made the right decision, I looked toward Kieran who’d be trailing behind me all this while and communicated that I was ready to head back. His wolf howled in reply and immediately followed me as I let my wolf take over and ran back to the pack house to convince my mate.

　　I let myself into my room and it was empty, had she left already? My heart skipped and I ran out of the room, as I climbed the stairs, I heard the sound of soft laughter coming from the dinning area and as I threw the door open, I heard a gasp, then it occurred to me that I was probably naked and unlike other times that Carlisle hadn’t needed to look at me fully when I changed from my wolf form to my human form, this was her first time seeing me truly naked.

　　Slamming the door back as quickly as I opened it, I cussed at myself.

　　“Shit. Fuck.”