Ivan
"Alpha, you look like shit. Are you alright?" Greg walked into the kitchen, scowling at me.
"Fine." My stomach was in knots, but why worry about the pup?
It took all my willpower not to go upstairs to be with Nefra. Taylor hadn't been subtle when she'd hurried her upstairs, but I got the point, and she wasn't wrong. The others were too excited to have a Luna to control themselves. With how today had gone, it was too much to ask of my mate. She'd handled everything better than I could've hoped, but that wasn't a reason to overwhelm her to satisfy their curiosity.
We haven't had a Luna since my grandfather Noah was Alpha, so all this is new. My mom helped with many of the Luna's duties during my uncle's time, but it's different. She's still feared and respected by the pack and many leaders, but that's not all a Luna is. A Luna is the heart of the pack. She's the physical embodiment of our connection to the moon goddess. Nefra has no idea that just by knowing her for a few hours, she's affected my wolves in a way I never could. I'm Alpha, the leader and protector, but they respond to her attention instantly.
"Your stomach bothering you, Alpha?" Danny leaned against the counter, staring at me curiously. I know he wants to check on Nefra. As a medic, he knows when someone's injured, and it's probably been eating at him that he couldn't check her out at the store.
"Yeah, probably just too much fast food." I doubt it. I can eat a lot more junk food than that. "No more drive-thru while we're here."
"I've got something if you want." He offers, pointing to his kit.
"What do you have?" Danny didn't know everything I'd done but knew I no longer accepted painkillers, even human ones.
"Tums." The smirk on his face said much more than the word, and I raised an eyebrow at him. The only doctor who knew about what I'd done for the past year was Trevor, the head of the hospital back home, and I'd sworn him to secrecy.
"Tums?" Greg looks disgusted by that. "That's it? I thought you were some shamen or voodoo doctor, man. You study magic, don't you?"
"Voodoo? What the hell have you heard about me?" Danny scoffs before shaking his head. "I don't do voodoo."
"But you do magic."
"I study it. I don't practice. Besides, I only know about healing magic." Rolling his eyes, he grabs the bag, rummaging through it until he finds a container with the brand name on it. "Believe it or not, pup. Most things don't require magic to fix. For example, a stomach ache can be helped with an antacid."
"Well, hand it over." I hold my hand out, accepting the tablet before taking it. "Thanks."
"Have you considered the possibility it's because of something else?" Steven grabs another beer from the fridge and sits across from me. A glint of amusement in his eyes puts me in the spotlight. "Maybe it's because Luna's upstairs, and you're not."
I was glad he was using Nefra's title in front of everyone. Vince had a point; a family shouldn't have to worry about titles, but I expected a little more respect from everyone on her first night with us. Still, Vince was never one to hold to the formalities. Then again, he's one of the only reckless enough to challenge me in front of others. It's probably why I made him Gamma when I took over. He was my left hand, and I was grateful for his attitude and criticism. Not that Steven was much better. He just had a better sense of diplomacy than Vince did.
"Tay told me you don't want to let Mom and Dad know yet." That makes Greg whistle, which earns him a dirty look from me. However, Vince comes in with a wicked smirk on his face. "Do you think that's a good idea?"
"That's not the question you need to ask him." Vince takes my unopened soda and pops it open before taking a sip. "Ask him if he cares."
"Fuck you." They were teasing me, and I knew it. But, the truth was, I had a damn good reason for not saying anything to my family yet. "No one better have said anything to the pack either."
"Why can't we say anything?" Greg frowns, seeming disturbed by my secrecy. "Aren't you happy you found Luna?"
"Pup, you already told your mom, didn't you?" Vince accuses with a grin, making Greg look horrified.
"No!" We all chuckle as his body stiffens. Greg was only seventeen; this was his first trip with us out of the territory. "Alpha said not to, so I didn't."
"Kiss ass," Vince mutters, making Greg's wolf growl. Vince straightens to his full height, but Greg continues to snarl.
"Did you tell anyone?" Danny grabs Greg by the back of his shirt, pulling the pup back from his Gamma.
"No," Scoffing, Vince grabbed a chair beside me and pointed the bottle toward me. "The pup does bring up an interesting point. Are you happy? I mean, you didn't meet under normal circumstances."
"Of course I'm happy." The Tums weren't helping. My stomach still killed me, and I wondered if Steven was right. Maybe it was because I was away from Nefra. "I found my mate, and she's here with me and perfect."
"She also has a pup." Steven reminds me. "Though you'd be an idiot not to adore her."
"You don't have to worry about that." I can't help smiling, thinking of the tiny baby upstairs. "She's my pup. No argument."
"Aunt Sierra's going to freak out." Vince laughs at my expression before winking at Steven. "Especially since you don't want to tell them."
"Which you still haven't explained." Danny reminds me. "Brandon keeps texting me; he feels something and wants to know what it is. The whole pack senses the change. You won't be able to hide this for very long."
"The last thing Nefra needs is everyone driving down here to meet her." Glancing at the doorway, I see several shadows trying to be inconspicuous. "A few of you crowded her. Can you imagine the whole pack?"
That was only part of my concern. If I called my mother and told her I'd found my mate and that I had a pup, she and my entire family would be here by the morning. It might be too much with as freaked out as Nefra was at the park. The trouble is, that's the least of my worries.
"Bullshit." Vince leans forward, playing with the now empty bottle. "Try again."
"Excuse me?" There were moments when I just wanted to punch my cousin in the face.
"I know you, Ivan. Sure, you want to keep them to yourself, but there's more to this than you're sharing." He looks me straight in the eyes, all amusement aside. "Or are we just going to ignore the fact someone was beating her?"
I hear someone turn off the TV, and I see the others crowding the doorway from the corner of my eye. No one speaks, waiting for me to give them an answer. Damn, I was trying to avoid this. The last thing I wanted for Nefra and my wolves was for them to know the situation she'd been in. The problem was, I couldn't ignore it or leave them in the dark. Not with how big it was and how it would affect us.
"Alpha?" Greg glances at everyone before coming back to me. "Who was hurting our Luna?"
"Greg, her bag is in the backseat of my truck. Go and get it for her. Be careful. She has a few things that can't be replaced." I threw my car keys. He catches them but doesn't move.
"I want to stay." He gives me a determined look, setting his jaw. I can't get angry at him. He's still a pup, and his wolf gets the better of him, but that's the reason I don't want him here.
"I'm not asking."
"No. If someone hurt my Luna, I want to know who he is. She's our Luna. No one should hurt her!"
"Pup!" Standing, I use some of my Alpha voice, instantly getting his submission. I'd brought Greg because he was the best with computers in the pack, and Luke's Beta wanted to show him some new system. "We had a deal. You could come as long as you obeyed my every command without question. I'm ordering you to get your Luna's bag from my truck and then go upstairs. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Alpha." He looks away and pushes past everyone. I know I'm hard on the boy, but I can't afford anything reckless. Not when it can put Nefra in danger again.
Waiting until I hear the front door, I sit back down. Danny watches from the window and nods when he sees Greg at the truck. The others settle themselves around the kitchen, waiting without a word. I needed to ask Nefra to come and join us. She was the one who knew what was going on, but I hate to put that on her. I'll have to explain this as best I can; hopefully, that'll be enough.
"How bad is this?" Vince asks, not reacting to Greg slamming the door shut when he returns. The pup is angry, but he obeys my command and goes upstairs.
"Worse than you're probably imagining."
"So, we have an abusive husband to deal with?" Nate rolls his neck, already mentally preparing himself for a fight. "We can make it look like an accident."
"No," Goddess, how did I explain this to them? It was unbelievable unless you saw it all. "That's just the tip of the iceberg."
"Let me guess, a cheater?" Vince sneers with disgust. "I swear, the concept of loyalty is beyond some people."
"There's more."
It takes less time than I thought to recount what I saw and what Nefra told me. Just thinking about it infuriates me, which fuels the other's rage through the pack's bond. I told them everything, which sounded unbelievable, but I saw with my own eyes how the house was more like a cage—the smell of chemicals everywhere and that basement. Nefra had been forced to live with that under her every day like corpses waiting to pull her under. The thought of what would've happened if he'd discovered her secret worsens my stomach ache.
"He could've made it up." Steven offers, but I know he's pulling at straws. "To scare her into submission."
"No," As much as I want that to be true, I know it isn't. "There's no chance it's faked. The blood on those blades wasn't all human, and I saw some of the trophies."
"He could've ordered those online." Danny points out, looking like he was fighting with himself. "It would be difficult but not impossible. I buy witch's potions that way."
"No, all of it was his."
"Why didn't you kill him?" Unsurprisingly, Vincent threw the accusation my way, and I felt the tension grow with the others. "After what he's done, why isn't he dead?"
"Because she asked me not to." No, it was more like she begged me not to. I'm trying not to let that get to me. After all, Nefra doesn't know me yet. She has no idea what I'm capable of. "She was afraid he'd kill me and just wanted us to leave."
"And you didn't correct her?" AJ shakes his head before realizing he'd said that aloud and lowering his gaze. "Sorry."
"Luna doesn't know anything about us." Scott challenges him. "She only knows what she's experienced. So You said this guy was human?"
"As far as I can tell." Even as I say it, I remember his scent. There was no sign of anything supernatural, and it was so ordinary it was generic.
"If he's that great an assassin as she said, how did she get out of there?" AJ tried not to have an attitude about it, but he had valid questions. He was one of my best offensive warriors and didn't like defense.
"Nefretiri is... brilliant." It was the only word I could use to describe how smart she was, and it didn't feel like enough. "She learned the codes to the doors and figured out how to get in and out without being tracked."
"A smart girl." Vince manages a small smile. "Well, the Moon goddess knew your type then."