Chapter Five

I woke the next day feeling overheated, confined and in desperate need of the bathroom. I rolled over and stifled a laugh as I saw Magnus deeply asleep, his hair all over and his arms and legs around me tightly. I wiggled out of his grip slowly and once free I tiptoed into the bathroom and quickly did my business. I left the bathroom and went into the closet, pulling on a hoodie and a pair of tights. I went back into the bedroom and as I made to pass the bed a hand snagged out and pulled me into bed.

“Why is it that you insist on getting dressed and keeping this gloriously soft skin hidden?” Magnus asked, his voice deeper with sleep as his hands went under my sweater and touched the skin of my stomach and side. I giggled and tried to wiggle out of his hold but he just held me tighter and brought his hand to tilt my head up and capture my lips in a kiss.

“Because I’d rather not walk around naked and have my mates get all possessive and snarly at anyone who looks.” I said with a laugh as I shrugged and sat up and pulled him up with me. “Come on sleepy dragon, I’m starving.”

“Well we can’t have that now can we?” He chuckles as he stands up from the bed and stretches, the mate mark on his skin stretching and catching the light as his muscles contort and flex with his movements. He grabs a pair of jeans and slips them on with a t-shirt before we make our way out of the room and out of the suite in search of Kane.

We walk hand in hand down the halls and eventually find Kane in his office, sitting at his desk with a serious frown and a plate of snacks beside him. He looks up and smiles at us both as we walk in. I go to him first and kiss him, stepping to the side so Magnus can also give him a kiss before we move to the chairs on the other side of the desk and look at our mate.

“Is everything ok Kane? You look stressed.” I ask with a small frown as I sit cross-legged on the chair and look at him with a slight frown. He sighed and shrugged as he ran a hand through his hair.

“Just a lot of things from the council to deal with. There are a lot of requests from smaller packs to help them with a lot of different matters. It’s just a pain in the ass to deal with all of that along with the things that need my attention here.”  He admitted as he leaned back in his chair and looked at the both of us. “Have you two eaten? It’s a few hours still till dinner but I can have the kitchens make something up for you both. We can eat upstairs when you’re ready.”

“Yeah, that would be nice. I’ll use my office and check in with my pack, to see if there's anything that needs my attention. I could also help with anything here if you need an extra hand while you two handle council business.” I offer as I stand up and head towards the door.

“I can have Leo come to you with a few things that I could use your help on Love. Thank you. I will let you know when supper is ready but I’ll also have someone bring you some snacks in the meantime.” He said with a smile, the both of them blowing me a kiss before I leave the room and headed for my office.

I enter the office and sit at the desk, quickly calling home to Alaric and asking him how everything is going. After talking with him, I checked in with Laris and then Gram and Gigi. After that, I was able to have a quick conversation with both Blaze and Cadmus who informed me he had to return to the island. I was sad he wouldn’t be home when I returned but I knew his responsibilities were more important and I wasn’t going to fault him for taking care of the things he needed to. Just like I had been doing.

Having relationships with very busy men was going to be a big adjustment but I couldn’t fault anyone for being responsible and putting their pack and or kingdom first. I would do the same. In fact, I had done the same. It was nice to talk with them shortly, but it just made me miss them even more. After talking with them and checking in on the back I got down to business with Leo and was very thankful to the kitchen for sending me some amazing snacks. I was ridiculously hungry and knew that come supper I would more than likely eat a ton of food.

With Leo’s help, it was a little easier to navigate the things that were expected of a Luna, though this pack had operated without one for so long that all the work a Luna would normally do had been divided up between Kane, Leo, and the triplets. One of the things they wanted my help on was organizing my Luna ceremony with Kane’s pack, fully integrating me into it and having the pack swear loyalty to me as their Luna. While I very much wanted that, there had never been an instance where a Luna of one pack was also Alpha of their own pack. It wasn’t confirmed yet if being sworn in as a Luna would do anything to my tie as an Alpha. 

That was one of the things Kane was trying to figure out with the other council members. As well as Cadmus was still trying to figure out if there was a way to get the Alpha’s fog out of my head. Since the mating, I was hoping that the fog would disappear or at the very least recede. So far that wasn’t the case. He was still there, talking to my wolf and whispering for her ears only. I did not like it one bit. It made me feel anxious and now that I knew what he was really after, it just made me feel as if there was this pressing weight on me that was slowly crushing me with dread and anxiety.

Instead of focusing on the bad, I instead put myself into the planning of the Luna ceremony, deciding on a date a few months from now so that we’d hopefully have answers as well as resolutions by then. I was so not a party planner so while I was supposed to be looking through all the samples I decided to video chat with Torrance, very much needing her input on all of this. I didn’t have the fainted clue how to make a grand affair. My Alpha ceremony was tradition and very simple. From the looks of all this, it would be the farthest thing from simple.

“So spill! Did you mark each other yet? What’s his pack like? What’s his house like?” Torrance questioned the moment she accepted the video call. I looked at her on the laptop screen and rolled my eyes as I held up sample books for table cloths, napkins and everything in between.

“I need your help. Yes, we marked each other and I'm also marked with Magnus, I will fill you in on those details later. Right now I need your help picking out things for my Luna ceremony.” I stated with a small huff. She was silent until she let out an excited squeal and did a happy dance, the camera moving around till she finally settled and put her laptop down in what looked to be an office that very much had her flair all over it.

“A Luna ceremony?! Oh my god Kara I am so happy for you! This is so exciting. This will be the best ceremony anyone has ever been to for a Luna. I will make sure of it. Oh, I’m so excited to help. Don’t think that my excitement about the ceremony will get you out of giving me details, however. I want to know everything about being marked by your mates..” She rambled on in excitement before delivering her threat and I huffed in annoyance. I was starting to regret calling her.

“Fine Torr, I will make sure to supply you with details later. But right now I just want to focus on this.” I say with a small shake of my head at her, smiling however as I realize just how much I’ve missed her. It was still weird not to have her around every day. Though having Echo and Ezra as members of my pack was nice, I still got to be with them almost every day.

We talked for the rest of the afternoon, deciding on a menu for the ceremony and a colour scheme that would compliment both Kane and I, as well as deciding on linens and centrepieces. I was quickly realizing that planning a Luna ceremony was a lot like a human wedding. Why the pomp and circumstance I wasn’t sure but I was informed that Kane’s pack was really looking forward to the ceremony, not only to have a Luna officially. But also it was an opportunity for the pack members to potentially meet their mates. So for that alone, I was willing to go through with all of this effort.

Once Kane came to get me for dinner I promised Tor I would talk with her tomorrow and happily hung up the call to go to my mate, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him into a kiss. He chuckled and held me close as he kissed me, looking over at my mess of a desk and all the sample books and everything else for the planning of a really big and classy event.

“A little out of your wheelhouse dear?” He teased as he moved some hair behind my ear and then took my hand, leading us to his suite.

“Very outside my wheelhouse. But I will put up with it. The triplets informed me that the pack is really looking forward to a Luna ceremony and the opportunity to potentially meet their mates from the other packs. So I will endure it in a manner of speaking.” I said with a bit of a teasing smile, kissing his arm as we entered the suite and the delicious smell of dinner made my stomach rumble loudly.

“Well I am grateful you are willing to do the Luna ceremony, let alone plan it. I know it’s not really your thing so thank you, dear. I appreciate it.” He smiled as he pulled me in for a kiss before we joined Magnus at the dinner table where a large meal was waiting for us. 

“God this smells heavenly. I’m starving.” I said doing a little happy shimmy on the couch while I poured myself a glass of wine to go with my meal.

“You and me both Darling. I’m looking forward to this and another good night's sleep. We should be back to our regular selves, or at least that's the hope. Never having done this before I can’t say for certain if it’s taking more out of us because of the wolf halves of us.” Magnus said with a shrug as he sipped his wine before dishing himself some food, the three of us tucking in and enjoying it greatly.

It wasn’t a particularly exciting end to a day I slept away essentially. But it was quiet and I felt content. Being with Kane and Magnus and the pure and relaxed domestic environment was exactly what I had always wanted from a mate bond. I was just incredibly lucky to have it with more than one person. The three of us fit really well together and I was never jealous if they shared affection or touch with one another before me. It was just the way it was and we were all secure and happy in this bond. It also made me wonder if Kane and Magnus were able to claim one another if they felt so inclined. It would be nice for the three of us to be completely tied to one another. I wonder if it would change anything.