Arriving at the Black Moon pack

Adina’s POV

Adina was sitting in the back seat of the car with Sean. She looked out the window, grateful that the move wouldn’t be taking her so far away this time. Adina hated spending a long time in a car. It made her nauseous, and that made her bad-tempered.

She watched the nature that passed by and wondered if she shouldn’t be doing something useful instead. Adina had found some interesting papers online that she wanted to read.

Although her unique upbringing had made it impossible for her to stay at one school, she had taken her education seriously. She was supposed to help people, and she needed the knowledge to do so. After finishing high school, she took her college and university courses online.

This had the advantage of her being able to work on two different degrees at once. She held a degree in business analyses and one in medicine. Although she was not a doctor, as she couldn’t partake in the internships, she had taken all the courses, even the practical ones. She had a natural healing ability and found her knowledge of medicine to be helpful. Even though both vampire and werewolf anatomy differed greatly from the human.

Sean moved in the seat next to her, making her look at him. She smiled as she saw a little puddle of drool on his shirt. He could sleep anywhere, anytime. Sean had been with her since she was ten years old and he was thirteen.

Her council had introduced him as her protector and since that day, he had hardly ever left her side. She was grateful for the one constant in her life.

Not to say that they didn’t fight. Sean was a werewolf just as she was, and he came from an alpha line. He was not the eldest son, but he had the alpha genes. He was supposed to protect her and in his mind, that meant she was supposed to obey him. She was the Beloved One. She bowed to no one and took no orders.

This had caused them to butt heads more than a few times. Finally, they had agreed that Adina was in charge until there was a situation that was a direct threat to her. Then Sean was the one calling the shots. Fortunately, this had not occurred too often, but on the few occasions that it had been necessary, she had listened to Sean without arguing.

There was a time when she had hoped that Sean would be her mate. She had had a teenage crush on him. But her eighteenth birthday had come and gone and no mate was in sight. Sean would have been okay with her lifestyle. He already knew everything about her.

But now she was afraid that when, or if, she met her mate, she would have to let him go. Not everyone could handle the cold facts of her life. She sighed and resumed to watch the nature go by.

The car was stopped briefly by a couple of werewolves that checked who they were before sending them toward their pack house. Adina looked out of the window and after driving through thick forest for a while, there was a space opening up in front of them.

On the side closest to them, there was a magnificent building. It was made in grey stonework, it’s outside blending from dark grey, almost black, to light grey. She could see other buildings spread out throughout the clearing. They had arrived.

Colin’s POV

Colin had gotten the information that the guests’ vehicles had entered their territory, and he went downstairs to greet them. He was not in a good mood. His wolf had been restless all day and not even a run in the forest before breakfast had made him calm down.

Colin scratched his neck, aware it was not an actual itch. He looked for the cars and questioning once again why he had agreed to this. The smart choice had been to turn them down. Aries had pointed out that Colin had the right to say no several times.

Colin had planned to say no, it was just an inconvenience. But he had said yes. Maybe the story of the young girl losing her parents, having to shoulder a responsibility far too early, made him feel a kinship with her. Maybe he was becoming weak, or mentally soft. Either way, he didn’t like it.

The cars pulled up in front of him; he was flanked by Mateo and Jason. They, and the rest of the pack, had been told they would give refuge to a couple of important guests for a while. Technically, it was the truth, but Colin hated not being able to tell his closest men everything. But he also knew it was for their own best.

Aries exited the first car and came over to greet him. From the second car, Colin saw a tall werewolf exited. Not as tall as himself, but not far off. The man was built like a wall and looked to be well trained.

His brown hair was shoulder length, with braids going back from his face to keep the hair back. The man studied his surroundings for a while before turning towards the car. This must be the bodyguard, Colin thought.

That was the last coherent thought he had before a scent filled his nose and then his entire being. It was the scent of lilacs and lemons and he desperately searched for the origin of the scent, his wolf so excited that it took all Colin’s willpower not to let him take control.

Then he saw the bodyguard extending his hand, helping a woman out of the car. It was the most beautiful woman Colin had ever seen.

She had light blond hair; it was held in a simple braid that now was slung over her shoulder. She had a curvy body that made Colin’s blood boil. Dressed in a pair of tight, ripped, blue jeans, a white, tight tank top and a plaid shirt that hung unbuttoned, she stretched, making Colin take in every ripple of her muscles.

Before he knew it, he was heading straight for her. He saw her freeze in the middle of the stretch. Her eyes grew bigger and then started searching for something before locking into his own eyes. The look almost knocked him down as she stared at him with the most amazing pale green eyes. He stopped just a couple of inches in front of her.

“Mate,” he growled.

Adina’s POV

Adina got out of the car after Sean had given her an all clear. She stretched her stiff muscles and took in a deep breath. The scent hit her like a ton of bricks. Apples and freshly ground coffee.

Her eyes looked for the source, she saw the man that was coming straight towards her, and her eyes locked with his icy grey ones. He stopped a few inches in front of her and she took him in. His black hair was thick and in an untamed hairstyle. Like he had spent the day running his hands through it.

He had a face that looked to be chiselled from stone and it made her heart skip a beat. He was tall. She was 5,8” but he was hovering above her, looking down at her.

“Mate,” she heard him growl and something grabbed her in the vicinity of her heart.

She was not expecting this and was not prepared. She took two rapid steps back and would have continued if the car didn’t block her way. Sean, seeing her backing away, took a step and placed himself between her and the male in front of her. This did not go down well with her mate. He finally broke eye contact with her to stare at Sean.

“Step aside” the male said and Adina could hear the alpha command coming through strong.

Sean had been trained to withstand the command of alphas and didn’t even flinch as it rolled over him. This made her mate a bit confused. She could see it in the way he looked at Sean. But it also made him angrier.

“Step aside and let me get through to my mate or I will rip every limb from your body,” he growled at Sean. Sean growled back. It was a straightforward answer that he would not move.

Adina could see that the situation was going to get out of hand. Both men in front of her had gone into protection mode over her. Both were powerful, and they had enough of an aura to stop anyone else interfering. Adina realized she needed to do something before they drew blood.

If it came to that, one of them would end up dead. She took a deep breath. Took a step around Sean, mind linking with him to tell him to stand down and got a roaring objection back before she blocked him out to focus on the man in front of her.

Colin’s POV

The bodyguard had blocked Colin’s way to his mate and Colin’s wolf was going crazy. He tried to threaten the man, but he just growled back. Despite his anger and the need to rip the man apart, Colin felt a curiosity about how the man could withstand Colin’s alpha command.

He knew he had a powerful command and no one except full alphas had ever withstood it. As Colin prepared to tear into the man, he was interrupted by his mate stepping around her bodyguard and smiling up at him.

“My name is Adinalaka, but please call me Adina. You must be alpha Colin. Pleased to meet you. We appreciate you opening up our pack to let us stay,” she said and then she smiled at him and all of Colin’s anger rolled off him, and he smiled back at her.

“Please call me Colin, it is our pleasure,” he replied and held out his hand for her to place hers in.

She placed one of her hands in his, and it looked so small and fragile. He closed his own hand around it and turned around to lead her toward the pack house.

He registered how everyone else looked at them with concerning eyes. There was tension in the air, but Colin could only focus on how nice it felt having her hand in his. He wanted to give her hand a tug and bring her to his body so he could wrap his arm around her waist. But he tried to control the feeling.

He had seen the hesitation in her eyes as he claimed her as his mate. They needed to talk about that. But for now, he could be satisfied with her hand in his, her bodyguard out of his way, and him presenting his future luna to his two closest friends.

“Adina, let me introduce my beta Mateo, and gamma Jason,” Colin said when they got to the little group of men standing in front of the pack house. They bowed their heads to her.

“A pleasure,” Adina said, still smiling. “Let me introduce my bodyguard, this is Sean,” she said, putting her free hand on the shoulder of her bodyguard that now had come up to stand on the opposite side of her.

Sean inclined his head in a small bow. Colin saw Mateo and Jason exchange a surprised look. He had not told them about the bodyguard. It was not a common practice amongst werewolves, so the surprise was warranted.

“Adina and I need to have a talk,” Colin said and gently pulled on her hand to make her follow him.

He was pleased that she did so without hesitation. He was heading for his apartment, no their apartment, he corrected himself, on the fourth floor of the pack house. There, they could have some privacy to get to know each other. Intimately, his wolf growled and Colin felt his pulse pick up.

He realized he should slow down. He usually adapted his pace to match people around him. His long legs and the restlessness of his wolf meant he naturally had a speed to his steps that few could keep up with. But to his surprise, Adina kept up with him without effort.

He looked down at the woman walking beside him as they started up the first stairs. She seemed to be lost in her own thought, not looking around at the unfamiliar settings. She kept her gaze straight ahead, content to let him lead the way.

They reached the fourth floor, and Colin went towards the bedroom. Once again, he let the pack know the floor was now off bounds. He was just about to open the door when he realized that Adina and he were not alone.

He spun around and saw Sean, the bodyguard, standing behind Adina. Anger rose through his veins. He was going to hurt that man; he thought.

“This is the alpha’s private floor. You can wait with the others,” he said to him.

Sean’s expression didn’t change. He had a neutral expression when he shrugged his shoulders and spoke.

“I go where she goes,” indicating Adina. Colin gritted his teeth and growled from his stomach.

“Adina and I are going into our bedroom. You will not be joining us,” Colin said in a low voice that dripped with the threat of physical injuries.

His words were answered by another shrug from Sean. That was the last drop for Colin. He felt his raging wolf taking over.