Alpha Markus
Chapter 32

Celeste P.O.V.

He was mine. I thought as I dressed after our shower. Ours – Kara reminded me.

I giggled- That was implied.

She smirked in my head. We were both the happiest we had ever been. We felt..complete. It was early in the morning and I wanted to get some studying in before the rest of the house was awake. I was slowly trying to take on some responsibilities of being Luna in an unofficial way. Mrs Quinn, Markus and I were sitting down later to make preparations for the new mated couples from yesterday’s full moon. As Luna, it would be my responsibility to make sure they had appropriate living conditions. One of the things to consider were current and future pack jobs, rank, need, budget and resources. This full moon, we’d only have a couple of mated pairs. Maya and Daniel were moving into Daniel’s floor, so we only needed to replace accommodations for 2 others.

Mrs Quinn had let me know that during the Strawberry Moon in June and the Harvest Moon in September, the pack allowed for people still searching for a mate to come join the full moon. It means getting the guest suites together, arranging dinner etc. Because this Harvest Moon would also be my Luna Ceremony, that meant we were also having the elder council and many other Alphas come for the ceremony. It was actually really enjoyable work and I was glad to be able to do my part. Markus would be dealing with security arrangements.

‘Tuli, where did you go?’ Markus asked through the link in the late afternoon.

‘I’m in the library studying for my GED test on Wednesday,’ I responded.

‘Alpha Rhett is on his way. We want to look at the video and make a plan on how to approach this.’

‘Ok. I will be up shortly’

I gathered all my study materials and headed up to our bedroom. I almost walked into the old bedroom when I remembered that I would be staying in our bedroom from now on. I blushed slightly thinking about it.

I walked into the room and gasped. There was an extra night stand on my side of the bed. There was a vanity dresser against the wall with a full mirror and all of the makeup and toiletries that Kelly had bought for me neatly organized on the surface. I went to the closet and all of my clothes had been put in. Markus came out of the bathroom. He took in my face, “Is this OK? We can change anything you don’t like.”

“This is perfect. How did you have time to do any of this? You’ve been busy all day.”

He grinned, “I gave Kelly my credit card, so I can’t really take credit for it. I don’t really know much about décor.” I laughed a little and went to give him the biggest hug I could muster. I laid my head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat.

“I have never had anyone care for me the way you do. I don’t deserve you.” I said, my voice cracking at the end from the emotion.

He hugged me back and then lifted me while I was still plastered to his chest by his arms. He walked towards the bed, my legs dangling side to side as he did. I giggled as he dropped me in the bed. He crawled next to me and held me to him, cradling me as if I was the most precious thing in the world to him. “Come, let’s nap before Alpha Rhett arrives. I have a feeling we’re going to have a long night.” I snuggled closer to him and allowed myself to drift off to sleep.

I felt someone poking at my ribs. My eyes fluttered open and Markus was slowly lowering his hand to poke me again. I frowned. “Why are you poking me?”

“I am checking to make sure you’re still gaining weight. I want to make sure you’re plump so I can cook you for Thanksgiving,” he said, and then instead of poking me again, he began tickling me all over. I laughed so hard I thought I would pass out. He finally stopped 5 mins later.

“Alpha Rhett has entered the pack grounds. He should be in here shortly,” he said, nibbling on my lips. I whimpered as he got off the bed, but followed him down to the foyer.

“Luna! Looking healthier every time I see you,” Alpha Rhett said.

“Alpha Rhett, please call me Celeste.” I said, smiling.

“Only if you call me Rhett” he winked, and Markus pulled me to his side. I blushed but did not move away.

Alpha Rhett laughed. “Sooo, I’m told we’re not getting the privilege of eating your food tonight?” he said with a little disappointment in his eyes.

“I am afraid I used my cooking nights already this week, but let me know what you want next time and I’ll be sure to save one of my cooking nights for you and your Beta,” I smiled.

“I will hold you to that. My cook is excellent and it still doesn’t taste the same,” he mourned.

Markus laughed. “At this rate, you’re going to have to set up a waiting list for your food love.”

“Gentlemen” I heard Danny coming from the left. “1. The conference room is set up with the video equipment and 2. I call dibs on the first 10 slots in that waiting list. Maya has been telling me of the food they made during the previous full moon.” We all laughed as we headed for the conference room.

We were not laughing 15mins minutes later after we’d seen the video of Ruby’s rescue. Markus was holding me in his lap after I’d started shaking from anger. He whispered at me soothingly.

“This is insane. Do we know who these guys are? Celeste, are they part of the B***d Moon Pack?” Alpha Rhett asked. Everyone looked at me expectantly.

“I have seen them around the Pack Grounds a few times but they never stayed in the Packhouse. That was the only place I was allowed. The one with the short hair is named Levi. I think the one with the longer hair is named Lucas.” I shifted uncomfortably, hoping no one would ask me how I knew.

“How often do you see them?” Danny asked. I scrunched my face as I tried to remember, then I realized something.

“They were there after each girl got their wolf! Always a day or two after a full moon. They –“ I shifted again and didn’t finish my sentence. I looked at the floor.

Markus squeezed my waist, “What’s the matter?” He asked, concerned. I couldn’t look at him in the eyes. Instead, I looked back at the frozen video. An unconscious Ruby frozen on the screen. “Two years ago, they showed up early. Everyone was outside running. I’m always in charge of the meal and since I didn’t have my wolf, I wasn’t allowed to run anyway. They came in and tried….well, they tried…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. “Beta Trevor came in and said something like ‘Hands of our property.’ I thought this was their way of protecting us, but now it makes more sense. We really were property,” I said, shaking with anger, feeling dirty again as I remembered their hands on me. Markus buried his face in the crook of my neck, inhaling my scent. I could feel his chest vibrating as he tried not to growl. ‘It was a long time ago, my love. I am fine. I am safe, thanks to you,’ I wrapped my arms around his waist and let him calm down. The others were giving us a moment as they averted their eyes to give us privacy. Finally, Markus lifted his head and kissed my cheeks.

“We need to replace out if these guys have a connection we can trace back to B***d Moon Pack. Otherwise, Alpha Geoff can just deny he had any knowledge of what was happening. Have we found any information from Ruby?”

“Nothing yet. She was told she was being sold because she was useless. She doesn’t remember anyone taking her. Just that she was knocked out as she was doing her duties with wolfsbane. She can’t identify anyone,” Danny said darkly.

“What do we know about the buyer and how they are arranging the meet ups?”

“They actually have a really weird set up. It took us a while to replace it, but again we can’t trace it back. We still have IT trying to crack it. They use product website to sell ‘furniture’. The description is used to describe the female. The shipping date is the meet up. We aren’t sure how they communicate the location yet.”

Alexander spoke then. “We need to take this to the council. They have more resources than we do. They can launch an investigation and connect the missing dots. Son, we can at least approach one or two that I know we can trust.”

“We will keep researching during the next month. If we have nothing by the Harvest moon, we will give the council everything we have so they can also conduct an investigation. At minimum, it will put an eye on the B***d Moon Pack and they will have no choice but to stop selling the she-wolves until the investigation is over. We will also let them know that each of the girls are survivors of the Sky Moon pack and have that investigation re-open. We at least know for sure that they lied about that,” Markus said.

“Do you think they can get away with this?” I asked.

“We will not let them,” Gillian said.

We closed the meeting on that dark note. I was furious. I would not let him get away with it. If I had to take matters into my own hands, I would.

“Alexander, Gillian could you please wait a moment” I asked. “Alp- Rhett, I will be making breakfast in the morning. Send me a text if you want anything special,” I added as everyone else shuffled out. Alpha Rhett smiled and nodded. Danny could be heard whooping ahead of him.

“Luna,” they both said. I looked at Markus and then back at them.

“Have we been able to vet your witch? I would like to get started on training. I also need a secure place for me to start training my offensive power. I haven’t been able to do much more without being afraid of burning the place to the ground, since I have little control.”

“We are still looking at a couple of details but should be done with the vetting in a few days,” Gillian responded.

“I can contact her immediately after. I know her and have no doubt that she will agree to help. I know she’s not overly comfortable with being in the Pack grounds, but if we set her up on a place near the edge, she will accept to stay near, so you don’t have to leave the grounds for the training, my dear.”

“Thank you,” I said to both of them. I turned to Markus, “I would also like someone to train me to fight, if we can?”

Markus’ eyebrows went up and he smiled, “You beat me to it. I was going to ask that this morning before we got distracted,” I blushed, remembering what we did that morning. Gillian let out a cough that sounded a lot like a laugh and I thought my head would turn into a tomato.

“Gillian, please arrange for someone you trust to train the Luna. An experienced female warrior please, so that she can be taught the best way to defend herself against someone stronger than them.”

“Yes Alpha,” he bowed and left, waggling his eyebrows at us as he did.

Alexander laughed. “Sometimes I forget you guys are young, then he does something like that and I’m reminded how talented you must all be to grow the pack as you have when half the time you behave like horny teenagers.” I laughed along with him as he left, which left me with a disgruntled Markus. He looked at me and then grabbed me and put me over his shoulder. I was squealing at him to put me down when he slapped my behind as we waited for the elevator. “I’ll show you horny teenager,” he said huskily, and I felt the heat of his words down to my core. We were in the elevator and he g*****d, “I’ll take you right here if you don’t stop throwing that delicious smell Tuli.”

I blushed as I realized he was talking about my arousal. “It’s your doing!” I said indignantly. He got off the elevator and I felt his hand go up my skirt to squeeze my butt as he hurried his steps.