The Unclaimed Human Luna
Chapter 72

El POV

She was listening to Conner talk to his unit. They all had Mate’s back home, wondered just how long they had been apart from them? Wondered if they’d had Mate’s while she’d been there? Or was it new to them and they were apart from them because of her? And Conner’s need to hunt her down and claim her as his Mate?

She knew he was next in line to lead his pack, he was the Heir to the pack and he’d just stated he wasn’t going back, was going to stay here with her. They’d not even talked about it; he’d told her they could discuss it later. Didn’t need to, it seemed, he’d already made the choice to just stay here, with her.

She had woken up today and wondered who was going to give up their life for the other. It seemed he was going to give up everything he had, his whole life, a life where he had known who and what he was since birth, twenty-two years.

For her who’d barely even had an introduction into her world, only known about this life of hers for all of two months. Known about other worldly creatures and shifters, only had Petal because he was here for her. Stared right at him, wondered how he could just do that? Did he not care for his pack? Looked at his unit and could actually see they didn’t look happy about it.

No, she didn’t think he didn’t care about his pack, she’d heard Atlas go off and fight that other wolf, wondered which one of them it was that she had come across as she’d fled that day, looked from one to the other “Which of you was it that day in the woods I saw?” she asked.

Saw all of them looking right at her. “It was me.” Adam told her “His name is Kade.”

“Thank you for helping Atlas that day.”

“Was my pleasure, El.” He nodded.

They were not just his unit, they were his friends, they were always together, smiling and laughing, did everything together, from eating meals to even being at Uni together, in their summer break. “Conner, can I have a word with you in private?” she asked and saw him nod and stand up.

“Use my office, El.” Aunt Juliana stated, “No getting naked in there though, that’s only for me and Angelo to do in there.”

Heard half the room laugh, including Angelo, and when she looked at him, he just smiled and winked at her. Those two she knew had been together near on 400 years and still they got naked in that office of hers. Shook it off, had to remember they had very long lives and were tied to each other via their Mate Bond.

If that stayed like what she and Conner had, for all of those years, she could well imagine they were still having s*x a lot. It had been insanely intense and so much pleasure, not just for her but for Petal as well. No wonder their kind was always looking for their Mate, that one special person that was made for them.

“What’s wrong, El?” he asked as he followed her into the room and then closed the door.

“You can’t just give up everything in your life to be here.”

“I’m not El. I’m willing to give up everything for you. Not to be here, but to be wherever you are.”

“Why? I don’t understand you. You barely even know me.”

Saw him smiling down at her. “I love you. I want, we want. Atlas and I, we want to be with you always, and we know you don’t want to go back to Utah. Understand how you felt there, we want you to have your freedom, this place.” His hand swept the room. “this is your choice, where you feel at home, with your own kind. Father.” He sighed and shook his head, “Is a right pain in the a*s, overbearing and domineering. It’s his way or the highway.” Watched him sit down and rub a hand over his face, and look right up at her “I am a lot like him, I realise, I don’t want to be like that. But he raised me to be like him. I learned something from you, El, watching you in the pack. That if you, a human, had the guts to stand up to him, then so can I.”

“That doesn’t help me, Conner.”

“Do you know El, all my life that man has told me what to do, and when to do it? What to study, and told me to just fall in line or I’d never get the pack. He threatened to give it to you at one point, he was mad that you’d run away, that it was me who made you do that. Screamed at me, and told me he was going to beat me senseless if I didn’t bring you back. Do you know what I did, El?”

“Hunt me down and bring me back.”

“Yes, fell in line like he expected me to do. Unlike you who dared to defy him,” smiled right up at her “wore that bruise he gave you with pride, threatened to call the police on him, let him know you thought he was an abusive husband. Then had the balls to lie right to his face in order to get out, more than once.” He laughed a little. “I love that about you. The only time we, Atlas and I, stood up to him was over him scaring you with his wolf Hale on the surface, tried damned hard to take a piece of him. Atlas was furious with him and wanted to put real fear into him on your behalf. I picked the fight with him, but it was Atlas that tried to tear strips off him. We were learning from you, I now realise.”

“Conner, this is not helping me understand your decision, it is your pack. Do you not want it?”

“I would love to be the Alpha to the Wandering Moon Pack El, but I am not going to force you to go there, be there. Going back is a choice for you to make, not for me to ask you to do. Certainly not for father to demand of you, or try and guilt you into it either. I want you to be happy. So, I will be here with you if this is where you are happy.”

“And your pack?”

“I guess our little brother or sister will get it when they are old enough and have found their Mate.”

“What?”

“We have a pack law that states one does not just inherit the pack, the Heir must replace their Mate and be Marked and Mated before they can take over, and even then, the current reigning Alpha has to believe they are ready.”

“Okay,” she didn’t really understand that, but she knew Juliana’s oldest Sophia was waiting to take over, Juliana didn’t think she was ready, and that woman was like 300 years old. So, who knew, she frowned right at him for a long time. “But you wanted me gone, that would mean you wouldn’t take over.”

“I know that.” He nodded, “Was never likely going to be able to. Kind of just resigned myself to it. I’d also heard him state he was trying to get a child with your mother, that that child would be even stronger than I am.”

“What? How is a half human or a full human child stronger than you, an alpha-blooded wolf?”

“If that child gets its shift, your mother and my father are Goddess Gifted, like you and I are. My mother and father were not, were chosen Mates apparently. I just found that out myself as well.” Heard him sigh. “It will have stronger genes, I guess.”

She actually heard Petal snort inside her mind ‘Our Kits will be stronger than any in that pack.’

“Well, I think he would be a fool to do that. Petal agrees.” Slipped her hand into his “Our Kits will be stronger than any our half sibling would ever produce. Petal wants you to know that.”

Saw him smile at her. “Petal is thinking about Kits already.”

“Mm,” she nodded, “Though I’m not.” Heard Petal snort, sounded amused to her.

“I think you’re too young for that myself. Wait a few years on that, at least till you’ve finished your degree, and me too. The one I want, anyway.”

“What do you mean the one you want?” She was confused by that, he was at Uni already.

“Father enrolled me and my unit, picked our double degrees and we had no say. None of us are actually studying what we want. It’s not just you he runs over. It’s everyone.”

She shook her head, “Perhaps he needs a lesson in being respectful to others. I’ll do it for you if you like,” nearly laughed at the thought of him seeing Petal.

“I bet you would. I’d stand and watch you, El.” He smiled right back at her.

“Conner, I actually came in here to ask you if Adam and Cameron were mated when I was there?”

“No, they found their Mate’s in a gypsy pack that we went to defend. I had to go off to war, El, they went with me along with a hundred others from the pack. Why I wasn’t there to stop you from leaving.”

“And how long have you been here in Italy? How long have they been separated from their new Mates?” she frowned at him.

“A month now. They will go back El.”

“You kept them from their Mate’s for a month to search for me?” she was frowning again, that wasn’t a very nice thing to do.

“No, they insisted on coming, once they knew what you were, Brayden was always coming, and I did offer for them to go home at any given time they wanted, to let them see and be with their Mates. I would not separate them from their mates on purpose.”

Stared right at him for a long moment, she did like that he gave them the option to go home when they wanted. That was a nice thing, gave people choices unlike his father did. “Be honest with me Conner, is my mum going to die in childbirth?”

“There is that possibility, yes, but El.”

“No, Conner. She is my mother. I have lost my father already. I didn’t get to say goodbye to him.” hated that knowledge in fact, coming home from school to replace her mother and her grandma waiting for her to tell her the bad news, looked at him. “I can’t risk that with my mother. I would never forgive myself.”

“You’re guilting yourself into going back El.”

“No, I’m going back because my being here is causing her more stress and that is putting her at risk even more. Perhaps if I go back and am there, she will be less stressed and the risk will lessen as well.”

“After everything you and your grandmother did to get you out, you’re just going to go back?”

“Do you not want me to?” she asked with a frown.

“Of course I do, El. I want us to be there together, to one day take over and lead the pack. I already got us our first alliance. Not that father knows, they want it with me, not with father. A little weird and they got witches in their pack. Giggled right at me, found something very funny about me. I have yet to learn what.” Watched him shake his head. “They were the ones that said I would make a good allied pack Alpha. I also want to rid some of father’s enemy packs, make them allied to us and no longer enemies. Met their heirs at Alpha college, got along with them, not even they want us to be enemies. I know I could make the Pack better with fewer threats to it. So, yes. I want us to go back and be there for not only us, but for the Pack as well. The things you and I could bring to it, as a powerhouse of a couple.”

“Then why are you telling me not to go? That you are not going back either.”

“Because I want you to go for the right reasons is all. If you want to stay and study here, then that is what I want for you. To have that choice.”

“Thank you for thinking of me like that. I never thought you would to be honest.” She told him in all honesty. But then she didn’t really know him at all. He said he was just like his father, and she had thought that herself, but he was more open to letting those around him choose what they wanted for themselves. Including her.

“I was stupid and fought like hell to push you away from me.” He sighed and she saw him shake his head.

“May I ask why?”

“You won’t like it.” he sighed, took a moment and then looked right at her “Do you recall that guy in Logan that hit on you, and I intervened?”

“The one you called a man whore.” She nodded.

“Yes,” he nodded “His sister tried to claim I sexually assaulted her. I didn’t. She is human El. I got hauled in and questioned and, not so nicely, she had my name dragged through the mud and, though I did prove my innocence and quickly so. She was in the packs nightclub in Logan, and I had turned her down multiple times. She was pissed off that I wouldn’t touch her. So claimed I had assaulted her. The club is full of cameras and they proved I was innocent. But I no longer cared for humans at all after that. Kind of hated them to be honest. You, El, were human and I couldn’t keep the hell away from you. I had two rules I lived by, and I broke both of them in just one night with you.”

She sighed, could see why he didn’t like humans. “the two rules?”

“One, I don’t have s*x with humans. Two, I don’t do virgins.” Looked right at her “Lasted all of what ten minutes before those rules were out the window with you.” He smiled right at her. “Couldn’t bloody stop myself it wasn’t even a full moon or had scented you out. Atlas was insane after that one night. He was obsessed instantly. He humped your bedroom door once.” He chuckled “I had no control over him where you were concerned. Mate the hell out of you without even knowing you were his actual Mate. Was just of the opinion that if you weren’t he was claiming you regardless.”

“Don’t know how that would have gone over with Petal.”

“You likely wouldn’t have gotten Petal if we weren’t your Mate. It was Atlas’s connection to her that likely roused her and brought her out. Not that either of us cared by then. You were human, and you were our human. That was all that mattered to either of us.”

“You were going to claim me, even though I was human?”

“Yes, I had every intention of doing so that full moon, asking you out as was the custom with humans.”

“I likely would have said No.”

“Hmm, I’d have swayed you and been damned persistent about it, everyone in that pack would have known what you were as well the moment I asked you out. And I was going to do it in front of everyone. Wanted you to know I meant it. That I didn’t want a secret relationship with you.”

“Is that what you thought it was? It’s not what I thought it was.”

“What was your opinion on it?” he asked right back.

“It was just s*x, weird and twisted is what it was to me, neither of us liked each other and yet when we were together it was crazy and insatiable. I didn’t understand it at all. Didn’t help you always just got up and left me there. Or that I’d never been with anyone before and you,” sighed, didn’t even want to think about that anymore.

“I’m sorry El. I truly am. As for my getting up and leaving, that first time, I had to go to training and needed to make sure no one smelled you on me, rushed off to shower before training, Sorry. The second time I was trying not to knot you, I will never do that again. Thought I was going to die, it hurt so bad.”

“Hurt me too. I didn’t even understand what happened, just knew it was wrong that you were suddenly gone. Why did you just leave?”

“I can’t knot a human could well harm you internally. Couldn’t do that, not unless you were marked by us, best to keep that until Marked and Mated.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

“There’s likely still plenty you have to learn. You didn’t even know what knotting was, even when knotted to me, I don’t think you knew what it was.”

She shook her head. He was not wrong about that, bit her l*p, had actually liked it, “Did Atlas knot Petal in human form?”

Saw Conner smile “Yes he did and in wolf form.”

“Oh, that accounts for the pure pleasure she was feeling when just lying there kissing him.”

“You’re not so different on that you kissed me till my knot released.”

“I did.” She smiled “It’s an odd feeling but…I liked it.”

“Good, likely to happen a lot when you go into heat.”

“When I what?”

Heard him chuckle now, “We can discuss that a little later, we will both enjoy it.” his hand moved to her face, and he looked right at her “Tell me El, do you want to go back to Utah or stay here?”

“I want to be there for mother, so…we should go back.”

“After that, the baby is born. I will bring you back here to study if that is what you want. Regardless of what father wants.”

“Thank you.”