My Broken Luna

20.5. Lunar Shadow

20.5. Lunar Shadow: Xander's Pov

Warning- there is a lot of POV switching in this chapter

QOTC- Charlotte vs Xander, who would win?

"Fuck." I mutter when I see Brody angrily stalking towards me. I make sure that Charlotte is with my mom before going into the vacant pack-house to meet Brody. "Don't hit me, man." I raise both of my hands to show him that I don't want to fight.

"I'm not..." he trails off, his voice deadly calm. "Yet. But we need to talk."

"I know you have a gun." I roll my eyes, remembering the last time he said that we needed to talk.

"I mean we need to have a serious conversation about your relationship with my sister." Brody explains. "I know you two mated, but I won't beat your ass unless you screw up and hurt her."

"You know that I will never lay a hand on Charlotte." I remind him. Brody is my best friend, he knows that I won't do anything that will hurt my mate.

"I know you won't do anything bad to her physically, I'm talking about emotionally." Brody cracks his knuckles and takes a few steps closer to me. "I don't know if you know this Xander, but you have problems when it comes to giving people attention-"

"I don't have attention problems." I cut him off.

Raising one eyebrow, Brody shakes his head and says, "You and I both know that Char never asks for attention or does anything to get it. She won't say anything if she thinks that you're ignoring her and she'll automatically think that you're mad at her if you push her away."

"I know that." I nod, not knowing where this conversation is leading to. I make sure that Charlotte knows that she's the one who makes my day every time I wake up with her in my arms. I learned touchy subjects that she doesn't like talking about and how sensitive she is to certain things that I say to her. "What are you trying to say, Brody? Just get on with it already."

"I'm saying that you better not screw up again." He and I stare at each other, neither of us willing to be the first to look away. If it weren't for the fact that he's my best-friend, and as Charlotte would say it- only friend, I would've killed this sucker already. "When that guard hit her, you were able to feel it. You should've known that she got a bruise, she shouldn't have had to tell you that she was hit." Brody growls.

"Xander, you've never been good with attention giving." he shakes his head as he looks at me. "I know that you won't be the one that lays a hand on her, but I need to know that you won't be the one who doesn't protect her from people who want to hurt her. I'm her brother and she's older now, I can't protect her in the way a mate could."

"I'm her mate, I won't let anybody hurt her. Not anymore." I mutter. I can see the guilt in Brody's eyes too; neither of us were able to protect Charlotte from Red Stone all of those years. Brody feels like he failed at being her big brother and protecting her from the bad men that lurk around the corners. Every time I see her face and the constant fear in her eyes, I'm reminded of how I wasn't able to stop those bastards from taking her away from her home.

"You better start paying more attention." Brody growls through gritted teeth. "Char is the only family that I have left, if she ever comes to me crying because of you, you're fucking dead. Understand?"

"I understand." I nod, knowing that this is something that I have to agree on. Even though Brody is my Beta, he is also my mate's only brother.

*** *1 day since mating

'Lets go!' Charlotte shouts through the pack mind-link. Already in her wolf-form, she runs up to me and excitedly howls. 'Shift, hurry up!' she demands. 'Your body shouldn't be slowing down, Xander. You aren't that old.'