Mending My Broken Heart

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I was completely frozen, not aware of any time passing between now and the click of the window shutting. It had to be that rogue, there was no one else I knew that had held an ongoing vendetta against me. He was so close. That's what shook me. I hadn't smelled him, Mason hadn't felt him cross the pack territory border or come into the pack house. But I wasn't frozen, afraid for myself.

This note showed that he wasn't the type like Mason to pack all of his anger into a punch.

He wanted to play with me, toy with my fear. Sure, I wasn't scared, but this still annoyed the Hell out of me, considering he had been so close and I could have just ended it.

Still not able to smell any foreign scent, I settled with getting dressed and stuffing the note into my boots before slipping them on. Here was just one more thing I couldn't tell Mason about, yet. I wasn't proud of keeping lies from my mate, but the only way I could figure out what was going on and go after the rogue was if Mason had no idea that any of this was going on.

Before stepping out of my room, my hand froze above the doorknob. I still wasn't sure what I was all going to tell everyone. I could spare the gruesome details, I suppose, for the sake of younger ears. I had to say something though. I had to tell them the truth. With all that I'd kept and was keeping from my mate, it was just too much to keep something like this from my pack as Luna as well as everything else that had to be kept in the dark.

Two steps from the final landing into the living room, I was greeted with a sympathetic set of girls. ¨Hey, Luna, we heard. And we just wanted to say, we're so sorry we ever doubted your loyalties,'' the one hurried out as soon as she'd seen me. Before I had a chance to jump in, the other was speaking,''Yeah, I mean you showed up out of nowhere, all of a sudden the Alpha's heart had been captured by you and then you were gone, suddenly showing up hanging off of another Alpha. It was a little confusing.''

''Hey, guys, it's fine. But who told you what happened?'' I asked, confused considering I hadn't even told Mason all of the details.

''It was Lucas, he said you'd already told him what happened,'' the first girl explained, confused I didn't already know. My eyes widened as I realized I had told him everything before. Him, Lizzie and Paige were the only ones who knew what had happened. I had to talk to them.

Luckily, the next room I found them in along with Astrid, Kristen, Keara, as well as a woman I hadn't met whom I assumed was one of the last Luna's to arrive. Summer was moving around the kitchen nervously, though all she seemed to have prepared was the dishes that now sat in the open dishwasher.

Her eyes landed on me and she gasped, rushing to me,''Ava! Luna! I'm so sorry! I didn't know, or else I would have-. And Jenny the other night! Oh God, she feels awful for what she said!'' Summer's arms had wrapped around me and I stood there, shocked at what was happening. I was glad Lucas had told them, but I wasn't prepared for this reaction.

''Hi, I'm Holly. I know we haven't met yet, but I really admire your story and your strength,'' the unknown woman introduced herself, shaking my hand and I nodded in response.

''Sweetie, I can't believe you're as strong as you are now,'' Keara sighed and I got a strong feeling of maternal warmth that I'd never really felt from anyone before. I just stood there as she hugged me, joined by Astrid and then Kristen as well.

''C'mon, let the girl breathe!'' Jack teased as the doors opened from Mason's office and the men all exited. I sighed, glad that at least they weren't crying so openly. It was either the fact that I'd been raised by macho pack guards, my mother wasn't there in my youth, or a mix of the two, that had me sort of cringing at the display of emotion.

'Miss Luna Ava!'' An Alpha spoke enthusiastically, walking up to me. His voice sounded vaguely familiar.''I hear you took care of our problem before I even arrived.''

''Blake,'' I smiled and he laughed, greeting me with a hug. Blake had been the only Alpha I had known before hand besides Jackson thanks to that phone call.

''How can I ever repay you?'' a sudden, stricken voice broke in. It was Conner. And beside him stood his mate, Lucy, whom I rushed to. She looked a lot like I had after I'd escaped, but not quite as jumpy. I'm sure she was still watching to see if Jackson would turn up around some corner or when she was left alone like he did in my dream.

''It's over now, you know,'' I told her, as silent tears ran down her cheeks. She'd hugged me back tightly, a form of contact I'm sure she could only find possible with her mate before now.

She was only able to nod as I gave her another hug. I wasn't okay with touchy-feely displays, but this one, this one I could handle.

Lucy; Piper, Zach's mate; and Kelli, Peter's mate, had been the only female friends I'd ever really had. Lucy and Connor had been mates forever though, where as the other two had only found each other with in the past year. Lucy and I had become best friends through Conner and the fact that what happened to her happened because I'd run away and hadn't just faced Jackson and ended him in the first place really got to me.

A minute, or a moment later, time not really my most important thought, then, I felt Mason's arms wrap around my waist and I pulled back from Lucy as Conner let his arm rest on her shoulders.

''Conner,'' I spoke turning to him,''don't you dare feel like you owe me anything. First of all, Lucas killed him, not me. Second of all, it's my fault it happened at all.''

I'd finally broken down on that last part. I'd had to admit it. There was no other choice. I had to be honest. It hurt, but it had to be said. Lucy was the one to answer me,''Sweetie, the only way it was ever going to end, is if you left. It's impossible for you to kill your own Alpha. And so we had a couple weeks of his torture." Lucy's face somehow became even more serious than before,''he told me how long he'd kept you as his slave. How we didn't notice...''

She'd trailed off and looked down, not able to fathom. I sighed,''you're right. I know I had to leave, but I hate that it still hurt so many that I loved. That's what I was trying to prevent. I knew that if I had told Mason, Jackson would have sent all of you to fight to the death before he even considered putting himself in harm's way.''

''You kept something that important from your mate just so another pack wouldn't suffer?'' Holly suddenly piped up, looking utterly awestruck. I looked her in the eyes, as there was no escaping what I did.

''The other pack were my friends, people I'd grown up with. Maybe I didn't get along with all of them, but even if I had hated every single one of them, I wouldn't subject them to death. That would make me exactly like Jackson, in that respect. Not only would that have put his pack members in danger, but it also would have endangered my pack's members, the people I'm bound to protect. There was no way I was going to tell my mate that another Alpha had hurt me so that people could fight and possibly die who had done absolutely nothing wrong.'' By the end of my little speech, not only had all the visiting Alpha's and Beta's made it from the conference room, but many of the pack members had managed to fill the living room, the dining room, the kitchen and the porch with the two sets of double doors wide open for them to hear.

And yet all seemed silent as they took in my words, somehow surprised by my actions. Finally, after a few moments of complete silence from hundreds of people, there was some shifting in the crowds and a familiar red-head appeared.

''I take back everything I said about bad leadership. If you're our Luna, than I feel lucky to be a member of this pack,'' Jenny spoke and suddenly the crowd had awoken, cheering as Mason pulled me closer to him. I smiled down at my feet, a full on blush appearing across my cheeks.

''You wanna get away?'' Mason's voice in my ear tingled my senses, but I softly shook my head.

''Let's eat first,'' and so we all retreated back into the yard, finishing off what was left of the BBQ from the other night and starting up some new meat, starting a few sparring match's as well as an the only even football match I'd ever seen, boys vs their mates, and just like that, the note from earlier was nearly forgotten.

Nearly.