Athena - The Luna Warrior

Chapter 44

Lucas's POV

"You know I love you right, and that you are my mate?"

She gave me a nod.

"And I would never do anything to hurt you?"

She frowned.

Oh-oh.

"Luca, get to the point."

"I don't want to scare you or push you away" I said, in an unsure manner.

We had come a long way, but I did not want to push her away by bringing this up. I cursed Elder Alonzo silently for bringing the topic up today morning.

"Then just say it! And then what?" she said in an exasperated tone. 

I took a deep breath and brought her closer such that our foreheads were touching.

"And then I mark you."

3..2..1..here comes the reje-

"Okay."

For a moment a I was dazed. Lifting my head up, I stared into her eyes. What did she just say?

"What?" I said in a surprised whisper.

"I said okay," she said, giving me a mischievous smile, "but you are okay too, right?"

My surprise could not be contained. Leon was howling in joy, but the human side of me could not comprehend what just happened.

"You are okay with me marking you?"

"Of course you doofus! I am!" she laughed.

My eyes were clouded as Leon tried to surface. He wanted control.

Mate loves us, let us mark her right now! Why wait for the ceremony? said Leon. 

Now now, we will wait for tonight I retorted.

"So...it is okay if you are marked?" I asked cautiously.

She threw me a well-knowing smirk and brought her lips to my ear.

"As much as I would love to stroke your male ego Alpha Lucas, you are mine as much as I am yours."

And then she got up and made her way upstairs as my eyes followed her every view in a state of shock.

Did my mate just seduce me?

===

After the episode thirty minutes back, I wanted to follow her, Leon wanted to go after her as well. But we both knew how would it end. And I was restraining ourselves from pouncing on our mate. Athie was already injured and her wolf was weak, the last thing I wanted to do was hurt her.

Hence, in order to distract myself, here I was in my working on the task force we had to build to counter the hunters. Amidst the attack against my mate, I had lost track of work and had to get back on track.

"You called for me?" asked Brandon, stepping inside.

"Yes. Who is making the arrangements for the initiation ceremony?" I said, peeking from my laptop.

"The Delta and Mother Luna are working with Matteo and some other pack members."

My ears perked up when Brandon called mamma Mother Luna, but I smiled because I already knew he had started called my mate Luna.

"Good. Then I need you here. We need to arrange a conference call with Alpha Nathan and Beta Jared to discuss on the task force ASAP."

Brandon gave me a nod and grabbed the phone on his desk.

As much as I would like to call this the Alpha Office, the Beta and the Delta had their assigned spaces in two different corners. That is how my father liked it as it was easy to put the decision makers of the pack in one room.

"Beta Jared, hello, it is Beta Brandon from the Shadow Moon Pack. Alpha Lucas has requested a conference call with you and Alpha Nathan" said Brandon on the old-fashioned landline.

I went back to the screen, browsing the emails. Many of them were from the Council, updates on how they were dealing with the Hunter situation and responses to the attack that had happened at the arena. All of them were formally written, laced with diplomatic words with no visible progress. I ignored them and went on to the next few unread emails which were from The Werewolf News Outlet which was a form of print media reporting on our world.

I had not reported the attack on my mate to the Council yet because of their previous inaction, but I would have to face serious consequences if I did not soon.

"We can have a call now, Alpha Nathan and Beta Jared are free."

I nodded and Brandon switched the television screen on. After the required connections for the web call, we finally saw the duo perched on a table with a serious look on their faces.

"Hi Nate, hello Jared" I said, turning my chair towards the screen.

They returned their greetings and we jumped right onto the topic.

"There are some new developments you need to know," I said, clearing my throat, "a group of hunters attacked my mate four days ago. We need to meet in person in order to discuss more on our collaboration."

Silence.

After a few minutes, Beta Jared spoke.

"We would like to congratulate you for finding your mate Alpha Lucas, but at the same time we are sorry to hear about the attack."

Nate just sat there with sadness in his eyes. Finally, after Jared finished speaking, he finally spoke.

"We are very sorry that your mate got attacked but congrats on finding your mate."

I could feel the hollowness in his voice. Nate's mate had rejected him and he was still overcoming the pain.

"Thank you for your wishes and  the concern. She is back home and recovering now. I would like to propose a meeting tomorrow within the Shadow Moon territory to discuss the threat at hand and also mingle with my mate."

"Thank you for the invitation Luca, we will be there tomorrow."

I nodded.

"But today, we need to discuss a few things about the logistics to counter the threat."

===