Noctis

I am sticking very close to Xander throughout the party. I don't know anyone else here except for River and Orion. I hope Xander doesn't stay for the whole party because I really don't want to walk home through this territory. I don't want to make enemies after being back for a week. Xander walks up to a man, not too much older than we are.

"Noctis, this is the soon-to-be alpha of my pack. His name is Altor."

"Nice to meet you Noctis."

"Likewise," I say as we shake hands.

"I heard you were in Iraq with Xander. Good for you. I think more she-wolves should go out and do what they want," Altor tells me.

"I agree with you. I think we could get along quite well," I grin.

"Dido. What platoon were you with?"

"Special Ops Platoon 1."

"Wow. I heard from a buddy of mine that that platoon was doing really well since they got their new lieutenant. He was so sad to have to discharge her. How did you like your lieutenant?"

I look to Xander and stifle a laugh, "She was really great. Strong, smart, sexy. The whole package." Once I finished my sentence Xander bursts out laughing.

"Don't be disrespectful Xander. She is probably bedridden right now with her injuries," Altor scolds and Xander laughs harder.

"Oh no, she isn't bedridden. She is going to school to graduate and she is actually at a party right now," I tell Altor.

I give me a confused look, "Really? I heard about her injuries. I find that hard to believe."

"You seem to know a lot about the platoon. Did you know there was only one girl in it?"

"No, actually, I didn't kn..." he pauses as he finally puts the pieces together and both Xander and I start laughing hysterically.

"Took you a minute there Altor," Xander says as his laughter calms down.

"Shut up Xander," Altor says and turns to me, "I am surprised you are still standing. I am sorry about your platoon, that must have been hard."

"It is, but I will push past it. It was nice meeting you Altor, but I am going to have to excuse myself to go find the bathroom," I say.

I unhook my arm from Xander's and take a deep breath as I move away from him. I walk down a hallway, checking every door along the way looking for a washroom. After two minutes I finally find on and do my business. I walk back out to the party and look for Xander. I push throw people and I can't seem to find him. I hear a Big Bang not far from me and it startles me.

I am running from a grenade with a bullet in my shoulder. Those damn rogues have fire power. I keep running and running through the open field until I trip and fall to the ground. I turn over and the grenade lands not far from me. I scramble to my feet and run my fastest. I fall from the blast of the grenade detonating.

I feel someone shake my shoulders and I look up through tears eyes to see an older woman I don't recognize. I look around myself and realize I am at the party. That was a memory. I was only in the army for two months when that happened. I was so lucky there was no silver in the grenade.

"Are you okay dear?" the woman asks.

I look at her and it takes me a minute to respond, "I'm fine. Sorry."

I stand up and the lady looks at me wearily, "You don't seem fine. Come on, follow me to the kitchen."

I follow her from the back of the pack house where the part is to the kitchen. The kitchen is magnificent just like everything else in this pack house.

"Sit down dear. What's your name?"

I sit at the island, "Noctis ma'am."

She looks at me with wide eyes. I can see some anger and sorrow in them, "Noctis? Do you know River and Orion?"

"Yeah, I guess. They both go to my school."

She just nods, thinking, "What happened back there?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I shouldn't have come here today. I just need to go find Xander and I will leave. Sorry to bother you," I try to be polite as I can.

"You don't have to leave, dear. You aren't troubling anyone."

"I'm not ready for this much human interaction at once. I'm not ready to be back in the states," I say, looking down.

"I understand. How did you meet Xander? Are you two mates?"

I chuckle, "No, we aren't mates. We met in Iraq."

"Have you met your mate yet?"

I look down again, "No."

I feel her anger and when I look up she looks very angry. It is starting to make me nervous. I stand up and start backing away, not wanting to fight.

"What's wrong? What did I do?" I ask her, a little frantic.

"Why won't you just accept the bond with my son?" She asks through gritted teeth.

"What do you mean? I don't know who you are talking about!"

"The Alpha, my son. Why won't you just accept him?" She seems to be calming down.

"Look lady, I don't know what you are talking about or what he told you, but he isn't..." I trail off. "Shit."

"What?"

"The explosion. I can't smell my mate because of the explosion. I can't smell much of anything right now."

"Oh my goddess. I am so sorry I freaked out on you. I thought you were rejecting him, he thought so too."

"That's why he was being an annoying idiot. It makes a lot more sense now. I fucked up. I'm so sorry," I apologize.

"It isn't your fault sweetie. Let's find him though before it's too late."

"What do you mean 'before it's too...'" I can't finish my sentence because there is an immense burning in my shoulder and chest.

I let out a scream and fall to the ground. The fire seems to grow throughout my whole body, it's worse than shifting for the first time. I know exactly what's happening and I can't believe it. This is all my fault. Now I know how Brae felt. I see Orion's mom standing over me, saying something. I can't make out what she is saying though. My vision is going blurry and tears stream down my cheeks. This will not be how I die. I let out another scream as the burning worsens around the shrapnel in my leg and ribs. I rip off my shirt an pants as they feel too hot. The burning finally stops and I sit up from the ground.

"I'm so sorry Noctis," Orion's mom says. "That seemed to be a lot worse than it should have. Do you know why?"

"I have silver shrapnel in my leg and rib. It hurt like a bitch."

"Oh my god. Did Orion know about this?"

"I don't think so. I did tell River though."

"The boys in this house. They don't se to think about anything but themselves. Selfish sons of bitches."

I chuckle and stand up as I realize my clothes are torn. I only have my bra, underwear, and leather jacket now.

"Um, can I borrow some clothes?"

"Oh right, follow me. I will mindlink Cali. She is River's sister."

We walk up the stairs to the second floor and stop outside a door. A girl comes running up to us. She has dirty blonde, pin straight hair and brown eyes.

"Hey Luna, who's this?"

"This is Noctis," when she says this, Cali growls at me. "Don't Cali. It was a misunderstanding. You should know now that it doesn't matter, Brit is mated to Orion now."

"Sorry Luna and I am sorry Noctis. I didn't know it was a misunderstanding."

I tell her it's fine and we walk into Cali's room. The Luna leaves us to go back to the party and I can tell Cali have many questions.

I sigh, "Why don't you start grabbing clothes I can borrow and I will explain."

She nods and start opening drawers. I start explaining, "I'm guessing you know I was in the army," she nods. "I got into a lot of fights while there, hence the scars."

I take off my jacket to give her a full view of them. I even give a little twirl.

"That's a lot of scars," Cali points out.

"I know. Anyway, almost two weeks ago, the rogues set off an explosion at our base. Not many people survived," I say the last part quietly. "The bomb was filled with silver and I got a lot of shrapnel. Two pieces the doctors couldn't get out."

"You have silver in you right now?"

"Yes, my leg and rib," I point to the healing wounds.

"I can't believed you survived that much silver, let alone having silver still there."

"I get that a lot. Any who, during the explosion my sense of smell got screwed up and I can barely smell anything."

Realization crosses her face, "And that is how you didn't know Orion was your mate." I nod. "Oh no! You just went through so much pain your didn't even deserve and you have silver in you while it happened?"

"Yup. Hurt like a bitch."

"Here," she hands me some clothes.

"Thanks. Have you seen Xander downstairs?"

"Yeah, he was talking with Altor. Why?"

"He's my ride and I really don't want to stay here. I'm not ready for groups gathering yet."

"Does that have anything to do with what happened at school today?"

"Does everyone know about that?"

"Pretty much. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I think I have some PTSD from the war to be honest. Whenever I hear a loud noise, I seem to be sent back to the worse days while over there."

"Sorry Noctis. You seem like a really good person. I hope you have a second chance out there."

"I don't know if I even want one now. What if my sense of smell never fixes and this just happens all over again."

"I understand it is scary, but I hope you find a second chance mate. Come on, let's go find Xander."

I nod and we walk back downstairs and to the party. I stick close with Cali while we search for Xander. Cali picked up on his scent and we walk in that direction. When he comes into view, I run up to him and give him a tight hug.

"Woah, hey Noctis," he hugs me back, "What's wrong? You seem upset."

"I screwed up Xander. My....well, Orion he..."

"Just spit it out Noctis."

"Orion was my mate and I didn't know," I tell him.

"That bastard just marked someone else though and made her Luna."

"I know Xander, I felt it, it hurt pretty bad. He thought I was rejecting him since I didn't acknowledge the bond. That stupid explosion wrecked my chance."

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Xander coos, "Everything will work out in the end. I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but you will be alright."

"Can we leave?"

"Of course, come on."