Corey

I was going out of my mind with worry. With everything that had happened yesterday, what she had lost. What we, I, put her through lately. It didn't matter that it had to be done. It didn't matter, it was to protect her. Dammit I still feel sick thinking about how she looked at me those times. How I couldn't tell her it was all part of the plan and nothing was real. The nightmares I had when I thought we finally broke her. Hell even my dad had to use his Alpha command on me so I wouldn't screw it all up and just tell her everything. He said it was the consequences for our choices. I know he was right. He was pissed on how we decided to do things. But we were too close to figuring everything out by then and if I had put her through that shit for nothing he would have kicked my ass. But dammit we still don't have solid proof.

"Corey stop pacing, you're making me dizzy." Anthony grumbled from the chair. We were all sitting in the Alpha's office where we knew no one could overhear our conversation. Everyone was here except the Alpha. He needed his time with his mate now. I couldn't even imagine losing my pup. Even though Jenson lost his way he was still his son. But it wasn't just him that wasn't in attendance. We were also missing Tony and Jenson. Unfortunately I was used to losing people but that didn't mean it didn't hurt any less.

"Where is she? Is she ok? Has anyone seen her today or even late last night? The last time I saw her she was by her dad's pyre." Yeah, I was losing my mind here and they all looked so damn calm.

"She's in her room. Or was the last time I checked before coming here. She was fine last night. Somehow she picked up a protector of sorts." Ant said as he stared straight ahead with confusion written all over his face.

"'Protection of sorts'? Want to explain that to me Anthony? This is my niece we are talking about and for some damn reason trouble finds her without her looking for it." Thomas looked exhausted but the topic of Mac's "protector of sorts" seemed to chase some of the tiredness away.

Ant sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. Great, I was not going to like what he was about to say at all. Letting out an amused chuckle with a shake of his head before agreeing with Thomas. "That she does Thomas, that she does. I followed her last night just to keep an eye on her to see how she was holding up. I was letting her sit alone for a while because we all know what she is like with her alone time. Anyways before I could do anything the future King of the High Kingdom popped up out of nowhere. The way they spoke to each other I knew they had already met. Anyways I have a feeling he will be around for a while. Supposedly she has something of his. I am pretty sure she doesn't have a clue what he is talking about though. But I really don't think he has any ill intentions towards her. He really seems like he will be around for extra protection."

And there started my pacing again. I had stopped as the others started talking, but with this news just spiked my worry. I swear how can one girl find herself in so much trouble? Not that any of it was her fault at all but dammit.

"Oh, one other thing. The Prince told her she has a Moon Bond, not that she has a clue what that is. Hell a lot of wolves don't since it doesn't happen often. But our girl Mac was given a second chance mate." A smile rose on his face as he looked at Thomas who was also smiling. I understood they were happy but my heart dropped.

My pacing stopped mid stride. The news of her finding her Moon Bond or will find them soon made me sick. I was going to lose the girl I was in love with. I think I started to fall in love with her the first time I saw her. I knew she was different. She was strong and a fighter. A protector. Someone that would give her life for those she cares about. A born leader. A perfect Luna in my opinion. "I need some air." I mumbled while speed walking out of the office and ignoring the calls of my brother.

I booked it out the kitchen doors to head to the woods. I needed to run and run fast. It wasn't just me that was heartbroken over the news, even my wolf hurt. He had picked her as his the first week she was in our pack. The news she had a Moon Bond was utterly devastating. All I knew was I needed to burn off some of this anger before I hurt someone.

Hitting the tree line I ripped off my shirt just as I heard that high pitch squeal that made me shiver for all the wrong reasons. Deciding to ignore her was a moment too late. Next thing I know she had me in a damn bear hug. I was about to throw her off me but decided I was done pussy footing around.

"Christine, who is Jason to you?" I firmly grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away from me. Not as gentle as I should have if I had to still play my role.

Her face losing all her colour was just another confirmation I needed. I knew she was the rat but I still needed proof. Her confession would do. "Ah...umm...who?" She stuttered and refused to look at me.

Forcing myself to take a gentler approach I tried to soften my voice. Shit this was getting harder and harder to pretend I was interested in her. Hell the one time she kissed me it took every ounce of strength I had not to throw her off of me. "Come on Christine, you can tell me. He can't hurt you anymore. I promise he can't hurt anyone anymore." Does this girl not realize just how expressive her face is. Shit she is almost as bad as Mac can be.

I could see when she had the light bulb moment. Then on cue the tears started as she threw herself at me. "Oh my god Corey I was so scared! He said he would torture my family and take me away from here. I was so scared. I...I thought he was just a little human...but he is a wolf! He was so strong! I couldn't fight him off of me." She was almost sobbing those crocodile tears.

"Hey now it's ok. Breath. That right deep breaths." I coaxed her as I rubbed my hands up and down her upper arms while slowly pushing her back. Seriously, her touching me makes my skin crawl. "That's a good girl. Now tell me what happened."

Looking up from under her eyelashes I could see she was gagging my sincerity. I was worried about my acting skills for a minute but her shoulders dropped and she nodded her head. Now a couple feet away from me she wrapped her arms around her waist and did a few quick looks over at me. I had to fight to keep the concern on my face.

"Well, a couple months ago he...umm cornered me in the girls locker room. At first I was like yeah whatever you useless human, but then he had me pinned against the wall! No human can do that to a wolf. Never mind a strong wolf like me!" I almost rolled my eyes at her for that last comment. Delusional. Best way to describe her. I let my faux shock seep through my expressions so she would carry on. "And...and that was when he threatened my family. He said if he couldn't get to them then someone else would. I was so scared."

I was nodding my head in understanding. "I can't even imagine how scared you were. I would do anything to keep my family safe so I completely understand. What happened after that?" Anthony better give me a goddamn award after this performance.

Her body started to relax after she believed I understood and believed every lie coming out of her mouth. "Well I had to pretend that I didn't know him for the weeks after because if anyone found out someone would get hurt. I couldn't let anyone hurt my family! Anyways at first he just asked about Mac. I figured he had a crush on her so no harm in answering his question. Right?" I nodded my head in agreement even though I was seething. "Then he stopped for a while and when Mac was gone he gave me this box of some sort and demanded I place it by all the electrical equipment in the basement. I didn't know what it was for but he promised it wasn't going to hurt anyone. I didn't want to do it but he told me if I didn't he would know right away. So I did it and nothing happened so I figured everything was ok and forgot about it." She stopped there and started to move from foot to foot. I wasn't sure if she was acting that she was nervous or if she really was. One thing though I didn't believe that she didn't know what the box was for. She knew what it did, I had no doubt about that.

"Anything else? I'm not mad and no one else will be either. Everything you did was to protect your family. No one could fault you for that." If I was right that little box was screwing up the camera's and possibly the phones. I will have to check that out as soon as I am done here.

She was fidgeting even more. I knew there was something else. "Umm...just one more thing that I can remember. He...umm...gave me a pouch to place in Mac's room. He...ah...said it was to get her to leave. You know he wanted to be her knight and shining armor or some crap like that. I was being selfish and figured if she left, so would he and then my family would be safe." By the end her voice was pretty small. Damn she was a great actress if people weren't paying any attention.

"You lying filthy bitch!" I was focusing so hard on Christine in order to determine lies or truth I didn't hear anyone approach us. I am guessing the way we both jumped that Christine didn't hear Mac either.

"You!" Christine snarled at Mac. Damn her little poor me act dropped awfully damn fast.

Mac unexpectedly threw something at me that I had to fumble once before knowing what it was. Her phone and it was recording everything. That's my girl! I felt a rush of pride shoot through me for a second before looking up. By that time Mac already had Christine pinned against a tree with her sharp claws digging into her neck.

"Corey! Please help me! She has gone nuts. She finally lost to her wolf just like her daddy did. Help!" Christine screamed at me for help while holding both her hands around Mac's wrist, trying to pry it off her.

"Yeah Corey, are you going to help her?" Mac asked as she pulled Christine off the tree and now had Christine's back to her front with her hand still tightly around her throat.

When Mac's eyes met mine I knew. I was stupefied by what I just realized. So shocked that it took me a couple seconds to respond. The brief weird look I got from Mac told me she didn't really understand what just happened. But then again her focus was utterly on Christine. "No Babe. I think this one is for you two girls to work out." 'Babe' was what caught her off guard before the corners of her lips tilted up slightly before catching herself.

"Smart choice there Pooh Bear." I don't have a clue how she said that with a straight face never mind in the situation we were in but she did. I on the other hand grinned like a fucking fool.

"Now Christine, I will be generous and give you a 5 second head start. If you make it out of the territory you live and if you don't...well you die. Understand?" Mac purred her conditions into Christine's ear. I would have loved to see her reaction but there was no way I would or could take my eyes off of Mac.

"You ready Chrissy? Oh if you even think about heading to the house I will kill you before you can take the next step." Waiting for some kind of acknowledgement I assumed before she continued. "Good. GO!" and with that Mac's hand was off Christine's neck and she was running.

Mac was staring me down with her hands on her hips, not even paying attention to the direction Christine ran off to. "Corey, you have some explaining to do. One. I have lots of questions. Two. And I want answers. Three. All of them. Four. No more god damn secrets! Five. Gotta go!" And she was off to finally kill the rat.

The love of my life. MY Moon Bond.