~Ariana's POV~
I sat in the office of my University's Vice Chancellor, going over a few things when an intense pain ripped through me, I gasped, gripping the edge of the desk before me to steady myself as I was hit with constant bouts of pain in quick successions, I tried standing up but my vision grew hazy and I felt myself crumbling to the ground, the VC rushed around his desk to me, shouting for help while asking if I was okay, I nodded, stopping him from calling the ambulance as I grabbed my phone and dialed Leo's number as I struggled to my feet and staggered out the office.
"Leo, I don't feel too good, I don't think I can drive, can you come get me?" I asked in a shaky pain filled voice as the intensity of the pain kept increasing, and I bit my lip hard to keep from screaming out.
"I'm on my way." he replied without hesitation, his voice sounded angry but I knew it wasn't directed at me and I didn't have the luxury to ask right now.
Taking deep breaths, I held unto the wall and pushed my legs forward, so I could at least meet him at the parking lot, my mouth was slowly filling up with blood stemming from the wound I was inflicting on myself from biting too hard but I didn't pay it any attention.
I wasn't able to make it to the parking lot before I was consumed with pain, I still refused to scream, not wanting to draw attention to myself even as I crumbled to the ground, sobbing silently, unable to understand the oddity of what I was feeling. This was how Leo and the twins found me.
"Ana!" I heard Mia's voice scream in alarm as they rushed to me, Leo picked up my shaking body, taking me to the car, Dan held the door open for him as he placed me in the back seat before the twins both got in on either side of me and Leo took the drivers seat, driving off.
As the intensity of the pain increased, knowing I was in safe hands, I let out my screams of pain, as my consiousness slipped, it went on like this for about an hour, my situation slowing down the ride intensely before the pain slowly faded away, I took a deep breath in relief, now finally aware of my surroundings, to notice we were pulled over on the side of the road, my head leaned against a crying Mia and Dan was also letting out silent tears, Leo's eyes were red with fury and my brows furrowed as that nagging feeling I had in the morning came back with a vengeance.
"What was that?" I asked slowly, referring to the sudden pain from earlier, somehow I knew in my gut that they knew something about it, from the moment Leo answered the phone, he didn't seem surprised.
They all looked away from me avoiding my eyes and I sighed in anger.
"Will someone say something!" I snapped angrily and they flinched at my tone before Leo replied.
"Before you called, Jay had suddenly rushed into his office, I tried following him but the door was locked, however, I could hear his pain filled groans within, I had my suspicions and was about barging into Talon's room with the warriors when your call came in, the moment I heard the pain in your voice, I left everything to come to you, I hadn't realized you would feel it too considering you're human, but the moment I set eyes on your curled up form on the floor, I knew my suspicions were right." he said, I raised a hesitant brow at him, somehow knowing I wouldn't like his next words, I steadied my heart for whatever was to come however no preparation could save me from the pain his next words inflicted on me.
"What suspicion and why the hell would you want to barge into Talon's room with warriors, what has he got to do with what's happening with me and Jay?" I asked angrily and he sighed looking away before replying in a sad tone.
"The pain you just felt, the same pain Jay was feeling, it only happens when your mate is having sexual intercourse with someone else, in this case the mate in question would be Alpha Talon." he said, his features hard and eyes furious, I froze at his words, replaying them in my head, as my hand came up to grip my chest even as I felt an unbearable ache in my heart, I bit my lips against the tears welling up in my eyes, refusing to shed anymore tears for him, Mia pulled me into her arms and I leaned my head against her chest, my eyes closed as I fought off the pain consuming me.
Leo suddenly started driving and I turned to him questioning, he had a panicked look in his eyes as he explained in a hurry.
"Alex has taken control of Jay, Dad says he intends on killing Talon and his lover!" he said, stepping on the accelerator, my brows furrowed in worry and I sat up instantly, praying we arrived fast enough to stop Jay from doing something he'd regret.
The moment the car came to a stop, we all rushed out, heading towards the commotion outside the mansion, pushing past the crowd, my eyes took in a scene that broke my heart, a huge white Lion I recognized to be my Jay was surrounded by other Lions, a few were in their human form holding a gigantic chain as they circled him, probably intending to chain him down if Jake and Leona who were currently trying to talk to him failed to convince him to stand down, on the other side of the commotion stood a battle ready Talon standing protectively in front of a shivering Claire.
I watched frozen in shock as an agitated Alex paced back and forth his eyes flashing round, looking for a way to break through the circle of warriors around him and get to the cheating pair, his deadly gaze fixed on Claire again and he growled loudly loosing all hesitations as he moved back slightly, before rushing forward and leaping over the Lions surrounding him, the entire scene moved in a slow motion to my frozen self and I only snapped out of it the moment Lon shifted to tackle him and a terrified Claire screamed for the warriors to chain Jay.
I lost all sense of reasoning as I noticed the warriors holding the chain rushing towards the beasts who were currently circling each other. Knowing I wouldn't reach in time, I felt a strange sensation come over me as I shouted one word.
"STOP!!" I screamed with so much command in my voice that everyone halted and turned to me in shock, before all heads excluding a few went down in submission.
I walked past them, as Jake, Leona, Leo and the warriors with the chain stepped aside, I threw them a hateful glare before positioning myself between the two beasts, throwing Talon a disgusted look, I turned to face an agitated Jay, or rather Alex, taking a step towards him, he growled lowly in warning but I didn't stop, his growls increased as I got closer and I halted, lowering myself into a kneeling position, I held his gaze for a bit before baring my neck to him, the way I noticed the Weres showed submission.
He let out a loud deadly growl and I shut my eyes, swallowing down the urge to bolt, everyone held their breaths, awaiting his reaction.
After a short moment of silence, I felt a cold snout leaning into the crook of my neck, nuzzling me, I heard the gasps of surprise and audible breaths of relief but I ignored them all, wrapping my arms around his neck and placing soft kisses from his snout down his muscular build, he purred in content and I let out a sigh of relief.
Just as I was about to try convincing him to give Jay control, the dumb bitch opened her mouth.
"Thank heavens that's over, Lon darling are you okay?" She asked with a sickening loving tone, everyone tensed up again as Alex's aura burst out furiously, his killing intent could practically be felt, I tightened my hold on him instantly, preventing him from making any sudden movements.
"Alex, baby please, calm down, we all agree she deserves to die, they both do, but they're not worth your stress, just calm down and let me handle this, please." I implored, he seemed reluctant but after a short while, burried his snout back into my neck, sniffing deeply, my scent seemed to do the trick as I could feel his tense muscles relaxing, I sighed in relief, shutting my eyes and just letting him get his fill on my scent.
Everyone remained frozen, too scared any sudden movements would trigger the furious beast again, I pulled away slowly, staring into his eyes and somehow despite the fact that their eye color was the same, I noticed when Alex retreated and Jay took over, his gaze albeit still furious was a little less feral, I could see his sadness and hurt at Lon's betrayal but the moment a lone tear slipped out his eye, disappearing beneath his fur, the thin tendril of control I had been desperately holding onto snapped and I felt an intense and foreign anger consume me.
Standing up slowly I spun around, facing the two hateful people, shocked gasps could be heard as everyone moved out of my way as I slowly stalked towards them, Jay's killing intent had receded now being replaced by an entirely new one, that somehow was coming from me, coming to a halt in front of Talons wolf, I stared him down, my eyes daring him to try and get in my way, when he didn't move, I walked past him, making my way towards Claire with dangerously slow steps, coming to a stop before her she smirked haughtily at me, her previous fear gone, probably confident she could take me on if need be considering she had the upper hand as a wolf, if she thought I was going to try for a fair fight whilst knowing my huge disadvantage as a human, then she was in for a rude awakening, I wasn't that righteous, besides she wasn't worthy enough for me to personally deal with her.
"What are you gonna do huh? You're just human darling, you can't win against me." She said laughing and I smirked nodding in agreement.
"You're right, I'm just human, but the question here should be, what are you gonna do Claire, you're just an ordinary wolf, nothing special, you can't win against me, you know why? because unluckily for you, fate choose me to be the Luna, wolf or not, from the moment I was born, I was destined to always be above you, looking down on your pathetic self." I replied matter of factly and her grin was immediately wiped of her face.
"You haven't even mated with him yet, you can't have the Luna's command and now you never will." she snapped at me angrily and I laughed knowing there was a reason I had always been so dominant and commanding, I was destined to be the Luna and a Leo Reginae, and it had always showed, I just never understood it to be what it was.
"Wanna test out that theory?" I asked her, raising a brow, fully aware that I would be able to project a Luna's command despite not being mated yet, I had confirmed it the moment I yelled for them to stop and mostly everyone submitted. She scoffed in response and I smiled coldly, before my face took on a deadly look.
"Kneel!" I said in a cold voice, projecting as much will as I could into that single word, she looked up at me in shock as she struggled to resist my command, failing and dropping to her knees. The atmosphere was deathly quiet at this point, everyone watching with shock.
"You, you bitch, aren't you ashamed of hiding behind your status as Talon's mate and throwing your command around like this!" she yelled, whilst unsuccessfully trying to rise from her kneeling position, I raised a brow at her words.
"Ashamed? a pretty daring word coming from a girl who was just fucking someone else's mate a few minutes ago, between us who has more to be ashamed of, besides why the hell would I be ashamed, it's not my fault I'm Luna and you're not and sadly you never will be." I replied emotionlessly and she growled loudly at me, I laughed in response, rolling my eyes at her as she tried shifting, however her wolf seemed unwilling to test my patience, I had to admit, the beast was smart.
"Let me up this instant, I challenge you to a fair fight!" She declared and I chuckled at her words.
"And why would I do that, why would I willingly give up the upper hand to try out this fight you so generously labelled as fair, a fight between a werewolf and a human is fair on what continent?" I asked her and she screamed, swearing violently at me, I rolled my eyes at her behavior, but froze,my fury intensifying the moment she began imploring Lon for help.
I turned to him, glaring at him menacingly as he took a step towards me, he was now in human form, Jay as well, both putting on sweatpants, Jay also stepped closer, ready to come to my defense if need be.
"Stand down Ana." Talon said to me and I felt a pang of pain in my heart, he was still going to protect her.
"And why would I do that?" I asked in a dangerously low tone.
"What happened was between two consenting adults, I took her to my bed because I wanted to and I will not stand by and let her get punished as if she forced herself on me, besides we haven't mated, I don't owe either of you any obligations to remain loyal." he said coldly and Jay growled at his words taking a step towards him but was blocked by Leo and Jake, I froze for a bit before chuckling darkly at his words, nodding my head in agreement.
"Indeed, you are absolutely right Alpha, we're not mated so you have absolutely no right to tell me what I can or can't do, you're not my Alpha so don't you dare tell me to stand down." I told him coldly, he growled lowly taking another step towards me, a deadly look in his eyes, I met his glare head on, showing him that he didn't scare me, before doing something that shocked everyone.
"Raine, stop him from interfering." I said suddenly calling out to the wolf within him, Talon's eyes widened at my words, before he groaned, as Raine fought his way out, taking control of him, his gaze changed from cold to apologetic and pleading but I turned away from him, I know Raine probably wasn't in on it, but he and Talon were part and parcel of each other, he should've done everything to stop him, with Talon gone, I focused back on the woman kneeling before me.
"Mia?" I called and she was by my side immediately.
"Yes Luna?" She asked tilting her head down in respect.
"She laid her filthy hands on my mate, I find myself wanting the offending hands broken." I said nonchalantly and Mia grinned savagely.
"With pleasure." she said before turning to Claire and delivering a lethal kick that had her flying back wards, as I stood there watching Mia take her time exacting her anger on her before carrying out my orders, I could feel the horrified stares everyone was giving me, probably shocked at my brutality, I was too, but I was currently beyond rational thinking, after a while of listening unfazed to Claire's pained screams, Luca, Caine and Grey came up to me.
"Luna, please, Mia is a warrior wolf, and her wolf and her consider you one of their kin, she will kill Claire for offending you, you have to stop her, if not for anything else but for Luca's sake." Caine pleaded and my eyes turned to meet Luca, silent tears trickled down his cheeks and my heart broke at the sight, more so because I just realized that he must have also felt the pain of Claire cheating on him and yet was still unable to bear to see her get hurt, not for the first time, I loathed the mate bond.
"Why should she stop her, she deserves to die." Dan growled out, coming up to me and glaring at Caine, Luca and Grey.
Caine turned to Jay, imploring him to try convincing me even as Mia continued throwing brutal punches at a screaming Claire, I had lifted my command a while ago but it didn't help much as she really couldn't stand against a warrior wolf either ways. Jay fixed them with a cold glare before turning to me and declaring his stance on the matter.
"I want her dead." he said coldly and I sighed, passing a glance between him and Luca, before coming to a decision.
"Mia, that's enough." I said, Jay sighed in anger but didn't comment, Mia however seemed unwilling.
"Please, just stop." I said tiredly, as my anger left me replaced by exhaustion and an intense need to just be alone, now that my anger had faded away, I was horrified by my actions.
Mia stared at me for a while before sighing, turning around, she snapped both of Claire's wrists and I winced at the sound of breaking bones and Claire's pain filled scream, Luca turned his face away, unable to bear the sight and I sighed again, before walking away in the direction of my room with just one thought in mind.
'What was I turning into?'