Alex
I had devised the shift system myself: three Alphas, three shifts, midnight to 8am, 8am to 4pm and 4pm to midnight. Until we discovered whoever was behind the plot to kidnap my Luna, my brothers and I would be taking turns to watch Chasity. There would be no more alone time for my Luna until it was safe for her to be alone and even then, I wanted us to up security. We had been too lax about the Pack House’s Security because we lived in such frigid terrain. Most packs did not dare to attack us. The other Northern Alphas were our allies and the Southern Alphas knew they would be at a great disadvantage fighting Alphas who were used to below freezing temperatures on their own turf. The Southern Alphas were probably too busy sunbathing anyway. What would be the point of targeting our territory if they did not like the terrain’s weather? Personally, I loved the snowy icy landscapes. It was what I knew but the Southern Alphas loved their dry deserts and blue bays. There had been peace in Wolf Country for some time now. I doubted this was a declaration of war. No. This was personal.
I sighed. Chasity was draped over my chest. I held her close to me. I could not live without her. I could not let her be taken from me. I did not even want to think about that. I had put myself on the midnight to 8am shift. Felix was next but he and Calix were not back yet. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the alone time with Chasity but I was still their big brother. I was worried about one of them going into their shift with no sleep. I would offer to take the next shift too if they were too tired from scouring our pack lands for clues.
The dawn was barely upon us but I could already feel my Luna wriggling about in my arms. Her eyes were closed but she was awake. I could tell.
“Try to sleep ok,” I murmured, rubbing her back gently.
“You’re awake,” she said, her tone accusatory but there was a smile on her face.
“I’m in charge of watching you,” I said, fighting back a yawn.
Chasity snuggled up to my chest. She came closer to me and pressed her lips to mine. I resisted the urge to deepen the kiss despite how good it felt. Chasity groaned, grinding her hips against me a little.
“Sleep,” I commanded.
My Luna pouted at me.
“Where are Calix and Felix?” She asked.
“Leading the pack warriors on their search,” I mumbled, pulling her closer and shutting my eyes.
I had gotten a few hours sleep but I had woken up a few times. It was hard to sleep with the threat to my Luna still out there. There was no way that guy was working alone and we had a few leads so the warriors were trying to shake down some local repeat offenders regarding their knowledge of the dead guy. Someone had to know something so I made sure his picture was everywhere and a hotline was ready and waiting for tip-offs.
“Is that really necessary?” asked my Luna. “The guy is dead.”
I grumbled to myself. I peeped open my eyes at her, one by one. She was smiling serenely, wide awake and looking at me intently. I had to set a good example. I closed my eyes but I answered her question.
“There’s no way he acted alone. Someone who acted alone would have to have a personal vendetta strong enough to do so which he couldn’t possibly have when none of us knew him. That guy was hired by someone with a personal vendetta or a grudge against the pack. Hurting you would weaken the three alphas of our pack and leave us vulnerable to outsiders,” I explained patiently whilst keeping my eyes closed.
“What if it’s not about hurting the Alphas? What if it’s just about hurting me? Or separating me from you?” She asked sadly.
I could feel her eyes on me. I knew she would be pouting and widening her warm brown eyes looking up at me from under her long lashes.
“It’s possible,” I muttered, not liking where this was going.
She had to still think my Mom had something to do with it. My Mom was a lot of things but she was not this. She would never hurt us like that, especially not Calix. She would not endanger our mate.
“Your mom…” began Chasity
“Chasity!” I said sharply, opening my eyes and giving her a stern look. “Stop it! That’s enough!”
Chasity became teary-eyed. Oh good grief. Now, I felt guilty. I didn’t want to be insensitive towards her. That position was reserved for Felix. I also did not want to be overly sensitive like Calix. Logic was my thing so that was what I used.
“Chasity, why would she wait years to suddenly get rid of you?” I proposed.
“For years I was a lowly servant. That’s a lot different to me becoming her replacement as Luna, her daughter-in-law, marrying all of her sons, inheriting everything,” countered Chasity, using her own brand of logic.
She sighed.
“I have school,” she said.
School? Fuck! I had thought it was the weekend. I had gotten the day of the week wrong. Me! I must be even more stressed than I realised.
“Shit! I knew we forgot something!” I admitted. “Ugh. Not today,” I said decisively, hoping she would just curl up with me and fall silently asleep.
“NO WAY!” She shrieked, making me jump.
I had no energy to argue with her. I mindlessly bundled her up, wrapping her like a burrito in the blanket since it was such a cold morning. I trudged into the bathroom, half-asleep.
“What are you doing?” She giggled.
I put her on the counter. I realised I would have to unwrap her from the blanket I had just wrapped her in. At least, the bathroom was a lot warmer than the bedroom. I shut the door and pulled her nightgown over her head. She covered her breasts while I slid her underwear down her legs. My morning wood was making this a lot more sexual than I meant it to be. Chasity was flushed and looking at me lustfully. I smirked at her. Chasity was so gorgeous and now she was mine. I was still getting used to that. I leant in to kiss her. She kissed me back just as eagerly while I tangled my hands in her silky curls. Her smell intoxicated me. Roses and honeysuckle. And me. She smelled a bit like me after sleeping draped over me.
“You smell like a cosy cafe,” she said as we parted.
“What?!” I blurted out.
I burst into laughter. I had not been expecting her to say that of all things. She explained herself excitedly.
“You smell like coffee and chocolate or cocoa powder. You have a rich, yummy smell that wakes me up like being in a cafe,” she said brightly.
“That’s why you won’t let me sleep then,” I chuckled.
She giggled. She was so adorable. I had never thought about what I smelled like before. I knew my own smell as an Alpha. It was mine. But, I could not identify its elements the way I did with Chasity’s smell. Coffee and cocoa powder? I discretely sniffed myself. Maybe. My Luna had been up at the crack of dawn.
“I should get some new deodorant and cologne, go for chamomile and hops, nice sleepy smells,” I said decisively.
She playfully slapped my arm, forgetting to cover herself. I was a classy gentleman (at least compared to Felix) but I was still a guy and an Alpha and in possession of stiff morning wood. My hungry eyes went straight to her uncovered breasts. My Luna blushed and covered her breasts. I raised my eyebrows at her.
“It’s cute how you can still be shy around me after everything we’ve done together,” I said cheekily.
Her blush deepened. I knew she wanted to pinch me or slap my arm but she couldn’t without exposing herself. After one last wistful look at her covered breasts, I started drawing a bath for her.
“On mornings, I take showers. I only take baths on evenings,” she said quickly, looking a little embarrassed.
Oh. I felt like I should know that by now. She did tend to want a bath in the evening and I had heard her shower running in the morning time. I put the shower on lukewarm, testing the water, making it a little hotter because Chasity tended to get cold more easily than I did. I looked at her quizzically.
Chasity nodded, slid off the bathroom counter and got into the shower. I got out of my boxers and got in with her. She was completely flushed in the face. You would think we had just met and hopped in the shower together.
I could not resist and I wanted to soothe her. I swept her curls to the side and over her shoulder, revealing the delicate nape of her neck. I kissed her there, letting my lips linger on her skin. She let out a little whimper that made me painfully hard. Fuck.
“May I wash your hair?” I murmured, needing to do something with my hands.
“You don’t have to,” she said, glancing back at me.
“I want to,” I mumbled sadly.
She giggled.
“Hmm,” she said, teasing me. “I suppose I could let you.”
I tried to tickle her underarms. She shrieked and jumped away from me. I got the shampoo.
“Come here,” I chuckled.
She came over to me and let me lather her curls. I insisted on repeating after I rinsed her hair.
“I don’t do the second one,” she informed me.
“Why?” I wondered.
“To save shampoo!” She said.
I started lathering her hair again.
“I like wasting it,” I said.
She rolled her eyes but obliged me. I conditioned her hair as per her instructions. She would not budge on this. She made me turn off the shower for ten minutes while she let her conditioner work. I was sure Felix would see what could be done in this ten minute period but I decided to question her about her likes and dislikes instead. I wanted to know everything about her. We had lived in the same house for years and there were still many things I did not know about her.
“Do you like roses? You smell like them. Did you know that?” I said.
“I love roses,” she said. “But I’d rather get chocolates than flowers. I have a sweet-tooth but you know that already. I would rather get stuffed animals than flowers too! The order is chocolates then stuffed animals then flowers,” she revealed.
I smiled. I washed the conditioner off.
After our shower, I bundled us up in fluffy warm robes. Chasity giggled as I tried to towel dry her hair.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“You’re treating me like a baby!” She chuckled.
“Sorry,” I said, laughing. “I just like spending time with you and helping you.”
I realised I probably sounded creepy.
“I’ll, um, I can give you space. Well, I can’t give you space actually but I can leave you to your own devices while I watch you,” I suggested.
Chasity pulled me into a hug. I hugged her back, giving her a little squeeze.
“I don’t want any space,” she said, making a point to stand as close to me as possible.
“Okay, well, let’s pick out your outfit,” I said, grinning.
I knew exactly what she should wear. I showed it to her. It was a light blue dress with long-sleeves. She smiled when she saw it. She had to wear thick stockings underneath for warmth. She put on some heels. I had thrown on some grey sweatpants and a grey tee shirt. I sat on the edge of the bed and tried not to hover or gawk while she did her makeup and hair. I did not want her to feel smothered. She spun around to show me the outfit. She looked radiant.
“You look so pretty!” I said.
I started to get worried as she continued to model her dress. Werewolf guys were horny bastards and high school werewolves were the worst of the worst. I frowned.
“When boys try to talk to you, tell them immediately you’re mated to the Alphas,” I advised her.
I relaxed when I remembered one of us would actually be physically at school with her today.
“Ok,” said Chasity sweetly.
“Come here,” I said from where I sat on the edge of the bed.
She straddled my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck. I grasped her by the waist. I locked eyes with her.
“I love you,” I said. “And that’s the only reason I’m doing this okay. To protect you. That’s all. I know it might feel like some sort of punishment with us watching your every move but you did nothing wrong. You’re innocent in all of this. And as soon as we catch who was behind it all, things will go back to normal.”
“I love you too and I know what you mean. I don’t think of any of this as a punishment. I just refuse to miss school because it’s the only thing I had to put my energy into when things were not so great after my parents left me here,” said Chasity, frowning.
I nuzzled her, knowing that would make her smile. It did.
“Breakfast-time,” I said, picking her up and carrying her bridal-style down the stairs.
I put her on a stool at the high counter and started making an omelette. An omelette was the perfect thing to hide vegetables in.
“You didn’t ask me what I wanted,” said Chasity, pouting.
Because she would just demand pancakes or some other form of fried sugar.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Luna. I just wanted to make you my specialty today!” I said.
“What’s your specialty?” She asked as I hid extremely finely chopped onions, green peppers and spinach under a small mound of shredded cheese and bacon bits in the omelette’s centre.
I folded the omelette.
“Cheese Omelette,” I said.
“What’s all those things you chopped up? You chopped at super-speed. I hardly got to see the process,” she said.
“Herbs,” I lied.
I proudly watched her eat a full serving of vegetables hidden in an omelette. I caved a little and made her French Toast because I knew she would want something sweet. I told her we were out of icing sugar when she wanted to dust the French Toast with it.
“We need to go to the grocery store later,” she said, giving me a meaningful look.
I tried to think of some excuse. She just wanted to load up on sugar in every form. The last time we grocery shopped together, her additions to the cart included actual white sugar, actual brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips which she dubbed “healthy” and icing sugar.
“Wait! I distinctly remembering buying icing sugar, Alex!” She said.
I raised my eyebrows, pretending like I was trying to remember.
“If you said you did, you probably did but I didn’t see it in the pantry,” I said.
“Alex!” Said Chasity indignantly. “It wouldn’t be in the pantry, it would be in the fridge! I put it there!”
She got up.
“Well, you’re almost finished eating so next time we’ll dust them with icing sugar,” I said, guiding her back to her seat.
“Okay. Your omelette was really, really good by the way,” she said.
Mission accomplished.
Felix and Calix returned from their patrols with tired eyes. Felix greeted Chasity wordlessly with a long kiss. Words were not his thing. Calix nuzzled her and then pecked her on the lips. I put a plate of French toast down in front of my younger brothers. It was not too late to make omelettes for them.
“Until we get you a bodyguard we feel we can trust, you’re not going to school alone,” said Felix, grabbing a slice of French toast and taking a huge bite.
“What?” Said Chasity.
I was pretty sure I had mentioned the whole twenty-four-seven surveillance thing to Chasity.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t hear me!” Grumbled Felix. “I know you did.”
Chasity huffed and glared at Felix. Maybe, she did not want Felix at school with her. He was the most hot-headed. I pictured him fighting with teenagers over a slight provocation. He was already grumpy. He and Calix had not slept.
“I was thinking, neither of you slept. I can go to school with Chasity and you guys can sleep,” I offered.
“Nah we should switch like we said,” insisted Felix. “Baby boy Calix has already been to school with you so it’s my turn!” He said, grinning at Chasity.
Felix at Winter Moon High again. He had certainly caused enough trouble the first time around. He had been a quarterback, a truant and a troublemaker. He had gotten good grades though by stealing my notes before exams and cramming them. I had two sets of notes for every subject so I was fine and still got higher marks than him. Calix had been diligent but a little distracted. I had memories of him spending lunchtime on the phone with Mom. Had we not been Alphas, he would have surely been teased for that but the only people allowed to tease Calix were me and Felix (mostly just Felix, I always tried not to upset Calix). Felix used to go ballistic if anyone else tried. He had gotten suspended once for shoving someone into an air vent for calling Calix a wuss. Dad had gotten them to drop the suspension in favour of community service as “being an Alpha is community service” according to Dad.
I looked at my sleepy younger brothers.
“Neither of you is driving until you’ve had some rest,” I ordered. “Calix, eat breakfast and then go to sleep. Felix, eat and then get ready. Let’s not make Chasity late. I’ll drive you two there and pick you up this afternoon.”
“Yes, Mother Dear,” said Felix.
I rolled my eyes. I refused to dignify that with a response.
“Drive safely,” said Calix, his words muffled due to his mouth being filled with French Toast.
“Will do,” I said, smiling.