"None of this would have happened if he'd kept it in his pants."

"We reek of sex." Cole murmured the words, looking as pale as the snow caps on the mountains in the far north.

"He's going to kill us. All three of us." Kade shook his head while Alice simply shook her long blonde hair free of the ponytail she had swept it up into earlier and laughed. Both men looked at each other, their expressions worried. They knew what it really sounded like when Alice laughed and it wasn't this. This sound was devoid of any mirth.

"I won't let him hurt you two. This is between him and me. I'll make sure he promises you two won't be punished. And then I'm leaving." Her voice was firm and Kade and Cole looked at each other, their thoughts passing back and forth over the mind link. 

They both knew why Alpha Cadman was so desperate to keep her. She was a true Luna. And those were few and far between in the wolf world. The problem was, Luna Alice didn't belong to him. Which begged the question: who did she belong to? She had to have a mate out there somewhere and he had to be an Alpha.

"You wanted to smell like sex?" Kade spoke suddenly when they were only a minute from the packhouse and both of the huge, dominant men saw a small smile curve the corners of her lips. It was the first true smile they'd seen since they found her.

"You wanted to hurt him." Cole had a look of dawning realization spread across his features.

"And what would hurt him more than fucking his two best friends. And then walking into an important inter-pack meeting smelling like we just went at it like bunnies in the forest? No offense though. I mean if I was going to sleep with anyone in this pack, even if you weren't his bffs, it would have been you two. And you're my friends. I like you. And besides, you're hot pieces of ass. What can I say? But he deserved it. Now. Let's get this done, so I can get out of here. I should have left this place the day I turned eighteen."

With a sigh she turned to the front doors of the pack house and tugged them open. She could feel the fear radiating off of the two males behind her as they followed on either side of her, one step behind her. She was fairly certain that she had managed to pull herself together, reasonably well. Her makeup wasn't too much of a loss. The mascara she was wearing was fantastically waterproof and she'd only been wearing minimal makeup as it was. She'd brushed the visible dust from her dress. And the scent that was swirling around her? Well that was the whole point.

Even though a long hallway separated their group from the banquet room, she could hear the murmur of the many voices that were contained inside the massive space. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear she hurried down the hall, to a side entrance that would be less intrusive. She took a deep, calming breath, closing her eyes for a moment while she heard the two males behind her shifting impatiently, before grasping the door handle and opening the door as quietly as she could.

"Finally. It's about time." She heard Lane mutter, as she slipped in through the door, Cole and Kade coming in behind her. They had both pulled on the slacks and button up shirts outside at lightening speed. They were the same clothes that they'd apparently discarded earlier before they'd left looking for her, so at least they were wearing more than just shorts that had been stashed somewhere near the training grounds for wolves who had shifted and needed a change of clothes.

The room was even more crowded than she had expected it to be. It seemed that just about every member of their pack had come to welcome the visitors from the Obsidian Moon pack. Most of the pack was seated at smaller, round tables that held around eight pack members, while there were several long banquet tables at the front of the room for their guests and the members of high ranking family's of their own pack.

Alpha Lane Cadman had stood when the woman that he referred to as his Luna entered the room, while motioning to everyone else to remain seated. A moment later a deep growl exploded from his chest, leaving the entire room silent. Yet while it had been barely noticeable, a split second before Lane had growled the other Alpha, Fintan Nowak, known to his friends simply as Fin, had sprung to his feet, his intense silver gaze fixed on Alice.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Lane growled in a low voice, as the mood in the room turned tense. Most of the pack members couldn't hear what was going on, but their guests from the Obsidian Moon pack certainly had a front row seat to the scene that was now unfolding.

"Sorry I'm late, Alpha." Alice's voice was low but her tone mocked her former lover when she said his title and she started towards her chair near the middle of the room when he caught her arm in a bruising grip.

"Why the fuck do you smell like you just fucked my Beta and Third?" his mouth was close to her ear and his voice was hardly louder than a whisper, but his words told anyone nearby that the little Luna should know that she was in a precarious situation. Cole and Kade had both taken their seats silently, and were looking worriedly at the pair and at the other Alpha who was moving swiftly in their direction. Every eye in the room was focused on the trio.

"I think you know why. Just like you know-" her words were interrupted when Alpha Cadman raised his hand and struck her across the mouth, with enough force to bust open her lower lip.

What happened next happened so fast that it was a blur, even in Alice's memory. She brought her hand up to her mouth and felt blood, and swelling of her lip, as a strong arm wrapped around her waist pulling her away from Lane, even as someone started yelling at the enormous Alpha of her pack. Then there was the sweet, strong smell of cedar and oranges. The room began to spin. She saw someone raise their arm and swing and she stepped forward, yelling at everyone to stop fighting. And that's when she stepped right into someone's fist and the entire room went black.

---------------

"Alice?" Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around. She was inside one of the guest suites in the pack house and Kate was there with her.

"Kate?" she whispered, feeling a little bit as if she had lost her mind. "Did I dream all of that?" she asked.

"I wish. Because you were going to be a much better stepmom than Little Miss Tiny Tot out there." Kate shook her head before rolling her eyes. "She's younger than us, Ally."

"He can have her." Alice shook her head and immediately discovered that the movement was a mistake. "I think I might be sick." she pressed the back of her hand to her mouth.

"The pack doctor-" Kate paused and stared at her with wide eyes, "I mean, the other pack's doctor, thought you might have a concussion. I know he's been waiting for you to wake up to see you. I'm the only member from our pack who was allowed to come in here and that's only because Alpha Nowak thought it might comfort you to wake up with me here."

"Alpha Nowak? Wait. Why am I in the Obsidian Moon pack's suites?" Alice pressed her hands hard against her eyes and tried to put together the pieces of what had happened while she had been unconscious. She knew that Lane had slapped her across the mouth, but that wouldn't have given her a concussion, although it had surprised her since he'd never raised his hand to her outside of a bit of playing around in the bedroom. And he'd certainly never done it in front of anyone else in the pack. But she couldn't piece together why Alpha Nowak was involved.

"Oh my-" Kate's voice trailed off and her eyes grew wide. "You don't remember?"

Alice let her hands fall to her sides as she looked up at her friend. "Remember what Kate? Can you please just tell me what is going on? My head hurts and I am so confused. And I think it's making everything worse."

"Well when you wake up I'm supposed to run you a bath because he is refusing to see you until you have been bathed and washed and don't smell like-" now Kate trailed off as she wrinkled her nose before she burst into hysterical laughter. Alice pushed herself slowly into a sitting position as she stared at her friend like she had lost her mind.

"Are you... alright, Kate?"

"My father. He deserved it. Kade told me what happened, both with my father and that pack newby and with you and Kade and Cole. I'm glad you paid him back after what you walked in on. But I seriously hope she doesn't stick around."

"Well I don't plan on sticking around either. Although I will stay in touch." Alice scooted to the edge of the bed and slipped down to the floor, wincing as her feet touched the ground and another wave of nausea swept through her body.

"You really don't remember?" Kate muttered with a shake of her head, before looking up again. "Alice. He's your mate. Alpha Nowak is your mate. He was practically ready to rip my father's head off for touching you. I'll be surprised if we don't go to war over it. And then he was ready to kill Cole and Kade because you may have fucked them to mess with my father's head but-"

"But my mate could smell them on me the very first time we met, oh fuck, fuck, fuck." Alice stomped her foot with each fuck as she sat back down heavily on the bed.

"It's okay, it's okay. No one was hurt. The Obsidian contingent took you back to the rooms. Things broke up pretty quickly after you got hit."

"Who hit me?"

"That would have been your mate. He was swinging for my dad. And you stepped right into it." Kate shook her head and helped Alice back to her feet and towards the massive bathroom.

"Of course I did." Alice shook her head. "Because what else would I do?"

"Oh Sweetie. It'll be okay. He had his Beta carry you here because he was pretty livid about the scent of three males on you, because he could still scent my father on you too, and last I heard he's been running his wolf ever since, but I'm supposed to tell his Beta as soon as you're cleaned up and dressed and ready to see him and the doctor."

Alice nodded slowly, trying not to make her headache worse.

"So. Let's get you cleaned up."

A/N- I hope you are enjoying this story! If you are I'd love it if you'd comment and click that little star button to vote for it.

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