Mischa had been mated to Alpha Anthony Trenery of the Night Whispers Pack for two decades now. They had a good, strong bond filled with love and happiness even though their lives were more than difficult at times. They’d decided when coming together early in their mate bond to put off having an heir or heirs for their pack. That they needed to focus upon the growing of the pack’s businesses. She ran the accounting company and kept track of all the pack's funds, was vigilant in their spending decisions, because when they’d taken over the pack it was in the red, and the pack owed money to a lot of other packs as well as human banks. Finally, they were completely in the black. No longer did they have loans to pay back to humans or other wolfen packs that had helped them out over the past two decades. They were also now a bigger, stronger and healthier pack, with more reliable businesses to support them. It had taken the two of them a mighty effort of complete devotion to clearing out the debts left behind, that no one knew the former Alpha and Luna had run up, until they’d taken over and seen if for themselves. She’d never have believed it if she’d not seen it with her own two eyes, and they’d sat down and had to talk it out, weighed the pros and cons of disbanding the pack or trying to rebuild it, and become viable and keep the wolves that lived here together instead of scattered all over the place. She’d already had her accounting degree but was fresh out of uni, and going through the funding situation had been hard for her, and even harder for Anthony to hear, being it was his own parents that had sunk the pack into debt and told no one how bad it was. But in the end they’d opted to try and save the pack, and although it had been difficult for them to do. They’d worked their way through the hardship and survived it. Tonight was the very first mating ball to be held by them since taking over. They simply just couldn’t afford to waste pack funds on it. The pack members had all understood and been allowed to go off to other packs of their own accord for mating balls if they wished over those years. Tonight was an event they’d planned together, how they’d be holding mating balls in the future as well. Only two a year, they were costly and though their pack was in the black now, they didn’t want to use a lot of funds on mating balls at this time, they would set more up as the years past when they had more available funds to do so. It was a simple sit-down dinner, where everyone came dressed in smart casual clothing and could mingle at will with the other packs. Any mating prior to the full moon had to be out of sight in one or another's accommodation, so there would be fewer issues for pairs scenting each other out. She stood as always next to Anthony to greet the arriving Alphas. Only one pack was unknown to them, but it came through a known affiliated pack. They were said to be safe and wouldn’t cause them any issues. She and Anthony were hoping for some pairing up tonight, and she smiled at the comments from their Allied Alphas about finally, they were holding a mating ball, and those that knew the true hardship she and Anthony had been through, over the last two decades smiled and congratulated them on beating the odds, and them now having a prosperous pack. She was happy with how things were going and sat down to eat her meal, smiled and chatted with the other Alphas at the table. Her own Mate, Anthony, smiled at her as he always did. What she’d not seen coming was as the moon set her own Alpha Mate of 20 years, nostrils flaring and him breathing in all deeply; as he scented out a second Mate. Her eyes widened, as she watched him just stand up and leave the table, to go and hunt the one he scented. Many eyes were on him, they all knew she was his Goddess-Gifted Mate. They were the same age and scented each other out at 19, inside this very room the full moon after he’d come home from Alpha College. Mischa was more than shocked as she watched Anthony step right up to she-wolf and just reach out and t***h her face all soft and lovingly. She’d braced herself to feel the pains of betrayal, right there in front of all their allies, and she’d even felt Paul, her Gamma’s hand on her arm, as he also readied himself to try and ease the pain they all thought she was going to feel. She had not stood up or even objected to Anthony’s scenting of a second Mate, wouldn’t protest against it even though a part of her wanted to. This was the will of their Goddess, that he was getting a second Mate, and here inside this pack they believed one should accept their Goddess-Gifted Mate. Anthony’s hand cupped that she-wolf’s face, and she felt absolutely nothing, not a single pain of betrayal at all. Paul frowned a little, and she sighed with relief and murmured. “Is the will of Selena, so she grants me no pain.” Though a part of her was unhappy about her loyal, loving Alpha Mate now having a new and likely much younger Mate on his arm. She knew that he wasn’t going to reject her, she’d been gifted to him by Selena, so of course, he would accept that she-wolf. She gently removed Paul’s hand from her arm. “It’s fine… is meant to be.” She’d stated softly, all she could do was accept it. If it was a lie or some sort of magic to trick him, she'd have felt the pains of betrayal, but there were none. So she just sat there and watched as Anthony lay his verbal claim upon that she-wolf, for all in this room to hear without any hesitation. “My pack, I have been blessed by Selena herself, with a second Mate and Luna,” he'd announced, and she’d even heard the pride in his voice as he’d spoken. He was very happy with this. Had yet to even look at Mischa regarding him getting a second Mate; to see what she thought of it. She’d been eclipsed by a new Mate and Luna for the pack in a heartbeat. He was supposed to love and cherish only her, but now he had someone else to love and cherish, a she-wolf that barely looked old enough to be here at this mating ball. Likely only just turned 18 a moon or two back, she thought absently to herself. That girl's smile faulted instantly at Anthony’s words of her being his second Mate and Luna, and her eyes had moved around the room to look right at her. Mischa had nodded her head ever so slightly to the girl. Who’d turned back to Anthony and bowed her head to him, stated in softly spoken words, “I am happy, Alpha, and will work alongside your first Mate, to learn from her to be your perfect Luna.” Anthony had laughed. “Mischa is loving and kind and will be a good friend and confidante to you, as well as to teach you all that is needed and the three of us will be truly happy together.” Then he had walked that she-wolf over to the table she was sitting at, and smiled at Mischa “Sweetheart, I was blessed by Selena once more. This is Christy.” He introduced the girl to her. She felt many eyes upon her from not only at this table but from the room. It was a very unusual set of circumstances to be seen. She did know that when one wolf got gifted two Mates it was usually at the same time, not 20 years apart. That the one wolf, if his or her Mates were from different packs, they would have to choose one over the other. But Anthony was an Alpha Wolf, and he reigned over this pack so he could choose to have both of them as his Mates, because they’d all live here. This was what he was doing. He’d not even thought about it, not even so much as taken Mischa's thoughts into account about him having a new Mate. No, he’d just accepted Christy and announced her right away, expecting Mischa to just accept it and that was the end of it. Mischa wasn’t about to throw a fit or even argue it there was no point; he’d made his decision already. The Goddess had blessed him was how he’d put it. She wasn’t that kind of person, arguments were only to be had if she could win the verbal battle, which she knew she couldn’t right this very minute. It was also not her place to tell him who he could or couldn’t be mated to, if he was gifted a second Mate. It was entirely up to him to accept or reject that she-wolf. “Hello, Christy.” Mischa greeted his new Mate, and she saw the way that she-wolf instantly moved closer to Anthony and hugged into him. “It’s the will of the Goddess, please Luna don’t ask him to reject me,” Christy stated with a slight tremble to her soft voice. Mischa raised an eyebrow at her “I wouldn’t dare to. If Anthony accepts you, then so do I,” she countered the girls between the line's accusation. She understood in that one moment this she-wolf was out to cause trouble, and wanted Anthony to see Mischa was unreasonable, and appear to be unwilling to accept her as a second Luna to this pack. Mischa wouldn’t play that game, her eyes moved to Anthony, and he was frowning down at Christy, he wasn’t what she would call a stupid man, and had also picked up on there was no greeting from Christy to Mischa, just an unspoken accusation that Mischa would want to tear them apart. “Christy, what was that? Mischa would never come between us, and you just accuse her of it right away. I brought you over here just to say hello,” he stated and removed her hand from his arm. Mischa refused to allow the smile that wanted to t***h her face to reach it as she heard the disappointment in Anthony’s voice about what he was seeing and hearing. She watched as Christy kind of looked up at him in surprise, that he would not only defend his current Mate and Luna, but step away from Christy herself, to look down at her in disapproval. This she-wolf had thought Anthony would come to her defense instantly, and be drawn into her innocence, and I’m afraid of your first Mate, act. That she was so clearly putting on for all in this room to see. She didn’t know him at all, and had played that hand way too soon, but Mischa now understood herself this was going to be something Christy would do all the time. She was already scheming inside her mind on how to push out a Luna and Mate of 20 years, so she could be the only Mate and Luna to this, her and Anthony’s hard earned pack.

Mischa didn’t think this she-wolf's schemes would work on Anthony. He was not only level-headed, but they had grown up here inside this pack together, and he knew everything about her, including her own nature. That she would never harm anyone without due cause, that she certainly wouldn’t harm his other Mate. That she wouldn’t get in between them or try and stop them from spending time together. He knew that she also believed in the will of the Goddess. So, accepting that he’d been gifted a second Mate, was actually what she would do even if she was unhappy about it, she’d come to terms with it and accept it. She wouldn’t fight against it or try to make him choose between them. This new Mate of his, Christy, should have taken the time to solidify her bond with Anthony, be marked and mated before trying anything stupid like this. That would see her pitted up against his first Luna and Mate of 20 years. She knew nothing about either of them, or their temperaments. She should have learned that before scheming. “I… I’m sorry. I was just nervous that she’d want to harm me… You’re her Mate first and Luna’s are… Possessive.” Christy tried to explain her prior statement. “As are Alphas,” Mischa stated right back. “Here inside the Night Whispers pack, a Mate is a Mate. If I were to get a second Mate, Anthony would accept it as I am of him being gifted you, Christy. Don’t fear me, I’m happy to have a fellow Luna to share the duties of running this pack with.” She smiled at her. Anthony chuckled softly and looked at Mischa. “I’d be very jealous, sweetheart, of another getting to have you, but…” he took a breath in “I would accept it, as the will of our Goddess, Selena.” Mischa smiled right at him. “I know darling.” She stated, “Such a good, kind, loving and loyal Mate you’ve always been.” She’d reached out and put her hand in his, and he’d raised it right to his l**s and kissed the back of it. His way of showing his gratitude for her gracious acceptance of his new Mate. Christy, however, gasped and tears welled up in her eyes as she watched the display of affection between them. “You don’t want me,” she sobbed, and then was just gone, running off, away from them through the crowded ballroom. Anthony blinked in complete shock and stood there staring after her, he’d not once said he didn’t want her, he’d even claimed her for all to hear. It wasn’t expected that those words would come from her, let alone for her to run away. He looked to her hand and then to her and Mischa shook her head. “She felt no pains of betrayal, because I felt none when you touched her.” she told him what she knew to be the truth. “Sweetheart, I must go and…” he trailed off as he looked at her a little uncertain for the first time. “Of course, I understand Anthony, go and find your second Mate. She appears young and very...” She trailed off. Who the hll knew, she couldn’t say scheming to him. She let go of his hand and waved him off to go after the girl. Then she just sat back down in her seat and picked up her wine glass and took a controlled sip from it. She wanted to down the entire glass but would not let that be seen by all in this room. The Alphas at her table were looking at her with knowing looks. She just nodded, acknowledging that it hadn’t escaped their attention that this new Mate of Anthony’s was trying to manipulate things before she was even Marked and Mated. She and Christy had not scented each other out, and therefore would have to share their Mate’s attention between them, and no Mate wanted to share with another. Christy’s own Alpha sighed from his seat at the table. “My apologies, Luna, that one is new to my pack; her mother mated into mine just two moons back. I don’t know her well, she appeared pleasant to me.” “Hmm, she is how old?” Mischa asked. “Turned 18 inside my pack,” he answered her. “Hmm, very young. Me not so much. She is getting a Mate that already has a Mate, something I’m guessing can bring out many different sides to a she-wolf, that is expecting to suddenly become a Luna, only to find out her Mate already has a Luna. “Don’t concern yourself with it too much. Anthony won’t stand for scheming games, is level-headed, he will likely only mark and mate her if she is seen to be genuinely accepting of the three-way mate bond. She and I didn’t scent each other out, are not Mate’s that complicates things a bit, I dare say. “She’ll have to willingly accept that she has to share him with me. He is not about to reject me, his Mate and Luna of 20 years for her… one he doesn’t know and is currently acting like a petulant, jealous child for all to see. Something I don’t and won’t do. “He’ll want to have both of us as his Mates. I do know this, and if young Christy isn’t willing to even try to accept this, then he’ll likely reject her for her not accepting the will of the Goddess.” She told him, “I’m patient and will wait and see what happens.” She sipped her wine once more. “You seem to be handling it well, at ease with all this going on around you, Luna, when most would be at least upset,” he stated. “I’m not overly happy about it, Alpha, but what can I do about it? It’s not for me to make Anthony’s decisions for him. Only Anthony can choose to accept or reject Christy. I felt no pains of betrayal, so it is likely meant to be, and I am willing to accept what it is that Selena has planned for this pack,” she stated simply. She would not be the one in this three-way mate bond, which she was certain was about to happen, to pitch a fit and act as if she couldn’t handle it. This may be out of her control, but she could handle it with grace and stay calm in the face of things she didn’t like or truly know how to handle, until she found a way to do so. That was something she’d learned long ago. Panicking about the unknown didn’t help you resolve the issue before you. There had been a lot of panic at times trying to rebuild and bring this pack back to stability, and she’d overcome it all, one thing at a time. This was going to be just like that, she supposed. She would likely find a way to deal with Christy’s schemes if Anthony marked and mated her, if that she-wolf continued to try and use that innocent act, and wouldn’t give up on trying to push her out of Anthony’s life. There was at present nothing else she could do at this point, only sit and wait on the outcome of the night was all. She did wonder though if Christy was smart enough to talk her way out of being seen as petty and jealous just now. None had threatened her, and Anthony hadn’t once voiced he didn’t want her, so her act was all going to have to be apologized for, and she was going to have to explain to him why she responded that way, when Mischa had not once presented herself as a threat, had in fact welcomed her. That she’d run off after seeing affection go between herself and Anthony, something that all fully bonded pairs did, something that she-wolf would also have to get used to seeing as well. “Filled with she-wolf jealousy is my bet, and that, Luna Mischa, is never a good thing,” Alpha Nicholas stated as he leaned back in his chair. “It won’t end well if she remains the same. Been on the receiving end of that myself.” She nodded, she knew his tale; this pack had been allied to his while he’d been trying to claim his Luna, Lucinda. “Mm, I’m not so young as she is, or immature either. I can handle myself and most situations in a calm and rational manner, unlike her, it seems.” She stated with a half-smile and sipped her wine, then motioned for it to be refilled once more. “That I dare say will be the very difference between the two of you,” Nicholas nodded. “If you need a break from what I foresee as trouble brewing, come on down to the Rising Blue Lotus, for a well-earned rest. Braidy’s Mate just opened up a day spa on the edge of the pack. I’m certain she and her team can massage away or soak away any tension.” She smiled at him. “I may just take you up on that, Nicholas.” “It would be my pleasure, Luna Mischa.” He’d tipped his glass to her and they’d both sipped their wine. She’d sat there and presided over the mating ball for the rest of the night. She’d waited for Anthony to come back and tell her what he was going to do, give her an explanation as to Christy’s attitude, but it had not come at all. She’d attempted to connect with him just once, just after 10pm and shut it down very quickly felt that he was mating out there, so he’d claimed that girl and was marking and mating her. She’d mentioned it to his unit, and they’d all kind of just stared at her as if to say 'are you kidding?' She’d just nodded, there was nothing she could do about it. The Mate Bond had either gotten him or Christy had played her sweet and innocent act, come up with some plausible reason as to why she had been like that, and then likely turned on the charm and he and his wolf had been enticed into mating her and claiming her officially. Yet again, he’d done that without consulting her or even informing her that he would be doing that tonight. She’d gone to bed alone, walked up to the Alpha Suite, his unit all there with her, and she’d sighed, “I hate to be a bother, but is it possible one of you could stay here until Anthony comes back? I don’t want that she-wolf in my suite. Until all things have been discussed properly, he’ll have to understand, considering he didn’t discuss anything with me prior to this and sitting down and sorting out how this is going to work. “Please inform Anthony and his new Mate, that they can stay in the Luna Suite for the night. I’m happy he got a Mate but unhappy he has gone a head and done things without a proper discussion first. I don’t want to wake up to the sound of my Mate having sx with his other Mate inside my suite.” They all just nodded and Kendrick, their Beta, had stated, “I’ll wait up for him. Best that comes from me. If he doesn’t understand and opts to try and bring her inside, what do you want, Mischa?” “Tell him to respect my wishes. It's just o*******t, and he can spend that night curled up with his new Mate in the Luna Suite. It’s as plush as his own. If he opts not to respect my wishes for even o*******t, I guess I know exactly where I’ll stand with him and his new Mate.”

Mischa had accepted the fact that he had a second Mate, and he’d hugged her the following day after claiming Christy, told Mischa he loved her so very much, even more for her accepting Christy into their Mate bond. She’d only had one request regarding their three-person mate bond, where she and Christy shared only him between them. Which had been that Christy reside in the Luna Suite, that was her designated suite, and Mischa remained in the Alpha Suite. She had been his Mate and Luna for 20 years, and had earned the right to stay in there. He’d looked at Christy, and she’d nodded and stated, "I'm okay with that." Neither she nor Christy had wanted to live in the same suite as each other, because they weren’t mated to each other. Both saw it as standard for a Mate bond like this, for there to be separate rooms. Anthony had been happy about them agreeing to this and he'd agreed as well. The one being shared also got to choose where and who they slept with on a nightly basis. She’d told him at Christy’s frown, as she’d had to watch him pull Mischa on to his l*p, in his office that morning. After being away from her for the entire night, he wanted to hold her and be close to her, tell her he’d missed her. Christy hadn’t liked seeing that at all, and she had stated, “I think there should be a schedule to make it fair to both of us, like me, say Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and you take the alternate days.” She’d not even used Mischa’s name. Misha had leaned into Anthony and hugged him, told him she’d missed him too, as she'd watched Christy's reaction to it, then stated, “I don’t think we should put constraints on our Mate like that, and I think Anthony can pick and choose each and every night who he wants to be with, as is his right.” She’d also not missed that Christy had opted to give herself four nights a week and Mischa only three. Right off the bat, this she-wolf was trying to take control of their mate bond. She had some balls, that was for sure. Anthony, on the other hand had, had a better idea. “I’ll rotate days between you both. I think that is fair, so o*******t with you Christy, then o*******t with Mischa, on a continually rotating basis. That way, each of you gets a four-night week and a three-night week, exactly half of each month. Otherwise, one of you will get 16 days and the other only 12; that is not fair.” He’d also promised her he’d never bed Christy in their suite, especially their bed, and then, at Christy’s pout, he’d laid down the same rule for her, that he’d never bed Misha in Christy’s suite or bed; again making it fair. He’d told Christy he’d open up a few walls and create her a proper suite just like his and Mischa’s for when they had pups. Misha hadn’t objected, just nodded and told him and Christy that was a good idea. He had been trying, she knew, to keep both of them happy, trying to work this new three-person mate bond out in a way that suited them all. “We’re newly mated,” Christy had murmured, “and you two have been mated for decades. I want a little more time with you to bond properly.” “You’ll go into heat in a week and get to have him all to yourself for 3 to 7 days,” Mischa commented casually. “You’ll interrupt it.” Christy had muttered. “I will not. I have no interest in separating you from Anthony at all. You should, however, come over here and let him initiate you. He’s not done that yet.” Mischa had stood up and even picked up the pack blade for him and held it out to him, showing him she was accepting of everything. Only now a year and a half later, she was not in the Alpha Suite, nor was she in the Luna Suite. She’d moved herself out of the Alpha Suite six months ago when she’d walked into it and pushed into her bedroom to find Anthony and Christy having sx in her and Anthony’s bed. She’d come to a stand still at the sight of them and then her anger got the better of her. She and her wolf Laud had grated out his name for him to hear their anger at what was going on in their bed. Something he’d promised would never happen. Only to have him snarl at her to get the hll out of his bedroom, his aura had rolled at her even before he’d turned to see who it was. Christy had looked right at her and smirked as if to say 'you know you can’t beat me.' “Fine,” had been the only word that had come from her. She was his equal and could in fact ignore his aura, but had turned and walked from the suite, left at his order and then had moved herself into a suite down the hall, across from the Delta’s suite. She’d had omegas go in and collect all her belongings when she’d felt him leave that suite, not just her clothes, everything that was hers and moved, had them set up in her new room down the hall. They’d not understood it, why she was moving out of the Alpha Suite, when she’d lived in there for the past two decades, and for the first time since Christy had come into this pack and started eclipsing her position, she’d not cared to keep quite as to why she was moving out. Told her omegas that the Alpha had ordered her to get out of the suite. It was in fact true he had done so. That hadn’t gone down so well with Anthony when he’d realized she’d actually moved out of the suite, and not just left it to come back later when she’d calmed down. He’d thought she was just angry about him breaking his promise, and so he had opted to sleep in Christy’s suite that night. He had left her be, because he actually understood he was in the wrong, and she had a right to be angry. But what he’d not realized until the following evening, when he’d gone to the Alpha Suite to shower and change, probably apologize for his mistake. That her side of the closet was empty, not a single thing was left in there of her, not even her jewelry. That she had in fact moved out completely, and he’d had to go looking for her, he hadn’t seen her all day either. She’d opted to work from her new suite because she wasn’t in any mood to deal with a smug Christy, or her own Mate who had broken his one promise to her. He’d found her sitting in that suite across from Derek's with many of her things setup in there around her. She’d already made herself comfortable in there. He’d been completely shocked at the realization that she’d taken more than just her clothes, but her trinkets and throw rugs, her favorite vase and many of the books that were in the study, they’d shared in that suite. He’d asked her exactly what was going on, and she’d casually closed the book she’d been sitting documenting in, her Luna’s Diary, and looked at him, his worried expression, as he’d sat down on the lounge next to her. She’d stated simply, “You broke your promise and ordered me to get out of your suite. I did exactly what you wanted.” He’d sighed at her and murmured, “That’s not what I meant, sweetheart, I’m sorry for what happened. Christy was upset about never having seen inside the Alpha Suite… she just wanted to see what it looked like, she’s only ever been in the Luna Suite, doesn’t feel as if I truly see her as my Luna, because she’s never even walked through the door and seen inside the Alpha’s Suite.” He’d sighed heavily. “I saw no harm in her walking through it and looking around. She was so happy to just be shown the suite, and she kissed me to say thank you for allowing her to see where I lived when not with her and, well… we just got carried away is all, and it resulted in sx. It wasn’t intentional,” he told her. Maybe not on his part, but it had clearly been on Christy’s part. “In our bed.” Had been Mischa’s words, she could read between the lines, Christy had gotten Anthony to take her into their bedroom, a place she was never allowed to go unless Mischa invited her personally. Just like Mischa wasn’t allowed in Christy’s bedroom. So, once again, she’d been able to make Anthony believe she was innocent in them fking on Mischa’s bed, and he’d bought it. She had gotten him to take her into that room to help her feel more like his Luna, when he’d already given her a fully remodeled suite. He was still blind to her deceptions. Only this time, Christy had used sx to get it past him. She knew exactly what that she-wolf was doing. She’d also not missed in his relaying of what had happened that it had been Christy who had kissed him and gotten him all worked up, she'd done it on purpose, and she knew that, from that one look on Christy’s face, that he’d not seen. She didn’t really understand the she-wolf. It wasn’t like Anthony ignored her, or didn’t give her exactly what she wanted. Her Luna Suite was now as large and plush as the Alpha Suite was, there was room for them to start their family. It was now a four-bedroom suite. She’d gotten her Mate and the title of Luna as well, had a desk in the Luna’s office, was allowed to give Luna Blessings and she spent on a daily basis more time with Anthony than Mischa did. “Well, Anthony, she can now have what she wants, both the Alpha and Luna suites, can’t she! Seeing as she got you to break your promise to me and so easily.” “Don’t be like that Mischa, it won’t happen again,” he’d sighed. “You’re right, it won’t.” she’d nodded, because she would never set foot in the Alpha Suite again. “You ordered I get out, I had no choice but to do as you ordered, you are the Alpha.” She told him and watched his eyes widen at her very words. He was racking his brain trying to recall if he’d made it an order or not. She knew it wasn’t for her to move out, just to leave the room. But at that moment it could well have been for all he knew. He and his wolf Shade might not even know they’d done that in that moment, where they were consumed with the need to mate Christy. “I take it back.” He’d huffed after a full minute of thought. “Rescind it. If I did that, I can’t say for certain if I did or not.” “No need. I now understand my place, Anthony. Your new and younger Mate is the one you want to please. I’ll step aside for her. She can move into the actual Alpha Suite. I’ll stay here as is my place.” She’d not been trying to make him feel guilty, she’d simply made the decision to not go back to his suite was all, it was now tainted by that she-wolf, so he could have it all to himself or move that she-wolf in there. “Your place is beside me, Mischa, as it will always be,” he’d stated. “Hmm” had been her only reaction because she wondered just how long it would be before Christy got the Luna’s office all to herself and had Mischa moved out of it. Christy was currently still undergoing Luna Training, but the moment it was over. Mischa could see Christy was going to push her from it. She wasn’t exactly sure how yet, but she was willing to bet that she-wolf was plotting how already. Just couldn’t do it until she’d actually finished her training was all.

She was just documenting everything that happened in her personal Luna’s Diary, that was casually sitting closed on her l*p right that minute; all of Christy’s behavior. It was kind of like a Luna’s Diary, she supposed. Only this one was filled with all the times Christy had manipulated Anthony, pouted or put on a show of waterworks, complained she was just insecure, intimidated by Mischa, or didn’t think she could ever measure up to his first Mate. All the things that saw Anthony wanting to comfort Christy about and how he did that; taking her out shopping or to dinner, to make her feel loved and cherished and to make it up to her, so she'd feel secure in her position as his second Mate. Though Christy had learned not to insult her directly, that brought about full annoyance in Anthony towards her, regardless of if Christy did it with a few tears or indirectly. Which she had a few times in the beginning when she had been more openly trying to separate them so she could spend more time with Anthony then Mischa could; she’d learned the hard way not to do that. Anthony wouldn’t stand for Christy insulting Mischa, and he would come to her defense, because not once had Mischa ever insulted Christy; she wasn’t like that. Wasn’t one to be mean or cruel on purpose. Even now here in this situation, Christy and Anthony’s having sx in her bed, she’d not blamed Christy; she hadn’t said anything other than he’d broken his promise to her. Anthony would demand Christy apologize to Mischa if she insulted her, and Christy didn’t like having to do so. She’d seen once that Christy’s tearful apology had also backfired on her, even worse than Christy could have possibly imagined, because Paul had walked into the room behind her, to hear it and had felt out the situation. Christy hadn’t seen him, and he’d cleared his voice after only 10 seconds and stated, “Her apology is a lie, Alpha, she doesn’t truly mean it, I can feel she’s here causing trouble only.” And his southern drawl had rolled off him to show he was switched on and explaining what he was feeling from Christy. Anthony had then been even more annoyed as Chrisy had come to learn that Paul was more inclined to trust his instincts than her words, and was always switched on when he was near her if there were words going between her and anyone. Paul couldn’t be swayed by Christy’s deceitful ways, he could see she was just trying to get rid of Mischa and nothing more. Had in fact stated that very thing to Anthony, who’d turned angry eyes on Christy himself. Who’d been glaring at her and then had turned them on Paul and accused them of being in cahoots, and it was them that were trying to oust her and pull her and Anthony’s bond apart, that they were ganging up on her because they had a 20-year-long Luna Gamma bond. She’d then done her usual insecure act and stated how was she to create a bond with Paul when he was always on Mischa’s side, and gone running off in tears, and, for the first time ever, Anthony hadn’t gone after her. He had looked at Paul and stated, “Is she really trying to break my bond with Mischa?” He’d kind of sounded as if he didn’t want to hear the answer. Hadn’t actually believed that Mischa and Paul were ganging up on her because he knew they weren’t like that. “That is what I get, she doesn’t like Mischa, never has. Do you recall the very first words Christy ever stated when standing before Mischa? That was the first clue into her true nature. You saw it, reacted to it and admonished her for it even. What did she do? Cried and run off, played at you not wanting her and was leaving the pack. “What is she doing right now? Crying and running off as if leaving the pack because she was caught in a lie, and you’re about to admonish her or worse, punish her. Don’t go after her, Anthony. I bet she won’t leave the pack, but will go right to the border.” It was done by Christy, to trigger Anthony and his beast into thinking his Mate was running away, hurt and upset, and they wouldn’t want that, so they would go racing after her, when they realized she was trying to flee the pack. She and Paul, the entire Alpha Unit saw it for what it was, only Anthony didn’t see it, because it brought about fear of the breaking of his mate bond with Christy, and so he had a deep-seated need to placate her and win her back. That time, Anthony had let her run, refused to go after her just to see what would happen. Was his Gamma right or not? Christy had not left the pack, but she had run all the way to the pack's furthest border from the packhouse, but had come to a stand still at the edge of the pack. Mischa had tracked her pack tether as much as everyone in that room had, and Christy had stood out there on the edge of the pack for several hours before coming back, stalking in through the packhouse front doors, past the open Alpha’s office door and stomped up the stairs and banging into the Luna Suite. Paul had relayed, “She’s just annoyed you didn’t chase after her like you normally do.” He had felt her out the moment she’d gotten back. Christy had reined it in after that because Anthony hadn’t gone near her for over a week and Mischa had heard him state to her, as Christy had stood before him sobbing about feeling insecure, “If you’re going to sulk just because you’re a second Mate, do it quietly. You knew I had a Mate, stated you’d accept it,” then issued a demand of his own, to show her he wasn’t going to put up with her behavior any longer. “Either accept that you are my second Mate or reject me and actually leave. Stop pretending to, just to get my attention.” Mischa hadn’t heard the beginning of that conversation, only the finality of it; she’d not gotten involved, never got between them. She’d thought his demand that day had stopped Christy’s bad behavior, until she’d walked in on them having sx in her bed and seen that smirk on her face. Now here Christy was back to the scheming after a few months of quiet. It seemed that she-wolf was never going to stop. She would just document everything so that when push came to shove and Mischa was actually truly fed up with the life she was now living, she would just hand Anthony her Luna’s Diary, that was right this minute on her l*p, and leave. She didn’t want a life of fighting to keep her Mate, it shouldn’t have to be this way. It was likely she’d eventually just give Christy what it was she wanted, only it wouldn’t exactly be a happy moment for Christy when Anthony read this book, and looked back on everything that had happened in the course of their mate bond since Christy had come into it. He’d be able to see it was all Christy’s fault. That his first Goddess-Gifted Luna, who had been here to help him clear all the pack's debts and loved him regardless of all the hardship, had left him because she was pushed aside by Christy. She did document her personal feelings about everything that happened in this book. She wrote in a black pen the event; who was there, the words spoken and actions taken. Then in a blue pen she documented how she personally felt about the event and all that transpired. If she was frustrated, annoyed, angry, upset or just plain sad and confused or pained. If she had expected the event to occur, had predicted his or Christy’s reactions, then in a green pen she documented the expression on Christy’s face towards herself that he didn’t see. If he or anyone opened this Luna’s Diary at a very quick glance, it would look like all the other official ones in her office, she had filled out over the years, the same color pens used for different varying things. He didn’t even question seeing her with it now, because it was normal for her to sit and write in her Luna’s Diary on a daily basis. But his book, when he got his hands on it and read it, he would see she wasn’t writing only to make him hate Christy or feel guilty, but in a way that he could understand their bond was becoming broken over time and her lack of emotions as time passed would show him that it had been gradual not instant that she had stayed for years in the hope that Christy would just stop her selfish behavior. That she wasn’t petty or cruel like Christy was, that she’d just be slowly shoved aside until she was no longer needed by him or this pack was all. So, she had left him to go and live a life where she might be needed in some other pack. Start her life over and maybe be able to be happy once more like she had used to be; standing next to his side. He was just sitting looking at her. “Please, it won’t happen again.” He implored her. “Yes, it will,” she stated her feelings on the matter. There would be no amount of pleading or promises that would see her believe he could keep that woman out of the Alpha Suite. A part of her wondered if Christy was so spitefully jealous that she would at some point try and have Anthony bring her into this very room and then accidently, on purpose, get carried away and have sx in here. In any room she ever went to until Mischa hurled a rejection at Anthony for the continually breaking of his word. A part of her didn’t want to think that way, but another part of her wouldn’t put it past that she-wolf. “If it can happen once, then it can happen again, Anthony. One broken promise leads to another.” She shrugged. “That room is now tainted by you and her, as far as I’m concerned. I won’t go back there… is dirty I suppose, “And not just because you had sx with Christy in there, but because you, my Alpha and my Mate disregarded the one and only request I had when you got a second Mate, and I willingly accepted her. Not only into our pack and our home, but into the very middle of our own mate bond. “I’m disappointed in you, and to be honest, Alpha, right now I’m not at all interested in your new promise that it won’t happen again. You’ve already proven that your word to me no longer matters to you at all. Because if it did, you’d never have let that happen in the first place.” She stood up and walked away across the room. “Oh, on a new note, this is now my room. Christy is not allowed in here, period. I don’t care if she complains that her not being in here makes her feel as though she’s not a part of anything at all. I am not her Mate and I have the right to refuse her entry to my home.” She turned and looked right at him. “And this room is now my home. Please leave, I’m done talking with you. I have work to do.” She'd tapped her diary and walked through to her bedroom and closed the door to make sure he understood to leave.

Six months had passed and Mischa lay in her bed looking at Anthony as he got mind-linked to and she heard him sigh. He looked at her when it was over. “Christy wants to see me,” he stated as he sat up. She didn’t say anything at all, knew there was no point, he was going to get up and go to Christy under some guise that she needed to speak with him, but then he wouldn’t come back to her room. Even though it was his night to sleep here with Mischa. Christy would talk to him about whatever it was she stated was so very important that it would see him get up and leave her bedroom, and then she would be all over him and fk him, and he’d fall asleep in his and Christy's bed. Anthony would then come to her and apologize in the morning about falling asleep in Christy’s bed. State they’d had a single moment that had gotten carried away, and seeing as he’d already been with her, having sx with both of them on the same night tired him out, and he’d crashed out was all; it wasn’t on purpose. She knew better than to believe it anymore. At first, she had thought it was genuine, but now, months later, it happened all the time. It was just Christy’s way of proving to her that she could call their Mate away from her, and he wanted to go, because he always went. Mischa knew that to be true as well, because otherwise he would just tell her it was his night to be with Mischa and that would be the end of it. He wouldn’t go to Christy’s room, he would just tell her whatever it was could wait until the morning. Nothing was that important to disturb him at midnight. If it was, then everyone would know about it. So, he got up out of her bed and went to Christy’s willingly to sleep with her, stay there the night and she knew it. He was now the one to be seen pushing her aside in her eyes. Because it was a choice to get up and leave their bed and go to another’s on a night when he should be with her. Mischa just rolled over and away from him at his words and his getting out of the bed without a second thought. Her chest ached, but there was no arguing with him about it. She’d tried that in the beginning, and he’d stated, “I’ll come back after, whatever it is.” but he never did and pointing that out to him as well. He’d gotten annoyed with her for keeping track of him, had muttered, “It’s not bloody necessary to track my every move.” So, she’d not done so anymore, she stopped fighting him about it not being fair that he spent five nights a week with Christy and only two with her. She felt that pained ache inside her chest, as if someone was just squeezing her heart and tears welled up, but she didn’t let them fall, just blinked them away. ‘What else was knew’ was what she thought absently to herself. It was also what she wanted to say out loud, but she didn’t. There was no point he would leave anyway. This was how it had been for the past four months. The only difference now was that she just said nothing about him leaving, rolled over away from him and pretended not to care, when it hurt to know he was choosing Christy once more. Her and Anthony’s Mate bond was falling apart, and he didn’t even look to care about it, he had a new younger Mate to entertain him. She was rapidly just becoming the Luna that held the pack together and nothing else. One day soon it was likely he was going to forget she was even part of this pack. A part of her was starting to regret her choice to let what had happened go. Something she’d done for the sake of their Mate bond and them staying together. She’d convinced herself he still loved her, that it wasn’t like he was cheating on her, because Christy was his Mate too, and so she’d tried to just move on past him, breaking his promise to her. Anthony had brought her flowers and apologized many times. After he’d had sx with Christy in the Alpha Suite, he’d sent gifts to her and tried to spend more time with her after he’d hurt her, and realized how badly it was affecting their Mate Bond. Put in an effort for a solid month to try and bring them closer like they’d used to be. It had been a month of being unhappy and tired and grumpy for both him and her, before she’d finally accepted, that he was actually sorry. He looked tired and worn out to her, as much as she had been, and Kendrick had told her he wasn’t sleeping well, being at odds with her like they were. It was the first time they’d ever spent so much time unhappy and, apart from each other, she’d not let him t***h her once in that month, she shifted her hand or turned away. Ignored the half-knowing smiles she saw from Christy as she watched their Mate Bond of 20 years being torn apart at her own hands. It made Mischa wonder what kind of person it took to knowingly and willingly set out to destroy another’s Mate Bond, be happy about watching it slowly get destroyed. She’d wondered more than a few times why Selena had sent this she-wolf to their pack and paired her with Anthony. Was he supposed to choose between them? Or had they together been the people that were supposed to turn Christy’s ugly nature into something better? Show her that things could be good even when one had to share what was theirs. She thought that was supposed to be it, seeing as both she and Anthony had accepted Christy, only Christy hadn’t changed at all. This situation could well have seen her nature become worse she supposed. She didn’t know anything about her previous life. Now here she was alone once more, while Anthony returned to the Alpha Suite where Christy now resided, even though not all her things had been moved into it, half of them were still in the Luna Suite. That she-wolf had told Anthony that was because she needed a few things in there for when she slept there, but, of course, she’d willingly move back to the Luna Suite when Mischa wasn’t mad at him anymore, and wanted to move back into the Alpha Suite with him. Mischa, however, knew this was not the case. It was so that Mischa also couldn’t reside within the Luna Suite, effectively telling Mischa she wasn’t the pack’s Luna because she didn’t live in either the Alpha or Luna Suite, but Christy now coveted both suites. Anthony had seen no issue with it, seeing as Mischa had told him she wasn’t going back to the suite at all. He’d stopped trying to convince her to go back to it, couldn’t after the third time she’d walked past it and seen them both coming out of there first thing in the morning. He’d looked guilty at first and then just said nothing after a week of it, even though he’d promised Christy wouldn’t be allowed in there anymore. She’d never left it after that first time in there with him. But no longer did Mischa care to play the game at all. Not even Laud cared to take part in sx with her Mate when it happened. It wasn’t like before either, not hours of endless pleasure, it kind of felt a bit rushed to her, as if he was just going through the motions and each time it was getting shorter as well. That told her how much he enjoyed sx with Chrisy more than he did with her as well. She felt his l**s press against her b**e shoulder in a soft k**s, something she’d once loved about him, even in her half sleeping state, she’d been able to smile at feeling it. He’d never in 20 years not done that when he was getting up to leave their bed for training or anything at all. Now it felt redundant to her, as if it was just something that was ingrained into him, just autopilot mode, she thought, not because he meant it. She was still his Mate, and she still loved him, but in moments like this she wished she didn’t, but two decades together was really hard to let go of, when he was the other half of her soul. The moment she heard the door close, her fist balled against the center of her chest and those tears she held back rolled down her cheeks. It hurt to know he was willingly pulling away from her, he, as her Mate should know when she was in pain, but he either blipped over it or no longer cared to feel if she was upset. That month of apology was long gone, and she was right back to being pushed aside. Only now it was willingly on his part, she felt. The first time she’d not argued with him about leaving, he’d stopped and stared at her, then had smiled and even thanked her for understanding Christy needed him. Now he just told her Christy wanted to speak with him and got up and left without so much as a second thought. She was left alone in a bed that smelled like him, something she now both loved and hated at the same time. 20 years together and he was letting it go is what she saw and easily so, because his younger Mate was insecure and apparently couldn’t even measure up to his other Mate a reigning Luna of two decades. Mischa could make her feel small and intimidated at times. Christy used that at every turn, stating she sometimes felt helpless or useless because Mischa was so accomplished at everything, that there was no need for Christy to be there in the pack. Mischa sat and watched him listen to Christy’s softly spoken words, as the tears brimmed, and she looked sad and sometimes defeated even with Mischa right there. Christy had appeared to be putting Mischa on a pedestal but then had also made it look as if she could never reach up and t***h it at the same time. Anthony looked at Mischa sometimes with an almost helpless look of ‘What can I do but comfort her?’ He had two Mates that weren’t mated to each other. Had told her they’d been mated for 20 years, that their bond was strong enough to get through a few rough years of this new situation they found themselves in until Chirsty truly felt like she was Mischa’s equal. What was a few years in the grand scheme of things, that he also wanted to create the same strong and unbreakable bond with Christy that they had. When he’d done that, everything would settle down, that if she could bear with it. This pack would be stronger for it in the end. She had understood that, from his point of view, of course, he would want a strong bond with his new mate. What she didn’t understand was him letting Christy eclipse their bond. He’d wanted in the beginning to split his time 50/50, but now it was like 80/20 and that 20% was rapidly dwindling as well. He might be here two nights a week, but they only had sx once a week for the most part. Every other week, that other night, he was gone before they even went to bed. Arrived and within 30 minutes to an hour he was called away by Christy and just didn’t come back.

She was willing to bet that within six more months he wouldn’t even come to her room at all. Just retire to the Alpha Suite with his second Mate every single night. They’d be broken completely soon, and he didn’t care to realize it. Though she thought he had to feel it, but could only guess it was okay in his mind for her to be bound to him, but nothing to him eventually. He had Christy now, and so he wasn’t the one who slept alone at night. Bonded pairs weren’t designed to sleep apart all the time, it hurt. But only she hurt within their mate bond, because he had a bond with another that could, she knew, outweigh his and hers. Christy wasn’t just calling him back to her, she was trying to imprint herself over everything she and Anthony had once had, and the moment he stopped coming to this room altogether, that was the moment she knew Christy had won. She and Christy were chalk and cheese. Christy was young, outgoing and fun, whereas Mischa was 41, smart, sensible and responsible. She could run this pack without Anthony, and she knew it, because she’d been here to help rebuild it and knew the business' inside and out. Christy couldn’t do that if her life depended on it, and she could see that at some point she would be managing everything while Anthony was always off having fun with Christy. Their lives hadn’t been fun, always struggling to keep the pack together, it had been serious and filled with worry all the time. Christy had come along only after all that, and Anthony liked being able to spend time with her in that playful, fun manner that she and he had missed out on, because they’d been too busy trying to save this pack. He was, she thought, reliving his younger days with Christy, and Mischa, to him, was older and too mature and sensible to be like Christy. What he’d forgotten was that all wolves liked to play, but his wolf Shade had not once called Laud out to play since Christy’s wolf Sunny had become his second wolfen mate. She got up from the bed and pushed out through the French doors onto the balcony and stood n@ked out in the bracing cold of the beginning of winter season, maybe the oncoming chill would freeze her heart completely, and she’d have the strength to leave, reject the other half of her soul and go through the pains of rejection. She didn’t know if it would just hurt or if it would kill her, breaking an Alpha Luna bond of 20 years could she knew kill one of them if not both of them. He thought everything was fine, he was getting his cake and eating it too. Maybe it would just kill her and not him. She turned her face up to the moon, “When it happens, Selena, don’t make me a Luna again. I don’t want the responsibility of holding a pack together at the cost of my own heart or my wolf's heart. We’ll be happy just being regular Joe's,” she told their Goddess. For now, she was still the Luna to this pack, granted by Selena herself, “I will not fail this pack, or those that live here, even if one day Anthony fails me completely. I will stay until I truly know I am not needed, but then, I will leave, and you’ll release me, to live a new better life elsewhere. That is the deal I make with you, my Goddess. “My oath to you, Moon Goddess, for the blessing you gave me that lasted two decades. But this new blessing you gave my Mate, I reject her as being seen as a blessing in my eyes. She is unworthy of being Luna. “I feel your choice was wrong on that she-wolf. I’m sorry I state something so unforgivable of the one that created us, gave us life and blesses us with the other half of our souls. It is just my opinion. Do not take it to heart or punish this pack for my thoughts on the matter.” She stood out there in the cold until she was numb, watched the moon fall beyond the tree line of the pack and promised herself she would attend every request that was asked of her and be the perfect Luna always until the day came when she was truly not needed. Even though she didn’t really want to be anymore, she knew she would know the day when it came because she would simply not care about whatever it was that she was seeing and that would be it, the day she left. How it would happen? She couldn’t say. When it would happen? She didn’t know. It could be a month or a year, five years from now, she didn’t know. Where she would be when that moment came, or how she was living when it happened, were also things that were uncertain in her mind. She would simply feel nothing and see no point in being here at all anymore. That was the one thing she was certain of about her impending departure. Though the part of her that clung to the belief that the will of their Goddess was how they should live, was still hoping that Anthony’s words about everything would settle down in a few years, that it was just a rough patch; they were true. That one day, Christy wouldn’t see her as not a threat to her own Mate Bond and stop trying to eclipse her in every way, and the three of them could live in harmony with each other. That Anthony’s time would be spent equally between the two of them, but she doubted it at the same time. Two years had passed and though Christy’s ways to eclipse her had become more subtle, Mischa saw it all for what it was even if others inside this pack did not. She returned to her suite and stripped that bed and tossed the linen down the laundry shute, remade it and got into her bed. The room was cold and aired completely. She did not bother to close the balcony doors and left them open to sleep in the mind-numbing cold. Maybe, just maybe she wouldn’t feel so lonely if she couldn’t stop thinking about being freezing cold. She heard Laud huff inside her mind but didn’t shift them to her wolfen form, allowed Mischa to do as she pleased. It took a long time to fall asleep, but she managed it only to wake up with pains in her lower abdomen and she half snorted. Of course, her heat would come now when she’d opted to finally just be in the background. Anthony pushed into her bedroom and frowned at how cold the room was. She’d gotten up and closed the doors only because she was in heat, and wouldn’t risk herself to those un-mated wolves of the pack. Then he smiled at her as he started pulling his shorts off. He’d been at morning training. She could tell from his attire, b**e-footed and b**e-chested. Even as rough and difficult as their Mate Bond had been for the past two years, she knew he still enjoyed her heat. Though even to her, it already felt different, she wasn't rushing to climb on him as she once would have, and she wondered if that was because of their fading Mate Bond. Something that once saw her think about in a happy, excited way. Because she had enjoyed it, so had Laud and Anthony and his wolf Shade. He’d always been attentive to her needs in this department, she would be in heat she knew for just four days. Had been having two heats a year since the moment they were marked and mated, something Anthony thought was another blessing from Selena, that he got to enjoy not one, but two heats a year with her. He was climbing on the bed, leaning over her, smiling down at her. “We should have an heir this year, a son who is big and strong.” He told her and claimed her mouth with his. He’d completely forgotten he’d abandoned her last night for Christy. Her heat was, it appeared, all consuming for him right this minute, and once where it would have been for her, she wasn’t now, was lying there while he mated her furiously thinking about those words he’d just stated. A pup, a son and heir for the pack? It wasn’t something they had discussed in a very long time, not since making the decision to stabilize the pack and have it be prosperous before opting to have a pup of their own. She was rolled over in that bed and pulled up onto all fours as he took her once more, and she knew she realized, he did talk about that with Christy. They talked about it every time Christy went into heat. She recalled Christy’s words right as Anthony knotted himself to her with a g***n. “I’ll give you a good strong heir, I’m healthy and can have pups. We’ll have one right away.” Christy had stated. Mischa understood hearing those words that Christy thought she and Anthony didn’t have an heir after 20 years of being mated to each other because she thought Mischa couldn’t conceive. She clearly had no idea that Mischa was on wolfen birth control, and it was a joint decision between herself and Anthony. Right this minute, even Anthony had seemed to have forgotten that himself, had mated her furiously and was now knotted to her, she heard the smile in his voice as he held her body to his. “Sweetheart, what do you want to name our son when he’s born?” She closed her eyes and refrained from sighing, refrained from stating 'what do you care', held that in as well. She felt his mouth t***h her ear, and he hummed at her when she didn’t answer him. “On wolfen birth control, remember.” She stated finally, seeing as he’d clearly forgotten. “My bad, I forgot in the heat of the moment.” He chuckled softly. “Perhaps it’s time to come off that now.” “Mm,” was her only response. “What’s the matter?” he asked, and she could hear the frown in his voice. “The pack is healthy, in the black, and we’re making money, growing our wealth.” “I’m aware. I’m the pack accountant,” she’d stated simply. There had once been silly lovers talk between them in moments like this, or they would lay in the bed after his knot was released and dreamed about what their pups would look like, whose eyes they’d have, his light blue or her pale green. Whose hair they’d have, whose temperament even. Of all the things they would teach them and all the games they’d get to play with their children. Where they would take them on vacation when they were old enough to leave the pack. He’d dreamed of just two pups, been conservative about it, considering how much Alpha College cost, and was likely to go up with inflation over the next few decades. So just two pups, a boy and a girl was his idea for the pack. A son to take over and a little girl to spoil rotten, was how he’d always put it. She’d never objected to his thoughts, just told him there would be no playing favorites.

Mischa had no idea what to talk to Anthony about right now as his knot released, and he shifted onto the bed next to her. She moved herself to a sitting position, and knew this was likely going to be a very uncomfortable four days of silence, stretching between them between her bouts. She’d been in this room, living away from him for a long time now, it kind of felt like forever to her. He’d done his duty, raced here to her room at the first sensing of her heat starting, and so had no phone or laptop to work on while in this room. She wondered absently to herself if he also now thought that sitting here felt uncomfortable or awkward, perhaps. She knew he could stop and talk to her out in the pack without issue, smile at her, and he probably meant that as well, but did he truly want to be in this room with her? That she didn’t know. She leaned back on the headboard and kind of just stared across the room. She had nothing really to even talk with him about anymore, not personally anyway, because everything they did together now was only Alpha Luna duties. A half snort came from her as she realized this would also be considered just that; it was the Alpha’s duty to attend the Luna’s heat. She felt his eyes on her at her snort, of what sounded even to her ears, as filled with sarcastic amusement, and he reached out and touched her. “When are you going to truly forgive me and move back into our suite?” he asked. Her eyes moved to his, so he did realize there was still an issue between them, though by the sound of that, he didn’t truly understand what it was. Still though it was about Christy in their suite, she’d let that go months ago. But if that was what he thought she could have that conversation, it wasn’t like he could just get up and leave the suite. That would be seen as him being cruel. Maybe it was time to have it out with him. Not that she really wanted to hash out old off-topic things, or old to her, he clearly still thought this was the problem between them. “That’s now yours and Christy’s suite. Not ours, we don’t have a suite anymore, because the Luna Suite is also Christy’s. I believe half her belongings are in both suites. She has staked her claim on both the Alpha and Luna suites, and you let her.” she told him simply, and brushed his hand from her arm and got out of bed. He huffed. “She’s only in there because you moved out of it.” “Why did I move out of it? And what did you promise a second time, yet broke that promise once again, and the very next day after making it?” She turned and looked at him pointedly. “Do you want to argue about the one thing I asked of you, and you couldn’t even give me. Not even when it’s not that hard to do. In fact, you didn’t have to do anything at all other than state the word ‘No’ to Christy if she wanted to go into the Alpha Suite. So very simple.” “No,” he muttered, because she was right, and he was wrong, “I’ll have her leave if you’re going to move back in.” “Why, she’ll just stroll in there and fk you at will like she did last time, got a access card to it now herself as well, to do just that. Hmm, should she have one if that was yours and my suite? ‘No’ is the answer, yet you gave her one, because I didn’t, and only you and I have access to them.” She saw guilt cross his face. “She asked…” “Again, not that hard to say No,” she pointed out. “Where’s your backbone?” she muttered. “So, what’s the point of me once again moving in, when I’ll just move out again, when I find the two of you in there fking on my bed once more, she, nor you had no respect for the sanctity of my bedroom. Let alone my actual bed, I don’t think that has changed at all. So, it’s better I just stay away, huh, let Christy have everything she wants, as you do.” “It’s not like that, Mischa; I spend every other night in our suite hoping you’ll come to it,” he sighed. “o*******t in the Luna suite and o*******t in the Alpha suite, you’re the one that doesn’t turn up.” He tried to blame her for not being with him on those nights they were to spend together. “Right,” she rolled her eyes and walked into the bathroom to shower. “That wasn’t the agreement.” She called over her shoulder. “It was o*******t with Christy and o*******t with Mischa, not which actual room you were to sleep in.” He followed her into the bathroom. “I do actually sleep in our suite every other night.” He snapped at her. “You’re the one that doesn’t come to me.” “Oh, so who sleeps with you every night as you alternate between the Luna Suite and Alpha Suite, when she shouldn’t. Maybe Anthony, if you could keep her out of that suite for, say… oh, a month, I might consider returning to it. During that month.” She turned and looked at him. “You’ll also have to sleep in there every alternate night on your own. Better yet, how about you actually stick to the agreement we made originally, which was o*******t with Christy and o*******t with me. There was nothing about the room those nights had to be spent in,” she pointed out to him, his own faux par on the agreement. “So, for that month, Anthony, you would have to be here in this bed with me, without being mind-linked to in the middle of the night, interrupting our quality time together or be called away, and then conveniently spend the night with Christy.” She put to him something she knew was never going to happen. She saw him frown and pointed right at his face. “Can’t do it, can you! That expression on your face speaks volumes, and why? Because you actually prefer to spend time with her, she’s young and more fun than I am. I’m old and withered I guess compared to her.” She turned away from the shocked expression that was now gracing his face to actually shower. She didn’t know what the shock was from, her stating the truth that he prefers to be with Christy out loud, or that she was old and withered. Which she wasn’t, her looks hadn’t passed 25 years of age, she still looked young and youthful, her brown hair was thick and lustrous, and her skin was like white porcelain. She actually thought she looked younger than Christy did. That girl was aging little by little, and Mischa put it down to the way she was within their three-way mate bond. Constantly worried and plotting and planning to sabotage her own Mate’s other bond. Which was, in fact, was a betrayal of her own Mate bond, because she’d told Anthony she’d accept being in this three-way bond but never actually had the intention of accepting it. Lied right to his face, right off the bat to have him claim her and make her a second Luna, all in order to eclipse Mischa and have her pushed aside eventually. Christy was currently 20 but looked 25 or 26 to her, but Mischa was 41 and looked 25 without make-up and could look 22 or 23 with make-up. She didn’t try to sabotage Christy and Anthony’s Mate Bond. She wasn’t the type to stoop so low; therefore, she was unaffected by the ramifications of doing so, unlike Christy was, but the girl wasn’t so smart on the future ramifications of things. He thought she was just angry he’d broken his word when, in fact, she thought seeing them going at it, in her bed was disgusting. She didn’t mind seeing them going at it out in the woods of the pack, they were Mates, and she had seen it, just moved on and left them to it, didn’t get angry or upset about it. But in her room, in her bed, that was another thing altogether, and she was certain if he and her went and had sx in the Luna Suite, Christy would pitch a hll of a fit, likely threaten to leave him, and she wouldn’t put it past Christy to actually state the words ‘I reject you’ and make Anthony stop the rest of her sentence and get down on his knees and beg for forgiveness in front of everyone around. She and Christy were two very different types of she-wolves and a part of Mischa thought that maybe she met some need Anthony had, that Christy did not or vice versa. She had not asked about their love life, that was personal to them and should stay private. But maybe Christy did things she wouldn’t. Who knew? She was, she knew, just here to rebuild and stabilize the pack to see that it remain prosperous in all likelihood, and Christy was here now, to sate all his hot-blooded needs in the bedroom. She got that from how often or the lack there of, of how often he was in her bed, compared to how often he was in Christy’s bed. How often she spent working for the pack and Christy sat around and looked busy when he walked past the Luna’s office, but actually did very little. Anthony could smile at her, and she saw it was loving, but he didn’t look at her with full-blown desire like he had once before. Though he looked at Christy like that often, his eyes lingered on his second Mate always. Out with the old and in with the new was how she kind of looked at it. Maybe one day he would get a third mate and Christy would get a taste of her own medicine. Now that would be fun for her to sit back and watch. She would make popcorn and just enjoy the show. “I’ll go and make you something to eat.” Anthony murmured and stepped out of the shower and walked away from the bathroom. “I don’t want to argue with you anymore.” Mm, she thought to herself as she washed her hair. That was because he was seeing just how much she thought he didn’t want their bond anymore, or that maybe he was making her feel unloved and unwanted by him and his beast, and perhaps it was uncomfortable to know this, have her state it so openly. Sound so uncaring about it even, because she’d not gotten angry at all, she just stated things to his face in that matter-of-fact tone she used when they were discussing or arguing about the way to clear the pack's debts back in the day, and she knew she was right because she was the pack accountant.

She changed into a simple grey silk nighty. She’d thought right, this was going to be an awkward four days, and now she thought they were likely to argue between bouts of her heat. She wondered if this was how it was always going to be when she went into heat from now on. She’d not even really enjoyed it, though she knew he had, but for her, her mind had wandered and not been on what was happening. She'd kind of just zoned out altogether, her body just knew what to do, and did it when it was required to. That thought kind of caused her chest to ache deeply right now. A heat was to help keep a pair bonded and close together, and she’d felt none of that. She wondered now in this moment, if it was already too late to salvage anything at all between them. Although her heart hurt, and her eyes kind of glassed over with tears. They dried quickly today, was her heart already cold to the man and wolf that were the other half of her soul. Had she actually given up for good? On what she'd once loved and cherished, thought would be hers forever. She walked from the bedroom to the kitchen and found Anthony standing there n@ked with an apron on. This heat she realized was nothing like any of her past heats. She walked over and made coffee as she thought about that. Glanced at the clock to check the time, she knew her body well, knew her own heat well, it definitely wasn’t like it had once been. Nothing like in the beginning of their Mate Bond, when everything was rough and raw, full of wanton need, and her bouts would last for an hour or more. Right now, training wouldn’t even be finished, and she’d showered and dressed after they’d argued and had sx. That bout lasted maybe 30 minutes, not even her heat drove them into a sx-crazed frenzy anymore or left either of them exhausted. Just two years of Anthony having a second Mate and here it was for all to see the dwindling of the actual mate bond. Her bout of heat was over in half an hour. She wondered even if she’d not been on birth control, would she get pregnant from a heat where she just went through the motions. Likely not. She could, in fact, recall a time when her heat had lasted for hours upon hours, and they would roll around all over the bed, on the floor, up against the wall, fight their own wolves to have control and mate each other. She'd sleep like the dead afterwards in his arms and wake up feeling content and happy. She wasn’t tired at all, and she knew Anthony wasn’t either. hll, they had sx last night and it, she knew, had been longer than her bout of heat right now. That spoke volumes to her. She wondered if he realized it or not? She sipped her coffee, as she slid а-'cup across the counter to him. She wasn’t so rude that she’d only make one for herself. He nodded, what she thought was his thanks to her, as she walked over and sat at the table to stare at nothing in particular. Thinking about her heat, she always had two a year, one every six months that lasted for four days, something Anthony had always enjoyed. Even today he’d come in with a smile on his face, but now, as she glanced at him, he wasn’t smiling anymore than she was. She didn’t think he was happy to be here, and there was that ache inside her chest as she thought he probably wished it was Christy’s heat. She suked in a breath, and he turned and looked at her. She knew why it sounded full of pain even to her own ears, and he’d caught it, no matter whether he wanted to be here or not. No Mate actually liked to hear pain come from the Mate. “What’s wrong?” he asked, and she caught the worry. She rubbed her chest, which actually helped the ache, and shook her head. “The coffee's too hot, got stuck and burned is all,” she stated and put the cup down as if that was it, just sat there with her hands around it as if she was waiting for it to cool down now. He stood watching her for a long moment and then turned his attention back to what he was doing. “How do you want your eggs?” he asked after a minute. “Same as always,” she commented, and watched him kind of just stand there with an un-cracked egg in his hand as he tried to recall how she ate them. 20 years of knowing what she liked to eat and how to cook it, was gone. Eclipsed by his new Mate’s preference. She stood up; He was really racking his brains on how to make her eggs. “I don’t eat eggs, Anthony, that’s why you can’t recall how I like them.” she told him “I guess Christy does.” “Hmm, scrambled with pepper no salt.” He answered her without thinking. “Sorry I forgot you don’t like them,” he sighed. “It happens, I guess having two Mates is difficult for you to recall what we both like.” She walked to the door and pushed it open. “Oh, I like my bacon extra crispy, with a side of Halloumi with a piece of toasted cob loaf. Just in case you forget everything about me, and please don’t fry your sunny-side-up eggs in the same pan as my bacon or cheese. I don’t like that,” she told him. “I remember now.” He nodded but didn’t look at her. She walked into the living area to sit down to drink her coffee in peace. They were all things he’d once known and been happy to do for her, not only over the course of her heat, but on any given day. When they had breakfast in the suite together, after he’d ditched training, just because he’d wanted to get n@ked with her. She wondered as she sat there if he was at all concerned about not recalling how she liked things, that he’d forgotten her preferences in favor of Christy’s. This she thought was just like her birthday when it had come, and he’d had to put Christy off when she’d whined about him not wanting to have dinner with her that night. Even when he’d told her it was Mischa’s birthday, she’d still muttered, 'why can’t all three of us just eat together?' He’d sighed and reminded Christy that he’d taken her out for her birthday and Mischa hadn’t interfered or tried to go with them. Not even when they’d been gone for a full day of shopping, seen a movie and had dinner out in the city. That he would be the same with Mischa. Mischa had refused him, to his annoyance, when he’d come to her to tell her what he was planning, because she’d seen no reason to put a dent in pack funds for her birthday. She’d stared up at him and his plan, and then had printed out the actual bill from the day of Christy's birthday, and held it out to him, “We’ll be in the red once more if you keep letting her spend like you do, a shopping spree of 40 thousand, are you insane?” had come from her. “It was her birthday and an Alpha should spoil his mate on her birthday.” He’d frowned “Oh, I’m aware it was. I’ve had plenty of them over the years myself. We agreed to a nice dinner just the two of us and a single gift chosen with love, and limited ourselves to two thousand dollars for the entire day between us. It’s the same for our Mate Bond Anniversary. Do you want me to show you what you spent on your anniversary with her as well?” she’d stated, and her annoyance had showed. “No,” he’d sighed. “I just spoiled her a little is all.” “A little?” had come from her. “You do it again and guess where we’ll be… Back in the red once more, and I won’t help you get us back into the black. You can ask Christy to do that with you, seeing as it will be her fault we’re in the red. Doesn’t she know the pack history and that we’re not super wealthy? In the black, yes, but it won’t take much more spending like you do on her to see this pack fall back to how it was,” She’d stated flatly. “Your birthday?” he’d asked. “I’ll take the hit for the pack this year. A simple dinner with just you and I. No interruptions from Christy is all I ask. Not even so much as a mind-link from her to you. Let’s see if she can do it, suk up what… two hours of you and I, spending time together.” “She doesn’t do it on purpose,” he’d muttered. “No, never.” She’d dripped with sarcasm and Paul, who’d been leaning in the doorway, brought in by Anthony because it was in that month where she wasn’t talking to him, and he thought he might need the Gamma to charm her into sitting down to have dinner with him. Paul had snorted with amusement. That dinner had been in the pack's private dining room and three times, over the course of an hour and half, he’d been mind-linked to by Christy. It could be no one else when they all knew better than to disturb their Alpha spending time with his Luna. She’d raised an eyebrow at him. “20 minutes is all it took,” she’d stated that first time. “I know you told her you were having dinner with me and not to interrupt. I was there, yet.” She’d waved a fork around. “You say she doesn’t do it on purpose.” Her birthday dinner had cost the pack all of $150 because she’d selected food from the menu of the pack's dining room and only had a small cake made; that $150 had been the flowers he’d purchased for her. There had been no gift because she’d chastised him about spending money on other gifts when apologizing for his fking of Christy in her bed, and to him that meant she didn’t want another one. He was right, she didn’t. She had accepted the flowers, they were already cut and couldn’t be returned, so it would be a waste of money if she’d not accepted them. They'd not had sx that night either, just dinner was all, and she’d walked herself back to her room because his whiney baby of a second Mate couldn’t seem to not latch onto him the moment, they stepped out of that private dining room. He’d frowned as she’d smiled up at him. “Interruption number four. I’m going to tag along on her next birthday the way she has mine.” She’d told him and walked off to not only his annoyance, but Christy’s muttered “No you won’t be.” She’d heard him grate out, “fk off.” And bang into his office. Dead silence had suddenly filled the packhouse, because he’d sounded more than pissed off, and she’d know it wasn’t at her. She’d looked at Christy’s more than shocked expression from the stairs and smiled, shaken her head and then just walked away. He had offered to take a night walk with Mischa, which she’d agree to, but then told him only if Christy wasn’t attached to his side. That second Mate had not only interrupted his trying to celebrate his first Mate’s birthday on purpose, she had effectively stopped his further plans as well.

She watched as Anthony’s eyes glazed over as he put her breakfast down and then a frown crossed his face. She picked up her plate and shook her head, snorted right as he came back to the room, because she knew that had to be Christy, no one else would dare to mind-link to him while his Mate and Luna was in heat. “What is funny to you?” he asked. “Christy was it?” she rolled her eyes. The girl was up and just realized he was not only in the packhouse but on the Alpha floor and not with her, had likely pulled on that tether and realized exactly where he was and was calling him to come back to her. “Sorry, it’s hard to please both of you at the same time sometimes,” he murmured. “Really! It’s hard to please me? Tell me when did I ever interrupt your time with Christy, and you had to leave her to please me?” she put right to him. “Actually, tell me the last time you had to go out of your way to please me about anything. That was directly me whining about nothing in particular… I don’t beg for your attention or play at guilt-tripping you into walking away from your other Mate. Now do I, ‘no’ Only Christy does that, when she’s unhappy your spending time with me.” He sighed heavily “Yes, I understand you’re much more mature than she is. Please understand she’s still young.” “And still insecure.” Mischa nodded as she ate her breakfast, and he blinked at her, cutting him off with the very words he’d been about to state to her: “It’s what you always say, young and insecure. Though to be honest with you, Anthony, I don’t see how she can possibly still be insecure, when, even now, I’m in heat, and she’s…” She thought about it and looked at him, saw a flicker of guilt cross his face and realized just what Christy had mind-linked to him about, and shook her head, “Asking you to leave me and go fk her right. When she clearly knows you can’t, because you would have told your unit I’m in heat, and they would have passed it on to her. “But there she is, still trying to get you to leave me and go to her, leave my heat unattended. How do you not see she’s a bltch?” she’d stated flatly, uncaring of the ramifications of insulting his other Mate right to his face today. It was the first time she’d not been polite or reasonable in her word choice with him regarding Christy, “What Luna does that to a she-wolf, tries to pull their Mate away from them when they’re attending to their Mate’s heat. I certainly have never done that. Wouldn’t ever even consider it. Yet your beloved second Mate just tried to do that.” He was frowning at her. “I’m not leaving you Mischa, I told her as much.” “Oh, did you apologize first, for not being able to go to her, or did you chastise her for her blatant disrespect, and the pain it would cause me if you did get up and leave to go to her.” She asked right back. He was frowning at her deeply and she got up. “Apologized, in other words, you didn’t even see what she’d done was wrong, now did you. This is how she took over our suite. Well, your suite now. You're just blind to her because she’s got you terrified, she’ll leave you. She won’t, you know, likes the title, I’m more likely to walk away from you than she is.” His hand latched right on to her. “I’m not going to her, Mischa; I will not leave you to suffer your heat alone. I am your Mate and, despite our difficulties, I love you. You know this, are just mad at me and I don’t know how to fix it. You don’t know how hard it is to have two Mates, that aren’t mated to each other as well as yourself. I’m pulled in all directions all the time.” “No, you’re not.” She shook off his hand. “I’ve not asked you to do anything with me in six months, so don’t try and spin that. I won’t buy it.” She walked off to the kitchen and heard something smash into something in her living room and shook her head. She’d managed to tick him off and unleash his temper, it seemed. She was curious as to if it was because he’d just been caught out, or he just realized she was right, and he’d somehow deluded himself into believing he was the offended party, when in fact it was her. She walked back into the living area to find him standing there, glazed over once more, his fists were balled at his sides, and she walked over to her bedroom doorway and leaned on it as she stood and watched him. That girl, again, she was betting, pulling out all the stops to try and have him leave this room. It was going to be a very long four days, sx and arguing she was willing to bet. His eyes opened, and she smiled at him and the angry look on his face. “What? Still doing her best to get you to leave, or is she just too young and stupid to understand I’m in heat, and you need to be here for four days until it's over. Or can’t she b**e to be without you, so want’s you to be with her between bouts?” she stated. “This attitude doesn’t suit you, Mischa,” he muttered. She laughed as he banged into the kitchen. She knew she’d hit the nail on the head, he was going to learn over the next four days just what kind of person Christy really was. She’d simply woken up and been unhappy about realizing Anthony was in Mischa’s room and wanted him to come out of it and go to her for some stupid reason. She picked up a book as he came back into the living area with a broom and dustpan. He’d hurled her decorative glass bowl at the wall in his anger and was now there to clean it up. “Sorry, I’ll replace it,” he muttered. “You bought it in the first place,” she shrugged and sat down. He stilled and looked at her and then huffed after a minute “Your 21th birthday present. You insisted on going to the human markets.” “Yes.” She nodded. At least he did recall somethings. He cleaned up and came back. “I am sorry for the interruptions…” She looked at him as he trailed off and rolled her eyes. Not even 15 minutes, that girl was going to get a beating at the rate she was going, because as she watched him, she was seeing more than annoyance now, that was anger creeping into him, and she could actually feel it a moment later rolling off him. She kind of leaned back away from him as he practically started to vibrate on the couch next to her, then he just shot to his feet and snarled into the room and her coffee table was kicked across the room. She sighed four days, nothing was going to survive his temper at this rate; a bowl here, a table there. Then he was stalking to the suite door. She stared after him. If he left this suite, all hll was going to break loose was her thought she could even feel annoyance starting to rise in Laud at the thought that he was about to leave them alone during their heat. Then he was just prowling around by the door, didn’t seem willing to leave, and then there was a chime, the doorbell, and she shot to her feet as she realized he was going to open the door. She took a step back away from the door. She might not be in an actual bout of heat, but she would still scent of heat and any un-mated males on the other side could rush in. Was he insane? She watched as he yanked the door open, reached out and yanked Christy into her suite and banged the door shut. The girl kind of stumbled because he’d used his wolfen speed on her. Mischa nearly snarled at him. She didn’t want that she-wolf in this suite, let alone in here when she was in heat. “See she’s not lying, smell her for yourself,” Anthony grated out. Oh, so that was the game she was playing. Mischa rolled her eyes at the realization that Christy had accused her of faking going into heat. Was she fking dumb or just desperate to keep them apart? That she-wolf even knew Mischa had two heats a year; that now would be around the time she was due to have one. “How could I possibly lie about something like that?” Mischa snorted. “Are you so very petty that you can’t handle your Mate tending to his other Mates needs. I never question it when you go into heat.” “You could lie about it,” Christy muttered. “I wouldn’t know you barely have time for me anymore. Told Anthony we’d work together, but you won’t work with me.” “I’m too busy cleaning up after you. You spend pack money like it grows on trees, instead of having to be earned. I’m the pack's head accountant or have you forgotten that? That I can track your every dollar spent. Tally it all up and put it before Anthony, compare it to my own spending.” “Enough, you two should be getting along by now. Why won’t you just get along?” Anthony snarled as he glared from one to the other. “It’s not me,” Mischa stated. “It is her, see she just blamed me, Anthony.” Christy gasped and looked at Anthony, a l*p trembling. “Oh and here comes the waterworks,” Mischa stated. “Crying on cue, can’t even handle a single statement without the tears being turned on.” She stared right at Christy. “Or do you want this room for you and Anthony as well? Having the Alpha and Luna Suite isn’t enough for you? Need a third room? How about you take this one, and I’ll move to the single dorm. Will that suit you or should I just reject Anthony so you, you selfish little bltch, can have him all to yourself?” Her anger finally boiled over. She did not want that she-wolf in this room at all, and yet she’d managed to get Anthony to bring her in here under the guise of proving she was in heat and not faking it. “Enough,” Anthony snapped, “And I’m not rejecting either of you. You can both bloody deal with it. Selena gave you both to me. I will not ever reject one of you for the other,” he grated out. “I don’t want her in my suite, and you know it, Anthony, it’s my one fking rule. And yet here she is, she has managed to get you to bring her into this room just like she did the Alpha Suite. Now this room is dirty, just like that Alpha Suite.” She snarled at him. “You can’t even keep one promise to me, can you! But you keep everyone one you make to her. All I have ever fking asked of you, is she’s not allowed in my suite, nothing more.” “I had to prove…” “bullsh*t.” Mischa roared at him. “You’re the fking Alpha, she just accused you of lying, accused me, your Luna of lying to you. And you’re stupid enough to try and placate her, when you should have just laid the law down. How could I lie to you? When you can actually feel if I’m in heat or not,” she snarled at him.

He was just standing there staring at her with a frown on his face, as she and her Laud snarled at him, “You just wanted to see her, so here she fking is, inside my suite, a place you know I don’t want her. Go ahead, Anthony, leave and go be with her. I’ll suffer my heat on my own. “It’s clearly what she wants, and we all fking know what Christy wants. Christy gets right.” She turned and stalked into her bedroom and banged the door closed. She was right, and she knew it, he’d been the one to bring his other Mate right into this suite. Christy didn’t need proof she was in heat, this was just Christy making sure that Mischa understood that, regardless of the fact she was in heat, Anthony was still at her beck and call and nothing more. Half a day of her being in heat... hll, a few hours was all for it to take Christy to b*tt in. If Anthony didn’t see what that she-wolf was doing now, he never bloody would. He was going to be a lost cause for her and their Mate Bond. Mischa sank down on her bed and closed her eyes as she tried to think through what it was Christy had that she didn’t have. It certainly wasn’t innocent. Those two were having sx all the time and the girl had been in heat three times herself since being mated to him. Once a year and the initial heat after marking and mating. She heard the door to her bedroom open and close softly, and opened her eyes and turned them on Anthony “If you tell me one more time, it’s difficult to please both of us, I’ll reject you here and now, call a warrior to resolve any more bouts of heat that linger post rejection.” She stated softly but flatly. “I’m not hard to please at all, I never interfere in your bond with her. I, in fact, give way to it always. Yet she can’t accept I went into heat. She’s the one you’re constantly trying to please, not me. I stopped asking for attention from you months ago when you put her in our suite and told me to get out.” She told him simply, and felt that ache inside her chest appear. Why did she have to explain this to him? It was obvious to even his unit. She heard him sigh now as he stood looking at her, he didn’t even yell about her threat to leave him, and she wondered if he actually believed she would or not. Probably not, she thought to herself. He walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. “I’m sorry, Mish, I only pulled her into the room because I needed to close the door because of your heat. I couldn’t leave it open to deal with her,” he sighed. “I told you I wouldn’t leave you in your heat. I meant that. So, I had no choice but to yank her in and shut the door to protect you to sort this mess out.” “You could have stepped out and closed the door, but no, you not only bring her to the door, you put hands on her, held onto her the entire time she stood there in front of you. It was a fully conscious decision on your part to not only bring her here but into the suite but t***h her as well.” She shook her head. “How do you think she would feel if you walked me into your suite when she was in heat, because I asked you to prove she was in heat? She’d pitch a fit over it. Come on Anthony, what happened to your brain cells over the last two years? Did they just start dying off? This is no different to my birthday or our Mate Bond Anniversary, last night, when you were supposed to be here with me all night, and she called you away to be with her. “Those days are supposed to be just you and I, but she always interrupts, tells you she’s insecure and needs you to show her you love her. She does it on purpose and gets away with it because you let her. No, you want to go to her. It’s that simple, there is nothing else to it. “You got yourself a 20-year-old sx kitten, and she’s clearly better or more attractive in your eyes than the Mate you’ve had since you were 19.” She muttered, “22 years, and I’m nothing to you anymore.” It was actually the reason they’d not had pups originally. They’d been too young, and then his parents had died in an attack outside the pack from people they owed money to, and he’d taken over with her, only to learn the very truth of just how badly this pack was steeped in debt. She had worked her @ss off as much as he had to pull this pack back from the brink of disbandment, and now he only had eyes for the new younger Mate. One that had yet to even ask to go and study anything had no degree, no discernible skill set. Had not once in two years earned a single dollar for this pack, that Mischa had sweat blood and tears to save. All she did was go shopping with her friends out in the human world or online from the Luna’s office. Whereas Mischa had stopped spending, ate all her meals in her suite or the pack dining room, what Christy was out spending Mischa was trying to scrimp and save, so the pack wouldn’t go under once more, and right this minute, she didn’t know how much longer she could take being the one in the background still saving the pack to which she was slowly becoming obsolete to the Alpha of. She knew Christy didn’t care for the pack at all, not the way Mischa did. She’d only come after all the hardship was over, and caused more of it for Mischa to stress and struggle with, while Anthony was loving another more and more, and was out every day having fun with his second Mate while she held the stress of being the pack's accountant. “It’s not like that, Mischa, I promise.” He reached out and took her hand, “And I’m sorry I brought her into your suite, I wasn’t thinking, was fumingly mad with her for not believing me in the first place. I just needed to sort that out.” She retrieved her hand from his. “So what you’re really saying is you don’t spend any time with me at all, because it doesn’t suit Christy that you do, right?” she asked because that was just what he’d stated between the lines. “No… of course not.” He sighed. “It’s really not like that.” She turned her eyes away from him and stared out the French doors. “Yes, it is, and of course you do,” she countered. “You have two Mates, not one but two. You should be allowed to spend your time with whichever one of us you want to. No questions asked, and no explanation needed from either of us, correct?” “Yes.” He nodded. “But you only spent o*******t… oh I'm sorry, a few hours of o*******t a week with me in this room. Then what happens… you get called away by Christy, so by that logic. You are only doing what Christy wants, are you not?” She put it to him in a way she hoped he could understand. “I want to spend time with you,” he stated. “Really, I don’t get that Alpha, because what’s stopping you, the Alpha of this pack, from doing that?” she questioned him right back and watched him open his mouth and then snap it shut, and a hollow kind of laugh came from her. “You can’t answer that without incriminating either yourself or Christy, can you?” She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” he murmured. “I’m certain you don’t, and I wonder Anthony, it’s barely lunchtime on day one. Will you stay here all day, all night, or will you wait for me to fall asleep and sneak out to go to her, and I’ll wake up having a bout of heat, and you’ll not be in this room, and I’ll know the utter ugly truth, that you really don’t want to be here… with me.” “I’m not that cruel, Mischa, it’s just…” he trailed off, stopping himself from saying difficult, because in this situation, it wasn’t difficult, how could it be? She was in heat, and he was her Mate, and needed to be here for her even if it wasn’t by choice. He had a responsibility to her as her Alpha Mate to tend to her needs, or at least send someone else into do that and have himself sedated so he didn’t feel the pains of betrayal. She wondered if it would get to that point? Would he want to do something like that? Christy was well aware of all of this and just didn’t like it, had really shown her true colors today. She had never once interfered with Mischa’s heats before now, never stated it was a lie until right now, two years after she’d come here. She frowned as she thought about that. Why now, all of a sudden, had she tried to intervene? Mischa's mind took her back to Anthony coming into this room and his words; he told her he thought it was time they had an heir. Her brain seemed to race inside her mind as she wondered if he’d mentioned that to Christy; that he was going to try for an heir with her, Mischa. If so, would that make Christy interrupt her heat on purpose? It only took her a few seconds to realize the answer was ‘yes’ that she-wolf didn’t want Anthony conceiving an heir with Mischa, she’d never be able to get rid of her. Her getting pregnant would also likely very easily draw Anthony’s attention to her on a daily basis, likely have him wanting to sleep in bed with her, where he would feel closer to his pup, she would not only smell delectable to him and his wolf. They’d crave to be closer to her, and be way more protective over her than ever before. That would likely also regrow their fragile bond, and Christy would have to witness him always wanting to t***h her in public, be with her behind closed doors. There would be baby talk and not just with her, but he’d be excited and see no issue with bringing it up with Christy as well, something Mischa knew that she-wolf wasn’t going to like. It only took another minute for her to realize that Christy was likely the type of she-wolf to find a way to see Mischa lose that pup she was carrying. That she-wolf couldn’t be trusted, and right now she was thankful that she was on wolfen birth control and no pup would come from her heat. Mischa wasn’t one to harm a pregnant she-wolf, even as much as she didn’t like Christy. If that she-wolf got pregnant, she’d be carrying the pack's heir, and Mischa wouldn’t ever harm Anthony’s heir. She was going to stay on birth control and that was all there was to it. She would not compete with a vindictive she-wolf. That she had no doubts right this minute would harm her unborn pup if she got pregnant. She would not risk any pup of hers to that she-wolf. Christy could give birth to an heir to this pack in the future. It didn’t matter which one of them did that, or not to Mischa anyway, as long as it was Anthony’s bloodline that was all that mattered.

Her bout of heat was over, and she got up to shower and Anthony followed her, “Why do you shower after every bout? You never used to do that,” he asked, sounding almost a bit put out. It was morning on day two now, and she’d had three bouts of heat yesterday and so three showers. Why? She thought absently to herself as she turned the water on. She even knew why he was asking her that question. She’d once not cared to because the smell of them all riled up was nice to not only her but him. Only now it was different to her. She’d come to realize she didn’t feel the same as she once had. He probably saw no issue with the scent lingering, maybe a part of him still liked it, even though he wasn’t really there for her inside this mate bond anymore. He was only here she knew out of duty, that conversation they’d had yesterday that he’d not wanted to finish, where she’d wondered if she’d wake up alone at some point, had seen him realize just how much she actually thought he would get up and leave. He’d heard the pain of her words even and that was the problem, why he’d not wanted to talk anymore. She’d spent her time between bouts reading a book or watching a movie or just napping on and off. There had been little talk go between them. He was learning right now they had nothing to talk about anymore and, yes, it was uncomfortable between bouts because his life revolved around his new and much younger Mate, and Mischa was only a passing thought to him on most days. But she didn’t say that out loud. There was no point she’d said all she was going to say yesterday, and was trying not to fight with him, seeing as she was stuck in a room with him for the duration of her heat. Something that should bring them together and make them closer, but she felt was actually doing the opposite, and tearing them apart even more. She felt his hands slide down her arms slowly, and she wondered if he was going to attempt to try and seduce her here in this shower, outside of her heats bout. It certainly felt like he was going to a moment later when his body was pressed up against hers. “The bout is over, what are you doing?” she asked directly. She didn’t even think it was appropriate for him to be touching her and that spoke volumes to her, considering she was his Mate. “Going to show you I love you, that I’m not only here because you’re in heat.” He murmured, and his l**s met her n**k in a soft k**s. “Why, that is why you’re here? You don’t need to try and fool me, Anthony, I understand you’re here under the obligation of our Mate Bond, and nothing more.” She brushed his hands off her. She heard him sigh. “I’m trying to show you I still want you.” “But you wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t in heat in the first place, now would you. So to me, that won’t actually show me anything at all. Could be that you just don’t like the uncomfortable silence that stretches between us, between bouts where once there had never been that.” She turned and looked at him. “That silence shows you just how much distance is actually between us, and you don’t like it. But if you’d like to finish that conversation from yesterday, we can,” she stated, and she was willing to. She watched him just get out of the shower. “No,” he muttered. “I didn’t like where it was going.” “Avoidance is key to you staying in the dark, is it?” She shook her head, “I think you like being blind to the goings-on of your other Mate.” “Don’t bring her into this. I don’t want to talk about her while it’s our, your and my personal time together. There is no need of that unless you’re trying to keep the distance there between us… are you? Is that your goal in bringing her up?” “I wasn’t the one that brought her into this suite, which started the argument, now was I?” she stated. She saw his temper flare, and he stalked from the bathroom. She shook her head and finished showering. Walked into the bedroom to find him not there and strolled out to the living area, not there. She wondered if he’d left the suite altogether, only to hear him banging things around in the kitchen. She walked in there to find him setting up food to be cooked. “I made you coffee,” he stated, and waved a hand at the table for her to see there was а-'cup sitting there. She nodded and walked over, sat down as his hand stilled on the gas burner button, and she realized he was focused upon something, his whole body was tense, and his head was tilted ever so slightly. He frowned at first and then his eyes moved right towards her, as his hand fell away from the stove top, and even she knew something had happened out there in the pack in all likelihood, he looked worried to her. “What is it?” she asked. “I sense a bout of heat, but…” his eyes moved over her… You’re not looking at me to come and Mate you.” “No, I’m not,” she stated with a frown of her own, “It’s not me,” she admitted. “It’s… Christy.” He murmured and was headed for the door. She knew to go to his other Mate. “And what about me?” she asked, and even she heard there was slight anger tingeing her words. He stopped and looked at her. “I have two Mates in heat. I will have to tend to you both. I’ll be back when your next bout comes,” He told her, and was gone from the kitchen and out of her suite altogether. Mischa sat there, her coffee untouched. She didn’t know if she believed that, was he just using it as an excuse to get out of her room between bouts? They had just had a fight, and he’d walked off. Now suddenly he was going to Christy, where she knew he wanted to be. She thought about Christy going into heat when her last one was? Christy only had one heat a year and this she realized would be the second time this year for her to do that. It was odd to her, most would know after just 12 months how many heats they would have that first year would dictate the rest of the years to follow, and one never counted the initial going into heat that was just part of the newly formed bond. She and Christy had also never once in two years gone into heat at the same time, they’d never even coincided a week before or after. Christy’s heat was usually smack in the middle of her two heats. She also knew that a mate bond that had two she-wolves not bonded to each other, but were bonded to one Mate, it was not recorded to her knowledge that their heats ever lined up and came at the same time. It was something she’d spent time reading up on when Christy had become Anthony’s second Luna, all the little quirky things that went with their type of Mate Bond. It was something she’d wanted to know, because if it happened then preparations needed to be made in advance and not just for her but for Christy as well. Because it would see that one of them would likely suffer at times, it could well be seen that both of them would suffer not being mated at times throughout the same heat, if both she-wolves bouts came at the same time or minutes apart. Their Goddess spared them that, from all her readings and what she had seen over the past two years was normal, the two she-wolves would have heats months apart, so there was no interference or pain for the other. All the types of multiple mate bonds were recorded for anyone to read. It was something registered with archivists so that mates in these situations could see the best way to handle things before they happened. It was widely considered that Selena made sure those heats never crossed so that one mate wouldn’t have to suffer their heat alone or, in part, alone. She had a while before her next bout came. She’d only had three all up yesterday, so knew she had time to think through things. She ate and Paul mind-linked to her, “Mischa, Christy is also in heat.” “I’m aware, I saw him sense it. He went right to her,” she stated, though her mind was still ticking. “And... you?” Paul asked, and she heard the hesitation of his words. “He said he’d come back when he sensed my bout.” She answered the Gamma. “Nothing can be done about it. He’ll be tired at some point.” She murmured, “Just leave it, Paul.” She stated and let the link go. Though as she thought about it with all her knowledge, she had a feeling that Christy’s heat wasn’t natural, that she had done this to herself, induced herself into having a heat. Like she’d tried to make out Mischa had done, stated she’d faked it. Which meant Christy knew it could be done and likely how. It actually wasn’t all that hard a thing to do, were made from a she-wolf natural pheromones. hll, that she-wolf could well have made her own or gotten someone to make them from her own pheromones at that, so it would appear natural and not dr*g-induced. Mischa wouldn’t put it past her, not considering she’d had Anthony bring her into this suite after she’d claimed Mischa had lied about being in heat. She walked to her desk in the living room and opened her laptop, logged into the intranet and spent the next two hours researching inducing a heat in a mated she-wolf. She closed it with a heavy sigh as she learned two things of high value, that there was a difference in the reaction to the Mate as well as the heat itself. That one could be doused in heat pheromones that were natural or synthetic, their own or someone else’s. All of them would make that she-wolf scent as if she was in heat. When this happened, a Mate did not sense the heat because it wasn’t a true heat, and it was only short-lived until the pheromones wore off. A few hours was all. But any un-mated male or a Mate that walked into a room with a she-wolf doused in heat, pheromones would react to the scent and mate her furiously as if she was in heat. This was what the black market did to stolen she-wolves.

Then there were the ones that were injected by heat pheromones. Again, natural or synthetic worked, but injecting one caused a heat to bloom in that she-wolf, that their Mate could sense and would last for many days, just like a natural heat. Though the type of pheromones used also created two different types of heat, synthetic or another’s natural pheromones created a normal heat with normal bouts. This was used predominantly in their world to help create heirs in pack where the Lunas or their Luna Units had low fertility. But injecting one’s own pheromones into oneself. That was where the problems lay. It wasn’t recommended at all. But it was also used on the black market for this very reason. Doing this tricked the she-wolfs body into thinking it was completely natural, but then her own body produced its own set of heat pheromones, to go with the injected ones. There was then an excessive amount of their own heat pheromones and this caused and overly aggressive heat to happen. It came with twice as many bouts of heat, sometimes more, and with little to no rest between them and was what happened on the black market when she-wolves were slaved out. That heat lasted twice as long as well if her heat was naturally four days, then it would last for eight. This was not considered safe to do to any she-wolf, let alone oneself. It would see the she-wolf not only exhausted but, in many reported cases, unable to cope with the excessive mating and even if it was their Mate, they could be injured by them and their need to mate them constantly due to the scent of heat they were putting off. There were reported cases of severe damage and harm coming from heats like that. She-wolves were rendered unconscious and yet her body would still produce bouts and the Mate would still mate them. A she-wolf could wind up in a pack hospital or worse. She wondered if Christy had done this to herself, and if she’d done? Had she done all the proper research on it, or had she skimmed through it all, just to find a way to get Anthony to sense her heat and bring him to her when she wanted to? Would she risk using her own pheromones so it couldn’t be proved she’d induced her own heat? Synthetic and another’s pheromones could be detected by blood tests for up to a week in the body after it stopped. Only using one's own prevented that. She walked into her bedroom and sank down on her bed and wondered if Christy would risk herself to those side effects just to pull Anthony away from her, and also be able to claim it was a natural heat that she’d not done it on purpose just to tear him away from Mischa’s heat, because she didn’t want Mischa to give Anthony an heir. Mischa still had to go through today and two more days of heat herself. She was barely in her second day and she’d only had one bout. Something Christy would also know, which meant that she would have to inject the pheromones, to outlast Mischa’s heat. Because being doused in them wouldn’t draw Anthony to her, not even if she called him and told him she was in heat, because he wouldn’t feel it or sense it in anyway. So, if her aim was to pull her away from Mischa completely and see him not come back, then the best way to do it, was in fact to inject herself with her own pheromones, which was not advised. Due to all the possible ramifications at the time and the follow-on consequences. Mischa sighed, there was nothing she could do about it, but sit back and wait and see. Her accusing that she-wolf of something like that, without solid proof would only see herself look like a jealous and spiteful Mate who wanted Anthony all to herself. It would see her as wanting Christy to suffer her heat alone, which, despite not liking that she-wolf, she wouldn’t wish on anyone, it was painful and if it continued for bout after bout, it was reported to become agonizing and unbearable and drvgs were advised to dull it down to something manageable. Her next bout arrived just after lunchtime, and she suffered through it alone, because Anthony did not come. She’d mind-linked to him about her bout of heat was here, and he’d been mating Christy in a bout of her heat. She could actually tell he was mating Christy through that mind-link. He’d told her he couldn’t be in two places at once, but that he would come to her as soon as he could, only he didn’t come to her room, and she’d had to suffer through it on her own. She’d wanted to know who he would choose, now she had the answer, because he could have come the moment Christy’s bout was over, but he didn’t. She just sat there on the floor of her suite hugging her knees to herself because this was it. She knew he wasn’t going to come for any of her bouts. She’d not been wrong either, there wasn’t even a mind-link from him to apologize, nothing at all. He was where he wanted to be. She’d mind-linked to Paul and told him to prep her drvgs to get through her heat. Anthony wasn’t going to be tending to her, only to Christy. He’d not wanted to believe it, but he could feel her pain down the mind-link, he was her Gamma, and it could not escape him, he couldn’t even come and comfort her in any way. This was hers to deal with, all alone in that suite for each and every bout she would have over the rest of her heat. She’d felt the pack doctor connect with her and explain to her what he was prepping, and who he was going to have send it to her. A female nurse with preloaded syringes of pain relief. It wasn’t going to stop the pain altogether but should help her manage through it. Paul had told her he’d cleared the Alpha floor of all staff and that the nurse was going to come in. There was no risk to himself. He’d made sure there were no males close enough to rush the door. A part of her wanted to tell him to come and help her himself. If she had to suffer, then Anthony could suffer as well. But she didn’t. He had a Mate, Carol, and she liked her. Those three days passed, and each bout was more painful than the next, and she had no choice but to inject the pain relief but it became ineffective very quickly, and so she had to just bear with it. Every time she mind-linked to Anthony, he was mating Christy. By the final day, she stopped calling to him, he was never coming to her. Christy was all that mattered and she was his choice. It finally ended, and she knew a part of her heart was completely cold to Anthony, and she hated him right this minute. He had two Mates but only cared to tend to one of them. She now knew the utter ugly truth of it all, just like she’d told him she would. She could understand him leaving to tend to Christy, but he should have split his time. It wasn’t that hard to do. hll, he only had to come here to her three times a day for 30 to 60 minutes. So, one and a half to three hours out of a 24 day, and he could be with his precious Christy the other 21 to 22 and a half. She didn’t ask for much, and she would no longer ask for anything at all. She was his Mate by the will of the Goddess, and right now she just wanted to sink her claws into him and tear him apart for his lack of love. Lack of care, lack of attending to his Alpha Duties where his first Luna was concerned. He didn’t have a single ounce of care, not once in three days did he even so much as mind-link to her to apologize. So, no longer would she show him she cared either. She stepped out of her suite and found Paul out there pacing around out in the corridor. He looked right at her as the door opened and hurried over to her. “I’m sorry… I couldn’t come in and help you.” Mischa nodded. “I’m aware and I understand Paul.” Was all she said, it wasn't his fault, “Though I’ve had a lot of time to think about everything, and I think Christy’s heat is suspicious. She only ever goes into heat once a year, and never does it cross over mine, it is months apart.” “You look like shift Mischa, pack hospital now. Brent has told me you need to go right to him. He’s prepped the Luna’s Medical Suite for a recovery day for you and Laud.” She nodded and walked with him. “Christy’s heat, Paul. I don’t doubt she’s in heat, but it suddenly started after she accused me of lying about being in heat. One day after, and Anthony never once left her. Every time I tried to connect with him, he was mating her. I could feel it down the link, Laud stated they were mating her a dozen times a day from her connection to Shade sometimes more.” Paul turned wide eyes on her now. “That’s not natural.” “I know, too much even for a Mate to handle.” She nodded. He was frowning at her. “You’re thinking what exactly?” he murmured. “It’s not fake, I know that,” she sighed and mind-linked to him, ‘I think she induced it with her own pheromones, that would see her body go into a heat that’s two or three times more aggressive than a normal heat. See Anthony and his beast mate her dozens of times a day.’ ‘I know you two don’t get along but…’ ‘Stop right there,’ she sighed. ‘I was accepting, I am accepting. I have never once tried to get between them. You know this yourself, it’s Christy that always stepped between Anthony and I. She’s insecure, remember. I’m not, so don’t go there. Have I done anything right now to stop them, yelled and scream about him not tending to me at all? No, so don’t you accuse me of thinking up such a plot, or I’ll punish you myself,’ she stated flatly. She saw him sigh and nod slowly. ‘We’ll see if she did something to herself soon enough,’ Mischa stated, and they would ‘if she did do this just to pull him from me to make me suffer a heat alone, it’ll have ramifications, especially if she used her own pheromones. You can look it up. I did that had three days between bouts and pain to stew and think about it all. ‘Read everything there is about unnatural heats happening… You can go and check on her heats if you wish. But from my memory, she isn’t due to go into heat for months.’ ‘I checked on that myself. You are right three months and 8 days actually, it falls at the same time each year, give or take one day. Has never been near yours ever. Is as regular as clockwork like your two are.’ ‘I know I did research on that before now, will of the goddess to make sure what just happened to me, never actually happens at all. Rarely, if ever, does it happen between two mates that aren’t mated to each other but have one connecting mate, do they go into heat at the same time.’

If Christy had done this to herself, it was entirely possible that she was going to do it again every time Mischa went into heat, and all to just stop Anthony from mating her and trying to produce an heir with her. It was cruel and vicious by nature. She’d also be setting herself up to have three heats this coming year, something that was unheard of. One now, one when she was actually due to go into heat and then one again in six months when Mischa’s next heat came. That would be three heats in six months, very unnatural to the point it was unheard of unless it was induced by someone. That she-wolf, she thought if this was her plan, hadn’t really considered all the factors, and was unlikely to have done all the actual research with regard to follow-on side effects or ramifications of overuse of her own heat pheromones. This one-induced heat was okay and wouldn’t have follow-on side effects other than what actually happened in that room now during the heat she was going through. But if she was stupid enough to continue to do it to herself in the future, her body would adjust to it, and it would consider it to be normal, and so she’d end up with two heats naturally after two years. That’s where the real problems would start as well, for Christy, but for Mischa it would be interesting to watch. Two heats were considered normal for some she-wolves, like herself. But being they were Mates that shared one Mate, and with Christy’s temperament and need to have Anthony all to herself. When Mischa went into heat, Christy was still likely to induce her own again, having four heats a year, and that was unheard of in their world. “Just wait, Paul, it’ll out itself in time if I’m correct,” she stated. He drove her to the pack hospital in his car, and she stated, “If the Alpha asks at all, you may tell him I’m in the Luna Medical Suite, but I wouldn’t count on it. He’s not once asked me if I’m alright or even apologized.” “Are you joking?” “No,” she sighed. “That heat Christy is having if she did self-induce it, it will be twice the length of her natural heat.” “You’re kidding me right?” he muttered. “No, like I said, I did my research,” She stated as she walked into the pack hospital. She just nodded at him. “Go and check how long she goes into heat for each year. Just wait and see is all we can do.” He nodded and left her in the hands of the pack doctor when she waved him off. Despite her heat being over now, she felt utterly drained and knew it was because of those drvgs she’d taken. She’d never been rendered unconscious but her wolfen healing burned those drvgs out of her system quickly, and with that she’d had to take more and more with each passing bout. Then sleep wouldn’t come, and she didn’t have the energy to get up and cook or eat and felt terrible. She had barely even drunk anything in the past two days. Then, when she did, everything had just come back up. She’d been unable to keep anything down after 24 hours of her heat not being tended too properly. Brent knew this and had given instructions for her to come right here after her heat was over. He looked unhappy to see her in such a state, she looked haggard and felt sluggish as she walked. She’d felt fine coming down here and only now realized that Paul, as her Gamma, had been making sure she wasn’t feeling the full residual effects. She was set up with an IV infusion to help with rehydration. “24 hours in here is my recommendation. I’ll have food sent and stop all visitors bar the Gamma,” “Thank you, I’m not hungry though, and I’d like you to prep this room for Christy when I leave it.” she stated. “If her heat bouts have barely stopped at all, she is getting no rest up there at all and that…” she sighed and saw Brent nod slowly as if realizing what she was implying. “Could see her be injured in her own heat.” He huffed himself. “Is that why he didn’t tend to yours?” “Hmm, he was mating her a lot, Laud stated, more than he should have been, she feels. I recall her heat naturally lasts five days, so she’s got at least two more to go. If Anthony doesn’t ask you to send something to sedate her completely or suppress it, due to it risking harm coming to her, that is.” She hoped he was smart enough to realize something was off if it lasted longer than five days. “None of us want that, her coming to harm at Anthony’s hands. Please have everything set up for it just in case though,” she told him. Despite what she thought of Christy and what had just happened to herself, she would not be lacking in her duties as the pack's Luna. It was her job to look after pack members, especially she-wolves, and although Christy wasn’t her favorite person and possibly brought harm to herself. There was as yet no proof of that, and wouldn’t be for days to come, so she would do her job as the Luna and prep their pack doctor to take care of Christy and the possible injuries she might sustain from being over mated by her Alpha Mate. She would always be the Luna she was meant to be, would not stoop to play the games Christy did, was true to her Mate Bond regardless of it being completely eclipsed by her Mate’s second Luna. She’d been the Luna for 22 years and would set things up to see the pack's other Luna taken care of, because not only was she a pack member, and a Luna, she was a part of her Mate Bond, and if she didn’t take care of her, it would be like betraying her bond to Anthony. She would do this each and every time, proving she was a good Luna and cared for his other Mate, even if she was a deceitful little cow. “Yes, Luna.” Brent nodded. “Is there anything else?” “No, I’m honestly just exhausted and want to sleep.” She murmured. “I can fix that.” He smiled at her, and then he pushed a dose of something that made her sigh softly as she felt herself start to get really drowsy, and the last thing she heard was him chuckle softly. “Better than the Gamma, huh. Sleep now, Luna.” She slept like the dead for 14 solid hours and woke up feeling much more like herself. She ate a meal and kept it down and relaxed for many more hours in bed, just watched a movie or something on the TV until Brent discharged her. She thanked the staff for tending to her and headed for her Luna’s office, opting to walk and not have Paul collect her. It was a nice afternoon just past lunchtime, and though there were a few swirls of snow about she was comfortable with the cold. She mind-linked to her personal omega. 'Anne, please collect all my belongings from my current room, and I’ll have you take them to another suite, after I choose one.' 'Luna?' Anne asked. 'I would like a nicer view…' she thought about the available rooms. 'I believe there is a corner suite available at the Northeastern end of the packhouse.' 'Yes, Luna there is. It has a large balcony too.' 'Mm, please move my things in there, Anne asap.' She commented. 'Of course, Luna.' Anne answered, and Mischa dropped the link. She walked into the packhouse and made herself coffee, then walked up the stairs to that very suite and re-coded the lock on the door, linked to Anne what the new code was and told her not to give it to anyone. Not all their suites had coded doors. This was actually one designed for a wolfen council member, and she was now claiming it as her own. There was another that could be used if they turned up, though that was a rarity, so she was unconcerned about being in their way. Mischa walked through it and pushed out onto the balcony and stood out there to lean on the railing and drink her coffee as she looked at the view of the forest and out over the pack town from here. This room was at the opposite end of the packhouse to where Anthony was. “Let’s just see what you do with this,” she murmured to herself. She wondered just how long it would take him to realize she’d moved from that room, which she would never ever set foot in again. It was just a room filled with pain to her now, and it was also tainted as well. She didn’t even have to walk past his room to get here, there was a set of stairs for her to use at this end. Just past the ballroom on the ground floor near the library, there was a sweeping staircase that went up to the higher floors. Walking this way when leaving her office, would just see him think she was headed for the library, the packhouse laundry or the storage area below the packhouse. She thanked Anne and the other omegas that had boxed all her stuff up and brought it to this room. She didn’t even get odd looks, and she knew that was because she’d not resided in the Alpha Suite for a long time now, so moving from one room to another wasn’t odd to them. Though Anne smiled at her, “I think this one suits you, Luna, more so than the last one.” “It’s certainly more spacious.” She nodded, “Could you do me one more favor, Anne?” “Of course, Luna. Just ask.” Anne smiled. “I’d like a nice outdoor setting if there are any in storage. I don’t need anything brand new, happy to have anything.” “I’ll see what I can do, stationary or swingable?” “Swingable.” She smiled. Anne nodded. “Good choice,” She’d not chosen this room because it was as far from Anthony and Christy as she could get. If she wanted to do that, she’d opt for that empty house out in the south of the pack. She’d chosen this suite because it was coded and, with her being the only one with the code other than Anne, it was very unlikely Christy would get to set foot in here. Not without it being forced from Anne and, therefore, it would be intentional and that she could state without a doubt. Anne was her omega, not Christy’s, so she wouldn’t give the code out to anyone, not even Anthony, without getting her permission first. She was loyal to her Luna, and that was something Mischa was truly grateful for.