As Winter walked out of the alpha house, her eyes landed immediately on Arsen. He stood next to his beta and gamma just radiating power, everything about him was hot as hell. They were having a discussion that looked intense. 

Blade walked right behind her and smirked as he saw what she was looking at. 

"If you are trying to hide it, then you are not doing a pretty good job." He said with a grin. 

A blush formed on Winter's cheeks. 

"You are cute when you blush." Blade said. 

Alpha Arsen's head snapped right at them his eyes a blaze with fire. 

"Aah we got his attention." Blade smirked. 

Arsen was at Winter's side in seconds, Blade stood smirking next to her. 

"Alpha Winter, I like to introduce you officially to my beta Josh, my little brother." 

"We have met." Winter smiled with a big smirk. 

"Oh believe me I know." Arsen looked not amused at Josh. 

"I told you already if I had known that she was our Luna, I would have never let her leave." Josh replied. 

Winter looked intrigued at Josh. 

"Let me leave?" She asked almost mocking him. 

"Sounds just like Winter." Blade added. 

And then Arsen looked fuming at his beta. 

"She commanded you, didn't she?" Arsen said. 

Josh looked ashamed away. Blade started laughing loudly. 

"Blade, I can always command you to walk on foot back if you want." Winter replied. 

And then Arsen's gamma joined them and the atmosphere changed completely. 

"Luna" he bowed his head in a curtsey. 

"My gamma Graham." Arsen said. 

A chill ran over Winter's spine as their eyes met. 

"I am no Luna." Winter replied. 

"And definitely not in the way you all see a Luna" she replied stern. 

"Alpha Winter would suffice" she added. 

Graham's eyes filled with fire. "

You are our Luna and opposite to this moron here I am not letting you leave, our pack needs you or don't you give a shit about us?" He added. 

"Graham enough." Arsen commanded stern.

 "It's what we all have been thinking. She isn't even wearing your mark." He spat towards his alpha. 

Winter looked concerned from Graham to Arsen. She saw how difficult this was.

"We will have a meeting between the packs." 

Winter said and everybody looked baffled at her. A warm smile filled Arsen's face. 

"When we are all back at our compounds, I'll decide with Alpha Arsen on a time, date and place." She clarified. 

"I won't be a traditional Luna, but don't ever accuse me of not giving a shit." She said stern.

 Winter saw how Arsen had looked at her, his eyes sparked fire as she let her true alpha vibes come out. He had never seen something this sexy and at the same time beautiful. 

There was hope in his heart at her words. He knew he just had to be patient and so had his wolves and his pack. 

Winter knew what Graham had referred to by the fact that she wasn't wearing his mark. Wolves could always try to mark her by force. He was scared to lose his Luna and leave Arsen behind, his alpha would turn completely mad. 

But if the world knew it would be Arsen they needed to face if anything happened to her, they wouldn't try so quickly. Winter needed time to prepare herself for mating Arsen and she needed to think for herself if that was even an option. 

Everything would depend on the meeting between the packs. But she realized that she needed to give them something as well. And so, she took a deep breath and kissed Arsen full on the lips. He didn't hesitate a second, he grabbed her tight his arms wrapped around her in seconds.

The place turned completely silent as all eyes turned towards them. Aster stepped forward as they let go. 

"I am happy for you." He hugged Winter tight to his chest. 

"If you ever hurt her, I'll have your balls." Aster turned to Arsen. 

"That honor will be ours. I think." Blade smirked. 

"I won't" 

Arsen replied without missing a beat. He smiled warmly at her and for the second time all eyes looked shocked at them. 

"I'll discuss the situation with my pack and then I'll let you know what we decide to do." Winter hugged her brother again. 

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" he asked. 

"I am sorry, but my duties lie with my pack. Besides you are doing a pretty good job, yourself. Let Charlie lead your army, he knows what to do, we trained for it together." 

"I'll think about it." Aster replied. 

"That's all I ask." 

She hugged Falco and River tight. Robin looked at her with a small smile. 

"You better come back." She whispered as she hugged Winter. 

"Soon we'll have someone who needs a good role model." Robin smiled at Winter's baffled face.

 "But be quiet nobody knows yet. I am forever in your debt by what you did." She smiled.

Arsen was waiting impatiently as he saw how his mate said goodbye to her family. He knew that they soon would have to do the same, he and his wolf dreaded the moment she would leave. 

"We could always just take her with us." Graham started. 

"No, we won't." Arsen replied. 

"Why are you taking this risk?" Graham replied. 

"Because if we take her, we won't have a Luna and I'll lose my mate." He replied. 

"And Graham, I am still your alpha." He added sternly. 

Winter walked over towards Arsen and he saw how her eyes changed, he could see that she didn't want to say goodbye either. 

"She is beautiful" Arsen sighed. 

"She is." Josh and Graham replied at the same time. 

"How hard will this be?" Winter asked as her hands lay in Arsen's. 

"I don't want to think about it darling." He replied. 

His arms wrapped around her waist pulling her closer to his chest. 

"Don't wait too long, I don't know how long I will be able to stay away from you. There is someone else that wants to meet you and he has been eager since the moment he caught your scent." Arsen smirked. 

"I know the feeling." She smiled at him. 

Her fingers trailed over his cheek, she looked right in those beautiful eyes. 

"Be careful, darling." 

Arsen kissed her with so much fire and intensity that Winter barely could stand on her legs as he was done.

Blade and Flint looked at Winter as they had taken their seat on the plane. 

"What are you going to do?" Blade asked stopping Winter's day dream. 

She looked at the both of them. 

"I don't know." 

Winter buried her head in her hands. 

"We need to have a pack meeting and then look at the options." 

"And those are? You are their Luna." Flint said. 

"You have been given a second change at a mate. Don't waste it. You have no idea how lucky you are." He added. 

"Flint with all due respect, but I am not going to be their Luna." 

"Do you see Winter with an apron, handing out cookies in the Opal storm pack." 

A loud growl escaped from Winter's throat. 

"It was just a joke." Blade quickly apologized. 

"We'll need to see what's possible and if we don't find a solution, I'll reject him." Winter said.

 "What?" 

Both Flint and Blade said at the same time. 

"The last thing you will do is reject him, you deserve some happiness, someone who will protect you with everything he got, someone who will love you with everything he got. You deserve that. You deserve someone like Arsen." Blade said angry.