Hannah

Waking up next to Micah marked and mated was a humbling experience. I remember being young, looking at him from across the room and thinking how beautiful he is, how lucky his future mate was. Obviously those feelings changed as time wore on, but now looking down at my sleeping mate, naked with only a sheet covering his lower half.

Damn.

I am one lucky girl.

I take the opportunity to peek around in his mind. He doesn't have much of a block when awake, but pretty much every memory he has is open to me when he's sleeping. I skip over things I don't want to see, but can't help but try to figure out how he saw me before we were mates.

I'm surprised by what I find.

He always held affection for me. He was jealous of how much his parents cared for me, the way they talked about me, how much I impressed them. He wanted that to be him.

Confusion.

So much confusion. He wanted to be with me, he wanted to be like me. Wanted people to see him like they did me. So he tore me down. Made me feel small and insignificant to make himself feel better. But felt guilty about it at the same time. My heart hurts seeing things from his perspective. I had no idea why he suddenly flipped on me and started being so cruel, but now it makes a little more sense, even though it doesn't justify the way he treated me.

"Now you know." His husky voice rings out and I'm snapped back into reality. "Now you know I always cared about you. Even while I was being terrible to you." He says quietly.

"You're not mad that I snooped?" I ask quietly, meeting his bright green eyes. He shakes his head and smiles at me.

"No. Whatever's in there, you're welcome to it." He says, holding his arms open for me. I dive into his embrace and curl into him as he wraps his arms around me securely. I soak up his warmth and comfort, nuzzling my face into his chest as he purrs in content.

"Can we stay like this all day?" I ask and he chuckles before kissing the top of my head.

"I'd love to, sweetness, but you know we have some plans to make." He says with humor lacing his tone. I look up at him confused, waiting for him to elaborate.

"What plans?" I ask and he flashes me a panty melting smile.

"Turning you into a Luna." He says cheerfully as my heart drops.

"Oh no. I didn't even think about that." I murmur. Him marking me means I'm officially the future Luna of this pack. I need to train and begin building relationships within the pack. Micah has been training for the Alpha position his whole life. Now that he has his mate I will only have a few months to learn my duties and try to maintain a sense of continuity and community in our pack.

Micah pulls back and cups my cheek with his hand, urging me to look up at him. His eyebrows are furrowed in concern as his eyes rake over my face.

"Hey. It's gonna be fine. You're going to be amazing. Plus you'll have me and you know my mom won't just throw you to the wolves." He says with a smirk at his words that makes me huff out a laugh.

"It's just daunting. Running a pack. Being responsible for their safety. Their happiness. I honestly never thought I would be a Luna." I tell him and I can feel him poking around my brain. My uncertainty, my fear clearly on display for him.

"Sweetness. You're going to be amazing. I don't know why you never thought you'd be a Luna. Everyone else did." He shrugs and I look at him confused again.

"What are you talking about?" I ask and he chuckles.

"That's why my dad has had you in training all these years. Sure you had a knack for pack dynamics, but you had that certain... vibe. The one that born Luna's have. We all figured you'd be one. We never thought you'd be mine. But I'm not complaining." He says with a bright smile that I return.

"So I'm not as behind as I feel?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"You're ahead of the game. But my mom has no patience and she's been linking me since I woke up to get our asses to the pack house." He says, smacking my butt making me squeal. He laughs and lifts me out of bed and carries me to the shower. I reach out to stroke his cock and he groans in response, tipping his head back.

"You sure we don't have time for one thing?" I ask coyly and he smiles.

"What thing?" He asks.

"Why don't you read my mind?" I purr.

After an exciting shower, we're walking towards the packhouse hand in hand when I gasp as I remember something.

"What's wrong, sweetness?" Micah asks.

"I still haven't seen my library! You distracted me with shower sex!" I exclaim and he laughs heartily as my face goes crimson realizing I just yelled that outside where anyone could hear me.

Micah rounds on me and wraps his arms around me, lifting me until my feet are off the ground so he can kiss me.

"There's plenty of time to see your library. I plan to fake sick about an hour into training today so we can leave. No one should expect newly marked mates to spend all day in meetings. Fucking ridiculous." He growls making me giggle. I press my lips to his again and he groans, tracing his tongue along my lips. I feel his grip on my hips tighten as he rumbles a low growl making sparks skate across my skin. I pull away before he takes me against the packhouse wall.

"Let's go get this over with." I huff as Micah grabs my hand and continues towards his father's office.

We walk into his father's office where both of his parents are sitting talking to each other. They both stop as soon as we walk into the room and look at us, eyes darting to our necks where our marks are proudly on display. Alpha smiles and stands up clapping while Luna brushes tears from her eyes. I can't help but giggle as Micah rolls his eyes at his parents' antics.

"Finally won her over, huh son?" Alpha asks with a wry smile as Micah grunts. "Way to make him work for it, sweetheart. He deserved the hell you put him through." He says to me, making me smile. I squeeze Micah's hand and he looks down at me affectionately.

"You're so cute together!" Luna wails while dabbing her eyes. Alpha tucks her into his side and sighs.

"Great, now I have to deal with your mother being a hot mess all day." He says and Luna smacks his chest playfully.

"I'm allowed to be happy that our little boy is marked and mated to the best girl we know." She says and I see Micah's face heat up in an adorable blush.

"Can we just get started so I can continue mating my girl?" Micah asks wryly and I scoff at him before smacking his arm.

"Please, we both know as soon as we get back to the house I'm spending the rest of the afternoon in my library." I state firmly making Alpha bark out a laugh.

"Fine. I guess I'll go get my ass handed to me by Griffin again. That sounds fun." He mutters under his breath making me laugh.

'I'll rub your sore muscles for you when you get home.' I link him and his eyes pop up to mine, darkening into his wolf.

"Come on, sweetie. Let's get to work." Luna says, gripping my arm and pulling me from the room. Micah watches me with dark eyes and a smile that holds promise for later.

'I love you.' He links me and I smile back at him.

'I love you, too.' I say, pushing as much affection and calm through our bond as I can. I feel he's a little anxious being away from me. His shoulders visibly relax and I leave with his mom.

"Alright, it's time to turn you into the Luna we always knew you could be." She says with a bright smile and affectionate gaze. I take a deep breath and follow her from the packhouse.

That's doesn't sound daunting or anything.

"Ok, where do we start?" I ask, following her down the path that leads towards the school.

"The little ones of course!" She says with a bright smile. Nerves coil in my stomach as we continue on our way.

Kids. Great.