MOONLIGHT: ORIGINAL EDITION

Mulling over the new information, Luca asks, “Who is the Alpha now?” he inquires. Gabriel answers, saying, “Their current Alpha was formerly their Beta, Alexandro Costa and is leading the pack the way Mario wanted it to be, but it was too late. Rosa’s family was living and now has died here as it became their home, and no one knew how to contact them until l did yesterday after you called me. Then l started to call all of the packs in Italy until I found the right one,” he said to them. Luca asks, “What did they say when you contacted them?” Gabriel continues, “Well, they were surprised to hear from me, but Alexandro apologised for what happened and said he would very much like to contact you and, of course, Rosa,” he said to Luca. “Otherwise, that’s everything. All l have to do is read the letter from Antonio to me that you found,” he said to him. Luca replies, “Yes, of course, here it is,” as he hands over the letter to the Elder after retrieving it from the drawer. Gabriel says “Thank you” while he is opening it.

He then started to read the letter, slowly skimming over the words. A few minutes later, he finished reading the letter and told them what it said. “My letter was very similar to yours, Luca, but with a bit more information added, and it was exactly like what we were just talking about,” the Elder explained. Luca asks him, “What’s next, Gabriel?” The Elder replies, “Well, here is the number to contact Alpha Costa in Italy, and as l said, it’s totally up to you or Rosa if either of you wants to call him. No pressure, and finally, we have to wait for your mate to heal and inform her of what has happened; until then, it’s business as usual,” he said to all of them. Luca said, “I have a question; if Mario won the challenge, then he would be Alpha, then Antonio would have taken over, then does that make my mate, his heir and Alpha Female?” Gabriel replies, “No, she is the rightful Alpha Female because she is his only Heir” Luca replies, “So you’re saying my mate is an Alpha Female?” Gabriel replies, “Yes, Luca, l am, and because she is an Alpha Female, her injuries will take less time to heal.”

Luca told the Elder, “Wow,” still trying to get his head around what he had discovered about Rosa’s family. “Alright then, if that’s everything, let us go and get some lunch at the packhouse,” he said after looking at the time on his watch. “If that’s okay with you, Cristian and Arianna?” They both said, “Yes, go and spend some time with your pack members; Rosa is doing well,” Arianna said to him. Luca replies, “Okay, thanks. I will see you both later,” as everyone leaves the room. Cristian replied to him, saying, “Yes, we will see you later. Enjoy your time with your pack members and your lunch,” he said to him. Luca then said, “Yes l will and thanks both of you for your support,” he said to both of the doctors, who in return told him respectfully, “No worries, now go and eat your lunch,” as they tried not to laugh at not telling their Alpha off as they all left the room. The two doctors returned to continue their rounds while Luca, Gabriel, and Stefano headed to the dining room through the back door for lunch. After washing their hands, they sat down at the table where everyone was waiting for them to arrive.

The food was served fifteen minutes after Luca introduced Elder Gabriel to the pack members. They all welcomed him. The Elder said to them, “Thank you for your kind welcome; it’s an honour to be here, but not how l hoped it would be. I hope we can all pray to the Moon Goddess for Luna’s speedy recovery and for her to wake up, as we all need her. Please call me Gabriel,” he informs them. They then served themselves. Luca was enjoying spending his time between the pack members and his mate. When lunch was finished, Gabriel suggested to Luca and Stefano that they spend time in their wolf forms to let them out. Luca and Stefano agreed, so they left the back door and shifted into their wolf forms.

Gabriel’s wolf has dirty blonde coloured fur with green eyes. In his human form, he has the same coloured hair and eyes. He is prominent in build and is nearly six feet in height. Stefano is of medium build and has black hair and green eyes, the same as his wolf form. Luca, Gabriel and Stefano ran for three hours and then turned back towards the packhouse as it was nearly time for the afternoon training sessions. They shifted into their human forms, dressed, showered, and changed. After showering and changing, Luca invited Gabriel to come and watch them train. He agreed to go and watch and walked over with Luca and Stefano. After the training was completed, Gabriel said to Luca, “They are doing well with the training”, he told him. Luca says, “Yes, they are, but there is still room for improvement. They will get there eventually”, he replies as he checks out the time on his watch and says to the Elder “, It’s time for us to go and get ready for dinner,” he said to him. Gabriel answered by saying, “Okay, then let’s go” Elder said back to him as Luca walked beside him.

They entered the packhouse via the back door, washed their hands in the spare sink in the mudroom, walked to the dining room, and sat down at the table after taking their seats. The food was served fifteen minutes after they had sat down. Luca let Gabriel serve himself before everyone else, including himself. Then it was Luca’s, Constantino’s and Stefano’s turn to help themselves, and the rest of the packs turned to serve themselves. As they ate, Luca turned to the Elder and asked, “How long were you thinking about staying for?” he asked. Gabriel answers by saying, “I was thinking of staying until the day after tomorrow if that’s okay with you”, he said to him. Luca replies, “That’s fine with me; l will be going between the pack members and staying with my mate at the hospital. Feel free to walk around the territory any time you like to,” he informed the Elder. Gabriel thanked Luca, and they both continued to eat their dinner. When everyone had finished eating, Luca informed the pack that Elder Gabriel would be staying until the day after tomorrow to make him feel welcome and help in any way. They all replied, “Yes, Alpha,” and to the Elder, they said to him “, Welcome, Elder Gabriel, to the Ferrara Pack. We are very honoured to have you here”, as they crossed their arms to land on their hearts. Gabriel replies to them, “Thank you very much. It is an honour to be here, but not how l hoped it would be. I ask that we all pray to the Moon Goddess for Luna’s health to return quickly and for her to wake up soon,” he tells them. “And please call me Gabriel; the Elder part makes me sound old,” he says as he chuckles at the last bit of what he said. So do Luca and the pack members as they reply, “Yes, Gabriel.” Luca then dismisses them from the table. Everyone goes their separate ways, but not before thanking the kitchen staff for the delicious meal they had prepared. They then left the dining room to go and do other things before settling for the night. Luca turns to Stefano and his brother Constantino, who tells him that he will check up on his mate and get an update on her. They both ask him to keep them updated too on her condition. Luca agreed that he would let them know as they all started to leave the dining room and headed towards the back door. Luca asks Gabriel, “Would you like to come with me.” Gabriel says to him, “Yes l would, thank you for asking me,” he answered back. Luca replies, “No worries, you’re welcome there anytime”, he tells the Elder. Gabriel then says to him, “Thanks, Luca, l appreciate it” Luca replies, “No worries”, as they both head towards the pack’s hospital and to Rosa’s room.

As they enter the room, Luca notices that Arianna is checking up on his mate and asks her, “How is she doing?” he inquires. Arianna looks up and sees Luca and the Elder entering the room and tells them both, “She is doing quite well under the circumstances. I just gave her some more pain medication”, she informs them. Luca replies, “Thanks, Arianna, for looking after her”, he says to her. She answers him back, “You’re welcome, Luca. She is our Luna, and everyone is praying for her speedy recovery; until the scent blockers are out of her system, there is not much else we can do but wait and keep her as comfortable as we can until either Rosa or her wolf wakes up” she explained to him. “Yeah, l know, it’s just all this waiting is hard,” he told her. Arianna said to him, “I know it’s hard, but it will be all worth it when she wakes up at the end of all this”, she tells him. Luca replied to her, “When she does finally wake up, she will be scared and confused” he replied to her.

Gabriel looks at Rosa and back to Luca and says to him, “Yes, she will be scared and confused, and that’s why you need to give her the letter from her father because it will help to explain everything to her and why it happened plus what will happen next, at least she will be prepared plus her wolf will be there to help support her and you and so will the pack to help answer questions that she might have and there will be questions l can guarantee to say that to you” he explained to him. Luca replied, “Thanks for the help” he answered back. “You’re welcome, and any time that you would like to talk about anything, Cristian and l are both here for you”, replies Arianna and Stefano as Gabriel nods in agreement with the doctor and his Beta. Luca thanked the three of them again, and they replied, “No worries, Luca”, as she finished checking up on Rosa and let Luca and Gabriel know that she would be back later before he retired for the night to check up on her again. Luca said to her, “Alright, l will see you later” he said to Arianna as she started to leave the room and went to check on her other patients. “Yes, see you later”, she replied as she left the room. Luca and Gabriel then take one last look at Rosa before leaving the room, returning to the packhouse, and heading towards his office to discuss his mate further and other pack matters.