My Orphan Mate

It was afternoon by the time Alexander and I entered the kitchen. Ava was plopped on the sofa, switching through the channels on the TV.

She was cleaned up, and looked a lot healthier compared to how I had seen her before. I was glad.

When her eyes landed on us, she dropped the remote on to the coffee table and hopped in our direction.

"Finally," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "I thought I was going to starve waiting for you."

My mate narrowed his eyes at her. "I was not planning on killing you for feeding yourself."

I snorted, but Ava gaped at me.

"He's so scary," she whispered, coming to stand by my side and faking a shudder.

"He's right, though. Why didn't you make yourself something to eat?"

My best friend glanced around the kitchen, before her eyes landed back on me.

"You know my struggle with unfamiliar places," she said, but a playful grin quickly covered her face. "Anyway, tell me, what have you two been up to?"

As if on cue, Alexander placed a quick peck on my temple before excusing himself, "I will make you something to drink."

My eyes glanced between the pair, until they settled on my best friend. I snarled at her lowly, for making me feel embarrassed.

"I thought you were starving," I reminded her, narrowing my eyes at her.

She shrugged, before wiggling her brows teasingly. "There is always room for gossip."

"Oh, yeah? Let's make breakfast before I tell my mate to put you back in prison."

"Jheez, sorry. No need to get nasty," she responded in a panic.

Her reaction made me laugh out loud. I had missed her a lot, and being with her now made me feel incredibly grateful.

We spent the afternoon eating a late breakfast together. Ava ate like a starved woman, making me feel slightly guilty. Perhaps if Alexander and I hadn't spent too much time in the bedroom, she wouldn't have been so hungry.

Nevertheless, if I could repeat my morning with my mate, I would in a heartbeat. The thought alone made my Wolf purr in contentment.

Shortly after eating, Alexander stated that he was holding a meeting.

"You should join us," he told me.

"Yeah, right," I responded, sarcastically.

"I am being serious. You are my Luna."

Biting my lip, I glanced up at him. Hearing that from him made me want to fall at his feet, especially now that we were connected as one.

I was quickly falling for him, and I didn't even mind. He was the mate that I always yearned for. It still felt unreal how quickly things had switched up between us.

"I want to go see Jaxon and Matteo instead," I admitted, my eyes meeting his.

His eyes narrowed. "Not right now, baby. Gabriel is on the loose somewhere, I do not want you out of my sight."

"Ava will come with me. Won't you?" I turned my gaze on my best friend.

She glanced between my mate and I in confusion, before nodding hesitantly.

"Yeah, I'll go wherever she goes," she promised.

Alexander sighed. "Just because I let her stay here does it not mean I trust her with everything."

"I know," I agreed, and walked toward him where he was stood. "I promise I will be careful. I just want to see my friends."

"The last time that happened, you left me," he reminded me, his voice low.

When I reached him, I wrapped my arms around his waist. He was too tall for me to reach his neck, so I settled for his waist.

Alexander's arm wrapped around me on their own accord, he pulled me closer in to him.

"I told you there won't be a repeat of last time," I assured him. "I need to speak with Jaxon. Plus, if it eases your worries, I can ask Zynthéa to come along too."

My mate pondered for a second or two, before he sighed lightly.

"Fine," Alexander agreed, his hand stroking my hair gently. "You can go see the boy whilst I attend to this meeting. I will come and get you after."

"You're the best," I beamed, standing on my tip toes to peck his cheek. "Thank you."

Alexander tried to pull me in to him again, but I pulled away and strutted towards Ava. At the exact same time, Dyami and Adam entered the house.

Zynthéa was waiting outside and when I glanced at her, she waved in return and gestured for us to go to her.

Ava opened the glass door for us to leave, and just as I was exiting, Alexander's voice in my head made me jump in surprise.

'Lyra?'

"Are you okay?" Ava asked, worried, when she noticed my sudden action.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I responded, turning my head enough to glance at my mate.

'Yes?'

'Be careful.'

Smiling, I gave him a single nod. 'I will call you if anything happens.'

'That's my girl. I will be with you as soon as I can.'

I sent him a light wave, before turning on my heels. I joined the pair of girls as we headed toward the underground.

"The way he looks at you," Ava commented, and glanced back. "It's like he has never been with anyone else."

My mate's sister chuckled. "That's because he hasn't," she added, shrugging.

Ava gasped dramatically. "You are kidding!"

When Zynthéa shook her head, my best friend whistled.

"I'll pretend I believe that," she agreed. "With those looks, there is no way he has never been with anyone."

Clearing my throat, I shifted uncomfortably. Ava glanced at me apologetically and didn't press on the topic any further.

The topic bothered me. With how good Alexander had been in bed, it made me doubt I was his first too. But, it was frustrating to hear about him and other females.

The conversation was diverted elsewhere with the pair of girls getting to know each other, but my mind was on everything that was going on.

"Jaxon!"

The pair of boys were sat together, they seemed to be discussing something when my voice caused both of their heads to snap in my direction.

"Lyr!" Jaxon responded and quickly came closer to the bars. "What the hell happened?"

"Our plan failed," I told him, shrugging.

"Well no shit sherlock," Jaxon said, sarcastically. "I mean is my loser of a brother dead yet?"

I bit my lip. "No, he managed to escape."

Jaxon growled loudly. "What? Your mate looked ready to kill him, I'm surprised he failed."

"Jaxon, don't," I told him, not appreciating the way he talked about Alexander.

I wanted them to be friends, if that was even possible. I loved them both and didn't want any conflict between them.

Jaxon shrugged. "What? He doesn't strike me as the forgiving type, I'm surprised that's all."

"He's not like that," I defended, remembering how wrong I had been about my mate.

Jaxon arched a brow, and Ava grinned knowingly by my side. But neither pried any further.

"Why do you want Gabriel dead, anyway?" Ava asked, changing the subject.

"Are you kidding? That asshole is selfish," he sneered, staring off in to the distance as if he was reminiscing memories. "He had me running around for years like his dog."

"Hmm," I hummed, trying to understand him, but also not wanting him to get worked up over Gabriel. "There is something I wanted to talk to you about, actually."

He arched a brow. "Right now?"

I glanced around and realised perhaps it wasn't the best environment to confront him about what Alexander had told me.

"Perhaps later," I agreed.

"Do we have any tabs on Gabriel?" Ava asked, bringing our focus back on the issue at hand.

Matteo shrugged. "Sebastian was reporting everything but he hasn't for a while. We can't reach him."

I bit my bottom lip. After my encounter with the boy at Pale Moon, I hadn't seen him again either.

"Jaxon, right?" Zynthéa wondered, glancing at the boy.

"And you are?" Jaxon asked, raising a brow at her.

Zynthéa cleared her throat. "You can call me Théa. I would shake your hand but I don't exactly want to electrocute myself."

She pointed to the large black metal bars and Jaxon nodded in response.

'I like her, she's cool.'

The smile on my face spread further at his words and I nodded in agreement. He was right, Zynthéa was pretty cool.

"So, Matteo told me you got a free pass in to this pack," Jaxon told Ava, smirking.

Ava grinned back at him. "What can I say? I'm loved everywhere I go."

Matteo smiled at her lovingly. "That, you definitely are."

Jaxon made a gagging sound but before he could say anything, a loud commotion caused all of us to silence. The underground wasn't exactly silent from the times I had visited, but there was never any fights.

"What's going on?" Jaxon asked, his eyes turning to me.

Just as confused, I shrugged. "I'm not sure. Zynthéa?"

Zynthéa seemed more pale than usual, her brows knitted and jaw clenched. "Dyami has just told me that Wolves trespassed. Jaxon?"

Everything happened so fast after that. I could hardly keep up when Zynthéa had released both Jaxon and Matteo. Before I could question anything, the trio had me pushed in to the cell.

"Zynthéa! What are you doing?" I yelled after the girl, but she ignored me.

Ava joined me inside of the cell a mere second later.

We glanced at each other in confusion as the door to the cell was locked shut. She took my hand in hers to comfort me, but I was distracted when Alexander entered my mind. Only then did I realise I was shaking in fear of the unknown.

'Lyra, baby, are you alright?'

'Alexander, what is happening?'

'I'm on my way. Stay in the cell and do not move.'

'Okay, fine. But please be quick. I'm really scared.'

'I know, baby. I am almost there. I will not let anything happen to you.'

Alexander continued to send words of endearment to me, and tried to keep me calm for the most part, but I was still frightened.

When Zynthéa shifted in to her Wolf, my thoughts abandoned my mate and I glanced out of the cell where all three of my friends were stood.

The three in their Wolf form confused me at first, until the intruder appeared in my vision. They had known, and that's why they had me locked up, to protect me.

Panic struck me as my eyes met with the grey ones that I had so hard tried to escape from. He was here and he had found me. He was going to hurt the people I loved, all because of me.

The thought infuriated me and I fell back against the wall as I watched Gabriel attack my friends and I could do nothing but watch in horror.