The Unwanted Luna

-POV Vilkas-

I don't know if I was more shocked that Conri let him just leave like that or the fact that Edon thought this would be a good idea. He has at least a four hundred mile run to do in six hours. He may be fast, but endurance is the name of that game. "I want to go with him." My wolf howled and I pushed myself off the corner of the couch while that mutt continued to plea his case. Bouncing my leg up and down was starting to drive me crazy.

I started pacing the warn hotel floor while Conri sat in front of the plastic, off-grey desk, tapping away on his cell. All cool and calm as per fucking usual. I think that was making me more irritated than Edon's ridiculous idea to run back home. Ayame is in pain. "You're one to talk." My wolf barked at me. I was concerned. Also, yes. I am always the ass. Yes. I'm not denying either part of my decisions with that girl, but I'm not oblivious either.

I rubbed my hands through my hair vigorously. "Why?" Conri asked. Only when he's around Ayame does he learn how to complete sentences. If not, it's like staring at a wall and expecting it to recite Shakespeare.

"Edon shouldn't be sprinting to see her. He needs to be here. We already said we would be at this conference. What are we supposed to say when someone asks?! Our mate's being a cry baby and we have to coddle the next Queen Luna?!" I shouted.

He looked at me and his eyes shifted into a knowing glare. I sighed heavily and plopped on the couch again. "Vilkas...."

I shook my head. "He's right. You need to get it together. She went through a trauma that the other petty shewolves, shebears, or the like would have never experienced. She's human, she is taking her life with supernatural beings in stride, and you can't give her a flippin' break!" My wolf shouted. So, now we are shifting from begging me to run after her like Edon, to yelling at me like Conri. One thing's for certain, my wolf still isn't on my side.

I stood up and paced the floor again. "Sit down." Conri growled. It was his dominant voice. I couldn't go against that even if I was pissed off. We let him lead the three of us. That was on us to make that decision and now we have to abide by it.

"You like her?" He asked me and I froze. He waited, but when I didn't respond he smirked. "You do." That wasn't a question that time.

"What if she gets hurt or kidnapped or tortured? Being our mate is not for the faint of heart. She is so...feeble." I grumbled out the only excuse I had for being an ass for the last month. I felt like I was protecting a small child.

"And that is why you are always so bi-polar with her. Even your excuse to hate her doesn't make any sense. She has three mates! The strongest alphas in our world and you are worried about whether or not she is strong enough to live in our world?" He said, lighting up my excuses like a bad forest fire.

"Think before you respond with your next sentence. I have to check us in downstairs. Ayame isn't picking up her phone anymore. We need to be a unit with her. Only two of the three of us in this relationship for the long haul isn't going to work, Vilkas." He added sternly before leaving the suite.

I leaned my head back as the hum of the fridge became the most interesting noise to me. Tilting my head, I stared through the small opening in the curtains. It was pitch black outside. "Vince. Come to my room." I ordered, thankful that we brought our gamma along. Within a minute, I heard a knock at the door. I pulled myself off the bed and walked up to let him in. "What's the urgency, Alpha?" I furrowed my brow when he called me by my title and I forgot we were outside of the room. There are way too many shifters here for us to even attempt to be less than professional when we leave the suites.

I turned to the side and he walked passed me. I closed the door and went straight for the scotch. I'm not worried about the alcohol bill in here. It's a joke for this hotel stay to even put a chip in our monthly income. Various assets, companies, and patents all over the world. Our family was set for life. When we took over, that only amplified tenfold when we expanded our business ventures into the tech sector.

I twisted the glass lid and popped an ice cube into two glasses. I poured a double for the both of us, handing one to him and the other I kept securely in my hand. I sat across from him and took a long sip from my glass. "Well, this is bad." He said, before taking a sip from his glass. "What makes you say that?" I asked, leaning over and resting my elbows on my knees. The glass felt heavier than before while I swirled the burnt orange liquid around the glass.

"Scotch." Well, he wasn't wrong. I don't bring out the hard liquor unless it's necessary.

I looked at my best friend and started the story from the beginning. He stayed silent, slowly sipping the liquid. Once his glass was empty, the story was over. I forced my body off the chair and started walking back and forth while his eyes followed me. "I want to keep her at a distance though. Not like Conri. I don't want to give her false hope. I feel like our parents aren't wrong with their previous suggestions if that is the mate we were given by the goddess." I said.

My parents were thinking about my brothers and I marrying the eldest daughter of the Panther pack in the far east. They are sitting next to one of our boundaries and they would be a great asset. That woman is a titan. No negatives here. She will be able to hold her own with or without us. I only met her once. She didn't really seem so open to the idea, but I'm not completely against her warming up to us at some point. I didn't leave that bit out with Vince either. I told him everything.

"So let me get this straight. You think that she cannot handle the role that comes with being your mate even now, after you three...well, Conri and Edon...have worked so hard to crack her shell?" Vincent said, grabbing another shot of scotch. Once his glass was half way full, he slowly walked back to his seat and sat down, waiting for my response.

"Of course! We are giving that girl a death sentence all because of a stupid bond and feelings." I agreed.

He looked down at the glass and back at me before smirking and resting the still full glass on the coffee table. I looked at him strangely. He got up and adjusted his blazer before punching me square in the jaw. I toppled to the floor without even realizing what happened. My crystal glass shattered on the floor. He shook out his hand and leaned over the coffee table, taking a deep swig of his scotch before looking back down at me. "I never thought you would be this much of an egotistical, power-hungry ass, Vilkas." He placed his glass down and I just let my body rest on my forearm while I felt my teeth clench together. The hell is wrong with him?!

"How dare you strike your alpha!" I shouted and jumped to my feet.

He got straight into my face and gripped my shirt. "I didn't punch my alpha. I punched my best friend. You need to think about how she became the way she is. The years of torture, pain and loss she has already endured. The pain it took for her to run over five hundred miles away by train. Running from everything she knew, diving headfirst into a place she thought she wouldn't even be able to survive in. All of that just to get away from the man that was killing her one day at a time and you are telling me that she cannot handle being my Luna, the pack's Luna, your mate! She has more respect from me, Charlie, Kyle...than any other whore the lot of you have ever even glanced at!" He dropped his hands and stormed out of the hotel room, leaving me standing in a puddle of scotch.

I heard the door reopen and I didn't budge. Conri came into the living room of the presidential suite and looked at the shattered glass, then at my face before shaking his head and picking up the hotel service phone. "I need a maid to replace a scotch glass. Put the fee for the replacement on our bill. Bring a mop as well. Some spilled." He hung up the phone, not waiting for an answer, but I'm sure they would be up here before I knew it.

He shoved his hands in his pockets, then turned to me. I grit my teeth while the blood pooled in my mouth. He hit me hard. "Go on! Say it!" I growled.

He looked at the broken glass, the pooled liquid surrounding it, then back at me before heading into a bedroom. "Nope." He said before closing the door.

I stormed to the bathroom and roughly turned the water to steaming before staring at myself in the mirror. I leaned on the glass and tilted my face to see the bruise healing on its own. "It's okay if you can't. Honest...I don't mind. I just wanted to say thank you for helping me. This... this really sucks to do on my own." Why was I remembering that now?! Her smile when her wounds were healed. Her blushing...when she explained herself to the doc....

"The pain it took for her to run over five hundred miles away by train. Running from everything she knew, diving headfirst into a place she thought she wouldn't even be able to survive in." I winced and shook my head, pushing my body off of the wall. I took off all my clothes and took the longest shower of my life.

Listening to the words of my best friend and my supposed mate, while my wolf continued yelling at me like I was the bane of his existence. "Think about it Vilkas. No one who is weak would be huddled up in subzero temperatures to hide from anyone." My wolf roared in my mind and I winced while I continued to stay silent. Then, he startled me with a question I had been trying to avoid this whole time. "What do you want, Vilkas?!" He shouted and I shot up realizing the water had run cold and I'm not just an ass, I'm the king of bad decisions.