Blessed to the Luna

Andrei.

The excitement still feels fresh, my entire body is buzzing. All that, and more, because I know that now, Sage is mine and officially the pack’s Luna.

I am woken by her wrapping her body around mine as she gets comfortable in her sleep. Her leg hooks over my waist, and I am more than content with the thought of remaining in bed with her all day, snuggled up close to her.

We are finally getting somewhere, and she trusts me. If she didn't, Sage would never have agreed to let me mark her or asked me to do it.

That knowledge alone is enough to make my blackened heart leap with joy. Rolling on my side to face her, I brush her hair over her shoulder to admire my mark that lies etched into her flesh. I don’t think there is anything more rewarding or exciting than the sight of my mark, showing the entire world that she is mine. Mine and mine alone.

I brush my fingers over it, and she shivers, her eyes flutter open, and a sleepy smile spreads across her lips.

“Morning,” she whispers, snuggling closer and tucking her face under my chin. I hear her sigh as she inhales my scent.

My fingers trace lazily down her side to her hip. I don’t want to move, I am enjoying the sparks rushing over me everywhere her skin touches. My reaction to having her so close, with her naked body pressed tightly against me, is painfully obvious, I hope she doesn’t freak out. So for now I just enjoy the moment.

As time slips by, my pants become increasingly uncomfortable, and it will only be a matter of time before she realizes and shifts away from me. I remain still, soaking up as much of her scent as possible while silently dreading the moment she notices my situation.

Eventually, I will have to move, and she will freak out like she does every time. However, that scenario is something I really want to avoid, so I roll on my back with the intention of forcing myself out of bed.

Only when I try to escape Sage tugs me back. “Stay, it's still early,” she whines, and I stifle a laugh.

Sage never pouts or whines, but now that she does, I can’t say no to her as she refuses to let go of my arm and keeps trying to pull me closer. Laying back down I pat my chest and she moves, tossing her leg over me again and snuggling her head on my chest.

I try to cross my legs without her catching on, but her thigh brushes against me, and I freeze. Time stops as I hold my breath, expecting the worst to happen. It might be a meltdown, or her fear filling the room, or worst of all - she might have another panic attack.

“Is that why you were trying to leave?” Sage asks with a yawn, and she tries to cover her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Yeah, I didn’t want you to panic, so if you just let me up, I can go get rid of it and come back,” I offer her, but she shakes her head.

“It’s fine, Andrei. Unless you're uncomfortable.”

“Pretty sure I can manage.” I chuckle at her. Sage nods, her hand running up and down my stomach. My muscles tense at the trail of sparks her fingertips leave. “If you keep doing that, you will make me uncomfortable,” I warn her, grabbing her hand and bringing it to my lips to kiss her knuckles.

The newly forged bond connecting us lets me prod to gauge her emotions. One bonus of the mate bond, I can feel her emotions at long last. However, right now I can’t feel any nervous energy coming from her. Sage can feel me too, our bond must feel a hundred times stronger to her.

“It is stronger. She knows we won’t hurt her. She feels safe with us,” Donnie proudly tells me, and I can’t help but smile at his words.

At least she doesn’t think I am a monster, not in that sense, anyway. Sage doesn’t share the same opinion as everyone else, who believes I am the same dark Alpha, from a few months ago. Still, sometimes those urges spring up, but it is getting easier to fight them.

“Just remember to keep your head,” Donnie adds.

His insane urge to kill has completely faded. Not that he ever really shared the same bloodlust for their screams as I did. It has been gone ever since the moment we met Sage. Donnie's desire to hurt others is now a mere memory as if he has had a personality transplant. If only I were the same, yet I don’t think I will ever get rid of the hatred for them. I doubt I will ever rid myself of the anger that resides in me, patiently waiting to be unleashed.

“What are you thinking about?” Sage questions, propping herself up on her elbow and looking down at me. She presses the crease between my brows, smoothing it out with her index finger.

“Nothing and everything,” I admit as she peers down at me like she is trying to figure me out. There is a worried look on her face, one I hate seeing on her. I lift my hand and cup her cheek. She leans into my touch. “I’m fine, Sage. Sometimes I become stuck in my head."

She nods and leans down to press her lips to mine. She smiles against my lips when I nip at hers. My fingers tangle in her hair as I deepen the kiss. Her tongue brushes mine softly when I pull her on top of me, her legs straddle me, and without thinking, I grab her ass before I realize what I have done a second too late.

Her heart rate spikes, yet she doesn’t pull away. Instead, she kisses me harder, her tongue fighting mine for dominance.

My dick throbs painfully with the crazed need to bury myself inside her. I pull away to break the kiss, but in response, Sage growls at me. It takes a moment for her to understand what she has done as I sit up. Her cheeks turn a light shade of pink in her embarrassment at riling me up more.

“Sorry, I don’t know why I did that,” she murmurs.

As the words leave her lips, her arousal surges through the bond. It smashes into me like a freight train, catching me completely off guard. But with it comes tingles of uneasiness.

“It’s the bond. The pull is stronger now,” I explain. She sighs, and I grip her chin, tilting her face back to mine. “Don’t be embarrassed, you’re supposed to feel like that,” I scold her, nipping her lips gently and sucking her bottom lip into my mouth.

She moans softly, pressing her body closer to me, and a deep purr escapes her throat. It vibrates in her chest while her arousal perfumes the room and I clutch her.

The scent is so foreign to me it burns through my senses. Sage never gets aroused. The closest she has gotten was when she let me eat her out. And yet, all I want and can think of is how much I wish to catch the whiff of this, every second of every day, for the rest of my life.

Usually, the only thing I get is the smell of her fear. She wraps her arms around my neck, deepening the kiss. I roll her hips against me, and she moans into my mouth.

I press her against the bed and move between her legs, and I press some of my weight down on her when Donnie warns me. “Don’t push her too far, Andrei. You know she sits on a blade's edge.”

“She seems fine,” I growl back at him.

“Because of the bond and Sierra, Sage is going off feeling now, and she will break if you keep pushing her too far,” he snaps at me.

I pull away from her lips and focus on trailing kisses down her cheek, jaw, and neck before letting her take my weight, my raging hard-on pressing against her.

A loud, heavy moan escapes her, and the next moment, she freezes. Her hand grips my hair, and she pushes her fear aside, but I don’t miss the slight tremble of her fingers when I suck on her mark. Her hips involuntarily grind against me, and I move away from her neck, aware that her reaction is caused only by me touching that spot.

Her hips are still as I nip and kiss her jaw. I quickly press my lips to hers and don’t let her pull me into another one of her tempting kisses. “We should stop,” I whisper. Her breathing is hard. Her lust-filled gaze focuses on my lips. I smile but stay strong and force down the desperate hunger that burns in my chest.

“Maybe we could try,” she suggests, but her nervousness creeps back in.

As much as I hate it, I understand I need to move away before I do anything that could send her spiraling back. But before I can act like a responsible adult, Sage rushes forward, pressing her lips to mine, and pulls me back to her. Once again, our lips lock, and I doubt I can hold myself back longer if she keeps tempting me like this.

I groan at her warmth pressed against my crotch, and feel her need for release. It overrides her as my hand moves between her legs. Her heart rate spikes again as I graze my fingertips against her slit. A low growl leaves my lips when I feel the moisture between her thighs.

“Mr. Andrei,” I hear a voice in the distance.

My body tenses, but I shake it off. I must be hearing things. Fuck, I hope I am because there is no saying when the next time Sage will allow me to touch her might come. This is already the second time she has given me the green light. I’m not willing to risk it.

“Mr. Andrei!” I hear a child's voice again, but this time, the child is screaming at the top of their lungs. Sage jumps, hearing it too, and then comes the knocking. That’s beyond odd. The steel door barely picks up noise.

“Is that?” Sage asks.

“Jonah,” I answer with an annoyed growl.

Andrei.

“Mr. Andrei!” The voice gets louder, and Sage giggles.

“Jonah likes you,” she points out, her lips twitching.

“He can’t help it,” I sigh as I roll my eyes at the unexpected visit of what I assume is now my new best friend. And yet as annoying as it is, I know it isn’t the boy’s fault, and I can’t blame him for anything.

Children, especially orphans, are drawn to auras they feel to be safest near.

However, why he gets that from me is beyond me. I am far from approachable, even I know that.

I get up, move to the window to wave him off or spot someone to tell him to go away. Only when I toss back the curtain, he is at the window, nearly making me jump out of my skin as he balances on the ledge on the second floor. Sage shrieks, scrambling to cover herself with the blanket.

“Jonah, what the heck are you doing? How did you get up here?” I demand, both terrified and amazed at the same time. This little brat is something else.

“The ladder,” he says, and I look out the window for a ladder but don’t see one.

My eyebrows furrow as I return my gaze to the boy. “What ladder? What are you doing?”

“This ladder?” He asks, pointing to the side, and I look where he is pointing. I shake my head and pinch the bridge of my nose with my fingers.

“That is a drain pipe, Jonah. Not a ladder. Now, get down from there, you don’t look through windows,” I scold him, and Sage giggles behind me like this kid didn't just become the biggest cock-block ever.

He grins at her. “Hi, Miss Sage,” he chirps, waving a little too enthusiastically as he leans too far back.

My heart nearly leaps out of my chest, and I step forward on instinct. My face smashes against the window when he nearly topples backward. A horrified shriek leaves Sage behind me before she exhales in relief when Jonah manages to catch himself.

I rub my nose and glare at him. Pain and initial panic aside, I’m glad the boy didn’t fall. “Jonah, enough. Now climb back down,” I snap.

Little shit is going to give me a heart attack. When his voice reaches my ears again, I turn as I watch him shuffle back to the drainpipe. “Mr. Andrei, I’m scared,” he whimpers. I roll my eyes as I watch him walk back to the window.

“You climbed up here, you can climb down,” I tell him as he clutches the drain pipe.

He shakes his head, looking at the ground. He places his foot on the drainpipe bracket, clinging to the pipe with his hands. The boy freezes and looks back at me.

“Climb down,” I repeat myself as I motion for him to go back down, but he shakes his head.

I can’t and don’t bother to hold back the growl of annoyance that leaves my lips. I was so damn close, so damn painfully close, and now, I have to deal with this. His little green eyes peer back at me pleadingly, and I roll my eyes at him.

“Fine, just hang on,” I growl, turn around, and stomp out of the bedroom, and down the steps. I unlock the door and march around to our bedroom window. Jonah is still clutching the drainpipe. I suppress the next growl that threatens to escape me.

I very much want to snap at the boy, at least for his recklessness. Didn’t he fucking think before he decided to use my house as his playground? He could get bloody hurt.

“Jonah, can you get down or not? That pipe will not hold my weight,” I warn him, shaking the thing gently. Maybe that will encourage him to get down. Worst-case scenario - he will understand how unsafe it is to cling to that thing and at least try to climb to somewhere safer.

Rushed footsteps echo behind me, so I look over my shoulder. “Jonah, I told you to leave the Alpha alone, what are you doing up there?” Malik growls at him.

“I’m stuck,” Jonah cries out, looking down at us. Malik facepalms himself right as a very frustrated sigh leaves his lips.

Me too, pal. Whatever you feel right now, I feel it too.

“I’m so sorry, Alpha. I told him to steer clear of here,” Malik apologizes.

“I wanted to tell Mr. Andrei about his packages,” Jonah whimpers, and by now, tears are rolling down his cheeks.

“Alright, that’s enough. You will be sitting in the naughty corner when you climb down!” Malik scolds, and I raise an eyebrow at him.

His head snaps in my direction. “What? That's what my mother did. It is better than getting the wooden spoon on my backside,” Malik shrugs.

I chuckle, and shake my head, looking back at Jonah. “Jonah, you had enough of playing around, and now, you climb back down,” I tell him, but he shakes his head.

I can’t fucking believe it. The little shit is actually going to make me climb up there and get him down. I wonder where he is hiding that massive audacity.

“Ah, God damn it, just hang on,” I tell him.

I test the pipe looking at Malik, who is obviously judging me for the slip-up that escaped me. “Should hold,” he says.

“Feel free to volunteer,” I tell him, and his eyes widen in horror.

Malik is half of my body weight, if not less, so the chance of him getting up there uninjured is far bigger than mine. However, he is terrified of heights and would rather bite off his own leg than climb anywhere higher than a damn stool.

I mutter a slew of curse words under my breath, and Malik snickers as I clamber up the pipe. It shakes as I climb up, and the thin metal brackets groan under my weight with complaining creaks as I dig my toes into them, pulling myself up to Jonah.

Once I get close enough, I grab the back of his shirt. Jonah turns to look at me, with tears streaking his face, but he is quick to act as he turns his body and clutches my shoulders.

Sage watches me from the window, wearing nothing but that skimpy dressing gown of hers. If there has ever been a moment I hate seeing a little more of my mate’s skin, it has to be this exact moment. How am I supposed to save a life, or I don’t know, a few bones if I’m distracted by the view?

However, once I notice how concerned she looks, I push aside every lustful and filthy thought that is trying to run through my mind. I had my chance, she insisted, and here I am, climbing a darn pipe.

As I try to take a step down, the bracket snaps under my weight, and the pipe pulls away from the wall. I feel myself fall backward, as the rush of adrenaline hits me, and courses through my veins.

Acting on instinct, I let the pipe go, gripping Jonah and shoving him to the center of my chest. I have to fight my instinct to turn and brace my hands out to break my fall. Jonah screams bloody murder, he is so loud that my ears ring right when I smack into the ground, landing on my back.

The impact smashes the air out of my lungs while the little shit is winding me further as his knees smash into my stomach as he lands on me.

I blankly stare at the sky—everything aches. My entire body is experiencing some sort of pain, and I don’t know where it starts or ends. For fuck’s sake, I’m pretty sure even my skin is throbbing, which I thought was impossible before this accident. My head throbs to its own beat as I smack it on the grass.

“Oh,” Jonah murmurs as his face comes into focus. Something warm and wet puddles on my stomach before dripping across my abdomen and sides. Donnie howls in my head with laughter, and Malik snorts out a laugh. I glare at him as he leans over us. “I think I peed a little,” Jonah whispers.

Malik erupts with laughter while I am not only fucking sore, but also drenched in piss. Just to make matters way better, it’s not even my own. Hell, I’d rather piss over myself than experience this, the kid just marked his damn territory on me.

Sitting up I groan, it’s not even just a little pee. The little brat lied. I feel like I could fill a jug if I twisted the piss out of my clothes.

Finally, Jonah scrambles off me. He glances over his shoulder, possibly to assess the damage of the bent pipe. As he does, he confirms my suspicion - I might be covered in his piss, but at least I’m not the only one drenched in it. So is he.

I groan and roll on my side right when Sage comes rushing out of the house. Her eyes are wide, even wild, and she looks like she is just about to have a panic attack. A look of relief crosses her face as I stand up, and her eyes dart between Jonah and me.

“Did you see Miss Sage? I flew off the window and didn’t even get hurt, not a scratch,” Jonah brags. I can’t believe it, but the little shit is actually grinning and acting like he’s some kind of a superhero, and this was merely some stunt or attempt at flying.

The only reason why Jonah didn’t get hurt is that I took the fall for him. In return, I get to watch him brag about his adventures to my mate. While I’m the one who is in pain, has some serious hearing damage, and on top of everything, I now can walk around smelling like a piss factory.

Malik is still laughing and tries to contain himself as he motions for Jonah to come to him. “That was very naughty, Jonah. You don’t climb houses, and you peed on the Alpha,” Malik adds, chuckling at the last part, and I growl at him.

“I need to shower!” I snap at no one in particular and stomp off back inside the house. No way am I letting them have a laugh at my expense.

Sage follows in my steps, snickering as if this situation is amusing her. I stop and turn to glare at her, and finally, she stops.

“Are you okay?” She asks, and she bites her lip, trying not to laugh.

“You think this is funny?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at her. Sage forces her lips together in a line and shakes her head, but I can feel her amusement.

Somehow, she manages to forget that since I marked her, I can feel her emotions. Let’s see how long her amusement lasts. I reach for her and wrap my arm around her waist to pull her towards me. Her heart rate spikes up, and her breath hitches when I press her body against mine. Sage shrieks and pushes on my shoulders.

I lean down to hide my face in the crook of her neck and inhale her scent. Sage relaxes in my arms. Just what I need so I can go in for the attack. I guide my tongue up her neck until my lips reach her ear, and I whisper. “Not so funny anymore now that you are covered in piss, too.”

Sage squirms in my hold, desperately trying to break free from my grip on her. When I finally take pity on her and I let her go, she chuckles. “It’s a little funny,” she admits weakly.

If I weren’t the one being peed on, I might manage to see the humor of the situation. Or at least what everyone else deems amusing, then I would watch from the side. But right now, in my situation, nope, I don’t see the funny side of what happened.

Instead of escalating the situation and providing more laughing material for my mate, I rub my ass and hiss under my breath—each step I take hurts. I’m literally aching as I walk. I feel like an old goddamn man. “My ass hurts,” I groan.

Maybe my beautiful mate will forget about what happened and will have enough decency in her to pity me a little. Only a little, after all, I saved that little shit, and he got a chance to pretend to be a hero at my expense. It’s about time I get some good words too.

“You’re not seriously jealous of Jonah?” Donnie snickers. I huff in annoyance, choosing to ignore him.

“Want me to rub it?” Sage chuckles, as she locks the door after us. She undoes her dressing gown and lets the fabric slide down her arms until she catches it. My eyes are drawn to her like a moth to a flame as I slowly drink in her body.

A smirk spreads across my lips as my eyes focus on her plump ass as Sage brushes past me. Since coming here, she has filled out nicely, with no more frail skin and jutting out bones. She turns and tosses her dressing gown in my face. I scrunch up my face in disgust as the smell of piss invades my nostrils and destroys the fantasies that are already building up in my mind.

Sage laughs at me and darts away. “I call dibs on showering first,” she squeals, racing up the steps.

I growl, toss the gown on the floor, and take off after her. She skids in her haste when she reaches the top step. My heart nearly stops as she slides across the floor. Sage corrects herself and giggles while I feel like I’m having a fucking stroke. That woman. What if she hurts herself?

Sage clearly uses my moment of hesitation as she takes off toward the bathroom door. I pick up my pace, and as she reaches out for the door handle, I catch up to her and snake my arms around her waist. She shrieks and quickly turns in my grasp.

“You weren’t about to lock me out, were you?” I accuse her.

Sage grins at me and wraps her arms around my neck. I swear, she has changed so much compared to how she was the day we met. Her confidence has grown, and she seems so much more relaxed these days. I enjoy every moment we spend together, even if she’s in the mood to tease the living hell out of me.

I reach around her, grip the door handle, twist it, and walk her backward into the bathroom with a growl. Sage realizes she hasn’t given me an answer, so she wiggles her eyebrows and whispers, “maybe.”

I lean in and nip at her lips.