Thorn Ch. 19-22

"You called the ambulance and police? You did everything you could to save him even though he had hurt you?" He waited a second for her nod. "The system agreed you were the victim in this. What happened after all that?"

"While everyone was working out what would happen next I was put with another family. I think they were a good family. But I never relaxed enough to give them a chance. I stayed in the house unless I was forced to leave. The only interaction I had was with the younger kids there. It may have worked but I couldn't trust any more. I couldn't pretend I was part of their family and that all that happened hadn't. I couldn't go back to school because I was according to local gossip, a murdering whore. Moving to another family, another ten families wouldn't fix me."

"So you went solo and began running. Are you still running LJ?"

"I'm not running. I want this more than you can ever understand. What if when I turn my wolf is too hurt and broken to be sane? What if I go rogue, or hurt someone like that asshole hurt Gem? I killed someone and don't feel guilty for it. I was just a little human. My wolf could kill many."

"Okay. First your wolf is not too broken or too hurt, your wolf will be an alpha. Alphas learn and get stronger facing challenges. You are loved by a full pack of wolves who will keep you so grounded your sanity will never be in question. You may never get a second alone again, but you will never suffer that terrible isolation you endured. Physically and mentally you are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for. LJ, baby your wolf will be an extension of that. Secondly try not to worry about going rogue. It is not very common at all. You have less likelihood of going rogue for other reasons too. Female wolves that go rogue are rare and usually only unmated females. Female wolves with a fantastic sexy alpha mate, never heard of one going rogue yet." He winked.

"You really are an idiot Thorn." Luna let a small smile escape. "Will you tell me what happened to Gem, or should I wait for her to tell me?"

"I could give you the brief outline, but only she can tell you everything. For two reasons, I don't think she has told me everything, and it is her story to tell."

"She blames herself for some of it. I think I can help her with that."

"Your alpha and your pack would appreciate that."

***

Thorn looked at Luna in the corner of the couch. The way she hooked her feet up under her backside on the cushion made her seem even smaller. He wondered how she had survived so much on her own. His admiration of her grew as she wiped a hand through her hair and breathed out some of the tension she had been holding. "Baby I love you so much. I cannot tell you how completely in awe of you I am." He gave her a quick kiss and excused himself "I just need to check on something. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thorn do you think if the pack find out they will be disappointed in me? I really don't want anything to change."

"Little idiot, they would only be angry they couldn't have saved your friend and killed the rapist before he got near you. You can count on their full support I promise." He brushed her hair back from her cheek "You are beautiful inside and out baby."

"I might just read for a bit while you're busy so I don't overthink everything."

"No thinking at all sexy, unless it's about the wedding or how we are going to spend the evening."

"I see my bossy alpha is back. No thinking, and no werewolf stories." She held up the paperback she had started reading "Tracy Wolff, but no wolves in here."

Thorn left the room and headed to the kitchen and started to clean up breakfast. He needed to keep up with the mission, keep an eye on the pack, plan a wedding, help Luna adjust, there was project Shannon, yeah he could still manage kitchen duty and a spirit hunting trip.

He could have done a full background check. Even if the files were sealed his team would have found out everything that had happened but he had not wanted to go that route. The fact she had finally told him everything, well the worst of everything. He had already heard far more than he ever expected to hear, nobody should have lived through so much. Nobody should have been so alone. Her trusting him now, trusting him so completely, that filled his heart. The pain and doubt she suffered because she had to defend herself from a rapist, that, he could only hope resolved itself soon. The death of her friend Harley, it was possible he could ease that pain. Remove her guilt. "Mel, Harmony. My dear Aunts, can you see if you can reach out to a young man named Harley that is special to my Luna please."

"The boy on the motorbike has been here already. When you bring Luna to meet me I can tell her what he had to say." Harmony spoke up.

Mel stomped her foot "You just keeping stuff to yourself now sister?"

"If you two start another bloody feud I'm going to seal you both in a one room cabin and leave you there till you make up or kill each other." Thorn threatened. His two aunts were too much alike and too different all at once. Their fights were legendary. The last one lasted half a century.

"Bullshit" The twin sisters spoke at once and then laughed. Mel continued "I'm coming for coffee in fifteen minutes Harmony and you are telling me everything."

"I'm only making coffee if you bring something to eat. I miss your baking." Harmony bargained. "Thorn dear, as soon as you think she is ready come and visit. What he has to say, it will help Luna."

"Thank you Aunties. Love you. I'll be in touch soon." Thorn returned to the lounge and ran his eyes over his mate again. She seemed to have worn herself out a little. She wasn't really reading the book she had picked up. Her eyes still moist from her tears. "Luna, do you want me to postpone the girls and we can just cuddle in bed?"

"No way, I am their alpha and Gem may need me. Besides I have to do all this wedding stuff right? What exactly I need to be doing is the problem, any ideas?"

"Oh you know, gushing about your gorgeous fiancé, moaning he won't listen to you ramble about colours and flowers, look at cakes. That kind of stuff." He grinned.

"I thought you were planning the wedding. Sounds like I'm still doing way more than we discussed."

"Well, I have it on good authority once you start you'll get carried away so I may as well not plan too much. I have however planned the date, time, venue, catering. Lucas will make whatever cake you choose. I have all the technicalities and legalities sorted, you can focus on the bits that will make it our special day. A day you will remember for I don't know, seven hundred years with a smile on your face. Can you manage that?"

"No church?"

"No church. Outside service."

"No his side, her side?"

"No, my family all love you more than me already. My side would be empty."

"What time?"

"Dusk."

"A night wedding. That will be lovely. Can I see where we are having the ceremony?"

"I'll take you tomorrow. There is someone I want you to meet. Do you remember my Aunt Melody? Her sister Harmony has a message for you and she doesn't travel well. Remember how I said my mother's line was blessed? Harmony and Mel have gifts that are very special and they have assured me our union is blessed and will bring great joy and hope to the pack. They also want to talk to you."

"I will look forward to meeting them tomorrow and seeing the wedding site. Maybe we could hang some fairy lights. I do like fairy lights." She grinned up at him.

"Fairy lights. We will definitely hang fairy lights. They will be perfect." He scooped her up from her chair. "Now how will we fill in the next couple of hours? I think we may have done enough deep and meaningful for the morning."

"I think my alpha already has a plan." She twisted her fingers in the hair at his neck. "When I turn wolf will I love the way you touch me as much as I do now? Or will it all be about the mating?"

"Guess time will tell. If I can't make you scream my name repeatedly after I turn you I will consider myself a failure as your mate. Rest assured I will work diligently until you do."

"Such a perfect mate. I think you could practice between now and then. After all the more we know each other the easier pleasing each other becomes."

"Easy is fine, but I will challenge myself and you, to continue to look for new ways to make each other smile, scream, shake and howl, we have hundreds of years to master the art of loving each other."

CHAPTER TWENTYONE

"Gem, you have been through some really messed up stuff. I think you're amazing." LJ hugged her friend. "I am so glad you trusted me enough to share your story. I have just started telling Thorn some of my story and I want to share some of it with you and the others when they arrive." She took a deep breath "Like you I am nervous about my wolf, but not because of how I will be changed, but because of my past."

"Luna, you are already my alpha, my wolf already sees you that way. You will be a wonderful alpha, you will always be my alpha and my friend. No matter what you tell us."

"The question is do I tell you all now, or do I tell you after we do some of the wedding stuff?"

"Do it at the start so you can concentrate on the wedding stuff. I know the others will feel the same as I do. Nothing from your past will change your present or your future in a negative way. Your past just makes you stronger, more empathetic, and will make your wolf a perfect alpha."

"Right then, is it too early to open something very alcoholic?" Luna grinned.

"If we go for the alcohol for every d&m us girls have we're going to turn into alcoholics. I'll get onto the coffee. The girls aren't far away."

"I cannot wait till I join the wolf telepathy club."

"It is great. My cell phone bill is tiny now." Gem paused "They're here, I can hear Lexi a mile away. By the time she's in my corridor I can barely tune her out." Gem shrugged her shoulders and went to open the door. "Coffee is on, who bought the chocolate cake?"

"Chocolate cake, red velvet cake, vanilla and mango cake, carrot cake, and even some traditional fruit cake." Rose held up a large carry bag in each hand. "Let the cake testing commence"

"Yeah that has to wait. Luna needs to tell us something and after she has it off her chest then the fun stuff can begin."

"I know you're the alpha bitch now LJ but you better not get between me and that cake too long. Spill." Lexi grinned at her friend as she dropped into the chair beside her.

Rose smiled "Ready when you are sister, lay it on us." She gave Luna a hug and then sat next to her. "Anything you say won't change that you're my sister now."

"I wish Kate was here. I feel bad not telling her at the same time."

"We can skype her in. She said to include her in everything we can. I'll see if I can connect to her." Gem opened up her laptop.

"I can't believe the bad timing that she had to go away right now. While you get connected, Thorn and I are heading to the site of the wedding tomorrow and I'm also meeting up with his Aunts. He has made some basic arrangements. We're getting married outdoors at dusk. So that gives us a starting point for the rest of the wedding plans." LJ heard the skype connection go through and then seconds later Gem turned the laptop around so Kate's face was in front of her. "Hi Katie, I miss you."

"Sure, it's been like five minutes." Kate laughed "So what are we planning first?"

"First I have to tell my closest friends and my family something. I haven't told you too much about my past but some of it wasn't very good. I was in various foster homes after I left my mother. She wasn't ever a good mother. She drank far too much. I'm fairly certain she was using. She was a prostitute before I left. So I left, a family from my neighbourhood took me in at first. Later the system placed me in a few different places. During my teenage years there were some bad times. Actually nearly of all it was bad, but there were two big things, and they kind of lead me, well, here I guess. The whole town judged me, knew who I was. First because of my mother and then because of two things that made news headlines, and gossips all have my name on their lips. I lost my best friend to suicide and it was my fault. Then a couple of years later I killed a man. It was self-defence, but it doesn't change the fact I am capable of killing. I've spoken to Thorn he assures me it won't affect my wolf, but I am worried about it. I'm also worried when the pack find out they may lose their trust in me."

Kate was first to speak "Firstly, there is no way any best friend of yours would have ended their life because of you. Unless you have it in writing you were the cause, I don't buy it."

"Kate, he walked in and found his father on top of me in my bed. I had been living in their house for over a year. He thought he saw his friend having sex with his dad, and took off into the night. He thought I was a slut that hooked up with his father while he and his mother slept down the hall. He never came back."

"I call bullshit." Lexi stood up. "No friend of yours would see you that way. If he was asleep how did he see you that way? You we're fighting him off weren't you?"

"I was screaming." Luna confirmed.

"He was angry at his father. He was probably already thinking about his mum. How hurt she would be. Thinking about how his dad, a man he had looked up to, was attacking a young girl." Gemma declared.

"You didn't see the way he looked at me."

"Luna, no offence honey but you wouldn't have been thinking clearly. You would have been distraught. You probably misread his expression." Rose took LJ's hand in hers "So let this one go honey, you need to forgive your friend for leaving you, and you need to forgive yourself for not being able to save him."

Luna wasn't a hundred percent sure her friends were right but she accepted she did need to forgive both herself and Harley. She had never really thought about having to forgive him for abandoning her that night, but now Rose had said it, she realised a part of her was hurt he had left her behind. She nodded slowly as she faced this truth.

"Okay that's sorted, so moving on to the self-defence situation. What happened?" Lexi encouraged.

"I was in another foster home. I was working in a motorcycle shop the family I lived with owned. The guy tried to rape me in the garage after the mechanic had left for the day. I was already doing karate by then and I used some of those skills to try to get away. I failed. He grabbed me again and I pulled a large tool box onto him. He got major brain damage. He died in the hospital."

"Two supposed father figures, both tried to rape you. Girl no wonder when I asked about your dad you clammed up. I am so bloody sorry." Kate yelled through the computer.

"I would have ripped him to pieces. That guy was meant to protect you, guide you, and love you. Thorn mentioned he offered to look for your real father, is this why you declined?"

"Well I never thought of any of the foster families as parents. I never called any of them mum or dad. So I don't think that is why. I spent years hoping he would come back for me. My whole childhood I waited for him to rescue me from my mother and her boyfriends. I've given up waiting. I won't go hunting for more hurt and rejection. I've had a life time of that."

"Okay that makes sense. I mean I wish you had answers and had a family that loved you, well other than the whole pack, but I get it"

"So do you guys think I need to refuse the change? What if my wolf is a killer?"

"Are your fucking crazy?" Lexi stood up and looked at her with her wolf clearly in her eyes. "You listen up LJ. You are not a killer. You are a protector. You are an alpha. You are the future of our pack. Refuse the change? Thorn would lose his shit. Fuck I'm going to lose my shit."

"Lex, calm down and take a seat." Rose spoke quietly and firmly. "Luna, how many times since that day have you killed, wanted to kill?" She waited only a moment "Didn't think so. Even last night when everything was on edge you found an intelligent, low violence solution. You never lost control."

"I'm not a wolf yet." Luna blushed as Gemma glared at her. "I know I reassured you Gem, but you already knew your wolf. You had already clearly been controlling your wolf for a long time."

"Shut up Luna. Just close your mouth and listen. You are going to be the greatest alpha the pack has known. I can feel it in my bones. My wolf submitted to you. My wolf submitted to you not Thorn. I know I am probably still in trouble for that, but she saw you Luna. She trusted you." Gemma now lifted LJ from the couch and placed her hands on either shoulder looking her directly in the eye. "Thorn I'm speaking out loud everything I am saying to you mentally. I am staring Luna right in the face and you need to link her to the pack for a couple of minutes. She needs to get her head out of her backside."

***

"Thorn I don't want to connect to the whole pack." Luna spoke out loud but dropped her mental shield so that Thorn could communicate with her. "Seriously Thorn I'm okay."

"Luna, okay isn't enough. I'm going to connect you to the pack for a bit. Just breathe and hear them baby."

"Crap I hate this bit." Luna waited for the rush of noise and the feeling of imbalance that she experienced the time before.

"Relax, it gets easier every time baby, and it will be even easier when you can do it alone."

The link between them grew and opened fully, Luna could feel and hear Thorn's thoughts and the echoes of the pack through him.

"We can start with the ladies in the room with you. I think Gem is getting impatient. Can you find her, she's the one growling that her future alpha, her friend, is smart, caring, and loyal. That she is acting like an idiot right now but that she will be amazing as a wolf and as her alpha. Her loyalty to you is so strong LJ."

"I hear her. I can also hear Kate. What is going on with her? She seems to be really unfocused. Is she unsure? I can hear her promising her love and support to me, I can hear her begging me to heal my heart and accept the change, but there is something else isn't there?"

"Kate has some stuff she is working through at home and feels torn about that, but also guilty she isn't there for you. She feels she is letting you down."

"You listen to me Kate." Luna broke from Gem's hold to focus on the laptop screen "You concentrate on yourself right now. I know you have my back. I know I can call you or text you any time. Don't you dare feel guilty about needing to be away right now. This crap is just a little blip, a blip we are dealing with right now, so you and I are good, right? Just get what you need to do done and get back here in time for my wedding. I need my best friend for my big day."

"You really are an idiot LJ, there is no way I will miss your wedding. I'll be back in heaps of time. I promise."

"Good. Now get your butt back to whatever you are meant to be doing. I'll text and email you everything we do or decide today. I love you." Luna handed the laptop to Gem with a nod and then focused back on Thorn. "Who's up next lover boy?"

"I'm not going to go through every pack member Luna. So here is a quick lesson in scanning. Just let yourself look around. Some voices will be stronger than others. If you hear your name tune into those voices. This will get easier when you have a direct line."

Luna let herself relax and mentally skim through the conversations in Thorn's head. "I would do anything to make her wedding the best day of her life. I owe her so much. She better get the cake design picked this week though." LJ grinned "Lucas thinks we should get onto the cake really soon." Luna heard a 'voice' she didn't know "Luna will bring so much to this pack. I already had my visions but now after chatting to Harmony I am so happy. This will be such a joyous mating. Our alpha couple are going to lead the pack into so much happiness. She's already saved Gem & Lucas, now knowing she will heal Rose. What a blessing to see into what will come. Through her Kate will find her happiness too, and seeing the way she will unite us with another pack, there is so much ahead. She is such a key to the future." LJ looked around her, she was going to help her friends. She was going to help the pack. "I've seen enough now Thorn -- I'm going to be a great alpha, I will make you and my friends proud."