16

C oming back to consciousness to find Benny pacing around my bedroom still in his gear was unsettling to say the least. The twins were sitting in the corner, actually quiet for once, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't slightly terrifying. Andrei and Slate were locked in some kind of conversation. Was I really hit that hard? It looks like a wake in here.

They haven't realized I'm awake, but the grunt that slips through my lips as I try to set myself up alerts them immediately.

"Hey, hey, hey, whoa there, Boss. You took a nasty hit, slow down." Benny worries as he nears me.

"I'm fine, Benny. Take your mother hen act somewhere else," I grumble still trying to sit up. He doesn't listen, of course. He just quietly comes to my side and helps to balance me.

I still don't understand how our fans think we're human. The only humans that learn of supernatural beings are usually fated mates and sworn to secrecy. It's not that we want to remain hidden, it's just how the world is. Humans are too easily upset by things they can't understand or control. A hit like that would have killed a human. Sure, I'm still a little out of it, but thanks to my werewolf healing I'll probably be fine in another hour or so.

Just as the thought crosses my mind, so does the last thing I saw. "My mate, she was there, she was upset, is she okay?"

They all look at their shoes, refusing to make eye contact as Andrei barely shakes his head. I throw myself into a standing position, swaying on my feet, "Where is she?! What's wrong?!"

Benny is there immediately to steady me, "Boss, slow down. She was so upset by the hit that she went a little crazy herself and mmmhmhmhmmm," he trails off with a mumble.

"Don't fuck with me BENJAMIN! WHAT. THE. FUCK. HAPPENED?"

So quietly I don't know if I'm hearing with my ears or through our mind link, Andrei says, "Security kicked her out of the arena."

"WHAT?! And you all did nothing?" I roar, throwing things off the table in the room, really wishing I could kill something.

"We didn't have that option! We were standing over YOUR limp body, but you don't remember that part. YOU are our responsibility. She was upset, and it killed us to see our Luna that way, but she'll be fine!" The strength in Benny's response catches me off guard. That's when I see it. He was scared. Scared for me. They all were.

Furiously scrubbing my hands over my face and through my hair, "Shit guys, I'm sorry. She's got me all fucked up and that hit didn't help. I'm fine. I'm sorry you had to worry like that. Is everyone else okay? Did we win the game?" I ask, feeling my anger dissipating as I look around the room at my men. My brothers. My family.

"Everyone else is fine, and yeah we won, whatever," Slate sullenly responds.

"You went down hard, Boss. It was hard to see you down like that and have to watch them drag her out of the stands and then drag you off the ice . . . it was a lot," Benny adds.

"I'm okay. We'll get them back for this. Is there anything else?" I ask, trying to get my thoughts in order.

"Uh yeah, kinda . . . you're not gonna like it," Eris says quietly. He's never quiet.

This is probably bad. I'm probably going to freak the fuck out again. "Just spit it out, I don't have the patience for this shit."

"So, obviously the hit is all over the internet . . ." he says, trailing off again.

"Goddamn it. SPIT IT OUT."

"theygotheronvideoallupsettoo" Dolos mumbles.

Kneading my fingers in the center of my forehead, "What. Did. You. Say?"

"Your hit isn't the only video blowing up the internet, Boss," Benny chimes in, again not making eye contact but he's slowly extending his phone in my direction with a video up, ready to hit play.

Before hitting play, I narrow my eyes at him, taking his phone from him without breaking eye contact.

I turn my eyes to the phone and hit play. I was not prepared for what came next.

The video is not of me or the hit. The video is of my mate. My heart crashes around in my body as she screams, and I feel her cries deep in my soul. The look on her face. The tears streaming down her face. Her body being drug away by those idiot security guards. I already wanted to murder Khaos. Now I want to torture him and make him beg for death. I kind of want to murder the security guards for touching her, but they're just following orders. If the video wasn't bad enough, the bullshit comments about a crazy woman set my blood to boil.

Immediately directing all my attention to Slate, "Make these go away. She doesn't deserve to deal with this," I snarl, trying not to hurl Benny's phone back at him; I know this isn't their fault. "That's not all."

The way Benny lifts just one eyebrow always reminds me of Ace Ventura before he gets into trouble. Chuckling at his antics, I say, "I need to see my girl."

"Hell yeah, Boss. Let's go get her!" He's out of the room before I have time to ask more questions.

"The rest of you stay here; do damage control. I don't care about my image; take care of your Luna," I say, glancing around the room.

They each give me a short nod in return.

Grabbing some clean clothes, I head into the bathroom, connected to my bedroom, for a hot shower. I need to wash that game from my body before I see her again—really see her.

Turning the water on to warm up when a thought hits me, "DAMMIT," I roar out loud, realizing I didn't get to finish my surprise for her. I'll have to rearrange that for another game. Maybe it's better this way. I can surprise her after we've properly met and had the chance to get to know one another a bit.

Stepping into the scalding water, I tip my head back and sigh. My body feels almost completely healed, but my soul is sore for her and what she went through. My wolf is whining and snarling around like this is all my fault. We're going to go see her. We're going to take care of her.

That seems to calm him a bit, allowing me to finish washing away any remnants of the game and the hit. I don't want our first official meeting to be tainted by anything. Just the thought of her perfect body and gorgeous face sends blood running straight to the wrong end of my body. It's not the time for this. I switch the water to ice-cold and give my body a moment to cool off.

Cooled enough, I dry myself and dress to meet her. The one person in the universe with the power to bring me to my knees, but just as the thought crosses my mind, Imogen's face flashes into view.

My heart crumbles, and for a moment, I worry that I can't handle this again. What if something happens? What if it feels like betraying her? But it's not like that. But if she's truly my mate, then they share the same soul. The Moon Goddess sent her back to me. Will she regain old memories? At the same time that I don't want that for her, what if she could tell me who took her from me the first time? Either way, souls aside, Imogen would want me to be happy. She would be hurt by the way I have lived for the last five hundred years. I'm ashamed that it took her reincarnation for me to come to this realization.

Packing those thoughts away for now, I focus on my mate. The little human with silver hair who has invaded my every thought since I met her. I have to see her. I have to hear her name come from her lips. I have to make her mine.

As I walk into the open living space of our home, Benny hops off the couch, also dressed in clean clothes.

"So, how do we find her?" I ask, realizing I should have thought of that before.

"Well, I can't show you because it has her name on it, but"—he puts his hand in his pocket, pulling out her press pass and dangling it in front of me—"I might have had Slate hack the university systems to get all her information, including her dorm, and brought a guardian from the pack to look over her." I can tell he's partially proud of himself and partially worried I'll be pissed. My initial reaction is to be pissed because he didn't tell me. But instead of reacting, I give it another moment of consideration and realize he did the right thing.

"Thank you, Benny. Let's go get my girl."