Thorn Ch. 28-32

"What are you thinking baby? There is a really determined gleam in your eyes."

"I could say I'm thinking about the baby making and going wolf, but that would be a lie. Let's go hang out with Gem and Luc."

"Not sure you'd be keen sweet, they are about to practice some baby making of their own."

"Ewww Thorn, don't ever share that kind of information with me again."

"Yeah well if these rooms weren't sound proofed you'd be getting an earful right now. So consider that another reason to be here not at the townhouse."

"I have a very clever mate. I'm thinking he has plans for that sound proofing."

"Not just yet Luna. We need to go over some of the stuff that happened today. First we need to find a home for our engagement present."

"What if she's wrong?"

"About what?"

"What if I'm not white?"

"Don't be silly, there is no way you could be anything but white. My Moonbeam Butt." He laughed finally leading her to the large painting of himself in wolf form. "This was my gift when I became alpha. I think we should take it down and hang our new picture."

"But this is beautiful. It inspired my tattoo."

"Baby I don't want to go all alpha on you but our guests and family, our pack, should enter this place seeing us united, not a lone wolf looking at the moon."

"Fine, bossy britches, where are you moving this picture to?"

"My office I guess. Though it won't be long before a family portrait will replace it there too. Maybe I should just get rid of it now."

"Get rid of it? You'd throw it away?"

"I would sell it. One of Harmony's paintings is usually worth a few grand. We could donate it to one of her favourite charities."

"Are you saying you have art all over the walls in pack houses and apartments worth thousands? That we have just had our picture painted by a famous artist?"

"Well clearly not famous, you didn't know her work."

"You really are an idiot Thorn. I wouldn't know a Monet from a Matisse."

"Oh Em Gee, you know who Matisse is?" Thorn dodged her fist as it headed straight for his shoulder, "Okay, okay, no need for violence."

"Shut up and take me to bed before you end up having to sleep on the couch."

"Yes ma'am."

***

Thorn looked over his sleeping mate. She lay on her front so he had a clear view of her tattoo. He felt the surge of pleasure he now expected when he saw it. He brushed her hair with his fingers, moving in a slow path from behind her ear, clearing the place where her neck met her shoulder and gave her mating mark a light kiss. He had been lying here watching her sleep and admiring her body since the first touch of light came through the window. Dawn had come about an hour ago, and he knew the car that carried Tyrone, Jared and Lexi would be pulling into the drive soon. She would get a kick out of seeing Lex up this early, an even bigger one from meeting her mates, yet he didn't want to wake her. Once she woke she would be worrying about her friends again. He would spare her that as long as he could. He inhaled her scent again. Fuck she smelled amazing. There was no way he could have resisted if she had been ovulating the day she had walked into the café. Not a hope in hell. He remembered that day so clearly. The need that had swept through his body. That day would be one of his highlights even when he came to the end of a very long life. He thought of their pending wedding and knew it would surpass anything he could imagine. He watched her breathing and pictured her walking towards him down the aisle. He ran a fingertip over those precious words -- Forever & Always.

He thought over their discussions last night. They had come to bed needing each other physically. He knew it had been partly hormonal for her and the drive to breed for both of them. But there had been an element of needing the contact the reassurance of all they were to each other. They had both been suffering the burdens of what was going on. They had shared more information and thoughts with each other after they had joined. They had held each other as they spoke of their thoughts and concerns going forward. He revealed the evil that they had stumbled across in the hunt for her father and his determination to end it. She revealed more of her story without giving him details she worried would affect the outcome.

He couldn't believe how much her words had penetrated him. Her fear for her friends and her pack, her worry she may not be up to the task she was meant for. None of that however got close to the fear he had of something happening to her. Hurting her. Worse still that he would disappoint her.

"Are you just going to keep staring at my back or do you think you could make sweet love to me?"

"How the heck did I not notice you had woken up?"

"I'm barely even awake yet but I could feel your eyes on me. I could sense you."

"So have you woken up enough to notice if I do this?"

"Yes." He smiled as she let go of their silent communication and sighed her response to him.

"Perfect because I am not having my mate tell her nosy friends that she slept right through me making love to her."

"We have a rule."

"A rule?"

"The girls and I don't talk about sweet love making." He saw her body blush pink, "Only the sexy fucking."

"You girls are going to be in sooooo much trouble when I share that bit of information with the men."

"You can't rat me out to them Thorn." Luna wriggled backwards pressing closer into his body.

Thorn was struggling to pay attention with her backside brushing against him now. He pulled her up and onto him, thrusting deep in one stroke. "Pardon?"

"You can't rat me out Thorn. If you embarrass me like that I won't be able to make sweet love with you for days from the shame. I won't be able to have sinful saucy sex with you for weeks. There will be no hard alpha fucking. How could I enjoy all of what we do knowing the trouble I caused by not keeping my mouth closed?"

"I won't say a word as long as you try not to give them too much insight to our sex life. I don't want to become some fantasy fuel for any of my pack, and I certainly don't want to feel like my efforts are being graded."

"Mmmm, always an A." She moaned as she pressed backwards forcing him deep inside. Not that he minded.

"Luna, stop talking and just feel."

CHAPTER THIRTY

"Alpha. It is good to see you again." Tyrone stepped forward to shake Thorn's hand. He didn't manage to hide his surprise as his alpha pulled him into a quick hug.

"Congratulations on your mating, Tyrone. You have a wonderful woman. You will be very happy I am sure."

"Thanks. I have been blessed." Tyrone stepped back and Lex threw herself into Thorn's arms.

"Thorn I am so happy. Can you believe it? I am mated." She grinned at him her joy unstoppable.

"I can see that Lex, little tip though, don't hug any other men like you're hugging me, I think the only reason your men haven't attacked is I'm the alpha." Thorn eased her away slightly. "I am very happy for you Lexi, you deserve this happiness."

"Hello again Alpha Thorn." Jared put an arm around Lexi as he shook Thorn's hand.

Tyrone spoke, "You are right we may share Lex with each other but we aren't keen on anyone else touching our mate. However it appears she insists on a few exceptions to the rule. We have been made aware that this core group is extremely close and that now we will be part of it."

"The girls especially, though not all of us are related the bond between our group is definitely like siblings. You know close as close one second, and then want to murder each other the next." He addressed Tyrone however was concerned more about his brother. He smiled gently as he watched Jared relax at his words. He even managed to respond before Tyrone could.

"Yeah the sibling thing can be hard. I don't remember ever having anything of my own and now I even have to share my mate with my brother." Jared grumbled, but he had a twinkle in his eye, "Though after a day with Lex it was pretty easy to tell she was more woman than any one man could handle." He laughed as her fist made contact with his chest.

"You can leave all the handling to Tyrone for the rest of the week if you don't want to deal with it."

"Easy Lex, you don't want him realising you love me more." Tyrone re-joined the conversation.

"That's it, you can both entertain yourselves for the rest of the week. I'm not having a bar of either of you." She went to leave but barely moved before both men trapped her between them.

As Jared devoured her mouth with his, Tyrone moulded his body to her back and both pairs of hands busy on her body, however one of each pair went for the pleasure zone that was a fresh mating mark. One on each side of her neck.

"For fucks sake Lex, couldn't you wait till I could say hello before you turned the foyer into a sexfest?" Gem yelled from the bottom of the stairs, Luna stood beside her, her jaw dropped.

"Close your mouth baby." Thorn laughed at his mate's expression. She met his eyes and quickly closed her mouth. What she couldn't control was the complete rush of desire that caused her scent to escalate even further.

He rushed to her and made sure to stand between her and any other men.

The only men here were mated but he still didn't like the way her sweet smell had all of them looking towards her.

"Shit Luna, you smell delicious." Gem grinned, "The big bad wolf can barely resist you."

"Shut up Gem, Luna you have about five minutes to say hello to Lex and her mates."

"Five minutes? Thorn I need to talk to Lex, and I really want to meet Tyrone and Jared. I haven't even met them before. How can you be so mean? I want to ask all about their mating and see if I approve of my dear friend's mates."

"It isn't mean LJ, he's about to explode in his pants. Not very conducive to knocking up his mate. A goal I believe only you want more than he does." Lucas laughed at Luna's blush.

Luna looked right at Thorn "We only just..."

"I don't care. I need you again." Thorn growled in her ear. "I can't resist you at the best of times but right now... and not only can I not resist you, my wolf is not happy you are so near these other males."

"Happily mated males. Males with no interest in me at all. Males I have no interest in. Now relax, let me spend half an hour with my friend and her men and then baby you can go all alpha on me for the rest of the day."

"Stop trying to convince her to return to the bedroom Thorn, you need to pace yourself to create Shannon. I believe they even recommend less sex when a couple is trying to conceive." Lucas grinned at his brother.

"I suggest you shut your mouth before I shut it for you." Thorn growled.

"Why would you know about trying to conceive?" Gem gasped.

"Because my pet, I plan on making many babies with you."

"I am wolf, I will go into heat, you will fill me and I will likely get knocked up. Why did you need to read about conception?" Gem pushed him, her suspicions clearly not satisfied.

"Fine I read a bit when I heard what Luna and Thorn wanted. I owe her. I want her happy. He's my brother and my alpha, I want him happy." Lucas turned to walk away.

He didn't see Luna run past Thorn and only just turned as she took a leap at him. She hugged him tightly. "You don't owe me anything. I love you Lucas, you are going to be a great brother, and a loving uncle. Thank you."

"Yeah whatever." He tried to brush it aside. "Gem how about we go start on breakfast."

"You want me to help?" Gem looked horrified.

"Gem, honey, I love you but there is no way you are cooking." Lucas threw her over his shoulder. "However I do believe you just embarrassed me, and worse were suspicious of my actions. That needs to be addressed."

"You're going to punish her because you don't like anyone knowing you're a nice guy and that you care?" Luna scowled at him.

"Exactly."

"Oh no you don't mister."

"Luna, this is between Lucas and myself. I accept I was wrong." Lucas stepped toward the kitchen Gem over his shoulder. What he didn't see was the huge smile and wink she gave Luna.

"That is so fucked up Lucas. Gem I swear you just give me the word and I will kick his ass." Luna continued to vent as if she hadn't seen how happy her friend was.

"Fuck baby, if you get that wet and excited watching Lex getting loved by her men, and seeing Lucas throw Gem over his shoulder, how come I have to wait half an hour?"

"I've never wanted you inside me more than I do right now Thorn, but you said yourself it is still early in my ovulation. If you break me now..."

"Fuck, are you hurting?"

"No, but you do know I'm human right?"

"No sex again this morning."

"Thorn..."

"NO!"

Luna clearly unhappy with his order slammed the door between them closed. Her wall, covered in purple flowers may as well have had a big sign that said "Fuck you Thorn."

She moved towards Lexi and the two men with her. "I'm so sorry for the weird way this morning is going. I am sure this was not what you expected at all. I am Luna." She reached a hand towards the man closest to her.

"Jared. It is lovely to meet you Alpha Luna."

"Just Luna, Jared. I am glad you two aren't identical, I'd be the only one that would mix you up all week, me being human and unable to scent you."

"We are identical." Tyrone stepped forward, "Hello Luna, I am Tyrone."

"Oh rubbish. Your hair is rich chocolate, your brother has hair the colour of espresso. Your eyes are like the sky right before a storm, his are the grey of the sky just before dawn. You are not the same at all."

"Are you sure you're human?" Tyrone smiled at Luna as she grinned back.

"Stop flirting with my mate LJ." Lex beamed at her friend, "I never noticed the hair, the eyes though, you, nailed the eyes."

"You look so gorgeous Lex. I've never seen you look this..."

"Satisfied?"

"No, there is that, but it's more. You seem to be happy with who you are. I've never seen you so in tune with yourself. It is like you have found all you need to be complete, to be whole."

"Yes. I am whole. My wolf and I are finally with our mates."

"Come sit. I need to hear all about it." Luna held Lex's hand and began walking toward the sitting room.

"We were supposed to prepare breakfast." Jared spoke hesitantly.

"There is no way Lucas would let you. He lives to cook. Come tell me everything I need to know about you."

"Tyrone can talk. I'll go to the kitchen and see if I can help." Jared looked to his alpha who nodded.

"Why did you let him escape Thorn? I have so many questions."

"He's going to be here all week you can pace yourself and get to know him over the next week. He doesn't need an inquisition."

"You're protecting him from little me?" She smiled at Thorn letting him know she had forgiven him already.

"He's the quiet one. Tyrone will cope better with your questions."

"Lex, I hear the quiet ones are the ones you have to watch." Luna teased as they took their seats.

"Oh I don't mind at all, I could watch him all day."

"Oh dear, that is sad Tyrone, I'm sorry she has no desire to watch you."

"I am confident she has eyes hungry for me also."

"Yes I will watch you all night Tyrone." Lex grinned at her mate.

"When will you sleep? All this watching you'll never get to close your eyes."

"We have discussed this already. I work days, Jared works nights. Lex can sleep the mornings away. She apparently doesn't appreciate them anyway."

"Oh that is disappointing." Luna pouted.

"Disappointing?"

"I thought you were going to be able to share all these wicked stories of the three of you together."

"Luna!" Thorn and Lex both spoke at the same time. Thorn in horror, and Lex less horrified and more amused, before she broke into uncontrollable laughter. In which Luna joined her.

As they regained control of themselves the two women realised neither man in the room seemed to know what to say. Lex fixed that. "Only a couple of times a week, wouldn't want threesomes to become boring."

"Of course, so smart. Nothing worse than a boring sex life. Bad enough if it happens with a couple. Two very unsatisfied people can become so miserable. But three, now that would be terrible."

"You two behave." Thorn spoke a note of warning in his voice. "Tyrone isn't used to you two together."

"And you are?"

"I've been around the two of you for quite a while now, but today you seem determined to even push me past my level of comfort."

"I don't think I'm the reason for your discomfort Thorn."

"Lex, leave it alone." Tyrone spoke to Lex with command in his voice.

"But..."

"Leave it be."

"Fine." Lex pouted, she and Luna looked at each other as if to signal they both would get even later.

"Okay then. Tyrone where are you and Jared from?"

"All over really. Before coming here we spent time in the military."

"You joined our pack when you came to the city? Why didn't you return to the pack you were with before?"

"We didn't have a pack before. When our mother passed we went into care. The first change came as a huge surprise, we never knew. Jared changed first. We thought it was just him, we were afraid of what it meant, but I was determined to protect him. Then I changed. We guessed our mother never knew our father was wolf. We've since found out she must have known."

"I was in care also. I am sorry you lost your mother. Did you come to know your father?"

"No. We were tracked down by a wolf who was military. He helped us and then we enlisted. It was what we both needed. He taught us. He helped us."

"I am so happy you had someone able to assist you. Did you enjoy your time in the service of our country?"

"I did. Jared struggled with the violence of it, war is a terrible business to be in. He did however love the routine, the sense of belonging. He thrived on being able to help others."

"I am sure you didn't like the violence of war either Tyrone."

"No. Part of me worried I would not be able to stop if I allowed myself to..."

"Enough. I understand. I know you would have."

"Luna, how can you be so sure? I feel the same way, but he is my mate. I have spent time with Tyrone and Jared, seen their hearts, but how could you be so positive?" Lex asked her friend.

"I can see the goodness in them both. But I'll tell you a secret..." Luna went quiet briefly "... The wolf that guided you, helped you find your way into the military, John, he is standing behind you Tyrone."

"You can speak to the dead now?" Thorn asked amazed.

"No but it appears some may be able to speak to me. Harley and Keira did and now this man is. I cannot see him. But I can feel his presence. He spoke to me not long after we left the foyer. I think I missed him at first with everything going on." Luna continued silently "I would have explained about it more but I really didn't know if it would happen again or how, though Harmony seemed confident it would."

"Its awesome baby, I was just surprised I didn't know is all. You can tell me about it later."

"What did he say?" Lex held her mate's hand and looked behind him.

"He said you were beautiful and he wouldn't want to have to share you. He then said Jared and Tyrone were good men and deserved a wonderful woman each, but that for them, it appeared one amazing woman to share may be even better."

"Well I don't know if I'm amazing but I'll try to make your boys happy."

"He knows you will Lex. He also knows Tyrone and Jared will give you a good life. He assured me they were both fine men. Jared is quiet but strong and kind. Tyrone is the one that speaks his mind, but he will also hear you. You are blessed Lex."