3. The Luna Naturale

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"Go start the car," Ezekiel ordered his gamma and tossed him her backpack.

"Yes, boss!" Hunter shook his head, amusedly and walked ahead.

Ezekiel looked down at his beautiful little mate.

"You will obey me."

It was a statement.

A statement Noelle found amusing.

"You wish." She grinned.

Ezekiel carried her to the car. Hunter got out and opened the back door for them.

"Hey wanna see a trick?" Noelle asked. Ezekiel looked at her weirdly.

She quickly brought her legs up, kicking him in the knees. The impact had him tumbling backward and she took the moment to lunge backward and grab the door, flipping onto the top of the car.

Hunter moved forward to catch her but was stopped by the warning growl from his alpha.

"Mine!" His wolf growled through the mind link.

Hunter internally rolled his eyes.

Alpha males were the 'jealous beyond belief' kind of werewolves.

Ezekiel jumped to his feet, scowling at his mate.

"What's your name?" Noelle asked, sitting cross-legged on the roof of the car.

That's when Ezekiel too realized that he didn't know his mate's name.

"Alpha Ezekiel Wright of the Blood Moon Pack." He introduced himself and then gestured to his gamma. "This is my gamma, Hunter King."

Noelle grinned at them and said, "I, Noelle Moore, reject you, Alpha Ezekiel Wright, as my mate."

As soon as she said it, her grin disappeared as an agonizing pain cut through her heart.

Ezekiel felt the same and he glared at his mate. "And I reject your rejection."

Noelle glared at her mate. "Whatever, ciao losers." She got up but before she could move, Ezekiel grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her to him, and pushed her inside the car.

"She's a handful." Hunter laughed.

Ezekiel growled at him and got in with his mate and Hunter got into the driver's seat and started the engine.

"Don't even think about it!" Ezekiel exclaimed as Noelle tried to get out through the other door.

"Let me go!" Noelle glared.

"You both really need to stop glaring at each other," Hunter said, watching them through the rear-view mirror.

"Shut up!" The mates growled at the gamma who just rolled his eyes at them, muttering a "Mates." which the wolves heard but ignored.

"I am never going to be your Luna." Noelle turned to Ezekiel. "I don't like packs."

"You have no choice!" Ezekiel sat back, hoping that his mate wouldn't jump off the moving vehicle. But he was a bit doubtful so he grabbed her arm just to be safe, eliciting sparks at contact.

"Stop that!" Noelle tried to slap his hand away but he held her firmly.

"I am not going to reject you," Ezekiel said. "And unless I do, your life will never be the same again."

"Oh yeah? How's that?"

"There are a couple of reasons. Your wolf will yearn for mine and you will deny her, suppress her, and end up losing her. Then there's heat, how do you plan to escape male wolves swarming you when you can't even think properly because of the pain?"

Noelle stared into his eyes, trying to find the lie but she saw only the truth. She didn't know how the were-dom worked so she really had no other way of knowing these things. So everything depended upon whether she believed him or not. And for some reason, she knew he was right. But she also figured there was a catch. Obviously, he was not concerned about her. And it didn't look like he was enthusiastic about the idea of her being his Luna. So what was in it for him?

"What's the catch?" She smirked, sitting back.

"You are naturally the Luna of my pack as my mate – the luna naturale and you will remain so even if I reject you but if you are challenged for the Luna position and you lose, you won't be the Luna and I will hand you your freedom."

"Alpha-" Hunter interrupted but stopped when Ezekiel let out a low growl.

"That's it?" Noelle smirked to herself and Ezekiel could see the wheels in her head turning.

The little fox was up to something but what?

As for Noelle, all she could think about were the many luxuries she was going to enjoy for the next day or so. She was happy to go anywhere as long as she didn't become part of a pack and had her adventurous life snatched away from her.

Also, from the way the alpha spoke, she caught a whiff of his own unwillingness to have her for his mate. She could gain some money off of him when the time came.

"What are you thinking?" Ezekiel narrowed his eyes, reading the mischief in his mate's sky-blue eyes.

"You will see."

It was a three-hour long drive. Ezekiel and Hunter were out in human territory trying to find a rogue group whose wolves were gigantic and that was saying something because the Blood Moon Pack being one of the strongest and oldest had huge wolves. They thought they were going to return empty-handed when they found Noelle, their Luna.

"Say Luna-"

"Noelle." She cut Hunter off, her eyes still on the road memorizing the path they were travelling through.

"Sorry... Uh..." Hunter looked at his alpha waiting for his response and only continued when he nodded in approval. "Noelle, What do you know about the giant rogues?"

"Giant?"

"Yeah. About the size of an elephant."

The normal size of a werewolf ranged from a normal wolf to a horse.

Noelle thought hard. She had seen all kinds of wolves in her life... Except them.

"Royalty?" She wondered out loud.

The she-wolf had their attention.

"Who are they?"

She shrugged, pursing her lips. "No one knows. No one has seen them or at least lived to tell the tale. Most say they are just a legend but the rogues live in fear of them." She explained. "There are rules we must follow as rogues or we will end up being their next meal."

"What rules?"

"Classified." Noelle rolled her eyes. Did these losers really think she was going to spill their weaknesses?

"So are you sure it could only be them?" Ezekiel asked.

"I don't know!" Noelle whined. "I have seen the rest of the rogue kinds. The largest wolf I have seen to date is the alpha of Dark Shadows."

Ezekiel smirked. Alpha Ian of Dark Shadows Pack was his old friend. And his wolf was bigger than his friend's. It was a boost to his alpha ego.

"What do you mean by rogue kinds?" Hunter was an observant wolf. He always picked up on the smallest details, making him an excellent interrogator.

"Classified." Noelle cursed herself. She had spilled more than necessary. And so she decided to stay mum about the rogue life. She didn't want to die so young and sexy.

She closed her eyes and leaned back, pulling her legs up onto the seat and making herself comfortable.

The two wolves took the hint and kept quiet and eventually thought she had fallen asleep, which she hadn't as she was concentrating on her other senses to keep track of the road they were taking.

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They were stuck in the evening traffic when her stomach let out a huge growl in protest. Of course, she had missed lunch and then the food her friends had offered to buy her.

"You hungry?" The alpha chuckled, watching his mate flutter her eyes open, butterflies awakening in his stomach yet again as the gorgeous sky-blue eyes gazed at him.

She nodded sleepily. Though she hadn't slept, she still was tired from the traveling. She never liked road trips. She preferred to travel in her wolf form, the same wolf that was being useless right now as all she did was purr at the mere sight, scent, or touch of her mate. The sparks and the sexual tension were not helping.

"What do you want to eat?"

She looked around and pointed at the giant yellow 'M' above a building. But as the traffic was slow and her stomach grumbled more and more, she turned in her seat to fish out her chocolate from her bag kept on the third-row seat.

"Always prepared I see," Hunter commented chuckling.

Noelle decided to keep her promise to herself and ignored him as she peeled off the wrapper. It was a Snickers bar this time. Her Hershey's were tucked away safely at the very bottom of her bag. She hoped it didn't get spoiled since she had opened it earlier.

After another eternity of torture, courtesy of the cars honking and their enhanced hearing, Hunter pulled the car up to the drive-through of McDonald's.

"What would you like Lu- Noelle?" He turned to his Luna.

"Two double cheeseburgers, two fries, three chicken nuggets, and one Mcflurry with M&M's candies. Actually, make that two too. " She listed out.

Ezekiel caught himself staring at her adoringly and scolded his wolf who just growled at him.

"She's adorable!" His wolf was eye-drooling.

No, she is a pig! Ezekiel rolled his eyes.

They ordered their food and were on their way. They reached the majestic pack house in the middle of the dense forest around seven in the evening.

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