AN; thanks so much for the 159 votes and 740 reads! Fingers crossed that more people will get to enjoy this book now that it has more chapters on it! But, if not it's still fun to write it! Thanks for Reading! -Sam<3
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Grayson and I both looked towards the forest, and my eyes landed on someone standing within the trees watching us. Their face was hidden by the snow cover pine tree branches.

A cold wind ripped through the frozen forest, and I shiver in my skimpy waitress uniform under my parka.

I grabbed onto his arm "Grayson..."

"Direct your thoughts at me, like you are about to say what you are thinking aloud to before. Just like we do before."

"We just talking about us being mates! What if it was someone from the pack or the visiting pack!?"

"If that's the case...I'll take care of it"

Grayson took a step forward, closed his eyes, and he inhaled deeply.

His eyes opened and I saw they were once again brown. "Not you again," he muttered.

"Hello!" the voice called cheerfully and the figure stepped out from behind the branches of the pine trees.

I found myself moving closer to Grayson when I saw who it was. For the second time that day, I found myself face to face with the green-eyed stranger.

"I'm sure you noticed my absence from your dreams last night." Grayson's voice echoed in my head.

"Yeah..." I replied inside my mind, unsure of why he brought it up right at this very moment.

"It was because I was out hunting him," he pointed to the boy strolling towards us. "I couldn't sleep knowing there was a member of the Red Crescent pack lurking around you. I had to find them and I did. It was him right?"

The boy stopped a few feet away and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black coat.

"Yes, it's the man that tried to force his way into my kitchen the other day, if that's what you are asking."

Grayson pulled away from me and stepped between me and the boy. " I thought I told you to be out of here before the sun comes up!"

"You did say that but did I say I was going to listen? And that was before I helped enlighten you"

"How did he enlighten you?"

"He gave me Peyote."

"What is that?"

"It's a type of cactus that helps you go on a vision quest."

"So it's even worse, you ate a cactus given to you by a stranger, and then went on a vision in the middle of the woods at night!? And then what blurted out all of your innermost secrets!?"

"Okay it does sound bad when you say it like that. But I didn't realize that I was saying things out loud,  I only found out afterward. But I felt like I was supposed to meet him in that forest. He even said the forest spirits knew I was coming."

"That's the exact opposite reason to go towards the guy. The second he said forest spirits, is the second you should have realized that this was a bad idea."

The boy shook his head at us and let out a soft chuckle. "You know you two aren't subtle when you communicate telepathically. You should see the faces that both of you are making right now. Not sure what the two were talking about, but I think I have somewhat of a guess. For starters, I helped him go on a spiritual quest to allow him to find the answers for what has been ailing him. Which was about what to do about you Aurelia, his Lunera mate."

Grayson turned to me, his eyes wide. He opened his mouth but I beat him to it.

"You told him!?" I said not even bothering to communicate telepathically anymore. "A stranger from the Red Crescent pack! The same pack that sacrifice Luneras to ttheir god?"

"I don't participate in those sacrifices but yes some members still do those practices. But Grayson and I are not strangers. Should I tell her or should you?"

"Tell me what!? How do you know someone from the Red Moon pack? I thought that no one interacts with them anymore?"

" Not normally, you're right about that, but all the Alphas' sons from all the packs know each other. At one point, you could say that we were best friends."

"You're the Red Crescent pack's alpha's son?" I asked the boy and he nodded and I turned to Grayson. "So the Alpha's son from the Red Moon pack knows we are mates, and you don't see a problem with that?"

Grayson turned so he has fully faced me with his back towards Liam. " His name is Liam and I've known him since we were kids. I think we can trust him. He wouldn't do anything with our information, because it could hurt the other Lunera too," he gave Liam a pointed look.

"Yes my intentions here are for equality, not butchery."

I looked at him, "His actions have said otherwise," I replied.

He gave me a sheepish smile. "Didn't mean to scare you the other day. I just want to help you. I believe all Luneras should be treated as equal to the other pack members."

Oh the irony in that statement. If I could only tell Grayson...

A bolt of pain suddenly spiked down my spine and I grimaced.

I peered over Grayson's shoulder and saw Liam shaking his head. Our eyes locked and he held a finger up to his lips and smiled at me.

I scowled at him. Noticing my expression Grayson snapped his head around to look at Liam. But by the time he did this, Liam already had his hands in his pockets with a placid look upon his face.

He smiled at me. "But Aurelia, I think I should go ahead and tell you that I'm no longer an alpha's son. I was forced out of the pack, and my younger brother has taken my place. But as I recall ," he pointed at Grayson, "during my expulsion,  you were one of the many that voiced that Lunera should not have equal rights. Clearly, though, your position has changed."

"Why are you here, you still didn't answer that?" Grayson asked and the boy locked eyes with me.

"I told you for personal family matters."

I looked down, I almost forgot about the sister he wanted me to help him find. Even though I had never heard of an Evelyn or Everlee or whatever her name was. I wonder why he didn't just ask Grayson.

Then it clicked in my head and I felt like an idiot.

Why hadn't I realized it sooner? Everlee was probably her name, before she was brought to Pine Ridge. Maybe he thought that there was some kind of record that contained the information about all the Lunera within our house. But the way he looked at me and said my name...Maybe my family had asked for pictures of me after all.

"In any case, you should leave now. There were three Lunera killed this morning."

Liam frowned and looked down. I stole the moment to look into his face. I ran my eyes over his nose, his mouth, and cheeks, and tried to find any similarities to my own.

Liam looked up abruptly and I averted my gaze.

No I shouldn't read to much into it. If he really thought I was his sister, and even if I was, why would he put a binding spell on me?

"Aurelia!?"I was suddenly snapped back to reality and out of my thoughts. I looked around startled, that wasn't normal for me to zone out like that.

Grayson was in front of of me with both hands on his shoulder.  "Are you okay?" he asked.

I stared back at him.

"Right dumb question, of course, you aren't."

I looked around, we were alone now. "Where did Liam go?" I asked.

"Hopefully away from here. But I have a feeling that he will be back soon."

Grayson let his hand fall from my shoulder. "Look I'm sorry, I'm trying my best here. I really wasn't thinking this through. I just didn't want you to experience that hurt alone of losing a member from your house. But I really wasn't thinking about how you wanted to handle this when I should have."

I nodded, "You're right, you should have...I'm still mad that you ate a cactus and told this Liam about us."

I turned and began to walk towards the direction of the road.

I heard Grayson behind me. "Where are you going?"

"The truck, don't you have to take me to the Alpha's mansion."

I heard Grayson let out a sigh of relief.

"I stopped and looked over my shoulder at him. And before you ask, what I said doesn't mean I agreed with your mate. But you should come to my dreams tonight alright?"

A smile spread across his face, "Alright."