Alpha Markus and Celeste novel Chapter 19

Markus Chapter 19 – Markus 

Markus R.O.V 

I had a hard time sleeping alone in bed. I could smell Celeste just in the other room. She had left the door slightly ajar and as much as I knew if I closed it i’d be able to fall asleep. I couldn’t bring myself to close that connection with her. I knew it was a sign of trust. 1 looked up at the ceiling thinking of everything that had happened in the last week and everything that was coming.

You worry too much. We will protect mate. We will not fail. – Atlas grumbled sleepily.

If only I had your confidence, if what dad said was true, there’s bound to be more than just Alpha Geoff looking to get their hands on

our mate.

The Moon Goddess Selene doesn’t make mistakes. If we were chosen to be her mate, it means we’re able to protect her –

Atlas

puffed his chest out.

How can we protect her from danger we aren’t aware of?

Well, we can always lock her up in a tower – Atlas teased. I was surprised at his personality change in the last week.

I don’t know what you ‘re talking about. I have always had a clever sense of humor –

Atlas countered.

Telling me how you want to dismember our enemies is not what I’d call a clever sense of humor –

Icountered.

That’s because you have zero sense of humor. – he confirmed and I rolled my eyes.

Mate is supposed to change us. She is our other half. The ones that make us better

– Atlas schooled me.

You never seemed interested in this mate stuff before.

You were not ready for mate before. After what happened, I knew the only way to change your mind was to meet her. –

confessed.

So what do we do buddy?

We protect mate. We will know when the time is right what we need to do. The Moon Goddess and our Tuli will guide us. Trust in the

mate bond. It will not lead us wrong. – Atlas assured me.

I sighed- I hope you’re right.

I am always right – Atlas said as he curled up in a corner of my mind and fell asleep.

I could hear Celeste’s heart beat steadily on the other side of the wall. I had memorized that beat during the 3 days she was

unconscious in the hospital. I knew it as well as my own. Listening to its steady rhythm, sleep finally claimed me.

I woke up the next morning to the phone ringing.

“What,” I grumbled.

“Everyone’s waiting for you downstairs for a meeting” Gillian’s voice came through.

“Why couldn’t you just mind link me?” | grumbled, trying to wake up,

“I have been trying to for the last 2 hours. You never responded.”

“2 hours…what time is it?”

“It’s almost llam”I sat up.

“THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE” I growled.

“Oh it’s possible, look at your clock. You slept in.”

I looked at the clock. 10:45. That surprised me. I may not be a morning person, but I never slept past 7am.

“Who’s all waiting?” I said, getting up and heading to the closet to change.

“Your father, Daniel is on conference call as well as Alpha Rhett.”

“s**t, OK. I will be right there. Give me 5mins.”

“Rhett wants to talk to Celeste,” Gillian said carefully. I suppressed the growl rising in my chest.

“They should be outside your door. She grabbed a couple for Maya already.”

“Thanks, we’ll be right down. Can you have someone bring a couple of bagels from the kitchen to the office. I need to get some meat

on her bones,” I said as I grabbed the clothes outside her door.

“You got it.”

I went through the door and inhaled her intoxicating scent. She was in the middle of the bed, hugging a pillow. The covers were on

the floor. I dropped to a squat next to the bed, trying to memorize every feature of face. I sighed, I would let her sleep, but something told

me she would want to be in this meeting.

“Celeste?” I caressed her face. She scrunched her nose but kept sleeping. “You have to wake up my little Tuli. There’s people waiting

for us” I saw her eyes flutter open. She smiled at me with sleepy eyes as she inhaled deeply. I smiled.

“Good morning,” I said.

“Good morning.” She blushed. She squinted at the windows and then got up in a flash. “What time is it?”

“Almost 11,” I said, and her eyes went wide.

“I’m sorry. I never sleep that long. I’m usually up by 4am. I don’t know what happened.”

“You were healing. That’s understandable.”

She somewhat relaxed but still looked uncomfortable. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I usually cook and clean most of the day.”

“Right now, you will rest, heal, and shop for some clothing so you don’t have to wear my baggy stuff at night,” I said and she blushed. “After, we can talk about how you want to approach your Luna role and life in the pack.” She nodded.

“Here, you can wear this today. Kelley dropped them off. Now I’m afraid we have to hurry. We have to talk to some people.”

“OK,” she said, then pouted.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t change with you here,” she blushed.

I couldn’t help the laugh that came out of me. “Are you sure?” I teased as I went to her door. “I’ll be right outside.”

Atlas grumbled something in my head, but lignored it.

We made our way down to the office. Gillian and dad were waiting for me there. I could hear random noises on the speaker phone

indicating people were on the other end.

“Good Morning,” I said to the room.

“Alpha, Luna”

“Good Morning”I heard Alpha Rhett

“Apologies for the delay,” I said as I sat behind my desk. I pulled Celeste to my side. Delighting in the blush that spread through her face, though she didn’t pull away.

“What’s this meeting about Markus,” I heard Rhett ask. “Your Beta wouldn’t say much, only that this had something to do with that thing we talked about a couple of months ago and the Luna. Did you get any proof?”

“Daniel? Have you found anything new?” I asked.

“No Alpha. There seems to be something going on. All the traffickers appear to have been recalled back. I’m driving back home as we

speak. Alpha, can I ask, what does this have to do with the future Luna?”

“Gentlemen, as you know. I met my mate at the Full Moon Celebration of Alpha Geoff’s daughter getting her wolf. What I’m about to

say is strictly confidential information. Telling anyone outside of this inner circle will put the Luna’s life in danger.”

“Alpha Markus, I need to be able to speak to my Beta if we are to take part in whatever you’re asking of my pack,” Rhett said.

“If you trust him, I can concede that Rhett,” There was silence on the other end.

“Thank you, I trust him with my life,” Rhett said.

“My mate is the only daughter of the late Alpha Cory and Luna Bella of the Sky Moon Pack,” I said, and I felt the sharp intake of

we have found out that the she-wolves that Alpha Geoft has been trafficking are the remaining unmated temales from the Sky Moon

Pack. Every time one gets their wolf and it is confirmed that they are not mated to a member of his pack, they disappear.”

I heard Daniel curse,”That explains why they don’t seem to care about who they sell these women to or why we haven’t found any

documentation on what Pack they belonged to. I couldn’t understand why it appeared all of these women were off the grid but not

rogues.”

“Yes, if the conditions under which they’ve been living is any indication, it appears that he keeps them only long enough to make sure his Pack can’t benefit from the she-wolves and then he sold them to the highest bidder. These girls have spent 12 years half starved,

beaten and with no medical intervention. They are essentially slaves,” I felt Celeste shift uncomfortably next to me.

“Do we have any proof of any of this?” Alpha Rhett said over the intercom.

I sighed, “Nothing but the words of Maya and Celeste. Unfortunately.”

“So we can’t approach the council yet,” Alpha Rhett muttered, as if speaking to himself.

“No, but we have something else. Celeste said that after each girl gets their wolf, they are introduced to the pack and then never

seen again if they don’t turn out to be mated to one of his warriors. The next girl to come of age is thankfully Maya, who is currently safe with us. The next is a girl named Ruby. Her birthday is next month. That’s our deadline to plan. I’m not letting one more of these girls come to harm.”

“I agree. Alpha, if I may ask. If these girls all disappeared after getting their wolf, how did the Luna manage not to get taken?” Daniel

asked.

I looked at Celeste and nodded to her in encouragement.

“I lied about my age the night of my parents’ murder. They thought I was 2 years younger than I was. I managed to hide my shift from

everyone 8 months ago and Kara was kind enough to keep her emotions in check so we wouldn’t be found out,” I heard her say with a little bit of pride in her voice. That pride was more than called for. The first shift was usually painful, slow and uncontrolled. Hearing a

wolf controlling their emotions so shortly after the first shift was also fairly impressive. It took discipline and strong will. We are

emotional creatures.

“You kept it secret for 8months?” Rhett sounded impressed. “OK. I’m only an hour and a half away so we should be able to

brainstorm better in person. Have your assistant call mine and we can figure out when we have availability. One more question for the

Luna if I may.”

“Of course,” Celeste said shyly.

“Can you forward the recipe to that chicken my way? I have been thinking about it all week. I want my cook to give it a shot.” Celeste

started giggling. “I’ll write it down for Markus to send to you.”

“Thanks for calling Rhett. I still have that other email to send to you. I’ll have my assistant contact your offices for that meeting. The

sooner we get started, the better.”

“Sounds good. We’ll talk later.”

“Danny, when will you be home?” I asked once I heard the click from Alpha Rhett.

“I should get there in about two days?” he said. The question in his voice asking what else was going on.

“We can’t really discuss over the phone. Everything is fine for now. Just get home brother,” I said.

“Will do. I can’t wait to meet your mate so I can give her my condolences on being mated to an asshat like yourself.”

“Yeah yeah, drive safe so I can pummel you when you get here,” I laughed and hung up. I looked at the rest and they all excused themselves.

‘Alpha, Maya and I are ready to head out. Will the Luna be available soon?’

Kelly mind linked.

I’ll send her out shortly. Make sure she eats Kelly. She hasn’t had a chance,”

I said, looking at the untouched bagels on my desk.

‘You got it, I’ll make sure we hit the food court. Does she have money?”

“I’ll give her my credit card. Put whatever you need for her and Maya on there. Feel free to add some stuff for yourself. As a thank you.’

‘Zack, George, can you please escort the Luna, Maya and Kelly to the mall. You’re not to leave them alone. Protect them at all

cost.’

‘Yes Alpha.’They responded.

Iturned to look at Celeste. She was looking out the window now.

“What are you thinking love?” I ask.

“I was just looking at the lake. It’s very pretty. I was trying to remember the last time my parents took me out to a picnic by the river.

My sight sent me there yesterday when we talked about mom. It was the first time I’d remembered what she looked like,” She said

wistfully.

“You know their pack grounds is only half an hour from the edge of our territory. I could take you there at some point if you want. My

father had the place cleaned and locked down.”

Her face lit up. “Yes please!” then she got a little sad.

“What’s wrong my Tuli?”

“D- Do you think there will be pictures there?”

Thugged her. “I’m sure there are. Maybe dad will tell you some stories too.

“You think so?”

“I know so. All you have to do is ask, when you’re ready. Now enough sadness. You have two girls waiting for you to go shopping. Here’s my credit card. The code is 2832. Put anything you want on it. Don’t hold back. You have a big closet that needs to be filled,” She

blushed and took the card.

“I would like a job. I don’t want to be a burden,” She said.

“You have a job. Luna is not an easy role. We will talk about the duties when you come back. I’ll make a few calls to see who can help

you with it.”

“OK.” She said and gave me a quick awkward hug and ran out the door. As soon as she left, I left her absence like a black cloud hanging over my head. I sighed and picked up the phone.