Our Luna, Our Mate Chapter 139

**Athena's POV**

\-1 Day Prior to Birthday-

As much as I hated having birthdays, the more I found myself actually looking forward to having this one in particular. This birthday was where I could spend it with the people I truly cared for without fear, without hesitation and without people telling me that I was nothing but a slave.

‘How are you feeling?’ asks Artemis softly.

‘Nervous… Scared… Excited,’ I managed to say back to her. ‘All things that I should never want to experience all at once, but here I am, doing just that.’

Chuckling at my words, she moves to reply to me softly.

‘Don’t worry, my dear. The twins won’t ever force us into anything that would make us even remotely uncomfortable’ assures Artemis with a purr.

Nodding my head, I know she’s right, our mates currently still out on border patrol even though Kade and Rosalyn were no longer threats to our pack, but it was the general fact that we had yet to find Lily, which meant she was either excellent at hiding from us or she was waiting for the Hunter’s moon. The moon that was set to rise just shortly after my 20th Birthday, which was just a day away.

‘Do you feel it?’ asks Artemis softly, as if trying to shift the topic of discussion, pulling me from my thoughts as she did.

‘Feel what?’ I asked, unsure what she meant by that.

‘Do you feel the tension in the air? Everyone’s on edge. It's so thick you could cut it with a knife’ answers Artemis.

Biting my lip, I instantly knew what she was speaking about. Pack members were all starting to get restless, worried. The pack all on edge, not knowing when Lily would actually strike next.

‘Of course I can feel it. It’s so thick you can practically cut it with a knife. Everyone’s so on edge that just saying the wrong thing could turn the whole pack against one another. Something I’m sure Lily’s counting on too’ I admitted to her, sharing my thoughts as we sat within the house.

Huffing at my response, Artemis decides to growl softly, her fur tingling just below the surface. Her fur creating tiny goosebumps along my bare skin as we sat on the bed brushing out our hair for the evening.

‘Calm down. You're putting me on edge as well’ I teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Grunting, Artemis tries to calm down, telling herself that everything would be okay as long as we had our mates. Just then, we hear a knock at the door. Curious, I moved to see who was at the door, knowing that my mates wouldn’t bother knocking and would just enter the house once back from patrol.

“Who is it?” I called out, still curious about who it could be at this odd hour of the night.

“It’s me, Seraphine. Can I come in? I also have Rosa, Emma, and Emily along with me too” chimes Seraphine’s voice coming from the other side of the door, my eyes arching in curiosity.

Slightly stunned, I’m quick to open the door, surprised to see each of them now standing before me at my door.

“Of course, but why are you guys here? Didn’t we get enough of each other 4 days ago?” I teased, a smile now on my face as I moved to let them inside before closing the door.

“Nope, we didn’t, besides… I thought we could have a sleepover. You know, hangout, have some fun. You know the normal stuff girls our age do when having a sleepover” replies Emma with a mischievous smile on her otherwise beautiful face.

Blinking in confusion, I moved to reply, “Sleep… Over?” I asked, not sure what one of those were since I was never allowed to have friends back home and if I did have any friends, then Diana and Brian were quick to turn them away from me.

Yet, watching my odd group of friends, I slowly began to see each of their shocked faces at realizing what I had just said to them before Emily finally voices her concern to me, “Please tell us you're kidding, that you actually know what a sleepover is?”

Shaking my head, I moved to reply to her, “Sorry… But I don’t understand… I-I never had one before” I admitted, a blush rising to my face in embarrassment as I tried to avert my gaze.

“Well then, lucky for you, I was able to pull some more strings then, because there's more.”

“Huh?” is all I can say just as Emma moves to reopen the door, only to see Maya, Elise, Iris, Krista, Cara and Addison all standing at the threshold.

Spotting more familiar faces, I couldn’t help but slowly grin happily. Suddenly excited to have all of my friends gathered all in one place, each of us exchanging hugs as we did.

“OMG, you guys. I didn’t think that I’d actually see you all until tomorrow” I say, knowing that Luna Gwen had invited those of the Dark Moon Pack, Snow Moon Pack and the Midnight Pack to my birthday celebration party.

A celebration that they all tried so hard to hide from me only to accidentally get revealed by Emma when she took me shopping just 4 days ago. As we had all gotten so excited during our girls' day out that she had accidentally spilled the beans about the party.

“Girl, then you clearly don’t know us that well yet. Because let me tell you know, we never follow the rules ever” admits Elise with a smile on her face, Iris rolling her eyes while Krista giggles at her mate, Krista being slightly new to our group as she hadn’t hung out with us until the shopping trip and that was because Elise and Iris dragged her along, telling her she needed more friends within her life.

“Besides, we couldn’t wait to celebrate with you on your big day, so we secretly planned this big sleepover. Eros and Ares were even happy to help us as well” replies Cara, a smile on her face as well.

Gaping with a blank stare, I slowly began to blink. My mates clearly hiding this bit of information from me made me feel extremely happy, elated that they thought about including all of my friends in helping to celebrate my birthday before tomorrow’s big event.

“I think.. I think we broke our Luna” whispers Emma to her friend Emily, unaware that I heard them before shaking my head and giving them a slight shove with my hand, a smile still on my lips as I did.

“Oh shush”

Laughing in amusement, I moved to show them all up towards my room. My room being the biggest room within the house as well as the largest when it comes down to accommodating large groups of people, as we all move to slowly get settled in for the rest of the night.

Elise, Cara, Iris, Krista and Addison each moving to lay out blankets and pillows for everyone, while Emma and Emily help Maya gather snacks for the group. Seraphine, Rosalyn and Myself each gathering other miscellaneous items that we would need throughout the night as we all sat around the room and chatted.

“So, where are the boys at then?” I asked, referring to Ashton, Brayden and of course, Isaac.

“With Ares and Eros. They're all off having a “guys” night” answers Emily as she air quotes the word guys, meaning they were off doing something only guys would do while we girls went about doing our own thing.

Amused by her response, I can’t help but giggle, the need to let it all out finally over powering the other emotions such as fear and anxiety that I might have been feeling prior to them all showing up at my doorstep.

‘I love our friends’ whispers Artemis with a purr of happiness.

‘Me too Artemis. Me too’ I whispered back softly, my eyes shining with true happiness since finding my mates in this hellish nightmare that I called life.