Our Luna, Our Mate Chapter 23

**Athena’s POV**

When reaching the dining hall with Emily, I was both scared yet nervous as I wasn’t sure if my mates would be there or not. But either way, I felt like I was under dressed. ‘Relax, you're over thinking again’ murmurs Artemis as she begins to stir.

‘I’m trying,’ I tell her until Emily moves to help guide me into the hall. “Relax” whispers Emily as she stands closer to me. “Your mates won’t reject you.”

“H-How do you know?” I ask, now moving to enter, the smell of chocolate, caramel, coffee and an ocean breeze now wafting at my nose, the smell instantly calming both me and Artemis down. ‘Mates’.

“Because, they’ve been waiting for you for a very long time” admits Emily, both of us now moving to get some food, suddenly hungry by all the delicious smells.

Once grabbing what we wanted from the buffet, does Emily move to lead me towards a table where 6 men sat along with 1 girl. Panicking, I try to force myself into relaxing the sweet scents growing stronger, easing my nerves the closer I get.

“Guys, Emma, please let me to introduce you to Athena,” I hear Emily say, a smile to her voice, a blush rising to my face as it does, not wanting to be the center of attention at that exact moment. “Athena, please allow me to introduce to you Eros, Ares, Kai, Lucas, Seth, Sam and Emma” she says as she points to each of them in turn.

Blushing brighter I can’t help but nod in greeting my eyes moving to look at each of them. “H-Hello”.

“Welcome, please have a seat” smiles Emma as she gestures to an open seat, a seat that was currently between her and Ares. Hesitating slightly does the one known as Sam move to speaks up. “It’s okay, we don’t bite”. Blushing brighter I quickly move to take my seat, Emily taking the other one.

“No need to worry little one, your safe here with us” I hear Ares whisper to me as he moves to touch my arm, sparks rushing up and along my skin as he does. Artemis purring in delight when I finally relax, giving me the chance I needed to finally eat.

With everyone else now eating their meals, the rest of breakfast seems to go by smoothly, everyone chatting and talking with one another while others of the group move to talk with me until the annoying voice of my cousin enters the room.

“WHY ARE YOU HERE?” screams Diana, as she approaches the table, my body flinching on instinct.

“If you must know, she’s eating with us” growls Ares, who rises to defend me. “Is that a problem?”

“Yes it’s a problem, she’s supposed to be helping the kitchen, not lazing about” sneers Diana as she turns her focus over to me, her eyes seething in rage as she does.

“Um, excuse me, but who exactly are you?” asks Seth, annoyed. Groaning, I instantly knew Diana would go on this big huge tantrum of being the next Luna, like always, as she never missed a beat to tell anyone who dared asked.

Why? I groan mentally to myself, not understanding her need to torment me as I move to tune out everyone else, unable to process what was currently happening until she mentions her father, Beta Collin. The mere mention of him making me panic, causing me to finally speak up. “B-But Diana, Uncle already told me that I would be attending tonight's ball.”

As soon as those words left my lips I knew she hadn’t bought it. Her mind thinking of ways to find every excuse in the book just to get me into trouble with him. “To hell she will” I suddenly hear Eros, who moves to stand as well. “Our mate will do no such thing.” At the mention of mate, does confusion slowly take over, as if she hadn’t expected me to find my second chance mate or mates in this case.

“Mate?” scoffs Diana, my heart sinking into my chest, a part of wondering what she could be scheming as I wondered why she couldn’t just be happy for me. “She had a mate, but of course he rejected her, after all who could ever want a loser, a packless runt with no place to call home, a freak.”

Ahh, and there it was, the famous five letter word. Freak. ‘Don’t listen to her, she’s the freak’ growls Artemis who knew I was falling for her words. ‘I know but it’s hard not to’ I murmur, my feelings of being lost and insecure rising.

‘Listen, when all else fails, and you find yourself doubting yourself, remember, always trust in your mates’ whispers Artemis proudly.

‘I will, thank you’ I say just as I’m pulled from my thoughts by that of a hand my body now being tugged from that of the dining hall. Confused, I turn to see who it was only to see Ares. “Thank you” I whisper, a smile now slowly rising.

“For what love?” asks Ares, confused by my words.

“For stepping up to my cousin… she’s a bitch and won’t ever hesitate for a second if it means hurting me” I admit, averting my gaze.

“There’s no need to thank us, your our mate and under no such circumstances should anyone be allowed to speak to you in a such manner, EVER” admits Ares, still leading me up a flight of stairs, assuming he was taking me away from prying eyes that had gathered all thanks to my cousin.

Where's he taking me? I ponder, my eyes watching him as he and the others continue to lead me up a flight of stairs. The pack house being built into four sections, each floor holding different areas for different needs as the lower floor housed things like that of a living room, dining room, ballroom, kitchen and things like that whereas the second floor was strictly for the Omega’s, a giant dorm room if you would, then past that as you moved to approach the third floor, the third floor was made to be a guest wing where all visiting packs would stay in while the fourth floor was for the Alpha and Luna.

Just then I can’t help but notice that we’ve reached the guest wing of the house causing me to blink, that is until they lead me towards their room which causes me to blush. “Umm..where are we going?” I ask, unsure of their intentions.

“To our room, trust me, you’ll be safer there than out in the open” replies Ares as he moves to open the door. My eyes now scanning the room as he does. “Please, have a seat”

Shifting my focus back over to Ares does Ares move to lead me inside, the others following close behind as he leads me over to a chair. Ares gently taking the seat before us before swiftly pulling me into his lap, his arms now wrapped gently around me as Eros moves to sit at our feet. The need to be close weird yet soothing.

Blushing, I try to hide my face as I’ve never been this close to anyone before, Artemis laughing at my expense. ‘Stop it, you're not helping’ I scold her only for her to laugh at me more. ‘Sorry… Okay, I’ll stop, I’ll behave myself’ replies Artemus as she tries to contain her laughter.

Growling softly, my attention diverted, I don't realize that I've now captured an audience until someone clears their throat. “Love?” calls Eros, as he glances up to me from his spot upon the floor.

“Huh? What? Sorry I was scolding Artemis” I say, my blush deeping with each passing second.

“I asked you if you were okay?” Eros replies again, amused by my behavior.

“Yes, I’m fine” I answered, giving him a smile as I did.

“So, Artemis huh? Is that your wolf’s name?” asks Kai, drawing my attention towards him as he does. “Yes, that's correct” I say. “Cute” smiles Emma.

“Thank you” I mutter again, feeling flustered.

Then as if trying to be sneaky, I suddenly feel someone nuzzling me causing me to turn only to see that it’s Ares once more. Smiling, I move to play with his hair, his raven black hair which causes him to purr.

“Someone’s content” I muse.

“Yes, most definitely so” whispers Ares, his body relaxing at my touch. “I can’t begin to tell you just how much we’ve been searching for you.”

“Well, I’m here now” I whisper, unable to deny the feeling of longing as we sit, enjoying each other's embrace until someone else moves to speak up. “Luna… why does your family hate you?” asks Emily, unsure if it was okay to ask that question or not. Sighing, I move to turn my attention towards her, knowing sooner or later that my past would come to light.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve been asking myself the exact same thing ” I answer truthfully, not really understanding the reasoning behind their hate for me.

“Well, whatever the reason, we’ll figure it out together” answers Ares as he moves to gaze into my eyes. Nodding in silent agreement I move to get a bit more comfortable before turning to look at the others, deciding it would be best to know those associated with those of my mates as I would be seeing alot more of them going forward.