Adopted By My Step Brothers

Chapter 38: My Secret

"I thought you guys went on the run!" I exclaimed when Eleanor, Taylor and their new guy friends came walking out of the building. They were all laughing and sounded like the were having a funny conversation before walking outside. "Hey there." Eleanor swung her arm over me, pulling me to walk with them. She was drunk, and so were the rest of them. Taylor walked on the other side of me and the guys walked behind us. I figured I should still tell them what happened, especially since Ashton was Conor and Greg's alpha. "Kingsley put a search out on Ashton, he and Kale are trying to kill him." My words made everyone sober up. No one was laughing anymore. "Oh my gosh what? What happened?" Eleanor stood in front of me, and so did everyone else. I braced myself, knowing they were going to react to my next sentence. "Ashton followed me into the bathroom, and forced a kiss on me."

"Oh he's dead meat." Taylor scoffed angrily. Eleanor began to scowl. Greg and Conor looked at eachother then at me. "Im so sorry Luna, that our alpha did that to you." Greg apologized and Conor's face was sympathetic. "He's been loosing it lately, more then usual and We don't know what's going on." He shook his head, starting to look pissed off.

"Thanks guys, but Ashton and I use to be friends, so a lot of what happened has to do with old stuff that he and I didn't really sort out I guess."

Greg squinted his eyes at me. "Luna, there's nothing to sort out. Alpha Ashton knows that a woman is off limits once she's found her mate, or is with her mate. So no disrespect, but regardless of whatever you two had unresolved is irrelevant. Our alpha was wrong. He deserves what's coming to him." Greg's voice turned dark, he looked at the ground and continued to walk. I felt maybe this subject was touchy for him for some reason. I knew what he said was completely right though but he was speaking against his own alpha, something I learned that wasn't really okay to do. Especially to me, the Luna of another alpha. He was safe with me nonetheless.

Ashton was wrong regardless and I needed to start holding people accountable for the bad things that they did without finding ways to put the blame on me. Even if I did care about them. I still did not think Ashton deserved to die though.

As we approached Eleanor's in silence, Conor turned to us. "Maybe we should go help Alpha Ashton, maybe we could help things not to turn so deadly." "Not a good idea." I told him. "Kingsley and Kale are on a mission. They alerted the commanders and basically all of the alphas to find Ashton. If you find him and help him, you could die too." I explained. Taylor nodded and adjusted the straps on her dress. "You guys should stay here tonight, it'll be more safe for you."

"Yeah" Eleanor agreed. "At least until the sun comes up."

The night wasn't totally ruined by Ashton. We sat in Eleanor's kitchen with the guys and I listened to stories about how they grew up and how Ashton became alpha. The position was passed down to him by his father. His father lead the pack very well, until he fell ill. He didn't have any other kids to leave his pack to so he had to leave Ashton in charge. Ashton didn't run his pack very well, he actually didn't run it at all. Collin was the brains, and Ashton was the show-er. He walked around like the big bad alpha, with his head up in the clouds- is how they described him. He wasn't mean or anything, he just didn't know What he was doing or even took interest in getting to know his pack and organizing things and so forth. His pack wasn't United like ours, they weren't family oriented like ours and I felt bad. I felt like Ashton needed to find his mate to straighten him out.

Greg and Conor grew up in the pack and had been friends since they were babies. Their parents were close friends so they made sure their kids grew up close. Greg's dad left his mother for a younger woman when he was 15 years old though and she had been a single mother since then. He was now 24 and it was still only him and his mother. Conor's parents were a great and impactful support system throughout the ordeal, Greg explained fondly.
I now understood why it angered him so badly that Ashton did what he did to me. His parents were mates, yet his father still pursued another woman. It made me think this mate bond stuff wasn't as strong as I was taught.