Chapter 11

When I finally started to come around I felt a weight holding me down. I tried to sit up but I was met with a grunt and strong arms pulling me closer. I smiled. Max, I thought to myself and then what happened last night came flooding all back. How could I have done that, I couldn't believe myself I had to make this right I needed him, I wanted him, so I turned over so I was facing him, he looked so peaceful and beautiful. I loved the way his hair fell over his eyes and the way his lips pursed like he was concentrating on something. I moved my hand to brush the hair away and began tracing the lines of his face. He smiled but didn't open his eyes.

I reached up to lightly kiss his lips when I felt his arms come around me and crush me in a fierce hug. I laughed."I thought you were asleep?" I whispered.

"I am hush now, go back to sleep." he grunted but he was smiling he still hadn't opened his eyes.

"Max" I pouted wanting him him to wake up so I could talk to him. "Max" I whinned again this time poking him. The next thing I knew he flipped me so I was completely under him. He was smiling with his sleepy eyes full of laughter. 

"So you wanted me up, huh?" he paused his lips turning up into a smirk and his eyes had an almost evil twinkle in them, s**t I thought to myself.

"I'll show you what happens when you wake me up." he said in my ear. The next thing he did was start tickling me. I mean everywhere. I know it doesn't sound bad but honestly I was one of the most ticklish people out there so it was like pure torture to me. I laughed until I was crying. He finally stopped and hovered over me his eyes locking mine into a gaze his lips were right over mine.

"I'm so sorry Max for last night please forgive me." I said as I felt a tear run down my face. He looked at me funny and wiped away my tear.

"Angel you have nothing to be forgiven for. I should be asking you that question. I'm sorry I didn't think about what all this was like for you. I love you and I only want the best." he said then he lowered himself the rest of the way and kissed me.

 It was a slow kiss. He was holding himself up on one elbow keeping his weight off me but his body was touching all of mine it didn't take much to get me heated up so before he could ask for entry I opened for him and he didn't wait before he pushed his tongue in. It wasn't a rushed kiss he was showing me just how much he loved me. My heart swelled. I knew he should be mad but I didn't care. 

I felt my arms go around his waist and I as I lifted his shirt up so I could feel his skin he groaned. Hell, here I go again. But it wasn't only my fault, I could feel his excitement growing against my leg so I smiled and just kept on I needed to feel his skin. He deepened the kiss. His other hand trailed down to my side and lifted up my shirt. As soon as he touched my skin the tingles started, the heat began to swell and I moaned. Why did this happen every time we touched. 

I knew I was going to have to get over my fear regarding my lack of sexual know how really soon and get myself ready because I knew I wouldn't be able to just settle for this much longer. He must have sensed my hesitation so he quickly kissed me twice before he rolled off of me and pulled me into his side nuzzling near my mark. I wondered why he rarely kissed it.

"Ivey, I love you" he said as he stroked my hair. 

"I love you to" I replied and I really did. And we fell back to sleep.

######

I woke up to yelling in my head. "Max get up we need to finish talking, your dad found out some more stuff last might. Get up or were coming in after you!"  I growled, damn what a way to wake up it was Jared and Damien through my link. Damn not the way I wanted to wake up. 

I looked over and Ivey was peeking at me through one eye. "Why are you growling?" she asked as a smile appeared on her face.

I guess we were ok after last night maybe Emma was right she just needed time."We were being summoned." I groaned and got up out of bed. I felt her eyes on me as I walked to the bathroom. 

So I turned and wrinkled my brows "If you like what you see, its all yours. You just have to ask." I said laughing as she threw a pillow at me. I shut the door in time for it to hit. I heard her groan from behind and I laughed. I had to give it to myself that was a good one. My wolf even laughed it was a start he still wasn't really talking to me.

After I got done with my shower, while Ivey was taking her's I decided I better go get us some breakfast. The likely hood we could avoid mom in the kitchen was slim. I just wasn't sure if Ivey could handle that right now.

My mom means means well and I love her a ton but she has a tendency to get carried away and with Ivey being my mate, she'd probably try to drag her out for wedding preparations. Not that I wasn't planning on that, just not yet. So I hustled into the kitchen and grabbed some yogurt, granola and juice. It would hold me over for a small while but it was worth the hunger to keep Ivey sane right now.

As I ran back up the steps I pushed out through my link to dad, Jared and Damien that we were going to finish eating and we would meet them in thirty minutes in the office. I managed to get all the way back inside my room both before Ivey got out of the bathroom and I was seen by any other person in my pack. I know it was a cowards way, but I just wasn't up for anything else now.

As Ivey stepped out of our bathroom I whistled. Yeah I know but I couldn't howl the way my wolf was so I thought whistling sufficed. She look gorgeous in a pair of torn skinny jeans and a black tank. She was barefoot and her toenails which I hadn't noticed before were painted a hot pink. I thought it was super sexy. My wolf agreed. 

"I got you some breakfast." I grinned as I motioned to the food on the dresser. "I figured we could avoid the others for just a bit longer." I finished as I closed the distance between us. Picking her up and twirling her around. It made her giggle so my wolf and I had succeeded. We loved that sound. So I put her down and patted her butt. It was such a nice butt.

As soon as we finished eating I led her back toward my dads office. The closer we got the more she began to tense up. I could feel her fear it was hitting me right in the gut. So before I opened the door I wrapped my arms around her and started kissing her on the neck. Hesitating right over my mark. She arched her neck back into me so I decided to give in. I closed my mouth over her mark and gently began to suck. It took all of two seconds before her hands came up and wrapped around my head. Yup I thought she loves me. I grinned and kissed the mark twice. She whimper when I pulled away but I just hugged her than turned us so we could walk in.

Once inside we made our way back to the same couch. We were the last once to arrive. Once we got settled my dad was getting ready to start when I heard Ivey clear her throat.

"I wanted to apologize to all of you for my outburst yesterday. It was rude of me, all of you have been so kind trying to help me. Can you please forgive me?" she said softly looking down at her hands.

I started to speak but my dad stopped me. He came around his desk and got down in front of Ivey he placed his hand over her hands. "Ivey, can you look at me please?" She looked up at him her face full of sadness and regret her eyes already brimming with tears. All of this was so hard for her. She had been alone for so long. "You do not need to apologize. Everyone here understands how hard all of this is. We all want to help so please don't apologize just if you could do me one favor though?" my dad smiled at her

"Yes anything" Ivey replied immediately

"Please don't block us out. Everyone in this room wants the best for you especially Maddox. Please allow us to help you." he finished and patted her hand before standing up and going back to his chair.

Ivey nodded and Dad smiled at her then turned to face the rest of us. "I want to first say after we finished last night I called the elders to tell them about Ivey's mark. It filled in some holes that we had but we still have some unanswered questions that I fear we will have to wait awhile to get there answers. Are you all ready for me to continue where we left off?" he asked waiting for the murmurs of yes to stop.

He leaned back in his chair "So legend says that the Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack fell in love with a human. It was said it was a true bond mate love.  A gift directly from the goddess herself, no one is sure if that is true. There is a lot of doubt surrounding that part of the legend though. No one really knows exactly what happened but something in there bond broke. It happened when you would have been around 5 Ivey. It's said that Alpha Turner lost his mind. He began to search out any mate who had rejected there bond for any reason and killed them the on site. Never asking the reason, it then moved to any bonded mate that had a daughter around 5 whom I'm guessing now resembled Ivey. He began I suppose, seeing your mom in every wolf. Apparently all the Crescent Moon Pack followed him and know one knows exactly what happened but one day they all just disappeared. Now I am positive there is way more to the story but this is just what we were able to dig out of the archives and old notes taken back in those days." he stopped to look at Ivey. His face was contorted with pain.

Ivey had her head bowed and I could see the tears falling on her hands but what killed me was the guilt I felt coming through our bond. She felt herself responsible. I shook my head why would she think that. I wrapped my arms around her pulling her close to my chest. I kissed her head and stroked her hair while she cried softly never making a sound. I finally felt her try to straighten up.

"I think I might be able to answer why some of this happened." she said slowly. Her voice was laced with pain. "When my mom was drunk when I was about 10 she use to tell me I ruined her life. It didn't matter I'd heard that since I was 5 but this time her story was a little different she told me it was my fault. If I hadn't been born then dad wouldn't have felt responsible and when she left he wouldn't have continued looking for her and finding her. She said I was never wanted and that dad could only stand to be around me for a few years. Then when he couldn't take it anymore he left." she sighed looking up with her eyes bright with tears. "I never understood what she meant I don't know if that was true or just her twisted version of what happened. By this time mom was sick, she wasn't herself anymore. I honestly don't know how much of her story was true, but this was the first time she spoke of dad like this."

 

She continued though. "I knew there was more so when I was about 12 she was home from a binder and this time she wasn't alone. She had another women with her. I found out this women was my aunt. When mom finally got tired of beating me she told me that if it hadn't been for me she could have kept the man she truly loved and my dad wouldn't have followed her or cared. She said I was evil just like him." she shrugged. "I guess we know who broke the bond."

I was way past listening to what she said. I had only gotten a small glimpse into what Iveys life had been like. I couldn't stop myself I was loosing control.

All of a sudden my dad shouted "Jared, Damien get him out now!!!!!!"

Iveys head snapped over at me and her eyes grew huge. But I couldn't stop myself. I knew I was scaring her but I couldn't get control over my wolf. When I felt arms yanking me out of the room I didn't fight them I let them I shifted as soon as we made it to the kitchen.

######

I stared at Max my eyes so wide they hurt. I knew there was nothing I could do he was actually scary. He had a feral look in his eyes and was shaking. I could feel his anger. I hadn't said everything my mom or aunt had told me. It was just to much. I watched Jared and Damien struggle to get Max from the room.

As soon as they left. I felt Emma put her arms around me. "They'll take care of him. I promise. His wolf couldn't take what had happened to you." she tried explaining.

That only made me start to cry. If he couldn't handle that small thing how was he going to handle the rest. I decided I need to tell Alpha Coleman so he could decided before we went any further if he wanted me with his son. 

So I took a deep breath and looked at him."There's a lot more to my story that I think you need to hear and then if you decide its to much I'll leave and disappear." I said my voice shaking.

Alpha Coleman was frowning at me. "Go ahead" he said.

I could feel Emma's arms still wrapped around me as she squeezed my arm for encouragement so I continued. "This time wasn't the first time she had beaten me but it was the worse. I landed in the hospital for a week. A concussion, some bruised ribs, a black eye, and a broken arm were most of the severe injuries, but before I blacked out my aunt was screaming about my dad kidnapping mom and mom was arguing that dad was always spouting that she was his soul mate. They laughed at that, my mom said she hated my dad and she tried to get rid of me when she was pregnant but he locked her up so she couldn't get away." I paused to take a breath and wipe my eyes 

"Things kept getting worse. Mom would leave for weeks on end only to come back drunk or stoned, usually not alone. When I was 15 she came home with two men this time. I tried to hide in my room like I always did. I guess my mom and one of the guys had passed out so the other man came stumbling in my room. He tried to grab me but I kept dodging him. I'd had a lot of practice dodging people. When he finally caught me he was furious and told me he'd teach me some manners. He started hitting me and then he said he'd show me what a real man was." I heard a growl come from Alpha Coleman.

But I had to go on. Emma grabbed my hand and began squeezeing it.

"When he finally had me pinned down I almost gave up but as he was pulling his pants down he let go of one of my hands. You see I always slept with a knife under my pillow, so when I felt it I reacted he had started to put his hand in my ..... You know and I freaked. I don't know how many times I actually stabbed him there was so much blood. My screams must have woken up my mom because she came running in there but instead of helping me she started screaming I was just like him and thank god she was going to be rid of the burden. Now the cops were going to put me away forever. So I ran. I ran for a month before I began to feel a little safe. After a year of running I ended up here." I paused. "Now you know what I've done. I've killed someone. If you want me to leave I'll understand." I said as I looked down feeling my heart break, my future full of happiness slip away the tears quit falling. I was nothing. I was hollow.

It didn't even registered that Alpha Coleman had moved until I felt his big arms around me crushing me into him and craddleing me in his lap. Rocking me. He was crying. I could hear Emma crying next to me.

I heard Alphas voice in my ear "My dear sweet child. You will never know hurt again. You will never be alone again. You are worth more then I can even described you are a part of us. You are to be our Luna. We will protect you because you are worth it." he pulled my chin up tears had started falling

"Ivey I'm so so sorry that you had to experience that. Know you will never worry again. We are your family now." he kissed my forehead and then nodded to Emma he put me in her lap then walked out the door

######

I couldn't believe what I had heard. How could anyone be so cruel to a child. I shut my eyes trying to shift back. It was hard but I was yelling at my wolf our mate needed us and this wasn't helping so he finally allowed the shift. Jared handed me some clothes and I got dressed. I dropped to the ground and put my head in my hands.

"Are you ok man?"  I heard Damien push through our link. 

"I don't know"  I replied I had a feeling this was only the tip of the iceberg. I had this horrible nagging feelings things were about to get much worse. 

"Emma just told me they're ok but that we might want to go find your dad. Apparently Ivey wasn't done with her story. She told your dad because she thought he might make her leave. She though he would think she wasn't good enough."  Jared said through quietly. A growl erupted I couldn't help it. He wouldn't dare. 

"No no man Emma said your dad was great she just said he might need to be calmed down to."  Jared shrugged.

This couldn't be good I thought to myself as we all got up in started to search for my dad. It didn't take long though. We all three stopped dead as we saw furniture being launched through the windows in the rec room. My mom came running up to us

"I can't get your dad to calm down!" she cried frantically. "What happened, what's going on Max and why are you not with your mate." she was really freaking out.

"I don't know what's happening mom, Ivey's fine having girl time with Emma" I said hoping it would be enough. I looked at the guys and we all took off toward the rec room. 

It was completely trashed by the time we got there. We all stood there shocked. No one had ever seen our Alpha loose control like this. I knew he still had some control because he hadn't shifted but not much. I looked over surveying the room. All the pool tables had been flipped. The tables and couches were laying in the yard. Anything not bolted down was either smashed or had been thrown.

To say I freaked was an understatement. What in the hell happened. I was in full panic mode.

"Emma! Emma!"  I tried to push through to her link. She wasn't answering, my wolf started to panic. I wondered what could she have said to make dad react like this. "Emma, please what's going on. Dads freaking out down here. Is Ivey ok? Please just let me know if she's ok."  I tried pleading through my link

"She's ok Max, get control over Alpha then come here. Ivey needs you, but were ok right now."  she finally said her voice was filled with pain I could tell she'd been crying for it to have come across through the link it was serious. Jareds head snapped up at me at the tone of his mate. He hadn't heard our conversation he'd just felt her through our link.

"She's ok man it's Ivey she's upset about, can you guys handle this?" I asked begging looking at dad and the room. I know I should have stayed but our mate needed us and there was no other choice

Damien nodded "We'll handle this."

I started to turn to leave when "STOP" shook the room. Dad was full alpha now causing all of us to cringe. Normally that tone had no affect on me due to my alphaship so this must be serious I thought.

"Leave her be son, she needs time with Emma right now." he said trying to calm himself. 

I didn't understand why couldn't I help her I was her mate. I started to turn for the door when I felt dads hand on my shoulders. "Don't, we need to talk before you go up there, alone. " he said looking at the guys. They nodded and left the room 

"What's going on dad, why can't I go up to her?" all the remaining control I had snapped and I spun on him. He just stood there his shoulders slumped looking broken. It stopped me mid stride. He was broken. The man I knew that was strong never afraid looked small, his eyes were red I could see the tears threatening to fall, he just shook his head.

"I probably shouldn't do this but you need to know." he forced himself to say then without warning he forced a replay of the conversation he had with Ivey and Emma.

I froze I could feel her pain, how scared she was. She was so brave I thought hearing the first part. But when she came to the second part I felt my dad's fingers digging into my skin. I couldn't stop the growls coming or my shaking I felt like I was going to be sick. I felt my whole heart breaking for what she had been through and when dad got to the end I felt my wolf leave he couldn't deal with it anymore then the numbness set in.

 When dad was done we just stood there staring at each other. Then I snapped I couldn't stop myself I had to make her feel better it was my job to protect her. I had failed her. I know that was plain insanity but I still felt it. I turned and ran.  

When I got to the top of the stairs I stopped I knew I had to get control over myself and my wolf. So I took a few deep breaths in trying to find which room they were in. Our room. I stopped to listen at the door silence so I slowly opened it afraid she would be gone. There she was curled in a ball with Emma curled around her both of them asleep. I felt the tears come then I just stared at them I couldn't stop them.

"Jared,"  I pushed through the link "Can you come to my room and take Emma home. I think she needs you." I said then I put up all my blocks I didn't want to be bothered I just wanted to be with my mate.

As Jared walked by he patted his hand on my shoulders then walked in I'm guessing dad filled them in on the high points. He picked up Emma and left. I shut the door turned off the light and went to lay down with my mate. As I wrapped my arms around her I and my wolf vowed she would never feel pain again and I went to sleep holding onto her tightly.

Author's Note

same as the previous chapters all help is appreciated