Torn Between Enemy Alphas

Chapter 32- Again?

A/N- I definitely owe you at least a double update this weekend. Things are getting super busy with back to school, but I will definitely try harder to get my weekly updates up on time! Sorry about that!

"When I first found this place it almost made me believe that magic still existed in the world." Alice had slung the bag with the limited toiletries that they had, over her shoulder, but she'd dropped her clothes from the day next to the sleeping bag and hadn't gotten dressed again. Fin adjusted himself in his jeans and wondered if there would come a time when he was around his mate when he wouldn't be as hard as a rock. He was beginning to feel vaguely like a teenager again.

"Almost, huh? Just almost?" He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against his chest and she felt a smile on her lips. She couldn't help but be surprised at how many times she had smiled despite the situation they had found themselves in over the last few days.

"Well I guess I hadn't met you yet. And by the Goddess, I can't believe how cheesy we sound. Fin. People are going to be getting sick if we're like this when we get back to your pack." She turned towards him, still covered in grim and blood and tilted her head up to look at him. One of his hands was clasped firmly on her lower back, holding her body against his, while the other was holding the solar lantern as he stared down at her in the circle of yellow light that the handy little device cast around them.

"Oh they won't get sick when they see us. They're going to be too busy falling in love with you. You know how packs are with their Lunas."

"I really don't." Alice pulled away, grabbing his hand as she began to lead him towards the lake. "I hardly remember what Kate's mom was like. I mean I knew her. But she was really really quiet. She kept to herself. She was in bed a lot. I remember Kate saying that she was sick all the time when I asked."

"My mom would say that too. They were friends, but my mom didn't get to see her or talk to her very often, even though they were the Alpha and Beta female of the same pack. But we had picture albums in our house, and it was full of photos of her and my mom when they were younger, because I remember my mom showing them to Kate and me once, and Kate was so excited to see them. They'd been cheerleaders together and her mom had been the student body president and all kinds of things."

"And Kate was so surprised. She didn't know about any of it." Alice shook her head. "It was just so weird. It never really felt like our pack had a Luna, like in the stories. And I know people said that I was like our Luna, but I don't feel like that's true." She blue a long, slow breath out through her nose.

"I knew you weren't his mate, Allie, but you are a Luna. And I imagine having you there, after all that time without a Luna was very comforting to the people of your pack. Because I do truly believe that you are a True Luna. And maybe that's part of why you were born to your pack. To comfort Amber Moon after so much sorrow."

Alice shook her head, but didn't speak.

"It's just a little bit further." They had been heading steadily downward at a gradual incline for about five minutes.

When they rounded a final corner, Alice murmured "watch your head" and Fin had to duck a bit to fit through a narrow, low opening in the rock, but when they came through on the other side they stepped into the largest cavern he'd seen yet and this time there was no need to run down the battery on the lantern. He switched it off quickly, his eyes wide as he stared at the scene before him.

The lake was enormous and it sparkled and glittered a vibrant, clear turquoise before him. No, it did more than sparkled. It glowed. The water glowed. And it lit the entire cavern from within so that it was nearly as bright as day.