Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future

Marco's POV

I'm so proud of my Luna. We've been training her for almost three months and she could, like, seriously

be an assassin if she wanted to. She doesn't have a cold heart for that kinda shit though. And no way

Alpha Bronx would let her do that kind of work anyway.

Anyway, she’s doing so well now that James and | both get Sundays off as long as she doesn't have to

leave the packhouse.

Honestly, even if she did, she can defend herself but ain't no way either of us would let her be put in

that position. She does her best to try to stay in on Sundays unless it’s real important. She cares about

us like that.

James tags in for his shift around eleven- thirty on Friday night and | head out. My buddies convinced

me to go to a strip club that caters to werewolves. I'm not all into that kind of club but there’s only so

much COD a guy can take.

The club is loud and smokey. Tyree hooked us up with a VIP booth. Everyone here knows we're Blood

River, so they give us a bit of extra space. Three cute girls come over with bottles of liquor. They start

pouring shots and pull some of the guys to private rooms.

Tyree and | hang out at the table and catch up on things. Since I've been assigned to the Luna, we

haven't been on any security detail together. He works under Beta Milo doing more covert shit. He can

only tell me so much about work but he does tell me he found his mate. She lives in another pack and

they're working it out so she can move to Blood River.

"That's awesome man!" I clap his shoulder as we both grin.

"Well? What about you? I thought for sure the Latino lover boy would have found his mate by now," He

shakes his shoulders at me as he jokes. »°

"I mean, I dated a few girls but nothing serious. I haven't found my true mate yet.

Clash keeps insisting I'll meet her soon but he's been saying it for months now."

“Don’t worry, Marco. You'll find her. The Moon Goddess knows what she’s doing,” he reassures me as

a Cute girl with another tray of shots comes over to the table. We party until the club closes and head

to our normal all-night dinner for some drunk food before getting a home. All in all, it's a good night.

On Wednesday, we get on the jet headed to France so the Luna can report in with the Coven. James

and I accompany her and Delilah gets to see her mom. Alpha Bronx joins us, cause he's going to the

Lune D'or pack while we're in the witches’ realm. He says ain't no way he's gonna leave his Luna's side

anymore and with as much shit as those two been through, shit, I don't blame him. He's not allowed to

come stay in the witches' realm cause Lady Camille thinks it’s too distracting for the Luna, so Lune D'or

is as close as he can get.

After James and I register our guns and knives with pack security at the gate, we get to the castle and

an omega shows us to our rooms. I take first shift so James can get some shut-eye.

I drop my bags in my room and head to the hallway outside the Alpha and Luna’s suite. The Luna said

she wants to get in a quick nap before she and the Alpha go see Alpha Henri. Based on the look in her

eyes, there ain't no sleeping going on in that room right now, if you get what I'm saying. ©

It's been about an hour when I hear people walking down the hall. The palace is round shaped which

means the hallways are curved. It makes security a pain, but nothing you can do about it. Right?

Anyway, I hear people coming and Clash is going crazy in my head.

"I got this, jefe, calm down!"

"She's coming this way, Marco!” he bounces off the walls of my brain.

"Excuse me,” I call out, using my best authoritative tone. I put my hand on my gun, but I don’t unholster

it. I don’t want to have to use it here, “This is a temporarily restricted area."

"We just want to bring a basket of pastries for the Alpha and Luna,” a woman calls out in a thick French

accent.

The overwhelming smell of cilantro and sweet fried platanos maduros hits my nose. I've never smelled

anything so delicious in my life. Not even at my Mama’s house. I feel like my brain is starting to

malfunction. 2 The women come around the bend and there she is. An ebony beauty with eyes like

dark chocolate, hair in little twists all over her head, and a light blue sundress to set off the beauty of

her dark skin. The rest of the world melts away and all there is, is her and me and i am just fine with

that.

"MATE!" Clash yells over and over. My body goes into autopilot and I stride up to her, pinning her

against the wall. I feel Clash take control as he breathes in her scent. : “Mate,” he growls. I try to pull

him back, but he’s not having it.

Her eyes turn completely black, letting her wolf come to the surface too, as she breathes deep,

grabbing me by the front of my shirt to pull me closer to her.

The other woman starts screaming, “STOP HIM! He’s attacking Musu! Someone help!”

There is a commotion behind me, but it might as well have been a thousand miles away. All i can focus

on is the bombshell of woman in front of me. Someone grabs me by the shoulders and tries to pull me

away from my beauty.

"Don't let them take her!" Clash howls. In one quick motion, I drop my left shoulder and spin to the

right. I pull my gun as | turn

using my right elbow to forcefully push the attacker's arms down. The maneuver puts my mate safely

behind me with the gun aimed inches from the attacker's face before he can make another move. He

doesn’t flinch but he slowly holds his hands up in

surrender and glares at me with one green eye, growling dangerously in return. The whole hallway

reverberates from the sound.

“Marco, lower your fucking weapon,” his fangs are extended as he growls using his Alpha tone.

Oh my Goddess, it's Alpha Bronx. Oh, I’m fucked. °

I raise my hands out in surrender and slowly start to lower the gun when he swipes it out of my hand,

puts the safety back on, and hands it to James. All without breaking eye contact. I look around and see

the hallway is full of people, including ranked members from Lune Do'r. I am definitely fucked. | fully

bow my head in submission. Alpha Bronx doesn't say another word, he just grabs me by the back of

the neck with his claws extended and throws me into his suite. He slams the door behind him, leaving

me alone. I wish he would've just snapped my neck and gotten it over with.

“He's taking our mate away!” Clash howls as he hears more commotion in the hallway.

There’s so many people talking and yelling, even with wolf hearing, | can’t make anything out.

“Clash, we almost murdered our Alpha. We're about to be fuckin’ banished, ese! And we in France. | i

don't know French. You know any French? Cause if we a rogue in France, we're gonna need to learn it

really fuckin’ quick.

Our mate is the least of our problems right now,” I yell at him as | pace in front of the door. : The noise

in the hallway dies down. My mate's scent fades as she gets further away. | stop pacing and stare at

the door for what seems like forever. Where did they take her? Did they forget I am in here?

Luna Kas opens the door and steps in with James. They have some serious ass looks on their faces.

“Come with us, Marco,” she says solemnly.

“Luna, am I getting banished? Cause if so, can I please grab my bag?” I beg.

“Come on, Marco. We have to go to Alpha Martin's office,” James says, putting his hand on my

shoulder.

I sigh heavily and let James lead me out the door. I feel like my heart can’t beat cause it's being

crushed. I’m losing my mate and my pack on the same day. We walk through a maze of halls to the

Alpha’s office. James knocks and opens the door when someone inside permits entrance.

We step in and there's a ton of people in there. One of them is my mate. She looks at me with tears in

her eyes. I just want to go over and pull her into my arms to comfort her. | hold Clash back and force

myself to stand on the spot, putting my eyes to the floor. I can't look at her if she's sad and i can't hold

her.

Alpha Martin stands up behind his desk, “ Marco, our dear Musu has cleared the air and advised us

that you are her mate and that you were not, in fact, attacking her, but submitting to the call of the mate

bond. i think almost everyone in this room can attest it is something impossible to deny. “Now, the

problem we are facing is Musu is the twin sister of my Beta. He is not mated yet and she is acting as

the female Beta until that time comes. As we all know, you are a personal security guard and trainer for

Luna Kas, so it is not as simple as having you join our pack.”

I look up at him. Did he just say mate is a Beta?

“So, Alpha Regent Bronx. Luna Regent lokaste, and I have discussed with Musu. We are going to allow

you two to spend from now until Friday morning getting to know each other. Then you will go to the

Coven for your security detail. Musu will remain here so we can discuss how we can diplomatically

handle this situation.”

I look around, eyes wide. I’m not getting banished? I get to spend the next two days with my mate?

Wait. If she's French, does that mean I still need to learn French?

“Thank you, Alpha Martin, thank you Alpha Bronx. I-I don’t know what to say,” I bow deeply to the two

Alphas.

My mate walks toward me and grabs my hand, making sparks fly between us. She leads me out of the

office without a word. As soon as we are out of the office, she starts running, pulling me behind her. I

have no idea where we're going, but as long as I get to be with her, I don’t care.