#12 The Triplets of Emerald Forest

Gabriel

I had to admit, Harlow was handling all of this better than I thought which had me feeling a bit on edge. I thought that maybe she was just playing along and really was just biding time for when she could escape again. My brothers were already head over heels in love, that much was obvious. I, on the other hand, had more questions. I wanted to know what the deal was with the Moon Goddess appearing to her in her dreams and what she was capable of as our Luna.

Of course, Griffin blasted me the moment I tried to bring up her duties at the Luna. Don’t get me wrong, I’m charmed by our little mate as much as my brothers are, but I’m also not the hand holding type of guy which might not be doing me any favors right now.

“So, you want me to do what, exactly?” Harlow asked, looking like a deer in the headlights with her big, curious doe-eyes.

“Just keep an open mind.” Griffin shrugged with a huge grin on his face.

“And give us a chance.” Godric added.

“What about you?” I was surprised to see that her question was directed towards me.

“Me?” I asked, startled.

“You don’t have any requests for my behavior?” Her tone had just enough attitude behind it that it set my teeth on edge.

“Did I do something to upset you?” I asked, trying to keep my voice even.

“You had a lot to say about my behavior earlier.” She said and I realized I was being punished for my tone towards her earlier today when I found her yelling at Annie and Kori.

“I shouldn’t have raised my voice at you and I’m sorry for that. I just think that you should be kinder to Annie, Kori, and the rest of the girls. They are just trying to help. If you want to be pissed at someone, be pissed at us. Everyone else is.” I grumbled.

She blinked at me, seeming surprised by my response. Everyone was quiet and I was pretty sure that my brothers were holding their breath in anticipation of her reaction.

“I shouldn’t have such an attitude with the girls.” She mumbled and it sounded like she just said I was right. I decided not to push my luck.

“They really do care about you.” I added in a softer tone, “As do we.”

“I’m not sure this is going to end the way you all want it to,” Harlow released a heavy sigh, “But, I will do my best to try and keep an open mind.”

“Thank you.” I said, noticing how she never broke eye contact with me.

Maybe I was doing better than I thought.

“Are you hungry? We would love to get everyone together and have lunch.” Griffin said, pulling Harlow’s attention away from me and towards him.

“Okay.” She nodded in agreement.

I heard Griffin send out a mindlink to the ranked members, our parents, and our sister before standing up. I felt an urge to touch our mate so I beat out my brothers and offered Harlow my hand. She smiled softly and accepted it, allowing me to pull her up from the chair. I was happy to experience the same sparks as before but with even more vigor. She released my hand and I motioned for her to walk ahead of me. She followed Griff out of the room and towards the kitchen.

I laughed when we entered the dining room and found the table already full. Everyone must have made a run for it when Griff mindlinked them, eager to see their Luna out and about instead of being held captive. Harlow stumbled in front of me and I put my hand on her back on instinct. She glanced at me and her eyes were wide, her face pale. I thought that the amount of people here was overwhelming her.

“Are you okay?” I asked in a soft voice and she nodded, regaining her composure.

We had made the decision long ago that, instead of fighting over the head of the table, we would concede it to our Luna. I would sit to her right as the oldest Alpha, and Griff and Ric would sit on her left. I pulled out the head chair for her and she sat, hesitantly, while looking around the room. The three of us took our seats.

“Official introductions.” Griffin said, grinning as he motioned towards his Beta beside him, “This is my Beta, Callie, and her mate Deale. Beside them is Ric’s Beta, Ambrose, and his mate Matti. Next to Gabe is his Beta, Cambridge, and his mate Annie. Then there’s Gamma Waylon and his mate Kori. Lastly, we have our sister, Nova, and her mate Alaska, and our parents, former Alpha Lukas and Luna Clementine.”

Harlow looked overwhelmed as she followed Griffin’s finger around the table. She had met most of the ladies already, but there were still a lot of people for her to memorize.

“Uhm, hi.” She waved weakly and everyone laughed at her. She blushed and, admittedly, it was adorable.

“Oh and here’s chief Amanda.” Griff motioned for Amanda to enter. She had a few more members of the kitchen staff behind her with trays of food.

“It’s nice to meet you, Luna.” Amanda smiled at Harlow who just continued to blush.

Amanda and the staff set the trays out on the table and removed the coverings. She had prepared a plethora of sandwiches, a large garden salad, and several different side dishes. The pitchers of sweet tea also made another appearance in the center of the table.

“What kind of sandwich would you like? I think there’s ham, turkey, and tuna.” I asked, leaning across the table to help my mate.

“Turkey, please.” She said and held up her plate to give me better access.

“Salad?” Griffin asked, already filling a bowl for her. She just nodded and took the chilled bowl from his hand.

“What about potato salad?” Ric asked, not wanting to be excluded.

“Good grief, give that girl a minute.” Nova glared at us, shooing our hands away.

“Nova, if I were you, I’d be extra nice to your big brothers.” I warned her.

“And why is that?” She snapped.

“You ratted us out to our mother.” Ric pointed out and Nova just shrugged,

“You deserved it.”

“She’s not wrong.” Mother smirked at us.

“Harlow,” Annie started but Harlow interrupted her,

“You can all just call me Harlie.” She surprised us by introducing her nickname. Annie’s eyes went wide, indicating that she was also caught off guard,

“Harlie then.” She grinned, “I was wondering if you wanted a tour of the packgrounds after lunch. We could take you.” She said, motioning around the table to the rest of the girls.

“Oh, uhm….” Harlow looked nervous so I jumped in.

“I think that’s a great idea, Annie, but let’s hold off until tomorrow. How does that sound, Harlow?” I asked and she nodded, biting her bottom lip. Her heartbeat was steadily increasing so I knew she was still a ball of anxiety.

“Okay, but no changing your mind. I’m stealing her after breakfast whether you like it or not.” Annie warned me and I just rolled my eyes at her.

I was skeptical about it, but I knew that we needed to give Harlow some space and allow her to build relationships with the other pack members. I was extremely hesitant to let her out of the packhouse, but I knew we had to start trusting each other if this was ever going to work.

After lunch, Harlow seemed overwhelmed so we asked if she wanted some alone time. She agreed but I guess girls do alone time differently because Annie, Matti, Kori, and Nova followed her upstairs. Ric, Griff, and I started down the hallway towards our offices.

“You were pushing the Luna thing too hard too fast today.” Griffin jumped on my shit right away. I sighed loudly,

“She needs to know everything. That’s what she asked for, anyway.” I grumbled.

“Yes, she needs to know what the Luna is but not about all the details and duties you think she should have. She just needs to focus on accepting us, first. I mean, it’s like you don’t care if she accepts us or not.” Griff was throwing a lot of shade my way and I wasn’t liking it.

“In my opinion, she could do nothing as the Luna and be fine.” Ric said from somewhere behind us. I chose to ignore him.

“I do want her to accept us but I don’t think that means we have to give her all the power.” I said, reaching my office and yanking the door open.

“She should have exactly all of the power. She’s the one uprooting her life, she’s the one who’s being introduced to a whole new world and species, and she’s the one who was kidnapped.” Griff snarled at me.

“She wasn’t kidnapped!” Ric yelled as he slammed the office door shut behind us. He was hellbent on proving that she wasn’t kidnapped, and I swear he was ready to die on this particular hill.

“So, our lives are now ruled by a 5 foot tall human being?” I bit, plopping down on the chair behind my desk.

“Yes.” Godric and Griffin both said in unison as they took their own seats.

“That’s your decision?” I asked and they nodded again, “Fine. I will be less judgey and pushy on the Luna duties and focus more on having her accept us.” I finally conceded. We were a team and I had to respect the majority rules ideology we had adapted.

“Thank you.” Griffin nodded, feeling victorious.

There was a knock on our door, and then Ambrose and Cambridge walked in.

“Uh, Alphas?” Ambrose looked very concerned.

“What?” I sighed, knowing that something bad was about to come out of his mouth.

“Isn’t this the Luna?” He asked, smacking a flier down on my desk.