Nate

It had been a week since Neo won the challenge against his father. There was a certain...unease that hung in the air of the entire pack. No one knew what kind of Alpha Joseph Lennox's son would turn out to be. The apple not falling far from the tree and all that. I stuck close to Neo; I didn't doubt his abilities to defend himself, but he was still reeling from how he had won. Deaton had taken complete control of his human form...and was so crazed he had almost attacked me. After Neo had woken up after his panic attack he wouldn't stop apologizing on Deaton's behalf. 

It was a rare occurrence of me walking alone when I was cornered by four Joseph Loyalists. The guy was dead, but these guys were determined to keep his values alive. I had seen them at the initial announcement of the new alpha and luna but I hadn't paid attention to their names when Neo's sister Lucilla pointed them out to warn me. Now here they were, thinking they had the upper hand against the 'helpless Luna'.  They weren't even warriors; they were pencil pushers for Joseph. Neo had gotten rid of them first thing, he didn't trust them with the Pack's paperwork and frankly, neither did I.

I pulled out my phone to check the time; it was only mid afternoon so I had time before I had to meet Neo. I surveyed the men in front of me and wondered what my chances were of coming out of this unscathed...I probably would get a cut and possibly a bruise but otherwise I'd be alright.

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, Luna, you can reject our Alpha. We don't have room for the likes of you."

"Ya know, I would...but it would seem my Alpha wants me around. I know for a fact he didn't send you because he can't stand the sight of you."

The rejected overcompensating pencil dicks mouths dropped open, their eyes narrowing and changing to their wolf's. Great, more pissed off homophobes to deal with. The first one, I'll call him Regina, came at me with the ferocity of a Panda Bear; I easily dodged to the left and threw him into the brick wall. He groaned pathetically as he lost consciousness. The next three decided to attack as one; I ducked and swept my leg and knocked all three to the ground; they looked pissed, but sucks to be them because I was angry too. One got to his feet and came at me again, I knocked him out with an uppercut to the chin, the other two decided to attack in tandem like it worked out so well before, I ran at them, flung my arms wide and clotheslined them using their own momentum against them.

Satisfied with my work, I called my dad to come pick them up. I stayed until my dad and a few other patrol wolves arrived. My dad looked at the four unconscious homophobic assholes and looked at me and sighed,

"Is there ever a dull day for you?"

I pretended to contemplate that, and finally said;

"No, just sparkles and rainbows all the time."

My dad rolled his eyes and instructed his wolves to take the dumbasses to the holding cells. My dad gripped my shoulder; worry written all over his face,

"Are you okay?"

"Just a normal day for a male Luna."

"Enough deflection. Are you really okay?"

"A little pissed off that they thought just because I'm a male Luna that I'd be an easy target. Physically I'm fine."

"Alright, go see your mate and update him on what happened."

Neo

I was standing in what was now my office; worried about whether or not I was truly ready for this responsibility. I had basically forced Nate to take a walk alone because he's been glued to my side like an overzealous bodyguard that I occasionally made out with. I heard someone approaching me from behind so I didn't turn around immediately, thinking it was Nate. It was not. I was slammed into the bookshelf and I could feel the wolf breathing hard, 

"You don't deserve to be alpha, you Fairy freak."

"I don't think my sexuality should be an argument in my ability to lead a pack."

"You're weak, you only won because your twink mate tired your Dad out."

"I won because I'm strong, smart, and capable. Now, let go of me before you learn just how capable I am."

I felt something cold and sharp press against my lower back; he had brought a knife and I was betting it was silver. What a fucking coward. I sniffed the air, and could tell that Nate had returned. I was sure he could take care of this guy, or at the very least cause enough of a distraction for me to get the upper hand.

I felt it as Nate threw my assailant away; and the audible crunch and crash as he hit the wall with a giant gilded mirror; and the pissed off growls of the cowardly wolf; I then heard Nate's deep growl, letting me know he'd already been pissed off before he saw me in danger. This guy chose the wrong day to mess with us, I thought Deaton was hard to control, but it turned out that Dixon had an even shorter fuse. I turned around and saw one of the warriors from a few days ago on the ground, Nate's one hand on the back of his neck, and his knee in the small of his back.

"I've had a very exhausting week. I just fought and arrested four homophobes, only to come to my mate's office to see him being held at knifepoint. Do you homophobic douchecanoe's ever get the fucking hint that we aren't pushovers? We're gay, we aren't weak. I've been handing warrior's twice your size their asses since I was fourteen; I've faced down rogues, and watched my best friend die a bloody gruesome death. You don't scare me. If you come at my mate again, if any of your stupid Loyalists come at either of us or our family again I won't be so forgiving next time."

Nate stood, and the dude had the common sense to run out of here with his tail between his legs. Nate turned to me, evident relief on his face. He took me into his arms and checked me over for injuries;

"I can't leave you alone, can I?"

"Well, I can't leave you alone either."

"I won my fight all by myself; what happened?"

"I had my back turned. I heard someone coming but I stupidly thought it was you so I didn't turn around."

"Well, maybe...and this is just a suggestion, maybe you should turn around every time you hear someone approaching and I'm not with you."

"Dually noted. So, four dudes huh?"

"It was easy. They were the pencil dicks you fired a few days ago."

"So I guess I have to be Alpha and call a pack meeting."

"Kinda hot, not going to lie."

"Mm, watching you threaten that meathead coward was pretty hot too."

Nate smirked, and pulled me closer. Our noses touched but before our lips could there was a knock on the door frame, we turned and saw Malcolm and his mate Maria. Maria had the decency to look apologetic for interrupting, but Malcolm had a shit eating grin on his face.

"This better be good." I growled,

"There seems to be a riot in the pack center."

Fuck me. 

Again, that can be arranged.

Again, shut the fuck up Deaton.

***

We made it to the center of the pack and there was indeed a group of angry elder werewolves. I took Nate by the hand and we ascended the stairs to the podium; the group noticed the new leaders and fell silent, having all their attention made me nervous, but having Nate beside me filled me with courage. I had to do what was best for the pack no matter how hard it was.

"Alright! It's come to my attention that some of you aren't happy with the changing of the guard. I get it, you don't like change but you know what I don't like? Homophobic assholes who are incapable of changing or being civil. I'm not the problem. Nate isn't the problem, no one with a mate of the same sex or gender is the problem. Narrow minded, violent, individuals like yourselves are the problem. The Moon Goddess makes the final decision on who our mates turn out to be, we have the choice to reject them but why would you do that? Why would my father want me to do that? Just because I'm gay, just because my mate is a male, doesn't mean we're weak or undeserving of our titles. We won them fair and square. Now you can either get with the times, and continue to be a Pacifica wolf, or you can leave and transfer to a different pack, but I guarantee that most of them will be just as open minded as Purple Moon and what Pacifica will eventually be. I'll give you forty eight hours to decide, you can come to my office at the end of the window to fill out transfer requests or you can just leave and become rogues. Your decision. That is all...now go back to your homes and stop this pointless, childish protest."

There was some grumbling, but the group dispersed and I sagged a little in relief. Why was being Alpha so fucking hard? Nate took me by the shoulders and led me away; Malcolm and Maria close behind us.

"Where are we going?" I asked,

"My house my mom’s making lasagna." Nate answered casually, 

"Awesome! Mrs. O'Rourke is a great cook, you'll love it!" Malcolm whispered excitedly to Maria.

I was just grateful for a place to go. My mom was pretty much catatonic, and my sisters were still in shock that dad was actually dead. We walked into the O'Rourke's home and was met by Csilla O'Rourke, she immediately pulled both Nate and myself into her arms.

"Your dad told me what happened today, are you okay bambino?"

"I'm fine mama. Era facile, vecchi deboli."

"Easy and weak old men or not, you shouldn't have to deal with that!"

"You speak Italian?"

"Italian, Japanese, Celtic, and Spanish. A bit of French too."

"What can't you do?"

"Math." Nate deadpanned and walked further into the house, his mom still clinging to his side.

Malcolm and I exchanged a bewildered look and followed, while Maria looked around at the family photos. She spotted a picture of Vanessa, Vincent, Beckham, Bree, and Sam with Nate and her curious eyes turned to me,

"Who are they?"

"His older sister Vanessa, she goes by Ness, her mate Vincent; don't let his tree like size fool you, according to Nate he's a giant teddy bear. Then we have Beckham the best friend and future Alpha, Bree his mate, and then Sam. Sam passed away over a year ago in a rogue attack. Nate was there...it rattled the whole community. The three of them planned to be the future leaders together."

"Oh that's so sad. Poor Nate." Maria whispered. "I'm going to go give him a hug!"

We watched Maria run off towards the kitchen, shaking our heads. She was just so caring.

"Beckham is kinda hot." Malcolm said,

"He's straight dude."

"So? Doesn't mean Nate never found him hot."

"What's your point?"

"As future Alpha, Beckham will be at the summit in a few months. Are you going to be okay when they inevitably hug?"

"Of course. Not like either of them have romantic feelings for one another. Nate did mention he hoped he'd be mates with Beckham, but that was because he was scared of being rejected. He was never actually attracted to Beckham sexually or romantically."

"Still, having another Alpha touching your mate is probably going to make you jealous."

"I'll be fine. Let's go eat."