The Beast's Possession

**Zion

pov**

A little birdy decided to whisper a secret to me. What secret, you might ask? Only the best kept secret about the one and only Luna Aife.

The sneaky little thing was about to reach her grand age and meet her wolf for the first time in a week.

Only seven days to get ready and that little, sneaky brat didn't even think about bringing it up.

I wished I could give her some shit about it, but sadly, I couldn't.

The fact about the birthday came up in a weird way, I would say. Aife was in the kitchen with the staff when one of the cooks mentioned a food delivery and Aife asked about when it would arrive. Long story short, the cook told her and Aife just casually input that three days after the delivery would be her twenty-first birthday.

"Fuck!" I hissed under my breath as I focused on browsing the website, frantically looking for the decorations we could get over here before her big day.

It was an important birthday, there was no way I would allow her to act as if it meant nothing. If only I had a little more time, I would make it into the party of the century!

The knock on the office door startled me so much, I jumped to my feet and screamed like a girl. Yeah, not the most Beta thing to do, but I wasn't expecting a visitor at this time of the day either.

As the door opened, slowly as hell, my heart kept hammering in my chest and I quickly shut off every device that could give out my plans in case the unexpected guest was Aife.

However, when Kala's beautiful, yet worried face came into view, I fell back on the chair and breathed out a sigh of relief. "Damn it, babe, you scared the soul out of me just now," I muttered and placed a hand over my mouth.

Slowly, she closed the door behind her and stepped closer to the desk, tilting her head and watching me as if she could read me without asking questions.

"You are hiding something there," she muttered and pointed a finger at the closed laptop.

My eyes instantly widened. How??

Against every survival instinct within me, I shook my head and lied to my mate's face, "no, I'm not. You're imagining things. I have no secrets, especially from my mate. Why are you thinking so low of me? You don't trust me? Even a little bit?" At one point, I realized I was digging my own grave so I shut up and pretended to be oblivious. The more I spoke, the clearer the imaginary picture was painted - Kala knew I was hiding something and I was too shit of a liar to hide my plans for any longer.

And while I fought my inner turmoil, all she did was stare at me, making it so much more harder for me to remain silent.

Not for long, though, because apparently I was incapable of dealing with this amount of stress and just broke, spilling every detail about my secret.

After I was done admitting what I was hiding and even told her more, Kala just smiled and sat down. "I didn't even have to poke you and ask questions, you told everything on your own. Good mate, I'm proud of you." Okay, why did my heart just start beating a little bit faster and where did the pleasant, warm feeling in my chest come from? Was I losing it? I had to be.

The smile that spread across my lips had to be wide enough to split my entire face in half. I couldn't believe that a little remark could ever make me this happy, but it was possible, only if the words came from her mouth.

"So what is our plan?" Kala asked, looking at me with that twinkle in her eyes that had to mean she was excited.

Leaning back in the chair, I grinned at her. No matter how high my expectations of a mate were in the past, I believed I had hit the jackpot.

"I was thinking that maybe we could order some decorations, you could act as my spy and find out what her favorite foods are, and then, we could involve the entire pack to bring her some gifts and think of games we could play. I'm a little worried that Bane won't be back by next week, so I don't know if making him a part of our plan would be a good idea." I explained, secretly wishing Kala would be on the same page as me.

She flashed me a gentle smile and nodded her head. "Yes, I think that's an amazing idea. Aife is a wonderful woman and she deserves the best. I heard how she was talking to the kitchen staff about her birthday, and to me, it sounded like she really didn't care about it. As if it's another regular day."

My eyes widened in shock, my jaw fell nearly to my feet. "Any other regular day? Are you serious?"

Kala nodded again, "Yes, I'm dead serious. Honestly, this worries me a little because from what I have heard about wolves, twenty-first is a big deal for everyone. She gets to meet her wolf and possibly find her mate, right? How is that not a big deal?"

"That's the same thing I was thinking. How is this not a big deal? her entire life is going to be changed forever. Everyone has to celebrate this day with her," I stressed, unable to wrap my head around how careless Aife was about her big day. It was unfair.

No, she was unfair. To herself and others too. We wanted to celebrate our Luna, we wanted to show her how much she means to us and how much she truly deserves. There was no way I would allow her to sweep this under the rug and pretend nothing was happening.

"Wait, I think I know what might be wrong with her," Kala muttered and stood up from her seat.

I watched her as she started pacing the office and mumbling something under her breath. Whatever thought didn't leave her alone, it almost looked like she was haunted by it as Kala didn't stop even for a second. "Okay, you got me. Tell me too, I will die of curiosity if you don't," I whined.

Kala stopped and turned her whole body to face me. Her eyes were wide, but not in a shocked way, more like that of disbelief. "I can't believe you haven't figured this out yet," she gasped, placing a hand over her chest. I raised an eyebrow. "Haven't figured out what exactly? I'm no magician, babe, and I'm not that smart either, so please, enlighten me."

Kala cleared her throat. "Luna might meet her mate, if he's around here. What if she isn't mated to the Alpha? What if she doesn't want to celebrate the day in which she might possibly lose the man she has fallen in love with? Have you thought about this?"

With every word that escaped my mate's lips, I sunk deeper into the chair I was sitting on. How did she put two and two together so easily while I seemed to struggle to understand the simplest of things?

This was unfair. I wanted to be just as smart as my little mate was!

"You're right, holy shit," I gasped and slapped a hand over my forehead. "What do we do now? Clearly, we can't tell her we're planning something, but we also can't let her sink into some depression or shit either. How do we uplift her spirit and make her excited about this?"

"I think I might have an idea. But for that, you'll need to reach out to Alpha Bane," Kala whispered, stepping closer to the desk and then, fucking finally, walking around it.

There was no obstacle between us anymore, so she didn't feel as far away from me as she did on the other side of the desk. I held my breath as Kala stepped closer, giving me the perfect chance, which I took in a heartbeat.

I reached out, grabbed her hip and pulled Kala to me. She didn't try to pull away as I pulled her into my lap and pressed my lips to her cheek in a quick peck.

"So, are you going to call the Alpha or do I need to leave this room for you to do that?"