36. I Didn't Know: Charlotte's Pov

QOTD- who would read a human/teen fiction version of this book?

Chapter Goal (for an earlier update): 2k votes

(two months later, 3am at Walmart)

"Which one should I get?" I ask myself, looking at the orange juices displayed in front of me. I already decided on which brand I'm getting, now I just need to decide if I want the 'homestyle' orange juice or the 'vitamin D' one. They both look so good. After fifteen minutes of standing there and mentally debating, I decide to get the one with extra Vitamin D.

'We might as well go grocery shopping.' my wolf says. 'We're already here anyways.'

'True.' I agree with her, pushing the shopping cart towards the dairy section. I grab a gallon of milk and a carton of eggs before continuing roaming around the store. By the time I get to checkout, the shopping cart is loaded with groceries that Xander and I need at home and also random snacks that I've been craving for.

"Char?" someone calls as I'm loading the groceries into the car.

"Hi, Theo." I wave. "What are you doing here so early?"

"I was about to ask you the same question." he raises an eyebrow at me when he sees all of the stuff I bought. "Does Xander know you're out here alone?" he asks, helping me out everything in the car.

"Yeah," I truthfully answer. "I told him that I was craving orange juice and was going to go get some."

"So he doesn't know you left the house without him?"

"He does." I nod. "I woke him up and told him that I was going to the store to buy some things."

"I'm driving you back." Theo takes the keys from me and gets in the driver's seat. "And you might want to call Xander, he just ordered the Elites to start a search party for you. I'll tell them that I found you, but you have to deal with Xander."

"I told him that I was going to the store." I grumble, taking out my phone. I understand why I always have guards around me, but I don't get why Xander sent out a search party when I told him where I was going.

"Who the fuck are you and what do you want with my mate-"

"Good morning, Xander." I cut him off, not liking that he immediately thought that I was being held hostage. "I went to Walmart to get some orange juice. Remember when I told you that?"

"I thought you were kidding!" he exclaims. "Why didn't you tell me to go with you? You know I don't like you being alone, especially when there aren't a lot of people out. Do you know how dangerous that is-"

"Stop acting like you're her dad." Theo rolls his eyes, making his presence known to Xander. "She's safe, don't worry. I found Char in the parking lot when she was about to drive back home."

"Theo you better not be driving my car." Xander growls, causing Theo to smirk.

"Too bad." he taunts.

*** (twenty minutes later)

"Get out of my car, Theo." Xander doesn't even wait for us to park, he just starts walking towards the car while we're still driving forward.

Theo rolls to a stop and slowly rolls down the window. "Can I take your car for the night?" he asks my mate. "I walked to the store and I don't have a ride back home."

"No." Xander shakes his head, looking at Theo like he just requested for two houses and a block of gold. "You can walk home."

"My house is thirty minutes away if I drive! It's gonna take longer if I walk!" Theo argues.

"I don't care-"

"You can spend the night here if you want." I offer, shooting Xander a glare for being so mean to his brother. I'm not sure why, but Xander is less nice when it comes to his younger siblings. "The guest room is all set up."

"NO!" Xander shouts so loudly that a light in Brody's house turns on. "You can't stay here!"

"Why the hell are you yelling at my sister?!?" I see Brody climb out from his bedroom window and start walking across the street, Cade following behind him. "Get your crusty ass away from her!"

This is when Xander turns his attention to my brother, completely forgetting about Theo and I. "Cade, this is Theo, Xander's brother. Theo, this is Brody's mate, Cade." I introduce, motioning for Cade to get in the car. After the guys do their weird greeting ritual, I roll up my window and ask for Theo to lock the doors again.

"So what's going on? Brody and I heard Xander yelling." Cade asks, referring to the commotion outside. Now that he's known Xander and I for a couple months, he's starting to see that Xander and Brody's arguments are really nothing to worry about.

"I went to the store without Xander and he got mad even though I told him that I was going." I explain. "While I w-was at the store, I decided to go grocery shopping and I guess I was out too long b-because Xander started a search party for me. Theo found me in the parking lot, drove me back here, and Xander got mad because he's touching his car."

"Did you wake him up and tell him that you were going to the store?" Cade repeats Theo's question from before.

"I woke him up and asked if he wanted to come with me, but he said no. So I went by myself." I answer, starting to get annoyed at the fact that Xander didn't listen to me again. "And the reason why Xander started yelling is because he doesn't want Theo staying the night. He won't let him take the car back home, so he would have to walk. I offered to let Theo stay in the guest room, but Xander decided to be a butt-hole and said no."

"Did you just call Xander a 'butt-hole'?" Theo laughs after I'm done explaining.

"Yes."

"You and him are something else." Cade chuckles, joining in on the laughter. "Xander mind-linked Brody and I that you were missing, but we checked your Snapchat story and went back to sleep when we saw that you were at the store."

"That's what the other Elites and I did too." Theo nods. "Xander knows that you put everything in your Snapchat right?"

"I told him, b-but I don't think he understands what I meant."

"Old people." Theo disapprovingly sighs.

"No offense, Cade." I say, turning around to look at him. A couple minutes after we have the 'I'm only four years older than you' chat, Cade asks, "Should we stop them before they start hitting each other?"

"They won't get into a fight." I shake my head, watching as Brody and Xander argue. "Xander's afraid hitting Brody because he knows that I'll kill him if he hurts Brody. And Brody's afraid of hitting Xander because he knows I'll be mad at him if he hurts my mate. Brody also d-doesn't want you to see him hit anyone, Cade."

"You have a great way of explaining things." Cade comments.

"I know." I agree with him. "I'm tired."

"Me too."

"Ditto."

*** (four minutes later)

"Goodnight." I say to Theo, closing the door to the guest room.

"Night." he calls back.

After putting away the groceries that Theo helped me bring inside, I go back outside to see Brody and Xander still arguing with each other. "Cade is waiting for you, Brody." I say, pushing the two of them apart. "Xander isn't yelling at me, we just had a small misunderstanding. Si sa come sta. Scusa per sveglia tu e Cade. Buona notte."

"Buona notte."

"What does that mean?" Xander asks as I lead him back into our house. "Why don't you ever say that me? Is it something special? I wanna be special."

"Buona notte means 'goodnight'." I say, answering my mate's first question. "I don't say it to you b-because I only speak to you in English."

"But am I special to you?"

"Yes, you are, Xander."

"How special?"

"Very."

"What are you doing?"

"Getting orange juice." I happily pour myself a glass of the orange beverage. I didn't mean to get Theo, Cade, or Brody involved, I just wanted some orange juice. Nearly one hour later, I finally have it.

"Why does it smell like Theo in here?" he growls, starting to look around for his brother.

"He helped me bring in the groceries."

"What groceries?"

Showing him the now fully stocked kitchen, I sit down near the counter and try to enjoy my orange juice. "You left the house at three in the morning to go grocery shopping? We were supposed to go later today."

"I just wanted some orange juice. And since I was at the store already, I just b-bought the groceries. Sorry for waking you up so early and causing drama." I apologize, starting to feel bad. Not only did I wake up Xander and cause him to panic, I also woke up my brother, his mate, and all of the Elites. "I couldn't sleep and my cravings were getting the best of me-"

"Stop doing that." Xander cuts me off. "Every time you apologize, it's for something that isn't even your fault. You start looking sad and guilty and I don't like seeing you like that. It makes me feel guilty for making you feel guilty."

"I didn't mean to-"

"No." he interrupts once again. "You're pregnant, you're right. I'm not pregnant, I'm not right. We should've went to the store earlier today when you were having cravings."

"Did your dad tell you that?" I ask, knowing that Xander doesn't think like that on his own. My mate is incredibly sweet and romantic, it's just that he has a tendency to forget about circumstances and the fact that I'm so close to delivering our child.

"Yeah, but you know I knew it before he told me, right, sweetheart?"

I nod and finish the last of my orange juice. "Can we go to sleep now?" he doesn't even wait for me to 'yes' or anything, he just picks me up off from where I was sitting and starts heading upstairs. "Is that my hoodie?" he raises an eyebrow at me.

"If you leave something on my side of closet it becomes mine." I tell him, being completely honest. Since my stomach looks like it's ready to pop now, most of my clothes don't fit me anymore. My stretchier pants fit, but I haven't been able to wear my normal t-shirts or tank tops. "Unless it's your pants, I can't wear your pants. They're too big."

"We both need to go clothes shopping." Xander states, still moving up the stairs. He used to move at a normal pace when carrying me, but lately he's been more careful with his movements. "You need maternity clothes."

"No I don't." I deny. Xander's old t-shirts have been useful to me; I'm not taking anything away from him since he doesn't fit them anymore and his old shirts actually fit me now. "I'll only wear maternity clothes for a month, it's a waste of money at this point."

"It's not a waste of money." he says once we enter our bedroom. "You can wear the maternity clothes again if we have more kids."

"Still-"

"Goodnight, sweetheart." he lays us both on the bed and pulls the covers over us, only to have me push them off. "Where are you going now?" he groans.

"To the kitchen, I'm still thirsty."

*** (tomorrow)

Xander's Pov

"GOOD MORNING, BIG BROTHER!" an annoying voice greets me in the kitchen.

"Charlotte let you stay overnight, didn't she?" I ask even though I already know the answer. I should've checked the guest room last night when I smelled Theo in the house, but I was too tired to do so. "Get out."

"I don't have a car to drive home." Theo says, not moving. "Char said that she would drive me home-"

"She doesn't have a driver's license." I cut him off. "She doesn't even know how to drive."

"Yes she does. I taught her to drive and then she took her driver's test." he argues. "How do you think she drove herself to Walmart?"

"She drove herself? I thought you picked her up last night and drove her?" That's the reason why I was being such an ass to Theo and didn't want him to stay here. I didn't even know that Charlotte knew how to drive. "Sweetheart, how did you get to the store last night?" I ask when she enters the kitchen.

"I drove."

"Do you have a license?" She nods. "When did you get it?"

"Six months ago." she casually answers. I debate on asking her if I was suppose to know that; Charlotte has gotten mad at me for not listening before, I don't want her to be mad at me for not knowing about her driver's license. "D-Do you want any breakfast, Theo?"

"No thanks, I'm good." my brother shakes his head. "I'm just trying to convince Xander to let me use his car to get home."

I narrow my eyes, knowing what he's doing. He knows that I'm not going to let him drive my car, so he's bringing it up in front of Charlotte. She'll shoot me a dirty look for being so cruel, causing me to lose my 'good mate' points and offer to drive him home. And as predicted, she shoots me a quick glare and offers Theo, "I'll just d-drive you home."

"There's no need for that." I say through gritted teeth. "I'll drive."

"No, it's fine, Xander." Charlotte walks past me and reaches for the keys. "If you don't w-want to drive Theo, then I will."

"I got it, sweetheart." I try taking the keys from her, but she doesn't let me. In fact, she doesn't look like she wants to be near me at all. This is all Theo's fault. Whenever he's around, he somehow always makes me look a bad guy in front of my mate. And since he's my brother, the effects of his actions are ten times worse.

Charlotte and Brody both hate it when they see others being mean to their family. Sure, they have their fights and arguments, but they never last very long. I've gotten used to Brody's lectures about family and all of that. But when my mate sees me being not so nice to my family members, it has a completely different effect on me. I feel weird and guilty whenever she acts a certain way. "You weren't interested in driving earlier." she says, heading out the door with Theo.

"I want to drive." I block off the front door with my body and try to get my mate to listen to me. "I'm going to drive."

"It's fine Xander. Really." she waves off, visibly annoyed that I won't let her leave. "Why do you suddenly want to drive?"

"Because I don't want you to hurt yourself driving." I answer before adding, "And I don't want Theo to be alone in a car with you. He'll probably annoy the hell out of you, distract you from the road, and then you could crash into something."

"I'm standing right here." Out of the corner of my eye, I see Theo waving his hands for attention, but I ignore him. Instead, I stare at my mate... who's looking up at me like she doesn't believe my answer. "Tell the truth." she looks at me expectantly.

"You know why I want to come along." Charlotte is very aware that I don't like her being alone with other males. I'm more comfortable with Cade and my other brothers being near her than I am with Theo being near her. It's just something about how he and Charlotte get along so easily that my wolf and I see as a threat.

"I'm driving." she declares, taking my hand. "You can come too, but in the backseat-"

"I'll sit in the backseat, Char." Theo says from behind us. "It'll save you from having to argue with Xander."

'STOP DOING THAT!' I yell at Theo through our mind-link.

'Doing what?' he plays dumb.

'Stop making me look bad in front of Charlotte!'

'You already do that on your own-'

'JUST GET IN THE DAMN CAR!' I try to keep my composure as the three of us walk outside. I open the door to the driver's seat like I normally do, but Charlotte gets inside instead. "Are you sure you don't want me to drive, sweetheart?" I ask as casually as possible.

I'd be lying if I said I'm not scared of Charlotte crashing the car. It's not that I don't trust her, it's because she looks like she can barely see over the steering wheel and that her stomach is preventing her arms from reaching out all the way.

*** (forty minutes later)

"Why are you so mean to Theo?" Charlotte questions, now in the passenger's seat. We switched spots the third time she accidentally honked the horn with her belly at a stop sign.

"I'm not to mean to him." I deny, keeping my eyes on the road. "He's just annoying."

"He says he misses when you were nicer to him and when you spent quality time with him." she says, her voice a little bit quieter. "Vince said the same thing. They don't like how you don't spend time with them anymore."

"You talk to my brothers?"

She nods and answers, "I-I talk t-to Theo and Vince almost everyday."

"Why am I just finding out about this?" I ask, finding it weird that I didn't know that my mate is friends with my two younger brothers. Theo I can understand because he's an Elite guard and because he's only two years older than Charlotte, but Vince? As far as I know, they only saw each other two times; at Thanksgiving and during Christmas. "How did you get their numbers? How close are the three of you?"

"I got Theo's number from you and then Vince's number when Theo added him to the group chat." she answers. "We're all pretty close too, our talks are nice."

"What kind of talks do you have?" I suspiciously ask. I'm not worried about Charlotte doing anything, I completely trust her. "What do you three talk about?"

"I don't know, just random stuff."

"Do you ever talk about me?"

"Sometimes." I wait for her to elaborate, but she doesn't look like she's planning on it.

"Well what about me do you talk about?"

"I don't know, it's hard to explain." she shrugs, acting like this isn't a big deal when it obviously is. All of this is new information. I had no idea that she's friends with Vince. Now I know that they talk about me, I need to know what about me they talk about. "But they miss you a lot, Xander."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"They want you to spend time with them."

"I still don't know what that means, sweetheart." I shake my head. "I talk to my brothers all the time"

"You talk to your older brothers all the time. Theo thinks your relationship with him is strictly business since you only talk to him about Elite guard stuff. He and Vince want you to spend time with them." Charlotte explains. "You don't know that b-because you never respond to their texts or calls."

"I do answer their texts and calls." After I say this, my mate gives me a pointed look. "Fine, I don't actually do that. But it's because they always call at the most inconvenient times."

"Brody calls you at inconvenient times, but you still pick up." she points out, bringing her own brother into this.

"Is this conversation about you, Theo, and Vince getting your big brothers back? Do you think I'm stealing Brody from you?"

"No." she groans, holding her head in her hands. "Un uomo potrebbe essere sexy, ma non intelligente. Non si possono avere entrambe... Forse se ho colpito alla testa abbastanza forte, lui diventerà più intelligente." (A man may be sexy, but that doesn't mean he's smart. You can't have both... Maybe if I hit him on the head hard enough, he will become smarter.)

"Can you translate?" I request, even though I know she won't. "If you said something about me stealing Brody from you, I'm not. He's all yours."

"Oh my goddess." she sighs, shaking her head at me. "Just start spending time with Theo and Vince."

"Why?" She starts growling and that's when I know that I pissed her off. "Okay, okay." I quickly put my hands up in surrender and confirm that I'll start spending time with them. That stops her growling, but it doesn't get the annoyed look off of her face.

'Hormones. This is hormones.' my wolf reminds me. 'If mate weren't pregnant, she wouldn't be annoyed at us right now.'

'Yeah.' I agree with him, trying to convince myself that it's just the hormones that's making my mate like this. By the time we get home, she isn't annoyed anymore, but I know that I lost some 'good-mate' points. "M'lady." I say as I open her car door.

"Thank you." she smiles, appreciating my actions. "Hold on, this is gonna take a while."

"Do you need help?" I ask, watching as she tries to get out of the car. Two months ago her stomach just had a slight curve to it, but now her stomach is much larger and it's very clear that she's pregnant. Charlotte's been having trouble sitting up, getting up, and even walking sometimes. Now she has to waddle around.

"I'm good." she breathes out. It takes about two more minutes for her to exit the car. I find it amusing to see her walking funny everywhere she goes, but the way she walks now also scares me a bit. Her walking up and down the stairs is what always scares me the most; whenever she goes up, I'm afraid that she might fall backwards and whenever she's walking down, I'm afraid of her falling forwards. That's why I try to stay right by her side whenever she goes places.

"Do you want to go shopping later?"

"I don't need maternity clothes." Charlotte straight up tells me. "I'm fine with the clothes I have."

"You've pretty much been living in my shirts and jackets." I state, knowing that she can't argue with me because I'm right. "I don't mind you wearing my clothes at all, sweetheart. I actually like seeing you in them. But you should have some maternity clothes for yourself to wear."

"It's a waste of money." she shakes her head, really against the idea of buying maternity clothes. We sit on the living room couch and continue the conversation.

"Like I said last night, you could wear the maternity clothes again if we have more kids." I try to think of more reasons why we should buy Charlotte maternity clothes. "You'll also be more comfortable, sweetheart. And don't you want more clothes?"

"Not really."

"If you don't want to go physically shopping, then we'll do it online."

"I don't know if things will fit if I shop online."

"Then we'll go shopping at the mall."

"How about I go shopping with my friends if you go hang out w-with Theo and Vince?" she proposes.

"What friends will you go shopping with?" I ask, realizing that I don't know any of the people that Charlotte hangs out with or talks to. I'm home with her most of time, but there are also days when I'm out of the house running perimeter checks and stuff like that. I don't even know what she does when I'm not with her.

"I'll probably go with Bryanna and Naomi."

"Who's Naomi?"

"One of my friends." Charlotte looks at her phone and adds, "Maybe Mark and Zander too."

"Who the hell is Mark?"

"One of my friends." she repeats. "Actually, I think he's busy."

"He better be busy." I mutter even though I know that Charlotte can hear me. "How does he look like? Does he have abs like me? Is he unmated or mated?"

"This is why I don't bring up my friends around you and Brody." she sighs. "I'll probably just go shopping with Naomi, Bryanna, and Zander."

"I am Xander." I point to myself. "And you said that if you go shopping, I'll be with Theo and Vince."

"I meant my friend, Zander. Not you."

"I'm not your friend?"

"You're my mate."

It takes me a couple seconds to understand what she's saying. "You hang out with a guy named Xander?" She nods. "I need to know everything him."

"Why?" She sees me take out my laptop and rolls her eyes. "You don't need to search him up or anything. He's just a friend."

"His name is Xander. I automatically can't like him."

"Why? You didn't even meet him."

"There can only be one."

"One what?"

"Xander." I already get territorial when other guys try to talk to my mate; now there's someone with the same name as me.

"His name starts with a Z. Your's starts with an X." she informs. "They're pronounced the same, b-but spelled differently."

"Is he good looking?"

"Oh my goddess, Xander." my mate laughs, leaning closer to me. She moves so that we're face to face and gives me a kiss on the lips, lingering for a couple seconds more than usual. "You don't have to worry about other guys. Everyone knows that I'm only interested in you."

"Only me."

"Yeah." she places another kiss on my lips and smiles. "Only you." Feeling happy about the two kisses I recieved, I pull Charlotte into my lap and wrap my arms around her. "The baby's kicking." she whispers, moving my hand on top of her stomach. "Feel it?"

"The hoodie's too thick for me to feel anything, sweetheart."

Before I can put in that maternity clothes would solve that problem, Charlotte pulls up the hoodie she's wearing to expose her bare stomach. "Are you not wearing a shirt?"

"Nope."

#$%^&*(*&^%$#@#$%^&*()(*&^%$#$%^&*(*&^%T$#$%^&*(

"If you can dream it, you can do it."
-Walt Disney

QOTD- who would read a human/teen fiction version of this book?

As usual, SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE!!! I tried to make up with it by writing a porper, better quality chpater. I seriously thought that I would have more time to write during the summer, but that obviously didn't happen. I start school August 23rd, so I'll probably go back to bi-weekly/weekly updates soon.

Important News:

1) Since I want to publish a book, and my parents are supportive of this, I am thinking of publishing this book. But since I don't want to claim the "Wattpad werewolf" idea as my own, I will most likely write a human version of My Broken Luna, Ace, or Josephine's Secret. The storyline and plot will still be the same, but without werewolves and supernatural creatures. Would anyone be willing to read/buy that?

2) The book may be ending soon, but I want Charlotte and Xander to do a few things before I do that. And I will most likely do multiple epilogues for each couple (Chander and Brody+Cade)

3) The #Wattys2016 starts soon, so PLEASE share My Broken Luna and Josephine's Secret on Twitter if you can during the voting season!!!

If y'all have any questions, please leave them here ->

Have y'all checked out my other werewolf book, Josephine's Secret?

xoxo Priscilla