by Belle Kayce
“Your own mate isn’t,” Pete accuses.
Pete has a point, but Lance doesn’t look like he cares. “She’s your luna.”
My heart constricts at the word.
Pete growls. “She needs time.”
The poor girl looks like she’s the runt of the pack. I can empathize with her, but she should let her weakness make her stronger. If one accepts their weaknesses and not let people’s opinions affect them, nothing could.
“I’ll give you at least a month for her to warm up to you. After that, she needs to be initiated.”
“If she doesn’t?”
Pete is being brave for his mate. I can applaud him for that. The poor runt girl needs to socialize with people, and it looks like Pete is going to make her into a hermit.
“Let us hope it does not come to that,” Lance says calmly.
Pete rubs his mate’s shoulders, and they leave quietly.
“Sorry I was nosy,” I say to Lance. I don’t know but our strained relationship is weird. I don’t know if he even likes me. Yes, there is the unmistakable bond there. I feel it when he isn’t in the room. My body feels like it’s on fire when he’s around, but what about him? He doesn’t do the typical things alphas do, which is a good thing.
“I like your input,” Lance tells me and I can tell he’s being sincere.
“Thanks.” I smile. One main thing that alphas do that pisses me off is they don’t let their lunas into their politics. It’s the men making the decisions for everyone, even for the women. For example, in some packs in the west, mated female wolves cannot go out without their mate.
Total ugh.
Someone calls Lance for him to watch them train.
Before he leaves, I say, “Can I please be excused? I’m not feeling too well. My head is killing me.”
Lance turns to me, frowning slightly. “Cole can take you to the infirmary if you need any medicine.”
“Nah, I’ll just go to sleep,” I say and wave him goodbye.
When I enter the back door to the kitchen, I see that the red-haired new girl is timidly eating some steak.
“What’s your name?” I ask as I sit next to her. I want her to feel welcome.
“S-S-S-Samantha,” she stutters. Her hair is down, so I can’t see her face.
“You need to stop talking to her. She doesn’t like it,” Pete says as he comes into the room.
“Sorry, just wanted to be her friend,” I respond to Pete’s overbearing protectiveness. It’s so annoying.
“Well, don’t,” Pete snaps.
This guy kind of scares me because he is huge, like the steroid-kind of huge.
This is what happens when I’m nice.
I roll my eyes. “Whatever.” The headache is still there but is already subsiding a little.
“Out,” his mate, Sam, says quietly to him.
“Hopefully, we’ll see each other around,” I tell her and then I stand up.
Pete growls at me. This guy needs a serious chill pill.
“Stop talking to her!” Pete does something bizarre and lunges straight at me.
Well, almost.
Cole, as he is always stalking me, is instantly in front of me. As if he is holding something weightless, he grabs Pete’s arm and then I hear a crack. Pete howls in pain as he gets on his knees, not even bothering to fight back.
I cringe hard because that has got to hurt. I could have lived without hearing that sound.
“The next time you think of even going near the luna threateningly, I’ll rip both your arms off,” Cole says in a low voice. “Be glad Alpha Lance isn’t here. You wouldn’t have been alive.”
Pete gulps and squirms. This huge burly guy is squirming in front of Cole, who’s a little shorter than him too. I think the reason why Cole is being nice is because Sam is right in front of us. Cole is being considerate in a way.
Lance decides to show up then, asking, “What happened?”
Lance’s eyes lands on Pete’s broken arm. “Cole?”
“Pete just needed a lesson,” Cole responds stiffly.
Lance gives Cole an unreadable expression. Pete and Sam skedaddle out.
“I trust the conflict is resolved?” Lance asks.
It amazes me how much Lance trusts Cole. Cole could probably kill someone and Lance would be like, “it’s okay”.
What is Cole’s role in this pack? I don’t want to hurt Bo’s feelings, but I’m pretty sure that Cole is stronger than Bo. The second strongest is always the one to get the beta position, so why isn’t Cole the beta?
As I’m thinking about this, there’s a yell that is Bo’s unmistakable voice. “Alpha! You would want to see this!”
All three of us leave the kitchen and walk to where Bo is standing in front of the main stairs.
Bo is holding . . . a baby. My guess is no more than five months.
“The baby was given to one of the pack patrol members, Carter, and he gave it to me. Says a rogue forced him to take the baby and left,” Meg says.
“Oh my gosh.” I coo at it, its wide brown eyes staring at me. “It is so cute.”
“It is a girl,” Bo says, giving it the same affection I am. I can tell we’re both already enamored with her and her cuteness.
“What should we do with her, Alpha?” Meg asks.
“Do with her?!” I exclaim. “Like there’s any other option but to keep her!”
“Keep her?” Meg looks at me like I’m insane. “She’s not some dog.”
“Well, technically, we—” Bo starts.
“This poor baby needs someone,” I interrupt, looking at her as she opens her eyes and stares at us. “Obviously, the rogue mother couldn’t take care of her, so she gave her to us.”
“Why would someone leave a baby here?” Meg asks.
“Screw with us?” Bo suggests, still holding the baby as if she is his own.
“Okay, if we keep her,” Meg looks in my direction, “who’ll take care of her?”
“Me,” I say, taking the baby from Bo’s hands and protectively placing it against my chest.
I love babies. I don’t want one anytime soon, but I appreciate them and their cuteness.
All eyes turn to Lance. He looks contemplative.
“If you want to keep her, then we can for the time being. She still has the mother that gave her to us that we need to find.”
“Unless that wasn’t her mother, and her parents have died,” Cole says solemnly.
“Don’t think like that, jerk,” I say, covering her ears as if she can understand Cole.
“We’ll need baby food,” Bo suddenly states as if realizing babies are a great deal to take care of.
“And a crib,” I add.
“And baby toys,” Bo continues.
“And safety measures—”
Bo sniffs. “And diapers.”
“Ugh. I’m sick of you guys.” Meg shakes her head and leaves us.
“So . . . what should we name her?” Bo asks.
“She looks like a Hope to me,” I answer.
“We have a room that could be hers. I’ll tell some people to buy her a crib and some baby food,” Bo says. “Ol’ Missy can take care of her for the time being . . . because I think she needs a diaper change.”
After taking care of Hope for a while, I try to sleep to no avail. Grabbing my phone, I look at the background picture of my family, missing them and wanting to hear their voices. Are they thinking about me? I haven’t heard back from them after I texted them, asking them if they were doing fine.
My thoughts go to my best friend, Julia, wondering how she is doing with her family. If she were here, she would provide me the emotional support that I need right now.
I clutch my phone to my chest. I need to stop looking at pictures of my family every night.
I need to tell Lance who I am. The fact that I came from Alpha Trent’s Red Moon pack. The fact that they want to kill me. Even if Lance will not help me, at least I can say that I tried to be honest. That’s not just so
mething. That’s everything right now.
CHAPTER EIGHT
I am standing in front of the large mirror in my room, psyching myself up.
My heart speeds up as I think about telling Lance who I am. I need to tell him. It will be a test to see if Lance will accept me or not, and I am willing to take that test. Whatever happens, happens.
I look in my mirror and muttered, “I need to tell you something about who I am.”
I just need to get to the words out, and the rest will follow. Hopefully, when I explain myself, he’ll believe me. I was scared before that no one is going to believe me, but my own mate has to know.
Right?
I get out of my room, summing up all my nerves to go to Lance’s office.
“Luna.” Cole comes from behind me. I swallow a little, knowing what he is capable of doing. He just broke someone’s arm yesterday because he was about to come at me. I don’t even want to think about what else he can do.
“Hiya. Do you know where the alpha is?” I ask even though I am already I already have a pretty good idea.
Briefly, Cole’s face flickers of some unidentifiable emotion.
“What is it?” I ask nervously.
“There’s . . . an alpha here on a surprise visit,” Cole answers.
I halt to a complete stop. Cole notices and looks at me strangely.
“W-which alpha?” I stutter. Dread fills me, and I feel like I can’t breathe.
“Luna? Are you . . .”
A pounding headache comes to me. It feels like it’s shattering my head. I feel like I can’t move. My vision blurs and then darkness consumes me.
***
Voices. There are voices.
“She just fell down. Maybe she was hungry?” a familiar voice says. Bo.
I don’t even want to open my eyes because then I’ll have to deal with real life. Maybe I can just fake coma for years and run away from my problems this way? It has to work.
“Meredith?” Bo whispers. “If you can hear me, twitch your fingers.”
I can’t hide the smile, and they will know if I’m lying about sleeping, so I open my eyes and fake a deep breath as if I just woke up.
The first person I see is Bo staring at me with his big brown eyes. When he sees my eyes open, he smiles, showing his two big dimples.
“You’re alive!” he shouts.
“I’m alive.” I cough, needing some water.
Bo quickly grabs a glass from the table stand on the side and hands it to me. I take a huge chug.
“What happened? How are you feeling? Hope needs her baby mama, you know.”
I smile as I think about our little cute pup. “I’m good. I don’t know. I just . . . ”
The surprise visit from another alpha. My heart constricts. Is it Trent or Steven? They said they’d visit, didn’t they?
“Oh, Luna!” It’s Raquel. I first met her at the mall when I was with Cole. She walks into the room with a white coat. She’s the pack doctor. “I’m so glad you’re up. It’s been two days.”
I open my mouth. “What! ”
“Lance tried staying with you the entire time, but since Alpha Heidi came for something important, he’s still having a meeting with her right now,” Bo says slowly.
“Alpha Heidi?” I ask. I never heard of this alpha.
“She’s fairly new. She’s the first female alpha here,” Raquel answers, smiling her perfect white teeth at me. “She also would have loved to meet Lance’s mate, but she’s already leaving today.”
“Oh my gosh.” I rub my head, then lean back on the pillow. “Just get me out of here.”
“I ran some blood tests, and the only thing I had for you is that you’re anemic.” Raquel takes out a clipboard and scribbles something down. “So please take some iron pills and eat tons of leafy greens, namely spinach.”
I make a noise that sounds like a grunt. “I hate spinach.”
Raquel shakes her head, smiling. “Luna, it’s for your own good. I’m thinking maybe this is the cause of your tiredness?”
“I also told Cook to make you something,” Bo says, still standing there and looking at me worriedly. “You haven’t eaten for two days, Meredith. That’s a long time.”
“This has never happened before,” I tell them. I’ve never fainted like that. I had headaches that were bad, yeah, but never like this. “Sorry for scaring you guys.”
Bo snorts. “The main one that almost had a heart attack isn’t here.”
“Is she awake?” Meg enters the room with a tray of what looks like . . . lasagna! Oh my gosh. Garfield has nothing on me when it comes to loving lasagna. It’s almost in my top three favorite foods.
“That smells so good.” I take in a deep whiff of the delicious smell. My mouth waters as I look at the melted cheese. Meg hands me the tray, and I take the fork and dig in. The beef, together with the pasta, is just divine, and the cheese Cook used wasn’t just mozzarella. He probably used another cheese too. Then I notice another plate of green stuff next to my drink. Spinach.
I look up at Raquel who raises an eyebrow at me. I crinkle my nose.
“Meredith, get over yourself and eat it.” Meg rolls her eyes.
I look at it in disgust and stab a fork at some spinach. “You couldn’t have drenched it with some dressing?”
“Nope. Eat.”
I bring the spinach into my mouth and try to make it seem like it isn’t too bad. It is. It is so bad. “Why do people eat this!”
“To be healthy.” Raquel winks at me. “You can be discharged whenever you want today. Get a little rest though and make sure you’re hydrated.” She nods at all of us in the room. “I’ll see you guys soon.” Raquel walks out and shuts the door slightly.
“I love her so much even though she’s making me eat spinach.” I sigh.
Bo sits at the edge of my bed, and Meg takes a chair to my side.
“So, tell me about this Alpha Heidi. That’s so cool that she’s a female alpha.”
Meg nods in agreement. “She’s really cool and coming to Lance for help is smart too.”
“Miss Steal-yo-mate,” Bo jokes.
I shoot him a curious look, but he raises his hands up. “Kidding! She maybe had a crush on Lance or whatever but it’s gone. Lance never reciprocated!”
“Bo, why did you even have to bring that up!” Meg exclaims, looking at me apologetically.
I feel her pity because seriously, literally, who am I to compete with a female alpha? This Heidi is doing so much more than I ever wish I can do.
“Meredith, he wouldn’t want anyone other than you,” Bo reassures me, or tries to.
Now, I really want to see Heidi. I bet she’s so beautiful too. First, Grace likes Lance. Now, Heidi? Do I have to try to block an entire army of people that likes Lance?
“I’m going back to sleep,” I grumble.
Bo looks at me like he wants to say something, but Meg glares at him.
“Meredith—” Bo starts.
“Can you guys please leave? I just want to sleep,” I ask quietly, shutting my eyes. I hear shuffling and the door closes shut.
I don’t know how much it affected me to hear that, but it makes me into an insecure little emotional bumpkin. I need to get over myself. I need to stop being insecure. Lance is my mate. I’m the one that ran away from him. I’m the one keeping secrets from him.
***
I open my eyes again. I look at the time and realize I slept for only an hour. Raquel said I could discharge myself anytime, so I get up, look at myself at the small mirror on the wall, and go straight to the bathroom.
The first thing I need to do is brush my teeth. After doing just that, I walk out of the room. I hope to see someone so I can ask where the heck I can go.
I turn around and see Lance walking towards me with someone else next to him. There is also a taller girl and a guy behind the female next to Lance. I realize that female must be Alpha Heidi.
I should make a bolt for it, but I think otherwise because I
will look so bad in front of Lance. Running from your mate? Who does that? Oh yeah. Me. I probably will.
“Meredith, I heard you were awake,” Lance greets me as he continues to get closer. His eyes assess me, probably trying to look for injuries anywhere.
“Oh girl! This guy wanted our meeting to be over with as soon as he heard.” Heidi smiles at me, and her beautiful green eyes are filled with warmth. She is wearing a form-fitting black dress that comes up to her knees. She also have killer red pumps. Basically, she looks flawless and perfect.
“Meredith, this is Alpha Heidi from Midnight Star pack. Heidi, this is my mate, Meredith,” Lance introduces us. Heidi juts out her hand. I almost cringe at my fake name. All these werewolves I’m meeting are going to think I’m a Meredith. Lies. I need to tell Lance. ”My name is actually Ava. Surprise, suprise.”
“Such a pleasure to meet the mate of Lance,” Heidi says.
I take her hand, and she smiles at me.
“Your hands are so soft! Like a baby’s.”
“Uh, thanks,” I say awkwardly. I don’t even try with my hands. “I don’t really do anything to them.”
Her beautiful chocolate skin is moisturized, and I wonder how she got her skin to look so clear and healthy. Since I don’t know how to take compliments well, I say, “Your skin is flawless though.”
“Genetics,” she tells me, grinning, “and a fifteen-step skincare routine.” The female werewolf behind Heidi—who is tall, bleach-blonde, and muscular—reminds me of that one woman who’s always in workout videos Julia and I try to do sometimes. She’s with another werewolf that looks exactly like her, and he is talking to Meg. Heidi notices me looking and says, “That’s Ashley, my beta. That’s her twin brother Asher.”
I shake my head. “I wish I can be as put together as you.”
Heidi barks out in laughter.
“You’re a luna with a mate that probably thinks you’re the best thing that ever happened to him,” Heidi tells me.
I flush. Why does everyone think that?
“Well, I did ask him for a pool and he didn’t do anything.” I shrug, being a little shallow.
Heidi laughs again. “Being an alpha of the pack is hard, especially with all these sexist pigs I have in my pack, but it’s okay because I whip them all into shape.”
