Chapter 53

**Declan**

Luna and I are alone. The silence between us makes me kick myself for not asking Milo to come with us. How are we supposed to talk to each other? I suppose since I’m driving there wouldn’t be much signing going on either.

I’m a bundle of nerves right now and I feel like I’m a teenager again. Except when I was a teenager…I was alone. I didn’t go to school dances or drive a girl home from a date. I didn’t last long in the Beta/Alpha schools to even go on dates. Besides the occasional hook-up with a fan, I don’t have much experience in this department.

Luna catches me glancing at her and a shy smile appears. I do that awkward thing where I look away and pretend I hadn’t been watching her.

I am so screwed.

I keep my eyes on the road for the rest of the drive until Mario’s comes into view. Once I park I jump out and Camille is already waiting to greet me.

“Declan!” She says with her warm smile and wraps me in a big hug which I accept.

This woman has been like a mother to us and one of the only people I ever show any sort of affection to. Even Milo, who hates to be touched, will give in to one of Camille’s hugs. The sound of the passenger door to my car has her attention turning to Luna.

“Oh my. Who is this beautiful girl?” Camille asks pulling away from me and turning to face Luna.

“Camille this is Luna. She’s our Omega.” I say with a sense of pride behind my words.

Camille gasps and glances between us. I step up next to Luna and rest my hand on her hip in a sudden possessive urge. Camille raises a brow at me like she thinks I’m being foolish protecting Luna from her. I lower my eyes in apology and she shoos me away.

“It’s lovely to meet you, dear,” Camille says grabbing Luna’s hands.

Luna looks to me with confusion and I feel terrible again that Milo isn’t here to translate for her.

“Cam, Luna is deaf,” I say.

Camille looks at me and I see confusion and pain in her eyes. “Deaf? But…then she can’t…oh sweetheart.”

She reaches out a rests a hand on my cheek. I know she feels sorry that Luna can never hear our music but we don’t care about that, not really.

“It’s fine. It feels right and we don’t mind one bit.” I tell her truthfully.

She still looks at me sympathetically but nods her head.

“Come inside and grab your food. Don’t want to keep this beautiful girl out in the cold too long.” She turns and heads back inside.

Once inside she leads Luna and me to an empty table to wait for our pizza. Before she leaves she smiles at me and squeezes my shoulder.

“I’m so happy you boys found someone.” She says before heading back into the kitchen.

Once she’s gone I turn my attention to Luna and watch her face light up as she takes in the small restaurant. There is a faint smile on her face as she lets her eyes wander on all the paintings and decorations that the owners have collected over the years.

The vibration of my phone tears my attention away and when I look down I see it’s Milo messaging me.


**Milo:** how’s it going?

I’m guessing he is a little worried he didn’t come too.

**Me:** Camille loves her of course.

**Milo:** that’s impressive since she barely knows her. Remember how she reacted any time we would bring a girl there?

**Me:** That’s why none of us have ever been in a long-term relationship. Then she meets Luna and just like that she approves.

**Milo:** she sees in Luna the same thing we do. She belongs with us.

**Me:** yeah but she was surprised about Luna being deaf

**Milo:** I’m sure lots of people will find our situation odd but who cares.

**Me:** the food’s coming, be home soon



I pocket my phone as I spot Mario and Camille coming from the kitchen.

“Declan! It’s been too long.” Mario says in his boisterous way.

He steps up to our table and I stand to greet him. I’m again pulled into a hug but it’s something you have to accept from Mario just as much as his wife. They don’t take no for an answer on anything.

“And this must be the beautiful girl my Camille was telling me about. Declan you have done well.” He says smiling and throwing me a wink.

I snort out a small laugh. “She picked us, we’re just lucky she did.”

“Then she has good taste.” He turns to Luna and grabs her hand and kisses the top lightly.

She glances up at me with wide-eyed confusion. I take out my phone and type out that he is Camille’s husband and the owner. I hold the phone out for her to see and she visibly relaxes and gives him a friendly smile.

“I hope you’ll bring her back with the other boys,” Camille says, handing me a small bag. “I threw in a little dessert too.”

I shake my head but thank her.

Luna stands and Camille gives her a big hug before we grab the food and leave.

On the ride home I consider putting on some music but feel a sense of guilt at the idea. I decided that if I don’t then my mind is just going to race about all the ways things could go wrong with Luna. So I push away my worries and turn the radio on. Her head turns to me and she looks to the radio. I wish I knew what was going through her head right now.

Does she regret picking us yet? What if she ends up not liking me enough to want to bond with me?

I guess the music isn’t doing a good job of distracting me after all. I move to turn the music off but she stops me and gives me a soft smile, then she does something unusual. Keeping my hand under her’s she moves it so that it’s resting above one of the speakers. I immediately feel the vibrations of the music under my fingers.

Is that how she hears music? Through the vibrations.

She removes her hand from mine and starts to type on her phone. When we pull back home she holds her phone out to me.

I can’t hear the sounds the music makes but I feel it and I can see the emotion in your eyes when you play. It tells me everything I need to know.

She says and I feel a sense of relief. We don’t need to be afraid to play music around her, she just enjoys it differently. It has me considering how else we can help her understand and experience the music. I’ll have to look into it tonight.