#48

Evander



"Is she really going to be, ok? I barely whispered." Looking at Blake as he sat down across from me. "I believe she will be. She's too careful of her control. If she feels like it’s not enough, she will let us know." However, I don't want her alone for the next two weeks. I know the pack is just curious, but she's avoided attention her whole life. I don't want the wolf in her feeling cornered and having an accident happening." He offered. "She needs someone to deflect attention if she ends up with a crowd." I nodded. "She needs to meet people in small groups, if at all possible. It will help her bond with them before the full moon run.”


I watched her speaking to Whinnie and Shelly as they stood to the side of the end of the food line. Word had gotten around from either the kids or the stable hands that we had mated. It wasn't unusual to mate prior to a Luna ceremony. What was unusual was the fact that I hadn't publicly claimed her prior. And there had been no mating celebration. While the others debated rituals and the Luna bond and her power that now rested within me as well. I would have to mend the fences and create that celebration within the Luna bonding rites that everyone was missing.

She was smiling. Her hair had blown free while riding. The other women towered over her in build and height. She must have felt my gaze as I found it sucked into hers the moment they met mine. ‘What?’ she asked. ‘Nothing, just watching my beautiful mate.’ I replied, not even realizing she had moved forward and now stood next to me. There was something different about her. She was more confident and less anxious, and every movement called to me sensually.

As she took a seat, I could feel the nervousness within the pack as the paint which she had left loose nudged her shoulder. She took a sinful bite of an apple on her plate. The horse whickered loudly causing Aurora to wince and sending everyone else on edge to run for cover. “She's a bossy one, isn't she?” She huffed taking another bite before turning to the horse who was now pawing the dirt. “No more for you go on or behave” The horse pawed at the dirt again, and bobbed her head. Aurora took another bite before settling down and taking a sip of water flavored with lemon ginger and honey. “Now that's good,” she said before returning to the apple. Amy skipped up shyly presenting Aurora with a head wreath. It was bronze and golden reflecting the colors and leaves of autumn and the drying flowers of the mountainside meadows.

“This is beautiful Amy!” my mate gushed holding it up and appraising it. Amy's mom came up behind her. “She’s been working on that thing since you showed up,” she confessed. “Well, it's absolutely lovely,” Aurora said moving to hand it back to the girl. I sighed inwardly. My mate really wasn’t used to acts of kindness. Amy grabbed her hand instead of taking the wreath back. “It’s for you Luna,” she said with a bow of her head. “The Luna shall rise at his side and redeem the lost children of our goddess,” she whispered just loud enough those immediately present could hear it, before kissing Aurora’s cheek with downcast eyes. “You are my Luna,” she declared, as Aurora could do nothing but nod. I glanced up at Amy's mother, who recovered her shock at her daughter's public claim of the woman who was my mate as her Luna. “Tha an t-urram agam am fear beag,”(I am honored little one) she responded setting the gift in her lap and taking Amy’s head gently in her hands and kissing her forehead before resting her brow to Amy’s. “tha a' mhàthair a' toirt a beannachdan dhut am figheadair cinnidh,” (The Mother gives her blessing to you, fate weaver). Something passed between the two before the swell of emotion through the bond. Amy hugged her and aurora hugged her back, stroking her hair, and rocking her a little. The pack was silently observing the touching scene. There was a millisecond of hesitation as Amy pulled away and my mate placed the wreath on her head. When the dead flowers came to life, I was left just as shocked as the pack. Amy’s eyes were wide, a smile passed across both their faces. An echo of ‘this is ok’ vibrated through the bond as the woman and the girl seemed to confer with each other on a level none of us understood. My heart surged with emotion. Watching my mate interact with the girl who had been the tipping point for me finally making the move that brought us all here.

Amy gave her another exhibition of submission as she fell to her knees and bared her neck “tha urram agam mo bhanrigh.”(I am honored, my queen.) Aurora’s stunning eyes glanced at me with an air of bewilderment. Her hands lifted the girl to a standing position. “I am still Aurora Amy, even if the pack accepts me as Luna,” she said pointedly, loud enough for them all to hear. I am still Aurora.” Amy looked at her puzzled, then just nodded.

“Love, this is Vanessa. She is Amy's mother, and she helps Shelly around mealtimes and looks after the kids' education. Nessa, this is Aurora, my mate,” I introduced. Aurora had placed the wreath on the table next to her and the eyes nearest watched as the flowers went back to their original state. Questions were running through the minds of the present members, no doubt. “Amy has told me so much about you! I thought the stories were far-fetched but, I see now she wasn’t exaggerating.” Aurora smiled. “Her company has been a pleasure. If she needs any help with anything, I’d be happy to aid her. Divinity can be a tricky gift to control.” Amy's eyes lit up and unshed tears pricked at the corners of Vanessa’s eyes. “You, you could help her?” “Absolutely, just send her my way if she’s having difficulty or if she’s needing any type of support. I know what it's like to be ‘different,’ it's hard to explain to people who haven't experienced it.” Aurora said smiling at Amy. “Thank you, Luna,” Vanessa said, her voice thick with emotion squeezing her hand. Aurora gently squeezed it back before releasing her. Vanessa whipped tears away with the corner of her apron as she ushered Amy back to the kitchen with her. It seemed her arrival here was going to be for more than just me. It enticed me more to know how good she would be for my people.

My mate’s eyes followed the pair. Her wolf was shining through, which created a spike in her scent. I watched her lips sensually curve around the glass as she drank. She didn’t know what her slight gestures could do to me, but I guess now she could. She glanced at me before looking around quickly. My eyes lingered on her throat as she swallowed. Her lips as they moved to chew her apple. Even as she bit into the god damned peanut butter and jelly sandwich, my eyes zeroed in on her mouth. Boy, do I have plans for that mouth. I realized she was staring at me, eyebrow raised. “Uhhh,” dumbly left my mouth. ‘Later,’ she mouthed silently giving me a wink. When a new sound bubbled up across from me. Whinnie held in a fit of giggles while Blake's dark glare flared. “Could you please stop staring at my sister like she's a piece of meat? It's making it really hard not to at least attempt to end you right here.” He complained.

He was right; I was spiraling As a strong Alpha, my instincts urged mating her in every position or way I could think up. Every inch of her skin and movement of her body called to me. To claim to dominate, to possess every ounce of her being. I yearned for her, was enticed by her, and was addicted to every whimsical thing about her. My head snapped out of it. I squeezed her leg gently under the table in an attempt to ground myself. Instead, I got hard instantly, the sexual tension like a stretched rubber band. As the bond vibrated between us, I began counting backward. 10, 9, 8, Maybe Dominic was right. I was a ticking time bomb. I never wanted my mate to have to deal with previous conquests within my pack and though I had never expected to find her, I guess apparently a part of me wanted to respect her if she ever did show up. So the very few notches in my nonexistent belt had been human or weres I’d unlikely ever come across again. Dominic was another story. His situation caused him to maintain a revolving door of secretaries, ‘personal assistants, booty calls, as well as humans and pack members, even other weres from other packs. It was a position he had created himself denying himself his mate, who had no desire to be some 2nd rate trophy on his arm. Like my parents, they were polar opposites, but decided, for the time being, it was best to move on with their lives without each other. Their ways of coping were as different as their personalities and I feared when Dominic took his head out of his ass he would regret his long list of names in that shiny black iPhone he kept like a 5th appendage. If I was having issues, I couldn’t imagine what he dealt with. They had both refused to cut the ties by rejecting each other, but that in itself was its own agony.