Chapter Thirty: Last night

“Hello ladies.” Lukas says in a sweet voice and I’m wondering why the girls are all looking at him a bit shocked.

The girls continue to look up at him a bit astounded. I forgot, before I came here he was a bit harsher. Well, at least I have provided some happiness round here.

“Hello Alpha.” They all say together.

I stand up and look at Lukas with a frown on, after hearing what the girls just told me about his past. Lukas frowns also, and furrows his brows, giving a side glance to Mandy who shrugs him off with a side smile.

I keep my glare on him, hoping he feels that I’m upset. He breaks the stare. “Would you ladies mind if I took Aliana away for a chat?”

The girls looked in-between themselves and smiled at each other. “Of course not Alpha, we were just about to pack up. We’ll see you both at the Ceremony tonight?” Loretta asks, directing the question at me.

“Of course, I’ll see you all there.” I ask, slightly hesitating and hoping my new friends will be there to support me.

“No doubt about it girl, we’ll see you there!” Estelle says without hesitation.

I smile at them and Lukas turns away to start walking back the way he came. I gave a small wave goodbye and Nina mouthed a ‘good luck’ to me before I turned and walked after Lukas.

I follow Lukas through the trees in silence when the trees eventually started getting thicker the deeper in we went. Eventually, around an hour or so later, we get to a point where we can’t go much further out, and he takes us left. That’s when I see it. A huge tree with what looks like small wooden steps leading up into a tree house.

Lukas looks at me with an innocent smile on his face. “I used to come here when I was a kid to think…or to run away. Whatever I was running away from at the time.”

He looks at me and then offers his hands for a lift up. I gladly accept as I’d love to know what it looks like inside. He boosts me up and I grab onto one of the vertical steps and start to climb up. I get to the top and hoist myself into the tree house.

It was a very simple box like room with a small window looking into the tree’s branches, leaves and foliage. I can tell that it was maybe kids who painted the walls as there’s patches of different shades of green everywhere, causing me to smile. There was a small table and a few chairs around it, but they don’t look big enough for us to sit on as full grown adults. I smile to myself looking at this and I then hear Lukas climb into the small room behind me.

I turn to look at him. He holds his hands up. “I’m sorry about last night Aliana. I know you’re not ready and I will wait for when you are. I brought you here so we can be alone but to talk…about how you’re feeling.”

I sigh, knowing I have to try and figure out my thoughts and feeling with him, but I’m unsure where to start. He senses this so he sits on the floor and pats the floor next to him motioning he wants me to sit next to him.

“You know, I will wait for you forever, if I have to. We are destined, and the Moon Goddess herself made us for each other. I will never hurt, humiliate or force you to do anything you want to do, unknowingly. I promise you this from now on and I will try my hardest to uphold this promise. I have waited for you for what seems a lifetime. Now that you’re here, I will do anything within my power to make sure I don’t lose you.”

I sigh deeply, after hearing what the girls had said I feel my disappointment rising.

“I know you’re telling the truth, I can feel it. But Lukas, what have you been doing before I fell onto your territory? I know you’ve been waiting years for your mate, but from what I heard, it’s as if you’ve let yourself go too early and went knocking at other woman’s doors without a second thought. I know you know it, but I’ve been waiting for the right person before I go away and have sex with anyone I please. Seems when I’ve finally found him it’s as if he’s slept with half the town!” I say, slightly agitated and he cringes back on the last sentence.

He runs his hands through his hair, a bit unsure what to say. “Just tell me the truth. You didn’t think I would come, did you?” I demand, already knowing the answer will hurt but I need to hear it.

“No. I did not think you’d come, or that I would not find you. I’ve been pressured since I was eighteen to find a Luna for the pack. An Alpha cannot stand alone. He must have a strong female to lead with him. I vowed to my family I would never take a Luna who was not my destined mate.”

He sighed, and bowed his head in complete shame. “I won’t lie to you. I had lost my virtue when I was sixteen, way before I had even met my wolf or shifted. I was a kid back then. I turned eighteen and told myself I would not go back to my shameless ways. But when I turned twenty, and my mate had still not shown themselves, I started doubting that I had one. I still kept my vow that no Luna will come forth if they were not my mate, but I decided I have needs as a man as well, so went to relieve them. I was selfish, and I apologise for that.”

I feel my heart break slightly and I was unsure how I felt about him sleeping with anyone just to relieve his own ‘needs’. I start feeling hopeless, so I pull a low blow card.

“What would you have done if I rejected you?” I say, looking him dead in the eyes.

He looks at me, defeated. I can see tears swell in his eyes. He moves up from where he is and comes to kneel in front of me, his head bowed.

“Please Aliana. Please don’t do that to me. I promise you to the end of my days I will never do anything to hurt you, and I will forever be trying to make my fuck ups up to you. I beg you, not as an Alpha, but as a man deeply in love with you, please don’t do that. I will never be able to get over it.” He says, his voice breaking.

He’s finally said it, even though not in the way I imagined. He loves me. I feel pain right now, and can tell that it comes from both him and me. Athena sighs in my head, also angry that he’s not saved himself for me, but we also understand in a sense what he means. We’re both sad that they’ve just not thought about the future and now we’re wrapped up in the past.

“I won’t reject you Lukas. I’m not cold hearted. I’m accepting this bond and all that comes with it, baggage included. I don’t want you to keep any secrets from me though. If I go through with this, we’ll be a team.”

Lukas raises his head and wipes away his tears, looking at me, a smile creeping up ion his face. He pushes himself over to me and encapsulates me in a hug, holding me tight. I wrap my arms around him and hug him just as tight.

We stay there, for minutes, just enjoying each other’s warmth.

“Let’s start heading back little one. It’ll be time for the ceremony soon and I know I’m excited to see what colour your wolf will be.” Lukas says when trying to stand to get us moving.

“I spoke about it earlier with the girls. We all reckon I’ll be red-brown, with the normal brown eye colour” I say with a smile on my face.

“I reckon so too. Maybe your coat will be just brown though, like your hair.” He says whilst taking a strand of my hair and placing it behind my ears.

We start to climb down the tree and I notice that it’s a bit cooler from when we first set out this morning. I’m still not sure on the time, but I guess it’s now late afternoon.

“What time does the ceremony start at?”

“Usually around nine. I think you slept in quite late today.” He says with a small chuckle. I decide not to dwell on it, but rather take the best sleep I’ve had in a long time.

On our walk back, we spoke more about the journeys I had taken outside of the Werewolf territory. I started to go in about my time with the Druida community and my time there which he found interesting.

We got back to the pack house and instead of going in, we went around it, in the direction Nina had pointed earlier, to the cliff where the ceremony was being held.

We made our way up a hill, hand in hand. A few of the pack members were also heading up and they all greeted their Alpha, but threw me looks of surprise, shock and in some cases spite. I decide to ignore most and greet those who are respectful to me. I guess they’ll all know who I am soon.

We get to the top of the hill and I see all three Elders at what looks like a podium. All the werewolves present all part for both Lukas and I as we make our way up to the Elders.

We reach the podium and Elder Wright is the first to greet me. “Hello Alpha, Aliana. Are you ready?”

“As much as I’ll ever be Elder Wright.” I say and nod towards all of the Elders who were waiting patiently before us.

Lukas and I turn and face the crowd, and Elder Irish stands and takes over the podium to address everyone present.

Guess I best be ready.