Chapter Forty-five: Let’s chat

I was appalled. He starved himself, made himself sleep deprived and even contemplated suicide just because he thought I had left him.

I look sadly at Mandy who has tears in her eyes. “I’ve never seen him like that before Ali….he wasn’t himself. He was out of his mind, even his wolf was drowning in sorrow with him. I understand it was out of your power, but something inside of him broke when you left. He wasn’t the strong, independent Alpha that everyone could look up to anymore. He was a broken man whose soul mate had jumped off a cliff and couldn’t be found, not even a body.
My brother is no angel. He’s done things he knew he’d regret later on in life. We all make poor choices. He’s starting to come back to himself now that you’re here, and I’m sure you can see it too. I know he’d never ask this of you due to your past, but please Ali, please stay. I know you and he have argued about some things he’s done in his past, but he’s a good man….annoying, but good.” She pleads, laughing sadly with tears in her eyes.

I felt my heart break at her demonstration of love for her brother. I had agreed to be Luna, but I don’t think I was fully committed. Lukas is my mate, and I would do anything for him. But taking on the last wolf pack is a big commitment. I sigh, taking Mandy’s hand in my own.

“I’m staying Mandy. I’ve chosen to become Luna of this pack and I’m going to keep my promise. I’m not going anywhere. If I had known I’d be away for a few weeks I would never have went, not without letting Lukas know. It breaks my heart to see him like that. I never intended for the pack to suffer, just for following my name that was being called from the depths of the lake.”

She sees the sincerity in my eyes and gives me a weak smile, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. I then move to hug her, realising that I’ve just had my first heart to heart chat with her… or, well anyone at all.

We sit there for a few moments, before I stand up and pull her up with me. “Let’s go out shall we? Should we go grab some food? I’m hungry.” I say with a smile on my face.

She nods in response. “Yes please. Do you want something from downstairs or do you want to try the Dome?”

“Yeah, go on then. Let’s go to the Dome. Should we grab the ladies?” I ask. She nods her head in response.

I then let Mandy lead the way to a different room on this floor where we ask Loretta to come, we also go to get Nina, Estelle and Karina from the second floor.

All six of us then started heading over to the Dome, chatting away as any group of ladies would. I got a few questions about my experience but nothing that was too pushy, as if they had set their own boundaries, or more probably been told not to pry, which I appreciated. We continued chatting till we entered the shopping centre and headed straight towards what I make out to be a restaurant that sold something called sushi. I look over at the Tapas place we ate at last time and revel in the amount of choice the Dome has. I can’t remember a time back when I was with the humans and the amount of choice my parents and I had in the area we lived in.

I sigh at the distant memory and Loretta catches it. “Do you not like Sushi? We can go somewhere else if you want?”

I smile at her kindness. “No, it’s not that. I was just reminiscing about old times. I’ve not tried Sushi before, I’m excited to try!” I say back to her, trying to lighten the mood.

We all are shown to our seats and I look at the menu which seemed to have consisted of deep fried items along with rice and raw fish. My mouth waters at the menu as if I’ve never eaten before and I look around and see the other girls are the same. I smile to myself knowing I’ve found my place in the world.

We all order nearly every dish available on the menu which consists of so many rolls of sushi which we all share with each other.

After a lot of food, lots of what seems to be fizzy wine, and lots of laughter, we make our way out of the restaurant and head towards the exit of the Dome, realising we’ve spent half the day here. Mandy and I look at each other, obviously thinking about Déjà vu the last time we looked at these doors. We took one look back towards them and burst out laughing, the others giving us a strange look.

We shake it off and head out the door, and back towards the pack house. We get there, without seeing any of the men. I turn to Estelle. “Where is everyone?”

She looks around. “I’ve no idea. I would have thought we’d have seen at least one of them sulking about.” She says, and we both laugh.

“Let’s go check the board room.” Nina says looking at us. We nod our heads and she leads the way.

We follow her down a door way that leads into a smaller hallway. She pushes a door on the left which leads us into a warm room full of chatter which instantly quiets down as soon as all of us enter.

I look to Mandy as I try to contain my laughter at the guys who are all huddled around Lukas looking at what seems to be plans.

“Are…..are you ladies ok?” Blaine asks, visibly uncomfortable at the sudden stares they’re all getting. Lukas stands up from his seat with his eyebrow raised and is looking at me.

“What is going on?” He asks. I see the girls stand a bit straighter around me and I can tell he’s using his Alpha aura, but that isn’t going to work on me.

“We’re just seeing what you guys are up to!” I say, with a chuckle.

He looks at Nina hesitantly, then back at me. “Well, it looks like you have all had fun. Don’t worry about us here, we’re looking into redefining the border patrols and also sending out a convoy to our previous links…in the outside world.”

A bit of silence followed that, until I hear Nina shuffle her feet. I look to her. “What is it?”

She looks at me then at Lukas, a deep frown on her face. “You once imprisoned Lance for trying to get out, to try and reach anyone out there.”

I look to Nina then back at Lukas, unsure who Lance was. Lukas sighed and Albion, who was already standing, placed a hand on Lukas’ shoulder. “Don’t worry brother, I will tell her.”

Nina looked a bit unsure but I could see the love she had for her mate in her eyes. He moved around Lukas and came and took Nina’s hands in to hers. “My bee. Your brother is no longer banished to the outskirts. We have already spoke to him. He will lead the convoy along with a few other warriors. You should go speak with him, he has asked for you.”

She looked at me and I ushered her with my hands to go. She nods and smiles, running back out the door with Albion right behind her, smiling back at us as he left.

I look to Lukas sternly, not liking the fact that he’s caused someone close to us pain just because they wanted to try and leave. He picks up on it, possibly through our bond and he throws his hands up, startling Will who was right next to him. “I guess I’m not getting anything else done today guys, not when my mate is throwing daggers at me like that!” He tries to sound in control, but I can tell he’s a bit unsure.

The men bow their heads to their Alpha and come towards us, well, towards their mates. I turn to the girls and put a sly smile on my face and receive a giggle in response.

As I turn back around Lukas is already behind me which makes me jump slightly. He looks to each of them. “Ladies, if I may?”

“Alpha…..Luna” They say whilst bowing their heads in unison.

Lukas grabs my arm softly and leads me out through a side door, not out the one we came in from.

The side door led to the side of the pack house and acted as an emergency exit. It led us out and we started walking in no particular direction, however I already knew where I wanted to be.

We walked in silence for a few minutes before I couldn’t bear it anymore. “Why was Lance banished?”

He sighed, probably knowing I’d ask. “You know why Ali. We have strict rules here for a reason. Yes, we’re lowering the barrier now but that doesn’t mean the laws that were in place could be broken, unless otherwise stated by an Alpha.”

I knew that was the answer, but I didn’t think he’d be so cold hearted. I decide not to ask more on it, but I was interested in something I didn’t see. “Where was your dad?”

“He didn’t wish to join.”

“Why?”

“Because he doesn’t believe we should be making new rules when the old ones were working. He believes that something bad will happen now we’re lowering the laws on our borders.”

I sigh, loudly and irritably. “Something is going to happen. But I very much doubt it will be because the border rules are becoming more…flexible. Something is coming, I can feel it and have been warned. No laws on borders will stop this, whatever this is and when it comes.

He squints his eyes slightly at me, but then stops himself before he even asks. Instead he ponders for a moment, and I already know what’s coming.

“So who’s Elijah?”