Chapter 41 *"...number thirteen..."*
That reminder perked Ember right up. That was right, their oldest pup had just told them that Alora was his mate. “If it’s true that they are a fated couple, now that her bond with Matt is out of the way, then we’ll let her become bonded to our family that way. Otherwise, I want to adopt her.”
Feeling Ember’s emotions had stabilized, and she once more had control over them, Andrew smiled lovingly at his mate. “As you wish.”
Andrew was grateful he had to help his mate with her emotional upheaval over this. It had given him something else to focus on when his own emotions had started to boil out of control. While he was comforting his mate, he made his decision. Grabbing his phone off the dash, Andrew sent out messages with his orders.
They had already planned on inviting Alora to stay with them at both Damien and Darien’s request and worry over her safety. He had planned to wait till after her graduation day before handing her the responsibility of being the Heartsong’s Clan Alpha.
Now, due to this new development he was having to accelerate his plans. Fortunately, he had already set things in motion the day Alora turned eighteen and changed her surname.
“Alright my darling, we have a date with the pups that includes our new daughter in-law. We also have something else important we have to do now.” Andrew said to Ember.
“What important thing?” Ember asked, curious.
“Having a will processed and bestowing a title.” Andrew said, not needing to say anymore, Ember knew what her mate meant by those words.
With a nod and a “Mhm,” as a verbal acknowledgement, Ember buckled herself in and let her mate drive them to the restaurant they had chosen for this meeting.
****
Alora sat sideways in the back of Darien’s car, her legs on the seats with her back braced against the side of the car. At the moment she was giving serious thought to what Damien wanted her to do. Damien would not have asked her to move in with the Alpha and Luna without a valid reason.
The knowledge that Damien was worried enough about her to ask her to move into the Moonstar Mansion early, caused a melting sensation inside her heart. Life would be so much easier to live if Damien was her mate. That thought had Alora freezing in place a moment as a swell of panic started to engulf her.
Alora couldn’t allow herself to think that way. It would break her in ways her family never could if Alora allowed herself to hope, only to have been crushed brutally by reality. It was not an experience Alora wished to put herself through. Shaking her head, Alora let go and buried that train of thought.
Alora’s phone vibrated with a message, looking down she felt a jolt of excitement she immediately suppressed. Damien had sent Alora a message. After reading the message a blush bloomed across her cheeks and her heart melted again. Damien was making it hard if not impossible for her to protect her heart from him.
Alora couldn’t help rereading Damien’s message. *‘My mother sent me the video of you teaching Sarah a very public lesson. You shined so beautifully in the video my Starlight. I can’t wait to see you fight in person again and feel all that strength myself.’*
Alora had to think hard on how to reply to Damien. She typed in a message, then erased it, doing this repeatedly a few more times before finally settling on something simple. *‘I look forward to training with you again once you make it home.’*
After sending the message Alora looked up and was slightly startled. Darien and Serenity were staring at her from the front seats. Frowning, Alora sat up and looked around and realized they had already arrived at the restaurant. Alora had been so worried about how to reply to Damien, that the world around her had disappeared until she found the right way to answer his message.
Clearing her throat and ignoring the curious looks Darien and Serenity shot her way, Alora hopped out of the car. The top being down made getting out of the back seat super easy. Darien and Serenity got out of the car, both staring at her with curious eyes.
The worst thing you could do was intrigue a Werewolf’s curiosity. They were relentless when it came to finding answers to their questions. Alora let out a lamenting sigh, knowing that even though she did not want to answer those inquiring looks, she was going to anyway.
Alora was only giving in because it was easier to give in now than suffer through the constant battery of questions that was surely to assault her if she did not. “Damien sent me a text saying he saw the video your mom took of my fight with Sarah. He said he was looking forward to sparring with me again.”
There…that should have solved their curiosity…right? Unfortunately for Alora it did not.
“What exactly did my brother say that had you blushing so hard?” Darien asked.
Then Serenity jumped in excitedly. “Yes! And why did it take you so long to reply to his message? You must have typed and erased a dozen messages just now.”
Alora looked at them, her eyes a tad wide with a sense of panic in them, this was the last thing she wanted to talk about. To talk about it would mean acknowledging that hopeful desire she was desperately trying to ignore the existence of.
Darien’s phone rang before he and Serenity could press Alora for any further answers.
“Hello mom.” Darien said as he accepted the call, turning it on speaker mode.
“Hello son, have you three arrived at the restaurant yet?” Luna Ember asked.
“We are in the parking lot now, about to walk in.” Darien told her.
“Oh good!” Ember gushed, sounding pleased. “We reserved dining room number thirteen, it is a corner balcony room on the top floor. It overlooks our central park's garden and arboretum section.”
The Best of All Worlds Food Palace was on the corner of Cheshire Avenue and Main Street, it was one of many businesses and restaurants that backed up against the Pack’s central park. Surrounding the park were four streets, Main Street, Cheshire Avenue, Moonwalk Avenue, and Parkview Lane.
Parkview Lane lived up to its name, there were no buildings and businesses down this road to hinder the view of the park. There were dozens of well-maintained gravel parking spaces in front of this area of the park, so you could park and take the numerous trails into the park.
“Awesome, it's a great day weather wise, we should be able to open the balcony doors to let in the breeze as we eat.” Darien said, happy with the dining room.
Darien thought it the perfect place for him to introduce Serenity to his parents as his mate. Serenity looked up at her mate, amusement on her face.
“Did you know, most humans consider the number thirteen to be unlucky?” Serenity asked him, a wide smile on her face.
“I do, never understood why though.” Darien said, “I have never found the number unlucky myself, yet there are so many humans who go out of their way to avoid this number.”
“It was a superstition brought about due to a coincidental happening at one of their religious gatherings some two thousand years or so ago.” Alora told them, knowing a bit about this superstition.
In a world full of magic, Shapeshifters, Vampires, Werewolves and even Dragons, you would think that humans would have tossed away such superstitions long ago. In fact, it was that very same religion that made thirteen such a feared number, that professed that all the Supernatural beings were the work of their devil and needed to be eradicated from the world as they were ‘Unnatural’ beings.
There were beings still alive to this day who remembered this religion when it was still in just its infancy. The Supernatural World Council had labeled this religion as being Cult like in its mindset. Fanatics of this religion were to be avoided as they were considered to pose a high threat to any Supernatural being.
Since its birth to modern times, many supernatural beings have been harmed in the name of this religion. The humans would say they only did what they did for the greater good of all humankind and in the name of their god. Three hundred years ago, Supernaturals could, and often would, quietly deal with these kinds of offenders on their own without alarming the rest of the human population.
Nowadays, it took long court battles that often escalated to the world courts, to resolve the issue of a human hurting or killing a Supernatural being in the name of that religion. The Supernatural beings that were targeted, were targeted while living as human among the humans, doing so usually because their mate was a human.
After the death of their supernatural mate, it was common for the human mates left behind to go mad from grief with their loss. It was hard for another human who had never experienced a mate bond to understand what that kind of loss did to a being. Making it necessary for the Supernaturals to be the ones who would provide the care that humans would need after such a loss.
Alora explained all this offhandedly to a wide-eyed Serenity and Darien as they made their way into the busy five-story restaurant.
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