Chapter 82

Ava

I stared at Chris, my heart pounding in my chest as his words settled in. If he was staying here in Moonstone as Alpha, then…

“Chris,” I began slowly, trying to keep my voice steady despite myself, “we’ve been over this. I—”

“I know, I know,” he interrupted with a wave of his wine glass. “You’ve been mated before, and tradition goes against it.”

I swallowed and nodded. “The Elders would never allow it. You know how they are… The Omegas were one thing, an antiquated system that was reaching the end of its life to begin with. But the Luna is seen as an extension of the Goddess Luna herself. To go against the sanctity of that position would be going against our very faith.”

A muscle ticked in Chris’s jaw at the mention of the esteemed position, but I could still see the determination burning in his eyes. “I don’t care what the Elders think,” he said firmly. “All I care about is you, Ava. It’s only ever been you.”

“But the Moon Goddess…”

“The Moon Goddess brought us together,” he insisted. “I can feel it. I find it hard to believe that she’d disapprove.”

I shook my head, a sad smile tugging at my lips. “For a man who only just seems to have begun believing in the Moon Goddess, you’re talking like someone who’s been devout for years.”

Chris simply shrugged. I sighed, turning my head to state back down at the fire. “You’re being ridiculous. We can’t just ignore centuries of tradition and protocol like that. It won’t just piss off the Elders; it’ll make the whole pack uneasy.”

“The pack won’t disapprove, not when they love you so much already,” he insisted, placing his cool wine glass against my cheek to make me turn my head back toward him. “And besides, after everything I’ve done, I doubt the Elders would hate me more than they already do.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, I couldn’t help but let out a surprised laugh at his words. Leave it to Chris to find levity in even the most glum of circumstances.

“Alright, alright, you make a fair point,” I conceded wryly. “But still...are you sure about this? Completely defying the ancient laws of our people?” I searched his expression, my chest growing tight. “You’d be risking everything. Someone might challenge you as Alpha again.” I held back a shudder, thinking back on that night when the moondeer had spared Chris’s life.

Instead of giving me a response, Chris simply set down his wine glass, cupped my face in one palm and leaned down, capturing my lips in a burning kiss that left me feeling lightheaded and dizzy.

When he finally pulled back, I could barely catch my breath, let alone form a coherent thought.

“Does that answer your question?” he murmured, his lips quirking upwards into that lopsided grin I had come to adore so much.

I could only nod dumbly, my cheeks flushed and my heart stuttering erratically behind my ribs. Chris chuckled, dropping one last lingering kiss to my forehead before taking a step back and finally releasing his iron grip around my waist.

“Ava,” he said, his voice taking on a more serious tone, “I’ve wanted you for as long as I can remember. Even when I was just a kid, there was something about you that drew me in. More than just your beauty or your personality. Something… deeper.”

He paused, letting out a soft exhale as his gaze grew distant, as if he were taking a journey back through his own lost memories.

“And then, when I left for the human continent all those years ago…” Chris shook his head slowly. “Not a day went by that I didn’t think about you. I would see your face every time I closed my eyes. I could hear the sound of your laughter echoing in my mind. I never once forgot what you looked like or what you sounded like.”

My breath caught in my throat as he reached out, gently tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

“I always knew,” he continued softly. “Deep down, I always knew that no matter how much time passed, no matter how far apart we were… we would find our way back to each other eventually. It was fate—destiny. A gift from the Moon Goddess, if you will.”

I blinked rapidly, trying in vain to stave off the tears that had begun to well in my eyes. “Are you saying…” My voice trailed off; I couldn’t finish the words. Fated mates were an extremely rare gift; most people never found theirs. Many people didn’t even have a fated mate. I had always wondered if it was just a fairytale.

“You know what I’m saying,” he whispered.

My voice caught before I could even utter a word, and I quickly looked away as the first tear slipped free. Chris smiled nonetheless, his thumb gently swiping across my cheekbone to catch it before it fell.

“So, what do you say, Ava?” he asked, his voice dropping to that low, sultry rumble that made my knees go weak. “Will you officially be mine? My girlfriend, my partner? And someday, once we figure all this shit out, my… Luna?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could get the words out, a familiar voice cut through the night.

“Wait a second!” Leonard exclaimed, stumbling out onto the patio with a lopsided grin and a fresh bottle of wine dangling from his fingertips.

I turned, taking in the scene in front of me. I couldn’t help but laugh. “It looks like someone raided my wine cellar,” I teased.

Leonard blushed deeply, if that was even possible given how flushed his cheeks already were from the wine. “I may have taken a little tour of my own,” he said, brandishing the bottle like a trophy he had won in battle.

“Help yourself,” I replied.

For a moment, there was a silence. Then, furrowing his brow slightly, Leonard cocked his head to the side. “Did I just hear what I think I heard? About you two…”

“You did,” Chris confirmed before I could answer, slinging an arm around my waist and pulling me snug against his side. “But we’re going to have to keep it between us for now. I know we can trust you, Leonard.”

Leonard nodded without hesitation. “Of course you can.” He shot me a drunken wink, a rare sign of levity from the serious man. “The Elders would have conniptions if they found out. Elise in particular.”

I shuddered at the mention of Elise. I respected her greatly, but she and Fatima were certainly the most stern out of the five Elders, with Claire a close third. It was going to take a lot of work to convince them that this plan of ours was the best thing for the pack. Hell, I still didn’t even know if it was.

“Don’t worry,” Chris assured Leonard, shooting me a warm glance. “We’ll keep everything under wraps until I’m certain the Elders will take the idea well. That’s assuming…”

His voice trailed off, and he turned to look at me with an expectant expression in his gaze. I swallowed hard, nodding before I could even think.

“Yes,” I whispered. “My answer is yes.”

Chris’s grin widened until it practically split his face open; I couldn’t resist returning his smile, my heart pounding like a war drum against my chest. Goddess, I was glad to say yes—terrified, but glad.

Leonard, meanwhile, simply shook his head with a chuckle.

“Ah, love,” he sighed wistfully. “Spirited, reckless, doomed to controversy…” He paused, squinting at us over the top of the wine bottle he had just taken a hearty swig from. “I approve wholeheartedly.”

With that, he raised his bottle in a toast. “To Chris and Ava,” he proclaimed, “and to putting a few more gray hairs on those stuffy Elders’ heads.”

Chris and I exchanged an amused glance before lifting our own glasses to clink against Leonard’s bottle.