Chapter 6
Sleep didn't want to come for me, all of the questions played jump rope in my head. My mind flip flopping from staying here and accepting this new journey, or doing as my sister says and running away.
Once again, thank you, the logical side of my brain reminded me that if there was any danger, I would be putting Jess in harm's way by hiding with her.
I pulled the robe off the chair and covered myself up, going out onto the balcony. The city stretched out before us. It was beautiful, I hadn't ever left the city. To be honest, there wasn't a need to. I would be moving to a wolf pack, they would have land, I assume.
“You assume correctly,” he told me.
I turned to see him standing behind me. Brown curls, green eyes. He was still in his clothes, not having changed into pajamas. His shoulders were broad and he had stubble which suited him. What didn't suit him was the formal clothes he was wearing he seemed off as he walked in them like the clothes were jabbing him.
“I do prefer jeans,” he laughed, “and I'm glad you like my shoulders.”
I turned away, even though he couldn't see my blush, I felt as if I wanted to crawl into a hole.
“Believe me, I'm thankful you can't hear my thoughts yet,” he told me. “You'd have smacked me by now,”
I cringed slightly.
“Not that I'm just thinking about that, I mean I'm thinking about that. Not just about that. What I mean is you, you're stunning,” he groaned, covering his face.
I laughed. It was sweet that he was nervous to talk to me. It helped me feel like I wasn't on display or that this wasn't some exam.
“So you're not disappointed?” I asked.
He turned to me, eyes wild in bewilderment. “You're joking, right? I mean, look at you, you're like a supermodel or-”
I laughed and shook my hands, getting him to stop. I knew I wasn't unattractive, but I was not a supermodel, and I didn't need smoke blown up my ass. “No, that I'm a human,”
“Oh,” I heard it. Part of him was, he may have tried to keep his tone together, but it wavered. “I didn't ever assume my mate would be human, you know how rare it is,” he shrugged. “But you're mine, so no, no complaints,”
I wanted to believe him, but he was this great man, a creature that could change form and bend solid steel. He may need someone like that and now he has a defenseless human to protect.
“I’m not worried about you, and no one else will be either. It will be a great honor for our pack that you’ll be my wife,” he spoke so earnestly that I decided to believe him.
“It’s very nice of your packed to be so inclusive,” I hadn’t imagined that they would be honored to have a human as their Luna. It seems such a sacred position for an outsider to take.
“ I do pride us on being inclusive, that was more of my mother teaching than anything I’ve done though,” he smiled a bright, proud smile, and I could see that this really was something that meant a lot to him.
“What did she teach you?”
His grin broadened as he started to explain everything that she had instilled in him.” Well, unfortunately, not all packs are like ours, and some of them tend to have aggressive manners. They take what they can and don’t like people who go against that. Unfortunately, they tend to exile people who disagree with the way they think my brother blue his parents well…” he trailed off, not wanting to say the words, but I understood what he meant.
“And so your mother took him in?” I finished for him.
“Yes, a rogue as my brother, some packs would shudder at the thought, but not my mom. She didn’t understand why he didn’t have a right to a family just as I did. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He was a young boy, and he needed a place to grow. His smile turned wistful as he thought back on his childhood. He seemed tender, thinking about his family.
I had to admit to myself that he seemed like the type of guy I wanted to grow old with who loved his family and took pride and doing the right thing, but I still didn’t know him. I cursed myself and looked away from him, knowing that he could hear all my thoughts.
“ I’m glad you’re open to this,” he sighed, like it was a great relief.
“To be honest, I’m just aware that I don’t have much of a choice,” I confessed. He seemed slightly hurt, but he understood.
“ I won’t force you to go, but it is in your best interest. I don’t know who out there hates me or just hates what I stand for. I want you to be safe, and I know that this is entirely unusual to you, and the thought of uprooting your life might seem frightening. But there’s a reason that we were meant to be together, and I think we should see this out.”
It was very good with his words. I had to give him that I had already made up my mind to go, but hearing how he knew I had a choice, even if it didn’t feel like it, helped me see that this was the right thing to do. This wasn’t how humans did things. We spent years falling around, trying to find the right guy, dating horrible men along the way, only to see that it was somebody who was right around the corner the whole time.
“Yeah, I suppose you are right. Humans do tend to make a mess of things,” he read my mind and made a joke.
“We just like taking the long way,” I corrected him.
He laughed, and we sat there looking at the city for a little while longer. I pulled up a chair, and he followed suit, and we sat down next to each other.
“Tell me more about your pack. What does it look like? How does it run? What am I supposed to do?” The question is kind of spring for once, I realized I had the opportunity.
“Well, it’s much like any other pack. We have a pack house where we live, and most wolves live, but we have grown larger of late, so some people live off in their own houses. We’ve really just left it up to everybody to decide for themselves,” he explained.
I sat back and listened to him. Tell me about his pack, how they were farmers and they fed many packs for a couple of states and that he was doing his best to branch out and try and get them some more money so that they could build up their defenses.
Apparently, a Luna’s role is much like an Alpha's. I’m supposed to help run the pack and see their finances, and counsel him on what choices he is supposed to make and help shoulder the burden. I almost felt the need to apologize for taking so long for him to find me. It seems that he had had to do a lot on his own over the last couple of years. He took over the pack when he was 22 and his father had been called to the wolf coven. It was like their government.
Everything seemed different from the way humans did things, and I doubted I would be able to learn everything.