Running Free [COMPLETE]

7. The Decision

Three years later.

Liam sat across from Eliza in the small diner. She was chatting away with her friend, Debbie, on the phone, who was away at Georgetown University. He picked up one of his fries off his plate and flung it at her, hitting her right in the center of her forehead. She touched the spot and rolled her eyes, dismissing him by turning away. He chuckled at her annoyance and thought back on how far they had both come.

Eliza had gone from clueless pup to one of the strongest wolves known to the pack. She still wasn’t officially part of it, but she was very well respected by every last pack member. She had spent hundreds of hours tirelessly training in combat maneuvers until she surpassed Dane, the pack’s Beta. He still didn’t know how she was able to do that, but Eliza surprised everyone daily. Either with her abilities or with her genuine kindness. Liam saw that she was a true asset to the pack, but above all, he valued her as a true friend. She had become a fixture in his life; a pillar, holding up a huge chunk of his life together.

By their senior year in high school, they were inseparable. Rumors circulated that they were dating, but truth be told, Liam saw her in the most benign way possible. He definitely saw her as an equal and recognized that she was one of a kind, but he was still holding out that his Mate would soon appear. Though, he didn’t know if he had the luxury to wait.

Liam had spent his whole life preparing to take over when his father would step down. He understood pack politics and could manage the pack’s daily life with the finesse of an old grizzled dog, but even his father didn’t seem to know what to do with their dwindling numbers. Less and less wolves were finding Mates which in turn meant that even fewer wolves were having pups. It had been close to a decade when the last pup was born and, from what Liam’s father said, they weren’t the only pack to have this trouble. No one knew if it was a result of too much inbreeding within the packs or if it was some sort of disease or if it was the Goddess herself was striking them down, but no one could deny that wolf populations were down. So, Liam wasn’t even sure if holding out for his Mate was the smart or right choice for the pack’s future.

The last twelve months since they graduated, Liam had been plagued with a question he didn’t know if he could give voice to: should he give up on finding his Mate and instead turn his eye to what was in front of him, available and currently trying to ignore him while she was on the phone?

He looked at her profile as she animatedly spoke into the receiver. He had to admit she was pretty and any of her pups would surely be strong, but could he ever see her as more than his best friend? He wasn’t sure he could. Then he was struck by the guilt of not trying to make his pack stronger and Liam would be stuck in the revolving door that his thoughts had him in for another rotation. Around and over again, his mind would go, unable to decide what to do.

“Hey,” Eliza jolted him out of his spinning thoughts, “you OK? You’ve been staring at your fries for like five minutes. Barely moving.”

“Yeah, he smiled, “Sorry, I just have some stuff I’ve been mulling over.”

“Everything OK,” she seemed worried for him and he didn’t want to share any of these thoughts with her in the crowded diner, but seeing that it did involve her, he knew he HAD to share them.

“Yeah, everything’s fine… but… I do want to talk to you about something that has been weighing on my mind for a while. Just not here.” She nodded, picked up the check, and went to the register to pay. When she came back they walked out the diner and headed to Liam’s car.

Liam knew just the place to go to have this talk with her. Eliza’s favorite spot. He had found her countless times, both in wolf and in human form, at a clearing in the woods by her parents’ house. She said she could almost hear the moon in that small patch of grass and that’s why she loved it so much.

Liam decided this is where he would ask Eliza to be his Luna.