Loving Luna - All Grown Up

Chapter Twenty Nine - Learning More

❤Dennis

I couldn’t believe how nervous I felt. Liam was definitely avoiding me and although both Colin and Tina had reassured me that it would just take time, it didn’t make me feel any better. It was time out and I watched as Liam wondered off on his own. With his family having found their mates, he was alone. Sure, he could’ve followed after the other wolves or even made a few friends along the way but not Liam. I followed behind him until we came to a small clearing. I already knew that he wasn’t a fool. He had known that I was following him.

“What do you want?” he asked me without turning around. I opened my mouth, ready to speak but I found myself stuck. What did I want? I already knew that we were mates, I already knew that he was just starting to figure that out and most importantly, I already knew that he was the one for me. “Look, Colin helped me understand things,” he said softly. I nodded. So, Colin had been the one to help him understand but still, what did that mean? I took a step towards him, ready to ask him how he felt when he turned to finally face me. I froze as I stared at him. His normally bright brown eyes looked dull and sad and his nose was slightly red. Had he been crying?

“Liam…” I started but I wasn’t sure what I could say.

“Dennis, what do you want? I already know that we are mates and I already know that it disgusts you,” he announced. I frowned. Is that what he thought? That I was disgusted?

“I’m not disgusted, why on earth would you think that?” I asked, clearly not understanding him.

“Because when I get close to you, you ah…you pull away,” he explained. I was lost. I tried to remember when he had been close to me and that’s when I remembered.

“No, Liam. I pulled away because I didn’t want to further confuse you. You needed to figure things out for yourself first. You are still young, and I wasn’t even sure if you felt the bond between us,” I informed him softly. I wanted my mate to understand. “This is not easy for me, and I don’t mean anything about the fact that we are both males. I don’t care what gender you are; I don’t even care how young you are. What I care about is you and how you are feeling,” I took a small step closer, making sure to keep things comfortable.

“You don’t think it's weird that we are both males?” he asked, and I shook my head. “It doesn’t bother you at all?”

“Nope,” I said proudly. It didn’t bother me. Maybe it should but it just didn’t.

“And I’m fourteen,” he said with pride and I smiled.

“And I am seventeen,” I informed him. Liam didn’t look phased by my age, but I needed him to understand something. “Liam, you being fourteen means nothing to me, we are mates. But you have to understand that this bond is more emotional than physical,”

“W-what?!” he squeaked out. Liam coughed loudly as he stepped away from me. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but I needed to be truthful.

“Don’t misunderstand me, Liam, I am attracted to you but this bond we share is more emotional,” I tried to explain. I wasn’t going to lie, of course, I was attracted to him, but I was more than aware of his age and his innocence. Even though in my life, I have done nothing physical with anyone, that didn’t mean I didn’t have hormones. Yes, I was attracted to my mate, but that didn’t mean I wanted to get it on with him. Not yet anyway.

“Ok,” Liam whispered as he sat down on the grass. I joined him but made sure that there was enough distance between us, I didn’t want him feeling uncomfortable. “Do you like me?” he suddenly asked after a good few moments of silence.

“I don’t really know you, Liam,” I answered honestly. I wanted to shout out yes, that of course, I liked him, but I couldn’t. I needed to keep things real. “You asked me earlier, what did I want, the answer is I want to get to know you,”

“What do you want to know?” he asked curiously.

“Everything, anything that you are willing to share with me,” I said. It was true, I wanted to know everything there was to know about him.

“Well, alright,” he started. “I’m Liam, named after my great grandfather, I’m fourteen, as you know. I am a wolf shifter, and I had no idea that there were any other kinds of shifters in the world,” he smiled softly as he picked at the grass in front of him. I couldn’t help but just watch him closely. The way he bit down on his bottom lip, the way he smiled as he spoke. The way his eyes didn’t look so dull and sad anymore. “I miss my mom; she is a force to be reckoned with. My dad is great too, but he reminds me of a big teddy,” Liam chuckled, and I smiled. “I’ve got four sisters; Andrea is just a few months younger than me. Tala is eleven, Leah is seven and River is four,”

“That’s a lot of sisters,” I teased as I nudged his shoulder with mine. It was then that I got to see Liam blush. His pale complexion turned a soft shade of pink and he looked utterly adorable. I pushed down the urge to reach out and caress his cheek and stared forward.

“I guess, my dad always says that he loves having so many girls in the house, but I know it’s a lie,” he chuckled once again, and the awkward moment passed.

“Why do you say that?” I asked referring to him saying it is a lie.

“Whenever Andrea gets emotional or if Tala throws a fit or even if Leah or River starts crying, the first thing he does is run away,” he explained. I burst out laughing and he soon joined in. Liam sobered and stopped laughing. “My parents fight a lot. Over silly things but I know they love each other a lot. Especially my dad. He is crazy about my mom,”

“That’s nice,”

“Yeah, it is, Andrea is just like our mom, crazy but sweet. Tala is such a tomboy and Leah is very curious about everything. River is too young,”

“Tell me about your pack?” I suggested.

“Well, my dad is a great Alpha. He was born to lead that’s for sure. I know that when he first took over there were some problems, but I don’t know any of the details. My mom will say, your father rescued us all, and that’s all I know about that. We function really well as a pack. I had started training with the other teen wolves and it was that night at the gym that I was taken,” his voice had gotten softer and I leaned in closer to hear him clearly.

“Do you remember what happened?” I asked softly.

“Yeah, I was in the gym with my dad. I was out of breath and stuff when he left me alone. I got up, ready to leave when I heard a noise. I went to investigate, and this man came rushing towards me and knocked me out,” he told me, and I sighed.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, Liam. In fact, you shouldn’t be here, none of us should be here,” it made me sad thinking about all our families that must be worried sick about our whereabouts.

“I know my dad will do whatever he can to get me back. I’m also fairly sure the whole family knows about all of us,”

“All of us?”

“Yeah, my cousins,” he explained, and I nodded. “I have a kick-ass family and I’m pretty sure they will figure things out,”

“That’s good to know,” I said honestly. It certainly sounded like his family may have the right resources to figure things out and find us.

“What about you?” he asked, and I wanted to avoid it, but I couldn’t.

“As you know, I’m a panther shifter. We aren’t as rare as some may think. Back home there are quite a few of us around. We tend to be more on our own than with each other. Although we have a…well, it is like a pack, but we call it a claw. So, like, I am from the Whitetails Claw,” I hurriedly explained. “Anyway, we do tend to do things on our own. We only really socialize during events really and even then, it's for short periods of time,” I blushed as I thought about the events I was referring to. I probably shouldn’t lie but I didn’t want to say that the only time panthers socialize is during mating season. What would he think of me then? “Anyway, my parents are still around, I have one older brother, Dwight. He is cool but he moved after he found his mate. I haven’t seen him in a few years,”

“Do you miss him?” Liam asked and I sighed.

“I do miss him but then again, I know he is living his life to the fullest and I guess that it just makes me feel better knowing that he is happy,” I explained.

“Does he call and stuff?”

“Not really. I mean, my mom will call him once a month or so but that’s about it,”

“I wouldn’t be able to handle that, I don’t think so,” Liam said softly, and I frowned. I suppose for wolves it is different.

“I was out the night I had been taken,” I said slowly, changing the subject. “By that time, I hadn’t seen my parents for about two days already,”

“What? Why?”

“As I said, we tend to be alone more than together. I like being away from others. I enjoy being on my own and stuff,” I admitted. It wasn’t easy but it was the truth. “Anyway, I had been putting up my tent and getting ready for the evening when I heard the sound of footsteps. That guy had stepped on a twig or something, but it definitely made me aware that I wasn’t alone. Instead of going to investigate, I just went inside my tent. I figured it was a wild animal or something,” I played it off, but I had been too terrified to go and investigate. I didn’t want to admit that I had been feeling vulnerable at the time. “Anyway, I was just about ready to fall asleep when I felt something. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I was pretty tired by that point. When I heard the ripper of the tent, I remember keeping my eyes closed and my breathing even. I guess in the back of my mind, I thought it was someone I knew. It wasn’t though and the guy just smothered me with whatever that stuff is,”

“You must have been scared!” Liam exclaimed and I nodded, admitted the truth.

“Terrified,” I chuckled dryly, and we sat together like that for the whole hour, chatting about our lives and getting to know each other. It was honestly depressing when the time was up, and we had to go back to our cells. Liam looked just as sad and as disappointed as I felt and just before we neared his cell, I pulled him against my chest in a quick hug. A million feelings and emotions ran through me, but I rushed to pushed them aside. Liam hurried off back to his cell, falling into line with the other wolves. My heart soared as just before he went inside, he turned around and gave me a smile that was so warm it made me feel all fuzzy. I started heading to my cell when I spotted Colin, Tina, and their mates. They were huddled together, whispering something and I tiptoed closer, hoping they would see me. I listened in on their conversation and although I only heard one word, it was enough for me to have hope. That one word was: “Escape,”