Moonlight Run

Four

Tuesdays and Thursdays were always our ‘days off’ from group training with the pack. Usually we were expected to train independently, which for Pipa and I often meant walking on the treadmill at the planet fitness in town for about twenty minutes, before we’d ultimately get bored and end up at a nearby coffee shop or the mall. On this particular Thursday, it would be the latter.

“Is there anything you need while we’re here?” Pipa asked, taking a sip of her Boba tea. 

“It’s the mall, Pipa. Is there anything anyone really needs here? Do we even need malls anymore? Has anyone introduced you to the world of sss?”

“Okay, well I need to hit Ulta for that new makeup palette. But I know I’ll get distracted there and it may take a while, so I was trying to be considerate and think of your needs first.” 

“The only thing I need is pizza. How about I stop by the food court and get an extra large to-go while you grab your makeup and I’ll meet you at the fountain after?”

Pipa agreed and I wandered over to the food court. After I placed my order for our pizza, I stepped aside to wait by the pickup counter when I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Pizza? So this is how you eat when you’re not training?” 

I turned around to see Nikolai, holding a few shopping bags from what looked to be the supplement store and finish line. 

“Nikolai,” I smirked back at him. “Still better than blowing my money on protein powder. I’d sooner gag on a wooden spoon before I’d try to swallow that garbage.”

He was quick to reply, “I’m sure you’ve swallowed worse.”

I felt my cheeks flush red and I let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah, that’s doubtful.”

“Do you plan to eat that entire thing yourself?” He nodded to the takeout counter behind me, where the worker was standing with the box waiting for me.

I thanked her and took it from her hands. “Probably not. But next-day pizza is the best breakfast.”

“I can’t argue with that,” he agreed. “Are you headed back to the compound then?”

“Um, yeah. I mean, not yet though. Pipa is still doing some shopping. I told her I’d meet her at the fountain when she’s done.”

“Well I’m still waiting on Dimitri if you don’t mind the company?” He suggested.

I hesitated to reply and he added. “Sorry, I don’t know why I said that. Of course you mind, you’ve just grabbed your lunch and I’m here bothering you. I’ll just—”

“Oh, no, really. Yeah, that’s fine.” He looked at me skeptically. “Sorry, it’s just… you said Dimitri. His name still kind of… stirs up some feelings.”

He raised a brow at me.

“I mean, not those kind of feelings… He’s got a mate, and I know that… just… memories, I guess.” Oh my god, Isa, shut up, shut up, stop talking, shut up, I thought.

Nikolai chuckled. “Isadora, it’s okay. Really, I get it.” He paused, looking briefly to his feet. He wore the same hiking boots he’d had on Tuesday in his office… but at least today they looked a little better with his outfit. “You know, the only real girlfriend I’ve ever had found her date as soon as we turned twenty-one? I don’t see her that often — her mate was from another pack, so she went to live there with him — but I’m sure it would be weird if I had to.”

I nodded, getting the sense he understood better than I thought he could. “Yeah… weird is one word for it.”

“Anyways,” he said, “I’ll let you enjoy your pizza and go find Dimitri. Enjoy your day off.”

“Yeah,” I smiled reassuringly. “You too.” 

As I stepped off in the direction of the fountain, Nikolai did, too. After a few steps he chuckled, “Sorry, I should’ve mentioned… I’m heading this way, too.”

I stopped short and said. “Ya know, since you’re headed that way anyways, you really should join me afterall. Pipa’s not much of a pizza person, and I think my eyes were bigger than my stomach.” 

“Really? Who isn’t a pizza person?”

“Right?” I laughed nervously, and we started walking towards the fountain area together. I wondered to myself for a moment how on earth Nikolai Blackburn had just managed to get me to insist, in the most awkward way possible, that he should have lunch with me. As if there weren’t anyone else I’d rather spend my lunch with.

We sat the box between us on the fountain bench and each grabbed a slice. As he flipped the lid close, I realized I knew very little about him. Suddenly I felt like I had completely forgotten how to start a conversation.

He smiled at me thoughtfully, and thankfully he spoke first. “You know, it’s strange. You were in my shoes once… a child destined to live up to the expectations of their Alpha father. And we’ve called the same walls home. You’d think with that kind of common ground, we’d have come to know each other better by now.”

I nodded as I swallowed the bite I was working on. “Yeah, well… my dad didn’t exactly leave me the greatest legacy to live up to.”

He looked at me apologetically for a moment, and I continued, “But I mean, you’re like what, four years older than me? So I guess it kind of makes sense… it’s not like we ran in the same circles.”

“You did date my best friend for over two years. I could’ve bothered to get to know you better,” he admitted.

“Yeah, but that wasn’t you. Even when I was with Dimitri… I always felt like I was on the outside. I think, because of everything that happened when I was little, I’ll always feel that way. Like my dad was the shame of this pack, ya know? And now I’m the living reminder of that…”

“Funny, I have felt the same way a lot of the time,” he admitted.

I titled my head, but before I could ask why, he continued, “I’m the real outsider. Dimitri, too, I guess. Did you know we were the only children left of the Allegheny pack when our two packs merged? We were eight, and we were the new kids, and that was…” He sighed. “Absolutely terrifying.”

He was right. “I guess I never thought about it like that.”

He chuckled. “As if that wasn’t bad enough, my dad liked to take every chance he had to remind that somehow I had to try to make all these kids like me… because someday I was going to be in charge of them. No pressure, right?”

I smiled back at him. “Oh yeah, no pressure at all.” 

I took another bite and then a question occurred to me. I covered my fourth as I finished chewing and raised a finger in the air. He waited expectantly for me to speak.

“Can I ask you a personal question? Like… a really personal question?”

His brow raised curiously. “Go on,”

“Why were you and Dimitri the only kids from Allegheny? … I know you guys had suffered a rogue attack the year before… and I know my dad had sent some of our warriors to help out… but even rogues don’t usually target kids.”

His face fell and I saw a flash of pain in his eyes as his shoulders sank.

I backpedaled quickly. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked…”

“No…” He waved his hand dismissively at me. “No, it’s been long enough. I should be able to talk about it by now…”

I bit my lip as he sighed. I expected that’s where we’d change topics, so I was surprised when he continued. “We weren’t attacked by rogues… not at first.”

“One of the more prominent she-wolves in our pack had become pregnant. She was married and she’d already had a child, so at first nobody thought anything of it. But once the baby was born, it didn’t take her husband long to realize that her link to the pack, and to him, was broken.”

I considered what he said. “But for a mated she-wolf to even conceive another wolf’s baby… that would mean her first partner wasn’t her true mate, right? Isn’t it true that only a true mate can break a sire-bond?”

A sire-bond was similar to that of a mate bond. When a she-wolf became pregnant by a wolf that was not her true mate, she would become linked to him anyways, as if they were. This is how the council’s matchmaking services worked, too. The conception of a child after an arranged commitment ceremony solidified that the two individuals were now mates. Once a sire-bond was made, the two wolves were bound for life, with one caveat; either of the wolves true mates could break the bond by marking them, freeing them from the sire-bond and claiming them as their own instead.

He nodded. “That’s right. Only that or death of the first mate. Those are the only ways out of the sire-bond. In this case, the she-wolf had been paired to her husband, chosen for him by the council… just like Lily and Nero were matched. But they weren’t true mates.”

“So her true mate was a rogue and he led an attack on your people?”

Nikolai hesitated. “Her husband tried to hide the situation from the council… He knew she’d be killed for what she’d done. I guess he thought by keeping the secret, she’d be grateful he’d saved her from that fate… All he asked in return was that she reject the rogue wolf. Then they could conceive another child and restore the bond they’d had.”

I nodded, following. For a moment it looked as if Nikolai was holding back tears. He took a breath and blinked a couple times and his eyes appeared dry again. I wondered if maybe I’d imagined it, out of some hope Nikolai Blackburn had a soft side after all. 

He continued to tell the story. “When the baby was a couple weeks old, she was seen crossing the border in wolf form, and a few of the patrol wolves told her to stop, tried to ask her what she was doing. But since she didn’t have a mindlink to the pack anymore, she couldn’t explain herself to them. So she tried to run, and they took chase… When they caught up to her, they took her down, not realizing what was in the bundle she’d been carrying in her mouth…”

I gasped in horror, understanding what he left unsaid. “Oh no…”

“Neither mother or child made it.” Nikolai rubbed his jaw pensively before he cleared his throat. “And that’s when the rogues attacked. But they didn’t come to our compound… they went straight to our village. They burned whole families in their homes while they slept.”

I realized I’d been holding my breath, my hands on my chest. “And you and Dimitri only survived because you didn’t live in the village… since you were the sons of the Alpha and Beta.” 

I straightened up in disbelief, and I could feel tears forming in the corner of my eyes. “I can’t believe Dimitri never told me... I knew his father had died in the battle… but I never knew all of that.”

We sat in silence together for a moment. The air felt heavier now, and I couldn’t take another bite of the pizza if I’d wanted to. “How have the two of you been carrying around all of that? I can’t even imagine.”

His blue eyes met mine, and as I held his gaze I almost saw sympathy in his eyes when he spoke, “I guess I could ask you the same, watching your father and brother die the way they did? At least I was in the compound… I didn’t have to see any of it.”

“But you still lived it. It still happened.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “And we’re still here. We’re survivors. So, that’s what we do… Dimitri and I… we survive. And I guess that’s what you’ve done, too.”

“Hmm. I guess so.”

“Hey, um,” He patted down his pockets and sighed, “Dammit… I wanted to give you something but I don’t think I have it with me.”

“What?” I watched him pull out his phone and unlock it. 

“What’s your number?” he asked.

“You want my number?

“I’m gonna text you something,” 

“Okay…” I rattled off my digits to him as he typed them into his phone. After a moment my phone dinged, and I read the message.

“Saturday. 8pm.

1400 Highland Road

Nikolai’s party”

“You’re inviting me to a party?” I snickered. “Really? After the lecture you gave me Tuesday?”

“That lecture was about the dangers of fraternizing with men you don’t know. I’m pretty sure you’ll know everyone that’s going to be at this party.”

“Wait, is this your birthday party? I think I heard you had one coming up soon.”

He smacked his lips. “Yeah… I’ll be twenty-five.”

“Oh wow. Twenty-five? Isn’t that—”

“Go time,” He nodded, referring to his ascension ceremony. 25 was the traditional age by which a would-be Alpha would take over the role. There would be a transference of power from father to son, and the whole pack would feel the shift.

I was confused. “Since when were ascension ceremonies held in the neighborhood? Highland road is in the village, isn’t it?”

He furrowed his brow. “I don’t understand what…” Then he laughed. “Oh! Oh, that. Well, yeah. My dad’s planning the ceremony for the following weekend, when there’s a full moon. This is a private party… just friends. None of the pomp and circumstance… yet.”

“I didn’t know you needed a full moon for an ascension ceremony?”

“You don’t.” He laughed again, standing to his feet. “But, you know, my dad never misses an opportunity for a little bit of theatrics.”

As he slid his phone in his back pocket, he bit his lip and smiled at me. “I’m glad we did this. Sorry the conversation kind of got dark there for a bit…”

I nodded. “Yeah, this was nice. I mean, the dark stuff wasn’t nice, but…” He was smiling at me and I realized I sounded like an i***t. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah… so, I’ll see you there?”

“Um, sure. I mean, maybe.”

“Is it sure, or is it maybe?” He narrowed his eyes with a playful grin.

“Um… can I bring Pipa?”

Nikolai chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you can bring Pipa. At least if she’s there I know she’s not dragging you out of town to meet with drug dealers.”

I feigned shock. “Wait, you mean there won’t be drug dealers there? Ooh. I don’t know, might not be my kind of party…”

He broke into a laugh and a wide smile. “Well, I promise I will at the very least try to make up with it with the best beer money can buy.”

“Well damn, you should be a salesman. I’m sold.”

“I’ll see you Saturday then.” He turned on his heel and took a few steps, then turned around again. “Actually, I’ll see you tomorrow… at training.” He flashed me finger guns.

“Right,” I pretended to fire finger guns back at him. “Training tomorrow. See you then.”

And then he disappeared down the corridor.

“Um, what was that? Were you just ‘finger gunning’ with Nikolai Blackburn? What the hell did I miss?”

I sat back down, opening the box of pizza and offering her a slice. “I think we just had lunch. Kind of. I don’t know… it was a little weird.”

“You had lunch with Nikolai Blackburn?” She eyed me suspiciously as she sat on the other side of the box.

“It was more like Nikolai Blackburn invited himself to eat some of my lunch, and we talked while he did? Like I said… it was weird.” 

“Yeah, looked like it.” She drew her hands into a pair of finger guns with a wink and then burst into a fit of laughter. 

I frowned. “Are you done?”

She lifted each of her index fingers to her lips and blew on them, then tucked her hands into her pockets. “Now I am.”

“Do you want a piece before I eat the rest of this?”

She made a face. “I’ll pass. I’m not really feeling pizza.”

“Seriously, Pipa. Who isn’t a pizza person?”

***

After I boxed up the last few slices of pizza, Pipa and I hit Bath & Body Works to stock up on some candles and lotions before we decided to head to the car. We were making our way down the east wing of the mall, towards the exit we had parked outside of, when Pipa suggested we turn back around. 

“Hey, ya know… maybe we could check out Maurice’s again before we go? That floral top looked so cute on you, we should go back for it.”

I groaned, continuing down the hallway. “Pipa… I am all shopped out. Let’s just head back to the manor.”

“Oh come on, we’re having fun, aren’t we? Having a day for us girls? Let’s keep going.”

“Pipa,” I sighed, looking around with a wave of my hands. “I seriously think we’ve hit every store in here except—” and then I froze in place as I motioned to the store ahead of us on the right, when I saw him standing at the display case with the sales girl. “... the jewelry store.”

I watched Dimitri point to a piece in the glass case below him, and the clerk pulled out the diamond ring and handed it to him. Beside me, Pipa had come to stand close to me, reaching her hand out to touch my arm. “Isa…” I shook her off.

I continued staring as Dimitri motioned off to his left. Nikolai appeared at his side from behind a column. “I think this is the one. What do you think?”

Nikolai replied. “I’m turning twenty-five and I still don’t have a mate. You think I know shìt about what women want?”

They laughed, and I swallowed hard. “He’s finally buying her a ring.”

Pipa sighed. “I’m sorry, Isa…”

I shook my shoulders and straightened up. “Ya know what, fūck him.” I said, forcing the tears back. “Let’s get out of here.”