Lessons in Love

Chapter 25: The Effort to Know

POV: Riley Campbell

I was invited to tea at Luna Claire’s home. It was strange to visit with a Luna anywhere other than a packhouse sitting room, but I was interested to get to know her, and Ben, better. When I knocked on the door, Ben was the one to open it.

“Hi,” he smiled. “Come on in. Mom is in the kitchen putting on the kettle.”

“I brought the tea,” I said, and hoped that didn’t sound as awkward as it felt. His smile broadened as he led me to the kitchen.

“Riley, I’m so glad you could make it!” Claire beamed.

“Thank you so much for having me, Luna Claire.”

“Oh, there’s no need for the formality. Especially with a title I’m sure you’ll be wielding soon enough.” She winked at me. I felt like my face was on fire and looked at Ben, who was holding up the door frame on the other side of the room. He covered his mouth to keep from laughing.

“I brought a couple of teas to choose from. They’re all my favorites, so any you pick will be good with me.” I said, pulling them out of my bag. Claire picked the jasmine and rose hip tea, which seemed to have Ben salivating in the background. We settled in the living room, and Claire pulled out her needlepoint and quietly began stitching. I looked at Ben, who was shaking his head at his mother.

“Really?” He said.

“You two need to spend time together,” she smiled and looked between the two of us.

“Mom, this so …”

“Victorian?” I offered.

Claire laughed at us. “A little, yes, but I know the pressure you two are under. I want you to be able to explore this connection away from prying eyes. Being here with me works.” She smiled.

Ben raised a questioning eyebrow at me. “I mean, we don’t know all that much about each other.” He shrugged.

“Okay,” I shook my head, trying to wrap my head around what would be appropriate conversation in this situation. “What do you want to know?”

“Tell me about your family. You said you’re really close with your aunt, who absolutely didn’t have a near death experience.” He laughed.

“I knew it!” Claire said quietly without looking up from her needlepoint.

“No,” I chuckled. “She didn’t. She’s an amazing woman. She’s owned her shop for twenty years now. She’s kind of my hero, honestly. She went to college, she started her business, she’s mated with three kids. It wasn’t always easy for her. She had some rough patches in the beginning with her mate. She got pregnant on her first heat, and Uncle Aaron seemed to think that was the end of the shop.”

“Did it take much convincing?” Ben asked.

“I don’t know, Aunt Cindy always told Jenny, Lulu, Alice, and I that a mate respects you and loves you unconditionally. Anything less isn’t a true matehood.” I saw Claire’s back straighten at that, and I’d realized how deeply I’d put my foot in my mouth.

“Jenny is your sister?” Ben didn’t miss a beat.

“Yes,” I nodded, awkwardly glancing at Claire. She was true to her word and focused on her needlepoint. “Jenny’s the same age as you and Rick, actually. She’s one of Forest Pines’ top warriors.”

“Does Forest Pines allow women officers?”

“No, which is why my father hasn’t retired yet?” I smiled. “He wants Jenny to succeed him, so he’s fighting for her.”

“That surprises me,” Ben said. “You had said your mom had to convince him to let you take the job here.”

“Yeah, but that was because Sapphire Lake is so far away from Forest Pines.” I laughed. “He wants both of us to succeed. That’s why he didn’t put up a big fight for me to come here.”

“It wasn’t because of the war?”

“Oh, it was that, too.” I admitted. “But that was easy to push him past. I just reminded him he’d trained me like an Alpha.” I winked.

Ben laughed. “Well played!”

“What about you?” I asked. “I know you don’t have any siblings, but you and Rick seem to be joined at the hip.”

“Yeah, he’s family.” Ben smiled, but he didn’t elaborate.

“Really Ben,” Claire chastised him when the pause was too long.

“Sorry, I don’t know what to say about him.” Ben blushed a little.

“How’s he doing? He seemed …” I glanced at Claire before continuing. I wasn’t sure if this conversation was for mixed company.

Ben gave me a slight smile. “It was the first time he’d been inside either of the school buildings since the war.” Claire put her needlepoint down and looked at Ben expectantly. He caught the look and ran his fingers through his hair.

“I’m worried about him. I’m scared, honestly. I’ve never seen him unable to handle himself or control his emotions. I …” he sighed and shook his head. “I feel distance between us. I’ve never felt that before.” He admitted, standing up and looking out the front window.

“He needs time.” I said gently. “I have a social work background. I can do light counseling, which might help him, but I think he needs to talk with a therapist. Someone who’s dealt with warriors before would be ideal. And a witch.” I said.

“A witch?” Ben turned and looked at me with confusion.

“My friend Lulu was a huge help to me after Alice died. Witches can provide other things to help heal your aura. A few women from her coven actually work with psychologists. They’re able to draw out memories,” I said, trying to think how to explain it.

“I felt, for a long time, that I got Alice killed. That I did something wrong on the battlefield, and Alice paid the price. Lu was able to draw the memory of the battle of out me and show it to me. I kept telling Lu that what she was showing me was wrong, that she was making it up. In my mind, I had done something wrong, so I didn’t believe the memory of what happened.” I explained.

“Lu had to show it to me a few times before that clicked, but she did it with the therapist I was talking to. It didn’t help at first, but it did eventually.”

Ben chuckled. “Rick is afraid of two things in this world, and the other one is witches.”

“Afraid of them? They’re so peaceful. They’re basically just super earthy hippies.” I laughed. “At least Lu is. Why is he afraid of them? Did something happen?”

“No,” Ben laughed. “It was a story the older warriors used to tell us when we were kids about how witches could make plants grow right in front of your eyes and every time you tripped on a root, it was because you’d angered the witches that lived there.”

I had to laugh. It was a terrible old mates’ tale that lived in packs. It was true that witches could grow plants and manipulate roots, but witches rarely lived in werewolf packs. They lived with their covens, but they did plenty of business with us and other creatures of a supernatural nature. “They fly on brooms, too.” I giggled.

Ben snickered at that. “Do you have any irrational fears?” Ben asked, sitting again.

“Water,” I said. “I know there’s nothing in the lake. There was nothing in the river near Forest Pines, but swimming freaks me out a bit.” I admitted.

“You think there’s something in the water that shouldn’t be, is that it?” He asked. I shrugged and nodded. “Like what?”

“I don’t know,” I laughed. “Something big with a lot of teeth that will drag me under.”

“You know you can shift in the water.” Ben laughed.

“I know, but we don’t breathe underwater regardless of our form. What about you?” I redirected and saw the shadow cross his face.

“I have a lot of very real fears,” Ben said, trying to keep his smile from fading completely. “It doesn’t leave a lot of room for irrational ones.”

“You’ll solve that now that you two are together.” Claire piped up. She’d been so quiet I’d nearly forgotten she was sitting there.

“Solve what?” I asked.

“My mother is under the impression that we are a power bond and that my father is the injustice we’re supposed to fix.” Ben said dryly.

“You don’t think so?” I asked.

“You do?”

“I’m not convinced of anything yet,” I treaded lightly. “But he’s a pretty big injustice by my estimation.”

“Sure, but a divine injustice?” Ben questioned.

He had a point. “Maybe not, but we can talk about solving it either way.” I said gently. I saw Claire smile out of the corner of my eye at that.

“Riley, I really don’t want you in his line of fire.” He said quietly. I opened my mouth to argue that, but he pushed forward, raking his hand through his hair. “I don’t need to protect you, Riley. I know that. I’d pit you against an army of Rogues any day of the week and twice on Sunday, but my father isn’t going to aim for the jugular. He tortures his victims, and he breaks them. He’s done it to Rick, he’s done it to mom, and he’s …” Ben got up and stood by the window with his back to us.

“He’s done it to me. I want to protect everyone from him. And I’d rather have to fight twice as hard and twice as long than add you or anyone else to the fight.”

Claire lowered her needlepoint to stare at Ben. “Oh, sweetheart, no.” She shook her head, tears brimming in her eyes.

“It’s one thing if Riley and I are actually mates.” He said. “We’d be stronger together, and I know that. But if we’re not, and I put Riley in the middle of all this …”

“The bond could be broken, and we’d be useless against him.” I finished for him, suddenly understanding his concern.

“Exactly,” Ben said. “He already told Rick he doesn’t like you, which means he’s going to be watching you like a hawk as it is. I need you to stay at arms length just until we know about the curse.” He said firmly.

I was silent for a moment, thinking through what he’d said. As a strategy, it was sound. I hadn’t known Ben very long, but the bond was already making me feel possessive of him. The more time we spent together, the stronger that bond would get. I knew already that if this was a curse, we’d both be hit hard by the fallout.

“That’s fair.” I agreed.

Ben sighed with relief. “Any word from Lulu on when she can get here?”

“Not yet, but Aunt Cindy said she’s on assignment. I should know soon.”

“The sooner, the better.”