Midnight Moon's new Luna

Chapter 8 - An offer

Vera

I dressed quickly in a pale yellow knitted sweater and jeans. “Okay, you can turn back around now,” I told Caleb. When he turned, I was again struck by just how handsome he was.

And he is our mate, Nadya said. I shook my head at her, but couldn’t help smiling slightly.

“Are you alright?” Caleb asked me.

“No need for concern. I’m fine now.” I hesitated for a second, but it needed to be said. “Thank you.”

He nodded in acknowledgment.

“We need to talk,” he said.

Damn it, I thought. I was hoping he might just go away. I’m really tired and not in the mood.

Come on, Vera! Nadya said. He came running back to us when we needed him. And he is our mate. The least we can do is to hear him out.

“Fine. What do we need to talk about?”

“You can’t stay here now, and I would really like it if you’d go with me back to my pack. At least until we have either accepted or rejected the bond.”

“I already told you, I can’t just leave my-”

“You won’t have to,” he interrupted me. “Look, you’ve just shifted for the first time. You might have a few weeks or a month, until your first heat. And you're in a hospital full of werewolves. How will you keep yourself safe? Locking yourself in here again?”

“They have safe rooms for that!” I protested.

“For she-wolf patients. They don’t have that many, and they expect family members to find other solutions. But that's just one of the problems.”

I hadn’t actually talked to them about what to do when I went into heat. They’d been so accommodating when it came to my shift, that I’d just assumed I could use one of their safe rooms. Would they actually expect me to figure it out myself? I’d had too many things to work out to think about that in detail.

“I’m listening. What's the next one?”

“Your wolf, Nadya. It’s not fair to her if she doesn't get to run free soon.”

He makes some good points, Nadya said.

“That might be true. Nadya certainly agrees with you.” I said. “But that doesn't change the fact that I need to be her for my mom.”

“I understand that,” he said, voice growing soft. “Which is why I was going to offer to speak to her doctor, and arrange a way for her treatment to be carried out at our hospital at Midnight Moon.”

“You can do that?”

“We would have to make sure it’s possible, but I think so. We might need to get some new equipment or medicine. But we have modern facilities and good staff.”

“Well, I suppose…” I hesitated. “I suppose it would be better for mine and Nadya’s sake to be in a werewolf territory, even if it’s not our own pack. And it would give us a chance to get to know one another, and decide what we want to do about this whole mate thing. As long as my mother’s treatment doesn't suffer as a result.”

“I’ll go and find her doctor and an administrator. I’ll find you once I know more.” His smile made butterflies flutter about in my belly. Damn, the bond really did have an effect on me. Then he turned away from me and left the room.

So, what do you think?

“What do you mean?”

What do you think I mean? I could practically hear Nadya roll her eyes at me. I didn’t answer her, because I wasn’t sure myself yet. So I asked her a question instead.

“How’s his wolf?”

His name is Raid, she said. He’s head over heel for us already.

“Well, he's the animal of the two.”

Hey!

“Don’t be offended. I just meant that the wolf is usually much more ready to accept their mate than the human in us is. The instinct is so strong in them.”

I know exactly how strong that instinct is.

Oh, yes. That she did. I could feel it. She was ready to accept Caleb and Raid at any moment. But she sensed how preoccupied I was, so she kept herself from pestering me about it. She, however, loved the idea of going to Midnight Moon. There she would not only get to spend more time with our mate. But it would make it possible for her to run, and maybe she could do so with Raid.

I gathered the torn pieces of clothing I had been wearing when I shifted, then left to talk to my mother.

“Hey, mom.”

“Hey, honey. How did it go?”

“Fine.”

“I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you. I truly hate that you had to go through that alone,” she said.

“I know you couldn't make it down all those stairs.” There hadn't been an elevator down to the old basement. “And I wasn't alone. Not the whole time anyway. Caleb showed up.”

“Your mate?” she asked. “Do you like him?”

“I barely know him yet. But he suggested we might be able to move you to the hospital at his packlands. We could then continue your treatment there, and we could get to know each other,” I said.

“Do you want to do that?”

“I think so. If your treatment can be seen to, and you are okay with it.”

“Of course I’m okay with it,” mom said. “There’s nothing I want more than for you to find happiness and a place where you belong. But remember you are not only going there to get to know him. You need to get to know the whole pack. If you and Alpha Caleb accept each other, you will become their Luna.”

“You’re right. I hadn’t even thought of that,” I mumbled.

How could I not have realized that earlier? Me, a Luna… Did I even want that? I couldn't picture myself in such a position. I would probably be a very sh*tty Luna.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” mom said and took my hand. “I’m certain you’d be an amazing Luna. You’re already used to planning and caring for others. You always see what needs doing, and get it done. You’re a hard worker, and you shoulder responsibility well.”

“I have done all those things for you,” I protested. “One person. That’s rather different from a whole pack.”

“You’ll be fine. Besides, there’s no need to worry about that now. That’s many ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ away.”

“That’s true,” I said. “I’ll try to put it out of my head for now. There are more pressing matters I have to deal with first. But you would be alright with it? If I wanted to see where this all could lead with Caleb?”

“I think it’s a great idea for the two of you to get to know each other. A mate is a wonderful gift from the Goddess. You already know how much your father was willing to give up to be with me.”

“I do. But that didn’t last.”

“I don’t know what happened to your dad,” mom said, “but I know he didn’t abandon us. I know some people told you he did. It certainly looked that way. But your father would never have left us willingly.”

My father, Devin Jones, had gone missing overnight when I was three. Mom had been sure something had happened to him, and searched high and low. She made the pack help her look for him too. But he never reappeared. As time passed, some people started to say that he must have left us. A deadbeat dad and husband. My mother had never accepted that.

“Your matebond was broken that night. You said he would never have done that willingly, so…”

“Yeah.” She looked down. “I’m certain your father is with the Goddess now.”

For my entire childhood she had instilled in me that my father loved us, and that something terrible must have happened to force him to leave us. There were some details around his life and disappearance that made it seem plausible it hadn’t been by choice.

I wondered what he would have thought of me, if he could see me today. I certainly hoped he would be proud of me for taking care of mom. And from the little I knew of him, he cherished the bond he’d had with my mother and encouraged everyone to give their mate a fair chance.

“Speaking of dad,” I said, “he’d tell me to go with Caleb, wouldn’t he?”

She nodded. “He would.”

“I guess it’s decided then. If Caleb can arrange it, we’re going to Midnight Moon.”