Past Sins

Chapter 19: Valerie

After my family left I spent most of the day just exploring the pack house. It was a means to keep my mind busy from the tension from this morning. The awkwardness between Blake, Matteo, and I was on full display and it was a bit more than I could handle. I know I've got to talk to Blake and sort this all out but I decided to give him the morning. It's been 5 hours since I saw him- Hopefully he's over it by now.

"Blake?" I reached out to him through mindlink.

"Yes?" He doesn't sound too happy but he responded that's good, right?

"We need to talk. Meet me in the courtyard" I cut off the mindlink before he could back out and headed to the courtyard. To my surprise he was already waiting for me. "You rang?" He teased me. "We should talk about last night" he looked at me waiting for me to continue. "I should have told you that Matteo is my mate. I didn't know what to think about it at first and I wanted time to process before I told you." I stopped to give him a chance to respond. He stood still and said nothing. Okay…. "Blake, you mean the world to me and I'm sorry I kept something that important from you. Please? Let's get past this?" I begged. “Sure. Whatever you want Luna.” without giving me a second thought he walked away. Okay. That went well. I ran my hands through my hair and sighed. I’ll worry about that later. My first date with Matteo is in a couple of hours and that deserves my full focus.

"Well that was hard to watch" I heard from behind me. Asher was walking into the courtyard from the path leading to the front yard with a book in hand. He barely looked up at me as he acknowledged my awkward encounter with Blake.

“Asher, I didn’t see you there,” I admitted.

“Clearly,” he said sarcastically, “May I give you some advice, Luna?” He closed the book and stuck his hand in his pocket.

“Sure,” I replied, sitting on the side of the fountain and staring into the water. The girl in the reflection looked like me but didn’t act like me. She kept secrets and lacked trust with the one person who’s shown her time and time again that he could be trusted. I don’t know who this person is but it’s about time I banish her from my life.

“You have nothing to be sorry for and he knows it,” Asher said, capturing my attention. He came to sit beside me on the fountain's edge and set the book down beside him. “Blake may be your best friend and your ex, once upon a time, but he doesn’t have a hold over your life forever. You love him and that’s obvious to anyone with eyes but don’t, for one second, think it’s not possible to love two people at the same time, in different ways. You guys have such a deep, rich history together but Matteo.. I know him. I know that he will make you happy in ways you never knew were possible or never even thought of. He’ll be there for every sleepless night, every heartache, and every battle. He’ll be the person that fights by your side to the bitter end even when there seems to be no hope. When he loves someone he loves hard, I should know, I've been on the receiving end of that since. Anyway..” he said, picking up the book and standing, “Don’t let your feelings of guilt for everything happening with Blake keep you from what is standing right in front of you. I promise that you won’t be disappointed- he’s waited too long to disappoint you. Now,” he reached his hand out to me, “From what I understand, you have a date to get ready for.” I clasped his hand and he helped me up. I dusted off my dress and looked at the mysterious guy in front of me.

“Thank you, Asher,” I smiled and wrapped him up in a hug. His body stiffened at the sudden gesture but I could feel him relax as he returned my hug. I pulled back and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning around and heading into the house. Asher is right, I have nothing to be sorry for as far as Matteo and I go. I’m sorry that Blakes mate rejected him, and if I'd known about it I'd have kicked her ass but that doesn’t mean that I should feel guilty for finding my mate. I didn’t ask for it to happen but it did and Matteo deserves a real chance. So I'm going to go upstairs and get dressed for my date and try not to think about my family leaving or my best friend wanting nothing to do with me right now.

A shower, three outfit changes… well four, and a small panic attack about my makeup and i’m finally ready to go. I glanced at the clock on my night stand. Just in time too, grabbing my purse I walked down the stairs to the front door. Halfway down I noticed a figure standing near the door. Suddenly I didn’t feel so underdressed, Matteo stood at the door in a red and black flannel shirt and a pair of jeans. Thank the goddess! I choose to wear a yellow sundress, a pair of flats, and a white cardigan. Continuing my descent down the stairs I tried to think of one time that I've seen Matteo in anything other than a designer suit and dress shoes. He’s always so put together so it brings a whole other set of questions about what we’re doing tonight. Sensing my presence he turned toward the stairs. “Wow, Val. You look great.” he smiled wide. I looked down and pulled a piece of hair behind my ear, trying to hide the blush that was creeping its way up my cheek. “Thanks. You look great yourself.”

“Thanks. To be honest.. I couldn’t decide what to wear tonight.” he admitted. I looked up into his eyes, shocked that he seemed as nervous as I was. He’s a rich and powerful Alpha wolf that’s built like a Greek god. What in the world does he have to be nervous about? He cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows questioningly… I’ve totally been staring into his eyes without answering him. Good job! He chuckled at me as I fumbled with my mothers starburst necklace around my neck. You still haven’t responded! Now’s not the time to have a Dory moment. Respond! My inner voice yelled at me in frustration but my brain wouldn’t formulate a sentence. “Well I'm sure finding something other than an Armani suit in that big old closet was hard all its own.” I teased, finally getting a grip. “Now… Where does a usually put together, over protective, paranoid alpha take a girl on a date?” I asked. I knew he wouldn’t give me any answers but it was worth a try… and it was keeping me from looking at him for too long so I wouldn’t drool all over myself. “You’ll just have to wait and see, I suppose.” he winked at me. Here comes the drool. He opened the front door for me and ushered me outside to a pickup truck that was waiting. He pulled a key fob out of his pocket and unlocked the doors, holding mine open so I could get in. Rounding the truck and getting into the driver's seat he waited until we picked a decent station and buckled up before pulling off. I looked out of my window for most of the ride. Wherever we were going seemed to still be on Autumn Moon territory but far enough away from the pack house. He still hasn’t given me any idea about where we were going. Maybe he’s taking me to a lake, or maybe a waterfall like we have back in silver fang, or maybe we’re just going to a movie. Not knowing is driving me nuts. “I see the wheels turning in there. Still trying to figure out where we’re going, huh?”

“Yes… it would be so much easier and better for my psyche if you’d just tell me..” I said, hinting at my desperation to know. “Nice try, mi amor, but that would ruin the fun.” Yup… Not going to tell me. That’s what I thought. The rest of the ride we talked and teased each other. We arrived at a clearing towards the eastern border of Autumn Moon. I remember passing it on the way in for the Purnima Festival but it looks entirely different now. Matteo parked the truck and got out to open my door. Hand outstretched he helped me out and led me to the scene in front of us. In the middle of the field there was a little blanket with a table on top that held a bottle of champagne or wine and two glasses. A projector screen sat in front with The Proposal waiting to be played- my favorite movie. I stood there staring at the little set up, this is so sweet! “A movie under the stars.” said Matteo from behind me. I turned to see a big smile on his face and a smoothed out blanket in the back of the truck with pillows. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.” I smiled and he returned the favor. “Teo this is beautiful.” He walked over and grabbed my hand and kissed it. “Nothing but the best for you… Let’s go.” Hands on my hips, he lifted me into the bed of the truck, grabbed the champagne, glasses, and came back. We leaned back against the back of the cab of his truck and he began the movie. I leaned into him and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder pulling me into his side.

We just finished watching the credit scenes where the immigration officer asked Margaret and Andrew about their relationship. That movie was just as funny as I remember and it was even better watching it with Matteo. His laughter filled the night when Margaret tried to sacrifice Kevin for her phone and when she chanted with Gammy in the woods. I can’t remember a time where I enjoyed watching this movie more than tonight. The movie itself obviously hasn’t changed but watching it with him made it all the better. The movie faded to black and Matteo jumped off the back of the truck and held his hand out to me to help me down. Once we were both on the ground he set our glasses down on the little table and pulled out his phone. He cued up something and then put his phone on the table next to the glasses. The once dark projector came to life and a song began to play.

“May I have this dance, mi cielito?” he asked, hand outstretched and a smile on his face. He stood there patiently waiting as Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran played through the projector speakers.

“Of course,” I grabbed his hand and allowed him to pull me against him. His hands gripped my waist and I wrapped my arms around his and laid my head against his chest. Neither of us spoke a word but let the song transport us to another world. Holding each other close we swayed to the music but as the song progressed we began to glide around the clearing. He took me by surprise as he spun me and pulled me back into his chest. I smiled up at him and he gave me a quick wink. At his mothers birthday/Purnima celebration I didn’t see him dance once with anyone. I just assumed that he couldn’t dance, which wouldn’t be abnormal. There are some Alpha’s who won’t waste the time having their sons take some form of dance lessons. They think it weak to have their sons twirling around the dance floor in front of other powerful Alphas. I always found it the exact opposite actually- it takes patience and skill to be an effective dancer. When we all took dance it took determination and discipline to get the dances just right. I’m glad that our father wasn’t one of those Alphas that saw it as a form of weakness and I'm sure that Laura appreciated it too. The song was coming to an end and just before the final lyrics were sung, Matteo dipped me. He looked down into my eyes and I could see that they changed from his normal color to black and back again. Slowly he lifted me up and I brought my hand into his hair, pulling myself a little closer. Both hands on my hips he lifted me up and my legs wrapped around his waist. Our faces were so close that our lips were only a few inches apart. I wasn’t the type of girl to kiss on the first date but does it really count when this is my mate? Just as we were about to cross the threshold, his phone rang, breaking us out of the spell we were under. He hesitantly put me on the ground, intertwined our fingers, and walked over to his phone. The screen was lit up with the photo of a girl who looked almost exactly like him- the name under it read Madelyn. He sent the call to voicemail and sent a quick text telling her that he couldn’t talk right now and that he’d call later. Our moment was ruined but it was probably for the best- we need to take things slowly and kissing would hinder that completely. Sensing that the moment had passed he sighed and shoved his phone into his pocket.

“It’s getting late, we should go,” he lifted the gate to his truck, latching it in place then escorted me to the passenger side so I could get in before he got into the driver seat.