The Waning Moon Of Pain

Chapter Six:

Ulric gave Diana a couple of days to herself after her day with Freya and the others. Freya told him about the dispute between Stacey and her, but Diana handled the situation very well. Which just proves to him more she would make the perfect second to their pack. He just needs to get her wolf to stop being so stubborn, which will not be easy. Alpha wolves, even the females with Alpha blood are very stubborn and easy tempered. That's why they need their mate the most to function properly.

Thankfully for Alpha Max and his bates, he is able to get a day off for himself to try and put his plan for Diana in action. He plans to try and spend the whole day with her. He needs to test the waters with her and her wolf and figure how they truly feel about being his mate. He starts out the day by having breakfast outside with only her, her father agreed to sit inside to spend some time talking and catching up with Max and Molly.

One thing he is happy about, is his father isn't here at the moment. Him and his mother went on vacation together that they have planned for a long time, but waiting to see how Isaac would be before doing so. After mourning for the year over their lost Alpha, his father put in for their vacation, feeling that Max and Molly would be alright without them for a bit. With Jack here to help keep them company as well, it all works out for the best.

His parents are to return by the end of the month, not wanting to be gone too long to miss planning things with Freya and the pup's arrival. He just hopes when they return, he has everything in order with Diana, but he can't rush this with her as much as it hurts fighting the mating bond each day.

Ulric sat at the table outside waiting for Diana to join him. She doesn't know that she will be spending breakfast with him, he hopes she likes the surprise. Tapping his foot on the floor, he hasn't felt this anxious before since he first was with Freya. They had a lot of their ups and downs as well, but they worked it out. If it wasn't for his and Freya's relationship, he would have no idea how to help Diana. If she was in this state when he was younger, he would have rejected her right away without another thought, but he's not that type of person any more.

Diana steps outside lost in her tired thoughts, she didn't sleep well last night. Her nightmares returned, they come and go every few weeks, but she was enjoying not having them while she was here. She hopes they wouldn't return with her doing better. Ulric's strong scent of pine and mint fills her mind, stopping all other thoughts. She blinks looking over at the table seeing him just sitting there alone. Confused, she looks back inside through the door at where her father is, then looks back at him slowly walking over to him.

Looking into those handsome blue eyes of his, brought some calm to her troubled mind this morning,

"Morning Diana. I hope you don't mind, I asked your father if you and I can just have breakfast together." He says standing and quickly steps over to pull out her chair for her.

Bringing her lip in between her teeth, her cheeks flush pink at the thought of it just being him and her out here. She was surprised he even wants to eat alone with her, what about Freya?

"Oh uh, that sounds lovely. What about Freya, she's okay with this right?" She carefully asks not wanting to upset Freya in any way.

" Yes of course. I let her know about everything, I don't hide things from her and I won't hide things from you either. She doesn't have a problem with it, I promise." He reassures her, giving her a charming smile that makes the butterflies in her stomach flutter.

"Okay." She steps over taking her seat. He gently pushes her in and is careful not to accidentally touch her again, but if he was having it his way, he would be having her sit in his lap feeding her.

Stepping back over to his seat across from her, he glances over her outfit. Seeing her wearing a thin red sweater that hugs her curves nicely, with a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and some boots. Every time he sees her, she looks more and more beautiful to him. He did notice though when she first came out, the troubled look on her face and slight dark circles under her eyes.

They fill their plates in a bit of a silent awkwardness. He glances over making sure she's taking enough food. He made sure to have her vitman there next to her water. She takes some eggs, a couple slices of bacon and two slices of toast. He knows she can eat more than that.

"Not very hungry this morning?" He asks, trying to spark a conversation.

Her beautiful emeralds look up at him, his voice breaking her train of thought, then looks down at her plate,

"Umm not really. I didn't get the best of sleep last night, so I don't have much of an appetite. I'm sure I'll have more of one for lunch when I'm more awake." She reassures him and starts putting her food together, topping it with cheese, making a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich.

Watching her make her food into a sandwich for some reason fascinated him. He's never really thought to do something like that, it looked really good too. Wanting to give it a try, he grabs some toast and does the same but with his he adds sausage as well as bacon.

Seeing him notice her making her food into a sandwich, she sees the awe in his eyes and the excitement as he starts to do the same. She couldn't help but laugh a little when he grins big at his creation, taking a bite of it. He looks up at her, hearing her laugh. He made her laugh!? It was so adorable too, he wants to make her laugh nonstop today, bring that beautiful smile back to her face.

Swallowing his bite, he chuckles looking at his sandwich, "I never thought of making it into a sandwich. I had to try it." He confesses.

"What do you think?" She asks his opinion and takes a bite of her breakfast sandwich.

"Never eating breakfast any other way again." He says happily, taking another bite. He feels warmth fill him inside hearing her laugh a little again.

She hasn't laughed like this in a while, it's making her heart swell, but she can't help thinking about Darius's laugh. He had the best smile and laugh, he would laugh at her terrible jokes no matter what. Watching Ulric do what he did, reminded her of Darius a little, he loved eating her breakfast sandwiches.

"They were Darius's favorite. I made them for him every morning." She says softly, looking at her sandwich, but she wasn't sad about telling him this.

Ulric looks at her surprised hearing her mention Darius, but he is glad to see this doesn't upset her. She actually has a sweet small smile on her lips, her cheeks a soft shade of pink.

"Well he has great taste."

She looks up, a sexy smirk on his lips, making her cheeks burn more red. She feels Rin shift in her head annoyed with their conversation.

'There is no harm in being his friend Rin.' she says to her, but Rin ignores her like usual.

Diana returns the attitude and ignores Rin and continues enjoying her breakfast with Ulric. She is glad he didn't get upset with her for talking about her past mate, which means his wolf is understanding and respectful to her about it. That will make it much simpler in having conversations with him. Pretty much her whole life has been around and with Darius. They grew up together, went to school together, and then became fated mates. He was two years older than her, she ended up being an early shifter at the age of 16 because he found out she was his mate when he turned 18. If someone finds their mate before they are 18, they sometimes can trigger them to be an early shifter depending how strong the bond is. He was her first for everything and she will always cherish that.

Ulric notices her expression went from being flustered to suddenly annoyed, but it was gone in a second as if she wasn't the one that was really annoyed. He wonders if it was her wolf that is annoyed and if she said anything to Diana, but Diana's mood didn't change, giving him a sweet smile back as she continues to enjoy her breakfast with him.

They fell into a comfortable silence while they enjoyed finishing their food. He finished before her, seeing her take her time eating, she really didn't have much of an appetite, but he could tell she didn't want this moment to end so quickly.

"I have a bit of a confession to make." Ulric starts out, giving her a smile as her emerald eyes look into his sapphire blues.

"I was able to clear my schedule for today in hopes that maybe you and I could spend the day together? We can do whatever you want. Like go shopping in the town or sit around and relax or I could show you my favorite place to take a walk?" He says trying to sound clever at making such a move today, but deep down he is nervous. If she doesn't agree to spend the day with him, then all his planning is ruined.

Her eyes light up to getting to spend the day with him. It also surprised her that he planned ahead to clear the day just for her,

"You want to spend the day with me? You sure you want to waste a day off like that? Wouldn't you rather spend it relaxing with Freya?" She asks confused as to why he would go through this trouble.

That annoys Ulric that she thinks she is not worthy of his time and attention. I guess she still doesn't believe him that he plans to keep his word and accept her as his second mate, but with her wolf staying cut off from her, she doesn't have her natural wolf instincts to help guide her to what she should do.

"Diana, I meant it when I said I wouldn't reject you. I am accepting you as my second mate and for me to do that, I want to spend time with you too. Get to know each other, and help you through what you're going through. I love Freya, I always want to spend time with her, but she knows that she isn't going anywhere and I know it too. Right now, I need to focus on us. I hope you might do the same."

She wasn't expecting such a response, with how forward and open he is about her. She hasn't even figured out if she wants to accept him or not yet. With Rin not working with her, they are going to have trouble even finishing the mating process if Rin doesn't accept him too. She should be open with him, just as much as he is being for her right now.

"Look Ulric. I'm going to be forward with this as you are being with me and tell you honestly. I haven't yet decided if I wish to accept you as my second chance mate yet. My emotions are a bit confused at the moment and it's hard to figure what would be best to do. I do enjoy your company and talking with you. Even before this weird situation happened, I considered us good friends, even though we didn't spend a lot of time together as kids, but we had fun. I'm just not trying to rush things, but I also don't want to take too long figuring out my decision." Her voice was calm and clear when speaking with him about her feelings and thoughts at the moment about this, she was surprisingly more level headed than she thought she would be.

It stung hearing her say she isn't sure if she is going to accept him, but he knows it's difficult for her right now and he didn't expect her to have an answer right away.

"That's fine Diana. Take all the time you need, I am not trying to rush you. Think of it as us having simple dates together. I want to show you what it's like to be with me, to help you decide whether you want to be with me or not. That's your choice. Either way, we will always be good friends Diana. No matter what."

His words made her cheeks flush and a sweet smile form on her lips, looking shyly down at her hands. She fiddles with her fingers thinking it over. She wished Rin would have an input about this because she can feel her listening to him, but not saying anything. Spending the day with him would be nice and he did clear his schedule today for her, she shouldn't be rude and ruin his plans.

"Okay, I'll spend the day with you Ulric, but just as friends." She puts in there, she doesn't think she can handle being physical with him at all right now. It will drive her crazy.

His handsome face lights up with excitement, happy that she agreed to spend the day with him. He was acting like a kid in a candy store right now, she had to bite back from laughing at his pleased reaction. She enjoys that he is easy to please.

"Thank you Diana. What would you like to do today?" He asks, seeing her start to finish her food a bit more quicker now that they will be spending the day together.

She thinks about it while she finishes munching on her sandwich and takes her vitamins really quickly. She doesn't mind shopping and seeing the town, but if they do something that will cause others to notice their attraction to each other, it will cause problems. It might be safer to let him show her around his favorite sights of his land.

"I wouldn't mind having you show me around your land. What your favorite sights are. I've only seen around the mansion so far, I haven't left to see anywhere else." She suggests.

" I'd be happy to show you around. We have some great spots here. After you are done. Would you like to head out right away?"

" We can head out right away, that's fine. Let me just use the restroom real quick." She says finished with her food, feeling a bit excited to go exploring with him. She stands to go freshen up.

"Meet me out front." He tells her. She nods and heads inside really quickly, finding the nearest restroom.

Standing in front of the mirror she decides to mind link her father to let him know her plans today,

'Hey Dad, you have the day free from me. I am going out with Ulric. He's going to show me around the land.'

'Okay Princess. Have fun. Tell me all about it when you return.' he replies back in her head.

She smiles, 'Will do. Love you.'

'Love you too.'

Looking at herself in the mirror, she sighs at her malnourished state and she can even see the dark circles under her eyes from the bad sleep she had last night. Splashing some water on her face to wake her up some more. She dries her face and then pulls the hair tie off her wrist doing a quick top braided with her messy wavy raven hair to look somewhat decent.

Rin shifts in her head again showing she is still annoyed about this, but Diana ignores her. If she is going to still play the silent treatment, then Diana is just going to do what she wants and she wants to have a good time getting to know more about Ulric and Rin will just have to deal with tagging along.

Feeling this is the best she can do, she leaves the bathroom heading to the front of the mansion. Ulric was standing by the door waiting for her, an amused smirk grew on his lips seeing she changed her look a little for him. Trying to ignore the butterflies fluttering in her stomach from the way he is looking at her, she looks down at what he is holding, while she joins his side.

"What's that?"

He looks down at the basket and blanket in his hand, smiling, he looks back at her,

"I figured we could have a nice picnic for lunch at one of the sights. I had the kitchen put something together really quick."

She smirks, lifting a brow at him and crosses her arms over her chest. He made it sound like he just came up with the idea,

"Uh huh. I was only gone for a few minutes. They just happened to have a full picnic made with a blanket ready that quickly?" She says teasing him. Catching him in his little preplanning.

He grins loving how smart she is catching him. He gives a small shrug with his large shoulders, "They are very officiant." He says not admitting he had this as a plan ahead of time.

Opening the door for her, she smiles and laughs a little, shaking her head at him, then heads out of the mansion. A black SUV waited out front for them to take. Ulric sets the basket and blanket in the back. She climbs in the passenger seat and he soon joins her, taking the wheel. Then they were off to have an adventure together.