Blessed by the Moon Goddess

Chapter 15 (Continued)

Abel

As Janelle entered the dressing room, I found a seat to relax. She needs time to try something on. While she’s in there, I pull out my phone and text my mom asking what the best clothing stores to shop for women’s clothing are. I just stopped here because it was the closest one to the community park. As I’m reading her reply, someone enters the boutique and talks to the saleswoman. “Hey Avery, we have one group of shoppers. She’s in the changing room, and he’s just waiting for her to finish.” The saleswoman says. “Thanks for arriving on time.”

“Go on, I got this.” The new woman replies. I hear the door bell jingle again and set my phone down. “Is there anything I can help…. It’s you.” The new saleswoman says with a saltry grin. “I never thought I’d see you again.”

“Do I know you?” I ask trying to place a name to the face.

“I would say you do, quite intimately after the night we shared.” Avery replies. s**t, she’s an old conquest.

“Right, well, I have a policy.”

She rolls her eyes, “Please, I know you want people to believe that, but who would know but us if we had another round. It’s been a few years.” Thank the Goddess she’s not a recent one.

“Well, I’m here with someone, so I can’t talk right now,” I reply getting to my feet. “Excuse me.” I rush to the back of the store where the dressing room is and knock on the door. “Janelle, are you going to come out and show me your outfits?” I asked.

“I will, just only when I find one, I like,” she replies as she moves around in there. “I’m almost done.”

“Just let me see, please.” I need her to come out here. The last thing I want is for that woman to come back at me again. I know I shouldn’t be worried as Janelle is fully aware that I have a long list of past s****l partners, but I never intended for her to meet any.

“Give me a minute.” She snapped in irritation. I don’t want her to be angry, I just don’t want to be alone with Avery. Why did she have to come to work now?

Avery walks over, “is everything alright?”

“Yes, she’s finishing up,” I reply moving away trying to put some distance between us. Avery follows me as I walk back to the waiting area.

“Here, take this.” She said handing me a piece of paper. “In case you reconsider.”

“Honest, you should give that to someone who will give you a chance. I’m an asshole, I f**k a woman once and never contact her again. I only plan on sleeping with my mate more than once, no one else.” I explain.

“I could get you to change.” She says in a slow purr as if she’s trying to seduce me. Before I met Janelle, that probably would have worked, but thankfully I heard the door to the dressing room open, and I moved back to the back of the shop.

“How’d you do?” I ask with a smile as Janelle hands me a pile of clothes.

“I got a few things.” She seems sad. Oh, Goddess, did she hear Avery? s**t, she’s going to be pissed. She turns back to the dressing room and begins bringing a bunch of clothes to the empty rack. “These are the ones I’m not getting.” I realize that it’s more than half of the clothes she brought in there.

“Okay, let’s go check out.” I offer. I bring the clothes to the counter, and pay for the clothes, while Janelle just stands quietly next to me looking at the floor. As soon as we exit the shop, I pull her to a stop. “What’s wrong?”

“You.” She replied.

“Listen, I didn’t know she worked here. Honestly, I don’t even remember her.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Aren’t you upset about the saleswoman hitting on me?”

“What?! No… She what.” Janelle looks at me as if she’s confused. I told her what happened and explained to her why I was asking her to come out of the dressing room. “Seriously?” She walks back to the door of the shop and opens it. “Come near my mate again, and I’ll slit your f*****g throat.” She snarls. “Learn to listen when a man says no, back the f**k off.” She lets go of the door and walks calmly to the car. I put the bag of clothes in the trunk and get in.

“Are you up for any more shopping?”

“Considering I only got three outfits and an extra pair of jeans, I think it’s a good idea.” She replied as I started the engine. I smile at her. “What?”

“You turned me on just then when you told her off,” I admit.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” I take her hand and slide it into my pants so she can feel how hard she made me. “Come here.” I leave her hand on my d**k and pull her closer to kiss her lips. I feel her fist close around my d**k as we kiss, and I groan in pleasure. “f**k, Janelle. Move it up and down.” I request, kissing her more.

“Oh no, you don’t get rewarded.” She replied pulling her hand out of my pants. I groan in frustration but sit back in the seat.

“What did I do?”

“You rushed me after telling me to take my time. I didn’t get to try everything on because I thought you were annoyed with me.” She remarks. “I will reward you when we get back to the house, only if you hold true to your promise that I can take my time.”

“Deal, I’m going to win.”

“We’ll see.” She buckles up and I drive us to one of the stores my mom recommended. I find a parking spot in the shopping plaza, and we get out. “How much time do I have in here?”

“As long as you want. If another situation arises, I’ll just tell you there’s another one.”

“If we come into contact with another one of your conquests, we may have a problem.” She replies.

“Babe, you know I have a past.”

“Doesn’t mean I want to be reminded of it every time I turn around.”

“Fair enough,” I remember how jealous I felt hearing about her date with the guy she kissed. Granted it was just a peck, but still I needed to possess her. I can only imagine how she truly feels knowing that I f****d over a hundred women in this pack. The number would be higher if I wasn’t in boot camp so much. I open the door to the boutique and grab Janelle’s arm as the scent hits me. “Not this one.” I snarl pulling her back out the door.

“Seriously, another one? You know what, let’s just go home. I have enough to get through a week until I earn a paycheck. Then I can buy my clothes on my own time.”

“That’s not the problem,” I respond with a growl of irritation. I pull out my phone and look up the information about this boutique. When I locate the owner’s contact information, I call it.

“Hello?”

“Yes, is this the owner of Sally’s designs?”

“Yes, I am. Is there something I can help you with?”

“You can come to your shop and send your employee home for the week.”

“Excuse me? Is there a problem with her ethics?”

“She’s in heat, and dealing with the public. The scent is so strong it’s filling your shop. There are rules about this.”

“Please, sir. I’ll be right there. There is no need to report it. I’ll give you a*****e credit.”

“Bribery will only work on the weak. It’s already been reported as I’m standing outside your shop.”

“Please, I’ll be right there.” She hung up and I put my phone away.

“Abel, what was that?” Janelle asked.

“We have a very clear rule for women in this pack. If you are in heat, you are not allowed to work or attend public functions until your condition has dissipated. That’s the only rule we are keeping intact.” I explain. “It’s the business owner’s job to manage their employees. Failure results and a written report which comes with a warning and a fine.”

“If it happens again?”

“After the third report, the business will be ordered to close.”

“Abel, that lady is probably going to get fired over this. How could you be so harsh?” Janelle asks, walking back to the car.

“We have rules.”

“This pack is in limbo of Alphas. Vinny is dead, and I know most packs have a process when electing a new Alpha. Who are you going to report this to?”

“I’m going to be named the Beta.”

“When your dad takes office, but who benefits from you threatening to report her? All it does is send the message that you are harsh and have no remorse. Making people question what makes you any better than Vinny.” She states before getting into the car.

I take a few deep breaths calming myself down. I watch as an elderly lady speeds into the parking lot, and runs into the boutique. I climb into the car and leave the parking lot. “I’m not going to write a report. You are right, we need to set an example to prove that we are better than Vinny and Clayton. I guess there’s a lot I have to learn about being fair and just. I’m sorry.”

“Let’s just go back to the house.”

“Please, babe. One more chance? My mom gave me a list of clothing stores to try. I’ll promise, I’ll even let you enter the store with only my card, and I’ll wait out in the car if that will be better.” I plead. She looked so happy when I suggested shopping today, and now she looks angry.

“You’d stay in the car?”

“Yes, well, I may venture to another store while I wait.”

“Can I use your card without someone giving me a hard time?”

“Okay, I’ll wait in the car, when you are ready to check out wave me in.” I offer.

“Deal, but this is the last time.”

“I promise, no more issues from me.” I take her hand and bring it to my lips. “I swear, you are going to train me eventually.”

“Your mom says you Vilkas are never trained, just tamed.”

“Does she now?”

“She says you take after your father more than her.”

“She’s been saying that since the day I was born. Gus takes after her.”

“Yet, I think you are her favorite.”

“She tries not to have a favorite.”

“So doesn’t your dad, but everyone calls Masey his favorite.”

“Masey just knows how to get Dad to do everything she wants him to do. The rest of us have to work at it. I also think my parents are just tired in their old age.”

“They can’t be that old.”

“Mom’s going to be 45 in a month, and dad just turned 49.”

“I never thought she was that old. I thought she was closer to my mom’s age.”

“My mom would have been 38 this year.”

“You and I are also 7 years apart. Which makes sense that my parents are older than yours.”

“My mom was the oldest child. My uncle was only 33 when he died. He was your age when he became Alpha after his father was killed in a war.”

“You talk a lot about your uncle, but not much about your dad.” I point out.

“I don’t know much about my dad. He worked in an office and came home. I loved him, but I feel he didn’t push me enough. Part of me thinks it was because of the way he was raised. My mom told me to dream big and aim high. Uncle Zach pushed me to aim higher, reach for the moon, but claim the stars. What I know about my dad is what my mom told me. Otherwise, we talked only about me, my schooling, my trainings, and had discussions on books we were reading as a family. Dad never talked about himself.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I don’t even know what pack my father was from. All I know is that he was the eldest son of a Beta, betrothed to the Eldest daughter of the Alpha. The Alpha had only 4 girls, so my dad was to marry the eldest and become Alpha. He was in training when he visited the Blood Moon pack and met my mom who was helping out in the packhouse. He returned home, called off the wedding, and threatened by his father that if he disgraced the family by canceling the wedding, he would be banished for life from the pack. My dad left to be with his mate and never looked back. After the first three miscarriages, my dad opened up to my mom, telling her that he believed he was cursed by his pack for leaving them without an Alpha.”

“He had integrity and didn’t live in the past.”

“He didn’t speak much either. I mean, less than your dad.”

“That’s hard to do.”

“But he loved my mom so much. When we lost baby Max, mom shut down, and I had to go live with Uncle Zach for a few months because I couldn’t understand why the Moon Goddess would give him to us and take him away within hours. My dad came to talk with me, he was concerned about me as I was the one holding Max when he took his final breath, three hours after he was born. I know now, that they only let me hold him because they knew he wouldn’t have made it home, they just didn’t expect me to be holding him. His lungs and heart were underdeveloped. He was the only one at that point to make it out of the womb. From baby A to baby J¸me, I finally understood how heartbroken my parents were and how delighted they were when I lived. They waited until I was 2 before they tried again. Babies K and L didn’t make it. But Max was promising. Losing him, was hard. Dad helped me understand, I was 6 how can you help a child overcome that trauma? He cared for Mom, who stopped talking and became a statue for 6 months. When I shifted for the first time, Uncle Zach helped me through it, but my dad came as soon as he heard. He became my cheerleader for Mom until she was better and back to herself. I’m like her when I’m sad, and it scares me.”

“Wow. I can’t imagine.”

“Abel, promise me that if I lose 10 babies, we can stop trying. I don’t think I can do what my mom did.”

“How many kids do you think I want?” I ask in shock. 10 is a large number.

“That’s not what I’m saying. My parents got pregnant 23 times, and only 3 of us survived. Unless you count Max, then that’s 4. I never count him because he died before he could live.”

I pull the car into the parking lot and turn to look at her. “I don’t think I could watch you suffer losing 5 babies, never mind 10 or 20. If you say stop at 10, we’ll stop at 10. I may stop at 5 though.”

She leans over and kisses me. “Thank you.” She opens the car door, and I grab her hand.

“Wait, are we not going to talk about how many kids we want?”

“Not yet. I know you’re trying to get me pregnant, but I’m not yet.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I’ve had my cycle every month on time. When I miss it, I’ll tell you.”

“How have I not noticed you’ve had your period?”

“I don’t like to be touched as I’m uncomfortable. It’s due to come in the next few days for this month.” She shrugs.

“Thanks for the warning that you won’t be letting me hug you for a week.”

“It’s not like that, Abel.”

“Go shopping, I’ll be here waiting.”

“Are you going to another store while you wait?”

“Yeah, I should probably do that now. I answer exiting the car with her. I’m going to the phone store to get her a phone. Thankfully my dad brought mine home with him otherwise I’d be looking all over for it near the barracks.

I was in and out of the phone store within 30 minutes. Another hour, and Janelle exits the shop waving at me to come inside. I enter the shop to see a heaping pile of clothes on the checkout counter. Once it’s all scanned and put into bags, I pay and help carry the bags out to the store. “I like this store. They had so many options that are my style, and it was easy to find something in my size.”

“I see that. Should be enough to fill some of your side of the closet.” I note.

“Thank you,” She pulls me in close as we put the bags into the trunk. She stretches on her tippy toes leaning for a kiss. With a smirk of satisfaction, I meet her lips and hold her close against me. She knows damn well what she’s doing rubbing against me. “Let’s get back to the house. I owe someone a reward.”

I release her and we get into the car and drive home. She’s got new clothes, and a phone, now all I need to do is help find her a job she’ll like, buy her a car, then buy a house for us. Once I get all that, I will be satisfied. I know this pack holds bad memories, but I’m hoping eventually she’ll view it as her pack and her home.