Fated Mate

The Fall Out

“Maeve, are you joking?” Lee asks immediately.

“No, Josie deserves to go and find her mate” She says standing her ground.

“Maeve, Celeste will be our next Luna” Josie says.

“Okay, what if she’s not and what if she chooses Xander? What if you end up stuck being Luna forever?”

“That would be the exact job that I signed up for”

“No it’s not, you signed up to be Luna for a couple months until Lee finds his mate and instead it took years. Even after the years it took there is still a chance that she might not be his mate. Josie you deserve to have happiness too” Maeve says.

“I am happy and besides what if Liam is not your mate? Don’t you want to find yours?” Josie asks.

“If he isn’t then I will have plenty of time to find my true mate. You on the other hand are running out of time. Your mate could have taken a chosen mate by now”

“Okay this is a lot of ‘what ifs’” Sean interjects.

“My thoughts exactly” Lee agrees.

“Look even if Celeste picks Lee, she still needs Luna training and I don’t. Also, She is going to a whole other pack to bond with Xander in a few days. Josie could go with her”

“Maeve are you smoking c***k?” Lee asks. “You can’t just do that even if Josie wanted to do that we would need Xander’s permission to house a Luna of another pack.”

“I’ve thought of that” Maeve responds “I asked Leith and he said yes.”

“Why are you talking to Leith?” Lee asks incredulous.

“We met a couple times and I had his number” Maeve explains.

“Okay Milk Boy did not know this” Liam says.

“Maeve you have been texting another Beta about this before you even told your family?” Josie asks.

“Maybe?” She says sheepishly.

“You have got to be kidding me, you’ve been cheating on me? With some older guy?” Liam says getting angrier.

“What? No. I was just thinking about my sister and this pack I wasn’t like flirting” Maeve explains.

“Yeah right. I am out of here” Liam announces. Sean and Lee share a silent look of relief between them.

“Babe what if we are mates?” Maeve asks pleadingly.

“My Mate would never cheat on me in the name of getting her sister laid” He spits out and takes off walking back to the community. Village? Neighborhood? Whatever you want to call it that is where he is going.

“This was supposed to be a really sweet touching moment, and now I am single” Maeve groans.

“Maeve what else have you been talking about with Leith?” Sean questions coming closer to her.

“Just Josie and Celeste leaving to visit the pack I haven’t talked to him before this week.” She defends.

“Maeve the bottom line is you can not take my place I am happy serving my pack.” Josie says definitively.”

“Lee what do you think?” Maeve asks turning to her brother. All the while I am stuck feeling like the worst spectator. I have no horse in this race and all I have done is contributed to the confusion that surrounds them.

“I think it’s not the best idea Maeve.” He says and I sense that he is trying to take a more gentle approach considering what just happened with Liam.

“Why? because I am young? I am now 18 which is how old you were when you became Alpha and she became Luna. I am inexperienced? I have been watching and helping her for years. Celeste might choose you?” She gestures to me as she says this “Then at the very least Josie can get a head start on finding her wherever she is” Maeve finishes crossing her arms.

“Maeve we can discuss later” Lee says and is more firm than the last time that he spoke to her. She scoffs and turns around and begins to shift before us. Her wolf is beautiful and is red just like Lee’s hers however has a tiny diamond of white fur on her forehead. She takes off running into the woods as she approaches the tree line she takes one last look at us before getting swallowed by the forest.

“I can’t believe this.” Josie says throwing her hands up into the air in exasperation.

“I can, Maeve is super concerned with everyone else’s mate.” Sean says.

“Yeah, I agree with Sean this is pretty in character for Maeve.” Lee says agreedly.

“You know what I mean.” Josie says now turning her frustration towards the two men.

“Josie calm down and let’s go back to the house to talk about this” Lee says and grabs my hand to start leading us towards their house.

“What are we just gonna let her run through the woods?” Josie asks seemingly in protest but, still follows her Alpha.

“Yeah that’s like the best part of being able to shift.” Sean answers this time.

“Why do you guys let her get away with everything?” Josie starts to complain. At this moment in time I wish I could simply vanish.

“Josie it is her birthday and she is an adult. What do you want us to do?”

“I don’t know tell her no instead of we will talk about it later would be a nice start” Josie throws her hands in the air. Lee grabs the bridge of his nose.

“Telling her no is just going to make her fight more if we at least pretend to think about it she will accept the answer better” Josie huffs at this.

“Who cares how she accepts the answer Lee, just for once it would be nice if we could have a united front.” Sean puts himself in between them.

“This is just making things so much worse. Why don’t we go back to the house and talk about this?” He pleads with them. Josie turns her back on all of us.

“I am going to go for a run in the opposite direction of Maeve.” She shifts and makes good on what she said and takes off in the other direction. Lee and Sean look at each other for a moment in joint exasperation.

“Celeste do you want to come back to the house with us?” Lee asks me. I feel like an invader I have never been more uncomfortable in my life.

“Would it be alright if I just went upstairs and took a nap?” I ask desperate for some time to decompress. Lee looks surprised by my request but nods anyway.

“Yeah sure thing Sean and I will just hang out downstairs.”

“Maybe we could try to get things ready for tonight?” Sean adds.

“Yeah no we burn nearly everything that we touch.” Lee says and we start walking.

“Are you worried about them out there?” Sean asks Lee.

“No, I had extra guards set out today.” Again it feels like I am not even here. Lee does attempt to hold my hand as we are walking but I brush him off. He seems offended by this but, accepts it the same way he did my nap. We continue on our way to the house and as we get inside and I make my way upstairs I notice Lee is following me up the stairs. We get to his room and he shuts the door behind us.

“Are you mad at me?” He asks his eyes pleading.

“I’m not mad Lee I am just super uncomfortable” I respond.

“What made you uncomfortable?”

“Your whole family fighting right in front of me.” I say and I am slightly concerned that I have to spell this out for him.

“We do that all the time. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.” He explains.

“Maybe not for you guys but, my family and I have never fought like that before that was a little much for me and I just need a little time to calm down.”

“Could I lay down with you?” He asks. I am starting to get bothered by this he’s sweet but, he’s not listening to what I am saying that I need.

“No thank you, I will calm down quicker by myself.” I say back to him. He looks at me sadly but, does not protest with me which I consider a good sign. He stands there awkwardly for a moment before asking another question.

“Could I hug you before I go down stairs?” I nod and he wraps me up tight. He kisses me on the forehead as well before finally taking his leave. I know it’s a little wrong to kick a guy out of his own bedroom just so that I can sleep but, I feel so drained I don’t think I can handle the weird energy that Sean and him have. I realize as my head hits the pillow this is my first opportunity to think since I got here. The sigh of relief that exits my body could power a sailboat. I can’t get over how deeply personal that fight was between Maeve and Josie. I wonder if they even realized I was there. The way they spoke did not indicate that. Liam breaking up with Maeve also made me want to pass away that instant. Although everyone here is nice for the most part, I can’t deny that they have gotten weirdly comfortable with me the last few days. I drift off wondering if Twistriver will be any better.