Our Beloved Luna

Chosen

We crossed over the river and about twenty-five minutes later we arrived at the outskirts of Forrester, a neutral territory for all supernatural beings, positioned just outside our pack and the Alpha King's Kingdom line. We walked into Whiskey's, a dive bar we have been to numerous times to test out my powers, but secretly- just to take a d.amn break. It was dingy, gross, dark- exactly what we needed. We were both dressed in black, now that Thatch had shifted back, and we sat in the furthest corner of the bar- facing the door. With Vina far retreated and Thatch being a werebear, even our scents were relatively nondescript. Werebears had the power to cover scents, and without my wolf active, I barely felt like myself- let alone truly smell like me. So what that meant was security. We didn't raise any eyebrows and kept our heads down.

We ordered two amber ales and two baskets of fries, smiling at the bartender who had been here for ages. She was a frail woman, human, with grayed frizzy hair and deep wrinkles. She knew supernaturals and knew to keep her head out of everyone's business.The best kind of barkeep.

"Okay Papa Bear. What's all this about? What are we here to talk about?"

"Nope. Not yet. Not until I'm satisfied that you've trained. Powers. Go."

I huffed but figured it would be faster to comply than to argue. I closed my eyes and cracked my neck. I kept my projection wall up, keeping a sliver of it open to keep Thatcher inside my bubble. I opened my eyes enough to catch my target: a werewolf- not from our pack. Not old by any means, but I let his emotions wash over me. He was lonely. He hadn't found his mate and had been saving himself. But he was way past eighteen- when you are able to identify your mate. I caught glimpses of mating balls he had attended over the years across the territory. More emotions flooded in as he sipped his old-fashioned: helplessness, failure, and ultimate grief. A single tear slid down my cheek as I narrowed in on him without him realizing I was acutely aware of his entire being. I could feel Thatcher's disapproval but I shifted my emotions back to him: determination, strength of heart, and hope. I watched as his facial expression changed, his grip on his drink tightened and the light in his eyes changed. He slammed his glass down along with some cash and stomped out the door. I took a long swig of beer and smiled at the barkeep who dropped off our fries. I tried to keep my facial expression innocent while feeling Thatch's irritation begin to radiate off him.

"Genevieve..." Thatcher growled.

"What?? I only nudged him in the right direction. Poor bloke would have been suicidal by nightfall." Thatcher could feel what I felt being connected to me. So when I read another being, he could too. The problem was, I was much softer than him, no matter how much of a hard ass I liked to play.

"Again." He growled, nodding toward a man in a three-piece suit in the corner.

This guy was all nerves, even though his demeanor read as cool, calm, and collected. He was running numbers in his head repeatedly. I caught glimpses of his boss yelling, purple-faced and spit flying. His finger was tapping incessantly on the tabletop and his knee was bouncing now. He downed his drink, something brown and neat. I couldn't help him. He seemed up sh!ts creek. But more importantly, he didn't recognize me reading him. When I try to tap into folks, normally the ones on edge are the first to pick up on me prying. So that means I'm getting better with my subtlety.

"One more," Thatcher whispered.

I rolled my eyes. There was only one other party in the d.amn place. A young wolf couple sat in the booth nearest the door. He was holding her hand across the table and rubbing his thumb across her knuckles, but it was hard and rough. She wasn't looking him in the eye. I pressed harder on her- still only keeping my projection open to Thatcher- blocking anyone else from responding to my power. He was abusing her. Her first images that slapped me in my mind's eye were his fists in her hair and wrapping his hands around her throat. I physically reacted, snatching my head to the side, but tried to hide it with a forced cough. I then tapped him emotionally to understand why. He couldn't find his mate either. He was trying to pressure her into being his chosen mate, but was obviously going about it the wrong way.

I could feel remnants of love from her, but he had screwed that up royally. The seed of contempt has already been planted. I peeked at Thatcher out of the corner of my eye, digging into his fries again. I pressed a little deeper on the male wolf. He was secretly seething with anger. His parents' disappointment, his failure at work, his inability to find his mate, inevitably leading to his forceful nature towards this poor girl. He was murderous and I could feel the dark heat rippling off of him in waves. I could already feel Thatch growling at me not to intervene, but f***k him right now.

First, I projected courage towards the girl. Courage to stand up for herself and walk away to find her own happiness. Before he could react to whatever she was saying as a result- I locked on him. I washed him with calm, logic, acceptance. Then I flushed him with hope for his mate and the right path. They both stood, I heard a sincere apology from him, and they hugged briefly before she practically ran through the door to her new freedom.

I sighed deeply, knowing I was in deep sh!t. Thatcher audibly sighed, catching the old bartender's attention. "We will take 4 shots of whiskey please."

"Thatch...I...." I could feel Vina snickering in my head. She was pleased with our performance even if she was only watching from the wings.

"Everything is fine, Sunshine. We just can't meddle in the Goddess's plans."

"That's just it, they are messing with her plans. Choosing someone against her wishes is betraying her. I simply nudged them back on the right path."

Thatcher sighed, tossing three of the whiskey shots into one glass, clinking the remaining one for me and downing his three in one gulp.

"Well that was just unfair." I huffed, and he smirked his signature grin.

"You meddled. You lose a shot. I don't make the rules!" He shrugged.

You absolutely make the bullish!t rules. Vina growled into a mindlink that we could both hear.

"Oh good, Vina, you're here." Thatcher grabbed the sides of my barstool and spun me to face him, trapping my knees in between his. He tucked a stray strand of my hair behind my ear before rubbing his thumb over my bottom lip. I shivered a little at the intimate contact. He normally wasn't like this, so I was getting an idea of what he was wanting to discuss. And Vina did not like it, she immediately was up on all four paws, pacing in my mind.

"Genevieve, you are my world. I know what the Goddess said, but I don't care. I'm lonely, Gen. And you're right here and perfect and already tied to me. I want you to choose me, Sunshine. I want you to be my chosen mate."

In about five seconds, I had about a million different thoughts and questions run the gambit in my head. I could tell Thatcher was blocking his own emotions from me so I could work out my own, which I was incredibly thankful for.

Rapid fire:

What happens if my mate turns up?

What happens if his mate turns up?

Yes,Thatcher is ridiculously attractive, but I've never seen him as anything other than a brother? But could I?

What would the Goddess think?

What would Vina do? (I could feel her pacing pick up and her ears were up, snout in the air.)

What if he kisses me?

What if he doesn't?

Do I even want him to?

Is our life what I want forever?

What happens if I say no? Will this ruin everything?

I literally felt every emotion racing through me at lightning speed. I was struggling to keep my heart rate from beating out of my chest. I had closed the projection completely so Thatcher (and Teddie) couldn't pick up the turmoil I was spiraling into.

"Just....give me a second to think." I bought myself some more time. Thatcher's kelly green eyes were storming trying to read me. Vina was practically whining at this point. So I nudged her, trying to get her to open up about what she was thinking. She was pacing faster and was basically jumping in my head, making it impossible to think. The front door of the bar opened and I was hit with a scent of coconut and mahogany that caused my world to stop.

MATE! Vina screamed in my head. There were several men coming inside in a group, so I couldn't even pick out who or where he was. My heart was now beating in my ears and I couldn't process thought. All I knew was I had about half of a second to do something.

So I ran.