Blood Moon

Chapter 02

Chapter 02

Elouise’s POV

The coffee machine droned beside me. Its gurgling was only slightly more annoying than the regular pack of boys who come in here this late at least once a week. They had gone thankfully, but their mess remained on the corner booth.

I handed Liz her third cup of black coffee since she had arrived. She hugged it closer, inhaling the bitter steam with her eyes closed.

The coffee shop was dead tonight. It usually dies down when the boys come in here and all that’s left is some biker guy sitting by himself, a young couple arguing as quietly as they can, a student staring into the depths of a blank page on his laptop, and my best friend Liz.

It was only me working tonight.

“I don’t think he knows,” she mumbled before taking a sip and realising the coffee was too hot for her. She blew onto it and tried to take another sip. Still too hot. “I don’t understand how he doesn’t know; he seems to know nothing about everything.”

 I frowned. Liz’s black fingernails drummed against the cup one by one, creating the only sound in here that didn’t annoy me.

When I had brought Edward to the pack house after we had invaded the Silver Tails, Liz gave him a tour of the room and the forest in our territory. During this tour, she had grabbed his hand to take him somewhere else and felt the thing I dread most. The bond.

“Is it possible to not know?” I asked.

Liz shrugged. “I don’t think so. I’ve never heard of anyone not knowing.”

Neither had I. As bad as I felt for Liz, it gave me hope. I wouldn’t have to fear touching people if the mate bond didn’t snap into place right there.

As a child, it was described to me as two phantom strings whirling around each other like the same side of two magnets. When mates touched, the strings became taut, their ends reaching for each other until two become one. Then over time, no matter how hard the mates try to resist, the string becomes a steel rod. Unbreakable without great pain, cold without the other to warm them. The image of it scares me.

Liz felt all of that and was now drowning her sorrows in coffee because Edward didn’t.

“Maybe it’s just bad timing,” I try to reason. “He’s just moved pack, he’s in a new territory with new people. I don’t think he was treated very well before here.”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking.” She chewed on her lip as the door opened. “Should I talk to him about it or do you think that will scare him away?”

I barely heard what she said. My eyes followed one of the three people walking across the room. They sat down at a window booth across the space from me and Liz but it didn’t matter how far away they sat. I was going to have to go over there and take their orders sooner or later.

“Who’s that then?” She asked, gaining back my attention.

I shook my head. “Just someone we met in class today.”

She raised her eyebrow, a smirk glistened on her burgundy lips. “Is that all?”

I dared a glance at them. Lucas was sitting opposite the two I didn’t recognise, a father and daughter by the looks of it. Both had near white hair and deathly pale skin. Their features pointy and sunken and their scent didn’t match Lucas’. The father was an alpha.

“He’s an alpha,” I told her now looking away. “Don’t know what pack, Jack stopped me from asking.”

She snorted. “Were you being too guarded again?”

I stuck my tongue out as an answer making us both laugh. We were interrupted by the sound of somebody snapping their fingers. I look up and the white-haired alpha has his arm raised, now pointing down at their table for service.

“Rude,” Liz mumbled.

I bit my tongue and dragged the notebook and pencil off the counter before sauntering over to their table with a customer service practiced smile.

Just before the man speaks, his nostrils flare. His eyes travel down my body.

I cleared my throat. “What can I get you?”

His eyes met mine, unnerved for only a second before he says his order. “I’ll have a tea, milk no sugar, and a muffin.”

“We’re out of muffins tonight, sir. Can I recommend a donut instead?”

He grunts. “One. And she will have water.”

“I want hot chocolate,” his daughter interrupts.

I stop writing in the notebook and look between them for an answer. The father stares down at his daughter, giving her an alpha glare until she pushes herself back in the seat.

“She will have water,” he tells me finally.

I put my tongue in my cheek as I write down the order. Then I look to Lucas.

“And what will you be having?”

He smiles at me, and I’m not sure if it’s because he’s being polite or because he knows who I am. Either way, I focus on the notebook, so I don’t have to look at him. “Decaf, please.”

I resist the urge to raise my eyebrow as I must with all customers who order a decaf coffee. I’ll never understand it. At least he has manners. The same cannot be said for some people at this table.

I walk back to the counter and start making their order. Liz watches me.

“He’s cute.”

I lay a donut onto a white napkin as the machine pours dark liquids into three cups.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” I tell her. She knows I’m lying which makes me wink at her.

At the table, Lucas is sitting back looking half interested in what the man in front of him is talking about. I watch the daughter as I stir milk into her father’s coffee. From the looks of it, the two alphas are having a conversation about their packs. I recognise Lucas’ body language and the way the white-haired alpha speaks in my father. I recognise the daughter in myself and almost laugh. She’s only there because her father hopes she will find a mate in Lucas.

From the looks of it, she hasn’t, and her presence had been rendered pointless.

I pick up the tray, three hot drinks and a donut sitting on top of it and rest it on my hip as I walk over to their table.

“I don’t trust him; I trusted your father.”

“Thank you, Archgallo,” Lucas replied. “That means a lot to me.”

“Do you know how I became the alpha of the Artic Stalkers pack? By not-“

I set the tray down on the table which interrupts their conversation. I place the decaffeinated coffee in front of Lucas, moving my hand away before he picks it up, then I place the tea in front of Archgallo and the hot chocolate in front of his daughter.

His expression furrows at the brown drink. “I ordered water.”

I push a smile forward. “We’re out.”

“Of water?”

His daughter sniggered. Thankfully it was ignored by her father.

“Pipes are broke. We won’t have water until morning.”

It wasn’t as if I was trying to be a convincing liar. And it might have been that fact which turned Archgallo’s lips into a scowl. His groomed white eyebrows deepened so low I was surprised he could still see me.

“Rubbish service,” he nearly shouted. “Do you know how to do your job?”

I kept my smile. “My job is to give customers what they want. She wanted hot chocolate.”

He spoke through too white teeth. “Paying customers. I’m paying for it and I wanted her to have a water.” He took the hot chocolate from the girl and brought it to my end of the table. “Change it.”

I pushed it towards his daughter again. “It’s free. The pipes are broke.”

With that, I turned on my heel and walked to the counter. Liz hid her smile behind a hand. When I knew Archgallo was still looking at me, I poured myself a nice tall glass of fresh water. 

I stared at Liz as I took a sip through a paper straw and watched as she tried her best to not laugh out loud.

One quick look told me Archgallo was no longer looking at me so I pulled out my father’s book from my bag and opened it between Liz and I.

“Artic Stalkers,” I whisper to her as we flick through the pages until we find them.

We found it near the end. “How pleasant,” Liz comments reading the first few words.

“They value hunting and wealth over everything. Mostly hunting for wealth. Power thirsty, always looking for ways to grow their pack through marriages and debts. Son’s are not mated to Elouise. Daughters are not mated to Brandon :)”

My eyebrows shot up. I hadn’t realised my father kept track of everyone who wasn’t mine or my brother’s mate.

I stared at my brother’s name inked in a dead man’s handwriting. It didn’t feel right.  Neither did seeing my name. The last time I saw my name written by him was on a birthday card that I no longer have. I got them every year, I didn’t think it would be my last one. I just threw it out because it was just a piece of cardboard. I’ll never get a card from him again. 

I shook away the feelings and the thoughts. I have my whole life to be sad about their death, right now wasn’t the time, so I continued reading.

“Wolves are white all through the bloodline. Each person has at least five children sometimes going up to eight or nine. They have roots all over Europe, setting up lots of small packs that will come together when needed. Most people prefer Archgallo’s brother (Elid) over him. Those people don’t live very long.”

Circled at the bottom is a warning to be cautious.

I closed the book and tucked it back into my bag. Does Lucas know who he is talking to? Of course he did, but if he trusted a man like that, what type of man was he?

“There’s a table right next to them that still needs cleaned,” Liz said. She pointed behind her shoulder at the corner booth and I smiled.

“Excuse me while I do my job.”

She winked and I carried an empty tray and a damp cloth and spray to the table. As I’m walking there, Lucas’ face is blank. He gives nothing away whereas Archgallo looks feral with long strands of white hair frame his grey ringed eyes.

“I owe him nothing,” came Archgallo’s voice, “and I’m not about to change that.”

I pick up crumpled papers by the corner and dropped them onto the tray. Half eaten sandwiches, discarded wrap fillings and muffin cases pile up and it’s an effort to let any of it fall.

“Allied with me or not, my pack will always be loyal to him.”

It was an effort not to look at them. I wanted to study their movements and expressions, that’s how I learn, but Lucas was facing my direction and I couldn’t let him know I was listening.

“I’ve heard,” Archgallo strained. “Should you decide to change your mind, speak to me immediately.”

“I will.”

There was a silence. I picked up the tray with one hand and sprayed the table five times before stretching over to wipe it.

“Will I be seeing you at the gala?” asked Lucas.

Before I could stop myself, I had already looked up and met Lucas’ stare.

Ah fu-

“Of course. When have I never appeared?”

 “I’m just interested to see who comes this year. I’ve heard some alphas are too busy to attend lately.”

My fingers dug into the rag.

Archgallo laughed so hard I almost dropped the pile of rubbish back onto the table. “Cowards. Liars. Could you imagine?”

Lucas’ voice was neutral. “I couldn’t. Would you say it’s shameful to avoid it?”

My hand scrubbed the same area of the table. It began to ache.

“Absolutely shameful. It’s unclaimed territory, what’s the worst that could happen? Tell me, what were these alphas too busy doing?”

 “They didn’t say.”

Archgallo laughed again as if it was the funniest thing he’s ever heard. “Like I said, liars and cowards.”

I’m not sure when I looked up, but I found myself glaring at Archgallo.

I am not a coward. I am not a coward.

I found Lucas’ eyes.

I am not a coward. I am not a coward.

His smile grew. He hid it behind his coffee cup as he took a drink.

Not a coward. Not a coward.

I am an alpha. Alphas are brave and strong and smart. Lucas finds it entertaining to taunt me, I find it entertaining to prove people wrong.

I poured the rubbish into the bed beside the counter and threw the tray onto the pile next to the sink. Liz had nearly finished her coffee, so I refilled her cup, emptying the jug.

“He knew I was listening,” I tell her. “Archgallo’s pack is allied with Lucas’ but that’s all I could hear.”

She nodded. I avoided her eyes.

“We’re going to the gala.”

“Ellie-”

I stared into her eyes, green rimmed with grey, they searched me, and I didn’t stop them. Liz knew me, bad side and good.

She swallowed. “Are you sure.”

No. I didn’t want to go. “Yes. It’s tradition and we’ve ignored it for long enough.”

“What else did they say?” she whispered.

I shook my head, not wanting to answer her because she’ll only tell me that my stupid pride is making choices for me. She would be right, but I wasn’t going to hear it.

“You should talk to Edward, explain it to him if he doesn’t understand.”

She knew I was changing the subject and I appreciated it when she didn’t call me out on it. “What if he rejects me?”

“Then he doesn’t deserve you and I’ll buy the drinks.”