From Beta to Luna

Chapter 6 — The Date

    Either the Moon Goddess was really enjoying messing with me, or fate really wanted Owen and me to go on this date tonight, because I only packed one formal dress with me for this week, and it just so happened to be red. I mean, what were the chances?

    Leaning closer to the mirror and quickly fixing the inner corner of my right falsie, I stepped back and stared at my own reflection in the mirror, chewing my lower lip thoughtfully before deciding that I was satisfied with my look. My dark, jetblack hair cascaded down one shoulder in its usual, loose waves, the red bodycon dress hugged every curve in all the right places, and the gray, smokey makeup accentuated my stormy gray eyes perfectly. Flashing myself a smile in the mirror, I stepped away to pull on my black strappy heels. I checked the time on my wrist watch and saw that it was already 5 minutes until 7. Should I wait downstairs for Owen? Or would he come to my room and pick me up? Was that weird?

    Before I could think about it for too long, there was a muffled knock on the door. I quickly grabbed my black clutch and walked over to open it. I had expected it to be Owen, so I was a bit surprised when I opened it to reveal Nathan standing there, sweaty and shirtless. 

    I c****d an eyebrow in question before asking, “What are you doing here, and why are you so damn sweaty?”

    Nathan flashed me his megawatt smile, looking me up and down before his eyes landed on mine with a smirk on his face. “Hot date tonight?”

    I rolled my eyes, not giving him the satisfaction of an answer since I knew Xander had probably filled him in already. Before I could respond, Owen popped into view, careful not to touch Nathan in fear of getting himself dirty. My brows raised slightly at the sight of Owen. 

    Damn he looked good. 

    His white dress shirt was buttoned up to the third button, revealing a bit of his well defined chest, and he had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. With his black slacks, black dress shoes, and his hair styled flawlessly, he looked like he had just walked right out of a men’s catalogue. 

    Owen smirked at me when he noticed me admiring him and took this time to look me over as well. 

    Letting out a low whistle, he complimented, “Well look at you, Beta Raina. You surely clean up well.”

    I returned his smirk with a playful one of my own before responding, “You don’t look too shabby yourself, Alpha.”

    His eyes darkened a few shades at hearing me use his title, but he didn’t get a chance to respond before Nathan exclaimed, “Gross you guys! I’m standing right here!”

    Owen and I laughed at this before he extended his arm towards me and asked, “Are you ready?”

    I placed my hand in the crook of his elbow and nodded, but before we could head downstairs, Nathan raised a hand to Owen’s chest, stopping us in our tracks. 

    I raised a brow at him in question, wondering what the hell he was doing, before he addressed Owen, “Listen, Clearwaters. You may be the future Alpha of our strongest ally pack, and you may be my new Luna’s brother, but don’t be fooled. If you hurt my little sister, if you’re anything but a gentleman to her tonight… I’ll kill you.”

    I rolled my eyes at him. Every guy I’ve ever gotten involved with has heard a similar speech from Nathan, and while I thought it was sweet he was always so protective over me, I couldn’t help but to think how it couldn’t possibly work on an Alpha like Owen. 

    Owen chuckled in response before saying, “Don’t worry, Nathan, I’ll be a perfect gentleman during the date. After the date though… Well, let’s just say I won’t do anything she doesn’t want me to do.”

    My jaw dropped, and my eyes widened as I stared up at him, mortified he would say something like that to Nathan. Owen laughed at my response as Nathan shouted obscenities at him before throwing his hands over his ears and stalking down the hall towards his own room. 

    I glared at Owen and smacked him on the chest. “Don’t say s**t like that in front of him, it’s weird!”

    Owen laughed at me before beginning to lead me down the stairs. “Oh calm down, Raina, we’re all adults.”

    “Yeah, but Nathan’s like my brother, he doesn’t need to hear details about our s*x life,” I responded before I realized what I had said. 

    Before I could clarify, Owen stopped us on the stairs and looked down at me, his eyes darkened even more than earlier. I felt my breath hitch slightly and the warm blush creep up to my cheeks. 

    My knees felt weak from his piercing gaze, while he simply smirked and asked in a low voice, “Our s*x life?”

    “Sh-shut up, th-that’s not what I meant,” I stammered, extremely flustered. 

    I silently cursed at him, hating the effect he had on me. I was usually cool and collected with any guy I’ve ever been with, so what was it about Owen that had me stuttering like an inexperienced schoolgirl?

    Owen laughed before leading us down the stairs again. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re extremely cute when you’re all flustered?”

    “Shut up,” I mumbled again, not trusting my stupid mouth to say anything else. 

    After we had reached his sleek black Lexus in the garage, he opened the door for me and allowed me to climb in before shutting the door and walking around the car to get into the driver’s seat. 

    The drive to the restaurant was filled with comfortable conversation, mostly just us asking each other basic get-to-know-you questions. I found out that he was 23, turning 24 next month, that his dad was waiting for him to find his mate before turning over the Alpha title to him, which he was more than okay with, and that he was still a little salty that to this day, he’s still never managed to beat Xander in a fight. 

    “There’s no way!” he cried when I informed him that even I had managed to pin Xander in a few fights in the past. “How!”

    I laughed at his response before saying, “Clearly you still underestimate my abilities. I may not look it, but I’m probably one of the best fighters in our pack. I’m actually in charge of all training for the entire pack.”

    He gave me a sidelong glance, a new light of appreciation and admiration dancing in his eyes as he said in a low voice, “You keep finding new ways to impress me, Raina.”

    I didn’t have time to respond, as he suddenly pulled the car to a stop in front of a restaurant with a fancy French name. I reached for the door, but before I could open it for myself, Owen was already there in a flash holding it open for me. I smiled at him as I took the hand he was offering me and carefully stepped out of the car. We walked towards the door, where he handed his keys to the valet there then led me inside. 

    The lighting was low, and I could hear the faint sound of classical music playing in the background, giving the restaurant a sophisticated ambiance. 

    The hostess smiled at us, bowing her head slightly at Owen and greeting, “Alpha Owen.”

    I raised my brow at this before Owen leaned down and whispered, “This is my dad’s restaurant. Most of the employees are members of our pack.”

    I nodded my head in understanding before I realized that the hostess was now directing a disgusted and hostile glare my way. I was confused for a moment before I realized it probably had something to do with me being on Owen’s arm tonight. I mentally rolled my eyes. 

    Great, another guy I had to fight girls off for. 

    Without saying a word to me, she flashed a bright smile Owen’s way and grabbed two menus, gesturing for us to follow her. She led us through the restaurant to a private booth in the back, where Owen made sure I got in okay before sliding in the booth across from me. 

    “I hope you enjoy your evening, Alpha Owen and Elise,” the hostess said, flashing us a smile. 

    My brows knit together in confusion before I corrected her, “It’s Raina.”

    “Oh, sorry! I must have mixed you up with the other girl from earlier this week,” she replied with an ‘innocent’ giggle, and it suddenly dawned on me what was happening. 

    I rolled my eyes, but before I could respond, I heard a low growl from across the table. I looked over to see Owen glaring at her, his eyes darkened a few shades in anger. 

    The hostess’s eyes widened in fear, as Owen snapped at her, “Leave. Now.”

    She bowed her head in submission before hurriedly scurrying away from the table. I suppressed a laugh as Owen closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. When he opened them again, they were back to his normal hazel, but they were now looking at me with worry. 

    “Raina, I’m—”

    “Owen, it’s okay,” I cut off, reaching across the table and placing a reassuring hand on his arm. 

    I flashed him a quick smile before continuing, “I’m not one to get jealous. We all have a past, and it’s not like we’re in a relationship where you’re cheating on me or anything, so don’t worry about it.”

    Owen gave me a relieved look before smiling and moving his arm from underneath my hand and grabbing hold of my hand instead. I blushed slightly at this and looked him in the face to find him staring directly into my eyes. 

    Goddess help me, why was he so gorgeous? Why was he making me feel this way when I barely just met him?

    The waiter came by our table and quickly took our food and beverage orders before leaving us to ourselves again. I felt my heart hammering in my chest, hyper aware of how warm my hand was feeling from his hand covering it, yet I didn’t make any movement to move it away. 

    “So Raina,” Owen began thoughtfully, never tearing his gaze away from my face, “there’s something I’m curious about.”

    “Oh? And what’s that?” I asked, c*****g my head slightly in question. 

    “Why is it you don’t wanna find your mate? You’re the first girl I’ve met that has no interest in it. Olivia damn near cried herself to sleep every night before she found Xander, and yet you don’t seem the least bit bothered by it.”

    I laughed at this, finally finding an excuse to move my hand from under his to tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear. Clasping my hands together on the table in front of me, I thought about his question for a moment, wondering to myself if I should answer truthfully or not. 

    After a moment, I decided, and said, “I have no interest in finding a mate and honestly hope I never meet him. I had to fight and claw my way to get to where I am today and had to prove myself to a lot of people before I was accepted as my pack’s Beta. If my mate happened to be the Alpha of another pack—”

    “—Then you’d have to leave your pack and go and join his,” Owen finished for me with a knowing nod of his head. “But aren’t you lonely? Don’t you want a chance at finding true love?”

    I laughed bitterly at this. “Not all mates live happily ever after.”

    “What do you mean by that?”

    I studied his curious expression for a moment before deciding that I would keep this story to myself for now. He didn’t need to know everything about me just yet. 

    “Nothing. It’s nothing,” I finally responded, and although I could tell that he wanted to know more, I was thankful that he didn’t continue pushing the matter. 

    “Okay, well, there’s something else I’m curious about,” he said, thankfully changing the topic. 

    Carefully studying his face, I asked, “Okay, and what’s that?”

    He seemed to think something over to himself for a moment before asking, “How’d you become the Beta? I mean I know your previous Beta was killed by some rogues, but we all thought Nathan would’ve taken over before anybody else. How’d you convince Xander to choose you instead?”

    I smiled bitterly to myself. That was the story that everyone knew, that our previous Beta, Blake, had been killed by a pack of rogues while out on patrol by himself. Nobody other than Nathan, Xander, and myself knew the truth, and I was going to keep it that way. 

    “Well, after Blake was killed, Xander actually wanted to promote Nathan, but Nathan wasn’t interested. So after that, Xander opened the promotion to the rest of the pack, and I fought my way for the title,” I answered simply, knowing I had rehearsed that answer about a thousand times in case anybody asked me about it. 

    Owen stared thoughtfully for a moment, almost as if he didn’t entirely believe me, but thankfully, he dropped the subject and asked me about a more lighthearted topic next. I couldn’t help but to feel a little relieved. I knew I was genuinely interested in Owen, but that didn’t mean I was ready to share my entire life with him just yet.

    We continued talking for a moment before our food arrived, and I kept thinking to myself about how easy it was to talk to him. The conversation flowed so effortlessly that I forgot for a moment that I had only met him a little over 24 hours ago. I’d never felt so comfortable around someone so quickly, and I was genuinely enjoying my time with him. 

    We took turns asking each other questions to get to know each other better, where he flipped out when I told him my favorite color was pink because “You just don’t seem like the type of girl who’d like pink!”, and I flipped out when I found out his favorite sport to do was fencing because “Who even fences these days? What is this, the medieval times?”

    The conversation and laughter that went along with it came so naturally, that before I knew it, we were already about an hour into the date and our dinner was finished. Without even realizing it, I found myself sitting right beside him, nuzzled into his side with my head leaning against his shoulder and his arm wrapped around my waist. We had finished off almost 3 bottles of wine, and it was now starting to give me a slight buzz. I was feeling warm and giddy, extremely content with life at the moment. 

    The waiter came by and dropped off a large slice of cheesecake to finish off our dinner, which Owen immediately grabbed his fork and dug into. He brought the fork up to my lips, and I giggled slightly before opening my mouth and allowing him to feed me. 

    “You know, you’re extremely sweet,” I said with a content sigh, chewing on the bite of my cheesecake thoughtfully. 

    He took his own bite of cheesecake before looking down at me with a teasing smirk. “Oh yeah? Falling for my charm yet?”

    I rolled my eyes before straightening myself from his side, but I couldn’t get entirely away because he kept his arm firmly around my waist, his hand resting on the top of my left thigh, right at the hem of my dress. I was suddenly hyper aware of his hand resting there, and suddenly, all thought left my mind. 

    I wanted Owen. 

    I wasn’t a prude or anything, but sleeping with a guy on a first date—especially a guy that I had barely just met—wasn’t normal for me. I usually waited until at least the third date. Yet despite that, I couldn’t deny it any longer. In that moment, I knew with complete clarity that I wanted Owen Clearwaters. 

    Looking up at his face, straight into his eyes, I felt all rational thoughts leave me completely. Without another word, I leaned forward, my hands grabbing either side of his face, and pulled his face forward to meet mine. His lips crashed against mine, and I faintly heard a little clang as the fork in his hand dropped against the plate. 

    I could tell he was a bit surprised by the sudden kiss, but it didn’t take long for him to fully return it. The arm around my waist tightened around me and pulled me closer, my body now flush against his, as his other hand came up to the back of my head, tangling itself in my hair. 

    The kiss was demanding and needy, each of us fighting for dominance, before he suddenly bit my lower lip, causing me to whimper slightly in submission and allow him to take over the kiss. I felt his hand that was around my waist snake around before he was running it up the outside of my bare right thigh, causing me to groan slightly into the kiss, which only made him deepen the kiss even further. 

    After what felt like an eternity, I broke away first for air, while he leaned his forehead to rest against mine. We were both breathing heavily, our heads swimming from the intensity of the kiss. 

    Goddess, he was a good kisser. 

    “Pay the bill. Let’s go home, now,” I demanded, staring right at his lips, already wanting to kiss him again. 

    I watched as a smirk made its way back onto his lips, which caused me to look up into his darkened eyes to see them filled with lust and desire. It made me feel a little better to know that he was wanting this just as much as I did. 

    “Yes, ma’am,” he playfully responded before breaking away from me completely and raising his hand to flag down the waiter. 

    After the bill was taken care of, he grabbed my hand and quickly ushered me from the restaurant, impatiently waiting for the valet to bring his car around. The entire time we were waiting, he held onto my hand tightly as if he were afraid I’d run away, and as soon as the car was brought around, he opened the passenger door for me and patiently waited for me to climb in. As soon as I was situated, he ran over to the driver’s side, and we were off. 

    His driving was erratic as he raced from the restaurant back towards the packhouse, and before I knew it, I found myself being carried upstairs by Owen, my legs wrapped around his waist and one arm around his neck while the other hand was tangled in his thick hair, feverently claiming another kiss from him. 

    He put me down on my feet suddenly, never breaking the kiss, before walking forward and pushing me backwards into his room. After kicking the door closed with his heel, he broke the kiss then, his hands cradling my face, and forehead leaning against mine, while he carefully studied me. 

    “Are you drunk?” he asked, his voice low and slightly breathless. 

    “No,” I instantly responded, wanting nothing more than to continue kissing him. 

    “Are you sure you want this?” he continued, still keeping eye contact with me. 

    I nodded at him, but he immediately shook his head at me, firmly saying, “I need words, Raina. An actual yes.”

    “Yes, Owen. I want you, and I want you now,” I replied without hesitation, and with that, he immediately pulled me back into his arms before walking me backwards towards the bed and throwing me onto it. 

    At that point in time, all thoughts of possibly embarrassing Xander or the pack or what the other packs might think of me completely left my head. All I knew was that I wanted Owen, right here, right now, and I didn’t give two shits about what anybody else thought.