From Beta to Luna

Chapter 5 — The Approval

    I nervously paced in front of the closed office door, my mind racing a mile a minute. After I had woken up, showered, and gotten ready for the day, I had made up my mind that I was going to talk to Xander and ask his opinion about my date with Owen later tonight. At first, I was planning on just going on the date without telling him, scared he’d disapprove, but then I realized I’d be even more scared if he had found out about the date after the fact and feel like I was sneaking around his back or something. Xander and I have always had a transparent relationship, and I didn’t want to do anything to betray the trust we’ve built. 

    After reaching forward to knock on the door for the hundredth time that morning and once again lowering my hand for the hundredth time again, I jumped slightly at Xander’s sudden voice calling from behind the door, “Raina, you’re going to pace a hole straight through the floor, will you just come in already?”

    I silently cursed at him. 

    If he knew I was out here, why didn’t he just tell me to come in sooner? He could’ve saved me from the mental torutre I’d been putting myself through all morning. 

    Sighing slightly, I reached forward and opened the door before stepping inside and closing it behind me. I looked up to see Alpha John sitting behind a desk with his attention focused on some papers in front of him, Xander standing beside him and pointing something out to him while muttering something quietly. At the sound of the door closing, both men looked up at me, Xander staring at me with a look crossed between confusion and concern, and Alpha John flashing me a comforting smile that I weakly returned. 

    “Raina, what’s wrong?” Xander immediately asked, moving from his position beside the desk towards me and placing his hands on my shoulders when he had reached me. 

    He peered into my eyes with concern evident on his face, his eyes searching mine as if to determine if something was physically wrong with me. 

    I laughed at this and placed a reassuring hand on one of his before saying, “I’m fine, Xander, nothing’s wrong. I was just wondering if I could talk to you about something real quick.”

    “I guess that’s my cue to leave,” Alpha John piped up behind Xander, standing from his seat and gathering his papers with him. 

    I quickly broke away from Xander and rushed towards the desk with an apologetic look on my face. “No, no, no, Alpha John, please, I don’t want to kick you out of your own office.”

    He smiled at me before waving his hand dismissively. “It’s fine, dear. I need a break anyways. There are some last minute things I need to attend to before more packs arrive later tonight, and I have to prepare some things for our first meeting with all the packs tomorrow. You two stay and talk as long as you need.”

    And with that, he gathered the last of his things and quickly left the office, leaving me and Xander standing in the room alone. Making his way back to the desk, Xander took a seat in the big, black chair, motioning for me to do the same in one of the smaller chairs in front of the desk. I took a seat and cleared my throat nervously. 

    Goddess, why was I so nervous? I felt like I was asking my father for permission to go on a first date or something. 

    “Alright Raina, what’s got you so worked up that you spent the last hour pacing around outside instead of just walking in and talking to me?” Xander questioned, leaning back slightly in the chair and fixating an analyzing stare on me. 

    I scowled slightly when he brought that up, still a little salty that he just let me be a victim to my own thoughts out there for that long. 

    “That was rude of you, by the way,” I replied, pouting slightly. “You could tell I was already nervous, and you just left me out there!”

    He laughed at this, his eyes crinkling slightly. The stupid jerk was taking pleasure in my misery, Goddess, I hated him sometimes!

    “I’m sorry, Raina,” he said when he finally calmed down from his laughter. “It’s not every day you get that agitated over something, so I wanted to see how long you’d make me wait before growing the balls to come talk to me.”

    I stuck my tongue out at him indignantly, which caused him to laugh again and me to roll my eyes at him. My expression softened a bit when I realized how cheery he was today. His smile seemed a little brighter and his laughter a little more genuine. There was a happy glow emanating from him, and I knew exactly why. 

    “How’s Olivia?” I asked with a warm smile on my face. 

    He beamed at me, his eyes suddenly filling with such love and adoration, I felt like my heart might burst for him. 

    “She’s wonderful,” he began, his smile never fading, “more than wonderful. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and it’s unbelievable how in love with her I am already. This feeling… I can’t even describe the feeling I’m feeling right now. It’s almost like I was only half a person before, and now I finally feel complete.”

    I laughed at this, bringing a hand up to cover my mouth. 

    “That’s so cheesy!” I exclaimed, continuing to laugh at the sight of our big, bad Alpha suddenly acting like a love struck puppy.

     I flashed him a small smile before saying, “I’m really happy for you, Xan. I can tell how happy she makes you, and I’m sure she’s gonna be a wonderful Luna to us.”

    “Thanks, Raina,” he replied with a satisfied smile on his face as if he were glad that he knew I approved of him and Olivia. 

    I mean, it’s not like I had much of a choice, right? They were fated mates after all! 

    Xander cleared his throat before slightly leaning forward and placing his arms on the desk as he clasped his hands together in front of him. 

    His expression once again returning to his former analytical stare, he asked, “Okay, so what did you need to talk to me about?”

    The nervous lump was back in my throat again as I suddenly remembered why I was there in the first place. 

    Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves, I opened my mouth and asked, “Owen Clearwaters. What do you think of him?”

    His eyebrow raised in question, a slightly surprised expression now resting on his face. He was clearly not expecting me to be asking about Owen.

    “Owen? He’s a good kid, a bit of a troublemaker when he was younger, but he’s got a good head on his shoulders. We grew up together since our dads were close friends, but lost touch a bit after my dad passed, and I became busy with my Alpha duties,” he replied after a moment of silence. “Why? Did he do something to you?”

    “No, no, no!” I quickly responded, waving my hands in front of me to try and pacify the sudden light of anger that was burning brightly in his eyes. 

    When he was sure I was telling the truth, he calmed down a bit, but was now sitting a little more rigidly in the chair, his arms crossed over his well defined chest. “Okay, so why are you asking about Owen then? What happened?”

    “Well…” 

    I trailed off a bit, unsure of how to continue, before swallowing and deciding it was best to just come out with it, “He asked me out on a date last night, and I sort of… said yes. But I wanted to get your opinion on it before I actually go. Do you think it’s a good idea?”

    Xander blinked at me, staring at me in a calculating manner, before a smirk played across his lips. “Owen did? Interesting… He normally doesn’t bother with dates and just takes girls straight to the bedroom instead.”

    “Xander!” I exclaimed, my cheeks suddenly flushed. 

    Xander and I may have a transparent relationship, but that doesn’t mean I wanted to sit here and freely talk about s*x with him, gross!

    He roared with laughter before relaxing his body and leaning back into the chair again. 

    Crossing his arms across his chest once more, he said, “I’m serious, Raina. If he took the time to ask you out on a proper date, he must actually be interested in you. Is he your mate? Is that why your heart was going crazy when you guys met yesterday?”

    I groaned in embarrassment, my head falling into my hands to hide from Xander’s knowing stare. “Goddess, you noticed that, too?”

    “How could I not notice it when you guys were practically eye f*****g each other in front of his whole family?” Xander teased with a chuckle. 

    “Gross! Why does everyone keep saying that!” I exclaimed, disgusted that he would be making comments with such s****l connotations in my presence. 

    My cheeks were warm in embarrassment, and I was clearly flustered. Maybe coming to talk to Xander beforehand wasn’t such a good idea; I had no idea he’d be this ok with the idea of me and Owen. 

    “Okay, okay, I’ll stop,” Xander said, his hands raised in mock surrender. “So he’s your mate then?”

    “No, he’s not,” I responded, lifting my head from my hands and leaning back in my chair as well. “I just… I don’t know. I think he’s attractive and fun to talk to, but I wanted to make sure it was okay with you before going.”

    Xander raised a brow at me again before responding, “You’re an adult, Raina, you don’t need my permission to go out on a date, you know.”

    “It’s not like that, Xander. I’m not asking for permission. I’m more so asking if you think it’s a good idea? Like won’t the other packs judge us if it gets out that the first thing I do after being formally introduced as Silver Moon’s Beta is to go and sleep with our ally pack’s future Alpha?” I clarified before I realized what I had even said. 

    My eyes widened as I tried to backtrack my words, but Xander was already howling with laughter, one hand holding onto the desk to steady himself and the other clutching his side. 

    “Shut up, that’s not what I meant!” I cried frustratedly. 

    “Owen always had a way with the ladies, but I never thought you of all people would fall for his charm so quickly!” he responded in between his bouts of laughter. 

    “Ugh!” I groaned, shooting up from my chair in frustration. “You know what I mean, Xander! Stop laughing at me, dammit!”

    After a few minutes, Xander finally calmed down, a few stray chuckles slipping out every now and then. When he had calmed down completely, I c****d my hip and crossed my arms across my chest, staring daggers at him. 

    “Are you done?” I asked pointedly, glaring at him. 

    “Yes, yes, I’m done. Sit down, Raina, you stress me out when you stand like that,” Xander ordered. 

    I glared at him for a moment longer before taking my seat again, my arms remaining crossed against my chest. 

    “Look, I don’t care if you go out with Owen or sleep with him or whatever you wanna do. Like I said, you’re an adult, and I trust you,” he began again in a more composed and earnest manner. “Just… Be careful. I know you say you don’t ever want to find a mate, and I understand your reasons, and I know Owen isn’t really in a rush to find his, either, but just be aware that there will be a lot of packs here at this conference this week. There is a very real possibility that either you or Owen could meet your respective mates this week, and if that happens, things could get… messy. I don’t want either of you to get hurt.”

    I mulled over his words for a moment. Here I was worried about tarnishing Xander and the pack’s reputation, but I didn’t even give a thought to the possibility that if either Owen or I did happen to meet our mates this week, things could get really complicated. Werewolves were known to be extremely possessive and jealous once they found their mates, and the last thing I wanted was a bloodbath on my hands. 

    “With that being said, I think you should go,” Xander concluded with a smile on his face. “Go, have fun, just be careful.”

    I smiled at him in return. While I wasn’t necessarily asking for his permission to go, it still made me feel a lot better about going knowing that I had his approval. 

    “Was there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?” Xander asked after a moment, seeing that there was clearly something else on my mind. 

    “Well, I was just curious about something,” I said thoughtfully, “but it’s nothing serious, so if you have something else you need to do, it can wait.”

    “No, no, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

    “Nothing’s wrong, I was just curious why we came here so early. Alpha John said the other packs aren’t going to get here until tonight, and the first meeting of the conference doesn’t even take place until tomorrow.”

    Xander chuckled before flashing me a smile. “Isn’t that obvious? I wanted to give you some time to adjust.”

    My brows knit together in confusion, not understanding what he was saying. I uncrossed my arms and brought my legs up so I was sitting in the chair cross legged. 

    “What do you mean by adjust?” I questioned confusedly. 

    “I knew you’d be nervous about being formally introduced as my Beta this week. I figured if you had a few extra days to get adjusted and win over Crystal Moon first, you’d feel a little more confident about facing the rest of the packs,” Xander stated simply as if it were obvious. 

    I blinked for a moment, slightly surprised that he had thought so far ahead. 

    I smiled slightly before saying, “You know, you’re a lot smarter than you let on.”

    Xander fully laughed at this before a smirk made its way back onto his face as he replied, “I just never thought you’d win over Crystal Moon so quickly.”

    I gasped and shot up from the chair at this statement, scowling at him. “That’s it, this conversation is over. Goodbye!”