A wise Luna
765 Words
*Chase*
Staring at the night sky through the window of my office, I feel a need to ride across the plains, climb to the top of one of my windmills, and listen to the clatter created by the constant breeze. Instead, I quietly sip on my whiskey and wonder where I went wrong.
I hear the quiet footsteps, down the remaining whiskey, and set my glass aside.
"Are you ready to tell me why Blaise hit you?" Callie asks softly.
"I questioned his mate’s morals." I admit.
She narrows her eyes at me, "Then, I’m glad he hit you. It says a lot about his feelings for the she-wolf."
"And I questioned his ability to keep his trousers buttoned." I mumble.
"Oh, Chase, you didn’t." She sighs.
I spin around and face my Luna. "Dammit, Callie, by my reckoning, he must have bedded her two minutes after he met her. He has given himself a life sentence with a she-wolf he barely knows!"
She angles her head and lifts a dark brow.
"Dammit! Our situation was different." I huff.
"I realize that. You didn’t know me at all when we married." She says.
I twist around, gazing back into the night, into the past. "I raised him, Callie. From the time he was five, I was more of a father than a brother. I hate seeing him waste his life, making decisions that lead him nowhere."
She places her hand on my shoulder, a habit she had acquired once she realized my back has little feeling in it after the beating I received five years ago as a result of her oldest brother’s greed. "You gave him a good foundation. Now you have to give him the freedom to build on it."
I snap my head around. "And if I don’t like the life he’s building on it?"
"As hard as it is, you have to learn to accept it. Someday Cooper and Faith will leave us. All we can do is hope that the foundation we give them is strong enough to sustain their dreams... and their failures." She says softly.
I draw her into my embrace and press my cheek against the top of her head. "I remember coming home from the war and finding him living like an animal. I don’t know how long our ma had been dead before we got there or how Blaise managed to survive. It took me and Wade weeks to earn his trust. Then he looked at everything we gave him as though he were afraid we would snatch it away. I always expected him to dream bigger dreams, go farther than I ever dared. I feel as though I have failed him."
She leans back and cradles my face between her hands. "Do you know what Riley’s biggest fear was?"
I blink at the abrupt change of subject. "I’ve got no idea."
"That once Blaise realized that Riley and Olivia were married, he would post a public announcement telling the town that he had been with Olivia the night Rowan was killed. Neither he nor Olivia would have blamed him had he done so, but he didn’t. Olivia trusted him that night and he won’t betray that trust. How can you have failed him when you raised him to be such a fine young man, to accept responsibility for his actions?” She says.
I sigh.
"Lillian and I didn’t have much of an opportunity to talk, but I know he met her on his way to Blaise. She didn’t even know where he lived until today. He could have ridden out of her life and never looked back. Instead, he convinced her to marry him. You didn’t fail him, Chase. You raised him to be the kind of man you can be proud to call ‘brother.’” She tells me.
I heave a weary sigh. "If I didn’t fail him in the twenty years I raised him, I’m afraid I may have failed him today."
"Only if you let what happened this afternoon fester between you. He needs us more now than he ever has before, and I’m sure tomorrow he will wake up with a few regrets of his own. Go talk to him first thing in the morning." She urges me.
"What in the world did I do to deserve such a wise Luna?" I ask softly.
She smiles seductively. "Come to bed, and we will try to figure it out."
Laughing, I scoop her into my arms and hope my youngest brother hasn’t made the biggest mistake of his life.
- Writer
