Gypsy Moon

Chapter Seventy-one: Delbert

. . . . . . (late-June)

My family was thrilled at my sudden decision to retire, particularly after Lilian offered to have them flown in for a tour of Gypsy Moon. I watched as my oblivious family was taken all over the impressive campus, marveling at the amenities. It indeed resembled an exclusive health retreat. The beautiful designs and layout of the buildings I learned came from another member of this extraordinary group.

They say boredom is the number one killer of retirees. If that's the case, I may have found the secret to immortality. I retired and was comfortably moved into my new apartment on campus in a little under two weeks. The efficiency of their actions is awe-inspiring, everyone moves with purpose here.

Routines are flawlessly upheld by the house staff. I thought they were human like I am, but I was amazed to learn they were werewolves and Lilian was a normal human. I had been sure it would have been the other way.

I even had an assistant. As soon as I moved in, they found a young woman interested in mortuary science among their members named Dahlia. She is quite lovely, and does her name justice. She greets me at my door every day to escort me around the campus. This morning was no exception.

"Good morning, Delbert. I brought your coffee, double sweet, no cream." I accepted the thermos cup from her and smiled. I didn't even unpack my coffee pot when I discovered how serious the kitchen staff were about being responsible for everyone's diets.

"Good morning, Dahlia." I'd noticed an overall negligence to use last names amongst the group and had the pack marks explained to me. It does seem redundant when you wear your family name as a mark and everyone is your family.

I wasn't an official member yet, but I was pleased to be accepted as if I was. I was amused to find they had a waiting list for new members, but interested to learn it was to prevent the Alpha from being overwhelmed, since I also was informed he was telepathically connected to the entire pack.

It was fascinating to learn that I would be able to use this telepathic network as soon as I became an official member. And that there would be twice as many voices than I thought.

Their wolves, I was taught, were more than a form, but entire souls that shared bodies with their human hosts. I was also pleased to learn many of these wolf spirits were interested in speaking with me when they could.

I was not the oldest member, but there were very few in the group that could be considered elderly. Their matron, Luna Sinah, explained they were a very new pack, most of their members were young men, since they had been prioritizing construction and defense.

The leader, Alpha Aiden, asked me to help them with their peculiar problem and I was pleased that one of the corpses happened to be the one in question. There wasn't much soft tissue left on the bodies, so it was interesting to learn they could identify their own kind by scent, even after fire damage. I had them store the Hunters in their small morgue while I examined the problem corpse.

"The skeleton should be ready to assemble today." I blinked, realizing we had arrived at my workroom. We removed the remnants of soft tissue from the corpse a few days ago and had the bones cleaned.

"Excellent."

They were surprised when I told them I planned to keep the skeleton, wired together, as a reference model. Since he already insisted on hanging around, I planned to take him literally. Aiden was concerned, but relaxed when Gyam suggested I name the skeleton 'Bonaparte' and suggested I wire it to be 'googly' while laughing hysterically at his terrible joke.

Dahlia and I worked quietly for several hours, stopping when food was brought by a young man for lunch.

"Thank you..." He laughed and twisted so I could see his badge. "Jason. Thank you."

"You have turkey clubs, coleslaw, and fries." He set a small table in the workroom with three place settings. Two of the servings were nearly twice the one he set for me. The metabolic requirements of werewolves astonished me.

"Going to eat with us today?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind, Grampa." Yes, my name badge said 'Grampa Delbert'. I liked it. "Dahlia and I are mates and I don't have patrol today."

"Not at all." I laughed. "I'm getting used to you boys being protective of your ladies." Dahlia laughed and kissed him thoroughly while I settled myself to my meal.

"So you are normally patrolling. That makes you what rank?" The pair sat with me and he nodded around a mouth full of fries I hadn't seen him take.

"I'm an Epsilon, all of the pack warriors are."

"I don't hear that one often." I took a bite of my sandwich, the tangy mustard almost making me drool and he chuckled.

"Most of us don't bother getting technical with ranks past the top three because it gets really confusing."

"I'm the oldest new kid in town." I smiled at the couple. "What rank will I be, technically?"

"You are a mentor and a teacher," Dahlia's smile was warm. "So you will be a Sigma."

"What rank are you?"

"Wolves share ranks with their dominant mate since our abilities complement each other's." She laughed. "The Goddess designs us as two halves of a whole." I tapped my temple.

"I think I remember Ms. Roth mentioned something to that effect."

"Yes, as our wolves found each other, our souls were completed and we became one." She giggled and gestured dramatically with her fork and I chuckled.

"Now that is a much nicer version of love at first sight than my own experience." I grinned as they both perked up. "Martha fell right in my lap, literally. Got bumped in the theater and slipped. I had cola soaking my shorts, mustard in my hair, and somewhere under the popcorn and pretzels was my future wife."

"That's so cute!" Dahlia cooed. I chuckled wryly.

"Her boyfriend didn't think so at the time, but I am proud to report she went home with me that night, not him." Jason laughed.

"And that is how you do it!" He snaked his arm around Dahlia's waist and pulled her close. "Grampa is a wolf after all."

. . . . . .