Fighting For My Mate: Blood Moon

Chapter 11

Christa POV 

     The next day, we discussed how Eli would introduce me into the pack with my new identity. For the past 30 minutes, Eli and Amanda have been in a heated argument over who I was to them and how I would be introduced.

“She should be introduced as your second chance mate! It makes sense!” Amanda says with a raised voice.

“I said no! It would put her in danger again, and I don't want to risk it!” Eli says, frustrated with Amanda’s persistence. 

“Don’t you think it would be strange to everyone if this person that they have never seen nor met, all of a sudden, comes in and is living with their Alpha? They’re going to know something is up, and they are going to question it!” Amanda counters back.

“Guys…” I say, interrupting their back and forth, “arguing about it isn’t going to solve this issue. As much as I hate having to hide as Eli’s mate, it’s necessary.” I say as I look at Eli. He has nothing but adoration and love for me shining bright in his eyes. Amanda sighs, causing me to turn my eyes to her.

“But Amanda, you’re right as well. It wouldn’t make sense for a stranger to all of a sudden be living with their Alpha all of a sudden.” Amanda nods her head and agrees. 

“So, I propose we talk to Rebecca, and she can claim me as her best friend, or cousin, or whatever she feels comfortable with so that I can continue staying here with Eli, as Rebecca’s guest.”

Right then, Eli smiles my favorite smile and walks over to me as he takes me into his arms and kisses me with a gentleness that makes me want to melt into him. I pull away after a few moments and look into his eyes questioningly. 

“What was that for?” 

“You were a perfect Luna right then, being able to settle our argument gracefully and with a solution without bringing anyone’s opinion down. The moon goddess chose a perfect mate for me, and I couldn't be happier!” Eli says as he kisses me once again. 

“Eeew, get a room, you two!” Amanda says jokingly as she puts her finger in her throat to show her mock disgust with our PDA. Eli glares at her while I chuckle and break away from Eli. 

     A couple of hours later, Rebecca comes back to the apartment, where we bring up to her about me being her guest for a while. We decided that I was her cousin visiting from out of town for a while. So, it was finally settled. I am Rebecca’s cousin, Zoey; I haven’t seen my cousin in years, and I had decided to spend a while with Rebecca with no set date to go back home. 

     Finally, after months of being cooped up inside Eli’s apartment, I can leave and do everyday things like an average person. I hadn’t realized how suffocating it was becoming, being hidden inside the apartment with nowhere to go and nothing to do. I look in the mirror and chant the spell with the picture of the girl in the magazine in hand. Slowly my skin turns slightly darker than my caramel skin color to a darker mocha shade. My hair turns short while my face takes a different shape, with my eyes becoming more upturned than my round eyes. As I look in the mirror, I can see myself passing as Rebecca's cousin. As I twist and turn to check out my new look and body, Eli walks into the bedroom and pauses as he looks at me and shakes his head as he continues in the room. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing you like that.” I can’t help but giggle at his reaction.

“Well, it's a good thing this is only temporary,” I say as I smile at him through the mirror. I turn and walk over to him and wrap my arms around his neck to kiss him; when he gently pulls away from me, shaking his head.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but it’s just too weird for me to love on you when you look like someone else completely. It's a bit of a mind trick.” I pull away from him, nodding my head. I understand where he’s coming from. I know I would be the same way if it was the other way around. It makes me happy knowing that he can’t kiss me while I look like this girl even though he knows it's me. 

“Do you know if Peter and Chase are stopping by?” I ask Eli as I finish getting ready. 

“Yes, they’ll be here any moment.” I giggle as I think about how they are going to react when they realize it's me! We told them that I had found a perfect disguise that no one would be able to recognize me in, and they seemed to not believe me. I am looking forward to seeing their faces as the realization dawns on them! 

“I can’t wait to see the look on their faces when I tell them it's me in this new body!” 

“It’s definitely going to play mind games with them as it did to me!” Eli chuckles. I laugh along with him at the memory. 

“Okay, I think I’m ready!” I say as Eli and I walk out into the living room. 

     Shortly after, there is a knock on the door that Eli goes to open. Peter steps into the apartment, and Chase follows behind him impatiently, pushing past him.

“Okay, where’s my little sis and her amazing disguise?” He asks as he looks around for me. He looks right past me, continuing to look for me. I can’t help but smirk at him. Peter comes in behind him, looking for me as well. He looks at Eli with confusion. 

“What? Is she hiding?” Eli chuckles and smirks at him knowingly. Peter shakes his head at Chase and looks at me. He comes over to me and holds out his hand to shake mine. 

“Hi, I don't believe we’ve met. You must be Rebecca’s cousin that’s visiting for a while.” Rebecca’s name catches Chase’s attention as he gets a better look at me. 

“So you're this mystery cousin everyone has been talking about,” Chase says, coming in closer to me. For a moment, there's just silence as everyone has a serious face, but as I stare at Peter’s hand, I can’t help but burst out in laughter, and everyone else follows while Peter and Chase look at us in confusion. Once we all calm down from our laughter, Eli steps forward,

“Peter, Chase, this is Christa.” He says as I stand there with a humorous smile on my new face! 

“What? No way!” Chase yells out. 

“Very funny, you guys. Seriously though, where is Christa?” Peter says, looking around for me as if I’m going to pop out at any moment. 

“Hey, Pete! It really is me!” He stands there stunned for a moment; then Chase cuts in.

“Okay, if you're really our sister, prove it,” Chase says as he crosses his thick muscled arms across his chest. 

I sigh and roll my eyes at them.

“You call me lil’ nugget.”

Chase shakes his head. “That’s too easy. You could have found that out by anyone here! Tell us something only Christa would know!” Chase challenges. I narrowed my eyes on him.

“Fine! When you were nine years old, you used to play with my barbies and…”

“OKAY!!!! I believe you!” Chase yells out.

“Oh no, you wanted me to prove it, and that's what I’m gonna do!” I say with an evil smirk on my lips. “And you used to make out with my barbies….” Chase starts yelling “lalalalala” so no one could hear me, so I begin to yell out over him, “ and pretend they were your girlfriends!” Everyone starts cracking up at that revelation as Chase gives me the evil eye and turns bright red from embarrassment! 

“I can’t believe you told everyone that!” He growls. I simply shrug my shoulders with a smirk.

“You wanted me to prove it with something I only know!” I say, feeling smug. Chase walks away to lick his wounds to his ego. 

     I look towards Rebecca and see that she is giggling at this new information about her mate's childhood, and I can’t help but notice her sending him longing looks. When she sees me watching her, she quickly looks away as if she’s been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to. I can't help but feel bad, and I begin to wonder why she's keeping herself from living happily with her mate? After everyone calms down, I make my way over to where Rebecca is standing. Over the last few weeks, we have grown closer despite our rough beginning. Deep down, I hope that her feelings for Eli aren’t what’s stopping her from having a relationship with my brother. 

“Hey, you okay?” I ask as she sulks on the other side of the room. 

“Yeah, I’m good. Why?” She says, quickly trying to hide her emotions. 

“I don’t know? You just seem kind of down since my brothers came over.” She shakes her head and sighs.

“I’ve just had a lot on my mind. That's all.” She obviously doesn't want to talk about it, so I don't push her. 

“Okay, but if you ever need to talk, I’m here to listen.” She nods her head with a small smile. I smile back and walk over to Eli. I start to take his hand in mine but then pull back at the last moment, remembering what he had said earlier. I can’t wait to change back into myself so that I can touch him again. It's killing me not to, but I need to be okay with it because when we’re in public, we can’t be seen as a couple anyway. Amanda comes and cuts into the chatting. 

“Okay, everyone! Are we ready to go? I’m starving!” 

     We all start to shuffle out the door into the hallway where the elevator is. It feels strange to be leaving the packhouse from the front entrance. Since I have been cooped up in this apartment, the girls decided to take me out to lunch along with the guys! This will be the first time we all hang out in public together as a group, and I’m so excited to be able to get out with everyone I love. Amanda picked the restaurant. She’s taking us to a Japanese steakhouse where they have Hibachi set up. I’ve never done Hibachi before, so Amanda is excited for me to experience it. 

     When we arrive, we are led to a table where cooks are cooking in front of customers, and all of a sudden, a large flame shoots out on the grill top, startling me causing me to bump into Eli behind me. I can hear Eli chuckled as he gently puts his hands on my arms to steady me. As soon as I feel his touch, my heart calms down, and I am immediately comforted. He continues to guide me to a different grill that I hadn’t seen coming in. This one is empty, with the cook waiting for us to take our seats. As we do, I notice other customers are staring at us, more specifically, at the guys. We all find our seats, and Eli steers me to the seat next to him. He may not want to be lovey-dovey with me while I don’t look like myself, but I can tell he needs to feel my touch just as much as I need to feel his. So I bump my shoulder to his and look up at him with a smile as he smiles down at me with a sexy wink. I can’t help but blush at that and feel contentment at just sitting here next to him. The waitress comes with our menus and immediately becomes flirty with the guys. As she goes around taking our orders, she gives them flirty touches. I can’t help but tense up as she gently puts her hand on Eli’s arm as she giggles at something he's said. I feel Amya becoming more and more agitated with the woman touching her mate, and Eli takes notice. He gently takes my hand under the table and squeezes as he looks at me, making sure I’m ok. Then she moves on to Chase, doing the same flirty touches as she leans down too close to Chase and tells him about the specials. I can see his rigidity as he focuses on Rebecca. His jaw clenched and annoyed with the girl's closeness as his mate sits across from him, glaring at the waitress. I can't tell if the girl is doing it to get better tips or hoping to catch the attention of one of the guys at the table. My guess is both, and if she doesn't stop soon, I won’t be liable if something happens to her. 

     Once the waitress is done taking our drink orders, she finally leaves our table, and the fun part begins. The cook builds up what looks like a volcano out of onions and pours and tons of liquid on it, and lights it on fire, making it actually look like the fire is erupting from it. He puts on a show for us, tossing the sharp utensils in the air and catching them as he tosses our food around as it cooks. The whole time I’m mesmerized by his show, and I can’t seem to wipe the smile off my face! Then the cook asks if anyone wants to volunteer for a part of his show, and I can’t help but volunteer Eli. At first, he holds his hands up, shaking his head no, but with everyone's encouragement (and when I say encouragement, I mean begging), he finally agrees. The cook tells him to get ready, and he flings a piece of cooked chicken in the air for Eli to catch in his mouth, and he catches it perfectly. Then he has Eli stand up to go further, and the cook once again flings some food towards Eli. Because of Eli’s sharp eyesight and fast reflexes, he’s able to catch it in mid-air right into his mouth. Then he smirks at me as he walks back over to sit down as everyone in the restaurant claps for him. As he takes his seat, he shoulder bumps me and quickly squeezes my hand. He never ceases to amaze me as I look at him with awe. I still can’t believe I get to call him mine.