Two Halves of a Whole

Chapter 10

He knew she was not going to stop asking until he told her. It wasn’t as if she wouldn’t find out from her friends if he left her alone with them long enough.

True he could use his Alpha command on them to keep them from saying anything, but that would just make them wonder why and lead to a whole new problem of the possibility of his father finding out and he wasn’t ready to tell his parents.

His mother might understand, but she was very adamant his whole life in teaching him mates didn’t keep secrets from each other. She would definitely tell his father.

This also led him to the feelings of guilt that weighed so heavy upon him. He knew he should just be honest with her. She was his mate. But he wanted so badly to protect her for as long as he could. He could tell she was just beginning to come to terms with being a werewolf. How overwhelming would it be when she realized she would have to lead them?

His father would push for them to start trying to produce an heir. He would want her to join the pack and use his Alpha voice to force her to give up on her dreams. She would lose her right to choose what she wants. It wasn’t that his father was a monster, he was very warm and very caring. It was just that he was the Alpha, and his pack always had to come first. He would push her into being the Luna he believed the pack needed without realizing that it would only make her resent the pack, the position, being a werewolf, and everything that goes with it.

Lugos understood that his mate felt a heavy responsibility to her human parents. Even if they were her adoptive parents, they were the only parents she had and she wanted to make them proud by going to college and becoming someone every human parent would be proud of. She had told him that a few times.

“Well,” she asked, disrupting his thoughts. “Are you ever going to be honest with me?”

“I have never lied to you,” he answered. It hurt him to think that she believed he would lie to her.

“A lie by avoidance is still a lie,” she shot back at him a little more gently.

“I wasn’t trying to lie.” He let out a defeated sigh, “my father is the Alpha of our pack.” He said it as if it explained everything. The realization he was waiting for didn’t come.

“What does that have to do with anything?” She had waited for him to explain further but could tell he expected something from her. She just had no idea what it was he was looking for.

“Alphas inherit their position within the pack,” he offered when he realized she was missing the point he was trying to make.

He saw the very moment she understood what he was trying to tell her. The look on her face was so priceless he wished he had taken a picture. Well almost. His mate would probably not understand how endearing it was to him that she misunderstood so much of werewolf society.

“Don’t you have a sibling who can take over as Alpha,” she asked, her fear at what it would mean for her was clear on her face.

“Even if I did, which I don’t, the Alpha power almost always goes to the first born. Almost the only way for the second born to be chosen as Alpha is if the first born dies or the moon goddess finds them incompetent, which usually involves the lose of one’s wolf and mate.” He hated to consider what it took for Selene to deem an Alpha incompetent. She usually didn’t meddle in the affairs of her children unless things were dire.

“How will I learn to be an effective Luna? I don’t even know how to be a werewolf,” she was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the new information.

“Well, first off you can go to Yale where most members of our pack go. They have leadership classes that are only available to our kind,” he offered.

“I can’t afford it.” Her disappointment was clear. “I had wanted to go with Nina and Kim but didn’t apply because of the price.”

“Leave that to me. The pricing is different for werewolves as the school is mostly funded and run by our kind,” he explained.

“I don’t want you paying for my college,” she told him. She didn’t want anyone to think she was using her position to take advantage when they finally realized who she truly was.

“It isn’t like that at all. Our kind invests so heavily in the school that they have to give our kind better rates or there would be too much of a surplus of money.” He was trying to help her understand. “Giving away some of their courses for free actually helps them out.”

“Ok,” she finally relented. She yawned and he realized how late it must have gotten. He lifted her up as she squealed in shock. “What are you doing?”

“I am tucking you in,” he said as if it was the most normal thing in the world. “It is late and you need to get plenty of rest to help you adjust to the needs of your wolf.”

She clung to him as he adjusted his hold on her so he could pull back the covers so he could set her down and tuck her in.

“Sweet dreams,” he said as he tucked the covers up around her and kissed her gently on the lips. It was a battle with his wolf not to take her.

“Sweet dreams,” she echoed back. She thought she would never get to sleep with everything she had learned but she miscalculated how tired she was. She was just nodding off as he closed her bedroom door.

Nina opened her door just as he was turning to cross the hall to his own room. “Alpha?” Her voice was hesitant as if she was uncomfortable with what she wanted to say.

“Did you want to say something?” He didn’t know the she wolf as well as he knew her mate but he knew her family was rather important to the pack.

“I wanted to apologize for Sattira, she doesn’t understand our ways,” she apologized. Her eyes were lowered and her head tilted to the side as a sign of respectful submission. “She is a really sweet person and a true friend.”

“I will remember that,” he told her. It made him proud to think his mate inspired this she wolf to speak up to an alpha on her behalf.

“Thank you, Alpha,” she said and moved to go back into her room.

He walked to his room and showered before sending off a quick message to his Beta asking for the dean’s number for Yale. He did not expect to hear back from him until morning when a message came across his phone with the information he had asked about.

He crawled into bed wishing he had an excuse to spend the night with his beautiful mate without it drawing the wrong kind of attention to her.

He was awoken far too early by a mind link from his father. There was an unusually large attack on their borders close to the lake house.

Although there no one died in the attack several of his pack were wounded. His father asked that he bring everyone back to the pack house once they were packed and ready. Since Sattira had shifted it would be safe enough to move everyone there while she gets control of her wolf.

Lugos was not happy about this but until he became Alpha he had to follow his dad’s orders. He knew Sattira hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep but he knew his father was right about it being easier to guarantee everyone’s safety if they were closer to the pack house and there was no way he was putting his precious mate in danger before he knew she could defend herself.

He got up and put on clothes. His stuff could be packed later. He crossed the hall to Sattira’s room first.

After knocking on the door he waited for a moment to see if she would answer. When she didn’t answer the door he opened it, softly calling to her as he walked into the room. He knew she was wearing nightclothes since he had tucked her in so he hoped she would not be embarrassed.

“Sattira, wake up sweetheart.” He tried not to be too loud so he wouldn’t startle her.

She rolled over to look at him as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. “What time is it,” she asked as she looked out the window to see the first rays of morning sunlight on the horizon.

“Early, but I need you to get up and pack,” he told her.

“Why, did I do something wrong?” She was wide awake now.

“No, but I still need to get the others up so I will explain after you are packed and ready to go,” he told her and turned to go wake up the others.

Sattira had no idea what was going on as she climbed out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. She seemed to be confused a lot lately and it was not a feeling she was comfortable with.

Her parents were very open with her about everything. They had told her the story of how she had become a member of their family as soon as she was old enough to start asking where she had come from. It had been a very clean cut version when she was younger but as she had gotten older and asked more questions they had answered what they could and filled in what they knew to the best of their abilities. She had a lot of respect for them and they always made sure she knew she was loved and wanted. Her mom had always told her she was proof that god answered prayers.

She showered and dressed then dug out her duffel bags and began to fill them with her belongings. She stuffed her dirty clothes in the plastic bags she had brought so that she could tie it off so any smells and odors didn’t mix with the rest of what she packed into the duffel bag. She was just finishing up when Lugos showed up to help her.

“I will carry them down for you, did you get everything,” he asked. A feeling of finality hit her and she wondered if he was taking her home to get rid of her.

“Yeah.” He could hear the sorrow from just that one word response.

“I am not sure when it will be safe to return. Once it is we will have to spend some time here alone, just the two of us, so I can show you my room,” he offered. He knew she didn’t really get a chance to explore and enjoy herself and he had been excited to share it with her.

“It’s fine, I just didn’t get a chance to hang out much,” she said.

Finally realizing what was upsetting her he stopped to pull her in for a quick kiss. “We are just going to the pack house because it is unsafe here at the moment.”

“Why is it unsafe?” She was clearly confused. Had there been damage to the house she hadn’t noticed when they arrived? Maybe a gas leak or something?

“There was an attack on the pack grounds close by,” he told her as he grabbed her bags and led her out to where the others were already packed and waiting.

“Who would want to attack your pack?” She didn’t understand why they didn’t just call the police.

“Most likely it was rogues,” he said as he put her bags in his truck. “I will probably know more once I speak with my father at the pack house.”

He looked over to see a look of utter confusion on her face before she asked, “What’s a rogue?”