LUNA'S BAGGAGE

Chapter 3

Asher

"Alpha! Humans in the territory.!" a breathless beta let out upon entry into my office. "Alpha, the full moon is in two days! We can't have humans within the pack borders! It is too dangerous!" he was even more breathless after his report than when he had first barged into the office.

Yes, humans had somehow made their way into the most remote wolf territory during the worst possible time of the month. The full moon was coming, all the bloodlust, the uncontrollable shifts, why now? No, why my pack? Thompson Pack was in the middle of a national reserve, meaning there were never humans around. In fact, apart from those with pack ranks that accompanied me to border patrol runs, most of the pack had never had interactions with humans. I had the most interactions with humans due to my business. To have a self-sustainable pack, I built my business from the ground up. The headquarters were, of course, in a human town for easy acquisition of labor.

I was already scared of the worst. What if something happened to them? Would the government come knocking on my door? Were they really just humans? How did they even get here? There were a lot of things to consider. Spies have been known to infiltrate packs, especially hunters.

"Alpha! What should we do now?" my silence had made my Beta even more anxious. "Alpha Asher!" he shouted, getting impatient with my lack of response.

"Sit down, your pacing around is making me dizzy." it really was. We had never had humans in our pack before and him mumbling to himself while walking around was more of a distraction than help. "Where are the humans now?"

"The leader of the boundary patrol said they were at the..." he didn't get to finish his statement because my phone rang. Very few people had my phone number, so it had to be someone important. That is why he immediately went silent.

"Eugene?"

"Yea, about the secretary you needed. I got one for you but I have some errands, so let someone pick them up at the railway station." Yea, I was a businessman that really needed a secretary but had no time to resource one on my own, so I had tasked the man to find one for me. I had always used Eugene when looking for employees and this time was no different.

I didn't miss the look on my beta's face when Eugene explained why he called, "thank you for taking your time Eugene." I meant my thanks, there were a lot of things going on in the pack and he'd saved me a lot of time.

Quickly ending the call, I turned to my beta, who now had a look of understanding, "Let me guess, the humans in pack territory are at the railway station." It was that easy to read him. Eugene had just handed me a hot potato but I couldn't even find fault with him. I had left all the decision-making to him, all I needed was a secretary, besides, he didn't know what we were.

Yea, now that I think about it I should have known better. I could have picked anyone in the pack and had them trained to fill in that position, but my last one had her spine practically torn out of her body when she tried to throw herself at me. It is safe to say that no one in their right mind wanted to work for me. I had sent a clear message and the men already had enough responsibilities.

I was supposed to be someone that thought ahead, but why did the thought of leading humans directly to my pack not cross my mind? Had it been another time, I would have let them work for about a month before letting them go with some kind of excuse, but I couldn't do that. I couldn't fire someone before giving them a chance. What excuse would I give without looking like an ass? None that I could think of for now.

I could already feel the restlessness of the pack members due to the coming full moon. Throwing a human into the whole thing was a clear recipe for disaster. Why hadn't I vetted the new employees like I always did?

"Alpha, what do we do?" It was the seventh time he asked that same question, but now even I had no clue, I was the reason we now had humans in the pack.

"Let's go check the humans out." Maybe on the way there, I would figure out how to solve my current predicament. Quickly shifting into our wolves, we made our way to the railway station. This was a huge mess and I had caused it.

"Can you smell that?" I asked him via the pack link. We were barely halfway there but the smell of citrus had me about to drool. I had abandoned my work to check on the humans that had wandered into my pack, but now I was basically running wild following the scent.

"MATE! MATE! MATE!" my wolf was chanting one word over and over again. This was one word I have waited to hear for over 6 years now. Everyone my age was mated with kids but there I was, still by myself. There had been talks of taking a chosen mate and even political unions. In fact, my parents and I weren't on talking terms because of this, but I could not be shaken.

I was a believer in true mated pairings, no matter what, I was going to wait for the one that the moon goddess had chosen for me and see, I was right. I really did have a mate out there. I could finally feel the joy of finding my very own mate.

It barely occurred to me that the scent I was following led me straight to the railway station. Imagine my shock realizing that the very human I was determined to chase out of the pack land was actually my mate.

I am screwed!

MY MATE WAS A HUMAN! THE FUTURE LUNA OF MY PACK WAS A TINY HUMAN! Unacceptable! How will I raise my head among my peers? All the alphas I knew were paired with the strongest of females, but when it came to my turn I got a human? Was this some kind of joke?

I am the strongest Alpha around. Why did I have to end up with a weakling as my mate? Were my parents right all along? If I had taken a chosen mate, then I would obviously go for the strongest woman available, but I had decided to wait. What was the result of my wait? While I was clearly dissatisfied with my mate, my wolf was practically purring in delight.

Then I finally see my mate, she is not alone though. In my line vision a thin woman pushing along a huge suitcase with three children that barely looked like her but had her scent mixed in with her in tow. My mate was not only human but also already had children. Not one, not two but three!

MY MATE HAS CHILDREN! This just kept getting worse. Wait till my parents hear this.

I couldn't stop myself from looking around. Maybe there was a husband somewhere around. The joy that my wolf had been feeling earlier suddenly plummeted into an ice-cold abyss, someone had sullied our mate! Someone had gotten to our mate before us.

I had my eyes focused on her and my mate probably felt she was being watched if the tiny shiver and the way she suddenly hurdled the kids closer to her were to go by. Maybe if I stared hard enough the picture would change, maybe I would have a strong wolf for a mate, and maybe my mate wouldn't have children.

"Alpha, it is getting late already," I had been so lost in my thoughts I hadn't noticed the time go by till my beta nudged me. The wind was getting colder and there were more pack members observing my mate. I hadn't even felt their presence. She was shivering from the cold wind. Humans were too delicate.

"Send someone to take them to their house," I ordered my beta before yanking a key from the string tied around my neck. I didn't miss the look of surprise on his face when I did that. "Add a few older keys in a bunch and give them to her." I did not want my actions to be too obvious.

'The house was going to its right full owner after all,' I thought to myself before turning and walking away.