Longing For A Luna

Chapter 10: Anxiety & Alphas II of II

“I guess that’ll depend on her," he answered solemnly, "Not really sure if I want to meet my mate or not. With my luck, she’ll already be taken.”

I wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but Ben continued talking.

“Besides, I’ve been to eight different packs in the past eight months and haven’t met my mate yet. The only pack in our area I haven’t been to since the Rebirth is Crescent Lake, and I sure as s**t hope she’s not there.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled softly, “Can totally understand that.”

Ben’s eyebrows furrowed, “Fred, have you heard from your dad lately?”

“No, I haven’t. Guess he’s making good on his promise to never speak to me again after I kept refusing to give him money.”

Ben shook his head, “I don’t understand why he needs money from you. He had to have been pulling in a pretty good salary all these years.”

“He probably has been,” I agreed, “But he spent a lot of it on alcohol, and that led him to ignore other parts of life. Having to pay late fees for bills and fines for missing pack meetings added up. He was also into online gambling for a while there and who knows what else he was spending money on. Hey, you said you had to call your mom last night. How is she?””

Ben smiled, “She’s okay. She’s still self-isolating and either stays in the house or works in the backyard. Mom said you should come visit soon.”

His mom, Jennifer, had moved to Blue Moon not long after Ben and I started college. She’d used a small inheritance to buy a house with a large yard in an older part of the city, and spent most of her days gardening and narrating videos that she made. Jennifer had started vlogging a few years ago about her garden and plant knowledge. She had amassed a sizable online following without ever showing her face on camera.

Jennifer had always been so kind to me and was more of a mother to me than my actual mom. I told Ben I’d go see her this week.

“She’ll like that,” Ben nodded but his smile faded slightly. “I was wondering if you’d heard from your dad because there’s about to be a change in leadership at Crescent Lake. Supposedly, by the end of this year.”

“Damn, does that mean Adam and the Asshole Twins are going to be in charge of the pack now?”

“Yes," Ben replied gravely, "Unless he is challenged."

“An Alpha challenge?” I inquired, “Do you know if that’s ever even happened? I thought that was just a legend.”

“So were mate bonds, and then we had the Rebirth,” Ben pointed out.

“Do you think someone would actually challenge him, though?” I wondered, “No doubt, Adam is going to be a shitty Alpha, but who on earth would want to challenge him and lead Crescent Lake? Nobody there ever rocks the boat. I’ve never seen such a complacent group of people.”

The tick in his clenched jaw came back, and Ben's mood shifted slightly.

“Sorry Fred, but I have a meeting to go to. I need to debrief my team on something that came up.”

We told each other goodbye and I again promised to go see his mom this week. After we hung up, I remembered that yesterday, Ben told me he didn't have to work the entire weekend. So, why did he have to go to a meeting now? Hopefully, everything was okay and nothing new had happened with the pack he was working with currently.

Nick got home late that night, after I had already gone to bed. His team had won so he had texted me that he was going to join a group of folks from the firm to celebrate at a bar downtown. Later he sent another text that he was dropping off Murphy, who was completely blitzed, at his apartment before heading home himself.

Murphy had been spiraling ever since his fiancée had broken things off with him when she realized they weren’t fated mates. His drinking was getting to the point that Nick was sure pack leadership was about to force him to go to rehab. If only Crescent Lake had done that for my dad; maybe I should have pushed more for it.

Ana stirred at that thought; she had fallen asleep after we finished eating.

‘That wasn’t your responsibility. The adults let YOU down, Dani.’

I knew Ana was right. I used to get lost in daydreams where my Dad got sober and my life was different because of it. Therapy and time had taught me that instead of ruminating on what might have been, I should live in the present and enjoy what it had to offer.

Right now that was the tall, blond werewolf who always smelled of peppermint snuggled into me.