Longing For A Luna

Chapter 13: Hiding In the Dark II of II

“Stupid. So, so stupid,” I sniffled a little, and tried to will the tears away. “All this time, I’ve been ready to reject my mate. I’ve practiced the words a thousand times! But then it turned out to be f*****g Adam, and I just got overwhelmed with memories and the bond, and…my brain short-circuited. I panicked.”

“Fred, that’s understandable. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You were on your way to work, right?”

I nodded, and one errant tear fell with the movement.

“There was no reason for you to expect you would meet your mate there on the street, or that it would be f*****g Adam,” Ben growled out that last part. “Are you ready to talk about what happened? Ana told me the basics but I need to know more. How did he react?”

“He – he called me his mate, his Luna,” I replied, and kept my voice steady. “I stumbled a little because it startled me, and he grabbed my shoulders to keep me from falling. Then he held one of my hands and kissed it.”

Ben’s eyes flashed to amber for a moment; Abelard was just as protective as his human counterpart.

“It was intense, Ben. It felt like I was floating and coasting on a really nice high. But then I looked into his eyes and remembered it was Adam, and how shitty he was in high school. Ana yelled at me to run, and I came straight here and called you.”

“I’m glad you called me,” he smiled kindly. “I’m sorry about this, Fred.”

This was a mess. I took a deep breath and wiped my eyes.

“I need to find Adam and reject him. The sooner, the better.”

“Roger that, Fredrick. I’m going to keep you on the phone and multi-task. Going to reach out to Phillip and Emily to see where he is and make sure he’s been secured at the packhouse.”

“I don’t understand why he’s even in the city.”

Ben paused to prop his phone on his desk. He started typing as he answered.

“Phillip must have invited the Alphas for an in-person meeting to finalize plans for next week. I’m guessing Adam is already taking over Alpha duties as part of the transition in leadership.”

“I thought that wasn’t until next year? Adam didn’t off Samuel because he got tired of waiting, did he?”

“Nah, Samuel’s still alive; I’d know if he weren’t. They still wouldn’t have been allowed to wander around the city, though. Heads are going to roll when Phillip and Richard find out.”

I cringed and recalled Phillip’s reaction to certain situations the past few months. It was possible heads would literally roll.

“Ben, why did you ask Ana about how she was able to fight the mate bond?”

He stopped typing and gave me his full attention.

“Because when we’ve interviewed werewolves who have found their mates, every single one reported their wolves were unable to resist the pull of the bond. Any resistance came solely from the human side, and there were still physical and mental repercussions. The small percentage who have successfully rejected their mates have had two things in common: they’ve been in long-term relationships for 10 or more years, and they’d already had children with their spouse or partner.”

Ben calmly waited as I processed that information.

“Well, do you think Ana was able to resist because of the past bullying? She has access to all of my memories.”

“Look, I’m breaking all kinds of protocols here,” he replied. “But it’s you, and I’m pissed about how this went down. This is an anomaly. I don’t want to say any more than that because you’ll have to go through a debriefing and I don’t want to influence your responses.”

“I understand, Ben. Thank you.”

He gave me a rather sad smile before he switched back into work mode and resumed typing.

“Fred, I have to tell Alpha Phillip you contacted me about this, and we’ll get to the bottom of why Adam was allowed to break the clearly outlined and communicated rules for a visiting Alpha. You’ll still need to call it in and self-report.”

“Got it, Torres,” I chirped, and saluted him.

He chuckled at my attempt to lighten the mood, “There’s a witch who lives in your building named Nadia. Do you know her?”

“The little old lady with all the scarves? Only in passing.”

“She owes me a couple of favors,” Ben continued while he typed away. “She’s going to bring a pendant to you that will suppress the pull of the mate bond. You’ll know it’s her because she’ll knock three times fast, followed by two slow knocks.”

“Ben, there’s no need for special knocks. I’m better now. I was just panicking earlier.”

He shook his head, “You and Ana were acting on instinct, and with good reason. Wait for the knock from Nadia, and don’t open the door for anyone else. Phillip is going to order Nick home. Ana said you ran straight home and called me; have you told him yet?”

“No, I haven’t,” I replied and blushed, feeling slightly ashamed that my first instinct was to call Ben rather than my husband.

“Hey, it will be okay,” Ben said gently. “When we hang up, call the number to report it. Stay home and wait for Nick, and only open the door for Nadia. Three fast, two slow. And Fred?”

“Yes?”

“Are you one hundred percent sure you want to reject Adam?” Ben asked. “Just know that I will support you, no matter what you decide.”

I stared at him, horrified, “What the f**k, Torres, did you really just ask me that?”

He responded with a wide grin, “The feisty garden gnome is back!”

“I’m going to ignore that comment for now,” I warned half-heartedly, then managed a weak smile.

Ben placed one hand on his chest, “Duly noted. I’m going to get Marcus to take over for me here and head over as soon as possible. It may be a day or two.”

I furrowed my brow at him, “You don’t have to go through all that trouble.”

“Yes, I do,” he interjected. “Fred, I’ll check in with you later but promise you’ll call if you need anything.”

“I promise. Thank you, Ben.”

“My pleasure,” he replied with a wink.

After the call ended, I sat for a moment to let it all sink in. Ana was still asleep, and the apartment was quiet. The sound of knocking at the front door put me back on edge.