Longing For A Luna

Chapter 10: Anxiety & Alphas I of II

“What do you want to know, Fred?”

The tension I'd seen in his face just a moment ago had already disappeared. Maybe I'd read his expression wrong.

“Well, what do you know about them? I was mainly wondering about the timeline? Nick said the employees from the security and law firms are supposed to participate first. But what about spouses? And how long do they think this is going to take?”

I paused for a second; I’d fired several questions at Ben before I remembered something important.

“Ben, my apologies for getting carried away with questions,” I continued with trepidation, “There’s probably some things you can’t tell me because of security reasons. It’s just that my anxiety has been nipping away at me ever since Nick told me about it. I appreciate anything you can share with me and if you can’t share anything, I’ll completely understand and will never bring it up again.”

Ben gave me the sweetest smile. Even if I’d crossed a boundary with my questions, he’d never give me a hard time about it. He knew how bad my anxiety could get about fated mates.

“I’m happy to answer some of your questions, Fred,” Ben answered. “There’s some info that’s going out in a memo to the pack Monday morning. I can give you a preview of what will be included in it. Of course, I need to ask that you not share this information with anyone else before then.”

I saluted him, “Roger that, Torres.”

Ben chuckled then started describing what was in the works so far. Apparently, Alpha Phillip had strong-armed his way into getting the other Alphas to follow his plan, by reminding them how much help our pack had provided to all of them during the Rebirth. They even gave into his demands that our pack, Blue Moon, be the first to travel to other packs to find mates.

The plan was set up so that we would start with the packs surrounding ours. Blue Moon members would begin with the territory to the northeast of the city where the Hunter’s Forest pack was located, then would move around in a clockwise fashion. After each group of Blue Moon pack members had rotated through the surrounding packs, we would return home while the other packs cycled through and wait until a plan for visiting packs further away was formulated. By then, the number of wolves who hadn’t found their mates would probably be much smaller.

This plan put Crescent Lake, our former pack, at the third spot in the order since it was southwest of the city. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. It was inevitable that we would have to go back there at some point but neither of us had to be happy about it. I wondered if it would have been better if it were the first place we visited instead, to have that band-aid ripped off instead of prolonging the anxiety.

'Maybe we'll find our mate in one of the first two packs, and we won't even have to go there,' Ana suggested.

I hoped she was right and focused on what Ben was saying.

“Alpha Phillip has devised a plan where our pack’s security teams have been divided into three groups. The first set will go to Hunter’s Forest. That group is only composed of folks who have already found their fated mates. They'll make sure the pack is secure for the second team, which is a mix of folks who have found mates and those who haven’t. Any of those wolves who find new mates will be removed from active duty to sort things out. The two teams will reorganize and send a group of previously mated wolves to the second pack to get everything set up and secured.”

“Ben,” I interrupted, “What about the last third of the teams?”

“The last third of our security will stay in the city until everyone else has had the chance to check for mates; we can’t leave Blue Moon unguarded.”

I nodded in agreement and waited for Ben to continue.

“That’s day one. After safety checks are in place on the morning of day two, the first wave of the law firm’s employees will be transported to Hunter’s Forest to check for mates.”

“Who is in the first wave?” I interjected.

“Folks with last names that start with the letters A-G,” Ben replied, “They’ll go to the second pack, Fire Dawn, in the afternoon.”

He finished the explanation of how the different groups from the security and law firms would rotate through the three packs nearest to the city. There would be pauses and breaks throughout the process, as newly mated wolves were sorted out and security teams were reorganized as needed.

“We need more time,” Ben grumbled, “There are too many ways this could go wrong. Phillip is usually meticulous about everything, and this feels rushed. He wants to push this plan through before the other Alphas have time to rethink it and he loses the upper hand. He’s letting his ego and control issues cloud his judgment.”

“So, what about spouses and partners?” I asked anxiously.

“That’s where it gets interesting,” he answered, “Phillip wants the spouses and partners to wait until after the security firm's personnel have rotated through all surrounding packs, so they are not distracted while they’re dealing with the results of the initial round.”

“Nick made it sound almost like a series of cocktail parties. This sounds a lot more complicated than what he described.”

“Fred, it’ll be weeks into the process before the spouses of the law firm employees start rotating through. The announcement Monday is to let everyone know so they have a week to tie up loose ends. Phillip wants to make sure everyone has their post nuptial agreements in place.”

He paused and stared at me seriously, “Have you and Nick finished yours?”

“Of course,” I replied, “Phillip required all of the attorneys to get theirs done first. Nick and I have talked this out. We will both be rejecting our mates.”

Ben stilled at that. Before he could say anything, I blurted out the question I’d been wanting to ask him for a while.

“Ben, have you thought about what you’re going to do when you meet your mate?”