Longing For A Luna

Chapter 1 - Dresses & Divorces II of II

Nick slid one of his hands around to the back of my neck and started to pull me to him. I knew what would happen next, so I quickly pushed one hand against his chest and the other on top of his lips, which were already a few inches from mine.

“Uh, uh. No, sir. I am not walking into a dinner with your coworkers and their spouses looking like I’ve just been ravished within an inch of my life,” I pushed him away from me before his wandering hands could change my mind.

‘Spoil sport,’ Ana pouted.

He growled softly and smiled, “You know you’re only making it worse, baby. I like it when you get bossy.”

I pointed one finger in the air at him, “Mr. Evans, if you want to be the one peeling this dress off your wife later tonight instead of me doing it for myself, you will control your urges for now.”

‘Ooh, you’re stoking his fire, talking to him like that,’ Ana teased. ‘He is really going to be worked up later.’

Nick took an exaggerated sigh, “Yes, ma’am.”

He gave me a sly smile, flashing those heart-melting dimples at me as he finished with his tie, gazing at me intensely as he made sure it was secure.

‘Ask him to use that tie around our wrists later,’ Ana panted out.

‘Goddess help me, how did I end up with such a horny wolf? Would you stop it?’ I shot back at my wolf with exasperation; she just laughed at me.

Nick finally stopped ogling me long enough to put on his shoes and jacket. I grabbed my purse, and we headed out to meet the rideshare. While we stood there waiting, he stroked his hands over the tops of my shoulders and arms.

“Dani, I need to tell you this before we get there…do you remember Michelle Martinez, one of the junior partners?”

“Is that the same Michelle who mentored you when you started at the firm?”

“Yeah, that’s her,” he replied, his voice suddenly solemn. “Her husband found his fated mate last week and decided to break things off with Michelle.”

I turned and looked at him, “Oh no! What about their kids?”

Nick pursed his lip grimly, “He left her and the kids; said his fated mate didn’t want to raise another woman’s brats. His description, not mine. Anyway, just a heads up. We’re trying to avoid talk of mate bonds and the Rebirth tonight.”

I looked at him, both eyebrows raised, “That’s going to be a challenge, considering your firm now specializes in divorces and custody agreements related to the Rebirth. You know I don’t have a problem steering the conversation elsewhere, but your coworkers always talk about their cases at these things. I mean…I could probably pass the bar at this point, after listening to all of the rants and discussions over the years.”

The firm frequently hosted dinners and other events where spouses and family were invited. The senior partners were the Alpha and Beta of Blue Moon, our pack in the city. In fact, tonight was the firm’s annual birthday dinner for the Alpha, Phillip. These were supposed to be social events, but throwing together a bunch of workaholic werewolves with an open bar only encouraged their constant shop talk.

“I know, babe, I know,” he gave me a lopsided smile, “Hopefully, everyone will be cool tonight. Michelle had to call out sick the day after it happened. This is the first time I’ve ever seen her miss work.”

I couldn’t keep a frown from forming, “Poor Michelle, and their kids! That guy is an ass. It’s one thing to accept the mate bond and leave a spouse or partner, but he’s choosing his mate over his own kids, too? And I can’t believe he’d just up and leave Michelle, either. They’ve been together for so long; how could he throw that away like that?”

Nick just shrugged and shook his head before opening the door to our rideshare for me. There were really no good answers for my questions.

We had all seen our world turned upside down since what’s become known as the Rebirth of the Goddess. Things had calmed down somewhat in the eight months since it had happened, but Nick still saw the ramifications of it on a daily basis with his clients. Prior to the event, his firm handled all kinds of cases, but ever since then had switched over to almost exclusively dealing with family law for werewolves. He’d had a few clients with amicable divorces after one or both found their fated mates, but unfortunately, those were the exceptions.

The worst case was a couple of months ago, when a client from the pack to the north of us was murdered in front of his children by his soon-to-be ex. The wife had rejected her fated mate about a month after the Rebirth; her husband had begged her to stay with him and to keep their family intact. A few months later, the husband, who was an electrical engineer, met his fated mate on an emergency work trip to another city.

There had been a miscommunication within that area’s pack and one previously unmated she-wolf ended up at the worksite. From what I’d been told, the Goddess bond kicked in and drew those two together instantly. Nick’s client had chosen to accept the bond. The divorcing couple only made it through one deposition before the wife, angry at her husband’s betrayal after she sacrificed her own mate bond, snapped that night and shot him before killing herself, too.

Nick was despondent over it and wanted to quit practicing law. His bosses told him to take a week off before making any decisions. The time off was good for him and he returned to work the next Monday, but I could tell he’d lost some of his passion for his job.

That incident spurred some serious changes. The fallout prompted Alpha Phillip to order that anyone in the pack who was married or had been partnered long-term had to draw up a contract outlining what would happen with children and assets in the event of a Rebirth related break-up. We signed a contract because the Alpha ordered us to, but for us it was a moot point.

Nick and I had already had a serious discussion a few weeks after the initial chaos of the Rebirth and decided, along with Ana and Riker, that we would remain together if either of us met our fated mates. We had too many years of mutual love, affection, and respect to end our marriage over a fated mate bond. It was also during that discussion that we decided we were ready to start a family as soon as the chaos of the Rebirth calmed.

My thoughts veered back to Michelle. I imagined, like every other couple in our pack, she and her husband had thoroughly discussed what they would do if they met their fated mates. Surely, their plan didn’t involve either of them leaving their kids? I felt so bad for her, but ultimately she was better off without a man who could leave his wife and kids so easily.

So much heartbreak and strife, all because someone, or something, brought Goddess blessed mate bonds back to our kind.

I looked over at Nick, admiring how the lights passed over his handsome face as the car moved through the city. When we arrived at the firm’s building, he took my hand to help me out of the car and then held it the entire time we were in the elevator. Right before the doors opened to let us onto the top floor, he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

“You ready, beautiful?” he asked, his deep blue eyes full of so much affection, never leaving mine.

I smiled and nodded ‘yes’.

Goddess bonds be damned; this man was my forever.