Alpha and Luna At Last (Sequel to Rejected, Loved, Mated)

Chapter Eight: Two Invites

"I'll be up soon." I grinned then looked at Oliver. "What's up?" I asked, motioning for us to go to the living room.

"Nothing, I just realized I missed spending time with you while I was here. It's been a while." He cast his eyes downward.

"Yeah, it has. How've you been Oliver?" I asked.

"Good. I -um- I missed you after you shut down. You never said why."

"Things changed and I wanted to move on." I shrugged, sitting down. He stayed standing, leaning on the wall.

"For your family?" He asked.

"No, I've only been with them around two and a half years. I stopped taking jobs before then. By the time I was coming here to go to college, I had already drifted so far I didn't know if I was the person going to classes by day or the assassin going to do jobs by night. At some point, something inside me said it was time to stop so I did."

"You could have called and told me that. One day I go to my dad and he tells me business with you is done." He paused. "Could've clued me in first."

"Oliver, it wasn't like we were together or anything. We had fun and it was what I needed at the time."

"I loved you, you know." He said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"No, you didn't, Olly." I grinned, shaking my head. "You liked that I was dangerous. I gave you the adrenaline you craved."

"It wasn't just that. I enjoyed talking to you and just being close to you."

"I enjoyed that with you too." I admitted.

"Are you happy here?" He asked.

"Yeah. Very happy. Jasper makes me so happy. I love him. He's my mate." I smiled more to myself than to him.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"I've never been more sure of anything. He's everything I could want. He's strong and funny and..., so many more things. I could go on forever." I gave a tiny chuckled. "He knows my past and he accepts that part of me. He allows me to still be me and I know his past now and I hope I'm doing the same for him."

"When you were with me, did you ever care about me?"

"Olly, like I said, we weren't together in an official way. But yeah, I cared about you. You gave me a piece of the life I wanted back then but it felt so far away."

"I called you, you know." He said. "After. I called the number we had for you. E-mailed the address you gave. I even went to our meeting point a few times..., you never came."

"I'm sorry, Oliver. I should have disconnected all those things but I never did, I never could. Truthfully, I still have the phone, though it's off, and the number still works. For some reason, I guess I thought I'd want to go back but I didn't." I paused. "Oliver, I hope you and I can be friends, despite our history and whatever is going on with Angela."

"I'd love to be your friend..., even if my heart still longs for you."

I chuckled. "One day, Oliver, you're gonna meet your mate and everything you ever felt about me will fade. I bet she's going to be this super badass shewolf that will always put you in your place. You seem to like that type." I joked.

"I know I'll find my mate one day." He smiled at my joke. "But no matter when that day comes, I will always love you. You're like a drug I can't shake. No matter who I'm with and the fact that I haven't seen you in years, I still hold you precious in my heart and you will always be there."

I gave him a playful roll of my eyes. "Yeah, whatever. You'll meet your mate and forget my name.., the real one and my old alias." I smiled. "I'm glad you're okay with us being friends though. I could always use a good friend to call in times of need." I stood and touched his arm. "I'd hug you but even I don't want to think about how sweaty I am." I laughed. "I'll see you later." I gave his arm a squeeze and grabbed up my towel on the way out of the room.