Katie gathered her blanket, biting her lip while she moved across Talon’s room. Underneath the wool that she draped around her body, she was naked but felt completely warm. For all the years of her looking happiness, she had struck the mother lode. Though elation didn’t make her feel like she deserved what was happening down to her. Moments after Selena had left, she fell down, spiraling out of control.
The need to apologize and run to her overcame Katie. She started to regret having Talon in her life even more but his insistence grew on her. One word from him and she would have believed him fully.
She was at his mercy.
For what she was concerned with, Talon was her knight and if she were to follow him through the dark or lose a limb to save him, she would.
If this is how it felt to be in love, both unsure but feeling immensely safe then she wouldn’t have it any other way. She was simply, hopelessly chained by her husband’s romantic endeavors. She wasn’t pleased that she couldn’t do anything to reply to his kindness. All her belongings were still in her room back in pack Morris.
After being married, unofficially to Talon, she felt pressure on doing more. To be more. She couldn’t just take everything and give him nothing. She wanted to show her heart to him too.
But what would be a good gift to a man who can easily get whatever he wanted?
She had limited actions with being broke at the moment and she hesitated on prancing around the pack. She wasn’t stupid. The hate of the wolves around her was almost tangible. They didn’t need to say it, she felt it.
At the end of the day, she learned to suck it up and looked at it as a punishment for her stupidity. A punishment she was willing to work on if it meant her hand would stay with Talon’s.
As she went through Talon’s belongings, meticulously examining and admiring the photos in his stands and many various ornaments that hung on the wall, a chime entered her ears. It made her smile immediately knowing only Talon had her new phone number. She waddled back to the bed and answered the phone.
“Hi, good morning.” She greets.
Katie almost evaporated as he chuckles over the phone.
“My Moon, I don’t think I’ll ever get over your voice. Good morning, my Kayla.”
She wondered to what extent does he know what kind of effect he puts her through whenever he says she was his Kayla. She was a giddy child, very excited to hear him speak.
“H-how are things going?” She asks.
“I’ve met with Morris. We’re on a cordial understanding and Francis and I will be returning shortly after. I’ll be home sometime afternoon but I promise, I’ll be there before dinner. I wanna take you out.”
He was very vocal about having their first date and how it was unfair why they had already slept together but hadn’t gone to a dinner date, to the movies, or walked around the pack holding hands.
It was a very sweet thought but on one branch unnecessary. She didn’t care if it would take months or longer before they would spend a dinner, just the two of them alone together. She wanted him and he wanted her too. It wasn’t a secret that things were rushed. But seeing as though he was crushed by it, she let it slide. His earnest effort to let her know his words were true made her want to do her best. Hence her current dilemma of needing to know the things that her husband wanted.
“You’ll be exhausted from driving by then. How about we just stay in bed and hold off on that dinner for now?”
He sighs.
“I’m not gonna lie, I will be probably exhausted. Thank you for understanding.”
“You don’t have to take me to dinner or you know, do anything special. We’ll take this slow, Talon. If anything, I think I should be doing more if you let me.”
But what was more, exactly? Katie started to panic. She didn’t want to overstep her authority in light of everything that went down, she felt she had no right to.
“Okay,” he laughs. “I expect a one-day itinerary filled with passionate but sweaty lovemaking. Oh, and you and I could go shopping for new clothes and maybe you could make me something from your restaurant’s menu.”
A wide smile spread across her face. “I can do that.”
“Good. I have a wicked sweet tooth, just a heads up, love.” He says. “Anyway, I don’t what else to talk about. I just really wanted to hear your voice.”
Heat creeps up her cheek. ‘Moon, what is this man?’
“I’ll be waiting for you. You’ll hear more of my voice here.”
The deep groan emanating from his throat made her restless. It wasn’t because he was exhausted, no. Katie read through that expression very well and it astounded her how Talon was the first one to draw that instinct from her.
“Did you sleep well?” He turns the conversation away.
Or maybe he wasn’t. He knew the answer quite well and he was acting innocently cruel.
“I just woke up minutes ago.” She answered sheepishly.
“At… ten in the morning? Kayla, I’ll send my Beta to get your breakfast. I’m sorry I kept you up late at night.”
He wasn’t sorry and neither was she. Talon was toying with her again. It made her stand on her toes, just wanting to hear more of him. In lack of better words, her lust for Talon easily overcame every other thing.
“I’m how you left me.” She whispers.
“Hmm, thoroughly loved and naked on my bed. Though, you can’t stay commando all day. Take anything from my closet and drawers. I think you look sexy in my shirts.”
She giggles. “Yes, Alpha. I’ll make good of your boxers as shorts.”
He cusses under his breath.
“It’s not fair you’re giving me vivid photos in my mind when I’m a state away from you. I should go before I can’t stop myself from hopping into my car and driving home. Once I finish sorting out some essential paperwork for Francis’ mate, I’ll be heading back. I love you, Kayla.”
“I love you too, Alpha Talon.” She says.
“Bye, love. See you later.”
Once the phone cuts, Katie falls to the bed, feeling unlike she had ever before. The exhilarating feeling of saying that to someone and for that person to say it back was just too overwhelming not to be overjoyed about.
Her electrified feet jumped to the floor and marched to Talon’s wardrobe. Just by opening, she released a flurry of scents. The places where her husband has gone to, the different wolves that he had come in contact with. Some of them were the scent of female wolves. But knowing that didn’t deter her. She had trusted him and whoever the wolves he said he had relationships with were memories now.
There was an assortment of suits in front of her. Each of them was well-tailored by brands she had never heard of before. A scene of Talon wearing the three-piece suit she was currently ogling at played in the curls of her brain. How it instantly made her moist was causing her to feel a tiny bit crazy.
A sigh left her lips as she took one sniff of his closet and grabbed one of his many v-necks, immediately putting it on. With how his scent invaded her nostrils, she had already thought of him here.
Now she understood the true meaning of being addicted to love.
Just as Talon stated, Beta Julius knocked on the door. She opens it, greeting the Beta nervously. He shrugs, cocking his head to the side, gesturing for her to move aside the door.
She jolts, blushing as she moved to Talon’s makeshift desk. Julius was quick in his actions to set her breakfast on the desk.
The Beta’s indifference to the situation made her grimace. She knew Julius had a few choice words of his own but he was keeping it all to himself. He shifts his gaze to her examining her.
Katie keeps her mouth shut while she awkwardly toyed with her fingers.
“T-thank you.” She says.
“You sound nervous. Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything bad to you. And for the record, your nips are hard, that probably means you like me. I know I’m very good looking, sadly I like guys too so your chances of having me is slim unless you convince me otherwise though.”
Her arms crossed themselves above her chest while she was left flummoxed at the words that left Beta Julius' mouth. She felt offended and at the same time speechless. It wasn’t until the Beta started to laugh that she had the chance to scowl at him.
“Relax, Ms. Smith. That was a joke. You seemed pretty tense so a callous remark would have suited as an ice breaker, yes. But I am into dudes though, not gonna lie about that.”
She flattens her lips, failing to understand how he could misconstrue his comment humorous. Still, she kept it to herself.
“Sorry if I offended you,” He says though Katie surmised he wasn’t sorry at all, seeing how he still had a glint of mischief in his eyes.
“It’s okay,” she meekly answers. “Thank you again for the food.”
“What the Alpha says, I do. It’s my job to be his on his beck and call. But seeing as though you have Alpha Robin’s ring around your neck, I look forward to working with you as my Alpha’s Luna.”
Not a hint of ill intent, she thought. He was genuinely happy, or so she hoped. She didn’t want to assume anything.
But to work as Luna, the title that Selena handed to her or more like defaulted since she was now the bearer of Talon’s mark. It was a jarring thought. A title she was afraid of not being able to live up to. Especially when looking at it, Selena was the perfect fit for the role and she ripped it away from her.
“Oh, and Mrs. Hall is worried about you not having enough lady products so she’ll come by later and will bring you some along with undies as Alpha Talon requested. So don’t be freaked out if an old lady comes in the room and offers you a box of Maxis.”
He was unexpectedly being courteous but he also didn’t possess in breaks for his tongue. She wondered if this was a sign that her husband’s wolves would eventually accept her.
“You’re so kind, Beta. If I am really blessed to formally attain the position Selena still holds, I would be thankful to work with you too.”
She offers him a cordial smile.
He scoffs.
“Ms. Smith, wolves in pack Highcliff extend their kindness to wolves kind to Alpha Talon. You can imagine the hateful, murderous mob of wolves wanting to slit your throat after the news of my Alpha’s mate engaged to another wolf got out.”
Katie nodded. Again, there was that overwhelming fear of not being enough for Talon. Though the fear of drowning in a river of expectations was jarring, making good of her husband’s trust was her ultimate goal.
She was weak and unable to shift to her wolf.
Her limitations already put her on the lowest list for poster Lunas. All she needed to do was do what she had already done in the past. Work as hard as she can in hopes her effort would be noticed.
It would be different. Talon wasn’t Nathaniel. Whereas when she was with her Nate, she felt all her accomplishments were never noticed and when he did pay the tiniest amount of attention to her, she felt him lie through his teeth.
“I claim responsibility for my choices but I want to be a clean slate for my mate. I know I do not deserve his attention, I only want a chance to prove to myself to everyone that… that I am worthy of him. That I am worthy of being Luna Highcliff. Especially when the shoes Selena has left me with are too big for me to fill in.”
She paled in comparison to Selena in every single way. She was the better wolf. But that didn’t mean she planned on doing everything she can.
“Good, please treat my Alpha with respect. Actually, I never knew my Alpha could smile the way he did when he was talking about you yesterday. I think it’s so easy to discern that he’s in love with you, hopelessly too.” A sense of relief washes over Katie. She had the rest of her life to be better and she wanted to serve Talon in every possible way she can. “And the fun times you two do is a sign, you know?”
The color on her face disappears.
“What?” She breathlessly spoke.
“What I mean is, you and my Alpha do it like bulls in a middle of a desert. But I’m not one to judge. It just makes us happy that he is now mated. So, thank you for choosing to be with my Alpha. You saved us by saving him.”
She rests a little easier and nods. It never occurred to her that she ‘saved’ him. It was the opposite, actually. Talon was the one who saved her from herself.
Her eyes drift to her feet, avoiding the Beta’s gaze.
But as she fell calmer, Julius’ sudden thundering voice startled her. She raises her head, watching the Beta march towards the window.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” He chanted furiousLY, running his hand through his hair.
Katie stood beside him and peered outside. On the grounds, wolves stood proudly bearing their blades and their guns. The dread in her heart grew as her eyes narrowed on the insignia branded on a woman’s shoulder.
That insignia.
A sign of being a part of a pack.
And that insignia, being burnt into a wolf’s skin.
Pack Remmington’s wolves.
They were standing on pack Highcliff’s ground and based on Julius' reaction, their arrival was very unwelcome.
Her fears grew bigger as the loud sound of a gun going off entered her ears. She flinched. With no hesitation, Julius grabbed Katie’s hand and dragged her out of the room.
~•°•~
Quebec, Canada
Joseph rocked his child back to sleep, patiently dancing while holding the baby boy in his arms. His three infant children were taxing as all other babies were but he wouldn’t have his life any other way. He loved being the father of two precious little girls and one boy.
Beside him, his wife, Amber laid asleep. He didn’t dare to interrupt her when all she had done all morning was feed their pups. It completely pained him watching her keep her tough demeanor even if she was on the brink of tearing up from exhaustion.
He steps out of the room and carries his son to the living room. His eyes land on the old wolf carrying one of his daughters, softly cradling her in her arms. His other daughter was sleeping on her adorable cot.
“Thank you, Mrs. Rosewood. I don’t think I would have been able to handle all three of them all by myself.” He sighs, nuzzling his nose against his son’s.
Lydia nods. “Alpha Albrich, this is nothing. It’s been a while since I’ve held a pup, especially an Alpha’s.”
Her eyes traveled to where and her husband and Sebastian were standing and blowing bubbles. Joseph took notice of the grave expression the old wolf wore. He grimaced.
“You’re safe here,” he assures her. “Talon made sure to scrub every detail of our travel. I’ve checked the vicinity and there are no wolves present for miles.”
She sighs.
“I can’t shake the feeling. I worry about home.”
He had to admit. He too was uncertain about accepting Talon’s request. He had to make last-minute preparations before leaving his pack.
Joseph’s phone rang loudly, causing his child to squirm and cry loudly. He scowls, vehemently groaning. Lydia gestures to take the baby. He smiles slightly, letting her sit and hold the two babies at the same time. He goes outside of the house before answering his phone.
“Joseph, hello.” A woman’s voice, filled with pain spoke through the phone.
“Maryanne? What’s wrong?” Anxiousness enveloped him.
“Pack Waterford and pack San Ignacio has fallen. Wolves from pack Remmington has overwhelmed us. They are far too many to handle. Please, help us. They’ve killed my father and mom in front of me and Madeline. It’s all over.”
He remained unwavering, hoping to rattle her more.
Pack Remmington, the thorn on everyone’s side has finally grown a pair of oversized balls to plant a coordinated attack. Suddenly, he was paralyzed. What about his pack? If anything was happening back home, his wolves had his contact details. It now dawned upon him that Tobias chose to take a day off today. The timing couldn’t have been much worse. He was being thoroughly fucked in the ass.
“Listen to me, Maryanne-”
“Give me that.” A man’s voice thundered in the background.
Maryanne’s cries were loud, begging whoever it was to stop. Hearing one of his closest friends sound so hopeless awakened his wolf.
“Please, please, don’t-” She pleads.
A loud boom echoed in his ear. Then it was replaced by screams of many different wolves. Multiple gunshots were set off. All these happening while he could hear Madeline weeping to keep her sister awake.
Joseph lost the courage to listen further and cut the call. His whole body trembled while he stared into the distance, wondering what was happening.
~•°•~
Oh, Moon! It's all finally coming together! Haha.
Anyways, surprise update!
This is a cliffhanger, I know. But the following chapters will essentially be cliffhangers. Sorry if that's cruel. 🤣
Tell me what you thought of the chapter by commenting down on the comment section. And while you're at it, please consider leaving a vote and help the story get more traction. <3
Love,
Jino