It's been two months since I moved into the Silver Moon packhouse. Finn kept all of his promises. He kept me in the loop with everything that was going on and introduced me to any visiting pack members. He also let me train the werewolves using magic.
He was true to his word about my veto power. When I didn't like the idea of him traveling for business for weeks at a time without me, he hired a representative to do it for him. And when I didn't appreciate his sexy, overly flirtatious, secretary at the office, he replaced her.
I was over the moon in love with Finn Oxford and the little life we had built for ourselves already. I moved into Finn's room a few days after he spent the night in my bed for the first time. He always made sure we went to bed together, but I never woke up with him there. He got up hours before me to train and get work done so he could be finished in time for dinner. But, I had a feeling there was more to it than that.
I've been unable to give Finn the one thing I know he's dying for. I haven't been able to complete the mating process and allow him to mark me. I had so many reasons to give myself to him completely, and yet the one reason I have not to, is what's been winning. Goddess bless him because he had been so patient over these last eight weeks.
"Marigold, I have to ask you a favor." Finn sighed as we were eating breakfast in his room.
"Okay?" I asked hesitantly, setting down the piece of toast I was previously gnawing on.
"I've held her off as long as I could, but I don't think I can keep her waiting any longer." Finn had his puppy dog eyes on so I knew this was serious.
"Who?"
"My mother." Finn said the word like he was defusing the atomic bomb. I laughed at him,
"That's it?"
"It's no small feat, I assure you." Finn looked offended at my lack of response.
"Finn, I would love to meet your mother! I had no idea you were putting her off. I just thought that your parents weren't around or that they didn't like me." I shrugged.
"What? No! My parents have been dying to meet you. They love you already." Finn quickly shook his head.
"Why have you been avoiding it?" I asked. Finn looked defeated,
"Because I thought it would be too much for you." I sighed. I couldn't blame him for thinking that. I was on edge, even still, after two months, I was on edge. I didn't like to be around large crowds, I wasn't ready for anyone to call me Luna, and I still wouldn't let him make an official announcement or hold the Luna ceremony.
"I'm sorry I made you feel that way, Finn. I wish, more than anything else, that you could meet my mother so, of course, I want to meet yours." I smiled lovingly at him, reaching out my hand for his.
"I wish I could meet her, too, baby." Finn's eyes were sad,
"But, I know you're going to love my mom!"
"When can I meet her?" I asked, excited.
"Believe me, I say the word and my mother will be here in ten minutes." Finn chuckled lightly.
"How about for lunch?" I offered with a lazy shrug.
"She would love that. Are you sure?"
"Absolutely!" And with that, it was settled. After breakfast, Finn went to his office to call his parents and get started on his work. I went down to the training grounds to meet Stone for the morning session.
"I heard you're meeting the in-laws today." Stone grinned stupidly from the training ring.
"Seriously, are there no secrets around here?" I groaned.
"Nope." Stone laughed, popping the p.
"Let's get to work." I challenged him with a look and addressed the trainees in the ring.
Finn had his pack on a strict training schedule which I appreciated. It was a rotating schedule with sessions in the morning, noon, and evening. Stone was in charge of mixing up the trainees. He mixed guard, patrol, and warrior wolves in with omegas to encourage a higher standard of performance; twice a week, the guard, patrol, and warrior wolves had advance training to themselves.
I was hovering above the circle in a makeshift egg chair I created from vines. I was challenging the trainees by throwing my magic at them. I raised roots from the ground, tossed obstacles in their path, made it rain or storm, and anything else I could think of to distract them. I'll admit that they're all getting much better from the first time we did this.
After two hours, I stopped and let them spar on their own without magical inference. I jumped down from my perch and went to check on the second ring of trainees. This ring was reserved for sparing in their wolf form. Finn didn't like me going near the wolves so he asked me to keep my training to the human form. I listened, for the first few weeks anyway. By month two, my curiosity had gotten the best of me.
I felt Stone come up behind me as I hopped the railing to the second ring.
"You know you're not supposed to come here without me." Stone chastised.
"Yes, mom." I grumbled. Stone rolled his eyes but stayed quiet. I didn't usually interfere with the wolf training, I just liked watching them. I grabbed the closest tree branch and pulled myself up onto a new perch. The wolves were so used to this by now that they didn't even flinch in their fighting.
I still haven't seen Finn's wolf. He's told me about Hunter, how he's the largest in the pack and all black, like his tattoos. He showed me a tattoo of Hunter on his right shoulder blade. Sometimes, when Hunter was on his best behavior, he let me talk to him while still in human form.
Hunter was very sweet but animalistic, for sure. I think that's what scared Finn the most about us meeting. Hunter was eager for us to mate. He said it would allow him to feel closer to me since I didn't have a wolf for him to talk to. I felt bad for Hunter, almost like he got cheated out of a mate, but he told me he wasn't upset; he said he could sense my magic and that was almost like sensing a mate.
I wasn't sure why Finn didn't want me to see Hunter or watch him shift, but I didn't press the issue anymore than Finn pressed me to mate.
I watched the brown and white wolf do a sort of dance in the sparring ring, snapping and growling at each other. They were so majestic. I had to admit, watching them fight in wolf form was much more entertaining than when they were humans.
"Hey, Luna! How about a challenge?" One of the omegas yelled up at me from the corner of the ring.
"Watch your mouth, Creig!" Stone snapped. I waved Stone's attitude away,
"Sure, if you get in the ring." I challenged the omega, Creig. Creig grinned and ripped off his shirt and pants. I averted my eyes until he had shifted into his gray wolf. The other two wolves in the ring stepped away.
Creig's wolf barked up at me and I grinned wickedly. I wiggled my fingers and watched as the ground came to life. Roots twisted themselves around the wolf's legs. Creig snapped at the roots, breaking free of them, but I was quick to replace them. In no time at all, the gray wolf was spinning in circles as the roots meticulously attacked him. The other omegas and wolves were laughing hysterically at the poor omega. I clenched my hand into a fist and tied the wolf up for good.
Creig's tail whacked the mat in a sign of surrender. I released my fist and the gray wolf was released from the vines. The wolf shifted back into Creig who walked with his preferable tail between his legs to get dressed.
"Guess she taught you, huh, big mouth?" Another omega by the name of Gabriel, teased.
"Shut up." Creig grumbled. I jumped down from the tree and walked up to the boys.
"Do you know what you did wrong?" I asked Creig. Stone was at my side, demanding respect from the omegas.
"No, Luna." Creig said with his head bowed.
"First off, look at me when I'm talking to you." I snapped,
"And call me Mari." Creig's head snapped up and he nodded sternly,
"Sorry Lu...Mari."
"You were focused on what was happening in front of you, not what was going to happen." I said. Creig looked back at Gabriel who had an equally confused expression on his face.
"What do you mean?" Creig asked.
"I mean that when you're fighting someone with magic, you need to think about what they are about to do. You can't beat them, not with brute strength, but you can outsmart them. You were never going to be able to get ahead of the roots I was growing, but you could have gotten around them." I explained. The boys still looked confused.
"It's Gabriel, right?" I asked the black haired omega.
"Yeah?"
"Shift." I commanded softly. Gabriel bowed his head in submission and immediately shifted into his wolf form. Stone jumped between us defensively.
"Now listen," I called out to Gabriel who focused his attention on me,
"I'm going to do the same thing I did to Creig. Think ahead of me." I felt my eyes begin to glow as I slowly sprouted roots from the ground. In no time at all, Gabriel was surrounded by the rotos just as Creig was.
"Creig!" I yelled over the growling,
"What do you see?" I asked him. Creig was focused on Gabriel's wolf. I saw the moment Creig realized what I was talking about,
"Tell him!" I spoke before Creig could. Creig looked at the wolf and began to give him advice,
"Stomp your paws! Stomp them hard!" He yelled.
Gabriel obeyed, slamming his paws into the ground. The large, brown paws were crushing my roots before they could break the surface. Once Gabriel had enough of the roots cleared away in front of him, he was able to pounce over the remaining roots and towards me. Stone shoved Gabriel away and commanded him to shift.
"That was awesome!" Gabriel cheered, giving Creig a high five.
"How did you know to do that?" He asked.
"I knew that she was going to just keep on with the roots and there was no way you were going to be able to eat your way through them all, but you could stop them from popping up enough to get out." Creig was eager to explain.
"Man, that's great!" Gabriel was grinning proudly.
"Great job." I grinned at the two omegas.
"Thanks, Luna!" Gabriel smiled, unable to contain himself. Stone and I left the wolves to their training.
"You're really good at this, you know?" Stone observed.
"I just don't want them to get hurt." I replied.
"That's because you're their Luna, like it or not, you love them." Stone bumped his shoulder against mine.
"I do love them, Stone, I love the pack. It's not about that."
"Then why don't you want to be our Luna?" Stone asked quietly, almost sounding hurt.
"Stone, it's not about wanting it or not. It's about whether I'm good enough." Stone stopped dead in his tracks, almost causing me to trip over him.
"You're not serious." He groaned.
"Stone...." I sighed.
"Come on, Mari! Open your eyes! Everyone here is obsessed with you."
"Sure, I'm liked, but that doesn't mean I can lead." I argued.
"You were born to lead." Stone said.
"Being born a princess doesn't make me a born leader." I shook my head. Stone looked at me like I was stupid,
"No, dummy, that's not what I meant. You were born to be mated to an Alpha. The Moon Goddess chose you to be a Luna from the moment you were born." I blinked at Stone, stunned silent. He was right.
The fae believed in the Moon Goddess just as the werewolves did. And, if I were to believe that the Moon Goddess choses all of our mates, then I had to also believe that I was chosen to be a Luna. If she saw me as a Luna, who am I to argue?
"See? That makes sense, doesn't it?" Stone looked proud of himself.
"Come on," I rolled my eyes at him,
"I need to shower before Finn's parents get here."