Some days later, Adira sat on the kitchen table stuffing herself with pancakes, completing a crossword puzzle. Tonight, Adira would be well enough to go to her cottage and pack her things. A week later, Adrian would leave with her for Hawaii. They had acquired a rental house there and aimed to explore the place more for a permanent home. Adira had spoken to her boss who had agreed to let her work from her computer for slightly lesser pay. Once she settled in, she would try to find a job there. While she was looking forward to changing scenery, Adira would miss this place. Somehow, the pack had felt more like home to her than her own cottage was. It felt unsettling to imagine a life that wasn't here. Almost as if her body fully rejected the idea.
She jolted out her thoughts as Adrian entered the kitchen holding a piece of paper crushed in his hand. Throwing it into the bin, he half-smiled at Adira. "Would it be okay, if we had a meeting of sorts in about half an hour? There are somethings Eden wants to tell us that might be important. Also, you should meet Amor at least once before we leave, right?" He said it lightly, but he was a really bad actor. The tightness of his shoulders never loosened up. Adira knew that leaving was tearing him apart. But every time, she suggested he stay, Adrian refused to speak about it. His misguided guilt for being unable to save her was causing him to make a really stupid decision, but she was helpless to stop it. Although, Adira admitted to herself, without him she wouldn't last a day away from here, so she didn't really push that hard.
Snapping back into reality Adira realized that Adrian had left taking her silence as an affirmative response. Curious about his terrible mood, she lifted the paper he had thrown in the bin. It was written by a 'Jonah', and contained signatures of many pack members. Turning it around, she read his message.
Alpha,
In light of recent times, and coming into terms with our stupidity, we've realized that your gift would make the perfect Luna. We apologize for the rude way we left things. You have led us with much grace, and we hope to see it continue -
Adira skimmed the rest of the paper which only seemed to flatter Adrian. Her heart stopped. Adrian was going to mate and give the pack a Luna? The Luna was merely a title in the pack to signify the Alpha's mate. If Aira chose to step away, Adrian could find another Luna to mate with. Even though she knew this would be the best for the pack, her heart broke. Clearly, she had misunderstood his offer. He had realized what he was leaving behind and would come back here in a month. Suddenly, she didn't feel well enough to stand. In a haze, she climbed the stairs to her room in wobbly legs. Despite knowing that his feelings were dictated by his bond, she had allowed herself to hope a little. Soul crushed, she sat on the bed for long moments, refusing to cry about another boy. How many times would she be in this position? Was she really this undeserving of love that the only men she had allowed in her heart had both rejected her? But, why was he trying to lead her on? There was no need to be cruel. Why make these promises? How could he?! Who does he think he is?
Fully annoyed and completely angry, she got out of the bed to give him a piece of her mind but as she neared the staircase, she realized that there were other voices in the house. The meeting. Right. She would tell him how little she thought of him when everyone had gone home. Screw you, bitch.
After a quick shower and brushing her hair, she walked downstairs to see two new people seated with Adrian, Cassie, and Sebastian in the kitchen next to a whiteboard. Both Cassie and Seb shot her full grins and she waved at him. Ignoring Adrian who had stood up to greet her, she turned to the strangers. A man stood up, dressed in pants and a white t-shirt. His black hair was interspersed with grey, though he looked around her age. His green eyes smiled at her as held out his land. "Hi Luna, I am the fabulous beta, Eden. You may know me as the guy who always saves Adrian's ass." She grinned at him even as her title made her sad.
Turning to the only other person she didn't know, she smiled at the tall female in front of her. On her hair, Adrian's dark hair was fashioned into a messy bun. Adrian's sister, Amor. Holding out her hand, Adira was taken back by the hostility in her eyes. She looked at Adira's hand in disdain. Adira awkwardly waited for Amor to introduce herself as she dropped her hand. A beat passed and Amor's scowl deepened.
Pushing his chair back loudly in annoyance, Adrian came to stand beside Adira. "This is my sister and Eden's mate, Amor. She's the best researcher the pack has got, although she could use a lesson or two on being less of a bigot." Adira watched fascinated as Adrian and his sister exchanged uncannily similar scowls.
"Obviously, Luna already knows my handsome face! How could she forget?" Sebastian dramatically spoke up breaking the tension. Getting up from the table, he came to kneel beside her on one knee. "Are you ready to leave him already, or what?" Grinning, Adrian swatted him on his head, pushing Adira behind him as she giggled. She waved at Sebastian cheekily. Adrian pretended to growl at her actions.
Amor scoffed. "If we can get this over with, So we can all go home. Some of us have things to do other than sitting still and looking pretty in the pack-house." She was already on Adira's last nerve.
Cassie spoke up. "Shut up Amor, Adira's great and you're being a p r i c k. Anyway, topic number 1," She wrote on the board, "Schedule rotations for guards so we can prevent attacks. I don't know why we didn't think of this before, but now that we're strengthening security, its an important check on all guards."
"Wait a second, what! There was no rotation? You lied to me!" Adira said indignantly. She balled up her incomplete crossword puzzle and threw it at Cassie in revenge.
"You needed the assurance," Cassie said flippantly catching the paper ball midair. "It will help us prevent deaths also. What do you think, Alpha? Shall we do this in next month's patrol? It does make it harder to keep track of everyone and may cause issues between pairings, though."
"Wait, who died?" Adira huffed. "Can someone tell me whats going on?"
"Micheal got killed by rogues in the morning of the attack. He was saving your sorry ass by guarding you. The other guard, Tim, is nowhere to be found. So either he's a mole or he's dead. There definitely is a mole, because of how far into the territory the rogues were able to come. So basically someone died for you and you never asked about it. And also, while you were so conveniently sick because of your human-ness, Adrian had to assign more guards to the border and the hospital to protect you thereby removing security from our only captive rogue who then escaped despite being a fucking manic. So now we've lost our only lead to finding the rogue leader of these attacks. Are you happy with the report, your majesty?" Amor said scathingly as she wrote the sequence of events on the whiteboard.
"Hey!" A chorus of voices broke out in Adira's defense, but Adria remained silent with her eyes focussed on Micheal's name on the whiteboard. He was dead. She almost couldn't fathom it.
Adrian took her hand in his and squeezed. As if drawing strength from it, he spoke. "Speaking of next month's patrol, we reach topic number two. Adira and I have an announcement to make. We're not going to be here. I'm resigning from my position. We're leaving next week. Eden will have to temporarily take charge until the Alpha trials. Don't worry, I will fly back and forth to help and will definitely still conduct online meetings till all is settled under Eden's rule. I won't leave you hanging Ede, I swear."
Utter silence followed his announcement. Worried, Adira looked up to Cassie's eyes which shimmered with tears. Beside her, with hands on her shoulders, Sebastian looked utterly crushed. His usually laughing eyes looked beyond Adira, avoiding her and Adrian. Both Eden and Amor seemed shocked, holding on to each other. The quiet was only punctuated by the rustle of leaves outside. Adira looked at Adrian, who seemed just as lost as her. What do you say to someone when you're about to leave their lives with barely a moment's notice?
Suddenly, Eden cried out. "Why? For fuck's sake, even the pack has now accepted that you got your god darn moon's gift. There is no ultimatum. Why must you leave? This is some ridiculous misguided morality, Ade, and the dumbest fkin thing. We have all these Alphas and Alpha females coming in for the meet, how will we even get a replacement fast enough? Have you thought this through?" Both Sebastian and Amor joined in, as differing voices argued with their reasons. They didn't seem to require replies. A pang of guilt for their rushed departure shot through Adira but she could focus on only one thing.
"I'm your gift?" Adira murmured softly in the midst of the shouting.
"Of course. Fated mates are the moon's gift. You are a Luna by our oldest laws." Adrian responded quietly as he squeezed her hand again. Pure golden relief washed over Adira as she tuned into the debate.
"Where will you go? Who will you be Adrian? Are you going to go rogue? Join a new pack and fight to become the Alpha? Have you really thought this through?" Sebastian spoke up uncharacteristically serious. "This is ridiculous. How is Adira going to survive when you go rogue? What if you lose the fight with your sanity as a rogue and become manic? What will she do? Just think."
"I think, I understand where they're coming from," Cassie spoke up, "I'm sure he'll help during the transition period. Besides, they'll have each other. They're mates. It will prevent him from going manic." She took a step back as the others looked at her in pure betrayal, and started defending her stance. "Maybe they've thought this through-"
Amor snorted. "Of course he hasn't thought it through. He's doing it for her. She clearly has somehow warped your mind brother, which is why I told you to stick to Cassie. This is ridiculous. What are you going to say to our parents? You tucked your tail and fled because your mate is too weak for our world?"
Adira's mind focussed on one single word. Weak. Her mind repeated. She was tired of being weak.
Before Adrian could reply, Adira spoke in a dangerously even tone. "I am so sick of you being a brat," she ignored Amor's offended look and the glee on everyone else's face, "I don't know a lot about wolves, but I'm pretty clear that the moon is a big deal. Adrian is my gift from the moon. Do you really care so little for your brother that you want him to change fate to fit in your stupid bigoted standards? If your quarrel with me is because of Cassie, grow up. We're not fifth-graders anymore. I didn't ask for this any more than you did. But it is here. I'm trying to make the best of it, but the only thing you're doing is being a spoilt brat. We can all do how much is capable of us, and while I'm using my sad and weak human capabilities to save my friends and stay alive, you're using your superior senses to gossip and bitch like a middle schooler. I don't know how the world hasn't told you this, but grow the fuck up. And if you can't, leave our hous-" Adira was cut off as a loud explosion of blinding golden filled the room and burned down her arm. Swirling strands wove across her hand moving palm-up in an intricate design. Sparks ignited in her body, the fire moved up her limbs. Her core tightened. For a second, Adira felt completely consumed by Adrian standing next to her. Her feelings overwhelmed her body permeating into every molecule, atom, cell. Golden hues painted everything yellow reflecting light forming pearly rainbows. Adira stood entranced, by the way her body lit up. She was completely aware of every inch of distance between her and Adrian and every hair on his body called to her. Then, all at once, it was gone. The explosion vanished leaving behind deafening silence.
She immediately turned to ask Adrian but stopped on the sight of his shell-shocked expression. Her eyes moved to Eden, who was staring gobsmacked at her hand. Looking down, she examined the back of her right hand. Her breath hitched. A swirling pattern was woven along the back of her hand, tattooed into her skin. Starting from her middle finger, the pattern moved almost royally down her arm. She had never seen anything so enchanting.
She turned and asked Cassie. "Is that...?"
Wordlessly Cassie nodded. Her nod seemed to break some of the tension in the room.
Sebastian snickered. "Only Adrian would get off on a girl telling his sister off. Dom-sub fetish, anyone? Now we know all about their bedroom..."
Eden's startled laugh broke the rest of the tension. He herded a shocked Amor and a laughing Sebastian toward the door promising to continue the meeting at dinner time. On his way out, he argued with Amor about 'defending her honor' and a deserved 'scolding'.
Adira looked at Cassie worried about her friend's reaction. But, Cassie only smiled through watery eyes, congratulating them before quickly leaving.
Finally, Adira looked up at Adrian. He gave her a weak smile. "I did tell you, in my defense. I want all of you. I accept the bond and I accept you. When you treat this pack as yours, I guess it..yknow." His expression was guarded preparing for another rejection or argument from her.
The idea of him guarding himself from her broke Adira's control. Lightness engulfed her body. He wanted her. It was proof that the bond was not the only cause. For once, without thinking, she grinned and jumped him kissing him soundly. For a moment, Adrian startled holding her weight and remained statute. Then cupping her face, he kissed her back with such passion that it blew her away. They kissed for long moments, turning from passionate to sweet and slow. Finally, they broke apart for air. She moved, offering more of herself but he stopped, giving her a quick peck and putting some distance between them.
Tucking a lock of her hair, he cupped her face. "Let's get lunch? After that I'll have to sort out my leaving duties and all. Think you'll be okay without me this afternoon? I'm sending six guards to the house with Seb and Cassie but I can stay if you want," he walked into the kitchen.
Trailing after him, Adira noticed the whiteboard in the room. Her eyes once again fixed on Micheal's name. She remembered his surprising kindness on her way to the hospital. She also suddenly recalled Cassie at the hospital, helpless and alone. Despite that, Cassie had fought again. Cassie's nod to run when she was herself cornered, replayed in Adira's head.
"We're not leaving." Adrian startled dropping a pan as Adira spoke loudly into the quiet room. He turned to her confused and slightly hopeful. "For whatever reason now, I've become part of this fight of yours and started liking some of you. I'd be sad if you died. I don't particularly like being sad. So we won't leave. As stupid as that decision is for me, we won't leave. Man I am dumb, very self-aware, but mostly dumb."
In quick strides Adrian reached her, pulling her into him. "We don't have to stay Adira. I'll go wherever you go, happily. It's okay to walk away. If this is about what Amor said..."
"No, ugh. You've made a place in my heart. I love Cassie. And I like Sebastian even though I've spoken to him like twice. And it will grate on my stupid conscience. So we'll stay, I'll help the fight so long as you teach me to fight and let me be your equal. Alongside we can figure out this soulmate stuff. If it doesn't work out, I'll leave in a couple of months after we've figured out why these rogues are here and caught the rogue who dared to touch Cassie." Adira spoke to the best of her ability since her mouth was squished to Adrian's chest. Her right hand tingled with his happiness. Pulling away, she smiled at him looking into his almost wet eyes. "We got this bisch. We gonna kill these pricks, find the rogue and ditch."
Adrian rolled his eyes at her terrible humor as he began to make lunch.