An Unexpected Luna

4 - Birthday

Jake

Today I'm turning 25 years old.

Happy f*****g birthday to me, I guess. I sigh deeply, trying to clear my head, but failing miserably, all sorts of thoughts deciding now is the best time to invade and cloud my mind.

Today is a big day, not because it's my birthday, that has come to be something completely irrelevant ever since I left my pack and life has slapped me hard in the face, forcing me to grow the f**k up. Some might call it 'life', though it has a name, and in my case it's 'Bolder'.

No, today is a big day because we've been waiting for a break in this case for months, and finally, we got something that might actually work in bringing the ring down for good.

So what if it's my birthday? It's not like I have anyone here to celebrate it with, even if I, by some miracle, wanted to. I could 'celebrate' with Aron, Marnie and the kids, but frankly I would much rather work that to feel like the third wheel in their perfect little family.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I chuckle bitterly. How much have I changed since I first went away from my family, it's crazy. Every time I remember the rebel 17 year old me, I cringe inwardly. I would so kick my young self's ass, if given the opportunity. I might not ever say it out loud, not even if I'm being tortured, but I'm grateful for my parents and Bolder. If they hadn't sent me away, and my great uncle hadn't taken me in, today would have looked a lot different.

For a second I picture myself as Alpha of Crescent Moon, being a complete d**k to everyone in the pack, disrespecting those of lower rank and completely ungrateful for my mate and pups. Yeah, a lot different if not for some sense knocked (forcefully) into me.

I got off the phone with my parents earlier, who every year are delivering almost the exact same speech to me. After a brief happy birthday, they start, not so subtly, to pressure me to go back home and finally take on my role as the new Alpha of the Crescent Moon pack.

I swear, their plea is getting more and more desperate every year, and I become less and less interested in finally settling down. I get their point, at 25, taking over the Alpha role is long overdue. I wonder if all the pack members even remember me considering how long I've been gone for. I'm half surprised no young male has challenged my dad so far.

Being pushed towards taking over Crescent Moon is another reason why I do my best to avoid any unmated she wolves, despite my job literally being to save such women from the clutches of traffickers.

Over the past couple of years, I have avoided going in person to missions when she wolves were being rescued, the job falling onto the happily mated Aron, or as some might call him, my Beta. Secretly, Aron is just as interested in taking over the Beta role as I am of being Alpha, and that's partly because of how f*****g rewarding this job that we currently do, is.

Aron and his mate Marnie have been together since he was in the Alpha Academy. They are both Betas, and fit together like 2 pieces of a sickly heart shaped puzzle. Sometimes I catch myself stealing glances at them and a feeling of jealousy worms its way into my heart. I swiftly push it away by having fun with the first willing single lady that catches my highly demanding eye, and pretend the loneliness in my ice cold heart is not growing, by me doing that.

Luckily for me, and unfortunately for Marnie, Aron is compelled to follow me since we share a deep Alpha- Beta bond. This is why, instead of going back to Crescent Moon, Aron and Marnie joined me in running the operations of the security company. And yes, Marnie is not happy about that, especially since it means that their 2 kids are constantly away from their grandparents and their pack.

Luckily for me, since Marnie has her hands full with those two little monsters and her job in the company, she has less time to set me up with every unmated she wolf she can think of, in the hopes that I will find my mate, regardless of how hard I'm trying to avoid just that.

I suspect that's partly because she longs to have a best friend. Being almost 5'8" and extremely beautiful, with a Beta aura surrounding her, Marnie is the type of woman that looks very unapproachable and intimidating, both to men and women, despite her swearing she tries to be the complete opposite. It doesn't help that she's usually flanked by Aron and me, and we are not too bad on the eyes either, but unfortunately make other women lose their train of thought, thus not helping Marnie in looking any more approachable.

Over the past couple of years I've been contemplating that trial system for choosing the next Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack more and more. The pack in America are now ruled by the second Alpha that has come into power as a result of going through a bunch of trials and deeming himself worthy of being their leader. It was Bolder's highlight of the year, the old man lives for stuff like that. I'm positive he'll leave this Earth by organising for us a competition to see who gets the honour of lowering him into the ground.

My parents are eager to retire, but I'm not eager to settle into my role as the Alpha of their pack, so that idea of giving up my Alpha title is more and more appealing each day.

Yes, I say their pack because I haven't been home in almost 5 years, since I have taken over Bolder's business. The old man is finally retired, only doing consulting jobs when he gets too bored, but old age takes its toll on everyone, so he is not as strong as he used to be.

Bolder and Carla have a million grandchildren and strays that they need to take care of, so it only made sense that they go back to America when Bolder took over the Headmaster role of the Alpha Academy full time.

Despite what everyone thought, he has been thoroughly enjoying the desk job, before finally retiring a few months ago. Now he and Carla are nothing more than grandparents, and they look good being that, which has left me as the CEO of Bolder (yeah, very inspired company name, I know) the security company they founded ages ago. I've been fully in charge for the past 5 years, and despite the rocky start, the operation has become my life, and I genuinely love every minute of it. This is why I do anything and everything to avoid finding my mate. Even crossing my fingers, as stupid and childish as it may be, every time I know I'll be in close proximity to an unmated she wolf.

I pull myself out of those stressful thoughts, successfully this time, because it's almost time I left, and focus on buttoning my shirt and straightening my tie, making sure I look the part. Tonight's mission has nothing to do with werewolves, witches or any other supernatural creatures, but I can never be too careful. Tonight is all about humans, and the heinous crimes they insist on committing, which sometimes outrank even the most savage of beasts.

The Police have been after a particular chain of human traffickers for years, and despite their best efforts, they couldn't find the head of the snake and take them down. Not legally, anyway, and this is where I come in.

The latest target I have, though faceless for the time being, is a the man responsible for bringing illegal immigrant women into the country under the promise of a better life and a job in America, while the goal is to sell the on the black market as s*x slaves.

They mostly come from poor countries and leave their families in the hopes of getting a good job and sending money back home to them. This particular chain that operates out of Oahu, smuggles them on large cargo boats, hiding them in shipping containers. Security in the island's port is not as tight as in the larger ports in America, and that's why they first bring the women here to be sold from. I know I need to get to the bottom of this and end the chain, otherwise a new lot of women will disappear without a trace.

This time I will be posing as a buyer, taking full advantage of the final rays of daylight to step foot in the vile man's house in my human form, and when the time comes I will be able to complete my mission in wolf form, thus making myself untraceable. This is how most of the kill missions go, and so far it has proven to be the most effective way.