Loving Luna - All Grown Up

Chapter Six - Daniel

❤Daniel

All I wanted was to be accepted. I glanced over at my brother, George and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. He was, as always, showing off to the other young members of the pack. He was everything I wasn’t. Or at least, according to some, anyway. George was the prodigal son. At fourteen, he was already tall, strong, and even though I hated to admit it, he was good looking too. On top of all of that, he was smart, funny, and quick. He was and probably always would be my father’s favorite. I slowly sneaked off, undetected, and headed into the woods. I loved nature. It didn’t judge me, and it didn’t frown upon me the way my father did. I knew that my mother was trying to help fix the strained relationship between my father and me, but it was hopeless. The older I got the worse it got. The twin’s birthday bash was happening tomorrow, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. It was safe to say that the situation with my father had made me quite a bitter wolf. I hated being around anyone who wasn’t my mother. She was the exception to the rule.

“Daniel?” I glanced over my shoulder and groaned out softly. Ashton was another exception to the rule. My little brother was the one that knew my hiding places. “Mom is looking for you,” he informed me, and I nodded as I turned to face him.

“Are you looking forward to tomorrow?” I asked as I fell in step with him. Ashton pushed his brown bangs out of his eyes and smiled.

“So long as there are no animals involved,” he pointed out with a chuckle and I thought back to George’s birthday party. As always, my mother had gone all out and had even gotten a petting zoo. The disaster came in when the children of the pack wanted to touch the animals. If I remember correctly, it was a sheep that reacted first. Who knew animals could sense that we weren’t all human? “Archie says that dad hinted at a pool party,” he added after a couple of minutes of walking in silence. Of course, dad would hint at that. He knew how much the twins loved the water. Did anyone think to ask me what happened on my birthday? Oh yes, nothing. My mother had baked a cake, one which was not my favorite, by the way, and she had showered me with gifts. Other than that, my birthday had been just like any other day. All thanks to good old dad.

“I’m sure you’ll enjoy it then,” I commented dryly as we reached the packhouse.

“Daniel! There you are!” Sasha yelled out when she spotted me. I shook my head at Ashton as he ran up ahead and pushed past her to get inside.

“What is it?” I asked her when she joined me.

“Oh, um, I was just wondering if you would go into town with your father to collect the things, I ordered for the twin's party?” she looked unsure and I knew why. Even if I said yes, it wouldn’t happen. The second my father saw me he would immediately shout out for George to join us and that makes it even worse because then I have to listen to him boast to dad about his many accomplishments.

“Is he coming?” Ayden asked as he came up to us. Sasha looked uncomfortable as she looked at me and I didn’t know what to do. I had never defied my father to his face.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Fine, then let’s go,” he said before walking off. I stared after him, surprised. Was George not joining us?

“Try and talk to him, sweetheart,” my mother said as she kissed my forehead. Right, once again, I had to try. I didn’t want to try anymore. I hurried after my father and was once again surprised to see that he was alone in the truck. Before getting into the passenger seat, I looked around for George. He was nowhere to be seen. When I heard the engine roar to life, I quickly got in and closed the door. We sat in silence until we left the pack and as Ayden pulled onto the main road, I took a deep breath. This was my chance.

“Why do you hate me?” I blurted out. That was not what I had been planning to say, yet, as I glanced over at him out of the corner of my eye, I waited for his answer. I could feel how my question had tensed him up and I saw how he held onto the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles turned white.

“I don’t hate you,” he hissed out and I was tempted to roll my eyes. Truth was, that hurt a lot more than it would’ve if he had just admitted it.

“Why lie?” I heard myself ask. Was I asking for a beating?

“I’m not lying, Daniel,” he said, softening his tone of voice. It would seem that my father was actually trying to be civil towards me.

“Then why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you treat me as if you hate me?” I asked carefully. I wanted to know why. I needed to know why. Ayden took a deep breath and visibly relaxed as he continued driving to town.

“Your mother babies you, Daniel, and that is something I don’t like. You should be stronger, more independent, like George. Not having your mother fight your battles,” his answer took me by surprise. He thought that mom babies me. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “You see, your mother believes that I am not close to you because I wasn’t there for her when she was pregnant with you. I wasn’t there for your birth and she feels that because of that, I missed out on that special bond,”

“Special bond?”

“I suppose it’s what I have with George,” he explained but it meant nothing to me. Was what he said true?

“Do you feel that way?” I asked softly.

“In a way, yes,” once again, the truth hurt, and I cringed at his answer. “I love you, Daniel, you are my son, but you aren’t what I had been hoping for,”

“In other words, I’m not George,” I spat out.

“No, you aren’t,” the rest of the trip to town was driven in silence. An uncomfortable silence. I hated it and I wished I hadn’t gone with him. When we arrived at the store, he got out and hurried inside. He didn’t even want to be seen with me, so, I sat and waited for him. Maybe that was the wrong move but by the time I realized that it was too late, and the stuff was already being loaded up. The drive back home was just as uncomfortable, and I couldn’t wait to be away from him. However, I forced myself to help him unload the truck and set up everything by the swimming pool. George, at some point, came over to help, and immediately he and dad started joking and playing around. I considered sticking around, but it was clear that I wasn’t welcome. I headed up to the packhouse and snuck inside. I didn’t want my mother to ask me any questions. Once I was in the attic, I relaxed. Another hiding spot of mine. I entertained myself with books and as it got darker, I knew that my mother would start to panic if I didn’t show her, I was still alive.

“There you are!” she said when I went into the kitchen. “I was just about to call you for dinner,” she added, and I smiled warmly at her. I loved her caring nature but then my smile fell away, and I frowned. Is this what he meant? Was this how she babied me?

“I know what time dinner is,” I snapped rudely, and immediately I regretted being so harsh to my mother. I could tell from the hurt expression on her face that I was wrong. “I’m sorry, mom,” I quickly apologized.

“I know, come on, help me set the table,” I nodded and carried everything into the large dining room. No one else was around and I thought about telling her what happened in the truck.

“How was your trip with dad?” George suddenly asked me as he sat down.

“Fine,” I whispered, not really wanting to get into it with him. Ashton and Archie came storming in, running around the table, chasing each other.

“Boys! Settle down!” my father’s loud voice yelled out, causing both Ashton and Archie to stop running around and instead, sit down in their usual seats. Sasha came in with five-year-old Lexa and I hurried to sit down. In turn, we dished up and I ate my dinner in silence, listening to my family talk about their day. The twins, overly excited for tomorrow, couldn’t stop talking about the pool party. When I was done eating, I excused myself and hurried to help clean up the table. I wanted to avoid everyone at this point. “Daniel, would you accompany me to the library?” my father asked as I tried to sneak off to my room. I froze and nodded as he went past me. I silently followed him into his library and stood by the door. “Come in,” he ordered, and I closed the door and went over to the large armchair he enjoyed sitting in. This library was one of my favorite rooms in the whole house but right now I wanted nothing more than to leave.

“Um…” I thought of something to say but I closed my mouth and waited for him.

“I wanted to explain something to you,” he said. “When I agreed that you aren’t George, I didn’t mean for it to sound the way that it did,”

“What did you mean then?”

“We are all different and we all have something different to offer in life. You aren’t like your brother but that doesn’t mean I love you any less. I realize that I’ve pushed you away because I see myself in George. I know that he will make an amazing Alpha and so I tend to groom him,” I nodded as I listened to my father. “However, as your mother pointed out, I need to spend more time with you,”

“Ok,” I said softly. I wasn’t liking this conversation and the thought of being alone with my father did nothing to calm my nerves.

“Day after tomorrow, I would like you to join me,” he said, and I nodded. “I’ll be attending a meeting with our neighboring packs and although I would normally take George with me, I’d like you to go,”

“Ok, I’d like that,” I lied.

“Good, you may go,” he dismissed me, and I ran from the room. He wanted me to go with him to a meeting. What on earth for? I hurried upstairs to my room and closed the door behind me. Safe and alone at last. I breathed out a massive sigh of relief and got ready for bed. Maybe I could find a way not to go with him? Maybe I could push George into going. Whatever I was going to do, tomorrow was the day I had to do it. I knew for a fact that when my father went away for these kinds of meetings, he would leave early in the morning. That didn’t leave me a lot of time. I paced up and down my room, trying to come up with an escape plan when I thought about going for a run through the woods. I slowly snuck out of the house and headed to the woods. Hiding behind a tree, I got undressed and shifted, letting my wolf take control. The moon was high, and the soft breeze felt nice as it hit my soft brown fur. When we arrived at the lake, I shifted back into human form and took a quick swim. I also liked water but who cared? I heard a noise and I looked into the darkness to pinpoint where it had come from. Not seeing anything unusual, I got out of the river and was just about to shift back into my wolf when I felt a presence behind me. Turning around, confused, I saw a tall dark figure before everything went dark.