You Promised Me, Alpha!

My Luna

Loriann's POV

"Lori, I have a date with Alpha Romero."

A wide-smiling Meg dribbled onto the chair opposite me. Her blue eyes were bright and her long black hair moved with the shake of her head as she looked at me. It was clear that she was thrilled with this opportunity that many longed for but were too fearful of the consequences.

Right now, I was sitting in the school cafeteria at our regular place. I had been concentrating on reading a science website on my iPad while waiting for Meg to finish with the teacher. Her exclamation was like a sword slicing through my body.

'Goddess, not my only friend. Not Meg,' I prayed to myself. I would hate myself if I had to get rid of her too. Like Louise, I would have to kill her, since her parents would most definitely not move out of Eclipse Howl. They were high-ranking, maybe not of the highest level but still important enough for the pack. With widened eyes, I stared at her while frantically trying to contain myself.

"Aren't you happy for me? Ah, never mind, I won't hear from you anyway." She continued to waggle enthusiastically on her chair. But then she suddenly grabbed my hand and got in my face. "It's a scheme. The Beta has asked me to help investigate the matter surrounding the Alpha's disappearing girlfriends."

Relieved, I smiled and stared back into her eyes. Saved. I didn't have to eliminate my friend. And then she told me about Romero and his Beta's plan. So the Alpha suspected someone was behind his failed love life and wanted to trap him. He thought someone wanted to make his life miserable. The painful part was that he didn't get the idea that maybe he owed someone or had something to make up for.

My thoughts went back to that one day, fifteen years ago, when Romero and I were in the playground of the preschool. Little Alpha had climbed up the steps of the slide without permission, out of sight of the teachers. And when he wanted to sit down to start his slide, one of his hands holding a bar got loose, and he came down at high speed, unbalanced. At one point, he was sliding down diagonally, his head aimed at the bottom bars of the slide.

Without thinking, I ran towards him and dropped myself at the bottom of the slide, breaking his fall. To his luck, he landed in the sand without injury. His scream had attracted the attention of the teachers, who rooted to the ground before rushing to his aid.

But a few had also looked after me, helping me stand up and wipe the sand off my dress. Of course, the Alpha and Luna had run to the school in wolf form to check on their only son.

"Thank Lori for saving your life, dear. You don't have a wolf yet; if you were seriously injured, you would have to heal all by yourself," the Luna had gently persuaded him. "And might even have been left with injuries." Without hesitation, the future Alpha had run to me, wrapped his arms firmly around my neck, and kissed me on the cheek.

"Thank you, Lori. You saved my life. That's why you will be my Luna. Once I grow up and my wolf is ready, I will make you my Luna and I will love you so much. Just like my Dad loves my Mom," he had childishly promised. All the adults around us burst into laughter. The Principal had even taken a picture of us at that moment, which is still in the yearbook today.

From that day on, he had always been considerate of me at school. Every day, he would bring extra pieces of meat and salad to share with me in the lunchroom. Like a true gentleman, he would put my portion on a napkin before starting his own meal. This went on until we were ten.

Then my parents, both pack doctors, were called by the Alpha to meet him in his office. Smiling broadly, they returned home to tell me the news. Alpha Thoseo asked them to assist Crescent Moon because their pack doctor had unexpectedly died. They had some members at the medical university, but they were not yet fully qualified to run a hospital.

My parents had agreed because two other doctors were working in our pack hospital, and they wanted a change of scenery. None of them had noticed how this news had affected me; I cried silently all those nights until we left. Saying goodbye to the future Alpha was hard; it took me months to come to terms with the loss of his closeness.

As Meg narrated the plan she had drawn up with the Beta, I took my wallet out of my handbag. Opening it, I saw the withered rose there. It no longer had the fresh red color; the fresh scent was also mostly gone. But to me, it was more valuable than the most expensive precious metal.

I sniffed it a few times like a junkie on the purest of drugs.

"And of course, you're coming with me, Lori. Beta Jace is looking forward to getting to know you better," Meg suddenly remarked. And with that, she immediately demanded my undivided attention. Why would the Beta want to meet me? We were from the same pack, so he knew who I was; he even knew my parents very well.

"I warned him it would be a monologue. You barely utter a word. The Moon Goddess alone knows how the Beta can single-handedly keep the conversation going."

At that, she burst into uncontrollable laughter and patted me on the shoulders amicably.

I chuckled sheepishly; Meg was the only one in the pack, apart from my parents of course, who could put up with me. She loved her own voice so much and had so much to say that my silence was to her advantage. She could rattle on for hours without expecting an answer. So our friendship was satisfactory for both of us.

I didn't know how this would all play out, but I was curious to see how this day would continue.

Finally, I got a chance to approach Romero very closely and test again whether he recognized me....