The Alpha's Eluded Luna

2 Disposition

“So, do you have to volunteer at the hospital this afternoon, or are you just dropping by to see your dad?” Randy asked me at lunch.

“He just wants me to stop by,” I tell him before shoving my pizza into my mouth. I love Friday school lunches. Mountain Mark’s Pizzeria caters our lunch on Friday and I love their mushroom, bacon and sausage pizza. It is probably my favorite food in the world.

“I was thinking then,” Randy shifts in his seat excitedly, “Since your dad is working the late shift anyway, and I know you don’t like to stay home by yourself, would you like to have a sleepover?”

“At the packhouse?” I asked. Randy’s dad died last year. After his death, Mrs. Petrie took a job at the packhouse and they moved into one of the apartments. I used to spend the night with him all the time when my dad would work late, but haven’t felt comfortable since he moved. I don’t want to run into Sydney.

I went with Mrs. Lopez, the Beta female, to the packhouse once to try and give a guitar lesson to her youngest daughter, but the whole time we were being interrupted by Sydney. Mrs. Lopez apologized profusely but she agreed it would be best to avoid the packhouse when Sydney was there. I was going to try again with Sarah, her daughter, when Marcus took over as Beta and the Lopezs moved into her family house outside of the packhouse. The alpha and beta are required to live in the packhouse in case of an emergency, but once Beta Lopez retires, they could live elsewhere.

“Yeah. Don’t worry. I rarely see Sydney there lately. He stays with his grandpa or cousin most of the time, so he doesn’t have to listen to his dad’s lectures. You can come in through the side door with me so he doesn’t see you on the off chance he is there.”

“Why don’t we just spend the night at my house? You know my dad won’t mind,” I asked.

“Well, we can’t really run into Paul Lopez tomorrow morning if we’re at your house, can we?” He said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

I laughed, “Why do we need to run into Paul Lopez?”

“Don’t play dumb. I’ve known you for over 7 years now. I know you’ve had a crush on him since middle school.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and pushed my lips to the side, thinking of how to respond without lying. I hate lying. I almost have an inability to lie, which is inconvenient in times like this.

“I’m saving myself for my mate,” I finally said.

“Psh,” Randy pushes the air from his pursed lips in exasperation, “You’re not jumping in bed with him. Just creating an accidental meeting…”

“If it’s on purpose, it’s not accidental.”

Randy continues on as if I didn’t say anything, “I can accidentally push you into him. Then, he can accidentally hold you in those buff arms of his, then accidentally get lost in your eyes while you accidentally stare back into his…”

“Oh my gosh, stop. You’re so ridiculous.”

“No, you are,” Randy stressed, “You can date a guy without having s*x with him. You’re an adult. Your dad can’t keep boys away from you forever.”

“Dad doesn’t keep boys away from me. I’m with you more than him most days,” I responded stubbornly.

“Really?” Randy bobs his head in exasperation, “Like I’m one of your little fan boys dying to get a whiff of your gym socks. Seriously, the only reason boys stopped approaching you was because your dad started showing up to the weekend training sessions with you and laid out any guy that even looked your way.”

“Gym socks?” I asked.

“Oh, I’ve had people ask me for worse from you. One guy, the one from 10th grade geography that sat behind you and tried to sniff your hair every day, asked me for the pencil I borrowed from you one day. Said he wanted to lick it. Like a freaking lollipop, Dani. He said it would be like licking your fingers. I told your dad and he accidentally broke the kid's nose during a sparring session the following Saturday. Broke. His. Nose,” Randy says, putting finger quotes up at ‘accidently’, “It’s a true story. Your dad was also the one who set it. Have you seen the kid lately? His nose is as straight as me watching Pirates of the Caribbean,” Randy worms his hand in the air, indicating how straight that is.

I laughed so hard at his rant, I’m almost in tears.

“If you ever need some extra cash, you could sell your used socks and make a fortune. I’ll be your manager s***h stylist. We could be rich together,” he continues. “We could get rich and travel, see the world. It would be a comfortable life. You should really consider it.”

“I’ll give it some thought,” I wiped the tears from my eyes.

“Give tonight some thought too. We could use a movie night. Oh, you can help me fold my laundry.”

“Ooo, I love the smell of Downy,” I giggled.

“We switched to Snuggle. Sorry. But I’ll let you pick the movie.”

“Oh! I’ve been wanting to rewatch Your lie in April.” I bounced excitedly.

“I said mooo-vie, not anime,” he rolls his eyes.

“But I want to listen to the way they play that one song. The first Chopin piece. I want to play his version on the piano,” I pout.

“Well, I guess you’re going to be doubly disappointed tonight, because I’m more in an Edward Scissorhands kind of mood. You’re going to have to be happy with my presence tonight and an accidental encounter with Paul tomorrow.”

I smirked at him, “Maybe. I’ll ask my dad.”

“Seriously though, If he did ever ask you out, you would say yes, right? You have to say yes,” Randy rolled his neck dramatically.

I blush and look away, “Maybe,” I murmur.

“See, she’s not a total prude, now, is she?” he said sarcastically.

“Whatever,” I giggled, standing to my feet, “Come on. Let's get to class.”

The whole rest of the day my thoughts were consumed with Paul. I would really like to see him again. It’s been 2 years. He was unjustly banished for threatening Sydney after Sydney provoked him. Even though it was deserved, and Sydney is his cousin, he can’t threaten the next alpha. I’m sure Luna Elise pushed for a harsher punishment than banishment for such a short period of time, but Sydney hasn’t been respected as the alpha heir since he was a kid, and Paul had an amazing reputation in the pack. Everyone knew Sydney picked on him because he was jealous. He and his other cousin, Johnathon, were always openly mocking Paul, but Paul was an established warrior before he entered high school. Sydney and Johnathon still haven’t completed the basic skills test to start warrior training. The elders didn’t want to lose Paul to another pack and wouldn’t have accepted a permanent banishment or fatal discipline.

The more I think of Randy’s offer, the more I think of other reasons to take him up on it. I haven’t seen his mom in a couple of months. Mrs. Petrie was a mother figure to me before her husband died. She’s a little more solemn as a widow, and I’ve found myself growing closer to Mrs. Lopez over the last year. I meet with Mrs. Lopez at least once a week now and we grow closer and closer each visit. She’s very sweet and lets me talk about anything and everything, just like I imagine a mom would do.

I like being close to Paul’s mom, but if I’m going to have this fruitless crush I should probably start putting some distance with his mom. It would be hard to continue treating her as a mom figure after he finds his mate, and I find mine. I don’t have to worry about that issue with Randy. He will always be my best friend, so she will always be my best friend’s mom. I don’t have to worry about being too attached to her.

The thought of Paul finding his mate unsettles me, but I try to disregard the feeling and focus during the rest of my last class.

Randy drove me to the hospital after school, deciding to go in with me so he could say hi to dad. The hospital receptionists all wave as we stride in. I’m here during most of my free time, playing guitar and singing songs in the pediatric ward or playing piano in the lobby. Dad said the volunteer hours would look good on college applications. I enjoyed doing it, so I came here whenever I had the chance.

Dad gets both me and Randy smoothies at the cafe in the lobby, and Randy decides to fill dad in on Sydney’s visit this morning.

“That little fucker,” Dad clenches his teeth.

“Dad!” I exclaimed. There were several people around us and a few of them turned in surprise at dad’s outburst.

“Too bad you can’t break his nose too,” Randy smirks, sucking on his smoothie straw.

“Who says I can’t?” Dad challenged.

“First off, he just asked me to dinner and I said no, again. He didn’t actually do anything, so chill. Second, even if you want to break his nose, he doesn’t go to the weekend training sessions. You can’t just walk up to him and break a bone without reason,” I said, exasperated.

“The reason is he’s a little b***h,” Randy shrugs.

“That’s right,” Dad agrees and fist bumps Randy.

“You’re both being silly,” I rolled my eyes.

A nurse paged my dad over the loudspeaker, making me think dad took off without telling the nursing desk on the pediatric floor. Dad is a great doctor, but can be a little flighty when he wants to be. If I ever have a school event, recital, if I mention wanting to go to the city with friends, anything, dad will abandon his work to be with me. That’s another reason I’m always here at the hospital. It puts the nursing staff at ease knowing dad won’t take off to accompany me somewhere trivial when I’m here.

“Dad…” I gave him a hard stare.

He holds his hand up in surrender, “I know, I know. I haven’t been gone long and the intern is there. Its fine.”

“Haven’t been gone long? We’ve been talking for almost an hour,” I looked at the clock on my phone.

“I’m still in the building, it's fine,” dad waves away my concern.

He pulls his wallet out and hands me a couple of $20 bills. “Stay on pack lands and stay with Randy until you go home,” he tells me sternly.

“I think she’s the better fighter between the 2 of us,” Randy informs my father.

“Yeah, but she doesn’t tell me the concerning details about her day. You will.”

Randy offers me a lop-sided grin and shrugs, “What can I say, I like watching the way you handle those concerning details. You’re a very entertaining specimen, Mr. Lee.”

“Glad to be of service,” dad checks his watch when he is paged a second time. “You both stay out of trouble.”

“Oh, dad,” I caught his attention before he walked away, “Can I sleep over at Randy’s tonight? I want to catch up with his mom.”

Randy gives me a knowing smirk but plays along, like I’m putting on an act. I’m not. I really do want to catch up with Mrs. Petrie..

“Yeah, mom was just saying how she hasn’t talked with Dani in a long time and wanted her to come over soon.”

Dad thinks about it for a few seconds then nods, “Okay, but stay clear of the alpha’s family. Things are getting heated there…” Dad looks off, his eyes gleam briefly to his wolf’s and then turns to give me a stern look. “Stay away from the Luna and her family, and stay with Randy the whole time.”

“Okay, dad. I will,” I gave him a quick hug and me and Randy walked back to his car. I shiver in the cold winter air. It’s not even 5PM but it gets dark much sooner in the winter here and I can taste snow in the night breeze.

Randy and I stop by my house so I can drop off my guitar and school bag and get a change of clothes. When we pull into the packhouse parking lot, Randy takes notice Sydney’s tacky Mustang isn’t there. We decided to just eat in the dining hall knowing he wouldn’t be there. Luna Elise is too good to eat in the dining hall with the warriors and packhouse staff, so we know there’s little chance of running into her either.

Randy and I are about to dig into our cheeseburgers and fries when Sarah Lopez skips into the room, Mrs. Lopez following behind her. Sarah sees me and her eyes light up.

“Dani!” she squeals and makes a beeline towards us. I smiled warmly and stood up to give her a hug.

“Sarah!” I laughed, “It's good to see you.”

“What are you doing here?” She asks, jumping up and down in my arms. I release her so to avoid her head butting into my chin.

“I’m visiting my friend,” I gestured to Randy.

“I’ve seen you before,” Sarah said to him.

“I’ve seen you too,” he smiled, “I love your hair. I just wanted to dig my fingers into it whenever I saw you.” Randy flexes his hands in the air, gesturing towards her hair.

“That’s weird,” Sarah scrunches her nose up at Randy.

“Don’t be rude,” Mrs. Lopez comes up behind Sarah and places a hand on her shoulder. “He was complimenting you. You say “thank you”. Not a rude remark.”

Sarah rolls her eyes at her mom, then turns to Randy and makes a face. “Thank you,” she says sarcastically, then walks away from her mother’s grip.

“That child is going to be the death of me,” Mrs. Lopez shakes her head. “It’s nice seeing you here though,” she smiles kindly at me, “What are you both up to?”

“Dad is working late, so I’m hanging out with Randy tonight.”

Mrs. Lopez pats Randy on the shoulder lovingly. She really is a sweet woman. Luna Elise gave Randy a hard time for being gay when him and his mom first moved in and, since then, Mrs. Lopez has been looking out for him, sticking up for him when anyone makes a discriminatory comment.

“I hope you both have a pleasant evening. I should go supervise that child of mine. We will have to make plans to meet for coffee next week, Dani. Randy, you should come too,” she smiles warmly at both of us.

“Of course,” I smiled back.

Randy and I go to his apartment and watch Alice in Wonderland, eating popcorn and joking about Mrs. Anderson’s class this morning. It was the last day of the semester and we were both excited about our winter break. After our break, we won’t have Mrs. Anderson as our teacher anymore, since the shop teacher is over Set Design. Neither of us are going to miss the eccentric teacher.

“I have to get started on my laundry. I have, like, holey undies left and only my yucky jeans,” Randy tells me.

“I’ll help. We can bring snacks down and hang out in the rec room,” I told him.

We carry his heavy hamper down the service stairs and drop it off in the laundry room. It’s after 9 and the laundry room is vacant except for us. I guess everyone else had better plans for their Friday night.

“Hey, look what I found in the rec room’s mini bar!” Randy calls, walking back into the room while I’m separating his laundry into 2 different washers. He is holding up wine coolers in each hand.

“We can’t drink those!” I tilted my head at him disapprovingly, “We’re still underage.”

“For a human,” Randy huffs, “We’re werewolves. 1 bottle of Smirnoff Ice isn’t going to even get us tipsy.”

I glare at him, but he just shakes his finger at me, “Nuh uh, Miss prude and proper. Don’t give me that look. You are an adult now. There is nothing wrong with loosening up every now and then. It's one drink with your best friend, not a spiked cocktail from a random stranger.”

I scrunch my nose up at the thought. One human drink wouldn’t even make us buzzed, not that I would know what being buzzed feels like. I'm pretty sure my dad would still disapprove though.

“One drink. If you don’t like it, you can throw it away,” Randy reached his hand out with one of the bottles in it and I looked at it speculatively.

“One drink. Don’t get any more,” I told him.

“No problem. These were the only two anyway.”

Randy opens the tops of both bottles and hands me one. I take a drink and scrunch my nose up at the sweet burn. It tastes okay, but I don't like the aftertaste. It leaves a burning sensation in the back of my throat. I end up drinking more to relieve the burning itch, but ¾ of the way through the bottle I realize it's only intensifying the burn.

“I think something is wrong with these,” I told Randy.

“Yeah,” he says, looking down at his own drink and smacking his lips. “If this is what all alcohol tastes like, I’m not a fan.”

“I don’t see the appeal,” I agree.

I feel a pressure building in my head, and realize Ruth is trying to talk to me, but her voice is foggy, like she’s speaking through cotton.

“Dani!” her voice finally rings through my mind, “Put that drink down! There’s something wrong with it,” she hisses.

I scrunched my nose at her warning. My face feels numb, and my limbs start to feel heavy.

“I’m going to throw these away,” Randy slurs, getting up from the bench beside me.

I try to follow his movements, but my eyesight is starting to blur and I feel extremely dizzy. Black dots spot my vision, until suddenly the world goes black and I feel my body hit the hard, cold floor.

What is wrong with me? I feel like I’m in a void in my own mind. I can’t see or hear anything, but I can still feel the cold concrete against my skin.

I lay on the ground for a while, trying to will my body to respond to me. Ruth was frantic in my mind, pacing around, but trying to reassure me we were going to be okay.

After I don’t know how long, I feel arms slide under me, lifting me from the cold hardness. I’m hopeful that this is Randy or my dad helping to figure out what was wrong with me. Soft carpet pushes against my back, and relief starts to fill me, but soon that relief is replaced with intense panic, way worse than before. The hands are pulling my clothes away from my body in a way that feels dirty and wrong. This isn’t someone helping me get more comfortable. This was the opposite.

“What’s happening,” I cried out to Ruth.

“Oh Dani, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” she cried out to me.