Under the Crescent Moon

Chapter 7

Devon’s POV

Holy crap, I just messed up big time! But I’m not sure which was worse… slipping up and calling our future children pups? Or bringing up future children at all?

I’m just so turned on by my mate, and we’ve been getting along so well all day, that I’ve been letting my guard down and getting careless. She’s a human, and humans usually take their time getting to know one another. Werewolves, well, we just take our cue from the moon goddess. When we scent out our mate, we usually assume that it was meant to be, skipping over the “get to know you” part, and go straight to the mating part. We have the whole rest of our lives to get to know each other better, so why not give in to what feels natural?

Outside on the balcony, I nearly lost control of River and marked Tara before I came to my senses. How in the heck would I have explained that? And she’s still underage, which even for werewolves is a no no.

Maybe it’s a good thing that we won’t likely see each other again until it’s nearly her birthday. At least if I wait to mark her until then, I won’t be breaking any werewolf laws.

I didn’t even realize how badly I’d messed up at first, until I saw the look on Tara’s face when I mentioned pups. Whoops, I meant children! I saw panic in her eyes. That can’t be good.

Tara walked right out of our future home, saying something about needing to go for a walk. I decided I better follow her, but to give her a little distance. She’s unfamiliar with this area, and some places might pose a danger to an unarmed human girl. I don’t want her to get lost or hurt.

She heads out of the pack house at a surprisingly quick pace, and heads towards the training grounds. Which I realize might not be a good idea. Afternoon training will be starting soon, and often the warriors prefer to train in their wolf form.

“Hey,” I call out to Tara. “Do you think we could maybe talk things out? Running away rarely solves anything.”

Running away might even cause my wolf to shift and chase after her. Werewolves can’t resist chasing their mate, or their prey. Not a good idea, at all.

She stops, and waits for me to catch up to her.

“Talk about what?” She asks. “How I’ve only just met you, but already you seem to have decided our entire lives? Where we will live, marriage, kids. Or how you seem to have this strange power over me, and whenever we touch I can’t seem to think clearly. And all I want to do is hop into bed with you!”

“You feel that, too? Great!” I say, feeling relieved. I wasn’t sure how much of a mate bond a human would feel.

“No, not great!” Tara shouts, and I’m suddenly surprised and alarmed. I try to touch her to calm her down, but she steps just out of my reach. “What about the things I want? College? Career? Travel? I’m not even 18 years old yet. I want to experience a bit of life before I settle down and have a family. And I don’t know if I’d like living just down the hall from my in-laws. That’s really weird, by the way.”

“If that bothers you, I could have a house built anywhere you like on our territory.” I suggest reasonably, but she rolls her eyes at that suggestion as if I’m a moron and not understanding the root of the problem. Which is that I really had been coming on too fast and too strong. I gotta address all her fears before I lose her! “Its not like I’m asking you to marry me today. There’s absolutely no rush! You can go to college and have a career! All Im asking is that you give me a chance to be a part of your life. We can just date, and get to know each other for as long as you like, alright? For several years if thats what makes you happy.”

All during our talk I had been inching closer, trying to touch her. To wrap her in my arms and sooth her fears. And eventually I’m able to do just that.

“You can have everything you want, and more,” I whisper in Tara’s ear, as I touch her body in ways designed to make her think of sinful thoughts. “Just make sure you’re on birth control before your birthday, because you and I will both be losing our virginity that night if you say yes.”

I kiss her, passionately, pulling her in close to my body. I know she can feel my hard on, pressed up against her womb. I can smell her arousal, and my wolf is encouraging me to just go ahead and do what we obviously both want, right now!

I guide Tara into the woods just a bit, until we come to the edge of a small grassy meadow I knew about. The other side of the meadow had a tree where I had built a secret little fort.

I encourage Tara to climb the makeshift ladder, and I climb up after her. I find Tara bent over a bit as she looks around the small space in amusement.

“Congratulations,” I tell her, as we settle together on the wooden floor of the cozy fort. “You’re the first girl I’ve ever allowed to set foot in here!”

“I’m honored,” she says with a smile. And then she surprises me by initiating a kiss. It’s the first time she’s done so. Her boldness has me unbelievably turned on! And then she says something that dampens the mood.

“Yesterday you claimed that you somehow knew we were soulmates, but that it wasn’t the time or place to tell me why.” Tara states. “Tell me now.”

Crap! This is either going to go really well, or horribly wrong.

“Umm… alright.” I say, trying to think quickly of the best way to put it. “So, first off, I need you to understand that you are always safe with me. Some of what I’m about to tell you might seem scary or weird, but I promise I won’t ever harm you.”

“Do you feel calm and relaxed when I touch you like this?” I ask, trying to push a calming aura at her, while I hold her in my arms. I gently run my fingers through her beautiful strawberry blond hair, and gaze into her soft green eyes. Goddess, she’s so perfect. I want to memorize every freckle on her face, in the chance that I never see her again after today.

“I do, actually,” she says, yawning.

“You must promise that whatever I tell you in this little tree fort is never to be told to anyone else,” I warn her, and gently caress her breasts through her thin shirt. “Promise me, or I won’t tell you anything more.”

“I promise.”

“I can make you feel this way because we are not merely soul mates, but actually fated mates,” I tell her as I caress her face. Her eyes widen just a little, but she still remains calm. “The moon goddess Selene paired us together. You and I are meant to be together. I am your Alpha, and you are my Luna!”

“Huh?” She says looking confused. “I didn’t understand anything you just said!”

“I know, sweetheart.” I tell her, trying out the affectation. “Selene is the goddess worshipped by werewolves.”

“Wait, what?” she says, struggling against my aura. “Why exactly would a moon goddess worshipped by werewolves, which don’t even exist, pair us together?”

“Werewolves do exist,” I tell her, and brace myself for the fallout that I know is coming. I throw as much of my calming aura at her as I can. “You, Tara Mason, are currently inside a pack of werewolves. The Crescent Lake pack, to be exact.”

“That’s just silly,” she says, shaking her head, trying to rid herself of the calm aura so that she can think rationally. “I feel so weird. Was there some mind altering drug added to those brownies we had at lunch?”

I laugh. “No, sweetheart. The brownies were perfectly normal brownies, and if they weren’t you would have felt the effects over an hour ago. It’s me. I’m causing you to feel like this.”

“Well, stop it!” She says, pushing away from me. Not that she can go far in the small space. “I have a right to my own feelings!”

“Ok, that’s fair,” I say, backing off and putting my hands up in a show of surrender. “I was just trying to keep us both calm, is all.”

“Ok, so you’re starting to creep me out, or something, and I don’t like it!” Tara complains. “It’s like you’ve got some weird voodoo thing going on that controls my emotions or something when you touch me! And now you’re trying to convince me monsters are real. I suppose you’ll tell me vampires, dragons, and fairies are real as well?”

“Of course they are!”

“Yeah, sure!” She starts yelling. “Just how gullible do you think I am? And here I am, silly me, worried that you were some axe murderer when I met you in the middle of the night, but I should have been more worried about being killed by bloodthirsty werewolves!”

“You don’t need to worry about us,” I say calmly, trying to insert some sense into this conversation. “We aren’t like that at all. We usually don’t bother humans.”

“Us? We?” Tara practically sputtered in rage. “So you’re claiming that not only am I in the middle of a pack of werewolves, but you are one as well?”

“Me, my folks, Troy, Lucas. And basically everyone you’ve met today.” I say. And she starts laughing hysterically.

“Ok, jokes over!” Tara says when she’s able to talk again. “You almost got me believing you.”

Then she starts heading down the ladder.

“Where are you going?” I ask, scared that she was leaving and not coming back. And from the look of things, that is her plan. I climb down after her.

“I’m going to go get my little brothers, and wait by the gate for our parents.” She informs me. “I’m not going to listen to your fairy tales and pretend to take them seriously!”

“What if I can prove it?”