Under the Crescent Moon

Chapter 9

Devon’s POV

I nearly broke down when it sounded as if Tara was going to reject me! I hope I can convince her that I’m really not some bloodthirsty monster, unworthy of her trust and affection.

I grab my phone, and begin to write out the words of rejection she would need to say, if I can’t convince her to be my mate. I pray to moon goddess that she never use the text I’m about so send.

“I need to know your full legal name for this.” I say as the type the devastating words on the little screen. Then I show her what I wrote.

“I, Tara Lynn Mason of Seattle Washington, hereby reject you, Devon Richard Sinclair, future Alpha of Crescent Moon pack, as your mate and Luna.” She mouths the words silently as she reads the text. Even that gives me a pang of pain in my chest akin to mild heartburn.

I press send.

“So that’s it? I just say that, and we are free of this thing?” She asks, incredulous.

“I’d just have to accept your rejection,” I tell her. “So it works better if we are in each other’s presence. Although I think I’d know if you said those words out loud from anywhere in the world. Even just silently reading those words just now gave me indigestion.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“It’s alright.” I say, “I just ask that you think carefully before you ever decide to use those words for real. Don’t say them unless you really truly mean it. Don’t treat it as a joke, or a threat because we’ve had a small argument. I’m entrusting you with these words, even though it gives you a sort of power over me.”

“Wow!” Tara exclaims. “I have power!”

“Yes, you do.” I warn. “You have the power to make us both blissfully happy for the rest of our life, or you could potentially ruin me. Second chance mates are very rare, and chosen mates will never be as in sync with each other as fated mates would be. As an alpha wolf, I’ll be stronger and better tempered with my fated mate.”

By now we had reached the lake. The red and white checkered tablecloth had been left, so we sat down, holding hands while we waited for the water skiers to grow tired of their sport.

“Oh, there’s a couple things you must be aware of before you leave here,” I say, taking a deep breath.

“Ok… like what?”

“I can’t stress enough the importance of keeping this all secret. You can’t tell anyone about me being a werewolf, or anyone else you’ve met here. It could put the entire community in danger.” I implore her, and see her nod. Then I gear up for the next major request, and I hope she’s just as amenable. “Also, for as long as we are dating, please do not be unfaithful to me. And I promise I will be faithful to you, as well. It’s my understanding that the pain of betrayal is similar to that of a rejection.”

“Pain of betrayal?”

Right. Human. I then explain to Tara how a mate bond works, and what happens to wolves when their mate betrays them. Or how we might feel strong emotions coming from our mate, like fear or anger.

“River could feel your fear of him, and he’s really sorry about scaring you,” I tell her, hoping she might give him another chance some day soon. “He wanted desperately to take your fear away, but he wasn’t sure how. I promise you don’t ever have to see him again unless you feel ready.”

“I appreciate that.” Was all the answer Tara would give. I guess that was as good as it was likely to get for now.

We sit there in companionable silence for a while, lost in our own thoughts as we waited for the return of the water skiers. We could see the boat out there, and everyone having a good time. I almost wish I had taken Tara on the boat instead of what we ended up doing, since it hadn’t turned out well. But Tara was right, it wouldn’t have been good to hide my true self for long. It would have done nothing good for our long term relationship if I had kept such a major secret from her for very long. I want her, but I don’t want her falling in love with me based on lies, and that is essentially what would have ended up happening.

At least this way it happened in a safe place for me. Who knows what kind of fallout might have happened if I had shifted in front of her in a huge city like Seattle? It might not be all that safe to do so outside of the local werewolf territory, the Emerald pack, where I live while I attend the University of Washington.

“What would you like to do on our first date?” I ask after a while. “I haven’t really dated before, so I don’t have any idea what to do beyond dinner and a movie.”

“That sounds fine, I guess.” She says, not sounding all that enthusiastic.

“If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear them.”

“Before, you mentioned that we’d both lose our virginity on my birthday.” She says, reminding me of how cocky I had been earlier. “But I think that needs to be off the table for a while.”

“Sure,” I agree. “I promise that we won’t do anything unless we are both willing participants.”

“Good.” She says. “So that means you can’t use your voodoo s**t to convince me to do stuff.”

I very nearly c***k up at the term voodoo s**t. I suppose to a human it would seem like voodoo magic. But I agree to her terms, and ask if she has any other conditions.

“I dont know yet.” Tara says, sounding a bit irritated. “I’ll have to think about it.”

“You’re angry with me, aren’t you?” I state sadly.

“Not at you, exactly,” Tara tries to explain. “More like I’m angry with the situation. Everything that’s gone on today feels like it’s all just too much. And while I understand that it’s not exactly your fault, but at the same time it really kind of is!”

I try to wrap my head around that explanation, and I think beginning to be as confused as my mate.

“Ohhh, I just thought of a question.” Tara says, and from the look on her face I don’t think I’ll like it. “You mentioned earlier about having children…”

Uh oh. I hoped that wouldn’t come up for a while. “What about them…?”

“Will they be human or werewolf?”

Damn. I lay back on the blanket, suddenly feeling depressed. “As things stand now, they could end up to be either. The only way to make sure that our children would be werewolves is for you to turn.”

“Turn?”

“Turn into a werewolf.” I say, and I believe I just blew any chance with Tara that I might have ever had. I doubt very much she would be interested in turning, or having werewolf pups with me. Not without really knowing me or giving herself the chance to fall in love with me. This mate bond was doomed before it ever had a chance to be anything.

“And should I assume that turning into a werewolf is not an easy or pleasant process?” She asks, even though she’s pretty much already figured it out. There is zero point in sugar coating anything at this point.

“Unpleasant would be an understatement.” I say, and decide that I may as well sink this relationship like the Titanic. “And possibly dangerous. It involves being injected with werewolf venom, either from a bite or from another source. Done wrong, it could be fatal.”

“I see.” She says.

The boat stayed out for more than an hour before heading in. Tara asks if I could drive them back to the campground. She doesn’t want to wait for her folks, and would like to leave immediately.

Tara pretends that everything is perfectly fine when her brothers return, and listens to their enthusiastic opinion on water skiing and how awesome it is while we head back to the pack house for her brothers to change into their dry clothes.

Tara calls shotgun as we head to the vehicle so she doesn’t have to sit next to me in the back. I guess she doesn’t want to take any chances with my voodoo calm s**t. Troy drives, and Lucas volunteers to stay back to avoid overcrowding.

The ride back to the campground was tense. After the boys exhausted the subject of how awesome the day was, Gavin asks his sister about her day. All she mentions is seeing my treehouse, and just hanging out together. And the rest of the drive was quiet.

We drop them off, and discover their folks were napping together in the tent. I decided not to mention what else I assume had gone on during their children’s absence from the camp.

Troy and I only stuck around long enough for the boys to thank us for the fun afternoon. And then we got in our vehicle and drove off.

A minute down the road I made Troy pull over, and I got out.

“You really shouldn’t be off our territory alone.” He warns, as if I were stupid.

“Stash the car and join me if you’re worried,” I say, then head back towards the Masons camp site, not caring what Troy does.