His beloved Luna

At the table

-Flora-

The King Alpha George came into the room and you could feel its presence. We all go quiet. He exuded a lot of authority and forced everyone to bow. I never felt as strong as Amy described it, but I always joined the rest. So I bowed too.

He took the stage and everyone turned to the stage.

"Welcome everyone. Welcome to the annual FlowerMoon party. This year for me and my Luna for the last time! In five months, I will hand over the throne to my eldest son, Justin. He has already taken over several tasks to get ready for the task as king! In the coming months, he will take over more tasks until he is fully ready. So this is our farewell party also.” People respond with “aahww”. The King raises his hands and everyone becomes quiet again.

“I would like to introduce you to my son, Prince Justin." He pointed to a tall and broad man. He looked like Brian. Big and masculine. Despite his suit, you saw his muscular body. He's got dark hair and his eyes look like gold. Everyone is clapping and yelling.

The man looked solid like a rock. The man got up and lowered his head as a sign of gratitude. “God that man is hot.” Amy whispers at me and I nod in agreement.

"Thank you Father, it's a huge honor and they're big shoes to fill, but I know I learned it from the best.” He turned from his father to the room.

“Dear Alphas, I will, in turn, do my best as king to serve you as best I can." He looked around the main hall.

"I'd like to make a toast now." Everyone raised their glass.

"To peace, safety, love and health! Thank you Moon Goddes for all your strength and wisdom! Long live the Moon Goddess!"

"And long live the king" yelled the Kings Beta. "Hooray! Hurray! Hooray!" It sounded throughout the room. Then everyone went to dinner. The King and his son hug each other and sit at the table again.

The food was super tasty. They had lamb, but also deer and boar. I prefer to eat chicken, but I didn't miss this opportunity to eat something else. So I tried it all. The lamb was my favorite.

After dinner we talk to each other at the table and laugh about the jokes that were told.

We heard the music turn on a little louder and Amy and I looked at each other "dance!" We shouted at the same time.

“Mom, Amy and I are going to dance!” I link her.

"That's good, sweetheart. Have fun" my mother linked back. Amy and I link our arms and walk to the dance floor.

Amy and I go loose on the dance floor. All the moves came along and we sang along loudly with the music. When a slow song came along, we stepped off the dance floor and walk to a standing table along the sidelines.

"Do you remember Justin in previous years?" Amy asked me.

"Yes, vague, but he wasn't there last year. Didn't he have some kind of training camp last year?"

"Yes, that's true!" Amy remembered. "He was at training with warriors. I heard from Brian that it's a requirement for Alpha's. Brian was two years ago, remember!?" she answers.

"Oh yes, I remember!” I say. I missed Brian so much back then. Secretly, I was hoping Brian would have fallen for me two years ago. He was so sweet and I'd like to choose him, but it's also true what he said. By now, he also felt like my brother. He was watching me the way my brother looks after me. Amy knows how I felt about Brian and she was always mad at him when he brought another girl to our parties.

"Ladies, dancing?" Emlin put an arm around me. "It's a slow song, but yes the ladies here also need to be able to see that we can dance" he said with a wink, taking Amy to the dance floor. Brian just walked in with four drinks. "Nice, I'll get the drinks, they'll go on the dance floor!" He said, laughing.

"It's so crazy how our families get mixed up and we feel like a big family." I grabbed a drink from Brian and smiled at him.

"Emlin said you only want to go for your fated mate?" Brain said, and he got closer to me at the table. "Is that because of Emma?"

I nodded "she went for someone she chose, she was confident and now ... Now she's gone. She didn't sound happy at all the last few times. She made the wrong choice. She wasn't thinking straight.” I tell him. If it's your fated mate, you can't think anymore, but then you know that the Moon Goddess has a plan for it. “And the last time I chose someone, he didn't choose me. So it's better to look for the fated one, or stay alone.”

I looked at Brian with an oblique eye. He looked at me and I saw the sadness in his eyes. "Sorry" he said, giving me a kiss on the forehead. "You were so young and I was ready. Ready for the next step. Your brother was very clear."

"Emlin? I asked. He never told me this.

"Yes. He said if I tried with you, I'd also risk our friendship and the future of our pack. I knew I wanted you, but I couldn't, and I knew that if I were going to go for you, I'd hurt you. That's the only reason I told you things couldn't work out between us. I didn't want to hurt you." He sounded sincerely. I shake my head.

"It's all right, Brian. It's been two years. You now also feel like my older brother." We both smiled. I mean it, two years ago I would do nothing more than be with him, but I was young and Brian changed our relation full of tension to familiar and that’s that.

"Brian?" I looked at him.

"Yeah?"

"If you become Alpha, will you let women train to fight?" I asked.

"Hahahahaha" Brian laughed hard and stopped when he saw I was serious.

"Why, Flora, women don't have to fight. There's no reason for women to have to defend themselves. That's what we men are for," he says.

"But what if I want to learn!?" I asked him.

His face changed from laughable to worrisome. "Why Flora? Did something happen? If anyone's done something you don't want, I will hunt them and..." I see him getting angry.

"No, no, it's not that" I interrupted him. I put my hand on his arm and feel his body tighten. "Nothing happened." I'll tell him. I can feel the tension in his body slowly fading.

"I thought, if Emma had known how to fight, she might still be here, Alex wouldn't have been able to hurt her!"

"You're not sure it was Alex. He can also tell the truth. It could also be an attack, from the outside.”

Brian held me against him and he gave me a kiss on my forehead. "Emma was an exception. Believe me, Flora, since Emma, we as men in our pack are extra aware of our position and we will never take advantage of it. Or have it made by men from other packs! We've changed the rules.

"How?"

"That's not for you to worry about. We're here to have fun." He says, but I’m not ready to let it go yet.

Amy came running. " Yeah hello, it's a party!! Come and dance, Flora!"

I hadn't noticed that the slow dancing was over and the pop music was back on. “What were you talking about?” She asks. “About Flora only wants her fated mate.” Brain answers. “Oh god, Brian let it go already.” Amy sighs and shakes her head. “What?” he says and Emlin puts his arm around my shoulder. “It’s good she wants that you know.” He says to the rest “Are you okay little one.” He says to me and I stick my tongue out to Emlin. Amy laughs and grabs my arm and pulls me from the table back to the dancefloor.

That's a friend! This was exactly what I needed! Let's dance everything away!