The Reluctant Luna

Hey Doll!

*Abbi*

After reaching the diner, I scope the menu and wait for my favorite man.

It had surprised me when Meredith asked me if I was sure I wanted to get married. She has been 100% supportive so I didn't see that coming. Meredith is not a she-wolf but she has been around us long enough to know how things work and has heard and seen how intense the call of the mating bond can be. I also think that she has often envied the bond that fated "were-pairs" have and wishes that humans had similar mate bonds instead of the ability to chose their own mates.

I have been faced with the doubts of many since announcing my plans to marry Liam, but nothing has shaken my conviction that I am making the right decision.

I have had a crush on Liam since we were kids. We would play together at every family event, and even as young as 6 or 7 years old, I knew that something was different about him.

Its not as intense as a mating bond but the gentle love that I have for him is exactly the type of relationship that I want. And I’m sure that the love will get stronger over the years but when the time comes for us to part ways for the remainder of this life, I know I wont be left a devastated mess, unable to love my own children or properly move on with my life. Im sure that I will mourn him if anything ever happens, but I won't feel as though I have lost half of my soul.

Liam has also been a great source of support through everything. My mother's passing and my father's disaster of a marriage. Even as kids, he always knew the right thing to say.

I knew when Liam entered the restaurant before I saw him. The smell of fresh pinewood filled the air. Liam gave me a kiss and then sat down in the seat across from me. I took the opportunity to look at him for a second, admiring the view. His blond hair was exceptionally light, tan skin that matched mine, beautiful gray eyes, an angular face, and a muscular figure.

I saw the glances from various females as Liam walked through the room. He is definitely a handsome man.

‘Hey, doll. How did things go with Meredith?” Liam asked.

“Oh, the usual. We tied up all the loose ends so everything is officially taken care of. Now we just wait till Saturday”. I responded while giving a little chuckle.

Liam always calls me doll. It reminds me of when we were kids. Years ago, my mother bought my sister, and I, a life sized doll that was literally the same size we were. It also strangely resembled us and Liam had claimed that it could have been our triplet. After that, he nicknamed me Doll number 1 and Ava doll number 2, with the actual doll being number 3. Somehow, even years later, it still stuck.

I updated Liam on different wedding plans as we order our food and begin to eat lunch. I also remind him to make sure that he makes it to the last appointment for his tux fitting.

After eating, we cleaned everything up, leaving a neat pile of dishes and garbage in the middle of the table, to make things easier for the waitress. Liam left a healthy tip and then we prepared to leave.

I gave Liam a kiss “Ill call you later tonight”

“Ok beautiful” he responds before heading for his car.

I need to get home and get a few things done for work. I help run a few of the companies that my family owns.

At least, in that area of things, my father has always been active. He believes that women are just as capable of running the show as men are, and as children, he would take us into the office with him and explain various things to us. He always claimed that it was never too early to learn and become great businesswomen.

After my Mother passed away, that was often the only time we saw him. When he wanted to teach us something new, or explain something, he would call our nanny. The nanny would take us to whichever company office he was visiting and then return us home when he was done. Or direct us to the Packhouse office if he was working on pack business and wanted to see us.

My Father buried himself in work to help him cope with my Mother's death. He often ate and slept in the packhouse office, leaving us to eat alone in the Alpha's quarters or go to the packhouse dining area. He continued this habit, even after he married Sarah, and it wasn't until a few years ago that he finally started eating breakfast or dinner with us again.

I know deep down that my Father has always hoped for a son to work with hands on, but just like a second chance mate wasn't in the cards for him, neither was a son. He used to joke when we were kids that that was why he was given two girls. It was the Moon Goddess way of making up for not giving him an Alpha son. She had given him a daughter that never wanted to be a girl and one that only knew how to be a girl.

I laughed to myself as I thought about some of the things my father used to say. This was before my mother died, but it had become apparent when we were born that it may not be safe for her to have any more children. She struggled to bring us into the world and then almost died during our birth. My mother wanted to try for more and had suggested that she could get a C-section if needed. But that is a rare occurrence in our world and not something that the pack doctors do often. For that reason, my father didn't want to take the risk. He claimed he didn't mind not having a son though. Back then, he was simply happy to have his girls.

I sigh as I think about my mother, struggling to push the thoughts out of my head as I drive down the street. It is still too painful to think about her sometimes. I often feel as though I lost my mother and my father that day.

After getting home, I went to my office. I worked on paperwork for several hours, even having dinner sent to my office, instead of heading to the table. I wanted to make sure that everything was caught up and that I wouldn't be missed during my honeymoon.

I take my career and my position in the company very seriously. I want people to know and recognize my ability to do the job. Instead of thinking that I got the position because I am the daughter of the Alpha and the pack's future Alpha.

It is not a requirement that I run our businesses personally. We have upper management for that, but I want to be very hands on. So, I got a job at one of our companies just before my 18th birthday. Then I started working my way through the ranks, based on my own merit and not on the merit of my last name.

There is more to running businesses then just watching the books and occasionally showing up for a meeting. I want my employees to know who I am and know that I respect their hard work and dedication. I'm not afraid to put in hard work myself.

When I become Alpha, I will have to give up some of the responsibilities I have in our individual businesses to run the pack but at this time, I am enjoying the work I do.

At the end of the evening, I finally decide to retire for the night. My neck and shoulders are sore and a hot bubble bath sounds like heaven.

I returned to my room only to be interrupted not five minutes after walking through the door.

Ava came bounding into my room, without knocking, of course. She never does. She's holding a bag in her hand.

"Do you want to see what I got for you?" Ava says, teasingly swinging the bag around.

I look at her for a second, confused. "Got me for what?"

"Your wedding night!!!!" Ava exclaimed while bouncing from foot to foot, like an over-excited kid.

She opens the bag in her hand and pulls out a sheer emerald green lingerie set. The lingerie leaves literally nothing to the imagination at all, with it being completely see through.

I could feel my face begin to flush slightly as I stared at it. I know that Liam will love it.

What man wouldn't?

"Well, what do you think Sis?"

"I think there is very little material there" I replied.

"Yesssss" Ava replied "but the material that is here will look great on you and it matches our eyes perfectly. Liam isn't going to know what hit him."

"For someone who wasn't very happy about me getting married, you definitely seem to have changed your tune" I respond, a little puzzled.

"Yea, well I know that your not going to change your mind so at this point I have no choice but to support you and your decision." Ava stated "For some reason, I've been getting more and more excited as we get closer.....And I don't know why, but I just have the feeling that things are going to go a little differently then planned."

"What do you mean?" I'm even more confused now.

"I don't know sis, I guess we will have to wait and see!" Ava hinted as she dances around the room.

I rolled my eyes at my overdramatic sister. And then feel my face flush again as I look back at the lingerie set. I don't know why I feel embarrassed or shy about it. I'm a werewolf and I've been naked in front of other people plenty of times while shifting. I'm not self-conscious about my body.

Liam and I have been intimate before and he's seen me undressed as well, but I've never dressed up for him. I guess my honeymoon is as good a time as any to try something new though.

*Ava*

My sister is right. My excitement for her wedding is growing. I still am not a fan of the idea of her marrying Liam. He is not her fated mate and I do not see how Abbi will be able to resist the mate bond, even if she has already mated. Liam is not a wolf so I am not sure if his mark will work to increase the bond the same way ours does. Either way chosen mate bonds are strong, but not nearly as strong as fated mate bonds. I really don't see how this scenario could end well.

Abbi and I could possibly end up having to share a mate. If she does reject him, that would still leave a part of him missing, even though he will have me, because technically he is destined to have both of us.

If we don't share a mate, her mate will have his heart broken if Abbi denies him and rejects the bond. That leads to a pain like no other. I don't believe that Abbi will be happy either in that situation knowing that she caused her fated mate pain on that level.

I think she will ultimately be stuck in an unhappy marriage, wishing that she had waited. Or if she can't resist the mate bond, then Liam could end up getting his heart broken, and losing his chosen mate. No matter which way I look at the situation, I just can't see the happy ending that Abbi envisions.

But over the last few nights, I've been having dreams about the wedding. In the dream, I can't see anyone's face in particular except for my sisters, but instinctively I know we are at the wedding. I always wake up before I know anything concrete, but the sounds of chaos I hear, lead me to believe that things aren't going the way Abbi plans for them to go.

I have a feeling that the day will end very differently then planned. My "feelings" are rarely wrong but I guess only time will tell on this one.