Her Promise

“Let me go!” the human shouted in my face. “I can’t yet,” I tried to tell him calmly. He was freaking out and reasonably at this point. “I need to know how you got here.” “That psycho abducted me!” he cried. The frustration was clear on his face. I couldn’t blame him. How did a human end up sneaking around our packhouse mere weeks after Maddox and I became Alpha and Luna? Maddox stepped forward with a menacing growl and I tried to wave him back. I did not need him beasting out. “Can you give me a name? Or maybe a description? You shouldn’t exactly be here.” We needed to know how he got here and why he was here. “Because you all think you’re werewolves?” he shouted hysterically. What did he just say? - MISSY Azalea crushed me in a tight hug. “Oh, sweetheart, we are going to miss you so much. I hate that we won’t see you every day,” she sobbed. The day had come. It was time for Maddox and I to move to Serenity Waters, the pack neighboring my home, and begin training to become Alpha and Luna. Being the adopted daughter of the Alpha of my pack, I never aspired to lead a pack myself. I hadn’t even really known what I wanted to do with my life when we graduated three months ago and Langston and Emma approached us about it. “I’m only in the next pack. We’ll visit, and you guys can come to see us,” I said, patting the woman who raised me’s back as I hugged her fiercely. I didn’t let on just how nervous this all made me now that it was time. It felt weird to be leaving behind my home, even if I hadn’t lived in the packhouse with Azalea and Liam for a while. Maddox and I had lived in the house left to me by my birth parents since shortly after finding out we were mates. But, I was ready for our new adventure but still had the smallest bit of apprehension in my gut. “Come on, Little Luna. Let our girl go. Maddox will take good care of her,” Liam said. Lea smiled as she let me go, dashing a tear from her eye. Azalea had always been a bit of a crier but I knew it was out of the joy she felt at watching my siblings and I grow. Next in the farewell train were my siblings. We spent all morning saying goodbye to everyone so we could save my family for last. Junior and Leo barreled into me hard, almost knocking me over. These two Alpha bred boys were going to be solely missed. “I’m going to miss you guys,” I told them, holding them as close as possible. “You better take good care of Azly, you hear me? You protect her real good.” Our baby sister was napping under the watchful eye of Felix; a cranky baby wasn’t worth one more hug and kiss. “Can we come stay in your new packhouse?” Junior asked. “You guys can come visit us after the Alpha ceremony,” Maddox said, joining us. He must have finished loading our stuff into the car. We were leaving a lot of things behind in the house. Emmett and Ally were going to stay there for now. Maddox ruffled the mini Alpha’s hair affectionately, and Junior swatted his hand away. “What about Miss Sol? Can we visit her too?” Leo asked. “Miss Sol left for college this morning. We won’t see her for a while,” I told him. He really had the biggest crush on her. Leo and Junior let go of me and moved on to Maddox. Last but not least was Liam. He opened his arms with a soft smile, and I let him give me one of his giant dad hugs. “You’re going to knock ‘em dead,” he told me silently. “You and Maddox will do wonderfully.” I realized that after today I wouldn’t be able to link my parents anymore. We would be in different packs by the morning when Maddox and I officially made the change. I just hugged him tighter. “Thanks, Dad,” I said. Liam was my dad in every way that matter. He looked after me as a kid before both my parents were gone, then he and Azalea took me in when they were just barely mated. They never blinked at eye at accepting me and never gave up on me when I pushed them away. Even when I resented being the adopted Alpha kid, they were right there. When I thought I was going to lose Maddox to the vampires, Liam took every hateful word from my mouth and still managed to do what was best for our family and pack. He was one of the best men I knew and I felt blessed that I got him as a dad. Liam let me go and looked up at Maddox. “You guys should probably get going,” he smiled. Junior and Leo ran back to Lea, and I moved to Maddox’s side, taking his outstretched hand in mine. “Drive safely. Call if you need anything.” “We will. Thank you, Alpha and Luna. For everything,” Maddox said. “Maddox, again, call us Azalea and Liam. Or Mom and Dad!” Lea huffed. I laughed; Maddox couldn’t help but be respectful and Lea was desperate for him to look at her as family first. “We’ll talk to you guys soon. Love you,” I waved, pulling Maddox over to the car with me. We got into the car, and everyone waved at us as Maddox pulled down the driveway. “Ready?” he asked. “As I’ll ever be,” I said. - We pulled up to the Serenity Waters packhouse, our new home. I had been here plenty as a kid but never expected to be living here. This would be ours until we had pups old enough to take over as Alpha and Luna. “Oh, Goddess, pups,” Holland cooed in my head. My wolf was become more and more gooey for Maddox and Tom as time went on. “No. Down girl. I have to learn to be Luna before I think about raising someone else,” I denied her. “But they will be so cute!” she said. An odd sensation crept over my shoulders. One day, Maddox and I would have a pup, and he would become Alpha. We were literally the precipice of an Alpha line. I swallowed hard. Talk about pressure. Emma came out the door, waving to us. I could see Langston in his wheelchair just inside the door. “Ready, darling?” Maddox asked, releasing the latch on his door. I gave him a tight smile and nodded. We got out, and Emma greeted us excitedly. She and Langston had waited for Maddox and I to take a trip before agreeing to start the transition to Alpha and Luna. Lea and Liam gifted us a two-week vacation together for our graduation. Maddox and I traveled to a human city not far from the mountains where he grew up. We got to see some incredible museums and other things. We did take a few days to backpack up into the mountains and look for his former home. We never found precisely where his pack was. He seemed a little upset by it, but I promised we would come back again. “I’m so glad you guys are here!” Emma excitedly squealed as she hugged us at the same time. “We are so excited to get you guys settled in.” She smiled warmly at us as she let us go and hurried us inside. Emma was like a sweet grandmother, a little warmer than my adopted one. While Lyssa had been kind to me, she wasn’t the most inviting woman. It was obvious she had made a strong Luna, but she was very different than Emma. “Don’t pester them too much yet, Emma,” Langston smiled as we stepped inside. “Give them some time to get adjusted.” “I’ll show them to their room! Well, until we depart and they take over the Alpha suite,” Emma smiled. “Thank you, Luna,” Maddox said. “No more formalities. You two will have those names shortly,” Emma told us. “Good luck. She is relentless,” Langston laughed. He turned his chair and started to roll away. “I’ll let you guys get settled in. We can catch up at dinner!” Emma led us upstairs and down a hallway. I recognized the direction we were going as I had stayed here before. “Obviously, that was the entry hall. These stairs lead to the guest quarters and Beta quarters. Langston Beta has moved out, though. The other wing of the packhouse has the Alpha quarters and offices,” Emma explained. “This place is bigger than I thought,” Maddox said. “I believe it might be slightly larger than the Blood Eclipse packhouse, but it is a very different floor plan. We also don’t house any unmated warriors in the packhouse. There is a separate boarding house for them,” Emma explained. She stopped at the end of the hall. “This is the nicest guest suite we have. You guys can stay here until it’s time to get you set in the Alpha quarters. Missy and I will be discussing any changes you guys would like to make to that area later to make them fit you better.” She opened the door and stepped aside so we could step in. I couldn’t remember being inside anything so nice. As we came inside, there was a sitting room with doors to the left and right as well as a hall beyond it. “The master is to the left, and there is an additional room back there. To the right is an office for Maddox to make use of until it’s time for him to take over. Langston has already started cleaning up his things with Ronin’s help,” Emma said. “We really don’t need all this space,” I told her. “Nonsense. This is your home now too! If you think this is a lot, wait until you see the Alpha Quarters!” Emma smiled. “I’ll let you guys finish grabbing your things and get settled. We can do a full tour in a little bit just in case you don’t remember where everything is at.” Emma left us alone, and Maddox looked around. “This seems excessive,” I sighed. Maddox shrugged. “Alphas and Lunas are important people. It makes sense to have nice big houses, especially when a packhouse reflects on the pack’s health to visitors,” he argued. He headed toward our new bedroom, and I followed. Inside the room was a king-sized bed with a bench at the end. A dresser faced the bed; there were two doors, probably a closet and bathroom. “I think I already miss our little bed,” I told him. Maddox came over and grabbed me around the waist. “Don’t worry. I’ll still sleep close to you,” he smiled. “You better.” - After multiple trips back out to the car to bring in all our stuff, Maddox and I put everything away in the closet and bedroom. I didn’t bother hanging up any of our photos for now; we could just wait until we moved into the Alpha quarters. Emma showed us around the whole packhouse and grounds. I remembered much of it from visits, but she also showed us places I had never been to. Maddox was enjoying himself a lot. That night, we had dinner with Langston and his Beta, Joshua. He was a kind man, but I could tell he was ready to retire. He promised his nephew would be around the next day for us to get acquainted. Maddox had told me the little he knew about Ronin, and we had met him once before. Maddox was thinking about making him his Beta since he grew up in Serenity Waters. I thought it was a great idea but suggested he get to know Ronin a little before he made his decision, just in case they didn’t get along. It took me a while to get comfortable that night, but eventually, I was able to fall asleep curled up in Maddox’s back. He woke up early, intending to go for a run, and tried to coax me to go with him. “But the sun isn’t out yet,” I complained. “Yea and we live by the moon,” he said, nipping at my nose. “I went to bed after the moon,” I said, pushing him away from me. “Let me sleep a little longer.” I tried to roll over and pull the blanket over my head. Maddox stopped me. “Come on, Miss. Shift with me. Let’s start our first day here with our paws in the dirt,” he pleaded. “Ughhhh,” I groaned. I opened my eyes all the way and looked at his pouty face. “Fine. But only because you’re really cute naked.” He wiggled his eyebrows before kissing me sweetly. “Let’s go!”