Dearest Luke

Chapter Two - Difficult Changes

☽ Luke ☾

Spending time with Nia was just so satisfying. She had a way to make me smile and laugh, to feel carefree and happy. I hadn’t felt that in a long time. There were one or two moments where I thought about Amanda, comparing the two of them. It was odd to me, the gods gifted me a fated mate but then, well, that didn’t work out very well now did it? No, it didn’t. However, then I got a second chance mate and Nia is amazing. She is bubbly and playful. I couldn’t wait for Florence to arrive so that she could meet her. And of course, to calm down Zion.

“How did you change?” Nia asked me and I looked down at her. We were currently sitting on the sofa in the living room and she was cuddled up on my lap, just the way I liked it. I didn’t answer her. What was I supposed to tell her? The truth? I mean, yeah sure, I should, but just because I am completely infatuated with her doesn’t mean I am ready to dive right in and share my thoughts and secrets, right? I wasn’t sure but Nia was expecting me to answer. I shook my head. She would learn that I wasn’t much of a talker.

“You should answer her,” Sherie pointed out and I felt my cheeks burn. “You have quite a reputation, Luke,” she added with a thoughtful expression on her face. This comment, however, seemed to interest Nia.

“What reputation?” she asked as she turned to look at her mother. I stiffened as I thought about the silly things wolves would spread around.

“Oh, you know, just how sweet he is, earning him the title of dearest Luke and of course,” Sherie paused in her silly rantings as she eyed me. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking but I turned my head away, avoiding her gaze. “They refer to him as the strong and silent type,” Sherie finished.

“Why?” Nia asked as she looked back at me. I still didn’t answer.

“That may be the reason,” Sherie commented and I smirked at that. Nia gave me a disappointed look but what could I say? Or more to the point, why couldn’t Sherie just leave us alone again? I hated having an audience.

“Your counselor is here,” Zion said as he came into, the room, Florence followed behind him. I moved Nia to the side and stood up to give Florence a quick hug, to which Nia softly growled, causing Florence to laugh.

“I take it you are his mate?” she said, and Nia nodded with a scowl plastered on her face. I sat back down next to her as Zion offered Florence a seat and then he sat down next to his mate. We all sat there in silence for a few minutes before Florence took the lead. “Ok, so what is the problem here?” she asked. I stayed silent but I didn’t miss the look Zion threw my way.

“Oh, for the love of…look, my husband isn’t ready to give up the title and position of Alpha,” Sherie cut to the chase quickly and I was secretly thankful for that.

“Did Luke demand that you step down?” Florence asked Zion, who started looking uncomfortable. The smirk returned as I raised an eyebrow at the uncomfortable Alpha.

“No…”

“Ok, then? Why the upset? Is there any reason that Luke and Nia shouldn’t be together?” she asked.

“I just thought that when my daughter found her mate that I would automatically have to step down,” Zion explained himself. What a fool.

“No, that is not the way it works. Luke wasn’t born of Alpha blood, in fact, he was changed, but that won’t make him any less of an Alpha. Look, if Luke demanded that you step down, then it would be a different story but if he doesn’t then you just continuing being the Alpha until you either step down yourself or until Luke demands it. As of right now, Luke holds no power here,” Florence paused as she looked at me. “Until he mates and marks Nia, then and only then does he hold all the power,” she paused again as Zion made some weird sound. “In any case, Zion, you will have to train him, teach him the ways of an Alpha. But, as I said, until Luke forces it, you are still Alpha. Does that make sense?” Florence explained and looked at each of us, her eyes falling once again on Zion as she asked him if he understood.

“Hmm, yeah,” it was painfully obvious that the Alpha was royally embarrassed. I almost felt bad for him. Almost.

“Is that the only reason or problem or issue?” Florence pushed.

“I have no other problem, Florence,” Zion said, his tone was apologetic.

“Well, then? If that is all…” she turned her attention to Nia and smiled. “I’d like to get to know the mate of the sweetest wolf I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting,” I felt myself blush again.

☽☽☾☾

I hated having to leave. I really did, but I had to get back to the apartment for my next job. I took Nia into my arms and cuddled her against me before I claimed her lips in a deep passionate kiss.

“Luke, hurry home,” she whispered, and I nodded before getting in the truck. I hated having to drive away, I hated being apart from her, but I still had to complete my community service. However, on the way back, I made a detour and stopped by The Night Drifters Pack to see Stephan and Jewel, as well as my brother, Jacob.

“Hi, Luke!” some of the members shouted out as I drove in. I shyly waved and parked my truck in front of the packhouse. I could see Jewel with her two pups by the side of the house under a tree with Stephan and Cliff. I slowly got out of the car and mind linked Stephan.

“Hi Alpha, can we talk?” Stephan looked up and caught my gaze, he nodded, and I saw him excuse himself before heading over my way.

“Hey Luke, what brings you here?” he asked me. I shifted uncomfortably but then took a deep breath.

“I met my mate,” I blurted out. Stephan eyed me curiously but then smiled.

“That is wonderful news,” he eventually said as he reached out to shake my hand. That was the easy part.

“Um, yeah, so, I, um…” I knew I was a stumbling fool but suddenly I found it really hard to let Stephan know that I would be leaving the pack. Although, he had this look on his face that probably meant that he already knew what was going to happen.

“You want to leave the pack?” he asked, trying to help me. I nodded and he looked thoughtful for a moment. “Alright, well, of course, we will all miss you,” he said, and I blushed. I had gotten close to Stephan and Cliff. My brother’s mate, Polly and I didn’t get on too well, but I knew I had to talk to him too. “And this is definitely something you want?” Stephan asked me and I tilted my head in thought for a second, unsure as to why he was asking me. “I mean, Jacob is here…” he added as if understanding my confusion.

“Oh,” was all I managed to say in response. “No,” I whispered. “He has his mate here and mine is somewhere else,” I added. Stephan nodded and smiled.

“Well, I hope you will visit from time to time and of course you know we would love to meet her,” he said happily.

“Sure,” I said before walking away, heading to the house my brother lived at. I knocked on the door and heard a ‘come in’, so I pushed open the door and smiled. Jacob was sitting on the sofa watching TV and Polly was sitting next to him, cuddling their pup. It made me sad to see their pup especially since Amanda and Polly had been pregnant at the same time. I quickly shook the depressing thoughts aside and joined them by sitting on the chair just across from the coffee table. Polly visibly flinched but smiled while Jacob grinned at me.

“Hey man, it’s not Friday,” he said, and I shook my head.

“No, I um…” the seriousness of my tone caught both their attention and Jacob quickly turned off the TV. I just stared at the carpet, unsure of how to proceed. Polly must’ve thought she was the problem as she stood up.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” she said, and I looked up and shook my head.

“No, stay,” it wouldn’t help that I acted like I couldn’t talk in front of her. “I met someone,” I confessed. “My mate actually,” Polly’s eyebrows shot up and Jacob smirked as she sat down again.

“Well, well, well, trust my brother to go out and get himself a mate,” he drawled out and I chuckled softly whilst shaking my head.

“Trust me, it wasn’t planned,”

“Tell us about her,” he said curiously, and I sighed.

“Well, her name is Nia and I am still getting to know her,” I admitted. Polly refused to meet my gaze and I wondered why. “She seems nice,”

“Nice? Ha!” Jacob laughed and I just sat there smiling like a lovesick fool.

“Anyway, I stopped by to let you know I won’t be coming here for the weekends,” Jacob stopped laughing and looked at me. He was not happy, I could tell.

“What?”

“Well, um…I mean, you know…ah…”

“Spit it out!” Polly growled out with frustration and I clammed up. No way was I going to try and explain myself.

“Polly…” Jacob groaned out as he gave her a look. She looked away and I sighed.

“It’s obvious don’t you think?” she said as she turned back to look at me. “He isn’t going to be coming back here because he’ll be going to see her,” she then stated, and I froze. She hit the nail right on the head. Jacob snapped his head around to look at me, silently confirming what she had said.

“Um, yeah,” I mumbled out. Polly stood up again and came over to me, gently handing me over their pup, Sam. I cradled him in my arms, he had gotten big. A lot bigger. I smiled down at him as I gently touched his forehead.

“Congrats,” Polly said as she left the room. I avoided Jacob’s questioning gaze as I cooed at the big toddler. Toddler, pup, baby, you know, he just giggled at me and I knew I wanted one. Or two. Or three.

“Will, I ever see you again?” Jacob finally asked and I nodded, looking up at him eventually and smiled. “You promise?” he pushed, and I chuckled.

“You are my brother, Jacob, of course, you will see me again,” he didn’t look convinced so I knew I would have to prove it to him over time. “You are the only family, the only blood of my blood that I have left,” he nodded and stared at the black TV screen. I could see the conflicting thoughts running through his mind, but I paid no attention to him as I continued to coo at my adorable nephew.

☽ Nia ☾

I pushed open my bedroom door and went inside. I was so unbelievably happy. Finally, I had found my mate or more to the point, he had found me. I jumped up and down excitedly before throwing myself at my bed.

“Aaah!” I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face even if I wanted too. Dreamy Luke…I could stare at his forest green eyes all day. My lips still tingled from his kisses and my body burned from his touch. I rolled over onto my tummy as I thought about the way his thick dark hair curled slightly against his temples and neck. His muscular arms and chest, not to mention his thick thighs. Luke is definitely well built but as dreamy as he looked, I was very curious to know who he is. What is his past? His history? Admittedly I was not a fan of the whole ‘silent’ vibe, but I wasn’t too worried. All in good time. I knew he was doing community service, which was a new kind of punishment that the council had thought up, so therefore he must’ve done something wrong, bad even. I shuddered at the thought and the term: silent but violent, popped into my head. “No, no,” I shook my head, forcing the negative thoughts to go away. Luke did not seem like the violent type.

“Daydreaming?” I rolled around and sat up.

“Yeah,” I lazily replied to my mother.

“Nia…” she started.

“What?”

“We don’t know all that much about this wolf, he is a criminal and your father tried to get information out of Florence before she left,” Sherie’s voice trailed off as she entered the room and sat down on the edge of the bed.

“And?”

“And nothing, she won’t say. All she did say was that Luke will tell us when he is ready,”

“Well, it can’t be that bad if the council didn’t just lock him up and throw away the key,” I commented as I ran my fingers through my hair.

“I suppose not, but, please Nia, just be careful,”

“Of course, mother,” I rolled my eyes and then frowned. “He is not the only one hiding things, you know,”

“I know,” Sherie stood up and smiled sadly at me. “He’ll be back soon,” she added.

“Yes, well, if you and father actually allow me to have some alone time with him then maybe he will open up and talk,” I said seriously.

“Hey! We are still your parents and we are only looking out for you,” she said defensively.

“I know! But Luke is shy or whatever, let us be alone to talk,” Sherie was silent for a moment, thinking about it, but then nodded.

“Alright, but, no closed doors!” she said before leaving the room. I lay back down and went back to daydreaming about him. Actually, in all honesty, I couldn’t wait to see him again. To learn more about him and for him to learn more about me.

☽☽☾☾

“Nia! Nia! Wait up!” I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around to see Mitch Owen running towards me. it took a lot for me to stand there and wait for him when all I wanted to do was hurry away. “Hey! Thanks for waiting,” he said as he breathed heavily.

“What do you want Mitch?” I asked him flat out.

“Oh, I just wanted to hear if you are going to that party on Friday night?” he asked. I stared into his oddly amber-colored eyes and let out a sigh. I noticed the way he scrunched up his nose and run his fingers through his long sandy hair.

“Mitch…”

“Have you met someone?” he suddenly asked, interrupting me. I froze. “You did, didn’t you?” he pushed but I just couldn’t answer. I shook my head and turned away, rushing down the path to the cafeteria to meet up with a few friends. That look on his face, that look in his eyes. One word came to me: Dangerous.

“Hey, Nia! Over here!” Cameron shouted out as I entered the busy cafeteria. I looked up and saw them sitting at a relatively quiet spot and hurried over.

“Hey guys,” I greeted them as I sat down. Cameron raised a curious brow but didn’t say anything. His sister, Matilda smiled before pushing a bag towards me.

“Chicken and mayo, eat, you need it,” I sighed and opened the bag to see the deliciously filled sandwich.

“So, what’s up?" Cameron asked and I shrugged, not really wanting to get into anything. The day wasn’t over yet. “You going to that party?”

“No, busy weekend at home,” I announced between bites. Matilda didn’t even look at me as she continued doing whatever on her phone. Jake and Joyce sat down.

“Hey man!” Cameron greeted Jake and the two immediately started talking about the football season. Matilda and Joyce started gossiping about the party and their outfits. I realized with a pang that I would never truly fit in with my human friends. I finished off the sandwich and tried to catch Joyce’s eye. When I did, I motioned for her to follow me.

“I have to get to class, see you guys later,” I leaned over and gave Matilda a quick hug before rushing off. Joyce was right behind me.

“Hey, Nia, what’s going on?” Joyce was the only one in our little group of friends that knew I was a shifter.

“I met my mate,” I told her excitedly. Joyce squealed and we hugged.

“Omg, I want to hear everything about him,” she said as she grabbed my arm and led me to a bench. We sat down and I told her everything I knew about Luke, which wasn’t a lot.

“He is coming over this weekend, on Monday I’ll have a lot more to tell you,”

“I’m so happy for you Nia,”

“Thanks, but I bumped into Mitch earlier,” I looked away, I knew she wouldn’t be happy.

“What? Ah bloody hell Nia, what did he say?” although she looked annoyed, she also looked concerned. I smiled at my best human friend.

“He wanted to know if I was going to the party, and then he did the weirdest thing,”

“What?”

“He asked me if I met someone,”

“How is that weird?” she asked, confused.

“I don’t know, it just felt weird, you know?” she nodded and both of us got lost in our own thoughts for a moment. Mitch Owen was and always will be my biggest mistake.