Bonded

Chapter 6

“I've always thought that he's really attractive,” Audrey tells me with a smile and giggle, flopping down to lay across her bed. “You could do a lot worse than being stuck with him forever, but I don’t think he’ll do that. He’s older than me, so we weren’t super close, but he’s always been nice to me even when Austin wasn’t.”

Hearing her talk about her older brother makes my heart hurt, missing my own.

“Sorry, Celeste,” she tells me and reaches across the bed to take my hand. “I wasn’t thinking.”

I shake my head at her, feeling pathetic. “You didn’t do anything, Aud. You’re allowed to talk about your brother.”

“Still,” she says, rolling over and sitting up so now we're face to face. “Whatever you decide with the Alpha, you should stay here with our pack. There’s nowhere else to go.”

I nod, knowing that she’s right. There's no where else that I could get to that would be safe. “I knowI I can’t even go to the Palace. King Joseph didn’t like my dad’s plans, either. All he wanted to do was to strengthen his pack as a whole.” It shouldn’t be so hard to do what’s best for your pack. Wolves are aggressive, sometimes too aggressive, but we still have our human sides. Sometimes Alphas seem to forget that the majority of our time is spent in human form, though.

She doesn’t say anything to that, knowing that the whole situation turned so bad, so quickly. It’s not really safe for anyone to have the opinion my dad did, for risk of their own pack turning against them especially after what happened to Dad.

After a while, Audrey looks at me with a small smile. “What was it like to shift?”

“Terrible,” I tell her honestly. “Every bone broke and moved around. My skin was on fire, too.”

She nods at me, her eyes wide. We always hear about what a shift is like, but it felt so much worse than I had ever been told. My brother had told me it was the worst pain he could imagine, but I didn't understand just how bad that would feel.

“I don’t know if it makes it easier when there’s a full moon or not, but I’m afraid to ever shift again.”

“Can you? Or was it like a one time thing?”

“I haven’t even thought about that. I just assumed I could. I’ll have to ask Willow when she’s recovered.”

There’s a knock at the door and her mother walks in, her arms full of bags.

“The Alpha sent these for you,” she tells me with a sad smile. I take the bags from her and look through them as she walks out, lifting out a few pairs of jeans and some t-shirts. There’s also some nice pants and tops and quite a few nice dresses. In another bag I find four pairs of shoes- all of which seem like the perfect options for the clothing that he selected. I open the last bag to find underwear and bras, all lacy, and all the correct size.

I blush a bit and look at my friend. “How did he know my size?”

“He asked me,” she says unbothered, looking through the items. “He certainly had no problem buying items for a new luna. I guess he thought you’d say yes.”

I sigh and look up at her, placing a pair of black heels down on the bed. “I don’t really have a choice. The room in the packhouse is the only one available and I have absolutely no skills to use. I just feel like I am suddenly growing up.”

“It’s because you are,” she tells me, an apologetic smile on her face. "It's OK to not be ready for it."

I sigh and lie down on the bed. “This isn’t how I expected my life to go,” I say sadly, staring up at the ceiling. I miss my brothers. They were annoying and overprotective, but they would know exactly what to tell me. “I don’t want to be all on my own,” I whisper my realization.

Audrey moves to lay next to me and wraps her arms around me. “I’m here. I know it's not the same, but I'll always be here for you,” she says softly, clearly knowing how I feel about everything, but trying her best. “It’s all new and terrible right now but one day this will feel like it’s your pack, too.This is home now. ”

I sniffle and turn my head, crying into her shoulder until I fall asleep.

I’m awakened by Mrs. Carolyn entering the room, announcing that it’s time for lunch. Since we’re just eating at their house, I don’t bother changing into my new clothes and go downstairs with Audrey. There’s a relative silence between the three of us, Audrey’s dad and brother having gone for training.

We spend the rest of the day hiding in Audrey’s room, listening to music as she tries to keep me distracted from everything going on. She tries her best to curl my long brown hair, but it’s always been stubbornly straight and it refuses to cooperate with her plans.

“Fine,” she says, crossing her arms in disappointment. “I’ll just braid it.”

“Teach me?” I ask her, hopeful. “What if, someday, I have a daughter and need to do her hair? I plan to be better than my own mother in that department.” As the words escape my lips, though, an overwhelming sadness consumes me. I hadn’t meant it in the way that it sounded, but my soul aches at my own words.

I feel the arms of my best friend wrap around me, holding me tightly for comfort. “You’re allowed to joke about your parents, just like you always have.”

I nod and sob, knowing she’s right, but missing my mother fiercely. She was terrible at fixing hair, though she expected me to always be the image of perfection. She was hard on me, wanting to make sure that I’d be ready for the role of Luna, never willing to consider that my mate may NOT be an Alpha, though I truly believe she was convinced my mate would be the Prince. At the moment, I should be grateful for her persistence in my training, because that’s the only skill I possess at the moment.

I faintly hear the sound of a knock at the front door and immediately smell Alpha David, even from this distance. Carolyn calls me down and I find him standing outside.

“The Alpha would like to speak with you, dear,” she tells me kindly and pats my arm gently.

I can feel the nerves begin to bundle inside me, as if there is the possibility that he has news for me that’s worse than what I’ve lived the past 24 hours. I take a deep breath and pull my shoulders back in a vain attempt to feel like I’m stronger than I truly am as I reach for the door knob and step outside.

The Alpha is standing there, leaning against the white railing of the front porch where we had sat just last night. He’s sweaty, wearing just a pair of shorts as his muscular, tan chest glistens in the afternoon sun. Audrey was right, he really is quite attractive, and the smile that he gives me immediately puts me at ease.

“Hey Celeste,” he says, casually pushing off the rail to stand at his full height, towering over me. “I realized after we spoke earlier that I, perhaps, did not provide you with all the information you may need. I would love for you to join me for dinner tonight in my office and we can discuss things further. I’m sure you have more questions now that you've had time to think. I shouldn't have even brought it up after such a heavy conversation. I'm afraid I may have inadvertently pressured you into making a decision, and that truly wasn't my intent. ”

Relief washes over me as if a dam had broken and I smile at him, possibly the first genuine smile since I’ve been here. “I’d like that. Thank you,” I tell him and he nods at me. “You’re right. I do have more questions now.”

“Great,” he says, turning to walk down the stairs and leave. “I don’t think anyone who would make a good Luna would take this offer without asking more. I’ll come pick you up at 6.”

"That sounds great," I tell him with a smile. "I'll make a list of my questions and concerns."