Getting away with the Alpha's Pup

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I get it. As the future Alpha, of course he'd be busy. Hell, I understood the workload Dylan was under, given that I'd spent the last year shadowing his mom, Heather, the Luna of Starsmoon. Most days, I helped her with her duties. When I'd started learning my future role as Luna, I'd been surprised at the amount of necessary work Heather did in the background. Daily, she'd have pack members to visit who were ill or having a personal problem; nothing was too great or too small for her. She made sure she knew what was going on in the lives of all her pack members. She also spent a lot of time with outreach work in the local community. She'd schooled me in the necessity that the pack had a strong cohesion with the local community, too. Being shifters, we had a real need for seclusion once a month while we shifted, but it was vital that the small town didn't get suspicious of us, so we had to ensure we didn't isolate ourselves from it either.

I'd always respected Heather as our pack's Luna, and I'd been impressed and inspired by how caring she was with the human community in the area. Most days, I attended a church, community center, youth club, school, or library event with her, readying myself for the role of Luna that would one day be mine.

After tipping the plate of food into the bin, I once again returned to my bedroom, the feeling of loneliness overwhelming me. I got out the cushion covers I'd made at my dad's house in Seattle. They were white with a pattern of delicate cherry blossoms scattered across them. I'd made them for the living room. It always made me feel better to design and make something with my namesake on it: Cherry. My mom started the tradition. She always enjoyed getting me things with cherries on them. I remembered how she'd enjoyed surprising me with things, dresses, teddies, blankets, anything that was awash with the shiny red fruit. I felt as if I could still hear her joyful whisper in my ear, "For my Cherry."

A stab of longing swept through me. My mom had passed away a couple of years ago when I was sixteen. It was only a year and a half later that the Starsmoon Alpha and Luna brought me here to the small town of Lord Hill, where Dylan lived. Our Alpha and Luna, Dylan's parents, had long foreseen that Dylan and I were destined for each other. They'd told both Dylan and me when he was in his teens, and I was eleven, that the shifter Moon God, Nuu-Chah, had guided them with a vision that we belonged together.

However, so far, Dylan hadn't shown any sign of being attracted to me. He didn't seem remotely interested in me like that. He hadn't even kissed me, and we'd lived together for a whole year. Worry crept through me. For what must have been the thousandth time, I wondered if there was something wrong with me.

Heat flushed over my skin as one of my common fantasies played through my thoughts: Dylan's tall, muscular form pushing through my bedroom door, his dark eyes claiming mine before he took me in his arms and kissed me. But that's where the fantasy petered out as it so often did. After all, I didn't have much experience in that department. Who was I trying to fool? I didn't have any s****l experience.

Nothing.

Helplessness whirled through me. The truth was, since being told by our Alpha and Luna that Dylan was my fated mate, I'd grown up with the idea that things between us would just happen. It's not that I'd intentionally kept myself for Dylan, but I suppose, looking back when I'd fantasized about kissing someone, and then whenever I pleasured myself it was always Dylan I pictured.

Cringing with embarrassment, I felt like I had to leave the room. If I stayed for one more second, those fantasies would come again, no doubt. So I ventured to the living room, just to get some fresh air. Turning on the lamps, I sat in the corner of the leather couch. I had attempted to make the room cozier over the last year. I'd added some warmth by making the colorful curtains cream with pastel trimming. As I sipped my wine, I remembered the cushion covers I'd finished. Getting them, I had soon scattered the previously bare leather couch with my completed creations. Seeing the finished products in their intended place made me pleased with my afternoon's work at my dad's house. I could have moved my sewing machine here, but having it at my dad's meant that whenever I had a creative project to work on, I got to visit him. He worked for the pack still, but he often worked from home. After I'd moved out, I knew he appreciated my visits, especially since my mom had passed away.

Admiring how the delicate textiles complimented the angular lines of the couch, I wondered whether Dylan would notice. He'd said I could change whatever I wanted in this room, the kitchen, and my bedroom. The exceptions were his room and the study. Gradually, the house had been softened. As I took another sip of wine, my thoughts fell again to wondering whether Dylan's sharp edges, so prickly towards me, might not be similarly softened in time. The next second, what he said to me at dinner hit me.

Could I ever make him fall for me? It'd been a year since I moved in here, and nothing'd changed. I could've been an outstanding designer, with my degree in fashion design and my talent. But because of that prophecy, that I was his fated mate and the future Luna of Starsmoon, I gave up everything and came here, going all out to make him notice me. Was it really worth it? After a moment of doubt, I decided to try one more time. Not for the sake that I was drawn to him, but for the stability of our pack. Having made up my mind, I entered the kitchen to warm the milk for him, sort of my daily routine.