Alpha's Legacy (Black Moon Saga Book 3)

14. The Luna's Daughter

When Rowan finally emerges from his suite to join us for lunch the next day, it’s plainly apparent that he’s more than happy to be staying here with his mate, who he seems quite thrilled to be paired with. Even if it weren’t for the strict laws about mates at Luna’s Grace, the fresh mark on the girl’s neck is a pretty good giveaway.

“This is Ellen,” he finally introduces me to the small, blushing young woman clinging to his side.

I’ve always felt pretty short myself, but I’m suddenly realizing that it’s probably because I’m from a family of Alphas. This girl is short. The real sort of short, at least a half-foot shorter than me, which means that Rowan towers over her.

“And Ellen, this is my friend, Anna Jade,” he tells her.

She peeks around him to give me a small smile, and I can’t help smiling back at her. Okay, I’ll admit that she’s kind of adorable. I’m still a bit miffed that she stole my new friend from me before I even got a chance to stay up late whispering with him or anything like that, but I do like that she seems sweet, and he seems to be head-over-heels for her already.

“I’m so glad to finally meet you,” I say to her, and Rowan laughs.

“You make it seem like I’ve been keeping you apart for weeks or something,” he teases me. “It was one night, Anna Jade, and you’re the first person I tracked down as soon as we left our room.”

“Aww, so sweet,” I tease right back in a sugary-sweet voice, reaching up to pinch his cheek a little.

But I quickly realize my mistake when sweet little Ellen shoots me a vicious glare, and I can’t even blame her. I just touched her mate, and they haven’t even been mated that long, so they'll both be a little extra possessive while their bond is still developing. But in my defense, it was just yesterday that Rowan and I were comfortably teasing each other like that, and the rules for how we interact changed so suddenly.

“Sorry,” I apologize to her and quickly retract my hand. “I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear.”

“It’s okay,” Rowan chuckles, but the look his mate is still giving me tells me that it is definitely not okay.

After that, and coupled with the fact that the Alpha’s children still seem to be acting insufferably spoiled and sulky all throughout our meal, I find it to be one of the most difficult hours I’ve ever had to endure. Awkward doesn’t even begin to describe it. I can tell Alpha Magnus isn’t any happier about it than I am, though he and Tian try their best to lead us all in some light, friendly conversation.

It is eventually decided that Tian will teleport Rowan to the dorms he has been staying in back at the Redwood Orchard so he can finalize his transfer and collect his things. I’m invited to tag along, but to my despair, Alpha Magnus claims me for the afternoon. He wants me to hang out with one of his daughters, a girl around my age named Maggie, and has arranged some special informational tour of the pack grounds for me.

I can already tell from the snickering I hear across the table that whatever he has planned for me is kind of silly, and I’m probably going to hate it. I’d much rather take what might be my last opportunity to spend some time with Rowan, but whatever it is about me that won’t ever allow me to just say what I’m really thinking and tell people no when they’re suggesting something I don’t want to do, it strikes again.

Despite my reluctance, I can feel myself nodding and forcing a smile, ready to agree to what Alpha Magnus is proposing.

“Yeah, okay. It sounds fun,” I tell him, that stupid smile plastered to my face. “And I’d love to spend some time with Maggie.”

“Suck up,” one of the boys pretend coughs across the table, but I pretend not to hear it.

Tian gives me a look of surprise and concern, probably understanding exactly what I’m going through right now, but he doesn’t say anything. That’s probably a good thing. I’m practically an adult, so anything he might say to try to get me out of it would probably just make me look weak anyway.

Once lunch is finally over, Alpha Magnus beckons both Maggie and I over to him. Like me, she doesn’t seem to have much to say, preferring to just let her dad talk while we both listen. It sounds like he has quite an itinerary planned out for us, which leaves me wondering at what point I’m supposed to have a chance to actually “hang out” and get to know this girl.

“Any questions?” he asks us, and we both shake our heads.

I also notice that she keeps her eyes averted instead of looking directly at him and wonder if I’ve been doing something wrong. No one has said anything though, not even Alpha Magnus or any of his outspoken sons.

“Good,” Alpha Magnus nods. “Just be sure and stick with Maggie because she knows how to get around and will make sure that you arrive to all your appointments on time. Isn’t that right, Maggie?”

She finally lifts her head and looks at him as she nods and answers, “Yes, Alpha.”

He dismisses us, and she doesn’t say much as she leads me down a long hall and out a side door of the packhouse. She’s walking at a brisk pace, but since we’re about the same height, it isn’t any trouble for me to keep up with her. That’s a refreshing change from how I struggle to keep pace with my long-legged sisters back home.

I tend to be a quiet person, but the lack of conversation between us eventually starts to get to me. I can’t tell if she’s just shy or doesn’t really like me, but starting conversations isn’t really my forte. I like it better with someone like Rowan who is so talkative that all I have to do is chime in every now and then.

After racking my brain for anything we might have in common but coming up with nothing since I don’t know a single thing about her, I finally decide on what seems like a safe topic that every teen is familiar with. School.

“What’s your favorite subject?” I ask her, but pretty much as soon as it’s out I realize how silly and childish it sounds and wish that I could take it back.

“Um, I guess it would be history,” she replies, seeming a bit taken aback by how I suddenly decided to talk, and that’s what came out. “But I don’t really like school, and I can’t wait to be done.”

I guess we do have something in common after all.

“I was the same,” I tell her. “But my mom and my teachers decided to let me skip some grades and finish early, thank the Goddess. I’ve been working in the hospital clinic assisting the pack doctors since I graduated.”

“Oh, I see. That’s cool.”

And that’s where the conversation between us dies. I just silently follow her around, first to a building where their girls and women go for their training. There’s an older woman waiting there for us, and she takes us around and shows me all the specialized tools that their women use to hunt.

I wish I had the courage to ask where they even go to hunt. From what I’ve seen, their pack territory is basically like a suburb of a much larger city, and I haven’t seen any wooded areas nearby. I’m quite curious about how they put these skills into practice, but I don’t know whether it would be perceived as me judging or challenging them about the way they do things, so I just keep my mouth shut.

After that, we go in and observe one of their training sessions. From the looks of it, it kind of reminds me of a yoga class.

“It’s important for our hunters to be strong, but limber,” our tour guide explains. “That’s why our training puts so much emphasis on flexibility and core strength. The men focus on bulking up and learning to fight, and we learn to run, climb, swim, and maneuver difficult terrains and obstacles. But we do also learn some hand-to-hand combat techniques and practice fighting with our wolf aspects as well. The men may comprise our army, but if ever danger came knocking at our front door, our entire pack is prepared to fight back.”

I can sense the immense pride she has in her pack, and I can’t say that I blame her. It is impressive. It’s also quite different than I’m used to back home.

We don’t have any female warriors, but many women do train and work out with the men occasionally. We also have a massive pack fitness center, and lots of different classes that people can join to learn various styles of dance, martial arts, yoga, you name it. It’s important because our inner wolves demand regular physical activity.

After Maggie and I leave the women’s training area, I find myself feeling curious again and wanting to try again to get her talking.

“Do you and your sister participate in the training?” I ask her.

“Since we were eight, just like every woman here,” she responds, and that seems to be all she wants to say about it.

She sounds annoyed, and I don’t want to pry any further, so I bite my tongue and hold back the rest of my questions.

I don’t think I’ll be able to consider her a friend anytime soon. It’s too stressful trying to talk to her, and she still doesn’t seem to like me all that much. Although I suppose that it could just be that she doesn’t appreciate being forced to take me around to see and learn about a bunch of stuff that is just normal, boring, everyday life for her.

After our third appointment on the list, Maggie’s phone rings, and she gives me a conflicted look before silently deciding to step away from me and take the call. I’m fine with that, though. I’m sure it won’t take her long, and we can just hustle to our next appointment.

But after a full minute or so has passed and she’s still off wherever she disappeared to around the corner of the building we just came out of, I decide to go after her. We’re definitely going to be late now, and I don’t even know what the consequences of messing up the Alpha’s carefully constructed schedule for us will be.

I can hear her talking still as I near the corner where I saw her turn and head to the left, so I pause there to decide whether to interrupt her call.

“I wish I could, baby,” she says sweetly. I’ve heard enough girls use a sweet, flirty voice and pet names like that to assume that she’s probably talking to her boyfriend or someone she’s dating. “I’d love to ditch this smug little goody two-shoes, but you know I can’t. I’m supposed to be –”

She cuts off mid-sentence as whoever she is talking to starts speaking, and she pauses to listen.

But I’ve heard enough to know for sure that she doesn’t like me now. It’s weird that she’s calling me a goody two-shoes, though. She was the one calling her own dad by his formal title just a little bit ago.

“You are?” she asks excitedly.

I have to step back a little so that she won’t see me because she comes my way a few steps and looks around as if she’s searching for something. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I’m well aware that that’s exactly what I’m doing now. It would be embarrassing to let her find me here, but I also don’t want to step out of earshot because I feel like I need to listen and try to figure out what she’s up to.

Her face breaks out into an excited grin as she spots whatever she was looking for, and I look over to figure out what she’s seeing. It’s a man who appears to be a little bit older than us, and he seems to be coming from a couple buildings over from us. He’s of average height but has that warrior look about him. From what Tian was telling Rowan and I yesterday, that’s most of the men around here, especially the young ones, so that comes as no surprise.

She disconnects her call and tucks her phone back into her pocket before taking off at a run to go and meet that guy. I guess he must have been the mystery caller, and I’m getting the sense that we’re going to be more than a little bit late for our next appointment.

There’s really no hiding now that they’re over there because all she’d have to do is turn around and she’d see me. As for him, he’s already looking my way and will probably notice me any second. But I don’t really know what to do about it, and she’s supposed to be with me anyway, so I guess I’ll just wait for them to finish their lovey, kissy, gropey moment.

Or few moments. Several even. Wow, don’t they need to come up for air at some point?

But once they finally do pull apart, she tells him breathlessly, “You should probably go. The Alpha’s spies are probably lurking about, and besides, I have to get back to the Black Moon girl.”

“Leave her,” he suggests. “She’ll find her own way back. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.”

“My dad would be so pissed,” she laughs.

“Even better.”

They get close again and I can hear them murmuring and mumbling to each other, but I don’t know how their conversation is going because I can’t make out anything else they’re saying. I do hope she doesn’t plan to just leave me here, though. I could probably make my way back to the packhouse, but I have no idea how to get anywhere else, and there are still two appointments left on the tour list.

Should I march over there and demand for her to take me to our next stop? Yeah right, like that’s happening. I suppose I should go over there, though. Maybe just seeing me will be enough.

Reluctantly, I start making my way over to them, and he finally seems to notice me. He grins and nods my way, and she turns around to look.

“Uh, change in plans,” she begins to say, but he cuts her off.

“We were thinking that maybe you could take this list and screw off,” the guy tells me, still smiling. His tone and his face are at odds with each other, though.

“She’s the Luna’s daughter, and you probably shouldn’t talk to her that way,” she scolds him, but I don’t think she means it. “But seriously, though, Anna, I don’t think I’ll be able to continue this little tour with you. I’m sure you understand.”

“But Alpha Magnus –” I start to protest, though I can’t help noticing how she rolls her eyes and exchanges a look with her boyfriend that says they think I’m being ridiculous.

So, I start over, less formally this time.

“Your dad said we were supposed to go to all these appointments and not be late. Won’t he be mad?”

“He sure will,” she says in an oddly cheerful tone. “But that’s why you’re going to go on your own and apologize to Ms. Sanchez for your tardiness. Tell her that I started having one of my headaches and had to head home early, and then tell ‘Alpha Magnus’ the same.”

She says her father’s name sarcastically, and now I’m really confused. I’ve seen about three different versions of her just since I met her at lunch, and I don’t know which one is real or how to predict how she'll be acting next. I’m getting the sense that she’s far from the meek, obedient daughter she seemed at first, though.

“As long as our stories match and you get to where you’re supposed to be, it won’t be much of an issue,” she goes on explaining. “My dad will grumble about it, but that’s about it. Okay? Can I trust you to have my back?”

“But I don’t know where I’m going,” I try to protest one last time, though I recognize the dim prospects of convincing her to stick to her dad’s plan.

I already know that this is going to end badly. She’s just going to leave me here, and I’m going to be left with no choice but to skip the other appointments and head back to the packhouse. Then Alpha Magnus will get upset with us both, and she’ll hate me forever and I’ll never be able to come back here again.

She hands me the list and gives me vague directions of how to get to my next stop before running off with her boyfriend. They do literally run off together, holding hands and giggling as though they’re having tons of fun.

I really wish I had told Alpha Magnus no to begin with so I could have just gone with Tian and Rowan. I bet I’d be having tons of fun too if I had, but instead I’m off to learn about the wonders of knitting and weaving from Ms. Sanchez. That’s assuming I can figure out how to get there in this endless maze of rows upon rows of buildings that all look the same.

I’m a good twenty minutes late and probably headed down the wrong side street again when I hear someone speak from somewhere to the right.

“Anna,” a male voice says in just above a whisper.

I turn and look over where I think it’s coming from, but I don’t see anyone. At least not until he steps out from a little alleyway between two of the buildings, coming out just far enough that I can easily spot him. It’s Lee, Alpha Magnus’s eldest son, and he’s beckoning me over to him.

I want to refuse, but something in me is saying to go with him, and I do. He leads me a little further down the alley where there’s some sort of wooden crate that he turns upside down so he can sit on it. I just watch quietly and wonder what he wants from me until he finally speaks.

“Rumor has it that you’re a healer,” he says, and looks up at me hopefully.

“I am,” I confirm for him, now looking him over and trying to figure out what he needs a healer for.

He does seem a bit pale and maybe even out of breath, but I don’t see anything obviously wrong with him yet.

“You wouldn’t happen to be able to do anything about this, would you?”

He starts lifting up his shirt, and I can’t stop myself from gasping when I see all the bruises and the jagged, bloody gashes across his ribs and stomach. I didn’t notice the blood through his dark shirt, but from the look of those wounds, I bet it’s soaked.

“What happened?” I question him, still shocked by what he’s showing me.

I’ve seen wounds like these before during my time volunteering at the hospital, and I know they’re likely from claw attacks during a particularly nasty wolf fight. Which begs the question – what sort of mischief has the Alpha’s son been into? I certainly hope my brother’s secret club hasn’t made its way all the way down here, and I really hope Lee isn’t involved in anything like that.

But he faints before he gets a chance to explain, and I have to hurry to catch him before he tumbles off his makeshift seat. It looks like I’m about to break a couple of my mom’s rules because Lee obviously needs my help, and we’re low on options. I’ll worry about the consequences later.