Waiting for his Luna

Chapter 7

Josie looks once more at the empty corridor before walking into class, late.

As soon as Archer is out of sight, his casual walk with his hands in his pockets becomes a run to the trees. The closer that Josie gets to her birthday, the more her wolf stirs. Usually a wolf doesn’t stir at all, but Josie has an alpha wolf and a strong one at that, so the slight stirrings will increase until her wolf will truly wake on the day of Josie's eighteenth birthday.

The more Josie’s wolf stirs, the more drawn Archer feels and the harder it is to stay away. The daily struggle is getting harder and harder to bear. Today it just hit a whole new level.

Actually touching her, having her against him, while amazing, just made him know even more what he was missing.

He is struggling, he just wants to tell her so much, but what if it makes her hate him? What if she replies in the same way she does to all the others?

Could he handle it? Could he handle hearing the words of rejection? The others laugh it off. It just adds to their stupid game, making them more determined to wear her down, but for him, her real mate, it would cut so deep.

It might cause irreparable damage, it is all just too much of a risk.

Archer misses the rest of school to take a run, plus to tidy up pack work, as every Friday night is booked out for him, the same thing every Friday, and he doesn't want a backlog of work to worry about.

Josie somehow manages to get through class, her obsession with Archer reaching fanatic level in a short time. She shakes her head and looks around the classroom. She thought she was different than the other she wolves, but it turns out she is just the same. What happened to being an independent bad ass woman? What happened to the ‘who needs anyone but her mate’ woman? She needs to stop these thoughts altogether. She is eighteen soon, her wolf will awaken and she will be able to find her mate. Nothing else matters to her, her love will belong only to her mate, so why can she not stop thinking about that large hand holding her hand, that large back shading her.

Josie hits her cheek to try and wake herself up, but…. She did kiss his body, even though there was a shirt between them she could feel the strength.

There is no guarantee that she will find her mate at eighteen. Look at her brothers, for example. If she doesn't, it isn’t particularly bad to have a crush on a super good-looking man, right? Even though he is an alpha, even though he is from a rival pack, even though her brothers would kill her if they found out, well, they would probably kill Archer just because she dared to think of him and that would not be good for pack relations.

She shakes her head, there are one million reasons not to crush on Archer.

Number one being the most important, his total and utter lack of interest in her.

She strengthens her resolve and vows to stop thinking of him in inappropriate ways.

Josie heads straight home after school and hurries to get dressed. What would one expect of a nearly eighteen-year-old on a Friday night? Maybe a tiny dress and some high heels? A party to go to? To dance and maybe kiss some boys?

That isn't Josie, that couldn’t be further from what she does. She has a long-standing appointment on a Friday night, something that she fought very hard for and has no intention of missing.

Sitting out in the kitchen of the pack house, waiting not so patiently, is a handsome man, his brown hair is short on the side and longer on the top swept over casually to the right on his forehead, his eyes, that are a carbon copy of Josie's blue, missing the green flecks, just the most intense blue, the most beautiful blue, a blue that one could get immersed in.

He stares at the door, his face is so handsome yet always looks so serious, he is friendly to certain people but has the aura of an indisputable leader.

He doesn't have to say a word, his expression always says it all.

The girls from the pack walk through the kitchen and cast looks at him. It is hard not to look at someone so handsome, but none of them dare to get too close.

Nathan finally sees who he wants to see, a small smile lights up his icy face as he sees the only girl, for now, that is allowed to approach him, his favourite person in the world, the person that he will protect with his life.

"Josie, you are so damn slow"

Josie rolls her eyes at her brother.

"I was seven minutes. In total. Including a shower, you are so impatient"

"Seven minutes? It felt more like seven hours"

Josie laughs and pulls his arm as she walks out with him.

"Well, I have told you one million times that I am a big girl. You don't have to take me"

"Big girl? You haven't even got your wolf yet. Do you think I am going to leave you out there to fend for yourself?"

"You act like there is a predator at every corner"

Nathan slips an arm around his sister's shoulder and pulls her close to him before using his spare hand to knock on her head.

"Is there anything in that pretty little head of yours?"

Josie swats his hand away, before massaging the aching spot that his large knuckle left.

"Stop calling me stupid"

"But you are so very stupid, how could you even say that? You saying that only means that you don't know men well enough"

Josie rolls her eyes.

"How would I know men? You would be the first one to rip their heads off if I showed the slightest interest and, goddess forbid, if they showed an interest in me"

"Damn right, even when you find your mate he still has to be screened. As far as I am concerned, the Moon goddess' fated mate is just a suggestion. I will take the recommendation on board but he has to get through thorough screening first before he can even think about claiming you"

Josie pushes him away and gets in the passenger seat of the car.

"Fine, I will do the same with your mate"

Nathan growls.

"Don't you even think about it"

Nathan is twenty-four and yet to find his mate. He is desperately searching for her.

"I have thought about it. Unless she can do a headstand while knitting and eating a burrito, she is not good enough. I will send her packing"

Nathan laughs, knowing full well that Josie is just as anxious to meet his mate as he is.

"What type of test is that?"

"It is an everyday requirement"

"Fine, I will pay to see you do it and even then you can still not let my mate do it"

"You underestimate me"

"Sorry my great sister, of course you could do the impossible, completely useless task. I will never question your skill again"

"It is about time that you acknowledge my greatness"

Nathan ruffles her hair as she tries to hit his hand away.

They finally pull up at the location of Josie's Friday night activity. One of her brothers is always here with her, her protector. It is Nathan seventy percent of the time, not because he loves his sister more than Vaughan does, because they both love their sister a lot and are both insanely protective of her. It is because Nathan is crazy about finding his mate. If there is a chance he could run into her, then he is there, it has turned into a part-time job for him in between all the other pressures resting on his shoulders.

His nose is always open, his eyes are always searching.

Back to Josie's activity, it took a lot of persuading of her brothers, then of her father and only then when it got past those three massive road blocks.

Only then was it taken to the elders. It was a year-long process, so she was very glad she started young.

From the age of fourteen, Josie started noticing that women don't get trained as well as the men. Of course, not within her own pack, her father saw to it that the training was always equal, even back in her grandfather's day it was still the same, which was unusual.

Luna Zara, Josie's mother, was the one to train the girls mostly, so Josie always had the best role model. It was the other packs, the women that came with mates, the girls at school, the difference between the men and the women was unbelievable. The women that would join the ruby pack later with their mates had never thrown a single punch, so trying to fit into their new pack when they were so far behind was near impossible. Josie saw their embarrassment, their tears and their struggling to catch up. Not to mention the dangerous world that they lived in, without the early training their wolf was so useless, a common house dog had better fighting ability.

Josie decided that she wanted to be like her role model, her mother, and teach the girls who didn’t get that head start, that chance, how to fight.

Getting through the elders' scrutiny was nearly easier than getting it through her family.

Luckily, the elders don't think much of girls or women, so they didn't put up too much resistance to the idea and passed it just to shut her up. But that is fine, whatever works. Josie still took it as a win.