Bound By Moonlight

Chapter 6: What Just Happened?

Landon’s POV

Quinn's car was disappearing into the distance as I held my spot and watched. I would have instead driven her home, but we had Rob's car, and offering to drive her home seemed like a little too much for having just met her. I was trying to figure out what exactly had happened as emotions and thoughts were swimming everywhere in my head.

"Who cares if we just met her!" Ezra yelled. "She's our mate!"

"I know that, and you know that, but she doesn't know that, so would you please stop yelling!" I scolded.

"We should follow her and tell her about being our mate!" he yelled again, ignoring my warning.

"And then she'll think we're insane; you know how humans react to hearing werewolves exist," I reminded him.

"Landon, are you coming back inside?" Rob's annoyed voice asked.

"We need to leave," I told him. The last thing I wanted to do was go back into the bar. I had a lot that I needed to think about.

"What are you talking about? We've only been here for like thirty minutes?" Rob reminded me.

"We're leaving NOW! Get your a** to the car!" I ordered.

"Yes, Alpha," he responded quietly. He would be angry with me for cutting his fun short, but he would have to get over it. Heading back to Rob's car, I waited outside for him. Why the Moon Goddess would mate me to a human didn't make sense. Ezra was right; she didn't make mistakes, but this didn't make sense. Every Alpha before me had been mated to another Alpha's daughter or an elder's daughter.

Rob finally appeared at the car, looking sad and irritated, but he didn't say a word as we climbed into the car and pulled back onto the road. His anger radiated off him, and I thought about apologizing for ending the night early, but how he talked about Quinn changed my mind.

"So, you're sure that girl's your mate?" Rob finally asked. Ezra rolled his eyes, already knowing where this conversation was headed.

"Yes, there's no doubt in my mind," I replied shortly.

"What will you do?" he asked, treading carefully.

"I don't know. She's a human, which means she has no idea about the mate bond," I replied. Rob remained quiet as he thought about his following words carefully. The city was fading quickly behind us as we got closer to the secluded territory of our pack.

"Do you plan to accept her?" he asked hesitantly from the last time I snapped at him.

"Of course we do!" Ezra said, proudly lifting his head.

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do," I answered. Ezra's head fell as he growled at me loudly.

"Don't give me that bull*hit; we need to think about this. We need to think about what's good for our pack!" I told him.

"What's good for our pack is to have our chosen mate by our side, and you know that! You're only saying this because of the doubt Rob put into your head," he said with a glare.

"You need to think about the pack," he told me, looking sideways out of his eye. "She's not going to be a strong leader."

"How does he know that? He's never even spoken to her!" Ezra roared, attempting to claw his way out and put Rob in his place.

"I am thinking about the pack," I told him quietly. Rob fell silent as we continued to drive towards the pack. So many things were going on in my head, and all I wanted to do was be in my place, alone, to think about everything.

"I know you'll make the right decision," he added.

"Look, I know you're trying to help, but I do not wanna talk about this with you anymore," I told him sternly. The car fell quiet, and the rest of the drive was spent in our awkward, tension-filled silence. Ezra was pacing around my head, a low growl emanating from his chest, thinking about everything Rob and I had said. When we returned to the pack house, I jumped out of the car before Rob parked it. Storming through the door, I bypassed the elevator since there were about five people also waiting to use it. Taking the stairs three at a time, I burst through my apartment door and slammed it behind me. The pictures on the wall shook slightly under the force, and I stared at the largest one.

This particular one was a family portrait done a few years before my parents' deaths. My mom, Kathleen, and dad, Artemis, were sitting in high back chairs, while I stood on their right and Evelyn stood on the left. My dad looked very serious, but my mom had the hint of a smile behind her eyes. I looked as serious as my father while Evelyn smiled away, happy. My mother was a strong leader and an excellent Luna to this pack. She was the daughter of the High Alpha and was extremely well respected and influential.

My dad and she made a fantastic mated pair and helped build this pack into what it was when I took over. She sacrificed herself in a battle when we assisted a neighboring pack, White Eclipse. The people they were fighting had a powerful witch about to wipe out most of the pack's pups. She jumped in and took the full force of the witch's powers, killing her almost instantly. The pain of losing his mate didn't kill my dad right away, but it changed him. He was never the same after that day and ended up taking his own life a few months later.

All of this made me think about Quinn and her being human. Would she be able to be a strong leader like my mom? Without a wolf, she couldn't fight or help defend the pack. The pain of rejecting her would be a lot easier to bear than the pain of losing her once we'd marked each other. There was also the question of whether she'd even want to be with me once she learned what I was. For the rejection to be permanent, she would have to accept it, so she would have to know the truth first. Too many emotions were swirling inside of me at once.

I was guilty of thinking about rejecting her, angry that I had been mated to a human, wanting and needing to be close to Quinn right now, but also feeling like I couldn't. It was all too much for me, and I picked up the lamp from the table beside my couch. Launching it across the room, it hit the wall with an ear-shattering crash, falling in one thousand pieces on the floor. Panting, as I came down from my emotional high and outburst, there was a sharp knock on my door that drew my attention.

"Landon, is everything okay?" Evelyn's voice said, muffled slightly by the door. I'm sure she was walking by and heard all the noise I had been making. Taking a few deep breaths, I opened the door to reveal her concerned face.

"Sorry," I told her.

"What's going on? Rob was all pissed off, and he muttered something about you finding your mate. Is she here?" she asked, looking past me, probably expecting to see a woman behind me.

"No, she's not here," I said. "It's a long story."

"Well, I'd love to hear about it," she smiled, raising a brow at me. I sighed, opening the door more for her to get past me. Evelyn sat on my suede couch and patted the seat next to her, letting me know she wanted to get comfortable with this story. I took my jacket off and hung it up on the hooks by the door before plopping down next to her and leaning my head back on the back of the couch. She was staring at me with a 'Are you gonna start' look, so I figured I should dive right in.

"Rob's right, I did find my mate tonight," I began.

"Oh my Goddess!" she exclaimed, grabbing my arm tightly and shaking it. "That's amazing! What pack is she from?"

"She's not from a pack," I told her, finally looking at her face. Her brow was furrowed in confusion.

"She's a rogue?" she questioned.

"Nope, she's human," I finished. Evelyn's eyes went wide as she processed this new information.

"Wow, a human. Well, what's her name?" she asked.

"Quinn Baker," I replied, the sound of Quinn telling me her name played over again in my head.

"Look, I know how people in this pack feel about humans and having human mates, but fu*k them!" Evelyn said, looking at me sternly. "The Moon Goddess picked Quinn for you for a reason."

"I know, Ezra said the same thing, but how could she be a good Luna for this pack? She wouldn't even be able to fight against invaders," I explained.

"So? Why does that matter? We have an army for a reason," Evelyn told me with a roll of her eyes. "She doesn't need to be perfect; she just has to be perfect for you. And no one would dare say anything to you about it, you know that." I considered what she was telling me. Evelyn always had a reasonable approach to tricky situations; she got that from our mother. At the same time, I got more of our father's temper and quickness to jump without thinking. "I'm not telling you what to do," she continued. "But maybe just take some time to think about things before you decide. You know Leo, and I will support whatever you decide."

"Thanks," I mumbled, slightly embarrassed I needed my big sister's advice for this type of thing. Evelyn smiled at me before squeezing my arm one last time. She exited the couch and opened the door but stopped halfway out. "Oh, and don't let any of Rob's bull*hit cloud your judgment. He's an a**hole." The door closed behind her softly, and I threw my head back again.

"See, even Evelyn thinks we should accept her!" Ezra barked.

"That's not what she said, exactly," I told him. He glared at me and began pacing again, irritated we didn't have Quinn next to us.

"Why don't we sleep on it, and we can talk about it more in the morning?" I suggested to him, done with his exaggerated emotions for one day.

"Fine, but you already know what I'm going to say," he huffed, shaking his shaggy black fur.

"But I need time to think about things," I reminded him. Ezra growled at me before turning around and blocking me out. I had never seen him act this way, so whiny and smitten and begging for what he wanted. Quinn seemed to have a good hold on him, and we had only interacted with her once.

Dragging myself from the comfort of the couch, I went into my bedroom to change into pajama pants and crawl into bed. Sleeping was going to be difficult because all I could see was Quinn's beautiful, delicate face in my head. How large her blue eyes were when we pulled that a**hat off of her. I finally drifted off to sleep with her voice ringing in my head.