Luna of Mine (11 page)

He started to stand up,
biting back the growl in his chest. “I need to have a discussion
with your father, now.” Her hand on his leg froze him in place. He
had a feeling her touch would be doing that a lot to
him.

“Maybe you should cool off
a bit before you go all Alpha on him,” she suggested attempting to
pull him back down.

“
I do
not want to cool down. I want your father to know that I will claim
you the second you turn eighteen.” He stood all the way up brushing
his trousers off and then helped Alina to her feet.

“Have you considered that
maybe trying to reason with him would get you further than just
commanding him?”

“
No.” He
grabbed her hand and began walking in long, purposeful
strides.

“
Do you
not want to try to see his side of it, so maybe then you could
formulate a more convincing argument for why you want to claim me
at eighteen?”

“No.”

“Could you possibly walk
any faster because I really prefer to be drug by my arm instead of
using my feet?”

Vasile immediately stopped
and looked down at her. She was breathless from trying to keep up
with him and her face was flushed. What a caring mate he was
turning out to be. Maybe it was not only Alina that was not ready
to be mated. Perhaps, he had some things to learn as well. He
considered it for several breaths.
No, I’m
ready,
he told himself. He was just under
a lot of stress at the moment, and his emotions were running on
overload. That was all. If he could take her home with him, know
she was safe, and know she was marked as his, then he would be
calmer, and less brash.

“
I am
not used to asking. I command and it happens. That is what I know.
And when it comes to you, I do not feel I should have to ask. I
should, however, pay more attention to how my anger affects you,”
he admitted.

“
I am
fine,” she answered curtly and started forward again.

Vasile pulled her gently to
a halt and tugged her arm to get her to look at him. “I am sorry.
I
should
be more
careful of you.”

“
I am
not breakable, Vasile.”

He stepped up to her and
took her face gently in his palm, being careful not to lean to
close because he knew he would kiss her. “You do not have to be
breakable to be damaged.” They stared at one another, lost in the
connection that they shared only with each other. He could have
stood there all day just to get to touch her, to be close to her,
and have her undivided attention. He made himself step back and
drop his hand. Turning them in the direction of her home once again
he said, “I am calmer. Now, I will talk to your father.”

“Are you going to listen to
what he has to say?”

Vasile huffed. “No. Being
calmer does not mean I am more tolerant.”

Romanian Proverb # 7

Va rãsãri soarele si pe
ulita noastrã.

Every dog has his
day

“
Y
ou have not been yourself since you
returned home,” Eveline told her mate, Anghel, as they sat in the
library of the Western Romania pack castle.

Anghel knew that sooner
rather than later she would say something about his withdrawn
behavior and the closed off areas in their bond. They respected
each other enough to allow the other privacy until they were ready
to discuss it, so he knew she had no idea what was upsetting
him.

“
Stefan
and Daciana have passed on.” There was no emotion in his voice not
because he did not hurt but because he knew she would need him to
be strong. As his mate’s tears began to fall for the couple, and
especially the woman who had been a dear friend, he pulled her into
the shelter of his arms and let her weep. There were no words that
would give her comfort, so instead he offered his strength and his
love.

It was a long while until
she finally was able to pull herself together from the shock of the
news. She dried her tears and took several deep breaths. Anghel
waited for the questions he knew would come but was not sure how he
would answer. He and Eveline had been mated a long time, and they
had never kept secrets. He was pretty sure he could not start
now.

“
How?”
she asked her voice hoarse from crying.

“
I was
asked not to tell you the truth,” he began and her eyes snapped up
to meet his. “However, we have never kept secrets because we have
complete trust in each other. What I am going to tell you must
never leave this room. If this information were to get in the wrong
hands, it could cause an uprising in the Eastern pack and a
challenge to Vasile’s ability to be Alpha.”

“
They
were my friends, Anghel. I would never do anything to hurt them in
life or in death.”

“
I know,
my love. I simply need you to know that I am the only one you can
discuss this with if you need to work through it.” Anghel proceeded
to tell his mate everything that Vasile had. He left nothing out
and spared her no details because she would see it in his mind
anyways.

“
Not
true mates? How? What?” she breathed out after he was finished,
attempting to process that one of their oldest friends had managed
to keep something so significant from them for so long. Her face
was filled with compassion when she met her mate’s eyes. “Daciana
must have been so lonely. Even though she loved Stefan and he loved
her, there would have been a hole in her that was never able to be
filled. I wish she would have let me be there for
her.”

Anghel stroked her cheek
gently. His mate was an Alpha, but she was also very empathetic to
those she loved and claimed as hers. To her, Daciana had been like
a sister, and Eveline felt the loss as if she were one of their own
pack.

“I am glad I told you,” he
admitted. “It was a burden I could not have carried on my
own.”

“
That is
why we have each other.” She smiled up at him through tear filled
eyes. “As Alpha there are some things you cannot share with the
pack―to keep them safe and to keep others safe. Others might not
understand that, but I do. And even if I did not agree with you, I
will always choose you.”

“
Thank
you, Luna. You honor me. Perhaps, you could honor our old friends
as well and visit Vasile. I am sure he would welcome your presence.
He has been visiting with his pack, making sure they feel secure
and that there are none who wish to challenge him. But he should be
home soon.”

“What has he been telling
them?”

“
A
variation of the truth but very watered down. We are the only
others people who know this secret and because of that he should be
fine. They have no reason to question his leadership over the
reason of his parent’s deaths.”

“And it will stay that
way,” she agreed.

E
milian, Beta of the Western Romania pack, stood several feet
away from the library door where his Alphas sat discussing some
very interesting news. He just happened upon the conversation,
lucky for him, and now he finally had the ammunition he needed to
bring the Eastern Romania pack under new leadership. The Lupeis had
been in control for far too long and he had been overlooked in his
own pack for more years than he could count. He would never be able
to take over his own pack. They were too loyal to Anghel. And until
this information he would have never been able to take the Eastern
pack either because of their loyalty to Stefan. There had been a
few who had begun to wonder at Stefan’s sanity. He was an old, old
wolf and sometimes, true mate or not, old wolves would begin to
slip. There were grumblings over the state of the outer villages
not being given the same financial help as the ones closer to the
castle. In a pack it is the Alpha’s job to make sure everyone is
getting what they need and that none are being overlooked. Hungry
wolves, desperate wolves, or wolves not controlled are dangerous to
everyone.

He smiled to himself as he
considered his good fortune. He was no fool. He knew he could not
beat Vasile in a challenge but with this information he would not
have to. Vasile's pack would rise against him with males
challenging him not just daily but hourly. No wolf, no matter how
powerful, could withstand such an attack. Once Vasile was worn down
and nearly broken, Emilian would finish him and the pack would be
his.

I
t
was early afternoon by the time Alina and Vasile made it to her
home. She knew that while she and Vasile had been sitting by the
river, her father would have headed home to check on Georgeta. Like
most males he did not leave his mate alone for long. She was on
edge, mostly because Vasile was on edge, and it was flowing down
through their bond into her. She knew she had to stay calm. If her
emotions got out of control, it would only feed Vasile’s already
volatile state. She took slow breaths as they walked up to the door
of her home and stepped inside.

“Father,” Alina called.
Petre came striding out of the only bedroom in the cottage. He
smiled when he saw her, but it was wiped clean when his eyes jumped
to Vasile. “Vasile would like to speak with you.”

Petre motioned to the door
behind them. “Could we have a seat outside? My mate is lying down;
she has been working herself ragged and needs to rest.”

Vasile nodded. “That will
be remedied,” he reminded Petre.

“
Of
course, Alpha, and we appreciate your desire to see our pack
thrive.”

Once outside they had
taken up seats on some large tree stumps that her father had
arranged in a circle so that they and others of the pack could come
and spend time with one another. Sometimes they would have a fire
if the conversation lasted into the night. Alina had so many good
memories of their circle of stumps, and yet, as she sat there now,
those memories were the furthest thing from her mind. She had
started for her usual spot which was on the left side of her
father, purely out of habit, but Vasile had caught her wrist and
tugged her to a stump next to the one he chose. It was directly
across from where her father now sat.

“
Obviously, from the happenings at the home of Sain and Theris
you know that Alina is my true mate,” Vasile
began.

Her father nodded but he
did not add anything. She knew his tactics well. He would let a
person say their peace and then make them wait while he processed
it. In the meantime, they would be squirming under his scrutinized
stare. It made the one waiting for him to respond think that maybe
what they had said did not make sense, or perhaps they were wrong.
Slowly they began to second guess themselves, and if her father had
a different point of view, by the time he spoke they had already
begun to agree with him.

“
Alina
and I have been discussing the uniqueness of our situation since
she is not of age. It is unusual, though not unheard of, for the
bond to appear between true mates when one or both of them are
fairly young. The difficulty of the situation obviously comes when
the male is mature and ready to take his mate, but the female is
not.” He glanced at her and his eyes were a tad too bright for her
liking. She reached out and took his hand hoping that her touch
would help calm him. When he looked back at her father, she did not
take her eyes off of him as if her gaze could hold him in place and
keep his wolf tame.