Bonus Forward

Heidi

The only good thing about the whole Alpha Assembly was that Dane had finally just been honest after our most recent fight, instead of the way he usually just tried to manage me, as if I were just another troublesome pack matter that he had to deal with. It was not a good feeling to constantly feel more like I was an issue to him than a person.

Aside from that tiny bit of progress in our relationship, the assembly was the most boring thing I had ever experienced in my life, and that wasn’t an easy accomplishment. Even the idea that I was going to be duty-forced to come to these things as long as I was Greenwood’s luna was almost enough to bore me to literal tears.

From what I could tell, it was largely a bunch of wolf-fuelled egos patting themselves on the backs and reminding each other how macho and powerful they all were. Kind of like how some males got so invested in sports, except this didn’t even have any action to at least give me something to watch while they did it. Maybe they could start tossing a football to the person speaking or something. I’d take anything at that point. I desperately wanted to pull out my phone and post something to one of my accounts or text my friends, but I couldn’t risk it like I used to in school. There, worst case scenario, I’d get snapped at by a teacher, maybe have my phone confiscated until the end of class. Here, if I shamed Greenwoods, I would never live it down. Pretending to listen when it got too much was my only option.

Well, at least Dane was hot, I thought, as I let my eyes wander over my mate. Maybe I would let him mark me tonight, if he didn’t return to Heidi-management mode before then. He clearly still wanted to after the whole nearly forced marking—again—thing, and my wolf was dying for it. But there were things far more important than giving in to my wilder instincts.

Still, in the short time since our last fight, he had seemed somehow different. I was hopeful, and he’d better not screw that up. I was really tired of crying over him, something I had been doing far too often since the issuing of that luna challenge that I had miraculously won. Still didn’t know how I pulled that off, but I wasn’t complaining that I had survived.

After a bit more endless tedium, we got to the matter of some new Glen-something pack, which didn’t even seem like a big deal to me. Why were they even arguing about it? Let the rogues form a pack, wasn’t that better for everyone? If packs didn’t like rogues or want to take them in, and the rogues didn’t want to be rogues and wanted to make their own pack, the solution seemed pretty obvious to me.

Maybe I was missing something, or maybe it was just these alphas and their detail drama. No, not drama, drama was way too interesting a word for this torture. I didn’t roll my eyes since apparently that wasn’t luna-like behaviour, even though I really wanted to. Dane had better appreciate how hard I was trying here. Maybe I wasn’t all perfect like certain chosen lunas might have been, but I was doing my best and it was time I started to get some credit.

Then the grumpy-looking old alpha from some random pack I couldn’t be bothered to remember the name of spoke next, his intrusive voice rudely interrupting my thoughts.

“Mark my words, these are exactly the sort of wolves we don’t want grouping and gaining power. They’re unfit to be a part of a pack. And if you need more evidence of that, the new luna of this dangerous pack is little better than a status hunting whore. She couldn’t bag a proper alpha, so now she’s slumming it with the rogues.”

I cringed. Why was that alpha being so hateful?

Dane’s muscles grew tense beside me, and he had on his angry-but-trying-not-to-let-it-show expression, his lips in relaxed line above a tightly clenched jaw, and that clued me into what was going on.

The guy at the front wasn’t just some random alpha defending his pack, the Glen-something alpha—I forgot his actual name already, Jessie Bradley or something like that maybe, I hadn’t been listening again—was the true mate of Dane’s ex-chosen mate. The luna that the hateful alpha was talking about wasn’t just any Carrie, but the impossible-standard Carrie that I was always being silently compared to by everyone at Greenwoods.

A quick look at the wolves observing off to the side confirmed my guess. There she was, looking irritatingly perfect, although definitely shocked and angry. I guess this explained what she was doing at the Alpha Assembly. Good to know she really wasn’t back for revenge at least.

My mate clearly was not happy about his past being dredged up in front of everyone. Normally, I would spitefully leave him to deal with it himself, but if he was going to try harder to be open with me, I could try to be supportive for him. I sneakily put my hand on his leg, and he glanced at me, surprise clear in his expression, chasing away his angry fake calm. I gave him a slight smile as he put his hand on mine. It felt good, the touch between us, and especially the fact he wasn’t screwing things up yet.

I turned my attention back to the furious Glen-something alpha who was still standing up at the front. I would have enjoyed it more if my mate weren’t related to the whole disaster, but at least this was less boring.

Then it hit me. Maybe that was why the hateful alpha had brought up the whole unpleasant business. He was probably as tired of the endless droning as I was and just was looking for some excitement. Seemed like he was going to get it, too. The Glen-something alpha’s fury was obvious to anyone looking at him. His entire body was tense, his fists clenched, and I could see a muscle ticking in his jaw even from as far away as I was sitting. His wolf was in his eyes and he was staring down the hateful alpha with an expression so terrifying that it would have probably made me faint if it had been directed at me. I was on the edge of my seat.

The hateful alpha didn’t seem too smart. He was staring back stubbornly, unwilling to back down as if daring the Glen-something alpha to attack him. Did he have a death wish?

The hateful alpha was lucky—or maybe unlucky, if his goal had really been death by angry werewolf—that he wasn’t instantly murdered. Pretty sure my alpha from my birth pack would have murdered him if he had said something like that about my luna. Maybe he wasn’t just bored after all, but I couldn’t figure out what he could possibly be hoping to gain.

I was distracted from trying to figure it out when the Glen-something alpha spoke clearly, his voice impressively powerful.

“As neighbors, I expect that you will treat my mate, Luna Carrie, with the respect due any luna and a fellow wolf. What happened in her past—which was far from entirely her fault—is no concern of yours.”

Well, I liked that. It was nice to see any male defending his mate so clearly, even if that mate was impossible-standard Carrie. Dane had not impressed me when I found out the way he had been treating her, so I was glad she’d found her mate and that he seemed to be treating her well.

Plus, a little voice in the back of my head added helpfully, if she was happy where she was, she wouldn’t be back to cause more tension between my mate and I. We definitely didn’t need that now that Dane seemed to be finally cluing in. I’d waited so long, and I’d tried explaining what was wrong a hundred times, but it seemed he had just needed to get there on his own like the stubborn alpha he was.

More things were said that I couldn’t remember later, and then they voted on the fate of the pack. I waited on the edge of my seat, feeling nervous for the sake of Glen-something. I had been planning to give Dane a piece of my mind if he didn’t support them, but there was no need, because he voted against dissolving Glen-something. I approved of that choice.

I was relieved that the majority of the alphas were sane enough to leave the pack be, along with my mate. The Glen-something alpha was positively triumphant that they’d won, and I curiously watched him stride back down to his pack mates. They greeted him with obvious excitement, and his mate beamed at him, her joy obvious.

Well, that was nice to see. I glanced back at Dane. She’d apparently gotten past the mess of the past, maybe we really could, too.

The assembly continued, and the droning quickly sapped any relief that I’d gained from Glen-something’s exciting victory by the time the day’s issues were dealt with.

There were so many, this pack was in an argument with that pack over a territory dispute or something. This alpha didn’t want to let a mate transfer to be with their mate or maybe wouldn’t let the mate transfer in, it was all very confusing. This small pack was having rogue issues, which actually did sound serious. This other alpha was...I didn’t even know what his problem was. My best guess was that he was permanently stuck on his serious and overbearing setting and needed help with the repair costs to dial it back to normal. My heart went out to him if that was the case.

I could have cried out of pure relief at the end when Dane helped me stand up by offering me his hand when it was finally over. I enjoyed the warmth of his skin on mine, as well as the momentary relief, even though there were four more days of these tedious scheduled meetings still to go and I wasn’t sure I would survive them.

We walked from the assembly hall. “I need to go and talk to her,” Dane said through the pack link, instantly pissing off my wolf because it was obvious which her he was talking about.

I didn’t snap at him with my wolf’s displeasure, since I was trying to be more understanding. Maybe he wasn’t actually trying to ruin my hope of a decent future with him this time. I tried to sound unbothered. “Oh?”

“You know I treated her...poorly. I need...to apologize.”

My anger dissolved at his obvious reluctance. This wasn’t a man excitedly going to talk to his ex; this was an alpha with too much pride going to admit he had been wrong. As he should. I actually thought she deserved one. I mean, I wasn’t thrilled about the whole challenge on my luna title, but I somehow won and no one got really hurt, so no harm done.

More importantly, maybe this was another step for us moving past the past. “Okay. I’ll go with you.”

He didn’t argue, just nodded. We went back to our room, ordered room service, and changed before Dane sent out a couple of our people to look for the Glen-maybe-shadow party. I was a bit nervous about it, but I was also morbidly curious. They were located and along with a few of our fighters we made our way to the hotel bar. Dane had a definite fixation on keeping me well guarded, even when we weren’t getting along. I doubted he would have brought so many if I wasn’t there.

The group was clearly celebrating, but tension ran over them once they noticed our presence. I stayed a bit behind Dane, both because the group sort of intimidated me and because this really was up to Dane. I listened while he spoke to them, and I was proud of him because I knew it wasn’t easy. Luna Carrie even apologized to me for the challenge, which I did not see coming.

We walked out of there and he tentatively took my hand. I was surprised, since he wasn’t really one for cute PDAs, but I wasn’t complaining either. This might have been the first time he hadn’t messed up one of our truces. I smiled at him, and he returned it, as we walked back to the elevator towards our room and towards something he probably wasn’t expecting.

Maybe it was time to take a chance and risk moving forward.