“Come in!” I hear David call as I knock on the door to his office. I crack the door and walk in, closing it behind me, and find him seated at his desk on a phone call.
“I will not agree to these terms!” he says loudly, a volume just shy of shouting. Honestly, it would be fairly scary except that he motions for me to take a seat on the couch. “No. That isn’t what we agreed to. Just because my father is no longer the Alpha does not mean that the treaties in place are gone. They were with the pack as a whole, not him.”
Interesting. I’m sure I’ll find out what’s going on soon enough.
“Yes. See to it that it’s fixed and returned to me for signature. You have three days before I make this become a problem for you and your pack. Lifting the treaties is NOT to your advantage like you think it is.” He hangs up the phone and slumps down in his chair, taking a deep breath.
“I can come back later if it’s a bad time,” I offer meekly, not wanting to add more onto his plate.
David shakes his head and stands, walking around the desk and over to me. “I’m rather thankful for the break. The Buck Moon Pack is trying to cancel our treaties. The Beta there is an idiot.”
He reaches his hand out to me and I place mine in his, surprised as he playfully pulls me to my feet quickly, causing me to giggle.
“Come on,” he tells me with a huge smile on his face. “Let me show you your office.” He releases my hand and we walk towards the door.
“Thank you,” I say quietly as he reaches for the handle.
He turns to look at me, a confused look on his face. “For what?”
“For the clothes, and... just... everything,” I say, looking at the floor embarrassed. “I know it must have cost a fortune. Thank you.”
“It was nothing, Celeste,” he tells me, dropping his hand from the door, leaving it closed and turning to face me. “Your father was a great man, a well-respected Alpha. I can’t say anything outside of this office, outside of just the two of us, for fear of an attack like you just lived through, but he was right in his plan. You’re a part of this pack now, and that means we will care for you and protect you just as your previous pack and Alpha did. You’re ours now.”
I nod to him, not really knowing how to respond to that and feeling a little bit choked up at the thought of actually having a real home. Truly, it's better than I could have ever hoped for. “Still, I appreciate it.”
He doesn’t say anything else, probably realizing that I’m not really able to handle much else at the moment. Stepping back, he opens the door and leads me down the hall just a bit, opening the door to what I assume is the Luna’s office, but he stands in the doorway to block me.
“We can decorate it however you’d like,” he says as we step in and he turns on the lights.
I step inside and look around. The walls are painted a weird pink color… I think it’s called mauve but somehow, more gross. There’s some kind of knit white lace cloth draped on every surface that can have one, even the backs of all the chairs and the small couch. It’s…. well, it’s ugly and very dated.
“It’s fine,” I lie, not wanting to offend him.
He laughs and plops down on the couch unceremoniously. “No it’s not. It hasn’t been redecorated since it was my grandmother's. My dad said it reminded him of his mom, so my mom never changed it. She hated it, though, and with good reason. It’s hideous.”
I laugh at that and sit down next to him. “It’s not so bad, really. I think some paint will help a lot. And removing whatever these are,” I tell him, reaching back to pull off the offending lace decoration. “The furniture really isn’t that bad.”
“Perhaps. My father always told us how his mother made these with her own hands and how they were all the rage. They're hideous,” he says, taking the offending decoration from my hand with a small laugh. “Still, whatever you want, it’s yours. Paint, furniture, carpets... a cleansing fire. You’re the Luna now.”
“Not yet,” I tell him with a smirk. “You still have to do the ceremony before that's official. You do know what you're doing, right?”
He laughs and feigns offense. “I’ll have you know,” but he stops and laughs. “Honestly, you’re right. I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m glad it’s you, though. I feel like anyone else would judge me if it doesn’t work.”
“Oh, I’ll judge you,” I tell him. “But I’ll be nice about it.”
“I have no doubt that you will. Come on,” he tells me, standing and walking to the door. “I need your opinion on how we can expand the packhouse. We’re scheduled to host the Alpha conference in two years, and I have no idea how we’re going to house them all.”
“An immersive camping experience sounds good,” I joke, following him out. "Bring them all back to their wolf roots."
“Oh please,” he tells me with a roll of his eyes. “I’m sure you’ve been to one or two of these. Your father would have left you at home if that was what was offered.”
“And I would have loved that. Daughters are rare for Alphas, and my brothers barely ever went because they were always away training. Alpha conferences are the worst for a daughter.”
“Well, the next one, you’ll be there as the Luna of the Pink Moon Pack.”
“That sounds just as boring. It's where I met Audrey, though. Beta Ralph attended one year and brought her. As the only other girl in attendance, we became best friends immediately.”
We round a corner on the third floor at the very back of the house and he opens a door for me. I enter a dark, dusty storage room and look around at all the junk that’s in here. It's piled to the ceiling, but I realize quickly that it's not very big.
“We have 5 other rooms like this up here, but they aren’t very large,” he tells me, looking around. "This one is probably the biggest of them."
He’s right. The room isn’t large at all. There’s enough room for a decent bed, and a dresser. We could maybe squeeze in a chair or two, but that would be a tight fit, and that’s only if they aren’t tall. David has to lean down because he’s too tall for the low ceilings. “The Alphas won’t like that. Well, some of the shorter ones won’t mind, but others will be awful about it. What about the bathrooms?”
“There’s two up here, so one for every three rooms.”
Oh. That won’t be well received at all. Even if the nicer Alphas are kind about it, their Lunas would not be so kind about sharing a bathroom.
“I’m considering building a wing onto the back,” he tells me, pointing outside a window down below. “It’s going to be expensive, though.”
“Is more room necessary other than for the conference?”
“Possibly? We could use a little more space, but not as much as the conference will require. My father put the bid in to host and it was awarded just before he died. He didn’t leave any plans for it that I was able to find and Ralph didn't know anything, either. I worry that if I cancel it will just make the pack look weak and we’ll become a target.”
I nod, understanding his fears. The last thing he wants to do is give any signs to other packs that he’s a weak Alpha, especially at his age. I have no doubt that they're all looking at him carefully, waiting for him to slip up so they can attack.
“We’ll figure something out, Alpha David.”
“Just David. Always, just David for you. Let’s grab lunch and then you’re free until tonight,” he tells me, a very unsure look on his face. Clearly, he’s as nervous about the ceremony as I am about joining a new pack.
I smile at him and close the door behind us as we exit the room. “Don't worry, David. You’ve got this.”
Aksara