Page 13 of Banished From the Pack

Everything the waifish girl beside me most certainly is not.

I glare at Ama but gesture for her to join us. She better hope she’s not playing a prank on me because there’s not one thing funny about this shit.

“Yeah, boss?” she says, once she’s standing in front of me. Her face is neutral, void of expression.

“I want you by my side through this event,” I order.

Her eyes flit to Luna, and a flicker of scorn crosses her pretty face. “More babysitting, sir?”

A growl rumbles in my throat, but I don’t push my dominance at her. I want her compliance out of respect, not because I force it. “Do as your Alpha asks.”

“Understood,” she grits out. She follows me to the picnic tables, and she, Luna, and I sit. Adolpha hurries to place the first plate before me while her mate serves Luna and Ama. Then they go to fetch their own plates.

Luna looks excited for the first time today, a feral smile on her face as she eyes the deer and roasted vegetables. She lowers her head, grabs the meat between her teeth, starts gnawing like a dog with a bone. She hunches over her food, snarling and growling I reach over, ready to teach her some fucking manners. What the fuck? She grew up with a lone wolf, but this… This is beyond that. She’s like an animal even in human form.

Everyone stares with pitying looks on their faces or avoids eye contact when I glare at them. Beside me, Luna continues eating like a savage, meat juices dripping off her chin. Is she doing this to piss me off? Or does she just have so little shame she doesn’t mind completely humiliating herself in front of my entire pack? Fury builds inside me as I watch her scoop up a handful of vegetables with her bare hand and shovel them into her mouth.

This feral child can’t possibly be my mate. I wanted someone who knows what she’s doing, someone clever and powerful, an equal to me. I need someone to help me run the pack and hold back the encroaching vamps, not an infant without basic table manners.

Only Ama meets my eyes, a challenge in her gaze as if she’s silently saying I told you so. “You could always dissolve the bond and take someone of your choosing,” she reminds me.

My stomach hardens into a stone. “I didn’t know this is what Luna would be like,” I admit. “But I’m not doing that.”

“Suit yourself,” Ama says with a shrug, spearing a carrot on her fork and popping it into her mouth with an arched brow, her eyes cutting to Luna, who’s picking her teeth with a fingernail.

I’m so pissed I don’t even know who to direct my anger at—Ama for being a smug bitch, Luna for being a complete imbecile, or fate herself for cursing me with this mate, if that’s what she is. I find myself hoping this is a joke, that someone is fucking with me. Right now, it seems preferable to having a True Mate who doesn’t understand basic human decency.

We finish the meal in tense silence. Plenty of wolves are rough around the edges, and our manners probably leave something to be desired if we were dining in high society, but Luna is something else. She snatches more meat several times and eats like a wild dog, getting food on her face and hands and wiping it on her clothes. When it’s time to go, I’m beyond fucking ready, but Luna has other ideas and tries to take off into the woods. The whole shitty ordeal ends with me throwing her over my shoulder and carrying her kicking and screaming back to my truck.

And if I thought things couldn’t get worse, I’m going to have to mate with this creature to secure our bond and get proof that we’re True Mates.

Chapter Five

Axel

In the truck, I roll down the windows, letting the hot, damp air in. Luna pokes a finger out into the air rushing by, then sneaks a glance at me. When I don’t reprimand her, she sticks a hand out, spreading her fingers and letting the wind stream between them. A shy smile spreads across her face, growing bigger as she hangs her arm out, swooping it up and down through the air currents. I offer her a smile, and she laughs, turning back to the window. She’s like a little kid playing airplane with her hand.

Maybe I was too hard on her at the picnic. I should have eased her in more slowly, gotten to know her before I showed her off to the pack. I’ll just have to teach her a few things before I take her out in public again. I can’t have the pack thinking my mate is some kind of idiot.

By the time we get home, we’ve both calmed down.

“Where’s Mama?” she asks, peering off into the late evening darkness.

“She’s still at the healers,” I say. “I’m sure she’ll come right here when your mother wakes up. So this is the best place for you to stay until we hear back.”

Luna looks hesitant, then nods. “If she’s going to bring news here, I’ll stay.”

“We need to confirm that we’re True Mates, anyway,” I say. “Are you ready to do that?”

She nods. “I’m ready.”

I’m a little surprised she’s so willing, but it only makes my life easier, so I lead her inside and up to my bedroom. The room is sparsely furnished—just a king-sized bed, a dresser, two nightstands, and a closet—but it’s big enough for the two of us to cohabitate nicely. While Luna washes up, I close the curtains to give us privacy and light some of the candles I had Ama buy for the occasion. Now that we’re alone, I’m more relaxed. If she’s a defiant animal in front of the pack, it makes me look weak. If she’s an animal in the bedroom, I won’t even try to tame her.

Luna emerges from the bathroom and perches on the edge of the bed, gripping her hands together in front of her. “What do you need me to do?”

“We’re going to mate,” I say, coming to sit next to her with enough space between us, so she doesn’t feel crowded. “That’s how the True Mate bond forms. Once we have the mark, we’ll know for sure that we’re made for each other.”

She nods, swallowing hard. “Where do we do this… This mating?”