Page 42 of The Alpha's Reclaimed Mate

In the morning, Lucas was already up. I sluggishly got dressed and joined him in the kitchen for breakfast, this time a large omelette overflowing with cheese, bell peppers, and spinach, and a side of bacon and hash browns. “You’ll join us in decorating the community hall for the Perseids Celebration, right?” he asked between bites.

The offer caught me off guard. “I didn’t know you wanted me to do that. Sorry. Yes. Just tell me how you’d like it done.”

Lucas laughed. “Don’t treat it like a job. I want you to have fun.”

It sounded a lot like he already had expectations of me to earn my keep. Not that I was part of his pack or anything, but while I was healing here, it made sense to put me to work. But this was only for fun? “Okay,” I said reluctantly.

When we got to the community hall—a large brick building with a clean little lobby, a cafeteria, and the massive gymnasium we would be decorating—twelve packmates of the Silent Shadows Pack were already there, including Esther. As soon as she saw me, she smiled and swept toward us, reaching for my arm. “Aria! I’m so glad you’re here! How are you feeling?”

“I’m… fine.”

Esther beamed at me. “I was hoping you’d join us. Come on; the tables are already set up. We need to put on the tablecloths and decorate them.”

As she tugged me away, I glanced back at Lucas with a flash of worry. He only nodded, encouraging me to join her.

So I worked alongside Esther, fitting the stretched tablecloths over the tables until they were sleek black shadows of themselves. I expected her packmates to snarl and criticize me, but they only smiled, praising Esther and me for how good the tables looked. “Thanks for helping us,” said someone. “You have a real eye for this!”

Their kindness was a huge difference from what I would have experienced with my own pack. A job like this would have been thankless. I still anticipated hearing a backhanded comment under somebody’s breath. But there was only positivity suffusing the gymnasium as everyone welcomed me alongside them, making decorating the hall less of a job and more of a group bonding activity. Laughter filled the air, and a lightness occupied my body that made me feel like I was enjoying this.

After stepping off a ladder from hanging up blue and yellow streamers, a clattering at the door brought my attention to Lucas and Scott hauling a tall metal arch into the gymnasium. They positioned it just outside of the door, and I noticed there was a matching one on the other side of the door. Gingerly gravitating toward the door, I waited until Lucas stepped back and caught his eye, my curiosity unspoken.

“Hey, you’re just the woman I need! We usually set up two balloon arches on either side of the doorway into the hall. I have a photo of exactly how it needs to look, and we have all the balloons,” said Lucas, gesturing to a row of plastic tubs overflowing with shiny, bulbous, and colourful balloons. “I just need someone to help me tie them onto the arches. So?”

Doubt made me hesitate.

“Don’t tell me balloon arches aren’t in your repertoire of event planning,” teased Lucas.

“They aren’t,” I admitted. “But… they can’t be that hard, can they?”

Lucas brightened up. “That’s what I like to hear. Come on.”

While everyone else remained in the gymnasium, Lucas and I got to work just outside. He kept a printout of the balloon arch taped to the wall for us to reference. I knelt down and tied each balloon as he handed it to me, gradually forgetting my miseries in place of attention to detail. It was easy to lose myself in the project, making sure that each balloon was perfectly positioned according to the photo. As we reached the top of the arch, I strained on my tippy toes and couldn’t reach the metal bar. “Here,” said Lucas. He wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me.

I couldn’t help the yelp of laughter as my feet left the floor. “Lucas—wait!”

“What’s wrong? Can’t you reach now?”

Losing my sense of balance, I wobbled in the air before realizing my hand was wrapped tight around his forearm. With a slow exhale, I let go of his arm and tied the balloon in place.

“Perfect.” His voice reverberated deeply just behind my back and pulsed all through me. I was glad I was up in the air and facing away from him, or else he’d see how flushed he made me. Then again, he probably knew by now the effect he had on me.

By late afternoon, the gymnasium was fully decorated. I stepped through it and admired all the work we had put into the room. The blue and yellow streamers were scrawled along the walls, and paper lanterns of the same colours hung from the ceiling. The tables were adorned with unlit candles, and a banner was strung between the walls, hand-painted in silver by the pack’s youngest members to read ‘PERSEIDS CELEBRATION. HOWL AT THE FALLING STARS!’ The balloon arches were adorned in blue, yellow, and silver, and special foil balloons of stars nestled among them. Star-shaped LED lamps comprised the vibrant centerpieces on the table, and a couple of photo stations were set up along the walls. Fairy lights were strung along the tables and walls too.

“It doesn’t look like much in the daylight, but in the late evening, when everybody comes here to start the celebration tomorrow, it’ll look beautiful,” said Esther. “Everything will be lit up. The little lights will glow like stars. I can’t wait for you to see it!”

It warmed my heart to imagine being part of their celebration. Everybody acted like I was already a part of it. Did they truly want me to be here with them?

I realized then that I never really knew what it felt like to be wanted by my packmates. Not in the way the Silent Shadows Pack wanted me to be with them.

Lucas put his hand on my shoulder. “I have to meet with the Alpha of the Crescent Moon Pack now, but I shouldn’t be long. Scott will take you back to my place.”

“Okay, sure.”

“I’ll bring home some moose for dinner. How’s that sound?”

My eyes widened. “I can’t even remember the last time I had moose.”

They were huge animals and produced a lot of meat, yes, but because of their value, it was agreed among the wolf shifters that we were only allowed to hunt one every month. And usually, the meat from that hunt had gone to Oswald and the higher-ranked shifter families. Even my parents and sisters dined on it, but I never got to.

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