Page 94 of In the Light of the Moon

My mate then stepped to Jasper, who lasted less than two seconds with Orion growling at his throat before joining Ana on the ground.

In human form, aside from his fangs and claws, Orion’s voice even made my body tremble. “You will keep your promise to tell your pack of all you’ve done and honor their judgement. You will never bother us, or my mate and I will not be mercifulagain. You don’t even deserve this.” The two of them nodded, faces smashed into the snow.

Orion didn’t tell them to get up, but his turning back to us was a dismissal in of itself. His face was blank, but when he took my hand in his, I felt something under his skin. It wasn’t magic, but it was strong. Like power.

The four of us didn’t spare the other Wolves another glance or word, and we left the clearing.

What my mate and I didn’t expect, however, was to be invited to a pack meeting not a week later.

We’d met Dr. Vanders in town for coffee and were sitting outside in the cool sunshine. After wallowing for a few days, I let Orion pull me out of bed when Dr. Vanders invited us, and I was reminded again of a world that existed beyond the safety of my mate and the cabin.

Chief Thompson had a new air of grief about him that was very different from mine. His son had not been a good person, but I could tell that he genuinely mourned him still. Orion and Dr. Vanders stiffened at his approach but relaxed once he extended the invitation to the both of them.

“We’re still working things out, but I wanted to extend an apology on behalf of the pack and from me personally. Ana and Jasper told us… everything. We’re meeting on Saturday to discuss where we’re going from here and what their punishment will be. We felt it was only right to have you all there. There’s no pressure, but we agreed that we want to move forward and make amends.”

I could tell that Orion had been too flustered to make a decision right then and there, and Dr. Vanders and I decided without discussion to not push him to talk about it. But I knew my mate, and if he truly didn’t want to be involved with the pack, he would’ve flat out refused. Instead, he’d listened to ChiefThompson, and after a few days, he requested my input, stating that he wouldn’t meet if I was against it.

Even with the prospect of seeing Ana and Jasper again, I swallowed my resentment and encouraged Orion to hear them out. I wanted to see for my own eyes how the pack was going to handle it.

But where I’d half expected them to make excuses for their murderous packmates or admonish us for our causing Graham and Declan’s deaths, they all extended apologies.

Led by Chief Thompson, we observed their meeting in a stretch of woods I hadn’t been in before. I recognized each and every member of the pack, but where I’d wanted to feel rage, it didn’t rise. Most of them looked betrayed when Chief Thompson grimly reiterated what his own son had led the three Wolves to do.

When Jasper and Ana presented themselves, nude and kneeling before the pack, I watched with cold eyes as they voted to prohibit them from running with any pack members or sharing in their meals for five years. My brow furrowed, but when I looked at Orion and Dr. Vanders, they nodded along with the verdict. It wasn’t death, and it wasn’t exile, but by the haunted looks on Jasper and Ana’s faces, the punishment was more severe than they’d hoped. Good.

After that initial meeting, we continued to attend. At first, it was to clarify our new relationship with the pack now that Graham and his poison no longer led them. When I haltingly explained the predicament about how to handle Granna’s disappearance, Chief Thompson offered to help with a death certificate and any other legalities I needed. Thankfully, Granna had left a packet containing account information that reflected her signing over all her assets, including the house, to me over a year prior. And I accepted the Chief’s help so that I could move forward in this way.

The pack met weekly, it turned out, and each time we went, Orion and I both relaxed into the tentative embrace of the other Wolves. Those that’d been around for a while even spoke highly of my mate’s family as the founders of the pack and expressed their excitement to have us around. Dr. Vanders was still torn, what with them being a member of their family pack and unwilling to yet tie themselves to another, but they came with us more often than not.

“How do you feel, baby?” I asked through my yawn while I emerged from the bedroom in my Freddy Krueger t-shirt and slippers. Tonight had been our initiation into the pack.

It’d taken my mate all of these weeks to process his complex feelings surrounding Antler Pointe Pack as well as the lingering effects from his past experiences. But tonight, under the full moon, we both stood before the pack. Orion stated his oath to support and respect them, and they all vowed to do the same for him. My own vow, as his mate, followed, and the subsequent pack run was more than magical.

The shifter members stripped their clothes and changed, all together under the full moon, and we set off. Every time he shifted, I was so in awe of my mate, and tonight, with a new family around us, I could see how happy it made his Wolf.

He was still his quiet, observant self, keeping me in eyesight at all times, but after a while, he yipped and wove through the trees with the others. Dr. Vanders hadn’t taken the vow but was allowed to run with the pack tonight, and all the Wolves’ playing and good spirits were infectious. Those of us non-shifters that were present stuck together and chatted. They all knew my hand in Declan’s and Graham’s deaths, but I didn’t detect an ounce of animosity from them. Though Declan’s grieving parents were somber, they were as accepting as they could be.

Now, months after what happened, I felt lucky to not only have found my witch family with Josie, but a pack family as well.

Orion was already putting the kettle on the stove and pulling packets of hot chocolate from the cupboard when I made my way into the kitchen. My mate was picky and often physically cringed when he described the food his da would prepare for them during his visits, but powdered hot chocolate was, for some reason, something he loved. “I feel good.” He turned to me, and I took in the lack of under eye bags and exhaustion on his face. The semester was starting to pick up, and we were still waiting to hear whether I got into the MFA program or not, but I didn’t think Orion realized how much he’d been worried about the pack until the issue was settled.

I still missed Granna—sometimes the grief would overtake me and leave me gasping for breath. But, then I would breathe, remember the exercise Orion taught me, and think about her and Coill finally living together. If I’d been her, waiting each year for a night with Orion, I would have made the same decision.

Though I’d moved all of my things into the cabin and began to pack away Granna’s, I still kept the house and had no intention of selling it. These days, when I wasn’t working, at school, or at home, I wrote in the sun room and attended the garden. Josie, it turned out, was better than me with the plants and flowers, and we tried our best to care for them. Neither of us had Granna’s touch, but we were managing, even with cold working against us.

Orion leaned against the counter, and I brought my hands to his chest. “Did you enjoy the run?” he asked.

I took in the hard and soft lines of his face, the swooping curl of his eyelashes. The light over the stove brought out the flecks of gold in his irises, and, under my palms, I felt the vibration of his fingers tapping rapidly at his sides. “I did. Everyone was so nice, and I loved watching you all play.” It was nice to have confirmed that without Graham, the pack was a welcoming group. Nothing was perfect, and there were some that werestandoffish, including Jasper and Ana, but all of them treated us with respect and voted in favor for us to join.

Like always, I was drawn to Orion’s mark, and my finger had already started tracing little circles around the brown scar. My own throbbed in recognition, though it still felt incomplete.

Orion still hadn’t bitten me, even with Coill’s confirmation that it wouldn’t harm or turn me. At first, I knew it’d been to let me rest and adjust to Granna’s leaving. After that, it was a mutual decision to make a statement when joining the pack. For me to be accepted as a mate without the bite. Graham’s assertion that unbitten mates were unclaimed was apparently a sentiment that a handful of others held, despite there being pack mates in the same exact position.

For me to be accepted, mated and unbitten, was our last ‘fuck you’ to Graham and all his destruction.

Now, there was no more reason to wait. “So, is there some kind of formal way to claim a mate through a bite?”

Orion had been looking off in the direction of the dining area behind me, but he turned his gaze to me. Though his voice stayed steady, his expression unchanging, his pupils widened. “Not necessarily. Some just do it. Some construct a sort of intimate ceremony around it. Some engage in a chase where the bite is the inevitable reward.” He shrugged and slid his eyes away again. I kissed the little dip in his chin, unable to keep my lips from curling at the idea forming in my mind.

---