Page 7 of The Alpha's Son

They both laughed together.

“It’s good to have you home. It wasn’t the same without you.”

“I missed home but I’m pleased I did what I did. I’m back now.” At eighteen, he wouldn’t have been able to handle the prospect of becoming the alpha. He’d only just handled his first transition, and that had been a nightmare. Never had he experienced so much pain.

Ryan and Wade had claimed it was the best feeling in the world. To him, it had been the worst. He lied to his friends telling them it had been a piece of cake and he didn’t see what all the fuss was about, but the truth was, by the next full moon, he’d been terrified. It was one of the reasons he left. He didn’t want his friends or the pack to see him as weak.

After leaving the pack before the next full moon, he was able to begin his mission of becoming stronger. The first month away, he organized camping equipment and trekked out into the wilderness waiting for the full moon. When it came, he was full of fear, terrified of the transition.

The second one was just as bad as the first, but it wasn’t as painful. The third got easier, as did the fourth, until he no longer feared his wolf and started to look forward to the full moon.

Once he embraced his wolf, he missed home, but even though he wanted to return home, he made sure to continue his mission in learning exactly who he was.

It hadn’t been easy. The months ticked on and the loneliness seeped in.

Each month, he’d start to head home, and then he’d find himself hesitating. That hesitation always told him he wasn’t ready, so he continued his quest.

It got to the stage when he was no longer sure what he wanted to do or what he was looking for. The moment he didn’t stop and kept walking, he went home. It took seven long years, but he didn’t regret a day.

Apart from Darcy.

No one knew that when the worst of the pain was upon him, he’d think of her. He didn’t know why he would think of her.

Darcy was always in his thoughts. He would often wonder what she was doing, if she was okay. There were times he would be curious about whether she had mated, and when he called home and heard of the new people who had found mates, he’d dread hearing her name.

It all made sense to him. She was his.

He didn’t know why he didn’t think of that before he left. The truth was, at eighteen, after his first transition had gone so badly, he’d wanted to get out. He hadn’t gone to see her one final time. Joe had felt weak and useless, and he’d left, in the hope of becoming a better man for her. A better wolf. A better alpha.

His friends didn’t know he was still a virgin, had never been with a woman.

Running a hand down his face, he glanced over at his father and wondered if he should ask him for advice, but decided against it.

The sun was slowly starting to set, and he had plans with Darcy. Anticipation rushed through his whole body, and he couldn’t help but feel excited at the prospect of seeing her once again.

****

Darcy’s home was clean, without a speck of dust to be seen. She loved living in a clean environment, and the truth was, it stopped her from feeling so lonely. She had a cleaning schedule and as she looked around her home, she couldn’t help but feel the nerves threatening to claim her.

Joe said he’d be arriving soon, and she had no idea what to do. She was forty years old, and had never been this worried about a guy coming around to her home.

For years, to keep the loneliness at bay, she had delved into many different forms of crafts. The pack had a shop completely dedicated to hobbies, including paper crafts, all the way to sewing, painting, knitting, and every other hobby in between. That was where she worked, and their web shop was booming. She packaged more orders to be shipped out than she did for serving walk-in customers, even though they had plenty of those as well.

The shop was stationed on a multitude of levels and she along with three other women ran it, including, Callie, Joe’s mother.

In fact, it was because of Callie that the building was transformed into a crafting shop. Callie was a keen crafter, and had set up days where they could gather around, chat, and enjoy whatever project they were working on.

Today, with Callie in the shop, Darcy had done everything she could to avoid the other woman. She hoped it didn’t look too obvious. She had been on the top floor, grabbing some fabric for an order, and when she caught sight of Callie, she dropped to her knees so she couldn’t be seen. Darcy loved her job. She adored Callie, but wondered what the other woman would think of Joe potentially being her mate.

There’s no potential about it.

He is your mate.

She rubbed at her temple and gasped as her doorbell rang.

Was it Joe? Her stomach felt like it was going to explode with butterflies.

She wasn’t used to feeling this way about a guy, and she’d been on plenty of dates, and yes, they hadn’t all ended great. Darcy had never been good at conversation, and the truth was, she tended to go to her safe place of talking about her hobbies. Hence the boring life. No guy on a date wanted to hear about the trouble she had when she started knitting, or that she couldn’t figure out what she was doing wrong with her stitches. To knit a stitch, you hold the yarn to the back, and to purl a stitch, you bring the yarn to the front. Simple, and yet she had to go on the Internet to figure that out.

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