The Luna

Chapter 12: Family Time

This chapter is dedicated to BookDragon1207
For the AMAZING dm I got😂 (ignore the Reesie part, that's my nickname)

Austin

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That one sentence. The sentence I'd been dreading since I met her. Time to meet the family. The nerves hit me like a truck. Her brothers. Granted, I'd already met Jason, but that was before I found out I was mates with his sister. Being mates is a lifetime commitment. And if they didn't like me, that's something I'd have to live with my whole life. And it'd only bring stress to Alex, having to choose between her mate or her family.

Another thing was that I didn't know if this was necessarily a good thing. Yes, she was my mate and yes, Silver Claws needed a Luna. But the role of a Luna wolf is to help with the more major humans, reassuring the pack (if/when something bad happens), help with training and the more major pack disputes, along with a whole lot more. All jobs that require... well, talking. And I'm sure that we could figure something out, but what of the pack? What would they think of another official who can't/won't talk? Especially when that official is supposed to be dead.

Plus, I was not ready to have a mate. That just added on to the responsibility of being an alpha because, since she hadn't been managing Half Moon, I'd have to show her the ropes and teach her everything. It just... it was a lot of work. But I'd been waiting for this for a long time, so I'd do it. Maybe it was a good thing.

I felt her hand upon my arm and jumped a little. Her touch had sent sparks up my arm. The damn mating bond was already taking an effect on me. I'd known her for.... what? Twenty/thirty minutes? And I was already falling hard for this red haired girl. "This it?" I asked as she stopped in front of a door identical to ours. She nodded and opened it, letting me in. Thankfully, her brothers hadn't arrived yet. "Can I- can I freshen up a bit?" She smiled and nodded, chuckling to herself, before pointing to the bathroom. I gratefully went in and closed the door behind me.

I splashed some water on my face and fixed my hair. It was gonna take quite a bit of willpower to not be a nervous wreck in front of the boys. I braced my hands on the counter of the sink and stared into the mirror. "Get it together, Austin. You've got this. It's just a meet-and-greet, per se. You've done more as alpha. You've got this." I breathed in and out deeply a few times before standing. "You've got this."

So I tried to appear confident when I exited the bathroom. It might've worked had her brothers not already arrived. Lily, the blonde girl, wasn't there, though. But three red heads of hair turned my direction. Jason was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, brooding. I gave them a slight wave. "Hey," I said. That was definitely stupid. 'Alpha Wolf' my ass.

The tall boy from a few days ago- Aidan -gave me a half smile. "Hi," He replied. "They're too rude to introduce themselves. I'm Aidan, the youngest of us all. That one," He pointed to the other redheaded boy, "is Chris. Nice to meet you." He extended a hand to me.

"Austin Hendrix; nice to meet you, too." I gave his hand a firm shake before letting go. I shook Chris' hand, too, but he still didn't say anything. I noticed his eyes glaze over as he linked someone. Probably Alex.

Finally, he stood up. We were roughly the same height, but he was still really intimidating. He spoke quietly; so quietly that even I could barely hear him. He was making sure the others couldn't- that Alex couldn't. "You treat her right. Hear me? You treat her right, or there'll be a problem." I gave him the slightest nod, signalling that I understood. This was gonna be harder than I thought. But then he cracked the smallest smile. "I'm just kidding. Partly. Seriously though, treat her right." Alex smiled. I hadn't known her for a day and there's nothing I wouldn't do to make her smile. The mate bond was working overtime for us it seemed.