The Barren Luna

22 - David

I couldn't wait for this fucking job to be over. The pack assets had been sold, the accounts emptied, the money distributed among the pack members in a way that both Dominic and I agreed was fair. The only thing we were now waiting for was for the last several groups of wolves to be picked up and escorted to their new packs. All of Gina's friends agreed to join our pack, as soon as they helped their parents and families settle in their new packs. I'd be lying if I said that parts of the process hadn't been sad. Seeing families and neighbors crying and saying goodbye to each other after they'd thought they'd be living in close proximity for the rest of their lives? It set my wolf on edge, since dismantling a pack went against all our instincts as wolves. But what they had allowed to go on with impunity had been even worse.

"Do you think I'm being too harsh on them?" I'd asked Dominic one night at dinner.

"What makes you ask that?" The fucker would eat silver before voluntarily revealing a piece of himself so of course I was getting a question back.

"I don't know, sometimes I worry that I punished them this hard only because they sinned against my mate."

"And that would be bad why?"

"It just doesn't seem... kingly," I winced slightly at the thought.

"You've never been very kingly, so I wouldn't worry about it," he shrugged and continued eating his meal.

Although Dominic was two years older than me, we had been to several Alpha training camps together in our teens and early twenties, and if I didn't know better, I'd even call him a close friend. Spending time with him again and working side by side would normally have been nice. Unfortunately, I could not enjoy a moment of it and I was well aware that my wolf would keep driving me crazy until we were back at Regina's side.

"I can't wait to go back home," I sighed wistfully at the thought of my beautiful mate. How was she doing? Was she feeling better? Did she miss me like I missed her?

"So you've said."

"Oh, drop the stoic façade. Like you don't miss your mate," I shot back but his face remained impassive. "By the way, when will you and Penelope come visit us? Other than meeting her briefly at the trial, I've never even properly spoken to her."

"We'll see."

It was like pulling teeth, which I was used to with him and it stopped bothering me a long time ago. This time, however, I did wish he could be a bit more open with me, since I would have loved to get the perspective of someone who had been widowed and now had a second chance mate – I had hoped his experience would shed light on some issue Regina might be struggling with. But aside from simply saying it had been unexpected and that the timing of meeting her had been less than ideal, he remained annoyingly tight-lipped about the whole thing.

"I don't get you, Dom."

"You're not required to."

"How in the world does young Penelope put up with you?" His jaw tightened at that. It was hardly noticeable, but I noticed it.

"What do you mean?"

"Well she's a young female, basically left alone for months at a time in a new pack, mated for the first time to a widowed wolf who rarely talks, and when he does it's almost never about himself. That can't be easy for her, especially since she might be insecure over being your second mate."

"You think that's something she would mind?" He looked oddly vulnerable for a second.

"The not talking or the second mate thing?"

"Both, I guess."

"The not talking, definitely yes. The second mate thing, depends on you, Dom, on how much you show her that she is now the only one for you, and how much she feels loved and valued."