Half of You

Princess Wolf - 24

The Alpha and Luna's home reminds me of my parents - not in style but in feeling. It's a surprisingly small, two storied log cabin with windows left open to catch the breeze. It's isolated from everything else even more than Azora's is.

It's completely quiet other than the murmurs from inside. They're all here, just like Payne asked them to be. I can feel the lump in my throat growing.

Though we've marked each other and the bonding process is complete, I still struggle to conceptualize what that fully entails. Someday, I will be a Luna. My chest clenches tight just thinking of that responsibility resting on my shoulders.

Payne squeezes my hand a little tighter, not saying anything, but just giving me a smile instead. He thinks that I will make a great Luna someday. I'm not so sure.

Sometimes I catch myself answering his thoughts, even though he has not said them aloud. I can't help but answer him when they drift over. I don't know what I was expecting of the bond, but it's like Payne has always been a part of me. Touching him feels like completion.

Everyone is gathered in the living room; Payne's parents, Giselle, her pups, and beside her a male that I presume is her mate. His eyes are the sharpest yellow I've ever seen, his hair like grains of sand peppered with black.

I wonder for a minute why I've not met or seen him before - Payne answers my thoughts before they leave my lips. "Another time," he tells me in the link.

Giselle is watching the pups play, one of which holds a large statue of a carved wolf, flying it through the air while making small noises to himself. Every time I see her she's with them, a devoted mother. I can't wait to have this for myself, for my pups to be able to grow up surrounded by their cousins and loved ones.

She looks up, her eyes catching her brothers neck first then mine. She goes to say something, but before she can, her mate taps her thigh and shakes his head at her. I can feel a nervous smile just barely pushing at the edges of my cheeks.

The Luna and her mate turn their heads, and as soon as she sees us, she springs up from the couch. She comes around the other side of it, smile beaming as she takes in my neck, and her sons.

Her arms wrap around me in a bone-crushing embrace. My worry melts away into nothing. When she pulls back, I can see tears streaming freely down her face and onto her neck. She doesn't not try to hide them or wipe them away.

Payne's father takes him in a hug, and whispers something against his ear that I can only hear through our bond - "I'm happy for you, son. More than you could ever know." There is a subtle break in his voice. I wonder how long they've all waited for this moment, the time they could welcome their sons mate into the family.

This is the place I will spend the rest of my days. I feel that in my bones - a sense of belonging I never had back home. In a way it makes me miss my parents and everyone else that much more. The only thing that would make this better is if they were all here celebrating with us now.

"I'm so happy for you both," Yenna says. Her happiness pours from her eyes and down to her face, making them look like the moon's reflection on the surface of the lake.

"Thank you," My chest is swelling with love, when not that long ago I felt empty. Shattered on the inside and lost. The wolf is confident that everything we wanted, we will now have. She stretches out in my mind's eye, almost lazily.

I was never meant to be with Matias. Payne was, and always will be mine. There is an instinct in my bones that tells me I will destroy anybody that threatens my family, my mate. Even my pack for that matter.

It's bittersweet, being here celebrating, but not being able to see my family back home. The evidence of that streams down my face, from my own eyes. Payne grabs my side.