Claribelle's Mate

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Claribelle's POV

I smiled as I watched Damien walk away with his friend, Cole, beside him. I hadn't known if I would see him today, but I was glad that I had. It had only been a short time but I'd missed him. As he disappeared into the trees, it finally sunk in that I'd just agreed to have dinner with his parents.

I knew that I needed to start working with Damien's pack in order to get them used to vampires, but I was nervous as hell. This was his parents! He hadn't told me much, if anything, about them. I didn't know where they currently stood with vampires and I didn't know how their discussion last night had gone. Damien hadn't mentioned it.

Worry crept in. I needed to talk to my mom. She would know what to do and could give me advice on how to behave during dinner. They had to like me. This was the first step of integrating into Damien's pack.

I fidgeted nervously as I waited for Max to sweep back through so that I could tell him that I needed to leave and talk to my mom. I felt bad for leaving him when he still had another hour of patrolling to do, but I knew that he would understand. I'd come out with him again soon, or we could do something else to hang out together.

I sighed in relief when I saw Max running back towards me. He stopped in front of me and cocked his head, his way of asking what was wrong. My fidgeting had probably given away my nerves.

"I need to go talk to my mom," I told him. "Damien invited me over for dinner tonight with his parents. I don't know what to do, how to act, anything. They have to like me, Max, or I'm never going to have a chance with the pack!"

Max huffed and bumped his head against my stomach. I scratched behind his ears in thanks. He was telling me to calm down and go talk to my mom.

"Thanks, Max. We'll go out and do something together this weekend. We haven't hung out much the past couple days."

He barked happily and took off back down the line as I turned and ran back to the pack house. There were pack members milling around outside and I greeted them warmly as I went by, heading for the door.

My mom spent most days either with my dad in the office or with the women of the pack. Hopefully today was a day that she was in his office so that I wouldn't have to search all over creation for her. I knocked on my dad's door and heard him call for me to come in.

I walked in and was immediately disappointed that my mom wasn't with him.

"What's up, Belle?" my dad asked, abandoning his paperwork and standing up. "Is everything okay?"

I nodded quickly, abating his worry. "Everything is fine, but I really need to talk to mom."

"She and Alice went on a picnic by the lake with Mason. He's still pouting that Jax is gone. What's wrong?"

I sighed, collapsing into the chair in front of his desk. He walked around the desk and sat in the chair next to me, leaning forward and waiting for me to tell him what was bothering me. He always knew when something was bothering me, it was impossible to hide from him.

"I saw Damien while I was on patrol with Max and he invited me to dinner with his parents tonight. I just need to talk to mom to get her advice," I admitted.

He sighed. "Why do you need advice to meet his parents? This happens in relationships all the time. Your mom was nervous to meet mine and if I hadn't been pretending to be a dog, your grandfather would have terrified me."

I laughed slightly at the reminder of how my parents had met. "I know that it's common to be nervous, but it's more than that. Damien is going to be alpha and he said the only reason that he rejected me in the woods that day was because he didn't think that he could get his pack to accept me as Luna. I'm scared that if his parents don't like me, I'll never get a chance to know the pack and Damien will give up on us!"