The Alpha's Soul

15

Luke had been so excited about getting Tan a present. He knew that Tan didn't care about tangible things and that all he wanted was Luke's love, but that didn't stop Luke from letting the allowance he received from working and being part of the pack go in order to shower his mate with gifts.

"You're acting like he's a king," Kai said, sitting down on the ground while Luke looked between two blankets.

"He's my king," Luke said, grabbing a blanket decorated with tiny pineapples. "And now he'll be my tropical king."

Kai scoffed and grabbed the other blanket that Luke had tossed away, this one covered in tiny strawberries. "Then I guess I need to one-up you by getting one for my queen."

"You're just jealous I have great ideas."

"You're the one who almost got our Luna killed," Kai deadpanned as Luke carried the blanket for Tan and his other purchases to the cashier.

The cashier check out their items, looking the two up and down. "Which pack are you visiting from?" she asked kindly, bagging their items.

"Blood Moon," Kai said, handing her a credit card. "He's a new pack mate and hasn't been up here before."

"Well, welcome to the hub," the girl said, smiling at Luke. "That's what we call it. One of two of the central import point for packs out west. They can order and get shipments to their packs, such as clothes and goods, but people like to come by and shop the stores, too. It's kind of a touch of the east side, since they live the more human life."

Luke watched as she bagged their items. "Do you belong to a pack?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, one further north, but we're not as traditional. We communicate with people out east for imports and we bring there lifestyle over here. They have warehouses like this everywhere out east!" she exclaimed, handing Luke his bag. "My pack was kind of the one that introduced the idea of credit cards to the packs out here and taught them how to develop their technology so they can get imports and keep up with other parts of the world."

"Huh," Luke said, grabbing his stuff. "Well, thanks."

She nodded and thanked them for visiting and then sent them on their way.

"Let's go home," Kai said, eager to get back to her mate and pups. "You got a lot of shit for Tan."

Luke grinned, looking in his oversized bag of gifts. "I know," he said, bouncing in his seat like an excited pup. "He's just... so perfect. I... He deserves the world."

"He always talked about his future mate when he was younger," Kai said, earning Luke's full attention. "And as much as I hated you when we first met, I think you're good for him."

"He's my world now," Luke whispered, so soft that Kai had to put in effort to hear it. "I think I'm falling in love with him."

Kai smiled at that. "Well, he's in love with you. I can see it, so you should tell him."

"I will once we get back," Luke said, even more eager to get back home. He was nervous, yes, but he knew was falling in love and he wanted to tell his mate his true feelings.

They drove toward their pack, but when they got to the outskirts, they found a fallen tree on the road, blocking their path.

"This wasn't here earlier," Luke said, annoyed that he had to wait even longer to get to Tan. "It isn't that big, so the two of us can move it."

Kai nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's move."

They got out of their car and went over to the tree. As they began to move it, the scent of wood shavings washed across Luke's nose. He looked over at the tree where it had fallen and found a confusing, gut wrenching reveal.