Chapter 15
TARIA
You need to eat more or let me run, one or the other. All this fitness training and improving your fighting skills is using a lot of energy and burning calories. At this rate, you’ll look like a broomstick when you get to Eclipse.
‘Well, thank you for that. I’m sure your compliments are well meant, even if they are a bit off target.’
I’m hungry and so are you. Let’s go eat. Please.
‘Very well. You’re right though. I am hungry now you mention it.’
Walking into the canteen area, the smell of food has my stomach rumbling immediately, and it is loud. The pack members sitting at the table I’m walking past laugh loudly as they hear my stomach shouting for food.
“Did you miss breakfast, Taria?” One of the female warriors I recognize as Swan asks.
“Famished, Swan, and you are partly to blame. Both you and Nightshade have put me through my paces this morning.”
Swan gives me a huge grin, and taking my wrist to stop me, says, “You did very well this morning. You anticipated most of our moves and defended extremely well. Your attacks weren’t far off the mark, either. I would be happy to stand with you in a battle, and Nightshade would stand with Maya, too.” The rest of the table give a little tilt to their heads at this statement from her, and I give them all a head tilt in return.
Her statement takes me by surprise as she has said nothing like this before. Swan is an exceptional warrior and is at the top of the warrior list. Gaining praise from her is not something to be taken lightly, and I place my hand over hers as she squeezes my wrist.
Grabbing a tray, I walk along the serving counter and load up my plate with various meats and a tiny portion of salad. I feel Maya’s approval at my tray and add a couple of bottles of water before looking for a table. Seeing Gamzin wave me over, I head that way to join him. There is another male at the table, he looks stern and hard faced, and I’m not sure who he is. I’ve seen him around and he follows Luna Hope around like a puppy dog. Gamzin slides a chair out for me next to him and I slide in easily with a thank you.
“This is Baildon, Taria. Don’t think you’ve been formally introduced yet. Baildon, this is Taria, who is the soon to be Luna of the Eclipse pack.”
I stick my hand out and get a good, firm shake in return. “Hello, Bailman. Pleased to meet you.”
“It’s Baildon. Pleased to meet you, too.” He gives me a frown as I’ve mispronounced his name.
“Oh, I’m sorry. What do you do around the pack then, Bay Leaf, other than follow Luna Hope around?” I give him my cheekiest smile and wait to see how he takes my sense of humor. Gamzin, I notice, is having difficulty not spraying his lunch all over the table.
“Well, Taria, it’s my job to follow the Luna around. It’s what I do, and I’m damned good at it, too.” He gives me a sarcastic look back and I’m not sure my humor is his kind of thing, assuming he has a sense of humor, that is.
“Oh, really? And where is the Luna right now then?”
“She is with Alpha Connell in his office. While she is in his company, and thus protected, I’m allowed some me, BAILDON, time.” Carrying on with his food, I get the impression that the conversation is over.
“So, Gamzin, your friend here, Baillif, is Luna Hope’s first and last line of defense, eh? Is he good at his job?” I see Baildon stiffen as I mispronounce his name yet again, but he carries on eating.
“Taria, Bailjumper is very good at his job. I would trust him with my family, if I had one, and would be confident that they would come to no harm. What he lacks in a sense of humor, he makes up for in raw courage.” Gamzin smirks at Baildon and I see a crack appear in the veneer that is his face.
“Don’t you start, Gamzin. Little miss soon-to-be-Luna here is doing alright on her own. She doesn’t need any help needling me.” Seeing him finally smile, I smile back and give him a cheeky wink.
“You looked like you needed cheering up.” I begin attacking my food, my hunger getting the better of my sense of humor.
“That’s a new approach on me, but it worked, I’ll give you that. I’m out of my mood now. Thank you.”
Avoiding the obvious question of what put him in the mood in the first place, we enjoy lunch and when Luna Hope comes looking for Baildon, she sees me at the table and joins us.
“Hi Taria. A rose between two thorns here, I see. Don’t let them get you down. They’re a right miserable pair, I’ll tell you.” She gives one of her beaming smiles and I notice how Baildon looks at her. He adores his Luna, that’s clear. Not in a love type adore, but an adore the ground she walks on, type of adore. I can see that she would be safe with him around. When he’s not watching her, he’s scanning the surroundings. I wonder if my Gamma will be that dedicated? If he’s not, he’s not going to be my Gamma for long. Baildon has certainly set the bar high.
“Taria, I have some news for you. Walk with me and I’ll tell you,” Hope says as she jumps up.
Taking my tray away, we walk out of the packhouse and into the walled garden. It is beautiful in here, and I’m going to speak to Bronze about having one at Eclipse, if they haven’t already.
“You will never guess who has been to see me today?”
“I have no idea. Who?” Why I would know who would go and see Luna Hope I don’t know.
“Dahlia and Silas, of course. They asked if there was any reason that they couldn’t take each other as chosen mates. How wonderful is that? It’s all your doing, too.” Luna Hope is so excited. “You’re better than holding a mating ball, Taria!”
“Are there any reasons?” I feel queasy waiting for Hope to answer.
“None. They have both had fated mates. Dahlia’s rejected her after a year, probably why she became so horrible and Silas’s rejected him immediately because she was already sleeping with someone she thought was higher in the pack. Now they’ve found each other, or more accurately, Dahlia found Silas and you nudged him, they can make each other happy. I love happy endings.” Hope is positively giddy with excitement. “I’m going to speak to Connell and he’s going to give them a place to live near the forest.”
“That’s so good of him.”
“Oh, he doesn’t know it yet, but he will when I’ve spoken to him.”
I burst out laughing at her enthusiasm and know that Connell won’t stand a chance. Not for one minute though, do I believe he would seriously deny Hope anything she asked.
Hope excuses herself and after looking around to make sure her gamma, Baildon, is in attendance, she dashes off to whatever it is she has planned next.
Heading off to my room for a shower and a change of clothes, I wonder what this afternoon will bring. I had my day off yesterday as ordered by Alpha Connell and although I rested up, it was such a long boring day. I just didn’t know what to do with myself. Apart from eating three square meals and trying to read a pretty average novel, the day dragged by. I can’t think how poor my daily life was at Blood Pearl. No wonder everyone had such a low opinion of me.
Laying out my change of clothes, I strip off for my shower and catch sight of myself in the full-length mirror.
‘A broomstick, huh? No broom I ever handled looked that good. You need to be careful or I may have a nice rug for my fireplace!’
No matter how much training you do, you’d never be able to make a rug out of me. I can hear Maya giving her wolven chuckle, which always amuses me.
Stepping into the shower, I laugh as Maya preens and then lays down with her head on her paws. Realizing what she looks like, she pops into a sitting position and looks away. I take my time with the shower and enjoy feeling the hot water soak into my aching muscles. Getting my scrunchy all soaped up, I start to wash myself. All too soon, I start to wonder what it would be like to have Bronze soaping me and…
Pups. We’d soon be having pups.
Washing quickly, I hop out and grab a towel, rubbing myself dry in double quick time, hearing Maya laughing the whole while. Dressed, I lay on the bed, debating whether to call Momma when the phone rings. Seeing its Bronze I lay back and take the call.
“Hello Bronze. To what do I owe this honor? I’ve just been thinking about you,” I say playfully.
“Hi Taria. How are you? I was just thinking about you too and I’ve got something I want to run by you, so I thought I’d see if I could catch you at a good time.” I wonder what he wants to run by me?
“Well, you’ve caught me at a good time, I’ve just got out of the shower and I’m feeling all warm and fuzzy. What would you like to ask me?”
“You were thinking about me in the shower? Hmm. That sounds like something I could delve into at another time.” Damn, he picked up on that fast, I think to myself. “Yes. I’ve been thinking about us and how much progress you’ve made in such a short time. I was wondering if the timescale we set wasn’t perhaps a bit too long.”
“Well, we didn’t set a timescale, you did, and I always thought it was too long, but it wasn’t my call. Why has this come up now?” I sit up with my back against the headboard, as I’m not sure where this is leading. “What were you thinking about us?”
“I was thinking that perhaps this was something we should be doing together now. You’ve made such a good impression on everyone that you’ve come into contact with, and I am so proud of you I thought we should stand together at this stage. What do you think?”
“Are you asking me to join you at Eclipse now?” I’m stunned and not sure if I’m understanding him correctly.
“Yes, that’s precisely what I’m asking.”
“Just give me a minute.” Putting my phone on the bedside table, I bounce up and down on the bed like a child on a trampoline. Getting too close to the edge in my excitement, I slip off the edge and land on the floor with a tremendous crash, knocking my phone off the table.
“Taria! Taria, are you okay?” Hearing Bronze shouting, I snatch my phone and I answer breathlessly.
“Yes, I’m fine. Why would you think I’m not?”
“You fell off the bed, didn’t you?” How could he know that?
“Of course I didn’t. Why would you even think such a thing?” I brazenly deny his suggestion.
“You so fell off the bed. I used to spend hours bouncing on my bed as a kid. I’d recognize that sound anywhere, and I fell off more times than I can count.” Hearing him laugh, I know I’m busted.
“Are you saying that I’m a kid? That’s a quick swap from ‘come and be my Luna’ to ‘you're bouncing on a bed like a kid’, isn’t it?” I can’t put a harsh tone in my voice because I’m so damn happy.
“Guilty on all charges. So, when I can expect you to arrive?” He sounds as excited as I feel.
“Do you need to run this by anyone else before we get carried away?” How will his parents react? Or the Eclipse pack? Or my parents?
“Everyone will be fine with it. Don’t worry about them.”
“You’ve already spoken to your parents! I know you have,” I accuse him.
“I’ve already spoken to your Pops, too. It was him that made me see how much time we were wasting that we could be spending together. He called me, and Taria, he was so right. We should be making this journey together, not so far apart. Don’t be angry with him.”
“Angry with him? I could kiss him. I’ll speak to Alpha Connell immediately and I’ll let you know when I’ll be arriving, but it won’t be too long.”
“Yes, and I’ll go tell my parents it’s on the cards for the next couple of days or so. Bye, Taria. Talk soon.”
Staring at the dead phone, he didn’t even give me a chance to say bye. He must be excited. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I stare at my reflection. I’m going to the Eclipse pack!