Chapter 16 - April
Nothing had changed, but as the sun rose the following morning, it felt like everything had.
The Dark Moon Pack was still a savage place, full of fierce men who felt spite for the women who lived among them, but I could see that attitudes were beginning to shift.
Killian had begun to routinely assist me with my many projects around the cabins. He had even managed to convince a few others to join in the upgrades and, consequently, spend more time among the women and children. Slowly, more of the pack had begun to share the workload.
It would be a long journey to completely change the attitudes of the pack warriors, but it wasn’t hopeless.
Even my own feelings seemed to have undergone a transformation. Jasper hadn’t gone through with his original plan to kidnap Penelope. I had known he had a soft spot for children who were in troubled situations, but I hadn’t realized that his attitude of protection extended to all children. He hadn’t needed to explain himself for me to realize that he wouldn’t be taking Penelope from her father.
When we had kissed at the Pinedale alpha’s house, I had felt something besides lust for my mate stirring in my heart. It had affected me enough that I hadn’t been able to proceed with our covert escapade. I was beginning to understand Jasper on a new level, and with that understanding, a true fondness and affection had begun to develop.
In spite of my best efforts, I hadn’t been able to get Jasper to begin shifting his thoughts about women’s place in the pack. He still saw us as second-class citizens, unable to contribute anything of real value to the pack.
Because of that, I knew he wasn’t ready to allow me—or anyone—to care for him. Which meant I needed to find a way to stop myself from caring quite so much. At least about Jasper.
The kids were running out of art supplies, and a few were in need of shoes, so I decided to refocus my attention on meeting their physical needs. Perhaps the distraction would ease my mind about my confusing love life.
“Killian, can you drive me into town?” I asked him when he arrived in the commons area for breakfast. “I need to pick up some things for the kids.”
“Sorry, Luna, I can’t today,” he said regretfully. “I’m running a detail for the alpha. He wanted me to make sure that the Moonstone Pack wasn’t coming too close to our area.”
I sighed, knowing that the only other person I could ask to take me was Jasper. “That’s okay. Thanks, anyway,” I said.
Killian smiled apologetically before taking his leave, and I went off in search of my mate.
“I have a favor to ask you,” I said when I found him.
“What’s that?” he asked, sounding uninterested.
“Can you take me into town to run some errands?” I asked.
He shrugged and headed toward the car. I had expected him to put up more of a fight and perhaps even say no. After all, I had defied him by leaving the pack when I had followed him to town. It seemed that he had decided to put yesterday’s events out of his mind, though, and I wasn’t about to remind him.
I got into the passenger seat, and we headed for town. He was mostly silent as I found the supplies I needed. The only time he looked interested in what I was doing was when I was making shoe selections for the children.
“For Maeve?” he asked, noting the small pink tennis shoes I had selected.
I nodded, and he removed them from my cart. Before I could ask what he was going to do, he selected a pair of white ones with a green dinosaur pattern.
“Maeve doesn’t like pink,” he explained. “She told me that dinosaurs are her favorite.”
I raised a questioning eye but allowed him to make the switch. I had underestimated him. He paid closer attention to the members of his pack than I had thought, even those who were supposedly below his notice.
By the time I had checked out with my purchases, it was past lunchtime, and I was starving.
“Mind if we stop somewhere to eat?” I asked.
“There’s a pretty good diner near here,” Jasper responded.
We pulled into the parking lot of a small mom-and-pop diner just up the road. He opened the door for me, escorting me inside. The diner housed an eclectic mix of antique objects. Everything from vases to typewriters decorated the tables, while the walls were home to old license plates and neon signs. I quickly became overwhelmed by the sheer number of things there were to see.
“Interesting décor,” I said quietly to Jasper.
From the corner of my eye, I saw him smirk in amusement.
We seated ourselves and were immediately greeted by a friendly woman in her fifties. She was wearing an old-fashioned dress and apron, and had a pen—barely visible under her voluminous hair—poking out from behind one ear.
“What can I get for you?” she asked. The smell of cigarette smoke wafted off her, mixing with her floral perfume.
“We’ll have the chocolate chip waffles with whipped cream, a bacon cheeseburger with fries, and two coffees, please,” Jasper said without bothering to look at the menu.
“Coming right up,” the woman said, whisking herself away as quickly as she had appeared.
“Which one did you order for me? The waffles or burger?” I asked.
No one had ever ordered for me before, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about the practice. On one hand, it felt a little patriarchal, but I couldn’t help but notice that he had chosen two options I would definitely enjoy.
“Whichever you like,” Jasper said. “They’re both delicious.”
“What if I want them both?” I teased.
“Then they’re yours,” he replied.
When the food arrived, I tested both options, deciding on the waffles. Jasper eyed the burger as he began to eat, ignoring the bite I had taken from one side. We ate in silence for a while, watching the other patrons and enjoying the comfortable silence.
“Have you been here a lot?” I asked Jasper, who seemed much more at ease in this environment than I had seen him in others.
“Whenever I need to get away from the pack and clear my head, this has been a good place to go,” he said. “The staff don’t ask any questions—as long as you tip well, that is. And as you pointed out before, there are plenty of things to look at in here. It’s a good way to keep my mind focused on the world around me.”
“I totally get that. Keeping busy at the cabins has really helped me. It’s nice to have a distraction sometimes,” I agreed.
Jasper picked up his napkin, wiping his mouth as he looked at me with sudden intensity. “Have you needed a lot of distractions since you’ve been a part of the Dark Moon Pack?” he asked. I even thought I heard concern in his voice.
“At first,” I answered honestly. “The first few days, all I could think about was getting back to Sparkle Hollow. When I finally realized that it would be a long time before I got to see my home again—if ever—I had to find ways to shift my thinking and focus on something else.”
Jasper nodded in understanding. “Is that why you’ve been spending so much time with the children and the women?”
“Partially, but I really do enjoy spending my time with them,” I said truthfully.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the members of the Dark Moon Pack had become friends to me. The young ones, the women, and even the kinder male wolves like Killian had made my time at the cabins both pleasant and entertaining.
I missed my home and my friends, of course, but it had been a long time since I had thought about Sparkle Hollow and what my pack was doing in my absence.
I looked down at my half-eaten food, feeling guilty and conflicted about finding a way to enjoy my new life in the Dark Moon Pack. I wasn’t even sure if my friends knew whether I was alive or dead.