Chapter 55 55

Chapter 55 55
Emma

“I have feelings for you, feelings of lust and possible love but I’m not like the others, I can’t just jump into this mate bond when I feel like we don’t even know each other,” I confess and I swear I see him breathe a sigh of relief.
“You said that humans go on dates to progress their relationship and get to know each other?” He questions me.
“Yeah, kinda like what we’re doing now,” I tell him and he smiles.
“So this would essentially be our first date?” He asks, coyly.
“It would be.” I agree before adding. “But wolves don’t date.”
Nowhere in the literature, fiction or non-fiction, has it been indicated that wolves get to know each other. It’s all just mate bonding, then bam, together, but I can’t just do that.
“I’m not talking about what wolves do, I’m focusing only on you and me,” Thomas says sternly, the authoritarian alpha coming out in him gets me excited. “Emma, would you consider this our first date?”
“Yes,” I answer him, without any hesitation and he smiles warmly at me.
“Good.” He replies before taking a sip of his drink. My heart begins beating so fast, anticipating his next question. “Would you consider going to a second date with me?”
“Yes”, I tell him before he can even finish his sentence. “And a third and a fourth and a fifth.”
“Well, now you’re a keen jellybean.” He chuckles. “We will have all the dates you need, if you wish to call me your boyfriend, instead of your mate, I’m happy with that and I can refer to you as my girlfriend if that sits better with you.”
I throw my hand over my mouth to conceal my shock at his unexpected offer but I worry about what he’s giving up for me.
“I would love all of that but I don’t want to deny you of your own rite of passage from having a mate,” I tell him, reaching my hand across the table to place it on his. As soon as our fingers touch I feel that magical fire that burns between us.
“I’d have you Strawberry, that’s all I’d ever want.” He assures me, putting my own guilt to rest. “Being the Alpha of a pack though, if you were to come live at Chisholm, then we’d have to navigate your status of Luna and the ceremony that comes along with being crowned the Luna of a pack but we can work together on whatever you’re comfortable with.”
“What is a Luna exactly?” I ask him, remembering that I saw pictures of past Lunas in Jake’s office the other day.
“A Luna is the Queen of the pack, second only to her mate, the Alpha.” He tells me, cautiously, as if the sheer notion will make me run. “I know that that is such a huge concept for you to wrap your head around, the fact that you would be our Luna but please know that I wouldn’t just expect you to jump straight into the role. You are my Queen and we do things on your terms.”
Am I a Queen? Me? The girl who, up until three weeks ago, was living in a two-bedroom house, with her dad. It’s a lot to ingest all at once but Thomas is being so sweet about it.
“Is Hannah a Luna?” I ask him, making the connection now that she too is mated to an Alpha.
“Technically she’s the Alpha of the Tingira Pack, since her dad was also Alpha and she was his first and only child.” He informs me, flooding me with new information. “Jake is in the role but if she wanted to contest him for it, he’d have to step down without a fight.”
“Do you believe that she’s likely to contest him?” I query him, considering that they’re not even living in the same house right now, or even speaking.
“I visited Jake today and he said he will step down as Alpha, he’s just waiting for the right time to call a meeting.” He tells me and I sit there, mouth gaping open, floored.
“All this because he slept with someone else before her?” I ask him, not thinking it’s really that big of a deal. “People have exes but they’re in the past.”
“Humans have exes, wolves have soulmates, the one person they’re meant to be with forever.” He corrects me, kindly, running his fingers over my palm. “To forsake the mate bond is frowned upon because its affront to the Moon Goddess and her plan for all of us.”
“I hope they can work through this, they love each other,” I say sadly, wishing there was some way I could help them.
“I slept with Eve.” Thomas blurts out, lowering his head in shame and I instantly pull my hand back.