Chapter 59

I found Chloe sitting out on a bench on the side of the packhouse. “Hey Chloe.”

“Oh, Hi Ember.”

“Can I talk with you?”

“Sure, what is on your mind?”

“Well, you will be in charge while we are gone, and I need to tell you about the tunnels and maybe you and I could talk about what to do if something goes wrong.”

“I don’t think anything will go wrong but yeah maybe it is a good idea just in case. “

“Well, we should be gone for two days. Which I am sure Taylor will tell you about. Also, I am sure he will tell you about our plans.”

“He doesn’t usually discuss stuff like that with me. I mean he would tell me about the being gone two days but not about the actual plans.”

“Well, if you want to know I can fill you in.”

“Yeah, I think I would like to know.” I spent the next hour going over everything with her. Her eyes would get big at things as I talked. After I was done talking, she said

“Thankyou.”

“For what?”

“For letting me know what is going on.”

“Can I ask you why you settled on Taylor. He told me you are his Chosen mate.”

“Yeah, he is.”

“Can I ask why.”

“My mate died.”

“What how?”

“He was running off the pack lands. He was a wonderer, always going off the pack and he never came back. I felt when he died though.”

“I am so sorry.”

“It is okay. It was a long time ago.”

“But still why Taylor?”

“He can be nice.”

“He doesn't seem that way.”

“I know what you think that he is horrible and deeming to women he used to not be like that.”

“Chloe, I don’t know I mean but he threw himself at me.”

“He is desperate.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can't have children. So, he is desperate to have them with someone who is strong.”

“Still, he is mated.”

“I agree and he was wrong and totally out of line.”

“And he is deeming how do you put up with that he doesn’t even want women to fight.”

“He does think we are the weaker sex but he also values women as a whole. He doesn’t want us to get hurt. He always says we are the future as we bring in the pups. That is also why we have no warriors that are younger than 19.”

“He may be rough around the edges, but he never hurts me. He is affectionate in private. It is just his way. He really thinks women should just be left out of anything doing with anything rough, and he hates when someone rubs him the wrong way women or man.”

It made sense now. I had rubbed him the wrong way. If I had been demure and turned him away gently it may have been different. Also, the fact that I have been regarded so highly above him didn’t help him warm to me.

“I still think he is a tool.”

“He is, I agree, but he is my tool.” I began to laugh. Chloe was sweet and she had a patience I would never have. It was an admirable quality. I showed her to the tunnels.

“These lead two miles out of the territory. If something happens you are to go up into the mountains. Find the rockiest terrain there is. It will be hard for humans to get up those ridges and there are caves up there.”

I knew this because Hayden had told me around the first couple of weeks I had been there. “You and some of the others can hunt mountain goat and other animals. Also, some of the caves have some supplies in them just in case. “

“How am I supposed to get the word out if I can't mind link the pack.”

“That is a good question I had not thought of that.” I thought about it.

“I know I will have Alice stay behind. She is the beta female. She will be unhappy, but this is important. Like I said before I doubt anything will happen, but it would be best to be prepared than to be caught with our pants down.”

Chloe burst out laughing. “What is so funny.”

“I never heard that expression.”

“What you haven't.”

“No.” she continued to laugh a bit longer. She was so happy and just tickled by the saying. I couldn’t help but laugh with her. I loved how even in the midst of upcoming battle; she was so happy and lighthearted.

We continued to talk and joke around. It was nice I had not spent a lot of time with Chloe since she arrived. We compared our packs and about how it was weird that people wanted parenting advice from us when we both did not have children ourselves.

I told her about meeting the Goddess. She had so many questions about her. She had asked me about what happened when I was captured by the hunters. I opened up to her. In truth she was the first person I had actually discussed my feelings on the subject.

Hayden knew but he didn’t know my feelings I kept those locked away. I cried on Chloes shoulder, and it made me feel good to finally get it all out. She rubbed my back and was very motherly about it all. I took some deep breaths trying to calm down.

“You must be a really good Luna.”

“I try to be.”

I sniffed a bit. “Thank you for letting me vent.”

“Oh, anytime I think we are friends.”

“Definitely.”

I know I needed to go talk to Alice so she could talk to Sean about her staying behind. I knew she would be disappointed that she would not be able to fight but she would stay behind because I asked. “Well, Chloe I have to go find Alice and let her know the plan.”

“Yeah, this was fun though.”

“Yeah, when this is all over, I will be sad to see you go.”

“That is okay we can still talk to each other. Why else would we have phones.”

“True.”

“Also, we can visit.”

“That would make me very happy.”

“Me too.” We hugged and then I went to go find Alice.