Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
“You will be fine,” Emily murmured, wrapping her arm around my shoulder and hugging me.
“Haven Kenway,” Wesley stated, a broad smile on his face as my name fell from his lips, his hand outstretched to me.
Everyone had their eyes on me as I walked from Emily’s side to Wesley, but I only had eyes for him. My mate. My Wesley.
He took both of my hands in his. His tongue traced his lips, and he swallowed, looking down at his feet for a moment to compose himself.
“Haven. My mate. My luna,” he began, his face softening as he looked at me, taking in my dress and my soft, wild curls. He reached up and touched my cheek, stepping in closer to me. “Do you promise to be your alpha’s other, better half? To guide me with your love and your heart? Do you promise to keep me from being too hotheaded and impulsive? To challenge me and call me out on my bullshit? Because Goddess knows I need someone to do that, and you’re the only one who does it without worrying about my reaction.”
The entire pack laughed, and I smiled at him, covering his hand on my face with my own. “I do,” I murmured, and he beamed at me.
“Crescent Lake!” Wesley exclaimed, turning to look out at our pack. “Do you promise to love and respect your luna? To treat her as the heart of our pack, the one who holds us all together? Do you promise to protect and defend her, just as you protect and defend our pack and our bond? Do you accept her as your luna?”
I held my breath, my body tensing as I heard his question, and waited for their response. This was the part I was most afraid of, the part I was dreading. The moment when they might turn me down.
But the howls and cheers that sounded before his question even finished were even louder than the ones they gave to Wesley when he was presented as their new alpha, putting all my fears to rest, proving to me they were unfounded, that I’d had nothing to worry about.
“Then I present to you your new luna, Luna Haven Kenway!” Wesley shouted.
The howls and cheers continued, growing even louder as he tugged me towards him and kissed me in front of them all, claiming my mouth with his lips and his tongue, claiming me for all of them to see. I held onto him, returning his kiss with renewed fervor, energized and driven by the support and acceptance of the wolves of our pack. The breeze blew around us, twisting my hair and dancing in the fabric of my dress as we kissed.
“I love you, Luna Haven,” Wesley said as he pulled back, his nose brushing mine.
I gave him another kiss. “And I love you, Alpha Wesley,” I replied. “Now go. Lead your pack on your first run as their alpha,” I told him, stroking his chest through his shirt before pushing him towards his friends.
He pulled me back in for one more kiss and then another, his smile growing against my lips with each one. Then he walked backwards until his bare feet were in the lake water, Reid on one side of him and Nolan and Sebastian on the other.
Without a word, the four of them shifted into their wolves and lycans—Wesley and Sebastian standing tall in their more humanoid, dark gray forms and Reid and Nolan on all fours with them. They let out a unified howl and then took off, splashing through the shallow water towards the trees.
The thundering of hundreds of heavy paws echoed around me, and the wolves of our pack sped by me. Some of them nuzzled my hand with their nose or rubbed the fur against my legs as they passed me, all of them also splashing through the shallow water as they followed their new leaders, howling and yipping with joy. The water hit me a few times, and I squealed and laughed at the unexpected temperature change and the feeling of the water on my skin and my dress.
I wrapped my arms around myself and smiled as I watched the last shifted wolf run to the forest, strolling along the shore and dipping my toes into the water, not caring if my dress got wet since it had already been splashed by the wolves. I closed my eyes, but a small tug on my skirt pulled me out of my thoughts.
I looked around and down and found a young child—or pup, I guess, since that’s what the pack called them—holding onto my skirt and peering up at me with wide, green eyes.
“What is it?” I asked him, crouching down to his level.
“Will you run with us, Luna Haven?” he asked.
“But I can’t shift. I’m not a wolf,” I reminded him.
“We can’t shift either,” he said with a shrug.
“And we don’t care that you’re not a wolf,” another chimed in. “You’re still our luna. And we want you to run with us while we chase after the big wolves!” she exclaimed.
A chorus of “Please, Luna Haven!” and “Run with us, Luna!” echoed and played around me, complete with pouty lips and wide, blinking wolf-pup eyes.
“All right,” I said with a smile. “Let’s go chase the big wolves,” I declared, standing and reaching my hands out for them.
They all cheered and took my hands, pulling me with them towards the clearing in front of the forest. The breeze blew again, stronger this time, pulling my hair and the skirt of my dress and drawing my attention back to the lake.
I paused, still holding the hands of the little pups, and looked over to the lake, to where the full moon hung over the water and was mirrored back to itself. The breeze wrapped around me, warm and soft, and caressed my cheek once before moving away to the trees.
I turned, and there in the tree line staring back at me, was my Wesley, in his lycan form, watching me as I ran with the pups of our pack. I smiled at him, picking my pace up again and bringing the children with me, laughing with each step I took.
His beast let out a howl and then took off in a flash, leaving only dust and dried pine needles in his wake.
And as I ran after him, a gaggle of unshifted wolf pups in tow, I realized what I should have known from that first night I found myself on the shore of Crescent Lake and stared out at the moon hovering over the water.
I realized I had finally found where I belonged.
EPILOGUE
EPILOGUESIX MONTHS LATER: NOVEMBERWESLEY
Glittering lights. Rustling fabrics and programs. Instruments tuning. Whispering voices.
A theater filled with audience members for the opening night of
The Nutcracker this season at The Redwood Forest Ballet Company. A full house, as Haven had taught me.
And all of them were here for her.
The pack had bought out the house for the evening, so every single member of that audience was here because they were supporting their luna.
Because tonight, she would dance the role of The Sugar Plum Fairy.
“Thank you again,” I muttered, turning to look at Imogen.
She rubbed at a spot on her red-painted fingernails, a wrinkle between her brows. “I told you already, I needed the break. Some time to breathe, kick my feet up, and remind myself that I’m not just good at ballet, I actually enjoy ballet.” Her eyes lifted to mine, and she smiled. “Plus, it was for a good cause,” she said. “Oh, the baby is here!”
She maneuvered around me and towards the theater entrance, completely bypassing Jack, Shirley, and Scott and heading right to Tiffany, who was holding her one-year-old daughter Stella.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?