“Of course,” he replied, gesturing for me to sit. I quickly closed the door to his office and sat down.
“I hope you don’t mind that this will be about a more ‘adult’ subject than you probably normally discuss with our pack members.”
“I am happy to help however I can, Alpha. Please don’t be shy.”
“Okay, great. So, this is a bit of an awkward conversation, but I’m hoping you might understand it better than I do. Normally, when I, well, have relations, with women who are not my mate, my canines do not extend, and I don’t have the urge to mark them. However, I recently had a few encounters with a woman who, of course, is also not my mate. But, for some reason, we both had the urge to mark each other. In fact, she almost did after the first encounter until I stopped her.”
He sat back in his chair, rubbing his chin, looking at me. After some time, he said, “To be honest, Alpha, this is the first I’ve heard of such a thing happening. It is possible that it has happened to others, but most people are not so open about their relations with me, so this particular situation has simply just never been brought to my attention.”
“What do you think it means?” I asked.
“Well, I’m not certain, but if I had to make a theory, I would say that perhaps it means that the Moon Goddess approves of the match you have made with your most recent partner. And if I had to further theorize, I’d say that you, Alpha, may have been granted a second-chance mate.” He smiled at me.
“Do second-chance mates exist?” I asked.
“Not officially. But Artemis is full of surprises.”
“Thank you, sir,” I said, getting up, then turned back around as a thought came to me. “Sir, considering the facts and circumstances, where there’s a highly likely chance that this woman I speak of may be a second-chance mate, granted by Artemis herself, would you consider allowing us to marry in the temple? Even if she may have rejected her true mate?”
“Well, you’re the alpha, and I can’t exactly undermine your authority,” he said, winking at me.
“Thank you, sir,” I replied.
“Now let me go get your father’s ashes, Alpha,” Bernard said, getting up from his chair. I followed him down the hall where he retrieved an urn from another office and handed it to me. “Alpha, I am very sorry for your loss again. I knew your father for many years. He was a very complicated man with a difficult past. But I still remember the day he told me that your mother was expecting you. I don’t believe I’d ever seen him so happy. He was always very proud of you and spoke very highly of you to me. I want you to know that. Now, go on, I’m sure you have more important things to attend to.”
I smiled and said goodbye. Instead of heading back to the packhouse, I walked to my mom’s house. After my parents moved out of the packhouse, they moved into a small house in the downtown area so that they would be close by if needed. I rang the doorbell, and my mom answered the door, beckoning me inside.
“I have Dad’s ashes,” I said, holding out the urn.
“Thank you, Blake,” she said, taking the urn from me and putting it on the entryway table. “Do you want to sit down for a bit? Let me make you some tea.”
“Okay,” I replied, walking after her and pulling out a chair at the kitchen table. “How are you doing?”
“I’m okay, Blake. Just taking things day by day.” She filled a kettle with water.
“You know, mom, I’m sorry to say this, but I’m not actually that sad about Dad’s death. I know he wasn’t all bad, but a lot of him was pretty terrible. He tortured both of us for years. I appreciate that he sacrificed his life for me, but it doesn’t make up for everything he did. You deserved better than him. I’ve always thought it was messed up that the Moon Goddess mated you to him.”
She came over and put her arms around me. “It’s okay to feel the way you do, Blake. But if I weren’t mated to your father, I wouldn’t have you. For that, at least, I am thankful.”
Chapter 67
Jasmine
AftergettinghomeSaturdaymorning, I rushed to take a shower and change into new clothes. I was extremely late for work, having completely forgotten about my shift that day. I checked my phone as soon as I walked through the door of my house to find frantic messages from Valerie. I was supposed to be there at seven thirty and I ended up walking in at eleven to come face-to-face with Lucy.
“Looks like Perfect Jasmine finally decided to grace us with her presence,” Lucy taunted me as I walked past her to drop my stuff off in the back and throw on an apron.
“Where have you been?” Valerie asked, coming over to me.
“Sorry. Late night,” I replied. “Got stuck far away because of the blizzard.”
“Far away?” Valerie raised her eyebrow at me. “Never mind, you can tell me later. We have a line of customers. Get to work.”
I went up front, taking my place to prepare orders as they came in, trying my best to avoid interaction with Lucy. I noted that she now had a proper baby bump, very clearly pregnant. Although you would never guess when she turned her back to you, still just as skinny as ever everywhere else.
After the rush ended, Valerie came out front and stood in front of Lucy. “Thanks for filling in, Lucy. You can go home now if you’d like.”
“No problem,” she said, walking out back to grab all her things before leaving.