Luna On The Run!

Alpha Zane’s POV

This getaway is great.

The yacht offers every comfort I can think of and now, after two days, I am relieved of all stress. Of course, I am still in touch with Eric and Kensley via the mind link, but they are doing great. Midnight Moon is running smoothly, apart from the huge amount of paperwork we have no significant threats. We have no known foes, just the occasional rogue who gets too close to our borders. Or Gorgio warriors maneuvering along the western border. Nothing to write home about. And Kensley is up to the task, quickly dealing with such matters.

And here I am again, lying on the deck under the sail, enjoying the cool sea breeze.

The yacht is bobbing in the middle of the sea. I have just come from a swim, the water is nice and warm and the waves pass by quietly. There is water on all sides, no land in sight. But after these days alone, I begin to long for people around me. The two warriors who came with me retreated to their hut an hour ago.

“Alpha, would you like to go ashore and socialize with the humans? The yacht club of the human city a few miles away has a busy shopping mall, you could take a look and have a different kind of meal at the food court.” Mase, the captain, approaches me.

“And there’s a happy hour at the club tonight if you fancy a change of pace.” He comes over and sits down next to me on a deck chair, dressed in sportswear. Mase is my school friend, he was supposed to be my Gamma, but he loves the sea too much to be cooped up in a packhouse. So he manages our two yachts and the car park. He is happy and that is the most important thing for me.

“Yes, the shopping center is a bit different from what I am used to. Shopping is not really my thing, but I could do with some leg stretching. And some new faces”. We laugh at my last comment, four men on a boat for two days is not exactly a diverse company.

“I’ll come with you. I haven’t left the pack in months. That way, I lose any chance of finding my mate”. I nod; of all of us, I am the only one to have met my fated and even then it ended in disaster. Time is running out, mated rankings make a pack stronger. Eric, Kensley and even Mase are loose cannons, but I know they all long for the moment when they find their better half. We are all so over-aged.

We go to our room to change.

Half an hour later, I meet Mase on the bridge. He has arranged a rental car, takes the key from the car rental guy and we drive off.

“I heard how it ended with your Luna, Zane. I’m so sorry it had to happen to you,” my friend tells me. “Maybe the Moon Goddess will grant you a second chance soon. Then you can put all this behind you and be happy again”.

“Yes, I look forward to that. Ariel was definitely a miscalculation on Selene’s part. When we first met, the mate bond was strong, but she was still able to evade it and escape. But when she came back all on her own, she seemed so non-existent, it was unbelievable how cold and distant she was,” I explain regretfully. “She made no effort to make our relationship work.”

“Yes, Selene provides the impetus, but it’s the partners who have to make it succeed. And if it fails, it’s better to end it than to hurt each other.”

“The strange thing was that as soon as Eric got close to Ariel, she immediately perked up. But he denied any relationship with her. Even when I offered to take her after our rejection, he refused. He swore that the Luna was not his fated,” I confide in Mase.

“Okay. That’s all in the past. Now you have to focus on the future, that’s what this holiday is for. No looking back, just straight ahead. You actually have to close an old door before you can walk through another one, Zane,” he encourages me.

“You are so right. Still, after our rejection, I thought the bond would fall away completely. But I still feel a weak connection to her. Like when she was hiding in Human Town. And last night I felt some stings in my lower abdomen, slight but still painful. As if it was caused by an unfaithful mate”.

“Take it easy. Maybe she’s back with Alpha Gorgio and they’re having sex. It’s all so fresh, it’ll go away in time. Concentrate on other things, get a temporary girlfriend for all I care, have lots of sex and then it will be over”. We both laugh at his advice, which is exactly what we did in college. Loose as we were, we charmed girl after girl, they swarmed around us like flies. We had all the looks and status they coveted.

“I’ll take your advice. It may be a way to get rid of this drama. But I don’t want different partners, I think I’ll take a sexy she-wolf as a friend with benefits, no strings attached. When my second chance comes around, I can just buy this friend off”. Another burst of laughter and we head straight for the mall.

I feel so much lighter than the last few days.

Banning Ariel from my mind is exactly what I intend to do. I just have to make sure that this new partner is not from Midnight Moon or Eclipse Howl and that the rules of our relationship are crystal clear to her. Most importantly, that we break up as soon as my new mate arrives, and I am prepared to pay her a hefty break-up fee.

I smile.

I’m so looking for a new love to spend some time with ….