Second Chance Luna (Phoebe and Jason) novel Chapter 6

Jason escaped the party and Kristie’s amorous overtures as soon as he could, retreating to his room. Double locking his door he hopped in the shower to try to cool his eagerness to see his mate. His arms itched to hold her, caress her. He was dying to bury his nose in her neck and breathe her scent.

‘Mate!’ Lobo growled pacing in the back of his mind like a caged animal.

‘I know pal,’ Jason sighed. ‘I want to be with her just as much as you do but we have to be cautious. There’s something wrong with this pack.’

‘If that Luna touches us again we rip her throat out!’ Lobo snarled.

‘Strange Alpha Graham didn’t react at all,’ Jason suddenly realized something that had been bothering him the whole night.

A chosen bond wasn’t as strong as a fated one but it still connected one’s wolf spirit to another allowing them to communicate and sense each other. If one member of the pair betrayed the bond the other would certainly feel it. Though Kristie had only been flirting her mate should still have felt her intentions and yet Graham hadn’t even flinched despite the fact she was sitting next to him. Then again he had been drinking quite heavily so perhaps he couldn’t sense his wolf through the haze. Or was he drinking to deliberately suppress his wolf and dull the ache of his mate’s betrayal?

Jason couldn’t decide which scenario was more disturbing. In either case his instinct told him it wasn’t safe to announce his fated mate had been found, at least not until he had a chance to speak with her. The sooner they could leave and get his mate back to the safety of his own pack the better.

‘Yes! Take Mate home!’

‘We will. We are not leaving without her.’

Lobo growled assent. No matter what he had to convince Phoebe to leave with him. Nobody could stop him from claiming what was his. Stepping out of the shower Jason felt more exhausted than when he entered. Quickly drying himself he splayed out in the large bed. Sleep didn’t come easily.

His mate was etched in his mind and he saw her as soon as he closed his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to curl up with her in his arms, her warm scent wafting around him and filling his nose. Only with that image firmly in place did he finally manage to fall asleep.

* * *

The buzzing of his phone woke him the next morning. With a groan he reached for it setting it against his ear without looking at the screen before answering, “Yeah?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, dear. Did I wake you?”

“Mom?” Jason was instantly awake. “Is everything all right?”

“Of course. Ben has the pack running like clockwork,” his mother assured him. “But we did have a pretty serious breach.”

“What do you mean?”

“Rogues. They breached our southern border. Ben and the warriors drove them out.”

“Causalities?”

“None on our end. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“You know how packs are. They get anxious when their Alpha is away.”

“Yeah. Got it loud and clear,” Jason sighed.

Since he had no Luna tying the pack together they relied on him to maintain the pack bonds. While loyalty and trust were powerful it didn’t quite make up for the natural strength of a Luna’s care and love.

“I’m sorry, dear. I know you were counting on this trip.”

“It’s all right, mom…I found her.”

“…You did? Is she there with you? Can I talk to her? What’s her name? What’s she like?” the questions spilled out of his eager mother like a river.

“No, she’s not with me at the moment. I just scented her last night. Her name is Phoebe. Mom she’s…she’s gorgeous. You should have seen how she interacts with her pack’s pups.”

Just the mention of it had Lobo wagging his tail.

“Oh, sweetie. She sounds wonderful. I’m so happy for you,” his mother gushed. “But you haven’t spoken to her yet?”

“No, not yet. This pack…the Alpha and Luna are…strange.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m pretty sure they are chosen mates but their bond…it almost seems, well, repressed,” Jason sighed. He couldn’t think of a better word to describe it. “It’s not like yours and dad’s bond and how strained it became. It’s like they are doing everything they can to deliberately weaken it.”

“…If that’s true it means the alpha most likely met his fated mate and rejected her before taking his chosen mate.”

“You think so? He had to know it would be risky.”

Aside from the advantages of a fated mate there was another danger when it came to rejecting them and that was the possibility of losing one’s wolf entirely. Their wolf spirits hungered for their fated mates. If their human counterpart rejected that mate it could drive their wolf insane. Their spirits became unpredictable or depressed refusing to even communicate with their human half. Sometimes they completely lost the ability to shift. Other times they went feral and became a crazed rogue.

For an alpha the risks were far too great. Why take such a gamble? Just what could the Rimrock alpha have been thinking when he rejected his mate for another?

“You’re right to be cautious,” his mother intoned. “If he finds out your fated mate is a member of his pack it could send his wolf over the edge. There’s no telling how it could react.”

‘Must protect Mate!’ Lobo growled.

“Cam guarded her place last night,” Jason said. “I’ll talk to her today and wrap up my visit as soon as I can.”

“Take your time and don’t rush the bond. Your mate deserves some romance before you sweep her away. Once I tell the pack you’ve found your Luna they’ll settle down and prepare to welcome her.”

Jason grimaced. His pack had been waiting over thirty years for their Luna. Though his parents were fated mates their pairing had been strained by his father’s previous indiscretions and his mother was never able to properly bond with the pack. Perhaps that was why it was so easy for Jason to assume control even though his father was still in his prime. Most alphas handed down leadership only after years of training and preparation.

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