Page 10 of Forbidden Moon
He shrugged. “I don’t know. When I get back to the pack, I can find out more. I’m sure I can put them off for a while until we figure out what we want to do.”
“What do we want?” She asked, not really knowing the answer herself.
* * *
Damn, she would have to toss the ball into his court. His wolf was still pissed off at smelling Caleb on her, still angry about not claiming her as a mate. His wolf couldn’t understand the delicate dance they were both in as humans with their pack rivalry and their own paths forward. The wolf understood one thing only. She was his mate, and another male had been sniffing around her.
Though, his wolf understood threats and his father was a Threat with a capital T. He’d always been a stern taskmaster in his life, demanding the best from his son and even that was often not good enough. Garrett had scars to illustrate his failures often enough, with a few related to his past with Maya. He didn’t know how his father would handle a mating with her. Given their past, he would think his father would probably forbid it in the strongest way possible, not limiting himself to threats. He hadn’t in the past, so why would it be different now? But he had directed Garrett to find a mate outside the pack, a strong female, which Maya was. Maybe it could work, and he could have his future with her.
He realized a few minutes had passed while she stared expectantly at him. He cleared his throat. “There’s no question I want us to mate, but it’s…”
“Complicated,” she finished.
“Yeah, complicated.”
Silence reigned as they both let their thoughts travel along their own paths. Finally, Garrett took her hand. “We have three options. Accept the mating now and be damned everyone and our packs.”
She was already shaking her head. “I’m not ready for that.”
He couldn’t hide the flash of disappointment, even though, honestly, he felt the same. They each had their own lives and goals to just jump into a mating. Yet wasn’t that the point of a mating? That it superseded everything? Doubt crowded his brain for a moment, making him wonder if time apart might be a good thing.
She was studying him carefully, then she echoed his thoughts. “Shouldn’t we be overcome by the mating urges now? Maybe time is a good thing right now. Time and space.”
His breath gusted out. “Yeah, that was option two. We need to make sure this is the right thing for us. Mating is different for every couple. Their paths are different and that’s okay. We’ll forge our own.”
She buried her hands in her lap, fisted them hard, and her gaze dropped to them. “What if we don’t?”
He felt that pain viscerally, a sharp stab to his gut, then twisting hard. “Then we might lose something precious and rare.”
She jumped to her feet and began pacing the space. “If it’s so damned precious, then why aren’t we ready to jump in?”
He lunged for her and stopped her, pulling her to him. “Because our situation is fucked up. We can’t control our packs or any of the bullshit around us. Unless we’re willing to walk away right now, we have to find a way to work within it.”
“And if we can’t?”
The pain in her voice continued to twist the knife in his gut. “Then we have another decision to make. We’ll figure it out then.” He tilted her chin up to face him. “Maya, we’ll figure this out. We each go back to our packs and decide what comes next for ourselves. When I get back from my Council assignment, we’ll connect and decide what to do.”
She watched him for a long moment, searching his face as if it held all the answers, then she slowly nodded, taking a shuddering breath. “One month. I can do that. But you won’t be back until then.”
His fingers flexed on her arms, knowing the mating bond would be painful while they were separated. “I’ll do what I can to come back sooner, but I probably can’t. I’m sure it won’t take me long to find out what the plans are.”
She still looked troubled. “Garrett, I know they’re your pack and family, but something isn’t right with Saranac. We’re seeing too many things right now.”
He dropped his hands and stepped back, stung by her attack on his pack. “Maya, we do things differently. A little more traditional, maybe, but that will change with time and fresh blood in leadership, which I will be a part of. Also, we just got out of a war with your pack a few years ago. Emotions are still raw. It will take time for everything to calm down.”
She frowned and pushed back from him. “You haven’t been there like I have. It’s more than that.”
He huffed and reached for her, but she evaded him. “Maya, I don’t want to have this discussion now. Let’s worry about it later. I don’t want to ruin our last night together.”
She folded her arms and shook her head. “Garrett, our packs are a part of us, made us who we are. They’re critical to our discussion of our mating. And I’m not just going to leave my pack because I’m female.”
He leaned against the couch arm, trying to diffuse the situation. “Maya, while I worked for the Council, we dealt with a few situations of inter-pack matings. Yes, one wolf has to leave for the other pack. That’s true because there can’t be divided loyalties. The dominant one is not always the one who leaves their pack, nor is it always the female, contrary to what some of the traditional packs may say. It comes down to the mating couple’s wishes. They get to decide, though sometimes the pack that loses a member gains one from the other pack.”
“You mean if I leave Dirigo, your pack has to send someone to my pack?”
“It’s called compensation. But it has to be a discussion at the Council level. If you want, before I come home, I can float the concept of an inter-pack mating with Charles, the Council Beta and the head of the Council Enforcers, without mentioning details.”
Her eyes flared with panic. “I don’t want anyone talking to my Alpha.”