Page 56 of Blood Pearl
Taria? Taria? Have you taken leave of your senses? The girl has never known a father figure. She will be ecstatic to have one such as Gerry. And you forget one important fact. She will be gone in only a few months. Titan is keen for his mate, and Maya is no shrinking violet. She wants pups. Lots of pups. As hard as it sounds, Taria will not have time to be thinking of you in the coming months. She will have her hands full as Luna of the Eclipse pack. Think back to what it was like when you became Alpha of Blood Pearl. You saw Taria only at her bedtime and not every night even then. You were not being a bad mother, but a good Alpha. She will be the same as a Luna.
‘That hurts, Aztec. They are cutting words. I know I wasn’t there for her in her early years. I do not need to be reminded of my failings as a mother.’
Looking at the hurt on Aurora’s face, I see how deeply this has affected her. “Aurora. I don’t believe Aztec wishes to hurt you. She is merely reminding you of the amount of work that will befall Taria when she accepts Bronze as her mate. I have to say that I agree with her. You cannot put off your own happiness for your daughter at this time. She would not want you to.”
“Need I remind you. You are not her father yet!”
“No, I am not. But it seems I know her better than you do. I will leave you to think things over in your own time.” Moving towards the door, I am halted when she cries out, “Gerry, wait! There was no need for me to say that. I’m sorry. You are both right in what you say. It is hard for me to hear and to accept, especially from two so close.”
Walking over to her, I take her in my arms. For a moment I feel her stiffen, but then she relaxes against me. Resting my chin on her head, I gently rub a hand up and down her back. Feeling her breathing slowing and the tension leaving her muscles, I lift her chin, bend down, touch my forehead to hers and then kiss her on the lips, tenderly.
“You realize, of course, that when Aztec next runs with Asher, they are going to be shameless in the woods.” Aurora gives me a raised eyebrow as she says this.
“In which case, I think we should retire to my room and show them exactly what shameless can be like.”
Giving me the most innocent, wide-eyed look possible, she asks, “It’s lunchtime. Wouldn’t you rather devour some food instead of me?”
Grinning, I laugh at her comment. “You remember the darndest things at the darndest times, I’ll give you that.”
Composing ourselves ready for anyone we may meet, such as the office guard, we make our way to my room. As soon as the door closes behind us, Aurora throws me across the bed. For the next two hours, I learn much about not only Aurora but myself. I have never been so abandoned in the bedroom as I am in these two hours.
Finally, resting against the headboard with her head on my chest, I catch my breath.
“That was amazing. I didn’t know I knew those things.”
“You didn’t. I just taught them to you!” Bursting into laughter, she sits across my thighs and looks at me closely. “We need to do this again when we have more time. Two hours are not enough. Now let’s get showered and dressed quickly so we can find out what we’ve missed in the last two hours.”
Showering takes another thirty minutes. When we leave my room, we find Raina sitting on a chair halfway down the corridor.
Aurora does not seem very pleased that her Beta has been ‘on guard’ during our nuptials.
“Well, if you didn’t make so much noise, I wouldn’t have to sit here and stop the pack from coming to listen to the pair of you. The Goddess only knows how many had been here before I found out what they were up to. Everyone is thrilled for the pair of you. So thrilled, in fact, that they all wanted to be a part of it and listen to you two going at it!”
“We were loud?” I ask.
“Gerry. I’m surprised you couldn’t hear Flint cheering you on from the Council chambers, you were so loud.” Raina gets up from her chair. “Now that round one is over, perhaps I can get back to some proper work.”
“Raina. Aurora and I thank you for your discretion.”
“Gerry, you need to inform the border patrol when Asher and Aztec run in the woods. If they make half the noise of you pair the warriors are going to be highly embarrassed when they arrive to investigate. Get my meaning?”
Leaving us giggling like a pair of pups, she walks off. Heading to the dining area, we heap a couple of trays and are very conscious of all the sly looks we are getting. Aurora looks at me and smiles.
“I think I need to make an announcement about the change in circumstances within the pack. Don’t you?”
“In a day or two, perhaps? Does it need to be immediate? Everyone seems okay with us being mates.”
“I wasn’t thinking of announcing that we were mates, per se. More that they had a new Alpha. That is a bit more of a concern to the pack than our bedroom shenanigans, wouldn’t you say?”
“New Alpha? Where are you planning on taking us?”
“I guess you haven’t thought this through, huh? We touched on this before, remember? How we would have made a good Alpha and Luna. So as mates, I become your Luna, which would make you my…?”
“I’d be your Alpha, I know that.”
“Gerry. Not just MY Alpha, you’d also be the Alpha of the pack. This pack.” As realization dawns across my face, she begins to laugh. “There we go. You got it!”
“You’d best make the announcement pretty quick then, huh?”