Page 93 of Luna Trials
Mattox’s embarrassed cough told me enough.
I smiled.
“Alright,” he continued, “we’re going old school. I should have a team in the mountains by tomorrow night to set up camp.”
“Sounds good, Mattox. And thank you.”
“No worries, boss.” My beta took a deep breath. I wasn’t sure if he was preparing himself or me for his next statement. “To clarify, for the rest of the pack of course, this mission is to protect our new Luna.”
“That’s the plan.” I leaned back in the chair, watching as she slept curled into a nest of softblankets and pillows on the gray-scale video image. “I just have to convince her of that first.”
32
Aspen
“Hello?” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.
“You’re still in bed again.” My papa huffed through the phone. “That place is changing you. Turning you into a city slicker. I’ve never known you to be this lazy.”
It was 5am.
“Sorry. I must have overslept.” And this is why I always went to bed so early. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. Just fine. I did have an incident with my ear the other day. But it’s still intact.”
I sat up straight, sleep forgotten. “What happened to your ear?”
“Uh. Well…” There was some shuffling around the kitchen as he turned on the coffee maker. “It itched and I partially shifted, but my darn claw got caught up.”
“Oh. My. Goddess. Papa.” I struggled not to laugh. “You don’t have too many body parts left to lose.”
“Don’t I know it.” His deep chuckle made me smile. “How are you doing? The last trial is tomorrow.”
“Don’t I know it.” I sighed.
“Uh oh. What is that sound for?”
I pulled the blankets closer around me. “Nothing. It’s just… Papa. I don’t belong here.”
“You knock that off right now,” he scolded. “What happened to promising me you’d go in with an open mind? I’ve seen the show. You’re the prettiest girl there and I know you are making some friends.”
I chewed my bottom lip. Fallon did bring me dinner last night. She didn’t stay long, but I was shocked that she really seemed to care about me. I thought about Opal and Jesse and how nice they were. Even Edith didn’t seem so bad when you got her alone.
“And that Ranger fellow. Has he asked you out yet?”
My cheeks flamed with heat and I panicked, suddenly worried there were parts on film I didn’t know about. “How much of the show have you seen?”
“Enough to know there is something special going on between you two.” The coffee machine sputtered as he poured a cup. “You’re making him work for it, right?”
“Right.” I laughed, not at all comfortable with this conversation.
“That’s my girl.” Papa sipped his mug with a loud slurp. “You know, when I met your gram, she didn’t like me one bit.”
“What? You never told me that.”
“Oh she wanted me. There was no doubt about it. Our wolves called to each other. They knew we were fated before we did. But she was a wild one and loved the chase. And what a chase it was.”
I usually loved the reminiscing, but this was going to make my ears bleed. “TMI Papa.”