Escaping Wildfire

Noah

We pulled up to the border of the Harvest Moon territory, and their Beta Gabriel came over to meet us. It was another 30-minute drive to the pack house. The Beta told us we’d be staying there with Alpha Kedrick and his family.

As we turned into the pack house driveway, Jordan started to appear agitated. “You okay back there?” Cristian looked at him through the rearview mirror.

“Yeah.” He sighed. “Yeah…just feeling a little agitated is all. Neo is itching to go for a run all of a sudden.”

Jordan’s wolf was usually the calm level-headed one of the three of us, so his feeling agitated was not normal.

“Maybe your mate’s in this pack? My dad always said he felt restless the day he met my mom. His wolf kept going crazy until he met her later on that same day.” I turned to look back at Jordan.

“Seriously?” His eyes go wide. “As awesome as meeting my mate sounds, I’m not sure I’m quite ready to meet her. I always pictured myself as Alpha already when I met her.”

“Better you than me.” Cristian cut in. “I am so not ready to meet my mate. Relationships are hard, and I’d rather play the field a bit longer.”

Out of the three of us, Cristian was a bit of a player. He was also the oldest at 20, so he’d had more time to explore without a mate than us. Jordan has messed around with a girl or two, but has always wanted what his parents have and, truthfully, is too scared of disappointing his mom who’s big on the mate bond. Then there’s me who’s always just loved Gema. I’m also the youngest of us at 18. The guys waited until I graduated for this training so we could all come together.

“Whatever, man, you’ll eventually get tired of just playing around. It’s nice having that one girl you can look forward to spending your life with.”

Cristian patted my shoulder, “And that’s why I’m glad you’re with my sister, no way in hell would I want her with a guy like me.” He shook his head to emphasize his point.

Meanwhile, Jordan started fidgeting in the back seat.

“Just take a breath, and try to relax. What is Neo telling you?”

He listened to me and took a deep breath. “Nothing, not a word, he just wants to get out and run.”

We all jolted in our seats as we heard a knock at the window. Beta Gabriel waited as Cristian rolled down the window. “Alpha says you can pull up into that spot over there, and then he’ll meet you at the front door. Go ahead and grab your stuff and we’ll show you to your rooms.”

We did as he said and walked up to see a tall man with a lean muscular build and warm brown skin standing beside a woman with vibrant green eyes and tanned ivory skin. A little boy who looked about five or six stood next to them.

Jordan led us up the walk and introduced himself first. While he was always joking around with us, he was all business when it came to his Alpha duties. His wolf, Neo, provided a good balance for his more playful human side.

“Gentlemen, welcome to Harvest Moon.” Alpha Kedrick stepped up and shook each of our hands. “This is my mate, Luna Ellis, and our son Oren.” We all greeted Luna Ellis.

Oren stepped up to Jordan, “Are you an Alpha like my dad?”

Jordan crouched down to meet the boy at eye level. “Not quite, but I’ll be one soon.”

“What about your friends, are they alphas?” He nodded in the direction of me and Cristian.

“No, these are my best friends, and they’ll be my Beta and Gamma.”

“My dad says Luke is going to be my Beta and Uncle Isaiah doesn't have a mate yet, but Arlo is four and I'm already five. So, I'm the biggest. Dad says Uncle Isaiah's son will be my Gamma, but he'll just be a baby whenever he comes. I'm pretty sure babies can't be Gammas, so I don't know how that's happening.

We all chuckled at Oren’s words. “Alright, little Alpha, how about we go take a nap before dinner.” Luna Ellis took his hand to lead him inside. “We’ll show you to your rooms so that you guys can rest. We’ve prepared a barbeque out back for dinner so that you can meet the pack. Then, after dinner, my mate can run you through your schedules for the week and give you a tour.

“Sounds good, thank you, Luna Ellis,” Jordan spoke up for all of us as we walked to the rooms they prepared for us. She left us and we all walked into our rooms.

I picked up my phone and dialed Gema. I knew I should call my parents to let them know we made it, but I was dying to hear Gema’s voice. She answered on the first ring.

“Noah! How are you? Did Cristian totally blow up on you? We should have gone with the torn dress story. I’m so sorry. I wanted to text you, but then I was scared Cristian would see you texting me and blow up on you even more.”

“Gem, it’s good. Take a breath and stop worrying. We all three made it in one piece. Cristian was pretty pissed for a few hours, but we talked it out. He got his punch in, and now we’re good.”

“He hit you, Goddess, he shouldn’t have. He has to understand that I’m not a kid anymore and can make decisions for myself.”

“Gem, don’t worry, it’s already healing, and he’s cool with us being together. I think he was more hurt that we didn’t outright tell him.”

“That makes sense, we should have told him…how’s Harvest Moon, do you love it there?”

“We haven’t seen much of the place yet, but everyone’s been great so far. They’re letting us rest before dinner. We’ll meet the whole pack then.”

“Ok…so…you haven’t come across any girls then?”

“None, but don’t worry Gem. You’re the only one I want. I love you.”

“I know, but it’ll be different if it’s your mate…I’m just scared is all. If you find her, just break it to me easy.”

“I’m scared too, but I promise, if I find her here, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Is that Noah!?” I hear my mom screech on the other end of the phone. “Aver, pásamelo.” (Pass me the phone).

“I’m sorry.” I hear Gem say before the phone is snatched from her.

“You didn’t think to call your mother? I’m the woman who birthed you, don’t you think I deserve a phone call to let me know you got to Harvest Moon safely?”

“I was gonna call you as soon as I got off the phone with Gema. Come on, Ma, stop with the guilt trip.”

“Fine, I forgive you…but only because it was Gema, and I want her to be my future daughter-in-law.” I sighed, even though I wanted that too, I didn’t like my mom being overbearing about it.

“How was your trip? Everything okay? Is Harvest Moon nice? What about Alpha Kedrick and his Luna?”

“Yeah, it’s nice. They’ll show us around after dinner, but so far it’s been good.”

“That’s good, Mijo, I hope you have lots of fun over there. Your father and brothers want to talk to you, I’ll pass the phone.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later.” After answering all the same questions three more times for each of my brothers and dad, they finally passed the phone back to Gema.

“I’m so sorry, next time you call I’ll make sure to go somewhere more private.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. We both know how our families are. I’m surprised they didn’t get any of my Tias in on that call.”

“Yeah,” Gema laughed, and I yawned, just now realizing how much the drive took out of me.

“You’re tired, I’ll let you get some rest.”

“Yeah, I’ll call you later then. Maybe we can video chat next time.”

“Sounds great, I love you.”

“I love you, too, Gem.”

“Wake up! Wake up! Jordan barged into my room clapping loudly and shouting. “It’s dinner time, get your shoes on, I’m starving.”

“I can’t say I appreciate your wake-up call.” I stood up groggily and picked up my shoes. “Did you sleep any?”

“Naw, I called my parents and then I laid around for a bit, but I couldn’t sleep.” I could tell he was still agitated.

“Has Neo told you what’s up with him yet?”

“No, he’s still quiet.”

“That sucks, but maybe we can ask Alpha Kedrick about it, see if he knows what’s up?”

“Yeah, that might be good.” He nodded slowly. “Let’s go then, Cristian’s already waiting for us downstairs.”

We made it to the first floor just as Luna Ellis and Oren joined us.

As soon as Oren stepped beside us, Jordan's eyes widened and turned blue showing me that Neo was taking over. His nostrils flared and he narrowed his eyes at the little boy. I clamped my hand over his shoulder. “You okay, man?” He snapped out of it, and his eyes returned to their normal brown. “Yeah…yeah, Neo just took over for a sec. It’s all good now. I’ll just make sure to go for a run with him tonight. The full moon’s close, so maybe he’s just reacting to that or to being in a new pack.” He rubbed at his forehead.

“Looks like everyone beat me downstairs.” Alpha Kedrick said as he climbed down the staircase. “Come on, I’ll show you to our table.”

We walked outside to an already packed backyard. The crowd stopped talking and looked our way as the Alpha introduced us. They clapped to welcome us and led us to a table already set with plates.

“Here, let’s sit, looks like some of the ladies took the liberty of setting out the plates for y’all.”

“This looks amazing, thank you.” Jordan rubbed his hands together and picked up his fork.

“I don’t know if you two have noticed, but there are a lot of thirsty females here looking our way,” Cristian whispered to us conspiratorially.

“Nope, haven’t noticed.” Cristian turned to me and nodded, “That’s right, you only have eyes for my sister, as it should be.”

“I didn’t notice either.” Jordan shrugs as he picks up a forkful of brisket and begins eating.

A girl with dyed blonde hair and brown eyes looks our way, and Cristian smiles at her, causing her to smile and twirl her hair around her finger.

“You might want to steer clear of Evie.” Alpha Kedrick looks over at us.

“Evie? The blonde over there.” Cristian nods his head in her direction.

“Yeah, that Evie. Evie is…well, she’s–”

“The pack slut.” Luna Ellis cuts in nonchalantly.

Alpha Kedrick sighs. “Well, I was trying to put it nicely. I thought we weren’t doing the whole slut shaming thing anymore. Being pro-women and all that.” He waves his fork in the air as he talks.

“Well, of course, but sometimes you just gotta call it as you see it, and there’s a big difference between sexual freedom and social climbing and gold-digging and that girl is certainly more the latter than the former.”

“Mommy, what’s a slut?” Oren chimed in.

Alpha Kedrick choked on his drink, but Luna Ellis didn’t miss a beat. “It’s a type of girl you need to stay away from, eat your dinner, Oren."

I chuckled at the interaction between the Alpha family. As we continued to eat, the Beta family came and sat with us. We met Beta Gabriel’s son and mate, Luke and Valentina. Everyone so far had been very welcoming, and I was looking forward to getting to know the pack better.

Jordan and I made our way to the dessert table, and a few of the female pack members looked our way as we walked. “Dude, Cristian was right about the thirsty females. Never seen them this bad at our pack.” Jordan commented.

“Yeah, but I’m happily taken.” I picked up a plate as I looked at the options on the table. “Hey, what was up with Neo earlier? Is he doing better?”

“I don’t know, he thought he smelled something, but he closed up again after that. I’m starting to wonder if you were right about the mate thing, but it’s not any of these girls.” I nod my head as I get a slice of pie. I scoot over to get some fruit when a girl comes up beside me.

“Hi, I’m Evie.” She looks up at me through her lashes and puts her hand on my forearm. “Your name's, Noah, right, and your friend is Jordan?”

“Yeah, that’s us,” I said flatly as I shifted my arm away from her.

“Well, I’d love to show you around the pack sometime. I know all the best places to hang out.” She said, trying to sound flirty, but it came off more as desperate.

“Listen, I’m sure you’re nice and all, but I’ve got a girl back home, and I really want to just focus on my training while I’m here.”

She craned her neck at me. “I don’t see a mark on your neck, is she your mate or just a girl?”

I took a deep breath before saying anything, “I don’t need a mark to be faithful, now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get back to my table.”

Now I know why Alpha Kedrick warned us away from her. I have a feeling this girl is going to be trouble.