Flight 118: A Woman’s Future

I groaned and shoved my head in Jonah’s arm to hide my burning cheeks as more chuckles joined the one.

I heard some Spanish words and then Jonah pulled me forward. My body shook a little from the rumble of his voice as he introduced us, “Hello, you must be the Sonora Pack. I am Alpha Jonah and this is my mate, Luna-”

“Emilia, sí. We know all about Emilia. The Luna who has given us a light in the sky. Encantado de conocerla, Luna Emilia. I am Alpha Silverio and aquí es my Beta Teo. You can call me Silver, señora.”

He reached over and kissed my hand, but quickly let go at the sounds of Jonah’s growl.

“Hola Silver. Hola Beta Teo. Cómo están? It’s nice to meet you,” I responded with a small smile. Still embarrassed about my earlier comment.

He chuckled a little and winked at me before saying, “Oh! Bueno! Tu hablas español? Y what is this about tacos? Is our lovely Luna experienced in Mexico? Te gusta la comida mexicana?”

Jonah’s arm wrapped around me and pulled me up against his side. With a raised eyebrow I looked up at him to see him staring at Silver with slightly narrowed eyes.

I chuckled at Jonah for being jealous of Silver. I mean, I may love tacos but come on. I wasn’t going to leave Jonah for someone who can cook them. Maybe.

I smiled as I glanced back over at the Mexican alpha and said, “Solo un poco. Estoy muy...oxidado. Pero sí. Tengo hambre de comida mexicana. Lo extraño tanto. I was hoping making things like tacos and enchiladas was still an option and you may be able to teach me while you are here.”

I blushed a little. Way to not jump right to the point.

“If you can, of course,” I shake my head, “I know that is not quite your priority here.”

Everyone chuckled and Silver said, “Of course! We were making our food long before those modern conveniences you are used to, and we are still now. As luck will have it, I pride myself on my ability in la cocina. So I would love to help you learn. If we have time.”

Jonah’s hand tightened on my waist and I looked up, “Jonah, you will just have to be there and learn to cook with me. You know, so your jealousy can maybe catch a break.”

A growl filled the air as others chucked and Jonah looked down at me, “I am not jealous. I just know what is mine and when others should be aware of that. But if this is a definite thing then maybe I will be joining you for these taco lessons you keep on about. Can’t have my Luna doing all the cooking, can I?”

I blushed but grinned.

Looking over at Silver, I was ecstatic and said, “That sounds great! Maybe we can have a taco night tomorrow if we find time today for you to teach me and we can find enough ingredients!”

He nodded, “That sounds lovely. A wonderful chance to have a celebration feast for hopefully many new mated pairs. If we can find enough of the ingredients here for all of us, then I shall make time today for our lesson.”

Ana finally spoke up. I had forgotten she was there until she did so, but she smiled and said, “I’d love to join as well. Eric and I will have some of our pack go on a run to see about the ingredients if you give us a list of what we will need.”

Alpha Eric nodded and nuzzled her head before saying, “Yes indeed. Once that’s taken care of, I’ll send out some guys and leave your pack to get settled in their accommodations as we wait for the Oaxaca pack’s arrival. Once you are ready, you and your beta, Alpha Silver, as well as you Alpha Jonah, can join me in my office to talk some things over.”

They all nodded and after parting words and promises to meet up later, Jonah steered me away.

“Where are we going,” I asked as his arm slid from around my waist to grab my hand instead.

His eyebrow lifted in what I was beginning to see as a signature move he used to express his emotions to me when we were in public.

“I told you we’d get you something to eat after the meeting. Which I have to admit was more time-consuming than I had realized it would be,” he shook his head with a wry smile. “I learn more about you every day. I didn’t know you could speak Spanish. But I don’t like it. I had no clue what you were saying to each other. What he was saying to you.”

My head fell back as I laughed, “I only speak a little. We weren’t saying anything bad. Trust me. Besides, I don’t think he’d try. You may not understand him but I’m sure at least some of Eric’s pack does.”

A small frown fell upon Jonah’s lips, “Yes but he asked you to call him Silver. Who knows what he’s comfortable saying in front of others.”

“What’s wrong with him asking someone to call him by his preferred name?” I asked in amused exasperation.

A slight rumbling growl answered me. “Not only did he give you a nickname for him like someone who is a close friend, but he made sure to let you know you didn’t need to call him by his title. You only do that in small, private spaces once you know each other.”

Shaking my head, I laughed. He was cute when he was jealous, but he didn’t need to be.

“It’s just a nickname, Jonah. It’s like Marcus calling me Em; or you calling me that awful ‘mine’ all the time.”

I’d never tell him I actually quite liked him calling me ‘mine’. Not when I felt like I shouldn’t like it. I was my own person. I was not a possession.

But I actually did kind of like it.

He shook his head, “I don’t very much like Marcus calling you anything but Luna, either. But at least he’s pack. And my name is different. And not awful! You know you like it!”

He gave me a sly smile.

I’ve noticed he didn’t show many facial emotions until we were alone. But I didn’t mind it. Not as long as he never shut me out.

I shook my head and just left it alone but couldn’t help the small smile that crossed my lips.

After a few seconds, as we made it to a now empty kitchen, I said, “Honestly, I don’t know how you guys always use titles anyway. I mean, I guess I can see it when you meet or are in actual meetings. But in normal conversation? It’s so annoying.”

Jonah chuckled as he lifted me by my hips onto a bar stool. He then walked around opening things and pulling stuff out.

“What are you doing?”

He grinned at me over his shoulder, “Doing my job. Making sure my mate has a full stomach.”

“You can cook?” My tone was one of surprise.

I don’t know why I would be surprised. Not only had I just learned Silver could cook, but I was now living in a world without restaurants and with very few women. Men most likely had to learn how to cook. Or starve.

He laughed, “Of course! I make a mean steak. We eat a lot of meat. But, I will learn to do more if I can, for you.”

He sat a bowl in front of me with a spoon and a glass of milk.

“But until then, cereal should do.”

“Cereal,” I asked with disbelief as I stared into the bowl, “This is cereal?”

What was in the bowl did kind of look like it I guess. A very dry version in what, I guess, did look like milk. It wasn’t the cereal I was used to but it did kind of look like maybe some cousin of it.

Jonah nodded and said, “It is. Just try it. You’ll like it, I promise.”

So I did, and it was quite delicious. It was like granola and some other stuff. I think it was basically like muesli. I’d never tried it before, but I had heard of it and seen it in grocery stores.

I smiled at him gently to see him watching me with soft eyes, “Thank you.”

He smiled back and said, “Of course, Mine. You keep seeming so surprised but I told you, you are and will always be my priority. No matter what it is.”

I blushed. Not knowing how to respond I looked down and finished eating. After I was done I got down to go wash the bowl, spoon, and glass- ignoring his attempt at grabbing them from me.

It was refreshing to have someone take care of me but it didn’t change the fact that I could still take care of myself.

As I finished, I looked over at him. “So, when are you needing to go meet Eric and Silver for that meeting?” At his frown, I shook my head and gently stopped him. “I know you don’t like me saying their names. But please, it’s weird enough saying their titles as it is. But I really don’t want to say them more than I have to. Especially when I’m just talking to you.”

He sighed begrudgingly and nodded, but dropped it. “In about an hour. We will have another small one with the Oaxaca pack Alpha, as well. When he gets here, that is. But tomorrow we will have a larger one.”

All of the alphas have been using this once in a lifetime chance to also try something they never really had a chance at before. They were drawing out plans and maps and writing out ways to stay in contact with each other better.

They had a very rudimentary base of knowledge of other packs before now. It was really just based on what they had known from the beginning of everything. Right after they became known to the world.

It was also helping them establish some other things they hoped to implement when the time was right. Such as a “pack meet” every 5 years to help keep communications up, and help to see if any mates were in other packs.

Though they are few and far between, there are daughters born in some of the packs right now. Though they will still be coming to Eric’s territory to see if their mate is here, if they haven’t found their mate, it wouldn’t help to see if their mate is in another pack.

It was crazy they never tried to do something about that before. I mean, how many wolves had mates in other packs this entire time?

I shook my head to clear it.

But anyway, they hoped that every time a new alpha came they would be able to have these talks with them. In the hope they would all agree and can pass the information they gather to all the packs after. Unfortunately, that meant Jonah was seemingly always in meetings.

His voice interrupted my thoughts, “So, what will you be doing when I am in this meeting? Are you going to try and talk to Clarisse again?”

I shook my head, “No, I don’t think I will. I already told her she can find me if she needed to talk but I don’t think I’ll go looking for her. Honestly, I don’t really feel like that’s the best thing for me to do. Besides, I’d rather not have a repeat of earlier.”

Jonah nodded and grew silent. I was a little concerned until he said, so softly I almost didn’t hear him, “What you said earlier... about this world being horrible and unfair... I know it is. Or at least seems that way to you. But if you could get on a plane and somehow go back, would you?”

I stopped and stared at him. He had such a vulnerable look in his eyes and I knew he was scared.

I didn’t want to upset him, but the truth was I didn’t know the answer to his question. Then I thought about it.

If I had stayed there, or even gone back, I don’t think I’d be able to live a happy life knowing what I know now. I wouldn’t be able to have a mate. An honest-to-goodness soulmate. I may not even have had a family. I also would have had all of this knowledge that the world, essentially, was going to end as we knew it without any way to prove it or stop it.

No. Knowing what I know now, I don’t think I could go back even if I could.

I looked up at him and saw the fear in his eyes as he stared at me. I smiled gently and leaned up to place a kiss on his cheek before looking into his eyes and responding, “I honestly don’t know what is going to happen. Between the packs, between us, in this world. But it is my world now. Our world. Nothing is going to change that. But even if it could, no. No, I wouldn’t go back.”

The smile that lit his eyes before slowly spreading across his face was enough to make the day better. Even without tacos.

It let me know I had made the right choice.

What I had said was true. About not knowing what was going to happen. But I now began to actually see possibilities. Possibilities I didn’t even see before I got on that plane.

Truly great possibilities.