Page 15 of Her Second-Hand Mate

I already got to know the pack territory pretty well. Dominic’s wolf showed me every corner of it when we went hunting together. Sometimes it’s difficult to reconcile the two sides of him. I don’t know if that makes sense. Dominic is very quiet, serious, and pensive. His wolf, on the other hand, is carefree and playful. Have you ever met a male like that?

Father’s wolf, for instance, is even scarier than he is, and Isaac is exactly the same no matter what form he takes. I’d like to thinkyou and I are both in accord with our wolves. As I’m thinking about this, I can’t remember if I’ve ever seen Eden shift. It can’t be possible, though, can it? And Lord only knows what Evie’s wolf will be like once she shifts.

Florence took me to the pack offices during my second week in the pack, where she introduced me to everyone. I met Dominic’s uncle, Oliver Hedge, and his mate, Rosemary. Oliver used to be my late father-in-law’s Beta, and he led the pack after his death, until Dominic came of age. They are both wonderful wolves.

Unfortunately, they weren’t blessed with pups of their own, but they’ve poured all their energy into the pack and they did such a wonderful job. Everyone loves and respects them a lot.

Even now, although he should be retired, Oliver takes over the Alpha duties whenever Dominic needs to travel for work, which he does a lot. He was away a whole week this month, promoting the University and recruiting students in Kansas, and I think it will be like that every month.

I shuddered as I remembered the intensity with which he took me the night before his trip and then again on the morning of. For the next two days, all I could think of was the heat in his eyes and I couldn’t wait for him to come back so we could do it again.

Then, on the third day, I finally let myself snoop through Cassie’s stuff, and I spent hours looking at the photos of the two of them, just torturing myself with how she was hanging off of him in pictures. I wondered if he’d left her alone this much.

When Dominic finally came back, he dropped his bags at the door, grabbed me, and took me right there against the wall. And I loved it. It was the most shamelessly wanton thing I had ever done in my life.

Just remembering it made everything inside me clench. I could be home alone, washing the dishes, and suddenly I’d hear his husky voice talking me through it. Being with him was all I could think of.

Unfortunately, Dominic was always at work for most of the day. Sometimes he’d get back when I was already asleep. The dipping of the mattress would wake me and I’d turn to face him.

“Hi,” I’d said on one such occasion.

“Why are you whispering?”

“We’re in the dark.”

He chuckled and reached for me like I’d hoped he would. But in the morning, he was gone again. It was hard not to be somewhat disappointed. I knew how busy he was, so I wrote about it, more for myself than for Nana.

Not only is Greylock the third-largest pack in the country, but it is also unique since it consists of the original pack site, which is about twice the size of Uintaandthe college town where Isaac now lives (thank you for sending me all that stuff, by the way), which is 40 minutes away by car.

A lot of our wolves live in the pack and commute to work in the college town, but most of them work at the University Hospital here, which is huge. The medical, nursing, and midwifery students all do their clinics, rounds, and residencies here, and wolves from all over the country travel here to be treated by specialists. It is all quite advanced and fancy and I feel out of place a lot of the time.

Florence told me that the Luna duties I’ll be expected to perform (in addition to the “regular ones”, like attending the Alpha Summit, etc.) will mostly have to do with the supplies and budget for schools for pups aged 0-3 and primary and middle school – the Alpha’s office deals withhigh school and the Shifter University.

I’ll also be expected to set up “Mommy and Me” programs for she-wolves with young pups, as well as to plan and organize educational and recreational programs for pregnant she-wolves – which is something we don’t have back home, so I’ll have to learn about that first.

Luckily, Florence took me to lunch with a group of her friends who are all around her age, and a lot of them will be working with me in different areas of my duties, so I can ask them for any help I might need.

One of them is Doctor Vera Jackson, she used to come to our pack to talk to Father after Evie was born, do you remember? She remembered me, and I was so surprised since it was so long ago.

I stopped writing for a moment, remembering how Vera had looked at me when I started introducing myself, and her slight frown.

“Of course I remember you, Luna Penelope. It’s wonderful to see you again.”

All the females were so warm and welcoming.

The other females at the lunch were Ariadne Wheeler, the pack’s head doctor; Ophelia Williams, a history professor, Sonya Smirnova, the Dean of the College of Education, and Catherine Bell, who they all call Kitty, a linguistics professor.

I don’t need to tell you how intimidated I felt among all these smart females, but they couldn’t have been kinder and more down to earth.

Ophelia told me that all the students at SU have two summer classes that they have to take before they graduate, regardless of what they are majoring in; one is literature, and the other one is history. So even a medicine student would have to learn about history, isn’t that neat? Ophelia teaches one, and Kitty’s mate teaches the other.

She said enrolling in these classes would be a perfect opportunity for me to meet wolves my age and learn about Massachusetts since both classes include three separate day trips to different parts of the state. I was confused by the suggestion at first since they’re mixed classes, and I am also not a student at SU, but both Dr. Vera and Florence assured me thatthis was normal in Greylock and that Dominic would approve of my enrolling. I checked with him and he also assured me it was fine.

It was so difficult to exist in a place where one didn’t know all the rules or the limits of what was acceptable or desirable. I knew for a fact that Father would not want me to take this class, he’d consider it a waste of time. Not to mention the fact that I’d be around unmated males. I was constantly worried that I was doing something wrong or somehow embarrassing myself here.

I remembered the day Florence took me to meet Kitty’s mate, Prof. Mirko Bell, who’d be my literature professor if I decided to enroll in the class. I briefly felt sad that it was never Dominic introducing me to our pack members or showing me around, let alone showing me off.

“Ah, Penelope, the Weaver,” Prof. Bell said with a smile when I introduced myself.

---