Page 29 of Her Second-Hand Mate

“Yes! It’s like he lives there!”

“Honestly, maybe he does.”

“It was only like my third time talking to him, which is weird. Gammas are traditionally protectors of the Luna, right? I feel like I should be interacting with him more.”

“I honestly don’t know. From what I understand, he mostly handles matters on Campus now, so maybe that’s why.”

“Yeah,” I started responding when the doorbell interrupted me.

I went and opened the door to a smiling Mira, who held a tray of delicious-smelling lasagna. “Welcome!”

“Thank you! I made lasagna,” she announced as she set the tray down on the dining room table.

“It smells amazing,” Charlotte called from the living room.

“Is everyone here already?” Mira wondered.

“We’re still waiting for Margaret, but she should be here any minute. Make yourself comfortable, there’s tea and lemonade in the living room,” I told her.

“Can I help with anything?”

“No, thanks. Grace is frosting the very last muffin right now and then we’re all moving to the couch,” I grinned as I smoothed her hair away from her face, “Is this a new haircut?”

“It is! I went to the new place near Campus, Edoardo’s?”

I shook my head to indicate I’d never heard of the place. Back home, Nana always cut my hair, and she did it every three months so I wasn’t really familiar with different salons there or here.

“Oh, he’s amazing,” Grace joined in. “But it’s so difficult to get an appointment.”

“I may have helped his niece when she was at the hospital, so he gave me the option to schedule one appointment whenever I wanted, and I chose today. I just felt like a little pampering.”

“Hard day at work?” Lynn asked knowingly, and Mira just nodded.

All healthcare workers seemed to share an understanding about the nature of their job which the rest of us just couldn’t comprehend in the same way. Someone knocked on the door, and soon Grace came back with a frazzled-looking Margaret.

“Is everything okay?” Mira asked immediately as Margaret plopped down on the couch and closed her eyes.

“I sort of need your help.”

When no one responded, she opened her eyes and continued while looking at her hands, “I was at the office, going through the letters I got for this month’s column, and one gave me pause. Ihave no idea what to tell the poor female, so I wanted to maybe look at it together?”

I knew I shouldn’t feel happy because this was obviously a desperate letter, but I was simply too excited about being involved in the legendary magazine’s work.

“Lay it on us,” Charlotte said with a determination that surprised me from the normally easy-going female.

Margaret took an envelope out of her purse, pulled out the letter, and handed it to Charlotte, who was briefly stunned, but then cleared her throat and started reading:

Dear Margaret,

My life is in absolute shambles and I don’t know what to do. You are my last hope since I've been getting all kinds of conflicting advice from the wolves around me, and it hasn't made things any easier. In addition to that, my wolf is suffering greatly and her pain is clouding my judgement.

I am a 22-year-old female. When I visited my cousin’s new pack (through mating) last month, I discovered that my mate is a 27-year-old male who lives there. He is a good friend of my cousin’s mate, and our initial meeting happened at their house.

Our packs are very far apart geographically, and it was almost impossible for our paths to cross before this. My mate wanted to mark me immediately, but luckily my cousin stepped in and insisted on explaining the situation to me first. Turns out that my mate has been living with a widowed female from their pack for the last 3 years and has even fathered a pup with her.

Everyone in the room gasped. Margaret just closed her eyes, looking even more tired than before.

My cousin told me that the entire pack knew about their relationship and begrudgingly tolerated it when they saw how in love they were. I come from a pack where this behavior would absolutely not be allowed to stand. One of them would be forced to leave, and there is no way they would be allowed to live together in an illegitimate mating, but I guess things are different here.

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