Page 51 of Eclipse Pack

“Envy maybe of Drake. To be held in high regard by such a shifter as he, is something to aspire to. Even alphas can be guilty of a little hero worship, you know,” Bronze replies.

Laughing at the look he gives, thinking it somehow depicts hero worship, I have to laugh. “That, my love, makes you look like you’re suffering from gas! I have my hero. I need no other.”

“And who, may I ask, m’lady, has that place of honor within your heart?” Bronze asks in what I think, he thinks, is his regal voice and with his brightest smile.

“Why, brave sir, it can be none but the brave and righteous receptor of my love. The good Sir Titan, of course.” Watching his eyes flash with Titan, Bronze grabs me and scoops me from the bed, walks me back to the bathroom and as he puts me down below the shower head, he flicks it on at the coldest setting. Squealing at full volume as the cold-water hits my warm skin, I expect Ember or Wesley to burst through the door at any moment. Bronze rushes out of the bathroom as Maya bursts out without me being able to stop her, and stands below the cold shower until her coat is plastered to her skin, then runs into the bedroom.

As Bronze is laying on the bed he has no time when Maya leaps onto the bed on top of him before she shakes her coat for all she is worth. Hearing him squeal too, has me laughing on the bedroom floor as Maya shifts back.

Didn’t see that coming, did he?I giggle.

Waking in the morning, we shower yet again and this time in a warm spray. Sitting in the dining hall later, having breakfast, I watch as Xander wanders in. This reminds me of the inner council meeting we had.

“Bronze, what is the issue between Xander and Eve?” I watch as Xander picks at the food on offer and places next to nothing on his plate before finding an empty table and sitting alone.

“I’m not aware of an issue between Xander and Eve. What makes you say that?” Putting down his cutlery, he looks to where my eyes are pointing. “He has never had any issues with anyone, as far as I know.”

“Well, there is definitely an issue between them and I think it comes from Xander. I sense nothing from Eve, although there is certainly sadness in her demeanor, not surprising when you consider what she went through with that male she had.”

“That reminds me. She has to reject him as her mate. I told her she had to do it as I wouldn’t allow her to suffer the pain from him severing the bond.”

“Make it an Alpha order and do it quickly. I think you’ll find that you’ll make two lives much happier with that one order. I’m sure that there will be a resolution to Xander’s behavior and Eve’s sadness, if you do it.” I look at Bronze and I see him make a connection.

“Of course. I was so blind.” Seeing him concentrate on the Alpha order, he takes only a few seconds. “Xander came to see me and asked my advice on a relationship issue. He felt drawn to a female, but she was in a bond. He wouldn’t divulge anymore than that and I didn’t make the connection to Eve. I think you may have some Goddess in you, you know that? First that couple in the Blackshadow Pack, now Xander and Eve.” Bronze wiggles his eyebrows at me, and honestly it looks ridiculous from an Alpha.

“Well, let’s not get carried away with the Goddess stuff just yet. How about we wait and see what develops?” I don’t know how long it could take for a mating bond to form, especially as it could either be a second chance, or have to be a chosen mate.

Leaving the dining hall, we are nothing short of accosted by Luna Sage, who grabs my free arm, and apologizing to Bronze, she quickly drags me away to my Luna office.

“I have so much to show you and so little time, Taria. Come sit by me.” Still dragging me by the arm, she sits me at the conferencetable where I see piles of paperwork in neat stacks. I look at them and she must read my face as she smiles.

“Don’t worry, Taria, it’s not as bad as it seems. Some of it is just sort of reference stuff in case you need it later. Let me go through it quickly and we can discard any piles that we don’t need right away.” Managing only a feeble smile, I prepare myself for what is probably going to be a long dreary slog.

Luna Sage starts to run through page after page of information, and far from being bored, I find it interesting. She has recipes galore, and although I’ll probably never need to cook anything in my life, I’m already thinking of Chef Ash. I could get her to prepare some of Bronze’s childhood meals for special occasions, or perhaps I’d have a go myself. I’m quite sure that I’d have to defer to Chef Ash in the end, though. Never having boiled an egg, I don’t see myself creating a meal reasonably similar to something his mother used to make.

When she’s done with the recipes, she takes another pile of papers, and this time there are mainly photographs with some descriptive pages attached.

“These are all places that are on the Eclipse Pack lands. You’ll no doubt get to see them all in your own time but it took me far too long, and because of that I didn’t get to enjoy them nearly as much as I would have liked. This will give you the head start I wish I’d had.”

Flipping through some of the photographs, I see beautiful woodland scenes, waterfalls, creeks, sunrises and sunsets. “I could spend years walking the pack lands and never stumble across half of this stunning scenery. Thank you, Luna Sage. I will treasure these and try to visit them all.”

“You are Luna now, Taria. I’m going to be Council Member Sage,” She smiles at me and I can’t help but think she’s going to be an outstanding council member.

We spend another hour at the table before there is a knock and Bronze peers around the door. “Mother, I need to steal my Luna away from you. You’re taking up too much of my precious time that I could be spending with her.” Grinning, he steps in, closes the door and walks over to us. Standing behind us, he rests a hand on one of our shoulders and makes a tremendous fuss of doing an eye roll. “No. Not the dreaded Luna Sage lists of everything in the world. I’m sorry Taria, I should have protected you from the dreaded lists. Mother has a passion for them, as you now see.”

“You need to take me to all these wonderful places in the pack lands. There are some stunning locations that we just have to see for ourselves,” I show him some of the photographs and I see that he hasn’t seen some of them himself.

“It would be something to tell our pups, wouldn’t it? Where each of them was conceived.” He wiggles his eyebrows again. I have to stop him from doing that or he’ll do it in front of the wrong people and they’ll think that the Alpha has gone mad.

“Just like his father. May the Goddess help you, Taria. She didn’t do much for me, though!”

Chapter 27

BRONZE

The last few days, my new life as both Alpha and as a mate, has been quite a whirlwind. Even though my father had taken a step back before my official take over, I hadn’t understood how much he was still doing. The admin alone takes more time than I realized. He popped his head into the office earlier and just grinned when he saw how much paperwork I was trying to wade through. He never said anything, laughed, and left.

It's been quite a conscious effort not to rush my alpha duties, too, so I can spend more time with Taria. I think she understood that sooner than I did, as she has been coming to the office with mugs of coffee, from her new machine I don’t doubt, and just hanging out while I’ve been busy.

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