Power of Association

Kiarra

Well, that had been unexpected, to say the least. Not unwelcome at all, but it definitely went to show how fucking overwhelming our desires for each other could be sometimes.

Fighting turning into hot angry sex was almost a staple in our relationship at this point.

Aidan had refused to continue our discussion until we had both gotten back to the house and showered.

I had started to feel the chill outside after our little workout session, and he refused to talk about any serious topics until I had gotten warm again.

I guess the power to repel the human flu was not one of the badass superpowers I had gotten from turning into a werewolf. I seriously needed a list of things I would and wouldn’t be able to do now.

After the shower, we both moved into the kitchen, and Aidan made me a hot chocolate before we sat down and looked at each other.

For a long time, none of us said anything, neither of us knowing where to start the conversation back up again.

We had been hot and bothered just half an hour ago, but now it was back to the unpleasantness of the shitstorm we were in.

After a few minutes, I finally spoke up.

“Sooo.”

I dragged out the word a little and sighed.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. Honestly, I was in denial myself and didn’t want to deal with it, so I pushed it away.”

“I know.” His voice was a little rough, and he spoke barely above a whisper as he kept his arms firmly around me.

He didn’t say anything else, and I got the feeling that that was the best place to leave it for now.

Just like I was trying to adjust to everything that was happening, he needed some time to process the new information as well.

I took a sip of the chocolate as I mulled over what to say or where to even go from there.

Meeting my parents had not been on my to-do list, and I was absolutely not looking forward to meeting them again.

In my head, I just kept going back to when I saw them getting out of that car in front of the pack house, and I could feel my stomach turn whenever I thought about ~that woman~.

I had gotten so used to seeing her in the picture, but never imagined I would actually see her in real life one day.

If you had asked me to go visit her a year ago, I would have gone without hesitation, but now it just felt wrong.

Something didn’t feel right about the situation, but I couldn’t decide anymore whether it was because of them or my own assumptions.

Maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to trust everything Ares had said and instead form my own opinion—but it was like my body had a mind of its own.

It had decided to be violently against the idea of them, and it was like a battle of two sides was raging inside my head.

“We can’t avoid them, can we?” I finally spoke up as I looked down at my cup, not even daring to look at Aidan.

“No.” The answer was straight to the point, no coddling, and I knew that was what I needed.

“Why exactly is that?”

“Things are more complicated than that, Kitten. I need to start introducing you properly to our world, because there is still so much you don’t get yet.

“We need to meet with them. Maybe I can push it a day or two, but they are here now.”

I looked toward Aidan out of the corner of my eye and saw him looking at me, like he was trying to figure something out.

“What?” I raised an eyebrow as I looked back at him.

“I’m just trying to figure you out. Figure them out.”

He looked out the window and seemed deep in thought for a little while.

“Coming up with anything?”

“They could just want to get to know their daughter.” He didn’t sound like he believed that shitty explanation either, but before I could even argue about it, he continued, “Or they could be after power.”

“What do you mean?”

“Our pack is one of the strongest packs around. We have some of the best fighters and biggest numbers. Lunar Valley is self-sufficient, and we aren’t exactly poor around here.

“If their pack were to become related to ours, it would be pretty big in the werewolf world. They would be powerful by association.”

“So, you are saying these people came here, pretending to want to get to know me just to gain power from our pack?”

I raised my eyebrows and could feel myself getting angry all over again, but Aidan shook his head.

“No, I’m saying it could be a possibility. We can’t just jump to conclusions before we meet with them and see how they go about everything.”

I looked down at my half-empty cup as I thought about what he had told me.

“How could they gain power through us? I don’t understand what they have to gain. They have their own pack, and we have ours. It’s not like we are running in the same circles.”

“There are always rituals and rules to follow when someone finds their mate in another pack than their own, but there are even more of those when we are talking about an Alpha couple.

“Especially when the Luna is the daughter of an Alpha from another pack.”

I grimaced slightly at the word ~daughter~ but let him continue without interrupting.

“You may not like it, but you are apparently the daughter of an Alpha. Depending on whether or not your parents have other children, there are different approaches and different rituals we have to perform.”

I looked at Aidan as he started to explain and tried to keep an open mind. It was difficult not to jump to conclusions right away, but I was really trying hard.

It just didn’t seem like a coincidence that they had shown up out of nowhere all of a sudden. It seemed suspicious as hell, but I guess I didn’t know all that much about them.

My one source so far had been a very unstable Ares, so ~unreliable~ might be an understatement.

“Why does it matter if they have other children?” I asked as I took another sip of the hot drink.

I had never really thought about it before, but I might actually have a sibling out there. I had no clue how I felt about that thought, though, so instead of focusing on it, I tried to keep my attention on Aidan.

“Because if they do not, then their pack would be merged with ours.”

He saw the confused look on my face and continued.

“If there are no successors to a pack, that pack will eventually die. Every pack needs an Alpha, and you can’t just become one. It’s something you are born to be. I was born with Alpha blood in my veins, and so were you.

“A pack’s Beta can take over the Alpha duties for a short time, but it will never be a true pack without its Alpha.

“Jack’s father took over my father’s duties when he died until I was old enough to take control of the pack, but we were on the brink of collapse.

“Not because he did a bad job, but because a pack can’t survive without its leader.

“So, if your parents do not have another child, another Alpha child, that can lead the pack when they die, the law clearly states that our packs need to merge. It’s a matter of survival.”

“So, is that why they would be coming here? Because they want to merge with our pack?”

I made a discontented face, scrunching up my nose slightly as I thought about that outcome.

How could we let our packs merge? Weren’t they a psychotic pack that might as well have a big fucking neon sign outside their doors stating “Only purebloods allowed?”

How were we just supposed to be all right with them coming to our pack?

“No, I don’t think so. Honestly, I don’t remember if the Apex Pack has a successor but knowing them, they wouldn’t give up a child of Alpha blood if they didn’t have a backup plan. Even if they thought you were human.”

Aidan shook his head slightly, and his face darkened slightly.

“They are lunatics, but they wouldn’t risk losing their power. I’m just guessing, but I think they have another pup.”

“All right, so if we assume that there is no need for our packs to merge, what exactly are the rules we have to follow here?”

***

“Look, I know what you are going to say, but suck it up. It’s one of the rules, and I can’t change that.” Aidan shrugged and didn’t look in my direction.

“I don’t really give a shit about the rules, Aidan! I’m not doing that!”

I crossed my arms in my seat, feeling small sparks of frustration build up inside me.

Aidan turned to look at me with a stern look on his beautiful face.

I stared back at him, my own face showing my disapproval clear as day.

“It’s tradition. It’s law. It’s not negotiable!” Aidan’s voice was firm, and he didn’t look like he was going to budge at all on the subject, but it was too much for me.

“You are telling me that we have to get married in, like, a month? In front of everyone? The whole pack, my birth parents, their pack, and everyone else who wants to come have a look?” I asked, still completely blindsided.

I loved Aidan, truly and infuriatingly deeply, but I was not exactly expecting us to tie the knot within the next month.

It shouldn’t be that big of a deal; he had already marked me and we were already tied for life through the mate-bond, but sometimes I believed he forgot I was raised in the human world.

I was trying my very best to get my head wrapped around everything that had already happened in the past few months.

~Months.~ I had only been here for a few months. My human brain couldn’t fathom the fact that we were discussing fucking marriage already and that it was only a month away.

“Well, it’s not actually us getting married like humans do. It’s sort of the werewolf version of a marriage ceremony.

“The Luna ceremony happens after mating between an Alpha and Luna. It’s our way of welcoming a Luna into the pack, and it’s the last step into becoming the official Luna of our pack.

“I’ve held it off until now because I knew you would freak out.”

Aidan raised an eyebrow and looked me over as I scrunched up my nose.

“I wasn’t planning on it happening yet either, but now we have your damn parents here and that changes everything.”

He continued talking and ignored my little huffs and puffs of frustration.

“The fact that you are an Alpha’s daughter sets the whole thing in motion much faster than I would have liked.

“If we have to follow protocol, the Luna celebration will start at the next full moon and will last until the new moon.”

“The Luna celebration? What the hell is that and why does it last two weeks, Aidan?”

I was getting impatient. I knew he couldn’t tell me everything quicker than he was, I felt like he was already skipping lightly past some important parts, but I was frustrated.

Why the hell had I not known anything before today? Had he really been so scared of freaking me out?

I wanted to blame him, but with my track record, it might not be a completely unfounded fear.

Aidan sighed, and I could see the wheels turning in his head. He paused for a little bit, and it looked like he was in deep thought for a moment before he turned around and looked at me again.

“It starts at the full moon. It’s basically two weeks of celebrations being held to honor the arrival of a new Luna.

“The two packs celebrate the mating of their members in different ways and with different events over those two weeks.

“There are some casual events that happen at the two packs individually. We like to do big outdoor barbecues and gatherings in our pack, but there are also more formal events for the two packs together.

“There is the official meeting of the packs. We might not be merging, but when an Alpha mates with another Alpha’s daughter a peace treaty is typically created, an alliance for the future of the packs.”

I tried to listen and not butt in with my remarks about distrust of my so-called parents, but I didn’t try to hide the dissatisfaction that was written all over my face as he continued.

“So, for this alliance to work, the packs will be responsible for holding parties for one another. We hold one celebration on our lands and then go to their lands for their celebration.

“It’s an old tradition that is supposed to help with the animosity between the pack members.”

“So, we have to invite them all here? Every single wolf of their pack?”

“Yes. It’s mostly seen as a gesture though. Typically, only a few dozen of the other pack show up.”

Aidan shrugged and continued.

“Other than the smaller celebrations throughout the weeks there is the New Moon Ball. It’s held on our pack land, and everyone is invited. Allies of our pack, your parents’ pack members.

“Everyone who wants to come and welcome the new couple can. This is where the official Luna ceremony is held, and when it ends, you will officially be viewed as the Lunar Valley Luna by the outside world.”

I looked down at my nearly empty cup of hot cocoa and took a deep breath. All right, so it didn’t sound like the end of the world. It was just celebrations and parties; it didn’t seem like that big of a deal.

I knew that, and I kept trying to tell myself that, but something just didn’t feel right. I wasn’t completely sure what it was, but I had a feeling it was my mistrust of my parents.

I wanted to roll my eyes every single time I even thought that word, “parents,” but I restrained myself.

“Fine. I guess some of that sounds doable, but why do we have to have anything to do with them?” I sighed and looked back at my mate.

The conversation was going around in circles, and I could see my own annoyance mirrored in his face, but before he could give me the same answer again, I interrupted him.

“I know it’s the fucking rules, Aidan, that’s not what I’m asking. I want to know why the hell we can’t break the rules. Why do we have to take them into consideration?

“I mean, who the hell would stop us from throwing the crazy Apex Pack out?” I felt myself becoming more and more irritated.

He was a goddamn Alpha, for God’s sake. He hadn’t been shy about how powerful our pack was, so it didn’t make any sense that he was suddenly so willing to follow the rules.

“It’s seriously too late for this fucking conversation,” I heard him mumble as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Kitten, I told you there were a lot of things you didn’t know yet. Our world isn’t without rules. We have laws and we do have some that uphold these rules.

“This isn’t something we can just ignore without facing consequences.”

I looked at Aidan, still a bit annoyed at my own lack of knowledge, but also a bit more curious.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but somehow, I had never thought about them actually having any kind of higher power than the Alpha of the pack.

I guess I had just assumed that werewolf packs lived separate from the rest of the world and just lived according to what the pack wanted. I had no idea there were any other factors.

“So you have things like a police force or judges?”

I don’t really know where my earlier anger and annoyance had gone. I believe they had been replaced by curiosity.

I guess we had been preoccupied with a lot of other factors ever since I got here, so I had never actually learned anything about our pack or how things were connected and how they worked.

Aidan looked at me and raised an eyebrow, studying my face for a second before he shook his head slightly.

“So much for wanting to explain things to you slowly. I didn’t think you would actually like this sort of conversation. It seemed like any information about my world would be too much information for you.”

His hand went through his hair, messing it up slightly more than usual, and I couldn’t help but smile a little.

I reached out a hand and stroked my hand through his hair myself, trying to get the mess under control a little as I looked him in the eye.

“I guess you were right at the time. I understand why you thought it would be too much for me. I was definitely a flight risk back then, but now I’m just curious, I guess.”

Aidan looked at me as I kept slowly stroking my hands through his hair, this time more for the comforting feeling than fixing it.

“You’ve gotten somewhat better at it, Kitten, but I don’t believe that you have completely changed.”

His voice was steady, but it didn’t seem confrontational. It sounded more like an observation than a judgment at this point.

“I know I haven’t changed completely, but at least give me some credit here.”

I tried giving him a little smile, trying to lift the mood a little. I had had enough of fighting and bickering for one day. I had had enough of surprises and attacks and dramatics for one day.

Aidan gave me a small smile back, and I could see the exhaustion in him as well. We had both had enough for the day, and I don’t think any of us could take any more discussion or information for that matter.

I was still curious about a lot of things, but that could wait till we had gotten some sleep.

After I accepted the fact that I was deadbeat tired, my body went from full of energy to a fucking stone block in ten seconds. I couldn’t even think about moving all the way upstairs to the bed; it was so far away.

I did the only thing my body seemed capable of and quickly slid off my kitchen chair and crawled onto Aidan’s lap. I put my arms around his neck and buried my head in the crook of it.

“All right, no more talking for today. It’s four in the morning, and you need sleep.”

Aidan’s hand landed on my back and started doing a soothing back-and-forth pattern.

“Mm-hmm,” I mumbled, my eyes already closed as I cuddled in closer to him. “I’ll get up in a second.”

I didn’t believe that for a moment, and neither did Aidan, apparently. I felt him shift me slightly in his lap so his arm could go under my ass, and suddenly we were moving up the stairs.

I didn’t move even a little bit. I was too fucking exhausted to even care about the fact that I was hanging onto him like a little koala bear, and I was asleep before we even entered the bedroom.

I vaguely heard Aidan whisper a goodnight before I felt the darkness overtake me.