The Shadow Moon Pack

Acacia’s POV

A couple months have passed without much happening. I’ve been keeping my distance from Aiden, and I can tell that he’s getting annoyed by it. Kathrine and Nathan have been missing a lot lately. I haven’t seen Kathrine for a while now, I’m beginning to worry.

Aiden came up to where I was sitting, watching the rest of the pack do their own thing. He sat down to my left and gazed upon the wolves as I was.

“Kathrine’s been missing for two days now,” he stated.

“I know, I’m beginning to worry about her. She wouldn’t run away would she?” I voiced.

“No, she’s not one to run,” he replied. It was silent for a while, until he spoke again.

“We should go look for her, the pack can survive for a day or two without us,” he said as he stood.

“I agree,” I stood as well.

We told Robert that we were heading out to look for Kat, before leaving the cave. We followed her scent trail for almost five hours before finally finding her. She tried to throw us off her trail when she first left a couple days ago. Her trail wound, she even backtracked once, but my nose stayed true and led us to our lost pack member.

We ended up at a hole in the ground. I smelled like it was recently dug out, but I couldn’t be sure. I was about to go in when a head poked out, our noses bumping.

I growled as I stared into the eyes of the beta from Scar Forest, Matt. Matt’s eyes looked to Aiden and widened noticeably.

“Where’s Kathrine?” I growled, seeing that Aiden was too surprised to speak.

The next thing I know, she’s poking her head out of their little den as well, a glare upon her face.

“You couldn’t have left it be, could you?” she barked at me as she crawled the rest of the way out. Her stomach was rounded slightly, but it was noticeable. She was pregnant. It made sense, it was mating season after all.

“No, I couldn’t leave it be. For all we knew, you were dead,” I growled back.

“Well I’m not!” she said, angrily snapping her teeth at my nose. I pulled back quickly to avoid being bitten.

“I’m not coming back,” she warned.

“Fight me it you believe that strongly,” I demanded, a snarl escaping.

She didn’t need to be told twice as she launched at me. I knew already that I wouldn’t hurt her, but I had to pin her. So, as she lunged at me, I ducked out of the way and knocked her onto her side once she landed. I pinned her shoulders to the ground harshly, not letting up as she struggled to get free. I growled in her face and went to place my teeth around her throat lightly to show that I meant business.

She froze when she saw my teeth going for her throat. I was knocked off of her roughly by the Scar Forest male, but quickly pushed him off of me. Kathrine stood next to her fallen mate, staring at me in a new light. I relaxed as I stared back at her, she knew she was beat.

“I don’t wish to leave him,” she whispered.

“You left your pack without saying a word, everyone was worried about you. You set a bad example for Nathan and the pups, and everyone below you. I understand your reasoning, but you should have talked to us,” I said with authority.

“We could have worked something out,” Aiden piped in, “We would have let Matt join the pack if he wanted to.”

“Do you mean that Aiden?” the brown wolf asked.

“You’re too close for me not to,” he whispered in reply, a hint of sadness in his voice that only I picked up on.

“Thank you, and I’m sorry,” Kathrine bowed her head shamefully.

“Let’s go home, it’ll be dark soon,” I said, allowing Kat and Matt to walk ahead of me as I walked next to Aiden.

The two of us walked in silence for a while, just listening to the sounds of nature. The leaves swayed in the cool breeze as the sun slowly disappeared from sight.

“Acacia,” Aiden whispered, gaining my attention, “You do know that alphas are meant to at least act like they’re mates, right?”

“I know…” I said softly, avoiding his piercing gaze.

“Is it me?” he asked after a few moments of silence.

“No, you’re amazing Aiden, I just… I don’t know how to be a mate. I’m not ready to try,” I looked into his eyes and smiled sadly.

“You’re afraid of commitment,” he said.

“I’m afraid of being alone again,” I corrected with my sad smile still in place.

“Hmmm, that’s why you were so harsh about Kat leaving,” he realized.

“Yeah… I’m glad she’s staying,” I smiled and leaned toward the alpha so that our fur brushed. He leaned closer to me, sending chills up my spine. We walked like that the rest of the way home, going to our separate nests to sleep once we reached the cave. I fell asleep that night with a smile on my face, thinking of a certain alpha.