4: In a Trance

Easton POV

Time seems to stop as I stare at my mate. Dallas is howling in my head and trying to take control. I manage to keep him back as he urges me to move to our mate.

She’s still frozen in place. She seems hesitant and I’m instantly nervous. I slowly approach her and for what seems like an hour we just gaze into each other’s eyes. Something about her eyes hypnotizes me and I almost forget where I am.

Dallas quickly snaps me out of my trance. ‘Stop standing there drooling like an idiot and introduce yourself!’ I blink a few times at his words and open my mouth to speak.

Before I can say anything, the beautiful woman in front of me softly speaks. “H-Hi. I’m… Emily.” My wolf lets out a small growl of satisfaction as I imagine how sweet her voice would sound moaning my name. She slightly blushes and I want to be the only one to make her blush. “I’m Easton. It’s an honor to finally meet you.”

Emily scrunches her nose and I can tell she’s wondering what I mean by that. I quickly tell her, “I mean, an honor to finally meet my mate. I was beginning to think the moon goddess had no intentions of giving me the gift of a mate.” I let out a small chuckle and I can feel Dallas roll his eyes in my mind. ‘Dallas, you have the attitude of a teenage girl sometimes.’ He flicks his tail and swiftly retorts, ‘Well at least I don’t embarrass myself and act like a complete dork.’

Emily lets out a soft giggle before she says, “I was beginning to think the same thing.”

I feel something pressing on the back of mind. Ryan is trying to mindlink me. I open the link and ask, ‘What’s up, dude? Kinda busy right now.’ He asks, ‘Busy with what? Nevermind. I found my mate so you’re on your own tonight.’ ‘Busy with my mate.’ I link back before closing the link.

I glance across the pool to where I saw Ryan and he looks up and sees me. I quickly nod at him and ask Emily, ”Is that a friend of yours?” She looks over her shoulder and I see her smile. I’d give anything to see that smile constantly. She looks back and answers, “That’s my best friend, Hannah. She had a feeling tonight was the night she’d meet her mate.”

I can tell she’s genuinely happy for her friend, and the realization seems to fill me with warmth.

I smile down at her and tell her that the man is my best friend, Ryan. Her eyes widen and her smile gets even brighter at that.

“Why don’t we go for a walk?” I suggest. Dallas coyly mentions we should do more than walk. ‘I’d obviously love to, D, but we just met her. Give us a chance to get to know each other.’ Emily is still smiling and says, “That sounds fantastic.” I hold out my hand and mention, “I don’t actually know my way around here, so you can lead the way.”

When Emily takes my hand I feel intense sparks shoot through my fingertips and up my arm. I’ve heard about the sparks, but I didn’t think they would be that strong. “How did you know I was from the Blue Moon pack?” Emily asks. “I glance at her and reply, “I actually didn’t, but I figured if neither one of us knew our way around you might be more comfortable if I let you choose our direction.”

She smiles and says, “Well that would make me feel more at ease walking with a stranger.” Her eyes seem to show a hint of mischief with her statement. She quickly adds, “So, now that I’ve told you I’m part of Blue Moon, what pack are you from?”

I hesitate before replying, “Silver Springs.” She stops walking and turns to look at me. I know she probably caught my hesitation. My pack is one of the largest in the southeast, so everyone has heard of it. I look at her and I can tell she’s putting two and two together and see her expression slightly fall when she realizes I’m the future Alpha of Silver Springs.

I softly cup her cheek with my free hand and reassure her, “Don’t worry. I know being Luna can be daunting, especially of a large pack, but I’ll do whatever I can to help and my mom will too!” She gently covers my hand on her cheek I catch a faint shudder before she smiles and turns. As she frees her cheek from my hand she links her arm through mine and begins leading us down the path.

“It’s not that.” she tells me. “I just don’t know how my parents will react to this. I know they’ve always expected me to be mated to an unranked wolf.”

I stiffened before asking, “Wouldn’t they be glad you found your mate, regardless of rank?” I looked around and noticed we had walked pretty far and we are now standing in front of a bench.

She lets out a small sigh before motioning for us to sit. As she fumbles with her fingers, I hear her whisper, “I’m the Alpha’s oldest daughter.”