Chapter Fourteen - Check Mate?

Lia sat cross-legged on the library floor, leaning back against the base of the overstuffed sofa and flipping through the children’s books and werewolf chapter books for young pups. Ellie and Elsie had left a while ago, promising to be back soon. All these stories about the moon goddess were so captivating! Why had her grandmother told the stories so differently? Here the goddess is seen as a protector of werewolves and the guardian of the earth! That is so much more consistent with the healing properties of the plants picked by moonlight. They say she watches over people and influences their moods and choices to keep them safe. Gran always said that Eric had too much energy during the full moon. She obviously knew the goddess effected moods, but had never once shared that information. Then there were some about the goddess match making and planning the destiny of werewolves, trying to bring peace and unity to all. She is always making happy unions and granting fertility to worthy wolves. The mates she selects for each other are linked so closely they act as one and can even heal each other when one is sick or hurt! These are not the actions of a jealous, spiteful, wicked witch who was banished to the moon for her bad attitude, nasty pranks, and promiscuity. She doesn’t punish girls, making them pay for tiny mistakes with huge consequences. And mates in these stories were far from the evil slave masters in Gran’s tales. The males are often portrayed as heroes or knights. The couples love each other and ache when they were parted for any reason. These stories were certainly much more child appropriate. It sort of felt like Gran’s tales were the Grimm’s version and everyone else had the Disney version with no body parts being removed, no little girl’s being kidnapped if they disobeyed their parents, and no werewolves feasting on young girls who went out in the dark. Only this time, it seemed the family friendly version were seen as the more realistic versions. The humm that had been bothering her all afternoon turned up notched and became more of a buzz. She glanced around, expecting to find a mosquito, but seeing nothing returned to her reading.

Liana was so enthralled by the early reader chapter book she was reading that she barely registered the door opening and two men walking in. Her nose twitched a bit when their scents reached her, but she didn’t react. She was reading yet another story about a moonbeam shooting through the dark to help a male werewolf find his mate. This time the girl had been captured by some wildlife conservation people who were holding her captive, not knowing she was a werewolf. They were wanting to relocate her to an area that needed wolves, but didn’t understand how hard it was for her to be away from her pack or that they were separating her from her mate, or even that she lived as a human most of the time! Her mate had to rescue her before they found out. Apparently, if she fell too deeply asleep as a wolf she might wake up human, which would be really bad because she was in a big cage on the back of a truck with five other wolves and they were really wolves! If she changed, they’d eat her. The moon goddess was extra busy, shining a trail for the male and flashing in the female’s eyes to keep her awake. When she got to the end of the chapter and was about to start the next one, David cleared his throat. Lia looked up with a smile, which faltered a bit when she saw the stranger beside him.

David was a tall man, but the one beside him was even taller. He was gorgeous too, with auburn hair that was almost curly on top but cut short on the sides. His lips look perfect, she thought shyly, feeling herself blush a bit. He had a reddish dusting of hair on his chin, showing that he hadn’t shaved recently. His shoulders pulled at his green flannel shirt as though it were a bit too snug, but the rest of the shirt clung tantalizingly to his strong, shapely chest. He was wearing dark blue jeans that hugged his legs without being too tight. She smiled when she noticed that his socks matched his shirt. She took a deep breath her nose twitching in surprise and she froze, recognizing a werewolf by scent for the first time that she was aware of, and under that, the familiar smell of warm pine needles in rain freshened air. She had smelled this werewolf before.

“I know you?” she asked, her brows drawn together. “Why do I know you?”

“This is Jake, Liana,” David said. “You likely recognize his scent because you’re in his house.”

“No,” she said slowly, shaking her head as she got to her feet, “That’s not it.”

“My name’s Jake,” he said reaching out a hand to her, “I’m the Alpha here. You’re in the pack house, which is where I live.”

The pack house, Liana thought to herself, trying to remember the rundown the twins had given her earlier. The Alpha was the boss, almost like the king but not quite because there was a king of the werewolves somewhere, but not here in Canada. The king was to werewolves sort of like the queen of England was to human Canadians, but with more power. The Alpha was not like the governor-general, because he actually made the laws himself, not just signing off on them. But he wasn’t the prime minister, because he wasn’t elected. Sort of somewhere between the two. The Beta was his number two, but not a prince, something like the members of the Prime minister’s cabinet members, but most of them all rolled into one person. Gammas were next, usually like army generals. Deltas were the healers and teachers or knowledge holders. Omegas were at the bottom. Almost like slaves except they liked their jobs, or at the very least chose to have them. She wasn’t sure she liked the sound of that aspect of pack life. Slavery was wrong.

“Nice to meet you?” she said tentatively, reaching out to accept the handshake he was still offering. A tingle ran up her arm from her hand the moment they touched.

“Sorry,” he muttered pulling his hand back, “I must have picked up some static walking around in these socks.”