#4 Moonlight on the Water

Navy

Everything about this was weird. I felt like I was a part of some twisted arranged marriage situation that I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a part of. I nearly passed out when Knox and Cameron started talking about me taking two mates. We’re they completely out of their minds? I was only entertaining this because I didn’t want to lose Cameron as a friend and I felt that I owed him at least this much.

Cam was taking me to a small diner inside the pack’s territory. It was obviously werewolf owned. Romino’s daughter, Sophie, owned the restaurant after buying it from a retiring werewolf. The walk to the diner was awkward as hell and I was terrified that our entire “date” was going to be like this. Dover sulked behind us, clearly not thrilled with his new post.

“How do you stand him following you around everywhere?” Cam asked, looking pointedly at Dover.

“It’s surprisingly easy to get used to. Besides, Dover is good company.” I smiled at the Gamma and he smirked back at me.

“Hm.” Cam’s single syllable reply indicated that he did not think Dover was good company.

“Sophie owns the diner, it’s a good choice.” I said, making small talk.

“Sophie?”

“She’s Romino’s daughter. He’s the packhouse chief. He’s been teaching me how to cook.” I said proudly.

“You can’t cook, Navy.” Cam said matter-of-factly.

“That’s why he’s teaching me.” I said as we entered the diner.

“Hi, Luna!” Sophie greeted us.

“Hey, Soph. Can we get a table for two and half please?” I nodded back towards Dover. Sophie laughed, used to seeing me with my chaperone.

“Coming right up! Dover, you want to sit at the bar?” He asked the Gamma who grunted in response. She put us in a booth right beside the bar.

“Is it weird to be called Luna?” Cam asked me.

“No, not anymore.” I shrugged, looking over the menu. The waitress, Judy, quickly took our drink orders.

“Obviously they’re eager to serve you.” Cam chuckled darkly.

“Everyone’s really nice here.” I said defensively.

“It’s just very different, Navy.” He sighed.

“I know it is, but, different isn’t always a bad thing.” I replied. Cam just shrugged, stuffing his face in the menu.

“What’s good here?” He asked.

“Everything.” I laughed, earning an eye roll from Cam. Has he always been this snippy?

Judy came back with our drinks and took our food orders. I ordered breakfast for lunch while Cam got a BLT with fries.

“Since when did you like breakfast?” He asked after Judy left.

“Since I tasted the waffles here.” I confessed.

“Oh.” He mumbled.

“Cam, why are you here?” I sighed, frustrated with the tension.

“You know why I’m here, Navy.”

“I mean really. We’ve never been this awkward with each other.” I pointed out.

“I know, let’s just start over, huh? It can just be like old times.” He smiled at me, his dimples lighting up his face. I returned the grin and settled into a comfortable conversation with my friend.

Judy and the staff made our food a priority, like they always did with me despite the many times I told them not to. We had our food within minutes and ate greedily.

“This really is amazing.” Cam said with his mouth full.

“I told you!” I giggled, drowning my waffles in syrup.

“How can you even taste them with all that sugar on top?” Cam asked, watching me stab a soggy piece of waffle.

“Trust the process.” I waved my fork in front of his face and made him take a bite.

“Okay, that’s good.” He nodded eagerly, moving his fork towards my plate.

“Uh-uh!” I yelled, pushing my plate away from him protectively,

“Mine!”

Cameron laughed at me and it started to feel like those old times he was talking about earlier. We finished eating and Cam went to pay the bill,

“No need. They won’t take it.” I said, pushing his wallet away.

“Why?”

“Knox covers everything.” I shrugged, earning a sour expression from Cameron.

“Oh, stop.” I sighed, dragging him out the door. Dover followed behind us.

“Where to now?” He asked me as we walked across the grounds.

“I just thought we could take a walk so you could see the pack territory.” I suggested.

“Okay, sure,” He looked down at our hands dangling between us,

“Can I hold your hand?” He asked.

“Uhm, I guess?” I replied hesitantly. Cam didn’t waste any time, he snatched up my hand and held it tightly.

I blushed, knowing perfectly well that Dover was watching behind us and would report everything back to his Alpha. But, I couldn’t deny the feeling his hand in mine caused. My skin lit up with sparks that were almost as strong as the ones I felt touching Knox. I shook my head, mentally kicking myself. Get it together.

“What’s that?” Cam pulled my attention back to the present as he pointed to one of the outbuildings.

“That’s the gym.” I replied,

“Over there are the training grounds.” I pointed out the two large arenas and a roped off area. It looked like an obstacle course for the American Ninja Warrior over there, which I only knew about because Jenna made me watch it all the time.

“What are they training for?”

“Anything, everything.” I shrugged casually,

“That’s the community center. It has a playground, school, and daycare.” I said as we walked away from the training fields.

“Kids go to school here?” Cam asked.

“They can, if they want to.” I surprised myself with my knowledge of the pack grounds. I didn’t realize I had learned so much.

“There’s a movie theater and some shops here too, but members mostly go into town for whatever they need. They interact with the humans all the time.” I explained, pointing towards the average sized theater across from the community center,

“They have a movie theater?” Cam asked in surprise.

“Yeah, they play outside movies a lot when the weather’s nice. It’s pretty fun.” I smiled, remembering the movies I had attended with my mate and all of our friends.

“Maybe we can do that one day.” Cameron suggested, trying to regain my attention.

“Sure.” I smiled at him.

“They stay in all these houses?” He asked as we walked through the pack villege.

“Yeah, it’s kind of like the Royal City and Village at home. The ranked members mostly live in the packhouse or in the inner circle right in front of it. The rest of the pack is spread out over the territory. Families live together in units, splitting off once they find their mates.” I tried to explain the dynamic of the pack lands.

“Do other packs come and visit? I mean what if someone’s mate is from another pack?” Cam asked curiously.

“Sure, they visit other packs and other packs come here.” I said,

“You seem pretty interested in all of this.” I noticed.

“Just trying to figure out what’s going on here.” Cam shrugged, trying to come off as casual. He failed.

“You mean in case you have to live here?” I narrowed my gaze at him.

“You never know.” He shrugged with a mischievous glint in his brown eyes.

“Do you have friends here, Navy?” He asked me after some comfortable silence.

“Of course. Dover’s mate, Natasha, the Beta, Clay and his mate Julia, Knox’s sister Jenna and her mate Mason, and some of the staff members like Mally and Romino.” I replied.

“Does everyone do everything with their mates?” He huffed.

“Pretty much. They are very mate obsessed here.” I teased. I heard Dover make an irritated noise behind me.

“I’m just kidding, Dover. You know I’m obsessed with Knox, too.” I threw my head back to look at Dover. My attention returned to Cam and I realized that I had just offended him. I sighed, there was no winning here.

“Where do you stay?” He asked me, changing the subject.

“In Knox’s room on the Alpha and Luna floor.” I answered delicately,

“It’s more like an apartment, actually. I stayed in the Luna’s apartment for a while before I moved in with Knox.” I think I was just making things worse at this point.

“Oh.”

“Where are you staying?” I asked, trying to salvage the conversation.

“A motel not far from the pack gate.” He answered.

“Is it nice?”

“Not really.” He mumbled.

“Well, it’s just temporary, right?” I tried to joke.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Cameron’s face wasn’t amused.

“You really think you’re going to be moving here? That I’ll be able to take two mates?” I had to reign in some expectations here. Cameron stopped walking and pulled me to a stop, turning me so I was facing him.

“I plan on convincing you that you can’t live without either of us.” He said in a stern voice, his expression very serious,

“I’m not stupid, I see the way you look at Knox and the way you two interact with each other. He’s like your gravity, he moves, you move. His emotions are your emotions. I see it, I’m not blind. I know you love him, and I have no intentions of fighting that. I’m just going to make you love me, too.”

“Cameron.” I sighed,

“You’ll see, Navy. I’m not going anywhere.” He moved closer to me and I froze,

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to kiss you. Not until you ask me to, anyway.” His deep brown eyes seemed to melt as they looked into mine.

“I don’t want you to be disappointed.” I sighed, stepping away.

“I won’t be.” He replied confidently, walking me back towards the packhouse.

“When can I come over again?” He asked as we stood at the bottom of the packhouse steps.

“I guess whenever.” I mumbled, giving up.

“Great, I’ll see you tomorrow then. May I give you a hug?” He asked and I nodded. He gave me a strong hug, holding me close to his chest. I resisted the urge to sigh in content, actually enjoying the feeling of his body against mine.

Get a grip, Navy!

I pulled away, steading myself on the handrail.

“Goodbye, Cam.” I waved weakly and he smiled, clearly knowing exactly what he was doing to me.

“Goodbye, angel.” He was walking away before I had the chance to react. I looked over at Dover who was just shaking his head at me.

“What?” I glared at him.

“Oh, girl.” He chuckled, walking past me and holding open the front door.