Chapter 239
Chapter 239
#Chapter 239 – Luna of the Kensington Pack
“Wait, Evelyn,” he stutters. “Why? You worked so hard –“
“I know,” I confirm, nodding.
“And you’ve done so many great things in your work as a therapist –“ ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
“It’s true,” I say, raising my eyebrows. “I did manage to use my therapy practice to break up Victor Kensington and Amelia Jones, which I think anyone will agree was a triumph –“
He blinks at me in shock and then bursts out laughing. I snicker along with him, relieved. It’s a serious subject, of course, but we needed a little laugh so we could both remember that we’re on the same team. After all, I’ve thought this out – I just need to get him on board.
“It’s not that I want to give up my work helping people, Victor,” I explain as he reaches out a hand and traces his fingers delicately down my arm. “I still want to do good in the world – I just think I can do more of it as Luna, rather than as a therapist. Does that make sense?”
Slowly, Victor shakes his head. “You’ll have to tell me more of what you’re thinking, Evelyn,” he confesses. “Because all of the Lunas I know are…mothers and party planners. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but –“
“No, I understand,” I say, nodding. “But I don’t think that it has to be that way. I think that Lunas have largely taken those roles because their Alphas required them to, because they didn’t want them to do anything else. In some ways it was a mark of respect, I think, to have a Luna live like a queen in a castle, petted and cared for, but –“
I bite my lip, looking up at him. He looks quietly down at me, listening carefully. “But,” I continue, “I think that given the choice, most Lunas would have made different choices. I don’t want to be your party planner – I want to be your equal. I want to lead this pack with you.”
Victor takes a moment to move downward on the bed, bring his face level with mine. “You are my equal, Evelyn,” he states seriously. A happy little thrill runs through me to hear him say it. It doesn’t seem like much, but in this world, where Alphas are in charge and Lunas fall in line? It’s significant. “I hope I never gave you any reason to doubt that.”
“Well,” I confess, raising a hand to stroke his hair. “You did give me a little reason to think that when you told me I was nothing more than your sons’ surrogate…”
I see him grimace with shame then, and his eyes fall away, unable to hold my gaze.
“But,” I continue, moving my hand to his face until he looks at me again, “in the past couple of months, I think you have…changed your mind about a woman’s role in a family.”
“You changed my mind, Evelyn,” he insists. “You’ve made me see the world in a different way, and I’m just sorry it took me this long to figure it out.”
“You’re lucky you’re handsome,” I mutter, bringing a little smile to his lips. “Or else we women would have thrown you out the door long ago instead of waiting for you to figure this out.”
“Well,” he says, huffing a little laugh. “At least I served as eye candy, if nothing else.”
“I want to runt his pack with you, Victor,” I say, earnest. “I don’t want to take over parts of your job, I want to do my own things. Like, I want to start a center for women to go to, especially Rogue ones, to find support. I want to really make sure that the children of our packs are taken care of and have good places to live, and healthy parents to care for them.”
Victor listens quietly, nodding along as I tell him my dreams for the future of our world.
“And,” I say, biting my lip a little. “I want to be a mom to my sons, and a good mate to you. I want to concentrate on these projects as Luna of the Kensington pack, and I don’t think I can do all of that while continuing strictly as a therapist.”
“Evelyn,” Victor replies, pulling me close against him so I feel his words resounding in his chest as well as hear them. “If that’s what you want, then I think that’s amazing. And I’ll support you in every step. I just…”
“What,” I ask, pushing away from him a little so I can see his face again. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Well,” he hesitates. “It was so important to you, when we met again, to be an independent person. To not be reliant on me for money, and to be free to go wherever you want, when you want. I don’t want you to give that independence up, if it’s important to you, to be…well, to be a wife and a mother.”
“Well, that’s simply solved,” I say, dismissive.
He raises his eyebrow, inviting me to explain.
“You’ll simply have to pay me a ridiculous salary for my work,” I say, giving a little shrug. “The first salaried Luna – we’ll set the standard very high for other Lunas, allowing them to demand even more from their Alphas –“
Victor laughs then, throwing his head back, his shoulders shaking with it.
“And eventually!” I continue maniacally, “the Lunas will bankrupt all of the Alphas with our salary demands, and that’s how we’ll take over the world! See! It all works!”
He nods, pretending to agree to my scheme for world domination.
“No but really, Victor,” I say quietly, still smiling. “I think it could work, and I think I could do really wonderful things as the Luna of this pack. Especially if you give me free reign.”
“Free reign,” he considers aloud, turning the words over in his mouth.
“And codes to all the bank accounts,” I say with a grin.
“Well, as my wife,” he retorts, and I smile, anticipating a joke, “you would of course have access to a very small portion of the pack accounts, but certainly not all of them – I have to hold a great deal of money in reserve for the purchase of important manly things, like helicopters, and whiskey, and expensive gadgets –“
“Hey!” I complain playfully, shoving my hands against his chest and drawing his attention back to me. “I’m not settling for these petty little wife funds – especially as I’m not even your wife – you haven’t married me – you haven’t even asked me to marry you, so I think –“
“Whoa!” he retorts, “No! I tried to ask you but someone went storming out into the rain instead of letting me –“
“It was a bad proposal!” I protest, laughter bubbling from me. “I’m not saying yes to that, especially now that I know that the wife title comes with a pay decrease –“
Victor laughs harder, wrapping his arms around me and ending our fake argument by pulling me with him as he rolls onto his back. I shriek as he pulls me onto his stomach, losing myself to laughter as I rest my head against him. Slowly, we both settle down.
I tuck my hand under his t-shirt as our breathing returns to normal, stroking the hard muscles of his stomach with the tips of my fingers, suddenly so incredibly grateful for a mate who makes me laugh and takes me seriously at the same time.
And who is also really, really good looking.
Honestly, how did I get so lucky.
“It’s all yours, Evelyn,” Victor says quietly and I smile, closing my eyes. “The bank codes, the money, the resources – take it, do what you will with it. It’s yours, as much as you want.”
“Thank you,” I breathe, but I know he feels that the gratitude runs deeper than those two words can express.
“And the wife thing,” he continues, piquing my interest. I open my eyes and settle my chin on his chest, looking up at him, holding that green gaze with my own.
“Trust me,” he insists. “I’m working on it.”
I bite my lip and smile at my mate, not sure if my heart can take any more joy. Then, I turn my head to press a kiss to his chest and run my nails across the tan skin of his stomach, heading south.