Alpha's One Night Bride
Alpha’s One Night Bride – Chapter 14

The moon festival had finally arrived and as promised, Jonathan and I were finally able to enjoy our honeymoon. I hadn’t brought up Dorie at all and I hadn’t asked him what they were talking about at the dinner party last week. But as far as I knew, Jonathan and Dorie haven’t spoken since.

She left the party early and she looked really upset. I’m not sure what he said to her, but it mustn’t have been good.

I was excited to spend some time with him alone. I feel like I haven’t been able to be a proper luna towards him since we got married weeks ago. He kept his word at protecting me against Rock and helping me investigate more into the death of my mother. He’s been protective and caring. I haven’t had someone care for me this tenderly since my mother was alive.

This kind of care and love was foreign to me and wasn’t sure what I expected. But I know he loves me.

He woke me up early because he wanted to take me to different packs and meet some of his friends. I was excited to see what else was out there besides the few packs I got the privilege of meeting.

“We finally get some time off. Can’t we sleep in?” I murmured in my pillow. I was still sleeping in the guest bedroom.

Peering over at him, he was freshly showered and dressed.

“I don’t want to waste another minute,” he said back. I rolled my eyes and forced myself out of bed.

I was surprised he already had clothes set aside for me. A cute little yellow sundress with small pink flowers along with matching yellow sandals.

Just call me Miss Daisy.

“You know I’m capable of dressing myself, right?” I told him.

“Well, yeah I know. I just thought it’d be cute if we matched,” he told me sheepishly. I cocked my eyebrow up at him; confused because he wasn’t wearing an ounce of yellow.

He looked down and smiled; I followed his gaze to his bright yellow socks.

We both laughed.

…

Sitting in Jonathan’s car, I could tell he had it cleaned and detailed. Probably from when I threw up in it. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure that was the last time I was actually in his car.

We stayed quiet for a long while, but it wasn’t a bad silence. It was nice being able to sit there and not think about much of anything. This past month has felt so stressful that I was glad to be getting away.

Jonathan had mentioned that some of his friends had known my mother. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to talk to a few of them and see what they know about her death. I didn’t want to bother Jonathan by bringing my mother up again, especially on our honeymoon. But at the same time, I still had that nagging feeling that there’s more to her death than what my father says.

Even Jess doesn’t trust my father.

Dorie popped into my mind, and I wanted to ask Jonathan about her as well. According to Mallory and Lucille, they used to be lovers until I came into the picture. Dorie was his high-profile suitor.

How long ago have they been together? Have they slept together?

I know I shouldn’t be jealous; after all, he chose me. He married me. But seeing how she looks at him and seeing her hug him; plus, she’s drop-dead gorgeous, I can’t deny those facts. He would be a fool if he didn’t still feel some sort of way about her. It’s obvious she still has feelings for him or else she wouldn’t be all over him all the time.

“What’s on your mind?” Jonathan asked, side-eyeing me. I almost felt embarrassed to admit to him what I was thinking about. But I knew I wouldn’t feel better unless I told him the truth.

“Dorie,” I admitted. I could feel him tensing.

“Why are you thinking about her?” He asked; his voice sounded almost strained, and I felt bad for bringing her up on our honeymoon.

“I heard you two had a history,” I told him. He didn’t say anything. “Is that true?”

“Everyone has a history,” he said back; he was trying and failing at keeping his voice even. I knew he was uncomfortable, but I needed him to tell me the truth.

“She wasn’t your colleague,” I told him. I kept my eyes on her stern features; his jawline was tense, and he kept his eyes locked on the road in front of him.

“She was my colleague,” he told me. After a pause, he added, “But we were also lovers.”

I already knew this, but it hurt hearing him say this just the same.

“She wasn’t my mate though. She never was. You are,” he said, softening his tone.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice.

“Because there was nothing to tell. We had a thing once and now it’s over.”

“Did you sleep with her?” I heard myself asking before I could stop myself.

“Jesus, Arina,” he snapped. “Does that matter? I’m not sleeping with her now.”

“Okay.” That was all I could think to say. I looked back out the window and watched as the trees whipped past the car.

I felt his warm fingers on the bare of my leg and cupping my hand into his. I looked over at him and saw that his face was loosened up. Sharing a brief look with me, I saw the sorry in his eyes.

“I don’t want to talk about Dorie on our honeymoon,” he said softly. “She’s in the past and I made that clear during the dinner party.”

“What did you say to her?” I asked.

“I told her she needed to stay away from you, and she needed to stop contacting me,” he admitted.

I gave him a small smile.

Before the conversation continued, we started to near the pack we were headed towards. I was nervous initially but once we arrived, they welcomed us with open arms, and I felt very much at home.

We sat for dinner at this cute Italian restaurant with a couple of his friends, Alex, and his wife, Monet. Alex was thickly built, much like Jonathan with his biceps. His skin was much tanner than Jonathan’s and he kept his hair short. His eyes were hazel with droplets of blue. He had the kind of eyes you could easily get lost in. Monet was just as beautiful. She also had tanner skin than Jonathan and her hair was dark. She had side bangs that covered over one of her eyes, but the eye that I could see was a deep brown with a small ring of gold outlining her pupil. Her lashes were long, and I couldn’t tell if she was wearing any makeup.

They both had heavy accents that I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. They were both extremely nice.

We talked about the wedding and Jonathan told them how I’m an artist and work at an art studio run by Anderson’s wife. Monet is also an artist and runs her own art studio out of their home.

Gazing at me, I noticed that Monet had a look of wonder in her eyes.

“You look so much like her,” she said softly; I frowned, not knowing what she meant. “Emlin.” She answered my unspoken question.

“You knew my mother?” I asked. I couldn’t hide the surprise on my face.

“We were really good friends during our childhood,” she answered, she had sadness in her voice. “I heard she had a baby girl. Then the communication stopped. When we found out she passed away…” her voice trailed off as she caught my eye again. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you…” I breathed. “I didn’t know my mother had friends outside of Ironclaw.”

“She did at one point. I’m not sure what changed but seeing her body during her funeral. She didn’t look like herself. She just looked so thin; even in death, she looked sad,” Monet pointed out.

“You were at the funeral?” I asked.

“We both were,” Alex answered.

“Did you know my father too?” I asked. They both frowned and looked at one another.

“Not entirely. We always thought it was because of him that Emlin stopped visiting and calling,” Monet answered.

They weren’t wrong about that assumption.

…

As the days went on, I was able to meet more of Jonathan’s friends and visit more packs. One pack was basically like a whole shopping district. They had everything set up for the moon festival. The streets were swarming with crowds; there was music and dancing. They had food trucks and so much shopping.

It was mesmerizing looking at everything. As I’m looking at the merchandise from a couple of vendors, I realized Jonathan was no longer with me. I looked around at the unfamiliar faces; people racing past me. None of them regarding the fact that I was standing right there.

I started to grow nervous. I didn’t like not being around Jonathan, especially when I had no idea where I was, to begin with. I knew I probably should have just stayed where I was, but I wanted to go look for him.

As I shoved through the crowds of people, I began getting overwhelmed. The more I walked, the more it seemed like the crowd grew.

“Jonathan?” I called out, but my voice just drowned out in the crowd. I stood in the center of the town. I listened to those around me dancing and singing and laughing and talking amongst each other. None of them had a care in the world. It was beginning to get dark, and I knew a majority of everyone was going to turn into werewolves soon enough. “Jonathan?” I said again, attempting to be louder but my voice kept getting drowned out.

More people began closing in around me and my first thought was how this town isn’t big enough to be holding such a huge festival. I tried to shove past people and get to more open space.

I was getting claustrophobic being here.

Before long, I tripped over somebody’s foot and nearly face-planted into the ground. Thankfully, I fell into somebody’s arms instead. I looked up to say thanks to my savior and came to face to face with Jonathan.

Relief flooded through me as he helped me maintain my stance. His eyes were filled with worry, and I couldn’t get enough of his embrace. I buried my face in his chest; I could feel my body shaking as he held me. I hadn’t realized how scared I was until that moment.

“Are you okay?” He whispered into my ear. I hadn’t realized I was crying until I spoke.

“There are so many people,” I admitted; my voice sounded distant. He held me tighter.

“I’m so sorry I left you,” he said softly.

“Thank you for finding me…”

…

I was sad when the honeymoon ended, and we had to get back to our everyday lives. I loved spending a few days visiting other packs and getting to know Jonathan’s friends. I was surprised that my mother had friends outside of Ironclaw; I had never seen her talking to anyone other than Jess and Regan.

Not only did the last few days bring me closer to Jonathan and make me trust him that much more, but it also brought me a little more clarity on my mother and brought me closer to her as well.

After work, I went to Jonathan’s office to wait for him. I wanted to go home together. As I sat in his office, I noticed a small, framed photo sitting on his desk. The photo was of a young Jonathan, he must have been at least 6 or 7 years old. In his arms lay a small baby girl with curly locks of blonde hair. Her emerald eyes peered up at him and he was peering down at her.

I touched my fingertips to the frame and traced the outline of the baby’s features, knowing they were my features. I don’t remember the last time I saw a baby photo of myself. My father had them all destroyed when I was young saying that the memory of my childhood only reminded him of my mother.

Whatever that meant.

I didn’t realize Jonathan had come back until he spoke. He was standing over my shoulder, staring down at the photo as well. A small smile played on his lips as he kissed the top of my head.

“That was the first time I met you,” he told me, answering my unspoken question.