His Mute Luna
Chapter 11

Morgan

June made a few series of hand gestures towards me with a hopeful expression. I had no clue what she was trying to communicate but something told me she was asking if I knew sign language.

I did not.

If Shane ever found out about this, I’d never hear the end of it. A few years ago, he had asked if I wanted to learn sign language with him and, like an i***t, I had declined because I had a lot on my plate at the time. It was yet another push in the direction of my mate that I had completely missed.

From the way she furrowed her brows and pursed her lips, she had figured out that I didn’t. Suddenly, her face lit up like an idea had just struck as she took out her phone and began typing something out quickly.

She lifted the phone screen to me barely a second later.

I take it you can read?

I laughed softly, “yeah…it’ll probably get a little awkward having a conversation with your phone, though.”

And I didn’t need any help in making things awkward. I could handle that task on my own.

“No problem, I have this too,” a feminine AI voice spoke out from her phone. “It’ll probably kill the mood trying to flirt or talk dirty using it, so you’re going to need to learn some basics and quick.”

I almost choked at hearing her words, but tried to cover it up with an unconvincing cough.

‘This woman is gonna eat you alive,’ my wolf snidely chuckled.

“Good thing I’m a fast learner, then,” I laughed, trying to hide the sudden nerves that had flared.

“So…what is all this, then? Your work?” I asked, while trying to play it cool and leant back on the hood of her work’s vehicle. Only to slide off it a little and catch myself too late.

My face heated because she definitely saw…goddess, kill me now.

June

He was so derpy, I loved it!

And him trying to be all cool and casual just seemed to bring it out further. From how his face flamed a little at the mention of ‘flirting’, I doubted he was used to it. Hopefully, that meant there weren’t any psycho exes hanging around; Mati would be so jealous right now!

In short, he was adorable and nothing like I thought he’d be…he was better.

…And he had just asked me a question while I was too busy internally fawning all over him to answer.

I quickly went over what I was doing and the samples I was collecting from the river. My study was about demonstrating the filtration effects of the reedbed on the water’s quality and purity. To my surprise, he was pretty eager to help out. It would have taken too long to go through the recording process but he was happy to collect the samples and even wear the spare waders in the back of the truck.

I didn’t think there would ever be a time where I would see an actual Alpha in leg waders…but then again, when would a human ever be mated to one either? I guess this was just a day to roll with whatever the hell was happening.

After working for a while, we both sat on the pulled down tailgate. I had been a little shocked by how well he had understood most of my gestures and instructions without having to use my text-to-speech app or write anything down. But animals were more intuitive to read body language and he was part wolf, or maybe because we were mates he could just naturally read me better than, well, anyone. He could pick up on things that even Tom couldn’t and I had lived with him most of my life.

Tucking into my food, I was now glad my brother had made it and gone overboard with the huge sandwich. I offered out half to Morgan, knowing what werewolves were like for their appetite. For him, especially an Alpha, it wouldn’t be much, but at least it was something.

“Oh, no, I’m fine. Honestly, you have it,” he tried to refuse while wearing the damned gorgeous crooked smile.

Nice try pal, but I wasn’t buying it.

I shoved it in his hand, giving him a pointed look that I wasn’t taking a refusal.

“You always this insistent?” He laughed gently.

It wasn’t the first time I had heard that, though ‘insistent’ was the most polite description I had encountered. But while he seemed to actually like that side of me, usually, it was a side that wasn’t well received…normally by the men I worked with, like Liam. I knew exactly what they said behind my back; bossy, know-it-all and when they were feeling particularly disgruntled, b***h.

I tried to push those thoughts away, but the smile I sent him was a little strained. I was never very good at schooling my expressions, it was usually the only way I could express how I felt, since I couldn’t do it verbally.

“I take it, not many people appreciate that about you?” He questioned, knowingly.

I nodded, looking down. But he brushed his fingers under my chin, lifting my face up to meet his hypnotising eyes and sent those wonderful tingles spreading through all my skin.

“I like that about you, someone who can tell me when I’m being an idiot…it’s actually the most important aspect of being Luna,” he smiled.

Luna. The thought of it before was terrifying. But now the initial shock had worn off, it was starting to feel right. I was always a natural leader; firm in my decisions, I didn’t take any s**t and it was rare I was intimidated.

My eyes flickered down to his lips and how they were just slightly parted. I wanted to k**s him more than anything and I was about to…when I noticed the little smudge of spicy mayo up his cheek. Shaking my head and smiling to myself, I wiped it away with my thumb. He looked at me questioningly before catching on and wiped at his face furiously, looking a little embarrassed.

I quickly typed out a reply, loving how cute he was.

“Don’t worry. You’re not as bad as Tom. He would have let Tipper wash his face!”

“Wouldn’t have minded that from you…” he muttered and his eyes widened, realising he had said it out loud.

So he could be a little bold and flirty. I was glad I could bring it out in him.

I’ll remember that for next time, I wrote down, very much liking how his cheeks tinged slightly pink and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he read it.

I took out the piece of brioche I had bought from the bakery, pushing it straight into his hand this time so he couldn’t refuse. He looked down and smiled, seeing the paper bag. He must have noticed the quizzical look I was giving him.

“You did go to the bakery today. I knew I wasn’t smelling things. I caught your scent there when I was trying to find you.”

My mouth formed an ‘oh’. I wondered whether he went there often?

And once again, seemingly to read my mind, he answered.

“I actually own that place…it’s funny you picked out this particular bread because it’s my own recipe. It’s kinda my favourite,” he admitted sheepishly.

My eyebrows shot up in shock and furiously typed away at my response, unable to note my words down fast enough.

OMG, I love that place! This is one of the best things I’ve tasted btw. I’ve only been a couple of times but it’s definitely worth my detour to work in the morning.

He seemed to find my eagerness amusing, if his quiet laughter was anything to go by. It would explain why I always liked that tree bark scent there. Though I was surprised I could actually pick it out. As a human, my sense of smell was nowhere near his level. Maybe it was because we were mates that it stood out, as mine did to him.

“I’ll make sure to keep you in good supply then,” he grinned.

Ok, moon goddess, I take it back. You knew exactly what you were doing when you gave this guy to me. Perfect wasn’t enough to describe this man. Fine, our…relationship? if that was the right word for it, was wildly radical. But who wanted ‘normal’ anyway?

As we were almost finished eating, I noticed the little family unit who had been visiting my setup for the last few weeks, began to wander over. I nudged Morgan’s arm to draw his attention to the three birds coming closer, but his eyes were already on them; those wolf senses made ‘sneaking’ difficult.

“They’re sandhill cranes. Those two grey ones are adults and the brown/orange one is the juvenile. Some of the other guys I work with are super jealous because they don’t show up for them,” I grinned.

“Cool. They looking for food?” He asked.

He was about to throw out the last scrap of his brioche to them, but I stopped him.

“Bread is bad for them,” I quickly typed out and pushed a bag of seed in his hand from out of the boot, throwing my own handful out for the birds.

The cranes happily pecked at the forage scattered around for them as we watched.

“They’re not stupid. They know they’ll get something, which is why they show up for me. A lot of the wildlife around here does,” I smiled, looking out on the little family.

“They mate for life too, don’t they?” He asked, gaining my attention.

I nodded, looking deep into his eyes. He really had fully accepted me…he truly didn’t care that I was human or unable to speak. My hand stroked his spikey cheek as he leaned into my touch, closing his eyes and sighing with such relief. He must have been waiting for me for so long. It was insane thinking about how intertwined our lives actually were without us even knowing and the sheer number of times we could have met and hadn’t.

I pressed my lips against his own. His sharp intake of breath told me he hadn’t expected it, but his momentary daze only lasted a split second before he returned my k**s. He felt so right against me. The tingles spread though my entire face to my heart, making it beat wildly. No other k**s had made me feel like this and I now realised why so many wolves liked to wait for their mate, because nothing could compare to this.

The k**s hadn’t been too heated, but had certainly taken my breath away. The way he pressed his forehead to mine, nuzzling his nose against my own felt so intimate, almost like another k**s. His arms had slipped around me, stroking my back and h*p and keeping me pressed against his incredibly warm, and very solid, chest.

“Will you come home with me? Tonight?” He asked quietly, his voice against my skin felt like a caress.

Like there was any other place I wanted to be!