The Luna's Alpha (MxM) (Ongoing)

Chapter 3

Brayden

The hot liquid burns down my throat, warming my chilled body. There's a sharp aftertaste from the coffee, and as I get to the end of my mug, I can feel the grit from under churned beans scrape against my tongue. I revel in the bitterness of the drink, releasing a sigh to show my contentedness at the moment.

I hear a grunt and look up to see Lou's face as she grimaces into her cup. The older woman had her long black hair tied in a thick braid over her shoulder; the grey streaks are woven in amongst her dark strands.

She looks at her glass with disdain before gently setting it down.

"Don't ever get old," she mumbles at me from across the metal table sending an annoyed look at her drink, "it's shit."

I chuckle as I watch the woman's irritation.

Through the diner's glass window, I could see the sun just starting to appear across the layout of the town. The early morning rays were beginning to brighten the roads with a purple hue, and the first moving vehicles passed by the little cafe.

Lou and I were sitting inside our regular meeting place, the Old Oak Cafe. We continued our morning routine, even on days when I didn't work. The little restaurant had become very familiar to me, as Lou and I tried to meet here at least three times a week for a morning chat and cup of coffee.

Although the latter was more for me now than it was for her.

Within the last couple of weeks, Lou had to cut coffee out of her diet for health reasons. Her initial response had been an adamant, no, to Dr. Monroe, but Al had stepped in to help her find some alternatives.

One way her mate had tried to alleviate this part of her diet change was to search for expensive tea products. The poor man had tried to do a lot of research, from ordering exotic teas to trying to find pack members who made some specialty homemade blends.

"How much did Al waste on that box of tea?" I ask with a knowing grin.

Lou grimaces looking at her cup, "Way too much for this cup of lawn piss," she mumbles, tipping the coffee mug back and forth and watching the liquid swirl inside.

I bark out a laugh, "You going to tell him that?" I question already knowing the answer.

She shakes her head, "I'll finish off the bags he bought and say that I want to try something new later," she mentions bitterly, "there's no reason to make him feel bad."

I take a sip from my mug, and try to ignore Lou's longing stare at my cup.

"So I noticed there weren't any more boxes laying around the house," she comments, changing the subject.

I nod, "Yeah, we finally got the last of the kids' clothes put away," I reply with a large sigh of relief.

Over the last couple of weeks, I had finally broken down and accepted moving into the Alpha residence. I had been resistant at first, as it felt like I was kicking someone out of their home. However, Damien had almost immediately moved out of the house after The Run, and the longer that house sat empty the guiltier I felt not moving in. The kids had been excited that we were moving into such a large house, and even more excited by not having to be so crammed in their bedrooms.

Kelsey had immediately staked claim to one of the rooms with a private ensuite, while the twins had picked a bedroom that joined Marcus' through a shared bathroom. Evie was in a mostly spare room right next to the Primary room, and I had been enjoying sleeping on a mattress rather than my typical night on the old futon.

Most of the furniture came with the lodging, as a lot of it was hand-carved pieces that were passed down from generation to generation, and Lou had tried to leave the house fully stocked for us by the time we moved in.