Commander (A Luna Chronicles Novel) [Completed]

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Tabitha

"Don't you think you have enough clothes now?" Devon groaned as I picked up a beautiful pair of red heels from the rack. Devon had been excited to shop with me in the beginning, but he quickly realised I was no usual twenty-one-year-old when it came to shopping. If I found a pair of shoes, I had to also by pants, shirt and jacket to match...or I didn't buy the shoes. If I liked a shirt, I had to try each colour to see which suited me best. I was meticulous with my fashion choices.

"I told you that you don't have to stay with me" I replied, glancing at Devon over my shoulder. His sculpted arms were hanging at his side as he shuffled after me, carrying the numerous bags of new clothes. I had a lot of clothes in a storage unit in New York but since I wouldn't be heading back to pick them up for a while, I was down to only my small suitcase of clothing with me. And, since I was moved to the Black Bloods Pack, I therefore needed a brand-new wardrobe...not that I was complaining. I took any excuse to shop.

"No...no...I want to be with you. I just...I just didn't realise shopping with a girl was like this" he mumbled. I sighed before turning around to face him. I leant forward and kissed his lips tenderly, softly, before pulling back with a smile.

"Why don't you go and find a restaurant for lunch and I'll go in these last few shops and meet you there?" I offered. Devon chewed his bottom lip in consideration. I pecked his lips again to help the decision. "Go, I'll be as quick as I can".

"Alright" he admitted, "I'll drop these bags in the car and then find somewhere for lunch. I'll text you where to meet me". He dropped another kiss on my lips before heading back to the parking lot with a bit more of a skip in his step. I laughed softly, shaking my head at him, before making a beeline to Victoria Secret – pausing only briefly as I grieved the loss of my dream job, the pain still raw.

I did a bit more shopping before deciding that I had better catch up with Devon. As I was heading towards the restaurant that Devon had texted me he was waiting in, my phone rang. It was my mother. I considered letting it go to voice mail, but decided that it was better not to. My grandmother used to have a saying; 'ignoring the demons just pushes the devil to make an appearance'. And with my mother it was true – ignoring her call would just force her to call another five times.

"Hey Mum" I said, putting the phone to my ear – juggling my new shopping bags as I did so.

"Tabby, thank god I got a hold of you" she breathed out; as if she'd been ringing for hours. But that was my mother, the queen of melodrama.

"What's wrong now?" I sighed, trying hard not to sound annoyed.

"Wrong? Why would anything be wrong?"

"You just said—you know what, never mind. How are you, Mum?" I questioned, shaking my head despite the fact she couldn't see me. Instantly my mother began making a drama about some problems with my brother and how he was back in rehab once more.

My half-brother, Josh, was seventeen and he was a royal pain in my ass. After working in the modelling world for so long I had a lot of sympathy for people who suffer from addiction and mental health. But, with Josh, I had no sympathy.

Josh was the son of my mother and my step-father so was completely human. And maybe that was why my mother always favoured him over me. Even though she didn't know what I was until I was a teenager, part of her knew that I was different and that was enough for her. Don't get me wrong, she loved me, but that didn't stop her doting on Josh over me. In her eyes, my brother could do no wrong.

My brother wasn't even a drug addict. He just like smoking weed and when he couldn't afford to pay, he did the classic 'I'll pay back another time'. After a few months of racking up weed debts with the local drug dealer, they'd come knocking on my parent's door demanding the money.

My mother had bailed him out, as she always did, as Josh cried and pleaded that he was sick and it wasn't his fault. I tried to call bullshit on the entire thing, but then everything got turned around on me – and soon I was the unsympathetic sister who my mother had put too much energy in when she should have been giving attention to my brother. He was spoiled and I hated it.

So, manipulatively, I suggested that if he was so sick and addicted that he should consider rehab to help himself. Josh was not happy but my step-father decided it was the only way to get his son going straight. I couldn't deny that it gave me a small bit of sadistic pleasure to know that his plan had back fired on him. My mother had coddled him his entire life and it was about time he got a real scare. But, apparently, that hadn't happened.

My mother ranted in my ear about how Josh had gotten 'sick' again and once more they had drug dealers knocking on the door. And, once more, she bailed him out. I listened to her talk dramatically as I tried not to say anything – no matter what I said it wouldn't make a difference and I would be the villain of the story however my brother spun it.

"I met other Werewolves" I blurted out suddenly, not being able to listen to her fawn over her precious son anymore. Silence followed my confession. "They're all really nice and--"

"Tabitha Rosemary North!" she squealed. "It doesn't matter how nice they are they're Wolves! They're monsters".

"A monster like me?" I deadpanned. My mother was quiet for a long moment and I knew that she was trying to find the right words. When I Shifted for the first time my mother kicked me out of the house, calling me a monster and a murderer. She was terrified of me.

Upset and confused with what was happening with me, I had disappeared and lived between forms in the forest for a few weeks. My mother eventually found me, apologised and begged me to come home. For a few months after I returned home she was nothing but encouraging – seeming to try and accept her Werewolf daughter. But sometimes I'd catch her watching me, waiting for me to attack her or Josh.

I was her daughter and she loved me, but she only loved the human side of me. She encouraged me to hide my secret, avoid changing forms and try and pretend it wasn't true – she claimed that she was trying to help me, but I knew it was more because having a Werewolf daughter was her idea of a living nightmare. She practically pushed me into taking my modelling career across the pond.

"You are not a monster, Tabitha" my mother said slowly.

"But other Wolves are?"

"They don't have the humanity like you do".

"And how would you know this?" I shot back, feeling defensive not only of my mates but of all Werewolves in general. Devon and Ramone – and the few other Wolves I'd met over the past few days – had been nothing but kind and accepting, more so than most of the humans I'd met in my lifetime.

"Just, stay away from them, Tabby" she snapped.

"You can't ask that of me. These are my people, my kind and--"

"And they will use you and hurt you. That is what those beasts do".

"Was that what my father did to you?" I asked – the coy question that would be ignored but I needed to ask.

"Don't change the damn subject, Tabitha" she snapped. Of course, once more, she avoided any mention of my absent father.

My mother refused to answer any questions about my father, but I often got the impression that he had hurt her in some way – she was too bitter about him for it to be as she claims. She says he moved away before she realised she was pregnant and never managed to find him afterwards. But, if that were true, I was sure that she would have at least told me his name so that I might try and track him down.

I came to a stop outside of the restaurant where Devon was waiting for me. I glanced through the window and saw one of my two beautiful mates sitting at a table and browsing the menu. He was so beautiful that my heart sped up slightly – I had it bad, not just for Devon but also for Ramone. "Look, I have to go" I sighed. I knew that I would say something that I would regret if I let the conversation go on any further.

"Just promise me you'll stay away from those other Werewolves, Tabitha".

I was silent for almost a few minutes. I glanced back through the window and looked at Devon and smiled to myself. "I can't promise that" I replied, "I'm sorry".

And with that I hung up.