Astrid

Chapter 7 - Trivial Feelings

     The next day, Andrew had called Jules so that she could hopefully talk some sense into Astrid. Jules was almost 18 and was more than ecstatic at the thought of finding her mate. She had blonde hair, like her mother Reese, and the brown eyes of her father. She had grown up with Astrid, and viewed her as a little sister. Jules was worried about Astrid straying from the pack since it wasn't normal for a wolf of any age to be disconnected from their community like Astrid is. Especially the future Luna.

"Knock knock." Jules opened the door to find Astrid laying in bed with her earbuds in. She had mascara smudged on her face, evidence of her crying session that kept her up all night. Astrid had a far off look in her eye, but Jules assumed it was from exhaustion and her crying fit.

"What do you want." Astrid groaned. She knew Andrew had ordered Jules to come over to see what was wrong and talk her out of dating Pierce.

"I came over to check on you. Andrew is worried, we're all worried. Astrid this isn't normal behavior."

"Who gives a shit as to what normal behavior is. Are wolves so small minded that you can't handle differences?"

"Oh, my bad. I didn't know you were so high and mighty that you were above us wolves."

Astrid scoffed at her friends condescending tone. Rolling her eyes she popped her earbuds back in and continued to blast her music. Jules was infuriated that Astrid had ignored her, so she marched over to Astrid's bed and ripped out her earbuds.

"What the hell Jules! Give them back."

"No I won't. You won't even listen to me. I came over here to talk you out of this mistake you're making." She came closer and dropped her voice, scared that someone would hear what she was going to say. "You're distancing yourself from your own mate for what? Don't go against the Goddess' plan." Astrid rolled her eyes and was reminded of Andrew's conversation with Nolan yesterday.

"He doesn't even want me. He told Nolan that the other day. It's just a matter of time before he lets some mateless whore take the Luna position." Astrid's voice cracked when she said that first sentence. Although she wasn't into him, the thought of Andrew not wanting her had bothered Astrid more than she'd admit.

"I'm sure he didn't mean that. He probably said that out of frustration that you're causing him. You're a wolf Astrid and it's time you put aside these trivial feelings and join pack life."

Trivial feelings? How dare she call my emotions trivial feelings.

"Maybe this is why I don't give a shit about pack life. No one cares about anyone else's feelings, and they certainly don't care about mine." Jules opened her mouth to say something, but Astrid cut her off. "Get the hell out of my room Jules. I'm sure you have important pack business to attend to hm?"

Jules huffed and turned on her heels. Once she slammed the door, she made it downstairs to the living room where Andrew was waiting.

"How is she?" Andrew was worried and heard part of Astrid's outburst. Once he finished talking with Jules he would go upstairs to comfort Astrid. She was his mate after all.

"She's being difficult as per usual. I don't think I'm qualified enough to get anything through to her." Although Jules had been rough with her best friend, she was honestly very worried. Wolves were social creatures who depended on the pack dynamic to live. If Astrid kept this up, she could develop rogue tendencies which would could have her banished from the pack.

"You can go home then. Thanks for trying and I'll take it from here." Andrew flashed Jules a grateful smile and Jules bowed her head and walked out of the house. Deciding that he would check up on Astrid, Andrew walked up the stairs and towards her room.

~~~{       }~~~

     Andrew had knocked on the door, not wanting to disturb Astrid and make her even more distressed. He thought back to the time before Astrid was a teenager. When she was always energetic and ready to play. He wondered what switch flipped in her head to make her the moody teenager that she was today. He heard a bang on the other side of the door followed by a slew of curse words.

     "Jules I swear to the Goddess-" Opening the door, she was surprised at who she saw. "Oh... what are you doing here?" Astrid didn't say it with disgust, like she would have said to Jules, it was more of a surprised question.

     "I wanted to check on you. Jules said you seemed pretty upset. May I?" He gestured to the room and Astrid opened her door letting him in.

     "Look, if you're here to tell me the same stuff that Jules spewed, I'm not interested."

     "No... no it's nothing like that I just... I just wanted to see if you were ok." Andrew didn't know how to go about this, especially considering the fight that he and Astrid had the night before. He ran his hand through his hair and began feeling like a teenager again despite being well into his 30s.

     Astrid walked over to her bed and sat down, grabbing the stuffed animal found in her parents house after her mother died. She needed comfort talking to Andrew even though he had been her comfort once upon a time.

     "Well I'm ok as you can see."

     "Astrid I can see that you're not. Just talk to me, you used to tell me all of your problems and now you won't even communicate with me."

     "Oh and suddenly you're an expert on communication." Astrid couldn't believe that he acted like he knew all about communication when he had hidden such an important detail from her.

     "Yes actually, I would considering that I run a pack whose foundation is communication."

     "Again with the pack stuff. Why does every conversation have to circle back to the pack and pack values and pack life!" Here we go again.

     "Because we're wolves Astrid. That's what wolves do. We focus on pack life and pack values." He took a deep breath and regained his composure. "Look Astrid I didn't come here to fight, I came here to make sure you were ok."

     "Why?" Astrid wanted to challenge him again.

     "What do you mean why? Because I care about you."

      "Well why do you care about me? Aren't I just a lowly pack member whose parents tragically died?"

     "Both of your parents were very close to me. That's why I care about you." Andrew gulped as he didn't know what Astrid was playing at.

     "That's not it though, is it? You know, growing up I never had a father figure. I had a mother figure in Georgina, and I would guess if you were just my parents friend as you mentioned, you'd be more of a paternal figure in my life. But I never got that from you, did I?" Astrid stared at him accusingly waiting for his response.

     "I don't know what you're playing at Astrid."

     "I think you know exactly what I'm saying." They both stared at each other for a while. Andrew was at a loss for words. Certainly she doesn't know, right? How would she know?

     "I came here to check on you, and I've done that." Andrew quickly walked back to his office and slammed the door. He had so many emotions that he lost control and shifted into his wolf. He and his wolf had the same golden brown hair (or fur) and the same green eyes. His wolf laid down on the floor and depressingly looked out the window.

     Well fuck.