Bonded

Chapter 27

A knock on the apartment door shattered whatever spell came over her. He felt her tense up again. Through the mate bond, he felt just a hint of fear at the unknown visitor. He rubbed her back and smiled down at her. "That will be breakfast." He released her and went to the door to deal with the food delivery.

Greyson laid the final plate on the dining table when he realized Rebecca hadn't left her spot in the living room.

"Becca, come on, it's time to eat."

Reluctantly, Rebecca left her spot and walked over to Greyson. The table was laid out with two plates full of scrambled eggs, some roasted sweet potatoes, dry toast, and half a banana each.

"Sit." Greyson noticed the look of trepidation on his mate's face. "Becca, it won't bite you if you bite it first."

She merely rolled her eyes at him, but she did sit down in the chair across from Greyson.

Greyson wasted no time in digging into his breakfast. Rebecca spent a minute or two moving bits of food from one side of the plate to the other while she got up the courage to eat.

"Rebecca, look at me." His tone was firm.

Rebecca raised her gaze from her plate to Greyson's face.

"You have to eat. If you don't start gaining some weight soon, the doctor is going to take over, and I am certain neither one of us wants that. So, put some food on the fork and put it in your mouth." She recognized his tone from when they were kids. He only used it when she pushed him too far.

Greyson didn't take his attention off her until she let out a long sigh and managed to put a small bite of food in her mouth.

After the first bite, Rebecca realized how hungry she really was. Her bites became bigger and soon food was disappearing from her plate. Desperate to break the silence Rebecca wracked her brain for a topic of conversation.

"The waterfall is lovely. I'm surprised you have it. It doesn't seem like you." She decided a nice, neutral topic would help fill the lull. She really didn't care about what he did or did not put in his own apartment. In her head, she was rehearsing what she was going to tell her fiancée when she got him on the phone.

"It isn't really. Or I guess I should say it wasn't." Greyson paused to take a bite of food. "It's my meditation area. Do you remember me talking about Balance when we were in Norway?" She nodded her head. "Well, a big part of me and other werewolves trying to achieve and maintain a balance between our human side and our wolf side is meditating. I try to spend time every morning finding my balance. The waterfall makes a calming sound that helps me concentrate on that and talking with the Moon Goddess. The small figure there by the window. The Y with the circle? That's her symbol. You'll probably see it around the pack house. Think of it like a Christian cross or Jewish Star of David." He noticed that the more he spoke the more she ate, so he kept going. "To us, that symbol represents not only Mother Moon, but the Mongrana. It is an ancient Lykos word for The Way. By living by The Way, The Way of the Mother, we get closer to her and to whatever she has for us after we die. You hear it mostly when one werewolf greets another. You'll hear things like, 'May your Way be smooth' or 'May you find your Way.' They all basically mean, 'I hope you are having a good life!' Things were a lot more formal before the wars. There was a lot of bowing and touching of finger tips to foreheads. Most of that was lost along with everything else."

Rebecca's brow crinkled in confusion. "The Moon Goddess? Are you religious now? I don't remember ever talking about any religion when we were kids and now you talk with a Goddess?" Her tone wasn't accusatory, more curious.

"Yeah, I never thought much about any sort of god before coming here. But, it is kind of hard to ignore or deny her existence after I actually met Mother Moon."