Mateless and Luna Bound (Self Published)

Chapter 17: Explanations

Authors Note: This is a bit of a short chapter today. Don't worry, I have plenty of long ones in store. Thank you so much for reading this far. Thanks for all the votes and comments! Enjoy!

-Saturn

"Max!" he heard Tyler behind him. "Wait!"

He wanted to ignore him. He wanted to pretend that he hadn't heard him down these many long halls that the third story had. Max longed to see Charlie again. He was worried that he might start wandering around the pack house again. Maybe Max would show him a little more things that the mansion had to offer. Maybe he could introduce him to one or two more people. He knew that it wouldn't take long for the pack to hear about his mate and want to meet him. They would all be curious about their next Luna, whether for good or for bad.

But he owed Tyler an explanation. He owed all of them an explanation. So, he stopped and waited for Tyler and the rest of his friends to catch up.

"Are you insane, man?" Sam was the first to talk when they met with him. They all looked unnerved. Max hoped that Leah wasn't too worked up. She had been able to hold together through all of the stress that those meetings had and still kept her baby. Pregnancies were scary in a way, because anything could happen to make it to where you had a miscarriage. Max didn't know that until Leah's miscarriage with her first baby. She was upset for months after that.

"Probably," Max rubbed his face. He hadn't gotten enough sleep to handle all the drama that he knew was going to happen.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Tyler asked. He looked hurt. They had been best friends, and they still were even though they didn't hang out as much. Max felt guilty for not telling him, but he couldn't change the past.

"I didn't want anyone to know until I figured out what I wanted to do."

"And you decide to throw your title on the line?!" Tyler grabbed his shoulders. His brown eyes searched his for answers to questions Max didn't know yet. "I know this pack has changed a lot over the generations, but I don't know if they'll be willing to change from this tradition."

"You think I don't know what I did?" Max used his hand to comb through his hair.

"Max, I wouldn't be able to do all the duties that you're able to do," Tyler looked shocked about all of this.

"We've trained side by side our whole lives, Tyler," he looked at him with a serious face. "If there's anyone I could trust this pack with more than myself and my parents, it'd be you."

"Betas aren't meant to be Alphas," Tyler argued. "And there's no way that your cousin would ever be able to lead well either. He doesn't show any potential in it."

"Well, Liam said he wanted the bloodline to stay intact," Max gritted his teeth when he talked about his grandfather. The man that used to be full of stories and laughter in his childhood was now his main cause of grief.

"We're missing a point here," Sam cut in.

"What's that?"

"You found your mate and didn't tell us!" Sam frowned. "Do you know how long we've all been waiting for you to find your mate? Leah and I had a whole party planned!"

"Oh, he was going to tell you guys at the get-together," Ed said. He caught up with Leah next to him. He, for once, had a serious look on his face. The meeting really must have shaken everyone up. "But that was supposed to be tonight."

Leah smacked Ed's arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For not telling us when you found out," she answered. Then she slapped Sam's arm. "And that's for not waiting for me!"