Dead Luna
Chapter 62

Amelia's

POV

The next morning after breakfast the three of us were heading back to Green Mountain pack, deep in the cascade mountains along the Oregon coast. It was an area of immense beauty and was a major draw of tourists, both human and wolf. The pack itself was close by the tiny town of Grand Ronde, along Highway 18, where I had worked as a waitress in that little diner, until the rogue attack that had ended my previous life. Back before I had been blessed by the moon goddess and brought back to life and given a Lycan wolf named Ambrosia.

I was warmly welcomed back by Alpha Joshua and Luna Leann. Their pack of about 750 members has 55 unmated wolves in total, 22 male and 33 female.

The pack doctor, Dr. Lyndon, wants to check me over one more time, still in wonder that I had been dead for nearly half an hour, and miraculously came back to life without any sort of medical intervention. I submit to her poking and prodding for no more than half an hour, and then I get back down to business. The reason I came here.

About half of the wolves in this pack work in the lucrative timber industry, but they also had a few computer programmers, security specialists, a couple mechanics, a lawyer, and a doctor. Also, unbeknownst to the local humans in Falls City, their town's sheriff and mayor were both werewolves from this pack.

I enjoy a light lunch of roast beef sandwiches and vegetable soup, while chatting with Luna Leann. I ask whether she had taken my marriage advice, and she blushingly confesses that she did, and that she had just found out she was expecting a pup in about 5 months time. I congratulate her, and we hug.

Then as soon as lunch is over I get started seeing whomever was unmated and looking for love. The members of this pack appear to be good, ordinary werewolves who just haven't had the chance to meet "the one", which was a nice contrast from the Willamette pack where almost everyone was blaming others and not looking to themselves for the answers to their problems.

I was taking a break mid afternoon, grabbing a cookie and a cup of tea, when the Alpha and Luna entered the dining hall of the pack house.

"Wonderful news this afternoon from the capital!" Alpha Joshua is saying loudly. "The king has found his fated mate!"

Most people seem really excited about the news, but I guess I didn't look excited enough as I sat there sipping my tea.

"This is really big news! Aren't you excited? Or are you worried you're out of a job if people can replace their mates all on their own?" He asks, sounding just a little too smug for my liking.

"Actually, I saw the King yesterday, and I told him exactly where to replace his mate." I said, and took a bite of my cookie. Alpha Joshua looks a bit deflated, especially when both of my Gammas confirm it's the truth. "The new Queen Luna is Juliette Hearst, am I right?" "Umm, yes."

"Originally he was hoping that I would be his mate, but lucky for me it didn't take long to convince him what a bad idea that was." I say, giving more information, but certainly not all of it. "Alexander and Juliette were fated mates. That is far more suitable, in my opinion."

"I see."

And he went off to spread the news among all the rest of the pack.

Glen and Jackson were laughing after the Alpha and Luna left.

"Oh, that was brilliant!" Jackson says, after he had almost stopped laughing. "Did you see the look on his face when you told him you rejected being the Alpha Kings mate?"

"You were wise not to tell everything," Glen says, agreeing with how I handled the situation. "You shouldn't tell anyone anything they don't need to know from this point on. It'll allow you to keep your life your own private business!"

"Yes," I say. "I'll be walking a very fine line between being me, and being what people expect me to be. And once news gets out, my life will change quite a lot."

"That may not happen for a while yet." Glen tries to comfort me. "Why don't we take tomorrow afternoon off, and go to the beach? It's less than an hours drive away from here!"

"I've never seen the ocean before," I muse out loud. "Yes, let's do that!"

The rest of the day I feel much better about things, with the promise of a new adventure tomorrow afternoon. And I try to get in as many appointments as I can so I don't get too far behind schedule tomorrow. By the end of the day I have just 24 wolves to see the next day. I'll see 10 early in the morning, and the last 14 will be late in the evening once I return.

By 10 am the next day I had already finished my morning appointments, and Glen had managed to get the kitchen staff to provide us with a picnic basket filled with lunch for the trip to the coast. Then we drove the windy road through the mountains and Siuslaw National forest to Lincoln City, which is the largest coastal city in the state of Oregon.

I'm amazed at the sight of the ocean, and we go to a public beach near the shortest river in the world, the "D" river. The afternoon is turning hot, so the sand feels warm on my feet, a sharp contrast to the chill of the ocean water when I dip my toes in it. Then a wave comes up, getting my legs wet up to my knees, and I enjoy the feeling of the water as it first tries to push me in one direction, but then reverses and it feels like it's sucking the sand away from underneath my feet. I stare out at the immensity of the ocean, and feel small. The roar of the ocean is strangely soothing. I'm so very glad that this outing was suggested by Glen. I don't know when I would ever have another chance to do so.

After a while, Glen sets out the picnic on a ratty old blanket that Jackson had brought along in the car. We dine on ham and cheddar sandwiches, potato salad, and cut melon and grapes.

"Do you really think my dad can replace a couple potential mates for me within the next few weeks?" I ask Glen, as that had been bothering me.

"I know he can." Glen tells me definitively, before popping a grape in his mouth. "I think he had at least 2 in mind before he left for Winter Moon."

"Who?"

"Hmm... one is his cousin, and subsequently his heir until he met you. Prince William Arthur Worthing." Glen says, matter of fact. "And I think another one would likely be King Henry Jordanne of the Rising Moon kingdom. Although your father could easily come up with several more given time enough. But since he just found his Queen Luna, I imagine he will be quite busy just now."

I blush a bit at his meaning. My parents have years worth of making up to do. And wolves can be very creative at making up. I'm sure it'll be a few more days before they check in again with me, and I will not be calling them as I wouldn't want to interrupt their special bonding time.

So I might be adding a Prince and a King to my potential mate list. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It would make sense, knowing now who and what I am. I have a difficult time imagining Craig being willing to leave his pack for me, since he puts his whole self into running Silver Falls. Derrick might be willing, but he is an only child of the old alpha and Luna of Winter Moon, and therefore he might not be able to move to the capital city along with me if my parents don't produce more heirs. Leo seemed overwhelmed by all his new responsibilities as an alpha, so becoming my consort might be more than he could handle. And it would eventually make it difficult for me to be of use to the Bull Run pack as Luna. I would have to think very carefully on all this before I make my final choice. I've known that I am an unofficial princess for less than a week, and already it is making me rethink everything I was planning to do.

After we eat and pack everything away, we play in the ocean for another hour or so. Then we stroll through a little bit of the town, buying candy and souvenirs.

"Next time we should go to a beach where there aren't any humans. My wolf Sky wanted to shift and play in the ocean so bad!" Jackson says as we drive back to Green Mountain.

Ambrosia agrees. After we finally shift, I definitely wanna go back to the beach! Did you see that couple with those two dogs? They looked like they be having the time of their lives jumping through those waves like that!

That all sounds wonderful, but it was the couple I was paying attention to. They looked like they were in love. Will I have that?