Chapter 18

Meet the pack

-Horatio-

I’m not nervous at all. Nope. I’m not at all worried that I’ll make Xabien’s pack hate him. Not at all! He keeps sending me sympathetic glances from the other end of the main hall, where he stands next to his parents, waiting for everyone to file into the hall and shut up so he can make his announcement.

Only a few wolves actually know what this is about. Most of them have no clue, only vaguely aware that Xabien is visiting a pack tomorrow, so they probably just assume it’s about that.

Xabien clears his throat once the hall is looking pretty busy and there is no longer a steady stream of wolves into the hall. Harli is holding one of my hands, whilst my mother holds my other. I keep giving them apologetic looks when one of them taps my arm gently, reminding me that I have a death grip on their hands.

“So, I’m sure you’re all curious what this is about. I just wanted to let you all know that there has been a development in my private life,” Xabien begins, giving out an air of total calm and collectedness. How he does that, I’ll never know.

Because, I can push my feelings down, make them hard for others to see. But Xabien? He can really make himself feel those things. He can make himself calm, and he doesn’t have to fake anything to do so.

“This development won’t change anything for the pack; things will continue as they always have. I would just like you all to know that I have found my mate.” There are several gasps from varying locations around the hall whilst Xabien gives everyone some time for that to sink in.

“My mate will not be the luna, at least not now. This is because he is not an official member of our pack, and it is not certain whether he will ever be able to join the pack,” Xabien explains coolly. Now it’s my time to shine.

“Horatio, come stand with me,” he says gently, in a way which is not commanding or ordering me. Smiling awkwardly, I stand up, making my way through the swathes of wolves staring at me as I reach my mate.

As soon as I reach him, Xabien gently places his arm around my waist, holding me to him in a way which shows our closeness and his bond with me, without grabbing me and showing off his claim over me. I’m extremely glad for that.

Whilst I don’t mind a little PDA, I swear if Xabien thought it was a bright idea to kiss me in front of his entire pack, I would actually run away.

Luckily for me, he just rests his hand around my waist gently, so that if I’m uncomfortable, I can move out of his reach. I don’t move.

“This is my mate, Horatio. Many of you don’t know him, some of you do. He is one of the rogues we took in a month ago. He was healing from that alpha’s attack, so he wasn’t able to come meet everyone, but I hope you’ll all get along with him.”

Everyone is silent for a moment, before someone speaks up in favour of me. To my surprise, I recognise the voice as Caro’s. “Congratulations Alpha Xabien, Horatio is a lovely wolf. I wish you all the happiness.”

Other wolves start to speak up, wishing him- us, prosperity and goodwill. I notice a few wolves glaring in my direction; one of whom I recognise as Reynold, the therapist. Well. I don’t like him either.

After Xabien’s announcement, everyone can leave, or stay and talk to us. This is what I’m nervous for. First impressions are everything, and all that. Luckily, Caro decides to come talk to me first.

“Hi Horatio, I’m glad you and Xabien managed to sort things out,” he says gently, and I nod, smiling awkwardly at him. “Oh um, thanks. Yeah we just uh, talked about it. Worked through some of the things I was worried about.”

He smiles encouragingly, reaching out a hand and patting my shoulder. “That’s really great; and my offer still stands if you’d like.” I smile more genuinely this time. “Yeah, thanks. I actually wanted to take you up on that; thought it might be helpful.”

Caro beams at me. “That’s great! We’ll organise something later; I’ll let you meet some of the rest of the pack.” We say our goodbyes, and some more wolves come up to us, saying hello and asking about me.

Everyone who stays to talk is being very positive, which means that the people who have criticisms won’t say it when Xabien is right next to me. That’s good. This is what I wanted.


This way, people can say exactly what they want to, without having to worry about their alpha breathing down their necks. This way, I can deal with it on my own, show them that I’m just another wolf, who happens to be mated to Xabien.

I’m not the luna, and I don’t want to be. I’m happy just being mated to the person I want to be with.

Once we’re the last ones in the hall, I sigh a little. “That was…less scary than I thought it was going to be,” I say with a small smile, reaching up to kiss Xabien on the cheek. He smiles fondly down at me, his golden curls gleaming in the dappled sunlight which filters through the windows to illuminate my mate in an angelic glow.

“See? I told you it’d be fine.” Xabien tugs me closer, his arm still around my waist, as his thumb smooths across my cheek, before pressing lightly on my bottom lip. I smile, standing on my tip-toes to press my lips to his.

He hums contentedly into the kiss, before resting his forehead against mine. “I’m going to miss you,” he says quietly, and I whisper back “I’ll miss you too,” before pecking his lips once more and pulling away.

“Come on, it’s only one night away from home. Oh- do you mind if I um, stay in your room tonight? There’s no real reason,” I say, trying to combat the heat in my cheeks. Xabien squeezes my hand, touching my neck just over the mark gently.

“It’s your room too now, so of course you can.”

I beam at him, my heart doing some funny gymnastics course in my chest when he says those words. I’ve never had a room to call my own before (I had the guest room next to my family’s, but it’s not the same as having a room which is mine), and certainly not one I shared with my mate.

This place is already starting to feel like home, more so than any other place I’ve ever stayed.

And I think that might be because Xabien is here.