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Reece

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I was surprised when Little Bunny called out to me when I was talking to mom, but she never willingly came to me, so I knew it had to be important.

"Reece, I need to talk to you." Her voice sounded nervous but still strong.

"What?" I snapped when I went out to the hall. I was worried she had heard my earlier conversation.

"Oh, I didn't know you were down there." She looked tense.

"What do you need, Little Bunny?"

"Well, I have a bit of bad news." She clearly didn't want to tell me what was going on. I raised an eyebrow in suspicion before looking at the floor sighing.

"Fine, come in." I opened my door and invited her in. She seemed nervous, like she wasn't going to come in at first. She really was scared of me, good. "Are you coming or not?" I growled from inside. She took a breath and followed me in.

I flopped into the corner of the couch and watched her flounder, looking around the room for somewhere to sit. Was it that bad sitting next to me?

"Sit." I told her, that got her to talk at least.

"Where?" She asked.

"Are you too good for the couch?"

"No, I just didn't think you wanted me to sit with you." She seemed embarrassed.

"You need to get over this aversion, we are going to be in other packs, they must think that we are mated." They would never buy it if she couldn't even sit next to me.

"And whose fault is it that I have an aversion to you?" She snapped at me with a hint of a growl in her voice. I just glared at her in defeat.

"I'm fully aware. Be that as it may, we need to learn to put up with each other." I tried to be calm with her tonight, usually I just yelled and growled at her, and the desire and habit to do so was warring with me still.

"I know." She deflated and sat apprehensively onto the couch.

"So, what is the problem?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

"Heather is on her way to the pack hospital. They think she may be having the baby early. She isn't due for almost a month."

"Do they know what's happening?" I was worried for Heather the minute Little Bunny had told me what was going on. Vincent was one of my best warriors, and I considered him a friend. He had also been very vital in keeping the new Luna happy and under control.

"Vincent didn't have that information yet." I sensed a but in her words.

"I told him to go. He needs to be with his mate at a time like this." That shocked me. I know she would have preferred to have Vincent with us, of all people, but she sent him away.

"That was a wise decision."

"Are you saying I'm incapable of being wise?" She asked, annoyed.

"No, just that you have made unwise decisions in the past." I told her.

"Yeah, I'm looking at one." She snapped. I growled at that. I didn't like that she considered me an unwise choice. I was not putting myself in that category, and as much as I wish I could have a different mate, a different Luna. I never considered that taking her was unwise because I knew I had no other choice. I just didn't accept it on a personal level, that was different. "Anyone ever call you Cujo because you growl so much?" She asked me, sarcasm all but physically dripping from the words. I fought the urge to growl again.

"Why do you insist on calling me the names of different fictional dogs?" I demanded.

"Why do you insist on calling me Little Bunny?" She countered.

"It's amusing."

"Right back at you Scooby Doo."

"What was that one for?" I asked.

"Well, I could say it's because you're asking questions trying to be a detective, but the real answer is, because I wanted to make a rhyme." I laughed.

I think it was the first time I had laughed in front of her, I hadn't intended to do it, but I couldn't help it. I was laughing and not just chuckling at her. She was shocked at first then she also laughed lightly. Her laugh was cute, like music.

Not bells tinkling or ringing or anything like that. It's hard to describe. It sounded like normal laughter, but when I heard it, it felt like I was listening to soft, sweet, happy music. It made my wolf stand at attention, but he was a good boy and just sniffed the air, not trying to push things at the moment.

When the laughs between us ended, and I took a deep breath to settle myself, I continued the conversation.

"So, we need to find a replacement, and fast."

"That's right." She agreed.

"I will call Noah and ask him-." But she interrupted me before I could finish.

"No can do, he took Nikki to the cabin for the weekend." She told me.

"That's right, I had forgotten. What about David?" I asked her, I knew she was comfortable with him as well.

"We can give him a call." She agreed.

I pulled out my phone and called the warrior, but there was no answer. He had better have a good reason for ignoring my call. I was not about to call my Beta and ask for his help. My Beta had not been my choice, it had been those meddling old fools who had forced my cousin on me. I didn't think that my spineless twit of a cousin had enough brains to be a Beta. So, who did that leave me with?

"I can call Jeremy or Leslie." I saw the revulsion on her face and wondered which one that face was for.

"Is there anyone else you trust?" She asked me, did she not like either of them?

"Is there a problem with my warriors?" I asked her. She looked uncomfortable. "Fine, you can answer that later. And to answer your question, no, no one that I would trust to go on the trip with us. I was in the middle of having them trained. I hadn't been able to focus on training the warriors, as much as I would have liked, I was too busy running too many things." I told her, letting her know that I clearly expect her to do her fair share.

"So, what, we reschedule?" She asked me, confused by the situation.

"We can't, we have to go."

"Then what do we do?"

"We go alone, just the two of us." I declared. I swear, her face froze, and she looked like I told her I was going to kill her puppy. "We simply cannot reschedule."

"I understand." She frowned, nodding her head. She may have understood, but she clearly didn't accept it. What am I going to do with her?

I grabbed my bag, which was already packed, and left the room with her. I led the way down the stairs, so I didn't have to see the disappointment on her face. I know she feared me, I wanted that, counted on it, but I was no disappointment to anyone.

I grabbed her bag and marched quickly off down the hall, forcing her to jog to keep up. I was going to show her that she was lucky to be chosen as the Luna. That even though she was Luna in name only, she was still one of the luckiest women in the pack.

I walked past most of the cars, coming to a stop in front of the brand-new Portofino M I had purchased earlier this year. I rarely ever drove it, and I wasn't even sure why I had gotten it. But now I want to show off a bit. The Italian sports car was usually much too flashy for the roads around here, and for me really, but maybe she would like it.

I threw the bags in the small trunk and had the passenger door opened for her before she had even caught up to me.

"Get in." I told her trying to soften my voice. The look on her face was one of pure shock. The car probably took her breath away.

"We're taking this?" She asked.

"It's just the two of us now, we don't need anything bigger." I smirked at her. She sighed and got into the car. I shut her door and walked around to get in. She had buckled and was ready.

I started the car, the roar of the engine reminding me, partly, of why I had bought the car in the first place. I revved the engine a few times, reveling in the glorious sound and grinning to myself. I shifted the car into drive and started down the large, long driveway. I sped through the compound and out of the gate in no time at all.

This trip we were going on was to visit a cousin of mine. One I wish I could have traded for Caleb growing up. Riley grew up in a different pack and I only ever saw him on visits, but he was a hell of a lot better than Caleb, that's for sure. We would be staying at Riley's Alpha house tonight and then visiting a fealty pack tomorrow morning before going home. This would be a quick trip, thankfully.

I pulled the car onto the freeway, wanting to open it up a bit. It was Friday night, most people were already home from work, so the roads were pretty empty, thankfully. I was able to let the engine roar as I sped up on the empty highway.

"Ugh!" I heard my little bunny scoff next to me.

"Something wrong?"

"No, not really. Just seeing that most men truly are the same."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked her.

"Could you be more predictable with this ostentatious death trap of yours?" She snorted. "Seriously, men are their toys."

"Hmm. So, you don't like the car?" I asked her. That's a first. All the women who had seen it had completely adored it.

"Not really, it's too much. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's sharp and I can appreciate its beauty, but I would much rather have a car that stands out a little less." That threw me through a loop.

"You're not like other girls, are you?" I asked her.

"You still hadn't figured that out yet Marmaduke?" She asked, calling me yet another ridiculous dog name.

"I'm still learning. And I'm not like the men you know." I told her.

"Really? Well I guess that's true in a way. Unless I compare you to my grandfather. My cousins and uncle were all very nice. Grandfather not so much. The men I've met since have varied, so I guess you are like half of them." That kind of hurt me personally. Also to know that someone so close to her had treated her so bad for so long.

"You'll see, I'm one of a kind, I am the Alpha after all." I chuckled.

"Yeah, which means you're more conceited." She retorted with a laugh.

"No, just more confident." I countered.

Oddly enough, conversation continued easily like this until we got to Riley's. It took about an hour and a half to get there. It wasn't far, but Riley and I were always too busy to see each other regularly.

Thankfully, we were both still in a good mood when we got there, it would be easier to pretend to be a proper couple that way.