Becoming the Luna

I wake up alone --- scratch that, I'm not alone and I nearly scream my head off when I find Shana and Mae standing over my bed and watching me with curious eyes.

"Oh my goodness!" I gasp, rolling over on my face so that I don't have to look in their question filled eyes. "Why?"

They just hop on the bed, if the bed dipping on both sides is any indication.

"Well, Renee called and was freaking out so hard something about her baby getting pregnant and leaving her." Shana starts to say.

"Well, we couldn't miss out on that." Mae tags on, laughter in her voice.

I just groan loudly and try to hide inside the bed. "I can't believe my mom did that."

"Don't worry, I do." Shana says. "You needed to see her expression." She tags on, gasping from the effort it took to keep her laughter in.

Mae isn't that nice though and she laughs so hard that her body shakes from the effort. "This is the most fun I've had in days, we really should come over more often."

"Just tell us what happened." Shana finally prompts. "We couldn't get anything out of Renee, she was that badly freaked out so we just directed her to ladies that help babysit the Pack's kids." She shrugs. "Maybe being around babies would help calm her down."

"Is what I'd like to know." I say sitting up to glare at them, the covers slipping down. "Virgil and Dale keep finding their way in my room without my mom seeing them, plus their clothes are in my wardrobe and their toothbrush are in the bathroom so which of you two is helping out?" I demand.

They just stare speechlessly at me, their mouth hanging open and their eyes…

"Hey, my face is up here." I wave a hand in front of my face, watching as their eyes simultaneously snap up.

"Sorry." They apologize sheepishly.

"What are you looking at?" I ask suspiciously.

"You might want to see for yourself." Shana says gravely and I'm already freaking out, wondering what could be on my neck that they seem so stunned by.

I let them lead me to the bathroom, the sun is shining bright enough for me to figure that it's almost noon.

"It couldn't have hurt to just tell me instead of… oh my fucking god!" I exclaim, slapping my hands over my face in horror. "What the hell is that?"

"A hickey, I would presume." Mae pronounces gravely like it's a dangerous disease and not just an unnaturally large bite mark high on my neck.

"Let me guess, it's Virgil." Shana says blankly.

"How am I supposed to walk around with this?" I wail in horror. "Oh no, my mom is going to pass out for real this time."

"Nah, you'll be fine." Mae says nonchalantly.

"Renee is fine too, she went to the store." Shana says in the same careless tone.

I just stare at them open mouthed, my hand slipping down from my neck. "You said she was with kids." I remind her blankly.

"Why would I leave your mom with kids?" She asks incredulously. "No offense."

"None taken." I mumble. "But why did you say she was?"

"We needed a reason for coming over." Mae says simply and I frown at them.

"Since when do you need a reason?" I ask bewildered.

"Since Virgil said we weren't allowed to influence your decision." Shana pouts, crossing her arms.

I just wander back to the bed, trying to process her words. "Come again? Decision? What decisio… oh my God!' I exclaim, staring into space before snapping out of it and whipping my head from smug teenage girl to smug teenage girl.

"That's what they're doing?!" I ask rhetorically.

Shana answers anyway. "Yup!" She says, hopping on the bed. "They're what's that word again, Mae? It has something to do with a Court?"

"Woo, Shana, its woo." Mae says blankly in exasperation. "And it's courting, it has nothing to do with a Court."

"But you figured out what I was saying anyway so that's all that matters."

I'm already sinking deeper into the bed in mortification, horror splashed across my face.

"As I was saying, they're trying to woo you."

I let out a sound of misery at Shana's words.

"Why do you look so horrified?" Mae pouts. "I came up with that idea."

"I'm sorry, it's just really weird." I mumble out.

"See, I told you…" Shana starts to say smugly.

Mae just throws an evil look her way. "You must really like the feel of the couch." She threatens darkly and Shana doesn't think twice about swallowing back her words.

To me she says earnestly. "I didn't ever imagine that they would put so much work in, they must really care about you."

Color paints my cheeks at her words but it still doesn't lessen my mortification.

"Sure they do." Shana agrees. "...but have you met those two? They're bloody competitive at everything."

"It's still way better than your idea, at least this way Hayden gets to choose." Mae says nicely.

Shana just gives her a sour look. "Are you telling me that you aren't even a little bit curious of who would have won? I mean Virgil is too lazy to get goaded into a spar…"

"Don't you mean disinterested?" Mae interrupts her.

"Same girl, different dress." She waves dismissively. "And Dale keeps whooping everybody's ass so we've got no way to measure."

I just listen in on the two way conversation in slight confusion. "I don't understand."

"She wanted them to spar."

I flinch at this, giving Shana the evil eye.

"For the record I'm not the only person who's curious, do you know how rare it is to get Alphas that are literally the same age?"

"Just ask politely and maybe they'll think about it." Mae says.

Shana just falls on the bed in deep frustration. "It's hopeless, Virgil is disinterested and Dale knows it'll make Hayden unhappy, unless…" She sits up and gives me a devious look.

"No, I'm not getting Virgil and Dale to fight so that you can bet on them." I say bluntly.

"Fine, I'll refrain from betting." She says seriously. "Scouts honor."

"You really think that's the issue here?" I ask incredulously.

"I don't think there's any issue but sure whatever you say."

I just roll my eyes, Shana is like a moving boulder when she wants something.