Chapter 25 Cherry

Chapter 25 Cherry

I turned the lamp on my desk as evening fell. I was alone in my studio. Maisy and the sales assistants had gone home hours ago. I should too, but… I lingered. I was only half-heartedly working on the design in front of me. Instead, I was thinking about the request Dylan had made a few days ago: to come back to the pack. I’d known the request was coming for weeks. But it hadn’t made it any easier to hear. I’d told him I’d think about it, and I was. Incessantly.

We’d had a lovely time a few days ago as a real family on Fern’s birthday. I loved watching my daughter play party games with her friends and bask for the first time in the knowledge that she had her mom and dad there. And I enjoyed basking in Dylan’s attention too. Thoughts of the way we’d made love that night, tenderly, lovingly, knowing that we were part of a family we’d made together had been beautiful. The way he’d caressed me with such tenderness and reverence had made me feel like a Moon Goddess.

Concerning our extended family, too, Dylan’s request to come back with him to the pack seemed to make sense. Our moving back to Seattle would make my dad’s life so much easier. I knew he’d been willing to relocate to Berlin for his granddaughter and me, but I knew, too, he was happy where he was in Seattle. He’d had a whole lifetime there, and the house he lived in was full of memories of my late mom and of my childhood. Over the last few weeks, I’d told my dad that Dylan and I were making a go of our relationship here in Berlin, and he’d been pleased for me, promising to come out and see us soon.

Besides, my dad, we’d have Dylan’s parents back in our lives too. I knew things could be rocky at first, given how Dylan’s choosing to pursue me meant that he’d gone against the old Alpha’s wishes. But I knew Chris and Heather were good people. And I was sure once they’d met Fern, their granddaughter, they’d be pleased to have us back in their lives. The idea of my daughter having such an extended network of family after having just me for so long seemed like something in favor of the move too.

Yet, the idea of going back wasn’t all roses. I looked around at the vast, airy studio. I’d withdrawn a lot from Dylan over the last couple of days, hiding in my work and pulling a few late nights while he spent time with Fern. As much as I wanted to be with my mate, I felt as if I was already grieving for the business I’d have to let go of.

I stared around at the long white tables where final prototypes lay. The interns who had now been here for the summer months were working on their final pieces. They’d be finished up in a few days. Their questions echoed through my head, and their eager energy seemed to dance in the studio, which had been their learning space and the incubator for their creativity. I loved being part of that process and couldn’t imagine not having it in my life. My gaze fell on the mannequin draped with a dress that Maisy was altering. My heart throbbed painfully. I pictured Maisy’s careful movements and heard her bright voice and easy-going humor. It must have been almost nine months that I’d worked with my assistant designer, and I felt another pang in my chest as I contemplated not working alongside her.

Just then, my phone rang, and I dreaded it being Dylan checking in and asking when I was coming home.

I glanced at the caller ID and saw it was Bert. I’d long since patched things up with my old friend since he’d betrayed my secret about Fern to Dylan. It was hard to stay angry at him when he’d helped bring my mate and me back together and indirectly given us such joy over the last few weeks.

“Hey, Bert!” I said, answering the call.

“Hey stranger, I didn’t think you’d pick up with you working late.”

I pursed my lips, suspicion filling me. “Did Dylan ask you to check in on me?”

“Does your oldest friend need your mate’s permission to check on you?”

“Oldest friend and Beta to the Starsmoon Alpha,” I retorted, wondering if Dylan had ordered Bert to find out what was going on in my head.

“Cherry,” Bert said after a long pause. “He wouldn’t do that. He may be my Alpha, but Dylan’s a good guy. He wouldn’t try to manipulate you by using me like that or to find out what your decision was until you’re ready.”

My heart hammered against my ribcage. “But you know that he asked me to come back to Starsmoon?”

“Of course.”

I sighed. Of course, Bert knew. He was Dylan’s best friend. He’d have confided in Bert.

“The thing I don’t understand is why you haven’t spoken to me about everything that’s going on,” Bert said.

I sighed, massaging my neck and wishing Dylan were here. His deft fingers always knew how to get me to relax. “Because you’re biased,” I answered. “You want your best friend and Alpha back in Starsmoon.”

“Of course I do, but do you honestly think I’d not put what you wanted above what I want? Seriously, don’t you think you’re being a bit harsh on the men in your life?”

I blinked, realizing Bert was right. He, Dylan, and my dad were some of the best men I knew. I was lucky to have them in my life.

I leaned forwards in my chair and decided to tell one of them that. “You, Dylan, and my dad are the best men I know. I’m truly blessed by Nuu-Chah to have you in my life.”

“Now that’s more like it.” I heard the easy-going smile in his voice, and a stab of homesickness went through me. If I went back to Starsmoon, I could see more of my best friend. Fern’s voice echoed through my memory from when Dylan had first moved in across the road: “Maybe Bert will move here too, and then all your friends will be here like mine.”

A stab of guilt wound through me. “But it’s not an easy decision, Bert. It’s not just about me. Fern’s got all her friends here. I’d be uprooting her at such a formative age. It doesn’t seem fair.”

“Nor would keeping her from her preternatural heritage for too long,” he argued.

“Did Dylan tell you to say that?” I bristled.

He sighed. “No, Cherry. I feel strongly about Fern knowing who she is too. I think you take it for granted that you and I grew up knowing our shifter heritage from birth; shielding her from it will only make the transition when she comes into her Lycan powers harder. It’s definitely something to consider.”

I started to tap my nails on the desk, realizing my friend had a lot of good points. Of course, my daughter would come into her werewolf heritage. That transition usually occurs just before puberty. So she had another five years or so. But that would fly by. And perhaps Bert was right. It would be easier for her to come into those powers if they weren’t a complete shock and she was around other shifters. I hadn’t considered these points seriously enough because I’d been too busy thinking about what I wanted.

My business, my clients here in Berlin, and the city that had become my home.

“But I don’t think all these rational things are that important,” Bert chipped in again. “The only thing that matters is what your heart’s telling you.”

The heart under question drummed against my ribcage with an ever-quickening rhythm as if it knew it was the topic of conversation.

I thought of how much the last few weeks had meant to me. Of how much Dylan’s pursuing me to Berlin, of persevering with nurturing our mating bond, and then showing me every day how much he loved Fern and me.

“I love him, Bert. I can’t imagine ever being away from him again.” I laughed, realizing how true that was and finally feeling the tension that had built within me effervesce. Every day he wasn’t with me here at the store was a daily struggle, which was more often of late, given how much pack business he’d had to take care of remotely.

“I swear by Nuu-Chah, he is my one true mate,” I said, feeling my decision take root within me.

“Good,” Bert said the smile back in his voice. “After I get off the phone, I’m gonna howl at the moon in celebration. But I’m damned relieved to hear you say all this, Cherry. Because he’s given up his job, his home, his pack, and gone against his parents’ wishes all to win you back.”

My throat felt thick as I considered just how much Dylan had given up and done for me. The pack business I’d just been thinking about that had kept him so busy lately, away from the store and me, was piling up because he was away from the pack. He was still away from Starsmoon all because of me. Meanwhile, he was looking after Fern too. While I was here, sitting late in my studio when I didn’t need to be. A pang of guilt hit home.

With a quick thanks to my friend for talking sense into me, I hung up and, locking up, felt abuzz with excitement. With a purposeful stride, I left work, secure in the decision I wanted to share with Dylan. My daughter and I were going to return to the Starsmoon Pack. I would return as the Alpha’s mate, as the mother of his child, and as the Luna he needed me to be. It was high time for me to make sure that I was the mate that Dylan needed me to be too.