Twisting Her Fate
Chapter 40

In the stormy pack at the break of dawn, Leilani nudges Connor, managing to finally stir him. After putting in a bit of effort, he tightens his arms, kissing her tight while still having sleepy eyes. His voice is husky. "Sleep a bit longer" "No, I have got to get up and train. You go back to sleep. I just didn't want to break your rule"

Connor offers a sleepy smile as he takes a deep inhale of her scent.

"Are you sure you can't sleep more?"

"You just sleep too much. You are so lazy and I am surprised you have managed to get such a nice body and managed to progress the pack so much while sleeping"

Connor just smiles as he nuzzles into her sweet smelling hair, kissing her scalp, trying to decide whether to just keep her captured in his arms or release her.

He can only reluctantly release her as he knows pushing it too much will just end badly for him. He is trying to show her in practical actions that she is free to do what she wants when she is with him.

Every moment, he is trying to work out ways to prove to her that he is the man that she's after, the one that can give her happiness. Freedom, love and a home.

Leilani presses a kiss on his lips before pulling on some clothes and jogging out to meet her brothers.

Connor rolls over sighing as he places a hand over his eyes. He has never slept so well in his life. The consistent good sleep he gets with Leilani by his side is something that he could never have imagined her warm body cocooned against his feeling of protecting something precious while he sleeps, that apricot scent that surrounds him, the whole combination making him so satisfied.

Hearing her even soft breath next to him. It is all just like a sleeping drug.

Now that she's gone, he won't be sleeping for a second longer and he is well overdue to do some things in the office and also getting a bit of training himself.

It is not like he has had a relaxing holiday with her around. There has been a fair bit of working out while with Lani, but he hasn't done a structured workout or training since she has been present.

Connor heads straight down to the gym and then joins Harvey for a spar session before heading into the office.

While his instinct is to go hunt Leilani down and keep her with him, he is trying to be relaxed about this whole situation.

Connor sits at his desk getting through a surprising amount of work. The more he can get done now, the more time he has with Leilani and the fact that he has actually been able to sleep and he is running on more than two hours of sleep a night makes everything more efficient.

There is a knock on the door of the study. Connor looks up with a smile as he scents who it is. "Come in"

***

In the half moon pack, Maggie finally wakes up and looks around the room. Gabriel is not present but Lance is sitting in the chair with his head leaned back against the wall. As soon as she moves, he stirs from his slumber, looking at her grimly. Maggie's voice is hoarse and she feels like she has been hit by a truck. Her whole body is aching.

"Where is Gabriel?"

Lance looks at Maggie. He never really interfered too much with Gabriel's life or decisions and Maggie has been around for so long. He has never really thought much of it, but he feels like the pack has been falling apart in the last week. His lifetime of work seems to be coming undone by the two that seemed to care little about anything.

Lance is all about fun and s*x, but there has to be other things around that, he feels like they're so busy with the fun part of it that they forget that beyond just holding the title of alpha and Luna. There is actually a lot of hard work involved. "I was going to ask you that question Maggie"

Maggie looks at the time. It's already morning. It is not usual for Gabriel to stay out all night.

"I have no idea where he is"

"Well Maggie, you had better start sorting your stuff out. You are meant to be Luna. You are meant to be his keeper. You are meant to be his partner"

"What am I meant to do? You know I can't control Gabriel"

"Well, what the f*ck can you do? Maggie, are you going to bring any value to the role or just lay on the bed with your legs wide open because there is more to being a luna than doing that" Maggie glares at Lance.

"It's not like you minded it before"

"I wasn't trying to say that you are not a good lay, but being a place to shove my d*ck is not the same as being a good luna. You need to learn the difference"

"F*ck you Lance. I will tell Gabriel"

Lance snorts with laughter as he looks at the id*otic woman like she is nothing more than a stain.

"That will affect you more than it affects me. You are the one that comes out looking bad if that comes to light, not me"

"You are the one..."

"I am not the one that did anything. It is all on you. You ran to my bed because you were jealous of your boyfriend paying more attention to the other girls that you let into your bed" Lance looks at Maggie in disdain.

"Find Gabriel and sort out whatever the hell is going on with you two. I know you want the title and it is still not too late for me to intervene and you not to get it. Whatever happened yesterday, I don't want it to happen again. If our leadership is weak, our pack is weak and it won't take long for someone to take advantage"

Maggie clenches her fists but can only agree, this cannot continue. She has no control of herself when Connor does what he does. She does need to face the problem.

Lance stalks out of the room. Maggie is one of the few regrets he has had in his life and he really can't stand being around her for long. When he got with her, she had only just got her wolf and had no idea how to deal with the jealousy she was feeling seeing Gabriel with the others. It had never bothered her before, or maybe she pretended it didn't and after she got her wolf, it got pushed to the forefront and she couldn't handle it at all and she went seeking comfort with the only person that it would annoy Gabriel to know what she did.

***

Leilani stands outside the office and opens the door instantly when she hears Connor's reply. She was just going to walk in but thought it was a bit rude. She feels close to Connor but still feels like there should be some sort of boundaries. She still has to respect him as an alpha figure.

As she expected being around him, there is no such thing as getting Connor out of her system. Her heart swaying towards him and everything that he is, she has not seen a single action or quality that he possesses that would turn her off him. From everything she has seen, he is perfection.

Last night really stepped it up, making those feelings grow. Getting them out. It excites her as well as scares her.

Leilani doesn't keep it too official. Walking around the desk and replaceing a seat on Connor's lap as she wraps her arms around his neck. She starts to open her mouth but kind of presses a finger to her lips.

"Can I ask you something before I lose my confidence?"

Leilani looks at Connor with interest, a slight blush growing on his cheeks under her watchful eye.

"You can"

Connor pulls a black invitation with silver lettering out from a pile of papers, passing it to her.

"This arrived yesterday. I'm not sure how it works along with your plans but I would be honored if you would attend as my date"

Leilani picks up the gilded invitation and reads it through.

"You want me to attend the annual Alpha & Luna ball with you?"

"I do"

Leilani removes her hands from around his neck, sliding them over his shoulders and down his chest. Her hands griping his collar as she holds him tight, staring straight into his steel-gray eyes. "Connor..."

"Before you tell me all the reasons that it is not appropriate or I'm not right for you or you are not right for me or all the other things that I'm sure are about to come out your mouth. I want to tell you that you're wrong"

"And what if I was going to say that I would attend with you? Am I still wrong?"

Connor looks at her in shock.

"Is that really what you were going to say?

"Why do you sound so shocked?"

"Because I thought it would be pushing boundaries"

"I won't pretend that it's not and you saying that, it also proves the fact. But you have invited me even with all the reasons not to, so I am not going to say no. If you want to take me to something like that, knowing full well what it is meant to be for, who is meant to be in attendance. Who am I to say no?

"You are your own person to say no Leilani. If you don't want to go, I won't force you. I want you as my date because you make everything fun. I love having you standing by my side"

"If I am the face you want next to you, if I am the date you want beside you, if I am who you want to help represent your pack with, I will assume that you have considered it and I will accept" "Nothing would make me happier than having you by my side"

In his eyes, she is the perfect luna. He couldn't think of a better date. He rarely attends them as it is near compulsory to take a date and he has never had someone that he is willing to take. He often shows up to show face, keep relations between packs good but will leave soon after.

He is incredibly glad now that he never just took anyone and stayed for the night, because then wouldn't he have come across Maggie and then maybe everything with him and Leilani would have never happened and he would have never known that this level of connection was possible.