#4 Moonlight on the Water

Navy

Back in the archives, I amended the whiteboard to include the date my grandma left, 1970. I started digging through the bookshelves, looking for any indication of where my grandma may have hidden her secrets, or any other clues that were left behind.

A knock on the glass door startled me from my focus. I recognized Julia and Jenna. I waved at them and unlocked the door.

“What are you doing in here?” Jenna asked, looking around at my mess. I showed them the whiteboard and explained the connection my family had with their pack’s territory.

“Woah, that’s crazy.” Jenna gasped.

“What a coincidence.” Julia said with wide eyes.

“Yeah, except now I’m stuck. My grandmother doesn’t want me looking into it so she’s no help. I want to know what happened to her mate and kids, you know? They’re my family, too.” I sighed.

“I get it. I mean just the thought of someone taking away my babies makes my blood boil.” Jenna growled, holding her stomach. I eyed her curiously,

“Are you….” I raised my eyebrow.

“Pregnant? Yes! I’m surprised Knox didn’t tell you.” Jenna grinned.

“I guess we haven’t talked a whole lot.” I sighed. Jenna and Julia exchanged a look but said nothing.

“What have you found out so far?” Julia asked, scanning the room. I showed them the note and explained how my grandma hid information somewhere.

“What about the Luna and Alpha quarters? Maybe she hid it there, you know, in her room?” Julia suggested.

“Actually, that makes sense.” I nodded enthusiastically.

“Except she was here in the 60s right? The packhouse has been remodeled a bunch of times since then. I don’t even think there was a fifth floor to the packhouse at that time.” Jenna said.

“What about old blueprints? I bet they keep them around here somewhere.” I said and the three of us started digging through the shelves again.

In the back of one of the cabinets under the bookshelves, I found a large envelope that contained all the blueprints of the packhouse, dating back to the early 1900s when it was first built. I dug through the envelope and pulled out the blueprints dated from when my grandma lived here, when Blue Moon moved in, any renovations they made in the last few decades, and the current blueprints. I spread them all out on the floor and started comparing them.

Jenna had the idea to make copies of the blueprints on transparent paper so we could overlay them and compare the differences. She volunteered to take the blueprints into town tomorrow to make the copies. I hesitantly agreed. I wasn’t one to trust someone I just met and I also didn’t usually work well with others; I was more of a solo act.

“Jenna, can I ask you something?” I said to Knox’s sister as we exited the library.

“Sure, what’s up?” Jenna smiled.

“When we had breakfast yesterday, Meredith made a comment that I didn’t understand.” I said. Jenna sighed, seeming to know just what I was talking about.

“Meredith thinks she knows everything. Just ignore her.”

“Jenna.” I complained as she dodged my question.

“Seriously, she’s a brat, you shouldn’t let it get to you. She was just making a comment about your age.” Jenna confessed.

“My age?”

“More accurately, the gap in age between Knox and you.” She clarified.

“Oh, well, it is pretty big.” I mumbled, feeling embarrassed. I was just barely 18 years old while Knox was almost 31. It was hard to ignore.

“Not really. Mates aren’t concerned about age. A girl I went to school with found her mate shortly after she turned 18, he was our 47 year old history professor.” Jenna shrugged. I made a face,

“That’s…interesting.” I stammered. Jenna laughed at my expression,

“See? It’s not a big deal. Trust me, Knox doesn’t care.”

“I’m not sure why he wanted me here. We’ve hardly spent any time together.” I grumbled.

“It seems like you’ve been distracted by this ancestral mission of yours, to be fair.” Jenna said, looking at me out of the corner of her eye.

“Yeah, that’s true.” I agreed.

“You’re both adjusting. It’s new territory. You both come from different places with different views on the mate bond, you’re both experiencing it differently. Knox never thought he would mate with someone who would need to be convinced to stay with him. That’s not normal for wolves. It’s just going to take some time. Don’t rush it.” Jenna said.

“I’m afraid that I made him angry this morning.” I mumbled as we made our way through the packhouse.

“I seriously doubt that my brother is capable of being mad at you.” Jenna laughed. We were heading towards the dining hall to catch the last of breakfast.

“Oh, I don’t know. Bringing up my siren mate sure didn’t make him too happy.” I said. Jenna’s eyes widened,

“Yeah, I guess that’ll do it.” She said under her breath,

“I didn’t know you had a siren mate.”

“You said so yourself that the bond is different for our species.” I explained to Jenna how sirens are used to having more than one mate and are more nonchalant with the mate bond then the werewolves seemed to be.

“That’s going to be a tough one, Navy, I’m not gonna lie.” Jenna shook her head when I was finished speaking.

We arrived at the dining hall then and paused our conversation to get food. Jenna told me that my spot was always the same since I was the Alpha’s mate. She said the ranked members had assigned seats.

“If I’m sitting in the spot of the Alpha’s mate then isn’t it pretty obvious who I am?” I asked Jenna as we sat down. She shrugged,

“People are too afraid of Knox to make assumptions,” I was surprised by this. It was hard for me to picture Knox as a scary guy, but I guess that was the job of the Alpha.

“Although, I don’t really get why he’s hiding you.” Jenna continued.

“He said that he doesn’t want people to treat me like a freakshow.” I said.

“No one would dare. Besides, he could tell people that you’re his mate without telling them that you’re a siren.” She lowered her voice.

“You think he’s ashamed of me or something?” I asked with knots in my stomach.

“No!” Jenna nearly yelled,

“Absolutely not. He’s just being over protective.”

“You know what you should do?” Jenna said after we spent some time in silence eating.

“What’s that?” I asked, not sure I really wanted to know what idea Jenna had in mind.

“You should go surprise Knox at his office!”

“Why would I do that?” I asked dumbly. Jenna rolled her eyes at me,

“To spice things up and break the ice. You’ve got to start getting to know him at some point!” Jenna grinned.

I’ll admit, I was really starting to like Knox’s sister, even if she was a bit more rowdy than me. She brought me out of my comfort zone and offered really good advice.

“I don’t know how to drive.” I admitted. Jenna laughed at me,

“I can take you. Come on!” She jumped up and grabbed my hand before I could respond. We abandoned our breakfast on the table as she pulled me outside to the parking garage and into her small, blue car.