Lydia's POV:

I set down the veggie-filled basket with a huff onto the dining table.

After checking up on my horse, and figuring that he was just fine out in that pasture by himself, Eren and I went to grab some of the fresh produce that was out for the community

Since with spring just starting, they were starting the process of planting crops for this season.

They just sat there, free for the community to take as they needed.

So after a quick stop at Eren's house, we gathered all that we needed and hiked back up to Luka's house.

Apparently, along the way, Eren decided that the four of us would be having lunch together. Which I didn't mind one bit.

I looked up to see her rummaging through the kitchen, grabbing and prepping certain items effortlessly from the cabinets and drawers.

She looked like she knew this place like the back of her hand.

"Do you guys eat with Luka often?" I asked.

"Oh yeah," She began, standing up on her toes to grab a pan from the cabinet above the stove, "At least once a day. He never admitted it, but he got lonely living in this house all by himself. So when he gets a break from all his 'alpha duties', Milo and I tend to hang around with him as our friend instead of as our Alpha."

All by himself?

I glanced at the stairs.

He lives alone in a house with five bedrooms...

Well, she did say it was modeled after his childhood home.

"I bet he appreciates it," I said.

"Ugh, he better," she scoffed sarcastically while turning and approaching the other side of the table that I was on, "Do you know how hard it is to try to forget about the wolf hierarchy for a sec when you're with an alpha and his beta?"

I shook my head, amused by this sudden complaint.

I had figured out that she was rarely serious, and poking fun at them was her way of showing affection.

She let out a huff, crossing her arms, "It never lasts long. Dumb boys and their advanced hormones or whatever. I can barely get through one peaceful lunch without one of them getting antsy and wolfing out unless they're already tired beforehand."

I leaned forward with a snicker, setting my arms on the back of one of the dining chairs. Meanwhile, noting down some things that she was saying in the back of my mind.

Any new little detail I could get about this species in general, as well as the differences Luka has as an alpha.

"What? Do they just have more energy than you do?" I shot back.

"Too much!" she declared, "Werewolves already have a shit ton of energy, only those two and especially Luka needs to spar with half the pack in BOTH forms and then run twenty miles around the pack just to sit down for lunch," The purposefully dramatized annoyance in her voice made me hold back another laugh.

Well... that explains why he was running non-stop for hours after finally letting himself out of that cage.

Although... Shit, how uncomfortable was he in there then?

She let out a sizeable sigh, "Being the only regular wolf that daily hangs out with those two is a full-time job in of itself, but it must be done. They're just lucky I love them."

"I'm sure they know it too. Plus you have me now."

For a bit at least.

I'll admit this place was fun.

And definitely more welcoming than I was expecting.

Well... most of it.

She placed both her hands down onto the table, leaning across it towards me.

"Thank. Goddess." She annunciated each word. "I was bout to lose it too. I can't even slap some sense into them because it's in their biology and none of us can help it, but now at least I have someone talk I can talk about it with."

"Talk to me about it whenever you wish. I wanna learn every single thing that I can."

She eagerly nodded, lifting herself, grabbing one of the potatoes she brought from the basket.

"It does have its perks sometimes though," She began, throwing up the potatoe and catching it a few times, "Lycans have lots of ways to use up that energy, and boy does that show in bed." She looked at me knowingly.

My smile dropped, shock instead coming to cover my face as I choked on absolutely nothing.

My heart, too decided to speed itself up, as I played through her words involuntarily in my brain.

Please just tell me that at least half of this reaction was from the bond.

AND STOP THINKING ABOUT IT!

She grinned at my innocent reaction, "But that's just with the beta. I couldn't even tell you what an alpha is like. So that's for you if and when it ever happens of course." She finished sincerely.

Even through my probably misplaced embarrassment, I had half the mind to be grateful that even she didn't have any kind of long-term expectations of me.

To be completely honest, I hadn't even thought about that until now.

Not with me at least.

Only barely when that Alyssa chick showed up and even then it made a fit of jealousy I didn't even know I had pop up.

There was already so much going on and it hadn't even been a day.

I turned as soon as I heard the door open, being greeted with Milo.

"Ah perfect timing," Eren chimed, and that smile of adoration was already on his face, "Get over here and help me cut the meat."

"Yes ma'am," He took a few steps in, eyes searching the kitchen as soon as he reached it, "Luka hasn't come back yet?"

I'll admit I was having the same thought.

I thought they'd come back together.

"Nope," I responded.

"Huh. I guess he's still doing his perimeter check."

"Perimeter check? This late?"

"Yeah," It sounded like there was more after that, but he just stared at Eren, and she quickly stared back.

Then, like he was speaking directly into her mind, her brows rose.

"Anyways," Milo began again, walking past us and grabbing a knife from where they were hanging, "He should be here momentarily, but I'm not waiting on his ass to start cooking."

Eren giggled at his tone, turning back towards me with a whisper.

"Lots of energy comes with a huge appetite, but half the time the wolves will just go out and hunt some sort of game. Meals like this are mostly just for the human company," She grabbed the two baskets and slid them in front of her, "Anyways, I'll get all of this organized and prepped, in the meantime, you should check out the house. I doubt you got a good look enough look at it."

She leaned across the table, super close, "Especially what's on the living room table," She winked.

"Eren," Milo spoke, as a low warning.

"What?" She quipped back, unaffected, " I told him I was going to embarrass him, and it's not even that embarrassing, if anything it just shows his commitment."

She turned back to me, gesturing me towards the living room with her head, "Go, I'll call you over when I need your help."

Well, I couldn't argue with that, so I followed her instructions, stepping under the wide arch in the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room and front door.

After some quick looking around, I spotted which table she was referring to, which was on the side of the room that I hadn't been in yet.

A small fireplace sat in the wall, full bookshelves on either side. That and three couches formed a square around the low, round table she was talking about.

The sound of a knife on a cutting board and a couple of quiet voices sounded from the kitchen as I approached it, spotting the large, rectangular cartography sheet. Each corner being held down by a small rock.

I moved in front of the couch facing the fireplace, viewing it from what I assumed from the front.

One short look and I concluded that it was a map. A hand-drawn map with this Lavota pack right in the middle. The rest of what was drawn around it had to have expanded for miles.

Luka must have drawn this.

From forests to lakes, every river and hill. Even drawing out other villages and apparent wolf packs on the edge of the paper. There was minimal space on this sheet that was left blank.

Still, none of it was close to my village.

And all around it, were circles, crossed out with an 'x', and dated. Almost close to twochundred of them littered all around.

Some of which were over 30 years old.

I sat down onto the couch and leaned forward, reading off the dates under every place he had crossed off.

Some spots had multiple dates, ranging from two to five years apart.

The most recent one I found was dated only two weeks ago, over on the easternmost side of it.

What the hell was he looking for?

I felt myself jump out of my concentration as the door to my left flew open, Luka finally stepping inside.

His breaths were heavy, telling me that he probably just got done with his perimeter check. That and the sweat I could see against the olive skin of his torso, and at the base of his hair as he drew a hand through it.

Just like every time before, the sight of him had that strange effect on me.

I guess the fact that he likes to walk around most of the time without a shirt added to it, but even so.

That urge to touch him came quickly too.

He eyes the kitchen before turning directly to me, his eyes lighting up, "There you are- oh," He stared at the map in front of me.

I leaned back against the cushions of the couch, watching as he approached.

Milo said whatever this was might be embarrassing, but that's not what the look on his face told me.

Instead, he looked almost solemn as he came to sit next to me.

"I'm assuming Eren sent you over to this?" he sat so that his leg was touching mine, relieving that urge that we were both feeling.

"No!" her voice rang out from the kitchen.

"Typical," He snickered, eyes trailing it while I sat up again.

His musk began to fill my senses. That deep, earthy scent that I had caught a little bit from him before now covering the air around me.

It wasn't bad by any means, which alone was strange to admit to myself.

Let alone admitting that somewhere deep inside, I found it pleasant.

"What this for?"

"That," he began, sitting forward towards it, "has when I started documenting my search in hopes that it would help."

"What were you looking for?"

There was a pause as his eyes met mine, and tingling in my chest.

"Alphas don't tend to take that title until they're mated, so eight years of being a mateless alpha, and I started to get desperate. I started to take my search for you more seriously."

An ache I couldn't immediately distinguish dropped into my stomach, feeling foolish that I hadn't realized what this was earlier.

"You were looking for me?" The words came out quieter than I wanted to.

I hadn't even been born at the time that he started looking.

I knew he's told me that it been a long time, but I guess it didn't cross my mind how serious he was about it.

I felt... bad in a weird way. For something that I had absolutely no knowledge or control over.

Yet he spoke about it with nothing but joy and relief. He talked about it so casually.

"If I didn't have to run the pack on top of all this, The map would most likely be completely covered. Little did I know that you were hiding away," He grabbed the stone holding down the bottom left corner, taking it north and a little bit west of the map, completely passing the paper, and setting it down near the edge of the table itself, "Riiiight over here."

I stared at how far out it was.

"Do you think you would have gone that far eventually?" I tried to hide my thoughts from showing in my voice.

His head tilted as he too looked over to where he had put it.

"One day, yes, but I'm just glad that you called out to me when you did. Goddess only knows how long it would have been until I ventured that far."

Why did the thought of that happening hurt?

The 'what if' my wolf didn't bring him here.

All these new emotions were going to be the death of me.

My eyes squinted, replaying his words.

"Why did you take the title if you weren't mated?"

I just narrowly caught the pinch in his brows and the bob of his Adam's apple.

He cleared his throat.

"I didn't have a choice. But I managed, and here you are," that relief showed again through his eyes, and whether it was through this bond, I could feel it begin to wash over me.

"Ayo Lydia!" Eren called from the kitchen, "How are you with a knife?"

"While cooking or in general?" I asked back.

There was a pause and an intrigued look from the man beside me.

"Cooking." She finally replied, "Actually just come show me, and bring that wet dog with you."

I blew out a laugh as I stood, reaching a hand down to help him up.

"Knife skills, huh?" He asked, taking my hand.

The skin-on-skin contact did a lot more than our legs touching through trousers when it came to that rush of internal warmth.

I hoisted him up, drawing my hand back once he was on his feet.

"Dad wanted me to defend myself, both from animals and men."

He nodded, "You'll have to show me sometime, and I'll show you the move you saw earlier."

"So you did hear us!" I accused, effectively making him chuckle.

"Alpha senses, Lydia, I hear everything."