Getting Lucky

Flappy barked furiously as the knock came again. Travin and Lucky stood there for a moment, not sure what to do. Whoever was knocking didn't identify themselves.

"Who is it?" Lucky asked, deciding to at least try.

"It's the Welcome Wagon," a male voice replied. She thought she heard someone stifle a laugh. She almost laughed herself.

"Come on, open the door, we don't bite," a second male voice said.

"What's the password?" She asked, looking at Travin, who stepped in between her and the door. She had to suppress a giggle, her question seemed so silly.

"Get back, Lucky," Travin warned. He wondered what she found so amusing about the situation. He knew exactly who it was, it was those two wolves, they had come to him first. He didn't know what to expect, and that made him decidedly nervous.

"Moon Goddess," was the reply to Lucky's question.

Travin looked surprised. "Are you the ones who were here just a minute ago?" He asked.

"Yes and we come in peace. It's all good. Open the door."

Travin opened the door, and two tall, beefy looking guys smiled at them. "Local pack, just checking, we like to know who is visiting around here," one of them said.

"The welcome wagon, for real," said the other.

"Come in," Travin told them, ushering them in to the suite. He didn't want to give these wolves any reason to dislike him, or things could get difficult for him and for Lucky. "Would you like something to drink?" He asked, not knowing what else to say. He hated how nervous he sounded, but he had not interacted with a pack wolf other than Lucky in so long, and his last interaction had not been a good one.

"Whiskey?" The taller one with the bushy beard asked, hopefully.

"No, but I can order some," Lucky told them. She had put some money in to a cash app account. She quickly ordered a bottle of the best top shelf whiskey they had at the local liquor store, delivered.

"Can someone take the delivery? I am not old enough," Lucky said, believing that this was a rather arbitrary law. Maturity, not age, should determine such things. But how to measure maturity? Nobody wanted to take the responsibility for making the call on a case by case basis, she supposed, as it would be a judgment call.

"The liquor laws make little sense. At 18 you are old enough to fight in wars, choose a leader, stand trial as an adult, but you can't decide if you can handle drinking alcohol?" Said the taller one, agreeing with Lucky's thoughts. "I can take it, I'm old enough and I have an ID." He gave the two of them a knowing look.

"I have a valid license, I just have to get a duplicate. I was… not around for a while." Lucky said. She realized she would have to get this taken care of soon, since she had to register her new vehicle. She had no reason to hide, did she? She had committed no crime. Other than that one time, when she turned into a wolf and slayed a room full of human traffickers. Which, she realized, was indeed a crime. "It was self defense," she heard her wolf's voice in her head, and felt a bit better. She didn't feel guilty at all, but she knew humans handled justice differently than she had in that situation. She knew beyond a reasonable doubt that everyone in that room was guilty. She had no regrets. No remorse.

"Humans," the slightly shorter guy with the crew cut white blonde hair shrugged. "Their laws usually don't make much sense."

Flappy was giving each of the newcomers a very thorough sniff test. They allowed him his time, seeming to respect that he had to rely almost exclusively on his sense of smell to determine if they were okay or not. He seemed satisfied, and trotted over to the living area of the suite, looking back at them like they should follow.

"Well, we know who the Alpha is here," the shorter guy said, and the three males burst out laughing. Lucky didn't quite get it, until a moment later. Then she laughed as well.

"Flappy is the best Alpha ever." She led the others into the living area, and they all sat down.

"We haven't introduced ourselves. How rude of us. I am Eli, Beta of the Eclipse Moon Pack. This is my brother, Daniel." The two stood up and shook hands with Travin.

"I'm Travin," he replied, "no pack affiliation."

Eli raised his eyebrow, "no pack affiliation? We were sure you were from Midnight Moon, but no one called to let us know you would be visiting."

"We aren't from Midnight Moon- well, it's kind of a long story. We aren't rogues, not a threat, just looking to build a life together. We are fated mates. We just met, very recently," Travin explained, hoping it would be enough to keep them from digging deeper. No such luck.

Eli got to the point. "We know Midnight Moon had a fugitive. We are fairly certain that fugitive is you."

Lucky's heart dropped, this was not happening! She couldn't lose Travin, they had just met! "Sir, please, you don't understand." She pleaded.

Eli looked right into her eyes. "We do understand. We are close with Midnight Moon. But I was there on business when all of that went down four years ago. That trial was a joke. I even spoke to my Alpha about it, since yours wouldn't listen and in my opinion seemed suspiciously eager to blame someone." Well, that was unexpected.

Lucky breathed a sigh of relief. She wouldn't be losing Travin today. She sat back on the couch, Flappy curled up at her feet, snoring. Until again there was a knock at the door, and he leaped up and barreled through the room, barking furiously.

"He's not used to seeing so many others," Travin explained, looking embarrassed.

"That's probably the whiskey." Eli stood up and went to go get the whiskey. Lucky realized the only glasses they had were the plastic cups provided by the hotel. She offered them to Eli. He laughed.

"This is great whiskey. Not fit for plastic cups. Straight out of the bottle works for me!" He handed the bottle to Lucky. "Ladies first," he told her.

She'd had whiskey before, at a party when she was in high school. She'd gotten a little drunk that night, and had to walk home rather than ride with her friends, who had no designated driver. She had worried sick about them until she had heard from each one the next day.

She decided that she had more than enough cause for celebration in this moment, and took a big swig. She tried not to make a funny face as the liquid burned her throat and warmed her body. Actually, it wasn't bad. She pulled on it one more time before passing it to their guests. It began making rounds around the room.

"So you are not going to call the Alpha of Midnight Moon and tell them you have me?" Travin asked, looking at them nervously.

"No, man. What happened that day was as bad as that poor girl getting murdered. The evidence was circumstantial and there wasn't enough of it to warrant a murder conviction and a death sentence. Like I said, your Alpha wouldn't listen to reason. I was seriously considering intervening on my own, but I needed to run it by my Alpha. He can be a little grumpy about that sort of thing. He likes to know what is happening, you know." Eli passed the bottle to Daniel, who took it eagerly.

"Our Alpha was considering challenging the decision with the council, but you escaped on your own. We were glad to hear that. We have watched you these past four years, when you have stopped in Albuquerque for supplies." Daniel spoke. His voice was deep and buttery, like a radio announcer from long ago. He smiled, and it reached his eyes. "We tried to look out for you, warned our pack members to leave you be. We didn't want anything happening to you or that cute dog of yours. We have never had dogs as pets, always figured it would be hard to earn their trust. Most dogs are a little afraid of us. We smell different than humans."

Lucky decided she liked these two werewolves, or maybe it was just the whiskey. But for whatever reason, she felt like she could trust them. She began to relax, enjoying the slight buzz.

"We actually came on behalf of our Alpha to offer you, and of course your mate, amnesty within our pack. If you want it, that is." Eli said to Travin, whose eyes lit up.

To be part of a Pack again, to feel that kinship, after all the years roaming the desert from town, to city, to nowhere in particular. To be with other werewolves, to let his wolf run with the pack, this was so unexpected. He had not expected to find an ally like this.

"I don't know how to express my gratitude. You took a risk, coming here, to offer me a place to call home, to be a part of a pack again, I don't even know what to say." He looked at Lucky, who was finishing a drink of whiskey.

"I think that would be great but in the interest of being honest, I have to say something first before we go any further with this." She cleared her throat. "That wolf in Las Vegas. Do you know what I am talking about?" She asked their guests. Both nodded, watching her carefully.

"Who hasn't heard about that? It was big news. Huge. The story is still being updated every day." Eli said, eyeing Lucky carefully but encouraging her, "Why do you ask?"

Lucky stood up, tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't look at Travin. She hoped against hope this was the right thing to do.

"Because that wolf was me."