Leaving the ballroom turns out to be much longer than I expect it to be.
Before any wolf leaves, I learn, they have to pay their respects to the Luna Queen and Alpha King and exchange some sort of pleasantries to be able to be officially dismissed from the meetings. It’s overwhelming, I’ll admit. I don’t know any of these people. They come and go like swarms of bees around me, complimenting my plain dress or touching the loose curls of my hair. The men take my hand and kiss the top side, just like Jackson had done many times tonight, but their kisses are different. It’s not a stomach-curling, happy feeling that explodes in my chest when their lips touch my skin. It’s cold and plain. I don’t feel much, and it saddens me a bit. But Jackson is by my side the entire time, his arm a possessive curl around my waist. His smile is pleasant but his eyes are hurried. He wants to get out of here as much as I do.
The women who had once ignored me when I walked in with Luna Hailey now flock to my side and gush over the voices of the men around them. They compliment my hair and the sequins in my dress. Quite honestly, I find this dress dull and a tad bit hideous, but I don’t say that to them. I just thank them politely and search for a compliment to give back to them. It isn’t very hard, though. The women are gorgeous! They all have shiny hair and long, beautiful lashes that encompass glowing eyes. They’re slim and proper and speak with voices as if they were born into their titles, although I doubt many of them did. A lot of Alpha couples usually have sons, never daughters. It’s weird, but it’s not something that I question too often.
“You’re so lucky!” One of them gushes. She touches my hair. “You’re so beautiful!”
“Um, thank you,” I say. “But, um, I’m just plain, I guess. There isn’t anything beautiful about that.”
“Sure there is!” Another woman pipes up. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A diamond is plain, isn’t it? But it’s one of the most beautiful and coveted gems in the world!”
“I guess…” I’m not really sure how to respond, because her analogy is right, but I’m far from a diamond. I’m more like a quartz. Less pretty and less worthy of anything.
“Oh, you’re so lucky! How spoiled you’ll be!” A third woman exclaims and eyes the shimmer of my dress.
“She will,” the woman beside her agrees, and I think I really should start learning their names. “She’s the Luna Queen, after all.”
“I don’t need anything,” I say. “I’m happy with what I have. I don’t want to be greedy.”
The women stare at me for a moment, their conversation paused. Their eyes shimmer as if they think I’m cute, and they burst out laughing.
“What?” I demand. “What’s so funny?”
One of the women wipes her eyes. “Oh Lord, I haven’t laughed like that in years,” she says, then beams at me. “My dear, you’re the Luna Queen. You can have anything you want, and you will. Trust me. There’s nobody that can repel that feeling of wanting more.”
“Maybe internally,” I attempt to defend myself. “But I know I’m happy with what I have right now. Materialistic objects won’t fix anything for me.”
The women glance at each other, as if they’re realizing that I’m actually being serious. They whisper, covering their mouths with their hands in a cup-shape.
“Of course, Luna,” one of them says and bows. “We were not trying to offend you.”
“Oh! No, no don’t worry, you didn’t,” I try to quickly recover. I don’t want to be making enemies on the first day already. “It just confused me, that’s all.”
“You’ll learn in time,” they assure me in sync, and I wonder if they’ve gone through the same things that I have gone through.
Jackson is still talking to the men in front of him. His arm is still warm around me. I’m surprised he’s never let go. He has determination, I’ll give him that.
The women leave me and separate into smaller groups. Some go down the hall and others head towards the double doors leading outside. They must be getting impatient. I can’t blame them. I also want to get out of here and go to my new home.
I can’t deny that I’m curious to see what Jackson’s pack looks like. He’s the Alpha King, so he probably has the biggest pack in the entire werewolf world! Alpha Banastre’s pack is so small and tightly packed together and always seems to have a grey cloud looming over it. Maybe the Alpha King’s will be different. Hopefully it is.
“Sorry about that,” Jackson turns to me, his smile radiant as ever. “They were just filling me in on a few things.”
“Good things or bad things?” I ask
Jackson shrugs. “Good things,” he says. “Some are having pups. Others are expanding their territory. That stuff. Nobody says anything bad at the Alpha meetings. It’s sort of a place for us to just break away from all that and…hang out, I guess.” He laughs.
“Like a grown-up playdate for boys?” I can’t help but tease along with him and again, Jackson laughs.
“Yeah, something like that.” He turns briefly to acknowledge the Alpha couple coming to bid him goodbye, but when he sees them, something pauses in his eyes. His arm goes stiff around me, and his expression changes. He becomes reserved, suddenly, and acknowledges them in a clipped tone.
“Good evening, Alpha,” the man says, and his eyes are cold.
“Evening, Cannon,” Jackson replies, his gaze equally as stoney. The woman beside Cannon glances at me, and her thin lips harden in a stiff line.
“Good evening, Luna Queen,” she says to me. Her voice is soft, but it’s more so a raspy hiss, like a serpent warning their prey before pouncing. Somehow, it scares me more than Alpha Banastre’s voice does, and he usually sounds like Typhon coming to Earth.
“Good evening,” I say. I take a cautious step away from her, then look up at Jackson. He’s still staring at Cannon, like he’s trying to intimidate him, but there’s a glimmer of betrayal in his eyes. Cannon is looking at him too and there’s the same glint in his eye, but his is engulfed with pain, with suffering, with fatigue. Jackson’s is just plain and emotionless. It’s like he’s hurt so much that he’s numbed by it.
The tension is suffocating, and quietly, I excuse myself to the buffet table. My chest feels lighter and it’s much easier to breathe away from them. A part of me feels a little hesitant to leave, like I’m supposed to be there despite how tense it may be, but I feel out of place in the bubble that wrapped around the four of us. Jackson has a history with them, I’m guessing, and it probably wasn’t a very good one.
The table is almost empty, but there are still some snacks and half-empty plates left over. Out of impulse, I almost pick them up and follow the maids to the kitchen, but a young woman stops me by taking the plates out of my hand and beaming at me.
“Allow me, Luna,” she says and makes her way into the hallway I had spoken to Oscar a while ago. I wonder if he went home with his family yet, or if he stuck around with his mate or something. I doubt it, though
“Quaint, isn’t it?” The woman from before, Cannon’s wife, I think, speaks from behind me. My heart jumps, but by now I’m so used to keeping my surprise to myself that I calmly turn around and smile at her, hoping my eyes don’t betray my face.
“It’s lovely,” I say, and I wonder if she’s talking about the food or the place, but she looks me up and down like I’ve done some personal offense by breathing the same air she does. She turns her nose up to me.
“Quite,” she snaps. Her arms are folded and her chin is high. She reminds me of those snooty nobles from the satirical comedies my dad used to watch just for laughs. Uptight and cold describe her perfectly, but her eyes are just as pained as Cannon’s. She does a poorer job of hiding her emotions, coming from someone who’s hid their face for 2 plus years, I suppose.
“How old are you, my dear?” Her words are slick, and there’s no warmth behind the name.
I swallow tightly. “I’m eighteen, ma’am,” I reply and I feel like I’m speaking to the headmistress of the boarding school I used to be in.
“Eighteen?” She repeats, then regards Jackson and Cannon from where they stand by the double doors. “And you’re mated to the Alpha King?”
“I’m an adult, ma’am,” I say, and I sound like a child, but I feel like I’ve been an adult since I was sixteen, when my parents died. Slaving away for Alpha Banastre taught me to live for myself and take care of my own being, just like any adult does.
“I understand,” she says. “But to be so young, and mated to a man like the Alpha King?”
“I don’t see a problem with that,” I say calmly. “He’s just as young as I am, is he not?”
She falters. “Well, yes, I suppose so.” She stops for a moment. “He is twenty…” she says that more to herself than to me.
“So?” I tilt my head.
“Nothing,” she finally regains her original composure and shakes her head. “It’s nothing.” She stares at me. “But I suppose I should warn you, then, seeing as you’re still so young and so naïve.”
“Pardon?”
She steps closer to me, and this time, I stay in my place (mostly because there’s a table behind me and I don’t want to inevitably knock it over). Her voice lowers and her eyes narrow.
“You think you got lucky,” she rasps, and the venom in her voice stings. “But you don’t know Jackson the way my husband and I do, Luna. He’s the Alpha King and yet…yet he couldn’t protect her.”
“Her?” I frown. “Who’s her?”
“She lost her life because of him,” the woman doesn’t answer me. She’s lost in her own thoughts now; her eyes have gone misty, like she’s reliving memories. “A beautiful young lady, just like you. It’s only been two years. She was your age when she vanished.” Her voice goes from wonderous to bitter. “We trusted him and he betrayed us. He moved on so quickly. You’re just like her, you know?” She sighs. “Just like her.”
