Luna’s Soul

We Aren’t So Different After All

Gabriel left Lily alone to eat, stepping into the living room to make a few calls on his cell phone. Every couple of minutes he poked his head around the doorway to make sure she was eating— and then with a relieved look, he’d go back to talking on the phone.

She had to admit, having something on her stomach was making her feel better. She didn’t feel as queasy, and her brain was a little less foggy. It was hard to make herself sit still and try to finish her food— She wanted to get his little adventure over with so she could talk to Andy.

While her primary motivator for talking to Andy was to make sure he wasn’t left understaffed, she also really wanted to just hear his voice— something familiar from home.

Lily frowned as she thought about all of her paintings left back home in her apartment that she’d probably never see again. She’d spent so many nights covered in oil paints and coffee, looking wistfully up at the night sky, just to get those paintings right— they expressed a private part of her that she rarely showed to anyone. It hurt her soul to know they would be a casualty in all of this.

She pushed the remnants of her salad away from her and crossed her arms over her chest. Maybe she could ask Andy to go get them and keep them at his place until she could get to them. He had a spare key to her apartment. But she was pretty sure asking him to do that breeched whatever agreement she made with Gabriel.

And she didn’t care if she made Gabriel angry, but she wasn’t stupid nor was she suicidal. If she was going to be stuck here for an immeasurable amount of time, it was probably best to stay on her captor’s good side.. or at least not on his bad one.

Gabriel had gotten into her apartment before. Maybe he could go back for her paintings or send someone after them.

Lily was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of Gabriel clearing his throat in the doorway. She jumped slightly, her head whipping over towards him.

“I have to take you to meet the elders,” he frowned.

“The elders? What does that mean?”

“We have a council made up of only three elders. The alpha before me—my father— and his beta sit on that council, along with my grandfather.”

“I thought you were in charge here. Why do I have to meet them?”

Gabriel sighed. “Total power in one person would be a train wreck. While yes, I have the ultimate say in all decisions regarding war and our troups, the council is there to hold the alpha accountable for his actions,” he explained. “They give approval and guidance mostly. A figurehead, in a lot of ways.”

Lily frowned. “What does that have to do with me?”

“It’s customary for the Alpha to formally introduce his Luna to the council,” he told her. “Even though you aren’t Luna until I mark you, they still want to know who you are. And the fact that you are human makes this even more important.”

Lily’s head span, her mind picking up on one very confusing sentence. “..mark me?”

Gabriel’s eyes flashed, as if he’d just given something away he hadn’t been ready to explain yet. His eyes met hers as he came and sat next to her at the table.

“Male wolves mark their mates as a show of territory, and it also serves as a mark of protection.”

Slowly and carefully, Gabriel reached forward and brushed her hair back behind her shoulder. A shiver passed down her spine as he touched her, and his eyes darkened.

He gently brushed his fingertips across the soft spot beneath her ear, and when they made contact with the soft patch of skin, it sent a thrill of electricity through her body.

“I’d bite you here,” he murmured. “And it would leave a permanent mark. And that mark would tell other male wolves that you belong to me and are under my protection, and that you are mated.”

Lily’s nostrils flared, and before she knew what she was doing, she had reached up and forcefully slapped his hand away from her neck. Her cheeks flushed and anxiety muddled with anger triggered in her brain.

“Do not,” she emphasized, “touch me like that. Do not mistake my cooperation as me being happy to be here. I’m not. I’m doing what I have to do to survive, even if that means doing what you want.”

Pain lashed across his face, and shock, as if he couldn’t comprehend her saying these words to him. This didn’t stop Lily from continuing to speak.

“If it weren’t for the fact that going home would put everyone associated with me in danger of being murdered, according to you, I’d be fighting you every second to go home and trying to escape. But even if I think you’re lying, if there’s even a sliver of a chance you’re telling the truth, I won’t put them at risk.”

Gabriel had regained his composure, though, and now he was looking at her in admiration. His warm brown eyes looked proud.

“You’re selfless.” He said it as if he had come to a revelation that he didn’t see coming.

Lily crossed her arm over her chest. “Are we going to go see your elders so they can look at me, or what? I’m not dancing for them.”

Amusement coated his features as his lips turned up into a half-smirk, but the look quickly fell into a more serious one. “Are you going to watch your tongue?”

“If you let me call Andy later, I’ll be nice.”

“I will keep my promise, Lily, and let you call your boss,” he paused, and then added to his statement. “On speaker phone. And you are resigning.”

Lily looked down, her cheeks flushing bright red. She had always been fairly submissive in all aspects of her life— no doubt a product of being a foster child who felt as if she were begging for approval— but the way he seemed to effortlessly command her as if it were natural to him made her agitated.

“The elders will probably mostly speak amongst themselves, and to me,” he spoke up, dragging her out of her emotions. “Just greet them and answer if they ask you a question. It shouldn’t take too long.”

Lily snorted. “Be pretty and be quiet. Got it.”

Gabriel sighed, as if she were making him extremely tired.

“Go get your shoes.”