Chapter 18
1332 Words
NORA
Iris is back.
I know before I even see her. The atmosphere in the pack shifts the moment she returns. People walk a little differently. Talk a little quieter.
The easy warmth that had been building over the past few days pulls back slightly and I notice it immediately.
I'm good at noticing things like that.
She walks back into the main building that morning with her bags and her confidence.
She's always confident, she's smart too.
Everyone fears her, when she moves they stay silent.
When she talks, they listen and tremble in fear .
Wren sees her first and her face changes immediately, you wouldn't think she's the same person who's been full of life a minute ago before Iris' arrival.
Caden just glances over and looks away.
I keep eating my breakfast.
Iris settles in across the room and I can feel her eyes on me even when I'm not looking at her.
She would randomly look at me and hissed or scoffed.
She always does as if my presence irritates her, normally it does . More than anyone, I believe she hates me the most.
She's more like the higher version of Lena, maybe worse and more intimidating than Lena.
With the way she's constantly stealing a glass at me, I bet I wouldn't be staying here for long .
I wanted badly to get out of her, that way I would easily avoid her gaze.
Raphael isn't here this morning. He left early with Damon for pack related issues.
He had promised to return with my pup, and I hope he'd actually do return with my pup.
That's the only bargain. Once he brings back my child , I will fully accept being his Luna.
Maybe , not a hundred percent. But I should be able to stay as his Luna till I'm capable of being my own person.
The dining area has a few pack members in it. Jade is there with Priya. Two older pack women whose names I still haven't known yet.
A young warrior who always sits near the window.
Iris gets her food and sits down and for a few minutes everything is normal.
Then she speaks.
"I heard the Luna council is meeting next week," she says. Not to anyone specific. To the room.
Nobody answers immediately.
"I suppose someone will need to represent the pack fully," she continues, her eyes moving around the table and landing on me for just a second before moving on.
"Someone who actually knows the pack. The alliances. The history."
I already knew what she meant by these words.
She's indirectly telling me I wasn't fit. Of course, I knew that and I am not here to take on pack duties .
I continue eating.
I feel Jade glance at me from across the table. Her eyes were somehow filled with worries .
'Say something,' Sera says in my head.
'Not yet,' I tell her.
'She's talking about you in front of everyone.'
'I know what she's doing.'
'Then do something about it.'
'I said not yet.'
Iris picks up her fork and cuts into her food with that composed unbothered manner she has.
Like she didn't just do what she did. Like it was just a conversation.
The young warrior near the window shifts in his seat. The two older pack women look at their plates.
"The pack has always been well represented," I say.
My voice comes out even. My words were just plain, it not was aggressive or argumentative.
Iris looks up at me.
"Of course," she says, smoothly while smiling. "I just think experience matters in those settings.I mean, with people who have been here. Who knows how things work."
"That makes sense," I say. "Experience is important."
She nods.
Like she won something.
I smirked. She thinks she won.
"It takes time to understand a pack very well," she adds. "Some people settle in quickly. Others take longer. There's no shame in that."She added, more like in a mockery manner.
I just scoffed, I looked at her sternly before replying."You're right," I say. "It does take time. I've been learning a lot, lately"
I go back to eating and the look on her face screams defeat.
Iris is quiet for a moment. She expected something different. A reaction she could use.
Defensiveness or anger or embarrassment.
Something she could point to and say see. Look at her.
She doesn't belong here.
She didn't get any of those things.
Jade makes a small sound that could be clearing her throat. Could be something else entirely.
The older woman on the left picks up her cup and takes a slow sip and doesn't say anything but her eyes have moved to me and they're not cold.
Priya is looking at her food very intently.
Iris tries once more.
"Has anyone told you about the founding ceremony coming up?" she asked me directly this time.
No pretense of talking to the room.
"Not yet," I say.
"It's quite formal and traditional. The luna is expected to know the full history of the pack going back four generations." She pauses. "It's a lot to learn in a short time."
"I'll manage," I say.
"Of course," she says again. That same smooth smile.
She goes back to her food.
The rest of breakfast passes without much conversation. People finish and leave one by one. Priya catches my eye on her way out and gives me a quick nod.
The older woman stops beside my chair on her way past.
"The founding ceremony isn't until the end of the season," she says to me quietly. "You have plenty of time."
She walks out before I can respond.
I sit there a moment longer after everyone is gone.
Iris is still at the table. Our eyes met and she said."You're very calm," I smirked.
"I've had practice," I say.
She doesn't respond to that. She picks up her things and leaves.
I stay at the table for another minute.
My pup is out there,in the greenwood pack and I still haven't gotten to him yet and there are things I need to figure out and plans that need to happen and none of them involve sitting here and letting Iris make me feel small in front of pack members.
Once Alpha Rapheal, brings him like he promised. I will then unleash my plan.
She didn't make me feel small.
That's the thing.
She tried. And the pack members who watched it happen saw that she tried and saw that it didn't work and that matters even if nobody said it out loud.
'You handled that well,' Sera says.
Her words resonated well, with Alpha Raph words.
Maybe she copied this from him.
'Don't get excited,' I tell her.
'I'm not excited. I'm just repeating his word.Technically,I'm also being honest '
'Honest about what?'
'The fact that you're different from who you were in Kael's pack. You wouldn't have done that before. You would have gone quiet and taken it all in.'
I get up and carry my plate to the kitchen.
She's not wrong.
I wouldn't have.
I would have gone quiet the way I always do. The way I was trained to go small by years of being told that small was the safest option.
I'm not small anymore.
I'm not sure exactly when that changed. Somewhere between the forest and this pack and everything in between. But it changed,eventually.
I rinse my plate and dry my hands and walk out into the morning.
The pack is moving around me. Normal day. Cold air. Snow on the ground.
Raphael will be back this afternoon.
I don't know why I'm thinking about that.
'I know why,' Sera says.
'Stay out of it,' I tell her.
She laughs in my head and I keep walking.
‘He's here! Our mate is her and he brought our pup’Excitement courses through Sera.
I could feel our pup near us.
- Writer
