Oops! Still Your Mate

Chapter Thirty Eight

The pack became even worse and if they was something Tessa hated, it's when things became even more worse than they had been. And so she hated the pack. She had never hated the pack quite as much as she does in the thirty six hours after Ivy disappeared.

Not all of it. She didn't hate the pups who questioned her every hour when the Luna lady would be back, the pups that acted rude and angry at Enid when she visited. Didn't hate the clinic staffs that had dismissed Enid when she asked what was there to do, the clinic staffs that had been around her, consoling her and helping her with things all in a bid of finding Ivy, not Mika who tended to her plants with a distressed expression but said nothing because Mika is known for saying nothing, not the parents that helped search for clues, not the kitchen staff that leaves back a plate of food everytime incase of anything. Not them, that's part she was grateful of.

It was the other part. The ungrateful ones that didn't know ivy the way they thought they did. The part that started talking. The whispers she catches in corridors and the conversations that stopped the moment she walked into the room, because they didn't dare continue for fear of offending her, Zeke had left her with enough power before he left and she wasn't afraid of using it. The gathering that disperses immediately they caught sight of her. She despised the ignorant ones.

And she began piecing them together in fragments. They said ivy had brought it upon herself, that she wasn't supposed to leave the pack house, maybe she left to meet with an enemy of the pack and that was why she as abducted. It was the moon goddess plan all along. They said she was bringing bad luck to the pack, that she was always looking out for trouble and that the moon goddess was giving a sign.

No one said that when she risked her life in curing the kids. When she had gone out of her way, out of her position as a rejected Luna into purging the pack of the Howling rot, that time she was the best Luna. They even went as far as saying Enid was better off as a Luna than ivy.

She had confronted two girls already in less than twenty four hours and was on the verge of sending another one to the dungeon - because she could - when Mika finally spoke. She told her it wasn't the time to be getting pissed off . She needed to stand strong for her friend and so she filtered all negative comments out.

She had visited ivy's home and her grandmother's house many times than she could count, finding clues.

Darius moved around the pack, acting like the alpha. Acting like Zeke, even when Zeke had subtly left him powerless but his influence still moved the pack more than the beta Zeke had left in charge and more than her.

He spoke in wisdom, patience and understanding and knew just how to say the right thing at the right time. The things the pack wanted to hear and they were grateful for it because he gave them relief and they followed, not minding the work she and the beta had to put in place, not like she cared.

Darius held more meetings than was necessary and she needed to be in attendance for all, even when she didn't want to. Needed to hear what was being said. She even challenged Darius once, something she couldn't think of doing normally. It was when he sent a search party out into the woods.

She stood up and asked him what he meant by that. The pack murmured but she didn't care. She pressed even more. Did he mean that Zeke, Lucas and their team of warriors were unable to find ivy. He said something between the lines of trying to help and waved it off but she noticed something, the hint of mischief in his eyes and she filed it away.

And there was Enid. The one better than ivy as the pack members had said. Moving appropriately, always at the right place at the right time. She appeared in the gathering with soft eyes and encouraging voice, like a sheep but was actually a wolf and Tessa just wanted to jump at her and tear off her pretense.

She moved through the pack like she was the Luna already, graceful, concerned, always available with a soft smile. But there were times where her smile were scraped off her face.

Like when she visited the pups. The pups dismissed and shunned at her, asking for the Luna lady, stating that the Luna lady was a better person than her and called her deceitful. Her smile fell for that split moment, coupled with the way the staff treated her. When she visited Mika, Mika remained silent, not sparing her a word and it was the same at the kitchen, they left her alone like she wasn't present. Those were the times where Tessa laughed in her face. Practically.

She had even asked Tessa once and that was the last time she would try it if there was anything she could help with.

Tessa reply was straightforward and truthful. “Maybe try leaving our pack.” She said and walked away.

Tessa was returning home that evening after a stressful day of finding clues in no avail when she caught sight of Enid's delegates in the dark. She had noticed this particular delegate because of the way he always looked at Ivy. Like he wanted to kill.

He was doing something on a small device - that looked like a telephone - when he thought he was alone on the eastern corridor. His mouth was moving but Tessa couldn't hear what he was saying and she didn't get close enough to at least catch a clear glimpse of what was in his hand or to see the action he was performing.

But she remembered his face. She turned on her heels and headed to her room, adding it to her notes. Ones she had began to keep since ivy went missing. And in these thirty six hours, they had grew longer.