The Queen of the Wolves

Burgers for hungers

"Where is she?" Kenneth asked his friends, eyes searching the room, for his luna to be. " She… we don't know. " Theidta replied, shrugging a shoulder. Kenneth's head snapped towards her, his brows furrowed, and then his eyes widened. " Did she… Did she think that I.. I'm in love with someone else?" He asked, staring at Theidta, with eyes that were so wide they might pop out any time. " I don't know. I didn't see her going out of the room." Theidta answered, looking for her best friend, herself. Christian stopped pacing and walked towards his friends. " I didn't see her, either. Where is she?" Christian furrowed his brows. Kenneth heaved a low sigh, his hands going to his hips. He lowered his head and shook his head slowly. " I know where she might be." He whispered.

Era was seated cross-legged near the nemial pond, her eyes closed, inhaling the fresh, ethereally floral, and light scent of the water hyacinths, the fresh wind, grazing her cheeks, reminding her of the days when she used to come here, to refresh her mind. It also reminded her of the day when she came here, and cried her heart out. “ What has gotten your mind so captured that you are not aware of someone coming behind you?” Era’s eyes snapped open as she heard his voice. She felt him sitting down beside her, which led her to scoot away from him. Kenneth side glanced at her but said nothing. His hands wrapped around his knees as he let out a small sigh. Gazing at the weeping willow, Kenneth thought of ways to calm Era down, so that she won’t rush out of there. Era didn’t speak up, which was obvious, and Kenneth was afraid to speak, so they were engulfed in a ball of silence, where only the birds chirped, the leaves rustled, the insects went by their normal day, trying to survive, and the squirrels ran as far away from the two humans as they can.

“ You remember how we used to come here all the time?” He asked to break the awkward silence. Era still didn’t answer. And Kenneth was unsure if he should pick up another topic or not. It was the safest one. After a long beat of silence, and Kenneth racking his mind to talk about something, Era finally spoke up. “ You don’t have to pretend that everything is fine, Kenneth.” She said. Ken’s head snapped towards her. Blinking, he asked, “ What do you mean?” “ Between us. We … are not fine.” Era stated, still avoiding eye contact. “ And why aren’t we, Era? That was ages ago.” Kenneth asked, without even thinking about the consequences. Era finally looked at Kenneth, but she was enraged, much to his dismay. Her grinding teeth and flaring nostrils were enough proof of how mad she was. “ Ages ago? AGES AGO??!!” She shouted at the future alpha’s face. Era abruptly stood on her feet, and asked,” What do you think of yourself, Kenneth? You might be the future alpha of our pack but that doesn’t give you the right to destroy my mental peace! Just leave me alone. Will ya?” Era turned to leave from there but Kenneth was on his feet within seconds. He held her hand and turned her to face him. Era tried to shrug off his hand but Kenneth was adamant this time. He held her shoulders with both of his hands to keep her glued to the place, and stared deep into her eyes. “ Look at me, Era.” His voice soft but firm. Era still didn’t look at him, she was staring at the same willow tree at which Kenneth was staring a while ago, and thinking of ways not to enrage Era but here they were. “ Look at me!” This time there was power, and dominance in his voice, which made Era look at him. She listened to her future alpha’s command even though she tried not to. Her jaw ticked when she realized why she couldn’t avoid his command. Kenneth realized it too. But it was late. And he had already done it. Without knowing but it was done, nevertheless. So, the Future Alpha went forward with it. “ I am sorry. I do apologize for using my Alpha voice at you. I didn’t want to. I did it without knowing. It wasn’t my intention at all. However, You are so stubborn that if I don’t use it, you will never listen to me.” Kenneth kept on rambling. “ See.. I was.. I can not say anything that will bring us back. That will… that will be enough to make you forgive me. I know what I did was terrible. And there is no excuse. I am not going to say that I was young, that is not any excuse to act like an id.iot. I am also not going to say that she tricked me. I did what I did. There is nothing I can do that can correct my wrongdoing. I wish I can go back in time and change it. Change me, and change my screwed-up mind.” Kenneth inhaled deeply and then exhaled from his mouth. “ I regret what I did, Era. I regret that I wasn’t thinking enough. I regret that I…. that I was unable to take care of you. I regret that I acted rashly. I regret being in that moment. I just… I am not here to give you excuses, and plea for innocent. I was wrong. And I accept it. You are mad at me. I accept it. But.. I can not afford to lose you. You can argue with me all the time, you can blame me 24/7. But please…. Please don’t break our friendship. I am asking you for another chance. Just this once. Give me one last chance so that I can prove my friendship. Please? Please!” Kenneth begged with his eyes. His eyes were on hers, waiting for her to answer. Then he remembered that he needed to take his Alpha command off of her. Era snapped out of the command as soon as Kenneth demanded it. And she said one thing, “ I will never give you another chance.” “Era, Please. Just.. One. This once. Please?” Kenneth begged again. “ LET. GO. OFF. ME.” Era spoke the words loud, and clear, the Future Alpha heard the words but didn’t let go yet. “You are forcing me to shift, Kenneth.” Era glared at her future Alpha. Kenneth heaved a sigh, and slowly backed away, leaving her shoulders. Era glared for a second and then turned to leave. Kenneth held her hand again, Era shut her eyes and exhaled through her nose. She turned to shout at him again but when she turned, a paper in Kenneth’s hand caught her gaze. Her mouth agape, she froze to her spot, her eyes stuck at the paper, the future Alpha was clutching onto. “ Here’s the… letter I didn’t give to you. Actually, this paper is kind of a journal. I have more at…. At home, in my small box, where I keep the things I don’t want anyone to see.” Kenneth let out a chuckle. “ Umm. Here. Take it. Don’t give me a chance. It’s alright. But.. Just read it. Please. I want you to know what my feelings were. And if you want to read more, I can give you other letters too. Which I never sent.” Era stared at Kenneth’s outstretched hand, holding the letter. Giving it to her to read. She looked up at him, whose eyes were begging, forcing her to feel pity, to give up all the rage that she had inside her, and forgive him. Those eyes. Those sinful blue eyes of his were trying to lure her again. They were singing a lullaby which was so welcoming. Era blinked and snapped out of her thoughts. Kenneth was still holding onto the letter, his hand still outstretched, his eyes on her. Era finally took a deep breath and accepted the letter from his hand. Kenneth smiled and thanked her. Era opened the letter to read, which made Kenneth gasp. “ You are… You are going to read it now? Like right now? While I’m here?” He asked. Era stared at him with no emotions, and said, “ You are welcome to leave me alone.” “ No. I’ll stay. You can go ahead. Read it.” A smile appeared again on his face, very slow and soft. Era heaved a sigh and started reading the letter. Kenneth waited for her reaction as her eyes scanned every word on the paper. While reading, she walked to the place, where she was seated, her eyes glued to the letter. Kenneth followed her. They sat beside each other while Era continued reading. After a long five minutes of Kenneth’s life, Era looked up from the letter, and stated, “ The letters are so small. How do the teachers check your answer sheets?” She asked, her face giving no hint of joking or sarcasm, so Kenneth didn’t know what to do. He kept staring at her, not blinking once. When a slow smirk played on her lips, Kenneth sighed, and let out a chuckle simultaneously. “ Well, you don’t have legible handwriting either.” He commented, shrugging. The smirk disappeared from her lips after hearing his comment. Kenneth stopped chuckling too. Era slowly stood up and dusted her pants. She turned to leave. Kenneth lowered his head, scolding himself in his mind. Slapping on the back of his head, he whispered, “Idi.ot!” But before he could give new names to himself, Era spoke up. “ Aren’t you coming?” He heard her ask. Kenneth looked up at her, confusion written all over his face. “ I’m going to grab a bite in the city. You can come if you want to.” She offered. When Kenneth didn’t say anything to her, she shrugged. “If you want to stay here, fine with me.” She turned to leave. “Yeah! I would love to. Wait for me.” Kenneth shouted when she started a stroll. Kenneth was beside her within a heartbeat. He sideglanced and caught her smiling softly. He heaved a sigh, inside his mind. “ Do you want to take the car? Or just..” “ I prefer walking. It’s not that far away.” Era stated. Kenneth gave a nod, and that’s when he heard his Beta’s voice in his head. “ Where are you? Did you find her?” Christian asked. “ Yes. We are going to the city. To have something.” This shocked his beta. “ How? How did this happen?” He asked. “ The letter.” “ Which one? The one in the time capsule? OR the other dozen letters that you wrote but never gave to her?” “ The one in the time capsule.” The future Alpha replied. “ Woah. You have some guts, my dear friend.” His Beta commented. “ I think you should show yours to her, too. Maybe it will make everything less complicated.” Kenneth advised his best friend. “Nah. I don’t think so. Everything is going well now. Nothing’s wrong.” “Until she falls in love with someone else.” Kenneth stated. When he felt his Beta being silent and felt his pain through the link, he sighed, and asked, “ What do you think? She will stay single for her entire life? I don’t mean to be rude. But these are the facts, Christian. You need to face the facts.” Kenneth prodded. The mindlink broke, and Kenneth was sure that his Beta wouldn’t speak with him for a while. But someone needed to poke him. Someone needed to make his face the facts. And he didn’t regret that he was the one. As his best friend, it is his responsibility to throw the facts at him. This is better for him.

Kenneth felt at home, while he walked, and walked with Era. He didn’t know if it was the small distance, between the pond, and the shop in the city or because he was with Era but he didn’t realize when they were in the city, standing before the burger shop, called, “ Burgers for hungers.” It didn’t make any sense. But when they stepped inside the shop, he was more than just surprised.