Chapter 14
878 Words
"Joey!!! I'm tired, I don't think I can keep going!"
We’ve been running laps around the pack. My shirt is drenched as if I had been poured on with a bucket of water. I think Joey enjoys putting me through this misery because she's been laughing at me since we started.
"You can do it, Luna, keep going!" Joey shouts over her shoulder, almost tripping over a rock while laughing at me. It's been two weeks since I arrived at this pack, and Joey is the only person I have formed a sort of camaraderie with. I didn't really hang out with anyone else but her—but she could have still been mean to me like the others, yet she's not, and I'm really glad.
"Joey, let's take a break, please." I'm practically wheezing at this point. I fall and lay down on the grass, looking up at the sky. Joey comes and does the same, but she's not breathing as though we just ran a marathon, which we technically just did.
"I can hear the wheels turning in your head, spill it." In the time I've spent with Joey, she has gotten to know me better.
"The Witch." I feel my chest squeeze with distaste. The witch arrived the day after the council had their meeting.
She's an enigma — the whole pack likes her, and she's everything I'm not: beautiful and confident. Apparently, she and Devon go way back, even though he has assured me nothing is going to happen between them.
"To be honest, I don't know what she's doing here. She's not a seer. They were supposed to bring a seer." Aside from me, Joey seems to be the only person who does not like her, and I can't help but feel happy that she's on my side.
"So why is she here then? I haven't seen her do any real work since she arrived. She's acting like she's on a vacation, and the pack is treating her like she's their actual Luna right in front of me. It's always 'Patricia wants this or that.' Since she arrived, I have been preparing my food on my own and eating alone, because Bella, Tori, and Devon are all at her beck and call."
I pause and take a deep breath. Inhale, exhale. I needed that. I look at Joey and wait for her to respond.
"Luna, I thought I was the only one who noticed how the pack was behaving, even at her arrival. Do you think she cast a spell on them?" She asks, now whispering, with her brows furrowed like she's thinking of the possibility.
"Is it possible for her to do that even without being in the pack?" I'm thinking, if she's the link to the seer, then she didn't need to have stayed for so long. I've been trying to work on myself to be better, but her being here, with the way everyone is reacting to her, even my mate, just shoots my insecurities and anxiety to the clouds.
Joey lets out a loud sigh. "Either way, we wouldn't be able to find out unless we go to look for another witch or a seer to help. You know the witches are the best at hiding, so we'll have to go to the human territory, which is where they mostly reside, to avoid conflict."
"To go there, are we going to tell Devon, or....."
"No, we won't. Are you sure you're up for this? Your mate will be really angry if he finds out."
It doesn't matter how he feels, I'm already considering it. Since this witch arrived, he has completely forgotten me. He's gone before I wake up and comes back when I'm already asleep, always smelling like her.
He doesn't spend time with me anymore. He's always with her, and I wouldn't have bothered about Bella and Tori doing stuff for her, but I can't cook, and last week she nearly sent me to tears when I asked the two omegas to attend to me as their Luna, and she called me a wannabe.
"Joey, why do you think Devon has not completed our mating yet?" I ask, because Patricia made a statement about him not wanting to mate with me, which is why it's been prolonged.
"I can't tell you, Luna, that's his secret to tell. But just know that it doesn't have anything to do with you." So Joey knows. I guess I'm the only one not worthy of knowing his secret—even Patricia knows.
My eyes prickle and my nose tingles. I knew it wasn't going to last. Being happy is something that I'm not worthy of. I sniffle and turn to Joey.
"Joey, let's do it. Let's go to the human territory right now and find another witch or seer. I'm not going to just sit here and watch as that witch takes over my pack." It feels like a fire is burning in my chest, and no matter how many deep breaths I take, it won't stop burning. I feel hot all over.
Joey looks at me like she's proud. "Okay, Luna, let's go there right now." We both stand up, but we're stopped by a deep voice asking,
"Go where?"
- Writer
