The luna's human mate

CHAPTER SEVEN

Silvia.

I slept through the night.

No loud boots. No gunfire. No little version of me hiding in the dark under a fallen tree covering my mouth so I would not make a sound. I just slept. It was deep and uninterrupted. I was not used to sleeping well. When I woke up to the grey light of morning I lay still for a moment. I was waiting for the dream to catch up with me.

It did not come.

I sat up slowly. I looked around the room. The moonflower was still on the dresser. It was next to my mothers necklace. The flower was a little more open than it was yesterday. Its white petals were catching the pale morning light. I looked at it for a moment. I thought about Antonios pause when I asked him about it. He was silent for a half second. It was long enough to mean something.

I thought about Elder Colins eyes following Asher out of the council room.

I thought about a lot of things. Then I got up. Got dressed. Thinking can only do much. Moving has always helped me more.

Toby was in the corridor before I fully opened my door. He was already standing like a guard. His arms were folded. He looked alert. He probably had been waiting for some time.

"You slept " he said. It was not a question. He could tell. He always could.

"I did " I said. I was a little surprised by my smile. "It is the time in as long as I can remember."

Something changed in his face. It was not relief. It was something

"Antonio is outside " he said. His tone was careful and neutral. He used this tone when he was preparing me for something. "He has been there since light."

I let out a breath. "Send him in."

Toby opened the door wider. Stepped aside. Antonio came in. He was wearing the expression I knew well. It was a mix of affection and worry. He had been looking at me like this for fourteen years. He looked older in the morning light. He did not look like the administrator who had held the pack together. He looked like the man who had pulled a six-year- girl out from under a fallen tree and carried her home. He had been quietly scared of losing me since.

"Silvia " he said.

"I am going to be fine " I said, before he could continue.

"That was what your father said " he said. His voice was low and even.. There was something underneath it that was not even. "The day he left for the world. He stood in this house. Told me he was going to be fine. He never came back."

His words had the effect he wanted. They were not meant to manipulate me. They were the truth, offered plainly by someone who had earned the right to say it. I held his gaze. I did not look away.

"I know " I said. ". I am not going alone.. I am not going without a reason."

"Your father did not go alone either " he said quietly.

The silence between us lasted for a moment. There was nothing I could say to that. He knew it. I knew it. We stood in the morning light with the knowledge between us. It was heavy and familiar.

Then he sighed slowly. He turned to Toby.

"Please look after her " he said. The simplicity of it made my chest ache. "Please."

Toby held his gaze. He nodded once. No words were needed.

Antonio looked at me one time. He reached out. Straightened the collar of my travelling coat. He did it with both hands like he had been doing since I was small. Then he. Walked out. He did not say another word. If he had stayed longer neither of us would have managed it well.

I picked up my bag.

Ava and Asher were waiting in the corridor. Ava looked bright-eyed. She was carrying a lot of luggage. Toby went to her side immediately. Asher was standing a little apart from them. He was not wearing the clothes he had arrived in. Someone had found him something practical. He looked like a prisoner. He looked like a person.

He had lost the expression. There was something open in his face. He looked attentive and slightly amused. It was like the world had just become more interesting to him.

He looked at me when I came out. Not with the respect the pack gave me. Directly like I was something worth looking at.

"I hope the servants took care of you Asher " I said.

He tilted his head slightly. " As well as they would take care of something they found on the bottom of a boot " he said. "I found it mildly offensive."

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling. "Noted."

"I also want to know everyones names " he said. "In the world I cannot call you Your Majesty without drawing attention."

"My name is Silvia " I said. "This is Toby, my guard.. Ava, his mate and my beta."

He looked at each of them. Then he looked back at me.

"Silvia " he said. Just my name, no title. Something about it moved through me.

"Shall we?" he asked.

He offered his hand.

I looked at it for a moment. It was a hand attached to a human person. A goddess had apparently decided we should meet. I took his hand because standing still has never suited me.

We walked through the pack house and out into the morning air. Elder Elizabeth and Antonio were waiting with two guards. They would escort us to the border. Elizabeth caught my eye as I passed. She gave me a nod. It was the look of a woman who knew more than she had said. She believed in what was about to happen.

Antonio said nothing. He watched me walk away. He had the expression of a man storing the image carefully. I did not look back because if I had I would not have kept walking.

The path to the border went through the edge of the pack grounds. We passed the training fields and the outer market stalls. We walked through the oak trees that marked the boundary between the pack territory and the wild land near the wards. The protective magic got thicker as we walked. It was a hum against my skin. Every wolf in the pack had grown up with this feeling. It was the feeling of being safe.

We reached the border as the morning light was turning from grey to gold.

I stood at the edge of the ward line. I looked at what lay beyond it. There was a tree line and a path through the woods. Past all of it was the human world. The world that had taken everything from me. I was choosing to walk into it

Sienna was quiet inside me. She was not anxious. She was present and watchful and ready.

I hugged Antonio one time. He held on for a moment longer than usual. Then he let go. I stepped across the ward line. The hum of the magic fell away behind me like a door closing.

The four of us moved through the forest without speaking. I kept my eyes forward. I did not look at the place between the oaks where the undergrowth grew thick and dark. It looked like every version of my nightmare.

I kept walking.

It took twenty minutes to clear the tree line. Then the path. The forest ended. The city began. It was sudden and bright and enormous. There was noise everywhere. Colour everywhere. Lights that had no flame. Vehicles moving faster than anything on four wheels had any right to move. People in clothes I did not recognize were moving in every direction. They had an energy. It was a world that had never heard of the Southern Pack. It had no intention of slowing down.

I stopped walking.

I could not help it. I just. Stood at the edge of all of it. I stared.

"Silvia " Ashers voice was, beside me. It was quiet enough not to draw attention. "Breathe."

I breathed.

He was looking at me with the focused attention he had given everything. He was not looking at me with pity or amusement. He was looking at me with interest. He wanted to understand what was happening.

" Time?" he asked.

"My parents brought me once " I said. "I was six. I do not remember much of it."

Something in his face changed. A little, just for a moment. And I thought he knew there was more to what I said than just the words. He did not ask me anything. He just. Held my hand and looked back at the city.

"We need to change our clothes " he said. "The four of you look like you are from a movie about a time ago and people are starting to stare."

Ava looked at what she was wearing at Asher then at her clothes again. "Is it really that bad?" she asked.

"It is pretty noticeable " he said in a way and started walking.

I walked with him. The city surrounded us and, behind us the forest was quiet and dark and waiting and I did not look back at the forest either.