#8 The Archer and her Wolf

Chapter 17: Thea

Logan was the best tour guide. He showed me all the rooms Lion had mentioned earlier and what they were used for. He said that the formal sitting room was for fancy people to have meetings and the big living room was for watching TV and having fun with the pack. He said the same thing about the formal and informal dining rooms, explaining that only he, Xaiver, and his aunts and uncles, who I assumed were the Beta and Gamma pairings, ate in the small dining room. Of course, he invited me to eat there next time, too.

“We have to take the elevator to go upstairs.” He said, pushing the up arrow on a different elevator than the one Lion and I took up from the parking garage, “The other elevator by the door only takes you to the garage so don’t get confused!” Logan warned me and I nodded attentively.

I kept looking back at Xaiver who couldn’t stop smiling. He didn’t say a word and he lingered behind us the entire time, but I could tell he was having the time of his life.

“This is where daddy’s office is. I’m not supposed to come here unless there’s an emergency.” Logan said, struggling to say the word emergency. I stifled a smile just as Xaiver finally spoke up.

“Maybe I can explain this floor to Thea?” Xaiver suggested and Logan nodded.

Xaiver pointed out Lion and Frankie’s offices, along with a sitting area, a conference room, a library, and then finally, his office. His office was in the very back and the most private of the three. It was large with dark wooden furniture and deep red fabrics. He had a big desk, a fancy sofa and two chairs, a small bar, and his walls were lined with bookshelves. Once we were finished in his office, he pointed to the door that was facing his from across the hall.

“This will be your office whenever you’re ready.” He said, opening the door and allowing me to peek inside. It looked the same as his but with less stuff. It was mostly empty with dust clothes covering the furniture.

“Tia gets an office?” Logan asked in confusion.

“Of course, she’s the Luna.” Xaiver answered simply, ruffling his head, “Should we continue?” He motioned for Logan to head back towards the elevator.

“The third and fourth floor are where the pack members who live here stay.” Logan said, about to press the number three button, but Xaiver stopped him.

“Let’s not bother them today, Logan.” Xaiver said, shooting me a smile. I smiled back, grateful for the excuse to not be overrun by pack members just yet.

“Okay.” Logan shrugged, “Then, where should we go next?”

“How about to our floor?” Xaiver suggested, “The fifth floor is where the Beta and Gamma stay. The top floor is all for the Luna and Alpha.” Xaiver explained to me as Logan pressed the number six.

We stepped out of the elevator and were greeted by a large open space and an elegant but warm looking hallway. It had deep colored walls and hardwood floors with soft lighting lining the hall. The first room had comfortable looking furniture and a large TV mounted to the wall. It had a large cabinet with its door slightly ajar so I could see the toys spilling out of it. If I had to guess, I would say this was Logan’s playroom.

Logan led us through the room and down the hallway. There were three doors on either side of the hallway.

“This is my room!” Logan announced, pushing open one of the doors and revealing a toddler explosion.

Logan’s room was a bright green with white furniture and loads of toys thrown over the carpet. There was a forest scene painted on the back wall and woodland themed decorations all over the place. He showed me his closet with clothes thrown all over the floor and his bathroom, which ended up being a Jack and Jill suite connected to a second bedroom. The same setup was on the other side of the hallway.

“Someone needs to clean up their room.” I laughed as Logan dropped down to the floor and started playing with his train set, no longer interested in the tour.

“Nanny Ellen will do it.” Logan shrugged from the floor. I looked over at Xaiver with a raised eyebrow,

“His nanny cleans his room?” I asked in an accusing tone. Xaiver shrugged,

“Yeah. My nanny did the same for me.” He replied nonchalantly. I pressed my lips together and said nothing. Logan wasn’t my child and it wasn’t my place to correct Xaiver’s parenting styles.

“I think Logan’s done with the tour.” Xaiver chuckled as he watched his son, “I guess that leaves me to show you our room.” He said, turning away from Logan’s room and walking back down the hallway.

“Six bedrooms are a lot.” I said as I followed him down the hallway. Xaiver let out a hearty laugh,

“Once upon a time, no one believed in contraceptives.”

“Well, I do.” I grumbled, earning another fit of laughter from Xaiver.

“Here’s our room.” He said, opening one of two doors at the very end of the hallway.

It was twice the size of Logan’s room with dark blue walls, chestnut brown floors, and dark furniture. There was a blue rug on the floor underneath the king sized bed. There was a U shaped couch in front of a wall mounted TV on the far side of the room.

“There’s a large bathroom and closet, too.” Xaiver explained, opening up a single door across from the bed which exposed a bathroom; I assumed the closet was through the bathroom.

“Xaiver, I’m not going to share a room with you.” I replied stubbornly, clinging to the words our room. Xaiver’s smile faltered slightly but he quickly regained his composure.

“There’s a second bedroom exactly like this one next door.” He said, walking back out of his room and opening the door right next to his, “For when the Luna and Alpha don’t want to share one quarters.” He added.

“Thank you.” Was all I said, stepping just inside the bedroom door. I noticed that all of my belongings were already inside.

“I thought you would prefer to stay here.” He said, motioning towards my bags, “I’ll leave you to get settled. Dinner will be downstairs in an hour if you’re hungry.” Xaiver quietly left the room, leaving me to myself.

This room looked just the same as Xaiver’s only more femanine. The furniture was an off-white, the walls a light gray-blue, and the bedspread was blue with small white flowers covering it. I smoothed out a wrinkle on the corner of the bed and sighed, thinking about this new situation I had just thrown myself into. I pulled one of my suitcases onto the bed and started unloading my clothes into the dresser and walk in closet. I pushed my now empty suitcases into the back of the closet and left my archer bag on top of the desk in the back of the bedroom.

I looked at the clock on my phone and determined that it was time for dinner. I wrestled with myself for a minute, trying to weigh my hunger against my social anxiety; my stomach grumbled in response. I pushed open the bedroom door and nearly ran face first into Lion.

“Woah!” Lion jumped back with a start.

“What are you doing?” I snapped, glaring at him.

“Xaiver sent me up here to see if you were alright. He thought you would need a tour guide back down to the dining hall.” Lion shrugged, quickly composing himself.

“I can find my way back downstairs, thank you.” I grumbled, shutting the door behind me and shoving past Lion.

“Yeah, I figured you would say something like that.” Lion mumbled from behind me. We rode the elevator down in silence.

“Can I offer you a piece of advice?” Lion said, stopping me before I could exit the elevator.

“What?” I replied hesitantly, not sure I wanted any kind of advice from Lion.

“Go easy on Xaiver, he’s learning, too.” Lion’s face grew serious as his hand gripped my forearm. I blinked at Lion in shock, surprised by his level of sincerity.

“Thea?” Xaiver’s voice called into the hallway and Lion immediately relaxed, his goofy grin returning as his hand dropped from my arm.

“Yeah?” I cleared my throat, turning around to face Xaiver.

“You okay?” He looked between Lion and I, like he could sense the heaviness in the air.

“I’m starved, what’s for dinner?” Lion shouted into the hallway, stepping around me and bumping his shoulder against Xaiver. I rolled my eyes at him and Xaiver laughed,

“He’s a card. You let me know if he gives you any trouble.” Xaiver said, taking my hand and leading me towards the dining hall.

“He’s harmless, really.” I snorted at the idea of Lion giving me trouble.

Xaiver smiled brightly at me as we entered the large, formal dining room. He walked towards the head of the table and pulled out one of the heavy looking chairs. I looked around wearily, recognizing some of the faces already sitting at the table, but most of them were strangers. Xaiver pushed in the chair for me before taking his spot at the head of the table, with me on his right.

Across from me was Frankie and Shay, with Lion and Yaya next to them. The rest of the faces were lost on me, but everyone seemed to know who I was. They were watching me closely, observing how Xaiver and I interacted with each other. I felt like I was under a microscope. I fidgeted uncomfortably in my chair and looked down at the plate in front of me. It was overflowing with delicious looking food. I glanced back up at Xaiver who was looking at me with watchful eyes.

“We keep our table open to anyone in the pack who wants to join.” Xaiver explained, nodding towards the strange faces, “Everyone, this is Thea.” He introduced me to them. I weakly waved, not sure what else to do. Xaiver leaned forward and whispered into my ear,

“They’re waiting for you to eat first, as the Luna.” He said and I blinked in surprise.

“But I’m not….” I started to argue but Xaiver shook his head,

“I know, but you’re my mate and you're sitting in the Luna’s spot. It’s just tradition. I’m sorry, should I tell them to back off?” Xaiver asked, rubbing his knuckles across the bare skin of my arm gently.

“No, it’s okay.” I quickly shook my head and picked up the fork. I took the first bite and immediately the room relaxed. Everyone started eating and chatting amongst themselves, no longer bothering with me.

Xaiver kept his hand on me the entire dinner, whether it was resting on my knee, holding my hand, or rubbing my back, he just had to be touching me; and I wasn’t complaining. I enjoyed his touch, despite how much I didn’t want to. I wanted to pretend like I wasn’t pulled by the matebond as much as he was, but that would be a lie.