“Is—is Alpha Dawson going to show me to my new living space?” I ask, recalling what Dawson told Elias last night. He said there was a newly built cottage behind his house, and he’d place me and Gio in there.
The healer looks up introspectively from her clipboard, pausing as if to gauge my expression. I must be wearing my hesitation and discomfort on my sleeve, because she sighs as she sets her notes down.
“Alpha Dawson has arranged for Luna Aurora to show you to the cottage. Because of, er—you know—it will be safer if you stick with the luna. That way, no one will bother you.”
I gulp hard at the reminder that despite being born to Snehvolk, I’m still very much an outcast. No one here wants to risk me being put in a predicament where I’m forced to face the hostility of the others.
But even with the past hanging like a dark cloud over my head, I haven’t experienced any ill-treatment from the healer. I do remember her from before.
We used to attend afternoon classes together back when we were kids.
I wonder if she remembers me, and again, it’s as if I’m an open book when Rissa reaches out and places a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
“I remember you from school days,” she chimes sweetly as she answers an unspoken question, her forest green eyes sparkling with kindness. “You loved reading,” she giggles. “You never mixed with the other kids, and always had your head in a book.”
Giggling back nervously, I lower my gaze as I feel heat spread across my cheeks. “Reading was always an escape for me.”
“Was it so bad that you had to leave?”
I look up to find those gorgeous green eyes sparkling with curiosity that unnerves me. I’ve never been able to open up to anyone before.
The one time I did, I was hurt tremendously by his rejection…
The reminder of that pain has me tensing up again, reaffirming those high walls I’ve built up. It’s not like I can openly tell the healer why I’d left Girdwood, or that the harsh treatment I’d faced growing up was the driving force for my departure from the Snehvolk Pack. The last nail in the coffin for burying my life here was Dawson’s rejection, but it was a build-up of the cruelty I’d faced for many years that drove me out of the pack for good.
My twisted fate may have led me back here, but it doesn’t mean that anything has changed. On the contrary, I have to keep my guard up and remind myself that I’m only here for Gio.
“I-I found my mate outside of the pack,” I lie tentatively.
Rissa nods in acceptance. “You have a beautiful little boy,” she smiles. “He looks just like you.”
“Th-thanks,” I murmur sheepishly, feeling my cheeks betray my diffidence when Rissa continues to stare deeply into my eyes with a kind warmth that feels foreign.
“You have the most beautiful eyes, Yvonne. I never noticed before, but there’s a kindness to them. I hope we can be friends.”
Gulping hard, I’m not sure how to respond to Rissa’s kindness. But I’m saved by the bell—or, rather, the door opening.
A fit of giggles follows a set of stomping feet as Gio appears, his jet-black hair shimmering underneath the white light shrouding the room as he comes bouncing forward.
“Mama!” he exclaims eagerly as he throws tiny arms around my neck just I get to my feet. I wrap my arms around him, pulling him closer as a wave of familiar relief washes over me.
My only consolation about being back is Gio’s safety, along with the cheerful grin that radiates through his silver eyes when he pulls back.
“My baby…” I whisper, cradling his plump, creamy cheek as my heart is gripped by the maternal intuition that allows me to notice how content and joyful Gio is. It’s something I can’t ignore, since I’ve never seen him as happy as he appears to be now.
“He couldn’t wait to see you,” a melodic, girlish giggle interrupts the moment, though it doesn’t feel out of place with how warm and inviting it is.
My eyes flit to the robust she-wolf at the door, who oozes authority in her soft, feminine aura that shields her like a golden glow and lightens the caramel brown of her eyes. Evenher chestnut brown hair is radiant, the waves appearing to be swaying with a breeze that isn’t even evident in the room.
My eyes drift to her ripe belly, and that’s the only indication that she’s pregnant. There’s a glow on her face that’s unfamiliar—it’s something I didn’t have while I was carrying Gio.
I can’t quite pinpoint what it is, though I suspect that her alpha, Elias, pours love into her. The kind of love I didn’t have while I was pregnant. But it’s so much more than that. Her very presence whispers royal mysticism, and she isn’t anything like what she’d been made out to be based on her rank.
“Luna Aurora,” I breathe, gasping when I realize that she was the pack’s lowest-ranking omega.
Just before I left the pack, I used to hear the hushed murmurs about the only omega who didn’t receive her wolf on her eighteenth birthday. It gave the pack more reason to despise someone else, taking the spotlight of their hatred off me for a while, so I could disappear without being noticed.
She’s changed so much…
