My first stop after lunch is Marina. Felix joins me but keeps a respectful distance as usual. Unfortunately, there is no good news. She is still not eating properly. “She has a fever, too,” the nurse whispers towards me. “Faye is with her.”
“I thought Faye was supposed to be out a lot,” I say.
“We couldn’t get her to leave her mom’s side,” the nurse mutters sadly. “I think she feels that something is off.”
“Goddess.” I sigh. I was hoping Faye wouldn’t be confronted with reality so soon, but it also means that Elden and Liam’s first intuition was right: She must have felt it already. She must haveknown that her mom’s condition was very serious. Her mind just couldn’t cope with it.
She is only five… and Marina has been like this for over a year now, and maybe also for a while in her mate‘s pack. I don’t know what Faye saw, I don’t know what she experienced, and I don’t know what she knows, but there is no way that she didn’t see anything. And whatever it is, the situation must be deeply traumatic for her. Such things leave an impact on a child’s mind, especially when it concerns their own mother.
I don’t spend a lot of time with Marina and Faye, but mostly because Faye doesn’t seem to want me to be there; she just wants to be with her mom. Since she is usually such a joyful kid, the change is even more obvious. So, after a short time, I left to meet up with Felix.
“If I had doubts about giving a report to the alphas before,” I say to Felix. “Then they are gone now. I definitely need to talk to them to make them understand the gravity of the situation.”
“I know.” Felix kisses the top of my head before his eyes flash over. “Dad just linked me. He wants me to join them briefly to tell them about the men who followed you around and my overall perception. Are you okay on your own, or should I ask Dario to join you?”
“I am fine,” I reassure him. “Your mom wanted to meet me in a couple of minutes to take me with her to the luna meeting.”
He looks torn. “Are you sure you are okay?”
“Yes, I promise. Seeing Faye so distraught gave me the push I needed. And your mom and Arden will be with me. Plus, once I join the alpha meeting, you will be there.”
“Okay.” He pulls me into a kiss. “You arereallyit,for me, Gwen,” he says, taking me completely by surprise.
Goddess, this guy! How can he say these things with a straight face and not sound cheesy at all? I am such a sucker for when he says things like that. Everything he does and says seemsgenuine. The girls who badmouthed him are fools – he is such a catch! Genuine, kind, helpful, and so in tune with his feelings, and he isn’t afraid to voice what he feels. “I… you know it’s difficult for me to say how I feel,” I say. “But… you areitfor me too.”
His eyes light up.
He’s about to pull me into a second kiss when Liam suddenly appears and grabs him by his arms. “Sorry to interrupt,” he says. “But I offered to come and fetch you.”
“Oh shoot, you have been waiting?!” Felix groans.
“Yes,” Liam chuckles. “But we will survive.”
“See you later, Gwen,” Felix calls out to me before hurrying after Liam.
I watch him until he is completely out of my view, trying to suck in as much of his warmth as I can, then I head to my own meeting point to catch up with Flora. She doesn’t waste much time and takes me to the luna meeting immediately, chatting all the way, until I forget to think about what’s ahead of me.
Flora ushers me into a comfortable-looking meeting room that looks more like a living room than anything else. The only other person I know is Arden, and he is currently chatting with a young woman, shorter and with shoulder-length hair. She has a warm smile and an equally warm aura around her.
“Okay, let me give you a rundown on who’s who.” Flora links our arms. “The woman Arden is talking to... that’s Annie. She is Liam’s mate.”
“Oh,” I exclaim. “Felix talked about her a lot. Easy to remember. Red Claw pack.”
“Exactly, and the only other man besides Arden-“ I follow her gaze until I find a tall, young man with long hair that he wears in a bun. He has a handsome face and is dressed stylishly. “That’s Marius. He is my second-oldest son and Felix’s brother, obviously.”
“Marius,” I repeat. “Felix talked about him, too. His mate is currently the only female alpha, well, until Aurelia takes over, then there will be two. Did I get that right?”
“Yes.” Flora smiles brightly. “And the two women who are talking to Marius are the lunas of the twin alphas of Emerald Moon. It has been an allied pack for many centuries. Elden and I are best friends with the former alpha and luna there. The dark-skinned woman is Dalila, the one next to her is Elodie. The pack has two lunas because the twin alphas reign together, and each has their own mate.”
“I didn’t know that it was possible to have more than one alpha,” I whisper.
“Everything is possible,” Flora explains to me. “We are just used to things being a certain way.”
“And the man who is currently filling his cup with tea?” I glance at a lean, elegant-looking man. Unlike Marius and Arden, however, he… he doesn’t actually look like he‘s one of them. Something about him feels intense and different – if only I could put a finger on what it is that strikes me as unusual.
Flora snorts. “He isn’t a luna. He is a vampire leader and co-leads a pack and coven together with his alpha mate. He is a vampire lord. Lord Silas.”
The edges of Silas’s lips tug slightly, and he casts us a look from the corner of his eyes. He must have heard us. Flora ignores him. “If you ask me, he is only here because he doesn’t want to argue with the alphas.”
