After that terrifying encounter, Ken took us to what looked like a spacious living room of some sort. The furniture was old-fashioned but had a certain charm I found comfortable.
I yawned as I sat down, on the verge of passing out. I couldn’t believe this was still the same day as Aria’s birthday party, it felt like we’d been here for months.
“What’s gonna happen to us?” Aria asked.
Ken shrugged, “You’ll probably have to meet our Alpha and Luna.”
“What the hell is an Alpha and a Luna?”
“Alpha Ares and Luna Ellie are the leaders of our pack, they have the final say of what we can do with you. Who knows, they might tell us to feed you to the pups.”
I widened my eyes.
“Joking,” Ken held up his hands, “We obviously don’t eat humans and if we did, we wouldn’t eat you two.” He made a face and Aria’s eyebrows knitted in a v.
“Can we argue our case so we can leave?”
“The Alpha and Luna are the fairest people I know.”
“So, when are we gonna meet this Alpha and Luna?”
I looked out the window but of course, it was too dark to see anything. I wondered what time it was, I was exhausted and my feet hurt.
“Not tonight,” A voice sounded from across the room, scaring me a little. It was the healer.
I still didn’t know his name.
“Oh, right,” Ken made a face palm, “I forgot, the Alpha and Luna are away visiting another pack.”
“So, we can go then?” Aria stood up quickly, smoothing down her wrinkled dress and heading to the exit.
But the healer sidestepped in her way, blocking her from leaving.
“Not necessarily, we already have a room for you to sleep in.” He was graceful in the way he moved, like a flowing river.
“You expect us to sleep in this ancient, medieval castle that’s probably covered in millions of germs? No thanks,” She wrinkled her nose in disgust and I knew she was a huge germophobe.
“Disease is the least of your problems, human,” He left without another word.
“Ken, there’s no way in hell we’re staying here. Can’t you please let us go? This isn’t right,” Aria begged but her crush turned away from her.
“Come on, I’ll show you to your room,” He ignored us completely and forced us to follow him.
*****
Our room had everything we needed. Two king-sized beds, a bathroom, television, well-stocked mini-fridge and a change of clothes. They even guessed our sizes right.
If I didn’t know better, I’d say we were in a first class hotel.
But of course, I knew better. We had been forced to come here just to be told that we’re “special” despite no evidence and as a result, we had to stay here until we met the Alpha and the Luna.
I changed into a robe they laid out for us and it felt so good to get out of my dress. I began to brush my teeth, anxious to clean out what I’d thrown up before. Meanwhile Aria was trying to tame her voluminous thicket of hair.
“Look at my hair, it’s a total mess.” Aria raked a brush through her thick curls, wincing as it got caught in the bristles again. I spit my toothpaste out and took a towel to wash my face.
“It’s been a long day.” The water felt refreshing against my greasy face. After, I caught my reflection in the mirror.
My hair was straight and wet from the shower and my skin wasn’t thick with grease anymore.
As soon as we were done with washing up, we climbed into our beds and got under the covers.
“Good night,” I sighed.
“‘Night,”
I closed my eyes and tried to sleep even though I was a little scared to know that we weren’t home. I missed home so much.
I wasn’t sure whether our parents being away was a good thing or a bad thing. It was good that they wouldn’t have to worry about us going missing and lecture us about never getting into a stranger’s car. But it was bad because they could’ve called the police and rescued us by now.
I ended up staring at the ceiling for two more hours, unable to sleep. Turned out that Aria had the same problem.
“Hey, Hazel,” Aria whispered in the dark, “Do you believe in the supernatural?”
“You mean werewolves?”
“Yeah,”
“You saw what I saw, he changed from a human to a wolf. What else could it be?” I tried not to think about it too much, it made everything seem less real.
“I’m scared.” She admitted and then yawned.
“Me, too. But I don’t think they want to hurt us, they would’ve hurt us already. I think they want us for something but I’m not sure what.”
She didn’t reply and after a few more minutes, I could hear her soft snores. My mind was still reeling long after sleep pulled me under. The last thing I saw was the flash of the full moon before the nightmares started.
*****
Breakfast was delivered to our room at nine in the morning. They served us waffles and bagels, deeming it a “typical human meal”. Apparently they didn’t eat human food and I wondered what they ate instead.
Ken and Harry came to get us at eleven, dressing up a little bit more. Ken’s hair was combed to the side to show off his eyes and Harry shaved so the previous stubble on his chin was gone.
We were going to meet the leaders of their pack, the ones who had the most power.
They led us to a throne room and the place where they’d hopefully set us free.
Two figures were already seated in the thrones. The man was muscular and dark while the woman was short and thin with pale skin. However, they both had intimidating presciences. They stared at Aria and I as soon as we entered the room.
They studied us, just like everyone else in the room was doing.
I hated how they stared.
Aria elbowed me, “Hey, that guy who almost killed you yesterday is here,” I followed her line of sight and saw the hot-headed werewolf with his arms crossed. Law was standing off to the side of the man’s throne, not looking very happy.
“Alpha Ares and Luna Ellie, these are Aria and Hazel Brook,” Ken bowed his head and walked off to the side so that it was only us now.
“We’ve heard a lot about you two,” Ellie spoke first and there was a pause.
“Excuse me for my rudeness, Alpha and Luna, but who the hell are these two?” Law burst out and some more people began to voice their multiple questions.
“Silence,” Ares commanded and everyone stopped talking to listen. I looked up at him, needing to know what was happening.
“As Even has told us, we believe one of you is the Moon Goddess.” The room erupted into loud whispers and shocked murmurs once again.
I looked at Aria but she gave me a blank look, not knowing what he was talking about either.
“Even,” Ares called and the healer stepped forward, “Tell them what you believe,”
He directed his attention to Aria and I, his blue eyes meeting our trembling gazes.
“As the healer of the pack, I have a sixth sense for this sort of thing. For two weeks, I’ve had the same dream, visions of a young woman restoring our pack to its former glory,” He closed his eyes, concentrating, “The young woman has the ability to recognize mate bonds, along with other extraordinary gifts, which leads me to believe that she is the Moon Goddess. Or, perhaps, a reincarnation of her.”
I didn’t know what to make of this. I didn’t understand why this was a big deal, I didn’t understand what was so important.
“I feel a strong connection to one of these girls and I believe everyone in this room can feel it, too,” That’s what Ken was talking about.
“Which girl is it?” Ares asked.
“There’s no way to be sure.” Even shook his head.
“I. . . get these dreams sometimes.” Aria spoke up and I stiffened. I looked at her and she gave me a reassuring look, wanting to handle this by herself and keep me out of it.
“Continue,” Ares said.
“They’re nightmares, actually,” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, “They never make any sense but they always have wolves in them.”
“You’re sure of this?” Ares asked Even and he nodded, bowing his head.
“They need protection,” Ellie said, “Lawrence, I want you to guard them.”
“Begging your forgiveness but there’s no way in hell I’m going to guard humans.” He objected hotly and I flinched at the hatred in his tone.
“Your Luna gave you an order.” Ares announced sharply and Law winced.
“Yes, Alpha Ares,” He said through gritted teeth.
“Ken, Harry, I want both of you to make sure our guests are comfortable here.”
“Wait, we can’t stay here,” Aria blurted and I nodded, hoping they’d let us go peacefully, “We have school, we have friends and family, we have lives.” She looked at Ellie, attempting to appeal to her soft side.
Ares and Ellie exchanged looks and I desperately wanted to know what they were thinking.
“Okay, I believe we can come to an agreement,” Ares nodded, straightening his back, “We will let you live your human lives if you agree to be protected.”
Aria looked at me and I nodded, just wanting to leave.
“Fine, so how soon can we leave?”