Once upon a time, Summit pack was part of a larger pack. Redmoon pack had been the biggest pack in the south for several decades. It was running things and even the vampires were scared of it. Unfortunately, when a terrible leader took over the throne, he destabilized the pack so much that several factions formed within the pack. This came up because several people had differing viewpoints on the new resolutions. Alpha Jack would not listen to anyone whose views differed from his and that caused a lot of tension. Eventually, there was a revolution and alpha jack was formed. The pack collapsed and several families branched and formed their own packs.
Independence day was the day the Redmoon Empire collapsed. At first, it had been a great day that was celebrated a lot, but with time it led to some unexpected consequences. It made the werewolves weaker than the vampires. When all the werewolves had been in one pack, they had been stronger as a united front. Now that they were all divided, it became easy for the vampires who were led by one king to take advantage of the situation.
Despite this, Independence day was still celebrated among the packs of the south. They were happy to have broken from the tyrannical rule of alpha Jack. The man had killed more innocent people in his regime that any other ruler. Had he continued to rule, the werewolf population would have dwindled a lot.
Like the other packs in the region, Summit pack was celebrating Independence day. The preparations began early in the morning with almost every pack member doing something. Emma and Casey had joined the decorations team. It took about two hours to ensure that the place was well decorated. An hour later, everyone was in the gardens and the function started. It started with some children presenting a traditional dance, and quickly went into speeches.
Eventually, Lucius stepped on the platform to give his speech. Emma could feel her body stirring at the sight of him. He made eye contact with her the moment he was at the centre of the gathering but quickly turned away. Emma felt her breath hitch.
“He’s so hot,” a girl next to her said. Emma’s eyes swiftly turned to the young woman. She looked about seventeen and had probably not found her mate. Emma refrained herself from saying anything to the girl.
“I know,” a girl next to the one who had spoken said. She twirled her hair as she stared at Lucius. “He’s so sexy, I wish he was my mate. Knowing my luck, I’m probably going to get matched up with some ugly skinny guy.”
Her friend sighed. “Luna Michelle is so lucky. She gets to wake up next to him every morning. I’m very sure he is good in…”
“Excuse me but aren’t you two too young to be talking about such things?” Emma asked the two young girls.
They gasped.
“Miss Greenfield, what’s so interesting over there?”
Emma’s face went red as she felt heat on it, showing her embarrassment.
“I’m very sorry, alpha Lucius.” She said.
Lucius turned away from her and continued talking. This time, Emma decided to pay attention and listen to the man. After that incident, he didn’t look at her until he finished his speech. Emma felt hurt and wished he could glance her way even for a moment. Unfortunately, he deliberately chose to ignore her.
After the final speech, it was time for lunch. There were three serving points. One for the pack leaders i. e the alpha, luna, beta, gamma, head of guards, among others. The second serving point was for the guards and the third one was for everyone else. Casey and Emma decided to wait for the line to reduce before going there.
“If you hadn’t been so stupid, you’d be up there at the high table. They don’t even have to make a line.”
Emma shook her head. “Don’t speak like that here. Someone might here us.”
“Are you happy? Seeing her with him like that. So cozy. Look, she’s even feeding him.”
Emma looked at the table and saw Michelle smiling widely while putting food in Lucius’s mouth. He smiled as he accepted the food. Everyone at the table cheered for the couple. Emma felt a pang of jealousy gnawing at her insides. “He looks happy.”
“I’m sure he’s just faking it.”
Emma sighed. “It doesn’t seem so. What if he has made peace with his marriage and is willing to make it work.”
“Didn’t you say you were coming back to repair your relationship?”
“You know I didn’t mean that. What am I going to do, Casey? Should I leave? I don’t think I can fight.”
“You don’t need to. Just have an affair with him and see how it goes. You might even realise he is a terrible lover and won’t be interested anymore. If you don’t try it out, it will be harder to forget him. Wherever you go, you’ll always wonder what would have happened if you had given him a chance.”
“You say it like it’s so easy,” Emma said before taking a sip of water from a bottle. She placed the bottle on the table and turned to Casey. “You say it like it’s so normal but that’s not the worst thing. The problem is that I’m actually considering it. I know it will make me a horrible person but I can bring myself to leave this place. Lucius gave me two days but I already wanted to stay. i think these two days are just for me to try to convince myself to leave.”
“Your heart knows what you want,” Casey said. “The woman already told you she doesn’t care who he sleeps with. All she cares about it is having her title and being by his side so go for it.”
“Go for what?” a young man called Caleb said. Caleb seemed to have fallen for Casey because he kept following her around even when she told him to fvck off.
Casey rolled her eyes. “What is it now?”
“I just came to inform you that the line is no more,” he said. “You seem to have forgotten about food.”
Emma glanced at their designated serving point and saw that it was indeed empty. “Thank you,” she said to him.
“Aren’t you going to thank me?” he asked Casey.
She groaned. “Whatever. Thank you.”