Bella’s POV:
John came back with a worried smile on his face. Mr. Alpha came down with a black button down shirt and a blue faded jean, his hair damp.
“Alpha. She is here”
“Bring her to my study”, he said and walked away leading the way. Alice kept her one hand on my shoulder and the other in my back rubbing circles, trying to sooth me. Behind two large wooden doors was the room not bigger than the party hall. There were two brown sofas and a same coloured love seat with a glass coffee table in the middle. A lady in her 80’s stood inside. Her long, grey hair was tied in a neat bun.
“Good evening Alpha”, she nodded, politely.
“Evening Madam May. I have called you here-”
“I know, Alpha”, her eyes were looking at me with surprised eyebrows. I didn’t know who she was. But I knew one thing. She was powerful enough to cut the Alpha off.
“You are a blessed one, Alpha. Blessed by the goddess herself. Both of your names will be passed down for generations. I wish you both a very happy forever.”
“Wait. What?”, I scoffed, “This is ridiculous. How can you expect a human to lead a ‘happy forever’ with a werewolf?”, I yelled, turning every head in that hall in my direction.
I was the patient one in the trio. Something that became of me when I grew up in the orphanage. But even I had limits. And right now, it was running thin. Pretending I wasn’t standing right there and discussing my life without involving me was where I drew the line.
“I’m done here, okay. Alice, I’m leaving. Bye Jimmy”, I stood up, grabbed my purse and walked to the door without sparing them another glance.
“Your rejection would kill him, child”. I didn’t know why, but that stopped me in my tracks.
“You have lost people before, child. I could see it in your eyes. I just want you to know how important you are to him. To this pack. This doesn’t work like it works in the human world. When a werewolf rejects his/her mate, it will make the other weak and suffer. But, in case of a human rejection, it will kill the other in the worst way possible. If it is an Alpha at the receiving end, it will be the downfall of his pack too. You are precious, child. Even your lingering scent in the air is enough. Think of it, now”. Slowly, I turned around. Too much was happening around me and I couldn’t wrap my head around any of it.
“Why me?”, I asked her, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Do you believe in fate?”. I scoffed. I had too much history with fate to not believe in it. She smiled at me and I had a feeling that she understood the reason behind my lack of answer.
“I don’t have any clue why you were chosen, but what I know, for a fact, is how rare this is”, she continued.
“The first werewolf was a human. An angered Zeus turned him and his sons into werewolves and cursed them to wander as beasts and suffer under every full moon. Our ancestors prayed to the moon goddess for a boon for them to live as both humans and wolves in harmony and she granted it. There were lores and legends of human mates blessed by the mood goodness to keep the harmony but I never thought I would live to see one”
I plopped down on a nearby chair and rested my face on my palm, balancing my elbows on my knees. This wasn’t how I thought the day would be.
“Is there any other way?”Jimmy’s voice resonated in the quiet hall. I looked up at him. He was silent throughout the whole ordeal.
“You can’t say no to a goddess’s blessing, James”, she said, her voice painted with worry.
I sighed. I didn’t want anyone to die because of my rejection. In their world, rejection like that could be brutal. And if the bond they talk about was actually very strong, think about trying to rip it apart . One scar that could last a lifetime, was enough.
I stood up.
“I agree”, I felt curious eyes on me except the Alpha’s, who still stood rigid, facing the fireplace. “You said my scent is enough for him to live”, I looked at Madam May, “So I can move here. I agree to stay here. I don’t want anybody to suffer because of me. Not Again. I still have no idea about what’s going on. But I’m willing to help”.
“Bella”, Alice stepped towards me, tears in her eyes, ” I don’t want you to get hurt”, she looked at the elder and pleaded, “Is there any way I-I mean..-”
“I understand, Alice. After our Alpha has marked her, she will become a werewolf but she won’t shift. She will possess a few werewolf features like heightened senses, fast mobility. But they need to mate for her to shift and to get an inner wolf. I guess she will be a white wolf matching Alpha’s black one.”
“Whoa! Whoa! Wait. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m not going to “mate” anyone”, I said air quoting, ” I’ll stay here as a human. Everything after my stay here will be on my terms. I get to make the decision. Deal?”, I asked no one in particular. I had to draw the line somewhere.
“Deal”, he said, finally turning around to look at me. ” I give you my word. I’ll respect whatever decision you make and it’ll be on your terms”, his eyes held so many emotions but the look of respect on his eyes left me speechless.
He walked towards me, his stance steady and confident. He stood in front of me, a few decent inches away.
“Thank you”, he whispered, maybe just for us to hear and gave me a tight smile.
“James and Daniel will go with you and help you pack”, he looked at them, probably mind-linking orders.
“No”, his eyes snapped at me in question. “No. I-I cannot just leave my friend just because I have a new place to stay. She gave me everything for the past two years. I need at least a week or two to talk to her. I need some time”, I said.
Nora was important to me. She was sweet enough to take me in when I moved out of the orphanage and since then provided me with almost everything. I owe her an explanation and time.
He was giving me his intense gaze again.
“Okay. James and Daniel will drop you in your home and you-” he pointed towards Daniel, almost glaring, “stay away from her”.
He bowed his head and muttered ‘Alpha’. He left the room with Madam May discussing quietly, probably about me.
Well…
“Bella”, Alice walked towards me looking worried.
“I’m sorry again. I’m smiling now. I know. I’m sorry. But I can’t help it. We have Luna now”, she smiled at me apologetically which I sadly returned. I couldn’t take out my emotions on her. I could see she was torn between being genuinely happy for her Alpha and being worried for me. I bid her and John goodbye and walked out.
Dan and Jimmy stood by the car waiting for me. Jimmy was silent and wouldn’t look at me and Dan flinched a little when I reached for the door. I mentally rolled my eyes but was not in a mood to go around pulling his leg. I slipped into the back seat. I was exhausted.
It was damn hard to wrap my mind around the fact that my life has changed completely in an evening. Before 6 pm, I was a normal girl, waiting to enjoy a weekend party and now I was mated to a werewolf and to-be-Luna of a pack. I sighed. I seem to be doing that a lot.
I got out of the car as soon as it hit the crib and rapped at the front door. Nora was ready for bed and was in her night clothes when she opened the door.
“Hey Bella. Jimmy. And who is this new sexy specimen?”, Nora eyed Daniel as she leaned against the doorframe.
“Nora!”, I chide. It was too late and I was so damn tired to stand here and watch her flirt.
“Hey! I was just asking who he is”, she defended.
“Daniel. Alice’s cousin and Daniel, this is Nora, my roommate “, I introduced them in a monotonous voice.
“You guys want to come in?”, she moved aside and opened the door wide.
“It’s alright, Nora. We got to go. See you both later. Night”, Jimmy gave us a weak nod and walked away.
Something was up. But my brain was too fuzzy to think about it.
I went in, followed by a very excited Nora. I threw my coat and purse on the couch and wiggled my toes once they were out of the heels.
I knew she was waiting for me to talk but I purposefully ignored her.
“Well, how was the party? And what’s the deal with sexy Danny?”, she winked.
“Oh please. We are not even friends”, I said sipping on my glass of water, “And I’m tired. Let’s talk tomorrow please”, my eyes were drooping by that time and I stifled a yawn with the back of my hand.
“Okay. Tomorrow is fine. Let’s talk tomorrow. Go to sleep. Good night but don’t you think you can escape from me”, she put my coat back on the hook and went into her room.
Wishing her good night, I headed upstairs to my room. I was too drained to switch on the light and change. Stripping blindly in the dark, I changed into an oversized t-shirt and hit the bed. That night was a long one.