Emma retorted with the same indifference, “Oh, don’t worry about that, my dear lady. I always mean what I say. I just hope that perhaps you could show some respect to your son, instead of treating him like a true beast only good for breeding!”
Having said this, she stormed angrily back to her room.
Once there, she sadly wrapped herself in the blanket, unable to stop her tears. The thought of Patrick being with the woman standing beside Jennifer, the scent of Patrick lingering on that woman for a long time, and perhaps leaving traces of their intimacy on Patrick, all of this made Emma feel utterly shattered.
The mere thought of it almost broke her heart.
She wanted to grab her phone immediately and tell Rory she wasn’t going. That damn bonfire party meant nothing to her. All she wanted now was a bottle of wine at hand to drink and forget the damn thing that had happened tonight.
But she needed to get away from here. She couldn’t bear this damn environment for another second.
She changed into different clothes and once again jumped down from that tree, slipping away under the cover of night.
Emma, with red eyes, appeared at the bakery. Rory had been looking at his phone, but when he looked up and caught sight of Emma, he froze.
She looked like an injured young animal. Tear stains still marked her face, her eyes red and swollen. It was as if she had been punched. Rory cautiously probed, “Emmie, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Emma replied hoarsely. “Let’s go.”
Throughout the journey, Rory surreptitiously kept glancing at Emma.
Finally, he came to a conclusion. “You don’t seem fine. You look dejected. You need someone to talk to. Come on, tell me, in that short half-hour, what happened at that house?”
Emma remained silent.
In truth, she wasn’t sure whether she should keep silent about this matter. She had never encountered such a situation before, and no one had taught her anything about everything related to sex. She had no idea about the mating mechanisms of werewolves.
“I’m not sure,” she said, “I don’t know if I’m being too sensitive, or if I have no right to think this way. I just feel that none of this should have happened.”
Just mentioning it made her tears uncontrollable once again.
“I just feel that Patrick shouldn’t be treated this way… why should he be locked up to mate like a breeding animal with someone he doesn’t even like during rutting season?”
Rory knew what she was talking about.
“You mean Shirley?” he asked.
Emma looked at him in surprise. “You know Shirley?”
Rory gazed into the distance. “She’s the sexual partner Jennifer chose for Patrick. Everyone knows about it, almost everyone here knows her, except newcomers like you.”
Emma lowered her head in disappointment.
“I feel sorry for him, I don’t know why. I wish he could do this with someone he likes.”
Rory looked at her tenderly. “I understand. Because you are a gentle child, but with Patrick’s status, we can’t worry for him. The greater the power he enjoys, the more responsibility he bears.”
Listening to him, Emma was somewhat absent-minded. She thought, is this person trying to tell me that Patrick and my world are ultimately too distant, and I will never be enough for him?
“Stop thinking about it,” Rory put his arm around her shoulder. “There are many people at the bonfire party, and you will have a good time here.”
As Rory had said, a large group of people arrived at the bonfire party. Everyone sat around the fire, chatting and laughing happily. Both boys and girls held beers in their hands, their faces lit by the glow of the torches and alcohol, all looking intoxicated. Rory introduced Emma to each of them.
“You’re probably the youngest here,” he whispered to Emma. “You can make requests to them, ask them to take you to play or something else. Being the youngest, you have some privileges here.”
Emma, still somewhat immersed in the emotions of Patrick and Shirley’s affair, seemed somewhat gloomy.
A stylishly dressed young girl came over and leaned on Emma’s shoulder. The girl was adorned with piercings, five on her ears, one on her nose, and two on her lips. Emma was almost blinded by the metallic decorations.
“Hi, Emma, I’m Gloria. I live in an apartment about three blocks from here, and I’m the lead singer of a band. We have a party here every Friday. Would you like to join us? Our band performs every Thursday night at a nearby bar. If you join us, we’ll have a new audience.”
Rory had to pull this tipsy girl away. “Oh my, Gloria, you should stop. Why do you always want to pull people in as new audience members every time there’s a new kidaround? I’ve told you, you should give up that silly band and find a proper job.”
“Goodness gracious!” Gloria exclaimed. “Rory, you’re so unbelievable. You speak like an old fuddy-duddy!”
Rory pulled Emma aside. “Darling, I’m just teaching you to face reality.”
“Reality,” the girl called Gloria grumbled and kicked a can on the ground. “I don’t need to know what kind of reality it is. Reality is a pile of crap. I just want to make it better.”
With that, she staggered away.
Emma now felt a tinge of curiosity about this place. “She has a band?”
“Yes, a rock band that sings heavy death metal. She knows that kind of aesthetic won’t fly in the Silver Moon Pack,” Rory muttered, “but she’s too stubborn.”
Emma looked at him, not understanding what was so regrettable about it. “I like death metal.”
Rory looked at her in shock. “Are you serious?”
He had never seen Gloria successfully bring in a female audience member before.
“Yes,” Emma replied earnestly. “I like the screaming voices, it makes me feel like all the pain is being released. I like that gut-wrenching feeling.”
Rory was genuinely surprised; he always discovered new surprises from Emma.
“Then you might get along with Gloria. Her biggest trait is rebellion.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “I’m not rebellious.”
“But you are still very stubborn, and so is she. She could have gone to university, but she gave up the opportunity to study in the werewolf society and went to the human world to study music. God knows how foolish that was.”
Emma countered, “You can’t label the choices of people who disagree with you as foolish. People have free will, and we should respect our own desires and the thoughts of others.”
Rory surrendered, raising his hands. “I can’t argue with you.”
He thought to himself that she hadn’t had much education, but she was certainly articulate.
“So, would you be interested in attending her band’s performance every Thursday? I think she’d be thrilled.”