I couldn’t tell why my body felt wintry. I had not been able to identify the source of the coldness. I managed to look around and I spotted the AC. If it was up to me at that moment, I wouldn’t mind damaging or getting rid of the A. C. I was trying to get hold of myself. I was trying to act tough but within me, the whole thing was going the opposite way. My breathing was puffing out hot and fast but my body was feeling achingly cold. But then, Drake did something that marveled me. As though he heard my inner feelings, he placed his hand gently on the left arm I had kept on the chair. His touch felt cold but it sent a warm sensation up my nerves. It kindled a good fire that gave me that soothing sensation I needed not to go wryly at the moment. I shot him a glance but saw him smiling but still not looking. I felt relieved instantly and I managed to look back at the Prefect- Cecily.
“Honored members of the Twelve, it is due time to exercise our franchise as enthroned in our law,” Cecily spoke, still standing. “This young woman here had been chosen by the Alpha to be the Luna of our pack. I believe that we are all acquainted with the principles of all the proceedings here but I will have to give the niceties so I would refresh all our memories again. In this case, it would be done quickly.” Cecily looked at me, eyeball to eyeball. I think it was time I needed to be bold more than ever. I caught Princy’s gray-blue eyes, her gaze perfectly set on me. She smiled and looked away.
“You all must understand that after today, if she gets chosen to be our Luna, then, there is nothing anyone here can do about it. Now is the only time in the universe you will have your chance to vote her in or vote her out of the pack. We will start the vote according to our ranks here and if you vote against, then please endeavor to tell us the reason why you did so.” The room was glorified with graveyard silence as she stopped to draw her cards. “I, Cecily, the Prefect of the Blood Moon pack would start the vote.”
I held my breath- still. I didn’t move. I paid more attention. I didn’t know who would vote in my favour or who wouldn’t. But something told me that I was going to get a mutual vote from the two beautiful girls, Princy and Cynthia. It was clear the Alpha wouldn’t be participating. I couldn’t say much about Simon. But even if he does vote in my favour, that wouldn’t be enough to make me stay. Shit. This was a moment in my life when I had no degradable idea of how my next few minutes would fare. I still held my breath, looking at the Prefect.
Everyone on the table brought out two squared paper- except Drake. The thick squared papers were of colour red and blue. They all set it forth on the table. It had the same shape as the ones you would see soccer referees within the game of play. “It is time for the Game Of the Cards. This is one of the final steps that would determine your fate, young woman. I, Cecily, having known and had an encounter with your father, I would say that he might have passed some of those good gentleman qualities down to you. On this note, I would vote for you to stay and be the Luna of our pack.” Prefect Cecily tossed the blue card in the middle of the long table. She sat back down in her seat. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath.
Simon stood up and looked at me. I couldn’t grab the mood on his face. He scratched at his whiskers and then tossed the blue card on the table. “I vote her in to be the Luna of our pack.” A smile crept on the Alpha’s face but he handled it with care. I didn’t know that I was going to get a vote from him. I had never expected it. This would go a lot to entail that he really meant it when he mentioned something like, ‘let’s be friends with each other’.
The tall white-haired blonde woman stood up. She clearly did not transmit any friendly expression on her face. She looked into the tiny book she had concealed and then looked back at me. “There are some introductory practices you failed to put in place. It made me grow a doubt. If you failed in that little aspect then I seriously doubt that you’d be able to handle the position of the Lunarship.” She tossed the red card and said, “I, Audrey, a member of this honoured council, I vote against her as the Luna of this pack.”
I breathed. That was my first red. I assumed it wasn’t bad yet. Though I didn’t quite understand how a common introduction would be a factor that would make me lose a point on something as important as this. I was expecting to hear stuff like ‘she has a big character flaw’ or something of that nature. This next woman- dark-skinned, sitting close to Audrey stood up and tossed the red card. And the next woman did the same. Hah! This was where it all started to get sensitively nervous for me. I just had two persons who had thrown their support for me and then three against me. I prayed the next vote would go in my place. The next woman ended up voting against me with the most useless excuse I had ever heard. The next man stood up, without a reason, voted against me. Jeez. The other three remaining men voted in my favour. Now it was five against five. It was time for Princy and Cynthia to throw in their weight.
Cynthia stood up, depicting the expression of the beautiful beast she was. “I, Cynthia, vote for her to be our Luna. I see so much potential in her. For those worried that she would not be a good Luna should just give her the chance.” She gave me a quiet nod and then sat back in her chair. I felt happy for a second that I earned one more vote. If Princy didn’t vote for me, it would be a tie. And nobody told me what would happen if the whole session end up in a tie. The Prefect didn’t mention that.
Princy stood up, smiled beautifully, and then said, “If the Alpha would pick you to be his Luna then surely he might have his reasons. If he brought you to the council of the twelve then it means that you are deserving of this position more than anyone else. I hardly know you but I have also heard some things about you, in which case most of them didn’t look good in the ears. I am not the type that would rush to conclusions when I have no clue if what I have heard about you are true. It will be quite understandable if I throw my vote against you because I clearly do not know you well enough. However, it will do me no harm if I choose to do otherwise.” She smiled again and carefully scratched the hair close to her neck. “I, Princess, a member of the council of the twelve throws in the blue card.” She tossed her blue card on the table and sat back in her chair comfortably.
“Very well,” Cecily said audibly before she stood up. “The voting process had come to an end and at this point, nothing can be amended herein. It appears that the woman in our midst had become a Luna elect and until the next full moon, she would remain the elect that she is.” Cecily regarded me and bowed her head. “It will truly be an honour to serve you and please, accept my deepest solidarity.”
My heart became heavy. It was filled with excitement. I didn’t know exactly how to react. Drake leaned closer to me and whispered, “It is time you talk to them. Make them see what you are made of.” He then smiled and focused back his gaze on others. I didn’t make any arrangements for public speech. But the Alpha had just told me what to do. It was more or less like a hint. I stood up on my feet, my legs made frail movements. I avoided looking into anyone’s eye directly. I choose to hang my gaze above everyone’s faces. Looking into people’s eyes directly during a public speech, could be the first step in giving the craziest speech ever- unless, of course, you are a pro-public orator.
“Uhm,” I muttered incoherently. “First of all, I want to thank the Prefect of this great council, Cecily. You handled the voting process with the best practices that could be obtained in any part of the world. The whole voting thing came as a shock to me because I never knew that such a thing exists, not within the wolf community by the way. I am incredibly honoured to be given the due consideration to become a Luna elect.”
The Prefect nodded and smiled.
I paused and looked at the Alpha. He seemed fascinated about the whole thing. I smiled at him and then said, “I will try to be the best Luna ever for Drake, the Alpha of the Blood Moon pack, and at the same time be a mother to all.” I shifted back my glance to others. “For those that voted for me, I want to say a big thank you to you all. I wish you understand how glad you made me feel. And for those that didn’t vote for me, I promise to make you see reasons to change your notion about me perhaps in the nearest future. Whatever shortcomings you see, I promise to address them all. All I need is patience and time.”
I barely finished the last statement when Simon started clapping his hands. The Alpha followed suit and before I could take note of what was going on, the room was filled with a round of applause- though the blonde woman, Audrey, wasn’t visibly clapping. I couldn’t believe that there would ever be a thing I’d do that would gladden Simon to a point of starting a clapping session for me. My heart fluttered merrily in my chest, evidently showing I had done a good job. Maybe the speech was great or maybe not. But I hoped it was. It had to. Dinner was later served, and drinks were included but I failed to enjoy it with the same tenacity I originally thought I would have used. At some point, the Alpha took my hands and excused us from the rest of the members. He walked me to his room. On the way, he lurched his palm on my ass, gentle and caressed me like Hell. I stared into those eyes and I could tell exactly what he had in mind. I chuckled gaily as we both laughed on our way to his room. He opened his door and lifted me with both arms, his hand carefully placed on my ass. I hugged him tightly as I screamed out of surprise and excitement mixed.
I knew it was going to be a long night. Yeah, long night it is.