Lucy’s POV
As every pack did, there was a festival held twice every year to celebrate the change of seasons in time with the moon’s phases: the Moon Festival.
The last time it had been celebrated, I had still been bound to Daven as his trophy slave wife, and had to follow him around the halls and pretend that I was happy to be by his side.
I remembered that night like it was yesterday, because right after the festival, Daven had taken me to his chambers and subjected me to a night of forceful intercourse. He must have thought that having sex with me repeatedly would have changed something in the way I perceived him, but it only made me hate him more. Even though I usually just remained silent and endured him defiling my body, which he claimed to have owned, my chest always burned with rage whenever his hands touched me.
This new festival had to be good enough for me to at least, forget about the last one to a certain extent. I didn’t want to be reminded of the man who stole my innocence.
Plans went underway, and from the things we had to budget, allocate, and cut out, I started to see the usefulness of Ahmad. But I consoled myself by saying he probably got all that experience from doing that work for goddess knew how long.
As for my relationship with the triplets, things had become much more amicable between us, but they were professional enough to not express details of the events that had passed between us. After what Scott told me back at the handing-over ceremony, I had a little call to reality. I couldn’t keep living in the past and forgetting the present, and had to be open to accept the things that were changing in the now.
Seth and Scott remained open and warm towards me, but whenever Shaun was in the room with them, they would give us ‘openings’ for a conversation or something to bring us together. They thought they were subtle, but they were so easy to see through, likely because they hadn’t done it before. Regardless, I found the gesture kind and thoughtful of them, even if I didn’t think I needed such interventions.
After completing one of the final meetings we were going to have to decide on the final touches for the Moon Festival, I left the office that had become our natural meeting place and set out to return to my room. I had told Rosa to meet up with me earlier in the day when I had seen her carrying out her maid duties, so she was likely already waiting for me in my room.
Just like I expected, she was seated on my bed braiding Tessa’s hair when I got there.
She looked up, smiling. She looked more at peace those days, and I liked seeing her eyes light up with happiness. Unlike those earlier days in Moongrowl when the days were bleak and it appeared like a neverending nightmare. Things weren’t the best in current times, but we had come a long way, and even she could see that.
“What’s the special occasion? ” I asked, nodding towards Tessa’s hair.
“I wanted to do something different today too,” Tessa replied, smiling as she made reference to the last conversation we’d had concerning her hair.
I shook my head good-naturedly and took a seat on the part of the bed still free. “Well, if anyone wants to know, my day was a little stressful. Who knew that planning a whole festival would be so stressful and time-consuming?”
“It’s the biggest and most important festival of the year, Lucy. What were you expecting?” said Rosa, finishing up with Tessa’s hair and patting her handwork.
“Definitely not this.”
Rosa’s twinkling laughter filled the room in response. She got up and went to the dresser, bringing back a tray of food and placing it on the bed. “Oh, I almost forgot. This meal was prepared for you.”
I sat up, already smelling the wonderful scent of roasted meat and freshly baked bread. “Wonderful, I’m famished.” I opened up the plates and tore a piece of bread before looking at Rosa, who hadn’t made a move to eat anything yet. “Are you waiting for me to ask you to join me, Rosa?”
She gave me a look that answered my question in the affirmative. She picked up a spoon and dove into the thick, meaty broth. Meaty soups were her favourite kind of meal, I remembered.
“So, Rosa, how’s everything been?” I asked, stirring up a conversation before we descended into mutual silence.
She nodded. “My days are busy, as usual, but the new person in charge of our unit is quite kind, so she lets us have breaks more often.”
I smiled to myself. At least one thing I had worked on went the right way. I had to thank Shaun later for his help in that regard.
“I didn’t even expect the change, but it was so good to finally see that cruel woman get what she deserves. We’re all Omegas, but she acted like because she,” she coughed abruptly, and patted her chest, “was placed in charge of us,” another cough, “she was-was better.”
She started wheezing for air as soon as the last word made its way out of her mouth. More coughing followed until her breaths turned ragged.
“Rosa,” I exclaimed in panic, catching her as she fell forward on the bed, twitching uncontrollably. Her eyes were wide open and kept rolling into her head, leaving just the whites exposed. “Rosa!” I tapped her, trying to get her to wake up, but she wasn’t responding.
I turned to Tessa, who stood frozen by the bathroom door. “Go and call the brothers now. Tell them it’s urgent!”
Tessa nodded and dashed out of the room.
–
We wasted no time in taking her to the hospital where I had been treated for my own wounds not too long ago. Her twitching got so terrible that on arrival, she was immediately injected with drugs to calm her down. Watching her pale, blank face tugged on something deep inside of my heart.
Once she was stable and placed in a room, the doctor called us into his office.
“What’s wrong with her, doctor?” I asked, frantic. I couldn’t lose someone else I cared about. I didn’t even want to think about such a possibility.
The man took off his glasses and regarded us with a solemn look on his face. “I haven’t seen symptoms like that in a very long time, given our location and what we are.”
“Please just tell me what’s wrong,” I said impatiently, I didn’t have time for any beating around the bush.
The doctor’s silver eyes caught mine. “It’s fortunate that you brought her in quickly. Without intervention within an hour, she would have passed away. Your friend is displaying acute symptoms of Wolfsbane poisoning.”