Chapter 5 - Lila

I smile as I watch my brother finish his meal with a delighted burp before he gathers the used cutlery on the table and proceeds to wash it at the sink.

“I really missed you, Miles,” I sigh as I stretch my arms over my head. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

“Does it have anything to do with how they’ve been treating you?” he asks over his shoulder.

“What are you talking about?” I ask nonchalantly, not wanting to go through this right now. We’ve spent the past two days catching up, but our time was mostly filled with Miles talking about his adventures in the Ouachitas. I’ve been avoiding talking about how I spent these years building up enough courage to face the pack despite their attempts to bully me.

Miles turns off the faucet and turns to me with a sigh. “You can quit the act, lil' sis,” he grumbles. “I know how hard life can be, and you don’t need to hide it anymore. Especially not from me. I’m your big brother, and it’s my job to protect you.”

Miles’s conviction moves me, but not enough to reveal the details of the woes I faced even long before he left for training. It will only destroy a friendship that both my brother and Flynn needed at a time of great loss for both males.

I’m not willing to come between that. All I can do is steer clear of Flynn, as I have been doing successfully for the past two days. Each time I see him, I’m only reminded of the torturous heartbreak I suffered at his hands. I refuse to remain bound to that pain, releasing the mentality of being the victim and taking my life into my own hands.

That’s real power, even without the gift of a wolf.

“I’m not acting, Miles,” I defend as I cross my arms over my chest. He returns to the kitchen table and takes a seat, staring at me with keen interest.

“You’re not?” He raises a skeptical brow. “So that means the whole tough-girl thing is real, and you wouldn’t care about connecting with your inner wolf, right?”

I frown long and hard at him, trying to make sense of his roundabout question. I know my brother well enough to recognize when he’s being coy.

“There’s something you know, isn’t there?” I ask curiously, leaning my forearms on the table as I sit forward. “What is it?”

“Well,” he begins as he does the same on his side of the table, leaning in with a mysterious grin on his lips, “apart from enduring rigorous training, special ops was more like summer camp thanks to old man Tomas’s frequent visits. We had to study werewolf lore.”

“And…?”

Miles chuckles, his cocky smile so infuriating as he drags this out that I’m tempted to wriggle the information out of him by pinching his nose.

“We didn’t just study Blood Moon’s lore, but that of other packs, too.” He shrugs his shoulder calmly. “You could say that we have an advantage over the others now. Probably the best in all of the States.”

“Miles!”

“Sorry, Liles,” he says, his chuckle fading into a sigh. “I’m serious, though. No werewolf in history is meant to be left without a wolf. Not if they’re born to werewolf parents.”

I nod slowly, just as my brows furrow. “Is there…is there something wrong with me?”

“No, of course not!” he defends quickly, reaching out to fold my hands reassuringly. “There’s nothing wrong with you, Lila. It’s just that, sometimes, a werewolf’s inner wolf is tied to their mate.”

“M-mate?” I’m taken aback by his claim, my heart beating with unrest when I recall how I’d foolishly called Flynn “mate” when nothing had indicated that he was. I’d studied everything in the Grime that pointed to mates, and nothing happened the way it should have if he was mine.

It was a moment of weakness that will never happen again. Besides, he’d already rejected me.

Miles nods. “Mates can come from different packs, as you already know. Maybe you just haven’t met yours yet.”

“No, Miles, I don’t think—”

“Come on. You must have given it some thought, Lila,” he prompts with a sturdy, raised brow. “Now that Blood Moon is allying with other packs, maybe you’ll find the man of your dreams outside of our pack. That way, your inner wolf will be unleashed. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

I nod slowly, taking in this new information. It’s not something I considered before, especially ever since I clung tightly to the feelings I thought I had for Flynn. I can’t stay stuck in the past, and I need to look toward my future.

If I find my mate in another pack, I’ll be free to escape Zafra and free my inner wolf from its hiding place.

My frown melts into a smile. “Maybe you’re right,”

Miles smirks with satisfaction. “Of course, I am. And”—he proudly tilts his chin—“I’m gonna help you find a suitable mate.”

The cheerful glint in his eyes spreads through me as hope is reignited. Hope that I lost almost nine years ago. I won’t have to be a desolate Omega in a pack that hates me forever. I might stand a chance of living an ordinary werewolf life.

***

Two days later

“Let’s hang back here,” I suggest to Valerie when we enter the pack’s large hall in the main center where the Blood Moon members are gathering for tonight’s meeting. I take a quick look around the neo-Renaissance cathedral-styled tent with its many rows of pinewood benches beneath fairy lights that hang from the tall ceilings.

With the return of the pack’s soldiers, Alpha Silas will be officially stepping down from his position and passing the torch to his son, Flynn.

“Are you sure?” Valerie frowns, glancing at the front of the hall. “There are empty seats over there,” she nods ahead.

“No,” I shake my head, determinedly tugging her arm to pull her into the row at the back. Ever since I became immune to Cynthia’s brutal words, we’d been able to sit near the front while I bravely held my head high.

But now that the Alpha’s son is back, I don’t wish to be anywhere near him. I’ve successfully been able to keep my distance so far, and I don’t plan on disrupting my peace any time soon.

Not when tonight is meant to be all about him.

Once we’re seated, there’s an unsettling rumble in the pit of my belly that skitters all along my spine and rises like bile in my throat. I frown to myself, not wanting to alarm Valerie with how I’m feeling when I’ve done my best to convince her that I’m fine after Cynthia’s attack.

The strange sense of awareness subsides when the cavalry of Blood Moon soldiers enter the hall, so I don’t pay much attention to why I’m feeling calmer now. Instead, I gulp down the bile and straighten up in my seat, deciding to give my attention to the proceeding meeting.

“Blood Moon wolves,” Alpha Silas addresses us, clearing his throat into the mic at the altar to settle the crowd into silence before he continues. “Tonight, I will officially step down from my position as this pack’s Alpha, and hand over the duty to my son, Flynn,” he announces, lifting an arm to point at his son, who joins him on the oak platform.

I try to remain as neutral as I can, watching Flynn uncover the golden pitcher on the table and lift a cup. His father pours out the tea made of a mixture of herbs, including enough wolfsbane to cause a trance-like effect in which he’ll carry out this induction ceremony.

When the live goat is carried into the hall tent by the old Beta and Delta of Blood Moon, my heart begins an unsteady race, the glint of Flynn’s distended claws slicing through the air as he repeats an incantation to the Moon Goddess.

"Moon Goddess Selene, it is I, Flynn Lycoan, who calls upon you on the July full moon…” he utters aloud, keeping his wolfed-out hand beside his head as he stares at the goat being held down by the Alpha and his subordinates. “Tonight, I claim my position as the Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack of Zafra, with your permission, and your attendance to witness my reign.”

My heartbeat quickens as he drops his arm and slices the goat’s throat with a nimble flick of his wolf claws. The silence allows for the sigh of the animal to ring out as it releases its last breath, and a sense of calmness washes over the hall.

Flynn’s cup is filled with the blood that trickles from the goat’s neck to amalgamate with the tea in a cloud of gray smoke. He tips the cup to his lips, chugs down the mixture, and sets the mug down to the sound of the pack cheering him on.

“The ritual is complete now,” his father, now the former Alpha of Blood Moon, announces on the mic. “The new Alpha of Blood Moon is Flynn Lycoan. All hail Alpha Flynn.”

“All hail Alpha Flynn!” the Blood Moon wolves belt out, but I just can’t bring myself to repeat those words.

All I can do is remain silent as the pack rejoices for their new Alpha—the man who publicly humiliated me after years of torment and abusive words.

How can I join in on the celebration when I hate him for how he treated me?

I take a deep breath, reminding myself that I have to remain numb through this ordeal. Soon, Miles will help me find a suitor, and I’ll leave this pack for good.

Flynn lifts the mic and glances at his soldiers, his friends who he’d spent the two years with, and smiles. His eyes widen with golden swirls as the effects of his sacred drink take over.

“To my friends…” he begins, going on to voice his appreciation for everything that went on in special ops training. It’s just a symphony of praise that I barely give my attention to, until he calls out my brother’s name, along with another soldier.

“As any good Alpha of Blood Moon,” Flynn continues as Miles and Howard join him on the stage. “I have to pick my second and third in command.” Flynn turns to the gathering. “Under my leadership, the Blood Moon Delta will be Howard Storm, while the Beta will be Miles Hargis.”

Another round of applause and hoots fill the hall, and this time, I join in on the celebration. Glancing at Valerie as I clap my hands, we exchange smiles that show how proud we both are.

It doesn’t come as a huge surprise that Flynn has chosen his best friend as his Beta. Still, I’m elated to hear the official announcement, waving at my brother from the back of the hall to draw his attention.

He throws me a smug smile while he stands on the stage, then winks just as Flynn quiets the hall when he clears his throat into the mic.

“Now, for the most important part of my initiation as the Alpha of Blood Moon, I will announce who I have picked as my mate and Luna of the pack.”

Hearing Flynn say those words for all of Blood Moon to hear, it feels as if my heart plummets to the ground, an unwelcomed sense of disappointment filling my gut.

I shouldn’t feel this way. Not when he made it clear that there was no way an Omega like me could be the mate of the Alpha of Blood Moon.

I mentally prepare myself for what comes next, though my heart doesn’t seem to comply with my need to feel indifferent toward this. Anger and hurt wrestle for dominance, the conflicting feelings struggling through the sudden ache in my chest. An ache that draws my gaze to the back of Cynthia’s head as her red curls bounce. She shifts on the bench in excitedly as the Blood Moon members gathered in the hall anticipate Flynn’s announcement in utter silence.

Even Flynn stares at Cynthia, his eyes blank voids of dull gold as his brows knit into a frown. His knuckles pale around the mic he’s gripping tightly as he slowly begins to shake his head and lift his eyes.

Only to meet mine.

His throat works as he gulps, an inner struggle contorting his face while I’m left to reflect his frown of confusion when he doesn’t take his eyes off me.

By now, the dull ache in my chest almost has me keeling over with how unbearable the pain is, a dissonant ringing ripping through my eardrums.

“My mate and Luna of Blood Moon will be…” Flynn stalls, his eyes not leaving mine. No longer blank, they’re piercing beads of amber that have me frozen.

“…Lila Hargis,” he calls out my name, the shocking announcement met with a chorus of horrified gasps in the hall.

The ringing stops, and the ache in my chest disappears just as my jaw drops. Too shocked to move, all I can do is stare at Flynn in disbelief.

What the hell just happened?