LUCIUS.
"Lucius." I heard and saw Dusk standing in front of me with fear on her face. She moved backward, stumbled, and fell. It was then that I noticed my claws were out. I immediately retracted them and held them out for her to see.
"I'm not... I'm not..." I said and realised I didn't even know what she thought I was about to do.
I ran my hands through my hair. My father's death had affected me more than I thought. I had been sitting in the garden since I couldn't sleep and didn't want to call Athena, and I just got so lost in thoughts that I didn't even notice when I stood up or when dusk came to the garden.
She stood up slowly.
"Lucius?" She asked, and I nodded.
"I was just... Never mind. Are you okay?" I asked as I inched closer to her, but she took a cautious step back.
“Yes, I am. I just got startled. Your eyes were all red and..."
"My eyes were red." I interrupted.
"You didn't know?" She asked me, and I sighed. "It's your father's death, right? I understand. You must have been really shaken. I mean, it was so sudden and..." She said, and I saw in her eyes a look of sympathy.
I sat on the grass, and she sat next to me.
"It was something that left us all shocked." She continued, and I looked at her.
"I thought you'd feel relieved; I mean, there's no one threatening you anymore." I said, and she looked at me.
"I would have felt relieved if it was something else that stopped the threats, not death. I can't feel relieved because a person died. It doesn't speak well of a person." She said, and I gave it some thought.
If she had said she was relieved, it might have been a little bit of an offence to people hearing it.
"It's nice you think that way." I said, and there was silence between us for a long time.
"How did it feel not being able to sleep?" She asked, breaking the silence, and I smiled.
"Hell. I actually envied everyone sleeping soundly in the palace." I said, and she gave a light laugh.
"How's Athena. Did you sleep well?" She asked, and I nodded.
"It was odd, but I slept peacefully." I said and noticed there was something she wanted to say that she wasn't saying. "You want to say something. What's it?" I probed, and she looked at me.
"I was a bit worried if the pack would accept her, and that's because she's half-blood." She said, and that was exactly what I had been thinking.
"I bring the pack together; what I want, the pack would want; they'll accept her." I replied, and she nodded.
"Do you believe in stars granting wishes?" She suddenly asked, and I wondered why she asked that out of the blue.
"Why?" I asked, and a serious look crossed her face.
"I wish to go far away from here." She said, and I wasn't expecting that at all.
"Why?" I asked in a serious tone.
"No offence, but I hate your pack. They never accepted me, and I doubt they ever will. I want nothing to do with your pack. They have wronged me over and over." She said, and I felt bad. It was true that my people had mistreated Dusk, and I did nothing about it.
But it also meant I wouldn't be able to ask her to be my Luna since she had made it clear she wanted nothing to do with my pack. And I didn't think I wanted anyone other than Dusk to be my Luna.
~
The next day, I called an emergency meeting with the pack, and they all showed up without excuses.
With the look on their faces, I guessed they thought I wanted to discuss having a Luna, and what I wanted to say was a bit related to that.
"I've gathered us all for a brief meeting. The coronation is just a few days away, and I recall a question about my Luna." I said, and they all looked eager and excited.
"In the past, we've treated Dusk unfairly because she was a weak Omega. But we forgot to apologise for our wrong behaviour, as she's no longer weak. She is stronger and worthy of being called one of us. As a pack, I think it's right if we apologise." I said, and immediately they started to murmur.
That annoyed me. I was still standing, and they all showed strong looks of disapproval.
"That is all in the past, Alpha; let's not bring it up. Dusk was treated according to her status back then, and now she's treated according to her current status." One of them said.
"With all due respect, Alpha, I think apologising as a pack is a little too much. This is indeed a thing of the past." Sabrina, a well-known member of the pack, said.
"I don't know if she requested an apology from Alpha, but that is highly inappropriate. A lot of us are far more advanced in age than she is; that is simply impossible." Another said, and the meeting went on; whenever I spoke, they all met me with disapproval, and Ethan put a hand on my arm to calm me down.
"I think we should let it rest." He said, and it was only due to him that I ended the meeting.
~
DUSK.
All through the day, whenever I passed by an elder or important pack member, they would look at me with a look of strong dislike that had seemed to intensify over the night.
When it was dinnertime in the general dining hall, I found it hard to eat and eventually left my plate full.
I needed some space. It was obvious something had happened, although I wasn't sure what had happened.
I went to the very top of the building where I and Lucius had sat some time ago, and the breeze was soothing.
Then someone sat next to me.
It was Athena. She handed me a sausage roll.
At first, I hesitated, but since she kept on extending the sausage roll, I took it from her.
Did she follow me? How did she know I was here? I felt uncomfortable around her.
"I saw you didn't eat and looked very uncomfortable." She said, and I looked at the roll.
She brought it because I didn't eat.
I looked at her. She was already looking at me, and then she smiled.
There was something instantly captivating about her smile.
As she smiled, I felt calm. I forgot about the looks the elders had been giving me all day.
I felt at peace.
There was something strange about her smile.