Lilac

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"That shirt looks great on you," Lilac commented quietly, her voice hoarse from sleep as she squinted against the sunlight peeking through the curtains of the window, contrasting to the darkness of the room. She was sitting on the bed, white sheets pooled around her waist as she stared at Ethan- fresh from his shower and- Lilac looked at the clock on the bed side table and almost groaned, realizing she overslept- his run.

Ethan looked at her fondly, buttoning up the uppermost portion of his dark, navy blue button-up shirt, eyes on hers as he did so. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Lilac retorted, the word hanging awkwardly in the air. The shirt did look great on him- size just right, material clinging not too tightly on his body but effortlessly accentuating his sinewy frame. It was an honest observation.

He was looking at her with eyes that made Lilac want to bury herself under the sheets, eyes that told of last night's events. She cleared her throat, prayed to God her cheeks weren't betraying her, and asked non-linearly, "Why are you up so early? I mean- you're up early everyday- what I mean is-"

"Alpha duties," he cut off her youthful, awkward rambling, quoting her words, his distinct smirking hanging off the corners of his mouth. He rolled off the cuffs of his sleeves, his eyes slowly descending to the hollow of her neck, lower and lower, down to where it met her collarbones. His smirk lightened, his lips doing that thing that made something inside Lilac thaw, as if he was fighting off a smile. His eyes found hers again, bright and fond and taunting.

"That sounds fun," Lilac retorted, although her nose wrinkled. "Are you going somewhere far today?" Ethan rarely wore dress shirts unless he had to- this, Lilac knew already. Ethan preferred wearing simple shirts on a daily basis, tending to stay within the dark monochrome line. His closet seemed to consist only of black, grey and dark blue.

Ethan nodded. "I would take you with me, but it's not really an ideal place," he said.

Lilac's curiosity was piqued. "Where?"

"It's the higher council," Ethan replied, sounding mildly irked as he mentioned the association. "I received a call earlier while you were still asleep."

"Oh," was what Lilac could only muster. "That's a few hours away from here, isn't it?"

The Higher Council was what maintained peace and harmony among the different kinds of supernaturals. Werewolves, Witches, Vampires, Prodigies, Savants- all of them had representatives to appear in behalf of their respective community. By tradition, it was the Sage who represented Prodigies. It was always the Alpha for werewolves.

Non-supernaturals, or humans, also have a representative, and it usually would be a high person in government positions. Someone influential and trustworthy and someone already briefed that there were indeed living people with extraordinary capabilities. Because majority of the information regarding the existence of supernaturals was handled in secrecy, a treaty had to be made between humans and supernaturals, and it was silently yet well-understood that this was done to protect the safety of the citizens that weren't born with powers exceeding the human range. This treaty ensured that these people did not get taken advantage of or worse, killed by those who did possess such traits. This treaty ensured that measures were being taken to maintain harmony and peace between predators and vulnerable preys- the balance of nature. Hence, anybody who would be proven to violate this treaty would have to face the consequences with their lives.

Not participating in or responding to Higher Council summons usually corresponded to as rebellion, interpreted as a declaration of war- and while Ethan thought the assumption was hasty and nonsense, and while Ethan was not the type to sit through meetings with people he could barely bother to interact with, he didn't want to put a risk of war over the quarters under the Northeast Black Ridge. He was a leader of many lands with many, many people in them, and there were too many at stake, too much that would be put to risk. It wasn't worth it. If he had to sit through a 3-hour meeting once a year with problematic leaders, then so be it.