Alina
"Why is that human here?"
"You don't know? She's Alpha Nikolai's mate."
"Well, it's not as though they're actually mated-"
The soft voices floated in and out of earshot as I sat quietly with my hands in my lap. The low murmuring filled the space around me along with the slight rustling of papers coming from Nikolai who read through documents right by my side.
Following Silas and Alexander eventually led us to a large conference room filled with other young supernaturals. It would seem that each clan selected a representative to discuss important matters within the community. It was a council of sorts, which was strangely a lot of responsibility for highschool kids.
As soon as I walked in with Nikolai all eyes were on us. Previous conversations immediately ceased and the focus turned to analyzing every action we took. I could hear every bit of how Nikolai's quiet disposition meant he was displeased with me and how I was a manipulative human that despised supernaturals.
He obviously heard it too because his eyes narrowed in the direction of the whispers until I could no longer hear them. Maybe it was to keep Nik distracted from killing someone, but as soon as we were seated Silas quickly handed Nikolai an agenda and other important documents to look over. I didn't even get a chance to glance in his direction before he bowed his head to me and apologized for not preparing additional papers for me as well.
I quickly moved to reassure him but now that I'm stuck with my thoughts, it is a little weird. It's not as though we live in modern times where you could instantly print the documents but he seems stuck in the Stone Age or something. It's not like it really mattered in the end, I'm clueless about the issues going on with supernaturals.
So here I sit just waiting for this stupid meeting to be over.
Maybe I shouldn't have come.
I couldn't help the thought as I stared blankly out the window. I could make out the whispers about me getting louder again with Nikolai distracted. It didn't surprise me that I was a topic of gossip, but did they have to talk about me directly in front of my face?
I let my eyes wander around the room, eventually landing on an empty seat with a blank placeholder card right in front of it. I leaned towards Nik to whisper, "Who's supposed to sit there?"
"Shifter." He responded in a dull tone as his eyes continued scanning the document in front of him. My lips pulled into a frown. He could've at least given me more than a word, though he did answer my question so I guess that's a plus.
"Sorry I'm late everyone!" A familiar voice spoke rapidly as the doors burst open. I looked up to see Lavinia red in the face.
My brows furrowed. Why would Lavinia be here?
Rather than share my confusion, Silas simply nodded, "Wonderful. You can take a seat next to the Luna and we can get started."
If Lavinia was surprised to see me here, she certainly didn't show it. Instead, she offered me a tight smile and spoke with a slightly strained voice. "H-Hey Alina."
"What are yo-"
"We use proper titles for official meetings. Do not look down on my mate." Nikolai practically spat the words out her as he cut off my question. My head whipped towards him as I turned, narrowing my eyes.
"She's a friend, it's fine." I practically whispered the words to him as I could feel eyes from all over the room burn a hole into me.
A sarcastic smirk slid onto Nik's face. That was an expression I hadn't seen before. "I didn't realize you were on such friendly terms with the witches."
"Witches? Lavinia is hu-"
"L-Luna."
I clamped my mouth shut as Lavinia's shaky voice reached me. I turned slowly, no longer seeing her in the chair beside me but rather she was on the floor prostrating herself before me.
Lavinia spoke fervently, her forehead to the ground, "Luna, I am truly sorry for the blatant disrespect I have shown you. Please have mercy on this poor soul and forgive my grave mistake." She said the words as if she'd done this a million times before. The sight of her groveling for forgiveness caused my chest so much pain that I didn't notice the dark cloud beginning to swirl above my head.
My voice shook as I spoke, "Lavinia, please raise your head."
She hesitated for a moment before moving to look up at me. I could see it all in her face. The way her cheeks were flushed and her eyes watered, how the bottom lip that she bit down on so hard trembled and it wasn't until I heard the sound of thunder rumbling in the cloud above my head that I finally broke eye contact.
"You do not have to worry about titles with me. You are and will always be my friend before some rule." I somehow mustered up a smile as she slowly got up before sitting back in her seat, giving only a slight nod.
Nikolai seemed to snort at my comment and the cloud grew bigger, slowly expanding across the ceiling to cover the room. I took a deep breath to calm myself before addressing him, the edge evident in my voice. "Is there an issue, Alpha Nikolai?"
"No, Luna Alina. I just found something rather amusing."
Thunder rolled at his sarcastic response, the storm clouds above our heads threatening to pummel us all with rain. Whatever was bothering him wasn't worth causing more of a scene in front of these people.
"Silas, shall we get started?" I addressed the vampire who seemed unsure of how to proceed. He cleared his throat at my prompting before glancing down at the paper, "Yes, that would be great Luna."
Silas began the meeting by giving an introduction of the agenda. Though I kept my eyes on him throughout his presentation, my mind was elsewhere.
It's not like it's any of my business if Lavinia is a witch. While I found the news shocking, it certainly didn't make me hate her, but why would Nikolai and the other supernaturals treat her so horribly? My eyes cut to the side to look at her. She hasn't made eye contact with me ever since she sat down and she hasn't said another word since apologizing to me. She simply sat upright with a mask of cool indifference on her face almost as if nothing had happened.
But I could see the tremor of her hands, the unsteadiness in her eyes.
As I struggled to get to the clouds above the room to go away, I could feel an increasing pressure beginning to rise in the back of my head. The light that was filtering in from the windows were drowned out by the heavy storm clouds that looked close to everyone's heads. Though they tried not to make it obvious, I noticed every time someone would glance up at the ceiling in anticipation of rain or lightning striking them down.
I miss Jaxson. . .
My lips pulled down at the thought of my annoying older brother. Even though I assured him I would be fine on my own today and to give me space, I was also the one wishing that he was here with me.
"Hm?"
I glanced down at my clenched fist that was now covered by Nikolai's. His eyes stayed on Silas' presentation but his warm hand still gripped mine tightly.
Look at him trying to play nice all of a sudden.
But still, I found myself turning my hand over in his so our fingers intertwined. With his other free hand, he took notes and would read the papers given to him. Periodically throughout the meeting, Nikolai would take a moment to squeeze my hand. Every time he did this, little by little the storm clouds seemed to disperse until there was no longer a looming threat. No words or looks were exchanged between us but something about the warmth from his hand in mine made my skin tingle.
And so, time passed like that until the dreadful meeting finally came to an end. Once the group finished their closing remarks, Lavinia dashed out of the room without even looking back. I told myself she needed time and that chasing after her would only make the situation worse, but still. . . was that the right choice?
"Let's go, Alina." Nikolai's gruff voice pulled me out of my thoughts as I nodded.
I'll talk to Lavinia once I figure out why the hell Nikolai acted like that. My lips pursed as we walked to his car. I mulled over the possible reasons any of them had to embarrass Lavinia in such a way but nothing came to mind.
"Uhm."
I glanced up to meet Nikolai's gaze. Turning to look out the window, I realized we were still in the now empty parking lot. I narrowed my eyes at Nik, "Yes?"
"I'm sure you have questions." The alpha relaxed into the seat as he said this and I found myself laughing. He wanted to have this conversation in the car?
"Of course I do. Will you actually give me more than one word answers for once?" His lips pulled into a frown at my question but he shrugged in response.
To be honest, I wasn't even sure where to start but the first question out of my mouth was the one that had been bothering me the most. "Why did you treat Lavinia like that?"
Nikolai sighed, as though I'd placed a great burden on him by asking this. He rubbed the back of his neck, thinking before finally coming up with an answer. "Do you know the reason why the wolves are no longer run by a monarchy?"
My eyebrows scrunched, what did this have to do with Lavinia? My mind scanned through the werewolf textbook and lectures but nothing specific came to mind. "If I remember correctly, it was because the king committed a crime so terrible that the goddess herself punished him."
"The king committed the crime of killing his mate." Nikolai's voice was quiet as I let the information sink in. Why would someone kill their mate? Isn't that their lifeline in this world? Wouldn't the heartbreak be so intense that it would drive you mad?
He continued, "The king then went mad, seeking out other people's mates to fill the growing void within himself and when it didn't work he had them executed. The moon goddess saw the chaos he wrought upon the kingdom and cursed his bloodline."
Something about the story wasn't adding up, "Why did he do it though?" I asked the question quietly, the pieces slowly coming together as Nikolai gave a bitter smile.
"Because a witch was the one that cursed him first." He brought his large hand towards my face, stroking my cheek. "And. . . as his descendant, my family is cursed as well."