Song: A.M. by One Direction
Words: 1953
Published: September 26th, 2020
Third Person POV
It's been a month since Rayna and Harley have gotten back from their vacation, and many things have happened.
Within the first few days, Rayna went through with her plans on how to punish the pack.
She got the list of the River Shine Pack members who survived. She was happy to see that Daniel and Rene made it, and happy to see that her main abusers names weren't on the list. None of the men who raped her survived. Good riddance. She was indifferent when she realized that the list was barely half of the original pack.
Everyone from River Shine was taken from the dungeons to see Rayna standing on a stage, holding all of the power. Though, since she wasn't official queen yet, Harley was there to give her permission to punish the members. He did so happily, but at times he struggled to contain his anger hearing the words of mistreatment from his own mates mouth. He reminded every member that this is a very generous punishment. Guards and cameras were everywhere, watching everything.
Once everyone had been publicly humiliated, Rayna informed them of the plan to rebuild River Shine. Most agreed to these new terms, but some refused. Most said they weren't supportive of a male Luna, and a few were uncomfortable with the other members after hearing what they did. The minority of those who refused were dismissed to be moved to another pack as Omega's, and the majority were given an ultimatum—stay in River Shine and respect their leaders regardless or be banished. That was completely their choice.
Afterwards, Rayna was introduced to Kadira. She's Keane's older sister who decided to become a Royal Pack Advisory, meaning she specialized in helping packs. She was one of the best at her job, though she retired years ago when she met her mate. Even she agreed that this was important enough for her to come back from retirement for. She helped Rayna make a plan on how to rebuild River Shine.
First, they sent guards to clear out the River Shine territory of rogues and other packs who were stealing what was left unattended in pack buildings and staying there and also protect the borders. Kadira marveled at how Johnathan took the entire pack to that ritual, leaving their territory completely abandoned.
Next, Kadira, Rayna's siblings, and those they elected to become Delta and Gamma helped the pack move back in and began working on reconstructing River Shine. Members moved rooms and even houses as roles shifted, and they had to get new supplies and work on the buildings. Some where barren of anything, some were gone altogether, and some were damaged by the rogues and other packs.
Meanwhile, Rayna was being kept updated at the castle with their progress.
Then, once everything and everyone was ready, they held a ritual to bring the pack together again. Danny became Alpha, Jayce his Luna; Jamie the Beta, Hazel his Beta Female; and a male and a female Kadira suggested and Rayna elected to be the new Delta and Gamma. Afterwards, everyone was introduced to the new River Shine. The original pack members, rogues who decided to join, a few other wolves who needed a pack, and even member offerings from other packs.
Lastly, new rules were implanted by the new leaders with the help of Kadira. She agreed to stay at the pack for a maximum of six months before she would decided if they were good on their own or needed occasional check ups.
So far, things are going smoothly and even better than planned.
As soon as possible, Rayna met with a specialist in rare wolves who identified and have a name to her unique power. Translatio memorias—essentials the power to "transfer memories." The specialist told her that this also means she could take away or 'hold' the memory of someone else for as long as she wanted, meaning that person no longer had that memory, but now she did.
Not long after coming back, she met up with Freya, her personal trainer, and started up her training again. They're back to seeing each other every morning at 4 A.M.
Most importantly, Rayna was introduced to Diane King—Harley's grandmother and Frank's mother. Since Ophelia refused to teach her, and she still needed a teacher, Harley contacted Diane. She quickly flew out from her home to the castle to meet her future granddaughter and teach her to be Queen.
Queen Training typically takes roughly six months, but Diane quickly declared that Rayna's will only take three months, as she already holds many traits of a Queen and only needs to learn about law, history, and other such topics. Even so, Rayna's a fast learner.
Even with all of these things happening, Rayna and Harley have never been happier. They've been spending a lot of time together, close as they can be, and are simply very content.
Keane and Naomi have also fully bonded, and Naomi can't stop talking about Keane and their relationship to Rayna, so she knows that they're really happy as well.
As said earlier, Rayna's eldest brothers have moved back to River Shine, and as far as she's heard over their phone calls for updated, they're all doing just as well as their pack--amazing.
Jake has been living in the Delta Wing with Emmett for a while now, and Rayna isn't entirely sure about how that's going so far. She never sees Jake (and she doesn't want to), and she doesn't see Emmett outside of work and when they binge Criminal Minds together every Saturday. In those times, they aren't able to talk about their personal lives.
Overall for Rayna, things are going great.
*~*~*~*
The clock reads 12:47 as Rayna enters the bathroom, meaning she has thirteen minutes before she has to meet with Diane in the castle garden. She strips and hops in the shower.
She and Diane have been meeting from one to four every weekday for the past two weeks now, and to Rayna, it feels less like training and more like an odd mix between going to school and going to your grandmas.
When Rayna steps out of the shower, her hair was still fairly dry, so she simply brushes it out before tying it into a half bun. She then dries off and gets dressed into a plain white t and a pair of jean shorts. She tucks the shirt into the shorts and brushes her teeth, as she and Harley had just had lunch together.
She slips on a pair of tennis shoes and walks through the castle to the garden.
"Good afternoon, Rayna," Diane greets before Rayna even turns the corner into the garden. The older woman turns to face her and gives a smile, which Rayna returns.
"Good afternoon, Diane."
Diane is nearly seventy, but she barely looks a day over forty due to a werewolf's slow aging process. She has fair skin, long brown hair, and unique silver eyes. Today, her hair is tied back into a professional bun like always, and she's dressed in a dark blue and floral patterned summer dress.
"Let's get started, shall we?"
Over the two weeks they've known each other, Diane has already told Rayna countless stories from back hen she was Queen. She's even told her and her mates love story: she was going to be forced into an arrange marriage by her parents back in the mid-seventies when she met her mate--Robert King.
Outside of telling stories, Diane has been training Rayna to be the next Queen. First, they're covering law, so Rayna has been learning about werewolf laws, the history of these laws, and even some laws of other species.
Two and a half hours of today's session pass by quickly before Diane sits Rayna down on one of the gardens benches.
"I'm going to tell you another story," Diane announces. Rayna sits attentively, always interested in her stories. "This is one of the most recent stories you will hear from me. It's the story of crowning Ophelia . . ."
Rayna goes silent. Knowing Ophelia the little bit she does and based on Diane's tone, she knows that this must not be a happy story.
"I first met her the day Frank did. She had applied for a job in the castle and happened to bump into Frank, who happened to be her mate. I instantly knew that something was . . . wrong with her, but my son's excitement to have found his mate was too much for me to destroy, so I foolishly let her into our family and agreed to teach her. Within a week, Frank and Ophelia had fully bonded, meaning there was no going back.
"Teaching her was a long process. At first, I had some hope that maybe it would just take a bit and she'd fit into the role, but she never did. All she was was entitled, narcissistic, and selfish. I still have no idea how Frank could ever love her. It took nearly nine months before I gave up and the go ahead to be queen was forced out of me."
Rayna places a comforting hand on Diane's arms as her eyes become glossy.
"My children and grandchildren mean everything to me, but I made a mistake letting Frank be with Ophelia." She turns to Rayna, taking her hand and looking her in the eyes. "I believe that what I'm trying to tell you is . . . sometimes, even when saying no is one of the most difficult things you can do, you have to. Don't make the same mistake I did."
Rayna nods, and Diane turns away to wipe away a single tear.
*~*~*~*
The Council finally had the time to discuss what to do with Rayna being the Dahlia Wolf. Typically, the Flower Wolf before them would teach the new one, but Rose already passed before she could do so, and Rayna needs to practice on Earth, not in the Afterworld.
Rayna was already a bit upset with the Council for their first response, and she was even more riled up when their best idea—even when they had time—was to send her a lesson plan made by a Flower Wolf decades ago for her to work on herself. Then, on an unspecified later date, a member of the council would come and evaluate her powers.
Even so, she took the lesson plan and has been following it vigorously.
*~*~*~*
After a long day of training in three different fields, Rayna tiredly crawls into bed with Harley. He wraps an arm around her and kisses the top of her head. They'd usually talk about their day at supper, but today, Harley had been away for supper for a meeting.
"How was your day, sweetheart?" he asks softly.
"Exhausting," she tells him bluntly, resting her head on his chest. "At least I'm getting better with Freya and my powers."
"What about with Diane?" he questions as she hasn't mentioned her yet.
Rayna nods softly. "Still good. Though, today she told me a sad story."
"What was it about?" he asks, playing with her hair.
"Ophelia," she relies softly.
"Oh . . ." he whispers, slowly taking his hand out of her hair.
Rayna decides to change the topic. "How was your day?" she asks.
"It was good, but I really missed you," Harley answers honestly
"I missed you, too." She snuggles into Harley, holding him tightly. He lightly squeezes her.
"You ready for bed, baby?" Harley asks.
Rayna nods. "Goodnight, Kitty."
Harley scoffs and rolls his eyes, even though he's smiling.
"Sweet dreams, sweetheart."