She tried to cut the conversation with Jake as short as she could. Earlier his highness had been angry at him coming to the palace. Normally the palace was only opened for official visits, so he must have been upset about students coming and going as they pleased. Perhaps he thought that as Jake visited her, others would follow as well, which breached the security and the protocols.
She made Jake promise not to come anymore. Moreover she would only be staying about a week or so and she also received her phone and could contact him freely in the future, so there was no need to.
Leading him to the door of the palace she said her goodbyes, and wanted to turn around to go to her room. Despite being a patient she walked quite a bit and was actually feeling tired, but she only made one step when Jake unexpectedly stopped her.
"Alpha. I am truly glad you are alright, I don't know what I would have done if something happened to you." He said and did once again what he had wanted to do when he saw her entering the king's office. He hugged her with all his strength, even forgetting her wounds in the process.
She was stunned by his familiarity towards her, but considering how close they had gotten these past few months, she did not stop him, she only gently patted his back with her hands.
"It is the last time you will ever go somewhere alone. The next time, me... the entire pack will be with you. We will never permit for such a thing to happen again." He affirmed more like a whisper in her ear.
She nodded and smiled a bit, she really felt her pack's care towards her. It was not a feeling she was used to, but it wasn't a bad sentiment at all. Releasing her from his embrace, Jake finally walked away towards the door, this time really leaving.
She turned around once more, wanting to climb the stairs leading to her room, when she came face to face with Salas's eyes as he was at the top of the stairs. She walked slowly up the stairs as she was a bit shy seeing him, wondering if he had seen the embrace between her and Jake.
There were no rules stating watchers could not date each other or be so close to one another, but what if he had misinterpreted the situation and it actually bothered him considering this was the Royal palace. Not to mention that she somehow felt guilty of hugging Jake in front of him, but she was too intimidated by his presence to realize it.
"Has your beta left?" He asked with a gentle voice, but still his face did not show any emotions.
"Yes your highness, he has. I am sorry once again. I have made sure he will not visit anymore. Anyway I will be staying for only one week here, so there will be no more visitors." She replied trying to reassure him, that she or her pack would not bother him again. But as she lifted her head and looked into his eyes, she remained stilled in place.
The usual ocean blue eyes that were capable of making her feel embarrassed with just one simple glance, were now losing their blue hue, darkening a bit. It was almost as if he was trying to keep his wolf under control.
Noticing her startled reaction and realizing its cause, he quickly turned away from her so she could no longer see his face and only said a few more words before briskly leaving.
She understood the reaction of his highness, she knew the reasons behind it without him having to actually say it, but it still took her aback. His gentle behavior until now as opposed to the aura he released some hours ago were miles apart. Coupled with the fact that he had almost lost control of his wolf just now, she felt she was understanding him less and less, with each passing moment.
She had gotten used to his behavior from the previous night and in the morning and thought perhaps it was his normal way of speaking. Though indeed he still spoke gently to her, towards Jake he even growled threatening. Perhaps he was gentler to girls and not to guys.
These were the thoughts that were roaming through her mind as she was charging and opening her smartphone.
She barely turned it on when the phone began ringing. She even saw she had a dozen or so missed phone calls in the second that the phone opened up before it rang. It was her brother Daniel so she did not ponder much and answered.
Surely he was not worried about her as she had explained to him she would be in an exercise for two weeks and would not take her phone with her. She was in the forest for a week and unconscious for another week so for her brother, not contacting him for this period of time, should not have arisen any worries.
"Sister! Finally you answered your phone. I have been trying to contact you all morning." Daniel quickly said, relieved she finally answered.
"Yeah. Sorry the phone had no battery. I only just noticed and plugged it in." She explained simply. If he only just tried to contact her this morning there were no reasons for him to know about why she did not answer until now. She did not want him to worry.
"What is the matter?" She asked him, curious and worried because of the sense of urgency she could feel in his tone.
"I know what happened to you was inexcusable. What Brianna and mom did to you, the fact that they schemed in stealing your rightful mate can't be forgiven, that is why I never mentioned them when talking to you these months. I did not want to add to your pain..." Daniel frantically tried to explain his reasons for bringing up these unreasonable problems. Matters of which he had not once spoken to her about since it happened, but he felt he needed to otherwise he was not sure she would help.
"Daniel it is alright, don't try to motivate what you really want to say and just tell me what the actual problem is." She interrupted him, as a sigh left her chest. She was feeling tired both mentally and physically about the attack. Flashes of memory of her dismembering and killing the hunters kept appearing in her mind whenever she was alone and all she wanted now was to sleep.
"I..." he said then sighed trying to rephrase how to actually tell her, but he did not speak again as the phone was snatched from his hand and another voice could be heard through it.
"Celia, after you left... Brianna was made the Luna of our pack. She is already pregnant and everyone knew the ceremony was for her, so Richard forced Rayan to make her his Luna. Otherwise he would not hand over his leadership. You also made your position clear that you will not accept him as a mate.
The problem is that, even though he conducted the Luna ceremony for her, they are not getting along at all. The situation between them has gotten so strained that they fought countless times and he even hit her. At the moment she is in the hospital with the risk of losing her child." Her father explained coldly as he took the phone from Daniel. Between the words he had just hurtfully laid out in front of her, not even one was an apology. Not even one word expressed regret and reflection for their actions, even less repenting for causing her harm.
She did not know how to react to what she just heard. It pained her that her sister was suffering, it hurt her if an innocent child suffered because of irresponsible adults. But still, not only did they not try to contact her all this time to see how she was, considering she was the one who was most hurt of what happened and their betrayal, now they even phoned to inform her of Brianna. Of a person who was suffering as a consequence of her own actions and most probably wanted her to do something about it.
A week ago she almost died and nobody from her family would have cared if she did. The common knowledge was that werewolves from the same family would feel somewhat if their loved one had been hurt, especially if it got to the point of their life ending. They should have felt her being attacked, they should have felt the feeling of utter powerlessness as she felt her life drained from her body, if she was considered a loved one by them.
She listened to her father as these thoughts flooded her mind without a word of interruption. She kept waiting to hear a word directed to her by him, a word from him caring about her wellbeing.
Her eyes were getting moist as he explained, not even a hello he said and as she thought this a small single tear fell on her poker seemingly emotionless face. He did not even ask her how she had been and how she was surviving. Another tear fell from the other eye reaching her cheek all the way until it reached her jaw.
"I know you are a smart child and you love your sister, you would do everything for her. The peace of a pack depends the most on the Alpha and Luna getting along.
They are already together and expecting a child, but because you did not reject Rayan formally, the bond between you two is not completely severed so he still cannot fully accept Brianna and mark her as he should have done after the ceremony." Her father sighed and, as he explained the premises of what he was about to ask of her, finally touched the matter he wanted from her.
"I know you cannot leave the Academy grounds as you please and come to our pack, but on the 20th of December the annual ball for the gathering of alphas and betas will be held at the Royal Palace. You will also be on vacation for a few days so you can leave the Academy at least for a couple of hours.
Try to ask permission from the teachers to visit us at the Royal Palace. Your mother, Rayan, Brianna and I will be staying at one of the buildings adjacent to the Palace so come and finish things with Rayan once and for all. Reject him properly this time so everything will settle down." He finally said already quite calm. This daughter of his had always listened to his words. The last time had only been a mishap, because she had felt upset. But surely in this time, she had already gotten used to the situation.
Her face was already flooded with tears at this point, she could not even see properly. Her father first said Brianna was injured so much that she was on the verge of losing the child. But at the end he said she would still be at the ball which was four days from now. If she was injured so badly how come she would still travel. They were still trying to manipulate the feelings she had towards her sister and on top of that they were also trying to instill in her the consciousness to do "the right thing".
She closed her eyes as she was trying to stop herself from losing more tears. She was so shocked at the time she went to the Luna Ceremony and only wanted to get away from her pack territory that she had omitted to formally reject Rayan. All this time she did not even think that he was her mate, so she still had not realized she did not reject him formally.
"Alright." She said with a cracked voice, the only word she said to her father during this entire phone call.
"Good that is my daughter. Study well and make me proud." He replied pleased with her answer. He didn't notice the strangeness of her voice. Though it wasn't unusual, as he had not really paid attention to her state.
In the next second, only the sound of the phone call ending could be heard. He got what he wanted from her, what was the point of still talking.
She was only acknowledged as his daughter for the fact she accepted what he wanted. She let the phone fall from her hand and did not check her other missed calls or messages. She no longer even wanted to sleep.
With unsteady moves and already hazy eyes, she rose on her feet and called again inside her mind "Waning! Crescent!", but with no answer.
She called again desperately, but no one responded this time either. Could they have left her as well?
With unsteady steps, she left her room and followed the hallway until she reached the indoor garden. His royal highness had said she could come again anytime she wanted, but she had not expected she would need a place of comfort so soon. In fact she thought to herself she would not come again to this place. It was after all a private room of his highness's mother. How could she, a simple werewolf just waltz inside as she pleased?
She opened the door and stepped inside and, with slow steps, reached the center of the garden. Gently with soft moves she touched the transparent petals of the rose, so beautiful it was almost blinding. The petals soon turned blue with white edges, the same color as before.
"Hahaha!" She smiled to herself with tears still flowing down. A noble heart what a joke, she thought. More like a rag to be used for everyone's convenience, more like an object used for one's wishes and disregarded once it was no longer of use, a convenient person.
Feeling defeated, she slumped down on the floor no longer crying, still admiring the roses in front of her.
"Celia!" A familiar voice called from behind, just as she was at her lowest point. But she did not dare turn around. This person only saw her at her worst, injured then frail and now even crying.
Embarrassed by her current messy state, she quickly used her hands to wipe the tears away as she felt him approaching her, but she could do nothing of her red eyes. She was frantically wiping when a hand reached her arm and stopped her from wiping again.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?" He asked worried and flustered not knowing what could possibly be the cause of her unrest. Had she been too frightened by his earlier darkened eyes? What should he do to make her not afraid of him anymore? What should he do, if she wanted to leave the palace because of him?
Unaware of the million wrong thoughts inside this person's head, Celia looked towards him ashamed. He had said the words she wanted to hear from her father. She saw in his eyes the care she wished she received from her family.
At his gentle words, she said nothing at all, only kept on admiring his inquiring and worried face. Such beautiful eyes had frowned because of her. With just a look he tore apart her poker face and without realizing she found herself putting her arms around his waist hugging him and crying like she never cried before.