Chapter 271
WILLA
I took a stumbling step backward, waited for the explosion I was sure would follow. I knew I had done something unforgivable. Whatever else Lucian was, he was the Lycan Prince.
You didn't assault the Lycan Prince and get away with it.
Two seconds passed. Then ten. Nothing happened.
Lucian's expression was unreadable as he took a step forward. I cringed, waiting for him to maybe shake the hell out of me or yell. Or call the others so I could get whatever passed for punishment here.
He didn't do anything.
"Good," he said.
My eyes flew open. I hadn't even been aware I had closed them. Lucian was smirking.
He didn't even look angry which was shocking to say the least.
I asked myself then if I had really hit him or if all that had just happened in my head. But I could see the evidence that I really had all around me.
My palms were still tingling. The mark of my fingers, though fading quickly now, were on his cheek.
"Good," Lucian said again. "That's exactly how you should hit any guy bothering you. Show them you're strong and can't be taken advantage of."
I didn't understand how our conversation had gone from talking about each other's love lives to... what was it he had said again? Defending myself against guys.
I looked around. Everyone else was busy with one thing or the other. Lucky for me, no one seemed to have seen me slap Lucian.
Before I could think of anything to say, Lucian walked away, leaving me wondering if he was bipolar or some kind of psychopath.
**********
I hitched my backpack higher up on my shoulder. I started walking up to the others gathered around the remains of a fire some of them had kept burning throughout the night.
It had been a chilly night so I spent some time holding my hands over the fire to soak in it's warmth.
Two boys were in charge of the food that morning. One wore a big chef's hat that said KISS THE COOk. They were dishing out something in a plate for those on the queue.
I joined the line. Soon it got to my turn.
I peered into the large trays and grimaced. They were servicing avocados with bread.
"Go on. Take it," one of the boy said. He was impatiently shaking a heaped plate of the stuff at me.
I did take it but only because I was holding up the line. The meal didn't look inviting at all.
I wondered how the others were managing to eat it. Some or them even had empty plates already.
"Isn't there anything else to eat?" I grumbled.
"There is," the second guy answered. "But that one's strictly for lunch. This is breakfast for everyone."
I made a face. "I know but... it could be better. There are lots of other things we could have eaten apart from this."
"Oh puh-lease. Stop pretending already! Who are you trying to impress anyway? Acting like you aren't used to eating stuff like this. You probably even eat worse back at that pack you crawled out from."
It was Noami of course, seating by Lucian's side and eating up her share of the muck along with her boyfriend who was doing a good job of ignoring everyone else this morning. She needed both hands to eat so she wasn't clinging on to Lucian's arm as usual.
Maybe that was why she was eating so fast so she could get to plastering herself all over him.
Lucian seemed more interested in the grass growing between his feet than in anything else. From time to time he took big bites of his meal.
I dragged my eyes away from the couple, took my food over to a fallen log and sat.
"I don't eat stuff like this," I said not for the benefit of Noami but to set the record straight for everyone, especially the girls who had giggled at Naomi's comment. This was my chance not to let Naomi paint me as a looser in front of everyone. "I told you I'm an Alpha's daughter used to having the best of everything."
Naomi tossed her hair over her shoulder. How she managed to keep it perfectly curled with not a single hair out of place out here in the middle of nowhere, I never knew.
"Alpha's daughter indeed," Naomi mocked. "Even if that's somehow true, it must be some small and insignificant pack no one even knows about. Goodness! Ordinary wolves are so pathetic. They'll do anything, say anything, to make people believe they're more important than they are. It's sad, really."
There was more laughter now and even a few boys joined in this time.
"You're wrong," I said.