Chapter 66
Once Daniel had left and order had resumed, Richard took over the questions, which made me feel much more relaxed.
“Miss Phillips, for clarity, could you please tell us, when our Alpha revealed himself to you, was that the first time you had seen a Lycan?” I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, we hadn’t covered this in the preparation, and I was unsure of how to proceed.
“No, but I didn’t know I was looking at a Lycan at the time. I had a dream, I now know it was one of my first dreams of Daniel, I thought I saw a wolf in the trees when I visited the meadow close to the Summer Estate. I had no idea the place was real, or that Daniel must have been there in his wolf form, at the time anyway. I believed it was all my imagination. But I had no knowledge that there were races or species that weren’t human before Daniel showed me his wolf.” I added hastily, there were a few rumbles from the crowd, making me nervous again.
“So, you had no plans to infiltrate our pack?” Richard asked softly.
“No, I didn’t know there was a pack to infiltrate. Elaina had told me of the town, but nothing more, and I’m sure there are several witnesses to my shock and confusion at meeting Daniel in real life after believing him to be a figment of my imagination. Neither Daniel nor I handled meeting each other in real life particularly well.” I replied sadly, embarrassed that I had run away from him and cried at work, presuming I was insane at the time.
“Can you tell us about that meeting?” Richard gently prodded me.
“I was waiting in Daniel’s office; I was supposed to have a meeting with him, as he had lobbied hard to hire me after reading an article about my Stephenson Grant win, but he was away when my interview was scheduled. Anyway, I was waiting for him to arrive, and when he did, he called me his mate. I had no idea what that meant or entailed, and as far as I was concerned, the man I had previously thought to be imaginary was standing in front of me. At first, I thought I must have seen a picture of him somewhere and forgotten. I was embarrassed and honestly, I thought I was going mad. Daniel, I think he was so relieved to finally find me, he didn’t consider how jarring and confusing it would be for me. So, when he kissed me, I panicked, I didn’t know what was happening, what was real and what wasn’t... Daniel brought me here, to Applewood, he took me to the meadow so many of our dreams had been in and showed me his wolf to help me understand what was happening and why. It was a big adjustment but I’m a quick study and I’m not too proud to admit I have a lot to learn. But I will learn, and the last thing I want is for Daniel to be torn between me and his pack, this is where he belongs.” I realised too late I was rambling and abruptly stopped, silently scolding myself for talking without thinking again.
“Thank you for your honesty and cooperation, Miss Phillips. I will now open the floor to any other questions the elders might have.” Richard turned to the audience, I took the brief distraction to take a steadying breath, and silent prayer that I got through whatever was thrown at me next. I looked up to see no one had stood, except Owen.
“I think you have said your piece brother.” Richard quipped, but there was a warning behind his words that even I picked up on.
“I am still an elder, a member of the council and I only have a few questions for Miss Phillips.” Owen retorted, turning away from his brother to face me again. “Are you aware of the Luna’s duties?” He asked I could sense him driving at something, but I couldn’t put my finger on what.
“I believe so,” I replied, unwilling to give him enough rope to hang me with.
“Well, for clarity.” He sneered, using Richard’s words against me. “A Luna’s first duty is to produce an heir. Do you feel you can raise a child to be an effective Alpha without a wolf yourself?”
“Daniel and the pack can teach our children about their wolves; I could focus on any number of other subjects our children would need,” I responded coolly.
“Another of the Luna’s duties is to protect the females and children, how do you propose to do that without a wolf?” He smirked at me.
“With my mind, my tongue and the pack warriors if need be. The same way other non-Lycan Luna’s have done it.” I snapped, he was beginning to irritate me, and I could feel the same build-up inside me. I gripped the arms of the chair and took some deep breaths to calm myself, he was trying to bait me, to make me angry, and get a reaction out of me.
“Hmm, interesting. What about our histories, stories, and traditions? You don’t even know them; how could we trust that you would ensure they’re passed down?” I smiled again, refusing to take the bait.
“I know I don’t know much about how a pack is run, but isn’t that the elder’s job, in particular the Gamma couple? Not the Luna’s role? Despite this, the stories I’ve heard so far have been beautiful, I look forward to learning more and teaching them to my children and the children of the pack.” I said in my sweetest voice, my mother’s advice ringing in my ears. ‘Kill them with kindness, and they’ll never see the death blow coming’.
“So, you do want pups then?” Owen asked a triumphant look back on his face.
“Daniel and I haven’t discussed it in great detail. There are a lot of other things to work out first, a few more steps we should take as a couple before we have a child.” I replied, my tone less sweet.
“Oh, like what? What steps do you think you and our Alpha should take before you get around to discussing the future of our pack?” Owen asked sarcastically, there were a few murmurs from the audience.
“Well, before we talk about children, we should maybe see whether I’m going to be banished or not, seems like a stumbling block for most relationships, wouldn’t you agree?” I snapped, getting pissed off at the traitorous snake, he had orchestrated this entire thing and was using it to make it seem like I didn’t care about the future of the pack. “Call me old fashioned but I would prefer my children to not have to live away from their father. Not to mention we haven’t marked each other yet, or known each other for more than a week, so no, we haven’t really discussed babies, shockingly.” No one was going to out-sarcasm me.
“Funny that it didn’t occur to either of you that should you be... permitted to become Luna of this pack one of your first duties would be to produce an heir. If I were Alpha, it would be one of my first discussions with my mate.” He replied smugly.
“But you’re not the Alpha and I didn’t hear a question,” I responded flatly, Owen’s face blanched red in anger.
“No, I’m not. Maybe you could enlighten us on why you haven’t discussed children yet then?” He snapped aggressively; Maria growled warningly beside me at his tone. I clasped her arm to keep her from attacking him.
“I was raised human, all of this has been a shock and adjustment, Daniel was allowing me the time to understand the information I had been bombarded with before adding anything else to my plate. I’m sure if I were Lycan, he would have marked me the day he met me, and we would have had that talk the same day. But being raised unaware of all this, I believed I had lost my mind, I needed time to get my head around the sudden shift of everything I thought I knew. So, I suppose my answer is, we haven’t spoken about children yet because your Alpha is a good man. Who knew his mate needed more time than a Lycan female would, and chose to give her that, knowing we could have these discussions after we’ve marked each other.” I replied, my anger building, there was an audible gasp from almost everyone in the room. I turned to Maria, bewildered by the reaction, her face paled as our eyes met.
“Charlie, you’re eyes! They’re purple!” She breathed; I could feel the power building within myself again. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, praying that if I could calm myself down nothing else would happen. I felt Maria grasp my hand, lending me her strength and serenity, I took a few more deep breaths, willing myself not to give in to the allure of the power inside me. When I heard the words, I had been dreading.
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