87.

-HER-

For a moment, I am too phased by his presence that I forget to greet him. He surely is a powerful wolf because I could very well feel his power radiating off his body and occupying the room.

Noticing my hesitance and shock, he speaks first. “Good morning, Miss Galanis,” His deep voice is rusted by age but it still has a strong commanding tone to it. I find myself sitting straight and lowering my eyes unconsciously.

“Your excellency,” My voice wavers slightly as I greet him back.

“How are you feeling, Miss Galanis. Should I call you that or do you wish to be referred by something else?” He asks very gravely but with strange politeness as he takes his seat.

“I am doing fine now, your excellency. You can call me Cybele,” I tell him, feeling somewhat nervous. He nods at me lightly while his cold grey eyes remain trained on me.

“I am glad to hear that, Cybele.” He speaks with the same tone, “I am aware that you are mate to Beta Jake and that you are a human. But besides these things, I lack further knowledge about you. Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

I don’t know why but all of a sudden, I am reminded of my first day in class where I had made fun of myself by stuttering during introductions. I feel so prone to repeating the same thing again.

I would hate myself if I stutter now. It could ruin a lot of things. All of a sudden, the dominance of power that his presence had brought in the room, lowers slightly. At this, I am able to lift my head and look at him.

His eyes seem harsh and cold but the tips of his lips are slightly tugged up. It’s very obvious that this man is unreadable. He slightly nods at me to speak so I take a deep breath before finally speaking, “My name is Cybele Galanis. I live in Ontmore and I am studying history at Orion university.”

“That’s the college affiliated under us and many wolves of this pack study there, including Beta Jake. I suppose you met him there?” He asks with an eyebrow arched. As the moments pass by, I notice that he gradually drops the sternness from his face and gets somewhat comfortable in his seat by leaning back.

I don’t know why he is doing that but I am not complaining. It makes me less nervous too.

“Yes, we met at the college,” I tell him and he nods.

“And how were you introduced to my kind? Was it Jake who told you about us?” He asks this a bit sharply. He tilts his head lightly at one side as he waits for my answer.

“Yes, Jake was the one to enlighten me. He took me to this temple in this pack and showed me everything,” I answer him. He stares at me for some seconds long before he nods.

“What about your human family? Do they know about us?” He asks very pointedly. I don’t miss the way he said the word human. It was as if he was referring to some peasants.

“No. They don’t know about your kind yet,”

“Good,” He nods, “I’d like it that way.” A momentary silence falls between us before he speaks again, “So, you and Beta Jake have completed the mating process. Am I right?”

“Yes, your excellency.”

“Red Moon is special in its own way with two territories far apart and has the second largest population. Do you think you can be a good leader to these wolves?”

“I believe I can, your excellency,” I make sure to look him in the eyes as I answer this. This somehow makes the grey in his eyes turn colder while his eyebrows shoot to his hairline. My answer seems to have interested him.

“Tell me about your encounter with Arles,” He says abruptly. I tell him everything as far as I remember. His eyes remain trained on me pensively while his fingers rest under his chin as he listens.

After I am done speaking, he asks, “Didn’t you say anything when he was leaving?”

I rake my brain to remember better before I tell him, “Yes, I remember asking him something,”

“And what was that?”

“I asked him if he knew who Nefret was,” My mouth speaks on its own. It is after the words have rolled out of my mouth that I realize that they make no sense. At my answer, he drops his hand from under his chin as he sits up straight and stares at me pensively for some moments. A smile climbs on his lips as he asks next, “And what was his answer?”

“He said he didn’t know who she was,” I tell him with a shrug. He chuckles lightly at this. Meanwhile, I am somewhat surprised by him and also confused. When he’s done chuckling, he takes me off guard by rising from his chair and stepping near my bed to pat my head gently.

“You somewhat remind me of my great-granddaughter,” He comments with a genuine smile. It is now when I notice that the surge of power that had been dominating me previously is gone.

“Cybele,” He speaks again after taking his seat, “As far as I know, you are the only human Arles had ever shown himself to. You must be blessed to have a god climb down from the heavens to rescue you from such a tragedy.” He takes a pause before he adds, “I see potential in you and I hope you would work hard to meet our and this pack’s expectations as the Beta Female,”

With that, he raises from his seat again.

“Thank you, your excellency,” I speak, feeling deeply relieved. He smiles at me again, “It was nice meeting you, Cybele.” I am still dumbstruck at the sudden change of his demeanour but he speaks nonetheless, “I must depart now. I look forward to meeting you again in the future. Goodbye till then,”

“It was a pleasure talking to you, your excellency,” I manage to say when he is about to leave. He stops again to pat my head gently before he leaves the room. I am left staring after him in bewilderment when the council member enters my room again to take away the chair.

It is after a few moments when Jake enters my room again. He is instantly by my side and holding my hands.

“What did he say to you?” He asks urgently. I grin at him before I tell him everything. He somewhat seems surprised and confused when I tell him about our conversation.

“Anyway, I want to get out of here now,” I tell him.

“Let’s get home then. Agatha said your CT scan looks normal,”

“Do you have any work left now?” I ask him as he leads me out of the hospital room.

“Yeah. I have to see off the council and prepare some papers regarding Tiffany. The Lycans would need them when they come here to get Tiffany,”

“You look tired. Have you slept since last night?”

“Not really,”

“You need to sleep because you look horrible,” I tell him as we step out of the hospital building. As we were about to head towards home, Jake stops in his path, “I forgot my phone in your room. I’ll be right back,” With that, he rushes back into the building.

I decide to wait for him outside the building. Meanwhile, I am waiting there, I get this feeling of being watched. I try to ignore it for some moments but my instincts finally have me turning towards the woods to find a tall, black figure standing just at the edge of the woods.

From where I am standing, I could not see any details of that person but somewhere deep down, I know who he is- Arles. I stare at him for a couple of minutes and he stares back at me before he turns on his heels and disappears among the trees.

“What are you staring at?” Jake asks out of nowhere, making me jump with fright. I didn't notice that he was already back.

“Nothing,” I tell him. He narrows his eyes at me before throwing one of his arms around my shoulder and pulling me close against him.

“Let’s go home.”