Chapter Twenty-one: The little sister

I wake up missing the warmth that was beside me when I had fallen asleep. I look at my surroundings and I recognise the hospital bed I woke up in previously. I can’t say I’m disappointed, at least I’m not in the mansion against my will, but I do miss Ares beside me, keeping me warm. I smile internally at the thought that Lukas had not went against my wishes. I know I will have to meet everyone at some point, but this all feels too new to me. The question on my mind though is, is this where I am meant to end up?

I have a niggling thought that comes up and makes me think there’s more in store, but I want to stay here for a while and understand my place. I sit up from the hospital bed once more and I notice I’m still in my clothes. What a gentleman, he also didn’t change me.

I think about what he said yesterday about the Elders. He’s right. If I am a werewolf, I should consult with the most knowledgeable ones. Hopefully they can help find out why I was nowhere near here for all of my life and why I received my wolf so late.

I jump out of the bed and walk towards the door with a mission at hand. I take one last look at the bed and debate whether I’ll be here for another night. I need to be more brave, and if Lukas wants me to meet his family, then so be it. I need to start taking leaps of faith in life, like he did by saving me.

I open the door and start walking down the corridor. I assume that Lukas has other things to do….he is the Alpha after all. I go down the stairs and I see Doctor Lowe on the second to last floor.

“Doctor Lowe!” I call out to her, realising now there’s no more strain on my throat.

She turns round and plants a smile on her face. “Hello Aliana. How’re you feeling?” She asks.

“I’m feeling great! Have you seen Lukas around?” I say, a bit more enthusiastically than I meant to. I feel quite giddy but I can’t help myself for some reason.

She raises an eyebrow. “Sure, he had to leave for an emergency meeting with the Beta and Gamma. He asked you to stay in the room until he comes back.” He wants to keep me in the room?

I frown thinking about this. I get one taste of freedom and now he expects me to stay in the room on my own? I see Doctor Lowe about to say something when I hear someone coming up the stairs from below.

I turn to see a petite woman with long black hair. Her eyes were emerald green. She wore a tight yellow top showing off her small frame and she wore skinny jeans that stopped mid-way down her shins. She wore black heels which looked crazy to walk in.

“Oh, hello doctor Lowe.” She says to the Doctor respectfully.

The Doctor smiles back at her. “Hello Mandy.”

She then looks at me and gives me the sweetest smile. “You must be the outsider I’ve heard about….Aliana, right?”

I’m a bit confused. Who is she and how does she know me? She seems to catch onto my confusion and smiles slightly.

“He’s not told you about us has he?” She says as if speaking her mind. She sighs. “I am Mandy Moon, the Alphas sister. I heard that an outsider got in, and word travels fast. Before I knew it, my brother had found his mate and she was being kept in the hospital. I managed to get your name and I came down here to see for myself, the one that has managed to finally capture my brother’s heart.” She laughs lightly as she explains how she found me.

I’m a bit shocked at what she said there, but I supress it with a small smile. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later and I’m glad she reached out first.

Before I get a second to think about what to say next, she turns her head to look at Doctor Lowe. “I’m going to take my new sister around town. I know she came with nothing, so we’ll get her some new clothes.”

Before Doctor Lowe could protest, Mandy grabs my hand and pulls me down the stairs. I give Doctor Lowe a quick apologetic look before heading down with Mandy. I’m glad that I won’t have to sit in that room for who knows how long.

Mandy takes me towards the door and then readjusts herself to thread her arm through my own.

“So, where do you come from, Aliana?” she asks without hesitating.

“I’ve come from the human territory which is far, far North East from here.” She stops us in our tracks as soon as I said that and looks at me, a bit dumbfounded.

After a few moments, she pulls me along to get us moving again, more slowly than before. She says something under her breath, which I only just manage to make out. “So that’s why he’s not taken you home yet?”

I correct her. “Actually….it’s because I asked him not to take me there yet.” She looks at me with a confused expression so I elaborate. “Don’t get me wrong. I want to come meet everyone. But before I got here there were a lot of events going on and I feel really overwhelmed. I grew up thinking I was a human. When I got here, not only did I find out that I wasn’t, but I also found out that your brother is my mate. I still don’t really know what that means.”

She gives me an apologetic look. “I’m really sorry you didn’t grow up as we did Aliana. I’m sure you had a great childhood with whoever it was you were with, and from what I’ve seen and heard so far they’ve done a great job at it. But the sad reality is that you’ve missed out on growing up understanding what we, well, what you are.”

She’s not wrong. I have missed out on a lot, especially meeting Athena which only happened more recently. Athena seems to enjoy the company of Mandy and I find that I do too.

I felt that now was the perfect opportunity to try and find out more about Lukas. “Can you tell me more about your brother? I’ve known him for a day and I get that this mate bond is driving me closer to him naturally…but I don’t actually know him.”

She scoffs. “There’s plenty of time for that!” She sees my disappointed reaction and she gives up. “Ok. Well, he loves his family, and his pack. That much is obvious. He’s had to do some things that no one else would have managed, being in the position he’s in. He has thousands of us to look after, and he knows how to train, assign and delegate where needed. He’s a good leader.” As she says this she sticks out her tongue, which I laugh to.

“The only time I’ve seen him speak to someone is when he was commanding them, or saying hello.” I think out loud. “Is he always like that?”

She looks around us, I assume to make sure no one hears her. “He’s the Alpha. He needs to be strict on certain things. The last few years for Lukas….they’ve not been good. He’s been waiting for you for a long time. He’s been getting badgered by our Father to take a Luna or at the very least, create an heir to make our pack stronger. Our borders have always been sort of closed, and more recently he’s not allowed anyone out, since what happened last time….” She says that last part with a whisper.

I try not to dampen our mood by asking about it as she seems fairly tense just thinking about it, so I change the subject a little.

“So how old is he?” I ask, not actually sure.

“He’s told you you’re his destined mate but he’s not told you his age?” She asks, partially shocked.

“No, like I said I don’t actually know too much about him, bar his name.”

She rolls her eyes. “Typical man.” We both laugh at that comment. “He’s twenty-six.”

I think about it. Twenty-six isn’t that bad, at least in terms of our age differences. He did look older than me, I just wasn’t sure how much older.

“At what age did he become the Alpha?” I ask, interested.

“He took over a week or so after his Eighteenth birthday, which is natural. When the Alphas oldest son turns Eighteen, they step down and hold a ceremony.” I look at her wondering what happens at the ceremony. She notices me thinking so she explains.

“The ceremony is a blood oath and transfer of power between Father and son. The Golden eyes you see Lukas has? That was passed down from our Father to him. Lukas’ eyes used to be a mix between green and blue, but since he is Alpha, they have changed to a golden colour. The same will happen to Lukas’ son, when he turns eighteen, and Lukas’ eyes will return to their natural colour.” She explains in detail.

I think about it. His eyes did seem unnatural but I thought it was down to him being a werewolf. I do like his golden eyes though, they’re different.

We continue walking down the same route I went yesterday with Lukas. We get into view of the small lake again and I can’t help but keep my eyes on the deep blue water again. I feel drawn to that lake but I’ve no idea why. I feel like swimming into it but refrain from going as Mandy has her arm in mine and I don’t want to deter my new friend from getting along with me. I take a mental note that I need to come back here to see it closer.

I notice the street I had went down yesterday when Lukas and I went to the Café. We walk completely past this and end up heading closer to their home.

“So do you live in the pack house also? Lukas mentioned you all lived there.” I ask, interested to get her confirmation and her views on it.

She nods, and smiles. “Although my family do my head in, I love them. We all live in there, along with the Betas and Gammas family.” Most of us are on a specific floor, based on rank and independent family members. Lukas, being the Alpha, is at the top.” She says in a distasteful tone, showing her jealousy. I internally smile at her, seeing her love for her family and I can already tell she bickers with her brother. I would have loved to have had a sibling growing up, but as my parents couldn’t have children, they opted to adopt, and they found me.

I’m taken out of my thoughts when we cross a road and I see a dome shaped building, which was very large.

“This is our central shopping centre.” Mandy says as she motions her hand towards the dome. “It’s called the Dome. It’s a dumb name and not very intuitive, but it has a few shops which have clothes, and girl, you need some.” She says whilst looking me up and down in a comical way. We both giggle and continue towards the shopping centre.

I think back to the last time I got new clothes. The elves had made me some clothing, which was plant based and felt amazing on my skin, but I was to only wear that when inside the community. I left wearing the same clothes I had entered the community with. Before that, I only remember picking up clothes from homes that were empty….

We walk through doors which slid open as we got close to them. Inside was…amazing. So many people walking around with no care in the world. I could smell food inside and started to feel hungry. I looked down the vast space and could see shops of different sizes, and many clothes stores inside.

Before I got a chance to scout the place, Mandy is pulling me by the elbow to the closest clothes shop to us.

Hours. That’s how long we’ve been trying on clothes for. I’m used to being on my feet but the amount of bags we had was crazy. Most of the bags which contained clothing and accessories were for her though, I had only chosen a few outfits.

“I think we should get some food now. Are you hungry?” She finally asks.

“Oh God, yes!” I say. She cocks her head to the side, unsure of the phrase, but disregards it.

“Let’s go, they’ve got a nice Tapas place at the other end.” I have no idea what Tapas is, but I’m starving so I just let her lead the way.

We get to the restaurant which is packed with people. I feel slightly overwhelmed seeing so many people in one room, but forget about that quickly when I smell the deliciousness coming from inside.

Mandy is greeted at the door by a young woman who shows us to our seats. I sit and take one look at the menu and feel a bit unsure on what to order.

“I can order for both of us if you want? Tapas is basically a bunch of different kinds of food which is then plated in front of you…sort of like a buffet.” She explains after seeing my confused stare at the menu. I nodded my head giving her the go ahead to order whatever.

After she had ordered, we talked a bit whilst we waited for our food to come. We talk about her likes and interests and find that they are similar to that of my Mothers. She loves people, caring for them and I really admire her for that. She looks after the older wolves of the pack and I feel more close to her as she describes her love for them. I think fondly of my Mother who would have enjoyed her company.

The food comes in and we both take no time to eat it all. I’m surprised how much she manages to eat. I’ve not managed to eat my half of the Tapas but she’s finished it off without issues.

We both get up to leave and I remember something back from when I was living with my parents.

“Do we not have to pay?” It was weird to say, something I had not done in a long time, but it felt wrong eating here and not giving something back.

Mandy shakes her head as we walked out of the restaurant, turning back towards the exit. “No. In our pack we all give and take equally. There used to be a system long ago where we would do some trading for things we didn’t have with other places but this was way before my time. I believe we started figuring out things on our own.”

I think about this for a few moments, wondering if this is why the elves had not come across any wolves, but before I get a chance to question her on it, we both hear a booming voice.

“Where is my sister!?”