章 4: Celebration
The moon rock was set in an amethyst crystal. A simple black velvet tie accompanied it so that it sat above my collar bone. I often switch out the chain for something like this, the velvet I wear on special occasions.
"Happy birthday to you..." the pack sang for my 21st birthday.
My hair was delicately braided and woven into a bun. The dress was a black silk that was somewhere between a dress slip and a nightgown. My gamma picked it out. She also did my make-up. A smokey eye look that I could never achieve myself. Pale pink lips as contrast. It made the green of my eyes shine as bright as lime.
I sat at the table in front of the pack with my beta, gamma, the gamma's mate, Stella Lux and her mate. My beta is one of my best friends, Ignis. He is a few years older and known as an old soul. Our gamma is my other best friend, Aqua. She is a badass. Before she met her mate, she was a wild child. I'm talking partying, promiscuity, and brawling. Since she met Imber, she's really calmed down. My baby sister, by two years, is Stella Lux. Our appearances couldn't be more different. She has reddish brown hair, beautiful brown eyes, pale complexion, and a short petite frame. While I'm not short, I'm not tall either. Standing next to her, I look like a giant. Her mate Caelum, is a strong and intelligent member of our pack. He's arguably our best warrior. Besides me, of course.
Niveus, the seer, told me he will treat my sister well and they will be happy for a long time together.
The singing ends and I clap my hands to extinguish the candle. Three tiers of ice cream cake is cut then distributed to the the pack. Children run chasing each other while the elders huddle in whispered conversation.
*May we meet tonight?* The oldest elder says in my head.
*Briefly. I must finish preparations for the tournament.*
*Of course, Alpha.* I could hear her smile as the link was released.
"Come, dance with me." Ignis guided me to the dance floor.
A slow song had started playing. I rested my head on his shoulder as we swayed slowly to the rhythm.
"I worry about you Gin." He said into my hair.
"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." I counter.
"Niveus said the tournament is going to undo you but save you. That makes no sense." His voice wasn't loud and there was no one close enough to hear.
Still, I pulled back from his embrace. "Your job, as my beta, is to take care of the pack while I'm gone. Yes, this is like Ancient Greece during the olympics. We all agreed to stop quarreling for the week of the tournament. No, they didn't have rogues back then. If Niveus could get onto our land unnoticed...well, unnoticed until a patrol caught her scent, that's worrisome. Our border needs to be secured."
"You always do that." He smiles down at me.
"Do what?"
"Change the topic from yourself to our pack. What is our pack without you? If you die, our pack doesn't have a successor."
"The successor would be whoever killed me in the tournament." My blunt response made him turn his face away from mine. "Besides I've already acknowledged, in the event of my death, Stella would rule the pack."
Ignis snorts and I know why. She isn't a warrior, but she is a diplomat. Graceful and kind, she could unite packs and keep the them prosperous.
"She's not you." He says, our eyes meeting again. My green to his purple. I step out of his reach and give him a soft smile.
"Thank you for the dance, the elders want to see me." I turn away and leave him standing on the dance floor.
Since we were little, Ignis always had a crush on me. But when he turned 18 nothing happened. No pull, no electricity between us, no unspeakable connection. The telltale signs of a mate bond. Ignis was distraught. He even avoided me for some time.
I couldn't tell him that even if we were mates, he would never know. The necklace stayed put as I walked up the pack house. I summoned the elders to my office and closed the door gently.
"Alright, Elder Arbor, you called this meeting. Please proceed."
I spent the next two hours listening to all the strategy, advice, and cunning of the Council of Elders before me.
"I could've used this crash course weeks ago." I interrupt after my second large yawn.
"Regina Nox, pay attention." Even as an Alpha, the elders could still scold you. "This is the last thing and the most important of them all."
"I'm listening." I stand to stretch, eyeing the door.
"You mustn't take your necklace off."
I turned to face her, Elder Arbor. The three other elders nodded in solemn agreement.
"You know?" I ask slowly, measuring their reactions.
"The witch that gave you that stone told me and I shared with the council." I nodded in understanding. Elder Arbor was my father's aunt. "You know who that witch was?"
I shake my head no and lean back on my heels. "Niveus' mother."
Why am I not surprised? I make a mental note to ask Niveus what the loophole of the necklace is before I depart tomorrow.
"If there's nothing else," I get up to leave but am stopped by Elder Bratus.
"Do be safe tomorrow." He placed his hand on my shoulder before opening the door and allowing me to leave.
Dismissed from my own office, I made my way to my room. Slowly I peeled myself out of my birthday dress. I placed my heels in the closet and undid the braided bun atop my head. In the shower, I scrubbed my face until my hands no longer came away with black smudge.
I rolled my wet hair in bamboo curlers and placed a dry shower cap over them. I climb into bed with energy still coursing through my veins.
"Somnus. Sopor." I breath in, then out. "Dormio. Dormeo."
Soon the weight of my eyelids carry me off to sleep.
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