Thalia and Casten continued walking through the forest, and almost halfway into the journey, Casten asked idly,
"Now that the Alpha has refused, what next?"
Thalia understood Casten's concern because, regardless of their personal feelings, the Alpha authorized almost all serious operations in the pack. She shrugged her shoulders and said,
"We shall think about that later. For now, I have lunch with Mia and Uncle Zach."
The thought of them made her smile, and if she could not be strong for herself, she would be for them.
"You should get some rest too," she added, and Casten stretched meaningfully. He felt exhausted but still excited. This was the busiest he had been in almost a year, and it felt good being useful. He hoped the Luna would decide to keep him, because if not, then he would go back to being useless—until the Alpha thought of him again. He was sure that would take a very long time.
"I know a shortcut we could use," he suggested meekly, and Thalia easily agreed.
At this, Casten smiled proudly and deterred from the main path into the bushes. The shortcut was like forcing one's way through an army of branches and leaves, ready to fend off intruders with every spine, and Thalia silently wondered if the 'shortcut' was simply made up for convenience.
Finally, after wading off angry bugs and foliage, they emerged from the woods, and Thalia was pleasantly surprised to find herself behind the pack house.
The huge and extensive red-brick building had not very long ago been her home—just like many other teenagers yet to find their mates. Around it were countless houses of different forms, owned by already mated pack members, and then further off were the distinguished flats resided in by the elders—all dwarfed by the Alpha's second home.
"Well done, I thought we would never emerge into civilisation," Thalia joked with a smirk. She started walking away and then shouted without turning back,
"Meet me here at exactly seven o'clock."
"I got it, Luna," Casten shouted back with a wide grin, and then ran into the pack house.
As Thalia walked into the maze of houses, she wondered how the pack would now address her. Would they call her Luna or just pretend the mating incident never happened?
"To hell with them," she silently concluded.
Thalia let out an exhausted sigh of relief when Mia opened the door and welcomed her in with her usual excited smile.
She fell onto the couch and silently cursed her fate. Even rejection could not deter the pack from ambushing her—each with their own problems and a message to the Alpha. They had turned her ten-minute peaceful walk into an hour of listening to their issues.
"The Luna fatigue catching up with you already?" Mia commented as she handed her a glass of water.
"When does the Moon Goddess collect resignation letters? Because I cannot be the only one."
She gulped down the water and then asked,
"Uncle Zach?" She couldn't even catch his scent.
"He left for town yesterday in the morning," Mia replied over the clattering of pans.
Strange, Thalia thought, because Uncle Zach rarely left home for more than ten minutes—talk about hours.
She walked into the kitchen and started helping Mia arrange the plates onto the small dining table adjacent to the kitchen.
"What do we have here?" she said excitedly when Mia brought in the pans, and Mia rolled her eyes.
"Use that nose."
Thalia made a sniffing gesture and said theatrically,
"Behold, rice with steamed broccoli and meat."
As they started eating, they made small talk, and Mia asked while adding broccoli to her plate,
"So how was your first day as Luna?"
"Tiring. The Alpha really isolated himself," Thalia said with a frown.
"You talked to the Alpha!" Mia said it like it was the most shocking thing she had ever heard. "How did it go?" she asked without much enthusiasm.
"It was nasty. He is such an arrogant day."
She went on to recount everything to Mia, and as expected, she was in full support of her actions.
"Someone needs to put him in his place sometimes," she said with a smile.
"You know I do not tolerate bullies."
Remembering Kyle's warning, Thalia then said more seriously,
"You and Uncle Zach need to be careful. Avoid going into the woods or staying away from the pack."
"Why? Is there any issue the pack doesn't know of yet?" Mia asked, her attention fully on Thalia now.
"It's nothing serious. I just want you to be safe," Thalia explained vaguely. She saw no reason to worry her over a feeling.
Mia just continued staring at her, and Thalia sighed. God! She had forgotten just how stubborn she could be.
"Alright, we met with the lone wolf, and he told us about an impending attack," she explained.
"Oh my goddess! How is he? What does he look like?" Mia blubbered on excitedly, and as Thalia looked on exasperatedly—she realized Mia had totally forgotten most of what she'd said, yet picked out that.
"I'm serious, Mia. We are still trying to figure it out, but you must be careful."
"Okay, I will," she replied, still excited. "'We'—meaning you work with someone else?"
Thalia nodded her head while scooping the last bits of rice from her plate.
"An omega, Casten."
"Is he your beta?" Mia asked, and they both laughed.
"Yeah, it's ironic, but he's likeable and quite smart," Thalia stated, and Mia nodded her head in understanding.
They both stood up, and Thalia started clearing the plates while Mia went to the single sink in the kitchen to start doing the dishes.
"Do you have any idea where Uncle Zach went?" Thalia asked, because she had a bad premonition about the whole situation.
"Not at all," Mia replied.
Mia turned to her best friend and tried to muster her best smile. She did not need to worry her with her baseless thoughts when she was already going through a lot. Uncle Zach's behaviour before he left had been alarming, and he had been continuously murmuring something about stopping… stopping the mother. She wiped her hands on her brown skirt and touched Thalia's hand softly.
"Do not worry about us. We shall be fine."
After that, the conversation stirred toward lighter topics until it was time for Thalia to leave.
"Mia, I really need to head back because we are meeting Kyle tonight."
"Can I also come along? I promise to hide my excitement," Mia said—with far too much excitement to hide already.
"No, Mia. I have just told you—no going into the woods," Thalia said in her most reasonable tone, hoping Mia could see reason.
"I could return with Casten," she tried again, but Thalia remained firm in her decision.
"An omega?"
"Alright, I understand," Mia finally relented and even managed a small smile.
"Next time, I will personally carry you there and back if it's what it will take," Thalia said to ease the situation—little knowing there would be no next time.
And with that, Thalia disappeared into the maze of small houses, totally clueless that the decision to leave Mia behind would become one of the greatest regrets of her life—and not seeing Uncle Zach, one of her greatest heartaches.