The Oracle

CHAPTER THREE: COOKING UP A STORM!

(Five months later...)

Synthia’s POV

I got up from the bed, hearing my alarm without any theatrics since I was already awake. I was nervous and couldn’t get a wink of sleep the entire night and kept tossing around in the bed. It was the day of our Graduation ceremony and I was excited as well as nervous.

After showering and blow drying my hair, I went to pick out my outfit. It was an important day, and I wanted to look good, but the real reason was that Aiden was supposed to attend the function to show our bond to the pack as per his father’s advice.

After wearing my new lavender dress, which I brought along with Sophie last week, I did my makeup. I wore my favorite earrings, then put on the gold bracelet my brother Dominic gifted me and finally, my gold chain that I was wearing when I was found in the forest as a baby. From the moment my mom gave me the chain with the antique-looking locket and told me it was the one I was wearing when they found me, I had felt an instant connection with it, as if I had a bond with it. I cherished it and wore it only during special occasions.

I looked at the mirror and smiled. I looked good, and I hoped that Aiden will like how I looked since I took all this effort to impress him.

While I was finishing getting ready by putting on my black high heels, Sophia barged into my room. She started to scream my name to wake me up. On seeing me already awake and dressed up, she just kept her mouth open mid-scream and looked at me with her eyes opened wide in shock. It was such a comic look, and I burst out laughing.

"What..how?" she stammered out.

I rolled my eyes at her childish reaction.

"Why are you acting as if me waking up in time is the eighth wonder of the world or something?" I asked.

She raised her eyebrows at me.

" Maybe because it is?" she replied.

"Whatever... let’s go sister-in-law!" I retorted while trying to keep my blushing in control.

It was her turn to blush now, and I laughed at her expression.

It had been five months since my marriage was fixed with Aiden. Originally, it was decided that our marriage would be held on the same day the mating ceremony of Jared and Sophie was fixed. However, the organized rogue attacks, which began first on the day they found me but occurred only a few times in the years after that, were getting more frequent nowadays. It was still a mystery to everyone since we could not catch any of the rogues alive, since they committed suicide by injecting wolfbane the moment they were caught. It was really confusing since the rogues were now appearing as if they were a pack of rogues instead of the lone wolves they were supposed to be.

Aiden had to travel to other packs regarding the affairs of the rogues, and they formed a council to solve the rogue problems. Since he was busy with these matters, he requested to postpone our marriage to six months later. I was a bit disappointed since I wanted to share my special day with my best friend, but I understood that the matter of the rogues was important. It would be better to start our new life after solving the threats, and it was not as if he was avoiding marrying me, right? At least that was what I told myself, even if there was a nagging feeling in my mind that he was grasping at straws and was hoping to find his true mate before our marriage... My stupid premonitions sucked!

I brought myself back to my cheerful mood and consoled myself that he would be mine soon and I would make him love me... Who wouldn’t love me, right? I am so lovable!

So, Sophie and Jared’s mating ceremony was held on the next full moon day as planned. It was the pack’s tradition to conduct the ceremony in the night. It was a beautiful ceremony, and Sophie wore the traditional white shift. After the ceremony which included the mates swearing their loyalties and bond to each other much like in a human marriage and them being pronounced as mates for life, both of them changed into their wolves and had their first run in the full moon as a mated couple and afterwards, the pack joined them in the run.

And so, Sophie was now my sister-in-law, but it changed nothing between us since we were already sisters. We went to breakfast, and I waited to see Aiden and his reaction to how I looked, but he was absent. Maybe he had work to do before attending the function... Sophie was wearing a red dress. She looked really pretty and Jared couldn’t take his eyes off her. I sighed longingly, seeing them looking into each other’s eyes with love. I wish I could have that bond with Aiden soon.

I turned to see my brother Dominic having his breakfast without having a care in the world and teased him.

"Hey Beta! When are we going to get a Beta female? If you haven’t already noticed, your younger siblings both have mates already," I said in a playful tone.

He shrugged. "I am in no hurry, I would find a suitable mate when I feel ready to settle down," he said.

I raised my brows at him.

"I heard that Gina is looking for an alliance with a high-ranking wolf from our pack, maybe she would be an excellent candidate!" I said.

Dominic choked on the water he was drinking and we all laughed seeing his expression.

"Damn Synthia! Don't scare me like that again," he scolded me.

I replied that he should stop being a ladies’ man as he used to describe himself and better look for a good girl if he didn’t want to be tied up with bimbos like Gina.

After breakfast we went to the school and we wore our graduation robes and they called us according to our last names. They called Sophie earlier on since her last name was Evans and we all cheered for her when she received her certificate and Jared was so proud of her and kept clapping like a kid.

While they called the others one by one, I waited, glancing hopefully at the gates. Till the moment they called my name, I was sure that Aiden would come any minute. But when my name was finally called, I knew that he was not coming. While walking towards the stage numbly, I felt like I would burst into tears any second when it was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of my life.

Why Aiden, you can't spare at least a few moments for me, your fiancee?

I faked a smile while receiving my certificate and kept it glued to my face while we posed for the pictures. After the ceremony, everyone knew that I was upset, but no one commented on it since they knew that it would make me feel worse.

When we reached the pack house, we saw Aiden in the training grounds and I felt a burst of anger towards him for the first time in my life. He saw us but glanced away towards the warriors and didn’t bother to congratulate me or offer an explanation on why he didn’t attend the function when he was supposed to. I felt like shouting at him, but then, I saw that he looked so pale and had bags under his eyes as if he was not getting enough sleep. He looked stressed with his hair mussed up, as if he ran his fingers through them many times as he tended to do when he was frustrated. I felt my anger draining away and being replaced with sympathy. He was so stressed by the pack matters and it was not fair of me trying to involve him in trivial matters such as school functions. Maybe I should do something to help him relax and get some rest?

The next day, my mom, Aiden’s mom, and Sophia went with me to the boutique to buy my wedding gown. Since I was a human and the typical mating ceremony which included the mates changing into wolf form and having their run together couldn’t be done, it was decided that our marriage would be conducted in the morning of the full moon day in the church in human style and then, in the night, a ceremony would be held in the pack house announcing us as mates and me as Luna. During the past months, we have been to several such trips and searched many bridal shops, but even if we found several beautiful dresses with amazing designs, nothing called out to me. There were only two weeks left and everyone was stressed out by now .

It was a really small boutique. On seeing it, the others had no hope since there were only few selections and the dresses looked out of date too. While I was wandering around, suddenly I noticed a dress hanging in the corner. I went towards it in a daze. It was a simple white full length sleeveless gown with small crystals in it and the design was so simple that it reminded me of the shifts used in the traditional mating ceremony.

"Guys! I am going to try this one," I called out. The others stopped their bickering and turned to me in surprise.

I went to the trial room and changed into it. The dress fit me perfectly, and it wouldn’t require any altering. I loved it and instantly knew that this was it.. I found my wedding dress!

I went out and everyone gasped. My mom was in tears and Sophie beamed at me.

"Wow… this looks like it was made for you, Synthia! This is it!" she said.

We brought the dress and completed our shopping and went back to the pack house.

The next day evening, I marched into the kitchen. On seeing me, the chef began sweating and tried to find excuses to send me off. Well; he didn’t have to try this hard to get rid of me. I was not that disturbing. Well, maybe a little.

Little? My conscience screamed at me and I remembered what happened five months ago.

(FLASHBACK BEGINS...)

It was a week after the day the elder Alpha announced my marriage with Aiden. I was over the moon with my happiness, knowing no bounds. I then had a brilliant burst of idea that to be the perfect wife, I needed to learn to cook and be a good cook since the way to a male’s heart especially, a werewolf male’s heart was through his stomach as the ladies in the pack used to joke.

I went to the kitchen, and the Chef smiled at me. When I told him I wanted to learn to cook so that I could cook for my husband, he was a little apprehensive but was glad to help. However, I was adamant that he only needed to give me proper instructions and I would do the cooking on my own. He finally agreed that I could cook red sauce pasta since the Chef already made the red sauce and I only needed to boil the spaghetti and mix the sauce. Well, I couldn’t go wrong with such an easy recipe, or that is what I thought!

I chased the chef out of the kitchen and then put the water to boil. Once the water boiled, I would have to add the spaghetti… easy peasy!

I dreamed of how Aiden would eat the dish I cooked for dinner. Technically, since the Chef prepared the sauce, it was not exactly my cooking, but who cared? I knew that he liked pasta and I was imagining how I would gaze at him in satisfaction and pride. It would be sooo good that he would be tempted to lick his fingers clean. He would fall nose first in love with me seeing my cooking prowess and hail me as the cooking queen!

I was woken from my fantasy when I heard the chef’s shouting and turned to see that while I was dreaming, the water fully evaporated and now the kitchen was filled with smoke.. I gagged with the burning smell and the chef switched off the flame and opened the windows while swearing. Holy shiznits! When I heard the phrase, I never thought that it was possible in actual life, but I literally burned water!

(END OF FLASHBACK...)

I should have seen that incident as an omen that cooking would not be my forte. But I was determined that practice would make perfect and I would surely be a superb cook. The following months saw many such incidents when I sneaked into the kitchen and though I didn’t manage to burn water after the first time, the results weren’t much better with overcooked noodles, sticky pancakes, blackened toast and so on..

So, I couldn’t blame the chef for being nervous about my presence in the kitchen. Today, I was going to try a dessert. I had done my research and selected a recipe which was supposed to be done even by kids.

I was going to make Oreo balls. Who could resist Oreos? Definitely not Aiden since it was a well-known secret that he had stashes of Oreos in his room, not suiting the tough badass Alpha character, but who was I to deprive him of his guilty pleasure?

I set up the ingredients and crushed the Oreos up, mixed them up with cream cheese, and then dunked those balls into melted chocolate.

After I was done, I gazed around the kitchen. It was covered in flour, but I didn’t even use flour! There were dirty dishes everywhere. Oops! Was it chocolate on the wall?

The kitchen looked like a storm hit it and I was pretty certain that this was not what it meant when they said ‘cooking up a storm’; was it?

During the dinner, I waited with bated breath while we finished the main course and moved onto desserts. I looked at Aiden when he took one of the Oreo balls and popped it into his mouth. Even if there was no dramatic reaction that I would have liked, he seemed to like it. I didn’t tell anyone that I made it. Seeing him eat it, I was feeling so proud and accomplished. It was the first food I made that was edible, and I believe it is the first of many. I would definitely conquer the kitchen once and was going to be an excellent cook one day!

I smiled dreamily. Five months went by. Two more weeks to go and I would get married to the love of my life. Happily ever after, here I come...