She is Alpha, not Luna

6 - Keep it together

Sophia

“Well, this is awkward, Sophia." Keith says, scratching the back of his head. His whole look says he would rather be anywhere else. I share the sentiment. I’m feeling this immense, heavy anxiety, and it won’t go away.

As soon as I started hearing commotion in the pack house I was up, impatiently waiting for Keith and Lenox to crawl out of their room. They are trying for a baby and think the whole pack knows when my friend is ovulating.

Immediately after they emerged out into the world, I sent Keith to talk to his witch. And I did so without having the cat around since the damn thing sometimes scares me. Yes, I’m scared of a tiny cat now, but mostly I hug the animal to my chest for it’s the only thing giving me comfort and a small sense of security. Wow, how the mighty have fallen!

"What?" I ask in despair, poking my omlet with the fork with no intention to eat whatsoever. I haven’t been able to sleep all night after the f*****g Grim Reaper himself visited me. 

I did consider the whole conversation to be a figment of my overly active imagination, a scene conjured out of the fear for my life and not getting enough sleep. I mean he talked to my cat for crying out loud! Out of all the things he could have done, like, I don’t know, kill me?

HE, because my God, the man that materialised out of thin air in my room was definitely the figment of every wet dream I have ever had, and he was fully aware of this. No more black cloak, no red eyes shining from under the hood, and thankfully no scythe. What I had in front of me was a man, deadly, scary and capable of making anyone s**t their pants, yet so appealing, in the worst, most depraved way. 

I groan, fully aware that I need some sort of stress relief if I’m going to get my head in the game and find out who’s plotting to get me killed and why. If anything, I’m positive Lenox and Keith have nothing to do with the attempt on my life.

Thinking that my frustrated groan was because of him, Alpha Keith bluntly delivers his bad news, ripping the bandaid straight off.

"I'm afraid Ludmilla doesn't want to meet you." He says. Doesn't want to help you, is what I understand. I did not see that coming. The old hag is off her racker, but she has helped my pack in the past when my father was the Alpha.

"Why?" I scrunch my eyebrows together. Alpha Keith is desperately looking around for his Luna, most likely mind linking her for some help. 

Right on cue, Lenox finishes whatever she was talking about with Mandy, who was kind enough to fetch some food for Mit… Blaze. f**k, the cat and all that is a whole different story that I plan to obsessively overthink on the drive to Deena’s pack, my next stop.

"Some nonsense about Death following you."  Lenox says as soon as she sits down at the table. She absentmindedly kisses her husband on the cheek. I think I hear Keith’s breath of relief. He’s really wary of me, like I’m an unhinged, untamed, rogue pup. I did catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror this morning and he’s not wrong. I do look like s**t, like I’m haunted, which I guess I am.

“She's not what she used to be.” Lenox continues, referring to the witch that resides on their pack grounds. “Time hasn't been kind with her mind, if you know what I mean.” 

I sigh loudly. I do know that Lenox means, and if not, the circle motion she did with her finger next to her ear, speaks volumes. Not very Luna like, if I can say so myself.

The witch has gone coo coo and is of no use to me. Or worse, she’s still as sharp as a razor and I somehow have been marked by Death. That thought sends a shiver down my spine, and I’m ashamed to say it’s not that unpleasant, similar to how I felt last night when I saw the Reaper.

Great, just f*****g great.

My phone chooses the exact moment to disturb the heavy silence that fell over our table. I look at the screen and I see Alana calling. I push ignore, wanting to tell Lenox and Keith about the true reason behind my surprise visit and wanting to talk to their witch.

“Guys, I want to thank you f…” I get rudely interrupted by Deacon calling. The phone is basically jumping on the table because of the vibration. “Sorry, I guess I have to take this.” I excuse myself and walk out, phone in hand.

“Where’s the fire?” I answer and I can practically feel the heaviness. “Deacon, what happened?” I ask again, my tone changing drastically. I’m met with silence for a brief second before literal howls of crying break through, piercing my eardrums. Alana!

Pain.

Emptiness.

Numbness.

My guards are next to me before I can get myself inside the packhouse. They know, they most likely got a similar call.

“Alpha!” One of them yells, struggling to keep me upright.

I’m about to faint. What kind of an Alpha I am if I’m about to faint? 

Shame.

I struggle to remain on my own two feet, while the guys are talking around me, starting to alert the members of Shadow pack that something is not right.

Keith and Lenox are in front of me in mere seconds, extremely concerned.

I need to rise, do justice to my family name, my pack. I still am the Alpha, I can’t c***k now and leave us all vulnerable.

“I have to go back home.” I say. 

Everything moves in some sort of slow motion, even the sounds and voices are distorted.

“I’ll go with you, Sophia. I’ll bring a few of my best warriors as well.” Alpha Keith offers after I somehow managed to explain everything that has happened since we left Andreea’s bachelorette party. I left out the part where I died and then came back, only to be haunted by the Grim Reaper.

First rule in being a good Alpha is never to be cocky. Accepting Alpha Keith’s help, we set to return to Sirius pack in a hurry. What I find is should shattering. My female Beta, my best friend is unrecognizable. She looks almost feral, screaming and howling for the loss of my parents. She loves my parents like her own, and they loves her back. Deacon is holding up a little better, but he looks on the verge of collapsing and crying as well.

As opposed to Alana, who still has her parents, Deacon has never had family, not for as long as he can remember. We found him at our pack's border when he was a teenager, and my father took him in, raised and mentored him like a son. Heck, a lot of the other Alphas always think that he's my brother, and are always confused as to why he's my Beta.

Every single person I meet is crushed by the sudden disappearance of my parents, and I'm dying little by little, feeling like I'm going to combust any minute now.

Keith, bless him, keeps telling me to hold it together, not show any kind of weakness of strong emotion, but it's f*****g hard. Knowing he's right, and thanking the heavens he's here to help me, I keep a neutral face in front of my pack members, finding it utterly excruciating when I learn the gruesome details of the murder.