"Oh, how you all have grown."
While standing on the podium, Selena let her eyes roam over the crowd of people in front of her with a hard look on her face. She stared down at everyone as they screamed to vocalize their distaste and anger towards the recent attacks and their concern towards the condition of their beta.
"Silence!" She said, completely in sync with Izzy, making her voice powerful, authoritative and loud enough to silence the displeased pack members.
Damien and Connor stood behind her as Ryan sat on a chair. A few minutes ago, Ryan had announced to his pack mates about the new wolf in charge. They had remained silent, after everything they made the girl go through, they didn't know how to react.
However, some of them had immense respect for her on seeing how much she had been through. They had bowed their heads, some as a sign of respect to her, and some only to show they respect the decision of their beta.
However, when Selena had announced three of the new rules she was bringing forth, none of them were too happy.
She hadn't made many changes. It was for a reason that the Ferocious Shadows was one of the strongest packs. So she had announced only three things that she felt were absolutely necessary.
She let all the people there see the determination and strength that she still held before she finally started speaking, "I know it is hard for you all to accept the changes, but it has been discussed with Alpha Xavier, and all the leaders in this pack have also accepted it. The only reason why I am announcing this is that your alpha isn't here, and the beta is injured, who has made me in charge until your alpha returns. So I figured this could be a sort of a formal introduction."
Everybody remained quiet on hearing Xavier's decision, some of them, the older wolves, looked at Damien too, to make sure that he too agreed to it and only silenced when they noticed his acceptance.
"The rules are simple." Selena maintained her loud voice. "The first rule is that everybody has to undergo the basic training of self-defence, we have hunters as our enemies, we cannot ever be more prepared. So knowing self-defence is absolutely necessary."
"We did have self-defence classes though. The alpha made us all go through training for years until he deemed us ready."
"I know," Selena nodded slightly, "But that was to defend yourselves against rogues. You need more agility, and presence of mind for hunters. Your strength wouldn't do shit if they have wolfsbane laced bullets aimed at your heart. Moreover, the warriors will be busy fighting the hunters, they might not have a chance to come to your rescue in the middle of thebattle. So you need to be prepared."
Low whispers were heard among all the hurdled pack members. Selena only had to wait for a few seconds until the wolves agreed. She then began speaking again.
"Rule Number two, the children will begin training from the age of ten. Now," She said before the members could even utter a word, "It won't be severe training, only the basic exercises which will help them develop more mind-body control, just so that they can control their wolves when they shift at 13, and for the current predicament, at least to enable them to hold their own in the worst-case scenario until anyone can come to their rescue."
Some of the parents look doubtful but most of them understood this and agreed too. Selena mentally relaxed, this was the one she was worried about.
"Finally, the last one," Selena said still maintaining the serious no-nonsense expression, "Cooking for your pack-mates is not a work that you can write as something for the omegas."
Silence prevailed. Everybody assumed where this conversation might be going and no one dared to utter a single word.
"Omegas might be the smaller of the lot but they are not your slaves." Damien frowned, ashamed of the way his pack members had treated her, "Treat them with the same amount of respect which you expect from the other wolves."
A few of the wolves, mostly the younger ones, nodded seriously while the older ones looked embarrassed.
"Every week, a specific number of people will volunteer the cooking and cleaning of the packhouse. I spoke to a few of the omegas who stated that they liked to do the work but often it becomes much too tiring. The volunteers will help them with the workload."
"Everyone has to volunteer," she continued, "Doesn't matter if you are warriors, teachers, businessmen or whatever, this is your duty to the pack and to the omegas who make the work easier for you."
Connor smirked on seeing how slowly Selena was returning back to her old self, and Ryan smiled at seeing some good rules being implemented. He stood up and walked to the front slowly with the help of the stick he was given.
Selena held his hand when he reached her and Ryan stood beside her, facing the pack.
"Guys, the attack was hard on us all. The alpha has been informed and he will be back soon. But he has ordered all of you to listen to her with as much respect as you would have listened to him."
"Yes, Beta Ryan," they all answered together and then looked at Selena, "We understand the rules, Luna."
Selena was just going to speak when Ryan spoke again, "Also, Xavier suggested to me a few people who he wants to be the first volunteers."
Selena looked at him confused because this was something she had no idea about. She noticed the side of Ryan's lips quirking slightly as if he was trying to hold back a smile or smirk.
"Josephine, Monica, Andrew, Kendra, Mathew, Lucas, Nicholas and Stacy, You guys are the volunteers for the first month." Ryan and Selena both stayed quiet as Selena still looked at Ryan. She turned her face to look at the crowd but made sure she looked at the eyes of each and every one of those people that had tormented her the most during that time.
She was trying so hard to not smirk when her eyes fell on Stacy's, she didn't want to seem petty while standing in front of the pack as their leader but it was proving to be really hard.
"Would you like to dismiss the meeting, Luna?" Ryan asked gently, with a bowed head and took a step back slowly.
"Meeting dismissed."
They all retired to Xavier's office in the meantime.
"Did you see the way she stared? Her face had gone all red and she was so angry," Ryan commented with a chuckled as Ileana helped him sit.
"When did you guys plan this?" Selena asked, hiding her amusement.
"Xavier suggested. He had asked me to give him the list of names of all the wolves who..." Ryan flinched, not being able to finish. Everyone remained quiet and Selena's smile faltered but she gave him a nod and urged him to continue. "He texted me last night after we discussed the rules with him in the conference, saying that these people are to be the first volunteers and they must help."
Selena nodded her head but didn't comment any further. After a bit more chitchat, and Connor telling her how proud he was of her, she went to get a little training and running for her wolf and Ryan went to rest along with Ileana, as Connor and Damien stayed in the office.
"Does she know?" Damien asked all of a sudden catching Connor off guard. He looked at Damien with a surprised face but Damien didn't fall for it, "Robert and I were close, Connor, I know you know."
"Damien..."
"The way she spoke a few days ago, asking why her parents aged faster than normal werewolves," Damien paused just to weigh Connor's expression, "She doesn't know about Marcella."
Connor still didn't say anything, neither did his expression give anything away. There was no denying the fact that Damien knew, but this is one topic he has never spoken about, so he had no idea how to approach it now.
"Just know that secrets can end your family, son, and I don't think you wanna lose her," Damien said softly and turned to leave.
"I promised my mom that I will wait until the last moment." Damien paused and looked at him, "Mom didn't want her to know. She didn't know if she had her powers to give on to her children, she wanted to wait till she earned the powers to tell her."
"But you know." Damien pointed out.
Connor nodded, "The power in my mother's family always went to the first-born daughter. Just in case something happened to either of them, they had told me the story so that someone knows. They didn't tell her because they were scared she will blurt it out," he scoffed, "She kinda had a big mouth when she was young."
"She should know. Marcella's story is legendary. That's something that has never happened before. Robert and Marcella, they made a lot of enemies in both the parties."
"I wonder why," Connor scoffed with sarcasm, "A witch mated to a werewolf alpha, what could go wrong."
"They were good people." Damien shook his head, feeling the sadness engulf him for the loss of his friends.
"What kind of a mother curses her own child?" Connor voices angrily.
"The one who feels her child will bring disappointment to her name," Damien answers.
"They deserved better."
"They did."
Connor sighed, "I will tell Selena on the day of her birthday."
Damien nodded, slightly patting him on the back encouragingly.
The rest of the day passed by without anything much happening but that was until the night came. Selena was in her room sleeping when she suddenly sat up.
Her sleep broke all of a sudden as she felt a change in the air, there were goosebumps on her skin as she got up from the bed and opened the door. The whole floor was eerily silent.
Selena creeped out of her room only to find the whole corridor empty, which wasn't surprising considering that it was well past midnight. However, she couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something that she was missing.
She slowly and carefully walked down the stairs, without making much noise, cringing visibly whenever the wooden floors creaked beneath her feet. When she reached the lobby of the ground floor, her eyes attentively checked the whole sight again.
Her head snapped towards her right when she felt a whisper, right next to her ear. A drop of sweat rested on the side of her forehead as she felt like she was looking right through someone.
Selena has never felt so creeped out. Izzy too was on high alert. She felt an intruder in the packhouse, but everything seemed okay yet out of place.
Breathing out a sigh, Selena walked to the kitchen, she checked the area first before she took a glass of water to drink. When she walked out again, the lights in the lobby was turned on.
"Seriously, now?" She whispered as she stood still, her eyes wandered up the whole place again and again as if she might find something new.
She took a deep breath, maybe her mind's playing tricks on her. She closed her eyes for a second, taking the time to calm herself down.
She felt it again, the feeling of someone's breath falling on her face.
Her hand extended out first before she opened her eyes. Her reflexes were very fast, as it had to be as a result of all of the training.
However, the actual surprise came when she felt something like a neck in her grip. She opened her eyes and her eyes became wide when she saw a glowing blue-eyed man within her grip.
"Who are you?" she asked in a steel voice, there was no sign of fear even though Selena was quite shaken. She had only closed her eyes for a second; there is no chance this man was there before.
However, her fingers suddenly went past the skin and her fist became empty and the man stood just one hand away from her still hanging fist.
"Lorcan Vyris at the service of the Ferocious Shadows pack," the man said with a smirk.
It took a second for Selena to realize what he said and in the meantime, a door to one of the rooms opened and the whole family came out, with laughs and smiles on their faces.
"Wait, you all knew?" she asked surprised.
"So what do you think?" Connor asked with a smirk.
"She definitely knows what she is doing," Lorcan smirked too, "and if she's mated to Xavier, I can only imagine. Though I must say, you gave an impressive first impression, princess."
"Selena Wilson." She smiled and thrust her hand forward, "I would apologize for choking you but seems like that was the intention?" she asked with a frown but even she looked amused. That made Lorcan grin.
"Your brother here told me that your senses were very alert, I just had to check for myself," he shrugged with an amused smile and shook her hand. He stilled when he touched her hand but didn't show it as he resumed shaking her hand. He glanced at Connor but that one glance was enough to tell him that something was off here.
"Also, he always pranks someone when he makes an appearance, this time it was you." Damien shook his head.
Lorcan gave him a tight hug and then kissed Adriana's cheek, to which Damien growled slightly, making Lorcan chuckle and Adriana blush slightly.
"Well, I will get to the getting to know you part tomorrow, for now, sleep calls me." She saluted them and turned to go up the stairs.
"Where's Ryan?" Lorcan asked after waving back at her.
"He's resting," Ileana said and took a step forward.
Lorcan smiled and gave her a hug, "Oh, how you all have grown."
Lorcan looked at Connor, the slight hardening of his features and the smirk now gone made it very clear that he had noticed his sudden change too.
Lorcan nodded towards him and Connor nodded back.
"Well,I just wanted to make an entrance and since that's done, I will be back tomorrowmorning." He gently bowed his head and looked up. With a smile towards everyonein the room, he clicked a finger and was just gone with a poof.