Six

AVENA

"Isaac Langston," I repeated.

Isaac didn't look too different now I remembered him. He used to be lanky and shorter but that was all that changed. The frown on his lips was very much still present and he was still handsome.

"Hmm." He said, his frown not disappearing. His response said he wasn't impressed by me remembering him and it made me unsure of what to say next.

I bit at my lower lip hesitating before continuing, "Well... Uh.. It's been a while? You live here?" I asked.

Sage was almost uncontrollable at this point and stirred with excitement and thrill.

"What have you been doing for the past ten years?" He asked shoving his hands in his pockets.

I was taken back by the question, "Well I -

He shook his head cutting me off. " Scratch that. I meant who asked you to come back here?"

"Excuse me?" I asked his rudeness sending a bad current to my stomach.

"We don't need drama here. Go back to wherever the f*ck you've been, Slade." With that, he shot me a final glare, turned around and walked off.

It left me confused. He wasn't happy I was back? He was angry at me? Was that why he had been giving me a stare-down ever since he saw him?

Sage grunted, a little prick of pain floating in my chest.

I watched his back until he disappeared between some buildings.

Langston. His surname helped me realize he was related to the Alpha in there in someway.

Aunt Mona and Uncle Gray came to me, dragging my attention away from Isaac.

"Oh.. You're back. What happened in there?" I asked as we resumed our walk to the car.

Uncle Gray's eyes crinkled by the corners as he laughed. He was a totally different person now than when we were inside. "Well, the mediator was in there, it didn't take long before everything got resolved. You don't have to worry about a thing, Avena." He replied placing a hand around my shoulder. I looked at Aunt Mona, and she shrugged, telling me she had no idea either.

I brushed it aside, ." Do I really have to go to school? I'm fine with you training me." I told Uncle Gray as we corned around another block.

"You have to do so. It's the essential step in getting a rank in any of the packs in UPC. One of the Pack laws." He answered back.

I sighed giving up after hearing that. I just had to put up with it just like I did at the previous pack.

Uncle Gray cleared his throat," It doesn't mean I won't give you the necessary training either. There are a whole lot of things you're yet to learn to be a powerful Lunaria warrior and a true Nyxian blood. School is the least of your worries now." He added.

"Okay," I replied nodding. "I'll have to look forward to it then."

"That's the spirit." Aunt Mona chipped in making me chuckle.

We left the Silvermoon territory and headed home. As we got into the Lunaria pack territory, it was kind of different from the Silvermoon's. At first, it was just trees and streams, making me question if we even had houses at all. Then we passed two cabins. One was small with a big field in front of it while the other was bigger. That was all.

After a few minutes, a compound came into view.

"We're home." Uncle Gray announced halting the car.

I looked around, noticing our truck packed out at the front, another red truck beside it with two other smaller cars.

We got down and made our way into the compound. I noticed the compound was bigger than I thought. It had several cabins situated at different places with me counting a total of six cabins. One was relatively bigger than the rest, one was small while the rest were of the same size.

Each had LN inscribed on them stylishly

As we headed towards one of the medium houses, we heard voices and laughter coming from there and a nice aroma of home-cooked food overtaking the whole house.

"Come and meet everyone." Uncle Gray beckoned.

Everyone stopped talking immediately after we entered the room. I could see Marco was still present. Each of them greeted Uncle Gray, and I saw their lingering eyes on us.

Especially Marco.

"This is Avena, everyone. The daughter of the Alpha who died ten years ago. Some of you remember her as a little girl," He announced bringing me to his side. The pack members smiled at me in awe and admiration and I couldn't help but feel loved and welcomed by them already.

"And this is Mona. I'm sure you all know her. She was the wife to the late enforcer of the pack." He added pulling Aunt Mona closer. "She has kept Avena safe for us all these years. That is such an honourable act from her despite everything she had been through."

The pack members nodded with smiles exchanging glances at each other before turning back to us.

"Show them all the love and support they need, all of us are one and need each other." Uncle Gray added.

"Of course, Sir Gray." An older woman replied to him as she stepped forward. She had been stirring a pot when we walked in earlier. "We will surely do that."

"This is Devina," Uncle Gray said introducing her to us. "She's the Elder and den mother of our pack.

She smiled at me before proceeding to hug both me and Aunt Mona.

"This is Asher, Philly, and Caro." He continued pointing to them respectively. "Clay and Nell are out on a mission right now but will be back by tomorrow morning. That's all for our pack. We are the smallest pack in the UPC and that seems to be our strength. And I'm sure you know Marco Forest already. He's from the mystic pack."

That concluded the introductions, and every member of the pack exchanged greetings with us, gushing at how much I looked like my mother and how they'd been waiting for us to come back. I saw Uncle Gray and Marco discuss something before Marco came to me.

"Uhm.. An emergency just came up right now so I'll have to get going. I can't wait to see you at school, Avena." He told me flashing a cheeky smile at me.

He bid me goodbye and then left.

We settled down for dinner, and the pack members exchanged stories, made jokes and told me a bit about other packs. It was nice and homely that I seriously wished we had come back sooner.

When it was time to retire for the night, we were shown the cabin I'd be sharing with Aunt Mona, and one of the things I thought about lastly before shutting my eyes as I lay in the cabin was how well I was going to handle school tomorrow.