LucyI studied hard for the next few days. I didn’t come out of the room. I didn’t even let anyone come see me, no matter how many times Yvonne allowed me to make that choice. The beta was outside the door this time. I stepped out and met his gaze. “I am not your luna,” I said. “Please stop coming to talk to me about it.”He winced, but he nodded and turned away. Yvonne grinned. “I think all this practice is giving you some oomph.”I smiled and slumped forward. “All I feel right now… is drained.”She laughed. “That makes sense.”We ate lunch at her little table, and another knock came. This time it was Matt. I went stiff, watching him warily. He cleared his throat and lifted his head. “I’m here to talk about the luncheon tomorrow,” Matt said. “The Liaison said we have to… make sure you’re getting time to socialize outside of the pack, so we’re taking you to a human luncheon.”I swallowed and nodded. “Okay.”“Great. We’re going shopping—”“I don’t want to,” I said, meeting his gaze
LucyI waited for a few more moments until my heart calmed down, and I stopped sneezing. After I got dressed, I felt a little steadier, nervous, and hopeful. I made sure I had the communication crystal Dagon had given me and placed it in the little clutch that had been sitting on the bathroom vanity. I guessed one of them had picked it out for me. It was black, so it worked enough for the rest of my outfit. I took a deep breath, looked in the mirror, and tried to calm myself. The flat sandals were comfortable. I was wearing pants for the first time in what felt like forever. I felt a bit more like myself.The reflection staring back at me was pale, but I looked okay.“You’ll be okay, Lucy.” I checked the crystal again, hoping against hope that Dagon would say something soon. I came out of the bathroom and walked into the main room with a sigh of relief. Matt and Tony weren’t there. I opened the main door and walked out just as I heard them moving around in their rooms. For a few mome
LucyMy heart leaped as I met her gaze and nodded. She smiled and nodded, and leaned away before taking another bite of her sandwich. Her eyes drifted over the area before she dug into her purse.“I love your sandals,” she said, looking at my feet. “You know I didn’t know what a gladiator sandal was until a few days ago… Do you mind?”I shook my head as she lifted her phone and angled it toward my feet. She leaned closer. I felt her tug at the straps and glanced down. I saw something small and white slipping between the straps until I couldn’t see it beneath the back of the sandal. My heart raced as she took a photo.“The studs are a nice touch,” she said, grinning. “I’ll have to go looking for a pair like them. Maybe in a nice cream… Also, the pixie cut totally suits you! Do you use curlers, or are you just unnaturally blessed?”I smiled at her. “Blessed, I guess, though, it feels a lot more like a curse.”She laughed. “You probably just need more moisturizer! Ooh, I might have some…
MattI turned, searching the crowd for Lucy. She wasn’t where she had been most of the afternoon, in a little shaded corner, probably feeling out of place. She wasn’t at the buffet either. When was the last time you saw Lucy?I thought you were watching her, Tony said. I was keeping an eye on Tina.I frowned. She’s not where she was a second ago…I focused on my hearing, listening for her. Then, I heard her voice. “Excuse me? Could you point me to a bathroom?”She’s going to the bathroom. Do you still have eyes on Tina?I haven’t let her out of my sight, he said stiffly. I honestly don’t know how much more I can take this, Matt. I’m pretty sure I was about to lose it in the car. How much longer do we have to be here?Not long. Head that way so we can go.I smiled and excused myself, saying something about checking on our companion. I headed inside and asked for the bathroom. Based on the way she sounded, I was headed down the same hallway. A woman went past, and I took a seat at th
LucyI waited for them to come back, for something else to happen, but nothing happened. I slumped back against the back of the backseat. My whole body felt like it was covered in a thin layer of sweat. My heart was racing. I didn’t know what to say or do, so I just lay there and let my body calm down. A knock sounded on the door. I looked up as the door unlocked. Tina slipped into the backseat and pulled me into her arms with a soft little gasp. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispered as the doors locked. The woman in the driver’s seat cranked up the car. Soon, the car began to move. I felt it rock me as I leaned into Tina’s arms. The woman in the front seat looked back at me with kind eyes. She had dark hair and bright, almost emerald-green eyes. She smelled a little like grass and flowers. I looked out the window, back at the house, as we grew further away. “Thank you,” I whispered. “You still breathing?” Tina asked.“Y-Yeah.”“Good,” she said, stroking my hair. “We’re head
LucyI woke up feeling refreshed and rested, even though there was a bit of pain in my neck. “Come on,” Tina said, nudging me out of the car. She opened her door and climbed out, and the sunlight nearly blinded me. It was near dawn wherever we were. The sun was already recoloring the sky. I gasped as I looked into the distance and saw water. This had to be the ocean. There was a single building there that looked like some sort of office building. “See you later!” Cara said as we got out of the car. Tina took my hand and led me toward the front doors. “There’s no need to be shy. Everyone already knows you’re coming. You’ll meet Diana and everyone else formally. They’re super nice….”I looked around. The walls were all made of glass on the bottom floor. I could see a group of people on the balcony outside in the back. It looked like it led down to the beach. The back doors opened, and I could smell the salt of the ocean. My heart raced. “Welcome back, Tina!” The woman behind the
LucyWhen we were done, Stacy led me out of her office and down the hall. We went down the hall to a different elevator. “This elevator bank is off-limits to any clients. They’re the private apartments,” she said and stopped by a desk. The woman behind the desk smiled and handed her a card. “They just finished up.”“You all are a dream.” Stacy took the card and grinned. “Whitley here is head of housing logistics. You run into an issue, you let her know, and she’ll get it fixed.”I nodded and waved as I followed Stacy into the elevator. She hummed as the elevator started to glide down.“I’m on floor three. You can call or come down if you want to talk. If I’m not there, there will be a sign and usually a note about where I might be. I tend to be around most days, though. We usually all have dinner at least once a month if schedules allow. You’re on floor six, right next to Karlie. I thought it would be good to give you a familiar face.”She led me down the hall to the door and handed
PeterI turned slowly and turned on the bank of screens that showed the recordings of all the rooms during the conference. I rewound the tapes to when Matt and Tony had first arrived before they went sprinting off the first time. Their luggage hadn’t been spectacular. They had spent so little time in the room and hadn’t said anything. Instead, Matt had spent a lot of his time texting someone on his phone. Tony sat across the room, facing the door with his phone in his hand. It had been obvious that they had known they were being watched, still, I scanned the room, searching for a laptop of some sort, but there hadn’t been one, which meant there was no way I could hack into their files using their IP address.A shame, though I suppose it would have been too easy. The same had been true of David and all of his direct subordinates. Any alpha who had come with a laptop was too low in my pack and David’s pack to have anything worthwhile on their laptop.I drank slowly, running my fingers