CHAPTER 5: BECOMING RAVEN

I actually did think this guy was a drunk—until I saw the city leading into the palace we passed through. It was beautiful the people in the city wore bright smiles.

They were completely friendly with one another—unlike in my world, where each person minds their own business. Nobody is nosy even if you’re in dire need of help, no one was going to come to ask if you need it.

But this people…they were coming in out of each other’s houses, smiling and looking genuinely happy to be in one another’s company.

They were nosy in a good way—a way I felt comfortable with.

Oreo—at least, I think that’s his name seems to notice that I am staring.

“Not what you’re used to right?” He asked looking at me.

“No, it’s not,” i replied, looking back at him. “The people seem to have a sense of peace that I am not used to. But I like it. Maybe you weren’t lying after all, and all this wasn’t just some ploy to murder me.”

“Well, that’s what happen when the Alpha is someone who actually cares about them. That’s the kind of alpha they need—and I’m hoping you can be that. Not just to this people but to the people in the slums. Unlike Damian. If he rules, he’ll do exactly has is father has done,” he said through clenched teeth, like he hated the name that came out of his mouth or even the thought of that person infuriated him.

“I don’t really understand this whole Alpha thing. You’ll have to be clearer with your explanations. And….people in the slum?” I asked, confused.

“You’ll understand once you have settled and met the Council of Elders,” I give an eye roll because I am so confused Council of Elders? it sounded so cheesy and made up but I don’t tell him that.

As the palace came into view, I am completely taken aback this seems like one of the fairytales I used to read as my bed time story.

I was never one of those kids that imagined herself as a princess living in a castle. Or someone with a cute Prince Charming.

Not that those stories weren’t nice or interesting to hear but I just never felt they were real.

Nan always told me that life wasn’t a fairytale. And she only bought me those books so I would understand the difference between fantasy and reality.

But now…this palace, this world—and I am not only in it but I’m supposed to be a queen. A ruler, An alpha.

When we entered the palace and I saw how massive it truly was even better looking inside than outside.

A small gasp escaped me and Oreo—Orion, I would later learn—looked at me smiling he probably amused by the shock on my face. After all, he had seen where I was living before he brought me here.

Nan’s amd my apartment wasn’t too small but it wasn’t big either at least nothing like this.

Stepping in and we keep going taking different turns making me want to question him. I was not going to be walking this place myself, I could get lost. This place was really huge and I was really bad with directions I thought to myself.

He stops suddenly in front of a very large double door—pulling it open.

Every pair of eyes in the room turned towards us, and I find myself wondering if I have entered the house of the devil itself.

Then my eyes meet his—the guy with deep forest green eyes. He was staring intently.

He looked incredible—long, dark, slightly wavy hair that falls around his shoulders, giving him a wild, untamed look. His facial features appear chiseled and strong.

He was gorgeous. Different from the other guys I was used to seeing.

“Wel…come Alpha,” I hear someone say snapping me out of the trance those eyes had pulled me into.

I turned towards the trembling voice of the old man that spoke to me. His body position facing me, but his eyes had no pupil.

His eyes were completely white, I wasn’t a genius but I knew that every single person on earth was born with a pupil so why not him.

“Where is he?” Someone else asked sounding completely unamused, he looked exactly like the boy with the green eyes. I guessed they were father and son.

“She,” Orion replies. “And she’s right here.”

And then I remember I was the Alpha. it was me they are talking about.

“A woman? The next alpha? Is this some kind of joke?” The person who speaks this time is a lady.

“Right, what’s going on here? Did you find the right person, Orion? Because I know how bad you are at your job,” the boy with green eyes added his tone mocking.

Orion—that was his name, not Oreo. I suddenly felt relieved—he looked like the only one I could trust, for now at least.

The whole table looked confused it’s like I wasn’t expected—or—wanted here.

“I am not bad at my job, you’re just scared a woman has come to take your place, so you want to blame me for it,” Orion snapped through clenched teeth.

“Enough.” The old man puts his hands up the way he says it— calmly still containing so much power—made me realize he must be the head here.

“It’s her. She is the next alpha. The moon chose her—it’s her birthright. And she looks exactly like her mother.”

Those last word make me freeze. I had a mom right here and I look like her. I had so many questions, I wanted to meet her. Do I have a dad? A sibling? Maybe. Was I abandoned?

“Welcome home, Raven.”

Raven. Was that my name? I didn’t bother correcting him. Tears welled up in my eyes. Maybe because a part of me wanted to remain here—to keep this new name and let go of the one Nan had given me.

Guilt gnawed at me. Nan raised me when these people didn’t want to. She gave me a name she loved dearly, and now I have heard a name that should feel strange and I should hate…I want to keep it.

I hate myself for it.

Instead of letting this people see me cry, I held back. I wasn’t ready to be vulnerable in front of this people because the way they were looking at me—it was as though they wanted to tear me apart.

“Let’s get ready for the feast and allow Raven to rest it must have been a long walk from there. The feast will take place in the dining area at the seventeenth hour—an hour from now,” someone says but I am no longer paying attention.

My eyes drift back to the boy with green eyes, and this he is no longer looking at me with awe but haterd, his knuckles clenched tightly.

“I will walk you up to your room,” Orion tells me.

Before leaving, i spare one last glance at the boy and my heart squeezes in my chest.

“Why does he look like he suddenly wants to kill me?”