~Avery's POV~
I woke up feeling completely rested. The bed was hugging me nicely form every angle and my face was buried in the pillows. I rolled onto my back and gazed at the ceiling, rubbing my eyes to ease some of the stinging from the sun hitting me in the face. Then I sighed heavily as I remembered all that was going to take place today. I was ready to get some answers.
' Today is going to be interesting.' I thought to myself.
I stood up from the bed and went to the huge bathroom. 'This is something I'll never get used to.'
I turned on the shower, leaving it quite cold so that I would wake up quickly and put my hair in a messy bun before removing my shorts and t-shirt.
I stepped into the shower, shivering as I let the cold water hit my body. My heart rate was speeding and my teeth quivering. After about ten minutes I was done washing my body and stepped out, wrapping a towel around my body and went to get dressed.
I pulled on a pair of ripped jeans and a simple white t-shirt and then went to stand by the window. ' Please, please, please let this go smoothly. Let me get answers, I feel like I deserve them'.
I pleaded with who? No idea, but it was something I did quite often when I needed support and guidance.
I made my to the stairs and saw Amber standing there talking to a girl. She seemed young, around 15 maybe.
" Hey, Avery!" Amber yelled waving for me to come over. I walked over to the two girls and gave Amber a quick hug.
" Avery, this is Elisabeth. She's an omega and helps with cooking and organizing whenever there's an event. She makes the meanest brownies!" Amber said in her usual bubbly tone. Elizabeth giggled and looked a little embarrassed.
" And Elisabeth, this is Avery..." things got quite and awkward really fast, Amber clearly didn't know who to introduce me as.
" It's nice to meet you, Luna,"
Huh? I looked at Amber, whose eyes were wide and she scrunched her nose, not knowing what to do in this situation.
" Uhh, please, call me Avery. I'm not sure what a Luna is but I'm guessing my lovely friend here is trying to figure out a way to explain it to me." I said looking mockingly at Amber.
" Of course, Avery, I have to leave but it was nice meeting you. I will see you at breakfast," she then turned to Amber and gave I slight bow.
"Thank you for helping me." She then turned around and skipped down the stairs.
I turned my head to Amber with a raised brow.
"Luna?" I asked with a raised brow.
"Uhm..."
I looked at her expectantly with a little smirk on my face. I knew exactly how uncomfortable she was in this situation. One thing I had noticed was that James called the shots, if Amber were to say something she shouldn't or in a way that she shouldn't, James wouldn't be happy.
" Relax, it's fine haha. I'm hungry, let's go eat." I started to feel bad for her. Amber doesn't ever not speak. So if something manages to make speechless, it's big.
I walked down a few steps and noticed she wasn't following me, so I turned around with a big smile on my face. " You coming?"
Amber looked highly unamused and glared at med like she wanted to push me down the remaining steps.
" You little..." She didn't finish the sentence. My smile turned into laughter as I went back up and took her hand. I then proceeded back down to the dining hall.
The first person I saw when we walked into the huge dining hall was Alice. She was standing by the oven, taking something out that looked like hash browns. The smell was amazing. To the left was the biggest room I had ever seen with four long tables put about. There were at least 80 people sitting and eating. Some were getting up to grab more food and over by the big windows on a little platform, were James, Alex, that Damon guy from yesterday, one another guy and two girls I didn't recognize, sitting and eating. James, as if he sensed me coming in, turned his head towards me and his face was void of emotions.
" Good morning ladies." Alice greeted us as we came in.
" Good morning," Me and Amber said simultaneously.
" I didn't know you cook, Alice," I smiled at her while grabbing a plate
" Well she is the pack che,f" Elisabeth, the omega I was introduced to said with a smile. I realized she had dimples and long brown hair. She was really cute.
" Oh well then. I would have thought a 'pack' with this many people would have hired staff for that." Was that rude? No, I hope not. I still wasn't comfortable with the wordpack. It sounded strange to say the word.
"Usually pack members are assigned different tasks. Alice has been the cook for over 30 years! She first joined the pack with her family when she was fifteen. James' grandfather, Albert, was the alpha back then and when he learned of her love for cooking he told her she was welcome to start off as a kitchen assistant and when she becomes of age she becomes chef!" Elisabeth rambled on and I realized when she was done that everyone was completely silent around us. The small chatter I heard when I walked in was gone.
I looked around and saw that all eyes were on us, and they seemed to be on edge.
"Well, that was nice of him. Was that how you met James' dad?" They seemed to be a lovely pack, or more like a family. Everyone was aware of each others' backgrounds and history. Kind of like my village back home.
Alice looked taken aback by my question. Her eyes went between mine and James.
"Everyone has met the Alpha's father. He was a wonderful man. It took hard on everyone when they passed -"
Passed? What does she mean by passed? Alice was James' mother.
Suddenly like another fucking lightbulb I remembered my conversation with my mother.
'Their protection and help in exchange for you. They agreed on the deal and said that you will marry their eldest son and that they will come for you when the time is right. And he did. Before James' parents passed they told him as much as they could'.
Before they passed. They had passed. Alice wasn't James' mother. My plate suddenly fell from my grip and crashed to the floor. Breaking into pieces. I stared bewildered at Alice who looked at me with fear and guilt. Guilt, an emotion I had gotten quite accustomed to.
Elizabeths sentence was cut short when her eyes dimmed over, this was the mind linking that Amber had told me about yesterday. When her eyes were back to normal her hand flew up to her mouth and her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head.
By now I was getting really pissed of at lies and deceit. It didn't help that I hadn't eaten anything and my stomach was growling at me.
Alice and Elisabeth eyes diverted, looking behind me. By the way my body was acting I knew who it was. I tuned around and saw James already looking at me.
" I think it's time we talked."
I turned around and looked at the two women once again before walking out of the dining hall.
I stopped at the exit and turned around when I realized I was once again walking alone. I swear to god I will drag him after me too if he refuses to come.
However when I turned to look at him, James was holding a plate, piling on food and grabbing a glass of orange juice.
When he was done he walked over to me and handed me the plate and the glass
" You haven't eaten," And then he walked away towards the staircase.
I looked down at my plate and saw sausages, hash browns, an egg and watermelon. A small smile crept up at the gesture. I followed James and we walked to the first floor. We then took a right and went past a bunch of doors and then took another right when we reached the end of the hall. We were standing in front of a big white wooden door and when James opened it I saw that I was about to get my answers.
There was a big table in the middle of the room that could easily fit 50 people. Down to the left was a sitting area with a brown leather seat couch and opposite of that one was another and in between was a glass table. I'm guessing this is a conference room of sorts.
On the the couch by the wall there were two people seated.
Lydia and Natasha. James took a seat in the armchair situated between the two couches a bit further down. I stood frozen in my steps not sure if I should sit or stand. However my decision was made for me as someone came up beside me and grabbed my hand. It was Amber. She gave me a light squeeze and a comforting smile and led me to the couch opposite Lydia and Natasha.
Behind us Alex came in along with Damon and they sat on either side of the two women in front of us.
This was it. I didn't how tor react or if I should talk or just sit quiet. A hundred thoughts were spinning in my head. Questions and lies were nagging at me.
I felt like I wanted to scream.
Nobody spoke.
There was a dead silence and a stiff tension clouding the office. I was nervously fiddling with my fingers.
A few moments passed causing the tension and silence to grow stronger. Stronger to the point where I could almost hear my heartbeat.
"Let's start." James broke the silence with his dark and serious voice, causing me to shiver. All eyes turned to him.
Natasha was the first to speak up.
"Lydia was three years old, roaming around in the woods when one day she stumbled onto our territory. The guards brought her to me and Carlos. She was just a little girl, there wasn't a scratch on her body and when she came to us the first thing she did was run up to me and wrap her tiny arms around my neck, then she fell asleep. We started calling around different packs to see if anyone had missed their little girl. We were met with dead ends wherever we called until a phone call was made to us, from the half-moon pack. Their alpha told us that they had been attacked by rogues and that Lydia's parents were killed, however she did have an uncle who was left to take care of her.
We arranged a meeting at our pack grounds. The second we told Lydia that her uncle Mitch was coming to bring her home, the little girl who hadn't cried sense she came here, who was strong enough to make it on her own in the woods for goddess knows how long, broke down in tears and started shaking from fear.
We were oblivious to what it was that had Lydia all shaken up at the mention of her uncle but we decided to go through with the meeting as planned but keeping a close eye on them as we did." Natasha stopped and looked over at Lydia who had tears rolling down her cheeks that she was trying to wipe away hoping nobody would see.
I realized when Lydia looked up and our eyes met that I had a few strain tears myself. I wiped them away with the back of my hand and sniffled before looking back at her. She held so much pain in her eyes at the mention of her background.
After everyone took a breather and were okey, Natasha continued.
" After about six days of having Lydia stay with us, the day came where it was time to give her up. I hadn't realized just how attached I was to that little bundle of joy and energy until I was dressing her and thinking about how it was the last time I would do that. The last time I held up two dresses and she would pick the one she wanted to wear. The last time that she would try and put her shoes on by herself but stumble and fall, her lips would pout and she would cross her tiny arms over her chest telling the shoes how stupid they were and I would take them, kiss them and tell her that they're nice now before placing them on her feet. Carlos came into the room and Lydia ran up to him. He held her tight and looked me in the eyes, both our eyes glistening from the unshed tears we were trying our best to hold back. We knew it was hardenough for her as it was and didn't want to make it worse by showing sadness. We went out to meet them in front of the pack house. Mitch was waiting there along with the Beta of their pack. As soon as he saw Lydia he came up and ripped her from Carlos. ' Why must you always cause trouble? Now your parents are dead and I'm stuck with you. Perhaps you'll grow up to be useful, make me money'. Those were Mitch's words to Lydia, his first words to his three-year-old niece. He whispered them to her, stupidly thinking we wouldn't listen in. He put her down and started walking towards their car. He turned around and screamed at her to hurry up.
Lydia stood there, watching her uncle and then looking back at us with her big blue eyes. She gave us a smile when I knew she wanted to cry. ' Bye mommy, bye daddy'."
By now all of us girls were balling our eyes out. Natasha couldn't continue, her hand was over her mouth and she was sobbing, snot came out and her eyes were waterfalls, the whole nine.
Lydia hugged her from the side while also crying but more timidly. Amber was also a mess with tears rolling down and blowing her nose in a tissue. James, Damon and Alex were seething in anger. Probably wanted to kill her uncle, but I could see their sadness too. They were just as touched as the rest of us. And me, I wasn't keeping it together anymore. She was my best friend... how could I not know any on this? How... I don't even know what to say.
"I'm okay... I'm sorry I just... let's continue," Natasha blew her nose and took three deep breaths before continuing.