As we entered the banquet, Gideon went ahead with the kids, who were all introduced first. After greeting those who were there for him, he turned back to look at me still standing on the other side of the open door.
The announcer then called, “Presenting Princess Claire, daughter of Alpha King George and a former – and now returned – member of our pack.”
The crowd erupted with cheers and some whistles, all of them surprising and much louder than I had been anticipating.
Despite Daphne’s sabotage, I had never really been disliked within the pack, at least with those most loyal to Gideon. Daphne and Darius had their favorites, and that corruption ran deeply, though Gideon had been working hard to root it out. Mostly, now, only the loyal remained.
And they all seemed to like me. Had it always been like this, and I just couldn’t really remember?
The darkness that had surrounded me at that time, especially after I had been cast out, had been so traumatic that it was difficult to remember anything else about that time, other than hurt and pain and the misery about being separated from my kids.
But that didn’t remain either.
My kids were there, standing with their dad in front of a sea of those loyal to me.
It filled me with pride, and something else. A sense of belonging, perhaps. This feeling filled up all the cracks that had cut deeply into my heart the past six years.
To the sound of the roaring applause, I entered my banquet.
Ivan had already told me that he wasn’t going to attend, but I saw Peter in the crowd, with his lady love, as well as a few other warriors I had grown close to from Ivan’s pack. It was nice to see them, though they remained mostly quiet and out of the way. They supported me but from a distance, keeping to themselves in the far side of the room. I nodded at them and they nodded back.
my
Closer, I was approached by a group of women my age who I recognized from my time in school, but junior and senior high school. At once, I embraced them and they embraced me. I hadn’t seen them in years.
“None of us knew where you went,” they said. “You just disappeared one day. We were really worried. Everyone said you were dead, but we all hoped that wasn’t true.”
“We are so glad to have
you back.”
“I hope this means we can be friends again!”
Looking at them, some seemed the kind of fake I was expecting those that only wanted to know me because of who I was now, the daughter of the Alpha King. A pair of the women here had never been particularly kind to me in high school, so it was difficult to believe that they cared at all about me now.
Others though, and this was the majority, seemed genuine, their eyes and smiles warm and welcoming. With them, I felt a kind of comradery that only came from shared experiences. We had endured our youth together. Now that we were adults, we felt like we had overcome something.
Those ones, I wanted to stay in touch with. “I’ll reach out to youfter this,” I told them, and though I had made it a blanket statement, I was mentally noting which of the group I felt was being genuine compared to who I thought wasn’t.
They were pleased, and as they surrounded me, talking about the old days as well as future plans, I started to feel like I had
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an entire community at my back, one that I never would have dreamed of in other days.
* 3.75%8
“Excuse me, ladies,” Gideon said, cutting in through the group to join me at my side. “You don’t mind if I steal Claire away from a moment.”
The Alpha’s presence had an immediate effect on the girls. Some of them giggled, others bowed deeply. A few gave me knowing looks. I quickly looked away.
“Please excuse me,” I told them, and, guided by Gideon’s gentle and at the small of my back, turned from the group.
Once we were out of immediate earshot, I gave him a small, secret smile. “Thank you for this,” I said. “I didn’t know what to expect, but you were so confident it would be good. And now, I fel… good. I feel like I belong”
“You do belong,” Gideon said, returning my smile with one of his own. He was so handsome in his suit, with his dark hair slicked back, his pale eyes bright. My heart skipped in my chest.
Then, something caught my attention over his shoulder. An older woman was entering, with a younger version of herself just behind her. I didn’t recognize them from the pack, and I hoped beyond hope that this could be Delilah. I had been curious if she would actually attend today. I didn’t think she would, and yet, there she was.
Gideon followed my line of sight. “Do you know her?”
“I hope so,” I said. Then, remembering Gideon and how I hadn’t told him what I’d been doing, I worried my bottom lip slightly. “I believe this to be Delilah, and likely a relation.” Her granddaughter, perhaps? “I invited them myself. Delilah used to be a servant of my mother’s. I was hoping…”
“We should introduce ourselves,” Gideon said, surprising me by immediately being on board with this. I looked at him in hope and confusion. He just grinned at me, his face filled with pride. “You are so clever, Claire. I wouldn’t have thought of this.”
I turned away
to hide my blush, focusing instead on the task at hand.
Together, Gideon and I approached the woman I hoped was Delilah. As we approached, as she spotted me, her eyes came alight and she looked ten years younger.
“By the Goddess, you are the spitting image of Lena,” Delilah said. She used a can but still came close to me with lightning speed. Gently, she lifted her hand to cup my cheek, then turned me this way and that. “There can be no doubt that you are her daughter.”
“I’m Claire,” I told her, then gestured to Gideon. “This is Alpha Gideon.”
“I’m Delilah. And this is my granddaughter Hannah.”
“Hi,” Hannah said shyly.
“It’s good that we have come. Yes. I thought maybe we shouldn’t. I debated with myself and with Hannah…”
“She did,” Hannah said.
“But in the end, I had to. Lena was such a gentle creature, so kind to everyone. And what happened to her… Gods. That poor woman. And poor you.” The youth to Delilah’s face vanished. It was as if the dark memories had entirely stolen her joy and she again shrunk into herself, again looking like the elderly woman that she was. “If I’d known where they’d taken you… Or what happened to you…”
She shook her head. “We all thought that perhaps you had died as well.”
I opened my mouth, to ask her about the past, yet before I could utter even one word, she looked up at me starkly, her eyes suddenly urgent.
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* 75%1
“Claire, you must be careful,” she said. “Lena was too kind to be suspicious, but you mustn’t be. There are those that wish to hurt you.”
AD
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