It was morning and I already brushing out my hair when a knock came on my door. A second later, my mother peeked in.
“They’re here,” she said softly.
I blinked at her, then at the window, where sunlight poured in like the universe was mocking me. Today was the day…the day I officially left Silver Hollow and everything I’d ever known behind. A day I was never prepared for.
I set the brush down. “Did you see who it was?”
She shook her head. “I was just told by your father that someone from Blood Crescent is waiting outside.”
Not Alpha Alexander himself then. Thank the goddess. The thought of sitting beside that man for hours in a confined space made my skin crawl. Not because I was afraid of him–no. It was the opposite, actually. It was how damn cold he could be without lifting a finger.
He didn’t need to yell or glare. He just stared at me like I was nothing. That blank, unreadable expression of his, those calculating eyes that looked like they’d seen too much and felt too little. That was worse.
I walked out to the front with my parents, my last bag slung over my shoulder. Most of my things had already been sent ahead of me by my mom before I finished dressing up. This was the only one I kept back, filled with personal items I wasn’t quite ready to hand over to
someone else.
As we approached the car parked just outside the gates, my father gave a little grunt beside me, the kind he only made when he had something serious to say.
“You know, Faye,” he started, “this… this may not have been how you imagined things.”
Understatement of the year.
“But life isn’t always what we picture. It’s what we do with it that matters. You’re not just going there as anyone’s daughter now. You’re going as Luna of the Blood Crescent pack. That means something. So please–no drama, no carelessness, nothing that would bring dishonor to them, or to Silver Hollow.”
I nodded slowly.
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< Chapter 11
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“I know it’s not easy,” he added, voice gruff but honest. “But I trust you. I trust that we raised you well enough to know how to carry the weight of duty, even when it’s heavy.”
I turned to face him properly, meeting his eyes. “You did raise me well, dad,” I said. “And you don’t have to worry, I understand what’s expected of me. I won’t do anything to weaken the alliance or embarrass Silver Hollow. You have my word.”
He patted my shoulder, gentle, but firm. That was my dad. He wasn’t big on words when they weren’t necessary, but when he spoke, I listened.
Then I looked at my mother, and all she did was pull me into a hug. No pep talk, no last–minute advice, just a long, lingering embrace. She didn’t say anything, and she didn’t need to. I felt her shoulders shake slightly as she held me tighter. I knew she was trying not
to cry.
I hugged her back…no tears from me either. We were too similar for that. We wore our calm like armor, especially when the world expected us to break.
“I’ll be okay,” I whispered into her ear.
She nodded, and I knew she believed it.
Just then, the front passenger door of the car opened, and a man stepped out. Young, probably in his twenties, tall and clean–cut with sharp eyes that scanned his surroundings before they landed politely on us.
He walked over with an air of confidence that wasn’t arrogant… nothing like Alpha Alexander in that aspect. He stopped in front of my parents and offered a slight bow. “Alpha Alexander sends his regards. My name is Cole, Beta of the Blood Crescent pack. I’ve been sent to escort Luna Faye to her new home.”
Luna Faye.
The title hit a little differently when it was spoken aloud like that. I always knew I would be Luna, but not of a different pack, maybe that added to the weirdness.
My mother tensed ever so slightly beside me, and my father gave a sharp nod.
“Welcome, Beta Cole,” my father said. “We appreciate you coming.”
Cole turned to me then and gave a respectful nod. “Luna,” he greeted, then extended his hand for my bag.
I hesitated for a heartbeat before letting him take it. “It’s fine,” I said with a small smile. “ Thanks.”
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He offered a smile back–brief, professional. “Of course.‘
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I turned one last time to my parents and hugged them both again. My mother brushed her fingers over my hair like she used to when I was little, and my father gave my hand a squeeze before letting me go.
Cole had already walked ahead and opened the back door for me. I gave him a grateful nod, slid into the back seat, and settled into the silence. A moment later, the door clicked shut, and Cole got back into the front passenger seat. The driver, a quiet, broad–shouldered man I didn’t recognize, started the engine.
We pulled away from the gates of Silver Hollow.
No parade, no crowd, just my parents standing side by side, watching me leave like they weren’t sure when they’d see me again.
I pressed my hand to the glass, just once. A silent goodbye.
Then I leaned back in the seat and let the silence fill the car.
I didn’t speak, and neither did Cole. I appreciated that. He didn’t try to make small talk or ask me pointless questions.
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