Chapter 23 Twenty-Three
Sophia and Abigail lounged on the bed, watching as Danica paced back and forth. It was the night of the meeting, and Danica was much too nervous to relax.
"You're going to burn a hole in the floor," Abigail pointed out as she twisted a stray lock of hair around her finger.
"Yeah, you look great, so relax," Sophia assured, smiling. "After all, you had a great makeup artist work on you."
Stopping, Danica looked at her two roommates.
"I don't actually have to go, right?"
Despite knowing that she did indeed have to go, she still tried to convince herself otherwise. Being the creature of solitude that she was, she hated having attention on her. That meant that just the thought of having to introduce herself to an entire pack of wolves was pushing her into a panic attack.
"Relax," Abigail sighed. "It isn't that big of a deal, okay?"
"How is it not that big of a deal?" Danica demanded while trying to calm her racing heart.
"Girl, just breathe," Sophia urged, standing up and coming over to wrap an arm around Danica. "It is going to be just fine; you're psyching yourself out over nothing."
Of course, Danica wasn't able to tell them the main reason she was nervous about meeting the entire pack. Only Mason, Chris, and Bella were aware that Danica was unable to change; as far as the others knew, she had already become a full wolf. She had been instructed not to tell anyone.
"Now let's get going," Sophia squealed, bouncing towards the door. "I haven't actually met the whole pack yet."
Nodding, Danica followed behind Sophia, who was quickly making her way towards the banquet hall where the meet would be held.
The whole area had been transformed for the meeting from a normal meeting hall to a fancy party venue. Danica had to give Mason props for achieving something like this.
"Look over there!" Sophia whispered, leaning in close to Danica's ear. "Those are the top three warriors of our pack standing over there."
Danica trailed her eyes to where Sophia was pointing to find three handsome men standing around talking amongst themselves. As she did so, her eyes locked with one who had a buzzed head and tan skin. Smiling, he nodded towards Danica, causing her to turn bright red.
Beside her, Sophia giggled.
"Looks like you've gained some interest."
"Is that really a good idea?" Danica asked. "After all, their Alpha is my mate."
Sophia shrugged. "You're new, remember? No one knows who you are yet."
She was right. No one knew who she was, but by the time this meeting was over, they most certainly would know of her. After all, Mason had full intentions of introducing her around this evening.
"Here comes your man now," Sophia squealed, pointing towards the stage.
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear, Danica thought in amusement as she watched Mason make his way towards her.
"See you later," Sophia called as she grabbed Abigail and began to run off.
Turning her attention from her quickly retreating roommate to the man making his way towards her, Danica couldn't help but feel in awe at Mason's appearance. He had most certainly cleaned up for the night and looked good in a button-up white shirt that was rolled up at the sleeves and black dress slacks. His usually unruly golden locks were also slicked back perfectly.
"You look handsome this evening," Danica found herself saying as Mason finished closing the distance between them.
"I could say the same for you," Mason quipped, taking in Danica's appearance with hungry eyes.
For the evening, she had allowed Sophia to force her into a simple black strapless cocktail dress with a slit down the thigh. Feeling self-conscious, she found herself wishing that she had fought back a little harder.
"You don't have to go and entertain people?" Danica asked, trying to push away the awkwardness she was feeling. "I mean, if I'm keeping you, you don't have to mind me."
Smiling Mason laughed, "How can I possibly be the host of the evening without my hostess?"
"Hostess?" Danica squeaked out as Mason reached an arm around her waist.
"Yup." Smiling, he began leading her into the crowd.
As they passed group after group of people, Danica couldn't help but feel people's questioning gazes on her. Of course they would be curious after all; she was cuddled up to their Alpha, but she found herself wondering exactly what their reaction would be once they found out that she was their future Luna. Would they be upset by the notion? Would they easily accept her? What if they found out that she wasn't able to change? Would they want a Luna like that? Or worse, what if they found out that she had a dark side?
With all these questions running through her mind, she forced herself to smile and pay attention to names and faces as Mason began introducing her to members of his pack. Each introduction was brief and over within minutes, and then it was on to the next.
After finishing his rounds, Mason finally allowed Danica to have a seat.
Now sitting at a table by herself, Danica sipped on some juice as she eyed the crowd of people standing around, talking boisterously in groups. As she took them in, she couldn't help but feel intimidated; everyone looked so strong and proud.
How was she supposed to be a leader for these types of people? Was it even possible?
Taking another sip of her juice, she tried to push away her discomfort just as the light sound of glass cracking sounded behind her.
Turning, she watched the glass wall behind her fracture before shattering entirely inward.
Using her arm to protect her eyes, Danica tried to see what had caused the window to burst, only to find herself standing face-to-face with a dozen rogues. Every single one of them was in wolf form, and they all looked ready to rip anyone in their way apart.
Not good, Danica thought as she slowly began trying to back away just as the rogues began moving forward. From behind her, she could hear the sound of people transforming into their wolf forms to fight before she actually saw the many colored wolves surge past her and into the fray.
In the midst of all the chaos, Danica found herself being pushed against the ground as the newly transformed wolves paid no mind to whoever was in their way. Curling in a ball, she tried to keep from getting trampled as the wave of wolves continued to move forward.
"Careful," came Mason's voice as strong hands lifted her out of the chaos.
"Thank god you came," Danica huffed, looking towards the fighting that had moved outside. "You aren't going to help?"
Mason shook his head and said, "They've got it under control. Those rogues must have had a death wish to even think of attacking my pack like that."
"It's odd, isn't it?" Danica mused, furrowing her brows.
Why would the rogues attack on pack lands knowing that they would be outnumbered? Something about it didn't quite make sense. The more Danica thought about it, the more her unease over the whole thing grew. Something told her that this wasn't the end and that something else was just around the corner.