Chapter 30 Weird
Auren's pov
The house has been loud for a while, voices overlapping, footsteps pacing, doors opening and closing like there is an ongoing fight. Then, just as suddenly, everything goes quiet. The kind of quiet that makes one feel very uncomfortable.
My stomach growls, dragging me out of my thoughts. Hunger is a safer reason to leave the room than curiosity, so I wrap the blanket tighter around myself and slip out, padding down the hallway and toward the stairs.
I keep my steps light. Old habits die hard.
The kitchen light is on, I step inside and stop short.
Hope is sitting at the counter, a tub of ice cream clutched in both hands like a lifeline. She is shoveling it into her mouth without care, her spoon clinking loudly against plastic. Her blue eyes are red, swollen, and her nose is puffy, like she has been fighting tears and losing. There is another empty tub beside her.
She looks up, “Shouldn’t you be back in your room, your highness?” she snaps.
I freeze where I stand. “I… uh… I’m hungry,” I say softly. “Alpha Dravik said I could come down anytime and help myself.”
Her jaw tightens and she looks away, scooping another mouthful of ice cream. Hope has never been short-tempered with me. Not once.
“Are you okay?” I ask carefully.
Her hand trembles. Then she laughs, more of a broken sound than laughter, and her eyes fill with unshed tears.
“Jace left,” she says. “He was banished.”
The tears finally spill over, sliding down her cheeks.
“Oh,” I breathe, my mouth puffing out uselessly. My mind scrambles for the right response. I do not know what the right thing is here. “I’m… I’m sorry?”
The words feel small and insufficient.
She sniffs hard. “No need to apologize, It’s not because of you or anything.”
Relief and guilt crash into each other inside me.
“It’s not?” I ask quietly.
“No,” she says, wiping her face with the back of her hand. “Jace had it coming. He’s a fucking idiot. I warned him over and over to stop pushing Dravik to the wall. He never listens. Now he’s gone.” Her voice cracks. “And I’m trying not to cry, but Snow is weeping for her twin and I can’t handle it.”
“Snow?” I ask before I can stop myself.
She looks at me, “Yes, she is my wolf.”
“Oh.” I hesitate.
Dravik told me about his wolf, Shadow. Does everyone have names for theirs? I had thought it’s an Alpha thing only.
She pushes the tub of ice cream away, “Not only did the Moon Goddess make I and Jace twins, she also made our wolves twins too. Snow and Ash.” Her eyes soften despite the pain. “Even though Snow knows this is Ash’s fault, she still hurts.”
I nod, pretending I understand.
I don’t……..Not really.
At Silverveil, no one talked about their wolves like this. All I heard was that they were beasts to control, not voices with names and feelings. No one spoke to them or about them.
I pull out a chair and sit across from her.
“Can I ask you something?” I say.
She snorts, grabbing the tub back. “As long as it’s not about Jace. I hate him so much right now.”
“It’s not,” I promise. “Is it normal… to have another voice in your head? Like your wolf talking to you. Separately. Like they live inside you.”
Her spoon pauses midair. Slowly, she lowers it and studies my face.
“Of course it’s normal,” she says. Then she frowns. “Well. Normal for us. Not for you……yet”
My chest tightens.
“When we change, it’s like they take over,” she continues. “We become a voice to them too. Surely you know that.”
I swallow. I had mentioned it to Dravik once, briefly. The attack and everything else had happened so fast after that. I never brought it up again.
“It’s just that everyone here talks about them like they’re different people,” I say. “My uncle never did that. No one at Silverveil did. Is that… weird?”
Her eyes widen. “Uh. Yes. Very.”
My fingers curl into the blanket I'm holding.
“Everyone talks to their wolf,” she says slowly. “Especially if they have someone like Snow. She never shuts up, ever. Auren, have you told Dravik about this?”
“Not really,” I admit. “I wanted to. But after the attack, he’s been… busy and avoids me.”
She stares at me like I’ve grown a second head.
“I’m telling you right now, this is weird,” she says. “Very weird and Snow wants to know if you’ve ever seen their wolves before?.”
“Come to think of it…” I trail off. “No. We had strict rules about changing in the woods. But I’ve never actually seen one. Not really.”
Her mouth drops open. “Seriously?”
I nod.
“You saw us change and take down that beast,” she says. “And you’re saying you never saw that at Silverveil?”
“Yeah.”
She gasps, then shoves another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth like she needs something solid to hold onto.
“You need to tell Dravik, ASAP,” she says firmly. “He needs to know.”
She must have seen the panic flashing in my eyes because her gaze softens. “Hey. You’re not in trouble. You’re just giving him information that he needs to have. I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier. I was angry at Jace and almost took it out on you.”
“It’s okay,” I whisper.
She mindlinks him for me then and there.
“He is coming,” Hope tells me. “You want something to eat? That is definitely not ice cream because I plan to finish every last one.”
I shake my head, my hunger long gone at the idea of speaking with Dravik. About thirty minutes passed as we waited for him yet nothing. My panic increases as every second passes, I blame it on the abuse I experienced at Silverveil. There, waiting is worse than punishment ever was. Anticipation was part of the cruelty.
I bounce my knee without realizing it.
“Relax,” Hope says, opening another tub of ice cream. Chocolate this time. “I’m not an Alpha but I can still smell your panic from here.”
I blink. “I thought I smelled weird?”
“Yes you do,” she says cheerfully. “But your panic smells different. Weird too, but not bad.”
The kitchen door opens and Alpha Dravik steps inside walking towards us.
“You wanted to talk to me?” he asks coldly, his gaze that is usually on me, on Hope instead.