Chapter 45 The Lunar Union
ZORA
It was the following day and I was still embarrassed to the bones.
I screamed into the pillows again, my screams muffling against it.
Nope!
I climbed off the bed and entered the bathroom desperate to focus on anything else but my frustration.
The scent of jasmine that took all over the bath area did nothing to calm the knots getting tighter by the second in my tummy.
Also, I was finally leaving the palace walls but not alone, of course.
Earlier, Ryker had come into my bedroom way before the first light of the day, when sleep was still very much in my eyes, and I was nothing but a drowsy mess.
"You are accompanying me to the Lunar Union." I had heard him say, and I replied with a "hmmm-hmm" turning over to the other side to continue my sleep only to have the covers yanked off me about half an hour later.
The familiar chill of the morning bit into mylegs harshly as I jerked off the bed in a sitting position, a curse at the tip of my tongue for whoever it was that dared to interrupt my sleep.
"Bloody fuck!" I had glared at the person who turned out to be Marissa in a wide stance and her hands sitting on her hips. A mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Get up milady. Today is your lucky day."
I had frowned at her, puzzled. My mind was nothing but a hanging mass of thick fog, and all I wanted to do was snatch back the covers and cuddle myself back to sleep.
I wasn't ready to start the day just yet. The dream world was a better place to be at the moment. I had all that I wanted, just how I wanted it. My frown deepened at the intruder.
"Go away, Marissa." I had said, reached for the covers but she had shifted farther away from the bed and, not having the energy for a chase, I had returned to the bed, turned my back to her and drawn up my knees into a fetal position. A to go back to my dream world regardless.
"You don't wanna piss off the Alpha. He already informed you about it, and he's getting ready. You don't wanna deal with the irritated version of him first thing just before you wake up."
"What are you talking about, Marissa?"
"The Lunar Union." Marissa's voice had carried all the excitement and pride I wasn't feeling. "The chosen location is quite far, so it's a long journey, and Alpha Ryker likes to arrive early."
I had eventually faced her, more confused about this Lunar Union she was yapping about than I was angry for interrupting my dreams.
Several minutes later. I was sitting in the bathtub getting prepped by more servants with fancy-looking cosmetics and weird exotic scents I've never encountered.
At one point, my face was painted with a green gooey substance that turned the color of mold several minutes later in steam. Marissa said it was to tighten my pores, give me a magical face lift, and have this silky glow that will make me more appealing to Ryker.
Like I needed to do that. While the maids did whatever special beauty ritual they had been instructed to do to me, my mind traveled back to our last heated encounter. I remembered everything to the detail, including him, leaving me dry and hanging.
I wondered. What did he do to Wesley after I ran out half-naked? What kind of conversation did they have? Knowing Ryker, there was probably no conversation that involved what Wesley had just witnessed.
"Heads are gonna turn when you show up with Ryker." Marissa practically sang.
I rolled my eyes. "Who'd care about a weak wolf?"
"They'd care that a weak wolf is attached to the Alpha's side and it's the first time they're seeing her." Marissa picked up my arm and with the pencil continued to make markings on my bare body that I didn't understand. She had mentioned something about the style being folkish. Said nobody dressed like a human from a modern city in the Lunar Union.
"Ryker's never gone with anyone?"
"No, not even his late luna. You're new... in person," she added in a skeptical tone.
"What do you mean?" I angled my head to peer up at her.
"The witch who returned to the pack several years later and now lives with the Alpha is a news that travels wide and since it involves Alpha Ryker, definitely beyond the packland too." Marissa patted my back and reached for the deep emerald sheer fabric, draping it all over my body, then wrapping it stylishly.
She picked up the jewelries with stones whose name I didn't know.
Weird-looking, sophisticated yet simple. Even if I had no idea what it was made of, it gave off this native aura that couldn't be ignored.
Marissa positioned me in front of the mirror to take a look at myself. I shimmered from the head to the toe like a bejeweled doll. Did I like it?
Hell no!
"Oh I expected a smile on your face and not a sneer."
I shrugged. "This is not me, and honestly, I'd rather just crawl back into bed and pick up from where I left in my dream."
I turned away from the mirror with a disappointed sigh.
"Well, you can't do that."
"And that's why it sucks even more. I don't have a choice."
During breakfast, which I had alone despite being all dolled up and made pretty for him, Marissa tried to fill the silence with details about the Lunar Union.
The Lunar Union, I got to realize, was a subtle display of affluence and a competition of brute strength and fighting ability amongst the young skilled warriors of several packs.
I rode alone, in a separate carriage, and from the windows, I watched the change of environment as we journeyed away from the palace and Ryker's packland into unfamiliar terrains.
My memories from before I escaped initially from the pack to save my life were not quite intact when it came to areas and territories. Had I been here before? I could not tell.
Soon, I grew tired of watching through the carriage's window and fell asleep only to be awoken by several knocks on the carriage's door. Ryker was standing there in all his annoying handsomeness dressed in an equally emerald outfit. I frowned at it, but Ryker stopped my smart mouth from asking questions before picking me up like I was paperweight and planting me on the floor.
I took a big step to the side, not liking how small I seemed and felt beside him.
"You could do better than a pout." I heard him say closely behind me. So close.
I chose to ignore him and take in my new surroundings.
It was a large palace-like mansion with several open areas and routes that led to several other parts. It was similar to the hotel and resort owned and patronised by the wealthy back in the city, —humans.
"I'm not going to tolerate that face. Deal with whatever is up with you." Ryker stood in front of me, blocking my view, and ordered.
"Don't know what you're pouting about," He mumbled as he walked away.
Of course, how would anything occur to your insufferable block head! -I retorted wordlessly but regretted it immediately when he whirled around and cocked a very displeased eyebrow at me.
I wouldn't apologize for anything, so I turned away and looked to the side, knowing he wouldn't pull a scene in front of other people.
Or would he?
As I followed Ryker to wherever, I busied myself with the bustling surroundings and the arrival of new Alpha and Lunas; Betas and their mates; couples; friends and families.
Everyone was escorted by uniformed men in black and gold, which I believed was courtesy of the host pack.
We were led to the lobby where the most horrific news was announced. Lunas sleep in the luna quarters while Alphas sleep in the Alpha quarters.
The rest were also directed to their respective divisions.
I turned to Ryker imploringly. "I c-cant."
I shook my head and shot the gathering Lunas a wary glare. "I don't know them, Ryker."
"That's the whole point of the separation. So that Lunas get to know each other." He grinned, aware of my discomfort but amused by it.
I'm not your Luna, and you damn well know it!
"Tonight, meiga, you will be." Ryker replied to my thought, something I'll never get used to.
"It's literal hell." I threw a glance and nearly puked at the female wolves doing kisses for greetings. They don't even know each other.
"That's the point." Ryker chuckled. "It's an opportunity, too."
Ryker turned away, going towards the Alpha suite, but I grabbed his wrist and tugged him back to me.
"Please, Ryker. I don't know them. I don't know how to be around them. They won't like how I speak."
"No one does."
I bit back a retort and concentrated on making him bend to my request,
"Please just tonight. Allow me to be with you. I'd be good, I promise." I looked back at the flock of Luna pretending to be best friends with each other and when my eyes landed on a couple taking their time to scrutinize me, I turned back to Ryker ready to plead with him till his ears bleed.
No way was I surviving in that Luna suite.
"Ryker..." I squeezed his palm.
I don't know what it was that changed his mind, but it worked.
With a sigh, Ryker turned towards the Alpha suite and took me by my hand past the other onlooking Alphas who looked like they were going to protest but kept their mouths shut.
Ryker didn't even spare them a glance as we breezed past all of them to his own room.
"You'll sleep on the floor." Ryker announced as we entered his room.
I jutted my chin inward. "You're kidding,"
I took off the earrings, which were the last piece of jewelry I had on.
Ryker watched me in amusement as I approached the bed, after stopping at the kitchen, his warning growls fell on deaf ears.
His room had a kitchenette, and hidden under my clothes was a small knife for protection. It wasn't solid enough, but it was something anyway. It was better than climbing onto that bed with nothing.
I pulled three of the fluffy pillows from underneath him and used it as a barrier line between me and him before climbing onto the bed.
"Don't cross this line. Don't move this pillow. Don't touch me." I told him as I slipped the knife discreetly under my own pillow.
I won't be caught off guard by both him and the bond. If I have to cut myself for protection against the bond, I will do just that.
"You've got to be insane to think you can set rules in my own room after begging out there to let you stay."
"Well, you touch me and see what happens, connard." I raised my hand and blew him a mocking kiss.
"Goodnight, connard. And keep your hands to yourself!"