Chapter 8: Real Identity

Lotus' POV

It’s been over six months now that I am living here. My life is same-old-same-old. Cersei still thinks that she is the future Luna of this pack, and she always tries to bully me. I don’t pay any attention to her, and ignoring her is like pouring oil in the fire. I really have little to do, except Alex agreed to train me secretly every day in the early morning. He was impressed with my skills.

I made another new friend here. Ben, Damien’s third in command. Whenever I asked Damien to go for a run, he always asks Ben to accompany me. Ben is only twenty. He cracks jokes all the time. And he is the biggest fan of my cooking. I will always get special orders from him to cook. He is such a child with the appetite of a wolf. It’s a deadly combination, if you know what I mean.

But things have changed between Adeline and me. She is not my friend anymore. She is my sister. I keep helping her every day in cooking. Sometimes we go out together shopping and all. Maximum time, Ben also accompanies us. They both know how to have fun. I have found a small family here, and I was happy.

Though things didn’t change between Damien and me, sometimes he comes into my room and hugs me with no words. He inhales my smell and then lets go of me and vanishes. Two or three times, I have stopped him from hurting a pack member out of his anger in front of others. It is unique, the way he reacts to my touch. He calms down instantly. Sometimes I have sensed him inside my room in the middle of the night. But whenever I turned the light on to see if he was there, I found only an empty room. Probably that was only in my head. Am I falling for that alpha demon?

Like any other day, I was helping Adeline in the kitchen. Suddenly I smelt caramel with cotton candy.

‘Jakob’, my wolf shouted in my head. It is his smell. He is here. I run towards the main door and see him standing there with Ben.

“Oh my god! Jakey??” I yelled and ran towards him. I throw myself in his arms, just like I used to do before. I was so happy to see him. He gave me a swing as always and hugged me tightly. Oh god! I missed his bear hugs. 

“It is really you! I just cannot believe it! I missed you so much.” I said. A tear rolled down my cheek.

“I missed you too, sweetheart”, he said to me with his usual soft loving tone.

“Well, well, looks like our little bitch has a visitor”, It was Cersei. Oh, no. This is not good. What is she doing here? Jakob pulled away hearing that. He checked her out from head to toe.

“And who are you? The pack slut?” He said rudely.

“How dare you? How dare you offend me? I am the future Luna of this pack.” Cersei said arrogantly. No-no-no. Please, somebody, stop her before she gets roasted. Ben also looked shocked.

“Future what?” Jakob yelled at him and then turned towards me, “Is that true?”

“Jakob, let's go inside and talk about it later. You travelled a lot. You must be tired.” I tried to ease the matter. I can see Jakob is losing control.

“I still don’t understand why Damien is keeping sluts like her in this pack.” And Cersei did that. 

Jakob lost it. The outer rim of his eyes started to change its colour. I was unsure what to do next. Suddenly I smelled mint and rain. It was him. Finally, my beloved husband came to save the day. He insisted and took Jakey away with him into his office. Jakey wanted to take me with him without breaking the treaty. As soon as they were gone, I ran towards the kitchen. I know how to calm him down. FOOD! His weak point. I laughed in my mind and asked Adeline to help me. As soon as we were almost done, I smelt mint and caramel together. They both were here. Jakey looked relaxed. Damien handled things well, I thought. I served them the food and sat opposite Jakob.

“So Jakey, how is his dad? How is Eva?” I asked.

“They are doing fine. We miss you, Lo. Every single day,” he said in a low tone.

“I am sure you missed me. After all, it’s not like Alpha Jakob got bitten by any minor wolf every day,” I tried to stay serious. Domain stopped eating and looked at me like I had grown two heads.

“Oh, please. You won only once, and that’s too because I let you,” Jakob said with mock anger.

Then we both laughed.

“Lo, I have to tell you something.”. I looked at him, and he continued, “we have merged all the ancient moon packs to prevent the rogues and other threats. We have moved our packhouse in the centre of ancient moon territory.”

What? How did he convince everyone? Wait, it wasn’t him.

“So, was it Eva?” I asked.

“It looks like she is not the only one blessed with brains,” he laughed.

“Well, it was an excellent political stand, Alpha Jakob. But who is going to be the new alpha of the pack?” Damien asked. My beloved husband looked impressed.

“There were three steps to select the alpha, and I won that.” Jakob said casually, and he turned towards me,” Lo, the ceremony will be in two months from now, during the Moon Festival. I want you to be there next to me, Lo.”

I felt so proud of my big bro. They convinced everyone to merge their packs, and he was chosen as the alpha.

“I am so proud of you, Jakey. I will be there with you,” a tear escaped my eye.

“I have another news, Lo,” Jakob said. “I have found my mate, and I marked her kind of without her consent”, he shattered while saying the last line.

“You did what? Are you crazy? Why didn’t you tell me about her before? Wait, no, tell me first... How many slaps did you receive?” I laughed.

“Lo, it wasn’t funny! Eva saved me.”

“Yeah, yeah, how can I forget our saviour. Of course, she saved you. Shit, man! I missed the scene,” I said in mock disappointment, and I received a light pat from him on my hand.

“Tell me, who is it?” I asked again in excitement.

“Samantha Jackson, ”

“Sam? From Silent Moon? Oh, no, ” I said, and he chuckled. “You know what, Jakey, that’s the funniest thing about mate. You are probably living next to that person for all these years, but you will not have the faintest idea about it until the right time comes.” I said.

We talked about so many things, and suddenly it was his time to say goodbye. Damien played an excellent host role and walked him to the main door. Jakob suddenly stopped and turned back. He walked towards Cersei, who was sitting on the chesterfield.

“Maybe you are a Luna of some pack, but my sister will always be the queen,” he said arrogantly and walked away. He gave me another bear hug and left. I saw Ben looking at me with so many questions. So will Adeline. Oh no. I forgot about them. I rushed towards my room and shut the door. I don’t know how to face their questions. They surely know by now that I am not Alex’s distant cousin.

The next day I got up late as I knew Alex would be someplace else with Damien for some pack business. They will be returned by tomorrow afternoon. I clean myself, get dressed, and go downstairs. I saw almost everyone was done eating their breakfast. I couldn’t see Ben or Adeline. I was a little relieved.

I took some toast and scrambled eggs, and a glass of juice and started to eat.

“Good morning, Lady!” I heard Adeline. Her voice was sarcastic. I am in trouble.

“Someone owes a little explanation,” said Ben.

They both took a seat at the same table. They both were looking at me.

“Hi, guys! Good morning” I said in a nervous voice.

“We want to know the truth, Lotus”, Adeline said in a solemn tone. I haven’t seen her like that before. But I cannot tell her the truth. I have to say something to save the day.

“Ok. So, I am Lotus Skylar, daughter of Alpha Baron Jack Skylar, former alpha of the Golden Moon Pack. And that idiot you saw yesterday is my elder brother and current alpha of the pack.”

“So, you are the alpha’s daughter? Then why are you here? Isn’t that one of those ancient moon packs?” Ben asked.

“Yes, Ben, it is one of those ancient moon packs,” I smiled

“Lotus, what treaty was alpha Jakob talking about?” Ben asked again.

I didn’t know what to answer. Damien never accepted me in front of them, neither Alex said anything. There is no guarantee that Damien will accept me in the future, so there is no point in dragging my marriage. I don’t want to be a laughingstock later. Again, they never asked me to hide anything from others as well.

‘We shouldn’t tell them the truth. Damien and Alex are hiding that surely for some reason,’ my wolf replied.

‘What should I say? Suggest me something. They are my friends. I don’t want to lie.’ I told her.

I have never seen Ben be serious when he is with us. I know I have to say something, so I don't have to lie, and I can save the day.

“Actually, our pack was the victim of rogue attacks, and we lost many members because of that, including my mother. With every passing year, the number of our pack members decreased. So we allied with the Red Moon pack and New Moon Pack. But things didn’t change much. The frequency of attacks increased. One day the rogues demolished the New Moon Pack. None was alive. They even killed every single pup. They destroyed the whole territory. Then my father and the alpha of the Red Moon Pack were terrified by the situation. They asked Alpha Damien for his help, and hence they signed a treaty.” I took a small break and continued, “But later, my brother gave a proposal to merge all the ancient moon packs into one pack to prevent rogue attacks and other external threats.”

“That was brilliant! How did he convince the elders?” Ben asked excitedly. I thanked God internally. The topic has changed now. I am saved for the day.

“Well, actually, this master plan was my elder sister Evalyn’s idea. See, the fact is our mother was also the daughter of an alpha. So, the alpha blood is running from both of our parental sides. We all are blessed with some special abilities. Evalyn is blessed with intelligence. She is a master planner. Her plans never fail. She planned everything perfectly for Jakob, and Jakob just played his role.” I smiled.

“What an interesting family!” Said Ben, “so what is Jakob’s ability?”

“He is blessed with strength. That helped him to pass the tests held by the elders, and he is chosen as the Alpha for that new pack.”

“Really??!” they both shouted together.

“Yes. The ceremony will be during the Moon festival.” I informed them.

“What is the moon festival?” Adeline asked.

“See, we think that all the ancient moon pack members are direct descendants of the moon goddess. So, the moon festival is a get-together of all ancient moon packs to celebrate the unity among the packs. It is organised once every ten years.”

“Wow! That sounds fun.” Ben smiled. Suddenly his expression changed. He became earnest. It’s like talking to someone in a mind-like.

He stood up and looked at Adeline, “Adeline, take every she-wolf and pups into the shelter along with the elders.” Then he turned towards me, “Lotus, stick to Adeline. I will be nearby. Don’t get scared.”

“What’s going on, Ben?” I asked though I thought I knew the answer already.

“Rogues,” Ben said only one word and ran towards the front door.