I slept in my own room that night. I was pissed, and I didn’t feel like staying beside Shay right now. I wanted to be a part of that fight too. I had a right to be there.
I was still lying in my bed, and I had no idea what time it was, but I didn’t feel like getting up.
My door opened, and I sighed. “Go away, Shay!” I mumbled loudly. I got no answer, but I could hear a set of feet lightly running across the floor. It didn’t sound like something Shay could do.
I wanted to turn around to see who it was, but I was too slow, and someone jumped onto my bed and attacked me.
“Why are you still in bed, Rieka?” Everly asked as she jumped around to get me up. What the hell was she doing here?
“I don’t want to get up… Everly, stop jumping around!” I said and grabbed one of her legs to make her stop.
“Sorry, can’t. Not unless you get up. We have work to do!”
Work? Was she referring to whatever Shay had been talking about yesterday?
“Not today, E. I really don’t want to,” I said and turned around. I covered my head with my pillow, hoping that she would go away.
“You don’t have a choice today, Rieka. We don’t have a lot of time. Get up!”
“A lot of time for what!? Why are you even here, Everly?” I asked and threw the pillow after her.
“Someone is grumpy this morning…” she said and stopped jumping. “Didn’t Shay tell you yesterday?”
I sat up, going against every bone in my body. “He just told me that we had to start preparing me. Never for what. He just kicked me out of…” I stopped myself before I went too far.
She didn’t know about Icarus just yet.
“The Icarus fighting group?” she ended my sentence. Did she know?
“How do you know about that?” I asked perplexed.
“Shay told me about it this morning. He also told me that he benched you… I’m sorry. I know that you probably feel like you have a responsibility, but you really don’t. Shay just cares for you.”
She smiled.
I hugged her. “It isn’t fair at all! He shouldn’t just be able to bench me from my own blood.”
She hugged me but didn’t exactly look compassionate.
“I’m sorry, Rieka, but Shay is right. If you look so much like that Diana, you really shouldn’t be in that fight. It’s too dangerous…”
Her too? Really? I let go of her. “But you can join it?” I snapped.
“I have years of training behind me. I know how to handle a fight. Shay knows that…”
She took a deep breath. “But this isn’t why I’m here today.”
“Then, why are you here?” I grunted.
“To prepare you for the job of a Luna,” she finally revealed.
“A Luna?” I asked, puzzled.
“Our Luna, to be exact,” she finished and smiled widely.
“But we aren’t sure if I’m ever going to be that! I wasn’t ready for that responsibility. I had other things to think about right now!
“It will be too late by the time you figure that out. The pack is already starting to expect things from you that you don’t understand and you aren’t ready for.
“We need to prepare you right now,” she explained.
“But what if I’m not his mate!” I objected.
This was another kind of commitment. If I began training to become a Luna… I didn’t know how I would be able to contain myself if it turned out that I was not supposed to take that place.
“We have to do this, Rieka. The other option will be too much for you to handle, and the pack would be hysterical.”
“Why do these traditions mean so much to you?” I was already exhausted. Everly smiled as if she knew that she had won the battle.
“Come with me and you’ll know.” She giggled.
“Fine…,” I muttered and got up. “This better be important.” I grabbed my sweatpants and a reasonably clean shirt.
Everly stopped me before I reached the door. “Eh, no.”
“What?” I asked. She pointed at me and moved her finger up and down.
“No. A Luna will not walk around like that.”
“But we’re not in public! Shouldn’t I be able to wear whatever I want?” Everly just shook her head.
“Maybe when the maids aren’t here. Besides, these preparations aren’t necessarily something you should be homelike comfortable for.”
She turned me around and pushed me toward my closet. “Let me see…”
“Why do I have to change, Everly?” I complained. She had already forced me away from my bed, and now she required me to dress up?
She pulled out a dress from the closet. “You need to get used to these kinds of clothes.” I wrinkled my nose to indicate that I wasn’t happy.
She had basically known me my whole life, and now she was trying to force me into that.
“You don’t always have to wear dresses,” she said defensively. “Pants are fine too as long as it’s matched with the proper top and not…sweatpants,” she continued.
I ripped the dress out of her hands and started undressing. “Why are you suddenly so interested in what I am wearing? You know that I’ve never cared about my wardrobe as long as I felt comfortable!”
She helped me zip the dress. “It’s not me who cares. I know you, but you’ll have to look like you care for the rest of the pack.” I turned around and let my hair fall.
“Liar. I saw you make a face…” She was silent for a little while.
“I’m sorry, Rieka. We have just always been told these stories about the Luna. About how she was the most beautiful and peaceful being in the whole universe.
“You’ll have to understand that our generation never had a Luna until now. We have expectations, and I am getting a little caught up myself,” she apologized.
“I’m just so excited that you might be that Luna!”
“Excited?” I asked. “I barely know how to be a wolf! How can I be a Luna?”
“Yeah, but we can teach you!” She really kept digging that hole deeper.
“I don’t want to change myself, E,” I complained.
“I don’t want you to change either, but you need to learn and adapt to the job of the Luna. It’s kinda like a queen.
“You expect her to behave a certain way toward the public, and when those expectations aren’t met… People start doubting the leadership and things fall apart.
“Please, trust me on this! You can still be yourself around me and around Shay, and you don’t have to change entirely…”
It was more understandable when she put it like that. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. It didn’t hurt to try, did it?
