Yil

A dash of soft cotton pillows arranged appetizingly over a large helping of silk spreadsheets cocooned in a sprinkle of warmth and all topped off with the musky scent of patchouli slathered with bourbon vanilla and orange blossom.

Surely this was what dreams were made of.

My eyelids lifted up slowly to regard my limited view of the bedroom. I was laying with my face to the closest and on the floor was the most luxurious plush fluffy rug I had ever seen. I recalled the immense pleasure I had felt when my feet had sunk into it as I walked slowly about it. The sunlight that shone through the slit in the cream-coloured curtains signified that it was time I got up and went on about my day.

I rolled over to the other side of the king-sized bed and stretched lazily with my arms above my head and my toes curling into the sheets. I could spend my whole life here and I wouldn't even regret it. The action caused the clothing I wore to ride up my hips and I sat up quickly to pull it down. However, when I noticed that I was still under the protection of the silk sheets, I let out a low chuckle at my paranoia.

Yesterday had been an emotional rocky boat ride and I had made a pact with myself that today was going to be different with the help of a much more focused mind. There was certainly no room for mess-ups. Especially around the dangerously alluring essence of my mate. I looked around the sophisticated decor of the room in search of him and I was met with absence. I couldn't even be sure that he slept in this room last night as I had been so focused on the uninteresting contents of my bag in an effort to calm down my feelings.

Speaking of which, it was thoroughly disappointing to find out that I had only packed three outfits, some underwear, a pair of sandals and all the hygiene essentials. Literally that was it. And so I had no choice but to wear his t-shirt which was twice my size but cozy and most importantly it smelled of him.

I took an unconscious inhale and my insides warmed up in pure bliss.

You know you could just ask him to do the honors of completing the mating process and you wouldn't come off as slutty or loose, Ava advised, soothingly.

Ava, I whined. That's not happening

I'm not the one sniffing his clothes in earnest at nine in the morning, she humphed in irritation.

I let the neck of the t-shirt fall from my face and glowered down at it.

"He's not even in the same room as I am but his scent still has the power to rile me up. Just perfect," I chuckled dryly to the t-shirt before I got up from the bed and made my way towards the backpack placed against the closest. Once I fetched out my toothbrush I entered the bathroom and clicked the door shut to avoid any mishappenings.

What can I say? I'm already weak as it is and any remote enabler would be my downfall.

The bathroom was styled in elegance. The porcelain bathtub was set against white marble-tiled walls and next to it was a standing shower enclosure. The built-in wash basin was embedded in a bench walled cabinet made of oak wood and the bay windows provided a breathtaking view of the pack. Artistic designs of numerous cabins were scattered about in systematic placements among the vast greenery and guarded closely by imposing hills crowned with small caps of snow. If the pack was breathtaking at night then it was soul-snatching during the day.

I faced the mirror, framed on either side by wall lamps in narrow shapes with complex line designs, and began to brush my teeth.

"I will not succumb to any of his enchanting allure today because I am Yil McCarthy, first of my name, future Alpha to the white-wolf clan, controller of the four elements..." my pep talk was disrupted by the gurgling of mouthwash and Ava very graciously filled in where I left off. Note the sarcasm.

Low key yearning for his touch, powerless to the workings of the body, currently paired with a wolf who is down for Aryn, anytime, anyday and anywhere, she rambled on.

"It's a motivational speech to help keep my distance and not to welcome his presence," I snapped.

Oh I didn't realise, she sneered.

Ugh! She was driving me mental and I felt like the only thing, remotely, on my side was my stubbornness together with the ever-present guilt that I bore for Rae. I exhaled a soft sigh and turned to pull off his shirt before moving towards the shower where I took a quick bath. Once I was done I grabbed a freshly pressed towel off the rack and wrapped it snuggly around my body before venturing, cautiously, out of the bathroom.

Even the towels smelt of him and I was beginning to think that someone was playing a cruel joke of washing all the clothes in his scent, if that was possible. I grabbed my bag quickly from the floor and darted back into the bathroom. I was sure to have an anxiety disorder when all this was over but I wasn't taking any chances because it was just like Aryn to walk-in at the perfect time to catch a glimpse of me naked.

The slight creak of the door brought my attention back to the room beyond the bathroom door and I waited with bated breath to catch a scuffle or any tell tale signs of where exactly he was headed in the room. The footsteps stopped and with it came a voice.

"Yil?" I couldn't recognize the voice but I knew it wasn't Aryn. The voice belonged to a female other than Zena.

"Yes," I opened the locked door and walked out with my bag. "Oh hey Lloyd," I said in greeting to the tall, strawberry-colored haired, she-wolf who had welcomed us the previous night.

"Hi! I was here to drop these," she motioned to a small woven basket in her hand filled with toiletries. "Thought you might need them but I see you are already sorted," she remarked with a smile.

"I packed some in my bag but thank you for the kind gesture," I smiled.

"Since you woke up earlier than I anticipated I'll have some explaining to do," she mused with a hand to her head.

"To who exactly and why?" I enquired with a furrow of my forehead.

"Alpha Aryn," she replied. "He wanted me to assist you with whatever you might need but from your tired expression yesterday I thought I'd give you an hour more of sleep before I woke you up," she explained.

"That's okay. I could always tell him you assisted me," I winked and she smiled. "Besides I usually don't sleep in till such times so I consider 9:00 really late, talk less of 10:00,"

"I can relate," she agreed before setting the basket down by the bedside drawer. I moved towards the dressing table and tried to comb through my hair with my fingers. The long locks were tangled and needless to say I was having a pretty rough time. And to top it off I forgot to pack a comb. I was starting to think I had my eyes closed when I chucked random items into the backpack.

"Alas! There seems to be one thing I can help you with," she said, excitedly before she gently guided me to the vanity chair in front of the mirror.

"Seriously you don't have to," I protested with a small smile. "Just give me the comb and I'll be done in a minute," Well, maybe three or ten. It wasn't my fault that the hair was thick and long.

"It's okay. I don't mind," she soothed. "Anything to help you out," she assured me before she brushed through my hair with tenderness.

I wasn't one to reject good-natured assistance but there was something off about the way she treated me. It screamed reverence and loyalty and I wondered why. I was about to voice out my reservations but she beat me to it.

"Sooo," she dragged out. "Can I call you Luna because I don't feel comfortable with referring to you by your name especially now that I know..."

"Of course not," I rushed out, hurriedly, cutting her off with a wave of my hands. "Please just call me Yil. I really don't mind at all,"

"It's just that you are my Alpha's mate and it's only normal that I refer to you as Luna," she countered, confused as to the reason behind my reaction.

How do I break it to her that I wasn't here to fill in the position of Luna?

You don't, Ava answered my rhetorical question, deadpan. Instead repeat it over and over to yourself and tell me if it makes sense.

"Besides how would you know if I was your Alpha's mate or not?" I shrugged trying to stir-up doubt in her mind as to the truth of her words.

I hadn't even thought that being the mate of an Alpha meant that I would automatically be the Luna to his pack. And I knew just how important Luna's were to a pack.

"For one, he has never ever brought a she-wolf into his bedroom. Heck! He doesn't even stand close to one," she chuckled and I felt happy at that little piece of information. Possessive much? "And the way he looks at you pretty much sums up the fact that you are mates," she added and looked at me expectantly.

"I mean you are right," I coughed out in an effort to awake my brain. Hello! I need a good ass excuse here. "It's just that we haven't really talked about me being Luna and all," I explained, failing woefully. For real that's the best you could come up with.

"What's there to discuss? He isn't going to reject you now, is he?" She gasped, stopping in the middle of brushing my hair, to stare at me through the mirror.

"Ahm no.... I don't know....maybe," I rambled on suddenly flustered at the questions, to which I had no answers to, that she kept flinging my way. "Why would you think that?"

"He's gone thirteen years since his sixteenth birthday without a mate and the pack was beginning to worry that he'd never find her," she explained, styling my baby hairs. "Much more disturbing was that he seemed unfazed by his lack of a mate and so we dubbed him Mr Alpha. An Alpha who's formal, uptight, emotionally distant and always busy to the extent that his sentimental side withered away. So it won't be beyond him to reject a mate when granted with one," she bemoaned and from her coat pocket produced a black jeweled scrunchie which she used to tie up my hair.

Cold, distant, detached. Those words bounced off my short recollection of him because he certainly didn't act like that towards me at all. Even though my rational brain would have liked it if he portrayed those behaviours. At least, it would give me breathing space from these feelings that threatened to spill out of my whole being. But upon second consideration and deep down within me I'd rather he did not. Ugh what was up with me?

"It's all done," she beamed and I regarded myself in the mirror. She had managed to comb out the knots and tangles from my hair and now it was packed up in a high ponytail.

"Thank you," I turned my head sideways to marvel at the hairstyles' beauty as I smiled brightly at her.

"No problemo," she replied. "If I may ask what dye do you use on your hair because it's magnificent. The way it shines is just so surreal and I would love to try this colour once this one washes out," she looked at the mirror, fluffed her hair up then looked this way and that way before scrunching up her nose. "Yep it has to go,"

"What's dye?" I asked, not quite understanding what she meant.

"Uhm the colour that you used on your hair?" She answered equally baffled.

"The colour is natural. Is your's not natural?"

"Nope, I used beet juice and a whole other, rather strenuous, process to achieve this look," she smiled proudly and motioned to her hair. "But yours is natural, get out!" She gasped, quite shocked at the revelation.

"Of where?" I murmured. The people from this world sure do talk in confusing ways sometimes. She didn't hear my silent question as she continued to stare in awe and so I took the opportunity to ask a question of my own.

"Is white hair uncommon in this world?"

"But of course except maybe you are an eighty year old woman with feeble bones or Alpha Kali but that's only because he has white-wolf blood," she laughed. Thankfully she hadn't caught my slip up. "Your's even has a silver tinge to it," she remarked.

"Who's Alpha Kali and how come he has white-wolf blood?" My ears perked up at that information and I sought to find out more.

"You really aren't from these parts are you?" She tilted her head to the side and scrutinized my appearance.

"No, I am from faraway," I answered cautiously.

I knew that with my appearance, especially my silver-white hair, I was sure to stick out like a sore thumb but I also didn't know if it was safe to tell her or anyone apart from Aryn and his beta that I was white-wolf. I was unsure of the reputation that my kind had garnered here in their world but I also couldn't fake to be from elsewhere simply due to the fact that I knew nowhere in their world.

Where did Jared and Jayce say they were from again?

"You know what, you can tell me all about that later," she dismissed abruptly with a smile and motioned for me to get up. "Alpha Aryn is going to hang me upside down if he hears that you haven't eaten," she said, ushering me towards the door.

"Well I'm not that hungry," I protested. I was rather hungry for knowledge.

Besides, my stomach was in knots just thinking about meeting Aryn and bargaining with him.

"Where's Alpha Aryn anyway?" I asked, purposely referring to him as Alpha to show my respect. This was his pack and from the looks of it he was well respected and I wouldn't for anything undermine his authority.

A-a-and maybe I was also doing it to maintain a level of detachment.

She looked momentarily taken aback that I had referred to him as such but she shook it off. "He's currently in a meeting but in about an hours time he should be done,"

An hour's time to get my act together.

"I'm not really hungry, though," I repeated again. Seeing him even after an hour was really daunting and, call me coward, but the pep talk to myself in front of the mirror sheltered by the warm room that encapsulated his essence was much better than out of the room and in the open.

"However small you still have to take something in," she persuaded. "Besides Zena and Kiba are waiting for you,"

Now that's a nice incentive. Why didn't you say so earlier?

I was so consumed by my meeting with Aryn that I had placed Zena and Kiba far back in my mind. If there was anything or anyone that could help me stay on track, it had to be those two.

We continued to walk down the stretchy passageway and I noticed that on either side of the walls were the paintings of the Alpha's and Luna's of the previous generation. They all bore the same regal, poised and authoritative countenance that was captured effectively by the artists. It wasn't surprising that Aryn was drop dead gorgeous because clearly it came with the genes.

However, if there was one painting that struck out the most, it would be the one of an olive-skinned lady with warm blue eyes, thick black hair and a fair face to look upon. Despite the stillness of her portrayal, her beauty nevertheless, radiated out of the picture. She was magnificent and faintly resembled Aryn, only with the blue eyes. Maybe she was his grandma.

"Kiba place that toast down. You've had enough as it is and Yil has to eat as well,"

Zena's tone of mild reprimand wafted up to my ears and I smiled broadly at the familiarity of their presence. What would I have done if they hadn't tagged along? Boredom, that's what.

"I'm testing them to make sure none of it is poisoned," he reasoned.

"And it never occurred to you that you would die," a soft, humor-filled, female voice I didn't know posed the question to Kiba.

"I would gladly die for my princess," he grunted out and the soft voice laughed. "Just admit you like it," she said.

Well what do you know? Kiba and Zena were fitting just right in.

"Hey you two," I chimed and they both turned at the sound of my voice.

"Yil! I was starting to think that Alpha had locked you up somewhere. I barely held myself back from flipping this huge cabin upside down to find you," Zena got up briskly and enveloped me in a hug.

"I'm fine, Zena. I can hold my own remember," I returned the hug and chuckled.

Yeah, against physical forces but not against the emotional turmoil emanating from his well-sculpted torso and face, Ava sneered and if not that she was a wolf I could have sworn she rolled her eyes.

Just when did you get all sassy, missy? I retorted.

When I saw your decisions towards mate take an unlikely route. That's when, she huffed and turned back into her mental cage.

Just darn great! Because apart from the Sky Lordians I had a new hurdle to get through in the game of resisting the Alpha.

"Hope he didn't try anything?" Kiba asked lowly.

Yep! A whole bucket load that would leave you blushing. "No," I denied.

"Why do you talk about the Alpha like he would rape her or something. He really isn't that kind of person," the teenager who I now noticed was the owner of the soft voice said.

"I don't trust him," Kiba replied simply and tried to reach for another toast but was smacked away by a wooden spoon.

"Then don't touch my food," she retorted before turning to me with a bright smile. "I'm Dina. It's nice to meet you,"

It felt like a déjà vu moment, almost as if I had seen her face before. The jet-black hair, the olive skin, those soft blue eyes and pink rose bud lips. It was the painting I had just seen moments ago only that she was much younger, probably not older than fifteen.

"I'm Yil, it's also nice to meet you," I replied.

"Well have a seat then. You are just in time for my breakfast deluxe special," she beamed before moving towards me to grab my hand then she guided me to a high rise stool in front of a kitchen island.

She's pretty energetic, Zena laughed down the mind-link in answer to my slightly surprised look.

And chatty, Kiba added.

"Why don't you say it out loud, half-naked man. What's with the secrecy?" Dina said with her back to us as she flipped some pancakes.

"I am not half-naked man. It's Kiba," he ground out, irritated.

She reminded me of someone who loved nicknames a little too much.

"I'll call you that once you actually get dressed. What are you even wearing?" She turned to ask. "It's not Halloween you know," she threw him a wink and he rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"I could get you much warmer clothes if you'd follow me," Llyod suggested as she placed a plate of food down in front of me.

"No thank you. I'm better off in my clothes," he refused. "And it's a toga," he retorted in answer to Dina.

"Maybe you should change because it's actually getting colder by the minute," Zena advised before she shivered despite the thick black cotton coat that encased her form.

They sure were welcoming around here. Quite different from what the book depicted. It was all rather confusing.

"And we wouldn't stick out so much," I added before placing a piece of pancake into my mouth. One word: Heaven.

"I could just change into my other clothes," he still refused, stubbornly.

"You don't have any other apart from your togas," Zena emphasized with a roll of her eyes. "Or you could suit yourself and keep assaulting the poor girl with your barely covered chest,"

"Oh! I'm not bothered," Dina breezed with a relaxed smile. "I quite honestly enjoy the view," she smirked, staring at his exposed chest.

She was continuously reminding me of someone I'd rather not think about now.

Zena and I looked at each other, shocked at her boldness, even Kiba was taken aback as he choked on his toast.

"I'll kindly take you up on your offer," he hurriedly called out to a smiling Llyod and she motioned for him to follow her, which he did.

Once he left, Zena turned to stare at the marble table top and I focused on stuffing my mouth with sweet syrup pancakes and blueberries. Secondhand embarrassment was real!

Dina's abrupt laughter was what called my attention back to her face and I looked on, confused.

"You guys should see your faces. The red hue in your cheeks could cook steak till it was well done," she said, wiping her tears.

"Well if you go around saying that with little to no filter..." I trailed off not quite understanding why she was alright with saying things like that to Kiba who was much older. At least by fifteen years.

"If you want to get a stubborn person to do something, all you have to do is just make them feel slightly uncomfortable and they'll bolt with their tail between their legs. My theory proved true just now," she announced with a smug smile.

"So that was just to get him to put on some clothes," Zena asked, a broad smile growing on her lips.

"Of course," Dina agreed, sitting opposite me. "And also to prevent him from catching his death of cold," she added.

"Not bad," Zena praised with a cross of her hand before she leaned back into her seat.

Llyod came back with Kiba behind her and he was now dressed in a form fitting pair of jeans and a white t-shirt which outlined his well-muscled biceps. His long dark hair was left untamed and his face was set in a hard grimace. He actually looked good, maybe a little too good.

"What's wrong? You don't like it?" Dina asked softly but he didn't reply and came to sit next to me.

"It's-not-bad," I commented with a mouth full of pancakes and so my words came out muffled. These things were pure bliss.

That didn't stop him from understanding me and he grunted in reply.

"So which pack are you guys from?" Dina enquired with an inquisitive smile.

"That's also what I want to know because she's Alpha's mate," Llyod divulged that piece of information to Dina and I sincerely wish she hadn't.

"What?! Really? You've got to be kidding me," Dina squealed, bouncing up and down on her chair. "With the number of years that had passed I was almost certain Alpha Aryn didn't have a mate. But we finally have a Luna," she smiled with glee.

And this ladies and gentlemen is why information like this should be kept confidential.

"So where exactly did you two meet? How did you know he was the one? Was it love at first sight? How does the mate bond feel?" she swooned, eager for all the details.

Ahm in a stuffy bar on my last expedition that ultimately led to this, I knew he was the one when he relentlessly chased after me and love at first sight? Please.

Surely it wouldn't sound like a spun thriller story if I said this out loud?

"They met when we went shopping together," Zena chimed in with a smile. "It was a sight to behold when they acknowledged each other with the one coveted word among wolves, mate," she staged-whispered.

Okay someone was clearly good at this. From my peripheral vision I caught Kiba rolling his eyes in amusement.

You won't help out now, would you? I asked dryly down the mind-link.

What? I thought you had it all figured out, he said in defence.

"Ehm Yil?" Zena looked towards me expectantly and I noticed that Llyod and Dina were waiting on my every word.

I gulped the pancake down and cleared my throat. "Yeah, that was exactly how it went," I lied.

"But Alpha Aryn never goes shopping. Like as in never ever," Llyod enunciated and Dina shook her head in agreement.

So much for making up stories, Zena drawled down than the mind-link.

"If you want to keep it to yourself then that's okay. I pry too much into things so don't mind me," Dina giggled.

"But you can tell us which pack you come from at least, right?" Llyod asked again.

Anybody know any outside packs besides Black moon? I posed the question to Zena and Kiba and their mortified looks was all the answer I needed. We were royally screwed.

"They are white-wolves," a deep familiar voice that could evoke the strongest feelings in me answered. We all turned to the source of the sound and true to form Aryn stood by the door of the kitchen in all his magnificent glory.

"You're kidding right?" Llyod laughed.

"Yeah, it's like saying they are from Mars. I mean he dresses like he's from a thousand years ago," Dina noted, referring to Kiba who scowled. "But still that's a bit far fetched,"

Aryn continued to look at them, not budging from his statement and slowly the truth of the matter dawned on them.

"They exist?" Llyod gasped with a hand to her mouth.

"They do and the only reason I'm letting you two in on that information is because you are going to help out with my little crafted conspiracy," he said before he moved into the kitchen and towards the fridge.

The man sure knew how to dress. His broad shoulders were clothed in a beige turtleneck and his endless legs were wrapped in black jeans. It was casual wear but boy! did he make it look so sexy and it didn't help that his black mass of curls atop his head brought out the colour of his blue endless eyes.

"It's quite hard to believe that they are white-wolves especially since no one has seen them for centuries," Dina reasoned with an emphasis on her last word.

"Well they do kiddo and they are right here," he motioned to us with the apple in his hand and ruffled her hair affectionately.

There was something about the tenderness that he openly showed her but I couldn't quite place my finger on it.

"Then why don't you prove it," she suggested, turning to look not at me, not even at Zena but at Kiba. Just what had he done to her?

"What?" He asked when he noticed that she stared at him in keen anticipation. "If you don't believe that we are white-wolves then maybe it's for the better. Your kind are not trustworthy anyway," he said deadpan but she didn't relent on her gaze.

"I'll show you," I offered and she turned to look at me.

I concentrated on the tap that I had seen churning out water. It was closed tight at the moment but I could feel the water source just below the earth surface. I stretched a hand towards it, flexed my fingers and with that the water piled out of the tap in a colourless, translucent line. It hovered over the kitchen space and with different flicks of my wrist I was able to create animal shapes in the form of suspended water.

"Wow, how do you do that?" she whispered and Llyod came closer to peer at my water depictions even Aryn leaned against the counter and watched me with curiosity, his half eaten apple was forgotten in his palm.

"It's really not that hard," I chuckled and continued to manipulate the water.

It was a trick that Rae had taught me when I was younger and no older than six. Every afternoon, he would take me to the pond by the Airian training ground where he would tell me stories about wolves, animals, nature and just about everything while he depicted the actions of his words with the continuous change of the water shapes. He was much more skilled at this than I was but they didn't know that. They had never seen him in action.

The memories stirred up my feelings for him and I felt even more ashamed for reacting the way I did towards Aryn. My gaze subconsciously moved from the shapes towards my side and I caught him staring at me. He had noticed the change in my mood and looked at me with furrowed eyebrows.

I turned back to the suspended water source and directed into the sink where I let it fall.

"That was so surreal," Llyod breathed in awe and Dina continued to look on, in the direction where I had deposited the water, speechless.

"Indeed it was," Aryn agreed. "But this only stays between us," he warned. "And Roy and maybe Star when the time comes," he added.

"But what of the other pack members? How do we explain their origins because it won't take them long to figure out that she is your mate," Llyod reasoned.

"That's where you get creative," he smiled. "It'll be known that she is my mate but nothing other than that," he reemphasized. "Am I clear?" He asked and Llyod nodded.

"Dina you promise to keep this a secret?" He asked, bending a little to the girl's height.

"Only if he promises to make those shapes often," she sassed, turning to look at Kiba.

"I'm not a Nyrlian. Sorry to break it to you," he said, feigning regret.

"Then whatever you can control," she pushed and Kiba sighed in frustration.

"Dina?" Aryn warned, slowly.

"Yeah, yeah I promise," she replied with twinkling eyes. Aryn nodded and then turned to eye Kiba skeptically.

"If it's the weird clothes then save your breath," Kiba said deadpan. "I wouldn't be wearing them if she hadn't said I should," he added, referring to me.

"Your princess's words carry great effect don't they?" Aryn taunted.

"More than you'll ever know," he smirked with a slightly elongated fang.

"Kiba," I whispered fiercely. "Stop it this instant," I hissed and Aryn chuckled. "I believe we have something to talk about," I regarded Aryn with a straight face and he smiled.

"Of course. If you'll follow me to my study then we can get started,"

"Fine then," I said rising from my seat and Kiba and Zena mirrored my action but I shook my head firmly. I was going alone and that was final.

Regardless of how hard it was for me, I needed to continually face Aryn on my own. It was the only way I could master these feelings. Furthermore, remembering Rae reminded me, in full force, of what my journey here was about. It wasn't to fraternize with the enemy neither was it to lust after him. No it was a journey with one purpose: protecting my pack.

"Thank you for the meal, it was beyond delicious," I praised earning a bright smile from Dina. "And thanks for your help this morning," I said to Llyod, making good on my promise to hide the fact that I was already finished before she came. Even though I didn't see how it was necessary to send someone to help me.

I walked towards the door and Aryn led the way closely by my side.

Okay brain don't fail me. Give me one kick-ass proposition.
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