Shadow

The moment Robin heard the words that were forced out from Nora's throat to form the sentence that she was not allowed to keep a cell phone in her house, he found his heart wincing involuntarily after sensing the pain in her voice. And immediately, his mind was clear about the fact that it was definitely not because she was living with her parents, or because she did not have any need to keep a seperate phone on her person. No, there was something else that the Riverine couple was hiding, and Nora was not enjoying!

But according to the shadows of pain forming on her face due to the rise and fall of the crashing waves of pain, he decided to stop himself from asking this question and instead initiated a change of topic. When he knew that something fishy was going on, he was already sure that he was going to find out what. But this time, it was related to Nora and hence, he was definitely going to find it out. The only thing was that he would not be asking her about it in any circumstances, but he was just quietly going to collect the data on his own, because letting it slide was not even an option. 

He calmed himself after calculating everything, and finally replied in a casual tone.

"It's okay, Princess! Now you have one, so ahead and make a call to anyone you would like to speak t-"

"But I don't remember my father's phone number."

Nora explained, just when Myron finally appeared in front of them with deep frown lines on his forehead.

"Guys! What happened? Can anyone here tell me what that marathon was for?"

"Nothing, we are just planning to organise one now!"

Robin made a joke, but clearly neither of his friends had the elite sense like he did, because both of them ended up in confusion, which was clearly visible on their faces. 

After a few seconds of consideration, Nora nodded and replied, "Okay, I am ready to help with those preparations. But right now, I myself want help. I do want to live in the dorms, or anywhere away from my house, but I also didn't want to displace someone from their rightful place-"

Before Nora could elaborate, Myron spoke up.

"Whom are you displacing? And if anyone is getting displaced because of you, then they should feel grateful and lucky that they are able to be of any use to you."

Myron quickly tied the problem in a neat little bow, knowing that if he did not stop her, then she could go all night long about the same topic, non- stop, about being a burden on everyone in her life.

He had only taken a few seconds' pause after completing his sentence, hoping that his words would have some effect on Nora, when he heard Nora's voice.

"It's Valerie! Valerie, who is getting displaced. And I don't want her to be displaced- not only her, I don't want anyone being displaced because of me."

"But Nora! The position of an Alpha deserves sacrifices, not just by the ruler but by their loyal subjects. And by accepting those sacrifices, you are gracing us by signifying that we are not as worthless as we think ourselves to be -"

Myron tried to lessen her unnecessary guilt and to make her see why this was not only acceptable but an integral part of the customary social relationship, when he was interrupted by someone's voice. And of course, this particular voice was one which he had never imagined to be present there at that particular point of time, and nor did he want to hear that voice- not now, not ever. 

"Oh! Thank the Moon Goddess, Nora, you are fine! I was so worried, you know… I get it, the school has no culture or respect.

But dear, you could at least have waited for help to arrive, or you could have asked any lower wolf of the Orion pack to call me or find my whereabouts. In that case, at least I would have this heart attack because of happiness, rather than the fear of losing you."

It was Ryan, who had somehow appeared in the lobby where the three of them were standing, discussing the current problem and trying to find the open ends of that problem that they could tackle. The discussion halted as soon as Ryan had spoken, and Ryan also took a pause after completing the first half of his statement. He began to speak once again, but this time, while walking a little closer to Nora.

"Come on, let's go! I am here to take you back, your father is waiting for you in front of the dorm along with uncle Francisco. And Nora, I swear I have never seen uncle Fredrick this panicked ever before, than he was the moment he knew you were missing and ran out of the dorm. 

Seeing the low rank wolf still occupying your space, and haven't had cleared anything-

Ryan was yet to say so many things after he had heard the first statement from Romera, stating that Nora had run out of the dorm and seeking help after seeing Valerie in the dorm. He had imagined that the royal blood running in the veins of Nora and the Alpha living within her body was not able to tolerate the presence of lower rank person in her space. He had immediately run in the direction which seen David's eyes pitched in. Even though he had seen David and Louis standing there, fighting for their life and giving each other death glares, he was still managing to have his glance set in the direction opposite to Louis. And was enough of a sign for Ryan that she had definitely headed in that direction, and he also silently slipped out of everyone's range of vision in search of her, feeling extremely proud of himself, till he heard Nora's voice.

"As expected! You also have considered the entire scenario completely wrong! I did run because I needed help- but not because I needed it for myself, instead I needed help for Valerie."

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Valerie was taken aback by Louis' words as well as his attitude, and understandably so, because she had not seen him in so much anger, ever before. Not only was he absolutely seething with an unprecedented rage such that his anger was creating a major problem here, but he was also blaming her for being wrong in this situation! But how… how was she wrong in this situation?

She had done nothing wrong, in fact, she was pretty sure he had it backwards. She was the one who was being forced to leave the dorm room she was currently occupying and had her memories attached to. And why was all this happening in the first place? All because… because she was a low rank wolf -

She had gotten so engrossed in her thoughts after she heard Louis' fuming voice, that she forgot that she had to defend herself too, because no one else was going to do it for her at that moment of time and at that specific place. But before she could have gathered the words to form a sentence in her defense, she heard Louis speaking once again. 

"You are the one guilty here, because you don't seem to understand that not only is she trying to help you, but in doing so, she is not even caring about her own reputation. And here you are, standing in front of us and saying whatever is coming into your mind! 

I have never believed it for once, when everyone used to warn me against making friends with people lower than my rank, because I believe that all of us have equal rights to live our lives to our satisfaction, laugh amongst loved ones, and love whoever we wish to. But now! After hearing your words and sensing the bitterness dissolved in them, I am truly being forced to think about what they all have been saying for so long. And frankly, I'm beginning to think that they were somehow telling the truth; because when you should be grateful to her, you are the very person trying to defame her."

Louis was giving voice to his stream of thoughts without paying much attention to the details or propriety, and had just thrown the words at Valerie to make her realise where she was at fault. If he had paused for a single second, he would have known that this was quite enough, but he had never imagined such stupidity from Valerie. He could not have thought that her vision would go so blurry with indignant rage because an Alpha was being given her place, that she wouldn't even be able to see anything apart from that- not even how Nora was also being considerate and concerned about her safety and comfort.

And in this frustration, he also didn't know what got into him. He wasn't even sure whether it was anger at his friend because she was being really unreasonable here, or if he was angry at himself, who had indeed come there to make the process of transition easy for the two of them, but had ended up making it difficult for both!

Therefore, after venting out all his frustration by means of this rant, he started to walk in the direction in which Nora had run with Robin, deciding that he had enough of witnessing the blame game. And now, he could not stand it any longer; moreover, he needed to manipulate the situation and bring it back to normal as soon as he could.

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"Okay, so then if you are ready and accepting the hand of friendship being extended towards you, then I think I should also have to accept it."

Saying this, Fransisco stood up from his seat, after seeing that Frederick had already risen from his seat and was about to walk towards him. This is when they heard Ryan's voice again, who spoke up eagerly.

"Now, I guess we should leave to find Nora, otherwise she might be doing everything all on her own!"

Instead of the unanimous agreement that Ryan had anticipated, he was greeted by a question tagging along with Frederick's affirmative statement.

"Yes, what you are saying is right! But I still have a question. Why would the principal accept your plea now, when he didn't accept or even consider it earlier?"

No sooner had Frederick finished his question, than Ryan fired off his enthusiastic reply.

"Because I already have everything planned, uncle! So you don't have to worry about it, just come with me and watch everything happen smoothly as planned, with your own two eyes."

Ryan completed his sentence with a smile, not just confident but perfectly content with the knowledge that everything would be proceeding beautifully. By now, the poor Nora- who was not only the heiress to the throne but also the owner of a very kind heart- would definitely have gone on a campaign to get Valerie justice! And she would surely have set off on her mission, without thinking anything twice or even realising that this campaign of hers was not going to help her in any way. Instead, it was going to create more obstacles and problems in her life, all the while making the execution of his plan extremely easy. And then, he would start his master plan; and for that, he needed to start the game right now, because he had already tossed his dice.

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