Chapter 19

Alice

The moment I saw Harvey's face twisted into a serious expression, I knew something serious was happening. Or happened. Jordan usually never called him so early in the morning. At least that's something I knew for the past month living with Harvey. Jordan always meets him in person or contacts him during normal working hours.

So, getting a call at six in the morning couldn't be a sign of something good.

Moreover, when he walked back towards me and told me that he should go right at that moment. I couldn't throw away my worry so easily. But what could I do anyway? I am a weak being compared to others in this pack. And asking to tail Harvey would only burden him. Giving him another responsibility taking care of me.

And I didn't want that. My reputation had already been doubted by the elders. I didn't want to give Harvey another problem by making him babysit me a whole day. I should try to walk on my own feet. This is my family after all. Nothing bad would happen even if I was alone.

I glanced at the clock. It was still seven-thirty. And I was already bored to death because the only thing I did was lie in bed. I wanted to cook something for Harvey, though. But what was the point of cooking now? He would be back before dinner so the only appropriate time to prepare a meal is definitely at five or six.

And I had nothing to do now.

Maybe walking around the pack's area and greeting them sounded like a good idea. Or I could meet Kendra instead!

Chatting with her always feels nice and warm. No matter how intimidating her beauty was, Kendra was a friendly person who easily opened up with others. And she felt like an older sister to me.

Taking care of me, listening to my stories, and telling me the hottest gossip around the pack.

Yeah, I would meet Kendra now.

I quickly stood on my feet and grabbed fresh clothes. I chose to wear something girly today. A short cream-colored halter neck dress with a bow on the back of my neck. It also has a peach-colored ribbon on its hip that looks like a belt.

Ah, I like this one. It was my first pick when Harvey took me to shop on the first day of my life here. I spun once in front of the mirror and let my skirt fly like a ballerina. What a nice feeling to be a girl.

I strode to the street and headed straight to Kendra's boutique. It was ten minutes walk from our house. The street was kind of empty today. Definitely a peculiar sight considering the number of people we had in the pack. But it didn't bother me too much, though. Maybe some decided to take a vacation and go to another town. Or maybe they chose to stay at home and be lazy for a whole day.

It was the weekend after all.

I arrived at a teal and white colored building with a big neon sign on top of it.

STYLISH AFFAIR

That's Kendra's place. She is the epitome of high fashion. From head to toe, Kendra was always dressing to ten. Her manner and attitude were scoring sky-high too. Something that I admired from her and need to take notes for myself.

Her boutique exuded the same aura with her. Chic, sophisticated, but also fun. A stylish and vibrant place to visit but also comfortable enough to hang around.

I pushed the door open and the bell rang. A tiny black girl with a bright smile on her pretty face greeted me.

"Welcome to the Stylish Affair! How can I help you, Luna?"

"I'm looking for Kendra. Is she here?" I asked.

She took a glance at her notes and Kendra's office door. And that girl smiled cheerfully at me.

"She is inside, Luna. Please come in."

I walked past the door and found Kendra staring blankly at the window. She seemed to be bothered by something. Her mind was definitely occupied with a problem I didn't know. Was this the right time to visit her?

I knocked twice on her door.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

She shifted her head and looked at me. Her lips were forcing a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Of course. Come on in, Luna."

I moved across the room and sat in front of her. She looked tired. And something off about her today.

"What's wrong? You looked... different? Something bothering you?" I asked her with a clear worry in my voice.

She laughed and tried to shift the topic.

"Nothing. Maybe this color doesn't complement my skin, Luna." She joked.

I shook my head.

"No, Kendra. You have something in your mind now. It's okay, you can choose to not tell me about your problem. But, so that you know, I will always be helping you if you need it."

Kendra looked at me for a few seconds. I believed she was reconsidering her choice to let go of her problem by sharing it with me.

"It was my old pack. They were causing another problem in our territories."

I thought I had misheard her words. Her old pack caused another problem? Was it the same problem as the one Harvey was told this morning?

"You old pack? Was it..."

She nodded and laughed bitterly.

"You're right. It's Ironmaws. I was in Ironmaws before meeting Jordan and becoming his mate."

Ah, shit. That's why she looked extremely gloomy today. Who didn't anyway? It was like our relatives were throwing rocks at our in-laws house. I, myself, would feel ashamed for it.

"So? Mind to tell me the backstory?"

She seemed to hesitate for a bit. Then she proceeded to continue with her words. Words by words flowed like a beautiful yet tragic love story.

***

Kendra was born and raised as the daughter of Ironmaw's leader, Alpha Karl. She is the one and only Roman's sister. They were both raised as tough and merciless wolves. Sometimes their Dad also told them to be cunning foxes and use any possible way to acquire what they wanted.

Roman was eager with those things. He learned everything with so much enthusiasm. But Kendra didn't feel like one. Ironmaw is a bunch of cruel psychopath wolves and Kendra always feels like a misfit amongst her pack. She was never fascinated with their dirty tricks and always tried so hard to stray from any fights. After all, she didn't like getting her hands dirty with blood.

When she reached eighteen, the Moon Goddess showed which wolf was her mate. And it was Jordan. The Beta of Sableclaw pack. Ironmaw's sworn enemy and her brother's most hated pack. Roman, who became an Alpha after her father's death, ordered Kendra to reject her mate.

"You're an Alpha's daughter and the only worthy pair for you is another Alpha, Kendra! Not that worthless Beta!"

But Kendra didn't even care about her brother's words. She had been longing to leave Ironmaws forever. And having a mate from another pack would give her the green light to do that. On top of that, Sableclaw is the strongest pack and she believed that her life would be safe here.

"So what happened? Were you escaping from your house back then?" I asked with an extreme curiosity.

She nodded. She stared blankly as if she was reminiscing something.

"I did run away from my brother's house, Luna. I told myself if I couldn't meet Jordan, then I should be a rogue rather than stuck between those demons. But, fate does like playing tricks on us. When I was running away like crazy, I met Jordan. I think he was going back from training at that time."

She laughed as if that was the sweetest memory in her mind.

"And he looked very rumpled with sweat all over his body. His hair was a mess and he smelled like a sweaty football athlete. Didn't look awesome at all. But he is my mate after all. We felt that strange pull between each other like the one you feel whenever Harvey is around."

I nodded in agreement. That pull was strange. As if a mysterious string between us were getting pulled to make us closer.

"And long story short, he took me to his home and sworn to protect me from every threat whether it is from my brother or any threat in general. And here we are. Living together for almost five years now."

I smiled. Her story is indeed a happy one. I believed Jordan would protect Kendra by any means. I could see his overflowing love for Kendra emanating from his eyes every time he looked at her. And Kendra was the same. Both of them were whipped for each other.

I just hoped my story with Harvey would become that pretty. I loved him so much and I wished he labored the same feeling for me too.

We both went silent for a bit. Kendra was still feeling a little bit euphoric after telling her story. I thought it helped ease her stress a bit. But I still had one question left. And Kendra was the only person who probably could answer it.

"But Kendra, can I ask something with you? Of course, you can choose to not answer it if you feel uncomfortable."

She looked at me with a questioning look.

"What's that? Why are you acting strange, Luna? You can just ask me anything too and I will answer it anyway."

I took a few deep breaths. It was also something I felt curious about when I overheard Harvey's conversation with Jordan this morning. About Ironmaw's cruel nature.

"Why Ironmaw is always cruel? Like the other pack is living in peace with human and don't even bother to hunt for food. But Ironmaw always doing that, right? They always hunting humans for..." I stopped midway because I was afraid that I might hurt Kendra's feelings.

"For fun?" She continued.

I nodded. She sighed and leaned on her chair. I could tell that it was a difficult story to be told by her.

"Our ancestors are different, Luna. While Sableclaw and other packs are the descendants of Qaias, the God of Honor. We, Ironmaws, and other bad wolves are the descendants of Tumos. Do you know who Tumos is?" Kendra stared at me seriously.

I shook my head. It was my first time to hear all of those names.

"The God of Hatred." She said.

I let out a surprised voice without realizing it. And Kendra laughed when she saw my reaction.

"So it was already in our nature to become a cruel monster, Luna. Most of the bad wolves were cast away from the civilizations a hundred years ago to prevent chaos between races. But Ironmaws decided to stay here under one condition."

"And what is that?"

"A peace treaty. Way before we were born, our ancestors signed a peace treaty that made Ironmaws sworn to not hunt anybody other than animals."

I went silent. Too stunned to speak. But I decided to keep digging for information from her.

"And why hasn't anybody protested about it? Ironmaws are breaking the treaty after all!"

Kendra shook her head.

"No one other than Ironmaws knew about our ancestry and this treaty. The parties in that treaty were long gone after all. And our generations don't even have any knowledge about it, right? We also knew it from our ancestor's writing, Luna. And that book is stored safely in Roman's basement. Away from anybody."

I sighed. It never crossed my mind that the werewolf's world would be this complicated. Our relationship with each other tangled in an invisible thread that eventually would clash with one another. And I was afraid something like that would happen.

"Are you afraid?" Kendra asked me.

I nodded.

"A little."

Kendra pulled out a smile and tried her best to comfort me.

"Let's just hope that everything won't take a wrong turn, Luna."

I let out an exhale. Yeah, I do hope that. Our safety always comes first after all.