Chapter 273: Thunderstrike Again
"Why do you think that?" Darach replied, too quickly to be considered nonchalant.
I merely gazed back at him patiently, and eventually, Darach sighed.
"Do you think it strange, if I told you that part of me feels guilty for feeling guilty to begin with?" Darach confessed with a quiet sigh. "After all she did to me, I should throw her out of the packhouse with nothing but the skin on her back. But I guessed my father got one thing right."
Darach gave me a rueful smile. "I am still too soft-hearted to run Thunderstrike the way he did. If he had his way, I would be buried twenty feet in the ground with my body shredded to pieces."
"I’m glad you’re not him though," I said, trying to reassure him. "If you were anything like your father, I wouldn’t have bothered to come back to help you."
"Thanks, Harper." Darach smiled, and Milo gave me an approving look from my other side. Darach then led me and Kyle to our new rooms, but I did not recall passing through these corridors the last time I visited Thunderstrike.
"Darach, this isn’t the route to my old room," I said.
"That’s because we aren’t going back to your old room," Darach replied easily, "We prepared new rooms for the both of you."
"New rooms? Isn’t that a lot of trouble?" I asked in surprise. "I was just expecting you to give me the room I stayed in before."
"Nonsense. Those rooms might work well enough for a guest, but you’re my temporary charlie. You deserve better quarters, like this one!" Daraach exclaimed with a flourish, gesturing to a heavy oak door. "You can do the honors."
I wondered how much better the rooms could be since the original rooms were already luxurious enough.
"Now, do let me know if there’s anything you want to change in the room," Darach said, as my mouth fell open at the opulence I was greeted with.
A gigantic queen-sized bed with a plush duvet and a canopy, a large oak work desk, as well as a full-length mirror and a set of cupboards and drawers. The floor was tiled with white marble, and I could see another door inside it, presumably leading to a bathroom.
"Darach, this room is too much," I spluttered. This was twice the size of the rooms I shared with Blaise, and Blaise was the goddamn beta of Fangborne.
"Nonsense, this is the least we could do," Darach said. "If not for you, I wouldn’t even be alive."
"More importantly, this room is the closest to us," Milo said, pointing out two identical doors that were in the very same corridor. "Darach and I have discussed this; it’s safest for you to be sequestered here, rather than with the other werewolves in the main packhouse."
I understood his point immediately and shot him a wry smile. "Afraid that one of your pack members might decide to off me in the middle of the night?"
"Well, yes," Darach candidly admitted. "I don’t trust Dahlia not to get someone to stab you in the back. She has a way of inspiring the worst in people. Kyle has the room next to you, just in case of emergency." He pointed to another similarly furnished room.
"Thank you, Alpha Darach," Kyle said, surprised by the generosity.
"You’re welcome," Darach said. "Harper, I’ll leave you and Kyle to freshen up. I’ll introduce you to the rest of the pack over dinner. It’s in two hours. Remember to check your phone often― and let me know if you have any questions!"
"Alright." I nodded. Since Darach and I both lacked wolves, we could only use this method to communicate― and since Kyle and Milo weren’t Thunderstrike wolves, they wouldn’t be in a pack link anyway.
Then they left, leaving Kyle and I alone.
"Luna―"
I shot him a glare, reminding him to keep my position a secret.
"I mean, Harper," Kyle corrected hastily, quickly looking around to see if anyone had overheard. Thankfully, the corridor seemed deserted. "What’s your plan for dinner?"
"What plan?" I sighed, feeling my intestines twist themselves into knots. "I’m just going to see how it goes."
Hopefully, it wouldn’t be an utter clusterfuck.
***
Two hours passed by in a flash, and now it was time for dinner. Darach and Milo came to get us, and he led us to the dining hall used by the majority of the pack members. I couldn’t help but gulp when I caught sight of the numerous eyes blatantly staring at me. Some of the gazes were curious, but others were hostile.
Thankfully, Dahlia and her father were not present, but that didn’t mean that this dinner would not end in disaster.
My stomach grumbled. I would want a good meal first if fists were to fly.
Darach cleared his throat, drawing eyes back to him.
"Fellow pack members, I have a big announcement to make," Darach began. "I would like to―"
Immediately, his wolves started shouting out nonsensical suggestions, booing or jeering, interrupting his speech. There were pockets of wolves who rolled their eyes, not hiding their disdain for Darach.
My eyebrow twitched at the blatant disrespect they showed to their Alpha. Was this what Darach had to deal with all the time?
If so, it was no wonder that he was so pleased to see me.
Milo let out a low, warning growl that finally caused the rabble to shut up.
"Thank you, Milo," Darach shot Milo a grateful glance, before turning to address the rest of them as though they were not behaving like rowdy belligerent children. I marveled at Darach’s patience― it seemed that becoming Alpha had taught him to hold his temper.
Even if, in my humble opinion, he really should have given his pack a piece of his mind.
"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Darach continued pointedly, "I would like to introduce all of you to Harper. She’ll be our temporary charlie from now on."
If the pack had made noise before, it was nothing compared to the yelling that ensued the moment those words left Darach’s lips.
"You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!’
"Another outsider?"
"First a beta, now a charlie... will we have no one from Thunderstrike?"
"Wait... doesn’t she look familiar?"
"Now that you say it, I think I saw her somewhere before..."
"This is the woman that ruined Dahlia Elrod’s wedding! This wolfless bitch!"
Joy. To think this would be what they remembered me for. I had saved Darach’s life and helped overthrow the previous alpha, but clearly ruining a wedding was the real deal-breaker.
"Excuse me, I take offense to that," I said, deliberately raising my voice. "If any woman ruined Dahlia Elrod’s wedding, it was Dahlia herself for insisting on going through with it despite Damon’s lack of enthusiasm. And she did try to kill her own fated mate too."
The rest of the wolves stared back in stunned silence. I guess they didn’t expect me to actually speak for myself.
"Very aptly put," Milo said, the side of his lips curled into the tiniest smirk before addressing the other wolves. "And I can vouch for her words."
"Once again, my decision is final," Darach said firmly, in a tone that brooked no argument. He might not have a wolf, but it didn’t stop the rest of the wolves from begrudgingly listening to him, turning their faces back down to their plates.
Seeing that his pack had finally decided to settle down, Darach clapped his hands, and in came a whole bunch of waiters with their hands filled with food. My mouth salivated as the air became filled with delicious aromas, and part of me wanted to snort when I realized the waiters only bothered to serve Darach, Milo, Kyle, and me personally.
The rest of the wolves took their food from the huge trays the waiters rolled into the dining hall. Soon, the hall was full of chatter, even as I noticed more than a few glares shot in my direction. Yet no one stormed up towards me and demanded to brawl me.
I considered that a win.
Just as I thought the worst was over, the door to the dining hall opened with a loud bang, and a familiar silhouette stood at the door frame.
It was Dahlia Elrod, with her face darker than a thundercloud. Yet, I couldn’t help but notice how frazzled she looked, in comparison to how she was before. Back then, she was the epitome of brazen elegance, nary a hair out of place while she chased after Damon with the persistence of a dog with a bone.
Now, her hair was a tangled mess, and there was a waxy sheen on her face, along with impressive dark eye circles. Her outfit also caused me to raise an eyebrow― she was already wearing pajamas, even before dinner ended?
Or had she been wearing pajamas the whole time?
"What is the fucking meaning of this, Darach?" She bellowed, her voice echoing through the room in a way that was highly reminiscent of her father.
