Once she was gone, Xander turned to me. “Well, dad said he was going to give you all the news. You seem to still be breathing so it didn’t shock you too bad.” He laughed at me.
“Being your cousin wasn’t the most shocking part of that whole story, really.” I laughed back. “The magical powers and poison immunity will take some getting used to, though. Do the Elders know? Or will they put me in the pool of potential mates to throw at you on a regular basis?”
“I actually would prefer it if they kept throwing you my way. It prevents them from setting me up with some of the others.” He shudders at the thought and I have to suppress a giggle.
“Why do they keep trying to set you up? Didn’t you say the Alpha King is only at his strongest with his Goddess-given mate?” I look at each of them in turn, confused by the idea now that it had come up. You would think that the Elders would want their Alpha King at his strongest in order to protect and lead the packs.
“Some are of the opinion that the way the Moon Goddess goes about making us find our mates is asking too much, and that our mates should be more accessible.” Luna Anne began.
“Meaning they are lazy and don’t want to put in the effort.”
Xander chimes in and I agreed with him completely. Part of finding your mate is becoming a strong enough person on your own without them, so you can be better with them.
“Also, some of them take that line of thinking a step further, believing that being from the same pack, specifically Royal pack members having mates from the Royal pack would be better.” Alpha Reggie added.
“Bringing in an elitist attitude.” Xander translated again, and I couldn’t help but smile. I saw where his mind had gone with this – it was pack separation and some being viewed as better than others, rather than pack unity amongst them all. I nodded my head, agreeing with Xander on this point.
“But, we can’t come right out and accuse anyone of that, though.” Alpha Reggie’s tone was light and conversational, but it also had an undertone of caution. “Well, I think Skylar has enough to think about for the time being, and she should probably get back before her team leader finds something else to criticize.” He raised his eyebrow at me, and I just rolled my eyes and smiled.
“I’ll go with her dad, I want to talk about next weekend.”
Xander stood with me, and I gave Luna Anne a hug and turned to Alpha Reggie, not really sure if he was the hugging type.
“Come here.” He opened his arms, and just like with Alpha Lucas, I was overwhelmed with the thought that this is what it felt like to have a dad hug me. A simple gesture, taken for granted by so many, but it meant the world to me, and I tried to let him know that without words. He gave me a little extra squeeze before letting me go.
Xander and I walked back out the way we came, although this time he let me actually walk and enjoy the grandeur of the castle. I would have to ask about all the cream-white walls and fancy, humongous pictures of people and times in history later. We headed down the stairs and out to the car, where Barty was waiting for us.
“Would you mind if we had some privacy, Barty?” I had no idea what that meant, but Barty didn’t hesitate and opened the door for us to get in the back, and then he joined the driver in the front, right before the privacy window went up. Ah, now I got it, but why?
Xander waited until we were on the road and moving consistently before turning to me. “This is for you. From your brother and the rest of the guys.” My eyes went wide as he handed me five envelopes, each one sealed with no writing on the outside.
