Page 33 of Escaping Wildfire

“Thank you,” I said as I took a piece of bread.

The rest of the meal was uneventful but not unpleasant. We rode back to the pack house in silence, but when we walked inside Alpha Marek was waiting for us at the door.

“Ah…there’s my favorite couple. I take it dinner went well.” Alpha Marek was the picture of contradiction. His pleasant words were in direct contrast to his cold eyes.

“Yes, Father, we had a nice time.”

“Good, good. He patted his son’s shoulder, but it didn’t escape me how he held on to Larkin’s shoulder too tightly.

“Your birthday’s coming up soon. I have a special surprise for the two of you, but I won’t spoil it for now.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I do have another surprise that I can tell you about. I have the dressmaker coming again to help you and your friends pick out dresses for your party. I also have a jeweler coming this week. After all, we can’t have an engagement without a ring.”

“Thank you, Father, that’s very thoughtful of you,” Larkin said much too stiffly, as he clenched his jaw.

“Of course…I am nothing if not thoughtful.” He narrowed his eyes at Larkin, and an unspoken threat loomed in his eyes.

It’s late, and I am sure you’re both tired. I’ll have Nora escort you to your room.” As if hearing her name, Nora appeared and walked me back upstairs. We walked silently, and when we got to my room, she let me inside and closed the door behind me without coming inside with me. I heard the lock click, and I was back inside my golden prison for the night.

15 Lunch

GEMA

As promised, Alpha Marek sent over a jeweler for me and Larkin to select an engagement ring together. Rory joined us as she had been made privy to Alpha Marek’s preferences again. As expected, he wanted the opposite of what I would have selected, something big and flashy.

I looked at the rings, feeling dead inside and wondering what Noah and the boys were doing right now. I never knew I could miss someone as much as I missed Noah.

Larkin couldn’t have been less interested in this activity, but the jeweler kept trying to draw his attention. The whole process was ridiculous as wolf shifters rarely even wore jewelry as it easily got lost when shifting, so I wasn’t sure why Alpha Marek was so insistent on all of this.

We finished up, and I stood up to head back to my golden prison.

“Father said that I could take you on a tour of the pack if you would like.” Rory stood in front of me. She was wearing a modest dress and ballet flats with her hair slicked back in a half-up style with perfect curls. She always looked like she was on her way to a luncheon at a country club. It made me wonder if she dressed like this for herself or because it was what her father expected.

“I would like that, thank you.” While I honestly had no interest in Wildfire, it gave me something to do other than being locked up. I also thought knowing the layout of Wildfire might help me plan out an escape. Maybe if I continued to play nice, they would continue to let me out of my room.

“Good, we can start outside and work our way back inside.” Rory’s words sounded positive, but her facial expression betrayed her true feelings. She was tall with long blonde hair and dark blue eyes that always looked sad.

She led me to the back first. I recognized the field we came to as the one I could see through my window. “This is the practice field where our warriors do their outside training. We also have several indoor training areas that we use interchangeably. I looked over at the group working on the field. They all looked deep in concentration. I thought back to my days of training. It was always one of my favorite parts of the day, waking up early and working on strengthening my body. It didn’t hurt that Noah and I were part of the same training group, so I’d start my day off by getting to see him.

“The group here right now is our second tier, the first tier practices first thing in the morning.”

I looked over at the wolves and recognized the two women who had driven me and the girls here. They were both tall and had a slim athletic build. In another life, they could have been models.

“When do you train?” I asked genuinely curious.

“Oh.” She looked taken aback. “I don’t train. My father says I am not allowed, so I have never trained.”

“Do you go to school then?”

“I graduated high school last year, so I just stay here now and help with the pack duties. The paperwork, party planning, and decorating, things the Luna would do.” She cleared her throat and looked down.

“No college then?”

“No. My father believes my skills are better used by helping out around the pack. He says I should learn the Luna duties now for when I become Luna once I am mated.”

“Will you have an arranged union, too, then?”

“Yes, I will.” She said almost too softly for me to hear.

We continued walking around the back. “This is our outside meeting area where we have gatherings like our pack picnics. We also have a swimming pool over here.” She pointed to the side. “Do you like to swim?”