Chapter 3

"Well Luna, your head wound has healed fabulously on the drive back over. No need for stitches but I will help clean the blood off" our pack doctor, Juliet, told me. She reached behind her and grabbed a white cloth and dipped it in a bowl of warm water before bringing it to my head. "I'm assuming your visit with your father was a pleasant one" she said sarcastically.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, "Just peachy" I replied. Juliet frowned and continued to clean the dried blood off my scalp, side of my face and my neck until she was satisfied. "You're good to go darling" she told me, patting my back gently.

"Thank you Juliet" I told her and I slipped off the bed and stood to my feet; I grabbed my camo jacket that was laid beside me and started to take my leave.

"By the way, happy birthday and that necklace never looked more beautiful than it does on you" she called to me as she washed her hands in the nearby sink. I touched the gem and smiled at her, she was there for all three of our births with my mom. It must be nice to see something of her that isn't a handmade painting of her on the wall.

"Thank you" I replied and walked out of the infirmary. I slipped my jacket back on me and made my way to the kitchen to get a snack. I can hear the sound of someone humming before I can see them but without giving it any thought, I simply walked into the kitchen and went straight to the snack cabinet.

"H-h-happy birthday Luna"

I turned my head curiously at the person who spoke to me and soon recognized the face of the girl who passed out this morning. She appeared to have showered and is dressed in leggings and an oversized sweater. Her light brown hair was pulled into a ponytail and she stared at me nervously with big, brown eyes. What was her name again?

I pointed to her and sent her a kind smile, "Olivia right?" I asked, praying I got it right. She smiled and nodded, "Yes Luna" she replied and took a sip of what smells like hot chocolate from her mug.

"Well thank you Olivia. How are you feeling?" I asked her, as I returned my focus to the snacks.

"Tired but okay. I want to thank you for what you did this morning after I embarrassingly passed out on your floor. I never thought that the ones I called friends would leave me like that" she said, her voice was hushed. She is obviously ashamed of what happened and hurt from being betrayed like that by people she thought she could trust. I'm glad to know that her 'friend' told her the truth like I asked.

I found the last bag of Doritos and happily opened them. "No need to thank me Olivia. But I do have one question: how did you end up being their friend in the first place?" I asked, putting a chip in my mouth. From my observations, Olivia has always been the quieter one in the group except when they all go out and make her drink. She's either reading, day dreaming, or simply listening to the others. She sticks out like a sore thumb.

"Well, I've always had a hard time making friends. I prefer to watch movies or binge a show than go out every weekend but my parents always wanted me to live a little and go out and party once in a while. I guess they were worried about me turning into a hermit and dying a virgin" she laughed and took another sip of her hot chocolate. "My parents are friends with Sarah's parents so naturally they meddled and got Sarah to start including me in her friend group. Sarah, Cole, Peter, and Roger are not bad people. They're loud, outgoing and adventurous but never bad. However, I never really felt like they actually liked me. We never had anything in common and I'm sure they just respected the fact that Sarah was forced to hang out with me so they did their best to not be mean to me. When Sarah told me what happened, I decided to tell her that she doesn't have to pretend to be my friend anymore. If I was home reading or on Netflix, I wouldn't have risked myself in that way and clearly none of them cared enough. So no hard feelings with us but I freed them from having to include me in everything" she finished her explanation with a meek smile.

My heart hurts for her. Being the Alpha's daughter growing up, I was expected to follow certain rules; rules separate from the pack's entirely. Because of these rules, whatever friendships I did make wouldn't last long and eventually people stopped trying to be my friend. "You know Olivia, you did the best thing for you and that's what matters. You deserve friends who are the same as you. I didn't have any longtime friends growing up so I understand how you feel. I suggest going to places that you can find people like you; like your local bookstore. Great friends are hard to find and they'll come to you when you least expect them to" I told her, before eating the last chip in my bag.

She smiled and nodded, "I can't imagine you not having a lot of friends. Saige was very popular and you were always around her" she commented.

I threw away the empty chip bag and smiled back at her, "Saige didn't want me to feel left out. I also had to make sure she didn't get into trouble. I would also make sure she followed our dad's rules but eventually I realized I was holding her back so her friends were her friends. They were never mine" I confessed to her. "Don't be afraid to put yourself out there. Make better friends" I told her and turned to take my leave.

"You too Luna" she said, more to herself but she knew I could hear her. I sighed and jogged up the stairs to go to my room. Several other pack members would give me more birthday wishes along my way which I would thank them in return. I reached my room door which had an array of flowers dropped in front of it; every year the pack gets me flowers for my birthday. I'm sure I have more inside my room. I chuckled and pick up a few bouquets so I can enter my room.

"Kaia! How are you feeling?!" I almost dropped the flowers out of shock for the sudden outburst. I sighed in relief when it was only Saige sitting on my bed with a worried look on her face.

I rolled my eyes and set the flowers I brought in on the floor since the top of my dressers were already full of some and went back for the rest. "I'm fine Saige. All healed and cleaned" I replied in monotone and grabbed a few more bouquets. Saige quickly hopped off my bed and helped bring in the rest.

"Kaia, I'm very sorry for bringing up the topic of you going out and not wanting a mate to dad. I was only supposed to bring up tonight and I was supposed to speak about it in a better way and as a result dad did what dad knows best" she apologized, her voice cracking and she blinked away her tears.

"I agree. I not wanting a mate is my business and the less dad knows the better. But now I'm forced to go out so I guess you got what you wanted" I jabbed at her.

"Kaia that's not fair. You know I didn't want dad to force his hand like that. I wanted to take you out for your birthday so you can have some genuine fun" Saige explained.

"Saige, for me, having fun is staying home with you guys; my family. Not wear tiny dresses, getting drunk and surrounding myself with other drunk, disrespectful people. Now, because of you I need to do something out of my comfort zone because you lost your temper once again like the child that you are" I scolded her.

Saige gasped and her lip began to tremble but the look in her eyes hardened, "Do you know how hard it is being your sister?" she asked. "Since I was born, dad would always give you all the praise and give me what he called positive feedback. You were always the golden child. You still are and I'm still not good enough for anything in his eyes. He doesn't even want me to become Luna one day because he doesn't believe in me and he never will!" she sobbed, her face red and tears streaked her face.

"All my life, I made sure to live it in a way where I can be happy even for 5 minutes. So I would break a few rules here and there and I tried to include you because I didn't want you to be lost in the vortex that is our father. Sometimes you would entertain me; we would get caught and get in trouble but in those moments I was happy too because we were viewed equally and neither of us was being put lower than the other. Even when we went out that time in high school and we got into that horrible accident, dad was livid but he actually cried for me. He cried and cried because not only did he almost lose both of his daughters but now one of them can't even have kids and even in that moment; after being told that I would never be a mother to my own pups.....I was happy because my dad finally showed me that he does care about me and not just you" she continued.

At this point, I shed a few of my own tears as I listened to my sister cry her heart out to me. "Saige..I'm so so-"

"Save it. Nothing is going to change anyways. All I wanted was for us to go out as sisters for your birthday because in the moments where we forget that we're Luna and Beta, we are equals and you're no longer the golden child. We're sisters. So we won't go out tonight. My plan was never to force you and don't worry I will make up stories for dad so he can believe that you are going out. See you at dinner" she finished, she wiped her tears away and marched out of my room before I could say anything else.

Has Saige always felt like this towards me? Does she feel like I enjoy being the center of attention? I don't. I always wanted to be just like her; carefree, charismatic, spirted. I was always put in high expectations from our dad. I couldn't leave the house past 8 pm which was two whole hours before the pack's curfew. I had to be the first one up and the last to sleep. I started training to be Luna at 8 years old so my childhood got cut short. I was taught to be reserved, stern and disciplined. No boys at all; I had to save myself for my mate. I fought with my dad very often to loosen his grip on Saige not because I felt like she couldn't handle it but because she didn't deserve it.

Saige didn't start her Beta classes until she was 13 when she hit puberty and gained her wolf. She's always been the more intelligent one between us both and her memory is impeccable. She knows every pack member's name, age and birthday. You could tell her what you had for lunch three months ago and she'll still remember it. She's a people person which gained her a lot of friends. She was given the same curfew as the pack but once in a while, she'd sneak out and have a good time until she gets caught. I envied her so much because she would always choose her happiness over being obedient like it was just natural for her and I wanted to be like that.

What she doesn't know is that when she would get in trouble, my dad would only verbally abuse her but he would mount all the weight on me verbally, mentally and physically not only because I was the eldest but because I asked him to so I could protect her from being broken down by our dad and if I had another chance, I would do it all over again.

A knock at my door, broke me out of my thoughts and I wiped my face dry. "Come in!" I called out. A familiar pack member, Ethan, walked in but left the door open. He examined the flowers crowding my room and chuckled.

"Big turn out as always" he commented.

"They never fail" I replied.

"Still want the same thing to be done this year?" he asked for confirmation.

I nodded, "Yes. Send each bouquet to the different species around us. The rest, find some graves that need some decorating" I told him and my eyes landed on the one simple vase holding 5 fully bloomed red roses in it placed neatly on my nightstand. No note appeared to be on it but I knew it had to be Saige who put them there. "But leave that one where it is" I ordered, pointing to the vase.

"No problem Luna. Umm please ignore me if I'm being too forward but I must ask, why do you and Saige insist on having your birthday flowers sent to the other groups around us? It's not like they send you anything back but a few thank you cards" Ethan asked before he snapped his fingers behind him and a crowd of others came to help collect the flowers.

"Our mother raised us to always be kind to others. No one is above or below you and we must never judge someone simply for where they come from. So I try to show acts of kindness whenever I can and if a thank you card is their act of kindness in return who am I to deny it?" I explained.

Ethan looked deep in thought before finally looking at me with a prideful smile. "That is actually very sweet of you Luna. I'm glad we have you to teach us how to keep our humanity" he praised me and took a few bouquets in his arms and walked out with the rest of the crew. Soon, all of the extra flowers have been taken out and I was left to be alone in my room. I checked the time and I still had a few more hours before I had to pick up Elios. I decided to do something different with my time.

"Hey can someone ask the kids if they want to watch Disney movies with Luna Kaia?" I mind-linked the team who were in charge of the pack's day care down stairs.

"Are you joking? Of course they would. Movie room?" one teacher replied happily.

"Yes ma'am. I hope I'm not interrupting the lesson too much"

"Don't worry Luna. Fridays are used to review what we learned through the week. We'll meet you there" another teacher replied.

I smiled and left my room to meet the children.

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In the shower, I found myself washing away more glitter than you can imagine. You would think that Guy Diamond from that Trolls movie farted on me with how much glitter I found in my hair alone. The kids were in a middle of a project that they desperately wanted to finish so I waited for them. When they arrived, I noticed they refused to clean themselves up before coming to me because they didn't want to keep me waiting so I was jumped by over 20 children ranging in ages 1 to 5 all covered in different colors of glitter and paint. The teachers apologized ten times over and the parents offered to pay for dry cleaning because they were embarrassed by their children. I kindly declined and assured them that I didn't mind, spending a few hours with them was the first best thing I decided to do today.

Saige, Elijah and Elios all had their fun laughing and poking jokes at me all throughout dinner since the kids stayed with me all day until their parents came.

"How's it going in there Rainbow Dash?" Saige joked as I shampooed my hair for the third time since entering the shower.

"Ha-ha-ha very funny. What are you doing?" I asked her, smiling to myself with the thought of surprising my sister with the second best thing I decided on today.

"About to watch a movie with Elijah" she replied.

"Why aren't you getting ready?"

"For what exactly?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"We're going out tonight. So hurry up before I change my mind" I told her, my smile growing bigger.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" she exclaimed and even from under the running water, I could hear her excited screaming from down the hall. I laughed and started to rub in my conditioner. 

I brushed my knots out of my hair when Elijah mind-linked, "Thank you Kaia for changing your mind. I haven't seen Saige this happy since the day we got married."

"I will admit. I did think it over many times but everyone is right. I can't keep myself locked inside this house. I deserve some fun" I replied, washing my hair and getting my loofah ready with soap. "Will you be joining us?" I asked.

"Nah. I'll stay home in case the pack needs anything. You girls have fun" he responded and I can hear the smile in his voice. I'm sure watching Saige getting ready to go out with me looks like a child getting ready to see Santa.

"Thanks Elijah", I finished my shower and walked back into my room to dry off. "Everyone. Saige and I will be going out tonight..."

"WHAT?!" everyone in the house exclaimed. I could hear the laughter from Elijah and Saige in their room.

"Very funny everyone. Yes, your Luna and Beta will be going out tonight. Elijah will stay behind if you need him" I finished, with a roll of my eyes and a small smile on my face.

"Have fun Kaia and Saige" everyone replied. Hearing everyone call us just by our names felt good. It felt so normal. Like we were just a couple of normal women and not leaders of a pack of over 100 werewolves. I should let them know to do that more often.

I twisted my hair in my towel and slipped into a black thong before slipping myself into the red dress Saige got me for tonight; no need for a bra since it's backless and thankfully my breasts are perky enough to pass but not too big to fall out of it. I've never worn anything relevantly sexy before but after seeing myself in this dress, I should invest in some more. I've never felt more confident in my body before than in this dress. I ran my hands over it to smooth out any wrinkles; the smooth feeling of the material cooled my warm hands the more of it I touched. It stopped right above my mid-thigh and I find myself praying my ass doesn't show when I'm dancing.

I run over to my vanity and applied a natural look of makeup but a dramatic eyeliner wing and untwisted my hair to apply some product to avoid frizz. I decided to let it air dry and went on a search for the heels Saige got me. I slipped on my right heel and was about to slip on my left when Saige knocked on my door.

"Come in" I said and stood to my feet at the same time the door was opened.

"So don't worry about bringing money. I'm paying for-HOLY SHIT!" she shrieked when she looked from zipping her clutch purse close, eyes wide and her mouth wide open with glee. "Bitch I always knew you had a body but I did not know you were hiding all of this. You look amazing Kiki!" she gushed, eyeing me up and down.

I blushed an embarrassing shade of red and looked at my sister's outfit. "Damn Elijah let you leave the room in that?" I asked, surprised. She wore a dark green romper with bell sleeves, apron string tie, and a v neckline and she topped the outfit off with black stilettos; her hair was let loose around her shoulders. Needless to say, she looked hot.

"You like?" she giggled and did a 360 turn "Don't worry he said he'll take care of me later tonight" she winked and I gagged.

"Don't ever put that image back in my head. Walking in on you guys that one time was worse than seeing our parents" I told her as I sprayed some perfume on me and grabbed my phone.

"You could've knocked" she argued, walking out of my room first.

"You were in the pack library! You're lucky it was me and not anyone else" I barked, closing my door behind me.

"When you find your mate, you'll understand" she assured me, walking down the halls. I rolled my eyes and followed her down the stairs.