Fly!

Luna's Pov

"Do you always eat together?" I asked Jamil as we made our way toward the palace gates. Seeing three members of the council sitting together had made me slightly uncomfortable but luckily, they had not seemed to even notice my presence. Despite my discomfort, there was someone who their presence seem to unsettle even more. Blaire. Throughout the meal, she had spent all her energy focusing on avoiding her mother's gaze. I had looked around, wondering if anybody else noticed the awkwardness but either they all pretended not to notice or they considered it perfectly normal as everyone focused on their meals. If there had been any doubt, the way Blaire had ran off once she was done proved it. Shortly after her, Ulo had left as well, then Leon. I suddenly hated that I had asked for so much food. I had been feeling extremely hungry when I had arrived but now, knowing that three very suspicious eyes were fixed on me, the food suddenly lost its taste and became drier than a desert making me want to reach for the jug of water desperately since I had finished the one in my cup but it was sitting right before the Beta and I would either have to ask the Gamma to pass it or get up to pick it up myself. None of the options was feasible for me so I gave up altogether and rose to my feet as I made my way out. Jamil had met me halfway out which had surprised me because in my panic, I had totally forgotten he was still there. At first, I had half expected him to ignore me as well but he had continued to walk with me in companionable silence before I broke it with my question.

"Usually, we do. Unless they are away for one reason or the other. Like yesterday for instance."

"But why do they allow me to join on for breakfast? It is not like I am one of you. I am not even a wolf." Even as I asked the question, I had a pretty good idea about why but I wanted to hear what he had to say.

He chuckled. "I think you know why, Luna. Come on, we should go see the Pack for real this time."

The last time he had promised me a tour, we had had to cut it short so, instead of taking me around, he had simply shown me to a hill to the left side of the training grounds which had its back to the palace. From there, he had shown me the entire Pack with a bird's eye view. Now, he was going to show me everything for real. The idea both excited and unnerved me. The last time we had a tour, we had run into some wolves who had shown me just how much they liked me and now, I was going to be meeting them in their numbers? Another notion that worried me was the fact that the territory I had seen was a very huge one and now, walking through it, on barefoot? It worried me.

"I will be right back." Jamil veered off and was soon out of sight, leaving me standing uncertainly a few feet from the intimidating gates. Seeing them in the daylight struck so much more differently than it had at night. The gates were at least seven feet tall with sharp edges to discourage scaling which seemed a mere formality to me because I did not see how someone could get around the security outpost at the edge of the kingdom but then again, Jamil had mentioned the existence of other entrances. For a moment, I wished I could find it and get out of here already. The gates were painted white as were, I was starting to notice almost everything that could not move or talk. The parts of the gates that faced inwards was a big frame for a painting of a massive wolf leaping toward the moon. I scoffed at the ridiculousness even just as I started to hear the clip-clop of hooves. I raised my brow in wonder wondering if I had heard wrong but sure enough, two horses burst out of the corner Jamil had disappeared to.

The horses pulled to a stop before me and raised their front legs, neighing impatiently as they blew hot air out of their noses. One was a brown mare with white spots while the other was a glossy black stallion.

"Hop on!" Jamil grinned, extending the reins of the mare from atop the black stallion which neighed, raising its hooves even higher than it had the first time.

"Horses!" I muttered silently, unable to believe my eyes.

"You are not scared of horses, are you?" Jamil questioned, his brows furrowing when I would not collect the reins.

"Scared?" I could hardly hold my laughter as I collected the reins and lithely leaped astride the mare. I bent over the horse so closely that I could smell her, a mixture of hay and well, horse. I rubbed her neck fondly, sensing her impatience to burst onto the tracks. "What is her name?" I raised my head long enough to ask Jamil.

"Lea!" He replied, his face lost somewhere amusement and surprise. I hardly noticed though as I went back to my horse. It had been so long since I had last been this close to a horse. She sensed it too as she relaxed slightly.

I rubbed her mane as I bent so my lips were beside her ear. "Hey, Lea." She snorted contentedly her legs tapping on the ground more calmly this time. "I can see that you are raring to go. Guess what, I am too. How would you like to run?" She raised her hooves and neighed loudly. I laughed.

"Yes baby. Fly!" The next moment, the wind was zipping past my ears as we flew.