Chapter 17 - His Gaze

Countless thoughts swirled in my mind, and I had to frantically focus on the task at hand to divert my attention. My hands moved swiftly, and soon, I had a mound of peeled potatoes and a large bowl of corn kernels before me.

Suddenly, my shoulder was tapped, and I turned to see Aunt Mary looking at me with confusion. "Zoe, can you hear me?" she asked.

I hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Of course."

Aunt Mary let out a sigh of relief. "I called your name several times, but you didn't react at all, just kept peeling potatoes. I thought you were in a trance or something! Let's go, there's only fifteen minutes left until the ceremony begins."

The venue was all set, with nine rows of seats for the audience. According to werewolf ranks, the highest-ranking alphas sat in the front row, followed by the betas and gammas in the second row. Aunt Mary, Uncle Marcus, and I settled into our seats on the left side of the second row. As we sat down, the seats in the back were already filling up,