The rise and fall of Ainar’s chest pressed against his back is a soothing feeling. They’re lying on the bed—his bed, he had come to know that now. Turns out, the room where he woke up in was supposed to be his room if he hadn’t disappeared before. His parents told him so. With that new knowledge, Gavin had come to notice the details more. The empty shelves that he had only bypassed before now looked different to him, the table beside the bed, the furs—how everything is white because it screams of him. He sees everything in new perspectives. He wonders if his parents go to this room every time they think of him, trying to grasp a semblance of him in the things they thought would fit him the best if only he was there.
His parents.
Huh. Saying it still feels strange. And it makes sense, it has only been hours since everything was revealed to him.
And it
Gavin stepped out of the bathing room feeling refreshed. He has his towel draped on his shoulder to get his tunic from getting wet from his still dripping hair when he closed the door behind him. He was greeted by Ainar’s hunched figure on the floor, the alpha sitting and seeming to be tracing patterns on the cold floor before he arrived. “You’re done?” Ainar asked, peering up at him. Gavin smiled at the sight before nodding. The little light casted by the torches illuminating the long hallway are painting orange and yellow glows on Ainar’s honey skin, making the alpha look almost glowing in the badly lit place, and Gavin thinks he has never seen anything more beautiful. “Hmm,” Gavin hummed. The alpha stood up from his place on the floor, arms reaching out to the towel on Gavin’s shoulders.“What are you doing?” the omega asked confusedly, though not stepping away from the alpha. “I’ll help you dry your hair,” Ainar answered, sounding almost too innocent, as if that was the only obv
“E-escape?” the Pack Luna stuttered out in question. She looked at him confusedly, brows furrowed as she tried to make sense of the word.Gavin glanced at Ainar again and found the alpha supporting a warm expression on his face, a small assurance that he was there for Gavin. The omega sighed. It’s his first meal with his mother and brother, why did he have to mention that? But at the same time, he thinks it’s just right to tell them.“Life at my old pack wasn’t really pretty, Mother,” he ended up replying with a grimace. Alpha Jared is looking at him blankly, something hard in his eyes.“They weren’t fine with me, a shifter who looked too different from them, in the pack. Plus, the fact that I did not have a wolf to shift into. The difference was so big and they weren’t really that much accepting.”The mood had quickly turned somber, and Gavin can’t help but think that it was his fault. They were just having such a nice meal; it should have remained just as that. The Pack Luna looked
Gavin inhaled a lungful of air, letting the crisp smell of snow settle in his lungs and calm himself, before slowly letting it out. His eyes are closed, and he’s sitting cross legged on the snowy ground, not bothered by the cold since he actually took time to wear thicker clothes today, along with a cloak draped on his shoulders just in case. His hands are clasped in front of him in an attempt to look peaceful. He inhaled yet another lungful of air, shoulders coming up as he held it longer in his lungs this time, before once again slowly breathing out.Peace.“Focus.”“I am focused,” Gavin replied, brows furrowing for a second of distraction.“No, you’re not.”“I am. Thank you very much.”“If you were, you won’t be talking back to me.”“Shut up. I’m focused,” the omega snarked, closing his eyes tighter as he tried to breathe in and out slowly again.Peace.“You’re so bad at this.”And now it’s broken.Gavin opened his eyes and quickly turned to glare at his brother, standing not far a
The table is filled with chatter as they ate. Pack Luna Alice looks especially happy as she urged everyone to try every food they prepared. It was adorable. Her excitement for the whole ordeal was almost childlike, eyes twinkling and crinkling on the corners with her big excited smile as she looked at everyone on the table. Gavin feels for her. Because as he, too, roamed his eyes around the table, the obvious difference in the two packs where the others looked completely fine while the others are bundled up in thick clothing, was a contrast that still goes undeniably well, they look harmonious—complete. Even the Pack Alpha Henry, who looked almost passive most of the time, has a small smile playing on his lips as he silently ate, sitting at the head of the table, occasionally engaging on a conversation with Pack Alpha Fredrick.“Gavin,” his mother called from across him. He looked up and gave her a small smile, swallowing his food
Everything is almost like a déjà vu as the palace fell into another whirlwind of preparations. It felt faster this time, and soon, Gavin found himself standing in front of the lost pup’s monument again—his supposed monument—a night before the coronation. He was feeling restless for some reason. His heart is in a constant state of fast beating with nervousness as the day of the coronation neared, the same day he’ll be properly introduced and revealed to the whole pack. He believes his nervousness is reasonable, everything is still fairly new to him after all, and now, he’ll be exposed and revealed to the people who thought he was long gone. A coming-of-age ceremony that is probably long overdue. It’s nerve-wracking, but not in an entirely bad way. So now, he’s here, trying to find ways to ease and distract himself. He thought maybe the cold night winter air would help, so he stepped out. And that’s how he found himself here, after wandering through the hallways that he still can’t get h
Gavin pulled at his cloak for the nth time, fidgeting as he adjusted the bow around his neck for the lack of nothing else to do to ease his nerves. He can’t stand still; his legs haven’t stopped shaking from where he’s standing and his hands need something to hold—preferably Ainar’s hand but the alpha is not with him at the moment—just to distract himself. He’s so nervous he might actually throw up.They are now standing behind the drawn curtain, at the side of the makeshift platform in front of the snow-covered ground of the palace, waiting for the ceremony to start. It’s still a few hours before the sun’s descent, but the square is already brimming with people attending the ceremony. Gavin could hear their murmurs as they also wait for the ceremony to start. They are probably excited, completely opposite of what Gavin is feeling now. He heard it’s the first time in the past two decades that they’ll be seeing their leaders, and even their past coronations were always mostly done priv
As soon as Gavin saw Pack Alpha Frederick patting Ainar on the back, he quickly stood up and made his way behind the platform. The servants easily cleared the way, opening the door for him, taking him to the hallway that leads to the garden he mentioned. He followed his instinct and the residual scent still hanging in the air, until eventually, he found the figure standing behind the taller bushes, back against him. Gavin slowly approached the figure, making effort to not make much noise. “Already running away, Pack Alpha?” It was almost comical, the way Jared almost jumped out of skin. The alpha turned around to face him, eyes wide with his hands clutched dramatically against his chest. “You scared me, brat,” he breathed out. Gavin giggled at him.“What are you doing here?” “I saw you sneaking out and figured I should do the same,” Gavin shrugged, walking closer so they were standing side by side.“You?” “It’s overwhelming.” Jared sighed, averting his gaze. “I thought you were r
Ainar’s boots dug into the snow as he walked on it. Why did Gavin want to go out in this weather, anyway? Ah, right. The omega doesn’t feel the cold, being a different breed of winter wolf, plus the blessing his family is believed to have. Ainar is definitely not jealous, in his thick clothing, bundled up like a waddling bear, nope—he is definitely not jealous.Still, he made his way to the passage Gavin had told him about earlier. As he walked, he felt the heavy weight of his gift in the pocket of his breeches. With shaky hands, he felt for it, sighing as he held it through the fabric. It’s an important gift. Well, all the gifts he gave the omega in the past were all important, all have different meanings and reasons as to why decided to give them, but this one is a different case. It’s extra special. A gift especially meant for one special purpose. And along with it, is a question that has been brewing