The strangest day (part 7)

Both Selene and I finished eating at roughly the same time – she was a little bit faster despite having way more food to go through – she simply gulped them all so fast that I began wondering whether or not she even tasted things properly.

Talk about a wolf's appetite!

...oh...

I didn't actually mean to make that pun.

It dawned on me again that I am eating a meal with an actual werewolf.

How come I wasn't freaking out...

...maybe it had something to do with the mark of the luna on my neck...?

"Selene... we kind of get sidetracked and you didn't actually explain what is happening to me now. You said that a female cannot become a werewolf through being bitten, but what about being marked as luna?"

I put down the napkin after wiping my lips and asked cautiously.

"Hmm?"

Selene looked at me from over her phone and furrowed her brows in confusion.

"Oh, wait, I did not, didn't I?!"

She suddenly flinched and gasped in shock.

"..."

I glanced to the side and back at her without saying a word and just shrugged my shoulders while tilting my head.

"You know, while even a normal human can be a werewolf's mate – as long as the werewolf isn't going too wild – the luna is more than that – she's the alpha female of the pack, of course, she should be strong enough for that."

"..."

Talking about strength made me remember when Cindy and Jeff talked about Selene being the strongest werewolf in their pack after Lucian, and that she was the most obvious pick for the next luna.

"In the next few days you might experience a lot of more or less unpleasant changes in your body – I've heard that it will be especially itchy when you will be growing a tail."

Selene spoke with a serious expression, nodding to herself.

…

?!

What did she just say?!

"Wha...?! A tail?!"

I panicked and checked my tailbone for any signs of sudden changes but...

"...pffff.... pffffft...."

I stopped once I realized that the woman in front of me was shaking from holding back her laughter – and was about to burst.

"...oh, ha, ha..."

I scoffed sitting back upright and glaring at the giggling Selene.

"Sorry, sorry... pffff-eghem...! I couldn't help myself."

Selene raised her hand and apologized trying to mask the last snort by clearing her throat.

I seriously considered being mean and telling her that if that's how the head of HR is acting towards a potential employee then I don't want to become an actual one.

...but I stopped myself.

Maybe I am too soft but I felt that there's nothing wrong with making an innocent joke or two – after all, I kind of stole her position... not in the company of course, but in the pack...

...once again, why am I accepting everything so easily?!

Shouldn't I freak out a bit more?

I asked myself while fidgetting in my seat, suddenly back to square one with my awkwardness around Selene.

"Hey, I'm serious, I didn't want to upset you or anything – I just thought that you are too tense, that's all."

She picked on that instantly and became worried.

"Are you... angry at me?"

I asked before I could stop myself.

"Angry at you? Me? Why would I...?"

Selene blinked, shocked by my sudden question.

"You know... the luna thing... weren't you the most probable candidate?"

Since I already began asking, I could as well finish - I do want to know after all, and maybe learning that now would make things less awkward in the future.

...is what I was telling myself after I couldn't stop myself in time from blabbing out every damn thing that came to my mind...!

"..."

After hearing my question, it was apparently Selene's time to go quiet.

"You are not wrong about the most probable candidate part thing..."

But not for long, thankfully – or maybe unluckily...?

Her words got me worried but the tone she spoke suggested that she didn't mind losing the privileged position.

"You see, normally when a werewolf becomes the pack's Alpha, he had already had found his mate for life – but it was different for Lucian. He had bested his father way faster than he should have and assumed the position at a very early age – both in business and in the pack."

She revealed and I was all ears as soon as Lucian's name was mentioned.

"His father is... was, a very old-school kind of werewolf, and make Lucian promise that if he won't find a mate through the bond, he would pick one when he turns twenty-seven – and that was yesterday, right when you appeared – the very special girl he had been waiting for."

Selene used words that I knew and understood, normally, but I had a feeling that she means something that was beyond the norm.

"As for me being angry at you for taking the chance away from me – you didn't."

She shrugged her shoulders and smiled at me – like, genuinely smiled, not some fake pleasantries thing or anything.

"I haven't found my mate through the bond, but I believe that someday I will – the others sometimes tease me about it, since I am not nearly as young as Lucian, but he was ready to give up the romantic search of his soulmate for the good of the pack while I definitely didn't – If the party would continue without any interruption, I was going to withdraw my participation from the competition to become luna."

She confessed with a shrug of her shoulders.

...hmmm...?

She's not nearly as young as Lucian...?

But she looks as if she's barely in her late twenties...?

I thought in confusion, too worried to offend her to speak out loud.

"Wha..."

Actually, I was in the middle of opening my mouth, when something, or rather someone, got all of my attention as he showed up.

Tall, dark, and with emerald-green eyes.

A man like that was walking towards us, lead by the waiter.

My heart jumped and began beating twice as fast the moment I laid my eyes upon him.

"What is it...?"

Selene asked and turned around to check what was making me blush so hard while staring at it.

"Ah! He's here after all! Lucian! Over here!"

She called and waved her hand wildly at the devilishly handsome leader of her pack.