Why didn't you tell me?

“Roxanne, this is Camilla… My best friend, and the daughter of the Alpha of the Bloodmoon Pack, our immediate neighbors''

“….!!!”

Roxanne's eyes widened as she heard Rita utter those words. Not just a friend, but her best friend?

However that wasn’t what surprised her the most. She was the daughter of another Alpha!

“Doesn’t that make her practically royalty?” Roxanne found herself thinking.

No wonder she reminded her of Asher. They both had that superior air around them. Roxanne looked over to Camilla with an intimidated expression. The girl simply returned her gaze with a soft smile, though Roxanne could tell that she was amused by the situation.

“It’s nice to meet you Roxanne… Again” Canilla said, walking forward with her hands stretched.

“This smug little…” Roxanne muttered underneath her breath, however, given the situation she couldn’t be rude to Rita’s best friend, now could she?

“Same here…” Roxanne said, gripping Camilla’s hands softly.

She feared if she made her grip tighter and Camilla reciprocated, she would be in need of medical attention.

“She is a werewolf after all…”

One thing Rita had told her was that the closer one was to the Alpha in the pack chain, the stronger one was. The Alpha is the strongest, followed by the Beta, then the Gamma and so on, leaving the Omega as the weakest. Seeing as Camilla was the daughter of the Alpha, she must be pretty damn strong!

Those were Roxanne's thoughts.

“By the way, Rita… Where is mom?” Roxanne asked, finally remembering the question that was bugging her for some time.

“O-Oh! Miss Melissa went to get some things for you Roxy… She’ll be back pretty late, so you shouldn't expect her anytime soon.” Rita responded.

“Something for me?” Roxanne asked, surprised by the situation.

“Yes. Since you need some ingredients for your Awakening Ritual, she went to procure them, in the likelihood that you decide to go on with it of course…” Rita replied.

“Hold on, you’ve not received your Awakening? How old are you?” Camilla joined in.

“Not your business!” Roxanne wanted to say, but she just responded with a glare.

“Camilla, Roxanne is not… From around here…” Rita said to her dear best friend before turning back to see Roxanne.

“So, have you made up your mind?” She asked Roxanne.

“Well… About that…” Roxanne's voice trailed off.

“Yes...?” Rita asked with a curious and interested gaze that made Roxanne feel slightly uncomfortable.

“I've decided to go along with it!” Roxanne finally blurted out.

“Yesss! I knew it! Finally realized that it’s no big deal to strip in front of your mom, right?” Rita smiled while raising her brows in a teasing manner.

“Eeew, stop that. You’re being gross! Thanks for reminding me… Urghhh” Roxanne protested before shuddering at the thought of the gloomy fate that awaited her.

“What's gross about that? My mother still saw me naked just yesterday.” Camilla commented.

Immediately, the room fell silent. Roxanne and Rita slowly turned their faces as they shifted their attention to Camilla, who maintained an innocent smile. Even Rita, known for her weirdness, had a look of shock from Rita's statement.

“What the actual fu-“ Roxanne nearly blurted out.

“I'm kidding. I’m kidding… Hahaha, I got you there, didn’t I?” Camilla burst out in laughter.

Rita joined her as they both enjoyed the not so funny joke. Roxanne watched the two of them in slight horror but still suspiciously stared at Camilla. Somehow she didn’t feel like that was a lie.

“Sure… You got me” Roxanne commented dryly.

After the laughter died down, Rita told Roxanne to keep Camilla company while she went to freshen up. After all, she had gone through a lot all day. This made Roxanne realize that she also needed to do the same, but even that didn’t count as an excuse to keep her out of the duty Rita imposed on her.

“Yes ma’am” Was all she could say.

“So… How did you and Rita become friends?” Roxanne asked, trying to ease the weird atmosphere that hovered around the room.

“Oh, that? Our family has always had close contact with the Rockwoods.” Camilla started.

“Rita and I have been friends since childhood. Our parents have known each other since childhood as well. You can just call us family friends, you know?” Camilla said with a smirk.

“Ohh, wow.” Roxanne commented.

“You sound surprised by that. Is it so strange that our family goes way back?” Camilla smiled.

“No, no. It’s not that. It's just… I thought Alpha families would be the close ones. Like, say… Your Bloodmoon Family, right? And the Rockwood Alpha family…” Roxanne commented.

Her eyes narrowed more as she stared into Camilla's. Since Camilla was closely linked to the Alpha status, perhaps she could grant her some clues into Asher and what his deal was. She needed information after all.

“Oh? You mean Asher, don’t you?” Camilla asked.

“Yes, I suppose that’s his name, right? The Leader of this Pack…”

Roxanne tried to act ignorant of the fact, though she made it obvious that she knew more than she was letting on.

Camilla ignored this failure on her part and went on to talk along that line anyway.

“You don’t know? I guess it's no surprise since you just met Rita. I suppose I’ll tell you… Rita belongs to the same Alpha family as Asher'' Camilla stated.

Roxanne’s eyes widened as she heard this. Did this mean what she thought it did? Rita and Asher… The connection between the two… They were actually related by blood?!

“They are…?!” Roxanne said with a shocked expression.

“They’re siblings, obviously.” Camilla retorted.

As Camilla uttered those words, Roxanne’s head rang. Everything slowly began to make sense to her. The reason she was living with Rita of all the people in the village… She had thought it was because it was the Beta house, but to think it was actually because of Rita's connection to Asher.

Also, why Rita was placed in charge of her… Why Rita didn’t refer to Asher as Lord, unlike the other werewolves, even Dax. And finally, why Rita was always so nice to her, wanting to get as close to her as possible. Everything was for the reason of her connection to Asher. She was Roxanne's prospective Sister in-law.

As Roxanne still processed what Camilla said, Rita entered the parlor with a smile plastered on her cheek, her usual look.

“I’m back, girls! Did you miss me?” Rita asked with a high pitch.

Her voice startled Roxanne, bringing her from her deep concentration. She slowly turned and looked at Rita with an unbelieving stare. Now that she had the idea of Asher being related to her, she tried to match her facial features to his.

“No good… They look nothing alike.” Roxanne thought within herself.

She wasn’t wrong.

Their resemblance was nonexistent. Rita's brightly colored hair, eyes and complexion in comparison to Asher's dark hair, crimson eyes and slightly pale look… It just didn’t match.

“Roxanne? What’s wrong? You’re staring at me weirdly…” Rita said with a curious look, but Roxanne didn’t answer.

“Awwn. Don’t tell me you’re still mad about keeping Camilla company. I just thought you two would make pretty interesting conversations.” Rita furthered, placing her hand on Roxanne's shoulder.

Roxanne's body twitched as she felt the sensation of Rita’s hands land on her shoulder. Her mouth quivered, filled with emotions she could not clearly decipher. Being honest with herself, she felt betrayed that Rita did not tell her anything, making her seem like a fool. However, she was willing to listen to Rita's side, something she had learned as she became friends with her.

“Rita must have a good reason for this, right?” Roxanne convinced herself.

“Rita… Why didn’t you tell me you are related to Asher… Being his sister for that matter…” She asked.

Rita’s eyes bulged as soon as she heard this and her hands shook, slowly distancing itself from Roxanne's shoulder.

“H-How did you…?!” Rita said with shock.

Immediately, her eyes darted toward Camilla who sat quietly and observed the situation unfold.

She didn’t need any answer from Roxanne to realize what had happened.

“Camilla… You… What do you think you’re doing?!” Rita thought to herself, giving her best friend a deep glare.