Page 30 of The Alpha's Reclaimed Mate

He caught my eyes and smiled.

Chapter 13: Aria

The territory of the Silent Shadows Pack was twice as big as the Grey Creek Pack, and their den reflected as much. While I was accustomed to the cozy villa where I could see most buildings and knew my way around, the Silent Shadows Pack comprised an entire village. Lucas accompanied me up to the edge of the village bordering the forest, where a row of small houses thick with familial scents were illuminated from within.

“We can afford to provide housing for most family units in the pack,”explained Lucas.“Families tend to live together, regardless of their rank in the pack. Parents, grandparents, children—we ensure that they all have enough space and comfortable shelter.”

A pang in my heart made me briefly wistful for my own family. But they didn’t want me anymore. I may as well have no family at all.“What if a new family arrives? Or a mated pair wants their own home?”

“We build them one.”

I blinked in surprise.“You can just… give them a house?”

“Well, they have to provide proper documentation confirming their mate status, and we give preference to families with children or children on the way,”clarified Lucas.“But yes. The happiness and well-being of my packmates are important to me.”

Oswald should take notes, I thought bitterly. Most likely, he didn’t give a damn about families unless they were of higher status because those were the families who brought in more income for the pack. There was no hope for Omega couples looking to build a life. Every now and then during my Alpha training, I thought about them with pity, imagining that once I was Alpha Female, I could change things for them. But would I actually have tried to change things or simply accepted the state of the pack once my own position was secured? Now that I was an Omega, their plight felt so much more real.

Still in our wolf forms, Lucas and I pressed deeper into the village, following a paved road that led to a larger main road cleaving through the heart of the territory. This late at night, there wasn’t anybody around, but I imagined that during the day, the street would be bustling with packmates flitting in and out of the shops and offices. We stayed in our wolf forms until we reached a modest, two-story home, and Lucas led me around the house into the backyard.“You can transform here. I’ll grab you something to wear,”he said and was already shedding his fur before I could respond.

I watched in awe as Lucas’ body transformed, his bones snapping, muscles thinning, and anatomy warping into an upright posture. Within seconds, he was standing before me as a man, his bare skin a rugged shade of tinged peach, black body hair flush across his chest and arms. He held himself with the dignity of an Alpha despite being stark naked. Even though the normalcy of shifting between forms usually granted wolf shifters a lack of modesty, I couldn’t help but avert my eyes. The sight of Alpha Lucas Black was like a sacred vision I was never meant to see.

Without another glance my way, he took off inside the house, leaving me to transform alone. My own transformation was gruelling and arduous. My wounds felt like they were tearing open wider as my body changed, struggling to hold myself up as all my parts morphed from wolf to human. I clenched my jaw as much as I could until I was left on my hands and knees in the grass, panting, sweating, and bleeding.

“Here,” said Lucas, handing me a t-shirt and shorts. “We’ll get you cleaned up, then I’ll give you something a little more substantial to wear.”

My cheeks burned as I realized he must have watched the last half of my transformation. Not only was I bashful to see him naked, but now I hovered here before him naked, too, all of me on display for him to see. When I flicked my eyes up to him, Lucas held my gaze, not daring to look at any other part of me. I appreciated him for respecting me like that. But at the same time, I was convinced that there was nothing about me worth looking at in the first place.

What was I thinking? It wasn’t like IwantedLucas to look at me like that.

The thought flustered me. I grabbed the clothes and quickly dressed myself before Lucas led me inside.

“Make yourself at home,” he offered, gesturing to a sofa in the living room.

The instant my butt hit the seat, I melted into the plush, comfortable cushioning, but it might have been more the relief of being in a safe, warm space than the quality of the sofa. I sighed and leaned back, closing my eyes and forgetting for just a moment where I was.

Until I felt a weight on the seat beside me.

I opened my eyes to see Lucas already reaching for my arm. Reflex had me flinching, staring wide-eyed at Lucas while he paused. “Sorry, I just want to look.” He gently held my arm below a gaping slash opened up by the Rogues. “I’ve already called a healer to come to see you.”

The words registered, but I was too stunned by his touch to react. His hand was soft and warm, reminding me of the comforts of physical contact. But I’d been barred from touch by Oswald, and my fear of agitating him by breaching his orders urged me to pull away.

Lucas looked at me in confusion. “Did I hurt you?”

“N-No,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s just… I’m supposed to be touch-starved.”

The Silent Shadows Alpha furrowed his brow. “Forget about that. I’m dismissing the order,” he said. “If Oswald has an issue with it, he can take it up with me.”

I stared in surprise that Lucas would do that for me. Of course, he had the power to, but I wasn’t worthy of his mercy. An inkling of fear resided in my chest as I imagined how Oswald would respond to Lucas, overriding his decision to punish me. It probably wouldn’t end well for me. But, if Lucas wanted to ignore the order and give me the physical contact I’d been so desperately craving while I was here, then who was I to deny it?

We sat together in silence until the door opened. A tall woman with blond hair pinned up on the back of her head entered the living room with a large black bag hanging off her arm. “Oh, dear!” Her eyebrows lifted when she saw my scattering of injuries. “Lucas wasn’t kidding when he said you got beat up. Looks like it was quite the blood bath,” she said with no trace of mockery, an undertone of humor, perhaps, but mostly sincere sympathy that made me feel warm. The woman knelt in front of me, opening up her bag of medical supplies.

I watched with uncertainty as she set out bandages and cloths while Lucas retrieved a bowl of warm water. When the healer glanced up at me, her polite smile reassured me that I’d be taken care of. “Your name’s Aria, right? I’m Esther Weis.”

“Nice to meet you, Esther,” I said quietly. “And… thanks.”

“Of course. Any friend of Lucas’ is a friend of mine,” said Esther, carefully wiping the blood from my injuries. She placed her hands over my cuts and bruises, exuding the warmth of healing magic that didn’t mend my cuts immediately, but would help the flesh heal faster than if I’d left it to heal on its own. I was grateful I wouldn’t have to worry about infection, but keeping the wounds clean while I slept outside would be a trial all its own. I’d deal with that later. My mind was too fixated on the fact that Esther referred to me as Lucas’ friend.

“Will you be here for the Perseids Celebration?” Esther asked, shifting her attention to Lucas as she wrapped up my wounds.

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