Kit probably had them delivered. Express post. By helicopter.
I giggle to myself and find a pair of jeans and a dark red sweater, looking in the mirror and liking what I see. Even though I still have so much uncertainty inside me, I feel better today than I have in years. And I look it, too.
I bounce down the stairs, and Kit waves to me as I come through the door. He gestures to the table, and I see he’s put out a few bowls of berries and yogurt as well as muesli and toast.
“Thank you,” I say, reaching for the coffee. “And good morning.”
“Good morning to you, too,” he says, turning away from the stove to put a stack of pancakes on the table. “I see you found the clothes.”
“I did, thank you. How did you organize that?”
He shrugs as he sits down. “It wasn’t hard. When I borrowed some old clothes from Betty yesterday, she said she’d be happy to go out and get a few things. She dropped them off this morning.”
“She sounds nice,” I answer, filling my bowl with berries.
“She is. You should meet her.”
Even though Kit has just said an extremely normal, everyday thing, my blood freezes in my veins.
I’m going to have to meet a lot of people. I’m the alpha’s mate!
In high school, I was quite happily off the radar. I had my friends and didn’t look for popularity. I preferred it if most people didn’t notice me.
Then, for years with Father, I was kept in his cabin like a prisoner, only let out a few times a week to work at the factory. There were other workers there, but we weren’t allowed to socialize. All of us were slaves.
I’m about to be the center of the spotlight, with the whole pack focused on me… and I have to help rule them.
I feel like there should be a part of me that’s looking forward to having power over people who wronged me. But instead of feeling triumphant, I just feel scared.
“You okay?” Kit asks. “You’ve gone a bit pale.”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I say, taking a sip of coffee and starting on my yogurt. “Just thinking.”
The look in his eye changes, just slightly, but it’s gone before I can say anything. The ugly questions rise in my mind, but I push them away.
I’m having so much fun right now, just eating breakfast that I didn’t have to make, relaxing in a nice, clean place where I’m safe…
Well… relatively safe.
“Ah, Lexa?” Kit says.
“What?” I ask abruptly. My heart trembles a little as I wonder if this is it, the moment when all this goes to hell.
“There’s a meeting today, and you need to go with me.”
My guts twist, then sink. I put my bowl down on the table, taking a sip of coffee to settle the sudden bubble of nerves.
“What?” I blurt. “Why?”
“I told you yesterday—you’re expected to be part of things from now on. That’s the main reason the council wanted me to get a mate, so we could lead the pack as a team.”
Wrapping my hands around my cup, I let out a sigh, trying not to show how freaked out I am.
Standing up in front of a bunch of people who never liked me, who probably want to get rid of me, and may have been involved in my mother’s death?
Sounds like a fucking picnic.
“After we finish breakfast, we’ll go, okay?”
