Ella cleared her throat from the corner of the room. “I’ve already made sure most of the mated females are clear that they have to welcome Cy home. It’s the young I’m worried about. Most of them will see her as an outsider anyway. They still fear what they don’t know, and they fear possible war … and the fact that she’s more competition for our males …”
Lucien smirked. “Yeah, I see where you’re going. Fine.” he heaved, slapping his knees in determination and standing to his feet. “We’ll gather the whole pack here. It must be made perfectly clear to them that Caia is part of this pack’s future; that mention of the war is to be kept to minimum, absolutely nothing about her parents … and I want a full pack welcome.”
“Oh I dunno.” Magnus shook his head, his forehead wrinkled with anxiety. “Full pack welcome? That could be a little overwhelming. Lucien, this girl has lived without a pack for ten years. Irini would only have been able to teach her so much.”
“Irini will have taught her well,” Ella replied tersely, her look defying him to speak otherwise.
The Elder looked between son and mother, their posture relaxed but their eyes determined.
He knew when he was outvoted. “Pack welcome it is then.”
3 - Home?
“Have we got everything?”
The noise was overwhelming. Why were there so many people going places, and did they have to be going there today? Someone bumped into her and nudged her into someone else. Was it warm here? Jeez, they really needed more windows in this airport. She wanted to brace her hands on her knees and tuck her head between her legs in an effort to breathe but she refrained. She didn’t want to look like a weak idiot who succumbed to panic attacks at the littlest things.
“Caia?”
They were here already. How did they get here so fast? She wasn’t ready yet.
“Caia?”
Pain flared up her arm and she looked down to see the cause of it. Dimitri was gripping her tightly by the elbow, so tightly he was close to cutting off her circulation. She gazed up at him stupidly, her eyes clearing at his worried expression.
“You alright?”
She needed to get herself together. Lykans didn’t act like this. They didn’t wimp out. Nodding, she pulled from his grasp.
“You got everything, then?” he repeated, looking a little annoyed now. “We really should get going.”
Oh my.
Those earlier butterflies suddenly burst into flames in her stomach, the metaphorical residue covering her lungs in an attempt to suffocate her.
“I... uh... I just need to... use the bathroom.”
“Fine. Hurry up.”
She slammed the door of the women’s toilets behind her and stumbled over to the sinks, striving to get her breath back. Stop thinking about it, stop thinking about it, stop thinking about it, stop thinking about it. But the more she said that the more her head whirled. She was returning to the pack. The actual pack. The pack. Holy Artemis, what the hades-
Caia suddenly stilled at the beginnings of a rumbling noise.
Was that her heart?
No, she shook her head, looking around as the rumbling increased in volume. Caia exhaled, her eyes widening as she stepped back from the sinks. The entire row before her was shaking ferociously, the rumbling coming from the pipes. What the...
All the taps blasted open and water streamed out into the sinks with the power of a fireman’s hose, the original rumbling now deafening. Ceramic cracked and fell away from the walls and water billowed over the sinks and onto the tiled floor.
“Caia?”
She whipped her head towards the door where Irini stood looking shocked. The water abruptly stopped.
“What the Hades?” Irini indicated the watery mess in front of her.
She gaped at her stupidly. “I have no idea.”
“Well, come on, quickly, before you get the blame,” she snapped, grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her outside.