Golden Destiny

Chapter 13. Turning Tides

Last week was a study in weird. After Adam and I had our "talk," his posse seemed to back off. Tawny tried a time, or three, to go out of her way to send me sharp words, but one look from Adam had her shutting her mouth. Of course, once Adam's attention was elsewhere, her glares turned all the more scathing.

This week, that attitude, or lack of, had carried over. Which I had to say, kind of disappointed me since I had promised myself over the weekend that I would begin to fight back. No longer will I let these wolves talk down to me. I'm no longer going to lay on my back and expose my proverbial belly, waiting for them to rip my guts out as they pleased. No. It was time I let my wolf come out. Metaphorically, of course. Since we still had to keep that a secret, at least until dad had found out what the Alpha was planning.

My relationship with my dad did a complete turn-around on Friday last week. I didn't get to see him that much since we returned from the mountains, since he was always being summoned by the Alpha, but once, I saw hint of pride and a boatload of regret in his eyes when our gazes crossed.

But on Friday, the Alpha and his most trusted men, less my father, had to go out to Goddess knows where and dad and I had the chance to talk. He explained to me how he had to appear as though he didn't want me or mom because of our supposed latency, in order to gain the trust of Alpha Andrew. That Andrew held wolves who shunned those who were different in esteem says a lot about the type of wolf he was. Alexei was correct, I had just been too wrapped up in blind hero worship of our leader, as were most of the wolves in the pack, to see just how much of a crappy being he really was.

Alexei.

I hadn't seen him seen the day of the Severance Ceremony. He had asked for my number then, but so far, he had not made contact since that day. Harper said he, Dima, and Micha had to go back to Russia for some thing or other, but I don't know, I figured he would have gotten in touch. I mean, I assume he's privy to the world I secretly belonged to and all that it entailed, since he is the Crown Prince of the Russian Shifter Crown, but he hasn't.

And honestly, I don't know how to feel about that.

Because when he was here, he gave me all his attention. Although I still got those dirty side eyes from Tawny and her gang, they weren't so bold as to actually say something offensive to me, as Alexei rarely left my side. And of course, Micah's imposing presence helped a lot.

He also spent all his free time with me. It seemed to me like he sought out my company, and I reveled in it. For the first time since Harper came into my life, I had someone to spend lunch with in school.

I had actually been looking forward to talking to him about the revelations that had been made over the weekend after my shift, but he wasn't here. And his absence was wreaking havoc on my mood, even Harper was feeling it.

Which was why over this past weekend, I told myself I shouldn't depend on anyone, not even a certain blue-eyed prince. If I was going to be one of the wolves the Seers thought was the subject of a prophecy from the Goddess herself, then I would do my best to be worthy of that honor and not back down in submission to anyone.

And I think the wolves in school felt this internal shift in my thinking. From the moment Harper and I stepped foot in the school halls, a hush seemed to run through the students and all eyes that we attracted at our arrival hurriedly looked away. I looked at Harper and saw her sporting a smirk.

"That's weird," I muttered.

"You're coming into your wolf, Princess. You're radiating such power and confidence and all wolves in your vicinity can feel that something bigger than them is before them. They just couldn't understand it. The same thing happened when the Prince first arrived here, if you remember," she said in a voice too low for even shifter ears to hear.