The Silence

Chapter 10

Adriel 

The castle.

It was massive, sprawling, bigger than any castle I'd ever seen in movies or in pictures. It was like multiple castles had been merged together to become one. It was beautiful and intimidating at the same time.

The castle was surrounded by a magical shield that hid it from the humans. It was said that over five hundred mages had worked together to build the shield, and that it has taken several years to accomplish.

"Stay close to me," I murmured to Quinn as the Pack poured out of the buses, the unspoken agreement to pretend nothing remotely interesting had happened during the trip hanging in the air. I almost reached out to hold her hand but decided against it. Quinn was 17, and not a child.

Lysander was still stealing glances at her. I couldn't figure out what the hell his problem was, but as long as Quinn wasn't weirded out by it, I wasn't going to say anything.

I had no way of knowing how shocked I would be during this three-week visit to the Alpha King's castle.

Archer. That was the King's name. He was surprisingly young and unmated. I didn't know what kind of wolf he was, but there were the scumbags that would try to lay their hands on any female they could, regardless of whether or not they felt the mating pull.

"Stay close, Quinn," I repeated, feeling a shiver in my belly. She cocked her head curiously, evidently seeing no reason to worry, unlike me. I wanted to tell her that she was pretty, and if I thought she was pretty then many others would undoubtedly think the same. Her gray eyes and gathered white hair made her look like an elegant photo, with the only splash of color being the pale lavender dress she wore, paired with shiny purple-white heels. Her only jewelry was a thin silver necklace studded with tiny diamonds, a pair of small obsidian studs in her ears, and a simple and flimsy chain-link bracelet. She wore no makeup.

We filed in, and I started to notice how many people were flooding into the castle. A bundle of nerves flared to life as we neared the grand double doors. This always happened, even though it wasn't my first time attending a Gathering. I wondered how Quinn felt, but a glance at her face informed me she probably felt nothing at all.

The foyer was too massive and fancy to really be called a foyer. It was carpeted in red, and so were the stairs that led upward in a slow spiral. Wide corridors spread in multiple directions, lined with doors and entrances to who-knew where. 

And all of it, absolutely all of it, was flooded with werewolves.

I was immediately engulfed in a writhing, thronging crowd of werewolves. Within seconds, I'd lost sight of them entirely, and a sense of panic started to creep up when I realized I was virtually useless here. There were too many scents and sounds to pick out any individual ones, meaning I had to rely on eyesight alone to find anyone. And how could I do that, when there were thousands of werewolves here?

I knew it wouldn't be like this for long. By tomorrow, there would be much more space and a lot less chaos because the guests would have settled down by then. But as of right now, people kept arriving and there was a lot of general confusion. 

And I didn't do well in places like this. It made me feel dizzy and faint. My breathing grew faster and my focus spun out of control. There was a funny ringing in my ears. 

If he was still beta, everything would be organized already. He had been a great beta, efficient but also fun, and he'd always made Lysander happy. I could never do that. I was a failure, so useless . . . .

A small, cold hand wrapped around mine and the world suddenly snapped back into place. Quinn gazed at me, clear concern shining out of her eyes. My senses returned to me enough so that I could feel an awful wave of embarrassment wash over me. Quinn simply tightened her grip on my hand and tugged.