Under Her Mercy

The Prophecy: Will It Come True?

North's Pack

January 3rd, Morning

Nina's first day in the North's pack began with a meet-and-greet breakfast with the elders and the pack's leaders.

Her seat was at one end of a large oval table surrounded by old and not-so-old wolves - of different ages, heights, and sizes. The only similarity among them was apart from Jenny, every single one of them was men. They were all attempting to grab Nina's attention towards themselves, some were speaking about the great deeds they had done, some about how menacing and autocratic Allena was, and some about how better off they would be in Allena's absence. Few mentioned Meera's name too. In those moments Nina's face lit up only to realize a second later that her mother had never interacted with them for more than two seconds. The old men's memory of Meera was of how quiet and invisible Meera was. None thought the girl had so much spark in her.

How did Allena operate among so many men who are always eager to scream at the top of their voices and make themselves heard above the others? Nina thought. She was expecting to see more women in Allena's council. She was feeling suffocated. Her only relief was Rizwan, who was standing behind her chair. Nina had requested him several times to take a seat, but he declined. Behind Rizwan's stoic face, Nina could sense the disguised disapproval towards her native pack. He was constantly eyeing the mother and the son.

"Your mother was an enigmatic young woman. She used to be Allena's right hand. Believe it or not, she was one of the most skilled wolves this pack has ever seen." Nina was putting jam on a bread slice when Cyrus spoke up in between the commotion created by the old men. His simple words made the entire room fall silent. Looking up, she found Cyrus looking at her from one side of the room where the breakfast buffet was held. Despite being the pack's Beta, he chose not to be with the primary crowd.

The silence was enjoyable for the first few seconds. Then it became awkward. Nina assumed none of these wise wolves appreciated Cyrus's input. Her assumption turned into belief when she looked at Jenny and Mridul from the side of her eyes.

If it had been in Mridul's hand, he would've burned Cyrus to death. His eyes were fixed on Cyrus, and they held so much malice. He swiftly diverted the conversation within a few seconds, "Let us wrap up the breakfast now. We have so much to discuss. We will have to sit with our soon-to-be Alpha and review all the past activities of the pack." Mridul flashed a grin at Nina.

"Who knows what Allena has been hiding for so long? We will only learn once we carefully go through all the papers in her office," Jenny sighed. "She seldom shared any official matters with us."

— —

Allena's office was huge. It reminded Nina of Saranya's office. A large oakwood desk was placed in the middle of the room, with chairs placed around it. Behind the desk was a window, facing the pack's training ground directly. Nina could see the temporary camps that had been arranged for Saranya's battalions on the ground. The pack had no other means to accommodate so many people. Mridul had initially offered them to stay in a nearby hotel but Saranya had instructed them to stay as close to Nina as possible.

Next to the window was a wooden bookshelf, where files and important documents were kept. The left wall of the office had another large cabinet, which housed many old books and journals. Those looked like Allena's personal collection.

A couple of North Pack's wolves were already there when Nina reached Allena's office accompanied by Jenny and Mridul.

They had already arranged all the Pack-related files and important documents neatly on the desk for Nina. Although Nina sat down with them to review all the papers, she knew what was about to happen.