Surprise

Chapter 4: Dinner Time

About an hour later, a cute little blonde girl came running in, shouting Stella’s name over and over again.

“Molly Molly Molly!” Stella said the same way as she knelt down to look at the girl face to face.  “What is it?”

“Mom says to bring your friend.  Dinner’s ready!”

Stella laughed.  “We’ll be right there.”  The girl ran out of the room without acknowledging me.  Stella faced me and frowned.  “Can you stand up?”

I nodded, feeling much stronger than I had earlier.  I stood up, and it wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t impossible.  We left the room and Stella led me to the kitchen.  We walked slowly, not talking much.

We got to a doorway and we walked through to see a huge table surrounded by a few families.  The Alpha’s family, the Beta’s family, and then a few others with high positions were the people who usually lived in a pack house full time, but here, there were many more.

There must have been at least fifty people there, too many to all be seated comfortably.  In fact, a few more were still filing into the room to find no available seats.

Stella and I sat by Luna Maya.

When everyone was seated, the man sitting on the other side of Luna Maya, who assumed was the Alpha, stood to call us all to order.  He said a few words, and then an excited “Dig in!”

On the table were all sorts of foods.  Everything from spaghetti to steak, and the portions were all disappearing fast.  Stella made sure to hurry and get me a plateful of food before getting some herself.  I noticed that every food item on my plate was vegetarian friendly.  It nearly made me laugh.

I began to eat and was amazed at how amazing it all tasted.  I didn’t know if that was thanks to the chef or my starved state.

“So, who’s your friend, Stella,” the Alpha asked her.

Stella somehow managed to tell the story of the afternoon in just a few sentences.

The Alpha laughed.  “You were serious about that?  I thought you were joking last night.”  I laughed a bit.  I hadn’t wondered earlier why Stella hadn’t told anyone about me earlier, but now I wondered how the thought never crossed my mind.  She had, but no one believed her.

I wouldn’t have believed her, I guess.

There were separate conversations going on all around the table, but some people stopped to listen to the story of how I came to be here.

Luna Maya looked around Stella, who was the only person between us, and smiled at me sweetly.  “Maya, how are you doing now?”

Someone laughed.  “Great!  The last thing we need is another Maya around here.”  Their voice was mocking, but also playful.

“Luke, do me a favor and shut up, will you,” Maya snapped, turning to the one who’d said it.

He seemed a bit scared of her and looked down at his plate, stuffing a forkful of beef in his mouth.

Luna Maya looked back at me and I nodded.  “I’m feeling much better, thank you.”

“Right, well I think you should stay here a few days while you finish healing.  You probably had one of the worst cases of wolf shock ever if what Stella says is true.  You were out for two whole days?  You’re lucky to be alive.”  I nodded and then looked down at my food.

My parents weren’t lucky enough to be alive.  I shook my head slightly, something that wouldn’t have been very noticeable to many people.