MARKED | COMPLETED

Chapter 14

The Lunar celebration reached its end; as people grew tired, and eventually the dancing stopped, Aisling went off to speak to a few more officials while I went to rest my feet. Once Reece found me, plucking the tiara from my head and placing it onto his own in a rather crooked fashion, we slowly ate away at the plate of fruits he'd accumulated.

Eventually, I lost Aisling's head in the dwindling crowd of people.

Though Aisling's emotions no longer warped around my own, there was still that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that he was still suffering, even if it was less than before. Once I lost him, I found myself careening my gaze around the crowd to find him, and the gesture caught Reece's attention.

"You're nothing like the other ones," he commented rather softly.

"What do you mean?" I ask ignorantly; I was more intent to find him but stopped myself before I brought myself up and out of my seat entirely.

"The other ones—you know." He popped a strawberry into his mouth. "I didn't speak to them, but you know me, I watched them."

Ah, I thought, quickly relaxing into my seat.

Eager to listen to what he had to say once I faced him entirely. That was his thing, after all, to watch people and learn all that he could about them from how they acted. I half-expected him to know every last detail about their lives by now.

"Alright, what makes me different?" I perused.

"Luna Ena's small, so her relationship with Alpha Kane is a childish one—they don't quite understand how important their roles are; the only thing they know is that they're supposed to be at each other's side." He smiled to himself at that. Friends at such a young age—it nearly reminded me of Reece and me. He cleared his throat to continue. "Then, of course, there's Alpha Marcas and Luna Lorena—head over heels in love and using that kinship to create a bond as strong as steel.

"Unlike the younger two, they know how important their kinship is. They know how important it is to their pack. That's what makes you and Aisling completely different."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you and Aisling are at that stage, like Ena and Kane, where you don't quite know what you're doing, but like Lorena and Marcas, you know how damned important it is that you do something about it." He rolled his eyes. "Even if you're completely stubborn about it—you're trying to do something about it now, and I've been seeing it all night."

Childish and mature all at once; I never quite pictured myself in that retrospect. But if Reece noticed that, then who else did? How many people looked at Aisling and I and thought that? I wagered most of the people within the pack didn't think to look at these things like Reece did—they were all so occupied with their tasks and jobs that they never paid real attention.

"That's interesting," I bemused.

"I met the Alpha and Luna for Tuaisceart—you are nothing like those two."

Once again, he managed to pique my interest. In the last few hours I've danced and laughed and eaten to my heart's content—I'd met with only two of the three neighboring packs, and I had to admit that the last one, Tuaisceart, caused every inch of me to grow cold with dread.

The loss of our Luna was due to the vicious attack on our territory that was brought on because of Tuaisceart—they had grown jealous, tired of watching as Oirthir had become stronger, and thus more popular in the eyes of the Mionlach.

As the old tales goes, the Great Breaking began because Tuaisceart tired of being under the rule of the Mionlach, our lawmakers—and so they were the first to secede. Remembering the darker times of my kind brought a terrible shiver down the length of my spine.