Emma came running up between us. “Come on, you two. We saved you seats!”
I glanced at Margo who shrugged. We followed Emma to a large table where most of the drama club had gathered.
“We’ll stay here for a few minutes, and then move on,” Margo whispered in my ear. “If we’re quick, we can sweep the whole room then relax.”
From there, we took our time moving around the room. I doubted I had ever spoken to so many different people in one day before. Even people I hadn’t met were wishing me a happy birthday. Not the day I had been expecting.
A shiver suddenly ran down my spine. I glanced around the room, wondering what had caught the attention of the wolf. I clutched Margo’s hand a little tighter as a vaguely familiar woman entered, removing her scarf as she scoped the room. Her hair was brown, shoulder-length and wavy, her frame tall and athletic. I had seen her before. Twice. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the third time was at my birthday party.
She didn’t feel like a threat, not exactly, but I had to point her out to Byron, just in case. The woman reminded me of my first meeting with Margo, the way she stared at pack land as though she knew something.
“Come with me for a minute.” I crossed the room the same time as the woman did. We both ended up at the alpha’s table. Byron was sitting in between Amelia and Perdita. He immediately noticed the woman, but he didn’t react. Ryan and Nathan shifted a little in their seats, subtly adjusting to a stranger’s presence.
The woman opened her mouth to speak to the alpha, who looked as curious as I felt, but I blurted out, “I know you,” first.
She looked taken aback, her brown eyes blinking rapidly. “You do?”
“I’ve seen you. A couple of times now. You’ve been watching us.”
She grinned then, and I immediately relaxed. She had a good smile, free of deception or cruelty. A real smile. “You caught me. I have.” Her cheeks flushed. She had to be in her thirties, but her smile made her look younger. She bit her lip then, bowing her head to Byron. “I wanted to know about the pack before I approached.”
Everyone at the table sat up straight. Margo pinched my arm as a thrill of excitement ran up my spine.
“The pack,” he repeated. “So you are…?”
“Evelyn,” she said, then laughed. “Oh, I mean, I’m a werewolf.” She shrugged. “I wanted to approach you on neutral territory, and as this room is full of humans, I thought this would be safest.”
Byron leaned back in his chair, relaxing. “Wise. Take a seat. Did my son send you?”
“Not directly.” She slipped into the chair offered to her by Ryan. He didn’t move far, remaining on alert. I couldn’t resist dipping into an empty chair behind Perdita, pulling Margo onto my lap. Neither of us spoke. We badly wanted to hear what was going on.
“I’m sorry to interrupt a special occasion,” she said. “I wasn’t sure how to introduce myself, and I didn’t know what the etiquette even was, so…”
“Where do you come from?” Byron asked.
She glanced around the room, and I thought I saw longing in her eyes. “When I was little, we moved around a lot, but I spent most of my life in Wales. My parents had me late in life, but they always warned me to stay hidden, that it was safer for me that way. My father was a werewolf, you see, and he was determined to hide our family, to pretend we were normal.”
“He was afraid,” Perdita said encouragingly.
“Yes, of an alpha.” Evelyn folded her arms across her chest. “So we hid, but we had a good, simple life. But after my mother died a couple of years ago, my father sort of wasted away. In the end, I was left alone, but it was hard. I didn’t want to be alone anymore. I felt so…” She smiled, but this time her eyes remained sad. “I felt very empty without my parents.”
“You needed a pack,” Nathan said. “That’s what you had with your parents.”
“I think so,” she said slowly, as though pondering the point. “I took the opportunity to go travelling, and eventually, I found other werewolves. Dad taught me how to track scents, so it wasn’t hard to find them and watch from a distance. I’m quite good at going unnoticed.”
At that, Amelia glanced in my direction.
“I heard rumours about a new alpha,” Evelyn continued, “about real packs, and that’s what I found. A pack in Europe. But while I watched, I decided it wasn’t for me. It was too much like hiding again.”
She had to have found Jeremy’s pack. A small part of me was pleased that she didn’t like it.
“I spoke to a couple of werewolves over time,” she said. “I heard about this place, and I thought, why not take a look? So I came over here, got a job, and worked up the courage to check out your pack. I noticed that instead of hiding, you try to fit in, and I kind of dug that, you know? I get this achy feeling in my chest when I see you all gather, and I suppose I might want in, if that’s possible. Is that possible?”
Byron leaned back in his seat, looking thoughtful. She deferred to him completely, but I noticed that she had no problems meeting his gaze. That was interesting. Either she had grown up completely unused to hierarchy, or she was confident enough in her own status to face an alpha.
“You did well to hide for so long from the old alpha.” Ryan sounded impressed. “Your father was right to keep you hidden, but those days are over now.”
“This is so out of the blue,” Amelia said. “I find the timing odd. How could you watch us without anyone noticing you?”