Chapter 19 #2
He laughed. “Calindra was right. You certainly ask a lot of questions.”
“She said that about me?”
Cenric nodded. “But don’t look so upset. I’m sure she didn’t mean it as an insult. Now let me introduce you to my mate. Hannah, this is Nelissa.”
I’d been so focused on our conversation that I hadn’t realized we’d come up to a group of four women standing in a semi-circle along the arched outline of the trees. Just like Calindra, they were all tall and thin and shimmering with an almost otherworldly grace.
At the mention of her name, the woman in the center of the group took a step forward. Her pale green eyes swept me up and down as she slowly extended the back of her hand my way.
Oh, shit. What was I supposed to do with that? Kiss it as I curtsied? Calindra had never acted anywhere near this formal, and I had no idea what the customs here were.
“I’m so sorry,” I said instantly. “No one has shown me how to properly greet people yet.”
“What was I thinking? Of course you haven’t.” Nelissa’s voice wasn’t as soft as Calindra’s, but it held the same crystalline quality. “You’ve been trapped with an alpha the whole time you’ve been here, you poor girl.”
I really wished everyone would stop calling me “poor girl.”
“Calindra has been here too.”
“Well, then I’ll have to have a word with the healer about her manners next time I see her,” Nelissa said in a tone that wasn’t exactly joking. “But we can show you. Akela, take my hand.”
Another woman, slightly younger and with pitch-black hair, stepped up and slipped her hand underneath Nelissa’s, hitching their curved fingers together like train couplers. Then once their hands were linked, Nelissa nodded once to the younger woman, and after that, Akela nodded back.
“See,” Nelissa said with a patronizing smile.
“It’s really quite simple. There are only a couple of rules to remember.
The first is that you’ll only be expected to greet other women this way—alphas never greet with physical touch.
And the other is that the woman of higher rank will extend her hand first, and the lower rank places her hand underneath. ”
My eyes went wide. “Wait. What do you mean by rank?”
“Social status,” Nelissa explained as if the answer were obvious. “It’s based on the position of your mate in the pack hierarchy. The more important his role, the higher your social status.”
“Right,” I said slowly, letting everything that one simple custom said about Tauren’s pack sink in. “So I’m guessing that as the mate of the current Lykaon’s heir, you’re near the top of the pyramid.”
“Not near,” Nelissa corrected me with a toss of her hair. “At the very top.”
“Sure.” I nodded. “And where exactly do I land on this social hierarchy, living with an outcast alpha who’s been pushed to the edges of his pack’s territory?”
“At the bottom, of course.”
Well, she didn’t stutter. I had to give Nelissa credit for that.
Still, my eyes went wide at the full-throated and shameless display of classism.
At first, I thought maybe all ferus shared Nelissa’s prejudice, but when the woman she’d been shaking hands with looked away in embarrassment, I reconsidered.
Especially when I realized the other ladies appeared just as uneasy with Nelissa’s words.
Even Cenric stepped back, eager to remove himself from the conversation.
“I think that’s my cue to go,” he said. “Don’t worry, Hannah. I’ll let Tauren know where you are.”
Nelissa raised her chin as her mate strode away, her pride clearly hurt by our reactions. “Did I say something wrong?”
“No. Not at all.” I shook my head, wanting to ease everyone’s discomfort. Last night, I’d let my words cause all kinds of trouble. I didn’t want to repeat the same mistake this morning. “It’s just culture shock. We just do things differently where I’m from.”
“How do you greet each other in the kirre world?” Akela asked, her wide hazel eyes genuinely curious.
“We just shake hands,” I said, stretching mine out toward her. “All you do is put yours up against it. That’s right. Now we grasp each other’s palms and shake. And that’s it.”
Akela’s smile grew. So did the smiles of the other ladies.
“I like it,” Akela said.
But Nelissa tsked. “But then how do you know the rank of the person you’re greeting?”
“You don’t.” I shrugged. “That’s the point. We try not to focus on things like that when first meeting someone.”
“Oh,” Nelissa said, not hiding the disdain in her tone. “How interesting.”
Apparently, I hadn’t made a very good first impression…at least not with Nelissa.
The other ladies seemed friendly enough, though, and quickly pulled me into their conversation. We were all about the same age, within a decade of each other, and talking with them felt light and easy.
Soon enough, Nelissa had faded into the background while I learned (or at least tried to learn) everyone’s names—Akela, Deryn, and Zahrah.
They were kind enough to help me with the pronunciations, and joked they found my name and the other kirre names I said—Jeanine, Elisabeth, Samantha—just as baffling.
Time flew by as we talked about our families, our homes, our likes and dislikes. Soon we were laughing like old friends.
It was nice to know I could connect with other ferus. Especially women other than Calindra. Life wasn’t worth it without friends around.
The thought smacked me across the face. Was I really thinking of staying here in the Wilds? Had last night’s experience with Tauren really changed my mind?
As the question continued to spin in my mind, I looked up and noticed that Nelissa was gone.
“I’m sure she went off to find Cenric,” Akela assured me. “Those two are never far apart.”
“Really?” I asked. “They seem so different. He seems so nice and easy going, and she’s so…”
“Uptight?” Akela offered.
Zahrah gave a conspiratorial smile before suggesting her own answer. “Pretentious?”
Then Deryn tried. “Proud?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Your words, not mine.”
“She and Cenric aren’t as different as you might imagine,” Akela said.
“What do you mean?”
“They can’t be,” she said, somehow managing to make a shrug look elegant. “If they weren’t fundamentally similar, then the Fates would have never bonded them together.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t agree with that logic at all. “But then how could Tauren and I be together? We couldn’t be more different if we tried.”
For a moment, the women stared silently at each other with arched brows. Then they started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“The idea that you and Tauren are different,” Akela said.
“We are,” I insisted. “Just look at us.”
Eighteen inches in height. A couple hundred pounds of solid muscle. The ability to see in the dark and hear a pin falling from a hundred yards away. Those were just a few of the differences.
No one in their right mind would ever think to pair us together.
“Oh, you sweet little kirre,” Akela said. “The Fates don’t care about your outer shells. They only see your inner self. And I’m not sure there have ever been two souls more perfectly suited for each other than you and Tauren. You’re both fighters.”
“A lot of people are,” I argued. That didn’t prove anything.
“Neither one of you knows when to keep your mouths shut,” Deryn added.
“Okay, well—“
“Then there’s the stubbornness,” Zahrah butted in.
“Hey!”
Even though I’d only known these ladies for a little while, I couldn’t help but laugh at their playful banter.
Not even when I caught sight of Tauren across the clearing.
He was still deep in conversation, listening to the same small circle of alphas that he’d been talking with for the last hour, but the second our gazes met, his eyes stayed locked on me.
After a few long, heated seconds, he raised his hand, taking his leave from the alphas around him. A little sigh escaped my lips when he started striding toward me.
Akela lifted her head triumphantly. “Like I said—perfect for each other.”
“Who is?” Tauren asked when he was closer.
“As if you didn’t know,” Akela answered.
A hint of a smile played at his lips. Clearly, he agreed with the woman.
“Thank you, ladies, for entertaining Hannah while I was busy with business,” he said.
“It was our pleasure,” Akela replied. “In fact, Hannah, I’d like to invite you to come by my house for tea sometime in the next few days. I’d love to see that camera you were telling us about.”
“So would I,” Zahrah said with a nod. “And we could invite Calindra too. I haven’t sat down and talked with her in ages.”
That sounded wonderful.
“Only if I don’t have to worry about whose hand goes on top when we shake,” I joked.
“Never,” Akela laughed.
Tauren draped his heavy arm over my shoulders as he led me away from the group of women. “It sounds like you’ve made a few friends.”
“Yeah, I guess I did.” My cheeks lifted and warmed as a smile lifted the corners of my mouth.
Though my good mood flickered a little when I remembered Nelissa’s scowl.
And maybe one enemy.
But Tauren didn’t need to know about that.
Not now.
Not when I was finally feeling something close to happiness.