Beauty And Her Beast12
Lydia's POV:
Eren didn't waste any time, gesturing for me to walk through the door.
I did with a 'Thank you' stepping out into the cool spring air.
It was just noticeably colder here than it was back in my village, but it still felt nice.
My footsteps hollowed as I stepped onto the sizable porch that wrapped around the front of the house, and I immediately stopped to look at what else was on it.
To the left was a swinging bench, and to the right was a little table surrounded by four chairs.
All, like the rest of this place, looking excellently crafted.
I carefully made my way to the declining steps that were placed to the left of where the center would have been, inspecting every inch that I could.
It was once I reached them that the sound of running water hit my ears again, and I could see that the river I spotted earlier flow from under the house and to the right of the stairs.
Interesting choice, but I'd be lying If I wasn't into it.
The river itself wasn't wide enough to cause any damage, maybe about four or five feet wide.
"So," Erens voice spoke up from behind me, "Whadya think so far?"
I turned back as she walked towards me, a slight extra bounce in every step she took.
"It's beautiful," I responded honestly, taking a good long look just at the house itself, "I mean even this alone is... impressive."
She looked pleased with my answer, standing beside me and turning to look where I was.
"I agree, Luka definitely went all out when he built this. It's one of the most charming builds here in my opinion."
My eyes widened as my head whipped to face her.
"He built this?!" I questioned.
There's no way
There's no way this guy can build luxury cabins on top of everything he's shown me so far.
She looked surprised by my surprise.
"Well, yeah. I thought he would have told you that by now." She replied.
I just shook my head.
"Really? Luka's not usually one to brag, but I would have thought he'd make an exception for trying to impress his mate. But I guess I can do it for him," she sang, turning and skipping down the stairs.
I followed beside her, eyes taking everything in that I could as she explained.
"He built it as a close replica to his childhood home back in our previous pack, with a few additions he installed over time."
Previous pack?
Again, I had to stop myself from asking.
"It was actually one of the last buildings here. He made sure and heavily aided in everyone else's living accommodations after we moved here before he built his," She did a 180 and stopped once we were about thirty feet from his house, "I still think he got the best spot though."
I followed, not even knowing why I thought my shock at what I'd see would stop any time soon.
About twenty feet behind the back of his house sat a cliff's edge that loomed what looked to be 70 feet above, the mist of the waterfall that dropped from it hazing around the back of the building.
Honestly, the first thing that came to my mind was the water damage, but something told me that he somehow already had that figured out.
"Holy shit," I heard myself say.
Eren laughed before turning again and keeping on our way.
It wasn't long before we began passing other werewolves, some as humans and others as beasts.
My short term neves melted with each friendly wave or gently head incline I'd receive from the both of them as we crossed.
She explained everything that we passed, all while keeping along the side of the river.
Most of the housing seemed to be on the left side of it, whereas basically everything else sat on the right.
A whole dining table for special events that Eren said could hold everyone in the pack, a couple little parks where kids played, and so much lush grass, thick trunked trees, and little spots of spring flowers to give the place an essence of a paradise.
The birds and dragonflies that flew overhead helped in that as well.
It was almost magical in a sense, but ever since we stepped to where the other werewolves were I felt something odd in the back of my head.
It was like I was being watched, and not by Luka this time.
Even when I tried to ignore it, it pushed itself into my brain harder.
I figured it was just another wolf thing and continued listening in as Eren spoke.
"The area where we train is actually up ahead a little bit. It's kind of out of the way, but that's where Luka and Milo are if you wanted to check in real quick." She offered.
"I-" I stopped myself, not trying to sound too eager, "Wouldn't be opposed to that."
She gave me a knowing smile but didn't say anything else on the subject.
Just to be safe, I changed it myself.
"Does everyone here know that I'm... Luka's mate?" I asked.
Eren nodded.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Oh," I don't know why I was expecting a different answer, " No reason, everyone's just so cordial. I guess I somewhat expected people to be over-excited or angry that I was here. Given that Luka's been waiting so long."
I guess I was preparing myself to be bombarded.
"Pshh, don't even worry about that. Luka already instructed people about your situation, and believe me when I say that they're just happy you're here, and the last thing they want to do is make you uncomfortable in an environment you're still unfamiliar in."
I just blinked at her for a moment, the thought that all of this was a dream reappearing for a very brief moment.
"If you ended up mated to someone in a different pack, that might be a different story, but that's definitely not something you need to worry about here."
"Are other packs that different?" I asked.
I just barely noticed the almost despondent look that crossed her eyes.
Even her tone had a barely noticeable change in it.
"They are," She began, "It all depends on the alpha, really. There's no set way to lead when it comes to werewolves, some lead with fear and violence, while others choose more respectful routes, and the packs follow suit."
I thought over that for a moment.
With all the positive interactions so far, It must have slipped my mind that there was quite literally a whole other species attached to this.
A whole other species with issues that humans have faced.
Corrupt leaders, blind followers, even probably wars.
So much I had to learn...
Luckily, this new tone didn't last long as a small field and a crowd of werewolves came into our field of vision.
Eren's sparkle returned to her eyes with a tiny gasp as she spotted it, both of us heading away from the river.
"It looks like your mate is up," She said as we picked up the pace.
As we got closer, I saw what she meant.
Luka, as well as another man, stood within a circle in the ground marked by large rocks, men and women alike watching from a closer distance.
We stopped far enough away where we could see, but not be part of the crowd.
"Oof, this ones gonna be quick." She said
"Whys that?" I asked, not taking my eyes off of him.
The two were just walking around the edge of the makeshift arena, knees bent in preparation.
I swear I saw Luka grin.
"Any spar against the alpha is quick." is all she said.
I saw what she meant quite soon after.
With one quick starting word from Milo, the two lunged at each other.
I found myself gasping in partial worry, but almost as fast as the air entered my lungs, Luka had ducked to the floor, and with one swift kick, taken the other man's legs out from under him.
He landed on his back with a loud thud, Luka standing to his feet and promptly helping the man back up with a few words I couldn't catch.
Judging by the smiles on both of their faces, it must have been reassuring.
But still, that move was impressive.
My father only taught me a couple basics of self-defense, but that was something I wanted to be able to do.
... Why was I blushing?
Luckily Eren didn't seem to notice, instead, crossing her arms and huffing out a sigh, "Spars are no fun to watch when Luka's in em."
I laughed a little, a small glimmer of pride growing in my chest.
"Oh yeah? You think he'd teach me some moves?"
She gave me a look that instantly told me the answer was yes, "Can you please ask him? Maybe if he's distracted with you, it can give Milo and me a chance to train to beat him."
"I'll see what I can do," I responded with a grin.
Almost as soon as the words left my mouth, that small warmth in my body bloomed, telling me that he saw me.
I looked back towards him, being met with a simple smile and a wiggling of his brows.
Mine furrowed as I just then realized he could feel me watching him, turning back to Eren.
"Can he hear us from here?"
Her eyes widened as she had just thought about that before taking a second to analyze the distance between us.
"Eh, probably. I forget how much alpha senses dominate ours. We better leave before he starts showing off even more."
"Showing off?"
"Oh yeah. Males tend to do anything they can to impress their mates, that little move he pulled in that fight was definitely showing off."
I looked back towards him, watching him give a guilty shrug, proving that he could indeed hear us.
I hope he didn't see that it worked.
And if he did, he didn't need to see it again.
As much as I wanted to watch.
"Yeah okay." We turned continued walking without another word, heading back towards the river's edge.
I felt his eyes on me for a little bit after we did before it eventually faded.
I really hoped that It didn't take me too long to get used to this.
This was something that I actually felt like I could come to enjoy.
This area that is...
My steps and thoughts faltered for a second as that feeling in the back of my head resurfaced.
This time I just turned, wanting to figure this out so it would stop.
The sensation amplified as I did, then settled once I locked eyes with someone far on the other side of the river.
She was too far to see any finer details, but I could just barely make out the mix of white and blonde in her hair.
She was just... staring at me.
If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was glaring at me.
But why?
"Hey. Is that Luka's sister or something?" I asked, basing my assumption on the hair color alone.
He did say that he had siblings.
Eren looked to where I gestured, her eyes actually returning the glare I thought I could see.
"No, not exactly."
Not exactly?
"She's one of the few here that you might just want to try to avoid altogether," she explained
"Why? Who is she?"
"Her names Alyssa. She, "Eren paused for a moment, trying to gather the right words, "You might just want to ask Luka, I might be overstepping my bounds by telling you without asking him first."
The sudden disgust and hint of jealousy that shot through me caught even me by surprise as my mind immediately began coming up with assumptions.
Luka had been waiting for me for a long time...
"Have they... Were they like..." I didn't even know how to word it, but luckily Eren got the idea anyway.
"Oh no no, Goddess no, it's absolutely nothing like that," She panicked.
Which did end up relieving me a decent amount.
"Believe me, it's absolutely nothing like that. It's just... complicated, and it feels m