CHAPTER FIVE
Leah and Matilda had arrived at the North prime pack, and they were received warmly by Luna Sylvia, accompanied by her sister Zelda.
They were all talking inside, but the moment they saw Olivia walk inside the huge door, everyone in the room paused. Luna Sylvia stared at her for a few seconds and then smiled warmly at her. "Olivia dear, how are you? Tell me… do you know them?"
Luna Sylvia looked from Olivia to Leah and Matilda. Before Olivia could even open her mouth, Leah stepped forward, her face looking very worried. "Olivia, sweetie," Leah asked, her voice shaking a little, like she might cry, "are you okay?"
Inside her head, Olivia laughed a little. Leah was acting like she cared so much but she knew it was all fake and a show! But Olivia put on a small smile for Leah. "Oh, I'm just fine," Olivia said, her voice calm and steady. "Just a little tired from walking around this morning." Then she looked at Luna Sylvia, her smile still polite. "And yes, Luna Sylvia, I do know them. We have… met before." She said "met before" in a way that made it sound like it wasn't a very happy meeting.
Leah started to pretend to cry, wiping her eyes with her hand. "Oh, Olivia," she said, her voice full of sadness, "I wish you knew how much I tried to get you out of that dark room. I even talked to the elders of our pack, but they just said no. Olivia… please forgive me for being a bad mother. Don't be angry with me for being too weak to help you."
Olivia gave a small, quiet laugh. "Of course," she said, her voice light. "Why would I be angry with you?"
Leah felt like Olivia was acting a bit strange, but right now, she didn't really care. She took Olivia's hand and turned to Luna Sylvia. "Luna Sylvia," she said, her voice sounding very thankful, "I really don't know how to thank you for helping Olivia. I know she might not be my own daughter by blood, but I love her just like I love my own daughter. I think it's right that I take her back to our pack."
Zelda, Luna Sylvia's sister, thought Leah's words sounded odd. She spoke up right away. "If you really cared about your stepdaughter like you're saying," Zelda said, her voice a bit sharp, "would you have let your own daughter stay in that horrible dungeon for four long months? My sister and I were the ones who went to see her there. Now, you think you can just take her away because you want to? I don't think it's going to work that way, stepmother."
"Oh, that's not what I meant at all," Leah said quickly. "Our Sunflakes pack is not as strong as your North prime pack. I tried so many times to get Olivia out of that horrible dungeon, but I just couldn't. Your pack helped her get her freedom back, and I am very, very grateful for that…"
Matilda moved quickly to Olivia and grabbed her hands too. "You don't know how worried we all have been since the day you were locked up in that terrible place," Matilda said, her voice sounding sad. "Mother's hair even started turning grey from all the worry and trying to help you."
Olivia looked at her stepmother's hair. It looked perfectly fine, not a single grey hair. She thought to herself that the four months she was gone were probably the happiest time of her stepmother's life. "I'm very happy that you tried your best," Olivia said, her voice flat. "That's enough."
Her stepmother nodded, and a small, sneaky smile touched her lips. She was happy. Olivia was still the same silly girl she had always known – not very smart, weak, and easy to trick. Even after being locked away for months, she hadn't changed at all.
"Olivia, please come home with us," Leah said, her voice sounding like she was begging. "We already owe the North prime pack too much, and you don't really belong here. You have a bad record now; they might use it against you."
Olivia just stood there, looking at the two women who had lied to her and made her life difficult for so long. They had even made her father, Alpha Collin, send her far away. At first, living away from home was hard, until she met someone…
Olivia's face suddenly tightened, and she tried very hard not to think about that person. It made her feel too many things.
Luna Sylvia spoke, her voice firm. "I don't think you have any right to come to my pack and try to take Olivia away. It's my choice if she stays or leaves… She is not a member of my pack, but Olivia is very important to me. I want to have a grandchild, and I can tell you one thing for sure: I will never treat Olivia badly. If she stays here, she will become Ryan's wife. And when she has a baby, I will step down as Luna and make her the next Luna."
As soon as Luna Sylvia said those words, everyone in the room was shocked. "Mother," Matilda whispered to her mother, her eyes wide, "how can she be the wife of Alpha Ryan?"
"Anyone who gives me a grandchild deserves more than just respect," Luna Sylvia said, her voice strong.
Leah cursed quietly under her breath. She had been trying so hard to ruin Olivia's life completely by taking her back to the Sunflakes pack, but her plan wasn't working. But then, a smile slowly spread across her face. If Olivia had stayed the night in Alpha Ryan's room and was still alive, it meant that his curse wasn't as strong as everyone thought anymore!
Leah's smile grew bigger. How could she waste this chance to help her own daughter? If the North prime pack needed a wife to give them a child, then her daughter Matilda deserved that chance!