Chapter 123 - TWO GLUTTONS II

Anthony watched, entranced, as Emma opened the pot for the third time to scoop another spoonful of food into her plate. He thought that she had a very large appetite for a human. Well, who wouldn't? Melvina's meals had the capacity to turn anyone into a glutton. He guessed that this might be the first time for the human, that is, tasting his Luna's meals.

When he had lost his parents in the last pack war, which had been triggered by Arnold's greed and selfishness, supported by Maya's betrayal, he had been devasted, so devasted that he had almost committed suicide. He had wanted to drown in a bottle of vermin which he had stolen from the storehouse, when the Luna, Melvina, had barged into his room, as if she had had an inkling of what he had wanted to do. He had been 14 years of age then.

Later, when she had taken him in as her son, since his mother had been of her closest friends, he had come to discover that one of his Luna's gifts was the ability to have premonitions of what could happen in the future, a hyped or increased intuitive ability more so, and that was beside her cooking skill was claimed to be the best in the whole of their territory, and beyond. His mother had been a good cook, but when he had tasted his Luna's meal, during one of his visits to the main pack house with his father, he had become addicted to it. 

"Aren't you eating?" He heard the redheaded human ask, even with her mouth filled with food.

"I'm full now. You can continue. I will keep watch, to know if someone is coming." He replied, smiling as he saw the human nod and give him a thumbs up, obviously satisfied with his answer, as she kept munching on the meal.

Still staring at her, he wondered who she was and what she was doing in the main pack house. He wondered if Alpha Peter knew of her stay here. Well, of course, he would know. The older man would be able to sniff out a human, even from many meters away.

Once, one of their pack members, his close friend, had brought in a human girl to his home in the pack. Then, they had been having meeting in the pack's conference room, when all of a sudden, Alpha Peter had wrinkled his nose, as if in disgust, before standing up from his chair which was at a higher elevation than the rest in the room.

He had steadily walked to the window nearest to his seat, looking out from it for a while, before turning around to face his cabinet who had been all curios as to what had caused their Alpha's sudden reaction.

"There is a human within these walls." He had said then, before casting him a long glance which had almost caused him to wet himself. Although, the Alpha favoured him much more over most of his cabinet members, perhaps due to his devotedness and discipline, he hadn't wanted to commit any wrong against him.

"I will go check it out." He had replied, ignoring the whispers and comments from the other members of the cabinet, before walking out hurriedly from the conference room.

He had started then with the hall in the farthest wing of the main pack house, but it had been empty. For a minute, he had wondered if actually, his Alpha had really perceived the scent of a human, because he wasn't actually perceiving anything.

He had almost given up on his search, when he saw Derek walking out of the house wing of the pack house, fuming in anger.

His quest partially forgotten as he saw the state of the boy whom he had come to take as a younger brother, he had rushed up to him, questioning him on what had caused the sourness of his mood.

When Derek had told him of the human whom his close friend, Lent, had brought to his room, he had soughed in anger, before rushing up to his room, threatening fire and brimstone on his friend and his latest fling.

Later, after the girl had been walked out gently, his friend had been given a punishment that every wolf dreaded, for deconsecrating the main pack house, for no humans were allowed there. Humans were allowed, to visit, as many tutors of the pack kids were humans, but they weren't allowed into the main pack house which stood on a higher terrain than the others. It was like a temple's holy of holies, where only the priests and those appointed where allowed to come in.

But now this human was here. He thought. This food loving human. Who could she be? She even called the Luna by her name!

He was still pondering on that, when Emma belched suddenly.

"Sorry, it was a mistake." She said, totally embarrassed.

"It's okay." He replied. "What's your name?" He asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"Emma." She replied, opening the pot for the fourth time, before pausing as if in deep thought.

"Do you think they would notice?" She asked, staring with widened eyes at her new ally.

"I don't think so." Anthony replied, amused by the question. Of course, Melvina would notice, but he doubted that she would mention it, as she knows fully well the type of people she had in her home.

"Oh, cool." Emma replied, collecting another spoonful of the tuna casserole. She thought this night to be wonderful.

'Because you are eating to your full?' her mind taunted her, to which she just shrugged.

She stopped eating for a moment, as she watched Anthony walk up to the pot with a plate, opening it and collecting his own portion, not wanting to be left behind.

She smiled.

"You just told me that you were full some minutes ago." She stated, still smiling as her new ally drowned in a spoon of the food.

"Well, I lied." Anthony replied, giving her a wink, which caused both of them to burst out in laughter.

"So how do you know Derek and Maya?" Anthony asked, after some seconds had passed by, while taking a seat on the stool close to the counter.

"Well, Derek is my boyfriend. Maya is my best friend." Emma replied, before drowning in another spoon of tuna casserole.

Anthony held himself from coughing loudly, as he heard what Emma said. Boyfriend? Seems his younger brother has gotten for himself a plaything. When he had mind linked him about the redhead earlier today while his mother had dished out the food, the young dude had just stated that the human was his friend from college. And when he had wanted to go further in his questioning, as to why he would bring a human right here in the pack, the smart mouth hadn't replied. For him, he didn't want to go further. He had wanted to ask Maya though, but he was still trying to get comfortable being around her. He doesn't trust her yet. He doesn't think he would ever do. She had been one of the core reasons why his parents had died.

"Interesting." He finally said, with a smile on his face. Surely, the human was just a fling. 'Derek has really grown wings though, to actually bring a human into the pack house.' He muttered to himself.

"Did you say anything?" Emma asked, lifting her eyes from what she was eating to stare at the guy with a dyed blue hair. Although she thought he looked amazingly hot, he still didn't cut it, when it came to Derek. That her boyfriend must be from hell, sin in itself. She thought, before blinking her eyes rapidly as if to blink away the array of lustful thoughts which were playing in her mind, especially different scenarios of their heated make out session in the forest. 'I don't need this now.' She mused.

"No, I didn't." Anthony replied with a shrug, thinking to himself that there was no way the human must have heard what he had muttered to himself a minute ago.

"Hmm..." Emma hummed. She was sure that the guy in front of her had said something. She couldn't actually say it word for word. But she was sure that he had said something, in line with: 'Derek has really grown wings though, to actually bring ….." The other part had been lost to her.

"Must be the wind whispering to me then." She finally said with a shrug of hers, clucking her tongue on her teeth, before digging into the food again.

"The wind?" Anthony interjected, before laughing out, totally amused with the human. He could see why his brother seemed to be taken to her. She was a breath of fresh air. And there was something mysterious about her; something he just couldn't place his hand on. Besides his Luna, he was the other very intuitive person in the house; Alpha Peter had said so. Perhaps, he thought, that was why the Luna had let in the redhead into their domain; because of her mysterious air.

"So, what did you hear?" He asked, not really curious; just interested in humouring the human who hadn't been moved or embarrassed by his outburst of laughter.

"Well…I don't know. But I thought you had said that Derek had grown wings, enough to bring in, maybe someone…" Emma replied, keeping her plate on the counter, her attention wholly focused on the dude in front of her, wholly focused to see what his reaction would be. When she had heard the statement at first, she had almost taken her index finger to her right ear to shake it, but had stopped at the last moment. 

For a minute, Anthony couldn't talk; his breathing had even ceased at some point. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it; opened it again and closed it for the second time. It happened for the third time, and Emma who was a little bit impatient by nature, snapped him out of his haze, by asking him sharp questions.

"Are you okay?" She asked, dragging her chair closer to his.