Thalia's POV
Looking at them, I could tell that they still weren't sure if they were looking at the right person.
I mean, I can't blame them since they were so old that I doubted if they could even see my face.
Their pale and wrinkled faces, their slouched backs and the canes that some of them had were a testament of the life that they had lived.
Some of them even looked like they were tired of living, but because they were expected to play a role in the pack, they had to cling on to dear life and become the elders.
"Yes she is. It is my honor to introduce to you the newly crowned Luna of the Obsidian Howl Pack, Thalia Enisa Vale." Cassian said as he made me an acquaintance to the elders.
Some of them had scars on their faces, visible proof that they had been warriors in their prime, while some of the women had dirtied nails that looked they had been scrapping on the barks of trees for years.
Well, with the men giving the vibe that they had seen their fair share of war and bloodshed in their prime, some of the women looked like they had seen their fair share of internal pack chaos.
That was all, except for one that had the same look like some of the men.
It was a clear enough look that she had seen some war as well. For a woman, that was rare to find one that had been a warrior, but not entirely impossible.
"She looks....so small..." One of the men commented, as he stared directly at me.
In that moment, I didn't know if he was even seeing me for who I was, or getting the concept of me as the figure standing in front of him.
He had pale hair, a wrinkled face and to top it all off, his eyes were white.
Well, not entirely white but they seemed to have a cloud of a white liquid that made his eyes seem glassy and as if he was on the verge of letting a tear flow down his face.
However, even with such eyes, no tears were going to flow down his face, and he didn't look like he still had tears in his system.
His tear ducts were practically out of commission.
"I guarantee...." I was about to answer him and tell him how wrong he was, when suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my side.
It was Cassian, who had literally hit me with his elbow and gave me a bombastic side eye.
I didn't need to be told twice that those were the elders, and given that Cassian himself didn't just jump into an answer and talk back to them, it meant that they deserve the respect that an elder should be given.
"Eldritch, you can be assured that she is not small. If she was able to win the Luna contest against all the other participants, it means that she is more than capable of the task that has been put in her hands." He said to the elder, sounding like he was also trying to convince the rest as well.
His words were followed by low murmurs from them, and it didn't sound like they were convinced that I was up to the task.
And of course, I knew that they would be the last people to even approve of me being Alpha Kade's Luna.
I mean, they could have as well chosen a Luna for him and the chosen Luna would still be expected to prove herself to them.
If anyone was by definition the hardest person to impress, it was an elder.
As they talked, one of the women walked forward and was looking right into my eyes.
She looked..... curious.
Even with the rigid expression on her face and the way that she tried her best to look menacing, she couldn't hide the energy that she gave off.
When she got to around a foot in front of me, I could see her studying my face for the longest, almost as if she was trying to figure out something from looking at me.
"Which pack did you say you're from?" She finally asked, as her eyes lingered on my face for a while.
She then went ahead to scan me from head to toe, a couple of times.
"I haven't told you which pack I'm from." I answered honestly, since I was yet to even tell them that.
Cassian, who was standing right next to me, cleared his throat.
It could have been just him clearing his throat, or him sending me a message.
I picked the second option, since there was no coincidence with him clearing his throat just at the exact moment that I had answered the female elder's question.
And this was also attributed to the fact that after I had opened my mouth and answered her, she immediately looked up to Cassian, as if wondering if he heard what she heard.
"I'm from the Shadowmoon Pack, miss." I answered her afresh.
She didn't look impressed by my change in answer, but I was able to make out that she seemed a little surprised that I was from the Shadowmoon Pack.
This also went across the faces of the other elders as they looked amongst each other.
I wanted to ask what that reaction was about, but before I could do that, something happened.
The elder that was standing in front of me raised her hands, and placed them on my face.
"My sight is not the same like it used to be." She commented as she started to run her fingers across my face.
That had taken a turn and it completely made me uncomfortable, but I guess that was part of being who I was in the pack
Clearly, she couldn't give a damn to even ask if she could feel my face, before placing both hands on it and trying to make out how I looked.
And for the first time in a very long, long time, I got a compliment, something that had become impossible to get from the Shadowmoon Pack and the Obsidian Howl Pack.
"You look beautiful." She commented, as she lowered her hands.
I was stunned speechless by that complement that I didn't even realize that she didn't let go of me entirely.
By the time that I was getting over the compliment, which was like a few seconds later, I looked down and saw that she had my hand in hers.
"Than..thank...you." I muttered, confused and trying to understand what else she was trying to do.
When I looked at the other elders, none of them looked like they were surprised by this behavior, and so did Cassian.
Therefore, I didn't bother to ask, but still got a good hint that she was trying to read my palm.
The elder had my palm facing upwards, and was running her index finger through the lines that were on it.
As this happened, it must've been a cue for another elder to step in.
'If I had known what I was getting myself into, I would have stopped where I was and just taken a turn the moment that I saw Cassian.' I said to myself.
"What makes you so special?" Another elder asked.
This time, it was the one with the scar that ran from the corner of his eye, down to his face and ending just above his chin.
Well, at least that was a change in the kinds of questions that I was being asked.
And with the questions taking a turn, it meant that I needed to reconstruct the way that I was expected to answer them.
For example, how was I supposed to answer that question?
"I'm not special. I just survived the Luna trials." I answered, having no idea if there was any other answer that could fit in there.
Nothing was said, and it was as if I had given the wrong answer.
However, as I waited for them and saw that none of them was going to talk to me, I slowly turned my neck and looked over to Cassian's direction
He was the only one that could have saved me in that situation.
I was either going to stand there in that silence, or walk away because I felt like the questions were about to become a whole lot more stressful.
However, as Cassian looked like he was about to talk and come to my rescue, something else happened.
The female elder that was reading my hand suddenly dropped it as if it had burnt her and looked at me as if she was looking at a demon.
"They were right this entire time. You have no wolf!" She said with a hiss.
I stared at her in disbelief, wondering what hole she had crawled out of to not have known that the entire time.
I mean, it's not a secret that I had been keeping from anyone.
So, hearing her say that didn't make sense.
I almost said, 'Well, this isn't a surprise dummy!', but I didn't.
I only stared at her, hoping that she would give me more context as to what she meant by that.
"She doesn't have a wolf, yes, even Alpha Kade knows this. Weren't you told?" Beta Cassian asked her, sounding as confused as I was.
"I know that....but I just thought that she never got her wolf.
But Thalia got her wolf, didn't you?" She questioned as she looked at me.