Even as an alpha, Cane only had two personal warriors, most of the Alphas, too, had only two and they would, at most, appoint guards to escort their women at times. And if a woman was favored enough by their mates, they may get one warrior.
But for Cane to assign seven warriors to be at her disposal was... too much.
"All of you?!" Iris was stunned.
"Yes, Luna," Dyne replied this time. "The Alpha looks so worried..." he trailed off and scratched his nose. "Actually, he wants to assign more people, but he can only allocate seven of us for the meantime."
Iris was flabbergasted and even more when she realized how people stared at her, because there was no way this small entourage wouldn’t draw attention from them.
"Let me introduce the other five, Luna..." Dyne said awkwardly, noticing Iris was too shocked to say anything. "This is Asher, Otis, Reed, Kian and Zephyr." Dyne introduced them one by one from left to right.
Iris tried to memorize their names. She would make sure to talk with Cane about this. "Hm. Nice to meet you." She felt so silly, since she didn’t know what to say and the way people stared at her only made her feel more uncomfortable.
"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Luna," they said in unison before nodding politely to her.
A moment of awkward silence ensued, as they waited for her to say something, or for her to give them some tasks.
"I want to look for Haco," Iris finally said.
"The sorcerer is in the third tent, Luna," Eron replied. "Come, I will escort you there." He looked fine after resting for a bit. He and Dyne also acted normal after they learned about the lycan.
Eron and Dyne flanked her, while the other five walked behind them. It was really uncomfortable for Iris, she was fine having Eron and Dyne around, since she had known them ever since they went to the capital city, but the other five were completely new to her.
"Wait." Iris stopped walking, since she couldn’t handle it anymore. They were inside the pack house and there were a lot of warriors around as well. It was a little bit too much to have this small entourage following her, while the others could use a helping hand or two. Or five in this situation.
Once Iris stopped walking, all of them stopped as well.
"Why don’t you go and help the others? Nothing good will come out of following me around. We are in a dire situation, it will be a waste of energy to simply escort me."
"We can’t leave you alone, Luna," Eron retorted.
Iris shook her head. "You and Dyne can come with me, while the others can find something else to do to help the injured warriors or strengthen the security around the pack. I think they will be useful that way."
"The Alpha gave us a strict order not to leave you." One of the warriors, named Zephyr spoke. He had shoulder length hair that he tied behind his nape and a pair of calm brown eyes.
"It’s not like you are leaving me unprotected, and it will only bore you to death if you simply have to follow me around. You do not like such tasks either, right?" Iris could see she had voiced what they felt. "So, let’s help each other. It will be good for you to find something more useful to do, especially at times like this. It’s not like I will vanish into thin air."
In the end, Iris managed to dismiss the excess five warriors. They left to help the other pack members, but they didn’t go too far from the third tent, while Eron and Dyne stayed with her.
"I thought she would be overjoyed with the affection of the Alpha toward her. He sent seven of us to be her personal guards, after all." Kian scratched his head, staring at Iris’ back, as she entered the second tent.
What she said was right. They really wanted to complain about the task the Alpha had given to them, but they didn’t have the nerve to do so, especially when it was a direct order from the Alpha.
"She is only trying to look nice," Otis replied, as he went away to help the others.
"It’s good she has common sense to tell us to do something more useful," Asher added.
The five newly appointed warriors didn’t find it in them to be excited about this new assignment from the Alpha, as they had mixed feelings about this whole situation. They did not necessarily hate Iris as their luna, but the provocation from the royal warriors the other night, successfully irked them.
They would rather not associate with her.
Meanwhile, inside the third tent, Iris found Haco sitting at the corner, picking herb leaves. He looked so old as the wrinkles on his face became even more apparent. Was it because he was too tired after what happened hours ago?
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