Chapter 143: The New Normal
AIDEN POV
The coffee mug broke against the wall, hot liquid spraying everywhere. I ducked as another one flew past my head.
"This is insane!" Beta Morrison yelled from across the pack meeting room. "She’s not even human anymore!"
I stood up slowly, trying to keep my voice calm. "Lily saved all of us. She deserves our respect."
"Respect?" Morrison laughed bitterly. "She talks to people who aren’t there. She knows things she shouldn’t know. Yesterday she told Mrs. Chen that her dead mother said hello. How is that normal?"
Around the table, other pack leaders shifted uncomfortably. I could see the fear in their eyes. Three days had passed since Lily became a dimensional anchor, and nobody knew how to handle it.
"She’s still Lily," I said, though even I wasn’t sure anymore.
"Is she?" Morrison leaned forward. "Have you tried talking to her? Really talking to her? It’s like she’s only half here."
I had tried. Just this morning, I’d found Lily sitting by the Moon Pool, looking at nothing. When I called her name, it took her forever to look at me. When she did, her eyes were sad and faraway.
"The pack is scared," Elder Iris said softly. "They don’t understand what she’s become."
"Then we help them understand," I answered.