4

A few seconds later, I risk another glance and raise my head but he was still staring at me and this time our eyes met. Without my preventing it.

Our pupils do not let go, a storm of emotions overwhelms me. My heart rate slowed as I felt worse and worse. What's happening to me?

The Asian Alpha calls out to the one watching me, probably to ask him a question and he looks away. Their eyes.

The strange moment shatters, I feel nauseous. I'm not well, I have an increasingly compelling desire to vomit and my head is spinning.

I'm getting up. I stagger and begin to descend toward the exit under the indignant gaze of the other Omegas.

After what seems like an eternity, I finally find myself outside. Black dots appear in my field of vision and arms encircle my waist. I turn slowly, staggering, to find Gab. He looks at me with concern.

I end up feeling embarrassed and free myself as gently as possible from his embrace. I don't want to hurt him. He does not take long to question me, curious, without taking into account the fact that I have ousted him:

- "I saw you leave the room... are you okay? Do you have a headache?"

I remain silent. My field of vision blurs. I blink several times. Then I can't see anything and I feel the ground getting closer.

•••

I wake up in my bed at the hotel. I hurt all over and a violent pain twists my skull.

I push back the blankets that keep me too warm.

I watch the rest of the room from my bed. Gab is sitting on a chair next to me. He seems to be dozing.

I glance at my watch which never leaves me. It's three o'clock. I get up slowly. The pain slowly subsides and after a few minutes I feel better, much better. The only downside: I'm hungry. My stomach rumbles, confirming my thoughts.

I get up completely, put on a sweatshirt quietly, careful not to wake Gabriel.

Then I leave my room and go up in the elevator to go down to have a bite.

I find myself in the hotel's lunch room and order a chicken leg with green beans. The first dish that came across to me and that made me want to.

When the dish arrives, I attack it and, without bothering to savor, I devour my meal at the speed of Usain Bolt.

My plate finally empty, I thank the staff and go back to my room.

Gab is no longer there. I'm thinking. What am I going to do now? Not having much choice, I decided to return to Reunion.

The journey takes a few minutes and I enter the building a second time, the doors being open.

Inside, nothing has changed since I left: the Omegas still listen to what the Alphas say. I go back to the place I had left this morning and sit down there. I didn't come here to listen but to see it. The Alpha of Europe. Which literally made me sick.

The Alpha seems to be having a pretty heated argument with a Country Alpha. Yet I don't listen. I am elsewhere, in a place created by my imagination. I ignore what is happening around me. I dream. Awake. I shake my head and concentrate, exhausted by what's going on.

My Alpha looks rather small. His hair is black and his dark, brown eyes glow with anger. His harmonious face exudes a certain charisma which should serve him well in many situations. Jaw clenched, he listens intently to the other Alpha.

I look down at his clothes.

He wears a white shirt rolled up over his forearms. His hands grip the desk in front of him.

I stare at it for a long time, losing all sense of time, then my gaze drifts to the Omegas. There are those who are focused and who listen attentively and there are those who, like me, seem to be bored.

The minutes go by. The numbers of the electric clock scroll. The end of the first session is approaching.

Gradually, people begin to get up and head for the exit.

The clock says it's seven o'clock, I sigh, a day is ending, the night is beginning.

I get up from my seat, grab my coat and put it on.

My green orbs descend on the bottom of the room. The Alphas exit and are now escorted by police and bodyguards. Of course, their Betas surround them. The Betas are in a way the substitutes of the Alphas, they form a team with which the Alpha communicates and asks for advice.

There are also some Luna, the women of the Alphas. They pass in front of us, one after the other.

When the parade is finally over, I exit the building and head for the hotel again.

On the way, I see Gabriel and rush him. I still have to thank him for everything...

- "Hey! Gabriel! », I challenge him.

He turns around and stops, a smile on his face when he sees me running. I gasp, shortness of breath, when I get to his level.

-" I would like to thank you. For later on. »

His smile widens and I catch myself pursing my lips in an annoyed pout.

-"It's normal Lou... In any case, congratulations, I realize that you have extraordinary physical performance." he taunts me.

I slam my fist into his shoulder and he grumbles backing up. I laugh and he doesn't take long to follow me. It's a good time that we spend together but ends quickly when we arrive at the hotel, evoking our impressions of this first session.

I go up to my room while he joins his on his side. I take this opportunity to call my parents, then Elsa, to whom I tell everything, omitting certain details, of course. Like the fact that a common attraction brings us closer, Gab and I.

It's around eleven o'clock that I go to bed, after this trying day. Then I sink.

•••

I have many dreams tonight. All different from each other. However, I have no memory of it. I end up waking up from a nightmare and looking at my watch, stretching, my forehead covered in sweat.

Then I literally jumped out of my bed. It's half past eight, flute! I have half an hour to join the second session.

I quickly take a shower, grab a cereal bar and go down the street.

In front of the hotel, a little disoriented, I rush off and run towards the building under the surprised gaze of New Yorkers. I arrive right on time since the doors close just after me. They are now locked.

I find myself back in my seat a short time later, gasping for air. I pass a hand over my face to remove the thin film of sweat that covers me following my frantic run and the rubber band that surrounds the wrist of my left hand disappears and lodges in my hair. Very good time to redo her hairstyle... But now I have a high ponytail and you can't see any trace of the previous mess.

I shake my head and focus on what the Alphas are saying, intensive agriculture in Brazil. Finally, a subject that interests me.

I have always been quite concerned about everything related to the environment, nature, endangered species, deforestation... So when, during a conversation, one of these subjects is broached, I am always the first to speak. I remember the time when, as a child, I came home persuading my parents to recycle, sort waste and never throw garbage in nature. I smile at that memory.

Suddenly, a dispute breaks out within the Alphas of the Continents. Huge disagreement on the mix between humans and werewolves. I jump as the voice of the Alpha of Africa rises and resounds powerfully in the extraordinary amphitheater:

-" We do not agree! Very well! Let's ask the public's opinion... I ask number six in each row to come and join us, you will take the floor to explain your point of view and justify yourself. I want valid arguments, it is an important subject and my colleagues do not seem to understand it. »

I glance down my row to see who is going to speak among us. Strangely, I'm not surprised when I finally realize that number six is ​​me. Of course, that was to be expected.

Stiff as a picket, I descend the stairs that lead to the gigantic platform. Apprehension knots my stomach, I don't like to speak orally in public, it's even worse. It's shyness, quite simply... Some people say it's a fault, I don't agree. Shyness also has many virtues.

As if to reassure me, I notice that Gabriel is in the same situation as me. I move closer to him and the friction of his arm against mine loosens the knot that had lodged in my stomach.

Gab and I are now on the stage. Seeing so many people around you is really impressive and I gasp when I discreetly spin around. Women and men fill the amphitheater by the thousands and the new point of view in which I enter offers me a different vision of my environment. I panic.

Focus on your breathing. Everything will be alright. You won't need to talk a lot. Calm down Lou.

To slow down the frantic beating of my heart, I observe other people in the same situation as me incognito. At a glance, we are about twenty-five for rows of approximately seventy people.

The Alphas of the Continents and Countries also stand closer to us.

It's impressive to see them up close, these legendary characters of our world. Those who assert their dominance, those who control armies, those who hold the majority of power in our universe, the werewolves.

Intrigued by these faces as famous as each other, whether they are those of the Alphas of the Countries or the Continents, I look at each of them in detail.

I find it amusing to stick expressions and facial expressions on inanimate photos.

Then my eyes land on the Alpha from Europe, the Alpha who laid his dark eyes on me earlier. And who turned everything upside down.

His cold and at the same time warm face scrutinizes with a dominating emotion the assembly which stands in front of him. Is it my insistent gaze on him that deflects his chocolate orbs towards me? I do not know.

But I know that I find myself caught up in this look overflowing with an emotion that I do not know, which is in no way familiar to me.

I turn my head and run a strand of my hair behind my ear with my fingertips. Embarrassed.

This guy hypnotizes me, it's the only possible explanation. Why do I feel so drawn to him then?

In any case, its appearance is very different up close. When I was still at the top of the stands, quiet in my seat, detailing it in all its power proved to be impossible to achieve with precision. Even for werewolf eyes.

But when I find myself near him, I can't help but notice his imposing stature as he turns out to be much larger than I had imagined.

His broad, square shoulders give him a manly appearance that should not leave many women indifferent. I smile.

Not to mention his prominent musculature, we can say that nature has designed him well. Her fine black hair is lightly styled and her brown eyes bring out her tanned skin.

I am cut off from my careful observation by Gabriel, who has finished speaking and is now standing beside me, a little shaky.

- “What did you think? »

Guilty of not having listened, I wince and answer in the most natural tone possible.

"It was good, don't worry. You knew how to be convincing, that's the most important thing, isn't it? »

He sketches a skeptical pout and I restrain myself from bursting out laughing, something not very complicated to achieve when I finally understand that it is now my turn to speak.

I go behind the lectern slowly, trying to prepare myself quickly for what I'm going to say. Of course, when I speak, it's only a stutter that comes out of my mouth.

- "I... I take the... the side of the Alpha of Africa." »

I pause as giggles echo around the huge amphitheater. I grit my teeth and try to be firmer.

“Indeed, if you think about it, the concept of separating werewolves and human beings is nonsense. Let's take up the words of Martin Luther King: "Let us live together as brothers or we will end up like madmen." Let's not isolate human beings because deep down, we are similar to them, with more werewolf genes. We don't need the world and society to be divided, we function very well without separation. In my high school, everyone is mixed and there has never been a problem, so why invent one? And then, human beings bring us objectivity, without them, who knows if we wouldn't be killing each other? »

I step back from the desk and walk over to Gabriel as some applause rings out. I sigh in relief. It's over, the nightmare is over. Gab gives me a friendly pat on the back and a smile brightens my face as I quickly decompress.

•••

The rest of the Reunion proceeds as normal and when it finally ends the Alphas depart first followed by an impressive guard.

We Omegas wait a little longer before we can move and then exit, when all the Alphas are out of the amphitheater.

I look around for Gab and when I finally find him, I walk over to him and grab his arm. He looks at me questioningly and I ask him:

- "Would you like to go for a walk in town? I have nothing to do and I'm going to be bored at the hotel."

-"OK that works"

We go along an avenue and we turn in multiple streets. Finally, one of the streets we took leads to a large square which is occupied by hundreds of soldiers. I question my companion with a look and he replies by showing me the large building at the end of the square. I read the sign from afar. This is a hotel, it obviously looks very luxurious. Inwardly, I hiss in admiration.

Unfortunately, we can't get any closer because the square is closed to people. So Gab brings me the answer I was missing:

- "That's where the Alphas live."