
They waited while enjoying the drink they ordered. Chloe still looked nervous, but was calmer from sipping a cold macchiato with ice cream at its peak. It took a few minutes until the appointment time arrived, finally Lilian and a beautiful woman arrived at the cafe.
Grace was stunned for a while, along with several other visitors, then stood up as Chloe patted her on the shoulder.
"Hello, you must be Chloe and Grace. I'm Iris and this is Lilian."
"That's right." Chloe smiled as she shook the hands of the two women in front of her alternately. "Greetings, I'm Chloe."
"I'm Grace."
"Sir Grace, don't be so stiff." Lilian patted the girl's hand. "Sister Iris doesn't bite, if I'm a little."
Grace laughs. "look huh? I'm actually quite nervous."
"really?" Chloe looked at Grace curiously, who was immediately pushed aside by the girl.
"You're more nervous than I am, so don't realize it."
They laughed causing the atmosphere to not be too awkward anymore.
"Oh yes. Did you guys order anything?" chloe asked as they sat down. "I'll order if you want."
"No need, our time is limited."
"Oh... okay."
Lilian smiled soothingly at Chloe. " It's not because of you. Iris is busy even though it's Sunday. He works as a real estate agent."
"Oh. That's grand...."
"I'm sorry, my client kept calling earlier and he asked me to take care of the house he was going to house."
"Don't that violate your privacy?"
"yeah. There's nothing I can do because he's a promising client."
Grace nodded in understanding. "Hope your business with him is good."
"Thank you." Iris smiled then looked at the two of you in turn. "Then are you ready to hear our punishment?"
Chloe and Grace nodded, they were nervous enough that they could not catch the joking tone from Iris until the more senior woman behaved as usual again.
"We've talked about this with our Alpha and some members. From there, we agreed that you would stay for three months in our herd and assist our activities during that time period."
"What"
Chloe immediately stopped Grace's words that nearly raised her voice in shock. They would stay longer than previously thought and the two people before them showed absolutely no guilt.
"We decided that long because you've violated three times. If you follow the old law, you should have stayed with us for a year or even moved completely to become our members, but we are not that happy to do so. We know that your group needs members very much."
"I'm sorry, but we didn't expect that at all. We thought it would only take a month to complete the sentence."
"Well, you should have been much more prepared because you were the one who offered us this punishment, especially when our Alpha didn't actually demand anything."
Lilian smiled. "My brother is pretty soft."
Grace clenched her hands under the table while trying to control her anger. He had to admit that it was their fault, especially him, both from his own offense and the offer of his group against Lilian's sister group. Chloe looks stiff.
"Can you tell us what to do when we get to your flock?"
"of course. As I said before, you just have to help our herd's daily activities."
"You know our restaurant? That's one of them." Lilian added. "Of course there are other activities, but we'll make sure that you'll just feel like you're staying with us instead of taking the punishment."
"What Lilian said was true. Members of our group are still quite a lot even though only half are active and we still have an empty house that you can occupy while in our herd."
"Must be your flock is crowded."
Iris' smile looked wobbly before returning perfectly. "That's right, we had enough hassles to prepare food every day and keep watch in turn. The members we have to take care of, especially the senior members and the children, there are quite a lot in our herd."
"But in addition, they are not troublesome at all! Especially when our free hours." Lilian added. "Only we are not used to the habit, because previously the seniors who take care of. We still need to learn a lot from them as well."
"Alright, thanks for the explanation." Chloe nodded, unaware of the incident. "We have enough pictures now."
"Thank you back." Iris smiled with relief. "Do you guys want to say anything before our meeting closes?"
"Can we talk about this to our flock first?"
"Can. Surely, faster would be better."
Grace smiled politely. "Of course, thanks for the attention."
Lilian stood up after Iris. "Until we meet again Grace and Chloe's sister."
They left without looking again. After they left, Grace and Chloe fell silent for quite a while, stirring up their completely melted drink as it had been a bit long ignored.
"Crazy, they're not at all shy."
Chloe sighed. It seemed to be starting to regret his decision about the punishment he had put forward himself. "That's because we offered first."
"Stay, they're outrageous. You feel that way too, right?"
Chloe did not answer and simply uprooted the rest of the drink to the toilet. "We better get home now, they're waiting for news from us as soon as possible."
"All right, I'll call Dave."
.
"Am I being too cruel?" Iris asked as they had already arrived at the herd territory. Now they're tidying up the house that Grace and Chloe will be occupying.
"No, it's just firm. There's no way you're punishing in such a gentle tone as you normally do when you talk."
Iris sighed. "I feel bad."
Lilian patted his shoulder soothingly. "It's okay, just trust me. Grace's sister isn't a vengeful person."
The woman simply smiled as she continued to put the sheets on the mattress and pillowcases and bolsters they had just lifted from the clothesline.
"How were they?" ask Finn who just finished installing a trellis on the window and the curtain rails that his partner has prepared.
"They look quite shocked when Iris says how long they'll stay with us."
The man nodded his head. "Three months is indeed a long time, moreover they never seem to be separated from the herd."
"May they prepare things that need to be well prepared. Especially since the two oldest members of the herd had to leave."
"true."
.
Dave picks them up after Chloe and Grace finish the food order and wrap the order for Theo and the others. Arriving at home, the three noise roars immediately greeted them with a sparkle.
"Eat with other members."
"Yes! Thank you my beautiful and kind sister." Theo dips a long-distance kiss that makes Chloe shudder.
The twins smiled widely and said compactly. "Thank you for the food!"
"Thank you!"
The young members soon gather in the living room to eat a meal together, while the rest follow Chloe to her room.
"How was that?" Allison asked as Dave closed the door.
"We'll stay there for three months."
Some of the members immediately reacted with Grace's words, but their words were immediately stopped by Chloe.
"Nothing has changed except for a longer period of time. Make sure you keep up your usual activities and me or Grace will call you if you can."
Grace smiled in anguish. "Look on the bright side, no one will bother you to go to bed faster and tell you to eat an unappetizing breakfast."
Chloe's been snapping at Grace. "Did you say that my cooking is not good?"
The members laughed awkwardly.
"I have to prepare more talismans. Please help, Allison."
Allison nodded with a smile. "Of course, Chloe."
"I'll go first, too."
"Dave, please arrange for the division of duties yes. I'll be back in a minute."
"Of course." Dave rubbed Allison's hand before her partner headed to Chloe's office with Grace.
The three of them repeated the process of making the talisman and gathered to the room again to hear the final result of the division of tasks discussed among the members. Grace is mostly silent other than teasing Chloe and the members, while Allison looks pretty uptight accepting responsibility without the help of her mentor-like Chloe.
The next day Grace and Chloe go to the herd's restaurant and, unofficially, begin their stay with Lilian's sister's herd whose identity remains a mystery.