Chapter 6 Keturah

My head snapped towards the voice. A young she wolf was blatantly giving me nasty looks. She reminded me of Anna and her minions back at McCarthy's household.

Pin-drop silence had fallen over the dining hall. I ignored her and cast my eyes down to stare at my plate.

A year ago...

"You know what to do, don't disgrace me before my guests. Do not let me even smell you thirty feet away from the main house, and better make sure you don't destroy anything here. Every single item here is more expensive than your wretched life." Eleanor gritted out before she stormed out of the kitchen. She shut the door behind her, but not after drilling me to death with a menacing nasty stare.

"If you dampen your mood, I'll leave you alone for the rest of your life. You are going to be their Luna, so teach then their fucking place!" Kat let on angrily.

"If you are too much of a coward to do it, then fucking let me do this!" She yelled, instantly giving me a headache.

I had tolerated disrespect and nonsense back at McCarthy's because I had no choice than to.

"Maybe, I could try. But what if Alpha doesn't like that? What if we make him angry?" Kat rolled her eyes and forced herself to take over from me.

I suddenly felt heat creep up my neck. I turned and saw Deimos staring curiously at me.

He turned his attention to the rude she-wolf on the other end of the table. "Apologise to your Luna, Stella"

"It's Sarah, Alpha"

"She had the guts to correct him?!" Kat attempted to force her way out again.

"Let me teach the bitch how to talk respectfully!" I blocked her since her incessant shouting was worsening my headache.

"It will be dead and nothing if you do not apologise now" the deep, raspy voice of Diego, growled out to the girl.

I remembered him from when Kat blocked me. I liked him better than Deimos. I couldn't explain why.

"I'm sorry, Alpha. I'm sorry, Luna. That was wrong of me." Sarah mumbled meekly and ran out, afraid of losing her head in a second.

Diego turned to me and leaned in to kiss the side of my head.

"Eat up, little mate." He cooed and left, allowing Deimos back.

I shivered in my seat and tears started to stream down my face. Sweat glistened on my forehead.

I got lost in my thoughts and memories again that I didn't notice him move until he picked me up and started climbing the staircase.

"Hey, I'm sorry about that. I will make sure it doesn't happen again" He muttered regretfully.

"It's okay." I murmured absentmindedly.

"I- I just don't know what to expect or how to act. And I feel like your pack does not like me. And I understand; I mean, I killed a man an-" I managed to get out in between sobs.

Deimos smashed his lips unto mine and kissed me hungrily, effectively cutting short my rant.

"I understand, and I'm so sorry I threw you into this. I will have some help assigned to you from henceforth. You can ask anything of them and they will do it." He said "No one will disrespect you ever again. I promise you, little one." He said after breaking the kiss.

I sighed quietly and tried to calm my rapidly beating heart. I leaned more into him, snuggling into his chest as he carried me to his bed.

"Try to rest today. You have a long day tomorrow."

"What is happening tomorrow? What will I be doing?" I asked curiously, feeling a frown marr my forehead.

He chuckled and kissed the corner of my lips. "I'm sure you'll enjoy it. But for now, I'll take delight in holding that piece of information a secret. It's a surprise. "

"I hate surprises!" I blurted defensively, "I mean, I haven't had any good surprises in my life, ever."

"Just trust me, this one time". He laid me on the bed and headed out.

"I told you, didn't I? Mate is turning out to be nice," "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Any idea what the surprise could be?" "How am I supposed to know?" Kat rolled her eyes at me.

"A splash of ice-cold water harshly resurrected me, making me effectively jump start in alert while my body screamed out in sheer agony at the contact. My body ached, forcing my eyes open. That was when realisation dawned on me, that what I thought was a nightmare had, in fact, been reality.

The guard who had dropped the freezing water over me sneered as he eyed me down, " I'm going to open this, and you better not try anything silly or else I will submit your miserable head only." I gulped, immediately regretting the action as the rawness of my throat scratched wickedly.

I gingerly tried to rise to my feet, but the guard, who seemed to harbor a deep resentment for me, dragged me impatiently, causing a shrill cry of agony to rip out from my parched lips.

However, he paid no heed as he dragged me through the floors of the cold basement to the staircase where he dragged me up the rough staircase.

I started to weave in and out of consciousness when the pain became unbearable. Tears stained my cheeks, accompanied by my grunts and moans of pain.

Chilly air slapped me awake immediately he dragged me out of the door. I started to shiver uncontrollably from the cold and my wet clothes did nothing to help.

He mercilessly dragged me down the narrow corridors of the West wing through to the wide corridors of the North wing, then finally to the gathering of Elders in McCarthy's study room, before dropping me unceremoniously on the floor.

Four older men and a woman who seemed no more than 30 years old sat in several armchairs in the room while McCarthy stood off at the corner of his wooden desk with an unwavering grip on the furniture. His face was stoic, albeit one could see the fury swirling in his eyes.

I may have slipped out of consciousness again because a hard kick in my ribs effectively jolted me awake.

"We don't have all day, so why don't you tell us your name, how you got to the compound of the mansion, and why you killed Sydney Gerrad in the middle of the night."

"Luna, Luna, Lu-" "shit! Alpha sent me to- fuck! Would you stop for a second and snap your eyes open!" A man's heavy voice sounded in my ears.

"I tried to fight the guard off like I wish I had done earlier, but he...."

He managed to get a grip on my wrists, which were flying everywhere: in his face, arms and chest, all claws out.

I exhaled heavily, trying to get my bearings right while I struggled to free my wrists. I had felt someone tap my arms incessantly earlier before I fell into the abyss of that terrible memory.

"Who are you?" I asked shakily as fear gripped me at the thought of the unfamiliar man. He seemed like a very strong wolf judging by his scent, and could easily do anything to me.

"Don't hurt me, please. Let me go, I swear you won't see me again, please just let me go" I cracked and sobbed woefully, especially because Kat was relaxed and uncaring of what was happening.

"Alpha sent me to get you for breakfast. I'm not here to hurt you. My name is Rafael. Can you open your eyes, Luna?" He cajoled.

"Open your eyes, Urah. We are safe here. He's harmless." Kat urged while rolling her eyes at me.

I opened my eyes and blinked a few times to adjust to the bright rays of sunlight filtering into the room.

Rafael was tall and bulky and yes, definitely a ranked wolf. He released my wrists, eyeing me warily before he bowed and headed out.

I sighed in relief. I had dozed off after having my meal the previous afternoon. Deimos had arranged for an omega to bring a tray up to my room since I had not touched my food earlier at lunch.

He was so thoughtful and sweet and I was afraid of getting used to it.

I got up and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. I paused to take a look at myself in the wall-length mirror. I realised that my bruisings had healed completely and the pain and aches were gone.

"A little thank you would be nice. Don't you think? I worked all night to heal your wounds. " Kat said sassily.

I rolled my eyes playfully, "Of course, you're welcome" I laughed at Kat's version of a pout and headed into the shower.

"We need to hunt to replenish our energy." Kat continued.

"But I haven't shifted!."

"You're 21 today. We will shift when the moon comes out. Eat a lot. We'll need it tonight."

"Yeah yeah, whatever" I rolled my eyes at her.

I was rinsing off when I heard the door to the room open up.

"Who is there?" I asked curiously. No one answered. Kat perked up, and her alertness had my heart racing.

I've come to realise that Kat was playful and aloof, but whenever we were in danger, she was alert.

I turned off the shower and tried to pick up my towel. It was then that I realised that I had left it on the bed while chatting with Kat.

I heard the sound of footsteps approaching and asked again, "Who is there? What do you want?"

Again, I received no answer. This time, my fear became palpable. I saw the knob of the bathroom door turn, and I rushed to push against it with my body, hoping to prevent the intruder from getting inside.

Kat tried to help by channeling her strength to me, but she was weak from healing me.

The intruder, however, was stronger and forced the door open, pushing me onto the cold wet floor in the process.

My knees hit the floor and bruised immediately but I paid no attention to it. I raised my head to find the intruder.

My fear sky rocketed and utter confusion filled me upon seeing the face of the intruder. Despite that, I couldn't hold my tongue, "Who are you?"