MONSTER LUNA:UNWANTED

*Ring... ring...*

Emily Lee's phone rang for the third time in a row. She was still in bed and was finding it unappealing to open her eyes and reach for her phone, whose recurrent ringing sound was nothing but a disturbance to her sweet morning sleep.

After some long seconds of inner struggle, she opened her eyes halfway, and a tiny sound escaped from her lips. "Ouch," she yawned. She adjusted her body a little and tried to stretch her arms while still in bed.

At the moment, she was extremely weak, and for some unknown reason, it felt as if her bones had been mercilessly smashed by a sledgehammer the night before.

"Oh... what time is it? I can't believe that I slept off," she soliloquized with sleepy eyes.

*Ring... ring...* the phone rang yet another time.

"Now I better get that," she murmured, her eyes still feeling very heavy.

With her eyes closed, she stretched forth her hands to grab her phone, but she winced at the pain she felt coming from her arms. She groped for the phone on the bed but could not find it. "Damn it, you bitch," she cursed under her breath. "Where is this damn phone?" she hissed.

*Ring... ring...* the ringtone of the phone sounded again.

"Oh, sure... where else..." she murmured.

She finally opened her tired eyes a little and stretched her hands to the side table where the phone was. The room was a bit swarthy, and she assumed that it was already the early hours of the day. "I can't believe I got back home," she murmured with a yawn, her mind trying to recollect the events of the previous night, but strangely, she was completely blank.

Finally reaching the phone, she quickly answered without taking a look at the caller's identity. "Hey..." she said, believing that it must be her boyfriend, Tyler, whom she hadn't spoken to all night long.

"Emily..." a voice yelled from the other end.

"Mo... mother..." Emily murmured in shock and tried to rub her sleepy eyes with her palm, wondering why Elise Lee would take the pain of calling her this early. Her heart began to race because she could not think of a reason for it.

"Where are you, Emily? I've been calling your phone for what seems like an eternity." The voice sounded hostile.

"I... I... where are you...?" At this point, Emily's voice was beginning to waver.

"I don't want to wait for you for another second," the angry voice yelled, and soon the phone was hung up before she could think of a response.

Taken aback, Emily stared at the phone in her hand, not sure if she was imagining things. As it was, she still could not understand why her stepmother would resort to using a phone to reach her instead of coming up to her room to meet her.

"Another trouble..." she muttered in fear, and immediately slumped back onto the bed, deciding that she was too tired to face anyone at this early hour of the day. She was having a hangover from the previous night, and she was just not ready for any trouble.

Soon she closed her eyes and decided to take a deep breath. When will all this be over? She mumbled to herself. However, even with what was happening, Emily found joy in the fact that for now, things are beginning to build up between her and her half-sister, Samantha Lee, and hopefully, her mother, Elise, will soon open up to accepting her. And truly, she cannot wait for that day to come.

Absentmindedly, she flung her phone, and it landed not too far from her on the bed. "Not now, just not now; maybe some other time," she whispered as she did this.

Emily is the first child of Oscar Lee. Her mother is human, and sadly, Emily took after her. Much to Oscar Lee's dismay, it was discovered when Emily was born that she is a human and has no wolf.

Emily had never met her mother, Benita, and the last time she saw pictures of her was a long time ago when she was a kid. Suddenly, as the day passed, the number of pictures continued to diminish, and soon there was not a single one left.

Emily never thought that a day would come when there would be no pictures of her mother left, so she never kept any of the pictures for herself. And now, it appears that she has completely forgotten what her mother looked like in those pictures.

*Ring... ring...* her phone soon began to ring again.

"What again?" she almost cried as soon as she heard her phone ring.

All she wanted was a good, long sleep this morning due to how tired she felt after the day before. But now she does not understand why her stepmother is bent on frustrating her.

*Ring... ring...* the phone rang again.

In anger, she reached for the phone, and yet again, without looking to know the caller, she answered it. "Mo... ther..." she murmured.

However, instead of Elise Lee's voice, Samantha Lee's voice was heard on the other end. "Hello, Emily..." Samantha said coldly.

"Samantha?" Emily was stunned to hear her half-sister's voice on the other end of the phone.

Now things were beginning to look scary.

"And where are you, Emily? You are absolutely unbelievable," Samantha retorted.

"What?" the confused Emily whispered. "Saman..."

Samantha would not let her finish but interjected. "You better come back home right now, loser, I don't want you to get me in trouble," she yelled.

"Trouble, what trouble?" the muddled Emily asked.

When she did not get a response from Samantha, she insisted. "Answer me, Samantha."

However, there was silence at the other end. She brought down the phone only to discover that Samantha had already hung up. "What the heck is going on?" she almost screamed in dismay. Everything was beginning to seem like a big and scary dream to her, and all she wanted was to wake from it.

"You know if I were you, I would be long gone," a hoarse male voice was heard in the room.

Emily jerked immediately after she heard the strange voice, and she almost flew out of the bed in the process. Who is he, and what is he doing in her room? Her frightened mind raced through a lot of questions and possibilities.

Even though the room was not well- illuminated, she could still see his physique. He was just coming out of the bathroom and had a towel tied around his waist. She kept wondering how he got into her room and what he was doing in her house. She screamed inside her head as a result of the fear that had built up within her.

Amidst her anxiety, the strange man looked at her with a blooming smile. "You have woken up; you have been asleep for like forever," he said indifferently.

"Who are... you?" She finally found her voice.

As she questioned him, she watched for recognition to spark through his features, but there was none. She could swear that she had never met him before now. "What are you doing in my room? How did you get in here?" she demanded in a shaken voice.

She was both frightened and prepared to defend herself, should he be an assassin. Yes, she might not be strong, but she knows one or two things about fighting for one's life. She assured herself.

Still in her frightened state, she heard him giggle, and she wondered if he was laughing at her or if she appeared stupid to him.

"I should be asking you that," he replied, leaving her in even deeper confusion than she already was.

"What... do you... mean?" She stuttered helplessly, afraid of what the stranger had in mind to do to her.

"I was going to wake you up, you know, but I just felt like letting you sleep more," he replied. "Humans get exhausted easily," he quietly added.

At this point, Emily's mind ran through all that had transpired the night before. Yesterday, Samantha agreed to bring Emily to a friend's party. In fact, that was the first time Samantha would ever agree to be seen in public with her.

It was the party of one of Samantha's rich friends, the crème de la crème of society, and so Emily was just too glad to accompany Samantha to the party. She is a human, and only werewolves are found in such a gathering, so she felt it was a huge privilege, especially coming from someone as sophisticated as Samantha.

The party started late at night and lasted through the night. Seeing how it went, it was one place Emily would have given up a limb to attend. It was glamorous, and it was nothing like what Emily had ever seen or imagined.

In the course of the party, Samantha had done well to introduce Emily to a few of her friends and had also been benevolent enough to let Emily sit at their table and share a drink with them. However, there wasn't much that she could discuss with them as their talks were about wars, rogues, shifting, and the like, and those were things Emily had no first-hand experience with.

At the party, Emily had so much fun and way too much to drink, and that was all she could remember. And now...

At this junction, a cord in Emily snapped, and she ran out of bed to go open the window blinds and also put on the light, while the strange man smirked and sniffed as he watched her. He felt completely amused by her reaction.

"You..." Emily yelled as her eyes finally caught a clear image of the stranger.

"Of course, what is going on? You seem to forget real quick," he mused.

Emily cannot say what happened after she had too much to drink last night. However, when she woke up this morning, she thought she was still at the party, but finding herself on a bed, she believed that she was in her room even though she could not say how she got there.

"Nick..." she called. She could finally recognize the young man in front of her. "Where am I? What is this place and what am I doing here?" she asked in her state of frustration and confusion as her tired blue eyes searched through his features.

She still remembered his name, Nick, Don Nick, in full. He was the young man who had taken a liking to her the night before and had treated her so nicely, even though it was clear that she was way out of his league. He is one of Samantha's friends. But even at that, she could still not figure out how she ended up with him in this strange room.

Rather than respond to her questions, he giggled and went to sit in the luxury swivel chair in front of the vanity. It was at this point that Emily's eyes flickered around the room to see its aesthetic.

The interior of the room was exorbitantly decorated, and Emily would not want to imagine what the exterior would look like. She believed that they were in a hotel, and if so, it is one of the highest-ranked hotels in the city, so she concluded that the room must be an executive suite. She had never been somewhere like this before, so she could still be overwhelmed by its beauty amidst her fear and anger.

However, Emily was not having his silence; she was already frustrated, and she demanded answers to her many questions, so she angrily went on. "Answer me, Nick; how did the both of us end up together in this room, and why am I still here?" she demanded.

Emily could not tell where she got the boldness to look him in the face and yell at him. He is one of the few billionaires in Twin Sparks Island and the CEO of one of the leading architecture companies, and on a good day, she dared not stand in his presence and address him in such a manner. He is so powerful that he could order her extinction just with a snap of his finger, and no one would dare challenge him.

At twenty-nine, Don Nick, the CEO of Nicolands Worldwide, is practically the hottest bachelor in town, considering the well-known fact that he is not engaged to any lady and neither does he have a girlfriend. He is also very handsome and is perfectly built for a man his age. But right now, all that does not matter to Emily, because all she wanted to know was how she ended up in the same room with him, and what might have transpired between them during the weary hours of the night.

Reacting to her, Nick furrowed his dark brows at her, and his gaze narrowed a little, making him even more attractive. "You asked," he paused abruptly and continued. "...no, you practically begged to accompany me, so why the sudden fuss?" His gaze intensified, obviously irritated by her pretty face. "Just so you know, I am not going to let you blackmail me with this if that is what you plan to do," he said blandly with the edge of his voice for emphasis.

AT THE PACKHOUSE

The atmosphere was tense even as the cool early morning breeze blew across the gigantic structure of the Twin Sparks Island Packhouse. Of course, why won't everyone be filled with eagerness as they all await the outcome of the day? Of all people, Zanlagar, the great seer, has visited the Packhouse at this early hour of the day.

There has been great tension in the Packhouse for months now. Lycan Ryder, the fearsome Dragon Lycan king, has sent a note to the Pack, and in it are words clearly spelled out.

'Drancudie Dynasty vows

to invade Twin Sparks Island

and leave it in shambles

in the nearest future.'

In the note, it is stated that nothing would avert this impending wrath. However, to escape from this, Alpha Xavier was given the task of presenting a gift capable of appealing to Lycan Ryder. But then everyone knows the Dragon Lycan king of the Drancudie Dynasty. He hated werewolves, and nothing could be more appealing to him than seeing them destroyed. Their ruins-yes, their ruins-would be the only thing to appease the Dragon Lycan King.

The pack has since lived in fear, and the fact of the note has remained an open secret among the werewolves. Everyone is fervently praying and hoping that the fearsome Lycan delays his mission of doom.

Since the reception of the note, Alpha Xavier has eagerly awaited the arrival of Zanlagar, the seer. Twin Sparks Island can be said to be the strongest pack, but what chance does it possess against the mystical powers of the Drancudie Dynasty?

The only chance it has is the seer, and now he is here. At a point like this one, only the seer can say what step can be taken or what could appease the bloodthirsty heart of the Dragon Lycan king.

For ages, packs have been left in ruins by the mere breath from the mouth of the dragon lycan king. He shows no mercy wherever he invades, not even to sucking children. His slogan is "Even a toddler werewolf is a betrayer to shifters." Thus, he kills even babies in the womb. He rips open the womb, brings out the little foetus, and tears it to shreds with his bare hands.

Betrayers, yes, that is what he sees werewolves as. They are soft and weak and should be wiped out of existence. To the Lycan, werewolves are worse off than humans.

"You will have to get her, the maiden with the green pearl. She is his doom, his greatest fear," Zanlagar spoke, his voice echoing.

"Her, with the green pearl... how do I know her?" Alpha Xavier asked.

It was joyous to hear the seer come up with a solution. Alpha Xavier loves the members of his pack. For ages, his family has remained the alpha of the pack and has always had the full support of its members. On his part, he has been a good alpha to his people, doing everything to protect them.

"You must go out in search of her. Always be kind to strangers, and when you find her, make her your luna. With her by your side, the Dragon Lycan King will trouble the pack no more. She bears his neutralizer," he explained.

"A stranger? Is she my mate?" Alpha Xavier inquired further.

"She only bears the green pearl on the right side of her neck. It glows under the full moon," Zanlagar replied.

"Oh... okay," Alpha Xavier said. He knew it was futile to persuade the seer to say more than he intended to.

"You must get her soon, alpha," Zanlagar declared.

After these last words, he took his bow and found his way out.

As soon as the seer was gone, beta Jasleen drew closer to the alpha and whispered. "Now you have to go searching for a stranger; how difficult can this get?"

"Now I am beginning to doubt the seer has a solution to our predicament," Alpha Xavier murmured, feeling defeated.

"No, don't say so. Zanlagar has done even more for this pack. He has been with us even in much more difficult times. All we need to do is find this stranger," Beta Jasleen appealed.

"Yes, of course, we have to wait for the full moon," Alpha Xavier replied.

"She has the green petals on the right side of her neck," beta Jasleen countered.

"And it only glows on the full moon," Alpha Xavier pointed out.

"But then who says that it cannot glow at other times?" Beta Jasleen decides to remain positive.

"And now I should go about meeting strangers," alpha Xavier nodded as he said this. He could not imagine how bad this could get.

"You are a good alpha; the people love you." beta Jasleen said. "And who says you must do that in person? We all have to be on the lookout for the lady with the green pearl on the right side of her neck," beta Jasleen remarked.

"I might have to go out now, Jasleen," Alpha Xavier announced.

"To where, alpha?" beta Jasleen asked.

"Remember, I have a search to carry out," he replied.

"This early..." beta Jasleen was stunned.