Canis Lupus

Eighteen

Today is the day! My graduation ceremony starts at 4 today and then my Luna ceremony starts when the moon hits it's apex tonight. I've been so scared all week but today I'm just excited. I've worked so hard and it's finally here. I get to graduate with my best friends, then become Luna. I was always scared that we would be separated, but we get to stay together after all! Christina has been helping plan out my Luna ceremony and I cant wait to see what she does with it. She had me fitted for a dress and I didn't even know what it looked like. My fingers are crossed, it's not awful. This past week I've also been training for my new position as Luna. Sam and I haven't had much time together because of it being such a busy week, but I've been spending a lot of time with his mother, Mackenzie. I always knew I looked up to this woman but I have learned so much more about her and I absolutely adore her. Humans granted "equal rights" for everyone, but in the pack it didn't matter. Until twenty-five years ago, women weren't allowed to fight in the pack army, we weren't allowed to talk back or disagree. Luna Mackenzie refused to be a part of the pack if the laws weren't going to change. Sam's grandparents weren't bad leaders, but they were like a lot of the other packs and didn't believe women were equal. Luna Mackenzie made it one of her goals to take any law away that downplayed a woman's ability to work, learn or fight. I was so beyond excited to make her accomplishment flourish into this next generation. I knew I looked up to this woman, but actually working with her and learning, I've seen how much of a saint she really is. She's been showing me so much stuff about being Luna. I've worked through every pack issue for the past week while Sam got everything together for graduation and my ceremony.

I told Sam that today was our day. I didn't want any politics, no interruptions until graduation. We both had to be at graduation practice and I just wanted the day with him. It was somewhere around 11:30 am and nothing in the world could ever compare to sleeping in and being lazy with this beautiful man.

I lay in his arms cuddled up just savoring his scent. This amazing man in my arms was everything I could ever want. "What are you thinking about, love?" he asked.

"A little bit of everything, my whole life changes today. I guess I'm just excited, maybe a little nervous."

He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

"I was the same at my Alpha ceremony, it gets a little nerve wracking but its over with before you know it."

"I remember your alpha ceremony, my mom wouldn't let us go because of how late it would be but Christina and I snuck out to watch you..." I caught myself, how embarrassing, we snuck out just to watch Sam strip. Who could blame me though? He was built like a Greek god.

Sam raised an eyebrow "To watch me what?" he said with a sly grin.

"Um, you know. We just wanted to watch your speech, very... inspirational?" sounding more like a question than a statement.

"Very convincing." he rolled his eyes "What did you come for, Cordelia?" he asked, rolling on top of me, pressing his hardened length to my core.

"Did you come to see this?" he asked, grabbing my hands and running them down his chest, to his abs down to his shaft. "No, you came for this?" he said so cocky. I felt my cheeks blush and my core warm. He knew how to mess with me, he knew that just a simple touch from him was all it took for my body to ache for him. He was so sexy but so cocky, but I knew just as much as I wanted him, he wanted me.

"Oh, no that's not it, we came to see Dennis, we always loved seeing.." he growled, dropping his face down where we were nose to nose.

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence" he said, not breaking eye contact. He dropped his head onto my neck, inhaling deeply. His hand reached up and pulling my face to the side so he had better access to my neck, planting his lips down to my mark. I felt his hand drop to my breast, rolling my hardened bud between his fingers. He slid his hand down further, ripping my underwear from my body as he cupped my core feeling the electricity run through me, the pure bliss I felt from his touch. My body and my wolf reacted, making it hard to keep my composure.

"You are mine, I am the only one who can make you feel this way, but if you want to tease me, we can stop." he said, rolling off of me snickering.

My jaw dropped open and I looked at him, making him laugh even more. I slapped his chest and sat up to get off the bed, but when I stood up I felt his huge arm wrap around my waist, pulling me down into his chest. The more I tried to get out of his grip, the tighter it got and the more he cackled.

"Come on now baby, I was just teasing." he said, kissing my mark, making me relax into his arms.

"There's my good girl"

His good girl, he had never called me that before, so why did it turn me on so much? I turned my head and connected my lips to his, pulling him as close as I could. Flipping around to where we were chest to chest, he pulled my knees out from under me, dropping me to my back.

We spent hours exploring every inch of each others bodies before we had to start getting ready for graduation practice. Sam had to give his speech and had to help pass out diplomas. I loved it, even not being able to spend the entire day together, spending it knowing he was right there with me made me happy.

"Are you ready, my love?" he asked through our bathroom door while I was finishing up my makeup.

"We have to be there by 2 and it's 1:30," he said.

"I'm almost done, I just gotta put my mascara on and get dressed." I said.

I threw on a black top and a red suede skirt. Was I overdressed? Probably, but something told me skinny jeans and band tees were out of the question. Maybe knowing what's coming tonight has me wanting to grow up a little bit, or at least made me want to dress nicer. I put on my tights and my heels and made my way out of the door.

As soon as his eyes met my body, his eyes flashed black and a low growl escaped his lips. I could tell him and Draco both approved of my outfit.

"Wow, you look beautiful, my love." he said, running his hands up and down my body.

I stood on my tippy toes and gently pressed my lips to his.

"Thank you baby." I said "Are you ready?" I asked.

He nodded and grabbed my hand, heading for the door, only to open it to Denny's grinning face.

"I'm still mad at you asshole, but I guess I can work on forgiving you," he said, punching Sam in the arm. "And you my Luna, you look beautiful as always.", earning him a growl from Sam. "Okay mister possessive" he said, rolling his eyes.

"Gabriel and Jerimiah have your car sitting out front to take you to the community center. We've upped guard rotations and stationed double surrounding the building. Everyone wants to see their future Luna graduate, so the entire pack is going to be at the graduation ceremony, so better safe than sorry." he said.

"Wait, the entire pack wants to see me graduate? For what? They already have to come to my Luna ceremony tonight. Could that not be enough.." I said. I knew my future, I knew what was expected of me, but I just wanted one more thing as Cordelia and not as Luna Cordelia.

"I know love, but you've already been put in the public eye and they all want to support you." Sam said squeezing my hand reassuringly.

"I know and I appreciate it. I just didn't want the whole Luna thing to take over. Can we make sure the parents at least get the better seats since they're there for more than just me?"

"Don't worry about that, Luna, we made sure anyone that doesn't have family graduating today is in the upper tier of the graduation room. That way, it's still personal to the families. As soon as Sam realized you were his mate, we started changing the seating protocol." Dennis said.

"Wait, you didnt even know I was for sure your mate and you started changing things for me?" I said.

"Of course, I had a very good feeling it was you after I met you at career day. I knew something was different about you and I knew as soon as we held the introduction ceremony that your graduation would be bombarded. I respect your mother and father too much for them to not be able to see their daughter's accomplishments." Sam said. Wow, I was completely obvlious to any of this planning and i've done nothing but train as Luna and didn't know a thing about it. How was i just completely oblivious of everyone around me working to change something that hasn't been messed with since Sam was graduating. I looked up at Sam and saw his face change, knowing it was the mate bond showing him what I was feeling.

"I wanted it to be a secret, I didn't want you to be panicking about your graduation when there was no reason to. I just wanted it to be nice for you without adding the extra panic love." Sam said like he knew exactly what I was thinking.

I squeezed his hand and started walking down the hallway to make it to the door.

"Gabe and Jer are going to fill you in on all the protocols that we need you to follow tonight, secuirity is going to be at top teir." Dennis said earning him a scolding look from Sam.

"Wait, why? It's just a graduation ceremony." I said.

"I figured your dad would have explained to you." Dennis said. Sam growled, staring daggers at Dennis.

"She's Luna man, she needs to be prepared even if you don't want her to be." he said.

"what's he talking about, Sam?" I asked.

"Let's get to the car and we can fill you in" Sam growled through gritted teeth. I've seen Sam mad and I've seen him irritated but never like this. He was trying to shelter me like I wasn't one of the best warriors in the pre-army training sessions. I know i've never been in a war like them but I had a right to not be kept in the dark. I could feel his irritation running through me like it was my own, and maybe it was, or maybe it was just mixing with my own. I felt a small jolt of heat shoot through my hand and Sam ripped his hand back looking at his palm exposing a small red burn on his hand.

"What the hell was that?" he questioned. I didn't know what happened, the only time i've ever tapped into my powers was when we were questioning Keegan.

"I don't know, I felt your irritation and it mixed with my own and all I felt was hot." I said shrugging. I knew I had magic and I knew that it would expose its self slowly as I progressed, but I didn't think it would be malicious like that. I didn't want to hurt him even if it was a superficial burn, I still hurt him. I turned around and pulled back and started walking back to our room. I couldn't do this. I couldn't even keep myself from hurting him.

"Cordie, where are you going?" he asked in a soft voice "I'm fine, see healed and no harm done." he said.

"I hurt you because I was angry. You're keeping secrets from me. What happens if I do something to hurt someone else?" I said. I was genuinely concerned. It might have been a small burn but it was still the fact that it happened when I had no clue it was going to happen.

"My love, Artemis said that your powers would surface with your emotions. You are brand new to your wolf, plus tapping into mine as well. Those are logical reasons for your powers to come to the surface. She said they would start manifesting more and more since you know about your true identity. Don't panic baby, we will help you. And I will explain in the car what you don't know."

I agreed and laced my fingers into his following him and Dennis down to the car where Gabriel and Jerimiah greeted us with a smile.

"He didn't annoy you too badly did he?" Gabriel asked, gesturing towards Dennis.

"Hey, all I did was go and get them. She's the one with zappy fingers" he said, teasing, throwing up his jazz fingers at me.

"Dennis.." Sam started and I cut him off.

"No, it's alright. If you would like, I can show you zappy fingers." I said making his eyes widen. I reached my hand out while he was distracted and recalled the same feeling I had when it happened with Sam. Before he could pull away I felt the same heat run through my body to my hands, leaving a small superficial burn on his arm as well.

"Ouch!" he screamed, pulling his arm back.

Sam, Gaberiel and Jermemiah all started bellowing in laughter "You're really going to fit in great!" Gabriel said.

"Yeah, an asshole just like her mate!" he whined, making the guys all laugh again.

"Alright, enough whining, we really have to go." Sam said, opening the back door of the SUV for me.

When we got going down the road Sam started explaining what was going on "We don't have too many ceremonies in our community, mainly because it can leave our defences down. We try to stick only to the necessities. Any chance rogues or vampires have to stick their noses where it doesn't belong, they will. It hasn't been confirmed at all that there is going to be an attack or a sighting but with two ceremonies in one day it wouldn't suprise me. That's the only reason we have extra secuirity, for just in case. So don't look too much into it, I just want to make sure your day is as special as it can be for you."

We made it to the community center in just enough time to start rehearsal. We all ran through rehearsal in enough time to immediately start the ceremony. I caught eyes with Christina and Joseph and immediately heard her mouth "b***h we did it!" she screamed, making everyone look at us.

The ceremony went by smoothly and we finally made it to the part of the ceremony where they pass out diplomas. They called my name and I walked up to the stage feeling thousands of eyes on me but something felt off. I looked at all the people standing in their seats and caught the eyes of a strange-looking man glaring at me. He had short black hair and the darkest eyes I had ever seen. He had no expression on his face other than disgust and hunger. I had never seen him before and it made me super uneasy. I guess Sam could feel my mood shift and walked up behind me looking for what made me feel that way. The man's eyes peeled off of me and made their way to Sam before he turned around and sped off. I looked behind me, scared out of my mind, and saw Sam's eyes glaze over, knowing he saw what I saw and that strange man was not supposed to be here.

"I apologize for that ladies and gentleman, we seem to have an uninvited guest, but rest assured our guard is on it" Sam said. "Shall we continue." he said kissing me on the cheek to hide that he was whispering in my ear. "I don't know what that was about but the guards are all looking for him now. " I rushed back to my seat and kept my eyes open and alert the rest of the cermony.