UnWilling Luna

Prologue

When the Pack Warriors came back from war, they sat down in the grassy field, blood dripping from wounds that I soon was going to have to heal. My body was on fire, but I knew that this was the only way to prove my worth so Mom and I could stay here. This is what she wanted, and I wasn’t going to disappoint her. She had struggled so much up until this point. She was desperate. I had to make sure that none of her sacrifices were in vain.

“Pup, are you going to heal them, or was your Rogue Mother lying?” a harsh, low voice growled in my ear, the heat from it warming my face, which made me whimper.

“I-I’ll go,” I stammered back, slowly taking a step towards the bloodied warriors. I was just a child, barely old enough to hear my wolf whine in the back of my head as I approached unknown Warriors. How could I be expected to do this? I had only healed very, very minor injuries before. Never anything to this extent. Not even close.

“Men! This is our Healer. Her abilities are Goddess given, and as a Former Rogue, she has no ties to any other Pack, so her loyalty is unquestionable,” the booming voice that has just been in my ear announced, making the Warriors’ attention all turn to me with curiosity and distrust.

“Hello,” I said in a meek voice, my blood rushing to my face. I wasn’t used to all this attention, especially from males. It had been my mother and I alone for so long that I wasn’t used to them at all. It was overwhelming.

A few greeted me back, but many’s eyes narrowed. I’m sure they could smell that I wasn’t yet a full fledged member of the Pack, but that was because I wasn’t allowed to make the Oath until I proved that I really did have healing abilities. The Alpha had made it very clear that if my mother was lying about my abilities then not only would we not be able to join the Pack, but there was a risk that we could be killed. Of course the Warriors didn’t trust me. I didn’t blame them. I didn’t trust the Alpha when he first came to my mother and I, after my mother offered to give him my healing abilities for us to become Pack Members, despite it being my mother’s idea for him to come. I understood being weary. I was weary. I’m sure that them smelling that on me didn’t help in easing any of their tension or worries.

Gulping, I finally made it to the nearest Warrior, who was eyeing me with curiosity. He was young, probably just able to access his wolf form. How could they let someone do young fight? He was barley an adult. Was he even an adult? Swallowing hard again, I hesitantly reached out to a large bite mark on his arm. As soon as our skin touched, yellow and blue sparked erupted, making him yelp and yank his arm back. His eyes were wild. The Warriors near him jumped to attention.

“You have to stay still. I’m sorry. I should have warned you it would hurt,” I muttered, looking down at my feet. Tears pricked my eyes as I tried not to hyperventilate with panic.

There was a moment of silence before he took my hand, placing it back on his wound. He stiffened under me as I gritted my teeth, the pain making my whole body ache, but it was over quickly. When the sparks stopped, he lifted up his fully healed arm. There wasn’t even a scar to show where he has lost so much flesh.

Howls of joy erupted, and soon all the Warriors were crowded around me, asking me to do them next. I started breathing harder, my chest tight, and a cotton feeling in my ears. I could hear my Mother, but it was like I was underwater. Before I could help myself, I started crying, covering my face as my small frame shook. I was overwhelmed. There was too much going on, and there were too many people who were hurt that needed me. I didn’t know if I could help all of them.

“Why are you crying?! Get back to work,” the Alpha shouted, only making me cry harder.

My mother said something, but I couldn’t hear over the Luna’s bark. Everyone, including the Alpha, fell silent.

“Darling, what’s wrong?” she asked, crouching down next to me. Her presence was comforting.

I opened my eyes, still crying. “It hurts, and it’s so loud. I-I can’t when it’s so loud. I want Mama. I wanna go home. I can’t do this. I’m, I’m sorry.”

“How old are you?” she asked, waving my mother closer from where she had been kept in place by the Beta.

“Four,” I whispered, wiping my eyes as my mother scooped me up.

“That’s awfully young, and it hurts you to heal?”

I nodded before burying my face in my mom’s chest as she bent down to scoop me up. I felt like I was suffocating. I wanted to go home so badly, even though this is what she wanted. I didn’t understand how she could want this. It was so different from everything else that I had ever known.

“It’s okay. For right now, how about you only do surface wounds? For bigger, deeper ones, we’ll send them to the infirmary. That’s probably better until we know exactly how your magic works, don’t you think?” the Luna asked in a soothing voice, placing her hand on my head.

I looked up at my mother, who smiled down at me. I smiled back at her before turning to look at the Luna and nodding. “O-okay. I think I can do that.”