Wolfless Luna

Chapter 1

Hannah's POV:

There is something exciting about fighting each other with the crowd cheering insanely, sweat stinging and blurring my gaze as I try to keep track of my opponent.

As the weakest werewolf in my pack, I always lose in these fights and suffer the consequences by serving the Alpha, Luca. Some say he is not a normal werewolf, that he has Demon blood in him.

To me, he is just a regular douchebag.

I throw a punch at the blonde girl hopping around me and missed. My eyes are burning from the blinding intensity of the scalding hot sun, squinting to get a clearer view of my opponent only to be scratched in the face by her sharp claws. Thanks to my wolf blood, I could heal faster than a human but slower than a regular werewolf.

I have not phased yet. These fights were the Alpha's idea to force my wolf out. Sometimes he lets them beat me to the point of death, hoping my wolf would save me. Except my wolf was a coward, or maybe I had no wolf in me, maybe I was just a misfit. Sometimes I regarded myself as a human with weird abilities because I felt more human than a werewolf, and more werewolf than a human.

'Fight!!! Fight!!! Fight!!!' The entire pack screams at us. In my head, I want to vanish, crumble into the dust under my feet, and be forgotten forever. I would not have to attend to the Alpha's concubines, humans and werewolves or wash the sheets after them. I would not have to taste the Alpha's food for wolfsbane or argentium. I would not have to listen to him ridicule me for my condition or stare at his glum face.

My life was frustrating enough.

I throw another frail blow into the air and let out a shriek when my legs give out under me, forcing me to land face-first into the pile of dust on the ground. I think the blonde girl kicked my legs from under me with her wolf strength, rendering me stupid and completely useless.

The pack roars in excitement as my opponent stands on my back, her victory signature, while I sob from embarrassment and frustration. My body will heal, but my mind won't.

I rise from my pitiful position for the referee to raise the hand of the winner. And my hand remains down even now alongside my entire mood.

The cheers mock me, and though I try to be strong, biting and sucking my bottom lip to distract the tears that threaten to roll from my eyes. It just hurts, it hurts so bad I want to die. When would I be free?

In shame, I wait for no one to apprise me of the consequences, letting my tired legs drag me to the Alpha's office, my prison.

I knock on his door and wait for a reply like I always did since he snatched me from my parents. He killed my parents on the night of my sixteenth birthday, setting the house on fire with them inside because they had breached a rule by keeping me a secret because I could not phase.

'Turn the knob, Hannah.' His voice is like a chilling fragrance. It has an effect that makes me forget his sins for a second, making my belly flutter with a thousand butterflies before I can regain my sanity.

I turn the knob obediently, pushing the door ajar with an annoying creak and shutting it behind me. A gust of burnt wood and blood tainted with sandalwood and aftershave floods into my nostrils without warning. I could never get accustomed to this maelstrom of scents that owns his presence, nor could I endure the torture of his handsomeness. It is hard always reminding myself that he is my enemy.

'You failed to phase,' he states the obvious, from behind his desk, arms folded across his chest, and disappointment sitting in his gaze. 'What do I do with you, Hannah? Ain't you better off human? I have tried everything. Torture. Motivation. Magic. But you just won't phase even though you possess our other abilities.'

I keep my head down, unwilling to accept his pity.

'Speak!'

What am I supposed to say!? Agree to the obvious? Tell him to be patient?

'Forgive me,' I say, the words coming out putrid and dry.

'Forgiveness? I should let you die with your parents. You're not the kind of responsibility I expected.'

I crack open like a coconut, my mouth losing its elasticity as I stare at him wide-eyed. My belly churns from raw anger, fists clenched by my sides with fingers digging into my palms until I can smell blood. And I'm sure as hell he can smell it too. I should have gotten used to his horrifying remarks and assumptions, but it gets new each time he renews the memory of that night.

I had blown out all sixteen candles when our front door came flying towards us. My heart had leapt out of my chest seeing this unfathomable occurrence, but when the men responsible strolled in, I lost my sense of reasoning. Except among us three, my parents were the most chill, they were prepared for the moment.

'Go through the back door,' my dad had instructed me with style, and even in my disconcerted state, I obeyed as there was little to no help I could offer.

With an assuring nod from my mom, my hesitation was gone. I bolted from the living room to the kitchen and through the back door, racing into the woods like an animal. There was something about that night I could not understand, the strength in my legs, my night vision, and the weird reconfiguration of my respiratory system. There was nothing I could not smell. And that was when I smelled the fire, then the heat from miles behind me.

Our house. A giant bonfire, cackling with smoke that possessed the woods like a fog. My instincts took over my sanity, heart exploding into a million bits as I realized what might have occurred. Before I knew it, I was running back to the house with a speed that was incomparable to the former, only to be bumped into by Luca. An irredeemable expression on his face as he knocked me out.

Since then, his priority has been to pull out my wolf in every manner possible. But my hatred for him and the pack would not let me transform no matter what they did to provoke my wolf. My will was unmatched.

But now I am tired. Too tired from the fights. I wish my wolf would come out so they would leave me be.

'You are bleeding,' Luca stated in boredom, eyeing me with pathetic eyes. 'Get ready. We are going on a trip. I asked another pack for help.'