THE TRUE ALPHA

CHAPTER 3: UNCOVERING FATE

When Henry got home from school that day he told his parents and sister about what had happened. They were shocked and horrified and they all talked about how scary it must have been . The next day at school Luna , and he looked just as troubled as she felt . "How are you doing?" she asked , "not great" he said . " I keep thinking about what happened, and I can't help but but feel like I should have done something. maybe if I'd acted faster, or if I'd been more alert , I could have stopped it " Luna shook her head.

" You can't blame yourself, she said . "There's no way , you could have known what was going to happen" Henry sighed . " Henry you need to give yourself some grace " she said " you are only human, you can't be perfect all the time ." He gave her a small smile "thanks Luna " he said . " I just want to do the write thing you know? " she nodded, " I know " she said and thought to herself that maybe all humans weren't as selfish and wicked as they presume them to be , maybe are sympathetic and selfless like Henry , just as most werewolves are." But some times , the right thing is just to accept that things happen and move on " she said out loud. Henry noticed that Luna was looking troubled all day .she seemed distracted and fidgety, and he couldn't help but worry about her , " Hey are you okay? " he asked her after class . "Yeah ", she said , trying not to sound upbeat , " I'm just a bit stressed, that's all ." He nodded "I know what might help ." he said , " why don't you come over to my house this weekend? , we can hang out , you can meet my family and take your mind off things." she hesitated, but then she nodded , " okay " , she said , " I think that might help."

That weekend, Luna went to Henry's house. He lived in a nice house in the suburbs of Bingham city, and his family was friendly, they was hospitable to Luna .

They had dinner together and then Henry showed her around the house. " come on" he said, leasing her upstairs. " I want to show you something," he brought her to his room and she looked around in surprise . It was neat and tidy and there was a huge bookshelf filled with books . she turned to him a little confused. "You have a lot of books " she said going closer to the shelf ."Yeah" he said ," They are all actually books about........" werewolves " Luna completed after seeing the title of one of the books . "Yeah" he responded. " You like reading about werewolves?" Luna asked a little surprised. Henry nodded "yeah, I find something different about them , I just learn about them" he said . " The legends , the lore, the history." As he spoke Luna felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, something about his interest in werewolves seemed off , But she didn't want to be rude , so she just smiled and nodded" I guess that makes sense " she said, " after all , we live in a town with a history of werewolves." "Wait how do you that ? " Henry asked , Luna a bit taken aback " oh I....." Luna realized she'd probably said too much , " I saw some books in the library about Bingham city " "okay " Henry nodded" so do you know anything about werewolves too " he asked , Luna felt trapped, she didn't want to tell him the truth at least not now , but she didn't want to lie to him either " I ......I don't know much " .She said looking down at her feet . " okay " he responded.

The conversation turned to other , less sensitive topics, and the rest of the night passed in a blur of laughter and conversation. When it was time for Luna to go home, she was surprised by how much she had enjoyed herself. "Thanks for a great night " she started standing " anytime " Henry answered " I had fun too ." " Can I use the bathroom before leaving" Luna said . " Yeah sure , just walk straight then turn left " he said while pointing . As Luna went to the bathroom, she noticed something shiny on the floor, curious she bent down to pick it up . it was a silver necklace, glinting in the light. She admired it for a moment, untill she realized that touching it was making her skin feel warm and tingly. Her stomach dropped, silver was deadly to werewolves.

She stood up quietly, dropping the necklace and rushed to the nearest mirror, she held up her hand and was shocked to see that her skin was already starting to turn red and she felt excruciating pain .She had to get out of there , her heart pounding Luna ran to the closet where the necklace had come from , she opened the door , and her eyes widened in horror of what she saw .The closet was full of silver weapons, knives swords and silver bullets . She couldn't believe it. Henry's family were werewolf hunters, and she had been in their house, completely unaware. She had to get out of there now , But as she turned to leave, she heard footsteps in the hallway outside the door , " Luna?" came a voice . It was Henry, Luna froze . She quickly shoved her burning hands behind her back and took a deep breath trying to look calm and collected. " I was just leaving" she said, hoping her voice didn't sound as shaky as she felt . Henry looked at her , his brow furrowed in concern " Are you sure you're okay?" "I'm fine" , she said praying he wouldn't the sweat on her forehead or the fear in her eyes . "I just need to get home "

Henry seemed to accept her answer "okay" he said , "Let me walk you" Luna couldn't think of a way to refuse without arousing suspicion. So she nodded and followed him out of the room and down the hallway. As the neared the front door, Luna's heart was racing she just wanted to get out of there , when they reached the door Henry opened it and said " see you tomorrow" she managed a smile and a wave and then she was out the door and running home as fast as she could. When she got home , she locked the door , trying to process all that had just happened.