Selene Terra Firma

Alpha

Pulling her luggage behind, she turned off her iPod then put it inside the pocket of her jacket. She was walking to the arrival area after her mother when she saw her relatives waving in her direction.

"MANG!" She cried as she ran towards her grandmother and embraced her tightly. "I've missed you, Mamang."

They were welcomed by her titas and titos, together with her cousins as well. She realized how much she had missed them.

"You've grown thinner. Aren't you eating?" Her grandmother asked her worriedly while checking her from head to toe.

"Of course, I am." She giggled, still feeling excited.

"You look more gorgeous than you ever were every time you visit, Selene." Her Tita Lanie greeted her.

"Don't flatter me too much, Tita." She joked.

She was also greeted by her younger cousin Mary by meekly waving at her. After the warm welcome, they all entered the van and departed as soon as their luggage was good to go.

Both her parents, her titas and titos as well as her grandparents were having their usual conversation together. Her brother was also busy being interrogated by her male cousins about computer games, while she was occupied by her female cousins and her male cousins' girlfriends. How on earth did they all fit in the van anyway, she thought.

"Did you bring me pasalubong, Manang?" Her other cousin Mia asked, who was sitting beside her. Pasalubong is a gift people take home from a place they have gone to, like a souvenir while manang is a term for older sister. Manong is for the opposite. She opened her bag.

"I don't know what to bring but I bought this windmill replica from Antipolo. I was on a road trip with my friends," explained Selene before giving the small souvenir to her.

"What about mine, Manang?" Her other, another cousin Chloe who was sitting behind her asked too.

"Mine too!" exclaimed Ting at the back.

Selene got overwhelmed by her cousins' energy but instead of getting mad at them, she laughed. She calmly told everyone to keep quiet if they wanted to receive their pasalubong and they willingly obeyed. Despite knowing about their vacation last minute, she still had managed to prepare something for everyone. Though all of it was in her suitcase.

She has twelve cousins on her mother's side of the family; seven from her Tita Lanie, two from her Tito Jano, and three from her Tito Rey. All of them consider her as their eldest sister as she is the eldest granddaughter of her Mamang and Padang. Other than that, she also has two older male cousins. They get to bond together two months every year, so they are close with another.

It was an enormous yet loving family. If only they chose to stay here for good, she would have made more fun memories than she had in the capital city. Selene had only lived here for six years yet she has already gone on countless adventures with her cousins, especially her two older cousins. The memories may be a bit blurry now but they have plenty of photographs to remind them of their joyful childhood.

Before she turned seven, when she was still living with her Mamang, her father decided to take both her and her mother to live in the Capital for two years—that was when her mother got pregnant with her little brother. When he turned three, they have made it a habit to visit her mother's hometown every summer.

"We should have dinner outside," announced Tita Lanie. The whole g**g merrily agreed.

They stopped at a well-known fast-food restaurant. Since they were too many, they connected all five tables to form a larger table. The room was loud and chaotic.

"Selene, please make your cousins quiet." Her stressed Tita Lanie pleaded while the other elders were lined up at the counter to order for dinner.

She knew this would happen.

She stood up from her seat and adjusted her voice before talking to a megaphone she prepared.

"My loud, little cousins." She started. "If you don't quiet down, I won't let you come with me tomorrow!"

The other customers glanced at them, some even laughed. Not just because of the megaphone, they were also a bit relieved that the idea was strangely effective. The noise subsided.

The dinner somehow became less chaotic and fun at the same time. They were sharing stories about each other. The night was still young when they finished eating dinner, so they all decided to stroll around the mall and just have their fun before going home.

Each of them was given a thousand pesos. The grown-ups went to a spa salon while Selene's two older cousins, together with their girlfriends, went to the cinemas. The rest was left in her charge. So she led her ten younger cousins to the arcade and let them have their fun.

Time passed and everyone went back to the van. They were all exhausted—most of them were already snoring their whole ride home. They first dropped Tito Jano's family then Tito Rey's. Their last stop was her grandparents' house, wherein they would be staying for the rest of their whole vacation. It is also where Tita Lanie's family lives. Her grandparents' house was as big as a mansion anyways. They could all fit in there.

While her two older cousins were sending their girlfriends home, Selene and her brother helped the elders in getting their baggage out of the van.

"Just go take your bags and rest in your room." Her mother told them, so they obliged to do so.

Feeling drained, she went to say 'good night' to all of them before dragging her belongings upstairs. She jumped straight on her bed as soon as she opened the door to her room. She'll just do the unpacking tomorrow. She's too tired anyways.

It wasn't long before she fell asleep.

"You're late." Selene heard a deep voice as she slowly opened her eyes. She was in the same graveyard again with the same creepy-looking gravestones, then she saw Ares sitting on a large black stone beside the dead tree.

"Yeah, we got home late." She explained as she looked around. "Where are those two?"

Ares scoffed upon hearing her question. He stood up from his seat. "I punished them."

"You know they were just joking," she said giggling. "We're both aware that's not true."

Ares stared at her blankly.

"What?" She asked, feeling a bit awkward. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Right," he finally said in a sulky manner. "It isn't true."

"That's what I said."

Ares paused again for a moment.

"Nevermind, you stupid human!" He then hissed before vanishing into thin air.

"What the hell?"

She realized she was left there all alone. Stupid vampire, Selene thought. She furiously kicked the stone in front of her.

"Don't tell me, he does like me?" She mumbled to herself, both confused and frustrated. "There's no way that stupid Ares would ever like me."

Trying to ignore her thoughts, she decided to carry on without them. She went for the huge hole of the dead oak tree, where Ares and the twins kept some things for her in case of an emergency. She reached for a black cloak, a sling bag, and perfume. It wasn't just any perfume though. It was a special perfume that could temporarily remove human scent. So she sprayed it all over her body then wrapped the cloak and her sling bag around her.

More ready than she ever was, Selene took a step forward and bravely walked her way alone to the Central, where all creatures come to gather together. In the mundane world, they would normally call it a night market.

Upon entering the Central, the first thing she did was to visit her favorite shop where they sell exotic food made out of cute rabbit-looking creatures but are cannibalistic monsters. They're called felpor.

They tasted like chicken meat mixed with pork meat, then dipped in a special rich, mouth-watering sauce. It was heavenly delicious. She also tried looking for human food in her real world that is similar to its taste but couldn't find any.

After buying a couple of orders, she tried strolling around but found nothing new—except she saw some students from Ares's academy wandering around. Of course, she would notice them. Their uniforms are eye-catching and they would usually go in a large group.

Selene rushed to the corner and witnessed them join a street fight. It was the infamous street fight usually held at the Central every night. She squatted on her corner, blissfully chewing her felpor. She then concluded that those students could be a pack of werewolves yet she couldn't find the Alpha.

"What an interesting pack," she muttered.

"Yeah? I find them interesting too."

"Oh s**t!" She instantly backed away when someone out of the blue had whispered to her ear. She was dumbfounded when she noticed that the stranger was casually eating her felpor.

"H-Hey, you!" She yelled at the young man, stuttering though. "W-What do you think you're doing? What do you want?"

Selene wanted to run away as fast as she can but she was stuck on her feet. She tried to calm herself down. She then noted the clothes he was wearing—they were the same uniform as those students'. This man is the Alpha!

"Me?" He said smiling foolishly as he stood up, still holding her food. He slowly walked closer to her, causing her to take a step back.

What is going on? She thought.

How the hell did he notice her?

Does he know she is a human?

No, it wasn't even that possible. This never happened before.

But wait, why is she even panicking anyway? This is just a dream! She should think positively here. Well, maybe he would eventually become another one of her imaginary friends.

"I can sense you," he said as his face gradually turned dark. His attractiveness stayed intact yet somehow became colder.

"W-What about me?" Selene stammered.

She mentally cursed the minute she realized she was being cornered. The young man threw the felpor on the ground and leaned his face close to hers. They clashed by staring at each other. Selene held her breath and become stiffer as he moved closer to her.

She was stupefied when she felt his warm breath gently graze her neck. He held her chin upwards, exposing the skin of her neck. Without saying a word, he licked her. He f*****g licked her!

"My alpha."

What did he just say?