The Invincible Luna

Chapter One (her pov)

*beep*beep*beep* *beep*beep*

Ugggghhh…

I let out a big groan as I flip over to turn off my alarm. 4:30am

‘Get up its time for our run’

“Oh quiet, I’m going now” I said.

I hate getting up so early but I do it for my sanity.

I put on my work out clothes, tied my hair up, headed towards my door grabbing my keys and bag on my way out. My room was right below the main level, same with the quarters for the servants that lived in the packhouse. Quietly as possible I crept up the stairs that led right to the back door. Just as I was turning the knob a voice broke the silence, “Going out early yet again?” I let my arm drop to my side and I turn around to look at my vicious so called mother, Sylvia Cain.

“I asked you a question Claud, answer me now,” she snapped, stepping more into the dim light between us. Ugh I hated that name. They gave me a horrible name on purpose I think, Claudette Josephine. That’s why I preferred CJ over everything else but they always refused to call me by it. Fed up I said, “Why does it f***ing matter to you what I do?” Even in the dark I could tell her face got red and she puffed up her cheeks. Dam**t I knew what was next..

*SLAP* “WHERE THE F**K DO YOU GET OFF TALKING TO ME LIKE THAT?! ANSWER MY G****MN QUESTION,” she screamed so loud and I worried it would wake everyone. Well so much for my morning..

‘Why do we put up with this cr*p, I think being a rouge is better than this,’ my wolf Iris said as she angrily paced in my head. ‘I agree, just not too keen on the homeless part,’ I joked back at her.

“You stupid child, look at me and answer when I ask you something,” she spat at me.

“If you want to fight me again we can do that again,” I said challenging her face on. We’ve had plenty of fights before, they’ve been covered up as just training since we’re a warrior pack. Growing up it wasn’t exactly my choice to fight anyone but after awhile you have to if you want to survive.

“Sure you want to do that you little b***h? You haven’t been able to beat me or your father yet,” she sneered.

I laughed, “You never know. I’ve beaten every warrior you’ve made me fight in the last couple years and now with my wolf,” I got in close to whisper this last part, “I even beat your pathetic excuse of an heir.” I took a step back to look at her angry yet dumbfounded face. My parents made it so my older brother Sebastian was in the best of everything and that everyone didn’t question his future authority. However there was me, and I was the biggest threat to his authority. Being a warrior pack a daughter or son of the alpha can lead, whoever is strongest and most competent becomes leader of the pack. That was something they started being afraid of as soon as I started fighting back and becoming stronger. However I’ve been looked down by and suffered from this pack too much to want to be their leader. If anything I would want to assist in burning them to the ground.

That’s when I turned my attention back to Sylvia. She was still seething from what I said then got in real close. “Listen here you wrench. You have to stay under our roof until you’re mated or 21 but we won’t hesitate to wipe you out. You’ll just be gone and everyone will think you became a rouge.” Ending with an evil slick smile she whipped around heading out of the kitchen and upstairs.

I let out a sigh and just headed out the back door for my run. I headed down the back hillside behind the house and followed the creek bed into the woods.

‘We could bring them all to their knees if we wanted,” Iris grumbled as I walked.

‘I get that but it’s much better to just continue with our plan,’ I told her. I’ve been working and saving since I hit puberty to get a small cabin across the country. I’ve had a plan in place to just be a rouge and try to live amongst humans and keep my secret. Ideally best places to do so is where natural wolves are and a densely wooded area. Personally I found the perfect place in the woods on the Canadian/Washington border. It never mattered to me to find our mate, I just wanted a more peaceful life.

‘Do you think we could be happy if we had a mate by our side?’ Iris whined.

‘No I really don’t,’ I told her, ‘Our luck we’ll get someone that is no better than anyone else in this sh**ty pack.’

‘I have a feeling the goddess has something better in store for us. I keep telling you we’re special to her.’

I scoffed at her latest rant over how special we are; nothing about me was special, nobody cared for me my entire life. I let out a sigh as I reached the fallen tree I always sat at. Putting down my bag, pulling off my shorts and tank top, I was ready to shift. I let the feeling of the shift wash over me as my bones broke in a fast and painless fashion. Once Iris fully came forward I sat back in the corner of our mind.

When we were done, Iris proudly stood to admire our form as we’ve done for months. It was obvious we were the child of an alpha since our size was much larger than even some males. Our ruby eyes, our coat that was deep chocolate brown with blood orange streaks coming to bright ends at the tips of our ears and tail. Iris then took off with a bound, taking large leaps as she ran.

She ran through the clearing, weaved between the few trees then started up the side of the mountain. ‘Sunrise is amazing today, should we go up to the cave?’ Iris asked me.

‘I think that’d be fun let’s go there for a rest,’ I told her.

Excited she ran and jumped up the ledges of the mountain until we reached the large jutted in cave hidden to plain view. Iris came to a slow as she reached the inner corner we have used for months now. Shifting back I was literally naked wandering our cave hide away. I was tracing the walls with my fingertips and came across something new there. Someone had been in here.

How was someone able to find this place? I barely found it on accident while climbing.

‘I wonder if someone found it on accident too,’ Iris said in a very perky manner.

‘Um no duh there’s nobody around these areas that even come close to here,’ I told her confused by her excitement.

Something else was different though, there was a scent still in the air. It was dissipating so I could get everything but it almost smelled almost like cinnamon and maybe a really good whiskey. I sniffed a little more wanting to savor the last of the disappearing scent.

*sigh* I had to shake my head and slap my face to snap out of the little daze I was in. ‘Okay enough relax time, let’s go back now.’ I let Iris forward and after we shifted she took off taking huge leaps down the mountainside. Soon as she reached my clothes she was even happier than in the cave.

‘What’s gotten into you,’ I asked her.

‘Oh you’ll see, we’re going to be happy from now on,’ she said giddily as we shifted.

‘Are you gonna give me a hint on what’s happening?’

‘Nope,’ she happily replied as she curled up in the back of my mind.

I let out a laugh as I pulled back on my clothes and hiked back to the pack house. As soon as I was reaching the house I could hear everyone outside. They were the servants and some junior warriors setting up for the upcoming full moon.

This full moon especially was special, it was the Blessing Moon. Every five years on at blessing moon, it’s said that the goddess’s presence is felt clearly. It also happened to land on Sammy’s coming of age this weekend. She was widely known as the beloved daughter of the alpha to all surrounding and treaty packs. On the other hand they had me known as their sickly daughter that had to be sheltered in a hospital. With all outsiders assuming I would look more like them nobody ever suspected me as their child. This celebration will be all about her and the hope she’ll get her mate that night.

Everyone was busy so they didn’t even have time to give me their usual distasteful glares. I was easily able to slip past them and get downstairs to my room. I opened the door to my small room and plopped down on the bed. I looked over at my clock and it was about 6:30am, I had about an hour until I had to start cooking for everyone. I didn’t really mind the actual cooking because I was good at it, but I did mind that I wasn’t even paid as well as the actual staff. Samuel and Sylvia kept taking percentages out of my pay, saying it was the fee of living in the house. I started with basically maid work and moved up to the kitchen once I proved I was a better cook than most. Because of the little money I’ve been making it’s taken years to save any significant amount.

I groaned as I pulled myself up from the bed to go down the hall to the communal showers. Thankfully nobody was in the bathroom since everyone was pretty busy. I jumped in and washed up with my favorite honeydew body scrub and mango shampoo. I got out finishing up with my whipped cream scented lotion and a light vanilla perfume. I put up my long wavy hair into a bun and got dressed in a brown tank top and pair of skinny blue jeans. On my way out the door I slipped on my favorite black ballerina flats.

Heading up the stairs I could already hear the hollering from Sylvia bossing around the entire staff. Ugh this was going to be a long day.

I got upstairs to the kitchen and began looking over the menu they had wanted prepared and pulling out all the ingredients. I had to get breakfast and lunch done for the house, then later a slightly upscale dinner for the packs that arrive early. I pulled out three large butcher packages of beef short ribs; separated them into seal bags with red wine, some fresh rosemary, thyme and some garlic. Sealed up the bags tight and popped them back in the fridge to marinate.

For lunches I pulled out a 12lb package of lean ground sirloin to prepare different type of burger patties. I made three different kinds; regular black paper, barbecue bacon, and turkey garlic parmesan. Finishing up the trays of patties, I wrapped them up to be put aside till later. Now for breakfast I made pancakes, bacon, sausage links, and lots of scramble eggs. I set it all up buffet style along the kitchen island then got out pitchers of orange, cranberry, and apple juice. Lastly I filled up all four large coffee pots each a different strength, then put different types of creamers and milk beside them.

Once I was done all the warriors and staff that were working on getting things ready came in to eat. I made a small plate for myself and ate leaning up against the fridges. There was never a seat for me so I usually ate standing up, in my room or while cooking.

Everyone finished eating and I started cleaning down the kitchen and doing the dishes. Soon all the preparations for the full moon celebration will be done and I’ll get lunch started.

The couple hours of cleaning went by pretty fast with nobody really going through the kitchen.

Sooner than I knew it was about noon so I pulled out the trays of burger patties. I got a few kitchen aids that were helping with decorations to take the burgers to the six grills we had outside. Once they were all out there and started I got a large bag of sweet and regular potatoes to make fries. I got both kinds prepared and filled up our three double air fryers.

About an hour later everything was done and set up to make it easier to make your own. I put together my own turkey burger and sweet potato fries while everyone ate.

The day was passing quicker than I thought, only having to deal with minor nuisances from Sylvia and Sammy.

Soon enough it was getting late and I need to get dinner ready for the the ones that were arriving now.

Just as I was getting the vegetables for dinner ready Iris piped up in my head.

‘Something is gonna change soon, I can feel it,’ she said.

‘What do you mean by that,’ I asked her.

‘He’s going to be here,’ Iris mused.

I caught onto what she meant with that. ‘No I don’t want a mate, we’re not meeting him. If I have to I’ll go back to the cave for the celebration,’ I huffed back at her. Iris was saddened by that and it made me guilty to deny her wants.

I pushed her whines back in my head, got started on cooking the short ribs, made a vinaigrette tossed salad and creamed Italian potatoes. As I was cooking I could hear people starting to arrive and being greeted by the Alpha and his family. I let out a half scoff half laugh at the fact.

I knew everyone was arriving now and that I should be serving dinner soon as it’s done. I plated everything appealingly, made sure the servers were ready and got out a few bottles of wine to breathe.

Almost moments after I made the last plates, Sebastian came through the door.

“Mom says it’s time to bring out right now. She wants you to wait for everyone to sit and then place the food down.” With that he walked out.

“Okay you guys heard what the Luna wants, get prepared. You each have two plates to put down and you make sure to do it at the same time. We all knows what happens when the Luna is displeased,” I told the kitchen staff. All exchanged knowing glances and nodded.

They each grabbed their plates leaving me to serve the wine. I went out to pour the wine and a glass of water beside each before people came downstairs. I went back into the kitchen just as everyone was being lead downstairs. Just as I was closing the door to the dining area I could’ve sworn I smelled something. Iris also became excited and began pacing.

Back in the kitchen I could hear Samuel addressing everyone and that’s when I sent all the servers to wait along the wall until the cue to serve the plates. I went back to the fridge, pulled out the chocolate mousse cups and mini strawberry cheesecakes. I arranged them delightfully on some dessert tiers. Once everyone was done eating I had them sent out with some homemade extra whipped cream.

For some reason every time the swing door opened I got this smell that made Iris wag her tail.

I finished up every, then prepared tea and coffee for anybody that wanted it. All the servers came back in when desert was done and nobody ended up wanting any tea or coffee. We all were doing the dishes and wrapping leftovers when everyone headed upstairs. That’s when Alpha Samuel came in.

“The first night dinner went over well. Tomorrow morning we’re expecting many more packs that’ll stay in the guest lodges, however you’re all expected to make meals all day. You will be in interchanging shifts to make sure everything is a success,” that’s when he look directly at me. “You’re to be on dinner’s and deserts until they leave, you can order whatever you like for them. If they are well received I will consider a bonus on your next paycheck.”

I blinked in disbelief, if I made this the best as possible I might make the remaining money I needed. “Yes Alpha, I’ll be sure to give my all,” I said as respectfully as I could with a bow. He nodded then gave the rest of the staff their shifts and left.

‘Yes! We can get out of here if this goes well!’ I ecstatically told Iris. I was surprised when she let out a hurt whine.

‘No, no more talk of leaving. We’re not meant to leave just yet. Not to where you think,’ Iris complained.

‘Are you ever going to tell me what you mean,’ I asked as the staff and I finished cleaning up the kitchen. Iris got mad with me and refused to answer back.

I scoffed at her stubbornness and went downstairs to me room for the night.

‘Maybe you’ll want to talk more in the morning. Good night,’ I said while getting ready for bed.

Ugh I’m exhausted

With a big sign I plopped down on my bed and curled up to go to sleep.