Luna Catalina (ENG)

Chapter 3

I stood up quickly and looked around me. I took a deep breath trying to calm down, as I noticed how fast my heart was beating. I looked at the time on my cell phone. It was 4 o'clock in the morning. I sighed. Another day of not getting a full night's sleep because of the nightmares. I was drenched in sweat, so, aware that I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, I decided to get up and take a shower. With my mind a little clearer, I put on some comfortable pants and a big, warm sweatshirt. I grabbed my book from my bedside table and went down to the kitchen to get a glass of water. 

I went to the garden, where years ago we had set up a small chillout with sofas, armchairs and umbrellas, where we usually sit to read, relax or have a few beers in the sun. I grabbed a blanket and sat down in my favorite armchair. An individual egg-shaped armchair that hung from the ceiling. I sat down and curled up with the blanket. 

I have been following this same routine for two years now. It has been two very hard years, but with a lot of strength and help I have managed to learn to live with the pain. I wish I had learned to overcome it, but I have only learned not to let the pain drown me. 

Two years ago, I met the person who was supposed to have changed everything. My mate. However, nothing happened the way I expected. Since I was a little girl my parents had taught me that the bond that unites two werewolves had been specially made by the Moon Goddess, being the most perfect and sacred union in existence. As a little girl I had seen how couples united by that bond had made each other completely happy. My greatest wish had been that someone would look at me with the love and admiration with which my parents looked at each other. Love and admiration that I had later seen in my brothers Mark and Luke when they found their mates.

It all happened a few months after my 18th birthday. At 18 we werewolves are able to transform for the first time, acquiring all the faculties that go with it, and we are able to feel the bond that unites us with our partner, the mate-bond. When I turned 18, I discovered that my mate was not from my pack, as I didn't feel that special attraction for anyone. Since then, I decided to accompany Marcos on his visits to other packs as an Alpha, with the aim of finding my mate. 

One day, the Blue Mountain pack in Washington State requested the presence of Marcos and Lucas in order to negotiate an alliance. We arrived late at night and were greeted by the Gamma of the pack. The next morning Marcos and Lucas left early to begin negotiations. I calmly got up, showered and dressed. I wandered around town and explored until Mark let me know they had finished their meeting. I returned to the house, and as I walked down the hallway towards my room I was struck by a spectacular smell. I had never smelled anything like it. My heart began to race, and my hands were shaking. I had to find the source of the smell. I followed the smell until I came to a door and without a second's hesitation, I opened it. There, sitting in front of a desk was Richard, the Alpha of the Blue Mountain pack. 

I looked him over carefully. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen. He was tall, huge, with coal-black hair and light blue eyes. When he saw me, his eyes widened, and he stod up from his chair. When he did, I could see that he was even taller and stronger than I had first thought. His arms were covered in tattoos. Without taking his eyes off me for a second, he slowly approached me.  He looked like a predator stalking its prey before being hunted. He stopped a few inches away from me, lowered his head and then I heard him whisper in my ear: 

- "Mate"

A shiver ran through my body. I couldn't believe it, I had found my mate, he was the most spectacular man in the world, and he was also one of the most powerful Alphas in the United States. I had heard that he was a ruthless and heartless man. But I was his mate, and that made me different from other people. Or so I thought. 

I snapped out of my thoughts when I noticed I was being pushed against the wall. I looked up at Richard in fright, and what I saw in his eyes made my legs tremble with absolute terror. His eyes were filled with lust, but at the same time they gave off a wickedness I had never seen in anyone else. Suddenly, I felt his lips impact mine. They moved quickly, devouring me mercilessly. I felt a strong pressure on my breasts and saw that Richard was squeezing them without any kind of gentleness. I felt so much fear, but at the same time, waves of pleasure ran through my body. How was it possible to feel fear and pleasure at the same time? 

Richard pulled away from me, and I tried to catch my breath. I could feel myself shaking like a leaf. My emotions were in absolute chaos and I was finding it impossible to control them. I closed my eyes and took several slow breaths. I had to pull myself together so I could think clearly. To meditate before making any decisions. From a young age we were taught in training that we should never make decisions based on our feelings. They taught us techniques to relax, to learn to take control of our emotions. I had been told a thousand times; a decision based on your feelings can be your undoing. But all those thoughts left me when Richard grabbed my arm. The instant his skin came into contact with mine, I felt the cramps of pleasure run through my entire room. And in that instant all rational thoughts left my head.

-"Come with me," he ordered, not letting go of me for a second. I nodded, and without making a sound I followed him. 

We went up to my room. He opened the door and let me in. I entered the room, and it was when he closed the door that I managed to come out of the trance I was in.

-“What are we doing here?" I said as I looked at him questioningly.

-“Shut up," he ordered me in his Alpha tone, making me cringe inside. But if there was one thing we had been taught in my pack as warriors, it was to hide our fear. So, keeping the expression on my face from changing, I looked at him and replied: 

- "You don't talk to me like that" - Proud that I managed to say it without my voice trembling.

In two quick strides Richard was in front of me, and with one swift movement he slapped me across the face. I brought my hands up to my face, trying to numb the pain I was feeling. But I immediately noticed two huge hands pulling my hands away from my face, and holding them above my head, as they pushed me against the wall. At that time, I didn't take training seriously at all, I didn't even go to many of them. I had always been the spoiled child of my parents and my brothers, and I took advantage of that to be the only werewolf in the pack who wasn't forced to train daily. 

At that very moment when Alpha Richard pinned me against the wall, I knew I had made the biggest mistake of my life by not going to training. I promised myself that if I came out of this alive, I was going to become the best warrior in my pack. 

-“I am your mate and you will do everything I command you to do," he said, smiling at me. His smile was loaded with absolute evil. And I knew it was better to be dead than to live through what was about to happen.

With one swift movement he ripped off the dress I was wearing and threw me against the bed. I searched my head for my wolf, but I couldn't get any response from him. I could feel my wolf, my other half, absolutely paralyzed with panic and shock that our mate was doing something like this. I looked at Richard and watched as he began to undress. "Run" I finally heard my wolf, Electra, in my head. I didn't hesitate for a moment. I quickly got up and tried to run away. But before I could reach the door Richard had thrown me back against the bed and was on top of me.

What happened from then on, I don't remember clearly. I remember his tongue down my body, I remember me begging him to stop, tears streaming down my cheeks. And pain. A lot of pain. Afterwards, I lost consciousness. 

When I regained it, I knew that, although I was still breathing, I was really dead. I would never be the same person again. I was the living dead thanks to Alpha Richard. 

I opened my eyes and sat up. I remember him staring at me from the armchair in my room where he was sitting. There was no sign of regret on his face or in his eyes. 

"Catalina, what he has done to us is unforgivable" I heard Electra in my head. "We can never make him suffer as he deserves. But we can't stand by and let him hurt us anymore. You have to reject him."

I knew what Electra was saying was true, but I didn't even have the strength to blink. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak. Besides, what was the point? It didn't matter anymore. 

"Catalina, listen to me" Electra tried again. "We'll get out of this, the two of us together. But we have to get rid of him”. Nothing. I could hear her in my head, but I couldn't react. Finally, I felt Electra take control of my body, and I didn't put up any resistance. I watched as Electra lifted us up and we stood in front of Richard. 

"I, Catalina Alix, Daughter of Guillermo Alix, Apha of the Golden Sunset pack, reject you, Richard Monson, Alpha of the Blue Mountain pack," I heard Electra say those words just before I felt an intense pain in my chest. If I am dead, why am I in pain? 

I fell to my knees, unable to bear the pain. I watched as Richard's feet moved closer to me. I raised my head to look at his face and felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Why the f**k was he smiling and not in pain like me? He bent down, putting his face at the same height as mine. Our noses almost touching.

-“Did you think your rejection was going to hurt me? If there was one thing I knew from the first moment I saw you, it was that I was going to reject you. Or did you think someone so soft, pathetic and insignificant could be Luna in my Pack?”- It made me want to vomit. "I have to admit that the s*x was fun though, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did". After saying this he stood up, and without taking his eyes off me said, "I, Richard Monson, Alpha of the Blue Mountain Pack, reject you, Catalina Alix, daughter of Guillermo Alix, Alpha of the Golden Sunset Pack."

Richard walked to the door, opened it, and when I thought he was going to leave without saying anything, he turned to look at me one last time and said: 

"If you tell anyone about this I will kill and torture your whole pack and your brothers. You are a small and insignificant pack. It would cost me nothing to make you disappear." Finally, he closed the door and disappeared. 

For several hours I did not move. The pain was so great that I felt absolutely nothing. I listened to Electra talk to me, but I didn't understand anything she said. Finally, I noticed how Electra took control of my body. I watched as she showered us, squeezing hard to remove any trace of Richard's scent. Electra dressed me. Then she opened all the windows and changed the sheets. "Well done, so Lucas and Marcos will never know it was Richard," I thought, and the strain of that thought left me limp, so I let myself fall into bed. There I lay motionless for hours, feeling tears streaming down my cheeks. 

That's how Marcos and Lucas found me when they came to pick me up the next day to take me home. My bruised body and swollen eyes made my brothers lose control. They were absolutely furious. A thousand times they asked me who had done that to me and not once was I able to answer. My brothers spoke to Alpha Richard and his Beta, wanting to find out what had happened. But they denied knowing who had done it and promised to open an investigation. 

Finally, Marcos and Lucas decided to take me home. I remember Lucas stroking my hair while whispering that everything was going to be okay. But I knew that nothing was ever going to be okay again. 

The Catalina who returned home was nothing like the one who had left her pack a few days before, excited to find her mate. 

Now this was a broken Catalina, drowning in grief. 

But there was something else in her heart. A single feeling that kept her heart beating. 

Revenge.