Luna Catalina (ENG)

Chapter 8

I can't remember the last time I had slept so many hours in a row. I stretched my legs as soon as I got out of the car. Electra was moving restlessly. We needed to go for a run. 

Ignoring Electra's whimpering, I began to look around me. In front of me stood the most spectacular house I had ever seen in my life. It was more like a palace than a house. It was at least five stories high, not counting the fact that it probably had floors underneath. It looked old, but I wasn't sure if it really was, or if it was built to look that way. Large columns decorated the entrance, where a huge dark wooden door stood open. A gravel path led from the car park to the entrance. The sides of the path were decorated with perfectly trimmed hedges and beautiful colorful flowers. 

A few yards away from us Cas and Ian were talking animatedly with a man. I studied him carefully. He was quite tall, very muscular, his hair was shaved to zero, his arms were covered with tattoos and he had a rather large scar on his left cheek. In addition, to complete his hitman look, he was dressed entirely in black. It seems it's a requirement to look intimidating to be part of this pack, I thought to myself. 

He looked at me and smiled broadly. It was funny to see such a terrifying looking man smiling in such a friendly way. 

-“Welcome to the Blood Moon pack,"- he greeted us as he approached, "I am Mark, the Blood Moon Gamma. Whatever you need, don't hesitate to let me know, which of you is in command of the warriors?”

Mark conveyed a jovial and friendly person; his appearance was completely deceiving.

-“We are" - I answered, pointing first to me and then to Miguel - "I am Catalina, delighted. This is Miguel, and these are my brothers, Nico and Juan. We are the elite corps of the army with Cas and another boy called Luis.”

-“Perfect," said Mark, still smiling. –“I'll show you to your rooms, so you can get settled in. I've set a meeting for after lunch with Alpha Kayden, Beta Ian and the Head Warriors of our pack. That way we can organize patrol schedules and all the training stuff."

I nodded affirmatively. Mark grabbed some of the bags and we divided the rest among the rest of us. We walked up the small stairs to the entrance and into a huge foyer. The scene we saw as soon as we entered left me absolutely stunned. 

Kayden was standing in the hallway hugging a woman. The woman was very beautiful. She was a tall girl, straight black hair, cut short above her shoulder, huge blue eyes, fairly pale skin and a lot of freckles covering her face. In Kayden's arms, he was holding a little girl. She was about 6-7 years old at most. She was the perfect mix between Kayden and that girl. Her hair was as black as the woman's, but curly. A lot of freckles covered her little face. She had the same mouth and nose as Kayden. But what left no doubt as to the resemblance between the two were her huge silver eyes.

Was it possible that Kayden had a daughter?! My head was racing, trying to find a reasonable explanation for what my eyes were seeing. By age it was possible that the girl was his daughter, but he would have had to have her at a very young age. At 16-17 years old maximum. But at the same time, the girl seemed too young to be the mother of that child, she must be 19 at the most. I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest and my head was going to explode. I needed an explanation.

Suddenly, and without being able to control it, I felt a growl leave my body. Jealousy coursed through my veins. 

Oh, s**t. s**t. Everyone fell silent. The woman hugging Kayden pulled away and looked at me, analyzing me curiously. The little girl looked at me with fear in her eyes, and I noticed how her little hands clutched Kayden's shirt for protection. Kayden, as always, looked at me emotionless. "Wow, spectacular presentation," I heard Cas's voice in my head. I looked at her slyly and watched as she covered her mouth with one hand to hide her laughter.

It was Ian who broke the awkward silence. 

-"Lily!" he said cheerfully, addressing the little girl. He walked past us and approached the little girl with open arms. The little girl jumped out of Kayden's arms and ran to hug Ian. 

-“How are you doing Ian?" said the little girl, giggling happily.

-“I'm doing great, do you want to know a secret?" Ian asked Lily. Lily tilted her head curiously, "I've found my mate!!" Lily's little mouth dropped open in an O-shape. The other girl, that’s was still standing next to Kayden, also looked surprised.

-“Lily, Bela, this is my mate, Cassandra, though you can call her Cas," Ian said, looking at Cas fondly, as he took her by the hand and dragged her over to introduce her. 

Everyone began to introduce themselves and hug each other. While Miguel, my brothers and I stood in awkward silence. Mark must have noticed, because he came up to us, with his huge smile, and said: 

- "Come with me, I'll take you to your rooms, you must be exhausted"- I smiled gratefully, and we followed him. 

The house was impressive. I thought our house in Spain was big, but compared to this one, ours was a small cottage. The ceilings were high and there was lots of light coming in through the huge windows. Everything was meticulously decorated in white and grey. Mark told us that these were the colors of the pack. Our rooms were on the first floor. There were lifts to go up. Seriously, who has a lift in their house? this house is absolute nonsense. 

My room was quite big. It had a double bed in the middle, decorated with white sheets and grey cushions. A grey carpet covered the floor. To the right was a huge window that opened onto a small terrace, where there were two single armchairs. At the other end of the room was a grey desk with a chair. The entire wall was made up of cupboards. On the left side was a white door leading to the bathroom. This room was actually more luxurious than mine in Full Moon, but that used to happen when we went to other, bigger packs. 

I unpacked my bags and decided to take a shower. I needed to clear my head. When I got out of the shower, I brushed my wet hair and put on a clean uniform. While I was getting dressed, I noticed that the sun was shining pleasantly on my terrace. I decided to go out and read in the armchair. It was nice outside, even though the sun was beating down on me. It was normal that Kayden and Ian were so tanned. Sitting on the terrace I noticed something I hadn't noticed before: it smelled like the sea. There must be a beach nearby.

I tried to concentrate on my book, but I couldn't make out anything I was reading. My mind kept projecting the image of the girl with the black curls and grey eyes. Electra kept telling me that this girl couldn't be our mate's daughter. Lily, she had said her name was. She really was a cute little girl. Had Kayden rejected me because he had a daughter with someone else?

My mind began to fantasize, imagining what Kayden's and my children would look like. If only they had those silver-gray eyes. Suddenly, I realized what I was thinking and shook my head trying to get those thoughts out of my head. What's happening to me? Imagining myself with Kayden and kids, stupid mate-bond. This is getting out of hand. No, no and no. I'm going to get my explanation and reject him. No kids.

A knock on the door interrupted my scolding to myself. The smell of Cas filled my nostrils, and I invited her in. She came out onto the terrace where I was and sat in the other armchair. She smiled brightly at me, clearly trying to contain her laughter.

-“What do you want?" I asked annoyed. I knew perfectly well what she wanted; I just didn't intend to give him the pleasure of asking her directly.

-“I've got the answers you want," -she replied as she played with her curls. Whenever Cas was nervous, excited or worried, she always played with her curls.

-“I don't know what you're talking about," I replied, closing my eyes to soak up the sun.

 -“Oh come on, I was hoping you'd at least beg a little bit."- She was silent waiting for my reply, but I didn't say anything. “Seriously? Not even a: please Cas tell me I beg you?”. I laughed and shook my head without opening my eyes, -“You're so boring sometimes," she said, pouting, "Well, I'll tell you. Lily and Bela are... Kayden's little sisters."

I snapped my eyes open and jumped up. Cas had her arms wide open, as if she'd just delivered some big news.

-"You're joking, Cassandra, tell me you're joking."

-"No, I'm not," she finally started laughing, "You growled at Kayden's 17-year-old sister.”

-"f**k me," said as I sat up and covered my face with my hands. I could feel my whole face burning. I was so embarrassed for God's sake. 

Cas couldn't stop laughing, in fact, she was clutching her belly, which must have started to hurt from laughing so hard. I gave her a shove and she fell off the couch. Cas stopped laughing and looked at me seriously. She lasted two seconds like that, before bursting out laughing again, although this time I went along with her.

-“What's so funny?" Nico and Juan's faces were peering over the balcony next to us and they looked at us curiously.

-“You're nosy!" I protested.

-“Nothing! We were just commenting on how cute Alpha Kayden's sister is," Cas said, barely containing her laughter.

-"I swear I thought she was his daughter!" said John.

-"Me too!" exclaimed Nico. 

-“Don’t worry, so did Cat," Cas replied, this time not holding back her laughter. I punched her in the arm. Damn Casandra.

-"Nico and I are going down to eat with Miguel, are you guys coming?" I nodded and dragged Cas with me. I wanted this conversation to end immediately. 

We got lost several times looking for the kitchen. The house was huge. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it back to my room, orientation wasn't one of my strong points. When we got to the kitchen, my jaw dropped. It was more of a dining room than a kitchen. There were tables and chairs that could seat 100 people. The kitchen was like a restaurant kitchen, and there were at least 15 people preparing the food. 

I noticed that at one of the tables were some of the warriors from my pack. I went over to greet them and to make sure everything was okay. Among the warriors was Luis, Cas's army-mate. Cas ran over to hug him and they got into a lively conversation. 

Luis is a nice guy. Very tall, with red hair and a lot of freckles. I don't have much of a relationship with him, but he and Cas are thick as thieves. A couple of years ago Luis discovered that his mate was another of the pack's warriors. Specifically, one of the warriors who came with us, Nathan. They spent all their time together, so I didn't see him as much, but Luis always made time to spend time with Cas. After talking with them for a while, Cas and I took a plate and sat down with our brothers.

We were talking quietly when I noticed someone tugging on my shirt. When I turned around, I was confronted by black curls and huge silver eyes.

-“Hello," She said liltingly, "My name's Lily, what's yours?

-“I'm Catalina, but you can call me Cat or Cata, whatever you prefer.” I answered smiling at her.

-“Cat? Like the animal?"- she said with a frown. We all burst out laughing. 

-“Just like the animal," I said, smiling at her. She really was a cute little girl, I had to restrain myself from giving her a hug, "Come sit with us.”

The invitation seemed to make her very happy, as she ran to sit on a chair next to me. 

-“You're the same," she said, staring at Nico and Juan. Juan choked with laughter at the comment. 

-“I think you're seeing double," Nico said, making her laugh.

-“Do you see two or one?" Lily asked Miguel, looking at him seriously. 

-“I really only see one," Miguel said, pretending to look for the second one. 

- “I said trying not to laugh at her confused look, "These are Nico and Juan, they are my older brothers, and they are twins, that's why they are the same. And that's Miguel over there, he's Cas's older brother". 

Lily realized that she had been laughed at and stuck her tongue out at them in a sulk, but her anger passed a few seconds later. We were all gawking as Lily was telling us how perfect the pink bike was, with lights, that Kayden had bought her for her birthday a few weeks ago when Bela appeared. 

-“I've told you a thousand times, Lily, that you can't bother people while they're eating," she scolded Lily as she held her in her arms. 

-“It's all right, it doesn't bother us. The story about her luminous bike was delighting us all"- Miguel answered. WOW. Miguel spoke more than two words and smiled. You tell me and I don't believe it.

-“We haven't had the chance to meet before. I'm Isabela, although everyone calls me Bela", she said with a smile. The truth was that the girl was spectacular, without any doubt she could have been a model. Especially for her height and her long legs.

Nico introduced us all and we talked for a while with Bela. Physically she looked nothing like Kayden, but you could see very similar personality traits in both of them. Bela was nicer and smiled more, but you could tell she was a girl with character. 

-“Oh, I almost forgot," she said, looking at me, "Kayden and Ian were looking for you for I don't know what meeting.” I nodded and Miguel and I stud up. 

I hesitated for a second but decided to approach Bela.

-“Bela, about earlier, I..." – 

-"Don't worry, it's forgotten.”-She cut me off with a smile.

I nodded gratefully and left the dining room with Miguel. Asking several people, we managed to get to Kayden's office. I knocked on the door and we went in. Kayden, Ian and Mark were already there, accompanied by two huge men, who were clearly warriors. Their names were Bruce and Maximo, and they were the chiefs within the Blood Moon army. After the introduction, we started the meeting. 

For several hours we talked about the defense strategies of the pack. We organized the patrol shifts, including our warriors, and studied the dangers facing the pride. 3 different packs had declared war on Blood Moon in the last month, although no one had yet attacked. To tell the truth, this was very rare. Normally packs only attacked each other when there was a reason. However, these declarations had come out of the blue, without any explanation. Added to this was a growing problem with the rogues. In the last month there had been more than 20 attacks, claiming the lives of nine people, including two children. 

Mark handed me a large number of papers in folders, which contained all the details of the attacks, the victims and also details of the packs that had declared war on Blood Moon. There was something that didn't quite fit in all this, but I couldn't figure out what it was. So, I decided to take the papers to my room, to go over them on my sleepless nights. 

When the meeting was over, Miguel and I got up to leave. Kayden looked tired; I could tell he was worried about the situation. His hair was disheveled after having been anxiously touching it throughout the meeting. I had to suppress my urge to go and hug him to comfort him. 

-“Tomorrow I've called all men between 17 and 23 to the training camp at 7am. Outside that age range, it's voluntary to show up. Mark will accompany you so that you can find the place," Ian told me as I was about to open the door. 

I turned and stared at him. 

-“Call the women between 17 and 23 as well, Beta Ian," I replied. It wasn't a request; it was an order. 

-“In our pack, the females have never fought," Ian replied hesitantly, looking at Kayden, who was staring blankly at me without saying anything. 

-“There's a first time for everything," I replied, struggling not to let the anger I felt show on my face or in my voice, -"I don't distinguish between the sexes, Beta. The only important difference in my eyes is the difference between a good warrior and a bad warrior, nothing more. As I understand it, Blood Moon wants better warriors, but also to increase its army. Bring us all the people who are old enough to fight and we will do the rest. Good night.”

Without waiting for a reply, I turned on my heel and left the room followed by Miguel.  I left the folders of papers in my room and decided to go for a run. Electra had been screaming for it since we had arrived, so I let her take control and we went out to explore. It turned out that, just as I had suspected, Blood Moon was just off the coast. I ran along the cliffs and came to the beach. For a couple of hours, I watched the waves crash against the shore. I had always loved the sea. It was what I had missed most about our home in Spain. 

When I realized how late it was, I decided to go home. I took a quick shower and got into bed. 

Tomorrow was going to be a long and interesting day. 

First day of Kayden's pack training. 

And Kayden would be there watching.