The Reincarnated Luna

Time Passed

The next week went by smoothly. Mana has been leaving my side and finding me randomly throughout the day. I like giving him his freedom, especially considering he isn't supposed to be a pet. I just leave food for him next to a cracked window in the kitchen. It kind of scared me the first time I had seen him jump off the ledge and use his wings but it started to grow on me.

One morning it had been fairly easy to wake Lilly up and get her ready for what we've been calling 'school.' Corra is going to meet me and Lilly in the dining room but as we went to walk out the front door I nearly ran face-first into someone. I could tell who it was immediately.

"Rowan!" I basically chirped out taking a step back.

"Hey," he offered me a soft smile "got a second?" I was stunned for a moment.

"S-sorry, I have to get her to Corra then head to the lab for a meeting with Isabella." I motioned at Lilly to my side.

"I'll walk you then." He stepped to the side letting us through. I tried my hardest to keep my anxiety low as Selene stirred. With every step, I couldn't help but be intensely aware of his presence. The way his dark curly hair bounced with every step, or even his hazel eyes staring forward. He glanced at me and smiled, making me look forward again.

Once we finally made it to the lunchroom Corra gave us a huge grin and Lilly jumped into her arms.

"Alrighty, today we're going with a group of kids from the classroom to the center of town!" Lilly squealed in excitement while stomping.

"Gosh, you're going into the main part of town? That's far!" Rowan acted overly familiar with Lilly which made me a little more on edge. He has been around with me and Eli when we had dinner in the dining room a few days in a row, but he hadn't had one on one time with Lilly. Lilly didn't seem to mind him though and started to ramble about the trip.

I haven't even been to the town square yet.

"Alora?" Corra smiled at me, bringing my attention away from the two.

"What's wrong? Your face is all scrunched." She poked the space between my eyebrows.

"Just a bit out of it today I guess." I laughed awkwardly and shrugged my shoulders.

"Well if you need anything you know where to find me. Let's get going Lilly before we miss the bus and have to walk the whole way there." Lilly skipped right past me toward Corra but I caught her by the shoulder and spun her around to face me.

"I don't know where you're going without telling me bye." She quickly hugged me adding in a short "bye" before tugging away. I just stood there and watched them walk out of the dining room toward the wing where the childcare is.

"Shall we get going? Izzy gets a bit testy when she's left waiting." I slightly jumped again.

"Y-yeah. Don't want that happening." I swallowed and headed toward the front door.

The walk was awkward for the first ten minutes or so. Rowan didn't seem to notice but he did keep peering down at my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I had spotted Mana a few times in the trees.

"So, colony life?" I stopped walking and all the breath I had been holding in exploded out of me with a laugh.

"What?" He chuckled seeming a little confused. I put a hand on my ribs trying to stop laughing.

"I'm over here stiff as a board, not knowing what you want, and you just lead with that? Do you realize how nervous I was?" His confused look seemed a bit amused now.

"Nervous? Why would you be nervous?" He chuckled too, causing me to send him a knowing glance. He acted oblivious while keeping his expression playful, making me think he actually knew the feeling I was talking about. I squinted my eyes at him before walking ahead.

"The Colony was a bit different." I glanced back at him to make sure he had started walking with me before I continued my story. "I went to school every day and even had a job. Lilly wasn't my responsibility and my brother wasn't a deranged lunatic. You know my dad-" I studdered "my dad was always away on work with my stepmom and Lilly so it was just me and Alec most of the time." I trailed off.

"What was it like? I've been trained to be the Beta of this pack since I was young. I've visited a few Colonies before but I had never stayed there longer than a couple of weeks like Eli has." I appreciated him not prying about my Dad. Talking to him felt almost natural now. As if I was talking to an old friend. Then I realized he had mentioned Eli and my interested peaked.

"Oh Eli stays in the Colonies for a while?"

"Yeah, he has to keep the image up as a Council member so sometimes he'll spend months there." That made me feel a little sad knowing that I won't be able to go with him unless my name is cleared.

"Well, my colony life wasn't stereotypical. We moved around quite a bit so I never really got close to anyone. I went to school four days a week, and once I graduated decided I wanted to study Amraqus. I never knew what it was but they had always fascinated me. I was supposed to start Advanced Schooling to be a Scholar in it. Sadly I never got the chance to even fully enroll."

"I couldn't imagine. I went 6 days a week, and had training scheduled immediately after."

"Immediately after? Does everyone have to train here?" We were starting to finally come up on the bend towards the Lab.

"Not exactly. Since this pack is relatively big it houses three separate schools. We are meant to leave it at the age of sixteen so that we can help out around the pack and begin our future paths in life. If you decide you want to become a warrior we have a separate school for that, that trains you with a very strict schedule. Of course, you can join later in life if you want, but you still have to go through the training just like everyone else. "

"What about you? Is that what you wanted to do?" We finally made it to the doors of the building and he looked at me quizzically before opening it and motioning for me to go first.

"I guess. I've thought about it in the past, but I haven't really questioned it." He seemed like he had to think hard about the answer as if he wasn't expecting me to care. "While I know Eli would allow me to do something different if I wanted to I enjoy the role of leading. I've always been a natural at strategy and fighting so I never really wanted to do anything else. Just feels like I was born to do it you know?"

"Cocky are we?" I teased as we passed the long hallways of rooms.

"Yes, he is very cocky and with good reason." Walsh's appraisal rang out from the end of the hallway.

"Really? He doesn't look it." I said jokingly.

"That's actually why he's here." Isabella added stepping out from the doorway. I sent them a questioning look.

"Eli is away at the Colonies and since we have already begun the process of settling the details for revising the Manticore Project he's left it in your hands."

"Oh? When did he leave?"

"Last night" We had dinner in the dining room with everyone late last night, and he helped me carry Lilly to the room after she fell asleep at the table. Eli hadn't told me he was leaving, but I guess he doesn't need to. Nothing has happened between us since he stayed the night last. Other than us being 'Mates' and working together we haven't really been able to spend a whole lot of time together. We've also never made anything exclusive, so I guess I understand why he didn't tell me he was leaving.

"You're literally going to be Luna one day. Ruling at his side as one. You shouldn't need childish things like being labeled 'exclusive.'"

Kings and Queens had lovers and arranged marriages too. How am I suppose to know if our relationship is purely business or not? Selene huffed not arguing with me any further. As the days went by she had become more talkative which has also become more of her scolding me. Sometimes we believe the same things, but a lot of the time we see things differently.

"So what does that have to do with Rowan?" I asked walking into the room we had been revising the plan in and picked up the final documents I had to look over. We are constructing a new team of people who had elected to study animal anatomy and tend to the animals of the Pack. Along with a few scientists who had expressed that they didn't agree with how the Manticores were originally treated. If projections are right the older Mantacores should be able to be released in the next month. Plenty of them are showing signs of being able to survive in the wild, while also being more open to working with us. While most of them are taking longer to adjust to their new lives, the ones showing the least promise are being moved to a separate group to be monitored twenty-four seven to try to get them to use to our non-violent presence. There have been a few incidents where the manticore's lashed out, but it was never life-threatening and was almost always out of fear. A few have shown more aggressive tendencies and we will be giving them more attention as it is needed.

"Rowan is here to train you." My thoughts stopped dead in their tracks.

"Wait what?" I looked at Isabella for clarification. We had been working closely the last couple of days and had grown close regardless of the misunderstanding in the beginning. We still hadn't talked about how she dealt with being Luna, but we had more important things to do than talk about my title.

"Since everything here is going smoothly, and you are going to be the Luna we need you to be able to defend yourself." Walsh said monotonously. Sometimes he words things harshly but I've learned he is in fact a very kind person.

"And you could use some battle experience." Rowan chimed in with a cheeky grin. I glared at him.

"I hadn't thought about that aspect." I normally hate anything that has to do with physical labor and I'm not too sure about working one on one with Rowan.

"You're already very valuable to this pack," Rowan started but was quickly cut off.

"and in your current state you are at best a liability." Nia said as she walked into the room and folded her arms. She may be Rowan's sister but I absolutely would love to show her how much of a 'liability' I am.

"She's not entirely wrong. Lilly was already compromised once. We need to be ready to fight if it happens again." As much as I hate to admit it I agree with her. I can't just continue to act like the violence surrounding us doesn't affect me.

"That's not what we are trying to say-" Rowan shot his sister a distasteful look.

"No, I do need to train. I need to be able to stand on my own in battle." They looked shocked at my conclusion at first, most of all Nia. She seemed more pissed that she didn't embarrass me.

"Anyways, now that that is out of the way let's get back to the Manticore project." Walsh continued as he took another paper off the table. Nia came into the room completely, and I sat at the head of the table on a bar stool-like chair.

"So I think we need to put trackers into the Manticores. While I want them to be set free and have their own lives I also want to be able to monitor them and track their progress in the wild." It also kinda broke my heart thinking about Mana no longer being around to check up on me and having no way to see how he's doing.

"I agree, we already had a few tracker prototypes from a project years ago that we scrapped. It was supposed to help us in finding their nests, but we couldn't find a pattern." I nodded.

"Do you think you could tweak them to where it can also transmit their vitals for us?" Walsh rubbed his chin seeming deep in thought. He then grabbed one of the documents and turned it over so that he could write on it.

"That should be doable if we take the original design and do this-" Isabella peered over his shoulder and I had noticed the Rowan had been doing the same thing to me. It made me a little flustered that he was already that comfortable with being in my personal space, let alone me not noticing he had been in it. I tried to put a little distance between us and I think he realized so he took a step back.

"That should work." Isabella agreed, smiling at Walsh.

"Nia bring these plans to the library and ask for the original outlines for the tracker." She almost robotically did as they asked. I had learned a few days ago that Nia was Isabella's Assistant. Almost like her secretary. So she's normally around Isabella every time I see her, and not once has she seemed to warm up to me. I've tried but she makes it so damn hard.

"After that, we should continue the course as we have planned." I said standing. This meeting was a lot shorter than they normally are, but apparently I needed to start training, and the sooner the better in my opinion.

"You ready?" I peered over my shoulder at Rowan, who nodded back. "Is there anything else that we need to go over?" I asked Isabella and Walsh.

"No ma'am, we'll find you if we need you. Don't forget we have a meeting to look at group one's progress tomorrow." Walsh said waving me off.

"I guess it's your turn to lead the way." Rowan smiled a little too big, and I got a feeling I was in a little over my head.

He lead me to a black warehouse-style building not even ten minutes away from the lab. It wasn't anywhere near the enormous size of the Lab but it was definitely large. Just as we were walking in a door on the back of the building everything slowed.

"Duck!" Selene's panic was evident and intense. Within a matter of seconds, time sped up again once I had bent my knees and almost fell face-first on the floor. I had to plant my hand on the ground just to avoid falling all the way down. A loud banging sound resonated throughout the large gym room.

"Are you okay?" Rowan was bending down with his face just inches from mine. I hastily stood up and wiped my hands off. Turning around I had finally seen why everyone in the room was running our way. A large stainless steel ball had been launched into the door and was now resting in a small creator it had made.

"What the hell?" I whipped around towards Rowan ignoring the small crowd that was forming.

"That's what I want to know." He turned towards the crown, obviously pissed. "There is a corner in this room specifically made for ball practice." His eyes roamed the crowd before he landed on one particular man.

"What is the meaning of this Jack?" A shorter man walked forward holding the back of his neck, looking obviously uncomfortable.

"I had told my new group to not hold back and we had a competition going to see who could do the most damage on their enemy." His heavy accent made it hard to keep up with what he was saying. "I take full responsibility for any inconvenience my students may have caused m'lady." He looked at the group of ten younger-looking adults behind him. They couldn't have been any older than me.

"It's okay-" I tried to get out before Rowan stepped in front of me.

"Someone could have been seriously harmed. We have strict rules in place when it comes to using the equipment for a reason. Next time do it in a secure location." You could feel the tension radiating from Rowan and the confusion from Jack. I stepped out from behind Rowan and placed a hand on each on their arms.

"No one was hurt, so there is no issue here. We have training to do boys, let's get to it." Jack smiled at me and Rowan nodded while patting Jack on the shoulder.

"Alright kids you guys hear the lady! Let get back to it, and don't almost decapitate someone this time!" Jack and the large group of students went back to the various places they had been training in the large gym.

Rowan maneuvered the sparring groups of people in combat like he had designed it himself. Stopping along the way to give pointers on throwing punches, and how to block. He even took the time to fix one smaller girl's stance. She was almost half the size of her sparring partner and seeing a few of the punches that had landed on her made me wince.

"Here we are." He motioned to a small room in the corner. "I'll be on the other side getting changed. There should be a clean uniform in there, just find your size and meet me on the mats in five." Without another word he closed the locker room door.

It seems as if everything is out to get me. I thought about all of the coincidences that have put me in danger since the night my father was murdered.

"I've noticed that too. Luckily most things we are able to avoid, but you either have a death wish or are just terribly unlucky." I gave Selene a dry laugh to go along with her dry humor.

I guess they all wear the same thing huh? The far wall in the locker room was covered in shelves with various sizes of the same exact uniform. Once I finally found my size towards the bottom I quickly changed. I hadn't paid too much attention to what the women had been wearing until I looked in the mirror. The training uniform consisted of a black compression crop-top and nicely fitted black joggers. I felt a little exposed looking in the mirror since I was nowhere near as toned as everyone else that had been in the next room. Taking a few seconds to brace myself I decided even though I was chubby I still looked pretty good.

"Focus." I could hear the thumps and grunts from the fighting outside.

Calm down, we got this. I steadied myself and took one last look in the mirror before I pushed the lockerroom door open.