The Blood Moon: Luna

My eyes are so much like mom’s. I take a deep breath and look away from the mirror. I do not have time to get lost in memories of mom right now. “Lane! Come on, we are going to be late!” My best friend, Olivia, screeches from the front door. I dramatically stomped down the stairs in my doc martens, purposely showing my lack of enthusiasm for this pack event. Olivia rolls her eyes at me and throws her head back in exasperation. “Lane…..someone might think you don’t actually care about the Pack Meet & Greet. Can’t you at least pretend? Maybe put on some flats if you absolutely refuse the heels?” My sweet best friend knows she is fighting a losing battle. I glance down at my outfit. Black boots, black sheer tights, and a cute short sweater dress. I look at Olivia in her heels and calf-length wrap dress. She looks beautiful and exactly how I, as the Alpha’s only daughter, is supposed to look. Even her hair is sleek and straight, while mine is ever the crazy mane of waves. I accepted a long time ago that “pack princess” is not really a role that I fit into well. Thankfully, my dad also accepted that and has never tried to force me into it. Olivia is the daughter of my dad’s Beta and her mom was my mom’s best friend. She is also the sugar to my spice. “Not going to happen” I say as I kiss her cheek and reach past her for my leather jacket. “But you look stunning!” She rolls her eyes again but grins and says, “I know right, and you are rocking the sexy biker chick vibe perfectly as usual!” She wraps her arm through mine as we giggle and head out the door to our driver who is waiting for us. Pack hierarchy perks - a driver and bodyguard for these girls. Too bad we don’t get the sexy romance novel kind. Jim is my dad’s age and has been with us since we were old enough to walk. “Hey Jim!” “Good evening, Miss Lane. " Olivia,” he says as he slightly dips his head. “Tut tut Jim! You know to drop the formalities when it's just us. " I am no miss.” I pretend to shudder. He quietly laughs and shakes his head as he opens the door for us. “My prayers are with your father.” Olivia and I giggle as we slide into the car. “You do realize that when we walk in, the other packs are going to think I am the Blue Moon pack princess, right? Maybe I should go around back or wait to go in until after you enter?” “Umm… you are entering with me. If everyone thinks you are the princess then you will get to entertain and dance with all the suitors while I raid the buffet and dessert table in the corner.” I grin at her. “Lane!” She puts on an overdramatic, shocked look on her face with her hand on her chest, “How dare you use me that way and make me take all the attention! How will I manage?” We burst into laughter again. One thing Olivia does not struggle with is handling all the attention on her, she loves it. “You know I will try to hold them off as long as possible or at least filter them out for you, but they will eventually catch on. Plus, even without the princess title you are an alpha she-wolf, Lane. The boys will be sniffing you out even behind all the food.” Watching out the window, I nod to acknowledge her. I know all this. Being an alpha female has its perks for sure, but being the center of pissing contests of testosterone of male wolves is not what I consider to be one of them. This is why I didn’t want to attend the Pack Meet & Greet this year. There are five different packs that get together for this event. Blue Moon, Blood Moon, Crescent Moon, and then the two smaller packs- the Dark Pack and Shadow Pack. Big picture, I know it is great for making business connections, keeping up morale, and of course, exposing all the newly presented wolves each year so the chance of finding mates is higher. As wolf shifters, we start shifting whenever we go through puberty but our designation within the pack doesn’t present until we are twenty-one. We also cannot find our mates until then. I had my twenty-first birthday a whole three days after last year’s Pack Meet & Greet. I have purposefully kept to myself this past year because every time I did go out, the attention was almost suffocating from male and females of all ages due to my family and now my designation. Alpha females are rare and even more rare to find one born into an already Alpha family. Most of my own pack has been around me but none of the alpha males were anywhere near strong enough to gain my wolf’s attention. “Hey.” Olivia lightly touches my hand to get my attention. “We can dip out early as soon as the official stuff is all done and go back to my place for drinks and binge Greys. And who knows… maybe we will find our mates tonight!” “Drinks and Greys sounds great!” I purposely ignore the mate thing. Alpha females are known for not having a “true mate” due to having to find a male that is considered stronger than her. Most alpha females just end up taking a chosen mate that is a beta so that the power struggle isn’t there. The idea of having a mate that can’t stand up to me or be a little dominant… not the most appealing. My wolf immediately growls in my head her disapproval of that idea as well. Sigh. We pull-up in front of the massive hotel that the event is being held at this year. I know the packs rented out the entire thing for this so we have the space but without dealing with humans all around. We are civil but rarely co-mingle. “Wow. Fannnnn-cyyyyy” Olivia glances over at me all smiles and basically bouncing in her seat, “Okay, let's go in! This place is so gorgeous, I can't wait to see the inside!” Jim makes his way to our door. I take a deep breath. Here we go.