Blood Of The Luna

Chapter 1

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There are two types of people in this world, I thought to myself as I sat in the parking lot and doodled idly on my notepad. And as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter who you are, but you must have come across them at some point in your life.

First, there’s the special ones; the ones who can’t seem to ever set a foot wrong. These are the people you envy, the ones who you wish you could spend a day in their lives and see what they’re all about. You look at them, and all you can see is this perfect, poised, graceful and sometimes downright unrealistic person. They’re the jocks, the homecoming queens, the star athletes, the smart kids, and the ones who are just the way they are because of their attitude. Like any normal person, you were supposed to despise these people. You weren’t supposed to even be friends with these people, because you would always dislike them for one reason or another.

And then there’s the other end of the spectrum; the social pariahs; the losers; the ones who you turn away from when you make eye contact with them in the hallway. They’re the ones you don’t wish to be associated with, because they will drag you down with them. They tear away from the society and form their own cliques so they can wallow in their self-pity all day long. They’re probably watching you now, through hooded eyes and masked sneers. Theirs was a life of constant jealousy, and imperfection personified. Everything that could go wrong with them was bound to go wrong.

And then there was me.

Somewhere between that scale of perfection and imperfection, in a little space where no one has claimed, I carved out a space for myself and lived my life in contemptuous disregard. I was neither at the marvelous end of the social spectrum, nor the pathetic one. I should point out that it was purely by my doing that I ended up here. By birth, I should have been at the top of the social ladder. That was my birthright, being the daughter of the Alpha.

And yet, I rejected these norms. Why, you may ask?

Because I am a rebel; a maverick. I stick it to the man whenever I can manage to, the man being my father, Alpha Robert. Where others would cower before his might, I would look him dead in the eye and tell him exactly what I thought about something.

Or, to tell the truth, I would think about it very carefully in my head while I glared at him. I would never dare to speak back to him. No one who had ever done that had lived to tell the tale.

“Alyssa!” someone called from behind me, and I didn’t even have to turn around to know who it was. Ethel was the only one who would be yelling out my name on a Monday morning.

“You look happy,” she laughed as she sat beside me. “What happened? Did someone die?”

Her blonde curls had been pulled back into a messy ponytail, and her bright blue eyes shone with mischief as she took a peek at my notepad which I quickly stashed away.

“It’s none of your business, Ethel,” I snapped at her with a smirk. “And if you must know, I am just happy to be back in school with you. Summer was great, but now it’s back to History, Algebra, and all the other subjects which are near and dear to my heart.”

“Spare me the details,” she waved offhandedly. “I think you’re the only one who is actually happy to be back in school. I wouldn’t have minded a few more weeks of the break.”

“So you could spend more time with Joaquin?” I asked as I shoved her slightly. “At lunch, you must tell me all about your summer fling with the resident narcissist of Blackburn High.”

And as I said his name, the roar of his motorcycle broke out in the parking lot. All eyes turned towards the black figure that was Joaquin, with his leather jacket, dark pants, black helmet and matte-black Yamaha underneath him. He came to stop right in front of us, and as he pulled off the helmet to reveal a chiseled jawline and dark, hooded eyes, a smirk was on lips.

“Play nice,” Ethel whispered into my ear as she walked over towards him.

“There you are, babe,” she sang, smacking her lips against his. “I was wondering if you would show up today.”

“Had to stop for gas,” he replied, his eyes shifting towards me. “Alyssa,” he greeted politely.

“Joaquin,” I replied, grabbing my backpack. Ethel clung to his arm, and her eyes shone as though she were staring at the human embodiment of Adonis himself. For me, that wasn’t my interest. And I could hardly claim that any guy in Blackburn High would interest me in the slightest.

Besides, I couldn’t boast to having time on my hands to ogle any man when my future was already set in stone.

The bell rang, and we hurried to class with Ethel and Joaquin beside me, practically joined at the hip. Turned out their fling had morphed into something much more than that. From the way she was looking at him, and the way he only seemed to have eyes for her, it was safe to say that my best friend had snagged the catch of the season, the same guy that every other girl in Blackburn High wanted.

Every girl except me at least.

Our first class was chemistry, and to no surprise, Ethel asked to be paired with Joaquin. They scurried away to the corner of the class where they began to whisper and giggle like children on a sugar high.

I paired up with Natalie Steffon, and as much as she wanted to comment on the blue top I was wearing, she held her tongue. If I were any other person, then Natalie would have slated me on the spot. But she hesitated, remembering that I was more than just the nerdy loner in school who didn’t mingle with anyone except my one friend.

I was the Alpha’s daughter. And that title alone commanded respect even amongst the teachers. They all knew that one day, I would come to rule our pack, The Black Serpents. And you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of the future Alpha, would you?

“Mr Johnson,” Natalie asked as she raised her hand, “will we be working with that chemical over there?”

“Ah!” Mr Johnson exclaimed, grabbing the beaker in front of him which held a clear liquid. “This is Sulfuric acid, Miss Green. And you are correct, we will be working with it today.”

“But isn’t Sulfuric acid dangerous to inhale for our kind?” Tammy asked. She was sitting right in front of me, her hair cut short and her neck tattoos showing prominently.

“Indeed,” Mr Johnson said, turning the beaker over so we could see the name. “For a human, Sulfuric acid is actually non-lethal. Can anyone tell me what they use it for?”

“To clean their houses,” Tammy said eagerly.

“Right you are, Miss Evermore,” he said with a smile. “Now imagine what would happen to a wolf when they break into a human’s house just after they’ve cleaned it using this chemical. The consequences would be… quite severe.”

I remembered mother once telling me about a failed attempt to capture a rogue once, where they stumbled into a human’s house and got burnt to death. That was a terrible thought, since humans didn’t even know what they were doing while they cleaned their houses.

“So basically, we can only attack the ones who never clean their houses,” Joaquin said, causing everyone to laugh.

“Now why you would want to attack a human, Joaquin?” Tammy asked.

“Perhaps to remind them who is at the top of the food chain,” he replied, drawing another round of laughter. Even Mr Johnson chuckled a little bit.

But I didn’t laugh. Not just because I never found his jokes funny, but because it reminded me of a conversation I overheard while I was eavesdropping on one of father’s meetings over the summer. Even today, I heard him telling Uncle Raph - his beta - to make sure that everything was in place for the attack. And no matter how much I wanted to stop him from whatever it was he was planning to do, the memory of what he had done the last time I tried to interfere in his affairs was still fresh in my mind.

At lunch, Ethel abandoned me to sit with Joaquin and his crew, so I was left alone at my table. No one else would dare to sit with me, and I was already used to that. Such was the life of a loner, and I must say that I was particularly gifted in that aspect.

But my quiet lunch was suddenly interrupted when I was summoned to the Principal’s office. All eyes turned to me as the announcement was made, and the cafeteria fell silent. Ignoring all the eyes turned in my direction, I grabbed my bag and headed off. Ethel tried to follow, but I shook my head.

“It’s fine,” I said. “Probably something about my extracurriculars.”

As it turned out, it was nothing to do with school. Imagine my shock when I stepped into the Principal’s office and found my father sitting before him, while Mr Brownlee sat uneasily on his seat.

“Ah,” he said the moment I stepped in. “There you are, Alyssa. Your father came by and said he would like to speak with you.”

“There’s no need to speak for me, Jacob,” father said in a clipped tone, causing Mr Brownlee to swallow nervously. I rolled my eyes at that. Father usually had that effect on people who were too terrified to be themselves around him.

And by people, I meant every single person he ever came across.

“Leave us,” he said, and Mr Brownlee hurried away without another word. As he passed me by the door, he seemed almost relieved to be leaving the room. And when he shut the door behind me, I was left alone with my father. He didn’t turn, and the black suit he was wearing seemed almost as if it was carved out from his own body. He sat rigidly, his broad shoulders rising and falling slowly with each breath.

“Sit,” he said.

I walked over calmly, assuring myself that whatever it was he wanted to say, it surely couldn’t be that bad. I hadn’t committed any crimes, as far as I was aware. So there was no need to be afraid.

But then again, this was my father we were talking about. And why else would he call at my school if not for a serious offense? The last time he ever did this was because I picked a fight in kindergarten and I broke Liv Taylor’s nose. It must have been a serious offence for him to show up here.

Nevertheless, I took my seat beside him and folded my arms in front of me. He continued to stare at the open window, still refusing to look at me. I could feel the restrained anger in him, and my wolf stirred uneasily at the silence. She knew, better than anyone, how dangerous it would be to provoke him when he was in this state. All our wolves did that, cowering in his presence because they knew he was the Alpha and he demanded the utmost respect.

“Do you know why I’m here, Alyssa?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“But you can guess why.”

“I’m afraid I can’t ,” I said.

“I saw you this morning,” he said, turning to face me. “Did you think you could sneak up on me and I wouldn’t notice?”

Oh crap!

I stared down at my feet, unwilling to look up at him. He was watching me, and I could hear him drumming his fingers slowly on the desk. Something about the way he sat was unnerving, and I had been on the receiving end of his anger enough times already to know what it was like. But this time, it was different. Something in him had snapped. And I could tell that whatever punishment he was going to give out, it would be much more terrifying than the others.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was just curious what you were up to. I was looking for you when I stumbled upon the two of you talking, and I couldn’t help myself. I know I shouldn’t have invaded your privacy like that, and it won’t happen again.”

Alright, maybe I wasn’t sticking it to the man right now, but the time would come.

“I’ve had my fair share of your shenanigans, Alyssa,” he said. “You deliberately disobeyed me, and you keep breaking the law time and time again. This summer has shown me just how erratic your behavior has been. Your mother has stepped in on your behalf enough times already for me to know that she will always side with you no matter what. But I will not have that. I will not have you leading this pack one day when you can’t even lead yourself.”

He stood up, and when he moved to the window, I knew what would come next would be something I would dread for the rest of my life.

“I have made a decision,” he said. “And it seems to me that the only way to tame your wild side is to pair you off with someone who can keep you in place. You obviously don’t respect me enough, so I believe you should be with someone who you will have to respect.”

I looked up sharply, not really understanding what he was saying. The grave tone in his voice told me that this was a difficult decision, even for him.

“Do you realise that our pack is on the brink of collapse right now?” he asked. “Everyday, we edge closer and closer to absolute destruction. Our enemies are circling from every direction, waiting for the opportunity to strike. When you become the Alpha, you will know that every sacrifice an Alpha has to make us for the good of the pack. The pack is more important than any individual wolf, including you and I.”

“What are you saying?” I asked.

“You will wed the future Alpha of the bloodhounds,” he said. “I believe the boy’s name is Damian. As soon as you graduate, the date will be fixed.”

My whole life crumbled right before my eyes as he said that. He didn’t wait to see my reaction however as he turned around and stormed out of the office, leaving me in a dazed and confused state.

How did everything go so horribly wrong?

***