One Night

Chapter 7

When I woke up I could feel a heavyweight draped across my waist. Panic slowly started sweeping over me. I could feel my muscles tense instinctively and that's when I felt the tingles. I instantly relaxed, realizing I had just forgotten where I was and the weight was Luke's arm.

Laughing silently to myself I tried to move his arm gently, as not to wake him. Sliding out from his arm proved trickier than I thought, he was built like a tank. Once I was out of bed I crept to the door as quietly as I could, I didn't want to wake Luke.

As I was turning the doorknob I heard him call my name. Clearly, my plan of not waking him failed, but I should have known. He is an Alpha after all.

"Ray, where are you going?" I could hear the worry in his voice, I know he was trying to hide.

"I didn't want to wake you. I was just going to go for a run." As I was finishing my sentence he was already getting out of bed and digging through his dresser.

"You're not going by yourself and I'm the only one who can even remotely keep up with you," He said with his back to me, so he missed my eye roll. But he did have a point about keeping up, seems he is the only one who will be able to train me.

He turned to face me, holding what looked like a pair of sweats and a tank top. I couldn't help but admire his muscular chest, he really was, bodybuilder big but, not in the steroid way, rather the natural way.

My eyes started to travel downwards when I heard him give a slight chuckle.

"You like what you see?" He asked in a cocky manner.

I felt like giving him a run for his money since he thought, he could get the upper hand on me.

"Yes actually. I do." I said matter of factly and with that grabbed my clothes and headed into the bathroom.

I did my morning bathroom routine, except didn't have a toothbrush so I settled for using some of his mouthwash instead. Once I was dressed I walked out of the bathroom and into the living room. To find Luke sitting on the couch in the same position I found him in last night.

" So... let's go," I said while walking to the front door.

"Ray, wait a second please." He said making no move to get up. So walking over I stood in front of him.

"There are a few things we should talk about before going on our run." He said while patting the couch next to him. I sat down waiting for him to start talking because all I could think about was running.

"As you know I am Alpha of this pack. We are the Black Moon pack, there are about 500 pack members. You've already met Adrian my Beta or second in command. Rylie is my Gamma or third in command, you'll meet him soon. You met my dad who is the former Alpha. I asked everyone to, basically stay away yesterday, so you wouldn't be overwhelmed when you got here." He paused looking to gauge my reaction.

" Ok, the only question I have is how did you tell everyone to stay away, when I never saw you use your phone?" I was really tired of this feeling of confusion.

I really don't like feeling confused.

" Oh, I mind linked everyone to stay away from main grounds for the night. And before you ask, mind linking is something wolves can do with other pack members and their mate. Similar to phone calls but with our mind and the further the distance the harder it is to link that person. You will be able to mind link the pack when we have your Luna ceremony and you're added to the pack." He finished.

"Luna ceremony? What does that entail exactly?" I questioned.

He gave a sigh which I didn't take as a good sign. " Luna ceremony consists of a party involving the whole pack, lots of food, and mingling. Then there's the ceremony part where my father will stand up and vow you into the pack and your position as my mate and equal. You will be given the same power and respect I have now."

" Who is planning this thing?" I asked.

"Don't worry about that, I got it covered. I just need to know what size dress you wear."

I looked at him dumbfounded. Dress? Was he serious? I'm not the dress type.

"Uhhh, a dress? I have no idea what size dress I wear?" He looked at me confused, got up, and got a pen and paper.

"Here write down the measurements you do know and I'll have them make it work."

I took the pen and paper and wrote out the sizes I wear. Handing it back to him, I stated "I don't like dresses."

He folded it and put it in his pocket as he walked towards the door. Calling over his shoulder, "You coming?"

All I could think is we can finally run. I could feel my muscles getting tense with excitement. But I had one more question. " You said mates can mind link each other. Can we do that?" I asked him.

He heaved a sigh, "Not yet we can't. There's another thing about mates. Once we mark each other, then we will be able to mind link and sense each other's emotions." He seemed to get tense up discussing this and I wasn't sure why.

"what do you mean by mark?" There is so much I don't know about this new world of mine.

" Marking your mate means that both of you have accepted each other. It's when mates elongate their canines and bite each other in the crook of the neck leaving their mark. It shows unmated wolves that you are taken and strengthens the bond between mates. Although the mate bond isn't complete until mates have marked and mated each other. The marking, for most mates, happens during mating." He gave me a sideways glance as he said the last part, almost as if he was uncomfortable.

I knew what he meant by mating, I now understood why he was tense discussing this topic. So all I said was " Oh." I headed to the door eager to run. As I was making my way down the stairs, I could hear that there were people milling about downstairs. Unlike last night where everything was quiet, well except for meeting Adrian. I paused on the stairs, starting to feel uneasy about meeting everyone. When I felt Luke's fingers lace with mine, I started to slowly calm down. Once at the bottom of the stairs we made our way to the kitchen, where we ran into Adrian again.

"Good morning Luna." Adrian greeted me but ignored Luke.

"Hello, again Adrian. But please call me Ray. I'm not Luna, At least not yet." Adrian's eyebrows rose up as he made eye contact with Luke. I assumed they were having a mind link conversation, based on the constant eye contact.

" So Adrian, do you have a mate?" I had a feeling he and I were going to be really good friends in the future.

He turned his attention to me then. "Why no I don't, Ray." I gave him a simple reply of "hmm"

Then I proceeded to walk out the side door of the kitchen headed for the woods. I don't know why but I had a feeling Skye and Adrian should meet. I needed to run I could feel the energy pulsing under my skin, building. I kept walking until I got to the spot we shifted last night, going behind the tree again I started to strip. Shifting into my wolf I could sense Luke was now close by, I heard him start to strip and waited for his shift. All I could think was 'Hurry up!' I needed to run and he was taking too long, even though only a few seconds passed before he was walking towards me in his wolf.

His wolf was, not to emasculate him, but gorgeous. Seeing him in the light, his coat was extremely thick. Now I was noticing his coloring wasn't just black, it had undertones of blues and purples almost like a raven's wings. His fur looked like his hackle was up around his neck, but I knew it wasn't based on the way he was looking at me with his head tilted. I tilted my head back trying to signal 'What?' but he shook his head and took off running.

Finally.

I took off after him. I caught up to him rather quickly, no surprise there. We ran for quite a while before I noticed he was starting to slow down slightly, I don't think anyone else would have noticed it, to be honest. Getting back to where our clothes were I shifted quickly and dressed waiting for Luke. Once he came out he gave me a confused look.

"What?" I asked with my eyebrow raised.

"Earlier when I was starting to shift you...You mind linked me to hurry up." He looked at me incredulously.

I Just shrugged, "We knew I would start showing weird abilities right? Well add that to the list I guess."

He just shook his head in disbelief. I tried to focus on how I felt when I did mind link him, the power I felt running under my skin. Closing my eyes I tried bringing that power to the surface again. It didn't feel as strong this time but I could still feel...something. I concentrated on Luke and telling him I was hungry.

I opened my eyes when I heard him chuckle. "Come on Ray, let's get you some food. Then we can get you training and you can practice your powers later."

"I think I already understand how this mind linking works," I said as I turned to start walking back to the packhouse. I had only taken a couple of steps when I felt Luke lace his fingers with mine.

I was curious and I'm never afraid to ask a question or voice how I feel, so I asked him, " Why do you always hold my hand?"

He heaved a heavy sigh before he spoke. "It helps calm my mind. As an alpha, I feel the need to complete our mate bond more than most wolves do, but I want to take things slow. I mean your a brand new wolf and then you have all these possible abilities and on top of that your mate is an alpha of a pack. I don't know, I feel like I would be overwhelmed if I was in your shoes."

I stopped walking and looked at him, Staring into those beautiful two-tone eyes. "Thank you." was all I could say to that.

I've never been a relationship kind of person but movies are one of my favorite pastimes and I Know how one should be treated. Him, going slow and learning to deal with all these new changes and challenges alongside me was more than I could ask for.

When we got back to the packhouse we went in through the kitchen. I was surprised to see Adrian still there. He was sitting at the counter eating a sandwich. I noticed there were two more plates with sandwiches on them next to Adrian. I sat in the seat next to him and started eating one of the sandwiches.

"Don't you have work to do?" Luke directed at Adrian, to which he ignored and turned his attention to me.

"So Ray tell me a little about yourself." Luke rolled his eyes and began to eat his own sandwich.

"Not much to tell really. I'm an only child, basically raised myself, that's how I learned to cook. I'm a senior in high school and I had no idea supernaturals existed until about a week ago." I said it nonchalantly and went back to my sandwich. He just looked at me kind of dumbfounded.

Luke chuckled at his expression, "Come on the three of us should go to my office. Adrian, we'll explain everything there."

I finished my sandwich and stood up headed for Luke's office. Once we were all there Luke proceeded to tell Adrian everything that transpired the last few days. When he was finished Adrian was just silent to which I now giggled at, earning a heartwarming smile from Luke.

Turning to Luke, "I think we made him speechless." I stated which earned me another chuckle from Luke.

"So when can I start training?" I was eager to learn what I could do and was excited to meet more pack members.

Adrian finally snapped out of it and had a smirk on his face that I could already tell, leads to trouble. "You should have her train with Daruke."

I turned to look at Luke with an eyebrow raised. He heaved a sigh, "Come on." he said walking out of his office. I was beyond intrigued so of course I followed. He led me back outside with Adrian hot on our tails (No pun intended.) We walked to a field that was off to the side behind the packhouse where I could see a bunch of different groups sparring and doing various other workouts. But what caught my eye was the behemoth of a man in the middle taking on six guys. I'm not talking small guys either I was soon finding out that werewolf men are all built like gym heads. The guy in the middle must be about 7'2 and weigh like 300 pounds of pure muscle. He had sandy blonde hair that was close cut to his head and bright blue eyes, a scar ran the length of the left side of his face from his hairline to his chin.

As we got closer the behemoth of a man was taking the six men out left and right, seemingly without breaking a sweat. Luke cleared his throat once we were on the edge of the circle, the men stopped what they were doing and gave their attention to their alpha. They all gave a respectful nod of their head and went their separate ways to other sparring circles, all except who I assume to be Daruke.

"Well Alpha what can I do for you?" Daruke said in his gruff voice.

"Hello, Daruke I'd like you to meet my mate, Ray," Luke said gesturing to me as he said my name. I gave a quick wave.

"Hello, Luna it is a pleasure to meet you." He greeted me, with a bow of his head. Again with this Luna nonsense, I'll have to have a talk with Luke about that.

"Please Call me Ray, from my understanding you are going to be training together." He had a shocked expression as he looked, to his alpha.

"It's alright Daruke, she is right I would like you to train her." They both got that look on their face I was coming to understand was when one mind links, so I assume Luke was telling him about me and my abilities. I didn't think Luke wanted the whole pack knowing about how different I am just yet. I could picture them now, thinking I was some overpowered wolf they would fear, that is not what I wanted at all.

"The information I just told you is to be kept between the four of us for now. On that note, we need to know what she can do and she needs to be trained to fight." Luke finished. I liked the sound of fighting. I took MMA and kickboxing when I was younger, not to toot my own horn but I was pretty good.

Daruke nodded, "Alright we are gonna test what your able to do, kind of like a progress report."

I nodded awaiting instruction. I was starting to feel excited, finally, I get to test what I can do.

"Alright first we are gonna start with strength." He walked over to some weights I hadn't even noticed.

"So I've noticed the average she-wolf can bench about a hundred pounds, so I'll start you there," Daruke stated. I shrugged and picked up the dumbbell and dropped it almost instantly.

"That feels like nothing to me." Adrian and Daruke had surprised faces but Luke almost looked smug. He is the only one that has run with me so I think he had an idea of how strong I am. I gave him a sly smirk as Daruke put more weight on.

"Alright Ray, try that, I added another hundred pounds." I went to lift the dumbbell again, I could feel the weight this time but it was still too light. Shaking my head I dropped it again. We did this a couple more times till we found a weight that actually felt like a workout to lift, 480lbs. To be honest I was shocked at myself too. Luke still looked slightly smug.

"Alright next task is to test your speed and stamina. I would like you to run as fast as you can for as long as you can around the perimeter of the training field." Daruke said.

I took off as fast as I could go in human form, pushing myself to my limits...if I had them.

After what felt like about twenty minutes I heard Luke call my name. Stopping in front of them, they all had shocked expressions now.

"What?" I asked not even winded, Actually, I hardly felt fatigued at all.

They just stared at me for a moment, before Daruke shook his head in what seemed disbelief.

"Alright, let's see how well you can fight." He almost sounded frustrated which made me smirk.

I make it a point never to throw the first hit unless absolutely necessary, I got into my defensive stance. We then began to circle each other waiting to see who goes first. It looked like Daruke got impatient because he charged first.

He threw a left jab that I deflected easily, then a right jab. He kept throwing jabs each time I deflected them, it was almost like a dance. I could see him getting frustrated so I guess it was time for me to throw some. As he was throwing his left jab I threw an overhand jab making contact with the left side of his jaw, he stumbled backward a bit which I used to my advantage. I came at him with a jab to his right ribs and spun around so I was behind him, I threw another jab to his left ribs, using his disorientation to my advantage I swept his legs making him fall flat on his back. I was back up and ready to keep going but he stayed on the ground. He slowly got back on his feet brushing himself off.

"Alright, that's enough for today." He walked over to Luke, so I followed.

"Sooo how did I do?" I was eager to hear what they had to say. Luke was the first one to chime in.

"Well, you clearly have unparalleled strength and speed compared to normal wolves even me. But I have one question, where did you learn to fight?" he seemed puzzled that I already knew some moves.

"Well, I used to do MMA and kickboxing when I was younger to deal with aggression. Having increased speed and strength definitely helps. I'm sorry if I hurt you." The last part was directed at Daruke.

"I'll be fine Luna. On the contrary, it's nice to have someone other than Alpha who can push my limits in training. I look forward to training with you again." He gave me a kind smile that I returned.

"Remind me not to piss you off." Adrian still wore a stunned expression.

"What me being a redhead didn't tell you that already?" I joked back. Yup he and I were going to get along great.

"Ray, can you come with me?" Luke asked holding out his hand, which I took. He led us back inside and back up to his room.