The Secretive Luna

Chapter 4

Zack Daniels is currently twenty-two years old. He's an Alpha but he doesn't have a Luna yet. His parents have just send him to a party with deep hopes that he will find his mate, though he isn't particularly thrilled by the damn idea.

He's not the most prepared with meeting his mate though since he still has some baggages that aren't quite loaded off his shoulders and meeting his mate will probably complicate all that, especially with all the rumours going on about him.

He has just arrived at the party and he breathes in and out as he finally decides to get out of the car. He'd rather be anywhere else than here, at a stupid party, as he calls it!

The party has been held every passing year and the hosting Pack is always different and this year it's particularly a bigger party than the last ones. After all, it is a party aimed to help young werewolves to meet their mates.

To Zack's relief, his Beta Cyrus decides to come along with him and he's relieved since he knows he won't be bored. His only consolation is that at least he'll meet up with a few Alphas here and maybe strike a deal or two with some of them.

However, the moment he steps in the ballroom, he feels something different. The place is filled with hundreds of werewolves from different Packs, big and small, and so all sorts of scents are mixed in, not to mention the food and smoke that swirls around too, but according to Zack, there is a particular scent that stands out.

It is distinct, it is pure and sweet. In a chaotic environment, it is soothing.

“What is that scent?” he turns to Cyrus who has just grabbed a glass of booze from a passing waiter.

“What do you mean? This? Apparently it's human alcohol, but it doesn't taste too strong.” he answers. With that, Zack arrives to the conclusion that he must be the only one who has noticed it because there's no way a scent like this would be ignored by Cyrus and everyone else around them.

Just like that, he leaves his Beta and walks around the room. His agenda of meeting with the other Alphas is now gone and his new mission of finding the owner of the scent rises above everything else.

Just what is that? Is it a spell? Are they using illegal substances here?

The longer he's exposed to the scent, the more his senses are heightened. His chest starts feeling an unfamiliar boost in its beating, as if an excitement. It reminded him of his very first shift, but this one is a bit different such that he can't explain it.

As he surfs from the crowd and pushes away the people that approach him for a dance, he's starting to lose hope that he will ever find the owner of the scent.

Frustrated, Zack decides to stand still and try his best to pinpoint where it's coming from, something he should have done from the beginning.

Unknowingly, he has used his wolf to strengthen his tracking and when he opens his eyes, in the sea of people, he sees a pair of blue eyes looking back at him.

The room is dark and he can barely make out her form, but he can tell that she has frozen immediately she saw him.

The realization quickly hit them both and he's also taken aback. He had no idea that he'd be meeting his mate tonight.

Zack's heart is beating so fast he can barely tame it and as he's about to take his first step towards her, she turns around and walks away.

He stops momentarily and follows her with her eyes and the reality soon dawns on him.... she's leaving! Her scent is even barely noticeable now, but Zack can still smell it out. How could he not? It stands out in the crowd!

He pushes people out again as he focuses on the scent and follows the unknown girl. All he has in mind is her blue eyes, her long white dress flowing as she walks away.

Zack gets outside and he doesn't see her anywhere and following her scent once more, he's led to the forest, away from the people. There's barely light around him and he's starting to doubt that she came this way, but it's her scent that gives her away.

There are times when he can't completely pinpoint where she has gone and Zack suspects she is trying to conceal her scent, but he's simply glad that he's still able to get her direction.

He doesn't understand why would run away from him? Or maybe she doesn't know that they're mates. He believes that meeting ones mate is supposed to be a happy occasion!

Does she not feel the same connection? This is definitely what they call the 'mate pull'.

Zack keeps tracking the scent until he comes to a stop. This is where the scent has stopped as well, but his mate isn't anywhere to be seen. He suspects that she's hiding behind a tree so he walks around until the emotion he feels is at its strongest.

He peeks behind the tree, but she isn't there and that leaves only one place....behind a huge rock surrounded by a thicket.

Zack Daniels takes a few steps back and looks further beyond the rock and it only takes him a few seconds to catch the blue-eyed goddess staring back at him.

With his eyes having adjusted to the darkness, he can see her face much more clearly. She's beautiful and she looks like a doll and her eyes are just so captivating that he can't help but be drawn in.

She's wearing a long white dress that sways perfectly with the wind and as she stares at him, he feels like a peasant staring at a divine being.

The damsel, probably in distress, takes a deep breath. She's taken aback, she looks like she is in a pinch and Zack might be here to save her, but again, it looks like the last person she wants to see at the moment is him.

“Why did you run away?” Zack asks, curious as to why her first instincts were to run.

“Zack Daniels and that's enough reason to run away.” she says and Zack takes a while to answer and simply nods his head.

So she knows him? Most people only know him by name and not his face so he suspects that she must be at least a warrior or probably a high ranking wolf.

Zack questions her a bit more until she mentions Charlotte. Of course, she has heard of the rumours.

“You don't have to worry about her, she's not my mate.” Zack answers simply, trying to dismiss the issue so he can at least get her name, but it doesn't seem to work. He can already see that explaining his whole relationship with Charlotte is going to be a huge burden.

His mate still looks distressed and now she's even proposing that the pull they both feel is an effect of a drug. She proposes waiting for sixty minutes before confirming that they truly are mates and although she knows that she's simply saying it to get away from him, he goes along with what she wants.

She looks uncomfortable, baffled even so he wants to give her a bit of space.

“Fine, but before I leave... I didn't get your name.” he tells her.

Her lips part a bit, surprised.

“How cruel, I remember you yet, you don't remember me?” she answers.

Zack Daniels instantly feels guilty. He can't deny the fact that there's something familiar in her, no doubt, he feels he must've seen her somewhere before, but he can't exactly remember where.

“We've met before?" Zack asks, trying to get an answer of where they've seen each other, but she doesn't give in. Instead, she shakes her head and sits down on the the rock and he's suddenly worried that she might slide and fall from the slippery rock.

“It doesn't matter since we have plenty of time to get to know each other if we really are mates.” she says and bids him farewell. It seems she's eager to get rid of him so easily!

As Zack walks away, he's satisfied with his decision of giving her time and space, but as he gets farther away from her, he starts to regret it more and more.

He has a foreboding feeling that he won't be seeing her again after a while and he's definitely right because he doesn't see her again after he leaves her at the forest.

She runs away from him and when he realises what has happened, he immediately calls for everyone's cooperation. He makes sure that he sees every person coming in and out of the hosting Pack.

Zack doesn't know how she escaped in such a short time, but either way, she managed to do it. He tries asking everyone he knows and describes how she looks like to them but no one can offer concrete help. After all, the party was held in a dark place and no one could really see each other that clearly and plus, there were hundreds of people that night.

His Beta Cyrus is quick to catch on things and starts laughing at him for what has just happened to him. He's laughing at his friend's misery first before deciding to help him.

*****

After the party, Zack gets the list of the Packs who sent delegates and he immediately starts visiting them.

When they are on a roll, they visit five to six packs every day and when they're in a remote area, they visit only two Packs.

Zack is getting frustrated each passing day to an extend of questioning a lot of things. Why would she run away? Did he do something wrong to her?

The thoughts torture him and getting no answers is even worse.

Two weeks pass and after visiting almost fifty five Packs, there's still no signs of her. He's starting to get discouraged that he'll ever find her again.

He starts wondering if he was dreaming that day or he was drugged or maybe his mind was playing tricks on him.

He doesn't know anymore.

****

A few days later, Zack decides to visit the Global Pack and as Cyrus drives through the Pack gates, he feels it....the familiar pull and suddenly, all his doubts fade away...she must be here!

The headaches, the worries, the doubts and confusion melt as he gets wrapped with the familiar soothing scent. After weeks, almost a month of trying to find her, her scent calms the chaos of thoughts and emotions inside him.

And that's how Zack starts realising that the damsel already holds such great power over him. If the lack of her presence drove him crazy and now her scent is his newfound peace, what more would come if he starts to know her?

But somehow, that does not sound too bad to him.

Zack and his team round up to the Pack house and he quickly looks for her and his heart stops when he sees her standing at the line of leaders.

She's standing next to Alpha Jeff and Zack suddenly remembers that Jeffrey has a sister and perhaps it's her.

He doedn't delay getting off the car.

Finally, after weeks of searching here she is. She still looks beautiful although she's trying to avoid his eyes, but once he catches her gaze, they hold without letting go. Doubtless, the pull is affecting her as much as it's affecting him!

Zack tries to suppress the smile and excitement he feels but he just can't. He tries stopping his legs from walking up to her, but his feet has a mind of their own and he deliberately starts walking up to her.

He heads towards her and just as he's about to stop right in front of her, she turns back and she's about to walk away again.

However, he learned his lesson the last time she disappeared on him therefore he quickly holds his hand out and holds her arm and the proof that they're destined with each other manifests itself and everyone around them are witnesses to that.

Waves of current surge from the contact of their skins, something that surprises both of them. It's surprising at first, but the emotions that follow after are nothing but pure bliss.

Zack can't contain it. Though he isn't a smiley person, at this very moment he can't stop grinning widely.

“It wasn't drugged.” he teases her and her eyebrows meet at the confusion of what he's trying to say. It seems she can't remember the excuse she gave that night in the forest about her drink being drugged!