A Luna's Revenge

Training - 6 years ago

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6 Years ago

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It was dark outside, the dried leaves crunched under my feet as I ran. I rounded an old abandoned building, the paint had peeled off exposing is raw cement structure, like a dead animal left to decay. I heard a noise between the trees, someone was watching me. It was hard to see in the dark, especially with the mist that hovered eerily above the ground, and into the forest. I heard a growl from the trees on my right and I spun around to run in the opposite direction. I was not going to be caught, not today. I was fully dressed in black to blend into my dark environment, but my hoodie blew off of my head while I ran between the branches. My long red hair betrayed me and caused me to stand out like a beacon in the night, or the bullseye of a target. I ran as fast as I could from the snarling creature behind me, the trees zoomed past me and my breathing hitched as the cold air burned my lungs. At twelve years of age I was still waiting for my wolf to come to me, the old man was preparing me for the chance that my wolf may never appear as I was half human, I prayed for it not to be true. I dove through a tear in an old fence, hoping to lose my attacker. Hearing the chime of the linked metal fence behind me followed by the pounding sound of heavy feet hitting the ground, I immediately knew my efforts had failed. The glimmer of a second fence approaching caused doubt to rise up in me, it appeared to be over 10 feet high in contrast to my 5-foot 3-inch frame. The slightest hesitation could be the difference between life and death. Be brave for me, I recalled my mother’s words. I leapt into the air, grabbing onto the fence, climbing to the top as fast as I could. I swung my leg over and allowed myself to drop to the dirt below. Landing on my feet, I looked up at my opponent on the opposite side of the tall barrier. His eyes glowed a golden yellow, and his large body was covered in dark grey fur. He turned to run and I thought wise to do the same, my lungs whistling due to overexertion and my legs shaking. Keep going Phoenix, keep going! I told myself. With my hair tie lost, my red hair flicked and fluttered wildly behind me like a wildfire consuming the forest. I fell to the ground with a thud, the air left my lungs at the force. The large grey wolf stood towering over me; his teeth bared as I tried to catch my breath.

“Alright,” I said breathlessly, “You win!” before getting to my feet to dust my clothes off.

“We’ll have a better rematch when my wolf comes in next week,” I chided at the old man still in his wolf form. He was a ruthless teacher, to whom I was ever grateful.

Back at school I was weak, restrained from reacting to the constant assaults raining down on me from the three rich kids in our class. Damian Black, the son of Derek Black who was the Alpha of the Dark Moon pack. The pack I belonged to mostly due to geographical reasons. We were uncertain as to what pack I was born into, which by default made me the member of the same pack my guardian, Noah, belonged. Damian being our future Alpha, was naturally the most popular boy in our school. What he said was law on the grounds, and to my detriment, he really didn’t like me. When he didn’t fail to acknowledge my mere existence, he reprimanded me forcefully for untruthful accusations made by his girlfriend. He once grabbed me by the neck and slammed me into the wall so hard, my head started bleeding, all because Annabella told him that I looked at her disrespectfully. Even though I despised him, I found myself staring at him while out on the sport field. His jet-black hair and muscular body were hard not to admire. The Alpha genes made it unfair.

“What are you looking at, rat!” a voice spat from behind me as I sat on the bleachers, my textbooks resting on my lap.

“Nothing,” I said disinterested.

“You better not be looking at him! A half breed like you would never stand a chance anyway.”

“I don’t care about him, or you. You could both go jump off a cliff and it wouldn’t affect me in the least… in fact… why don’t you!” I snapped back at her.

She proceeded to pouring the contents of her bottle over my head and onto my books.

“whoopsies… Oh, no… my hand slipped,” she said sarcastically in a sweet voice, the corners of her perfectly pink lips pulled down in disgust as her hand shielded the truth from people close by. I hated Annabella! She made it so easy too. If she wasn’t picking on me, embarrassing me, or tripping me, she had to be center-page beautiful too. Her plump pink lips and strawberry blond hair which were paired with crystal blue eyes gave her a classic and innocent beauty. They say everything has a balancing point, explaining the contrast her physical beauty had to her inner ugliness. How I wished the old man would let me out of my promise. I had promised him to do no harm before I could commence my training, and he promised to cease our daily sessions the moment he found my promise to be broken. And there was nothing anyone could hide from the old man. There’s a reason he had been the most celebrated tracker in the country, recruited by the biggest and most ruthless pack to serve as a Gamma to its previous Alpha, Derek Black.

I got up and shook off the excess water from my books, clothes and hair before heading to the bathrooms. Reaching the third to last step, George shoved me and sent me tumbling down to the dirt.

“Stay in the dirt where you belong half breed!” he spat as I got to my feet and walked off, fighting my instincts to hit him in the face.