My Most Precious Human

I was looking at the crowd kneeling before me as if I was a goddess. It was overwhelming. The pressure was getting to me from all sides, squeezing my chest. I glanced at Draven. He stood a few steps away from me, wearing a sly grin on his face. When he met my pleading, help-me-out gaze, he let out a brief chuckle and tilted his head, pointing at the crowd. He dared me to step forward and speak, but how could I? He was a natural-born leader, and I always chose to fight in the second or third row, yet currently, those people had their eyes solely on me! I forcefully pulled a breath into my lungs.

"I am not a Princess, and I am not at Alpha like my mother was!" I called out, trying to amplify the sound of my voice.

I saw the people in front of me raising their heads and looking at me.

I swallowed and continued, "I didn't know what happened to my mother's pack, and I used to be too weak to even try to find out. But I became stronger, and I am willing to use that strength to right my father's wrongdoings!" I swore, placing my hand on my chest.

The pack jumped up from their knees with fighting shouts coming loudly from their throats. They threw their fisted hands up in the air as if they were proving that they were ready for battle... It freaked me out. I didn't mean it like I wanted them to join me in the battle. Besides, it wasn't strictly my war, to begin with. My eyes shifted to Draven, but he just glanced at me, smiling like he was telling me that it was my decision, but I didn't feel that I had the right to tell those people what to do.

"Listen to me!" My voice broke through the shouting crowd.

To my surprise, everyone went silent, as if I had turned their voices off. I took another breath, struggling to control the panic rising within me. Their eyes were on me, but I still had no idea what to tell them! "I... I am a human being, and I am not a leader," I began. "You have just regained your freedom, and I won't force you to join a battle... but I cannot stop you if you want vengeance for everything that has been done to you."

Suddenly, a hulking young man with curly brown hair raised his hand. He stood deeper in the crowd, but his over-6.5 ft height was enough for him to stand out. My eyes met his. I shoved away my nervousness and gestured at him, giving him a kind smile. He stepped forward.

"Princess... In our hearts, you will always be the precious daughter of our leader, so if you want us to go and fight against the Southern Woods Pack, all of us will go and fight." He looked around and everyone nodded, confirming his words. "Most of the warriors from our Moon Lake Pack were either killed, like my father, or forced to join Alpha Randall's army. But there are still many good fighters among us. Please... let us fight for you."

Once he finished his speech, the crowd burst into courageous shouts that quickly turned into chants of my name. For some reason, they were all willing to sacrifice their lives for me. I didn't feel like I had done anything to deserve that kind of loyalty, but they were once loyal to my mother, and I might as well become their excuse to get revenge for her death and dreadful insults. I silenced the crowd with a confident gesture and faced Draven.

"The warriors from the old Moon Lake Pack are ready to join us in a fight against the Southern Woods. Alpha Draven, are you going to take them in?" I asked in a loud, sonorous announcement. Draven smirked, and stepped closer to me, locking his eyes on me. I smiled at him, daringly curving one corner of my lips. His grin widened. He stood beside me and faced the crowd.

"The Moon Hill Pack welcomes new warriors! Together we will crush the tyrant hiding in the Southern Woods!" With his call, the crowd went wild again.

That moment felt amazing. I couldn't help but smile. I didn't feel like a leader, but, for the first time, I had people who were willing to stay by my side, unconditionally. Caught in the moment, I looked at Draven, wearing the same warm smile I gave to the Moon Lake Pack. As our eyes met, he grabbed my hand, pulled me closer, and leaned over my ear.

"You see," he murmured, brushing my earlobe with his lips, "you were born to become Luna... my Luna."

Once more, his voice sent a shiver through my skin. I slightly pushed him away, rubbing off the tickling sensation from the surface of my ear. He chuckled. He knew that I was drawn to him, physically at least, and he used every opportunity to remind me how my body responded to whatever he was doing. Nonetheless, there was a line I could only cross once my heart would let me, and at that moment, there was a certain territory within me that was closed with a lock that had Sariel's name. Even if Sariel hurt me, I felt that I needed to meet him again. I had to find out whether our feelings for each other could surpass everything that had happened. I could only move on once I knew that what we had was not enough.

After a while, the shouting stopped, and someone turned the music back on. The unexpected "formal" part of the celebration ended, and I could finally have my drink. Certainly, that didn't change the fact that I was constantly surrounded by the Moon Lake Pack members, as they all wanted to greet me personally. They were all friendly... too friendly even. I felt like a celebrity or a royal. Thankfully, no one told me to sign an autograph.

"Go elsewhere, and let the girl breathe!" The old lady, who introduced herself as my mother's nanny, chased everyone away from me.

"Thank you, Miss... Nanny," I said, shyly. "They are all amazing, but I don't feel that I deserved their interest. I didn't do anything big, I just came along," I explained.

"First, call me Nera," she chuckled. "And second, try to understand them... You are a human. You should be weaker than them, yet you were the one who fought for their freedom. You brought them something we all should have fought for long ago, but we were just too broken after your mother died."

"Well... I'm not exactly weak, not anymore at least," I laughed nervously.

"But you were weak when you were a child... And this is another reason why our lives now belong to you," she claimed, locking her eyes on me.

My awkwardness only rose. "I still don't understand why-"

"Because we didn't protect you," she sighed, lowering her head. "We should have protected you, our little Princess, but we acted like cowards instead. Our Alpha Eve chose to give up her daughter to grant us peace within the Southern Woods Pack, and most of us thought that it was better this way, because you weren't a wolf. No one except for me knew how deeply your mother regretted her decision. Inside, she was dead long before she challenged Alpha Randall..."

I grabbed her hand and stroked it. "Let the past be the past," I said, trying to smile despite my glossy eyes. "I'm just glad that I have a chance to meet someone who knew my mother, and who cherished her."

Nera's face brightened. We spent another hour talking. I told her about my not-so-fortunate childhood and she told me what my mother was like as a child. The way she talked about her was sweet and filled with love. It warmed my heart. After Nera got tired and went back to sleep, I instantly became surrounded by the rest of the pack. I was more than thankful for my regeneration skills because I wouldn't have survived drinking with everyone else otherwise... The whole party was blissful. It was fun. I think it felt close to being home.

After a few more hours of drinking, I decided to call it a night. I wasn't drunk-my super-genes developed a super-liver for me-but I was completely drained. The rest of Moon Hill, Draven included, were enjoying themselves, eating, drinking, and dancing, while I couldn't wait to lay my head on the pillow. I convinced Martin to be my personal driver and take me back to our hotel earlier.

"No problem. I've already taken back one of us anyway." He shrugged.

"Seriously? Who?" I asked, curious to know who was more tired than I was.

"lan," he replied, with a mocking chuckle. "He drank so much he got sick."

I snorted, recalling how badly he wanted to drink and relax. I guess he must have had even more than those six drinks he was dreaming of.

Martin drove me in front of the hotel. I thanked him, watched him drive away, and then walked inside. I was swaying on my feet. I even took my boots off while walking upstairs to my floor, and marched barefoo through the whole corridor to my room at the end of it. The corridor was dark, but I was too tired to look for the light switch. Suddenly, I saw a brief flash coming from the crack of the open hotel room door. I froze, realizing that it was my door that was opened, and it looked like someone might have still been inside.

I swallowed and stepped forward quietly. Then the door to my room opened wide, and someone walked out. I ran towards that person and saw that it was a woman. She noticed me quickly and started speeding down the employees-only staircase.

"Hey!" I shouted, tossing my boots on the floor.

She instinctively turned around, but it was too dark for me to see her face clearly. I only registered that she had dark hair pulled up in a high ponytail.

"Stop!" I yelled, even though I knew she wouldn't.

Clenching my teeth, I chased after her, but she was insanely fast, and I could barely stand. After running down three floors, I saw her disappearing behind the corner, and once I jumped into the same corridor, she was already gone. I stood there for a while, listening to hear even a weak heartbeat, but there was nothing but silence around me.

Cursing under my breath, I went back into my room. The lights were still on. I wondered what reason she might have had to break into my room. She didn't smell like a human; she was definitely a wolf, but which pack did she belong to?

I looked around to see if anything was missing. Not like I had any valuable items inside my backpack, but still, I needed to check. Everything seemed to be in place, including the phone I put into the bedside cabinet's drawer. Pissed and confused, I sat on the bed, and then my tired eyes turned to the pillow.

Chills ran down my spine as I saw another note from JD. I exhaled, giving myself the courage to take it in my hand and read it.

"I would rather you don't get near Greystoneville. It might get ugly, and I don't want you to die there. Choose wisely. Yours, JD."