DESTINED LUNA

Adira opened her eyes, and all she could see was the dark sky above her with twinkling little stars. It was night already, she had passed out during the struggle in the river.

"Ahh.." She wailed as she slowly sat up, the pain she felt was excruciating. Her body was bruised, her head bleeding. She tried to stand up, but the pain in her left leg was too much to bear.

So she sat there, at the shore of the river, staring at the river which was gently floating. The river had floated her deeper into the forest, she had no idea where she was. Every tree looked identical to the next. 

In her moment of rest, she started hearing the trees rattling, something big was coming. She looked around and saw a broken branch a few inches in front of her. She stretched forward, picked it up and strangled to stand up with it. 

She then stared intensely at the woods rattling, till suddenly a huge wolf slowly walked out. It was more than five inches tall, standing on its four legs with its fangs five times bigger than the average wolf.

Its eyes were glowing green, while its fur was as black as coal. It was the same wolf she'd seen from her room back at the mansion. "I know you are no wolf! I saw you watching me back at the mansion. What do you want, werewolf!?" She summoned courage.

The werewolf then stood back on its two hind legs, making it over ten feet tall and ten times larger than the average human. Just when she thought it was about to attack her, it started to shift back into its human form. 

Its wolf-like head, slowly compressed back to that of a human, its huge paws slowly formed back to human hands, while its black fur slowly went back into its body. In less than a minute, nothing but a naked Theodore was standing in front of her. 

"Theodore?" She called. She tried to focus her eyes on his face but she couldn't help herself from taking a quick peek at his naked body, one that looked as elegant as a Greek god. "Wh-what are you doing here?" She stammered.

"This is my spot, I should be asking you that?" He glanced at her from head to toe, having seen the brushes and her wet clothes, "What happened to you?" He took a few steps closer, with his d*ck dangling like a bell.

"Please don't!" She closed her eyes, gesturing with her hands for him to stand back. "Fine… I'll put some clothes on…" He walked past her, over to a huge rock close to the river. 

Behind it, he had earlier kept a bag with clothes, for when he shifted back to his human form. He unzipped the bag, took out a pair of jeans trousers and a black jacket, then put them on.

He left the jacket unbuttoned, showing glimpses of his chest. "So now tell me, what happened to you?" He turned back to face her. "Wait, you first. How did you know to leave a bag there?" 

He sighed. "I told you this is my spot. I come here from the pack, to clear my head most nights. The best way to do that is in my wolf form. I always bring clothes for when I change back to my human form, so I don't go about, you know, start walking around with my d—" 

"Yeah, yeah, I get it!" She cut him short by gesturing with her left hand.

"So it's your turn. What happened to you?"

"After you left, I came back to the forest looking for you…" She twisted the truth. "Then I fell from a cliff into the river. It must have floated me deeper into the forest, to this place which I've never been to before!" 

"Well, are you okay?"

"What do you think? I fell off a f**king cliff!" 

"Okay come on." He walked over. "Put your arms around me, we need to get you off your feet." He demanded, she sighed, reluctantly placed her arm around his neck and he gently moved her to sit on the big rock. "Your leg, it's dislocated." He said after examining her leg. "We need to get you back to my pack!"

"No, no.. what I need to do, is get the f**k out of this forest!" She stood up from the rock, but the pain in her leg and her entire body made her fall back down. 

Theodore moved in an instant, catching her before she touched the ground. Her body was burning up, the injuries were getting to her. 

"Jesus, Adira, you are burning up.."

"I will be fine…. I just need to get out of the forest." She muttered, looking up into his face that was above hers.

"Not now, you don't. I am taking you back to the pack, you can hate me later." He lifted her up fully into his hands like a baby, and proceeded to walk deeper into the forest. 

Adira was slowly losing consciousness, with her vision getting blurry and her words became harder to understand. "Th-Theodore…?" She called out in a very low tone.

"No, don't talk, save your strength…"

"Did you figure out why I was in your dream yet?"

"No, not yet. Hopefully we will soon…." 

"I still am not sure what a Luna is, but you said you were supposed to see your chosen Luna, right? What if the reason you saw me was because I am the one destined to be your Luna?" 

Theodore remained quiet, took a deep breath and glanced down at her. She had fallen asleep after that sentence. The truth is he had never really thought about it like that, and he was terrified that she might be right. 

In a few minutes, they made it to the pack, which was surrounded by a huge brick wall. The wall, which was more than thirty feet high, had a huge black gate that opened inwards.

Theodore walked over to the gate, the pack members who were on watch at the gate saw him, and opened it from inside. Revealing the beautiful pack settlement inside it, with cabins, houses and, in the middle, a small castle. 

This was a pack that had existed for hundreds of years, carefully living their lives underneath the noses of humans. Theodore proceeded to walk inside and they closed the gates behind him. 

"Who is she?" Liam, the pack's beta, walked up to him. "She was someone that needed my help, and I couldn't ignore it." Theodore replied coldly.

"Theodore, look around you." Liam gestured to the pack members who were standing around, wondering who he was carrying. "The pack members would want an explanation for this. Remember the number one law is against bringing strangers into the pack, you can't just go and break it." 

Theodora glanced at everyone, and turned back to Liam. "I am Alpha now, and I can do whatever I damn well please!" He roared, took a few steps forward, then he turned back. "Oh, and tell Laura that she is needed in my room!" 

********

Theodore gently dropped Adira on his giant soft bed, and in a few minutes someone came knocking on the door. He walked over to open it, it was Laura. A black middle-aged woman who happened to be the pack's healer, holding a little handbag.

"Hello, Theodore. Liam said you asked for me?" 

"Yes, I did. Come in." He gestured into the room. "On the bed!" 

"Who's she…" She gestured to Adira on the bed.

"Her name is Adira…."

"Is she human?"

"Yes, she's the one I saw in my vision at the Alphaline ritual last night?" 

"Wait, what? But you have already announced to the pack that it was Shira and a mating ceremony is just in a few months!"

"I did… I lied, because what else was I supposed to say?"

"Do you even realize the seriousness—" 

"Laura! Please…" He cut her short. "I know I lied about Shira being the one I saw. But that's not important right now, Adira's injured. She fell off a cliff looking for me. I found her like this burning up! Can you help her?" 

"I don't know if I can!" She walked over and touched Adira's forehead. "She's burning up. It seems she has a few broken ribs, internal bleeding and a dislocated leg. This is very serious, Theo. I can try the potion from the butan rose, but she's human, I don't know if it will work on her." 

"What do you mean?"

"The potion from the butan rose, doesn't magically heal us as most people think, it only helps a werewolf healing system to heal faster when it's damaged after an incident . Humans don't have that same healing system, the potion could even kill her."

"Okay fine, then we won't give her the potion. Is there anything else you can do?"

"I can't do anything else, her injuries are serious. She has serious internal bleeding, on top of which her broken ribs are piercing her lungs filling it with liquids, making it hard for her to breathe, which explains why she can barely stay conscious. She might not even make it through the night!"

"Then give her the potion." 

"But we have no idea how it will affect—" 

"Just do it!" He cut her short. "She's going to die anyway, we have to try!" 

"Fine…" Laura sighed, took out a bottle filled with a blueish liquid from her bag. "Come on… drink." She slowly lifted Adira's head, and put the bottle in her mouth, till she finished half the bottle.

She then gently placed Adira's head back on the pillow, stood up and turned to Theodore. "Whatever happens now, it's fate." She walked out of the room, leaving Adira alone with Theodore.

"Theo??" Adira muttered under her breath. 

"I'm here…" He walked over, placed one knee on the ground, held her hand with his head close to hers. "You are going to be alright, just save your strength." 

"You don't have to lie to me, " I heard what Laura said. For what it's worth, I just wanted to say I am grateful for you saving me, twice now..."

"It's going to be alright Adira."

"I know we don't even know each other, but the weird thing is, I feel like I know you, Theodore. So if I die tonight, I just want you to know, I am glad I met you." 

As Theodore stared at her sad face on the bed, his eyes became teary. The hardened Alpha was like a child to her. "You are going to be alright…" He placed a gently quick and soft kiss on her lips.

"I will be with you all through the night." He held her hand tightly, sprouting a very bright smile from her face, as she slowly fell asleep.