Forty- two

I have no idea why I didn't notice this before, but now that I did, it was hard to ignore. The back side of the pack house conveniently faced the woods, which made it easier for werewolves to shift and go for a run.

After I stood awkwardly on the stage throughout the announcement, Harper whispered in my ear that every wolf would now take part in a celebratory hunt.

My eyes widened at the word hunt but Harper just chuckled at my response. "We just hunt down three deer as a pack to show our unity and those same deer will be enjoyed in the dinner. Nothing brutal."

Nothing brutal? They planned to hunt down three deer in the wild, together as a pack, as a celebration and Harper said that it wasn't brutal. I still had a long way to go before I accepted the werewolf world wholly.

Hundreds of wolves transformed in front of me and I was awed by the sight. The sounds of bone snapping filled the air and I took in the different shapes, colors, and sizes of the pack.

I watched my best friends shift into their wild animal form and I gaped at how regal they looked. Natalie was a sandy-colored wolf with two darker spots on her eyes. Samantha was a dark brown colored wolf with a hint of black stripes on her side. Both of them stepped forward and I petted them gently. I nuzzled my face in their necks and they whined playfully.

The beta family shifted next and I watched in awe at how their wolves radiated power. Aiden was a dark brown wolf, like the color of earth, and filled the shoes of his father brilliantly. 

He stepped closer to me and I petted him gently on the head. Before I could muzzle my head in his thick fur, Harper growled and pulled me back into his body. Aiden whined and Harper growled in return.

"That's enough. As a wolf, he would want to be petted by his Luna but he is another male and I simply won't allow it." Harper whispered in my ear. I rolled my eyes at his medieval behavior.

I smacked him in the chest. "You act like an animal."

Harper chuckled and the vibrations in his body traveled through my own, making me shudder. "Don't you know baby; I am an animal." 

I felt his lips on the side of my head and I shivered from the feather-light touch.

It was probably the turn for the alpha family to shift because all the pack wolves bowed their heads and I have no idea how, but I could feel the power of their submission.

Sebastian and Harper shifted in their white wolves, making the rest of the wolves howl in joy and submission.

We were probably too far from the human grounds for them to take any notice of the howling. That probably explained why I never heard any such howls whenever these kinds of meetings took place.

Two white wolves shifted in front of me and I could feel the authority surfing through the air. I wondered if I could feel it only because I was the Luna or if any other human would be able to feel it too.

Both of the wolves were quite similar with very few differences in them. The most prominent one being, Sebastian's left ear was half ripped out, probably from some kind of battle or something. I shuddered to imagine how it would have felt. Moreover, while Harper's green eyes turned to pearly black in wolf form, Sebastian's turned to blue.

I don't think I will ever get used to the idea of Harper as a wolf. His wolf seemed even more magnificent than I remembered. I eyed his powerful muscles and the way they bunched and relaxed every time he moved.

Was it possible to get turned on by a wolf?

As if he heard my thoughts, Harper turned around and gave me a wolfy grin. I grinned back and waved at him.

Both of the white wolves dashed out in the woods, with Sebastian in the lead. The rest of the wolves followed their alphas and ran out after them.

As soon as Harper ran out of my eye view, I remembered that there was still one person I had yet to see as a wolf. I don't think she even shifted. 

I turned my head and looked around the grounds for Eva. I had been looking forward to seeing Eva's wolf, to see how she complemented Sebastian's wolf as his mate, a way I would never be able to complement Harper.

"Looking for me?" A voice came from behind me and I jumped in alarm at the sudden intrusion of my thoughts.

I turned around to see a very pregnant-looking Eva smiling down at me. Her hand slowly roamed over her belly, the way pregnant ladies loved to do.

"Uh, yeah." I smiled awkwardly at her.

"I won't be able to shift in my wolf as long as I'm pregnant. Could harm my child." She answered my unspoken question and I nodded in response. I think I have been with wolves for quite some time now because everything seemed logical to me now.

"How does your wolf look like?" I asked her.

She smiled at me and gestured at me to follow her. I walked behind her and she entered the kitchen.

"I'm a mix between a sandy and brown-colored wolf." She said and I tried to picture her as a wolf. It wasn't really hard as I had just witnessed a couple hundred wolves transform.

"How does being pregnant feel?" I asked her, remembering how Harper had told me that Eva and Sebastian had faced problems conceiving a child for so long.

She smiled genuinely at me and I could feel how happy she was right now. "It's great. To share something like this with the person you love." She roamed her hand again on her belly and I couldn't help but smile at her tenderness.

"Harper told me you didn't want to know the sex of the baby yet." 

"Nope, we want it to be a surprise." She said, happiness evident in her voice. I took a seat on one of the stools and watched her open a few cabinets.

"Whenever you want to know, I'm here," I said, genuinely meaning it. The moon goddess had told me the gender of the baby when she told me Harper's mother was pregnant.

Eva pulled out two packets of chips from the cupboards and handed one to me. I accepted it from her and she then sat on one of the stools across from me.

"I'm glad the goddess chose you as Harper's mate. If I'm being honest, I had a few apprehensions about you being a human, but call it destiny or something, you came along with an amazing message. We had no choice but to accept you." She smiled genially and I returned her smile.

"I don't think Sebastian's warmed up to me yet," I said tentatively, afraid she would take offense.

She laughed and waved her hand dismissively in the air. "Oh, don't worry about him. He has accepted you or he wouldn't have announced you as the future Luna today. He is not one of those guys who will express their feelings in words. I'm glad Harper didn't turn out like that." She said and munched on a few chips.

"Was it difficult, you know, to get along with him?"

"Oh, very! My father was the beta of a pack a few states over and Sebastian had come to visit my pack due to some rogue problems. He was as aloof as a mate could be but it all worked out well in the end, I guess."

I could see how in love she was with Sebastian and I was awed at the sight. They had worked on their relationship a lot because they had very well moved over their rough patches.

I opened my packet and started munching on my chips. Suddenly, I felt a huge wave of happiness and pride wash over me and I was completely overwhelmed at the sensation.

"Feel that?" Eva's voice broke my reverie. I nodded and put a hand on my chest as I felt the feeling of utter pride linger in my chest.

"A luna is capable of feeling how the pack members feel to a certain degree. As the bond between you and the pack members grows, you will get clearer realizations of people's feelings. The more everyone accepts you, the more time you spend with the pack members, the more it will cement your bond with them and make you a better Luna."

"The hunt must have been successful, hence the feeling of happiness." I watched Eva as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath as if she were drawing strength from the waves. "Harper must have killed the first deer, which explains the pride everyone feels."

I gaped at her words and how very supernatural her words sounded to a mere human like me.

"They are on their way back home."

"How did you know that?"

"With time, you will know how to control these waves of emotions and focus on the ones that are important and who they are being projected from." I nodded; in awe of this world, I had now become a part of.

"Besides, I can mind link my husband." Eva winked at me and I laughed at her playful behavior.