Raven's Fury: A Becoming Luna Story

I paced the length of the well maintained dock. The hollow clack of my department store pumps ringing an echo across the perfectly still lake, my knee length skirt swished against my legs, the feeling was almost agitating. At least my wolf seemed irritated.

He was late.

And I couldn't decide if that meant he wasn't coming. What if he'd changed his mind? What if he'd decided he was better off without any association with me. As a member of his rival pack, and a low ranked one at that, I could understand if the prince of the Silver Moon pack, with his alpha parents and renowned and powerful wolf wouldn't want me. He was the rising star of our world, and I was just...me.

We'd been dating, secretly, for months every little kiss, every touch drawing me in closer. I was becoming addicted to him, and though we hadn't gone all the way, I was starting to think he might be the one. I thought maybe he felt the same way, maybe it was why he asked me to meet him here tonight. Adrenaline and excitement swirled together in my stomach agitated even more by my pacing.

I paused, pushing the long black hair out of my eyes. I should have tied it up, because just like the skirt the feeling of it against my skin was driving me...

I stopped mid thought. My senses coming alert.

I might be just a low ranking adopted daughter of the Cedar pack, with few prospects of ever rising in rank, but my wolf was...unique. And she was pissed.

Because it wasn't Darius who approached our secret meeting place, but Caleb and Kurt, his two best friends and the worst kind of wolves for a girl to meet alone in the dark.

Only he and I were supposed to know about meeting tonight. The fact that he'd told his lackeys was...not a good sign.

I didn't have time to acknowledge the fist of disappointment and hurt that punched me in the ribs making it hard to breathe, or the sting of tears behind my eyelids. I bent down and pulled off my shoes and scrambled with silent feet off the dock, slipping into the trees where I was guaranteed to be hidden.

My wolf understood the assignment immediately and went into what I had mentally labelled as stealth mode. While she wasn't particularly strong, physically, she had somehow accomplished something that should have been impossible. At least my parents had never heard of such a thing, nor had there been any reference to my wolf's abilities in any of the thousands of historical records I had searched. I'd discussed the issue with my parents to death when we'd first figured it out, and they'd decided that secrecy was the best policy. Bad things happened to wolves that stood out too much, and mine would be considered a threat in any circumstance.

You see, not only did my wolf have extraordinary senses, far outstripping those of even the alpha, enough so that I knew that it was Caleb and Kurt approaching, long before they could sense me, before they even had a hint, but we could, essentially, disappear. I didn't know how she did it, but when my wolf wanted we just...stopped being. As if we didn't exist. No one could scent us, nor would they hear us so long as we were trying to be quiet.

It's why I was waiting at the edge of the forest instead of hightailing it well out of range.

"He said the west side docks, didn't he?"

Caleb and Kurt had come into hearing range now. I couldn't see them yet but I could hear the rustling of the leaves as they pushed past them on the narrow trail that ran from the edge of the nearby suburb.

Pathetic, my wolf snorted to herself.

And that was the other weird thing. I could hear her. Usually, like a normal werewolf I would just get impressions. Emotion, scent, desires. But sometimes she spoke, just like another presence in my mind. This part I didn't tell my parents. They had enough to worry about, and it had only just started happening.

I was a little afraid of what it might mean, but it wasn't as if I could do anything about it. So I pushed the thought away and just listened.

"Yeah, that's what I heard. She should be here."

Caleb chuckled. "I'd call her pathetic if it weren't for that tight little ass," he made a disgusting sound and I was momentarily glad I hadn't caught sight of them yet.

"You think she gives good head?" Kurt wondered, finally coming into view along the path below me. They weren't even trying to be quiet. "Maybe we can convince her she has work her way up to Darius, you know climb the ladder."

Inside my mind my wolf growled, and Caleb laughed and punched Kurt's shoulder.

"I'd be worried about your safety my bro, if he wasn't just playing her to get laid."

And there we had it. The stinging was back beneath my lids. I tipped my head back and closed my eyes.

We'd been, what I thought was good friends...maybe more, for two years and I was just so flattered that he'd returned my attention. God I was stupid. Honestly, I was twenty one, far too old to be falling for this bullshit.

Because that's what it was. He'd obviously not only stood me up, but told his two goonies about his next score. Whether he sent them to harass me, or just didn't care if they did, it didn't matter.

"Where the hell is she though," Kurt finally seemed to clue in long enough to realize something was up.

"She was here, I can scent her, but it was a while ago," Caleb walked out onto the dock. "You think she left?"

And that scent, from before my wolf went covert, was all they would be getting from me. They could go back to their asshole ring leader and tell him that I'd pathetically waited, and then skipped out.

I'd heard enough. Quietly, because my wolf's sound dampening didn't work unless I was very careful, I stood, keeping well out of sight, and began making my way to the path. I needed to get far enough up it that they wouldn't see me.

"We should have ran into her, if she did."

"Well she didn't just disappear, and I'm way too horny to give up so easily. Lets walk the shore and see if we can flush her out."

I faded farther and farther back from the shore, and once I was far enough away I ran. I ran until the burn of my muscles drove away the tears, until I could push this night out of my mind, shove it down and bury it with my fury.

And that was exactly what I did.