Among the Peonies

Movie Review

The night was hot and humid: the perfect weather.

The men worked silently, moving luggage and lugging baggage, as Bumblebee made last minute plans. I watched every move, every muscle under tension. Their bodies were illuminated by the moon and their skin seemed to dance with the moonlight as if it were an old friend.

"Here, let me help y-" I was cut off by the cold glare of the man, warning me to stay away.

"The Luna should not exert herself." his voice was cold and firm.

"B-but... I want to help. Plus, that looks heavy."

He scoffed. "It's not."

I rolled my eyes. "All boys say that. Even if it's a seven hundred pound girl wanting to sing '16 going on 17' with you."

His eyes lit up and he set the boxes down gently. "You've seen The Sound of Music?! That's my favorite movie!"

"Of course I have! It's a classic!"

"Oh my gosh I've always wanted to be in a live musical for it. It'd be so much fun!"

"Have you seen The Pacifier?"

"Yes! That's a good movie too."

"Well I mean the son got into the musical, so so can you." I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Follow your dreams, Rolf." I could practically see stars in his eyes as he imagined himself on Broadway. My gaze caught a particularly silver one, glaring in my direction as a man tried to speak to him. I quickly took my hand off of the unknown man's shoulder, but he didn't notice.

"Williamson!" my mate's voice boomed.

Williamson, I guess his name was, jumped to life and picked up the boxes, nearly running to the cars.

Blade lingered his now softened stare on me until I gulped. He smirked, turning to continue speaking with the man.

I continued people-watching, shifting on my feet and yawning.

I walked to the mass current of men. A few men glanced my way, and I asked, "can I help?" They snuck a peek at Bumblebee, checking to see if their life was in danger. They shook their heads regrettably.

"We can't allow the Luna to strain herself," one said.

"Sorry," another said as they continued walking to their destination.

I huffed in annoyance. Hands snaked around my waist gently, then suddenly slammed my body backwards to another. "Why don't you go wait in the car, Babydoll?"

"But I want to help and no one is letting me."

"Hm..." He rubbed my belly softly as he thought. "You can help me make decisions."

I gasped and whipped around. "Really?!"

He gave a small chuckle and nodded. He led us to the back of a black Jeep. A map was spread out on the floor of the trunk with pins pushed in here and there. Some arrows and circles had been drawn on in black marker, too.

"Sir," a man greeted with a strong, low voice. He turned to me and nodded once, "Luna." I smiled in return. He was about average height for a man, a clean-shaven face, and a simple haircut. His hair was dark and his eyes were a dark blue. His skin was tan and visibly rough.

"Mark," Bumblebee greeted in response.

"The troops were originally planned to attack from here," he pointed to a red pushpin in the map, "but the wind is blowing in the direction of the attack. What do you want to do?"

"Wait why do we care about the wind?" I asked, completely ignorant and I knew it.

Bumblebee kissed my forehead, and spoke gently, "because the wind will carry our scent and therefore alert the rogues, Babydoll."

"Then why don't you just move them to the opposite side?"

Mark entered the conversation here, "because there is a natural decline in elevation on that side of the rogues' camp and some rocky terrain that could lead to injuries or giveaways to our location."

We all sat in silence, thinking of solutions to our enigma.

I tapped on Bumblebee's shoulder. He raised an eyebrow in question. "Can you guys climb trees?"

He looked puzzled for a moment, then completely glowing. "Well, yes, we can, my little genius babydoll. Very well actually."

"Weird."

"Why is that weird?"

"Regular wolves can't."

"But we are werewolves," he said with a little too much confidence.

I rolled my eyes and he chuckled.

"Care to fill me in on the plan?" Mark asked.

"Well, you climb the trees and hop around until you're on top of them like in The Hunger Games." Mark looked confused. "It's a movie...? Never mind, forget it." Blade chuckled in the background, smothering it with a cough. "Anyways, once you're there you just drop down and attack. And we can make a distraction if we need to to distract from the noise of the trees."

He thought about it.

"Sir, all is complete!" a head warrior yelled to Bumblebee. He nodded in acknowledgement.

"Sounds good," Mark decided. "I'll inform the men." He nodded his goodbyes to us and began walking to the house.

Bumblebee turned me around and gently kissed me. "You're so smart."

I blushed. "Thanks."

He chuckled and picked me up, walking to the car.