The Moon's Shadow

☾ Chapter Five

A week had gone by since I've arrived. I fell into a mundane routine; I would get up in the morning, walk over to the pack house, eat breakfast with Octavia, and then head over to the healer's cottage. It could've been worse, but I was slightly disappointed with my time here so far.

Millicent and I had become close, I told her about my life in the old pack, the job of healer I took in my pack. Compared to Millicent in healing ability and skill though, I was a novice.

Although the Moon Valley pack were amazing healers, we had to acquire healing skills and knowledge, my time with her showed me I had a lot to learn.

She was kind enough to take me in under her wing, teaching me the information she had learned throughout the years.

This week, for example, we covered the plants that were native in the area, so I would be able to identify them and collect them for her and not kill everyone by accidentally picking something poisonous.

After my time with her though, I'd go back to my loneliness.

I've only seen my mate a few times, passing through the halls here and there. I made an effort with him, always saying hi as we passed, smiling at him, but he would ignore me and keep walking.

He doesn't look at me. He doesn't acknowledge me. I tried hard to stay strong; I didn't want to be seen as weak, not in this pack. The blatant rejection slowly ate away at me, thoughts of me not being good enough ran through my head during my spare time.

I was getting lonely in this huge pack.

I missed my family, I missed my friends, I missed everyone in my pack. People didn't go out of their way to be nice to me here, hell most people didn't even act like I existed. It was exhausting, and I could only take so much.

My time with Millicent was my escape, but how much could I absorb before that too becomes unbearable?

I sighed, walking into the Alpha's house and into the library.

I began to spend a lot of time in there, mostly to get myself out of my room. I started to read a bit about the Onyx pack, but the history is a bit.. clouded. It almost seemed a bit biased, but that didn't really surprise me.

Most of the books told of the first pack leader, Alpha Titus, splitting from the Bloodfang pack, a pack that no longer existed.

He formed his pack, the Onyx pack and began his military command to spread them far and wide. He was seen as the savior of the pack, ruthless, dominant and endearing.

He created the backbone of what the pack still is today, aggressive and ruthless. However, I know these books are wrong.

They don't talk about the villages that were burned down during his reign, the countless number of people that were slaughtered just for fun. They don't mention how he would enslave other races just for fun, trading them to other countries for a profit.

Alpha Titus was no hero. He was a villain.

When I grew tired of reading about the history of the pack, I began to study the pack boundary maps.

It's not because I wanted to run away, I just wanted to go for a run soon, I craved it, my wolf craved it. Since I was still trying to be nice and not get on anyone's bad side here, I wanted to make sure I knew where the boundaries were.

The last thing I needed was to go for a run, and someone thinks I escaped.

It's not that the thought of escaping hadn't crossed my mind, but I had to be realistic with myself.

I have no combat skills, I can run but only a couple miles at a time

I'm already at a disadvantage being in a high altitude area. I'm not from a mountain area, the small distance I could run would be burned away by my lungs trying to get as much oxygen as they could.

No, there was no way I could escape, not on my own.

I studied the map for a bit longer. Noticing a small river that was within the boundaries, only a couple miles away that I wanted to run to.

It was far enough from the edges of the territory that no one could say I was running away.

With a sense of satisfaction, I decided that next time I saw Alpha Jett, I would ask permission to go there.

____

Later in the day, Beta Rooks came up to me as I walked back to the pack house, with a big smile.

"Rhea, how are you?"

"I'm fine thank you, how are you?" I answered smiling; his smile was infectious.

"Fine, just fine thank you. I wanted to let you know that Alpha Jett has instructed you are to come with me to the sparring area. We realize that you may not have any fighting experience, but he would like you to know the basics."

I hesitated, back home even though we had men trained in combat, we were not a pack that is known for fighting. "Um... I don't think that would be the best idea.." I gave a small apologetic smile.

Beta Rooks held up his hands, completely dismissing my comment. "Nonsense, the Alpha's wish is my command. We will go slow; I promise."

Realizing he wasn't going to back down, I gave a hesitant nod, following him. He led me around the packhouse to an open field which was mostly covered in dirt.

The field was packed with people; this was a very popular spot in the pack apparently.

People sparred with each other, quite viciously, to the point where some were bleeding. I flinched at how aggressive they were.

I looked around the rest of the open field, some of the fighters sat in the shade and drank water, cooling down from previous matches.

I gulped, this made me extremely nervous. It's not that women weren't allowed to fight, it just wasn't necessary.

The thought of fighting was unbearable. The thought of taking a life scared me. I was a healer; I didn't fight people. I healed people from the wounds they suffered because of fighting; that is what I do.

"Rhea, I promise you we will go slow. I will not hurt you."

I gave him a small nod.

I was determined not to let them see weakness. I took off my jacket, pulling down my black tank underneath, quickly pulling my hair into a ponytail, as we walked to find a space to practice.

"Step one, hold this knife," Beta Rooks said, slightly laughing.

I laughed, "I know the basics of holding a knife. I promise you do not need to teach me that at least."

He nodded, picking up another knife to hold. "Now, position your knife like this, not so tight your knuckles are white, but not too loose that it will slip out if you go to strike someone."

I positioned my fingers on the knife and did as he said. Not too loose.. not too tight. I smiled back at him once I had it.

"Good good, now, when you strike someone, you have to use enough force it goes through the body. Too soft, and you'll piss whoever the enemy is, off. It'll hurt them, but it will not penetrate the skin. You have to strike with the intent to kill."

His words threw me off. "K-kill?" I mumbled, "Beta Rooks I've never killed anyone in my life, and I don't ever plan on killing anyone." My eyes widening at him with each word, panic filling my expression.

"Take a breathe, Rhea. You will likely never be attacked. However, I cannot promise that you will not be. This is for your benefit."

I exhaled, I needed to calm down. I understood what he was saying. Sometimes, becoming Luna can be a dangerous thing, especially when there are many enemies to the pack and Alpha.

The extent of this situation dawned on me. I could be attacked for being Luna in this pack. There was no shortage of enemies. There were probably women within this pack that would kill me if they found out I was Luna. I nodded at him once I calmed I bit.

"You're right" I nodded, "teach me everything."