[Loving Luna Series 5] Loving Luna - All Grown Up

Chapter Sixteen - The Cell (5)

❤Lulu

I used to think we were an extinct species. I used to think there weren’t many of us left. However, now, I knew differently. We weren’t the kind of shifters to have packs or pride or clans, we didn’t all live in one place and have an Alpha or leader. Sure, we had a home and all of that, but it was so different from the other types of shifters here. I suppose you could say we were a litter and that would mean that I was from The Lone Fur Tails Litter. I huddled on the top bunk in the corner as I gazed out at my cellmates. I was the youngest Lynx shifter in the cell. Mochi was the oldest and he scared me. He dominated the group and proudly announced that he came from The Dark Crest Growlers. That alone put fear in me. I had heard stories (mostly from my dad, since he was an explorer) about that group of Lynx shifters. Saki and Eve where both from the same area although from different litters. Saki was from The Fang Stalkers and Eve was from The Brown Prowlers. There was one other Lynx and she was just a few months older than me. Bee was from The Hallowed Claws. Another litter that I had heard stories about, and not good ones. I hated being here, I hated being away from my family and I hated not knowing what was going to happen to me. I didn’t care about anyone else. I didn’t care about my cellmates or the other shifters. Sure, I had heard them talking during our meals at the dining hall, but I wasn’t interested. I just wanted to be back home and alone. I could hear the others talking among themselves, but I didn’t want to be a part of it. I had always been better off on my own, however, that didn’t stop me from listening.

“I heard a lot of them talking about being an only child or the eldest, do you think that has anything to do with it?” Bee asked curiously.

“No idea, but apparently we will find out everything tomorrow,” Saki said, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. I didn’t like Saki. She reminded me of a miss know it all, who always had the answers. “I don’t mind being away from home, especially with all the eye candy,” she added, and they started giggling. Mochi, being the only male, was also sitting by himself on the other top bunker and we both looked at each other. The sound of the giggling made both of us shake our heads and roll our eyes. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all. I had to wonder though, what did they mean by eye candy?

“Girl, some of those dragons and wolves are hot!” Eve remarked and then I knew. They were talking about the males.

“I wouldn’t mind being bunked with one of them,” Saki said, and I gagged before glancing back over at Mochi. He was showing me with his hands that he wanted to throw up and I let out a small laugh. I quickly covered my mouth, just in case the giggling cats heard me. I watched in amused horror as Mochi started crawling towards me. I had heard such murderous stories about his Litter and his attitude so far had been dominating. It scared me and I didn’t like it.

“Hey,” he whispered softly as he sat down next to me. I nodded in greeting. “I’m Mochi,” he said, and I nodded again. I already knew everything there was to know about my cellmates. “And you are Lulu, right?”

“Yeah,” I whispered back. It was his turn to nod and then he just relaxed against the wall.

“I hope we don’t have to stay with them for much longer,” he suddenly whispered, and I glanced over at him in question. “If they continue that incessant giggling, I may lose it and kill them,” he said, and I could tell that he was teasing. Well, at least I hoped he was joking. We fell in silence once again and I felt myself relax. I wasn’t all that pleased with him being on my bed and all but at least he wasn’t talking to me. I wish I had something to do, a book to read, or even a puzzle to build. I closed my eyes and rested my head against the wall. What would tomorrow bring? I wondered before falling asleep.

 ❤❤❤

I woke up cuddled up against Mochi and I quickly removed myself from his shoulder. He stirred but didn’t wake up and I breathed out a sigh of relief. Awkward. I could tell that it was already morning even though there were no windows. When my stomach growled, it confirmed that it was time to eat. I slowly crept away from Mochi and climbed down the ladder to get to the bathroom. I headed to the toilet first and then to the locker assigned to me. I picked out an outfit, black leggings, and a grey top. With my clothes in hand, I headed to the shower stall and locked myself inside. I hated this. I hated all of it. I made sure to shower quickly and get dressed before someone else woke up. I was towel drying my hair when I left the stall. Mochi and Eve were awake when I entered the cell. I avoided looking at either of them as wandered over to the gate. Come on! I needed to get out of here.

“Morning Lulu,” Mochi greeted on his way to the bathroom.

“Morning,” I mumbled out.

“Well, well, well, we had you pegged down as a brat but after seeing you all cuddled up with Mochi, now we know what you were really after,” Eve said as she came to stand in front of me. I frowned.

“No, it wasn’t like that,” I argued.

“Oh, please, we all saw you,” she commented as she turned around to look at the others, who were waking up. I blushed, completely embarrassed by her accusation.

“It really isn’t like that,” I tried again but she laughed dryly.

“You keep telling yourself that, but I will give you one fair warning,” she said seriously, and I leaned in. “Stay away from Mochi, he will be mind,”

“You can have him,” I spat out angrily. I didn’t want Mochi. I didn’t want anyone. I just wanted to go home. Eve gave me one more look before leaving me alone by the gate. I watched as the others eventually also got up and went into the bathroom. When Mochi came out, clean, and freshly dressed, he smiled warmly at me.

“If Eve thinks I will give her the time of day, she is horribly mistaken,” he commented softly as he stood by the gate. I turned away, putting a bit of distance between us. I could see myself actually becoming friends with this male, but I wouldn’t let the females see it.

“My advice is to milk the attention,” I whispered. Mochi chuckled softly as he shook his head.

“Evil Lulu, so evil,” I heard him mumble. I smiled to myself and then a noise caught my attention. The handle turned and the door opened. I stood up straighter, happy that the man had shown up.

“Right, morning,” he said.

“Morning,” Mochi and I greeted.

“Are those others not finished yet?” he asked, and I shook my head. “If I let you two out, will you go straight to the dining hall?” he questioned. I glanced over at Mochi and shrugged. We were in the middle of nowhere, of that I was fairly sure. Even if I wanted to escape, how would I even go about doing that?

“We will,” Mochi eventually answered and the man nodded as he unlocked the gate. He let us leave and Mochi and I made our way down the path to the dining hall. It was such a lovely morning already and I longed to just shift and go for a run.

“Do you think they will tell us what’s going on?” I asked as we entered the hall. The smell of our freshly made breakfast caught my attention and I headed straight for the service line. The hall was already filling up, but I wasn’t interested in any of that.

“I hope so,” Mochi said as he joined me in the line. I quickly dished up and headed to a corner where no one else was sitting. Mochi wanted to join me but I told him to sit a bit away from me. When Eve and the others came in, I didn’t want them biting me s**t because he was too close. I started cutting into my waffles when I felt as if someone was watching me. I didn’t want to look around, I could only assume it was Eve. “Hey, Lulu,”

“Hmm?”

“That guy is watching you,” he informed me, and I looked in the direction he was pointing in. Sure enough, a male was staring at me. However, when he saw me looking right back at him, he looked away and blushed. His pink cheeks made me smile but it wasn’t enough for me to come out of my shell. I focused back on my breakfast and when I heard the giggling females come into the hall, I groaned. Thank goodness, I was almost done. I shoveled the rest of the food in and quickly stood up. “What?” I shook my head at him and hurried back to the service line to drop off my tray.

“Excuse me, where do you think you are going?” one of the guards by the door asked.

“I’m done,” I informed him.

“So? Breakfast time is an hour,” he pointed out.

“Look, I’m not much of a groupie, can’t I just hang out here?” I suggested as I looked around. The man stared at me for what felt like hours and then he finally nodded.

“Alright, but no shifting and no wandering around, stay where I can see you,” I nodded as I eagerly hurried over to the closet palm tree and sat down. It was cool and I leaned against the stem trunk. I closed my eyes and I couldn’t help but smile and enjoy the soft gently salty breeze. I wasn’t one for swimming, but I was suddenly curious about the ocean. Opening my eyes, I could see that the guard was keeping a close eye on me. I guess I couldn’t sneak off, besides, if I wanted this kind of freedom against, I couldn’t just runoff.

“Hi,” the sudden voice coming from next to me had me gasping for air as I tried to calm down my rapidly beating heart. It was that boy from earlier, the one who had been staring at me.

“You…startled…me,”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “It’s just, I sense something about you…” I raised a curious eyebrow at the boy and as I sniffed, I realized that he smelt nice. Like home. Weird.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m Daniel Wood, a wolf shifter,” he introduced himself and suddenly I understood. Was it possible?

“I’m Lulu Bree, Lynx shifter,” I said as I eyed him carefully. I didn’t know anything about other shifters, but I was aware that wolf shifters had a habit or whatever for mates. Was it possible that I am his mate?

“A lynx shifter, woah,” he seemed surprised and I found myself smiling. “I’d like to see you shift,” he added, and my smile faded. What an odd thing for him to say.

“Why?”

“Well, I’ve never seen a lynx before,” he explained softly, and I nodded. I guess that made sense.

“Maybe one day,”

“Maybe,” he said thoughtfully as he gazed around us. “I’m more of a loner, but I would really like to go home,”

“Same here,” I agreed. I wasn’t as curious as he was about seeing him shift, but I was curious about the possibility of us being mates. I wasn’t much of a talker, but I just had to know. “Am I your mate?” I asked. Daniel looked taken aback with my direct question and if I was truly being honest with myself, he didn’t look happy.

“I think so,” he whispered as he looked away from me. How odd, he doesn’t look like a wolf who just found their mate. What did this mean? I wasn’t even sure how I felt about it. When the guard came towards us, I hurried to stand up.

“It was nice chatting to you,” I said as I walked away. I didn’t bother to wait for him or give him a chance to say anything else. I felt excited about the prospect of having a mate, but I wasn’t sure I liked his reaction to it. What the hell was I going to do?