My Fierce Warrior Luna

3

REBECCA

“There’s something I need to tell you,” Izzy said, her voice suddenly laced with urgency. “Something I’ve kept from you for a while”.

I looked at her, confused. “Ooookay. And why are you only telling me now?”

“Because I can’t avoid it anymore. Listen, it’s … it’s about you and my brother. He thinks it too. Becky, we think you might be his …”

“There you are!”

Suddenly, I found myself wrapped in a hug – and in a very familiar scent.

A broad smile made its way onto my face.

“Wayne!” I exclaimed, not wasting any more time in reciprocating that hug.

Wayne was my boy best friend – we’d been close ever since preschool, and he was, without a hint of doubt, the person I was closest with, even more than with Jen and Izzy. They were my girls and my besties, but Wayne … we’d always had a deep, strong connection, almost as if we were siblings.

“You didn’t tell me you were coming!” I scolded him. “How could you?”

Wayne just chuckled, hugging me tight again. He and his parents, who were very successful lawyers, had moved to New York a couple of years before to pursue their career, so we hadn’t been able to see each other as much as we used to – but this didn’t mean we didn’t talk every single day over the phone.

He was, quite literally, my person. The Christina to my Meredith.

“I basically just landed,” he said. “Came straight from the airport. Grandma called me last night. She confessed she’s feeling a bit scared, living all alone in her house during times like these, so I decided to come and spend some time with her to make her feel safer. I didn’t have time to tell you, I’m sorry”.

“It doesn’t matter” I beamed. Goddess, I couldn’t believe he was really there! It had been months since I’d last seen him. “What matters is that you’re here! And you're staying! Did you come with someone? You can spend the party with us,” I offered.

“Yeah!” Izzy added. She was smiling as well, but her smile was strained.

Becks, we need to talk, she told me via mind link.

“Ravi came with, but he's feeling a bit jet-lagged, so he's staying at Grandma's tonight. Anyway, the party’s starting, so we should definitely head to the ballroom,” he went on, offering me his arm. I gladly accepted it, and took Izzy’s hand, so we could all go out together.

It’s important!, she urged me.

He said the party’s starting, I said. Your mother’s gonna kill you if you’re late … is it more important than that?

Yes.

Her reply left me stunned. Considering her relationship with her mother, and how much the Luna seemed to enjoy scolding and humiliating her …

Well, tell me as we go, then, I replied.

Reiner thinks you might be his …

As she spoke, though, the heat cramps returned a tenfold harder – to the point that I curled over myself, bringing a hand to my stomach.

Holy s**t …

“Becky!” Wayne exclaimed as he held me tighter. “Hey, what’s up?”

“H-heat,” I managed to say through gritted teeth. I had no fear Wayne might act upon that: he was a mated man.

“But it’s not that time yet,” Izzy said, shocked. “Close, but …”

A strange look passed on her face – a mixture of shock and realization.

Another wave of cramps hit me, and this time, my knees gave up. Wayne was quick enough to sweep me between his arms, then lunged for the couches in the now-empty corridor that led to the ballroom, making me sit down.

“We need to get her a suppressant and something for the pain,” he quickly said. “Or all the males in this house will swarm here in five minutes, foaming at their mouths”.

“It’s … it’s all right” I hissed. “I … I just need a moment. It happened a few minutes ago as well, it’s nothing. I can control it”.

“No, you don’t just need a moment. I can smell it” Izzy shook her head. “You’re going in heat. I’ll take care of the suppressants – I have some in my room”.

She was out of the corridor in less than a second – undoubtedly using the house’s secret passages to get to her room quicker. As we waited for her, Wayne did his best to comfort me and ease me through the pain, and made sure to lock all entrances to the place.

“It’s gonna be alright” he promised me as he held my hand. “I won’t let anyone get to you, I swear”.

I nodded, squeezing his hand back as I breathed through the pain … and my wolf’s strange behavior.

She was restless, howling, pacing back and forth into me, as if she were desperately looking and calling out for something – or someone.

It might have been my first heat, but I knew a thing or two about them – and no one of the older females I knew, like Frances or Izzy, ever told me anything about their wolves behaving like that.

That made it even harder for me to try and contain my heat – because she was actively pulling on it, making sure I was … well and ready to be bred.

No, no, no … not now …

And in the meantime, she kept on searching.

Where. Where. Where.

“Breathe,” I heard Wayne tell me, but his voice sounded distant, muffled. My wolf was completely taking over my senses – blocking out what she deemed unimportant and focusing only on her search.

Where. Where.

I tried – really tried – to focus on breathing, but it was quickly becoming impossible.

“BECKY!”

A voice bellowed and resonated between the halls, and my wolf’s ears perked up as we both recognized it.

It was … it was Reiner’s voice.

But … why was he calling me – screaming my name like that?

And why was his voice clear and strong, while Wayne, who was right next to me, was muffled?

“REBECCA!”

Except it wasn’t exactly his voice. It was a mixture of his and his wolf’s – which could only mean he was trying his best to not shift, to keep his beastly side at bay.

At hearing his voice, my heat only worsened, the cramping growing more painful.

“I’M HERE!” Izzy screamed, dropping on her knees beside me, panting.

“Right about f*****g time” Wayne hissed. “One moment more and the doors would have f*****g fallen off the hinges”.

“I had to try and keep him at bay!” she growled back. “I told Garrett to do that – but it’s clear he couldn’t!”

WHERE. WHERE IS HE.

Cold sweats covered my skin – I felt like I wanted to puke.

“Drink this,” Izzy urged me, pressing a glass full of water at my lips. “You need to drink it all”.

I nodded, grabbed the glass, and gulped down all of its bitter content: the taste was so bad it made my stomach turn up even more – but, at least, the cramping began to wind down almost immediately.

“REBECCA!” Reiner screamed again – and this time, his voice was even more animalistic.

My head was spinning – both from the nausea and the sickness the heat had induced and the questions. Why was Reiner sounding so … unhinged? Why was he calling me? Why couldn’t he keep his wolf down?

And why – why was my wolf reveling in the sound of his voice, actively searching for him, almost trying to make a run for him?

“Sounds like Garrett was as useful as always,” Wayne said through gritted teeth.

“Hey, you’re talking about my brother” Izzy hissed.

“Yeah? Well, he only had to keep your other brother from …”

Whatever he was saying, though, was cut short by a loud bang.

Male pheromones – Alpha pheromones – quickly filled the corridor.

Isabelle gasped, and I heard the gentle rustling of her gown as she walked over to him. “Reiner …”

“Move,” he ordered her.

His steps echoed in the empty corridor – his scent coming closer and closer, engulfing me, making my wolf grow even more frantic and excited.

Alongside her excitement, though, I began to feel slightly lightheaded – confused, even. It was a strange feeling – I was feeling confused and, at the same time, hyper-aware of his presence.

Even the attempt of Wayne to stand between him and me went nowhere.

“Rebecca” he called me again, crouching down next to me.

My skin exploded when he rested his hand on the small of my back – hot tingles running all over my nerves.

What the f**k was happening to me? Was it the heat? Was there something wrong with the suppressants?

My vision began to blur.

“It’s all right, baby,” I heard him whisper. “Look at me”.

I shook my head – I was scared moving my head too much would make me feel even worse … but he left me no choice, cupping my cheek and turning my face towards his own.

The answer to all my questions – why the premature heat, why I liked him so much, why I was hyperaware of him, why couldn’t we resist each other five months ago – came as soon as I met his warm, hazel eyes, wide in awe and recognition.

“I knew it,” he whispered.

Mate.