Chapter 69

Helen POV

When I managed to wake up, the stirring voices around me had stalled. I watched the unfamiliar faces in the small, wood home stay perfectly still, looking down at me. my hands ran across my body, noticing the patches of natural bandages they placed there.

I peeled a sticky, ointment sticky Lilypad off my hip, exposing the dainty scar underneath.

“Where am I at?” I panted, panicked. “What pack is this? Lone Wolf?”

The younger wolf nearest to me shook his head, the female I saved in the woods behind his shoulder. “You’re with Small Oak,” he sighed. “We’re a small, riverfront pack. I’m Ezequiel and my half-sister, Martha, she brough you here.”

“Oh,” I groaned, sitting up to see them watching me closely. “I’ve never heard of this pack.”

Ezequiel grinned softly. “We’re not really a big pack, and we live pretty simple lives out here. Our Alpha died a few months back so we’ve been waiting for the moon goddess to send us someone to lead our pack. Then you showed up.”

My brows furrowed. “What? Me?”

He nodded, Martha crawling forward on her knees. “I’m not a wolf, but Small Oak accepted me. No other pack would ever allow a human to join them. They’re good wolves, Luna. They really are. They just need a leader.”

I think of my mate and how worried he probably is right now that I never returned to the cave. But this could be a bonus for us after all.

“Show me around, please,” I gasped.

Ezequiel jumped to help me, holding his hand out for me to take and leverage myself upright. He patted off my back, little grass shreds stuck to the short, pinkish dress I woke up in. I don’t doubt that it was Martha’s that she let me borrow.

Walking outside, I half expected a village of wood cabins and straw huts like the one I woke up in. Instead it’s streets of brick and a rushing river that flows through gorgeous homes of stone. I look at this place in awe, seeing it expand further than I would have assumed.

“This place is beautiful,” I breathe. I stare back at the little hut where I woke up, so out of place in this village. “What is that place?”

“The healer’s shack,” Martha says, shrugging. “Our healer likes to keep things simple.”

“Your village is so big and beautiful,” I groaned. “You said your pack was small, though?

“After out Alpha died, a lot of wolves left and went rogue. We’ve been attacked, too. They want to take our village for the primes fishing spot of this river that comes through here. It’s plentiful, and the village is gorgeous, but we lack the numbers,” Ezequiel said.

“And an Alpha and Luna,” Martha added.

I stood in the perfect moment in utter shock. The moon goddess may have helped after all. They need an Alpha and Luna, and we need enough of a village to hold our new pack.

A roar erupted from the mountain and I turned fast, spotting my Lycan as he ran down the mountainside and toward the village shrouded in thick trees. I met him just outside the roads, pushing him to stop.

He shifted, lifted me to his chest, and locked our lips in a hot kiss.

I kissed him back, calming him down in some ways and intensifying things in other ways.

“I looked for you everywhere,” he panted, pulling back to look at the pack village and it’s dwindling members watching on from nearby. “What pack is this? Did they steal you? Hurt you?”

“I found some rogues trying to attack a human,” I said. “She brought me back to their healer and her brothers are in this pack. They don’t have an Alpha, Justin. They also have a lot of homes that are empty.”

Justin looked shocked, setting me back down on the ground.

“Really?” He shook his head, eyeing the quick river nearby. “It’s beautiful, Helen.”

“That’s what I said,” I replied. “We should bring our pack here. We can all live in one place, stop hiding, and we can support ourselves. You’ve hunted these woods before and there is a lot of fish in the river.”

He nodded, taking my hand to approach Ezequiel and Martha who stand up front. “Thank you for taking care of my mate,” Justin exclaimed. “I hear you need an Alpha.”

They stiffened with the pressure but I could see the glint of excitement in their eyes. I know the feeling of wanting to fit in, of trying to be a real pack, and it was clear they needed an Alpha and Luna to be complete.

After some discussion and a few tours around the buildings and homes, Justin found me in the middle of the village, just off the edge of the rushing river.

He scooped me up and kissed me again, his nose nestling into my neck as he held me.

“I like this place,” he hummed into my throat. “I think we could build our pack here, baby.”

I agreed, kissing his temple while I tightened my legs around his waist. “It needs some work, but it’s beautiful,” I admitted. “I want to stay here.”

“You know if we leave that cave, my father could come after us,” he said.

My mood sulked but it didn’t scare me away from the idea completely. “I know, Justin, but we deserve to have a real pack, in a good place like this. We can move everyone in by the weekend. We will have enough numbers that Alpha King Juden might not come after us.”

He hesitated but finally agreed. “Whatever makes you happy, mate.”

We kissed, but something else pulled at me while he set me on the ground. I reached for his hand, stopping him before he told the pack of Small Oak the good news.

“The sister, the girl who saved me,” I muttered. “She’s a human.”

Justin went tight. “Oh, that’s where the smell was coming from.”

“She wants to stay here with her brother. I know the rule is—”

“Humans can’t be with wolves, baby,” he groaned. “I’m sorry, Helen, but that is just how it is.”

“She helped me, Justin. She got me to a healer. She just wants to be with her brother. We can’t separate family, Alpha. It wouldn’t be right.”

He struggled with the thought for a long minute and I pouted with my pleading eyes.

“As Alpha and Luna of this pack,” he sighed, “our first act can’t be something negative. She can stay with her brother, but he has to be responsible for her. She won’t be able to roam the woods or the rogue will attack her.”

I ran to tell Martha, excited she can stay with her brother. She seems nice but a little naive, so it will be interesting to have her around the wolf pack. Justin told the other members while I found her in the doorway of a small village home nearby.

She glinted with worry. “So, you’re the Luna?”

I nodded, her brother nervously pacing behind her. “Can my sister stay?”

“Yes, she can stay!”

They hugged in relief, Martha tackling me in an embrace next. Ezequiel pried his sister off of me and scolded her with a typical older brother look.

“Right, sorry, Luna,” Martha huffed. “Thank you.”

She bowed her head but I couldn’t resist. I pulled her into a tight hug and we laughed in delight. For the first time in forever, it feels like I have a real friend now, and a real pack.

A pack I am now the Luna for.

If only my father could see me now.