Anastasia

"There's something different about you," Amelia points out when I wake up the next morning.

I'm still not fully functional, having slept in longer than usual. My vision's ablur, and my bones ache from all the over-exertion.

It's not just what happened with Jacob, which makes me blush even just thinking about it. It's coming back here, to Simi Valley, to the Moon Valley Tribe and being allowed to hunt with them as a group last night. Kierren only told me that I could on our way back here, and it's something I never knew how much I needed until I had the wind blowing through my fur and an entire pack behind me, who neither judged nor looked down upon me.

I stretch my arms over my head and roll my neck from side to side. You'd swear I'm living in one of those period dramas where Amelia is my own personal maidservant. I don't like it very much and voice my disdain when she proceeds to open up my curtains.

"Hey! I would have done that!"

Giggling, Amelia turns back with a bowl she brings to the bed. "Here's breakfast," she hands me my porridge and folds her legs under her as she sits down next to me. "I actually enjoy doing stuff for you."

Squinting my eyes at her, I tease, "it's because you're crazy for my brother and you'd do anything he asks of you."

"Pfft!" she blows it off, "there's no such thing!"

"It's so obvious, I'm pretty sure even Kierren knows you two are in love!"

Amelia shoots up and presses her finger to my lips. "Not so loud! He hasn't been sworn in yet, and I don't even know if I'm his mate yet."

"He's gonna pick you, obvs!"

"I'm just worried, ya know? What if Kierren doesn't approve?"

"Oh, he'll approve, alright!"

It's something I'm certain of. Besides being the Beta's daughter, Amelia is descended from an Alpha. It's something even she doesn't know yet, and Kierren and Ralph are keeping it from her simply because Ralph wants to tell her himself.

"You're really slick, aren't you?" Amelia says as I begin to eat my breakfast.

Shrugging, I put my spoon into my mouth. "I don't know whatcha talking 'bout."

"Oh, you know perfectly well, deflecting my questions" she folds her arms, "I noticed how different you look. Did something happen yesterday?"

"Hm? Oh, no, nothing."

"Ana!"

"I swear nothing happened! I cut ties with them like I said I would, and came back here."

"You were gone for six hours!"

"It was a long meeting, okay!"

Amelia can see that I'm not going to let up, and goes off to my cupboard where my things from back at the cottage are now stored. More handcrafted pieces have been added to the room. Like the carved clock that now hangs on the west wall, and the full-length mirror with its wooden frame and very intricate detailing. It was slowly beginning to feel like home, and somehow Kierren already knew my tastes.

I threw myself into pack things almost as soon as we got back home yesterday. Naturally, Ralph and Amelia are the most overjoyed I've ever seen them. But I'm nervous about today. It's the day when Kierren will officially announce my entry into this pack, the Moon Valley Tribe, and I am nervous as hell. I don't know what to expect. After all, the only experience I have within a pack is of being the Omega, the underdog. This is all too new to me.

She takes out some clothes for me - a black vest, cardigan, and worn-out denims - and I groan.

"I can't officially meet the pack like that, Am!"

"Why not?" she brings over my clothes and lays them on the bed, "you don't need to dress to impress. You're the resident Luna, you could be butt-naked and they'd still bow to you."

"Hah!" I let out an unamused laugh. "They wouldn't take me seriously if I went looking like that."

"Ana," she says gently as she sits down and takes my hands in hers, "it doesn't matter how you dress. What matters is who you are, and how you are to them that will earn you respect. Besides," she shrugs, "you're gonna be wearing one of those black cloaks."

~

I thought Amelia was joking when she said I'd be wearing a black cloak.

Black meant power, superiority in a pack. It was what the Alpha and Luna wore to a meeting where all their pack members gathered.

A meeting like tonight.

The nerves have me visibly shaking to the core - something that Ralph notices as we approach the cabin doors.

"You're gonna pass out if you keep that up."

"Keep what up?" I try to camouflage the way my teeth chatter when I open my mouth to speak.

"That!" he grimaces and steps aside, beckoning me to join him. "Look at me," Ralph gives the gentle command that he knows I need, "good. Now, take a deep breath, in and out," he demonstrates it with his own breathing, "that's it."

The breathing exercises seem to help. It's been helping ever since Ralph discovered that I was terrible at controlling my anxiety. It's that very same lack of control that made me do the things I did to myself, and what led me to think that it was pleasure I felt from the physical pain. It never was. It was just an escape.

My self-esteem isn't exactly up to standard. But it's definitely improving since he's been treating me. My scars fade with each passing day, and as they do, I feel like I'm able to accept myself more.

"Good," Ralph smiles when I've exhaled on his count of twenty. "Feeling better?"

"Much better, thank you," I return his smile and wait for him to lead the way into the den.

The cabin is cast in the soft light of candles all around the windowsills, and a circle of them around the center of the room where the older-looking members are seated. My father, the Alpha Kierren, nods for us to join him just outside the circle.

He's holding a scalp of the ancestor Demeter, who I've only vaguely been taught about. According to the teachings of the Moon Valley Pack, our ancestry goes way back to when the werewolves and witches lived in harmony, protecting the earthlings from greater threats. A witch mother and wolf father produced Demeter, who was the reason for the war that sparked between the two kinds of supernatural beings. It was she who was exiled and went on to live in the cave that was now turned into a cabin, where the Moon Valley Tribe was formed.

"Moon Valley," Kierren enlists the command of his stern voice, "I have called upon you today to announce that our tribe now has a Luna."

Hushed whispers go around the room amongst the younger members, but the elders look to their Alpha with stark interest.

"My daughter," he spreads his arm and continues to speak when I go to stand beside him, "Anastasia. Conceived by the Gamma Cassandra Matthews. She will be your Luna until my son takes his place as Alpha and finds his mate."

I watch in horror as the elders stand up, their faces so blank I can't read what they're thinking. I do imagine that they'll reject me - and I wouldn't be surprised. I'm so used to being unwanted all the time.

But things are changing in my life. I see that now. I saw it with Jacob, and now I see it in this pack, who all turn to face me as they bow out of respect.

"Your Luna will begin training tomorrow," Kierren announces the agreement we made. If I were to stay, I wanted to learn how to become the best version of myself. And that meant I needed training in combat.

After all, I am now the Luna of the Moon Valley Tribe. But I am not above anyone else. I still have a lot to learn, but the greatest thing I've learned is that love heals the traumas that you can't seem to let go of.

I feel some of those traumas waltzing away - those traumas that had me convinced that there was nowhere I belonged, and that I would never feel wanted. My brother and father turn to me and wrap me in the warmth of the love only a real family can feel. And as I hug them back, feeling the tears of release falling from my eyes, I giggle as Amelia starts clapping her hands and putting to fingers between her lips to whistle at the top of her lungs.

"All hail Luna Anastasia!" she toots, and the rest follow.

"All hail Luna Anastasia!"