The Hidden Luna

Chapter 27: Preparations

"The Lunar Eclipse is Saturday so we will hold the ceremony that evening. You'll be joined to the pack as Luna and you will gain new abilities with the transition into the pack."

I watch as Annabel weakly punches the pad on Taylor's forearm and Taylor rolls her eyes, "girl, you have got to start hitting me harder. I won't break, I promise. Hit me as hard as you can; stop it with the little girl punches."

My mate growls, clearly annoyed, before punching the foam harder, "I am hitting as hard as I can. I'm a lover not a fighter!"

I grin and resist the urge to wrap my arms around her waist and kiss her from behind, "love, you have to fight like you're fighting for your life. Remember when we met, and you tried to fight me off with those little hands? Pretend someone is out to get you and they're going to take you away."

The rogue's warning flashes through my mind and the grin falls from my face as Annabel huffs and throws a strong punch at the foam enemy, "but I doubt anyone your size will be taking me any- wait a minute."

Annabel looks over at me, standing straight and out of her fighting stance, "the only person who will be taking me anywhere against my will is you. Maybe I should be taking my training more seriously after all."

I roll my eyes as she smirks at me before crouching and going back to her training with Taylor, "Annabel you need to be ready for anything. I know humans have their wars and you usually wouldn't be involved in that, but as wolves we have battles and territory disputes. I can't worry about you every time something happens."

"Oh please, you'll worry about her every second of every day till you die. She's your mate." Taylor retorts as Annabel tries to kick the foam padding, almost falling to the ground.

My wolf growls lowly at the clear disrespect from his subordinate but I stay quiet and watch annabel train for a while longer. I still haven't told her about the Blood Alpha's threat against her; I feel like I finally have her and I'm afraid she will worry about the pack getting hurt. I had a meeting with Asher last evening after my lunch with Annabel and we've decided to require extensive training for all available pack members. I haven't decided when to tell everyone about the danger the Luna is in but, Asher urged me to tell everyone soon.

I hate hiding something so important from the pack but as their Alpha I must keep them safe. I cannot allow the Blood Alpha to take my family from me again, I won't allow it. Annabel needs to train as much as possible because, despite what I said earlier, I am worried about her every second of every day. Not only because she's my mate but because she has no experience in a fight. She has never experienced hand-to-hand combat, nor has she been trained to defend herself from attackers. With her lack of battle knowledge I can't help but fear the day the Blood Alpha comes to take her from me.

"Hey Jake, how's the training coming?" Asher's voice pulls me from deep in my thoughts as he approaches me from the pack house.

I turn to my best friend and I know he could sense my panic in my eyes, "well she is afraid to punch the foam and almost fell trying to kick it. I think we are a long way from being battle ready."

Asher chuckles and Annabel turns to me, her brows furrowed, "why did he call you Jake? I thought your name is Thomas."

I smile over at Asher before rubbing the back of my neck self-consciously, "well my full name is Thomas Jacob Warner. Asher and I have been friends since we were kids so he calls me by my middle name because we've known each other so long. Everyone else is expected to call me Thomas because I am their alpha."

A smile spreads across Annabel's face and she nods slightly, "yeah that makes sense. My friend in middle school always called me anna or A when we hung out."

Asher tries to poke me in the arm as he says, "yeah I've been friends with this punk since we were kids. We used to get into so much trouble. Remember that one time you go caught sneaking out to come to my party?"

I laugh and a light blush spreads across my cheeks as I try to elbow my beta in the ribs, "hey don't start spilling all my secrets. I might have to teach you a lesson on self defense."

Asher laughs as he dodges my elbow and tries to punch me playfully in the back, "oh sure. The big bad alpha doesn't want to look bad in front of his mate."

I growl playfully before tackling my best friend to the ground and the air is knocked out of his chest as we land, hard. I can hear Annabel's laughter ringing in my ears and I look up to smile at her, finally feeling like I can make my mate happy. Asher uses this distraction to curl his legs up and kick my chest hard enough to knock me off of him.

"Oh it's on Ash" I laugh and square my body with his, now standing with my hands balled into fists in front of my chest.

"Oh boys do we have to do this right now? I am trying to train my future Luna how to kick ass, not entertain her with shirtless men. I'm saving that for sunday night."

I roll my eyes and glare at Taylor, trying to split my attention between my friend and Annabel's, "you will not be taking her to any sort of club. If I find out you-"

Asher lands a solid punch to my chest and I yell a little, having been knocked off my guard, "focus Alpha Warner. You might just lose to your beta. Do I get to live in your fancy house when I become Alpha?"

I lunge forward and wrap my arm around his neck and grab his arm to wrap it behind his back painfully, "you should respect your alpha more Asher, clearly he can take your ass any day of the week."

My beta grunts under my grip and I grin over at Annabel, who stands a few feet away with her hands on her hips disapprovingly, "Taylor is right. I need to train and you're quite distracting. I can go see shirtless men another time when I'm more drunk."

I growl slightly and my mate smirks at me, "first of all, no alcohol for you. You're under age. Secondly, no one is to be half naked in front of you or I will personally rip open their throat."

Th color drains slightly from Annabel's face as Asher taps me on the arm, signaling his surrender, and I release him from my choke hold, "rip open their throat?"

I nod at my mate and look over at Asher as he gasps for air and pounds his chest a little, "you okay man?"

Asher nods and stands up straight again, a little out of breath, "don't worry about me, Jake. I just let you win because your mate was watching. What do you mean she's under age? You know just as well as I do werewolves burn through alcohol so much-"

I shoot Asher a glare and he stops talking mid-sentence, "she already knows that. She's my friend. We got wasted the night after I met her and let me just say she's quite the-"

Annabel spins and punches Taylor's foam board on her forearm and Taylor laughs to herself before crouching slightly to prepare herself for the next blow, "um she's what? Taylor what kind of drunk is she? Who were you with?"

I start firing off questions about my mate but both girls remain quiet except for the occasional grunt when a fist hits foam with a boom, "dude I don't think they want to talk anymore. I think we should leave them to train, you know how important it is that the Luna learn to protect herself."

Annabel gives me a not-so-secret sideways glance as I follow my beta into the pack house and I rub the back of my neck nervously. I just hope the training will be enough when the most feared Alpha decides to attack my pack to try to take her. If Annabel can't defend herself and we get separated during the battle I won't be able to defend her and keep her safe from his clutches. Why does the Blood Alpha even want her? I hadn't stopped to wonder why he would want to take her, he doesn't even know her. He must be threatening me directly, teasing at my weakness, trying to get me to attack him so he can kill my pack without having to take one step on the battle field. The only problem with that is I have no idea where he is stationed right now, he is always one step ahead of me. One of my trackers must have been caught sniffing around, how else would he know I survived his attack. He clearly wanted to instill fear with his threat to my mate, and he was successful.