Commander (A Luna Chronicles Novel) [Completed]

Chapter One

I checked into my hotel, about thirty minutes from where Katy lived. It was too late in the night to visit Katy straight away, so I retired for the evening. My hotel room was nice, with a blue and white colour scheme and an en suite bathroom. I threw my bag onto the bed, before heading into the bathroom.

I smelt of sweat, and dirt, from my run so instantly jumped in the shower. I sung softly to myself, as I washed all the muck from my body and out my dark hair. As I was in the shower, a strong scent passed through my sensitive nose.

It smelt like damp forests, and dew, and I knew what that had met. I had never met another Werewolf, but I had caught their scents before. So I knew, I was smelling another of my kind. My stomach twirled in nervousness, before I jumped out the shower.

I pulled a pair of jeans, and a plain shirt on, before running my hands through my dark hair. I eased the hotel door open, looking for source of the scent. But it was already fading. Obviously a Wolf had walked past my door, but they were long gone by then. I tried to follow the scent, but as soon as I got back down to the lobby – and it overlapped with all the other scents – I lost it.

I had always wondered what it would be like, to meet another Wolf. If they could tell me more about myself, or if they could teach me anything. I was a good fighter, well I thought I was. I'd never been in a fight with another Werewolf, but fighting in my human form I was good – and I had gotten into a few scraps with grizzly bears and had come out victorious, so I had assumed I was a good fighter.

The following morning, I dressed in a bright yellow dress with a white jacket that matched my white heels. I hadn't only worked in fashion, but I was very passionate about fashion – so I would never be seen in public wearing something that didn't look amazing.

Katy only had a small house, so I had planned to stay in the hotel over the course of the weekend. I put what I needed in my satchel, and left all my other stuff in the room. As I walked downstairs, I couldn't help but discreetly sniff around; searching for the Wolf once more. But the scent had faded.

I headed out to my car, and noticed the scent was around my car. It was faint – obviously from the previous night – but they had stopped by my car. They must have smelt my scent as well, and tracked me to the hotel. I wondered if he was a Lone Wolf like me.

Katy and I met for lunch, which was nice. Katy lived in a little town called Fairers, which was pretty much the typical small town. But there was a nice little diner there, were we had lunch.

Katy was a few pounds over curvy, with beach curls the colour of platinum blonde. Her round face was perfectly made up, her lips a bright red. She was a beautiful girl, but she didn't see it because she was a bit on the heavy side.

"I am so hungry" I complained, as we waited for our food.

"Yeah, we'll your so skinny you can eat what you want and not gain a single bit of weight" she teased, "whereas I just think of food and gain ten pounds".

"Oh hush up" I laughed, pushing her shoulder. "What do you need to watch your weight for? You're stunningly beautiful, and Joe doesn't have any complaints".

"He does like junk in the trunk" Katy giggled, and I chuckled softly. The waiter then brought our food over, and we dug in. I had ordered a steak, nice and bloody, and was eating it as fast as I could. Just as I was finishing, the door to the diner opened.

Three men walked in – all of them in their late twenties to early thirties. None of them were exceptionally good looking, but none of them ugly either. They were all joking around with one another, talking loudly. There scent hit me – Werewolves, all three of them.

The three men obviously smelt me too, and they snapped their gazes in my direction and shut up. I gulped, as they all silently glanced at one another. Then, they all backed out the diner quickly. That made me nervous; were they running from me, or going to get reinforcement.

Katy hadn't noticed anything, as she carried on chatting away. I was scared, I wouldn't deny that. I didn't know how to react to other Wolves, or how to behave when I saw another one. It was the unknown that scared me.

I had read almost every book on Wolves, to learn about them. In those books, it said a lot about territory. I wondered whether they backed away because I had been there first – a primal way to show me they wouldn't invade the space I had claimed first. But then, those books only told me about Wolf behaviour, not Werewolf behaviour.

Katy had plans with the party planner that afternoon, so we said our goodbye after we'd finished eating, and we headed out the diner. She walked me to my car, before we hugged goodbye. I was itching to get rid of her – I could smell the Wolves lingering around.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow" she beamed, pressing a kiss to my cheek. I waved her away, as she walked in the opposite direction. My heart was pounding, and my hands shook slightly, as I unlocked my car. Then I heard the pounding foot falls.

I spun around, my back pressing against the car door, as one of the Werewolves approached me. My heart was beating fast as he walked up to me. The man looked about my age, give or take a few years either way, with dark shaggy hair and ivory skin. He offered me a sweet smile as he reached me.

"Hi there" he smiled softly. I blinked, not expecting his niceness. A little part of me expected him to dive on me, fight me into submission and force me off 'his' land. But the guy simply smiled warmly at me.

"H-Hi" I stuttered.

"Don't be nervous, I'm not going to hurt you". He held out my hand to shake and I timidly did. "My name is Chris".

"Tabitha".

"That's a pretty name and a pretty accent you have there". He smiled at me softly, before I glanced past him and saw one of the other Wolves. He was standing slightly away from us, watching with his arms crossed over his chest. Chris followed my line of sight before turning back to me. "Don't worry about him. That's just Javier, he's my mate".

"Your mate?" I questioned in confusion. I knew that Wolves mated for life but I didn't know how it worked for Werewolves.

Chris chuckled softly, "yeah I know. We get that a lot but we really are mates". He was being nice to me but there was a steel in his eyes as he spoke – he thought I had a problem with his mate being a man. I didn't, I just don't understand his use of mate. He quickly shifted the conversation.

"You are aware you're trespassing on Pack territory" Chris told me.

I pouted, "I am?"

"Of course" he chuckled, as if I'd asked the most outrageous question possible. "What they didn't teach you boundaries lines as a kid?"

"No" I said, sounding stupid but my nerves were circling so much that I didn't want to say too much. Chris opened his mouth to speak but no real words came out. I quickly carried on. "I'm just visiting a friend for a few days. That's alright isn't it?"

"Well, no, not really. You need permission from Ramone or Devon to stay here".

"Who are they?"

Chris was quiet for a long moment, simply studying me. He could tell that I wasn't the average Werewolf and that something was up with – likely due to my lack of Pack knowledge. But he remained nice and polite. "Perhaps I'll call Devon and you can ask him if you want to stay for a few days".

"That would be great, thank you" I smiled, my nerves ranking up to a double. I didn't know who Devon or Ramone were, but I assumed they were high ranking members of the Pack that Chris was part of. So, naturally, I was scared. I'd never met another Werewolf before Chris and now I was about to meet an even stronger one.

Chris stepped away from me and made a phone call. I awkwardly waited by my car, my stomach twirling in sickness nerves. After a few minutes, Chris returned with a small smile.

"He wants to see you. I'll take you to him".

A/N - this story will be updated every Thursday evening (UK time)

THE OTHER STORIES IN THE SERIES ARE: The Young Luna + The Replacement Luna