Chapter 36

Daphne

"You are supposed to be working, not flirting with some random guy!"

Alpha Calle's words rang like a danger alarm in my head. His mouth was set into a straight line, still with the accusing look on his face. I couldn't bear to make eye contact with him any longer than now.

His words hurt me like a sharp needle. I had always wanted to be a more perfect version of myself. Even though it was all new to me—the packs, the shifters in them, and the title of Secret Luna.

Luna Daphne Forster, that's how I was going to be identified in the future. But to be honest, I was certain that with great power comes great responsibility. And I wasn't quite ready to be called a Luna. As of now, I have been the troublemaker in the pack. But I wanted them to accept me for who I was. The one who was truly me. Their admiration and love for me should not be motivated by fear or the fact that I held a position of power. I wanted them to love me and accept me as their member first, not some outsider who turned into Luna without any qualities because she was the Alpha's destined mate.

Alpha Calle cleared his throat to grab my attention. I couldn’t help but notice his chiseled features—they were defined by his anger. It was a fact that I was madly attracted to him whatever his mood was, however, his odd and exaggerated behavior still made my frustration sizzle in my chest.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" I asked Reina, hoping she could tell me if Dark had informed her of anything.

'I think Alpha Calle saw how Kurt treated you and the way he stared at you. He was like a love-stricken puppy. You know how possessive these Alphas are!' Reina replied laughing, but I knew she was just as angry as I was.

"Tell me, Daphne. Are you into that pup? Are you not content having just one mate?" Alpha Calle growled, making his amber eyes grow darker.

Jealousy was as visible as crystal-clear water in his fuming facade. His possessive tone may have caused a little sweetness in my veins, but his behavior was concerning.

I was not sure how to react or say something to him to calm his mood down. But the best thing to do when you don't know what to say is to not say anything at all.

Or leave.

Because if I just kept on standing right in front of him, he would continue to interrogate me or ask me stupid questions that would put my sanity at risk!

"I'm out," I managed to whisper.

His jaw hardened. "What?"

Sighing, I looked around myself for an escape route and noticed the doors of the hall were open on the left side. Without giving him any response, I bolted out of there. I ran until I was out of the community hall and even farther away from the pack building. Most of the members stopped doing whatever their work was and watched me run away with the speed of lightning.

Reina growled and muttered at me to take over, but I ignored her. I was already fast enough with my teleportation skills that even Alpha Calle would be looking for me to catch on to my speed if he decided to follow me, which I was sure of. I just needed a few minutes to myself, and he needed to calm down and think rationally.

The pack borders were left behind almost twenty minutes ago, but I continued to run deep into the forests. Surprisingly, I had become extremely speedy that Alpha couldn't reach out to me. I wanted to get to the end of this forest and sit by the lakeside. The woods were the only place I felt at ease. The birds chirped in the distance and dried leaves crunched under my feet. He tried mind-linking with me many times but I shut him off. Alpha Calle's accusing eyes flashed in my head, making my speed increase.

I caught a movement behind me, and my senses alerted me to an unknown danger.

Someone was following me, and it was not Alpha Calle. I listened to the sounds more carefully and was sure that there were more of them. I turned around to see who was following me, but all I could find were a few shadows lurking behind me. If ever, this would be my first real encounter with other supernatural creatures after my training with Alpha Calle.

As I continued to observe their movements, they transformed into their human forms. All five men in black surrounded me. They were very fast, and with a blink of my eyes, they moved around me, changing their positions from here to there. I spun around to keep an eye on them while they made a circle to trap their prey in it. I was ready to attack and defend myself, even though they were more numerous. The problem was that I had no idea about their kind.

The largest among them dared to walk closer to me. His skin was as pale as the white sheet. Somehow his fingers were long, and he teleported just like me.

'This is not freaking good!' Reina gritted. 'Let me surface so I can practice my killing skill on these damned creatures!'

I rolled my eyes. "I need to have practice too, you see. More so, I need to release my stress for Alpha Calle."

Even though she wanted to do the honorable thing to kill, Reina set herself aside for a while.

"You smell nice and healthy. I guess your blood is sweet too. We are on a hunt, and you came running to us like our favorite snack." A smirk lingered on his face, showing his fangs.

"Vampires!" I gasped, and Reina's growl became more dangerous.

They were all bloodthirsty monsters. I had never crossed paths with them before, but here we are, having intense eye contact with each other. A battle was already starting to build in my chest.

"I taste sweet. But I believe your flesh tastes better," I gritted, making the first move by jumping over him. Though the vampire managed to fend off my attack.

Two of the vampires began to make my vision blurry by running around me in circles.

"Let me kill them!" Reina growled aggressively.

I gave in to Reina's pleadings. My bones twisted in my flesh, and I stood on my four limbs, looking at all of them with hunger in my eyes. This rage would be extinguished by eliminating these worthless bloodsuckers.

I growled at them, challenging them to a fight. One of them tried to run past me, but I grabbed his leg in my mouth and tore it off. My face was covered with blood, and the excitement ran through my veins.

Calle believed that I was not yet ready for the title of Luna and that all of my training had been in vain. Or did he think that I tended to flirt with anyone? Was I restricted from even having any friends at all?

I would prove that I was more than a stubborn and flirty little pup. I could be the Luna the pack deserved and needed at any time if there were threats of danger, not just a secret Luna he needed to warm his bed!

All of their eyes were filled with a hunger for my blood. It was as if the smell of my blood blinded them, and all they wanted was to have a taste of it. The vampire with a scar on his cheek lost one of his limbs but still tried to grab my arm in his mouth. I took a long jump in the air and attacked his neck, tearing it off his body. The second vampire was bad at calculating his steps toward me and missed by a fraction of a second while attempting to pierce his nails into my back. I slashed open his throat with my sharp canines. The third one faced the same fate, as I tore off his clothes first before attacking his eyes. I tore open his chest and had his heart continue beating in my mouth.

"They are so exhausting, and somehow I am losing my strength," Reina sighed in frustration.

The fourth was taller and bigger than the others, whom I had killed without much effort on my part. His fangs shone brightly, and he had the ugliest expression of all of them. He was calmer, and his moves were very calculated as he stalked toward me. When he again showed me his fangs, I noticed he had silver fillings in them, which made them shine so brightly. I hesitated to attack him first and waited for his next move. While standing at the corner, the other one was watching us, and we had an eye-to-eye battle. I had to win them.

"Are you scared?" He asked, still standing at a safe distance from me.

I didn’t consider it worthy enough to answer him back because I knew what he was trying to do by making me lose my focus on him. All I observed from this small encounter was that they were very fast immortals who moved in the blink of an eye. If I was distracted, I'd probably end up being their dinner for tonight. So, I kept my eyes glued on him for most of the time.

He moved all of a sudden, surprising me with his abilities again. I stepped into the charge, raising an arm as if for a feeble block. Then I backed up, slapped down, and a leg rose. He ran onto it, swan-dived across me, and struck the rock on the left of my body hard.

That crash would have stunted most of the wolves, but vampires were tough. He picked himself up, shook his head, and spat blood.

I grinned. If he'd known better than to mess up with me, then there was no fight going on for now. But he was determined. Mostly for the taste of my blood, which he wasn’t going to have at all.

He had his eyes on my neck, while I was fixated on his heart. I just had to keep myself safe from his teeth, or else that would be the end of my life. So, instead of waiting for him, I jumped high in the air, nearly half a foot above the ground, and slashed his chest. My sharp canines made him bleed, and his breathing stopped right at that moment.

As I was busy finishing him off, I didn’t pay too much attention to the other one who attacked me from behind. His fangs rested deep inside my shoulder, and I managed to throw him away. Blood oozed out of my arm, and I hissed in the sharp pain. But the vampire, instead of attacking me again, just stood up with his confused eyes on me. He didn't make any attempt to attack me this time, even when I was at my most vulnerable stage in the fight.

He just watched my injured arm with a pang of guilt in his eyes. Soon, the healing started, and my injuries filled up on their own. The large slit-up mark was gone, and my arm was back to normal again. All the wounds were recovered, and I stared at the vampire, who was no longer looking like a threat to me.

"Why aren't you killing me now?" I asked.

His nature and sudden retreat from the fight confused me. Just moments ago, he was crazy over my blood. But then he lost all of his interest when I started to bleed.

I shifted back to my human form, standing in front of him with my arms crossed over my breasts.

"Why aren’t you attacking me anymore?"

His mouth parted, but no words came out. Finally, he said, "I... I cannot attack the royal blood of my kind. It’s a crime and we do not go against the royalty at all."

"Royal blood? Your kind?" I tilted my head. "W-what do you mean?"

His words were clear, but I didn't seem to understand his statement. Or maybe, he was already hallucinating from the scent of my blood.

I was about to ask him further when a sudden movement caught my eye.

Before I could get any more information from him, Alpha Calle, in his wolf form, tore the vampires to shreds. He burned his remains to ashes after killing him. Then he looked around for more enemies to appear, but none did.

That was the moment he noticed me standing upright. “Are you okay?” he said through telepathy. Dark’s dark amber eyes gleamed with worry. I could see Calle’s eyes through his wolf.

I must be thankful because he arrived just in time to save my sweet as. But disappointment washed over me for failing to get answers from the vampire. He still owed me information for the perplexing revelations he made.

"Why did you do that?" I asked, stepping backward. “You shouldn’t have come! I didn’t even ask for help!”

He froze. Eventually, his expression changed from being worried to madness. 'The bloodsucker was trying to kill you. What am I supposed to do? Watch him murder my mate?' Alpha Calle said, accompanied by Dark's roar.

I knew this conversation would just lead to another argument. So without a word, I decided to run away from the bloody spot.

*