Our retreat was hasty, as we had lost most of our fighters with them.

"I can't believe this," I muttered as we trekked to the pack.

"Do we go back and ambush them?" Someone asked, almost like he was mirroring the thought of the rest of the men present as they murmured their assent.

I turned to him with glowing eyes. "We barely survived their attack and you want us to go there? To do what? Die when we could call for reinforcements."

He lowered his head as all of them stopped behind me. "Going back to the alpha is the same thing."

I sighed as I realized his words were true. Alpha Hector never took defeat lightly, and punished those who failed accordingly. "We will take whatever punishment he gives to us." They murmured at my answers but none of them disobeyed, following behind me until we got to the castle.

I walked into the throne room. My knees, knocking together as I stood in front of him - alpha Hector.

"What are the reports from your journey?" He asked from his throne.

I swallowed hard, finding the words hard to leave my lips. "There were some complications along the way." I lowered my head as I realized he was looking straight at me.

"Complications?"

"Yes, alpha. I lost some men to an ambush, and a chance to replenish my force as those men joined the enemy's forces," I said, swallowing hard when I raised my head, watching as his hand gripped the armrest of his throne.

"Hold him down," Alpha Hector ordered.

Men grabbed me, holding me to my knees as the alpha stood from his seat. "I can set right my actions," I said, joining he would change his mind towards what he was about to do to me.

"Even if you set it right. My reputation is down the drain for losing to people who do not know firsthand what war is," he said as he walked towards me. "For this. You will have to pay for it."

I swallowed hard as my knees wobbled, seeing the alpha strut towards me. He stopped next to me, holding something that looked like a silver rod.

"I saw a lot of potential in you when I made you a part of my inner circle, but it seems you have some lapses in your judgment," he said as he paced behind me.

Cold sweat broke from my body as I expected the damage. "Give me another chance, alpha. I promise I will make it right," I said.

"No, boy. First, I make it right with you before I set my eyes on those who have no fear of me." His words ended with the weight of something striking my back, sending pain through my body.

My screams echoed in the hall as the sound of metal striking flesh followed it. I didn't know when I passed out from his beating, carried away from his presence, and thrown into my room.

"They will pay for this," I said before I fell into a dark sleep.

Days passed before I heard anything from the alpha until a knock sounded at my door.

"Caspian," the voice called out.

I rushed to the door, hoping it was from the alpha and another chance to right my wrongs.

"The alpha wants you in his chambers," the messenger said as I stood outside my door.

"Chambers?" I asked the messenger to confirm if he wasn't passing a wrong message. I wanted a call from the alpha, but the location wasn't something I expected. "Are you sure he meant his chambers?"

He stared at me with disgust. "Maybe another round of beating would set your head in the right direction."

I swallowed hard as I rushed inside, grabbing a shirt to cover my open body. The pain still echoed through my body as slivers of silver stuck to my skin with my body desperately trying to push them out.

The guards opened the door as soon as they saw me walking towards them, giving me no chance to arrange my thoughts.

I trembled as I walked inside, falling to my feet as I noticed he sat at the edge of the fireplace where the light from the fire never reached him. "You called for me, alpha."

"You say you wanted to right your wrongs. Your very life hinges on the premises of your word."

Cold sweat broke on my forehead as I realized what it meant. It was the only opportunity I had to prove myself to him before he chose to end my life if I failed him.

"You say you know where their camp is?" He asked.

"Yes, my lord," I answered, trembling because it was the first time I got to be in the alpha's chambers.

He grunted with the chair squeaking. His footsteps drew closer to me. I quaked in my boots as I watched him draw closer to me. "You will take me to their camp and we will right your wrongs."

I raised my head to look at him. "There is no need for my lord to bother about a group no bigger than two hundred people."

"No bigger than two hundred people, yet they made a mockery of me and some of my best fighters!"

I dropped my head to the ground, afraid that I might put myself into trouble if I said anything more.

"I think it is time I let them know that I still exist. Let them know that I have been here all along," he said as he grabbed my head, pulling me to stand and face him.

My blood crawled as I could smell the blood-lust emanating from his body. "Would you want me to prepare the men for battle?" I asked, inhaling deeply to stop my knees from knocking together.

"Decimation or I toy with them for a bit?" He asked as he turned away from me. "I have let you boys handle all the dirty work for a while, and look at what you all brought to me. Shame and defeat from unimportant groups."

"I'm sorry, my lord," I said, whimpering as I lowered my head to the ground.

He chuckled as he walked closer to me once more. "This isn't the time for apologies, boy. It is time we let them know who is in charge."

I nodded my head as all my body trembled. "Yes, alpha." I was afraid of him, but he would wipe out that group. I was willing to be anything he wished me to be.

"You say there are no more than two hundred men? I guess I will have to even the playing field for them," he replied. "There's nothing nicer to see than your enemies grasping at the straw you placed for them to clutch at."

"Nothing, alpha," I said, repeating his word for fear lurking deep from inside my heart.

"It's been a while since I had a little blood on my hands," he said as he stood next to me with a grin on his face.

Dennis gathered us into the large hall in the castle with a grim look on his face. It looked like we took more than we wanted to bite on with the number in the hall.

"Can I get everyone's attention?" Dennis said, raising his hand at the group with the noise dying down.

I moved closer to Damian, watching him smile. I was okay knowing he was by my side, taking it as the best thing to have ever happened to me.

"It looks like we've gotten ourselves in a bit of a pinch with a neighboring pack," he said as he stood in the center, staring at all of us.

"We told you we did not need to save these people with problems we have on ourselves," someone said from one side of the hall.

That was when I realized we were segregated, and I was the only one with Damian sitting with the new people.

"There is no time for us to talk about things that we should have done or do. We have them in our hands right now, and we can not cast them out of our midst," Dennis answered as he looked around.

One burly boy from my side stood with his brown muscles. His hair shone orange under the candlelight. "We did not plan to become burdens to you, but we cannot move over to alpha Hector's pack. It is a fate worse than death, and we'd rather die than do so."

The group with him murmured their assent, refusing to leave the castle.

I stood, staring at everyone in the room. "We can not push them out to fend for themselves with both humans and alpha Hector tracking them."

"I agree with her," Damian said as he stood up next to me.

"You would always side with her. Everyone knows you are in love with her, Damian. "They laughed at him while he held on to the back of my throat."

I stared at the person with eyes glowing, watching him as he retreated into quietness.

"We do not mean to throw them out, but to find ways to make everything work together for us. Food rations will drop," Dennis said as he looked around the room like he was looking for who would support him.

"We have lived in a worse time with even worse food rations. Literally running away from being hunted by humans. You cannot say a thing about living space because we know this castle is big enough to host four legions," Damian countered.

"I still stand on what I have to say. We cannot leave them here....."

"Luna," a girl cried, moving through the crowd to hold me. The crowd stopped their murmurs as they looked at the girl holding me.

Everyone murmuring in the room stopped, staring at the girl and her antics.

"Let go of her," Damian said as he tried to push the girl away from me, but she refused to budge, dropping on one knee while she held onto me.

"My mother told me to search for a girl bearing this insignia of a wolf chasing its tail, and if I found you; I should follow you as my luna," she said with joy flooding her face.

"I'm not Luna. You have me mistaken, lady. I do not have alpha blood flowing through my veins," I said with a nervous chuckle as I stretched my hands, looking at everybody in the room.

It seems that was what everyone wanted as none of them claimed to have alpha blood, with the highest being those with beta blood, and Dennis was the one with the purest of beta blood.

"You are not sure of what you say," I said as I tucked the Crescent medallion into my clothes.

She pulled out a medallion from her clothes with the sign of a wolf chasing after its tail. "I am from Crescent pack, same as my mother before she passed away."

I could feel all the surrounding eyes on me. It felt like there was a longing in all of them when they realized.

"Are you sure about this?" Dennis asked as he stepped forward.

She turned to look at him, putting the medallion in front of her. "There are only three medallions of this type, and this one I wear belongs to her mother. At least that was what I was told."

Dennis dragged a silver dagger from his hand with Damian jumping in front of me. "What do you think you are doing?"

"What do you think I am doing?" Dennis asked as he tried to get to me.

"You want to keep your position as the leader of this pack even when you know there is someone who has the blood of an alpha?" Damian asked as his fangs flipped from his lips.

"I need her blood," Dennis said. "Why would I want to kill her when her presence here means we can actually be a pack?"

Damian's eyes widened in surprise as he moved away from me. "I didn't know."

I sighed as I walked out in front of me, holding my palm to Dennis.

"There is no need to check for it," the girl said, but it seemed her words carried no power as everyone gathered around the fire, watching the drama.

"What if she is not the one? She might have seen the medallion on anyone's chest and took it for herself," Dennis replied the girl as he stared at me.

I nodded my acceptance as I barely remember anything from when I was little except for all the time I ran from hideout to hideout, barely escaping death from each attack.

"Ready?" He asked as he put the edge of the knife on my skin.

I closed my eyes, flinching as the knife slashed my skin. It hurt deeply, as it was a silver dagger, but it did its job.

I opened my eyes as the wound healed with my blood dripping on the ground while everyone in the room dropped to a knee.

"All hail the Luna," Dennis said as he dropped to a knee, holding out his silver dagger to me.

I could see the look in their faces as they waited for my answer. "I cannot be your luna. It's not possible," I stuttered, finding my words stuck in my throat.

"Your blood pushes you to the forefront." Dennis said as he took my hand, putting the blade in it.

My hands shook as I stared at them, knowing my words would be final if I accepted what it was they gave to me. I turned to Damian, watching as he nodded at me.

"I agree," I said as I raised my hand to the air. They stood with me, solemn looks on all as everyone dispersed from the place, leaving Dennis and Damian in the room with me.

"You are the leader of our pack now. What next?" Dennis asked, looking around the room to let everyone know he had relegated all powers to me.