"So like... would you train me?" he asked wryly, looking up at her. He was incredibly nervous, his tongue practically tied.
It wasn't because he lacked a backbone or had some massive, unrequited crush on her; he literally just couldn't speak. The lingering effect of her crushing presence was still hanging in the mountain air, and that shit was unbelievably heavy.
Luna stared at him, the silence stretching between them for a long, calculating beat.
"Yes," she said finally.
"Really?" James perked up instantly, his voice brimming with pure excitement. She was actually agreeing to train him.
This was the best possible news he could have hoped for.
"You are my responsibility," Luna stated calmly. She tilted her head to the side slightly, her sharp silver eyes analyzing him from head to toe, dissecting his posture.
James's curiosity got the better of him.
He nervously scratched the back of his head. "Is that... because you turned me?"
"That plays a significant factor in it, but..." Her gaze shifted away from him, looking down toward the training plateau below where warriors were lifting massive weights and brutally sparring with one another.
"I am also intervening because your current predicament is entirely my fault."
James blinked rapidly.
"How is me getting ambushed by hunters your fault? It's not like you provoked them or something." He was completely bewildered. He didn't remember her having any kind of personal beef with the hunters.
Then, a vivid memory flashed in his mind—the image of her weakened, bleeding wolf form riddled with silver bullet holes, looking like she was on the absolute brink of death back in the forest. That had definitely been the hunters' doing.
"Not them," Luna dismissed coldly. "The one I am referring to would have slaughtered you ten times over by now."
James raised a bewildered eyebrow. "I beg your pardon?"
She waved a hand, cutting off the topic. "Forget it."
Luna knew she couldn't casually mess with his mind to make him forget things. Maybe her father could, but even that was a stretch; individuals with an unyielding survival instinct were always incredibly difficult to telepathically influence.
James had already proven his mind was significantly tougher than he let on. She wondered what exactly drove him, but that was a question for another day.
"I mean I am the reason Raze challenged you in the first place," she clarified.
James remembered the terrifyingly strong dude from the forest. "Huh?" Confusion was written all over his face.
"Did you beat his ass and he got salty about it?" His brain couldn't come up with any other logical scenario.
"He is my ex-boyfriend."
Everything completely stopped for James. The mountain air itself seemed to freeze solid.
"Huh?" He was utterly befuddled. That massive, terrifying guy did not look like he belonged with anyone. James wasn't bullshitting—the dude looked like he literally ate rocks for fun. And wasn't he the exact same rogue who had tried to snack on him?
As James processed the information, his brain finally clicked. Raze. The oppressive presence of that 6'4" dude asking for a fade matched perfectly. He suddenly recalled the sheer bloodlust and intense possessiveness radiating off the guy.
'Oh, so he is one of those types.'
Luna raised a sharp silver eyebrow. James had completely forgotten that she could read his thoughts, which were currently blasting through her mind at maximum volume.
She cleared her throat loudly, snapping him back to attention.
"We terminated our relationship a very long time ago," she continued, her expression hardening into a mask of pure disdain.
"And how long ago is that?" James asked, his interest thoroughly piqued. Catching her icy glare, he immediately threw his hands up in a defensive gesture. "If you don't mind me asking, of course!"
"Why the sudden interest?" she questioned. James felt like he was being shot down instantly, and he hadn't even fired a shot yet.
"Well, you say a long time ago, but I recently learned that werewolves and vampires live for an incredibly long time," he explained, his logical defense solid.
"A long time ago for a human would be like three to five years. For you guys, that could range anywhere from fifty to three hundred years."
"More than fifty years ago," she replied calmly.
James blinked repeatedly, his brain short-circuiting. 'Damn, that's a long time. Was I even a thought in my dad's nuts by then?'
Luna's left eyebrow twitched violently at the mental comment.
"That may seem extensive to your human perception," she paused, her voice steady. "But unless killed in battle, our kind does not succumb to old age. The elders sitting in the council chamber were alive well before the birth of the historical figure you Christians refer to as Christ."
James's eyes nearly bulged straight out of their sockets. Yo, what the fuck? They were ancient. Literally biblical. You mean to tell me these people were walking around two thousand years ago?
"And I am currently two hundred and fifty years old."
His surprise was growing exponentially by the second. "But... you don't look a day over twenty.
And the elders look absolutely ancient." He was stunned. How did werewolf aging even work? Did they just suddenly wrinkle up overnight?
"They have been stagnant, participating in very few physical conflicts over the past century," Luna explained. "If you had seen them during the wars of the 1800s, they looked middle-aged."
James paused, digesting the fact.
So, according to werewolf biology, being a total bum and not fighting would cause the physical signs of aging to accelerate on your body.
"By our biological standards, it hasn't been long since our separation," Luna concluded. "To a baseline human, the emotional equivalent would be roughly five weeks ago. Five months, if we are being exceptionally generous."
James blinked rapidly. "I see," he murmured calmly, before another massive flaw in the logic hit him. "Wait... why the hell is he targeting me then?" He pointed a finger directly at his own chest.
"I haven't shown a single hint of interest in you. Our only interactions consist of you either beating my ass or calling me a pup."
James paused, his mind taking a wildly inappropriate detour. "Unless... he is secretly into getting beaten down and called a pup? Quick question: is this guy into getting dominated?"
Luna looked at him with an expression that was a perfect mix of genuine intrigue and absolute, unadulterated stupidity.
"No. He is exceptionally dominant and violently aggressive," she stated coldly.
"Yeah, I definitely did not need to know that detail," James responded bluntly, desperately trying to erase the mental image of what their dating life looked like.
"Ask a foolish question, receive a foolish answer," she countered, her voice entirely devoid of emotion.
"So why then is he targeting me?" James prayed to whatever god was listening that it wasn't for some dumbass reason like her looking in his general direction, because that would be incredibly petty.
"Because I turned you."
He blinked. "That's it? There's no way someone is that bloodthirsty over a bite."
"To a possessive psychopath like Raze, that act is the ultimate biological transgression."
"I still don't get it. Why does that matter so much to him?" James argued. She had simply bitten him to save his life while in her wolf form. What was there to be genuinely jealous about?
"Because apart from my father and Selene, you currently hold the most direct access to my inner self," she explained, her voice dropping into a rare, heavy gravity. She took a deliberate step closer, the sharp mountain breeze whipping her silver ponytail across her shoulder.
"You've already consciously noticed it, haven't you? No one else in this hidden village can speak directly into your mind. No one else can read your thoughts or sense your location the way I do."
"Yeah," James admitted softly. He recalled how during the mission, he had been paranoid thinking the other pack members were reading his mind, when in reality they were just picking up on his raw emotions and body language.
Luna was the only one who could literally hear his thoughts. "I definitely noticed."
"It is because you and I share a fundamental bond," Luna said, crossing her arms over her chest
"It is an ancient, biological link that an Alpha share with the human they turn. Think of it as a permanent soul connection. To save your life, I had to infuse a significant portion of my own primal essence into your dying body. That physical act forged a permanent bridge between our minds."
She raised her hand, her fingers tracing a sharp arc through the air.
James blinked in awe as shimmering, glowing blue runes manifested directly in the sky.
Yo, you can write runes in mid-air? Color me impressed.
The runes glowed softly, illustrating the biological mechanics of the supernatural world:
The Werewolf Link (Telepathic Resonance):In our species, this bond manifests as a profound spiritual connection. It allows telepathic communication across vast distances, intuitive tracking of baseline emotions, and triggers an instantaneous, violent internal alarm if the bonded partner is in mortal danger or on the verge of death.
The Vampire Link (Thrall Subjugation):For the undead, the bond is inherently toxic. Vampires utilize that exact same essence bridge to systematically crush a newborn's free will, transforming the turned human into a mindless thrall—a literal puppet forced to obey every mental command of their sire unless the bond is broken through superior strength.
"Long story short," Luna concluded, dismissing the glowing runes with a flick of her wrist as her tone iced over again.
"Raze is targeting you for the simple fact that my essence permanently resides inside your bloodstream. It has absolutely nothing to do with your personal actions."
James stood in absolute silence, processing the massive weight of her words. A strange mixture of intense relief and utter dread washed over him.
He wasn't crazy, and he hadn't brought this disaster upon himself—but he was still caught dead in the crosshairs of a vengeful, hyper-powerful, ex-military werewolf who wanted him completely erased from existence.
Luna stared at him for a long, quiet moment, measuring the remaining resolve left in his posture. Finally, the tight line of her jaw relaxed just a fraction.
"I will teach you," she said evenly.
James's eyes instantly lit up, a sudden burst of pure excitement completely overriding the exhaustion and lingering pain in his recovering muscles. His chest swelled with a genuine sense of hope. Finally. A real fighting chance.
"But," Luna added, her voice dropping into a strict, commanding tone that instantly snapped him back to absolute attention,
"before I waste my valuable time correcting your flaws, you are going to show me every single thing you think you know. Strip off your jacket. Let's see exactly what you're working with."