The Unclaimed Human Luna
Chapter 56

El POV

El’s eyes opened and she g*****d as she woke up, she had a splitting headache and the room was overly bright to her. She squinted as she looked around the room, found herself in her bedroom, with her Aunt Juliana sitting on the side of the bed next to her, pressing a cold compress to her forehead. She sighed down at her. Saw her get up and go turn the light off but then return, to turn the bedside lamp on. That helped with her sudden sensitivity to light.

“You’re alright El, but no shift happened.”

“What happened to me?” she g*****d, even that hurt, her throat was dry and raspy, itchy, she realised. She was given a glass of water and she drank from it, soothed her dry throat and helped a little with her headache too.

“I’m not sure, but I think you should have got your Kitsune, but didn’t. She was supposed to come forward but then…I don’t know, maybe she chose not to at the last minute.”

“Does that happen often?”

“Not really. Something is in the way perhaps. Or.”

“Or?”

“What brought her out in you, is no longer here for her and when she sensed that, retreated back.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I have a theory; you’re not going to like it. You’ve been out for hours, just so you know, and I have spoken with Sloan as well. She wants to wait for the actual outcome.”

“What outcome?”

“Well, most of the time for a half human, like yourself, a full moon can bring your Kitsune to your mind, and then on the next full moon she will emerge fully. This allows time for you to adjust to her, get to know her, so to speak. Sloan is of the opinion that is what is happening.”

“How will I know if this is what’s happening to me?”

“Well now, that is easy, she will talk to you. Most Kitsune’s are very chatty, replace many human things funny and they laugh a lot, kind of sounds like, between a human actually laughing with a little bit of chuffing in-between, quite high pitched at that.”

El pushed herself up to a sitting position and realised she was only wearing a towel and a cold wet one at that. Frowned down at it, “You were burning hot. It’s just to cool you down, is all.”

She nodded “I did feel hot.” She sighed, and rubbed at her chest once more.

“You do that a lot, I see.”

“Do what?” El frowned up at her aunt.

“Rub your heart, like it hurts. How long has that been going on?”

“It’s nothing happens all the time. Some days it’s worse than others. Today just seems worse somehow.”

“Mm, that boy you were sleeping with, your stepbrother.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I think we need to El, that chest rubbing is likely because of him.”

“What? I don’t even like him. He’s an a*****e.”

Saw her aunt raise an eyebrow. “So, you’re just sleeping with him, was what?”

“Do we have to talk about it?”

“I think so.” She nodded “He’s a wolf. So yeah, honey, we need to talk about it.”

“He doesn’t even like me, it’s just s*x.”

“Explain it a little more than that please, El. Could be important.”

“It’s not. In a nut shell, he comes to my room. We have s*x, then he just leaves and that’s it, ignores me, told me to leave, doesn’t want me around, I know that much.” Found herself rubbing at that bloody ache in her chest once more, hurt more when she was talking about him. “I don’t understand why it hurts, it’s nothing at all.”

“I doubt that, El.”

“Trust me, I had to get the hell out of there. It was sick and twisted, is what it was.”

“You couldn’t say no to him in other words, even when you didn’t like him.”

She just nodded because that was the simple truth of the matter. “He made sure I knew he didn’t care.” She murmured “Had another girl all over him just hours later, right in front of me.” Felt the tears brim and took a deep breath in and let it out slow to try and stop them from falling, that still hurt “Trust me when I say it’s nothing, it is. He told me she was nothing to him as well. So just some random girl to make me understand I was nothing to him.”

She saw her aunt sighing heavily now “Right. A*****e it is.”

El nodded, there was nothing she could do about it, what had happened had happened, but now she was out of that place and gone. It was over for her, she’d gotten away from him, from that place and was never going back. “I’m not going back.” She sighed “No one there really liked me.”

“They didn’t know what you were, likely thought you were human, wolves have to hide their true nature with humans inside their pack. This could have affected the way they responded to you is all.”

“I don’t care. Why even make me go there if they didn’t want me there and I was made to. I didn’t want to go, told mother that, argued with her about it. Logan shoved me in the car and made me go.”

“It’s likely your mother wanted you there, is all. Her Mate was trying to make her happy.”

“Even if I wasn’t happy, and I wasn’t, I told them that, hell I yelled it at Logan right to his stupid face.”

“You yelled at an Alpha Wolf.”

El shrugged “I didn’t know what he was, just a rich a*****e like his son,” she muttered “I was angry and upset and lashed out I guess.”

“Interesting…, you sure there isn’t a voice talking to you in there. You have Kitsune Alpha b***d El, this would make you want to fight. Get your own way even. If he knew what you were, he would have treated you very differently, I assure you on that.”

“Why.”

“No wolf, even an Alpha Wolf will take on an Alpha-blooded Kitsune. We have more lives than they do. One for every tail, if he attempts to take on Sloan.” She saw her aunt laugh “He will get the shock of his life. Will likely back down real fast. Sloan is also much older than she looks, as am I. We just stopped aging decades ago.”

“How old are you?” El asked with a shiver. She was starting to feel cold.

She saw her aunt get up and get her some clothes and return to hand them to her. She pulled them on while her aunt looked out the window. “I am nearly 500 years old, as is your grandma, she is my twin.”

“500 years old?” El gasped and nearly fell over as she was pulling her pants on, to stop and stare at her aunt. “How long do you live?”

“A very long time. As you will now, I imagine. Things will be very different for you, life adjustments have to be made in the human world, it is annoying, to say the least, to reinvent yourself every 50 or 60 years. A new human name, I usually just pass myself off as my daughter. All shifters have to do this unless they age more.”

“Age more?”

“Mm, some will age till they look 70 or so in human years and then stop, some stop aging around 25 or 30. Most stop when we look about 30 to 35.” Turned and looked at El with a smile “How old do I look to you?”

“Not the 60 grandma states she is.”

“Hazard a guess for me?”

El looked at her for a long minute and smiled “Maybe 35.”

“That is good, I don’t want to look older. Like looking young and pretty.” She chuckled.

“How long have you been here in Italy? Your family, I mean?”

“Oh, my great grandpa, he came here like 2000 years ago, immigrated from Korea, met a fox and well.” She chuckled “Marked and Mated her.”

“Wow, so long ago.”

“Yes, if you ever venture over to Korea, we have relatives there as well. Quite a few actually, Sloan would know a couple of them. Lived in Korea for like 200 years, loved it there.”

“How many in America?”

“A couple, I believe. Sloan is likely in contact with all of them, she loves being out there, too curious for her own good sometimes.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Taro, was born from curiosity, I believe. Sloan has yet to replace her Mate, and though she is happy enough on her own out there, she gets that itch to mate still. Taro’s father, he was well.” She chuckled “An itch that needed scratching. She never did say who. Just that it was a week of right jolly fun.” Saw her shake her head, “my twin is a little on the naughty mischievous side sometimes.”

“Sounds like it.” El nodded. “You said my father found his Kitsune. What did you mean by that?”

“You honey, just before he was killed he called me, said you seemed different to him, that he thought it was time to bring you here, for me to sense you out so to speak.” She sighed heavily “Then he was killed before we could organise it. Sloan saw you, said she didn’t sense anything, and she should be able to. Is your directed descent and an Alpha as well. So, she didn’t send you.”

El sighed “Wish she had, I likely would have just stayed here and not gone back. My mother wouldn’t have cared too busy with Logan.” She muttered “It was like father didn’t matter to her at all.”

“Ah, yes. That is the Mate Bond gripping onto her. She likely met Logan on a full moon and was drawn to him instantly. Unfortunately, that can happen, kind of obliterates everyone else for you.”

“So, she really doesn’t care about dad anymore? Is what you’re saying.” El didn’t like that thought at all.

“Deep down she knows she loved Taro, but her need for Logan. Outweighs everything else, she can’t resist him at all, El, everything about him draws her to him.”

“He took her away from me even. She let him; I was nothing to her, just like father was.”

“That is not true, her need to have you with her is likely what made Logan pull you into his pack. If she’d not asked, he wouldn’t have bothered at all. You’re old enough to be on your own.”

“Had plans to be here in Italy to study.” She muttered.

“Well, now you’re here, so let’s focus on that. I want you to tell me if you hear your Kitsune, she’ll likely introduce herself to you when she feels the time is right. Might already be in there just sitting quietly.” Saw her aunt walk over to her and tilt her chin up and look right at her, stare right into her eyes long and hard.

Then just smile and nod “I think she is in there, looking right back at me.” Run a hand through El’s hair, and chuckled when she tilted her head to enjoy the feel of it. “She’ll talk to you when she’s ready. Though before you go to sleep, I want to initiate you into the pack properly, if that’s okay?”

“What does that mean?”

“I little nick to you hand and a few words of loyalty is all.” Can I see your hand.

El held it out to her, and then the other, “Not initiated into your mothers pack then I see.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Come, it will take only a minute to do. It might just stop that pain in your chest as well.”

“That would be nice.” El nodded and followed her aunt downstairs to her office where she produced a long thin blade about 6 inches, very shiny and it had a black obsidian handle with what her aunt told her was a moonstone embedded into the handle.

Watched her cut a small line on her hand about a centimetre and then held her hand out “Your turn.”

“People shouldn’t mesh b***d.” El commented.

“We’re not people and this is how it is done. Once you are officially a part of this pack El, no one can come and take you either, not even Logan.”

She looked at the blade and thought about that. “Not Conner?” she asked quietly.

“No.”

El nodded and held out her hand. “What do I need to do?”

“Just answer my question when I ask it.” that knife sliced her palm and she bit her l*p at the sharp sting it caused “Eliza Kit Hunt, do you accept me Alpha Juliana Hunt of the Willows Moon pack to be your Alpha, pledge your loyalty to this pack and swear to never reveal it to the human world.”

“Yes, Aunt Juliana.” She nodded.

Felt all hot all over again and staggered a little, as their palms were pressed together and then she was alright, shook her head, “that was weird.” She murmured as her hand was released, turned her hand over and looked at it, no b***d even, a tiny scar was all.

She felt a hand under her chin and looked up at her aunt. Her eyes widened as she heard her aunt’s voice inside her head but didn’t see her lips move ‘Welcome to the Willows Moon, my child.’

“What is that?” El gasped.

“It’s called mind-linking, and only one with a beast can do it.” she smiled “You’ve got your Kitsune. She’s just shy.” Felt her aunt run a hand through her hair, smiled and chuckle a little “Now off you go, I’m going up to bed.”

El shook her head after her aunt left. That was weird, she had leaned into the woman’s hand like she was being patted. She sighed softly and looked out the window. There were no restrictions on her here, she wasn’t particularly tired, headed outside to be in the breeze that was blowing, this place was quite large, and she was allowed to go anywhere she wanted, even of a night time. It was her home now, a place she felt like she belonged.

El walked about under the moon and the stars and finally felt happy for the first time in a long time, had a whole new life to live now. She should have grown up here. It would have been nice to grow up here, she thought. As she walked about, she saw several large foxes moving about and smiled at them when they looked right at her.

Got a few wagging tails in return, and nearly chuckled, no secrets here either, only a few days here and she’d been told what they were, welcomed by them and was now a part of their pack. Her home where no one could just come in and take her away from it.

He couldn’t come here and just take her back, could hunt all he liked, but never could he make her go back with him, like he’d told her he would. No more did he have a claim on her body either. If he couldn’t replace her, he couldn’t touch her. She really was free and clear. No more sick, twisted s****l relationship with him.

She sank down, out in an open field and looked up at the moon, high and bright, full in the night sky, smiled to herself and just lay back down, she was home and she knew it, just lay there out in the open under the night sky and relaxed, truly relaxed for the first time in a long time ‘El, I’m Petal.’

El turned and looked around her, frowned when she couldn’t see anyone close by that could be talking to her, heard a soft husky chuckle ‘I’m not out there silly. I’m in here, in your mind.’