In the dark infinite place, a single small soul was present. It was a small fluffy grey wolf with tinges of black. The little wolf was curled in a ball, with her tail covering her small nuzzle and her paws retracted under her abdomen.

Perhaps fearing the dark and loneliness, she kept trying to nestle more. This fact coupled with a slow whimpering voice that could be heard whisperingly from time to time, made a heart breaking image.

"What's the matter small wolf?" Said someone using the mind link, as she was appearing from behind.

Hearing the gentle voice, the small wolf slowly opened her eyes and raised her head. The presence of someone else besides herself was a cause of joy for the small furry ball in the vast cold place.

In front of her, a bigger white wolf pup was majestically wagging her tail. She was enchanting with her fur so white that it almost seemed translucent, and her grey eyes that sparkled looking at her. The bigger wolf pup lowered herself to the small one's level and asked her again slowly.

"Why are you trembling?" She gently said, using a soft soothing voice.

"I will soon disappear!" The pup replied through her mind, her face and eyes full of sorrow and anxiety.

"Why do you think so?" Asked again gently the bigger wolf.

"Because no one has claimed me yet. I do not even have a name. Do you have one?" The little wolf admitted with a smaller voice, then asked the same question to the bigger wolf.

"Yes, my name is Luna." The white wolf responded.

"What does it mean? It is beautiful." Appreciated the small grey pup, her eyes shining.

"It means moon." Replied the white wolf who had already laid herself near the smaller one, cuddling her. Then she continued, seeing the eager eyes in front of her.

"Do you want a name small wolf?"

"Yes, I want one also. But who will give me one?" She said sad, she had long ago given hope for ever receiving one.

"I will. How about this, from this moment onwards we will share the meaning of my name. Do you know of the phases of the moon?" She asked. And the small wolf turned her head from side to side as if to deny knowing.

"When we look from the Earth to the moon, we will not see the moon completely each time, or better said a full moon. As such how much we can see from it, or each phase, has a different name. It takes the waning gibbous phase and waxing crescent phase together to make the image of one full moon. From this moment onwards you shall become Crescent and I will be Waning."

Celia had been drifting in and out of sleep for some time now, she dreamt of the dream she saw when she was smaller, a dream that she kept having as a child. It was of the two most important beings in her life, her two wolves. Many times when she was feeling sad, many times when she noticed the differences of treatment whether consciously or not... she would see this dream. It would always comfort her for some reason, and make her want to rest more, to continue seeing it.

But she eventually forced herself to open her eyes when she could no longer stand the aching in her throat, though she could barely distinguish some light. Quite difficultly she opened her eyes, before trying to mend her throat by coughing a bit.

Placing her trembling hand on her neck, she felt around it trying to sooth the pain. Her throat felt dry and filled with small prickling needles.

"Would you like some water?" She heard a mesmerizing hoarse voice say gently. She did not know who it was, but she felt safe in the presence of this person.

So she only murmured a small yes with her cracked voice.

A few second later, after hearing some heavy steps near the bed and the sound of pouring water, she felt someone putting their arms around her back lifting her a bit. The smell of that person seemed to envelop her entire being. The musky woody smell with tinges of lavender filled her nose and the warm hand placed behind her back send shivers to her soul.

Lifting her a bit, this person placed the glass near her mouth and was waiting patiently for her to drink. She realized when she felt a bit of cold on her lips. She sipped a few mouths of water before closing her mouth. Then she felt herself laid down again and heard the clinking of the sound of a glass on a table.

"Thank you!" She said whispering, with a grateful tone. Her voice seemed to return a little after drinking the water.

"You are welcome!" The low tone voice acknowledged.

The sound seemed close, she thought. This person was surely still near the bed. Realizing this, she looked towards from where the sound came from. Her eyes were already clearing and adjusting to the light.

Perhaps she moved too brisk, or did not assess exactly how close this person was to her. Her senses were still worse than a human's for now, so naturally they could not be relied upon. Either way, when she turned towards the side of the bed, the most handsome faced she had seen once before was right in front of her eyes, a few inches away in fact.

She could even feel Salas's breath and most likely he could feel hers. Her pale cheeks instantly reddened. The person who had helped her drink water was none other than his highness. She was stunned and even forgot to retract her chocolate eyes that were looking directly into his bright blue ones, because of this realization.

He did not move, liking the proximity, and only raised his hand and placed it on her forehead lightly.

"You do not have a fever. Hmmm that is strange, then why are your cheeks red? Do you feel unwell somewhere?" He asked concerned, with his hand still on her forehead.

Her cheeks reddened even more if that was possible, but she still did not say a word.

"Cough! Cough!!" The sound of Gabriel coughing resounded in the room.

"Your highness, every lady would feel embarrassed if you were that close." The teacher gentlemanly and subtly informed the woman unaccustomed king. At least this was what he thought subtlety meant.

Hearing another voice, Celia regained her composure and broke the eye contact, directing her gaze towards her teacher who was standing a bit further away. Salas did not ask anything more, realizing his mistake at the uncommon close distance. But still he was displeased having lost contact with her eyes and touch, as he retracted his hand.

So he only straightened his body, but did not move from the side of the bed.

"How are you feeling, Celia? The doctor said that your regeneration finally kicked in to the fullest, so all your wounds are closed and almost healed by now, and they should not pose any problems." Gabriel friendly inquired.

"I am alright, only slightly dizzy, but I am confused. I should not be alive right now." She said calmly. She had lost consciousness after the fourth bullet, but she was sure more shots followed. Logically speaking no werewolf, having been shot that many times, should still be breathing.

"Well if it weren't for his highness ..." Gabriel started to say, but was not able to finish as Salas already interrupted him.

"We got you as fast as we could to the hospital. And luckily the doctors were able to treat you in time." The first ranked werewolf man stated, his heart uncomfortable as he repeated her words inside his mind, I shouldn't be alive right now.

She only nodded in understanding. She realized that her stronger wolves had something to do with her fast healing, so she did not want to stir suspicions by being too surprised and asking too many questions about her health.

"And my pack temporary members how are they? And the other watcher students were they attacked as well?" She asked anxiously, clearing her head from haziness, while she tried to shift her body upwards worried.

"They are alright. Do not worry. The temporary pack members are already attending classes as usual, and your classmates also are attending theirs. The other students, who were in the same pack as you for the exercise, have had a week to rest and to recuperate from the psychological trauma, but otherwise have no injuries.

As for the other packs that participated in the exercise they were not attacked ... either your pack was the only target, or your pack was nearer from where they entered through the border. If the latter is true, they were just unfortunate enough to attack the leader of the watchers first... quite unlucky hunters." Gabriel stated chuckling.

Salas who was still closer to her, although the highest rank in the room, and the king for that matter, had not replied to her question himself, as he was busy arranging the pillow behind her back to a more comfortable position, earning himself another blush from her. Which was quite endearing, he thought.

"T-Thank you." She whispered stuttering. It seemed like each time she talked to him she lost her voice. Her usual calm self, changed to 180 degrees. She really should stop doing that, she thought. Then she continued to speak, as she processed inside her mind what Gabriel said.

"A week's rest, does that mean I have been unconscious for a week?" She gasped as she realized exactly how much time passed.

Salas had already distanced himself from her by this point, with his mission already finished, not wanting to make her too uncomfortable.

"Yes, a whole week. You had us quite worried, some more than others." Gabriel said looking with squinted eyes in Salas's direction. And as the latter glared at him, he restrained his joking attitude and continued.

"Your pack members have bombarded my phone with messages and calls. We had to restrict everyone's access so they were not able to see you." Gabriel sighed defeated by pups, then pulled his phone out of his pocket and raised it in the air showing her the screen. Yet another phone call from Jake was displayed on the smartphone's screen.

"Do you mind answering the call? Even if I told them you were alright and assured them it won't be long until you wake up, they keep pestering me every day. I don't know how they have so much battery on their phones. They keep eating mine away." He said sighing again, while he was already handing her the phone.

She nodded her head apologetic and took it from his hands to answer. Saying her greeting, the loud worried voice could be heard from the other end. She only exchanged a few words with Jake, not wanting to be rude in the presence of the king by prolonging the conversation and ignoring him, then managed to close the phone call after she promised she would call again to talk more detailed.

She could not talk more even if she wanted to as she kept feeling a scrutinizing gaze upon her at all times, Salas's probably. Gabriel was by the window waiting for her to finish her conversation he was also gazing outside, so it was not him, and there was only one more person in the room. Maybe she was just overly conscious, but it kept sending an itch to her heart. So she cut the conversation as short as she could. It was also not polite to keep talking on the phone in the presence of the king.

Hearing her saying her goodbyes, Gabriel retracted his gaze and approached her bed to retrieve his phone.

"Now then, if you are feeling up to it I would also like to ask some questions about the attack." He said smilingly, glad he got the pack off his back... truly enormously glad.

"We should let her rest some more. She just barely woke up. It would be better for you to come back to the palace tomorrow. She will answer then." Salas finally broke his silence.

"I can answer now it is not a problem." Celia assured quickly, and hearing the word palace, she looked around only to notice that she was not inside a hospital care unit, but in fact in a room resembling one inside a palace, a room fit for a princess.

"No. He will come back tomorrow." Salas firmly denied.

"Yes, your highness." Celia replied slowly, she could not disobey the king, once he spoke twice.

"But can I ask where I am?" She dared to ask at least this much.

"Yes of course. You are in the Royal Palace, you shall remain here until your complete recuperation." Salas calmly said.

One could not detect a single emotion in his voice, but Gabriel would've sworn his friend even had a small tug upwards at the corner of his lips, though barely noticeable. Salas looked practically akin to a wolf in human clothing, he was really happy about this particular unavoidable circumstance. If you could call it as such, as he had practically forcefully moved her to his palace the moment she was stable enough to do so.