"How could you!" My mother yelled at me with a betrayed look on her face. "We needed you to come back and work with us, to get enough food to survive! But no, you just HAD to let yourself get caught! Look at what you caused!!" She pointed to the remains of a worn down, broken cottage, the only thing familiar was the tall oak tree growing to one of the broken windows. This was my house.

We stood outside on the short gravel driveway while facing the dilapidated house, my brother coming up from somewhere behind me with wild eyes, bright with fury and betrayal. He and my mother were both wearing ratty, torn clothing, horribly stained with dirt and oil.

"Look what you did! You always ruin EVERYTHING, Elenore! First you made dad die, then you leave us to starve, and now we have no home! We have to live off SCRAPS while you get to live like a Queen in the Alpha Mansion, stuffing your face like the fat whore you are!", he screamed in my face as I felt spit land on my cheeks. I closed my eyes when I felt tears starting to form, my throat starting to thicken and burn.

"No, I- I tried to escape! I never wanted to leave you! I ran as hard as I could, but Alpha Connall caught me! It's not my fault!" I cried, tears escaping my eyes and running down my face like a waterfall.

"Don't even try to make excuses, Elenore. You are no daughter of mine," my mother growled, her eyes turning a deadly, bottomless black. Backing away while looking over at Isaac for protection, I saw he was smirking cruelly, his eyes turning a bottomless black also. They both changed into their wolves, their bodies shifting and morphing into 2 demonic beasts. Covering my face while they lunged, I screamed for my life..

"Ellie, snap out of it! WAKE UP!", I heard someone roar, shaking my shoulders strongly. Snapping my eyes open, I was met with the determined and worried face of Tiberius, his eyes wide and mouth parted. He had his right knee bent on the bed and his left leg planted firmly on the floor, both hands still gripping my shoulders.

Gasping for air, I sat up in my bed and looked around the dark space to find myself back in my room in the Alpha Mansion. It was all just a dream, I reassured myself. It was all just a dream.

With my heart still beating fast, I looked to my right to find Tiberius staring at me intently, directly in my eyes. I took a deep breath and sighed, rubbing my face with clammy fingers. A sheen layer of sweat coated my face and body, making my pants and shirt stick to my skin uncomfortably.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, I read it was 2:38 am.

"I'm sorry if I woke you, Tiberius, but I'm fine now. You can go back to sleep," I muttered softly while looking down at my fingers play with the fringes on the blanket, even though what I said was a lie. I was NOT okay. I missed my mother, Isaac, my old life, and that dream seriously scared the shit out of me.

Taking his hands from my shoulders, he sighed, pulling up the covers beside me and sliding in. I scooted over, allowing him more space to lay. Draping the covers back over both of our legs, he leaned back against the headboard like me and reached his left hand for my right that was resting on my lap, intertwining our fingers. Butterflies started flying in my stomach and my heart sped up. Knowing he could hear it because of his increased Werewolf abilities, I blushed, embarrassed he knew he made me feel this way after only a day.

Chuckling lightly, he pulled my body closer so that my head leaned on his shoulder.

"What was the nightmare about?" he asked quietly, looking down at my small figure.

I hesitated. Did I really want to tell him? To let him know I was heartbroken about leaving my family and home?

Finally making up my mind, I took a deep breath and started. "I was back at my house in the Villages, and my mother was there. Our house, though, was completely run down. The windows were broken and the walls were falling apart, and Ivy crawled up the sides of the house.

" It was so cold," I whispered, shivering at the memory. Tiberius noticed and pulled me closer to him, wrapping his arm around me tighter. "She was yelling, saying I caused the house to look like that, that I wanted to get caught. Then my brother came and started screaming at me too, accusing me of making our dad die, of making them starve while I 'stuffed my face' here in the mansion like the fat.." I choked, pressure building behind my eyes. "The fat whore I am."

Tiberius rubbed my back, his brows furrowing in concentration. A small bump formed in between his eyebrows on his flawless face, making him seem a few years older. Finally, he spoke.

"Elenore, you are anything BUT a fat whore. You're 5'5" and weigh as much as a feather. You have amazingly long legs, and run faster than any She-Wolf I've ever seen." he said earnestly, admiration clear in his eyes. "And don't even get me going on how sexy you were standing up to me at dinner last night," he growled in lust, bringing his face close to my ear. I blushed again, thankful the room was dark so he couldn't see my pink cheeks.

Feeling his chest rumble, I looked up at him to see him chuckling, a boyish grin on his face. Oh, my heartbeat.

"Tiberius? In the morning, can you tell the maids and security guards to not hide from me anymore? I don't like the house feeling so empty..", I asked, wanting to meet the people who care for the mansion and will be protecting me.

"Sure, love. Anything for you." I grinned shyly at my lap. He called me love!

Lowering himself and me further down into the bed, he turned onto his side, gazing down at me with hazy green eyes. I turned on my side also and looked up at him, resting my head on his left arm stretched out under me while his right hand lay lazily over my waist, rubbing mindless circles on my back.

"Tiberius?", I whispered, wondering if he was still awake.

"Hmm?", he hummed in response, cracking open his eyes to look at me.

"Sometime today, can I call my family? Just to see how they're doing?"

"Sure, baby," he replied. Smiling to myself, I yawned and snuggled into his broad chest, savoring the warmth he provided.

~~~~~

"Elliiee!", a singsong voice chirped. "Elliee!"

"Mmm! 5 more minutes!" I mumbled, my voice muffled from the pillow my head was burrowed into. Someone jabbed my ribs, immediately making me giggle and twist to get away. Swatting in the direction it came from, I pulled the covers back over my body and relaxed.

I felt another jab in the ribs, making me giggle again and squirm. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw Haley's bright smiling face hovering over me, blonde hair draping around her head and tickling my face. "It's 7:30, silly goose. Get up!"

"Whaaatt?" I whined, relishing in the warm and toasty bed. Today was September 27th, since I was knocked out on the 4th and 5th, and ate with Tiberius and Haley on the 6th, which was yesterday. Looking over to the right side of the bed, the only trace that Tiberius was ever there was a slight indentation in the pillow.

"Come on, get up! Get dressed and take a shower so we can go down to breakfast!" she said happily, dragging the covers off of my shivering body. "Oh, and you'll finally get to meet Gail and a few other pack members!", she added, stressing the finally.

Grumbling, I rolled out of bed and stretched,groaning as I felt different joints and bones pop. As Haley giggled on my bed, I shuffled to the closet and pulled out a striped sweater, ripped blue jeans, socks, and underwear. Closing the bathroom door, I now see what Haley was laughing at; my hair looked like a cotton ball. After quickly stripping and taking a shower, I stepped out and rubbed lotion over my dewy skin, slipping on my outfit of choice. Taking out the hair dryer, I flipped my head upside down and dried it into waves. Deciding to put on a little makeup, I rubbed on powder, mascara, and nude lip gloss.

Happy with my work, I walked out of the bathroom to see Haley with straight hair, skinny jeans, and a plaid button-up shirt on with a natural makeup look. 'You look nice!", she said, smiling at my features.

"Thank you! You do too", I smiled back. "I don't wanna go down looking like a bum the first time I meet the other pack members."

Grinning and laughing at my airy mood, she hooked her arm with mine and started out of my room.

My palms started to get sweaty and my heart race.

What if they hate me? What if they'll reject me as their Luna? What if I completely freeze and can't say anything?!

'Ellie, stop worrying and just relax! They'll love you!', Nikita said to me, encouraging me to go on.

'Thank you, Nikita. I'm just nervous, that's all..'

'I know, but don't be. I mean, who couldn't love you?', she replied jokingly. I laughed lightly, and Haley turned to me as we neared the bottom of the stairs.

"Okay Ellie. Now I know you're probably really jittery right now and wish you could just go back to your room, but everything's going to be okay, okay? I had to go through this 3 days ago, and believe me. It's not all that bad! You're their Luna now, so they'll look up to you. Nobody in there is going to be mean to you, alright?" she explained, honesty shining in her eyes. I nodded, and a small smile formed on my face. She grinned back and grabbed my hand, pulling me into the dining room.