Not one but fifteen. At that moment, being on stage with the mark of the moon on my forehead while all those people refused to accept me as their luna, I felt ridiculous.

Even if someone had thought up a plan for months to humiliate me, I don't think it would have gone as well as Kilma's move. I felt so out of place as the looks of pity and disgust fell on me, the only thing I wanted to do was run away and lock myself in the mansion forever.

What had I done that made me so unworthy of being the luna? I started to look for each of my possible mistakes and repeated them over and over again in my mind. The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I became.

They probably thought I was weak, maybe even a danger to their pack. Was there anything I could do to change that?

And then there was Almec. He had worked so hard to regain the respect of the pack members and I was ruining everything. For a second I felt unworthy of being next to him, he looked so strong and proud on stage that there was no way I fit in with him. So I took a step back, trying to hide in the shadows.

Almec grabbed my hand and brought me back next to him, pressing the side of my body to his. My desire to complain vanished when he squeezed my hand and gave me a quick, small smile.

"May I ask what are the reasons why you object?" Almec asked, looking directly at Kilma.

Something told me that if it weren't for the rest of the people present at the ceremony, he would have already attacked the warrior.

"Do we need one?" Kilma asked, smiling.

"If you are against Valentina, I imagine you must have a reason, I would like to know what it is."

"Yes, I want to know too," Adira supported Almec. "If you can't explain it to us I'm going to assume you're doing it because your fragile ego was hurt."

"I can't believe none of you can see it," Kilma shouted, approaching the stage. He stood in front of me and pointed his finger at me. "She doesn't belong here, she's not one of us, and nothing can assure me that she won't betray us just to save herself."

"Boy, you're too paranoid," said Adira. "You can't do a scandal every time someone from the outside comes to the pack. We're not isolated anymore, you have to get used to it."

"Those who want to come visit the pack can do so but we are not going to give them power like you want to do with her." Kilma turned to look at the crowd as he spoke to them. "I've said it before, she doesn't know our traditions, she doesn't know what we had to go through, and she has no reason to be loyal to our pack."

"And I told you before that traditions can be learned." Almec looked down at him with hatred. "In this pack we care about the opinions of all our members but in your case I find it difficult to take your choice seriously. What about the others? Why did you raise your hands?"

"She brought the hunters to our pack," a woman responded. "I lost my mate because of that. If she had never come to our pack he would still be alive. There was no need to turn the hunters against us."

"Are you listening to the nonsense you're saying?" Myra jumped to defend me, the owl that she had on her shoulder opened its wings angrily. "The hunters were going to come looking for us one day or another. Didn't anyone tell you that they had a factory full of a new poison they had created to exterminate us?"

"I can't believe they're so deluded," an old man next to Myra murmured. "They can't trust her but they do trust the hunters."

"Why don't you speak louder, old man?" one of Kilma's followers joined the discussion. "Tell me to my face what you think of me. You are the idiots for believing that her good girl act, surely she just wants to have power. She had barely arrived at the pack and was already living with our alpha."

"Because she's his mate!" Wina yelled at him. "I can't believe that now we are even criticizing the sacred bond chosen by the Moon Goddess."

"Just because she's his mate doesn't automatically make her the best fit to be our luna," Kilma said. "Tell me what she did for us, how many tasks did she fulfill in the pack? I'm not going to accept her if I don't even know if she's up to the task of being our leader. I demand that she do the tests."

"And who are you to demand something like that?" Feinid yelled at him. "All you do is pick fights. You can't even be a decent mate."

"Can't we ignore the tests? Almec, you are the alpha, it's your decision," Wina said.

"And break our fundamental rules?" Kilma shouted at her, furious. "That's exactly what I've been warning you about, you let a couple of intruders in, you treat them like one of us, and suddenly we start ignoring the rules, after all, who cares about the traditions that built our pack?"

"Oh, come on, you're overreacting. The truth is that you didn't like Valentina defending herself from the first time you saw her, that's why you treat her like this," Feinid told him, starting a new discussion.

While the two sides continued arguing I couldn't stop shaking. Too busy with my self-pity show I couldn't understand what they were saying and that made me more nervous.

Suddenly a feeling of warmth spread across my shoulders. I looked down, finding Almec's arm holding me against him.

He was with me, my mate. No matter how afraid I was, with his help I was sure I could do it.

"I want to do the tests," I whispered to Almec, grabbing his shirt.

He smiled at me and squeezed my shoulder before addressing the crowd. "Enough! Beyond my opinion the rules of the pack are clear. Valentina is going to face the tests, she agrees to accept the choice of our members. That's the final word, I don't want to hear any complaints."

"At least she has some conscience," Kilma said before walking into the crowd. "I'm going to be watching you, don't think it's going to be easy to convince me."

"The meeting is over, everyone go home," Almec ordered them, before leading me to the stage stairs. "You go down first, I'll be there in a minute."

Protected by the darkness that covered me, I paid attention to the people as they walked away from the square.

The atmosphere around them was tense, those who were on opposite sides of the decision looked at each other with disgust. Some of them went as far as throwing insults to express their anger.

On one hand, it comforted me to know that the majority of the pack had my back. On the other one, I was scared that there would be a fight between both sides. It wasn't worth starting a war over me.

The square was almost empty, only three people remained. I relaxed and my trembling legs lost their strength, causing me to end up on the ground. There was no need to pretend anymore so I sat with my back against the stage.

"You really are pathetic."

One of Kilma's followers was standing near me. I was so lost that I didn't even notice his footsteps until it was too late.

"What do you want?" I snapped at him.

"With that attitude you can say goodbye to your position as luna. I really can't believe that someone as weak as you is going to be our leader." He moved closer to me.

"Are you done with your little tantrum? Maybe it's best for you to go home and get some rest."

"You little bitch, didn't anyone teach you to be respectful?" He looked down at me and his gaze stayed fixed on my hand. "Why do you still have the luna's ring? You don't deserve it."

He threw his hand towards me and I managed to avoid it, although when I moved to the side I lost my balance and my entire body ended up on the ground.

"Give me the—"

The man didn't have the chance to finish the sentence. Almec appeared between us and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him against the stage.

"What do you think you're doing?" Almec asked, his eyes red with anger.

"I was just talking to her," the man replied, his voice shaking. "My intentions were not bad."

"Do you think I didn't hear you?" Almec lifted him a little higher until the back of his neck was against the edge of the stage. "You can vote against my mate, the rules of the pack protect you in that sense, but I am not going to allow you to talk to her like that, much less lay a finger on her."

"I'm sorry, alpha, it's not going to happen again." The man's eyes began to fill with tears.

"I know it's not going to happen again, I'm going to make sure of that. You're a warrior, aren't you? The merchants heard strange noises on the southern border, tomorrow you're going to join the group that's going to investigate the area."

"But that area is dangerous, it's close to a hostile pack."

"I know." Almec released him, letting him fall to the floor. "But don't worry so much, Kilma is in charge, you idolize him so much that you must surely have trust in his abilities. Now go before I throw you in the dungeons."

I don't think I've ever seen anyone run as fast as that man. He ran away with such desperation that it seemed like he was being chased by a beast.

"Thank you," I said to Almec, straightening my body until I was sitting again.

Almec knelt in front of me and cupped my cheek. There was not a single hint of anger in his eyes anymore, instead I found concern.

"Sorry for being late." He brushed his fingers under my cheekbone and kissed my forehead. "Are you alright?"

"He didn't get to touch me, you came just in time, even though I'm exhausted. I don't think I can stand up."

"Let's go home, then. You need to rest, maybe you should take the day off tomorrow." Almec stood up and carried me into his arms with great delicacy.

"I will take a day off if you do the same, otherwise it wouldn't be fair," I said as Almec began walking towards the mansion.

"I'll see what I can do, but if Geldra gets mad at me I'm going to tell her that it was your idea."

"Don't worry, I'll protect you from her," I said smiling, then I looked down at my hand, remembering the ring and my mood changed. "Wouldn't it be better if I gave you the ring back?"

What the unknown man had said was still running through my head. Despite his short temper, he was being reasonable in questioning me wearing the ring. I didn't want to make Almec have problems with the pack members because of me.

"Why? It's yours."

"It belongs to the luna, and I'm not one yet. I don't deserve to use it."

"I'm not going to force you to wear it if you don't feel comfortable, even so I don't think it could belong to anyone else, because you are my luna, no matter what happens."

"I don't know what I'm going to do, how do I show them that I'm the right choice?" I asked.

"You'll find a way when the time is right," Almec answered. "For now you have something else to occupy yourself with. There's almost no time left for our wedding."