"How freaking stupid can I get?" I lamented as I hit my head against the wall repeatedly and resumed to pacing the room. Bella sat on my bed, cross legged, watching me sympathetically.

Now that the meeting was over and it was time for round one, all the so-called courage in me had evaporated into the thin air.

For the umpteenth time in my life, I was regretting my hasty decisions.

"Maybe it won't be that bad," Bella said, "Nick could just be exaggerating, you know. He does that quite often."

I spun around to face her, "And what if he wasn't, this time?"

"Then you're dead."

"Not helping, Bells." I deadpanned.

She grinned. "I was joking just to lighten your mood."

"You made it a lot worse."

She let out a long sigh. "Look, it really won't be that bad. Not with Ashton around. The worst that could happen is you could break a leg, cut your arm and lose a few teeth. But that's all."

"Is that supposed to be encouraging?" I asked her, "Because you make Nick's theory sound plausible."

She frowned. "I thought you'll be happy with my prediction. At least you'll get out alive in my theory. Nick imagined you as dragon feed."

I grimaced as I recalled the theory he had come up with.

Nick had spent the last one hour explaining his "The Dragon Family theory" as he named it to his enraptured audience. According to his unique theory, I was supposed to battle an entire family of dragons. I had to kill the father, kidnap the babies and knock the mother unconscious. Yeah, the theory sounded so believable.

Needless to say, the audience consisted of four people: Max, Nora, Bells and me.

The former three, because they had loads of free time, and me because, I was stupid enough to believe that Nick, of all people, could come up with a wise idea.

They say people learn from their mistakes. Well, I just learnt from mine.

Lesson One : Never invite Nick to speak his mind. The next two hours of your life are guaranteed to be the most horrible hours of your lifetime.

"It really will be fine." Bella assured me after watching me circle the room a few more times. "You can do it. I know it. And frankly, I don't give a damn whether you win or not."

"You don't?"

She shook her head. "Nope, I really don't. You were always worthy to be a Luna in my eyes. When Ashton's mate turned out to be a human bitch who didn't give a shit about his feelings, I hoped he'd find someone better who would be his anchor. Someone who knows him better than himself, someone he trusts completely. That's you, by the way. Which is why, I'm being completely honest when I tell you this. This in your blood, Ki — this leadership, this spirit, this passion — no stupid challenge can ever change that fact."

"If Jared doesn't trust you, it's his fucking fault." She continued. "He's blind as a bat, and what he really needs is a kick in the ass. You're going to be that kick, Ki. You've already shown us how courageous you were when you left your pack and didn't let the rejection hurt you. Now all you need to do is go knock sense into Jared the jackass."

My eyebrows had shot up so high, that it had nearly disappeared from my face. I didn't know what I was in awe of — delightfully colorful speech she just gave me, or the happiness that she had my back.

Bells actually thought I was worthy.

She saw something good in me. She took out the time to praise me and boost my confidence. All this was so un-bella-like....

"You surprise me, Bells. I always thought you considered me to be just a girl who was mad about your Porsche."

"No, idiot, I never thought that way about you!" She laughed but then her face suddenly turned serious. "But that reminds me. You still didn't pay for the last time you made a dent in my car. So one of your first jobs when you become our Luna will be paying me a million dollars."

I rolled my eyes.

This was the Bella Lawson we all knew.

I tried to stop the anxiety from seeping into me as I followed Dylan into the clearing.

The trees had been felled and a huge hedge covered a large area of the clearing. It was more than twenty five feet high and there was a narrow gap in front of it; like an entrance to a maze. The passage in between the hedge was extremely dark as most of the sunlight was blocked by the tall hedges on either side. I eyed the structure curiously trying to figure out what lay in store of me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Ashton come towards me and I turned to face him with a smile on my face.

His smile was tentative and his eyes were filled with worry as he looked at me.

"Hey," he asked me, "How are you feeling?"

Terrible... Queasy... Sick....

"A bit nervous, but that's all. I'll feel loads better once this is over." I said instead.

"It'll go well. It really will. I had Claire go through all the plans. She said there was nothing really dangerous." He said, "And if anything does go wrong, don't panic. I'll have the whole thing stopped immediately."

"Thanks, Ash," I told him, "But I hope it won't come to that."

"Yeah, most probably it won't. I know you'll be able to do it. After all it doesn't seem to be so tough." He said thoughtfully.

Little did we know then how wrong we both were.

"So what is the challenge?" I asked him. My anxiety tripled each passing moment and it took me all my self control not to turn back and run.

"Jared will be explaining it to you now." He said and turned towards Jared who stood a few metres away from us watching our conversation with an expressionless face.

He strode towards us when Ashton motioned him to come. "Alpha Ashton," he said nodding his head once in acknowledgement. Then he turned towards me with a stiff smile, "Miss Evergreen."

I nodded at him unsmilingly while Ashton frowned at Jared's coldness.

"Warrior Jared," Ashton addressed him, "I think it's time to tell Kiara about the first challenge."

"I'll be announcing that to the entire pack together, Alpha." He said and I bit back my impatience with difficulty. Couldn't he just tell it and rid me of my anxiety?

Twenty minutes later, the other pack members had assembled in the clearing. Many were gaping at the structure with unconcealed curiosity, while others stared at me, no doubt trying to guess if I would freak out or not.

I looked away from the crowd and my eyes met Ashton's, who was looking at me with concern.

When he saw me look at him, his face broke into an encouraging smile. "You'll do well. Just relax."

I nodded nervously, "I'm trying to."

Once the initial chatter of the crowd had died down, Jared began his booming voice.

"Friends, brothers and sisters, the first challenge is about to commence in a few moments.

The first challenge is to see whether Kiara Evergreen, our would-be-Luna is strong enough to face the hurdles set before her in human form. It is very essential for a Luna to be capable both in her wolf and human form, because one never knows what one might have to face in the future.

There are a number of traps in the maze set up here." Jared continued pointing his hand towards the towering hedge a few yards away from the crowd. "And Kiara has to get past the traps in one hour and find her way out of the maze within the time limit. However, the challenge is not as easy as it looks."

The feeling of dread returned to my mind when Jared said this and I wiped my clammy palms against my jeans listening to every word he spoke.

"Like I said before, Kiara Evergreen has to face the challenge in her human form. This means she cannot shift once she is inside the maze and neither can she use her powers. In order to ensure this, she will be injected with Wolfsbane so that she - "

"Injected with WHAT??" Ashton roared next to me and Jared stopped midway. Meanwhile, my head was numb while it processed the information.

My heart was beating at erratic rate and I could barely hear the people whispering among themselves over the sound.

To say I was horrified would be an understatement. I was appalled, shocked, horrified beyond words.

I would be injected with Wolfsbane? WOLFSBANE? Did Jared have any idea what would happen to me if that thing entered my body?

The pain would be unbearable. It would nearly kill Zara and I would be left ten times weaker. Forget about finding my way out of the maze, I wouldn't be able to move an inch because of the pain.

"That is against the law!" I shrieked in protest as soon as my senses kicked in. "Wolfsbane cannot be injected into a werewolf just for the sake of a challenge! It is totally unacceptable!"

Jared shrugged indifferently and I felt a sudden urge to grab him by his throat and knock him out. How could he take such a serious matter so casually?

"We will not be injecting Kiara with Wolfsbane. That's final. The whole thing is really unacceptable and there is no way I will allow you to inject Wolfsbane in her." Ashton spoke next to me. His voice was calm but I could detect the rage simmering beneath it.

"It's not the first time, Alpha." Jared said defensively, "We have been doing that since a long time."

"There is a difference in that, Jared!" Ashton snapped cutting him off. "We used it on criminals and rogues, never on innocent people! Are you out of your mind to even suggest something like that?"

"That wasn't a suggestion. It was stated clearly in the rules when you signed it." Jared replied extracting a paper from his pocket and handing it over to Ashton.

Ashton took the paper from him and I craned my neck to have a look at it too. Jared had spoken the truth. It was signed.

My eyes widened in horror at his signature. Ashton actually signed it? He signed that in spite of knowing -

"I signed this? What the hell are you talking about? I signed the paper Claire had given me. I couldn't have signed anything as horrifying as this!" Ashton yelled losing his cool. But in spite of the anger, there was a trace of panic in his voice too.

Someone had planned this. It wasn't Ashton. He had been downright careless alright, but why did Claire get them signed? Even if Ashton hadn't read them, Claire surely would have.

Jared looked at Ashton and then at me. "The papers Claire gave you are the ones I just showed you. I thought you agreed to it, that's why you signed it, didn't you?"

"I never - " Ashton began but then stopped abruptly and looked at Claire who stood a few feet away from us, watching us with apprehension.

"Claire, I want you to come here at once!" He barked at her and she bit her lip nervously as she made her way towards us.

I looked at the way she was approaching us. Hmm...Definitely guilty...

"You called me, Alpha?" She asked him hesitantly, keeping her eyes fixed on her feet.

"I did!" He snarled at her angrily as he shoved the signed papers at her face, "Care to explain this?"

"You signed it."

"Of course I did! I believed you when you told me there was nothing dangerous in the plan!" He yelled at her.

She flinched at his loud voice and kept her eyes down on the ground. "I..I... didn't think it was so dangerous." She stammered. Her voice was a mere whisper.

Ashton rolled his eyes. "You thought Wolfsbane wasn't so dangerous? Are you as stupid as you look or is it just today?"

I would have laughed had it been any other situation, but now nothing seemed funny anymore. It was like my face muscles had forgotten how to even stretch into a small smile.

"I'm sorry, Alpha. I...I..really didn't mean to harm her. I just thought.." She stuttered again and I could guess the waterworks were about to erupt any second now.

"I don't give a damn to what you think!" Ashton growled. "The point is I trusted you when you told me everything was okay. You lied to me. You endangered Kiara's life. And now you stand here, expecting me to forgive you? Fat chance, Claire!!"

Somehow looking at her tears, made me feel bad for her. Maybe she was speaking the truth. Maybe she really didn't know how dangerous Wolfsbane was.

Oh who am I kidding? She was be a damn good actress.

"It's alright Ash." I told Ashton, "It can't be undone now, anyway. We need to think of a way out and yelling at her isn't the solution."

He looked at me incredulously,"You are going to let her go? She -"

"It's no use, Alpha. The rules can't be changed now. You signed them." Jared said interrupting us, "Miss Evergreen will have to follow all the rules."

"But I can't do that," I protested, "It would make me ten times weaker! It will be really painful too!"

"You will have to do it if you want to show us you are worthy to be our Luna." He told me, looking at me in the eye and I stopped myself from arguing further.

All this time, the crowd were listening to us trying to understand what was going on.

"I don't give a damn about the challenge, Jared!" Ashton snapped while I remained silent. "Kiara will be the next Luna, whether you agree or not. Besides, I trust her abilities and that is enough!"

"She is a white wolf for goodness sake, of course she's meant to be a Luna!" I hear the twins hollered through the crowd. "What kind of mad fucker thinks otherwise?!"

"Yeah, boo you, Jared!" Someone else shouted.

"It isn't enough for the pack," Jared began and Ashton was about to begin yelling again when I came in between them.

I don't know what made me do this. But I did it because I thought it was right.

"I'll do it." I told them.

Ashton looked at me horrified, "You can't agree to that! It's madness! "

"May be it is, I'm not denying it." I agreed, "Maybe I'm being impulsive. But I want to do it. If that's what it takes for people to trust me, then so be it."

"Listen Ki, you don't have to prove anything to anybody. I'm here for you. No one -"

"That's the very reason, Ashton!" I blurted when I couldn't contain myself any longer. "That's the reason, I want to prove myself. That's exactly what people think. They think I run towards you whenever the tiniest problem comes up. They think I'm a coward who can't stand on her own feet. That's why I want to do this! I'm sick of being judged!"