Prologue

“You… you came.” My younger self whispered, looking into his eyes with absolute adoration. He hugged me close, kissing my red crown of hair and sniffing deeply. God how much I had wanted to do that back, to just drown myself in his scent. But I had restrictions, I always had restrictions.

“I’ll always come, love, I’ll always come and I’ll always be there.” He whispered softly before breaking apart from me.

                Things never got easier from there. They got darker, bleaker, and harder. At least for the were kind. The humans were quick to make themselves ‘safe’. As if they weren’t safe before. They placed all of the were kind, didn’t matter what animal you were, into ghetto’s. No one had a good feeling then. My family remained strong, however, and we stayed together. The ghetto’s weren’t that bad, we were placed in average family houses with average family meals and average family television. We were the complete picture of average human family happiness. Then the abuse started.

                The humans were slowly adapting to us, as long as we followed their rules and stayed where we were told. But we had to shift, eventually we couldn’t be the average human family and we had to become animals. The first months were agony, thousands of wolves, tigers, hell even dolphins were beat for shifting to their animal sides. I had thought that this was what I was created for, what me and Marissa had been placed on this earth to stop. I had been wrong. Marissa was killed, along with her mate and her unborn child, when she refused to obey to the humans rules. She quickly became the face of inspiration.

                That’s when we discovered, we had the upper hand. We dominated most of the population, we had the most money. We were more dominant. The humans saw this too, saw that the were population was resisting. They knew that when they pushed and we pushed back they would fall harder than we ever could. They backed off. But not completely, oh no. All of us had to have some sort of leash, because the government couldn’t leave well enough alone. The were’s had to have a chip implanted. The males had one implanted in their leg, the females had one implanted in their arm. The vampires had trackers too, they came in the shape of hunters. If one got too out of hand a hunter would be sent right away. The fey were left alone, no one wanted the wrath of a fey.

                Over the years our freedom stretched, we could go to the public schools. Me and my siblings returned to our old school, I don’t think Ms. Young was very glad to see me after learning about my wild side. Things had returned to how they were before the world found out about us. I had started to like my new life, thinking my purpose in it had well seen its prime. But, I should’ve known better than to think that.

Chapter 1

“Look, I really don’t want any problems.” The shifter girl said while backing in to a corner, her teeth rattling and her books shaking in her hands. I watched it all, keeping back but tensing my body for a fight.

“You shouldn’t have came to school then, mole.” The girl was in no way a mole shifter, goddess help those unfortunate animals, and in no way resembled the species with the tell-tale buck tooth. That was just what the human’s called us, seeing as we were the moles on the perfect face of society. Because, what could be more perfect than discrimination, hatred, and murder?

“Please… just let me go to lunch?” The girl begged making the tone of her voice going from scared to whiney, poor little peacock.

“Why do you need to eat, mole?”

“Yeah, last I checked mole’s don’t have mouths!” I sighed deeply and stepped from the doorway at the other end of the hall. I took my time walking to where they stood surrounded around the peacock, giving her time to notice me. When she did her whole body went lax and she let out a breath, her cool blue eyes lighting up.

“Come now children, surely you’ve got better things to do than to bother an innocent student.” My voice was as strong as ever as I approached the batch of students. They all had pimple ridden faces and black heads that I was sure they spent a long time trying to cover up in the mirror at mornings.

“Oh, it’s just Luna.” One of the girls said, then crossed her arms under her ample breasts. The males in the group swallowed and tried their best to ignore making direct eye contact with me.

“Oh, hey Rosa.” One of the guys said, using the correct name people in school called me by.

“Tiffany, is it? Why don’t you head on to the cafeteria, tell my siblings and Ander I’ll be there soon.” I told the peacock with a slight smile, I never once took her eyes off the girl who had her arms crossed and a smug smirk on her face. Tiffany nodded scuttling away from the corner, her face brightening in the way peacock’s normally do as she passed me.

                I licked my lips and crossed my hands in front of me, assessing all of them now and not just the girl. They were a crowd of punks, trying to feel better about themselves by picking on one of the least dangerous of the were’s.

“Now, I’m sure you guys don’t want to get an ass kicking today and I don’t want to give one. So how about we part ways with you apologizing to me for picking on an innocent were like that, deal?” I smiled what I hoped was my charming smile and waited for them to reply, when they took too long my smile flattened.

“Ok, look. You don’t like us, we don’t like you. Well known fact, we’re not gonna debate this. But you are going to apologize for picking on innocent, is that clear?” They all looked at me, stupidly I might add, as if they had no clue what language I was speaking. I took a step forward, snarling a little as my eyes changed to amber.

“Is. That. Clear?” They took a step back together and nodded quickly. I smiled politely and cocked my head to the side.

“See, that wasn’t that hard was it?” I asked cheerily then turned and skipped off. I passed all the mustard yellow lockers, ten years in that school and every time I entered it the color of the lockers still made me want to puke.

                I turned the corner and bumped into a body, I looked up and smiled.

“Couldn’t wait, could you?” I asked him as I walked around his huge body, secretly smiling that my mate had come for me.

“Well, normally with you a little while can last for the whole school day. It’s happened before.” He said walking behind me at a safe distance, I turned and walked backwards smirking at him.

“The mystery is all a part of the fun, baby.” I threw an over exaggerated wink at him then turned around and walked normally at his chuckle. We walked down the twists and the turns of the huge school until we hit the cafeteria.

“How bad is it?” I asked, my hand on the door handle, he shrugged one shoulder.

“No one’s stood and sung yet, so you might be in the clear… but most likely they were just waiting for you.” I groaned as I pushed the door open and took a left to where the wolves sat. Alissa’s worried face turned into a full frontal death glare.

“LunaRosa Greene!! Where have you been, lunch is damn near over and you haven’t eaten anything!! You’re going to be completely famished by the time we get home and mom hates it when you’re like that!!!”

“Ok, Ok. One, please be quiet your yelling isn’t helping any of the noise in here. Two, don’t worry I’ll eat something. And three, you don’t have to babysit me.” She looked at me for a minute more before her eyes snapped to Ander.

“Where was she?”

“Uhm, I am here, ya know?” I asked, my voice squeaking in the way it did when I was angry. I felt Ander smile and I felt the growl start up in my chest. He thought it was cute… it wasn’t.

“She was picking on a few skins.” My brow furrowed and my mouth opened in anger. Before I could say something Zelia came with Tiffany under her shoulder.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there, another pea needed my help. Thank you, for standing up for her.” With a nod from both of them they walked back to their corner. Alissa’s glare grew more feral, Jesse snickered and put his hand on her shoulder.

“Your gonna bust a vein if you don’t calm down.”

“Aww, did I miss the explosion?” A raspy voice said as Cara jogged back.

“I went to the bathroom did I miss it, did she explode on you yet?” Her green eyes searched my face with humor.

“Oh ha, ha. So I’m worried about my sister, sue me!” Alissa growled as she slammed down on the table bench. I couldn’t help the smug smile that blossomed on my face as I took my seat down on the bench, maintaining Alissa’s stare the whole way down. I saw what she was gonna do before she did and leaned back just as her hand lashed out to slap

“Really, A? Slapping?” She scoffed and crossed her arms.

“Go get some food, before we go to gym.” I pouted but did as she said, she took it as her mission to make sure I was fed. I stood and so did Ander I maintained my scoff but not my eye roll, these guys were borderline crazy when it came to ensuring I ate. I mean sure, I’d been known to go a little crazy on some skins when I hadn’t eaten. And, sure, there was that time when I had back slapped the shit out of a skin. But that wasn’t my fault, she came way too close to one of the pups and I had to protect them. It was my duty, after all, as the Red Luna to protect any and all who seek to harm the werewolf kind.

                As I walked to the lunch line several other Victors nodded at me. For the longest time we thought that there was only one person that was designed to save a full breed, the Red Luna. We had been wrong. All the gods had created their own Victor, crowning us as the person responsible for the whole species. We took pride of what we did and we watched over all of our brethren, as I had done earlier with Tiffany.

“Hold on a sec- Hey Luna, here!” Felicia said as she threw me a wrapped burger. “It’s got the works on it and everything, courtesy of Ma.” She said before turning back to her friends. Felicia was the Victor of Felis, Goddess of the cats. She was named after her Goddess and hated every second of it, the minute I met her she demanded to be called Filly. She’d rather be called a boys’ name than to be named after a goddess.

“Thanks, tell her I said I owe her one.” She waved her hand at me and I turned to walk back to my table unwrapping the burger.

“You’ve got to eat more than that, ya know.” Ander said from behind me as I bit into the amazing burger. I rolled my eyes and snatched some fries from a skins’ plate.

“There, happy?”  He probably would’ve grumbled and griped at me if it were a girl but seeing as it was a guy he just had to blow it out of proportion. Because he was, after all, Ander Mascot. He snatched the fries from my hand and put them back on the guys plate.

“Go get your own food, Luna. Don’t take from other people.” I simply blinked at him and took another bite of the burger.

“Why must you make everything so difficult, Looney?” Leotis said as dropped fries in my hand from his tray.

“The same reason why you make everything so simple, Dick.” He was cocky as all hell, seeing as he was the Victor of the lions. Felis would have nothing to do with Leo or his group of ‘rowdy, know-it-all heathens’. Her words not mine.

“See ya later alligator.” He said before sending a wink towards Ander and walking to his section of the cafeteria. I picked up a fry awkwardly and popped in my mouth then smiled at Ander before walking away. Music started and I stopped instantly feeling my blood rush up the way it normally did when music was played. I hadn’t even gotten to eat and they were already ready to throw on the theatricals.

                Fresh field high had turned into a performing arts school three years after we had been there. So all the old students had to audition to become new students, the wolves all sang and got an easy ticket in. Every wolf could sing, our vocal cords were strong due to us howling every full moon. Wouldn’t want to rupture one while worshipping your goddess, now would you? I was the only exception… well all the victors were an exception. There was something wrong with our blood, well there was something wrong with everything in us. We all had ADD and ADHD, along with that we weren’t allowed to sing. Our voices contained the undoing of our species. If I were to sing, in my real voice that is, all the wolves in the school would break into whatever emotion I was feeling and that would not be good.

                So the victors were left with a dilemma, either sing or not be able to protect your species… which is what we were made for. So we improvised. We used our God-given “talents”  to get in. We danced, the music called to us all. It sped our blood up and we weren’t able to remain still whilst it played. We all carried a rhythm within us that helped us move with fluidity and deathly grace. When it was time these gifts would come in handy, but until we would… play with them.

“You don’t have to, ya know.” Ander sighed as he took my fries and burger then set them down on the table.

“You don’t have to tell me that every time, but you do don’t you?” I said as I passed him. A student stood up at the stage like apparatus that had been built in to the school gripping the microphone in his hands. I ruffled up my hair and walked to the front of the stage as all the victors walked to where I stood.

“Hey Ursula.” I whispered and winked at the bear shifter. She rolled her eyes and stood in front of me.

“My first went a little like this

And twist And twist Well my first kiss went a little like this And twist And twist I said no more teachers and no more books I got a kiss under the bleachers Hoping that nobody looks Lips like liquorish tongue like candy Excuse me miss But can I get you out your panties? In the back of the car On our way to the bar I got you on my lips

I got you on my lips At the foot of the stairs With my fingers in your hair Baby, this is it She won't ever get enough Once she gets a little touch If I had it my way You know that I'd make her say Ooooooh Ooooooh

She won't ever get enough Once she gets a little touch If I had it my way You know that I'd make her say Ooooooh Ooooooh.” The human didn’t sound so bad as he sang so it was easy to dance to. The music boiled up my blood as I danced and twisted and turned.

“My first kiss went a little like this I said no more sailors And no more soldiers With your name in a heart Tattooed up n the shoulders Your kiss is like whiskey It get's me drunk And I wake up in the morning With the taste of your tongue In the back of the car On our way to the bar I got you on my lips I got you on my lips At the foot of the stairs With my fingers in your hair Baby, this is it She won't ever get enough Once she gets a little touch If I had it my way You know that I'd make her say Ooooooh Ooooooh

She won't ever get enough Once she gets a little touch If I had it my way You know that I'd make her say Ooooooh Ooooooh” My hair fanned across my face but nothing would stop me until the music stopped Leo winked as he moved to where I stood for the bridge. He put his hands on my hips as I sashayed them and wrapped my arms around his neck. He smirked as he lifted me and spun then dipped me down.

“My first kiss went a little like this And twist And twist Well my first kiss went a little like this And twist And twist Yeah she won't ever get enough Once she gets a little touch If I had it, my way You know that I'd make her say Ooooooh She won't ever get enough Once she gets a little touch If I had it my way You know that I'd make her say.” When the song ended I huffed and put my hand in my hair as a pose as my hip leaned into Leo’s side. The cafeteria clapped and I licked my lips. Leo kissed my head and ruffled my hair.

“We talked about the no hand rule outside of dancing, right Leotis?”

“Ouch, full name. Yes we did talk about it LunaRosa, and I said I’d think about it.” A growl interrupted my sentence and I held my smirk in.

“Hold it there, big boy. Just kidding, no need to start growing hairs.” Leo’s eyes flashed the golden amber of a lion before he sauntered away. I turned to look at him, looking around to make sure none of the skins saw before I walked to him. I put my hand on his chest and peered up at him through my lashes.

“Please stop doing this.” I asked through the mind link while sending him a glare.

“He was touching you.” He snarled back at me and my eyes hardened as I stepped back.

“You touch her all the time. What kind of double standard are you living by?” I purposely kept the hurt out of my eyes and my voice.

“Luna.”

“I’ve got choir, see you and the brat last period.” I said before turning off. Alissa stood with her arms crossed and an absolutely ticked off expression on her face. She took one look at my eyes and my clenched fists and automatically softened.

“Luna…”

“Leave it, go to class.” I snarled as I picked up my burger and fries. I was immensely pissed off and unbelievably hurt, no skin could see it nor could any other species. Only family and very few friends could see it.

Chapter 2

“Lunch isn’t over yet.” She said softly as I marched past her, refusing to answer that. I bit into my burger and headed for the doors, I could go to class early. I heard the double doors open behind me but I didn’t slow down or stop eating my burger. A person jumped on my back and another person grabbed my legs ensuring I couldn’t move.

“You guys are major doofs.” I mumbled through chewed up burger.

“Yeah… but you love us.” Cella said as she gave me a noogie.

“Nah, she loves me. Couldn’t give two pigeon poops about you.” Mason said nestling his head into my belly.

“If you guys don’t mind I’ve got choir.” Cella snorted as she hopped off my back and put her hands on her hips as she sidled next to me.

“Since when do you care so much about the meat sacks?”

“That’s the name now?” Mason asked as he popped up from the floor wiping dirt from his black jeans. “I thought we were going with blood pouches?”

“That’s a little offensive don’t you think?” Cella asked as she looked to me, I shrugged keeping the burger in my mouth and savoring the meat.

“And meat sacks aren’t?” Mason asked, quirking one black brow at his twin sister, his lip tipping up at one side. Mason was hot, in every way imaginable. He had abs that would make any girl dump whoever they were with if only just to touch them once and charm that would shame the devil. My eyes just weren’t… for him.

“Shut up doof.” She scoffed then looked to me and blinked making her bangs shake as if she just realized I was here.

“That was quite a dance in there.”

“That was the normal dance.”

“Oh no I wasn’t talking about that, furry, I was talking about the little dance between you, Leotis, and Ander.” She quirked a brow and crossed her arms. I rolled my eyes and walked away, not wanting to talk about it.

“Nice going doof, you upset her.” Mason said before he flinted in front of me. I sighed and pushed the last of my burger in my mouth, then raised a brow as if to say what are you going to do now. He raised one back and instantly I was encased in two pair of arms.

“Twin terrors!” He shouted gleefully I sighed and swallowed the burger which was starting to taste nasty.

“I’m not upset I just… have to get to the classroom. To set up the board.” I said reluctantly trying to make it sound as sincere as possible. They both snorted at the same time and squeezed tighter, making me bite my lip to keep from laughing.

“Fine! If you must know I’ve got a really hard song and I need to prepare the classroom.” I was fighting so hard not to make my voice tremor, they squeezed until I squeaked mercy.

“Fine, fine, fine!!! I’m upset!!” The arms disappeared and I wrapped an arm around my midsection.

“Not cool, at all.” I growled at them playfully. They both rolled their eyes and crossed their arms, looking at me for explanation.

“I don’t have time to explain it to you guys.” Cella snorted and her eyes glistened with humor and mischief.

“We could make time, we’re both pretty hungry.” Mason said, a fang popping from under his top lip. I barely stopped the shiver, vampires creeped me out slightly.

“You will not eat on the meat sacks… or blood pouches. Whatever the hell you’re calling them. The bell will ring  soon and you guys are already on your second strike.” They had violated all sorts of rules but had only been caught twice, Principal Valentine had given them three strikes before he stepped in directly. Nobody ever took his threats seriously, but there had been cases where vamps were taken out of school by the government and those instances weren’t few.

“He doesn’t have the balls to kick us out over tardiness, because then he’d have to kick out all the meat packets-“

“I thought it was meat sacks.”

“That do the exact same thing.” Cella said and waved off my excuse. The bell rang, loud and shrill above our ears, and I looked to them before running off to my classroom.

 

                I was sitting on the desk waiting when the students poured in. I far exceeded Freshfield school of the performing arts expectations, I could’ve gone off and done my own thing… had I not been a victor. Because I was I had to stay and Principal Valentine understood that, so he gave me a teaching position. I’d teach chorus and one dance class, I was still able to protect my people. For that I was grateful to Steve Valentine. The class, half skin and half were, all said hi as they went to their respective seats. The last student closed the door and sat down, I waited until they sat down and hopped off the seat. They looked down at the music and looked back up at me with flabbergasted looks.

“Can we complain?” One of the human males did, one of my favorites, I smirked and gave one curt nod.

“This is impossible to do.”

“We’d all have to work together, it’s not really that bad.”

“The vocals are outrageous, and the instrumentals are crazy.” These are the few I had managed to pick up. While they complained I walked behind the desk and pulled out my copy of the song.

“Quiet.” I said nonchalantly, they heard and quieted instantly as I sat back down on the desk.

“Pick up your instruments.” They grumbled softly but still did as I bade. I was, after all, Alpha. I looked up to the class and picked a girl to start, she huffed but said did nothing else. I look to the boy at the drums and he started off. I looked at the others as they geared themselves to join in. The saxophone came on and then the maraca’s stepped in. A boy started to sing and, even though his tone was a bit off, it worked. I bopped my head and closed my eyes as the song went on. The sax slipped up and I opened my eyes quickly, shaking off the fog that was quickly coming over me.

“What happened Trev?” I looked to the scrawny skin and he looked sheepishly at me.

“I had to take a breath.” He said softly, his face turning pink with embarrassment. Another skin male laughed and my eyes snapped to his. I walked to Trevor and took his instrument, I walked to where he stood.

“You can obviously do better,” I wiped Trevor’s spit off with my sleeve and gave him the instrument “here ya go.”

“Uh, no. I sing, and I don’t want nerd germs in my mouth.” No one else laughed and I cocked my head to the side.

“And you’re a good singer, so you’ve got good lungs. Which means handling the saxophone won’t be such a hassle. And before you say ‘whose going to sing my part?’ you don’t have a part, your particular voice isn’t needed for this song.” I said, tapping into my birth given Alpha rights and giving him the instrument. I walked down, tamping down my anger and turning back to the glass.

“Again, from the top. I trust you can handle it Jeremy.” I said with an evil little smirk. I sat back down on the desk and motioned to the drummer. I kept my eyes on Jeremy, crossing my legs and leaning forward a little, he had my undivided attention. His fingers played clumsily with the instrument and I winced, then made a slashing notion.

“I advise you to remember rule 31, Jeremy.” I said, snatching the instrument away from his hands, his face red with embarrassment and anger.

“Don’t say shit, if you don’t know shit.” I snarled as I turned away from him. I returned the instrument back to Trevor and smile softly.

“Your homework, practice breathing techniques. I understand you have asthma and I know it might be hard but try as best as you can, k?” He nodded with a grateful smile.

“Now, one of y’all pick a song.”

 

                I had been drinking water when I felt it, the hurtful pang in my mind when something was wrong. The flashes that I had grown so used to came to my eyes and I was useless to stop them. Somewhere in the school a wolf was getting beat on, I felt every punch and kick that he felt and I didn’t like it at all. Not being able to control myself I felt the energy around me crackle and zap, I sifted to where the boy was, standing over him in a protective stance. The humans backed up and narrowed their eyes at me.

“This has nothing to do with you, he overstepped his bounds.” One of the three males said, his chest puffing up intending to scare me. As if.

“Don’t put your hands on my wolves.” I growled at them, taking a threatening step forward.

“Tell your mutt not to step on my shoes.” The boy snarled and stood up slowly, blood came from his nose and my hackles raised as my claws came out.

“You fucking talk about my family, you’re lucky I didn’t fuckin’ break your jaw!” He growled, stepping forward, stopping when I put my hand on his arm.

“You weren’t saying shit when your ass was on the ground with my fucking boot in your mouth.” The boy on the left said I snarled, my eyes turning amber.

“Shut the fuck up and leave before you say something that’ll end up with your limbs in casts.”I growled out, my emotions going haywire. I knew I was signaling other victors, but it’s not like I could help it. It was all a part of my gifts.

“Looney, you good?” Leotis’ voice sounded in my mind, as my fangs grew in my mouth.

“You wouldn’t touch me, bitch. I’d have you put down before you could even put a scratch on me.”

“Shit, I heard that. Want me to get Ander over there?” Filly asked and I squeezed my  eyes closed. I had to reel it in, I knew I did and I tried so hard. But when one of the guys nudged me I couldn’t control it even if I tried. My eyes snapped open, revealing the crimson red that showed how angry I was. I punched the boy in his face then dropped to my haunches when the other boy made a move to grab me. The wolf took his shoulders and put him in a headlock, punching him with aggression. I grabbed the third boy before he went for the wolf and tackled him to the ground.

“Looks like you’re my bitch now.” I growled as I punched him in his face, enjoying the crunch of it as the bones broke under my fist. He struggled under me, trying to lift me off but my rage knew no bounds. I gripped his hair and slammed his head down, knowing he could probably get a concussion but… you don’t hit girls.

“Luna!!!” Ander boomed and pulled me off of the skin, squeezing around my mid-section. The wolf stopped punching and dropped his bloody faced prey, his chest heaving as he took deep breaths.

“You’re dead!! Next time I see any of you your all fucking dead!!” The boy with the broken nose yelled, clutching it. I kicked and bucked, trying to break free from Ander’s death grip.

“Fuck you, asswipe!!” I snarled, squeezing and clawing at Anders’ hands.

“Calm, love. Stay calm.” He whispered in my ear while holding me to his chest, slowly I calmed down watching as they got up and walked away cradling their bleeding faces.

“They’re not gonna do anything, you kicked their asses and I doubt they’ll do anything to risk facing your wrath again.” He whispered before kissing the side of my head. I relished in his touch, wanting it more and for a longer time. The wolf shook his head and I cursed the cruel god that birthed me as I moved away from my mate. My eyes were still amber, there was only so much my mate could do, as I walked to the boy.

“Are you Ok?” I asked, my voice gravelly with the wolf so near, putting my hand on his shoulder. He looked to me and gave a curt nod.

“Thank you. For helping out, I appreciate it.” I gave him one back and walked away, finally realizing my surroundings. They had chosen to beat up the boy in the bathroom, not very wise. If either one of us had decided to unleash ourselves they would’ve been screwed, royally.

“You Ok, now?” Ursula asked through the mind link and I growled in response, I didn’t want to be talked to too much, there was only so much I could take at this point. Ander sighed softly and crossed his arms, keeping his blue eyes on me.

“Shift?” I nodded, feeling the tension in my body almost snapping me in half. He took my hand and together we ran out of the bathroom, out of the school, and into the woods surrounding the school.

 

                We weren’t too far into the woods before we erupted into our animal forms, it felt good to feel the pain instead of anger. My bones stretched and turned, making disgusting wet popping noise, but I had grown used to the pain. Everyone that was born after I was born, the new generation, shifted into larger wolves. Our wolf form was exactly as tall as our human form, the same went for other species. This would be our, out of many others, gift to help when the war came. My wolf stood tall, stretching out her legs and shaking out her coat. It had been a while since I shifted. We looked to Ander to see he had shifted already, his fur sticking out wildly. That was one of the downsides to the new wolves, they turned your hair color. People like Ander, with weird hair coloring, had it bad. It’s hard to hunt, especially if the moon is full, if your fur glints at certain times to give you away.

                Our tongue lolled out and we trotted around him, my wolf was so brazen that she didn’t care about a war. She wanted her mate, and what she wanted she often got. We licked his cheek before loping off, not using our full speed. This wasn’t a hunt, this was just play. He yipped at us, chasing after us before using a sudden burst of speed to catch and tackle us. We rolled over, getting our red coat dirty but we didn’t care… well, she didn’t. It was good to be free, to have the whole Earth as your playpen. What was a playpen without a little dirt? He licked the top of our head and shook his head, I rolled my eyes but she yipped at him.

“I’ll do what I want, mate.” She growled playfully at him through the mind link.

“You’re getting yourself all dirty, wolf, your Luna is going to be pissed.” When he spoke of my mother my wolf seemed to snap out of her puppy like demeanor and stood, shaking her coat out as she huffed.

“You didn’t have to be snotty about it.” She sneered lifting her lip before walking deeper into the woods, loving the feel of the leaves and twigs crush under her weight.

“Wolf, wait!” My heart broke at his words, but luckily my wolf didn’t care enough to show any emotion. Sure in the human world I ignored him to my best ability, but we were wolves now. Things should’ve been different, things that could never be in our human skin popped out when fur was grown. It hurt that he didn’t see it. He ran to where we were and walked along side us, our shoulders occasionally bumping.

“I only do it for her, wolf, you know that right?” His blue eyes begged my wolf to understand, his soft whining begged me to understand. I didn’t know who the ‘her’ was, but she hated her. We humphed and walked a little faster, careful not to go down a path with narrow trees. It sucked to get stuck between them because you weren’t paying attention, it was embarrassing too.

“Is the ‘her’ your human mate? Or is the ‘her’ the one given to you?” My wolf asked, stopping to sit down and look at him. This wasn’t going to be let go any time soon.  He stopped walking and his tail twitched before he turned around, there was something different there; something that told me this wasn’t Ander or his wolf, but a combination of both.

“We wouldn’t need to have two if your human would just make up her damn mind.” My wolf seemed stunned at first before her hackles slowly raised. Oh great, I thought, wolf argument.

“It doesn’t matter if her mind is indecisive, you shouldn’t be with them. With her. She’s not right for you, she doesn’t belong.” He snarled viciously and walked around her, his fangs bright and pointy as his lips curled.

“She doesn’t belong with me? Or does she not belong in our world?”

“You know the answer to that, don’t hunt me like I’m prey when I’m trying to help.”

“Don’t you think we deserve to be happy? Do you think we enjoy your human’s constant whiplash of emotions she splays onto us?” I forced myself to the surface and looked to him, this was more Ander’s fight than his wolfs’.

“You do, you deserve to be happy more than anything. If she can give you happiness, great… but only for a short time. It’s been long enough.”  He snarled viciously, I was sure that the only reason he hadn’t pounced was because I was a female and his rightful mate.

“You aren’t taking us away from her, she’s happy and I’m happy. So back off, Luna.” They walked past us, being careful not to touch us. We sat still, with our head down.

“And another thing, if that lion male touches you again I won’t be held responsible for my actions.” That was the last thing he said before running back to the school and ending the conversation.

Chapter 3

I tromped back in to the school for the last class of the day, dance. It wasn’t like I hated dance, I just hated that I had another teacher to assist me. His eyes looked to mine before he snarled lightly and walked further into the class.

“Nice to see you too.” I grumbled before moving to address the class. This class wasn’t mixed at all, it was fully human. They needed the skills it took to be light on their feet, shifters were born with that ability.

“Good afternoon class.” I said, my voice projecting off the wooden floors and the ceiling. They grumbled their greetings while they were stretching.

“So we’re going to pick up where we left off, before the bell rang. Can anybody tell me where that is?”

“The quickstep.” A girl supplied while lifting her leg over her shoulder and throwing a furtive glance at Ander. My wolf snarled in my head but I ignored her, he was happy and she was happy. I couldn’t ruin that, not like I had ruined everything else.

“That’s right Karen, the quickstep. I trust you all did the homework?” Each person supplied a CD with one track of music on it. I nodded while I sorted through it, my fingers stopped moving and I smirked.

“Michael? A lovers’ song? Do you have a partner in mind for this song?” He was one of the more shy students, it had shocked and thrilled me that he’d chosen this song.

“It’s actually for you, Ros- I mean Miss Greene.” I smiled brightly and walked to the radio. I popped the song in and walked to him.

“I assume you’ve planned a dance as well, then?” His hands landed on my waist and he brought me closer, a shy smirk appeared on his face.

“Yes.” Was his answer before the music started, his feet led; they moved mine and all too soon I got wrapped up in the music. The twirls and the quick movements were invigorating, pumping my body up with the adrenaline that was needed to continue the dance. At one point I was airborne, but his feet still moved before he brought me down. I smiled as he twirled and spun us around before finally dipping me down on the last note. We were both breathing heavily as the class clapped and gave praise to Michael for his performance.

“Well done, nicely planned and excellent rhythm. I’d say you just got a passing grade in my class.” The class clapped again as Michael blushed bright red and sat on the ground, cradling a bottle of water.

“That was a fun little demonstration of the type of dancing I’d like to see from you. It doesn’t have to be as… invigorating as Michael’s was, but something along those lines would be wonderful. You’ve got 45 minutes. I suggest you start now.” I ended my last words and picked up my own water bottle and sucked down a few gulps. I heard his angry footsteps come towards me before they stopped right next to my hip, I looked to him to see his face calm but tight.

“Is there something you wanted, other than to scare the living shit out of me?” I asked through the pack link while watching the students.

“What in the bloody hell was that Rosa?”

“Oh, so I’m not wolf anymore?”

“What?”

“Never mind. That was me demonstrating a dance for the class.”

“You and I both know that’s not what it was. You danced with that bloke to get back at me and my wolf.”

“Because everything just has to be about you, doesn’t it Ander?”

“What in all the hells are you talking about?”

“That demonstration was purely educational, maybe you and your wolf need to work on your sense of smell.”

“We know what we smell, that was attraction an lust out there.”

“Not female attraction, and certainly not mine!” I snarled at him, throwing him a glare before I walked around to check in with the students.

“We’re not done with this conversation, Rosa…”

“You may not be, but I am.”With that I closed off my mind and focused on teaching and not going to the nearest corner and balling my eyes out. My eyes zeroed in on Karen, rage fired up in me and magick swirled around me in tendrils. She makes him happy, I thought internally and backed up. My wolf snarled at me, questioning my logic. Like always I ignored her and went with my gut. I walked around, looking as they danced and giving them a few pointers. I struggled with trying not to criticize and ridicule Karen, she couldn’t help who she loved, so I agonized over Ander. Why couldn’t he see that, even though it was scarred, I gave my heart to him whenever I could? I shook my head of all those thoughts and focused on the dancing. Across the room Ander was helping one of the girls who just ‘couldn’t get the positions right’.

“Miss Greene?” A timid voice asked and I blinked out of the fog to look at the girl “The movements ar too quick and I… I really don’t want to fail this class but I just can’t get the right rhythm.” I put my hand on her shoulder and her life played in front of my eyes like a flicking movie.

                Her mom had died when she was younger, an avid dancer and beautiful woman. Her father hardly cared for her, separating himself as much as possible to avoid the pain of seeing a face that looked so much like his beloved. She tried so hard to keep her mother’s memory alive in the best way she knew how; dance.

“Miss Greene?” Her soft voice said, breaking me from her life, her blue eyes wide and scared.

“There’s a medium paced quick step you can do, and if you can’t don’t worry about it.”

“But, the marking period dance-“

“I take whatever you can give to me, don’t push yourself too hard. Practice with the medium, if you like it use it.” I smiled and walked past her, her hand reached out and grabbed my arm but I didn’t startle. I knew it would happen.

“You saw, didn’t you? I’ve heard that you can see people’s past and their futures.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.

“You’re a great dancer, your mother would’ve been proud; but I think you know what else she would’ve said.” I said softly, inclining my head. Her face flushed with guilt and she let go of my arm.

“She’d say ‘don’t aspire me to be me, be you because you’re brilliant just the way you are’. That’s what exactly what she’d say, I advise you listen to her.” I walked away from the big eyed girl and took a deep breath. It took a lot of energy to listen to the dead on the spot.

“I don’t get you, one minute you’re professing your undying hatred for them; then the next you’re helping them connect with their dead relatives.” Ander said through the mind link. I looked up, searching for his disapproving face only to find he was talking to a guy about foot placement. I wouldn’t answer that, because I had nothing nice to say.

                The day went on without another incident, I didn’t see the skins that had tried to pick on mine so I hadn’t tried to pick on them. A few glares and snarls may or may not have been thrown but… was I really expected to not be just a little angry? We drove back to the shiftertown in the family car, silence spread all around.  The tapping of someone’s foot was the only music that was provided and I smiled at the tune.

“Are you trying to say we should go Christmas shopping soon, Alissa?” I ask and adjust myself in the front seat to look at my younger sister, her green eyes looked to mine with pure innocence.

“I didn’t even say anything..” her voice trailed off innocently, something she’d spent years perfecting. Jesse snorted and rolled his eyes, but kept his hand firmly on the steering wheel. Something’s wrong, my wolf told me and I looked closely at my brother. His jaw was clenched and his knuckles were white, his eyes seemed to be struggling between green and amber. I looked at my siblings to see if they noted the difference when my eyes caught on Libby.

                My heart immediately softened, my eyes watering slightly. A few years ago she hadn’t been feeling so well, her human body had been gaining weight way too quickly for a werewolf and her wolf was way too malnourished. WE took her to the doctor and found out that she had cancer, her body was struggling to stay balanced so it took the nutrients and energy from the wolf and applied it to the human side. She’d had to go through a couple of months of chemo before the disease went into remission, she’d been struggling so hard to make herself normal. Looking at her, her eyes were downcast and she was fiddling with her fingers. My brain quickly linked Jesse and Libby’s emotions together.

“You tried his dancing again didn’t you?” I asked somberly, not wanting my guess to be true; by the way Jesse’s hands tightened and almost bent the wheel I knew it was.

“It isn’t fair that the others work so hard and I get an easy A just because-“

“You’re sick, Libby. You shouldn’t over-“ I tried to be the voice of reason but her hazel eyes flared with impatience.

“Just because I’m a little weaker than a normal wolf-“

“You’re practically human.” Lina interrupted, keeping her eyes on her lap.

“Doesn’t mean I should be given everything on a silver platter!” She growled, her fists clenching hard.

“Libby you’re… you’re not fit for the type of dancing that Jesse teaches-“ Alissa said carefully, poking the beast with the dull end of the stick.

“Ballet is just as rigorous as hip hop is, I honestly don’t-“

“Elizabeth Anne Green! You have cancer, your bones are getting weaker and weaker by the second. The type of dancing I teach and the type of dancing you teach are separate things. You don’t throw your body down in ballet, you don’t test how far your body can stretch in ballet; in hip hop you do. When I said don’t participate, I meant it!” Jesse exploded, gripping the wheel with a death grip. The car swerved slightly and I was grateful that no one hardly ever drove on the roads to shifter town.

“I-I did just fine-“

“I saw what you did, when you fell it took a hell of a lot of effort to get back up. I saw the skin that helped you, I saw the way you limped after that.” He said venomously, spitting out the words nd lacing them with depression and hurt. “Look I get you want to be independent and you don’t want to let this thing beat you. I get the whole self preservation thing, but please, Libby, for the love of all that’s holy; don’t hurt yourself. You heard what the doctor said, even though it’s in remission doesn’t mean it won’t spring back on you in a heartbeat.” I heard her heartbeat race up, I knew he heard it too but he said nothing about her quiet sobbing. When we were closer to shiftertown I heard Lina shift closer and hold her sister.

Chapter 4

He slammed the door as he got out and I winced at the creaking sound that followed it. The car stayed quiet and I looked to the back seat, Libby had the ghost of tears trailing down her face and she looked close to tears again. Lina had her head on her sister’s with a death glare thrown at our brother.

“He just cares, that’s why he’s such a dick.” I told her before getting out myself. I waited for everyone to pile out of the SUV before walking in to the house. I was bombarded with the smell of home, the scent of my mother and father lingering almost everywhere. My mother, Molly Green, came storming out of the kitchen with her arms crossed and her black eyes sparkling with anger and concern.

“Where is she?” She all but growled out at me, hitting me with so much love and anger at the same time. It confused my senses, but then again my mother had managed to confuse me more than occasionally.

“Depends.” I said, widening my stance to protect whoever would happen to walk through the front door. He brow arched and she cocked her hip, a small but deadly smile laying on her lips.

“Depends on what exactly?” Her tone showed she was amused, slighty. I knew that if I were to distract her I would have to really put some work in.

“Depends on what you want for her. If it’s to help you with dinner or some chores… she’s outside waiting for me to Ok her coming in. If you want to yell at her more than your son did, I’ve no idea where she is… and it’ll just have to stay that way.” I said, matching her small little smile and cocking my brow as well. She stared straight in my eyes and I gulped, I might have been strong, but I dare not try and override the Alpha female; there would be all hell to pay and my wallet was not fit for that type of punishment. MY eyes moved away from hers and settled to that place right above her eyes, just short of her eyebrows.

“Good, as long as that’s settled. Bring my children in Luna, they haven’t eaten in two hours. I swear that school is trying to starve all of you young people.” She turned on her heel and I let out the breath , happy that the hard part was now over.

“Oh, and Luna.” She stopped suddenly, turning her head slightly in my direction.

“Yes?”

“You haven’t won, you’ve just prolonged the inevitable. Your father is outside talking to her, very gently from what I can pick up, and later on after she’s calmed down enough I’ll talk to her. Understand?” So many things that slid along my tongue that my brain begged me to say. I narrowed my eyes slightly and clenched my fists, not tight enough to make any noise but to release stress.

“As long as she doesn’t cry… I’ve no objections.” She felt, rather than smelt, her mothers’ wolf come to the forefront. Her mother had a problem with that, the wolf only came out when her temper flared or when someone was being rude… it came out so often with me I stopped caring which one it was at all. They stood for awhile, neither one of them backing down, before her mother sighed deeply and sent the wolf away. No words were shared, her mother walked through the living room and into the kitchen.

 

                Dinner was awkward, the family didn’t have any cheeriness and it was a little frightening to see them like that. I bit m y lip and pushed around the sweet peas, trying so hard to figure out how to fix this. A spoon clattered onto a plate and we looked up to see Cara sitting with wide eyes.

“What? It slipped.” She said grudgingly before picking up the spoon and forcing more peas in her mouth.

“So, uhm, mom how was your day?” Alissa asked, having to clear her throat before spitting out the whole question.

“It was good, I’m glad at least someone cares about how I feel.” She said in mock sadness, her father rolled his eyes and put his hand around his neck, poking his tongue out. She slapped his arm but her smile was fond and the hit wasn’t critical.

“Dad?” He looked away from his smiling mate to Alissa with a slightly confused face, not understanding why he had called her.

“How was your day?” Her tone lilted at the end and she smiled brightly at their father.

“Oh. Well, it was mainly just Alpha business. Checking up on the pack and seeing sure that they had everything. We’ll be doing a replenish of our stock soo, so it’s crucial to make sure everybody’s got what  they need and if they don’t, find out what it is.” HE said, resuming to his mashed potatoes and peas. My eyes flicked to Jesses, knowing he hated when our father did that. Jesse was the next Alpha male in line, I had long since given up trying to be Alpha over anything. I had way too much on my plate to add that rack of ribs. The next heir was Jesse, seeing as he was born first, and he swelled in pride whenever someone crooned over him being the future Alpha. He just hated, with growing fervor, when our father tried to drop subtle hints about how to be an Alpha. Before this got nasty someone would have to intervene… that someone would have had to be me. A car honked outside before I could form words and I frowned.

“Oh, well guys this has been fun and all but… I’ve gotta go.” Cara said, her face flaming, as she stood and rushed to leave the dining room as quickly as possible.

“Who’s that?” Their father asked, confusion bright in his black eyes.

“That’s JJ.” Cara said lightly with a bit of a shrug “I told you guys he was going to come and pick me up today.” No, she hadn’t.

“No you didn’t, I think I would’ve remembered that.” Their mother spoke up, putting her elbows on the table and leaning closer.

“Well, I did. I told you on Monday right before you went into the laundry room.” Their mother’s brow cocked and Cara knew that, soon, she would start losing the battle.

“So you told me on laundry day, the most busiest day in the Greene family?” Cara licked her lips and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, the horn honked again and I looked down to hide my smile.

“Well… if that’s how you choose to see it.” She said with a slight shrug, taking half a step back. Molly chuckled and shook her head.

“Go on, Alpha’s are impatient.” She pointed to their father who had begun eating again “The whole lot of ‘em, impatient.”

Chapter 5

My heart raced with an urgency that I knew very well, the fear and anxiety thta had befallen me had attacked suddenly and without mercy. I always had these panic attacks, I didn't know if the problem was one that was shared throughout the small community of victors but it happened daily for me. I was haunted with the ghosts of my past, and some of them that came for the future. They cried and shouted at me, some begging for mercy and some screaming for vengenace. All of them had died or been wronged because of me. All of them. As the Red Luna, everything somehow tied back to me; an unfair system but that seemed t be the theme amongst the Gods'. As I paced my small room, wringing my hands, the usual thoughts and fears bombarded onto me. What would hppen if Ander wasn't there to stop them? Would they yell and scream at me the way they did when I was younger, or had time healed their wounds? Would I ever be rid of the demons who seemed to always want a peice of my flesh every night?

Ander was normally there to protect me, to wrap his chocolatey arm around me and keep me safe from everything that screeched in my head. He was late, though. Then a cold fear slid down my body, coating my every pore from my head to my toe. What if he'd finally gotten tired of my shit? What if he'd realized that his human, his Karen, was a more suitable match than I was? Because, if I face the truth like the adult I was supposed to be, she really was an ideal package. Easy- access, down to earth family, straight A student, bright dancing career. She even had one foot up on me in the height department. It wouldn't have shocked me, if he had finally gotten out of the Luna fog and finally realized that I was the wost decision for him; it would be fate serving me one last kick in the face to make sure I'd lost al my teeth. A shiver went through my body as I tried to blink out of the fog of exhaustion that seemed to be coming on a bit too fast.

My palms grew sweaty and my fangs grew out of fear and anger, I was sick and tired of being afraid. I couldn't help it though, even as I crawled into my bed with regret. I'd have to face the night alone, it seemed, and brave against the caterwhauling of my monsters. With miracuality the window slid open and a panting Ander slid into my room. With relief I flew off of my bed and into his arms, not caring about anything. The slime slowly slid off my body as I breathed in his strong scent of cinnamon, boy, and forest.

"Luna." He said softly, cradling my head against his chest as my body shivered from fear.

"Where were you? You scared the shit outta me for like ten seconds!" I whisper scremaed, acking away from him and slapping his arm for good measure.

"Mom wanted me to help her out with the dishes and I lost track of time." A tangy smell hit my nose and it twitched slightly, a lie. MY heart sank, I knew it would come to this eventually; I'd just been foolish enough to hope it wouldn't come for a while. Looking closer I saw the slight redness of his lips and smelled the slightest trace of perfume from Bath and Body Works permeating his scent.

"You don't have to lie, ya know. If you were with her, it's fine. I'm not anyone's mother to say who you should and shouldn't date, and even then I'm pretty sure Sarah wouldn;t give a shake of a rat's til who you dated so long as it didn't bother the pack." I said, my voice growing stronger with very vowel; inside I was dying, I hated it so much.

"It hurts you, and I hate hurting you." HE sounded so contrite as he reached out for me, I wouldn't move. His arms wrapped around me and suddenly his scent was everywhere around me; he'd enfolded me in his arms and I had no idea when he would let me go. A soft kiss fell on the top of my head before he released me and went around to his side of the bed. He peeled off al his clothes and, ont for the first time I watched him undress. It was one of my little treasures, a treat to myself for being a good girl to the Gods' and not bringing down their entire reign.

His muscles flexed with power as he lifted his shirt above his head, every muslce moving with sleekness until he'd succesfully pulled the entire article of clothing off. He bundled it up and threw it somewhere on his side of the room, then workde on unbuttoning his jeans. I could see the white strip of his underwear and it served as a slow slide of hell as he stepped out of his jeans. My eyes blinked rapidly as the full scale of his underwear was shown to me; my cheeks blushing something fierce. I climbed into the bed, hopped under my comforter and hoped to the Gods' he didn't see me blush. I knew he knew I watched, it just showed how good of a person he was to not say anything, to stay quiet and let me revel in someone elses' picture. Like the owner of a candy shop that watches the kids who can't afford candy watch with hunger in their eyes; wanting a lick badly. And God, how I wanted a lick.

I squeezed my eyes closed and bundled the comforter under my chin, squezing my legs together and pretending I didn't exist so that I might slip into sleepy oblivion faster. With a deep sigh he slid in behind me, making me wait a delayed moment before his strong arm wrapped around me sending sparks all along my body. He didn't move closer to me, though, and left me in tht awkward stage between begging and pleading. I didn't want to do either, but I felt like nothing would be done unless I did.

"I can't... advance you if you smell like that Luna." HE growled out through clenched teeth, making me look back at him. I gasped softly at the sight that beheld me, and my inner wolf paracically howled in glee. Hos normally cool blue ees were now flecked with amber, most of his pupil had been dilated and one fang popped out from under his full lips. HE wants us, I knew it!! My wolf practically shouted as my arousal peaked. 

"Luna... I can't help you if you don't help me." HE groaned, his accent getting heavier until he was practically cockney. I could do nothing but blink and stare, and try to keep my wolf from taking over and humping the ever loving shit out of him. His eyes shut and when they opened again they were fully blue, he'd gained control of himself; but I was far from that powerful feat. His arm raised and he cupped the back of my neck, nipping it slightly. I whimpered softly as my eyes fluttered closed slowly.

"Karen Matthews, I am with her. I love her and she loves me, she gave me a promise ring and I returned the favor." His voice was slow and comforting but the words sent ice cold water down the front of my shirt and succesfuly doused my wolf. I nodded once in thanks and let my anger overpower any remaing arousal that I may have had. HE sighed in sorrow acceptance and tugged me closer to his body and wrapping his arm around my waist tighter. I almost wanted to growl and lash out on him. How could he not see or feel it!! WE molded perfectly together! WE had the chemistry!! It was US that needed to have promise rings, hell any kind of ring that would show every one that it was me and him that was meant to be together; not some stupid Karen man-stealing-bitch Matthews who wouldn't know a pup from a cocker spaniel!

"Don't over think it, please Luna. I'm begging you, just sleep. I'm here to protect you, I came." He whispered softly in my hair, rubbing my arm under the covers.

"I'll always come." With those words I alowed myself to slip into blisfful sleep, knowing I had my own victor to fight against my demons for me.

Chapter 6

He was gone by the time I'd woken up in the morning, like he always was, his clothes from the night before missing and th only evidence of him acutally being there was his side of the bed was tousled. I sighed and lifted the comforter, just to give my body some air and looked at my belly button. When all the victors turned thirteen we were given mysterious tattoos of various colors, they all gathered around our belly buttons. There was a swirl, three dots set in  triangle, an actual triangle not shaded, and a squiggled line about the size of my pinky. WE'd gotten all of them, circling our navel and it wasn't long after we saw what they stood for. They were our elemental power, given to us by the Gods'; the swirl was a light shade of blue, the three dots were red, the triangle was brown and squiggled line was silver. They represented water, fire, earth and, air.

It wasn't only us that had been given these gifts, everyone born after us were given these powers. It was idiotic, if you asked me, to grace young pups not capable of controlling their emotions the power to bend the elements at will. I told the Gods' so, going to them the first time their was an incident in the schools. It wasn't fair to make us outcasts, and then give us the power to elminate them all with a flick of the wrist of the will of your mind. So they mended it slightly, giving it to only a few were's. The victors, however, were still given all five. And we were instructed to go to training, to help us with learning how to manipulate our powers for the greater good and to keep them at bay when anger arose. We were given our own element to harvest, they gave us a choice and we were allowed to choose whatever element suited us. Mine just happened to be fire. I traced the triangle with my pinky, wiling some fire to shoot the trip. I giggled slightly as it tickled me, I was basically flame proof... well to a certain extent. I couldn't just run into a volcano screaming "I'M FUCKING INVINCIBLE!", because I'd probably die. Probably.

"Luna! Are you eating breakfast today!?' Mom screamed, making me suck the fire back into my body and sigh. She wasn't asking, she was just doing that thing she got really good at it; where she pretends she's asking you a question, when really she meant take a shower and get your ass down here before I throw you into the frying pan with these eggs. I padded over to my IDoc and put on some music, allowing my body to relax slightly while I took a shower. After a while I got out the shower, ruffling up my wet hair and pulling on my underwear and bra. I hated my body, but not in that weird I need to lose weight or gain weight type thing. I looked in my fll length mirror and put my hands on my hips. I had a generous body, thanks to my mom; but a sucky height, thanks to the weird heighting of my parents. My mother was tiny compared to my father, and she hated it too. Kinda hard to be intimidating if you have to look up to scold someone.

My boobs had matured by the time I was 15, deciding to settle on an even 40 DD. A fucking double D. Point again to mom's team. Everything on me was full grown, just mini sized and sometimes it made me want to just stretch my body out a little. My hips were wide and curvy, my grandma once said good pup bearing hips when she was drunk. Shiver shiver. My hair was starting to dry and curl nicely. I could be a girl today, without a problem. With a sigh I went to my pink dresser, flinching slightly at the clothing there. I pulled out my black sliced leggings, a red plaid skirt and my black halter top that sed in red glittery words BITCH. I smirked as I pulled on the whole ensemble, deciding to leave half my hair up and putting on mascara; i had tolernace for little else when it came to makeup. I pulled on my red converse heels and looked in the mirror. I applied a few little accessories onto my skirt, mainly my chains, and decided I looked girly enough. I picked up my bag and trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Everyone loked at me, and I twirled slowly before coming to a stop in front of them.

"I thought you said you didn't have that skirt, I wanted to borrow it." Cara said, her brow furrowing and her finger on her chin as she looked at my skirt.

"I knew you were gonna wear it to your date with JJ, that should be enough information as to why I didn't let you touch this skirt." I said as I plucked a few pieces of bacon off of Jesse's plate before sitting on his lap. He shrugged and went back to eating his food and finishing up his math homework. I hadn't even touched that foul deviation of nature; I hated math with a burning passion.

"Luna, remember, I need you to come straight home because Anna is going to be droping the pups off and they need to be fed." Mom said as she slid my share of bacon and eggs on Jesse's plate. I dug in and furrowed my brow, letting my mind seek the answer before I asked why couldn't Anna just stay. I hit a block though and it made me suck my teeth, I kept forgetting I couldn't see anything to do with Anna because of her affiliation with Ander.

"Why can't she just stay and look after them?"

"That girl has enough on her plate, I don't need to put my load on her." I'm pretty sure had Jesse not wraped his arm around my waist and kept me locked down onto him I would've shifted right there.

"She's the ONLY person that it's Ok to put the load on. She's gonna be Luna, not me she should do it. And I have a hel of alot more responsibilites than she does, but you seem find with shoveling your crap onto me whenever it suits you." I growled around a pece of bacon.

"I'm not having the sae discussion with you, Luna. I am Alpha female, you'll do as I say." HEr voice rang with power and it made my shoulders bristle.

"Yes. Mother." I said with clenched teeth, as I stood off of Jesse's lap.

"I'm taking the bike to school, see you guys there." 

Chapter 7

The air blowing, and potentially fucking up, my hair allowed my mind to gain a little bit of freedom. It was hard trying to appease everybody and make sure everybody had what they needed. Pile that on top of the whole teenage angst thing would be enough to ake even the most drama craving people cringe, growling i cranked the gas and leaned forward.

"Whoa whoa whoa there speed racer," Philly's voice popped in my head wit slight humor "Ma wants you to stop by for breakfast."

"My mother feeds me plenty, thank you very much." Was my growled response even as I turned around.

"Hmm." Was al I got back, making me growl slightly. She wlways did that, mainly because she was a cat and she needed to have the final say in anthing; it was infuriating, almost as much as spending a lot of time on a message and then get a simple minded k as an answer. I zoomed back to Hell's Gate and stopped in front of Philly's house, hopping off the motor cycle with grace and smoothing smy skirt slightly. I could smell ham and already my mouth watered, I loved pork and her mother knew that. Somehow I knew I would be asked of something I did not want to do. With a groan I headed to her door.

 

 

 

 

"You want me to do what!?" I screamed, causing the children around me to giggle, I threw them all glares before looking back to their mother. Maria DeAngela was a beautiful woman, her brown curly hair was striked with every color imaginable and seemed to always be curly. I knew several older woman who hated her for it, amongst other things; like her resilint skin that never showed one imperfetion or wrinkle, and her brilliant body.

"I just need you to watch them for a couple of days, with Felicia, while her father and I head to go visit family." Her accent, though cute some days, was starting to really grate on my ears.

"Philly is a big girl, she can watch triplets on her own!! Anna does it all the time!" It seemed like all the mothers had gone loopy today!

"I don't care about what Anna does, honey, and somethign tells me neither do you. Please, Luna. You'd be doing me a solid and I'd ay you back for it, anything you want. Name it and it'll be yours." Those black eyes pleaded with me as more ham was piled onto my plate. I sighed and broke down, I knew it would've happened with my mother eventually.

"Fine... but I'll expect at least three more of these by the end of the month!" I said, making it appear as if I'd won. Philly strolled in with a smirk on her face and a glint in her silver eyes. Yeah right, they said as they flicked to mine briefly before aiming toward the fridge, you won the gift of being told what to do! Oh wait, you already had that. I cursed at her in spanish in my mind and heard her tittle a bit as she gulped some orange juice. She retorted back her curse in korean and I rolled my eyes before chowing down on my last piece of ham before standing.

"Oh and by the way, Luna, I absolutley adore your outfit." Maria purred, actually purred, and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah yeah, you already got me lady." I grumbled and walked out, being accompanied by Philly.

"What your doin'... it's real nice. Ma really needs a vacay and those three are like hell on a skewer. It's not like they mean to be, it's just.... ugh why am I even doin' this?" She growled, tugging at her mahogny strands. I raised a brow and looked at her, it was nice to see the cat all frizzle frazzled.

"Maybe because you actually care how I feel?" I inquired, tossing her a raised eyebrow before hopping on my bike. She pouted and put a hand on her jean clad hips, looking at my bike before looking at me with a pointed look.

"It's what I bought out, you can very happily take your mom's mini van and then become carpool central for Hell's Gate if you wish; but I don't want to be in a stuffy environment." I said, kicking up the stand and throwing my leg around it to sit on the seat.

"But my hair." She said trailing off pointedly.

"You can conjure up your own damn helmet, hell you can manipulate the elements and keep the wind away from you." I grumbled and revved the engine once before throwing her a look. She scoffed and snapped her fingers, a sparkly pink crossbow helmet appeared on her head and with a wink she got on the back of my bike.

"You don't even like pink." I growled before ripping the road and going to school.

Chapter 8

The waves of humans parted for my bike, knowing full well I had no problems with running them over. Well, my bike would be dented at the most. I pulled into th section that the victors had reservd for themselves and waited for Filly to get off before I did. I had a few whistles and cat calls, totally ironice seeing as I was a wolf, because my skirt rode up a little. I smirked and walked towards the crowd of boys, spotting MAson in the midst.

"Hey boys." I said silkily, letting my eyes run them over before landing on Mason. He looked close to bursting from holding in all his laughter.

"Hey yourself Rosa." One male said, his arms beefy and his blond hair resting on his forehead. He raised an eyebrow as his eyes rested on the ampunt of bare skin that was shown due to my crop top. I smiled, showing off all my teeth and moved closer to him.

"I heard you guys calling me from my bike, anything y'all wanted?" I asked sugary sweet, my eyes leaving him for he briefest moment to look at the others.

"We wanted you baby doll, and your little friend over there too." Filly had already gone inside but I heard laughter resonate through out my head. As if, she said saucily and I smirked internally.

"Oh no no no, you guys could never handle me. I'm too...wild. But you," I said, eyeing blondie with a predatory smile "you can definetly handle something." I moved closer to him and placed a hand on his arm, blocking whatever vision that would've been shown to me, and moving closer to him.

"Yeah?"

"Mmhmm." I tightened my grip on his arm and pushed him down onto his knees, I moved so my face was close to his and I could see every inch of pain in his eyes.

"Too bad it's not me. Spread the word. Any of you males fuck with me I will not hesitate to hit where the sun don't shine. Feel me?" I asked lethally... but with a smile. He whimpered and I let go, looking to all the horrified faces.

"See ya boys." I said, wiggling my fingers and swaying my hips as I walked away. IT felt nice to be a girl.

 

My eyes scanned the crowd, she chewed on the pickle cjips that I'd snagged from Cara's plate. I waited for the sign that my body would be used today, waited for one skin to stand up and go to the makeshift stage.

"Would you just relax." Jesse said, throwing a carrot at my face, smacked it away easily enough then went back to my, chewing and scanning.

"Seriously, Luna, you need to eat more than just a few pickle chips. You might go wolf in class." Libby said, her eyes watching me with wide eyes. I rolled my eyes, but kept sucking on my pickle. The acidity bought me to a different place, a place where, in my dreams, I could enjoy pickles daily without worrying about being a pawn in a war.

"YOU'RE NOT EVEN BLOODY LISTENING TO ME!" Anna screeched, making my eyes cross into each other. I looked up at her, not surprised to see her hair pin straight and red. I had no clue how she did it, seeing as her mother and fathers' hair was nothing but curly; hell I had a hard time managubg ti get it straight in the shower under the influence of water.

"I totally was." I said half mindedly, stairing at her long red strands, they were so similar to mine in color but obviously not in texture. Where mine was a mane, hers was a mop.

"Oh yeah? Then what'd I say?" She challenged, crossing her arms as a brow rose and her blue eyes sparkled in humor.

"You said I'm the best victor, and shifter, ever. To that, all I have to say is you're abso-spanking-lutely right. I am pretty awesome." 

I watched with absolute glee as her normally pale face turned bright red with anger and she clenched her fists. I couldn’t see her future, I couldn’t touch her fate lines because she was in direct relation with Ander. So when she graced me with her presence, I knew I’d either have a really really fun time or I’d want to positively bite her fucking head off. But really, with Anna, what difference did either emotion make? She opened her mouth to respond to me when music started and awareness filled her eyes. Mine widened and I gasped, standing up quickly. I had forgotten that the troupe, the one that I started, was supposed to dance today. I thanked every God I knew, and liked of course, that I had worn a resemblance to the outfit I’d told them to wear. Jesse threw me a stressed look and I knew he’d forgotten that his guys and my girls were supposed to collaborate. We stood up quickly and blended into the crowd that surrounded the dancers as they began to dance to Slight Work by Wale. I geared my body, ready to join in when it was my turn then looked for Ander. He was born to match me, therefore the music called to him too.

Jesse joined in on his point and danced with Anna, matching in time with her just like I would with Ander. Her hair was a fiery mess as she jumped and twirled, popped and locked.I ruffled up my hair joining after his turn was up. Ander ran out from the other side and automatically we were in sync. I geared up and jumped on his shoulders, landing on my palms so that I was doing a handstand on his shoulders and continued to do the moves. The crowd cheered, clapping and whistling as my skirt slid up. I jumped down and ran off, Ander following my league and we both watched as the rest of the dancers excluding Anna and Jesse did the rest of the song. They were a good troupe, something I prided myself on. His hands were on my hips and I looked down to realize that my hips were still moving slightly in time with music. I looked up to find his blue eyes blazing down on me, with a slight smile on his lips.

“ I can’t believe how good it felt to dance again.” He said softly and I smirked and shrugged a shoulder.

“You wouldn’t have to miss it that much if you just succumbed like I do.” I said haughtily, before removing myself from him and going out to join my troupe and congratulate them.

“You guys did beautifully, now y’all remember to practice upgrade you with yourselves because that’s gonna be a full frontal flash mob.” I said, putting my hands on my hips and sidling up next to Jesse.

“Yeah, we don’t know how you’re gonna do it. My boys have busy schedules and I’m sure all the girls are the same. But just remember it’s on Wednesday.” Jesse said, crossing his arms and analyzing everyone before succumbing to a smile.

“You can’t lie Jess, we did pretty good.” Moira said haughtily, wiping sweat off the back of her neck with her hand.

“I can’t really pass judgement because Anna and I were pretty sloppy.”

“I didn’t want to say anything… but yeah.” Veronica said, a smirk angled towards Anna at her slip up.

“Alright, bitch, yeah I was sloppy. Got a fucking problem with that?” Anna said, her eyes narrowing to slits as she made to move closer. The only thing holding her back was Jesses’ arm. Veronica took a step back, the smirk still on and haughtier than ever.

“Why, Anna, no need to get so defensive darling.”

“Enough, Veronica. I’ve told you about your catiness before. Another slip up, you’re out.” I said, my temper flaring slightly as my eyes settled on the black haired girl.

“Ugh, yeah. I’m one of the best dancers you have, you wouldn’t dare kick me wolfy. We both know that.” Her voice managed to push that comment into my back and make me snarl. I walked forward, so close to snapping her tiny little neck before arms wrapped around my waist.

“Watch what you say, puta, before I have to make sure you can’t say shit.” I growled out, barely being able to control my hands from swiping her nose off. Veronica’s nose flared at the spanish expletive and I knew that I’d ticked her off, she hated it when I used her parent language on her.

“¿Cómo te atreves a amenazarme cuando puedo terminar su puta vida con un solo viaje a la policía.” She seethed, moving to hit me and I welcomed the swing, wanting… needing an excuse to fuck her up.

“Viene en mí perra, a menos que usted es demasiado cobarde de mierda.” I replied with a smirk and angled my face closer.

“No!” Anna growled “If anybody punches the bitch, it’s me.” In a flash she was there, intercepting the punch angled for my face with her hand then twisted Veronicas’ arm slightly.

“This is the absolute last time I’m giving you this warning. Stay away from me and mine, got it?” Anna said with a snarl into the whimpering girls face. Veronica nodded and I slumped in Anders’ arms. Anna held on a little longer before nodding and letting go, then storming out the lunchroom. I looked behind me to see Ander and Jesse looking at each other. I rolled my eyes and cocked my hip, crossing my arms I looked at the dancers who now looked anywhere but at Veronica and her hand.

“You guys go on ahead, we’ll see you tomorrow for practice.” They all left, grateful for the dismissal, including Veronica.

“Now, Jesse you should go, since Ander will only, most likely, aggravate her more.” He said nothing to defend himself, only a slight shrug of approval.

“I would do nothing of the sort, and I’m going to be the one to help my sister.” He said, a pout lining his face as he attempted to walk past me.

“Nuh uh, buddy boy. That girl has two elementals and is ticked off, I can’t afford to have her ticked to the max. If she uses her power in school, one more time, the principal will have no choice but to suspend her for five days.” I said, asking him with my eyes not to to go, to just stay and let my brother deal with the problems of his mate so he could deal with the problems of his. He caught the end of my thought and took a half step back, an exasperated sigh leaving his lips.

“No no no, I didn’t-”

“Luna, I can’t do this with you. I’m with Karen, and we’re very happy together,” my head jerked back as if he had hit me “you need to focus on other things, like the war, and I need to focus on her… well, currently on my sister. We’ve both got different priorities, you’ve made that extremely clear and I’m only just now seeing that after all these years. Guess I’m a slow learner, huh? I’m gonna go help Anna, I promise she won’t burn anything or demolish any walls… see ya later.” With a squeeze of my hand he backed away, his cool cobalt eyes not leaving mine until he turned away and jogged through the crowd of humans that always seemed to be a constant in the lunchroom.

“Luna, breathe. It’s fine, this is good right. Hadn’t you wanted him to give up in the first place?” I blinked my burning eyes, cursing them for tearing up and nodded. Jesse was right, I did want Ander to give up. I wanted to not feel like I was doing something terrible every time I turned him away, I wanted not to have my heart squeezed everytime he hugged me or winked at me. That’s when I realized, the thought nearly making my knees falll out under me, I never wanted to not have Ander. All I wanted was to not hurt, but sadly that wasn’t possible. My Goddess saw to that, she saw to the fact that I’d always feel, regardless of what I wanted. And for that I hated her, I hated her from helll to high heaven.

“Luna? You still aren’t breathing.” Jesse said softly, making me float back to my body and realized I was shaking with silent soft sobs; something that could easily be interpreted as rage, was actually it’s more powerful sister. Depression.

The rest of the day sucked more than I could have imagined, a headache began to grow in the back of my head giving me the tell tale signs of an oncoming meeting. Every once in a while the Gods and Godesses decided to check up on us and make sure none of us had turned to the dark side and we all still remembered that war was coming soon. And this was the most fucking oppurtune time for this. I growled softly, shaking my head and cursing the Gods for choosing now of all fucking times. A skin moved in front of my way and I snarled, narrowing my eyes as it skimpered away.

“Whoa, whoa whoa. Hurricane Luna heading to the parking lot.” Leo joked and I rolled my eyes, quickening my pace. I knew it was useless, his legs were at least five inches longer than mine. He could cover twice as much distance as I could in 2 steps with one long one of his.

“What’s wrong?” I shook my head, not wanting to have another taste of that horrid Depression. It really did not suit me well and did nothing but anger me more.

“Luna?” He asked, the concern lacing his voice made me look up into his green eyes that were speckled with brown.

“I’m just… I’m not up for talking right now. Or anything for that matter. I’ll see you at the meeting, OK?”

“Rose -”

“No, please. Later, k?” I didn’t leave him time to answer and stormed out of the school, suddenly needing to be free of the caged building. Once outside on the steps I took a breath, ignoring the inquisitive looks of the skins. I gulped in air, freeing my panicking heart with every swallow until I realized that I was omitting tiny little sparks of fire on my hands. I was too close to burning down the whole damn school, I’d never gotten sparky before. I clapped my hands together before shaking them out, feeling a lot more stable than I was before. I needed to get home, and fast.

Chapter 9

I drove, my hands shaking on the handlebars of my bike, trying my hardest not to make it look like i was intoxicated. But I was, I was absolutely drunk off of depression and rage. I’d been enraged too many times to count, but this time it seemed I couldn’t manage to calm down. My eyes kept shifting from human to wolf and it dazed me, it felt like it did when i first shifted. It felt like I had no control and I hated that more than I would allow myself to admit. The smells of the ghetto drafted to me and I allowed myself a deep breath, hoping it would soothe the beast that seemed to be snarling constantly inside of me. It did slightly, the  smell of my family and my home doing something to keep me calm. I thought of all the people that needed me, all the people that I had to fight for. And just like that she was calm, the beast in me had relaxed and it was because she knew we couldn’t break down. She knew we couldn’t afford to. She simmered down, letting me gain power of my body and my powers back. I tore into Hells’ Gate and went straight to my house.

“Sorry, mom, I can’t sit the kids tonight.” I yelled as I ran into the house, peeling off a piece of clothing as I went.

“And you’d better have a good reason as to why not!” She yelled from what sounded like the laundry room.

“Meeting.” I said simply before closing my door and rushing to my drawer. I pulled on my black skinny jeans and my One Replubic band shirt on before I pulled my hair up in a pony tail. I had done my contribution in being a girl for one day out of the week, now neither my mom nor my principal could say anything. I sighed before looking at myself in the mirror, then sighed deeply. I looked horrible, my hair was frizzy and my eyes were red and puffy. To be honest I looked like death warmed over , but there was nothing I could do about that.

“Hey, Luna, can I- oh holy goddess. Are you ok?” Cara said, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head as she rushed to me. She pushed the hair out of my face and peered into my eyes with her eyes so similar in color.

“Yeah I’m… I’m fine. Just a little tired is all and I have to go to a meeting later.”

“You can’t just tell them to delay it?” With a chuckle I grabbed her wrists and pulled them away from my face, squeezing softly.

“They’re Gods’ and Goddesses’. They don’t wait for anyone.” She chuckled but her eyes were still bright and alive with worry. “Trust me Cara, I’m fine. Just a little tired.”

“Then take a nap before the meeting, I’m sure you’ve got time.” Her idea made me smile and I nodded, looking gratefully at the bed.

“Yeah, I have enough time.” I said longfully and floated towards the bed before face planting completely.

“I’ll take that as my cue.”

“Please do.” My voice was muffled but she still chuckled before walking out and closing my door quietly.

When I awoke I knew instantly that I never should’ve slept in the first place. My rm was shackled to marble and my cuff was pure silver. The stuff of Gods’. With a snarl I sat up, careful not to pull against the chain and risk burning myself. It wouldn’t kill me, but it still hurt like a bitch. I looked around the semi circle of Gods’ watching them all as they sat upon their thrones talking to each other. As if they hadn’t shackled their victors! I looked down at all the faces, my friends, all of my neighbors in Hells’ Gate.

“What happened?” I asked, wanting anyone non- God to answer. Filly looked up, her eyes their brilliant tiger gold, and with he angriest smirk I’d ever seen her wear she replied.

“It’s a full moon.” I growled and tugged against my chain, knowing that their should be a weakness. There had to be. The silver singed my skin, even through the protective piece of cloth. I snarled and tugged harder, I would be dammed if I let them do this to me again.

“Luna, you always were the fire.” Leo said, chuckling from his throne as he watched me squirm like a bug.

“Now, now. Let’s not tease them, they look angry enough already.” Ave said softly, her bird like eyes watching all of the Victors.

“Why are we here!? You swore you’d never do this shit again!”

“Language, Luna.” Mother Moon chided softly.

“You haven’t even heard the worst of it, puta!” I snarled in retort before looking to the other Gods.

“We did swear we wouldn’t do it again.” Leo started off, reclining in his golden marble throne.

“If we didn’t need to.” Felicia finished, crossing her long lithe legs and smiling down on me. I stood up and walked as far as I could without the silver digging into my skin.

“Why are we here, we’ve been in control of ourselves for the past thirty full moons. What do you need to keep us for?” I kept my voice strong and my eyes on theirs. They wouldn’t escape an answer, I’d be dammed if they tried.

“The risks are a little higher tonight, child.” Ave said and I clenched my teeth and fists. I wouldn’t go off, here is where I would stay calm. I wasn’t touched by the moons’ luminescent glow here.

“What are the risks then? What could possibly be so dangerous that a whole pack of Victors can’t take down?” I question, looking at every single one of them.

“It’s not that we don’t believe you could take them down,” Urse started, her russian accent thick “it’s the cost at which it would come.”

“Them?”

“We have knowledge that… a group of incubus, succubus, and demons are coming your way.” Mother Moon said, her silver eyes staring straight into mine.

“We’ve taken down all of those things, why chain us now?” Filly asked, standing too, her face a lethal promise of death.

“Now… they’re stronger. The humans, they don’t know what they’re doing. Their government isn’t keeping a close enough tab on them. They’ve started summoning things they know nothing about. Powerful spirits, hateful incubus and succubus rise as we speak. The moons influence does little to help them, but it’s just enough to make them more powerful than you. We’re not sure what could happen, but we’re keeping you here for safety purposes only. We need you all to understand that. We don’t get pleasure from this-”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Leotis interrupted while standing.

“And we don’t wish to burden you anymore than we already have. You’ll stay the night up here and as soon as the sun calls… we’ll let you go.”

Chapter 10

I had settled in next to Mother Moon, crossing my legs indian style and trying my damndest to stay awake. I wouldn’t fall asleep, not again, and have them do something fucked up. Granted they were ignoring us, all of the victors, and just talking amongst themselves. The only God that I saw keeping to himself was the Hyena God. He sat there, his back straight and his eyes focused on something not in this room. I rolled my eyes and pressed my fingers into the temples of my head, I was getting a migraine and that was not good at all.

“Luna,” Filly whispered in my head and I pulled my eyes open and looked at hers from across the circle “go to sleep.” I closed them and shook my head, crossing my arms and clenching my teeth.

“If you try staying up with that growing migrane of yours, you’re going to either go postal here or in school. I’m not liking either of those things for you.” I shook my head, probably harder than before, and it rattled my brain. I snarled softly and dug my nails into my palms. I wouldn’t shift in front of them, I would make myself submit to being calm.

“Luna, please. Just sleep.” Ursula whispered through the link and I huffed. I wouldn’t sleep and risk something else happening.

“If it does we’ll wake you.” Leotis promised.

“And if your mouths are sealed?”

“We’ll scream as loud as we can through the link. Just sleep Luna, you’ve got time.” Those words, whispered by Felicia made her drift off. She closed her eyes and let her body rest.

When I awoke I was in my room, I shot up and looked at my wrists only to see that they had no damage. I knew they wouldn’t, but if they had it would’ve added to the rage I felt bubbling up. I gritted my teeth and flung the sheet away from me before running to the window. I lifted it up and squinted into the bright morning, the birds were chirping; too oblivious to know that I was angry enough to set fire to a whole forest.

“BASTARDS, THE LOT OF YOU!!! FILTHY, HORRIBLE, LYING BASTARDS THAT CHEATED ME OUT OF A LIFE THAT I COULD’VE LIVED OUT VERY FUNCTIONALLY IF IT WEREN’T FOR YOUR INFLUENCE!!!” I yelled, feeling my palms heat as my anger surged to the top. If I didn’t put a lid on it, I would end up burning my window pane...again. I got no answer in return, simply a slight breeze and elevated noise of chatter amongst the birds. Fucking Ave. I moved away from my window and clenched my teeth before letting out air between my teeth. I wouldn’t let them get to me, I was too strong to allow them to make me into a little puppy again.

“You’ve got this Luna, just shower and dress. Smile and make it. Rinse and repeat.” I said under my breath before heading to the shower. I was stronger than the Gods’, I was the weapon they’d never meant to forge and I knew that sooner or later they would pay for what they did. Sooner or later… or in a dream. I kept everything strict, not deviating or feeling anything. I changed into my clothes keeping my back straight and showing no emotion. I knew that if I did the rage would fly out and I would have no control over what I did and who I did it to. Simple dark jeans, a neon green sweater, and black converse. I shoved my hair into a messy bun and put one arm through my book bag before going down the stairs.

“Luna, food.” My mother called from the kitchen and I spun on my heel, never stopping knowing I had to keep my engines running. I walked in on my mother sitting at the table, a sight that I hadn't grown accustomed to, a mug of coffee in her hand and worried look marring her brow.

“You’re OK, right Luna?” She asked, her voice laced with nothing but love and worry. It made me sick to my stomach. There was too much love in her, I felt every second of her love as it flew from her body and into her children. I knew she couldn’t stand for one of her pups to be in pain and knew that if one of them were to get hurt, the rage that flew through Luna’s veins daily would flow through her mother.

“Yeah, just a little tired.” I replied, making sure to sound nothing but sincere and exhausted. Her black eyes regarded me carefully and I saw the shadow of her wolf poking out beneath those inky pools.

“Mom, I promise I’m fine. I’m just really tired.” I said before walking further into the kitchen and kissing her cheek. She savored the kiss, knowing it wasn’t daily I allowed PDA of any kind, and pointed at the plate of biscuits she’d whipped up.

“I was tired too, that’s all y’all are getting. There’s preserves in the fridge, and jam in the cabinets.” She said before taking a sip of her coffee and savoring in the taste. I picked up two biscuits and rushed out, not saying anything more. I hopped on my bike and squeezed the handles tight, feeling the fury trying to surface. I wouldn’t let the Gods’ break me, not now when I’d come so far. I let go of the handlebars and rubbed my face, I felt the flames lick my nose and sighed as I saw my hands erupt in flames. It was a side effect of my anger, and I’d grown used to it; I’d even gone as far as to get flame proof clothing. It still singed slightly, but at least my sweater didn’t burn off my skin.

“This will be over soon. Soon, my life can begin and this will no longer effect me. But until then, I WILL control this. I am strong.” I took a deep breath and willed the flames away “I am LunaRosa Green.

The drive school was calming, the air soothed my anger and I allowed myself to bask in it. As I pulled into the parking lot, my ears picked up on someone being bullied. I picked up my bookbag from my bike and hooked it on my shoulder before checking the fate lines in my head. It wasn’t a wolf shifter. Humans were none of my concern when it came to problems, shifter problems outweighed those by about %8000.

“Hey, knock that shit off Sarah before I knock one of those fake tits out of those mosquito bites you call natural breasts!” I heard Izzy say, and automatically my attention peaked. I turned to see Izzy holding a small girl by her shoulders and her blue eyes were icy.

“And who are you to tell me what to do, Isebail?” Sarah laughed one of those broken up laughters that, quite frankly, scared me. I wouldn’t intervene, I’d let Izzy the Dangerous sort her way out of this. Not that Izzy would need help anyway.

“If you bully her one more time, so help me God I will rip those extensions out your head and we can see you for the ‘natural’ blonde you have everyone convinced you are.” Izzy said, lethally slow, while air quoting natural.

“Oh, I didn’t know you believed in God what with all those animals you know associate yourselves with.” A flip of the hair “Honestly, they carry fleas.” Her friends mumbled in agreement and shot snooty looks at Izzy and the girl.

“You had lice in the third grade… then you passed it on to all your friends who spread it to nearly half the whole god damn grade. If anyone is diseased, it’s you. And my ‘animal’ friends, are better than any human friends I have ever had.” At that she sent a wink to me briefly, before looking back at them and raising her chin. They looked back at me and blanched automatically. I wasn’t a force to be reckoned with and they knew it.

“You snitched didn’t you?” One of Sarah’s friends hissed. Izzy simply smiled and walked towards me, the girl under her wing.

“We both know you don’t need my presence to scare the life out of them.” Izzy simply shrugged and patted the girls head. A grateful nod and smile was passed before the girl fled and I raised a brow.

“Sometimes it’s fun to add more fear into their hearts.” She said, shoving a tuft of hair behind her ear. Izzy had grown into quite the spectacle. She was more than traditionally pretty and knew it… hated it actually. Her twin, Bella, flaunted her beauty daily but Izzy went through extreme lengths to keep it hidden.

“Acceptable answer.” I shrugged and walked off, trusting Izzy to tow alongside me. She shook her head and followed me, before she was stopped by a masculine voice.

“Hey, Izzy wait!” My interest was snagged again as the pure scent of feline hit her nose. I turned back to see Izzy eye the new comer with interest. What?

“I wanted to walk you to Geo.” His cheeks blushed and I chortled, shaking my head and walking off.

“Why didn’t you tell me our Izzy had a love interest in one yours, Filly?” I asked through the link and took enjoyment in feeling her surprise through the link.

“I thought our Izzy was off limits! I made that clear!!” She gasped with mock outrage and then giggled.

“Izzy has a boyfriend! Izzy has a boyfriend!” She sang to everyone, and soon all the Victors’ joined the conversation until it became too noisy.

“Hey heiffer! Don’t go telling Filly about that, she’ll never shut up about it!” Izzy cried, running to catch up with me. I smirked and looked back at the boy who stood there, watching her walk away. And not her butt either, which meant something.

“You told her already didn’t you. Golly, you’re a bunch of old ladies. Sitting and gossiping around.” She said with disgust, but a roll in her eyes and a soft smile on her face.

“Yes but you love us.” I said in my best granny voice and she laughed.

I was forced to sit through all my classes, like a good little pup, and listen to the boring lectures over and over again. I wouldn’t need any of the information given to me anyway, I would never apply the skills they’d taught me in this hell hole. The sole purpose for my existence, for any of the victors to exist really, was to bring and end the war that was to come. In the middle of World Religions I’d had enough and stood up, my chair raking across the floor.

“Luna, must we do this every day?” The teacher asked, I merely rolled my eyes and shook my head. I picked up the one notebook that I used for all my classes and walked to the door.

“You know I’m just going to report this, don’t you?” Her tone held a bit too much of a threat in it and my wolf unleashed. I felt my claws grow out and my canines lengthen, suddenly everything felt too tight and I wa way too angry to be surrounded by all these humans.

“That’s what I thought, now go sit down. Unless you’d like to come to the front, personally, and teach the class about the Quran?” She had no clue the trouble she’d just unleashed into herself. My body was in complete control of my wolf, I was merely in the passenger seat and allowed access to see everything.

“Yes ma’am.” My mouth replied, a slight growl in the ma’am and an octave deeper than it was before. Not that the human teacher could pick up on that. My wolf tore away from the door and locked eyes with the teacher, a slight gasp rose from her lips as she saw the amber color of my eyes, before stalking to the front. My hands slammed the notebook on the teachers desk with a loud slap, startling the class and making the smell of fear rise to dangerous levels.

“The Quran is the basis of the Muslim religion, if Ms. Human-DNA would’ve simply asked me that I would’ve answered politely but since she believes she holds authority over me I am inclined to prove her wrong.” At that my eyes went from the class of children back to the teacher, her pungent stench of fear mixed with the overbearing perfume made my wolfs irritation spike ten times. “I am Alpha, I am wolf. If anything, by the natural law you obey me. Do not use whatever tiny bit of power you think you hold, granted to you by the Principal over me because I can promise you human, you will not like the outcome.” With that I turned on my heel and made for the door, please to have silence at my back.

 

As I made my war path down the halls of the school my nose picked up on something foreign, something that had no business being here.

“Look, if it isn’t the little puppy.” A raspy female voice said from behind me, I closed my eyes and squared my shoulders. I had forgotten the reason why the victors were taken. Demons.

“Oh, she’s going to act as if she can’t hear us.” A male voice said and I squeezed my fists. Not here, not now. Please!!!!

“Just like she did when she was little. How’d that work out for ya?” The female voice said with a cackle. I turned around and acknowledged the two red headed demons that I had worked damned hard to send back to Hell.

“Abaddon, Azazel.” The two twins who made it their mission to wreak havoc and mischief wherever they went.

“Hello little puppy.” Abaddon, the girl, said with a toothy grin as she flashed her black eyes at me before they returned to being brown.

“Where’s the rest of the pack?” Azazel asked, his eyes remaining cold and calculating as he looked me up and down. Eyes off, my wolf growled making a slice fire come out of my hand before I quickly controlled it.

“Why are you here?” I growled out, making sure to keep both of them in my sight at all times.

“This and that.” Abaddon giggled, pushing herself off the locker wall.

“The real question is, where’s the rest of us. Because, surely you know, we didn’t come alone.” Azazel said, folding his arms over his massive chest.

“I imagine they’re assimilating themselves into high school life, just waiting for their right opportunity to strike us. It didn’t work when we were fourteen, it’s not gonna work now. So just leave.” I said, as calmly as possible. Abaddon giggled before it turned into full blown laughter, Azazel stood quiet. Suddenly she stopped laughing and her face deadly serious. Her eyes were ashen black as her grin got impossibly wide, looking as if it would break the skin on her cheeks if it went wider.

“You were always the funny one, Luna. We’re stronger now, almost ten times. We will snuff out that little flame in you, be sure of that. But not before we kill each and last person you deem valuable and every person you love in your face. One. By. One.” She stepped closer, moving faster than my eyes could see until she was directly in front of me with her fists on fire. “It’ll be a blast, I’m thinking about recording it so I can watch the agony on your face as I rip their throats out like you ripped my mates’ out!” She screeched, grabbing me by my throat and pinning me to the wall. The flame on her hands burned a little, but not enough to make me cringe and at that I smiled willing water into my hands.

“I remember that day, let’s play recall shall we? Do you remember seeing that flame slowly flicker out of his eyes, do you remember watching as his body turned to nothing but ash, do you remember watching his soul being speared by my rage? Or is it all a bit blurry to you?” I hissed, before dousing her hands. It didn’t throw her off as much as I’d hoped and served to do nothing but anger her more. She ripped me from the wall and threw me down the hall and through the window and leaving me to fall down the four floors.

Chapter 11

I picked myself  up off the floor and dusted of my sweater, wiping the little bit of blood that came from my mouth as a result of me biting my lip. I looked to the window only to see it fully repaired.

“Aww, c’mon!!” I yelled right before I was punched in my cheek and thrown back onto the ground. I looked up to see Abaddon with fury lacing her eyes.

“Get up you worthless sack of-” She was hit by a rock and thrown to th other end of the parking lot before she could finish the sentence.

“You were about to say a no no word, which will not be tolerated on school property.” Leo snarled, before throwing the huge rock back into the forested area. Abaddon’s body was then encased in a water ball that continuosly twisted and turned, making it impossible for her to swim through it.

“Yeah, bitch.” Filly said with a smile as she concentrated on twisting the globe.

“Free her and we shall settle this another day.” Azazel said from behind us, the rest of the coup from Hell behind him.

“Like Hell we will.” Ursula chuffed, folding her arms and watching Azazel. She hated demons, more than kittens hated water. A side of his mouth lifted before he nodded to his companion stuck in the water ball.

“Release her and you have my word there shall be no more trouble from us this week.”

“And we’re to take a demon’s word?”

“I’m afraid you have no choice.” At that Urse raised a brow and waved her hand toward the globe, making it freeze instantly.

“No, I’m afraid you’re the one that seems to be lacking in that department…. We release her, you must cause no harm for two weeks.”

“Ever would be good too, just puttin’ that in there.” Evangeline, the bird victor, said softly. Azazel narrowed his eyes and I surveyed the other demons, succubi, and incubi. They all appeared to be normal average rich kids, my wolf growled and I sighed softly. It made things slightly more difficult, but we’d get pass it. We always get pass it.

“Fine, two weeks. Free her now before her human casing becomes unfit.” Ursula narrowed her eyes but willed the cold air away and Filly let the water back into the Earth.

“You fucking-”

“Abaddon, home!” Azazel growled, losing his temper for the first time this encounter. We all watched as her body turned to smoke before the rest of theirs did. All was silent until they all turned to me, their arms crossed and their lips pursed.

“What?”

“Why is it always you?”

 

     T

he rest of the day was surprisingly uneventful, I got a B on my trig test which I couldn’t really complain about. I drove home in the bike right behind the family car and allowed myself to analyze the new situation we’d finagled ourselves into while I cruised. We had a party mix from the underworld sent to aid the humans in destroying us. One of the members of said mix was hell bent, no pun intended, on getting revenge on me for killing her mate who I had been assigned to kill by the Gods’. Somehow everything managed to point back to them. On top of the whole shit-cream sundae that we had going on, we’d have to keep them low profile while they stayed in the school; we didn’t need teenagers getting all rallied up and the war occurring prematurely. That would be a fate no-no. If there was anything that I had learned in my eighteen years of being a victor. specifically the Red Luna, was that when fate knocks at your door you’d best have tea and cookies ready because you’d need it on your side. Before long we reached the gates of the ghetto, where guards were supposed to stand ready to monitor the actions of the unruly but we’d put and end to that shit earlier. I smiled at the memory.

*3 years ago*

Filly sat on top of the wall that was supposed to separate us from the human world, dangling her feet and smiling down at the four human guards that were posted. I sat dangling over the gat itself, having melted the barbed wire that was there. All the victors sat on the barrier that was created, surrounding the humans. They hadn’t even noticed us, yet.

“Uhm, excuse me.” I said in the softest, sweetest voice I could manage. All of them clutched the stun guns closer to their chests and turned around then aimed up at me, before realizing that all of us were there.

“What do you think you’re doing here?” I asked, blinking and cocking my head to the side.

“Miss, we’re gonna need you to go back into the town.”

“Oh, he called you miss.” Leo said tauntingly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“And he has the nerve to call that a town.” Ursula growled, pointing to the, then, underdeveloped  ghetto that was behind us.

“We need you to return to your homes and-”

“Now ain’t that funny, cuz we need y’all to do that too.” I said, done playing games, as I hopped down and let my wolf peek out. They backed up as their heartbeat picked up, I smirked and stepped closer revelling in the smell of their sweat and fear.

“What my friend here is trying to say,” Leo said as all the victors hopped off the wall “leave. Now.”

“We have express command to stay here.” One of the guards said, clutching the gun with sweaty palms.

“Tell your commander that if, by tomorrow there are guards here I will personally see to it that all of your fleet suffers in the worst way imaginable. Got it?” Fily growled softly, the golden hair on her head illuminated by the bright lights that were angled at the gate.

“We have express command-” I willed fire to my hands and merged them together to make a huge fire ball.

“Leave or every single one of your skin cells will be ignited.” I said, putting the hand not holding the fire on my hip and lifting a brow. They looked at my red hair and amber eyes and backed away, knowing who I was.

“Tell your commander what my friend said, and leave this place and never come back.” I said with the tiniest of smiles to show them the very tips of my fangs.

 

 

I smiled at the memory, knowing that even back then when we were just getting to know each other we’d always stuck by one another and would fight for what wa right. We cruised through the gates until we arrived home where I knew another adventure would take place. I just felt it.

 

 

I knew it. My mother, because she was just so fantastic, decided to invite the Master’s over. Don’t get me wrong, I loved when we had friends over, especially when it was my favorite vamp twins, but I’d had enough with hellish creatures. I didn’t want to flip off of on Cella and Mason just because of some stupid demon bitch. I washed my hair but didn’t bother drying it and put on a blue sundress. I wouldn’t wear shoes, I liked how the carpet was feeling right about now under my feet. I left my room and collided with Libby and smiled at how she looked. She’d pinned her head up on top of her head in a bun and had wrapped the base of the bun in a peach colored cloth. Her dress was an A line peach sundress and she wore ballet slippers.

“Well, it certainly looks like you dressed up. Couldn’t possibly be for a certain-”

“Shut up, mom told us to dress nicely.” I smirked at her blush and watched as she continued to walk towards the stairs. The next to come out their room was Jesse and I rolled my eyes at his forest green button down that wasn’t buttoned and revealed a white t-shirt under it.

“That’s not even-”

“She said nice, not fancy.” He said with a smirk and a quick ruffling of his hair, he walked passed me and whistled softly as he headed downstairs.

“Family.” I scoffed and followed.

 

 

 

It was louder than usual as everyone gathered around the table. She’d also invited the Mascot’s, which was just fucking amazing. So there we all sat, happy and smiling and eating. It was one of the rare hallmark moments where everything was beautiful and warm, and there was always love flowing from every pore. Of course the Masters didn’t really eat anything, they merely sucked on a piece of raw steak which is kinda gross when you think about it. My ears picked up on something beating frantically and I searched around the table nonchalantly to see where the noise could’ve come from and smiled when I found it. Libby’s eyes were almost glued to Mason as he laughed and chatted with my family, a faint blush on her cheeks. Tonight wasn’t a night for sadness, I wouldn’t remind myself that my own sister might not have the happily ever after that I’d always wanted; I wouldn’t dare let the fact that her cancer dimmed the chances of her actually getting to live out what she was destined to live out. Tonight was about family, and hope, and love. And I’d be dammed if I let them ruin any of that for me.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” I whispered teasingly through the mind link to Libby.

“I have.” She seemed to mumble back dreamily before blushing intensely and scolding me with her eyes. “Shouldn’t you be focused on other things besides me.” She growled before cutting in to her steak.

“You’re the most interesting thing here, though.” With that she sent a pointed lok towards Ander who tugged on his little sisters’, Marie Anne, pigtails. I raised a brow in her direction and sent a little burst of flame to hit her knee. She jumped and gained the attention of half the table, including Mason.

“You OK?” The concern lacing Jesses’ voice made my heart squeeze. She blushed and nodded, smiling faintly before stuffing food in her mouth. Slowly the conversation built up again until everyone was laughing and talking again. I couldn’t help but notice how Masons’ eyes never strayed too far from her after that, and that was the thought I pinged into her head before focusing on my meal.

 

I had stepped out to get air and to rest my body. I’d been laughing for a solid ten minutes before I decided to go in the backyard to cool myself off. Jesse had tried to do a split, under my goading of course, and had winded up doing nothing but severely bruising a few choice areas and having a slightly more high pitched voice. I still occasionally chuckled even as the night air circled around my body. I didn’t bother putting on shoes or anything, the damp night soil gave balance to the earth element inside of me. I heard him step behind me, but made no move  to acknowledge him fully yet. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, angling my face toward the moon and basking in the glow it provided.

“You look beautiful tonight, if I haven’t told you that yet.” He said softly, closer than I had thought but my body savored his closeness. I smiled softly but didn’t open my eyes.

“No. You haven’t told me that tonight. Thank you.” I was calmer, and nicer, when I basked in the moon. Mother Moons’ gift to everyone I’d guessed.

“It’s nice out tonight, not too cold or too hot.”

“Just right.” I finished for him, finally opening my eyes and turning around to face him. He stood there with his hands tucked into his jean pockets, the sleeves of his hoodies pulled up to his elbows and allowing me a view of his forearms.

“Why’d you follow me?” I whispered, not wanting everything to break.

“I don’t know, figured you’d probably find yourself in trouble if I didn’t.” He said with a smirk that did unspeakable things to my heart. I shook my head and looked down at the ground.

“I seem to have a knack for that, don’t I?”

“Ya think?” We shared a laugh, our voices mending together in the night air before there was quiet again. The night swirled around me, but I didn’t care. I was lost in the sea blue of his eyes and wouldn’t be able to save myself, not this time. I took a step forward and relished in the fact that he matched my movement and we landed closer than I had anticipated. I looked up then, never wanting to lose sight of those beautiful eyes. I felt his warmth encircle around me as he slowly wrapped one arm around my waist and the other cupped the back of my head. Perfect, my wolf thought serenely as lost in the moment as I was, this is perfect. Slowly he leaned down, not closing his eyes and I wouldn’t dare, his lips getting closer and closer to mine. My heart thumped loudly and I knew he could hear it, I knew he could feel it because I felt his. They beat together and for a moment, one blissful moment of absolute brilliance, I saw everything that we could have and everything I’d ever wanted…. Then it smelled of pie. The thickness of the night air seemed to lessen and the fog that had surrounded us cleared away and I squeezed my eyes shut. With each shattering second that his hands remained on my body I felt my heart tear, and as soon as his hands were off I felt it rip even more than it had before. I opened them and looked up into his icy eyes and fought back a wince.

“Smells like dessert.” I said, and without a second glance or even a blink I walked around him and back into my house.

 

 

I’d awoken with some pep in my step, ready to face the problems that the demon troop were sure to throw upon us. They’d said that there would be no more problems, and that they’d be on their best behavior. But when the sun goes down and all is said and done, demons are demons and cannot be trusted. Something I knew even before I watched Supernatural. I threw my hair up in a ponytail, slid on a grey camisole and dark grey skinny jeans. I looked in the mirror before putting my sneakers on and contemplated putting something on my face to hide the freckles that had glued themselves onto my face without my permission. I decided against it, knowing that it would do nothing but make my fast pasty and gross. Yuck, my wolf shuddered and I had to agree. Putting makeup on your face and calling yourself pretty was like putting mud over shit and expecting it not to stink; it didn’t work. I slipped on my sneakers, grabbed my bag and headed for the door.

“Luna, don’t forget you’re carpooling today!” My father yelled from his door at the other end of the hallway. MY shoulders slumped and I sighed softly and under my breath, careful to angle myself so that he wouldn’t hear it.

“Yes, daddy.” I said softly before jogging down the stairs. I picked up an apple from the kitchen and nodded to my mother before picking up the keys to the station wagon. Kill me now.

Before going to the human towns I gathered up the kiddies of Hell’s Gate, doing my best to keep a smile on my face. When Marie Anne, David, and Maddock passed I couldn’t help but stick my tongue out. The triplets that Sarah had were too adorable and all identical to each other that it hurt to stare at them for too long without getting confused. David and Maddock were too adorable for words and were sure to be lady killers when their time came. Marie Anne, Annie for short, was her sister incarnate but surprisingly I loved her like she was my own sister. And that was saying something. They scrunched their faces up at me and I snorted at them before pointing to the inside of the station wagon. David and Annie hopped into the car, their red hair shining in the light. Maddock looked at me, his eyes pure amber, and cocked his head. I grabbed his chin and peered into his eyes, willing my wolf to come out.

“You’re maturing fast little one.” She said appreciatively, my lips stretching into a motherly smile. He smiled back brilliantly before his eyes bled back to their original blue.

“Thanks Looney.” I stood and ruffled his hair as he stepped into the car.

“No problem Maddy.” I replied and looked around, sensing something different. A small blur zoomed past me and I barely held in my shriek, the blur zoomed past again before I caught her by her collar and lifted her.

“Hey!” She squeaked, her blonde mess of her hair hanging around her face as she pouted at me. “Put me down!”

“Where’s your brother?” I asked, sniffing her and scenting him on her.

“I’m not telling you anything until you set me down!” She squeaked down and I looked at her before raising a brow.

“You’re impossible, ya know that! Bloody impossible!” The side of my mouth lifted in a smirk as I still watched her.

“You could’ve poofed from my hand at any time, remember?” Her eyes widened and she blushed before looking gloomy. I stood there, holding her in one hand while she dangled there by her shirt pouting.

“Your brother?”

“Why do you even want to know?”

“Why can’t I know?”

“Because I’m his sister and I ain’t telling you that he’s still sleeping!” I smiled and dropped her, she balanced herself immediately and glared up at me until she realized what she’d done. She gasped and put her hand over her mouth and shook her head.

“I mean… he’s in venezuela! Yeah, venezuela.” I shook my head and pointed inside the car. She pouted but went in, mumbling a shut up to the other shifter kids. I poked my head in the car and sniffed, making sure every shifter child was here. When I was satisfied I closed the door and walked to the driver seat.

“Y’all know the rules, right?” I asked while buckling myself in and starting the car.

“No screaming, chewing gum, crumbling paper, moving too much in our seats. And most importantly, no screaming.” I smiled as they all said the same rules they’d been repeating every Thursday for two years now.

“Let’s go.”

 

 

After driving them all to school I parked the car and pulled my bag out, glaring at any human or shifter who dared look at my ride today.

“Whoa, my grandma just called. She wants her car back.” Izzy said, putting her hand on her stomach as she shook with uncontrollable laughter. I glared at her until I realized it was pointless. Izzy McReery wasn’t one to be scared by a mere glare… or growl… or snarl… or roar. She wasn’t scared by much.

“I hate you. So much.” I said simply before walking away from the car, without waiting for her. She laughed before running to catch up to me, she walked backwards still smirking and throwing looks between me and the wagon.

“Carpooling?”

“Why do you ask every thursday? The answer is never gonna change!” I yelled, catching attention before they quickly looked away at Izzy’s laughter. She wrapped her arms around her torso and bent over, slapping her knee.

“I know!!! Oh God, I can’t breathe!!” She yelled before falling to her knees, her face red as a tomato. I threw one last glare at her before stomping around her which only made the laughter louder.

“Hate her. So much.” I growled as I stormed into the school.

Chapter 12

I had several classes with the demon troop, specifically Abaddon, and was forced to act normal and detached instead of ensuring that they were all safe. My foot constantly tapped on the floor as I watched them with every breath i took. They appeared as if they didn’t notice, but I knew they did I felt the anger and cautiousness flying off them in waves. It made me smile with each wave. By the time i taught my chorus class I’d had it with the demons. And of course, ask and ye shall recieve. I had four new students in my class, three succubi and one incubus. I held in my groan and slammed my books down on the table, gaining the attention of everyone.

“Welcome to chorus.” I said, with a huge smile appearing to be anything but pissed “To our newcomers.” My students, though human, were very perceptive and knew I wasn’t too fond of the new kids. One of them, a blonde bombshell, decided to have a staring contest with me. Not. Fucking. Smart. I was a wolf, I could play the staring game all day and never get tired. She seemed to remember and looked down at her pastel pink nails.

“Why don’t we let y’all introduce yourselves.” I said cheerily and sat in my wooden chair, propping my feet up on the desk adn watching them all. A red head stood up, chewing what smelled like mint gum.

“Hi, I’m Raquelle and I’m a transfer from St. Johns highschool a couple of towns over. My dad thought the change in atmosphere would be… good for my complexion.” She said and I raised a brow as she chortled at the name of her high school. Slippery slope darlin’. I looked to the blonde and she stood, not afraid.

“My name is… Lily,” blood drained from my face as I sat up slightly “and I transferred with Raquelle. My mom and her dad are kinda like… together.” She smiled and sat back down, crossing her legs and sending me a victorious smile. I didn’t care about the other succubus or the incubus, my focus was on Lily, or Lilith.

“Fuckers sent Lilith up here.” I growled to the other victors, barely holding on to my anger.

“You need to breath Looney, we sent her down there once we can do it again.” Leo said, sounding distracted. I closed the mental link and focused on the sheets in front of me.

“Well umm… you guys came just in time because we’re starting a new unit.” I looked at their faces, then paid attention to the sex scukers. “On sensual and sexual songs.” I listened while the guys hooted and hollered. Lily kept looking at me, her nails tapping the desk as a small smile went to her face.

“You’re not allowed to cause any problems, hun, did you forget about that?” Her face turned terse for a second and those green eyes flashed red before she simply pursed her lips and continued tapping.

“Let’s begin.”

After a very fun half hour of torturing the humans, and lets not forget to mention, riling up the sex suckers I finally turned my attention to them. Their faces showed nothing but I felt all the animosity wafting off of them. It made me and my wolf proud.

“Lily,” I crooned softly, folding my hands primly on top of the desk “why don’t you sing a song from the Rocky Horror Story?” I’d learned a thing or two from my mother, asking a question without really asking it was one of them. She stood, gracefully of course, and smiled at me.

“Of course Ms. Green. What song from the musical?”

“Touch me. Do motions as you will.” I said softly and watched as fury lit her eyes to fire red.

“But of course.” I clicked the radio, having thought about this brand of torture for quite some time, and sat back smugly waiting for her to make a move.

“I was feeling done in, couldn’t win, I’d only ever kissed before.”

“You mean she?”

“Uh huh.” Red head and the brunette came in, their eyes angry but cautious.

“I felt there’s no use getting into heavy sweating, it only leads to trouble and...bad fretting.” She ran her hand up the front of her body, lifting her shirt slightly before looking at the class.

“Now all I want to know, is how to go. I’ve tasted blood and I want more.”

“More, more, more.”

“I’ll put up no resistance, I want to stay the distance. I’ve got an itch to scratch, I need assistance. Toucha, toucha, toucha touch me! I wanna be dirty! Thrill me chill me fulfill me! Creature of the night.” She walked to where the guys sat, panting after her.

“If anything shows, while you pose, I’ll oil you up and drop you down.”

“Down, down, down.”

“And that’s just one small fraction, of the main attraction.

“Oh!” Red moaned.

“I need a friendly man.”

“Uh!” The other one moaned.

“And I need action. Toucha, toucha, touch me! I wanna be dirty. Thrill me chill me fulfill me!”

“Toucha, toucha, toucha touch me! I wanna be dirty!”

“Thrill me chill me fulfill me, creature of the night!”

“Oh! Toucha, toucha, toucha me! Oh, I wanna be dirty. Thrill me chill me fulfill me! Creature of the night!” Voices were heard around the room and the secual tension bubbled around the room. They all looked at me, victorious until it got to be too much. Their faces turned uncomfortable and I smiled, they had no way of feeding. It was like not having eaten for a whole year, then being surrounded by a Christmas feast. I’d be the hell of cramp in your stomach after you even ate a little bit. And they knew that.

“Creature of the night!” Lily sang, raising her hands in the air. The class clapped in uproar and whistled. I rolled my eyes and barely stopped myself from smiling.

“Well done you, who knew we had a song bug in our class?” I said while standing, crossing my arms softly and attempting to look as nonthreatening as possible.

“Thanks.” She grumbled before sitting down. The bell rang and the students walked out, all managing to talk to Lilith before leaving. It was just us five in the room now and they all looked extremely uncomfortable.

“If I were you, Lily,” I sneered her name before picking up my bookbag “I’d keep a low profile and try not to stir too many. It’d be a shame if you were to slip. I’d have no choice but to severely penalize you...it’d be a shame. A real shame.” I said in a motherly tone before walking out, a confident sway in my hips and a smirk on my lips.

I was walking to lunch when I felt it, a tug from Ander’s end. My brow furrowed and I hurried to the lunch room. He never tugged, and if he did it was never that forceful. I opened the cafe doors and saw why he tugged, his sisters’ face was full of anger as she stared down Veronica. I looked in the middle fo the two and wasn’t surprised to see my brother standing there with a fierce frown on his face. It wasn’t a huge secret that him and Veronica had dated, wasn’t a huge surprise that Veronica had always wanted him. What came as a surprise to all of Freshfield High was that she had the balls to continuously test Anna’s patience by singing and flaunting the relationship. Anna had been a good sport, listening to the songs and supressing the anger that bubbled inside her but I knew, even without seeing her fate lines, that the rope she clung to was tethering. And, today, it looked like that rope had finally cut.

“Not today Jesse, take your toy and go play somewhere else.” I heard Anna growl and quickly moved to stand beside Ander, my hand resting on his tensed arm. He calmed and nodded at me without looking down.

“Excuse me, chica, if anyone’s the toy here it’s you. He’s been with me for a month now, while you’ve held the foolish idea that he was devoted to you. He’s been playing you like a pro, and I’ve grown sick of it.” MY brow raised and I sniffed, my hackles immediately rising. There was no lie in what she’d said.

“Jesse…” Anna said softly under her breath, I felt her omega power rising and knew what would happen if it was unleashed.

“Anna… I’m sorry.” At that Veronica smiled a wide smile, her red painted lips splitting and showing her tiny white teeth. Anna’s fists clenched and her eyes flashed green, it was then a domino effect. Because her eyes flashed, Ander’s eyes flashed… and because his eyes flashed, so did mine.

“Fuck.” I growled and threw my body in front of Ander’s, the only way to ensure he wouldn’t do something retarded like rip Veronica to shreds… and to make sure that he’d be able to hold me back if I were to do the same thing. At the sight of Anna’s green eyes Veronica smirked and began to sing.

“I’m in the business of misery, let’s take it from the top, she’s got a body like an hourglass it’s ticking like a clock. It’s a matter of time before we all run out, when I thought he was mine she caught him by the mouth. I waited eight long months, she finally set him free, I told him I couldn’t lie he was the only one for me. Two weeks and we had caught on fire, she’s got it out for me but I wear the biggest smile.” She took a brave step forward, putting a hand on Anna’s shoulder. Jesse’s eyes bugged out and he wrapped his arms around his idiotic girlfriends waste and quickly pulled her away.

“Oh, I never meant to brag but I got him where i want him now. It was never my intention to brag, to steal it all away from you now. But, god, does it feel so good, ‘cuz I got him where I want him now. And if you could then you know you would, ‘cuz God it just feels so.” Quicker than even I could progress she was inflamed, literally. Because she was a twin she was an elemental, one of the things we’d figured out, and she was a threat because she was a double elemental. She harvested both fire and air inside of her and she wasn’t as trained as I was. Right now, she was a loose cannon.

“Second chances they don’t ever matter, people never change,” a fire ball was thrown at Veronica’s feet “you’re just a whore and nothing more, I’m sorry that’ll never change.” Another fireball then she looked to Jesse. “And about forgiveness, we’re both supposed to have exchanged. I’m sorry honey but I passed it up, no look this way.” She walked toward Veronica and Jesse, her hands flaming and wind flying all throughout the lunch room made her look lethal.

“There’s a million other girls who do it just like you, looking as innocent as possible to get to who. They want and what they like, it’s easy if you do it right. Well I refuse, I refuse, I refuse! Oh, I never meant to brag, but I got him where I want him now. Oh it was never my intention to brag, to steal it all away from you now. But God does it feel so good, ‘cuz I got him where I want him now. And if you could then you know you would, cuz it just feels so… it just feels so good.” A lethal smirk formed on her face as she stepped closer to Veronica and made a fist. The breath caught in Veronica’s throat and I paled. She was taking the air from her lungs.

“I watch his wildest dreams come true, not one of them involving you, just watch my wildest dreams come true. Not one of them involving!!” She let go and Veronica fell to her knees, her face red and her eyes watery. All was quiet and slowly, Anna’s flames went down and the cool blue seeped back into her eyes. I felt the heartbreak and sorrow flow from her pores and knew she was crying.

“I said not today Jesse… not today.” With that she turned away and wiped the single tear from her cheek before storming out of the cafe. I didn’t have to look behind me to know Ander sent Jesse a dirty look before going after her. All was silent until Alissa came in with a huge smile.

“Boy am I… what got up all your butt’s?”

It was awkward to say the least, afterwards in the cafe. The skins shot us anxious looks, and the rest of the victors sent me pitying glances. I, however, kept looking at Jesse with a frown. He’d told me he’d broken it off with Veronica, seen the stupidity in his choice and knew that Anna was his. Now, here we are, a week later with my heart going out to Anna.

“Well, if you think about it,” Libby started, tucking a tiny tuft of auburn hair behind her ear and smiling cheek to cheek “now it’s officially over, and everything can go back to how it was supposed to go.” She said cheerily, her cheeks chubby and bright.

“Who even asked you to speak, you’re making my stomach turn and your brother feel bad. Just shut up.” Veronica said and my wolf came out. Hell no. I stood and slammed my tray down on the table and stood, my finger pointing at Veronica.

“Alright listen here, pinche puta, I’ve sat by and watch as you pollute my brother with that infested thing you call a vagina but I’ll not sit by while you insult my family. Hurting Anna, as publicly as you did, is one thing, but attempting to rule over any of my family members… that’s not something I’ll allow. Shut your little ass up and be grateful I haven’t jumped over this table yet.” I said lethally, leaning closer to her face.

“You gonna let her speak to me like that?” She asked Jesse, completely ignoring me.

“Oh that’s it bitch.” I growled as I began to step on the table. Arms wrapped around my mid section and hands grabbed my own.

“Not here, you’ll get your revenge… not here.” A deep voice whispered in my ear and the fight left me, I felt magick seep into my hands. I looked to see where it came from and saw the blond blur from this morning, Vixie, smiling at me from where she sat with her friends. I looked down to see Veronica with a smirk as she crossed her arms, smugness drifting off of her. I looked to Jesse and my brow crinkled, he’d just sat there the whole time. I shook my head and let my body slump.

“That’s a good girl, wouldn’t want to mark up that reputation of yours now would we?” She asked, sticking out her bottom lip and leaning forward. It would be really easy, my wolf whispered as my eyes switched amber, to rip her throat out right now. My eyes switched back and I shook my head, not in an answer to her question but to clear the fog of rage that had settled over me. I took a deep breath and tapped the arm that held me.

“Thank you Leo. I’m good.”

“You sure?” I looked back to see his eyes had changed too. I nodded and they seeped from dark amber to there normal green. He smirked and tightened his arms.

“And if I liked you here?”

“Then-” I never got to finish the sentence because I was ripped from his arms and a snarl filled the cafe.

The skins shrieked as they saw Ander. His claws had come out, and his fangs had dropped. His eyes blazed green and he panted in rage, his hands braced outwards and caging me behind him.

“Don’t. Touch.” He growled at Leo, his hackles raised and his speech slurred slightly due to his fangs. Leo smirked and cracked his neck, his eyes turning amber and his appearance seeming to be bigger.

“Oh, little boy, if I want to touch. I’ll touch.” Leo growled and I shifted nervously. One thing I did not want to get into today, was an Alpha male fight. They were not pretty and did nothing for your skin. Ander growled visciously and crouched, I heard the snapping and shifting of bones and felt the mentality change from human to wolf. I looked to Leo and snapped my eyes amber leveling beast to beast.

“Back off Leo.” I snarled through the link, clutching my fists and pushing my anger at him.

“He wants to play, let’s play.” Leo snarled before crouching as well. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I put my hand on Anders shoulder, hoping it would relieve something. He huffed but remained crouched and in the phase of shifting.

“Ander, please.” I whispered, getting on my knees beside him. He acknowledged my presence but still watched Leo.

“He was stopping me, nothing more.”

“Touching. You.” HE growled deeply, making my wolf jump up and down in joy.

“I don’t care about him, only you. Please relax.” I bit my lip and I knew what I had to say. Don’t you fucking dare, my wolf growled.

“Think about her, she’d be disappointed if she saw you like this. Relax and go eat something.” I whispered into his ear before tapping his shoulder and standing up. I knew I wouldn’t have to say anymore. He’d do anything for her. For his human mate. But what about you, my wolf whispered in pain.

I had to have a meeting with the principal regarding the events that happened during lunch. He sat behind his desk with his meaty hands folded primly on the desk calender that was highlighted and littered with post its. He listened as I took the fall, and would take the punishment, for any and all actions of the werewolves during lunch. He smiled the smile that made me trust him and leaned back, folding his arms and watching me with hazel eyes.

“Things happen Luna, it’s not always yourself. I know about Veronica and know she is a tough cookie to bite, I even lose my temper at her… I blame nobody here Ms. Green.” I heard the truth ring throughout his words and I slumped in relief.

“There will be no punishment for anyone today, but-”

“Don’t take your leniency as a sign to run a muck.” I replied in a deep voice that he smiled at.

“I didn’t see you as a girl this week Luna.” He said opening his drawer and pulling out a kit kat and handing it to me. I smiled and opened it, enjoying the smell of chocolate and wafer.

“I was a girl, like, two days ago.” I said, breaking it apart. I handed him a piece and we sat talking. He had been way cooler about my wild side than the previous principal, he’d made me a promise: I could stay in the school, doing something productive, as long as the title Red Luna hang over my head. He made the promise to all victors, knowing that there would be onthing but hassle to try and fight us on it. Now we’d become friends, a confidant within the enemy’s walls. He let me out and told me to say hi to my mom and that his wife, Julie, wanted another shipping trip. I nodded with a soft smile on my features before exiting his office and then the school. Rain pelted againest my head and I welcomed the wetness, it made me feel free and loose. Leo kicked from the school wll and walked towards me. My wolf flashed in my eyes and I bared my teeth at him in warning before walking to my bike.

“It isn’t my fault, HE approached me, HE challeneged me. You can’t be mad at me for defending myself.” He growled, his own eyes changing.

“Don’t.. Don’t you ever fucking challenge OUR mate in front of us.”

“He overreacted, it’s not my fucking fault. We touch all the time, more than anyone-”

“Don’t make it seem like more than it is. We touch as warriors and companions. NOTHING more! You will apologize to our mate tomorrow.” We smarled, holding on tightly to our bag strap to keep from lashing out. He zoomed to me with grace and speed, grabbing my arms and managing to pin me up against one of the many trees surrounding the school.

“And if I dont? What will you do then?” I could smeel his excitement and my wolf growled at him, the lethal sound coming from my lips. She remembered all too well the last time we were pinned by him. She didn’t like it then, and sure as hell dind’t like it now.

~4 years ago~

“Got ya Looney!” Leo crowed in victory, pinning my arms down to the white mat. Everythign in this place was white, this is why I hated the Eternal, te world of the Gods’. Ever since we’d started training we were mandated to report here three times a week. I’d just met the rest of the shifters, a group of us one from each animal. I had to deal with all of them, each of them finding their own way to grate on every last nerve that I had. And I didn’t have many of them.

“Get off, asshole!” I snarled snaping to beast and tring to buck my way from under him.

“Language, Luna.” Mother Moon said carelessly, watching the battle with little to no interest.

“Tell this flea infested DICK hole to get the fuck off! He pinned me, there’s nothing more to do!”

“He hasn’t pinned you succesfully girl, now finish Leotis.” Leo said impatiently watching closely, his elbows leaning on his knees and watching intently.

“Yes sir.” He said, smirking down at me before his canines elongated and he leanes down “with pleasure.” The whisper against my skin made me stay quiet and shivered. I was going through heat, although I was an advanced wolf I was still a wolf, and I was maturing in nature’s eyes even though I had matured ten times over before I’d even turned ten. My wolf and my body was feeling things I’d only heard about and never really felt. I saw the lion pacing behind Leotis’ eyes and my wolf matched it. His head leaned down and his lips touched mine and my body sparked to life with the contact. A strength that I knew was somewhere deep down inside of me surged and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and bought his body closer to mine. I heard many sounds of surpirse but I didn’t care, my wolf didn’t care. We were being touched in a way that… we’d only been touched by one other. Mate, my wolf whispered before snapping to reality and seeing that this was not our other. She growled and bit down on his lip and took his startlement and used it against him. I moved to the ide and rolled so he was on his back and pinned his arms with my speed and strength. Forcing my canines down I nipped his neck. He laid there and watched me with wide amber eyes, the youth of a kitten still hanging there.

“Pinned, Dick.” I snarled before getting off and walking away from the hand to hand combat mat ignoring the stares that were boring into my head.

~Present~

We snarled and pushed him away from us, not liking the proximity.

“I pinned you then and every day after that, don’t fuck with me. Apologize, tomorrow.”

“You’re not in the position to boss me around in anyway. We’re equals, I can act how I see fit. He was out of line, not me.”

“Think however the fuck you want, Leotis, but you will apologize.” I said before walking off into the rain and toward my bike, wanting the calming affect the rain had to come back.

I avidly ignored the twins once I got home, as hard as it was since mom had to take a night shift at the hospital she worked at and dad was catching sleep. Sarah’s litter had come over and it was a joint baby sitting system. Then, because we were two very capable very mature Luna’s-to-be we were given all the children through the ghetto. We did it, not because we had to, but because it would make it easier. For everyone except us, that is. She hated my brother and her brother and I… were the same. I took care of the food, mixing up noodles and frying the meat for spaghetti.

“Why are we eating spaghetti?” Vixie asked, tossing an apple in the air and holding it there with her fae powers. She was the daughter of Valerie and John, meaning she was half fae half shifter. She used her magick at any and all times she could.

“Because it’s easier for me.” I mumbled, pushing a strand of steam deampened hair from my face with my wrist and then stepping back.

“But it’s gross… and sloppy.” She grumbled, I watched her twirl the apple in the air and used my magick to smash it which caught her off guard. It smatter on her face and I used a finger to wipe some off her face. I stuck it in my mouth and sucked.

“So was that, but it’s yummy.” I said before walking out of the kitchen and to the living room where Anna watched over the smaller less knowledgable kids played. She tried to hide it but I saw how her face lit up everytime a baby cooed or a child tugged on her hair. I crossed my arms and leaned my hip on the threshold watching as she multitasked between keeping one bear shifter from crying, two leapord children from fighting with each other, and trying to get an eagle pup from off the top of the TV. I knew, without a single doubt, that she could manage to accomplish the main goal:peace; but it didn’t mean I would just sand back.

“Need help?” She primly answered No through the link while branching her arm out to the eagle and shifting between the two leapords. I was pretty sure the bear cub was sleeping, but with all the movement she was doing she was bound to wake him up A fussy bear shifter was not a good bear shifter.

“You’ll wake him and he’ll roar the whole house down. Let me hold him and you get Manda from the TV.”

“And of the twins?” I looked closely at the two fighting cubs and saw that they were indeed twins.

“Let them duke it out, fighting is good for pups.” I really shouldn’t have said that in a room full of were-children because they all heard me. And that began a huge fight that lasted until their parents came to pick them up.

We sat there, the two capable and mature Luna’s worn out and exhausted. We’d gotten between as many fights as we could but the younger the were the more energy and stamina they hold. I looked at the half way decently cleaned house.

“Well, at least they didn’t piss on the couch.” She mumbled after a while, it was rare she lowered herself enough to curse. I looked at her and realized how exhausted she looked and how terrible she felt. Her eyes were still slightly puffy and her normally pin straight hair was fuzzy at the ends. Earlier had taken away too much from her.

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“You needed the help, you’re not invincible.”

“Yeah, neither are you.” She looked at me then, I could see her wolf in agony in those blue eyes so identical t my mate’s.

“You’re hurting, Anna. You shouldn’t have had to do anything.” I saw the fie blaze in her eyes and knew she wasn’t completely gone.

“This is my pack Luna, you might be the deject Luna whofights her obligations at every turn and avoids her duties to this pack; but I’m not. This will be MY pack, regardless of where my idiot mate houses his dick for the night, and I will not let heartbreak or strife pull me away from those duties.” It was her wolf talking, not her and I knew that. Still didn’t make it sting any less. She was right, and I knew that. Still didn’t make my wolf any less angry. Here she was, Omega, ordering an Alpha around. I clenched my teeth where my canines had elongated and bowed my head. She would be Luna of this pack, it was her right to rank higher than me. Omega, my wolf growled but did the same bregrudgingly.

“I was simply trying to help you, Luna.” I said respectfully, keeping al the bitterness my wolf felt out of my tone. Suddenly Anna’s body sagged and tears filled her eyes.

“I didn’t mean to do that, I’m just so tired Rose.” She sobbe and put her hands in her face.

“What happened before.. Veronica?”

“Me and my mom had gotten into it again, all because of what color Marie’s hair bow was going to be!”

“But… Marie wasn’t wearing a hairbow when I picked her up this morning.”

“Because she blew a hissy fit and just deided to can the hair bow idea. Saying how she’s ‘always working so hard to make sure her children look adoraable and I come along and ruin it’.” Anna mocked her mother, trying to do a southern accent and failing badly because of her English one.

“I mean-”

“It’s not like I’m the actual Luna of the pack or anything and I’ve got to worry about a whole spiderweb full of children, not to even mention the kids that I’ll have in the future, or anything!” I stayed quiet and listened to her rant until her speech became slurred and the tears stopped falling.

“Jesse’s… well he’s a Green. We’re not really common for making the wisest decisions nd thinking sanely. But what we are known for is our love and dedication-”

“And what love and dedication does he have towards me, Rose? If fucking some other girl, some human girl, is more important than staying here and actually helping with pack affairs?” She spat venemously her wolf not liking me defending someone that hurt her.

“He’s Alpha, Anna. He will always be here for you, he’s just waiting.” With that I stoof and walked to the stairs.

“For what?”

“The exact same thing that Ander’s waiting for.” I mubled, knowing she would hear me before I walked up the stias and to sleep.

I drove my back to school, enjoying the wind traveling through my hair and erasing what little of my wolf’s anger was left.  Watching after the kids had drained her energy and her anger. She wouldn’t admit it, but she loved the kids even though they weren’t her pups. We could have that, you know she mumbled to me and I sighed deeply revving the engine to get away from the mental conversation. ME and my wolf were too completely different beings when it came to Ander. She felt that any and everytime we were near him we should accept and love him, because we were destined for each other. But me… we had a war, and nothing is fair in love and war. Yeah but- my wolf started to argue but was efficiently cut off when our nose picked up on something. Demon, my wolf snarled and panic picked up. I heard the laughter coming from the car behind me and knew they wouldn’t smell it because all the windows were closed. They dare come out when our family is so exposed? My wolf growled and I agreed. They had gotten bold in the 24 hour span we’d last met them. As I was fuming in anger I failed to sense the presence getting stronger and didn’t notice until we were hit off our bike and motor cycle. A snarl floated past my lips as I dug my nails and feet to the ground, stopping me from going any farther. I looked up and saw Azazil, Lilith, and Abaddon standing in front of me. MY ears picked up the sound of something running toward us. Pack, my wolf told me before returning her attention to the enemy.

“What the fuck was that about?” I snarled standing to full height and taking a step forward.

“We wanted to speak with you.” Abaddon said with a little sadistic smile on her face. She tackled us, my wolf spat, as if she has the right to even look at us.

“And you couldn’t wait until I got to the school?” My brother ran into Abaddon’s back, his wolf form enraged. He pinned her to the ground with his fangs bared; daring her to make one move. His twin jumped down from a tree and onto Lilith’s back, grabbing hold of her hair and pulling tight and placing a silver knife to her throat. Silver harmed all creatures of the night, Only Azazil stood without an immediate threat attached to him.

“What, I don’t get special placement?” He said, a lethal smirk playing across his face.

“I was waiting for you to ask.” I heard Libby say and bristled, but I knew she could handle herself. We all saw to it. We both looked up to see Libby in a tree with a tiny bow in hand and knew the arrow it held was laced in silver and nightshade. I looked to Azazil and raised a brow.

“What’d you wanna talk about?

“Lilith and her group need to feed.”

“”Oooh, that kinda sounds like a ‘you’ problem, doesn’t it?” I asked sickly sweet crossing my arms and cocking my head at him. He grit his teeth and his blue eyes turned black before it simmered down.

“We are on peaceful terms, Luna. I’d hate to ruin that.”

“Maybe you should’ve thought of that before you attacked my sister.” Alissa growled, pressing the knife against Lilith’s skin. We all heard it sizzle and my mouth tilted up a little. Bye bye nice Alissa, hello angry Alissa. Azazil turned his eyes to her and narrowed the,.

“I was talking to the important one here, pup.” Jesse snarled in warning and Libby tightened the string. Mom had taught her, personally, how to handle any and all weapons.

“So what, Lilith needs to feed. Why are you talking to me about it?”

“Werewolf blood is more potent than anything besides fae blood.” My wolf’s hackles raised and I saw what they wanted.

“You want me to allow you access to my wolves so you can use them for a blood bank?”

“You know as well as I do, Luna, that it’s not just blood we crave.” Lilith said, her tone sounding almost desperate. I clenched my teeth and tried to calm down enough to answer.

“I will never grant you any permission to use anybody, not just my wolves, for your own selfish reasons.”

“They get pleasure out of it too, Luna, you know that!” Lilith whined and Alissa growled, tugging harder on the blond silk she had in her hand.

“Look,” Abaddon said looking up at me “if you let them have one wolf each for one feeding the amount of times they need to feed will go down.”

“How long are you fuckers trying to stay here?” Alissa hissed and Azazil crinkled his brow.

“Do you not know who sent us here?” He asked, his tone close to being soft.

“I’m asusming the same bastard that made the lot of you.” Abaddon growled and Jesse snarled putting his teeth closer.

“Luna, we’re here to fight with you not against you. The humans that are on your side prayed for help-”

“Shouldn’t your wings be a little whiter then?” Libby asked disbelief lacing her tone, good girl.

“Humans are foolish, they pray and they pray and are dissapointed when somebody hears them and sends help but only because it isn’t the right help. Their God heard their prayers and sent for us.”

“A group of demons to help us, what makes him think we wanted you.”

“What makes you think we care what you think?” Lilith retorted, my eyes snapped to hers and my wolf popped out.

“If I were you and in your situation, I’d try to stay on my good side and shut up.” I saw the rage in her eyes but I didn’t care.

“They asked for something to give you an upper hand in the war, something that would tip the scales and place the odds in your favor.” Abaddon mumbled and I rubbed my temples.

“You’re the upper hand? The tipping point?” Libby asked, I felt her defense weakining and groaned, if she was beginning to believe them it had to be true. She had the keen ability to lie from truth and trust what was right.

“So what does that mean? Where do we go from now?” I asked, my wolf pulling back due to Libby’s rising trust.

“You scratch my back, I scratch yours.” Lilith said, the strength in her voice coming back after the revelation. Anger settled in my core and I looked around at the warriors. We were survivors, but that’s because we were trained by survivors. The shifters that would be fighting alongside us wouldn’t be trained as efficiently as we were. They’d need all the protection the victors could provide.

“Each of you get one wolf, adn you’re not to drain any of them because they still have to train.” A grateful smile appeared on Lilith’s face and I knew she would comply.

“Anything else?” Pups! My wolf yelled at me and I pouted internally. Where are the rest of the pups that were in the car.

“They ran to school.” Jesse whispered through the mind link and she noticeably calmed down her hackles settling.

“Not that I can think of right now.” Azazil said, his eyes shooting to Libby then back to me. I saw the interest that shone there and sent a warning look before walking past him.

“Y’all have school, and my bike better not be wrecked.” I said dismissively  as I walked past them. Alissa dismounted herself from Lilith’s waist and growled slightly before sheathing her combat knife in the holster she had in place around her calf. Jesse backed off before shifting back into human form fully clothed. He sent a brooding look to Abaddon as she got up. I heard Libby hop off the tree and looked back to see her back flip in the air and land in front of Azazil effortlessly, her hazel eyes sparkling.

“Watch it next time, huh?” She said politely, a slight smirk gracing her face. My eyes widened slightly as she brushed past him, their skin coming in to contact. He stiffened and she practically skipped to us.

“What are you so giddy about?” Jesse asked, casually sniffing her to ensure that she was Ok.

“I got out og Algebra.”

When we got to the school I sent a call out to the victors and shut the link with the pack, they’d know at the pack meeting. After telling them what happened all their moods dampened, understanably and predictably.  I tried my best to shield my emotions from the outside world while my wolf paced back in forth in my mind. Sparks began to fly off my finger tips and I dug my nails into my thigh. The pain helped me focusand my wolf snapped out of it just in time. The door in my chemistry class opened and a furious Mason was revealed holding Libby by her arm.

“You. Out here. Now.” I heard all the girls in my class swoon after him and I rolled my eyes and complied, ignoring my teacher. I closed the door behind me and crossed my arms, raising a brow.

“What are you doing?” I asked tentatively my eyes flickering between the two.

“Why does she smell like that?” He asked, obviously trying very hard not to yell. I sniffed her and realized what he was talking about, the smell of death and evil lingered on her slightly.

“Don’t you think it’s her place to tell you and not mine?” I asked, leaning on the wall behind me.

“Now is not the time for games, Luna.”His fangs had popped out and I knew then, he was enraged and he was going to kill someone. I looked to Libby who was looking at the floor, I didn’t smell fear coming from her even though she knew very well what a vampire could do when in Mason’s state.

“Tell him.”

“Azazil-”

“He fucking touched you?!” He boomed, making the hall go silent and I knew thata crowd of humans was going to form.

“No. Well, yes. We did touch-”

“We, as in mutual touching?” I felt Libby’s anger spike through the link and mentally warned Mason to back off.

“It was just a graze, really-”

“What was being grazed!” Humans came from their classes and watched with wary eyes, ready to get an authoritve figure should there be any problems.

“I touched him!” She yelled, shutting Mason up and stunning him. She ripped her arm from his grasp and sent him a disdainful glare.

“What-”

“Yeah I touched him, but it was just a graze. A simple graze, something you’re obviously not capable of.” A gasp caught in my throat and her face heated up but I saw she wasn’t done yet.

“You keep me on this little leash, tugging whenever you want me then treating me like shit every other time. I get that you’re scared but I’m scared too! I’ve got cancer, Mason, cancer that eats at me daily and I live with that pain everyday. But then I get around you and it’s like I can think again. Then you keep me at bay, you treat me like a sister when I’m..” She got flustered and just ended up yelling in frustration.

“Hey-”

“No, you don’t get to talk, now it’s my turn. I’m tired of this. I’m tired of pining after you like a lost puppy and getting kicked for it. I can’t do this anymore.” I saw what she was about to do and bugged my eyes, zooming to her and putting my hand over her mouth.

“Think.”

“I have thought.” She growled through the pack link.

“Do it again.” I said calmly, looking to Mason who had fear written on his face. She shook her head and backed up.

“I can’t.” She said softly, tears rimming her eyes before she turned around and through the crowd of people.

“I didn’t-”

“Not now Mason. All of you get back to class, there’s nothing to see.” I said softly, knowing they’d follow the order regardless on how I said it.

Chapter 13

She didn’t show up to lunch, not like I expected her to. She was strong and she was brave, but she was still just a 13 year old girl that was terrified. Mason, however, came to lunch but said little to nothing. He sat down at a table located across the lunch room and shot looks to where she normally sat. Jesse, not accompanied with Veronica, sat fuming in his seat. In fact, damn near everyone in my family seemed to be about to blow but me. A nice change. Finally, breaking the tension, Lina slammed her cup on the table and stood up.

“Aww shit.” I heard somebody mumbled and wanted very much to accompany them in that statement but my wolf kept me quiet. Watch, she whispered. We watched as our little sister walked to Mason, her fists clenched and her strides long. Mason stood, noticing everyone had went silent, and watched her approach. In a move quicker than my wolf could place she punched him in the jaw and sent him to the ground. Alissa gasped and stood, making JEsse stand and put his hand on her waist to stop her. He sent her a look before watching his sister.

“You asshole!” She screamed, kicking him in his gut. He fell back over with the force of the kick and looked up at her. He fought with his beast so he wouldn’t attack her, clenching his teeth in a move I knew all too well.

“You made her cry, all because you’re too stupid to see when you’ve got a good thing!” She punched his jaw again before backing up and shaking her head.

“You hurt her, just because you’re too scared to get hurt yourself. I always thought that your kind had hearts, that the stuff humans said about the lot of you not having a soul and missing a heart was more human fiction. Now I know it’s a fact.” She turned around and started walking before stopping, a pinched expression appearing on her face.

“Stay away from her.” A roar filled the room as Mason stood.

“She’s mine.”

“She’s her own person and she’s tired of being used like a fucking condom!” My eyebrows shot up in shock. She never cursed.

“She. Is. Mine.” He snarled and she turned back around.

“Not anymore.”

“Mine!!” He roared and a blur shot to him, Cella, holding her arm out and looking at him.

“You’ve used her for the last time. I’ll be damed if I ever fucking let you touch her or use her again!” Lina snarled, turning and storming out of the cafeteria leaving us all stunned.

I groaned and rubbed my temples, the sheer brightness of Eternal was killing me. Today was the day they’d chosen for practice, a fucking friday night when the day had been so boringly uneventful.

“Focus Luna.” Mother Moon tsked, all the while throwing more obstacles at me. I stood straight and analyzed everything in front of me, we’d been placed in a simulator room to match our strnegths and display our weaknesses. The rooms fed off of your fears and launched them at you in a way to strengthen even the weakest fighter. I analyzed the electronic dummies in front of me, watching for any hint of what they might be before the simulation started. I crinkled my brow in frustration. What’s the give, my wolf snarled and a small part of me chuckled. It’s what gives, I told her before watching the enemy.

“Ready? Begin.” The room darkened and I pulled on my wolf and Red Luna powers, together they would help ensure victory. The dummies moved around, controlled by the power of the Gods’, as if they were actual enemies and crouched and jumped and hid. My wolf picked up on movement from left and right so I jumped, avoiding a dual attack. Using earth I encased both of them in a rock and picked up the rock before slamming it down on the ground, knowing nothing survived that. I stood proudly before my wolf snarled. There were three, at that I narrowed my eyes. I remembered three too. Then the smell hit me, strong and pure. The scent of blood, not any blood but Ander’s blood. My eyes turned red and I turned towards the smell and clenched my fists. The dummie stood with a knife in Ander’s side, my fangs popped out. I watched as the life fled from Ander’s eyes and his body sagged to the ground. I ran to the dummy head on, grabbed his head and flipped over snapping his neck and removing it from his body. Using fire I set the dummy on fire and refused to look at him.

“End the simulation.” I huffed, not wanting to show my emotion.

“You haven’t finished-”

“Please.” My voice cracked, I’d kick myself for that later but I needed to get out. The room lightened and she stood in front of me, her eyes worried and bright.

“Luna are you-”

“You had no right, you know that? No fucking right to involve him in this!” Her face hardened and her eyes darkneed slightly, she didn’t like cursing but I gave not one fucking shit.

“They’re going to be in the war, Luna, you can’t stop that.”

“The hell I can’t! He will be safe, my family will be safe. And if you even THINK about fucking with them, you’ll have a greater war on your hands.” With that I walked past her, not touching or looking at her.

“Simulator door open.” I said before stepping out and into Eternal.

I teleported back as soon as I was out the gates and landed in my dark room, not even the moon offered enough light to illuminate it in the slightest. She was probably pissed at me, but as of now I didn’t care. I needed to find Ander, he was my only obligation. I opened the window and hopped out, walking down the worn path between me and Ander’s house. I looked up at his window and used air to lift me, I opened his window knowing it was never locked and stepped into his room. Arms immediately encased around me and my wolf popped through my anger. His hand cupped the back of my head and his lips slammed down onto mine. I didn’t fight it, knowing this would calm us both so long as it didn’t go too far. I gripped his shirt and kissed him back with just as much fervor, revelling in the feel of my mate. His arms tightened around my waist and he pushed me into the wall, none too gently. I moaned and arched into him, never breaking from his lips, biting his lip softly. He growled and pinched the little skin that was exposed making my wolf howl in pleasure. He lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist on pure instinct. When his hardness poled through his pants and his mouth trailed down my neck I pulled out of my stupor, gulping against the feel of him being so close to me.

“Ander.” I whispered, arching against him as he pinched my hip and bit my neck at the same time. He growled in warning.

“No words.” His wolf growled into my head and my wolf happily agreed. He walked to the bed and flopped us onto the bed with me straddling him. He lifted my shirt with his fingers gently, making me shudder in ecstasy. My hands trailed down his chest and to his abdomen, rising his shirt a little and letting my self live in the feel of his quivering belly. I sat up, running my fingers through my hair and settling my butt over his arousal knowing I was playing with fire. I looked into the eyes that I loved so much and my eyes flashed back to them lifeless and his body sagging. He shot up and cupped my cheek, his eyes searching mine.

“Don’t think about that. Whatever it is, take it out of your head. Here, it’s just me and you.” Those words brought light through the fog and I squeezed my eyes closed, my face scrunching as he peppered it with feathery kisses.

“It’s not me and you, it’s never been me and you.” No, my wolf howled fighting at me to get out. He stilled with his lips still on my throat.

“It’s you and Karen, it’s wrong for me to intervene.” He stayed silent, his hand cupped to my cheek and his breathing heavy and steady on my throat.

“If that’s what you really believe,” he said after awhile “then go.” His eyes looked up to mine and they were human, not wolf; I saw the pain the wolf hid and the human soaked in. I nodded and wiggle off his lap, not sparing another look, but knowing he watched me the entire time, as I hopped out the window and ran back to my house. I climbed up the wall and into my room. I didn’t bother taking off my  clothes before flopping on my bed. I heard a squeak and at up, seeing the cover lift and a halo of reddish brown hair being revealed.

“What are you doing here Libby?”

“I was waiting for you to come home… because I couldn’t sleep.” Her voice hiccuped and I knew she’d been crying. Join the club pup, my wolf whined before howling again. I gathered her in my arms and comforted her while she cried, listening to her woes and trying desperately to forget mine.

I woke with a snoring pup in my ear and a hell of a headache. Snapping my eyes opened I shoved her head away from me gently, noticing how she kicked my shin before turning around and taking the comforter with her. I rolled out of the bed and stretched, forgetting I had trained yesterday and winced as my muscles strained. I walked out of her room, opening and closing the door carefully and quietly before walking out. I trudged my feet down the hall and to the stairs, getting a grip on the handle before walking down the stairs.

“I don’t want to hear it Jesse!” I heard Anna scream and almost turned around and walked back up the stairs. Yet my feet had a mind of their own and continued to carry me down the stairs and into the living room.

“Anna, can you just listen for two seconds!!?? It isn’t my fault-”

“It’s never your fault Jesse and I’m getting tired of it! The people around you are forced to make sacrifices and deal with whatever it is you feel like giving them and they’re never allowed to complain about it because then you’ll throw a god damn hissy fit!” She screamed, picking up a couch pillow and throwing it at his head. It hurt, I know it did, but he did a good job at maintaining a straight face.

“I know and I’m sorry-”

“Not tis fucking time, I’m not going to sit here and be a good obedient little mate while you go off fucking whatever human pleases you!”

“Only you!” He roared and she quieted, looking stunned at the volume.

“Sweet God, it’s always been you Anna. You’re just so fucking blind that you never see it! You never saw how much I cared about nd loved you when we were kids. You blew me off all the time and I guess I got sick of it. Those human girls, they don’t mean half as much as you’ll ever mean to me.”

“Yeah, but she said-”

“She stole a potion from a Fey, she slipped it into a drink she gave me and it clouded my senses that day. It rendered me unable to say anything against her. I was, essentially, a puppet. None of what she did that day would’ve been done had I had control over myelf.” There wasn’t a lie in his words, but then again there wasn’t a  lie in hers when she said they’d slept together. Anna picked up on that thought and her eyes hardened.

“But you fucked her.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.

“Once, yes. That was the time she was referring to, she knew she couldn’t outright lie. We were together once, but that was in the past and it was before you found out. I never slept with her or any human again after that.” Her resolve was dying and her wolf wanted so badly to go to the mate that finally wanted them as much as they wanted him. But she was Anna, and she was stubborn.

“No. I’m not doing this. I’m not taking a chance on you, and then have myself shot down. Not again.” She took a step back, a cautious one, but kept her eyes on his. She was Luna, and she was challenging the Alpha; daring him to stop her. I felt his wolf stir through the lines and tugged on them, reigning in his wolf and stopping him from doing something stupid. After a second more he shook his head and turned away, storming past her without touching or looking at her. He slammed the door closed and we heard as his footsteps pounded away from the house.

“Why?” I raised a brow and crossed my arms, cocking a hip on the banister.

“Why what?”

“Why does it hurt? Why do I feel like this?” I didn’t have to tap into her wolf to see how she felt, I’d felt it yesterday leaving Ander’s room. Complete heart break.

“Because you’re stubborn and scared… those two things together are bound to cause heartbreak and disaster.” I got off the last stair and walked past her into the kitchen, where I sat and ate my banana in stubborn fear.

I stayed inside for most of the day. I took a bowl of fruit up to my room, I think now would be a good time to state I have a strange love and devotion towards fruit. It doesn’t matter what it is, I love them all and without them in my life Im pretty sure I would’ve killed everybody. I watched movies and tv shows all day, knowing that it’d be the only real day I’d have to relax. I loved Saturdays. They were the days I could act like a regular shifter and eat fruit and watch whatever I wanted without having to worry about the whole of shifter nation. Eventually Jesse came into my room, he was sweaty and his eyes were dark but his body screamed exhaustion. He flopped on my bed next to me and shoved his face into a pillow before screaming in aggravation.

“It’s a good screaming pillow, you made an excellent choice.” I said without taking my eyes off the television. His face stayed in it for a while before he sat up and sighed.

“Want a grape?” I asked after a couple of silent moments filled with recorded laughter and cheesy jokes. He shrugged and took a handful.After a few more moments Cara drifted in and sat by my feet. She reached into my fruit bowl and took out an apple, biting into it before laying down and stretching out. Lina and Alissa were the next ones to fill the room, both sitting on the floor by the foot of the bed. They came with popcorn and I crikled my brow before realizing it was unseasoned. Since werewolves, and all shifters, had sensitive pallets we couldn’t really eat the pre seasoned stuff because it was way too much for us. They put the bowl on the bed and I grabbed a handful, popping them in my mouth with some strawberries. Aubrey came in with Libby on her back, both smiling with Aubrey carrying a huge bag of m&m’s. Libby sat on Jesse’s lap, stealing some of his grapes and popcorn. He didn’t mind, he never minded anything she did. The whole family had gathered in my room and I rolled my eyes but not daring to say anything. It was rare we were able to really spend time with each other in the house other than eating. A nice day, my wolf sighed and stretched out, for once.

    Sundays were a rough time in the Green house, everybody was struggling to do something. Whether it was homework, housework, or mental work we all tried our best. For the most part i was quiet, until about 12:00 pm. Then, everybody woke up and crank fest was started. They’d all fallen asleep on my bed, every last one of my siblings, and I’d been forced to stay quiet and still while they all slept around me. There was an arm draped around my torso, a leg wrapped around my arm, and someone’s hair was dangerously close to getting in my mouth/ I couldn’t fucking tell whose it was because everybody here has red hair. My wolf sighed and settled in, knowing that not much would wake or deter them as they slept. Using some of my magic I turned on the tv, knowing it would be awhile before anyone of them woke up. I watched tv in silence, not daring to move becaus eI knew if there was even the slightest bit of disturbance one would wake up; then there would be a chain reaction. Nobody wanted that. I laughed internally if I found something funny and all was well. Until a faint breeze blew my curtains slightly; with the breeze came the scent of blueberry waffles and I groaned. This would not end well for anyone. I heard one nose sniff and then a frazzled head poked up.

“Waffles?” She asked, her voice husky with sleep.

“Blueberries…” Someone moaned in their sleep before popping up too. Alissa’s eyes were wide and her wolf was present. She loved blueberries. It was controlled enough, there was a sensible person awake so maybe-

“Bacon?” Libby questioned, hearing the sizzle and smelling the sweet smell of hickory bacon. Then it was all out war to see who could get down stairs the fastest. I grunted as a foot connected with my stomach in effort to jump over them all. I sat and watched in amusement as hair was tugged and limbs were pulled, resulting in Lina getting out the door first. There was no assuring that she would be the first down stairs though. That was more amusing than any television, her wolf mumbled. Using her magic she envisioned herself downstairs and she was there, her legs crossed and sitting on the table facing the entrance.

“It’s not fair to cheat that way, Luna.” Her mother said softly, scolding softly with a smile. Libby ran into the kitchen, her eyes amber and bright as she assesed the situation. The rest of the siblings ran behind her, their eyes all mirroring their wolves.

“About time you all got here, I’ve been waiting for hours.” I said, rolling my eyes and smirking at them all.

“We can never win with you and your powers!” Libby growled softly, her tone looked joking but her face looked lethal.

“Got that right, now mom’s made waffles. I say we eat them, calmly-” she was interrupted when they all attacked the pile of bacon that had already piled up. How she manages to make so much before we smell, her wolf said lovingly, I’ll never know.

    I drifted away from my family, knowing what I needed to do and what would need to be done. I walked behind the house and shifted into my wolf form, relishing in the feel of being in my fur, and looked att he world through new eyes. The green in the trees seemed to pop more than they did when it was just Luna looking through. The moss on the trees smelled like heaven on Earth to me as I walked forward and closed my eyes. I let myself get familiar with the scents and sounds of the world around me before I walked further into the forestation. I would bump into the other victors, eventually. Since it was Sunday, we saw to it that we would start the week on a peaceful basis. What better way to ensure peace than to go fo a nice long run? As my wolf began to pad through the forest, our feet hitting the soft Earth and leaving behind paw prints, I let down my barriers and relaxed. I knew of all the stress I would be going through throughout the week, I had been feeling like somethign horrific was going to happen at any moment, so I decided to just not think about it. Today was my day, one of the only days I would get to relax and be wolf. The forestation led to an open clearing that would lead to yet another ghetto. Technically speaking, Hell’s Gate was supposed to had been bordered up like every other ghetto.

   But, since it was Hell’s Gate and since we were victors…. we honestly didn’t give a shit. A tigress burst from the forestation next to me, running straight into the clearing and leaping into the vast selection of lilies. She rolled around and lifted her belly to the sun and relished in the feel of her fur. I heard a caw from the sky and looked up to see Evangeline in her eagle form, strong and proud and sailing through the air. Soon, all the victors ran into the clearing, creating one huge puppy pile; until the only one left out of it was me. A bear chuffed and we saw Ursula look at us, her paw on her nose and a playful look in her eyes. We didn’t talk through the link, not like this. Not on Sunday’s. Today we would be as animal and free as we could be. I lolled my tongue out and ran to the pile, leaping and soaring through the air to land on them all and howled in happiness as the animalistic groans grew louder and louder; surrounding me with love and hope.

When I awoke the next day it was with a pep in my step, ready to face the world and all who opposed me. I even took the time to blow dry my hair. Then I pouted in the mirror for five minutes at the huge fluff of hair I had created. I grumbled and contemplated wetting it again just so I could slick it into a ponytail.

“Hye, Luna...Oh.” Cara said, bouncing in my room only to stop and put her hand over her mouth at my apperance. I threw her a murderous look and snarled at her cute little bun. MY hair would never fit into a bun in this state, it would never fit into ANY thing in this state.

“Do you… do you want my help, or-”

“Leave.”

“Yeah, gotcha.” She left, but only in a group of giggles that made me send a flicker of heat to her thigh. She yelped and I snorted, then looked back at the mirror. I bit my lip and conjured a thick green head band. I’d make this work. I looked at my dark rinse skinny jeans and green baby doll top and sighed deeply. If anyone said anything, I could always make sure they had no hair.

I pulled my helmet off and unzipped my leather jacket, putting them both into their compartments before taking out my books and walking into the school. Izzy sidled next to me and cocked a brow at my hair and hand band but looked away and hummed to herself. My eyes flicked above her head and I saw the shifter watching her with his eyes intently, all while his girlfriend, her twin, was talking animatedly to him. My lips quirked and I fought the urge to touch her to see what the future would hold. She’d made me promise years ago that I wouldn’t go ‘That’s So Raven’ on her. And, well, when anybody refers to something like that it’s hard not to meet their request. That and she kinda sorta had me tackled and in a chokehold. One that, I like to tell myself, I could’ve gotten out of. I looked back to her and realized something that made me stop in my tracks. I eyed her outfit and looked at her with wide eyes, almost dropping my books. She had on her power outfit, and her fingers were squeezed tight around her books. She smiled but it was a tense and twitchy one that didn’t really reach her eyes.

“Oh, you gotta tell me who it is!” I squealed, getting closer to her in an attempt to make the conversation more personal. Her eyes flared  and my wolf growled slightly in approval and took the hint, making me give her a little bit more space.

“You know that’s not how I operate, Luna.” She said tightly and my eyes widened.

“Whoever the fuck pissed you off that much deserves it.” I said after a while and started to walk, knowing that she probably wouldn’t follow me today.

Izzy had a reputation that she wasn’t ashamed of hiding and made sure that everyone knew what she was capable of. At a young age, we had become friends. The pigtails and freckles threw me off from the strong look that was in her eyes, even back then. When the humans found out about us, her family and a select few others didn’t freak. If anything, they were the only humans we really bonded with. When I met with the other victors they sought to separate us, but she was my best friend and I wanted to make sure she would be protected. The humans that fought by us and for us were often singled out by the human community and could never really be accepted by the were community. I took her and her family under my wing, and in turn they had the protection and loyalty of the victors. That came with a few perks. All of the McReery children were trained as the packs were trained, to portect theirself from any foe human or not.

When the humans at the school discovered that, not only Izzy but the whole family had been trained and were close friends with the shifters, they sought to make their lives hard. Izzy grew to be tough, fighting for her family at every turn and never listening to the harsh words and judgement that was tossed her way. To this day, she still socks people in the mouth if they even so much as look like they’re about to say something idiotic about her family or friends. I turned and looked back and saw her looking at her twin… well her twin and the shifter. I sighed deeply and focused slightly. I could see the invisible line that entwined them together and smiled softly. They were mates, the line a clear blue indicating that they were true soul mates. I looked to the odd couple and cocked my head when I saw the string that twined the shifter with Bella. It was pale orange, they were something and were meant to be in each other’s lives. Just not the way Bella had wished.

Bella had always been the difficult one. She participated and was enthused when we trained together and we used to be friends. She just idolized looks and boys more than loyalty and love. Once she finished training, it was like she put make up and an airy smile over everything she had become. She didn’t want to have the responsibility that came with being on our side of things, and nobody blamed her. And she knew they didn’t.

“Oy, you!” I heard someone yell and looked up and away from the link, willing the power away, to see Anna charging at me.

“Where’s your brother, your stupid idiotic brother!?” She asked, pointing her finger and glaring at me.

“If you don’t know, I don’t know.” That was a lie, a butter thick lie, but I wasn’t going to tell her. She’d have to tap in to him and see, something I knew she didn’t want to do.

“Do you really wanna test me right now, Rosa? Is that something you think would be smart?” She growled, her wolf shimmering in her blue eyes. I hugged my books closer to my body and shrugged loosely.

“You don’t look like much, I’m sure I could take you.” I said cheerily, adding a small little smile at the end. She snarled and punched me in the gut, making me drop my books and fly into the stairs. Something cracked, I heard it, but all the pain seemed to be in my gut.

“Where. Is. He?” She snarled softly, her eyes going completely amber.

“Now see,” I groaned, standing up and rubbing my sore abdomen “ya didn’t have to do that.” I whined, my eyes going amber too.

“I don’t want to do this with you wolf, I just want to know where he is.” She growled at me, it coming out in a roar instead of how she probably meant to say it.

“Do it yourself!” I yelled, my rage lashing out and shutting her up. I was more dominant, and my rage was too potent even if I wasn’t angry. It shut everyone up actually, and made everyone look down.

“You are Luna, you are Alpha! You are Omega! You are the best of both worlds and people should fear you, and they do Anna! They fear your strength because you are the first anomaly of the new race. Born of Alpha, blood of Omega, and mate to Alpha. Take pride in that, do not put one side of you down simply because you believe it isn’t strong. Let it grow. Jesse is Alpha, yes, he is more dominant yes, but do you know what else he is?” She looked up then, tears shimmering in her eyes as she shook her head. This was what I wanted, this was the girl I should’ve seen ten years ago instead of the way too tough one. I stepped closer and put my hand on her cheek, a soothing touch. She shuddered in a breath and leaned into the hand. I smiled and used my magick. It wasn’t me that held her cheek, it was Jesse. His eyes were shocked and tired, but more than ever they were relieved. Her blue eyes locked onto his and it happened, what I’d been working towards for ten fucking years.

The link between them connected and snapped, blue met green and mixed to make the brightest thickest link I’d ever seen. Vulnerability met strength, and courage met fear. They completed each other, and I watched as their souls filled each others; giving what the other needed to be strong.

“He’s your mate, Anna. He’s there to protect, to pick up the pieces, and to love; and it isn’t because he’s an Alpha’s do. It’s because he-”

“Loves you.” He broke in, their eyes not leaving each others. More tears flew to her yes and she stepped closer, nudging her cheek deeper into his cheek.

“I love you, Anna. I’ve loved you since we were ten. I loved you the minute I saw how brave and strong you are, I loved you the minute you saw me for what I was and didn’t laugh or pick at me. I’ve been waiting for what feels like a lifetime, watching you pick up the responsibilities of a Luna but not picking up what you needed most. I’ve watched for ten years, pining after you and knowing that you didn’t feel the way I did and I would have to wait a little longer for that. But I was fine with that, and would you like to know why?” She nodded slowly and there was silence. They stared at each other for a minute before she smiled a watery smile and laughed an airy smile.

“Because you knew you’d have me… And you did, and you do!” Without another word they locked lips and the link pulsated, shining a brilliant blue so bright I blocked off the sight. The humans had looked up and had watched it all, some of the girls cried while the boys just watched in boredom. My eyes snapped to Izzy and I saw her gritting her teeth while she looked at the ground, she was never one for mushy stuff.

“Congratulations Luna, you finally hooked them together.” Filly said through the link.

“Now all that’s left is to fix you and your boyfriends link, and you’ll be normal.” Leotis said dryly. Without even getting ruffled I threw him a mental picture of what Filly dressed like for Halloween last year and shut down the link.

 

 

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THANK YOU GUYS FOR BEARING WITH ME ON THIS!!! I've been having loads of compute problems lately, and I've been completely swamped with summer work which isn't fun. *SOBS* SAVE ME FROM ALL THE AP CLASSES, PLEASE!!! Anywhoberries, I hope this is hefty enough for y'all, I'm typing up more and more daily which is really god for my muse which has been dying under all the essays and writing assignments tht prohibit any use of werewolves, fey, Red Luna's and well... any and everything else that go bump in the night! Now, I've got a little favor to ask from all my fans out there! Like I've said, my muse has been getting a lot of critical hits from essays and all that boring non-fictional stuff, so throwing some ideas my way would be greatly appreciated! Just send me a message, or write it on my wall; now that my computer seems to be in working shape, I should be checking this daily and posting weekly with high hopes.

Never fear, though, my muse isn't completely out of the match yet. I've got  couple twists and turns up my sleeves, I just need y'all to hold on for the ride!! 

Happy Reading!! ~A

Chapter 14

The day was almost over and I’d managed to get past the disdainful glares of the teachers I didn’t do homework for… all of them, really. And I had my last class to teach, the only thing that sucked about Monday classes were that I was to teach them with Ander. After changing into my dancing clothes and putting my fluffy hair into a messy bun I stretched while the class came in. Ander was the last to join, basketball shorts and a t-shirt on, and his face was bright and carefree. I sighed in relief, happy that I wouldn’t feel like death throughout this class.

“You’re all welcome to finish up on your routines, next week we will be displaying them and you will be graded for the semester. For those that are finished, you can get started on next semester’s genre: Hip Hop.” There were a few groans but some people looked enthused.

“It shouldn’t be that hard, really. Since most of you were able to keep up with the foxtrot, salsa, and tango you should be able to perform hip hop without a problem.” Ander said, crossing his arms and leaning back on the desk that neither of us used. I nodded and stepped forward.

“Now, how many of you are finished with your projects?” All of them raised their hands and my eyes widened.

“You all must’ve been busy throughout the weekend.” Ander chuckled, making the class chortle.

“So I guess we’ll start the hip hop section early. Males with Ander, females with me.” I said before going to the half of class that I’d picked for the females. They lined up and I assessed them and pouted slightly.

“You, go to the males… you too.” They were skilled dancers and I knew they would prefer to be on the male side. As they walked over to his side, I received three boys who looked disturbed they were elected. Me and Ander walked back to the middle of the class, careful not to touch each other and looked at the class.

“We’re going to do the full dance, then we’ll break it down. When the new semester starts, you’ll have two weeks to come up with changes to the choreography. Then after that, like witht he foxtrot, you’ll be creating your own dance. Got it?” Sounds of approval met my ears and I clicked play on the radio. We went to the middle of the room, between the male and femal groups and started to dance to Grind On Me. We moved in synchrony and watched each other in the mirrors located in the front of the class. The groups cheered as we moved seductively and smoothly, until the song was over. We smiled and stopped, the music cut off and we looked at the class.

“Now, let’s break it down shall we?” Ander said, rubbing his hands together with a smile.

My spirits were lifted generally higher after that dance class. She’d expected him to be in a pissy mood, and as delighted to find him lauging and joking with the students. He even sent me a small private smile. I pressed the gas hrder on the cycle and stopped myself from squeling like a school girl. Then, suddenyl because she just loved being morose, my wolf sent a feeling of despair to me. I looked at what she was pointing in my direction and my heart crumbled. I had only been looking at the outside, not the inside. On the outside he was smiling and laughing and cheering on the class, but on the inside he and his wolf had howled in anger and pain. He’d been hurting right in front of me, and instead of me noticing I fell for the act he and his sister were all too good at playing. My wolf howled in pain and anger and I fought hard not to howl with her

“Meeting.” A thought was whispered into my head and I knew it was from Mother Moon. I grit my teeth and fought to keep bad words from my thought process. She got bitchy about suff like that, no pun intended. Hard pun intended actually, my wolf growled. I prepared myself for the blinding brutality that was Eternal.

We all arrived together,not that I expected anything less. But what I hadn’t been expectig was for us all to be dressed in white. The girls were clothed in white toga dresses, and the boys were dressed in white flowing pants and a loose cotton shirt.

“What’s with the get up?” Ursula growled, lifting the fabric up slightly o inspect it.

“No clue, Ursy, they rarely dress us up anymore.” I sighed, crossingmy arms and looking around. Vast emptiness surrounded us. So we weren’t in anyone’s domain, particularly. Which was weird to say the least.

“But when they do-” Evangeline started

“It normally means they’re expecting company.” Leotis finished, sounding a little more than tense at the situation.

“Always were the smart cookie, weren’t you?” Felicia’s voice came before they all mteriaized in front of us.

“Who could you be expecting that you dresse us up for so fancily.” I asked, my head cocking in confusion.

“Pretty sure that’s not a word.” Leo said, sounding amused..

“Well, I’m pretty sure you’r pretty sure about a lot othings there blondie. Now,who are we meeting today oh powerful ones?”

“You’re meeting-”

“Me.”

We all sucked in gasps and took a step back as a tiny woman walked past all of the other Gods and Godesses to stand in front of us. Her hair, deep mahogany with almost every other color running trough it was curly nd untamed and moved slightly as she analyzed us all. Her deep green eyes lit up as she smiled and pread her arms.

“Come now, enough with this Eternal brightness. Welcome to my domain.” Slowly the brightness dulled and faded to a vibrant andlush green as wewere surrounded by trees and shrubbery. We all stared in shock and awe as she sat on the groun in fron of us, not worried about her nudity, and crossed her legs elegantly.

“Now, I’m sure you’re all wondering why I asked them to summon the lot of you?” She asked gently, folding her hands primly and smiling a soft smile.

“I think you have them star struck, Mother.” Felicia said with a belittlig smile on her lips.

“Oh, is this form too much? I did try to blend with them.” She looked genuinely perturbed and that bothered me something fierce.

“This is their first time meeting you… in the flesh, as it seems, Mother.” Leo  said with a smirk before shifting into his lion form and settling down nextto her and nuzzling her leg. A soft motherly smile lfted her lips and brightened her lips as she stroked his mane lovingly.

“I am Gaia.” That sentence made me choke on the air I’d been holdig in my lungs. I put my hand on my throat and looked at her.

“You’ve got to be shitting me.”

“Luna!” Mother Moon yelled, her eyes turning a deathly black and making my wolf cringe.

“Calm now, Lupa. If I remember correctly, you used to be a little spitfire.”

“But not to you, Mother.”

“Oh, my dear. Especially to me, and when it came to those pups of yours. If I can remember, all of you were quite touchy about your young.”

“Their what now?” Evangeline asked for all of us, her wide eyes taking in everything.

“Their young. Never let me get that close to them, guess that didn’t work that well, am I right?” She laughed a musical laugh that, to my wolf, sounded like soft rain on high leaves. She stopped laughing when she realized the tension in the domain. Understanding filled her face and she stopped petting Leo, who had gone completely still.

“Oh, they didn’t know.” She whispered, biting her lip and looking to her children.

“What don’t we know?” Filly asked lowly, watching all the Gods carefully. All was silent until Gaia sighed deeply and a breeze went over us all.

“Why any of you are in the predicament that you’re in now. I suppose I could tell you all, since they’ve neglected to.”

“Before humans, when only my true children roamed the earth, the Gods and the Godesses were like you. They had the ability to shift between forms. Animal and man. They were very much like all of you, they had mates and they had pups. Before they were immortal, they led mortal lives. Then when the dawn of the pure human came, and I called them to their thrones, they were forced to leave their children behind in the mortal realm. Quickly my grandchildren populated and they did as they were bid to do, but the humans began to notice the difference. They noticed that they were not the strongest force in nature, that there were stronger better beings out there. They did , and reacted, as any species that was in danger would do. They fougt for their lives. At first it was a couple of deaths per year, but then they discovered the weaknesses and exploited them.

My grandchildren were strong, but not strong enough to fight a foe that had th numbers and a deadly weapon on their side. So I called upon my children to do something, anything, to help give those in the mortal realm a fighting chance. And so they did. They called on their children, the strongest of the litter, to fight. They knew that their children would be the strongest, because their children had true blood in them. Blood directly descending from Gaia. They equipped their children with the tools necessary to win the fight, and sent them into battle.  My grandchildren fought the good fight and kept the were society safe. And so it was doctrined, that if there were ever a time of need in the were nation, the children of the Gods would be called upon to keep them safe.” Gaia looked to all of us, that motherly smile still in place.

“And so it was done.”

“Hold the fuck up, lady.” I growled, steping forward ad putting my hand up “Arer you tellig me what I think you’re telling me?” A delicate brow raised and she watched me.

“What do you think I’m telling you?”

“That I’m her kid? Because my mom would have a few choice words and stretch marks to prove you wrong?”

“Ah, Molly. She was alway so strong.” A tick went off under my right eye and I grit my teeth.

“No, you’re not her pup. Little one.” I crinkled my brow and stepped back, my mind working in overdrive.

“Oh Godess.” Filly whispered and fell to her knees, cradling her abdomen. Leotis was next to her in seconds, holding her close. She looked up at him before looking to the rest of the victors.

“We’re not us. That’s what she’s saying.”

“What do you mean we’re not us? We are us, always have been. We’re the victors. You’re Felicia, he’s Leotis, and I’m LunaRosa. That’s who we are.” She shook her head and looked to Gaia.

“Holy Godess. We’re them, that’s what she’s saying Luna!” Evangeline yelled, her breathing speeding up as shepaced in a small circle.

“No, we’re not them! We’re us damn i!!!” I boomed, fire coming from my pores.

“The children of the Gods would be called upon to keep them safe, and so it was done.” Leotis whispered into Filly’s hair.

“No.”

“Luna.”

“Fucking NO! OK, I’ve been through way too much for you to sit there and tell me that I’m not me! I am LunaRosa Green, Red Luna, eldest sister, and Luna to the Engand pack!! I AM ME!!” I yelled, tears burning my eyes more than the fire coming from my finger tips.

“Are you really?” Gaia asked softly, her eyes imploring and drilling holes into mine.

“Yes!”

“And how long have you been Red Luna for?” She asked softly, and without thinking my lips parted and I answered.

“Since the first war!” I gasped and put my hand over my mouth, my eyes widened and I fell to y knees. Gaia nodded and stood before walking to me. She placed a kiss to my forehead and whispered something and I felt something lift off my shoulders.

“LunaRosa, meet the Red Luna.”

A girl stood in front of me, her eyes vibrant and as brown as bark, her hair long and black and her skin as pale as snow. She smiled slightly and knelt in front of me, her hand raising up to stroke my cheek.

“You’re very strong, gotta give it to you.” I gasped and her smile widened.

“Sound familiar?” Mother Moon asked and we both looked up.

“That’s why she’s always sounded so mature? My wolf was, is, her?”She nodded and her eyes warmed as she looked to her daughter. My heart twisted for her, knowing that she had to be seperated from her child to protect the rest of her race must’ve been pure hell for her.

“You could be easier on her, just a little. She has’t exactly had a walk in the park up here.” The girl said, her eyes full of unshed tears but still managing to twinkle. I looked around and saw that the other victors were talking with their animal sides too.

“Luna?” My attention shifted back to the girl and she smiled tightly.

“Things are going to get harder, a lot harder, and I need you to stay strong. And I know it’s hard, I do. I was chosen before I got the chance to meet my mate, so I have no idea how you’re feeling or what you’re going through. But you need to be strong, and you need to be resilient. Your reservations are smart, even though they hurt you and him. Your pack, and your people, need you to be the best you can be for the war. It’s coming, and it’s coming sooner than any of us are ready for. We need to be prepared and I need to trust that you can handle it. Just say the word and I’ll switch to someone else. You are not indebted to anyone here and ou don’t owe anyone anything. Your happiness and stability come first.” Her eyes searched mine, serious and intense now that the emotio had gottn out of the way. A big part of me was thrilled that someone had finally considere how I felt about everything, and I wanted to snatch that opurtunity and run home with it. It was my golden ticket to everything. Ander, pups, being a proper Luna to a pack. This was what I needed.

But it wasn’t right, and with tight lipped regret I told her I could handle it. I told her that I was fine and I wasn’t as fragile as she had thought. Doubt ran through her facial expressions before she quickly swiped it away.

“Then fighting with you shall be a pleasure.” She said before standing and turning to talk to her mother. I blacked them out and thought of what a huge mistake I had just made.. Istayed that way until Gaia called our attention with a snap of her fingers.

“Now then, slight hiccup has been cured, let’s get to why I called you all here. The war. NormallyI don’t get involved in wars, chosing to stay out and let fate roll its dice, but there are too many shifters involved this time for me not to. I know you’re all wondering when the war will start and the answer is, I don’t know. I do not have the gift of foresight I gave to them. All I can tell you is when you will get the first sign that the war is coming. As, I’m sure, at least one of you noticed one God is missing a victor.” My hackles bristled and I shifted on my feet. “Belbus, he was the only one that didn’t have any pups. He was the only child that did not live like the mortals lived in the aspect of love and repopulation. That being said, it was doctrined that the children of the Gods were to fight. So he’s had to find one, one of pure blood an one of unquestionable strength. Needless to say it’s bee harder than he thought. Once that child is chosen…. training will intensify and the others you need will flock t you.”

“Others?” Ursula asked, her blonde hair serving as a curtain in front of her face.

“You didn’t think that I would let my grandchildren go in this alone. As the creator, I have a few choice creations that Ithink would do beautifully this round. The war will happen two months after the child has been found.”

“Two months? It took us ten years to be as lethal as we are. You’re dumping this weight on one shifter, a heyena at that, and giving us only two months with it. That’s not fair, or possible.” Leotis brsistled, squeezing Filly cloer to him. She put her hand on his arm to calm him, but didn’t take her eyes off of Gaia.

“I think you doubt the power of the Gods. After this long, haven’t you learned it’s never wise to do that.” She scolded softly with a kind smile.

“No, he’s right. How are we supposed to pull that kind of power out of our asses?” Evangeline asked, her feather slightly less ruffled but she still looked upset.

“You forgot that you have the aid of true blood on your side. You are all strong, that’s why you were chosen. I have absolute faith in you. It’s my son that I don’t trust. He’s never really been good at picking them.”

“Never really been good at the God thing either.” Mother Moon mumbled and I felt a slight giggle go through me but made sure it stayed quiet.

“Wait, wait, wait. Lemme make sure I got the flavor of the kool aid right. The war is coming, soon, and it could happen any minute, and we’re all supposed to rely on Belbus?” Ursula asked, crossing her arms and stepping forward. She looked lethal, about to explode.

“To all of those things yes, I do not doubt any of you. With the aid of the dark children, this war should be won.” Her smile dimmed slightly and her eyes grew serious again.

“After the war ends, after you’ve all done what needs to be done… you will all die.”

“Excuse me?” I squeaked, fear spiking my heart and stinging my eyes.

“The Red Luna will die, the tigress will die, the lion will die. All of you, once your purpose has been completed. With that I send you all home. It is time for you to sleep.”

I woke with a start, my hair wild and breathing erratical. I looked around and saw that I was surrounded with the familiar scents and colors of home. I blinked once and ran a finger through my wiley hair and took a deep breath. My wolf was sleeping and everything seemed quiet, then what was wrong. My brow furrowed and I fell back down to the comforter only to squeak and sit back up.

“Ander?” He groaned in answer but didn’t wake up. I blinked in confusion and ran my fingers through my hair, lifting it slightly.

“What’s wrong?” He asked groggily, sitting up and watching me with those blue eyes I loved so much. I shook my head with a heavy frown.

“Nothing, just a dream.” I said softly. He watched me a little longer, before his hand moved to rest over my heart.

“This isn’t just a dream. What happened?” He asked softly, scotting closer and lifting me up. He placed me on his lap and I crossed my legs and nuzzled into him. He sighed and put his chin on top of my head.

“What’s wrong?” I didn’t want to tell him. I didn’t want to tell him all we’d learned, didn’t want to tell him that I was going to die at the end of the war. I didn’t want to tell him the truth. So I told him a lie, instead.

“The dreams are just coming back. It was really bad this time.” I closed my eyes and willed it not to smell like a lie, willed myself to believe it was truth to throw him off. He stilled under me, grabbing my wrist gently in his hand. I know what he was feeling for and squeezed my eyes shut, willing my body to react.

“Your heart pulse says differently, Luna. Tell me.” His voice was still soft but it held a stern undercurrent. Think, Luna, think!

“Oh… that’s not because I’m lying… which I’m not… it’s just my body responding to you?”

“Mhmmm, and why was that a question?”

“It wasn’t?” He snorted, but continued to rub my wrist.

“Lying to me is futile, Luna, I thought you would’ve figured that out by now.”

“I thought so too.” I mumbled under my breath and watched as his fingers rubbed slow circles on my wrist. We were quiet for a while, watching as our skin melted together. The skin he touched tingled and left the skin feeling numb, overloaded with the feel of him.

“Evading the truth can only work for so long, and my wolf grows tired of trying to seed out which is which.” My temper flared and my muscles tensed. I hated when he seperated him and his wolf, it made me feel like the human side of him didn’t cared about the human side of me.

“And you?” His fingers stilled on my wrist, right over my pressure point.

“I don’t matter, not in this.”

“And why not, you matter as much as I do in this instance.”

“We have different interests. You, the war… me-”

“Your human.”

“Luna-”

“No, just say it. She is to you as the war is to me.”

“That’s not fair.”

“That’s life, and I’ve adapted. After all, I am a wolf.”

“And wolves prioritize, that’s simply what we’ve both done.” A stab of pain went through me at that moment and I became feral.

“And she, a human female, is more important than your mate?”

“She loves me.” I started but simply bit on my tongue, drawing blood. Saying things like that did nothing but cause problems and complicate things for the both of us.

“It complicates nothing, Luna.”

“No head snooping, it’s rude. And we agreed not to do it.”

“You agreed, I do that thing where you think I’m listening but in all actuality I’m head snooping.” I laughed softly and pinched his finger. He chuckled and grabbed my hand and held it in his.

“We’ve been thinking about what you said.” My brow furrowes and I looked up at him to find his eyes looking at our twined hands.

“What did I say.”

“About the time getting closer, and me needing to move on.” My frown deepened as I thought and I was brought and image from my wolf. “ It’s been long enough.” Was whispered into my head and comprehension brightened my face.

“Oh, Ander, I-”

“No, we’ve been thinking...and you’re right.” I choked on my air supply and my eyes shot up to his. They were watching me intently, wolf like and bright.

“What do you mean I’m right, I’m hardly ever right, I can’t be right.”

“Well this time you are. This time you’re right. I have to let her go.”

“Ander, just listen-”

“I am, I’m finally listening to you-” I cut him off with a kiss that I put my body in to. When I pulled awayI struggled to keep my smirk hidden when his lips followed mine and his hands moved to bring me closer.

“You and her, you’re good together. Great. You’re like a warm vacation to the bahamas.”

“But you and me, we’re the hot sauna in Fiji. I need the heat more.” With that he slammed his lips onto mine and pinned me to the bed in one move, startling a gasp out of me. He took advantage of my open mouth and began his perusal. I whimpered as he bought my body to life and made my heart flutter in my chest. I threaded my fingers through his hair and arched into him, my body aching for him to touch me anywhere.

“I love you, Luna, I love you so much.” He whispered as his lips moved from my mouth and down to my neck. I wiggled under him and moaned softly, rubbing his scalp while his lips and tongue moved on my body. MY heart beat against my ribcage and his hand covered my breast and gave it a firm squeeze.

“I want you.” I clenched my teeth and crossed my eyes at the amount of blinding pleasure.

“This isn’t…. this isn’t right.” I sighed, putting my hand on top of his and lifting it. Confusion and lust lingered in his eyes and he leaned down to kiss me again, I turned my head so he ended up kissing my cheek but that didn’t seem to matter to him. He kissed down my neck, making what I was going to say 5,000 times harder.

“You… you belong to Karen, with her. You’ve been together so long, your smells have entwined. You love her and… you need her more than you need me right now… Gods, Ander stop!” I moaned arched into him as he bit on my neck softly then licked the knick.

“I need you, no one else. I see that now.” I took his face in my hands and stroked his cheek lovingly, sadness taking over, replacing the lust.

“Do you?” His eyes looked vulnerable and questioning as he leaned in to my hand.

“She’s for you. If you want her, keep her.” You sure as hell can’t keep me, I thought sourly and kissed his nose.

“But-” I kissed his lips once to silence him then smiled.

“Sleep, you’re tired.” I said softly and brought his head to my chest. Together, with his arms surrounding me and his taste on my lips, we went to sleep.

This time when I woke, I woke to a pleasent change. Ander had me in his arms and my face tucked into his neck. My wolf sighed contentedly as I nuzzled deeper into his warmth and stole his scent and stored it in my greedy lungs.

“Luna,” Leotis called through the link making me groan/growl at him in my head “your presence is needed.” He sent me a picture of a pissed off Azazil and a feral looking Izzy. With a curse I sat up quickly, jerking myself away from the warmth. He sat up, eyes wide and amber.

“What’s wrong?”

“School, Izzy, Azazil.” I said, running to the bathroom and running my fingers through my bedraggled hair. I brushed my teeth and was happy that I didn’t smell too bad, I didn’t have time for a shower. I yanked on a pair of sweats and a takntop, pulling my hair into a ponytail.

“Want me to meet you there?” He asked as I tugged on a pair of socks and my converse.

“Yeah, I’m zipping though. Not taking my bike, it’s not fast enough.” Giving him an apologetic look before using my magic to zip through the space between the other victors and I. Something we’d learned we  could do last year, we had the power to teleport to each other using the magic we were given. I’d only used it when times called for it, or if I just wanted to be nosy. I appeared next to Leotis and in front of a major stare down.

“Finally you got here, took you ages.” I rolled my eyes at his comment and crossed my arms, looking at the two.

“What’s wrong with them?” I asked, taking in Izzy’s tight body and Azazil’s gritted teeth.

“If I had to guess, I’d say they’re trying not to kill each other.”

“Doing a pretty good job at it, I might add.” Ursula commented, raising a blond impressed brow.

“And how-” before my sentence was finished Izzy closed the space and grabbed Azazil by his head and bought his face to her knee before she elbowed him in the back. With a grunt he fell to the floor, only to lift with a snarl. He kicked her gut and only then I realized we were in front of the school and had quite the audience. The shifter that had been eyeing her all week zoomed to her and helped her up, even after the glare she sent him. She snatched her arm from him and made a bee line toward Azail, only to be yanked back by the shifter. She didn’t do anything but look at him and raise one brow, an Izzy sign for back down and there wil be no pain. He raised one back and moved to tug her, She snarled, something I’m telling myself she didn’t learn from me, and snatched her hand from his and ran toward a smirking Azazil. The shifter was, of course, faster. He grabbed her around her waist and picked her up, grimacing at the kicks and the threats that came his way.

“Just calm the fuck down Isebail!” My eyes widened at the tone, and realized he was an Alpha, the king of his pride. Izzy stilled, but not because the command had any effect on her. It didn’t she had become immune to Alpha commands, if anything they only made her angry. No, this time she stilled at the use of her name. He, stupidly, let her down thinking she listened to his command. All the victors groaned at his stupidity, making him look to us and not see her turn around and deck him.

“Don’t fucking call me that, ass lick.” She hissed before turning to Azazil.

“Now, where were we?” She asked before she cracked her neck and walked to him.

“What’d he do?”

“He’s a demon.” Ursula answered, staring at us all blankly when we looked to her.

“What? Isn’t that reason enough?”

“...It is Izzy we’re talking about.” Evangeline said and we sighed in agreement, the slightest thing could rouse her in to a fight. It made my heart grow with pride, honestly, but it was a ‘bad’ life skill; so I’m told.

“Does anybody know what he actually did to her?” I asked, frowning as Izzy cried her war cry and settled for using her head to attack him.

“Not what he did to her, what he did to her sister.” My nostrils flared and my eyes looked to the demon who stood watching Izzy in amusement.

“What’d he do?”

“He did what demons do best…. enjoy the humans.” A growl slipped though my lips and I broke away from the line of victors and towards Azazil. His smirk went down slightly as his eyes tracked me.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I snarled and narrowed my eyes on him.

“She was willing, it was consensual.” He said, rolling his eyes. The only warning he had was the slight tick below my eye before I punched him in the jaw. I heard something crack and grinned as he popped the bone back in and glared at me with those black eyes.

“All humans, especially the McReery’s, are off limits. Got-” the air kicked out of my lugs as he kicked me in the abdomen. I snarled as I was thrown through the air and into the tree across the yard. I heard something crack, it was either the tree or something in my spine…. probably the tree.

“Aw now… now we fight.” I growled before running to him, only to be picked up by my waist.

“Calm love, you’re allies not enemy.” Ander whispered in my ear, soothing my wolf but not me. I growled and summoned a rock from my earth element into my hand. I tossed it toward Azazil, knowing he was going to catch it then I set it on fire. He cursed and dropped the fiery ball and I picked it up and knocked him upside the head with it.

“You’re still in a human casing, dick weed,” I said, smirking as the humans gasp at my words “you’re as sensitive to heat, disease, and extreme conditioning as the average Joe. Off limits, all of them. Next time you touch one of them,” I tapped Ander’s arm “this won’t be enough to stop me.”

“I thought we had an agreement, Luna dear, we were supposed to be nice to each other.” Abaddon purred, appearing in smoke next to her companinon. Gasps and shrieks came from the humans as they ran into the school for safety. I rolled my eyes and subltey pulled myself away from Ander’s arms but he only squeezed tighter.

“I gave it to Lilith, Abby heart, not to the rest of you. And that was reserved to us, not the humans. Don’t touch them.” I snarled, to which Abaddon huffed to and her nostrils flared.

“You want to get on my bad side, today of all days, bitch?” Ander snarled at the name and my wolf purred in glory.

“I don’t see why not, I get on your nerves every other day. Why should this day be special?” I raised an eyebrow and geared myself for a fight, a proper one. With a snarl she ran at me and I broke out of Ander’s arms to meet her half way, my claws out and my fangs down. She moved to punch me, but I grabbed her hand and twisted, making her yelp before she bought her other hand to my throat and lifted me; her eyes a deep obsidian, she was too far gone for anybody to stop her now. With a howl I kicked her in her stomach, getting no relief from the grimace I got in return. Her hands squeezed around my throat, cutting off my air flow and I threw up a migck barrier; nobody could get in to stop this, this needed to end now but my way.

“He had to be killed.” I choked out, my hand reaching up to grab her wrist and squeeze.

“Fitting, I was just going to say the same about you.” She said calmly, her voice slimey with anger and hatred; but most importantly depression. She missed her mate, her other half, something that demons were rare to do. They didn’t know the true meaning of love, just knew of it. They despised it, but she’d fallen and she’d mated. And I’d taken away what was hers.

When I was little, I used to admire the animal kingdom. The idea of this harsh ecosystem did something to my younger self, the self that craved vengenance and to whom anger was a constant companion. The animal kingdom was always hard and cruel to some animals, making them survive in harsh terrain and weather and making their habitats almost impossible to nurture young. My younger slef craved the violence, craved the harsh kiss of death that was always seen in nature. It wasn’t until I’d gotten older, until I’d been with the victors for a year or two that I started to see the true cruelty of nature. I’d always focused on the harsh reality that nature offered, but never the consequences of these actions. In th nature, it was eat or be eaten; it was also avenge or be avenged. I couldn’t be upset with Abaddon, I couldn’t even force myself to summon my rge on her. She was simply avenging, she was surviving withh the grief that I had forced onto her.

“I killed him,” a silent snarl came from her lips “and you have every right to kill me, avenge what was yours.” Her fingers tightened around my neck and I willed my claws away, pushing my fangs back into my gums. I heard Ander growl and snarl as his wolf clawed at the barrier.

“But you won’t.” I looked in her eyes, completely black, and noted the wetness that was pooling.

“Because for him, for him you were changing. You knew you wouldn’t be excepted there, in the land of hatred, you knew your love would never be as real as you wanted it to be. You were changing for him, and then I took him from you. You weren’t chosen to come, you wanted to come; you wanted to fix what I’d done.” Her lip trembled and her arm shook slightly.

“No, no. That’s not it, is it. You weren’t coming to kill me, you came for something else.” Suddenly I understood. She loved him, with understanding warming my heart I smiled softly.

“You love him, that love that you have is eternal; never mind that everybody thinks you can’t love. You did. You do. You came to change, because that’s what you promise him. You came to show that you loved as strongly as any human or shifter could.” With a sob she dropped me and dropped to the floor on her knees. She gripped the cement, a silent cry ripping from her lips and air coming from her lungs.

“You couldn’t… you couldn’t not come up here.”

“You were young! You didn’t understand, you could never understand! None of them ever did, we were going to get out! We were so close and then you- you took him! You didn’t feel the pain, none of them did none of them could! And you-” She put her hand on her abdomen and cried harder, screaming out her fury. I hadn’t even realized that I’d dropped the barrier until there was a huge wolf between me and Abaddon that was snarling.

“Ander-”

“No, wolf, you crossed the line this time!” He yelled in the pack link, making me wince and step back. The wolf only lowered to the ground and circled Abaddon as she sobbed.

“Leave her alone!” I yelled, walking behind him and moving to stand in front of him to defend her. He growled and stepped to block my path.

“You’ve done enough.” He growled, not looking away from his prey. My ears twitched as a sound caught my ears. It was a slight humming, my brow furrowed before I realized where it was coming from.

“Ander, your chip. Calm down, or they’re going to lock on you and zap you before they retrieve you.” He huffed away my statement, circling his prey and snarling viciously.

“Wolf, take your mate’s advice-” Leotis started before he was cut off with a loud growl in his direction.

“You’re going to get-” Another growl.

“Ander!” He let out a whine and I watched as my mate crumbled in pain.

I sat in the precinct, my foot bouncing and my fingers in between my thighs to stop them from choking someone. After Ander had been zapped, the police came to pick him up and I’d been...contained. I use contain, rather than held in an atmospheric bubble so I couldn’t scratch their eyes out. I grit my teeth as I try to shake off the magic that the other victors had on me. They wouldn’t lift it until I proved I was calm, any other day I could act the part. But not today, not when my mate sat in a cage.

“Green?” I stood at my name and bristled at the look that was thrown my way, my wolf growled internally and I blinked to keep myself stable.

“We can’t release him unless you’re family.” The man drawled, looking me in the eye instead of at his clipboard. I narrowed mine slightly and grit my teeth at the lie.

“Is that really the answer you wanna give me?” I asked, tapping my nose and smirking slightly. Letting him think he was dominant was amusing to me, not necessary to the wolf.

“Fine, we won’t release him unless you’re family. Judging by your last name, I’m gonna assume you’re not.” I sighed and licked my aching canine, it begged to sink in to him.

“His mother is literally two minutes away, can’t you just let him out of the cage?” A little bit of helplessness seeped into my voice and the human smiled, a slow steady smile.

“Sorry, not allowed to uncage all detainees.” He put emphasis on the last word and it made my hackles rise.

“Look-”

“Surely, there’s something you can do?” Filly said, sidling up next to me and throwing on her most charming smile.

“Only. Family. Darlin’. Can’t do anything for ya, ‘til his mom comes in.”

“I’m here! I’m here! Now release my son or so help me, I will-”

“Just let him go.” Drew drawled, his wolf lurking behind those eyes.

“Gladly.” The man said, walking behind the door to where the shifters were held in the strong cages. We all followed him, steeling ourselves for the amount of rage we would smell going in to the back.

Chapter 15

 

Snarls erupted as we followed the officer down the narrow hall. They didn’t like the smell of the human, I couldn’t help but hear their thoughts. They were loud; and rabid. They wanted to rip the skins off his bones and tear his throat out, tendon by tendon and watch him bleed. A small part of me shivered in disgust. But I had to be strong, so I did what I, as the Red Luna, was bade to do. I calmed them. I ruffled my hair and let my scent waft trough through the ventilation. Soon hatred and rage was filled with a calm sense of retribution. As if I had personally done all the things that they wanted to do for them; as if I was the one who’d tortured the man and had exacted revenge for them. Filly did the same, instead just fanning herself and letting her scent go through the air. The snarls and roars quieted as we walked down to the last cell. I read the sign above the door. CAUTION: HIGHLY DANGEROUS, EASILY IRRITATED. I snorted and raised a brow as the officer turned around.

“I think you’ve got the wrong wolf.” I said softly, pointing to the sign.

“Tell that to the three officials he almost took a bite out of.” The officer said, taking his keys and unlocking the heavy metal door.

“Are you cock suckers finally ready to let me go?” I heard him snarl as the snap of metal went of, the sound of a chain being pulled to its extant.

“You’ve been released.” The officer grunted and moved out of the way. Sarah would’ve damn near trampled hi if he hadn’t moved.

“Oh God, baby are you Ok?” She fussed over him and I stepped in, Filly alongside me, watching as she hugged him as hard as she could.

“This is his first offense, he’ll be on lock for only two days. Next time it’s a week. After that… well, we don’t keep puppies who aren’t well trained.” The officer grunted, eyeing the family. Sarah’s anger whipped out at me like a leather whip. I clenched my teeth at the feeling and blew out a deep breath.

“Yeah, we get it. It won’t happen again.” I said, backing up so that Sarah, now tight lipped and bush browed, could pass with her son in her arms, and throwing th officer a shut up look.

“See that it won’t Red, see that it won’t.”

I was honestly surprised that I didn’t get ripped into as soon as we got out of the police precinct. It was probably because Sarah didn’t feel as comfortable in front of the humans as she used to. Not that I blamed her, I would feel uncomfortable around them as well if I’d grown up with them as friends, then having them become enemies. We drove in silence back to the ghetto, with only the smell of permeable anger in the air. Sarah clenched the steering wheel tighter than necassary to park and just ended up doing a wicked drift into the driveway. She opened the door quickly and slammed it closed, most likely denting the poor little honda.

“Get out of the car, Luna.” She said softly, walking toward the middle of the culd-de-sac. My eyes widened and I watched her stiff stance and shook my head.

“Yeah, no thanks?” I squeaked, not trying to get my ass kicked by the only person that could probably do some real damage to me.

“Luna. Out. Now.” She growled out, she turned and her eyes found mine, hers growing a bright amber that shined even in the high sun. I grit my teeth and got out the car, casting a ‘thanks a lot’ glance to those who just sot in the car without helping. I barely had time to close the door before I was slapped, the force of it almost whacking my head off. Almost. I stretched my jaw and looked at her, ignoring the very deep very painful stinging in my face.

“You’re supposed to protect them, Luna, not throw them right into fucking danger!” She growled, her wolf screaming at mine. I fought hard against my wolf, trying to keep her under control.

“It’s kind of hard to do my job when he’s muddling up the lines.” I said softly, wincing as I heard them both take in air. He opened the door and got out, slamming the door as well. Damn, anger issues everywhere.

“What line would that be, Luna?”

“That, that line right there. You’re so close to going wolf, you never call me my name when you’re this close.” I said, pointing to his amber eyes.

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re being personal, and you’re never fucking personal. You and I had an agreement Sarah, I could only help to keep them under the radar if he stayed his distance!”

“Wait, what-”

“You didn’t want to keep him safe, Luna, just fucking admit it. You didn’t want this in the first fucking place!”

“You’re damn right I didn’t, but you came to me. You knew I didn’t want it, you knew what it would mean for me; you just didn’t fucking care!” The rage was bubbling up in my chest and I needed to calm down before I slipped up.

“Guys, what are you-”

“You made it obvious that you didn’t want what sh gave you, but you should at least try to protect it!” That was it, that’s all it took. Her poking at the fact that he had gotten in trouble because of me, the fact that I couldn’t protect what was mine. My eyes turned red before I could stop it and my hand reached out and grabbed her neck lifting her off the ground.

“Never imply that I can’t care for mine.” My voice was husky and it packed more power than any of them had ever delt with. This was my full rage, raw and mastered.

“He’s my son, Alpha.”

“And my mate, I’m above you my word has more punch then yours does. Never imply that again, one might mistake it as threatening and respond to it accordingly.” I let her go, suddenly feeling the gripping pain that Ander had on my arm and blinking out of the haze that my wolf had produced. I blinked once, then twice, entirely not sure what to do.

“Sarah, I-”

“I had no right to question you, I’m sure you had any and all reasons to attack. He’s… He’s my son, Luna, my eldest son. This world isn’t getting better, I can’t have any of them hurt. You understand that, right?” Her eyes, back to their normal black, showed her fear and age. She was growing old, too old to be chasing after kids and worrying as hard as she had.

“I understand, he is under my protection fully. With or without emotions.” Appreciation shone in her black eyes and she smile lightly before looking to the house and blinking once.

“I’ve got kids and an alpha to feed, see you some other time Luna. Ander… wash up before dinner, I don’t want your father to know about this.” Her brow raised, though it lacked it’s usual pointedness it was still effective, it was a ‘do as your told’ raise.

“What is she talking about, what were you talking about?” Ander asked after having been wuiet too long. I closed my eyes and turned to look at him, my eyes not yet turning amber from red.

“Go take a shower, Ander, your dinner will be soon.” I said, using my air element and lifting me up. I wanted to go away, I wanted to fly and never stop; so I didn’t.

I didn’t stop until I hit Widower’s Peak, a lookout hill that the humans favored for fornication. It wasn’t a very pleasurable soundtrack, but it was peace from my obligations. I watched as the lights twinkled, in the ghetto and in human towns, and sighed deeply. All of it was a waste, all of it wasn’t going to matter soon. It was either the humans one or the mass obliteration of my kind; that was something I’d had to live with for my entire life. Sighing I tucked my knees into my chest and looked at the stars, counting the shines and ignoring the darkness. I’d learned that was the only way to count them. Counting the stars was easier than counting the darkness. The air behind me shifted and I closed my eyes before chuckling softly to myself.

“I was honestly expecting you to come later than this.” I whispered in the air hearing a soft chuckle as he sat down next to me.

“I figured I’d come now, give you some time to relax.” I looked at Mason then, looking into his cool blue eyes and smiling softly before leaning onto his shoulder. He chuckled softly and wrapped an arm around me and squeezed me closer.

“It’s not fair.” I sighed, continuing my count and feeling his coolness at my back.

“Most of the things that happen nowadays aren’t.” He said soothingly, stroking my hair. I didn’t want to look at his eyes, I knew what would be there. Unwavering sadness, thick and heavy like a well worn winter coat.

“Hey,” I tapped his arm and looked from the stars to him “it’ll work for you. I know it will.” I said softly, willing my eyes to speak more than I ever could. He looked up at the stars and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and closing them.

“I’m not so sure this time, Luna. Maybe it’s for the better if I just… I dunno, gave up.” Without meaning to I clutched tighter to his arm, my nails digging into his flesh.

“Don’t, whatever you do do NOT give up. Not on her. You’ve hurt her enough, don’t do that.” I whispered roughly, needing to keep my calm. I knew what was going to hapen between them, a gift I’d had to beg her for. At first I hadn’t been able to see my faimly’s fate lines. Then Libby got cancer and that damn near uprooted everything I had once known. After that, I made sure that there were no little suprises. They were destined to be together, a strange couple but everything in the new age had been strange. His black eyes scanned mine and he knew I was talking as the Red Luna now instead of as a sister.

“Holding will only hurt her more.” I felt a punch to my gut at his words and let go of his arm.

“Don’t give me that crap, you two are created for each other. You’re letting your own emotions get in the way without stopping to think about hers.”

“She hates me, there’s nothing I can do about that.” Growling I reached over and pinched his arm. He winced and scrunched his face up.

“What the hell, that hurt!”

“There’s everything you can do about that!! You’re Mason Fucking Masters, are you really gonna back down to some stupid little emotion?!” He still looked hurt by my pinch and rubbed the sore spot slowly.

“Well, are ya?”

“No.” He grumbled.

“That’s right. And do you know why you’re not going to?”

“Because I’m Mason Fucking Masters?”

“That- and because you two are perfect mates. One of a handful at the beginning of the New Age. Love her, wipe out all traces of hate from her brain and surround her with love and caring. You’ll get her, one day.” I stood and wiped the dirt off the back of my pants.

“Now, take me home Mason Masters, I think it’s high time you started courting your mate in the ways of a wolf.”

Chapter 16

 

Turns out, Mason knew nothing about the ways of the wolf. He was more abrupt than subtle, more demanding than biding. Of course, I knew that already. I knew that this ride was going to be a hell of a lot of fun to watch. I had no clue it would be even more fun to ride on first hand. He was shunned by the entire family, excluding mom of course, and was practically ignored the entire dinner. Actually, he was ignored the entire dinner. He only spoke unless me or mom spoke to him. Once, mom trued to open a conversation including Libby and Mason. Let’s just say that went less than well.

“If you fucking talk to her, I’ll rip your balls off.” Jesse snarled stabbing his peice of chicken through the bone with his fork.

“Jess-” Alissa started, gearing up to protect Mason from whaever attack her brother was planning.

“No, not this time. You’ll not make me feel bad for protecting my sister. If he so much as breathes in her direction, so help me Goddess, I’m leaping over this table and smacking his dead little head off.” With that he stuffed his face with chicken and vegetables.

“Come now, I’m sure we can be civil about this.” Mom said sweetly, picking up her glass of coke and taking a sip before her eyes flit nervously around the table. She was testing how much power was here, and if there was neough that could hold Jesse back.

“Yeah, we can be civil about this,” Lina said, her voice barely a growl “as soon as jerk face over there leaves this house.”

“He’s welcome to stay if he’d like.” Dad said, putting authority behind it to keep everyone calm.

“The hell he is.” Jesse snarled, ripping meat from his bone while staring at Mason. I sighed deeply and put down my fork and knife, my meal of chicken and veggies ruined. My eyes roamed to Libby and I saw I wasn’t alone, I met Alissa’s stare as we nodded.

“Why don’t we move to dessert?”

“Is it Ok if I go to bed early. There’s a test tomorrow that I’d like to be rested for.” Lie. Blatant and almost painful to smell.

“Go on to bed honey, I’ll be up later.” Dad said, his wolf emerging due to his pup being in pain. We watched in somber silence as she got up. I smelt the saltiness of her tears before she hit the stairs. MAson stood up and things moved before my brain could calculate anything. Jesse stood, his chair scraping the floor violently and he formed his elemental weapon. It was something that I’d discovered the wolves born with elements could do. We had the power to shape our elements into any weapon we chose. Jesse favored swords, mainly of the japanese type, and summoned two kitana with his earth element. He pressed one to Mason’s throat, right where his pulse would be if he had blod circulating through him, and another on his heart.

“If you take another step, you’re dead.” Jesse said simply, his eyes such a dark amber I couldn’t tell if they were truly black.

“She’s my mate, Jesse, no one would stop you from going to Anna.” With a snarl the blades were pressed harder.

“Don’t bring my mate into this, you fuck.”

“Let me go to mine, I can soothe her better than any of you ever could.” His temper was running thin, I saw it by the tick in his jaw.

“You’ve hurt her.” Lina hissed, moving to stand behind her brother, water flew acorss her fists. If this didn’t stop any time soon there would be an elemental breakdown that I wasn’t willing to have right now.

“I know that, but I can’t fix that because you pig headed wolves won’t let me.” He snarled, his fangs out and ready to do damage.

“Out of my house. Now.” Jesse growled, pushing his element away and walking from the table.

“Is it so hard to ask for one calm dinner with guests?”

With a resigned sigh I tucked my knees in to my chest and basked in the night air. It was calming to me, to smell the night and the mix of flowers and oceans. Laying my head on my knees I thought of how perfect it would have been to sleep like this. Closing my eyes I had begun to drift off, thinking how perfect it would’ve been to just fall asleep in the forestation behind my house.

Then I heard the scream.

My eyes popped open, turning from green to red instantly. I shot up and ran to the house, not able to find the source but knowing it was near. Then it sounded again, frantic and more shrill; as if it were right near my ear. I winced before dead panic filled my body and color flew from my face.

Libby.

Without thinking I climbed the back of my house and jumped into my window, running out the door and toward Libby’s room. I was late, Jesse alrey had her pinned by her shoulders to the bed and Alissa was holding her feet. Dad stood over her tapping her face softly and occasionally, speaking soft words to her. Mom made sure that her mouth was closed; she was having a seizure.

“No.” I whispered, walking to the bed and dropping on my knees in front of her shaking body.

“The doctor said it would come back.” Lina whispered softly, tears streaming down her face as she watched her sister thrive in pain.

“It wasn’t supposed to! This wasn’t supposed to happen again!” I growled, knowing not to touch her. She would shift in to her fur form, and trying to keep a wolf still was hard enough; especially if it was having a seizure.

“We had to accept it, we had to at least know that it was a possibility.” Dad whispered, not stopping in his tapping. Her eyes remained close, but if they were open they would be bloodshot and tearing.

“Sleep now, Elizabeth. Sleep and relax, when you wake up it will be better.” I said softly, encircling her calf with my hand. She stopped moving instantly, she released a big breath and then seconds later soft snoring filled the room.

“Oh God.” Mom said shakily, barely stopping herself from sobbing.

“She wasn’t supposed to… it’s not….” Alissa said, stading as her face turned read and she tugged on the end of her hair. Jesse stood and encircled his twin, right before she broke down into his shoulder.

“I have to go.” I said, my rage causing flames to lick at my skin.

“What if she-”

“She won’t. For tonight she’ll sleep. She won’t remember the seizure or the pain, she’ll have dreamt of a picnic and a sleep under the stars.” I said, smiling softly at my baby sister trying my damndest to send away the rage and the flames. Turning away from my family I walked out her room, closing the door softly, and made my way to Eternal.

With a stony glare I sat in front of the Gods, keeping my rage checked and my face blank. If I let my temper get the best of me, they’d dismiss me as being emotional; I hated when they did that.

“What have we done to wrong you now, Luna.” Felis said dryly, her leg propped up on the arm of her throne. Its dangling mocked me.

“My sister.” I said softly, my voice slightly hoarse and my fangs slurring it slightly.

“My sister is getting bad again.” My eyes watched them all, watched as nothing changed and watched as their expressions all remained the same.

“And, what can we do about that?” Urse asked, a brown brow arching to her hairline.

“You said that wouldn’t happen. You said she was fixed.”

“No, no love. We said that it was handled.” A growl rumbled in my chest that I quieted almost instantly.

“You cannot do this, not now of all times.”

“We understand-”

“No. You don’t. You understand nothing. It’s been centuried since you walked the Eart, centuries since you’ve had siblings and children that you are related to by blood. You don’t understand shit on how this works.”

“Language.” Mother moon said softly, watching me with anxious eyes.

“Fix her, permenantly.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Ave said haughtily with a small smirk “we do not have to listen to you. We are gods, you are nothing but a mere-”

“Demigod.” They silenced then, reality setting in.

“I represent your children, the one you sent out to fight your wars, the one you sent out to do your dirty work. Elizabeth… she’s my sister. She’s not related to you, not by any standards, but she is my flesh and blood and I’m yours. I am risking my life for you, fighting for you. I don’t know what else I can give you, I’ve given you all of my life I’ve given you all that I can. All I ask is that you take this away from her, take the sickness away for good.” I had calmed slightly and I saw that I’d reached them on some level.

“We are Gods, Luna. We do have that power, but doing something like that… that disturbs the balance.” Leotis said softly, his gold eyes the picture of sincerity and regret.

“What do I have to give, what do I have to do. It’s a give and take relationship, right?”

“Yes.”

“So what has to happen? Curing her is a good thing, so something bad has to happen for it to work, right?” They were silent as they thought.

“Yes, something of the same has to happen to restore balance. A flower doesn’t get watered, it dies. Cause and effect.”

“What do I need to do. What needs to happen.”

“Elizabeth Anne has cancer, after ten painful years of chemo and the doctors trying all they could she would die. Taking that away means none of that happens, means the people hired to help don’t get jobs they become unemployed and homeless.” Felis said, sitting up straight and watching me closely.

“Ok, so they need to be hired.”

“She has a rare case of cancer, only a certain few can do it.” Dawning shined on me and tears hit my eyes.

“Somebody else has to suffer.”

“It has to be transferred. If we were to take it from your sister, another person would be diagnosed with it.” Mother Moon said, watching me knowingly. She knew I couldn’t do that, I couldn’t let some innocent get hurt because of my selfishness. That wasn’t what I did, I fought for the innocent, not sacrificed them. I clenched my teeth and fists, forcing the flame to stay down and for my rage to stay under the surface.

“It is only right, the only way to keep the balance.” Urse said softly, looking down her nose at me. I wanted to scream, and kick, and cry. I wanted to not be able to feel all these emotions at once, I wanted to not have to think about the welfare of the innocent over my sister. She was innocent! She was in the group I was supposed to protect. Piss poor job at it. I closed my eyes and zoned them out. She needed to be safe, I wouldn’t give up. The innocents needed to be safe. The only thing I could picture in my mind was a small girl with pigtails and glasses and freckles. Izzy. They wouldn’t give it to any random innocent, they would give it to the person that could deal with it the best; Izzy. Fuck. That. The image in my head twisted and turned as I thought of what I could do. It landed on an image and I didn’t hesitate.

A small girl that wore her hair in one ponytail and freckles decorated her face, they framed her green eyes. Her smile as mischievous, a smirk and a smile mixed in one. Her eyes, green like emerald, looked like they aged her by a couple decades. She giggled, her body shook and my eyes were brought back to her hair; vibrant red. I knew that under her shirt would a circle around her belly button representing the elements. I opened my eyes, emerald green, and smiled my smirk/smile.

“Fine. Transfer it, but I choose the person.” I said, surprising them all. Mother Moon looked disgruntled by my words and shifted uncomfortably in her throne.

“Who shall we transfer it to?” Leo asked, stepping off his throne and walking toward me.

“Me.” His steps faltered and his brow crinkled. Mother Moon snarled and her eyes turned obsidian. It was slightly frightening, but I wouldn’t be deterred.

“I’m strong enough to handle it.”

“Not happening, little miss.”

“What about a vote, those that want to save an innocent by putting the disease into someone strong enough to handle it.” Unsure the Gods raised their hands and I did too, smiling cheekily at Mother Moon. She lost. Leo advanced to me until he stood directly in front of me, close enough to see the flecks of brown and green in his golden eyes.

“You’re sure about this, right little one?” He asked, bringing a tiny version of my sister sleeping between us. I gulped and nodded, he returned it and reached two fingers inside of the hologram and grabbed something. When he pulled his fingers out he held a small ball of black between his pointer finger and thumb.

“Be strong, little one, you have quite a journey ahead of you.” He said before putting the black ball into my belly button. Stars exploded in front of me. I vaguely remember screaming before I passed out.

I woke with strong arms around my stomach and sweat coming from every pore on my body. I blinked awake, a headache already wrecking my head.

“I smell the sickness on you.” Ander said, a growl under the deep sadness.

“What did you do?” He asked, kissing the back of my neck, which I knew took a lot of effort. I could smell the sickness wafting off of me and it made me want to gag.

“What was right.” It came out groggy and scratchy, but it was words. He whined softly and squeezed me closer to his body. I held in the whimper and grit my teeth.

“Why.” It was a question, he knew why, it was a statement to the Gds. I swallowed and closed my eyes, not wanting to get up just yet. Or ever, really. My bones ached more than I would ever admit to as I lifted my arm to lift his. I don’t think I’d ever been this weak. As a baby I was stronger than this. This was just feeble, pathetic.

“Help me down stairs.” I said through the pack link and he nodded, pushing and pulling gently. I fought to not whimper or growl in pain. It was a slow process, but I finally got downstairs; my lip was close to being mutilated after how many times I bit into it. My family was laughing and happy, they could smell the change in Libby, see the change. She was more confident, brighter almost, and her smile reached her eyes. They saw me and horror filled their eyes, Lina dropped her glass of milk on the floor.

“Come on, I don’t look that bad.” I said softly, noticing that nobody seemed to be able to do anything but stare at me.

“Luna?” Libby asked imploringly, her eyes so bright and full of life it almost burned to look at.

“I’m fine, just ran too hard last night.” At the lie, Ander squeezed my side and I closed my eyes.

“What’s for breakfast?” I could smell the eggs and ham, it was Libby’s favorite. The smell made my stomach roll, but I refused to let that show. Ander helped me stagger to the table where my place was already set. I picked up my fork and noticeably winced at the pain it caused. I forced the eggs into my mouth, trying not to focus on how they tasted and felt like rubber in my mouth.

“Luna?” Ander asked, right before I threw up last nights dinner and the eggs on to the table. Lina fainted and Alissa cried with mom. Dad, Jesse, and Ander picked me up; right before my eyes rolled to the back of my head and the seizure kicked in.

Chapter 17

 

I woke with strong arms around my stomach and sweat coming from every pore on my body. I blinked awake, a headache already wrecking my head.“I smell the sickness on you.” Ander said, a growl under the deep sadness.“What did you do?” He asked, kissing the back of my neck, which I knew took a lot of effort. I could smell the sickness wafting off of me and it made me want to gag.“What was right.” It came out groggy and scratchy, but it was words. He whined softly and squeezed me closer to his body. I held in the whimper and grit my teeth.“Why.” It was a question, he knew why, it was a statement to the Gds. I swallowed and closed my eyes, not wanting to get up just yet. Or ever, really. My bones ached more than I would ever admit to as I lifted my arm to lift his. I don’t think I’d ever been this weak. As a baby I was stronger than this. This was just feeble, pathetic.“Help me down stairs.” I said through the pack link and he nodded, pushing and pulling gently. I fought to not whimper or growl in pain. It was a slow process, but I finally got downstairs; my lip was close to being mutilated after how many times I bit into it. My family was laughing and happy, they could smell the change in Libby, see the change. She was more confident, brighter almost, and her smile reached her eyes. They saw me and horror filled their eyes, Lina dropped her glass of milk on the floor.“Come on, I don’t look that bad.” I said softly, noticing that nobody seemed to be able to do anything but stare at me.“Luna?” Libby asked imploringly, her eyes so bright and full of life it almost burned to look at.“I’m fine, just ran too hard last night.” At the lie, Ander squeezed my side and I closed my eyes.“What’s for breakfast?” I could smell the eggs and ham, it was Libby’s favorite. The smell made my stomach roll, but I refused to let that show. Ander helped me stagger to the table where my place was already set. I picked up my fork and noticeably winced at the pain it caused. I forced the eggs into my mouth, trying not to focus on how they tasted and felt like rubber in my mouth.“Luna?” Ander asked, right before I threw up last nights dinner and the eggs on to the table. Lina fainted and Alissa cried with mom. Dad, Jesse, and Ander picked me up; right before my eyes rolled to the back of my head and the seizure kicked in.

I woke up, sadly, surrounded by victors and my mother and father. My head pounded against my skull, but thankfully the nausea was gone. I sat slowly, lifting my head as slowly and gently as possible. I looked to my right and saw a hand on my shoulder. I smiled weakly at Ander and tapped his hand softly.“Why?” Leotis asked, his arms crossed and his eyes angry and bright.“It had to be done, she couldn’t suffer any more.” I said weakly, looking at my family and friends.“So you stuffed it into yourself!?” Filly asked, standing from the seated position she was in on the floor. Her hair, though normally frizzy and uncontrollable, seemed more frazzled than normal.“I wouldn’t let her suffer, not again Felicia!” I hissed, then immediately regretted as my bones ached and my head rattled. I clenched my teeth against the pain and narrowed my eyes on my friend.“You can’t just disturb the balance, Lilia! A DemiGod you may be, but you do NOT usurp the Gods!” Her eyes turned red and I was faced with Tabby. My eyes popped red before I could stop them and a silent snarl came from my lips. The pain was gone instantly, and I sighed internally in relief.“It was not my doing Tabitha! We were told to give them free will, I cannot fight her. Besides, she didn’t disturb the balance; the sickness is inside of her.”“Fool! With you in control she’s able to control the sickness; you can’t get sick, but her human casing can. The disease can be hidden and the balance, placing the disease in her, would’ve been all for naught.” She hissed.“Ladies, let’s all be calm now. Let’s not lose our hats over this. She’s done a very good job,” he looked at me then “very good job.”“Of course you take her side, you always take her side!” Tabitha hissed, Leo’s eyes hadn’t yet turned red but just then they did.“Hey now, no I don’t.”“Yes you do, always on her side never paying attention to your mate!”“There are more important things on our mind.” My eyes widened, even Lilia seemed shocked at those words “She’s the only one that gets that, maybe that’s why I hang around her more than I do my mate, but that matters naught.” Filly’s eyes turned back to their flecked green and tears filed her eyes. With a grunt, Leotis’s eyes changed back to green too and they widened in shock.“There are more important things?” Filly asked, her breath hitching. My eyes stayed green, I didn’t complain and neither did Lilia.“That was him, not me.”“That’s why you hang around Luna, because she understands better than I do?” One tear fell and it looked like it ripped Leo to shreds. At that Leo said nothing, if he did he knew it’d be a lie. And a lie would not be good right now.“You don’t think I understand? You don’t think I’m scared shitless of this war? I am, I am so scared that everything I love will be taken from me that I hang on to them. I keep them close and I recognize that I need them just as much, if not more, than they need me. Just because I don’t shun away even the slightest emotion, or if I don’t treat everything with brute calm. I have feelings, I love!” She screamed, tears flowing from her eyes. Internally I bit my lip and hoped that Ander heard her words. They were words that I’ve wanted to tell him for a millenia.“Not to be rude or anything, sweety,” Mom said softly “but is there anything you can do for my daughter?” Filly looked at me then and frowned, hatred crossing her eyes for a brief second before sadness lingered there.“You heard Tabby, stay in that form and none of the pain will hit you. It’ll bounce off of Lilia and probably be saved in a reserve, waiting for you to come out. The balance, remember?” She said softly, before she turned toward the door.“Fil-” Leo started but she turned then, her hair whirling with her and her eyes a dark green.“Not right now, let it simmer and soak.” Her brooklyn accent came out and she turned back around and stormed out of my room.“Great going, Luna.” Evangeline said, her tone joking but her eyes somber.

I was terrified, an emotion that I could never really associate myself with. I would never admit that I was terrified because I wasn’t allowed to be. I was the red luna, the antonym of terrified. I didn’t want the mind trembling pain that came with stepping back up and taking myself back from Lilia. I paced mentally, struggling to decide what to do. I couldn’t let Lilia loose on the people, God knows what kind of control she had. I’d done a good job at handling the bullshit that life threw at me, my wolf not so much. I’d only managed to control her by the thinnest of threads, reigning as much patience and strength as I could to do so. The people that were in my life were only there, I was sure, to provoke me to murder them all and cleanse the world of their dirtied soul. I couldn’t though, the watch over ther were’s had gone down some; the only thing they were waiting for was for one of the victors to step out of line. For me to step out of line. It was no surprise that I was considered the most volatile out of the victors, not fair but no surprise. I just had a sensitive temper and too many people liked to test to see how far they could get. Mandy from eighth grade learned that it wasn’t so far. I still wince everytime I think of how awkwadrly her arm had bent. I told her not to touch my hair.

I spent the rest of that day with Lilia in the front seat, it felt good to take a rest for a while and let my wolf take over. It also felt great not having to growl in pain and wince in anguish. I made a mental note to hug Libby the next time I resurfaced, she had to deal with way too much on a daily basis. It also felt surreal watching the daily things I did, done by somebody else in the same way. After I got out of the shower I looked at myself, my hair seemed thicker and my lips plumper. The stages for changing had been frozen for me, and I didn’t mind it not one bit. My body was stuck in the form right before the animal, where the wolf came out to play and analyze the surroundings before the person shifted. The only thing tha gave me slight hesitation was my eyes; bright and vibrant brown. I was surprised when I noted the color change, I’d simply thought that all the animals in us had red glowing eyes, eyes that burned you in the dark of the night. Once they’d shifted from red to milk chocolate brown, I knew that this was something I could get used to. I sucked on my bottom lip and felt my teeth, now ten times sharper, graze against them carefully.“I’ll stay this way, I’ll protect you like you’re protecting them.” Lilia said softly, looking towards me and smiling softly; a caring smile. I thanked her and noted that she should probably head to sleep.“I’m an animal of the night, Luna; I don’t get tired.” She told me, sending a wink before lifting my gums and looking at my teeth.

I felt the exhaustion wafting from her in waves of desperation. She groaned as she slowly got off the motorcycle, her eyes were groggy and heavy.“Told you, you should’ve gotten sleep.” I told her victoriously, doing a little jig in my head.“Shut it missy. It’s your human casing, it gets way too tired too fast.”“You were up until five, then you woke up at seven. That’s not getting tired that’s asking for a major exhaustion sandwich.”“I shouldn’t be this tired, this body wasn’t built like how it used to be built. The others, they were always so strong; butch was the word I think I remembered them using. Now, a tug can break them apart.” She grumbled, pulling the bag on her shoulders and walking toward the school. Her ever observant eyes always scannign the lot to make sure nothing could surprise her. She did hate surprises.“The Gods made them new, better this time. Tougher, thicker skin, scarier furs. Shifter version 1.9.”“Hmmph, not tough enough.” I took a sigh and didn’t respond, she was a spin off of me and was too stubborn for her own good. Trying to fight her woud be like trying to take a bone from a starving wolf… not gonna happen.“Hiya puddin’, you look like the night messed you up somethin’ fierce. Did batty put his hands on you, ‘cuz I swear-” Izzy started in her Harley Quinn accent, my eyes scanned her up and down and saw why.“Role play in drama again, Harley?” I asked, my mouth quriking up. I knew that Lilia had the same relationship with Izzy that I did. A friend of mine was a friend of hers.“You bet your bottom dollar there is, it’s hella hard trying to find something stupid for that stupid class. I look like a low class, crappy hooker.” She grumbled and fingered her green and black pleated skirt. I looked at her high top converse.“I thought Harley was more of a heel girl.” For that a girl was thrown at me and she crossed her arms over her exposed belly.“Yeah well, she’ll be a converse girl today dick head.” She scoffed and shouldered her bag and frowned. She grabbed my shoulders and peered into my eyes.“It’s complicated Izzy Girl, I’ll fill you in later when we eat.”“Izzy Girl? And no red eyes… hmmm, you’d better fill me in.” She said with a slight smile. as she walked away. The dell indicating the start off the school day rang and my skull vibrated.“Great Gaia what the hell is that, and why the sweet blue oblivian is it so loud.” Lilia hissed internally, trying to shy away from the sound. In the process I was brought forth and was welcome to a wave of pain. I grunted and she took place immediately.“Sorry, it was just a little loud.” I mentally shook and fought the urge to roll my eyes.“It’s fine, now go beore we’re late. You’re already tired, let’s not make it tired and grumpy.”

 

Something hit my nose, hard and rancid. Lilia stopped walking and sniffed deep, bringing the smell of death and evil in our nose. Lilia clenched her fist and grit her teeth, a move I was familiar with.“What is it? What’s that smell?”“That is the smell of evil centuries old, the smell of something far worse than any demon roaming the earth now. But why the hell is it in here, unless...:” She trailed off and I felt my eyes change.“Spirit.” As soon as the words were whispered a surge went through my body and my eyes zoomed to the source of the surge. Veronica sat with her hands folded primly, the perfct picture of innocence if her eyes hadn’t had dark circles under them and her complection was pale.“Your friend is going through too many extremes to become powerful. Too man and too unnesacary extremes.” Lilia whispered, Veronica’s head tilted to the side jerkily and too quick for my liking. Her eyes looked like they were bugging out of her head and her dark hair made her look otherwordly, and not in a good way.“Rosa, please sit down. I’d like to start class now if that’s OK.” Without looking I walked to my seat, keeping my eyes on Veronica.“We’re gonna be starting a new book for the marking period, the Crucible. You will be expected to write in your reading journal, just as we did with the Scarlet Letter. You’ll be responsible for answering the questions on time with no back talk and no lateness. Is that understood?” They all responded, except for one voice; not that I really expected her to listen. My mind ran with possibilities and fear, the possessed never came near us. The victors didn’t stand for that shit, we made that clear the first few times they attempted to overrun our region. Lilia had a hard time focusing on whatever the teacher was blabbing on about. Her nails had elongated and so had my fangs, they were slightly uncomfortable in my mouth but she dealth with it. Slowly my nails started to scratch the desk, softly enough that human ears couldn’t hear… but others could. My eyes slid to where Veronica sat and saw that her head and her eyes were focused on me and my nails. I cocked my head and smiled, my fangs white and sharp. Her jaw twitched and her eyes looked crazed.“Oh God, why is it her. Why does she have to be the crazed-demon-possesed bitch instead of a regular bitch?” I asked, internally crossing my eyes. With a slight smile and a wink, my focus was tuned to the board. My nails, still sharpened, tapped the table slowly and rhytmatically knowing she would hear it.The bell wrang before I knew it and I gathered my things slowly, knowing that the demon would too be lethargically moving. She was getting used to the new body based on how she moved as if she was a new born babe. I smiled as my eyes locked onto hers and my lip curled slightly as the faintest of snarls left my lips.“I didn’t know you cared for the humans, to so closely analyze their movements. No one else seemed to notice the differences.”“I notice when someone else is on my property. You’re basically peeing on every tree and you know it, I don’t care too kindly for that.” My voice came out silently lethal and I had to admit I would hate to be on the end of that voice.“Something tells me that you and the body you’re in aren’t agreeing.” I added, cocking my head as I saw the slight bruise marks on her arms; a sign that the human was fighting back.“Even the weak ones fight, what are you gonna do about it?” She said jokingly, the laughter at the end dark and humorless.“That weak one is under my protection”- wait, what “and no harm is to come to her.”“A little too late for that tid bit of info, don’t you think?” The demon growled, anger over being over powered hitting it.“She’s stronger than you might think, second guessing her is a bad mistake. Trust me I know.” Oh, do we know. The demon was quiet, assesing the situation.“I think you’re lying. When she performed tthe ceremony, she wanted to fight against shifters who wronged her. She wanted to be stronger.” The demon smiled and I felt my fangs get thicker, sharper. I had no idea why Lilia would be willing to go through so much for the little trouble maker.“Look, it’s either you lave peacefully or we’re forced to perform an exorcism on your ass and it will not be fun for either parties. Mainly youo, but who knows, you’re probably sick enough to like it.” We stared the demon in the eye, not backing down or giving any leeway.“Bring it on, bitch.” The demon said with that evilly broken smile before grabbing her bookbag and walking out of the vacated class room. A slight roar rose from me and my fist slammed onto the nearest desk, breaking it in half.

I storm into the cafeteria, barely able to keep the fire below my skin and to keep the flames at bay I was forced to use pain. Well, Lilia was. She dug her nails into my palm and kept it there to lock the blood in. She was pissed off and she had every right to be, as was I but her rage spoke for both of us in measures. She took note of everything that was going on in the cafeteria all at once before she allowed herself to walk towards the victor table. She was trying to make syre she had no possibility of harming a skin while she was like this. I thought I could even feel a slight ting from the tracker. That worried me. Back in the days where we were allyounger, the trackers zapped us like crazy. They worked due to our chemical balance, and that was based on the studies of the animal we shifted into. For wolves, if the amount of adrenaline in our bodies got too high it could lead to us doing stupid things, dangerous things. So, the authorities zapped us with enough force to get our heads on straight and if the adrenaline level was still too high they sent immediate-action authorities to properly handle the situation. At the beginning it was highly fucked up because the whole thing was rigged. A shifter couldn't get too excited about something without being zapped. The zap, though slight at first, is enough to anger a shifter and if a shifter is past a certain point... zapping probably would not be a good idea. Scratch that, zapping is a horrible idea."I agree with you fully on that." Lilia snarled, though calming down enough so that her claws retracted. She tensed and turned around, giving me a whiff of the scent that had sidled up behind us. Ander stood there, his tray in hand and look rather angry."You hurt her." His teeth were clenched and his eyes were a deep amber but other than that he showed maximum control."Only what needed to be done, I assure you." Lilia said kindly, her tone warming to him. He noticed the warmth and gulped before gripping his tray. "Look, whatever it is that happened just... don't hurt her actual body. Ok?" His eyes slowly bled back to their normal blue and they pleaded with her to agree."You like her." Oh, I'm gonna kick your immortal ass once I get out this body! I seethed at her, mentally kicking her and telling her to shut her shifter mouth up."She's my mate." He said quietly, his eyes averting quickly but realizing he was dominant his eyes quickly came back to mine."But you have that pretty little human one. She fights you too much and gives you too little, you can just as well be with the human." There was a slight testiness in her voice and a slight growl to it, but it was overall warm and curious."She's mine.""Which she are you referring to, Ander, because you have two of them. One has your attention and one of them desperately needs it, think about which one that is before you try and play the knight in shining armor for one of your pawns." Her voice turned hard and cold fast before she turned around and walked toward the food line."Damn, remind me never to cross you." I whispered in awe and sadness as Lilia questioned a chicken sanwhich or buffalo wings.

Chapter 18

 W

e munched on the slightly spicy wings and nibbled on the fries before diving into the chicken ceaser salad she’d also bought and picking up a mozzerella stick. She had an unsatiable appetite and was always hungrry. She gorged on most of the food bar until they’d asked her, not very politely either, to go sit down and eat the fifty dollars worth of school food she’d engorged herself. She had every intention of eating it all and sent anybody who dared to come near it a snarl.

“Ummmmmm, Lilia?” My head shot up and I swallowed the lump of food in my mouth before gulping down some water. Libby looked at me with wide doe eyes, watching me carefully and looking at all the food near me.

“I wanted to sit down, but I didn’t want to distract you from your feast. Lina told me you almost stabbed her hand when she got near your pizza slice.”

“That’s not fair,” I pouted “it had pepperoni on it and she already had a slice.”

“You had a buffet!” Lina jokingly snarled from her, smart, position at the opposite end of the table. Jesse snorted while he eyed my mozzerella sticks. I sent him a warning stare before popping a tater tot in my mouth. My eyes immediately shifted to the door as the possesed walked in, looking more vibrant than she did when we had our altercation. She fed, and that was not something I'd let slide so easily. With a growl I stood up and walked to the victors table, my eyes struggling to stay brown chocolate.

"What happened, did Anna touch your fries?" Leotis asked chuckling as he took in my eyes.

"There's a possessed." I snarled, my canines begging to elongate and rip innto demon soaked skin.

"Like, here?" Filly asked as she stood up, her eyes blazing light orange.

"Where the fuck else would it be?" My mouth blurted out and shock flew through me. I had said that, me. The girl that had been permenantly placed on passenger mode. Lilia crinkled her brow before shaking her head slightly and getting back to the topic at hand.

"Who?" Evangeline asked, looking every bit as dangerous as she was. My mouth opened to talk before a loud howl filled the room. Dread filled me as I turned around and saw Anna crouched down in front of a pale looking Jesses. Her eyes were as amber as aged cognac and canines were exteneded to their full length. She stared at the possessed who stood with her hand on her cocked hip and her head held high.

"Fun's over now, pup, it's time I had what I wanted." The voice, shockingly clear, brought a gasp out of my throat. She was in charge, fully. The possessed was still inside of her, I could smell it, but she'd managed to take control and push the possessed part of her down deep enough so that she could come out.

"She'ls stronger than I thought." Leotis whispered, walking around me and leading the band of victors to what, very well, would end badly if we didn't intervene.

    Vanessa stood there, her eyes shining with pride and enough clarity to knock me off my ass in shock. She looked at me and winked, she knew why I was shocked. The possessed had been determined to devour her, and had sapped all the humanity out and replaced it with the evil that the possessed always seemed to have. She was dealing with a really old demon, from the beginning of the balance. A human, a submissive at that, should not have been able to live in the habitat that the possessed would have created inside a body.

"You... umm... how are you even standing?" Filly asked, her cat eyes wide and observant. Scared yet so curious t understand it was killing her to stay in one spot. Her eyebrow raised in questionand her lip lifted in a smirk that defied the questioning.

"I'm here to take back what was rightfully mine. I'm strong enough to take it now." the last part was directed at Anna and she knew it. From her crouched stance she snarled, looking too close to shifting for comfort.

"Not on your life, bitch." Lina responded, air whipping around her and creating her own little hurricane.

"Funny, coming from you. Stand back, and let me take what's rightfully mine." There was bit too much cockiness in her tone and it called to me, this time I focused on what was happening. Something was calling to me, pulling on my emotions and making me come to the surface.

"If you thought that we were just gonna let that happen," I snarled, shifting closer to my wounded brother "you're a hell of a lot stupider than I thought."

"It's more stupid, you irrelevant cunt. Move out the way."

“Ander, calm your sister down. We don’t need her tearing anyone apart.” Veronica’s mouth quirked in slight amusement, but mainly agitation.

“If she wouldn’t have taken him int he first place we wouldn’t be in this position. Now, would we?” Her head cocked to thside and her black hair slid wit her.

“You’re in complete control aren’t you?” The words slipped from my mouth and I knew it was Lilia slowly coming back into control.

“Absolute. You think I would take something on if I couldn’t handle it? I’m not and idiota, nor am I foolish. I know the power of the demon inside of me. I just don’t care, he is mine.” Anna snarled and lost it, she leapt and shifted, too quickly for anybody to notice. My body geared up to shift, but I didn’t have to. Ander shifted and stepped in front of her growling and quivering form. With a snarl he quieted her down but she didn’t calm down completely. She was still a Luna, Ander was an Alpha but he was an unmated one.

“Ander-” He flicked his tail in my direction but didn’t look away. I sighed and looked at Veronica.

“What do you want, possessed?”

“That’s kinda harsh, ain’t it puppy?” My teeth gritted and I shook off the tingles that was starting to arise. The possesed was getting too close to me, she was hitting me way too hard. My wolf was enraged that Jesse was injured and he was reacting to Anna, who Ander was tied too. I was too linked to everything, my surroundings were threatening to suffocate me but I kept on moving.

“Lilia, I think you should back off of this. Go eat your cinnamon sticks.” Tabby whispered through the mind link, her presence behind me unsure and ready to attack or protect.

“She’s a little too far gone Tabby.” I whispered back, struggling to get the reigns over my body back.

“Look, we’re dragging way too much human attention. I’m pretty sure half of the female population in this room that’s non-shifter just feinted and a posse of males went to the principle. Anna, shift back and you too Ander. Lilia-”

“You don’t have dictation over my species Leotis, you’d do best not to forget that. You’d also be best to not piss me off. All it takes, at this point, is a single note and I’ll have my wolves doing my bidding.” Leotis read the threat wisely and stepped back, not wanting to risk it. Veronca looked slightly unsettled and the confident smirk was replaced with an unsurwe smile.

“What do you mean? What does she mean by that?” She asked and Lilia lightened up, just enough for me to take control.

“Oh, you didn’t know?” My eyes twinkled with mischeif and and I cocked my hip and crossed my arms..

“I thought with your limitless knowledge of who we are thanks to your little demonic pet, you would’ve known better and advanced based on your knowledge. Guess, I was wrong huh? The only way to know what I meant would be to call out your demonic half… and witht he principal advancing quickly along with quite a few authority figures… I doubt you wanna do that.” Anna got my hint and shifted back, her hair still wild and fluffy showing that her wolf was still very much in charge. Ander looked at me and, without averting my eyes from Veronica, I nodded slightly. He’d already gotten caught once while in wolf form, he didn’t need to go twice. He shifted back and quickly went to stand next to me, his muscles bulged and ready for a fight. I could tell my eyes were still read, so I knew his eyes were still their strange dark green.

“Make your move, honey, we ahven’t got long.” Mason teleported to us, a vampire perk that he made sure to tease us about.

“You need to get out, the skins are demanding your head… like literally. Marcella is trying to stall them, but we haven’t much time.” I looked at Veronica and saw her nibbling her lip.

“Make your decision. Mason take the youngest back to the house. Tell my mother to gather the victor families and gather them for a meeting. We’ll be there soon.” He noded and went to Libby, Lina, and Aubrey.

“You know how it feels right?” Aubrey was the only one that nodded, Lina wrapped her arm around Libby and held onto Mason’s hand.

“You better cme back home, I don’t care if you have to kill it. Don’t let them take you.” Lina growled at me, before turning into Mason’s side and waiting to be teleported.

“I’ll come back for you.” Mason said before teleporting.

“You’ll take me with you.” Veronica said, stepping toward me. Ander growled out a low warning sound.

“We don’t need you, you are in no position to bargain.” Filly said, stepping forward.

“Oh but you do,” the possessed took over “The One has been found, soon more mystics will come in. Your Gaia has sent for us, the body I’m in wanted this.” Their scent grew stronger, they were shutting down class rooms and making sure all the skins were safe.

“So, you see, I am in a position to bargain. You need me, as much as I need you. I suggest you take me with you. They’ll run blood tests and they’ll see I’m not human. A piece to the jigsaw is lost…. you can’t complete the puzzle-”

“We can’t win.” Jesse snarled, his wound healed and the blood dried on his neck, he still looked lethal.

“That’s right, baby. Is it finally sinking in for all of you?” She looked confident, but her feautures were dark and distorted. My fingers twitched, hoping to wipe that confident look off of her stupid possessed face. Cella popped in, her head in a tight ponytail and her features ready.

“Who needs to be popped out, they’re close. I can’t keep them off for much longer.” She analyzed the situation before glaring at the possessed.

“Who let you out?”

“The same person that let your mom out.”

“Does this bitch need to be popped, because my brother can do that.” Cella hissed, her fists balling up at the mention of her mother.

“The victors can take care of themselves, take he rest of my siblings home.” Cella nodded before glaring at the possessed and taking hold of Jesse, Alissa, and Cara. The scent was getting stronger, I could almost taste the anticipation wafting off of them in waves.

“Make your decision honey cakes, we don’t have long.” I cursed under my breath and grabbed her by her arm before popping out. Ander and Anna would be taken care of, I just needed to keep my family safe and watch the threat.

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck fuck!!” Leotis snarled, the ground quaking under his feet. It was hard to get him to hold on to his temper, especially when his elements were tied to it.

“You need to calm down, like seriously. We don’t need another fucking nine on the richter scale. I’m sure they already have, like, half the SWAT team on their way to take us away. We need to focus on keeping our families safe and moving the ghetto’s.” Filly said, her hair pinned up in a ponytail as she watched our fmailies pack up in a panic. We would keep our families safe, no matter our safety… or lack thereof.

“It can’t fucking be starting now, the hyena hasn’t even been borught to us!” LEotis growled, the trees shook around us and the concrete whined under us.

“He’s probably at the portal point, knowing the Gods, they’ve probably already lined up everything for us already.” Eva sai mentally, she was flying above us all in her eagle form. She made sure everything was moving smoothly in the compound. She’d sent some of her shifters to monitor the humans movement. They’d be here in ten minutes. We needed to be out of here in five.

“We need to establish the portals to give them enough juice. Have youa ll sent out your warnings to the other shifters around the world?” I asked, gearing up the magic in my palm.

“They’re ready and waiting for the portals to open.” Filly said, her eyes constantly flicking over to her house. This was what we had all prepared for, but had subconsciously never wanted.

“Luna, the wolves are ready!” Mom yelled from the threshold of our house. It was tiny and not impressive, but it was ours. We’d made it ours. I nodded and turned back to the victors.

“Ready?” I asked, gearing up the magic from the bottom of my toes up to the tips of my fingers. I spread the blue magick around me and watched as it floated in the air and formed a circle. It shimmered, but didn’t give way to where we were going.

“Wolves! In the portal, when you get there just wait. There we will be safe!”

Chapter 19

 

Herding all the shifters in our ghetto was a hard enough feat, but slowly arond the world there were more and more shifters coming in. A beacon had been sent, a call to all shifters regardless of their rank. The time was coming soon, this was the draft. We were the sergeants. We’d chosen this place because it was created for us, literally. The Gods had a hand in making all of this and making sure that we wouldn’t be found unless we were ready to. It was an underground fortress with enough space for very shifter family to have a home and where every bed was filled. There was an endless amount of food, literally again. What’s the logic behind having a structure made by the Gods ti hide us and then we’re caught inside a seven eleven on a midnight run. Tomorrow was going to be the day we broke it to everybody, the day we revealed the truth that we’d hidden from then. But for tonight, we’d let them rest. We’d spent hours taking the chips out of every man, woman, and child that came through the portal. Pups of all breeds were rolling around in the dirt, getting pleasurably dirty. Even some of the teens were enjoying their actual freedom. The adults could be heard, their laughter and their collective sighs of relief. To them, it was over. This was their heaven. This was where the war ended and we were all safe. I hated myself all the more for knowing that I’d have to pop their bubble and spit in their face tomorrow. But for today, I sighed as I ruffled the fur on a bear cubs belly, they can enjoy the spoils of war. Who the hell knew when they were going to be able to again.

Something flew past ,y head, making me duck automatically before putting my hand on my head. I looked in the direction that it came from and was shocked to see Vixie standing there with shock on here face too. I looked at what she threw and I saw a miniature boulder, the size of half her body. Her cheeks were flushed bright pink and her habnds glowing blue with magick. One of the other shifter kids stood next to her, their mouths stuck open and wide with both fear and awe. The little polar bear snapped to his senses and nudged Vixie.

“I think you won’t be able to hide it any longer.” He said earnestly, which almost made me feel bad for the look of brief anger that flashed across her face.

“No need getting angry at me, you four legged people. Gosh, no sign of intelligent or REASONABLE thought process.” He said with a dramatic roll of his eyes and way too much seriousness in those dark eyes of his. His white hair flopped over his eyes as he looked to me and his face flooded with color.

“I’m Louie.” He saod politely, walking around his stunned friend and holding out his hand.

“Charmed.” My eyes quickly went back to Vixie who at least snapped back enough to close her mouth and stand up straight.

“I call him Loogie, like the spit ball. Cuz he looks like one. One gigantic, sticky, spit ball.” She growled and tht’s when it hit me; her scent. It was a tidal wave of scent and damn near knocked me off my ass. Her wolf was strong and she was ready to come out. Vixie was only eight, bordering on nine in a couple of months. She shouldn’t be getting her wolf so soon but I’d assumed that her process would be quickened because her being half fae.

“She didn’t need to know that- you didn’t need to know that. I understand that you feel threatened in the face of superiority but I need you to try to keep you asinine comments to yourself.”

“There’s only one asinine person here, and it ain’t me.”

“I feel like you don’t know the meaning of that word, you just spat it back - and I do mean spat- at me just because it has the word ass in it; shows your maturity in wonders.”

“It’ll be a wonder on how fast your bones can reform after I cave your nose in.”

“Oh yeah, respond with violence; that’s the way to go about getting things done.” I sighed deeply before grabbing the back of their heads and clonking them together. They groaned equally and looked at me.

“Are you two done flirting?” They noth narrowed their eyes at me while rubbing their foreheads. My eyes went to Vixie and I called to Lilia. Instantly her while life was mapped out to me, everything in her past and everything in her future. I focused on the now and pulled slightly. Her eyes turned a pale blue and her breath was taken away.

“Oh, thank Gods.” She whispered softly and a small smile lit my face.

“Sometimes all you need is a tug, and all you need is to ask.” Lilia went into the recess in my mind, but yet stayed there for my body. Vixie blinked, her eyes still frosty blue, she looked to Louie and smiled.

“Look, look at my eyes! They’re so tuned to everything. I can feel… everything.” Louie smiled and with a chuff that blew my hair back, his incredibly dark eyes turned even darker; his pupils taking over his whole eye.

“Welcome to the group.” With that and a small but heart wrenching smile he ran away. Vixie started but then looked to me.

“Thanks!” She yelled while she ran off after him and to a group of other children. I looked around at the world carved out of dirt by the Gods and I sighed deeply, knowing that tomorrow would bring so much. As I started to walk around the circular structure my senses tingled and Lilia was forceably brought back to the surface. A pool of shimmering green appeared in the middle of the diameter, making everybody move and shift. They were ready to fight, but it wasn’t time for them yet. Summoning my elemental weapons, two kitana made of rock and fire, I quickly ran to the portal. raising my weapons I crouched and waited for whoever was abot to pop out.  The shifters backed me up, shifters of every kind that were ready to throw down their lives. A boot stepped forward, a feminine one, before a body jumped out. She was short, he hair was purple and curly and she had an hour glass shape. She shook out her denim jacket and smiled, her nose piercing twinkling with the movement. A second person jumped out, he was tall and had darker than black hair.

“Are we the first ones, please don’t tell me we’re the first ones.” He groaned, his voice deep and raspy.

“Who are you?”

“It looks like we’re the first ones.” The girl answered, her voice sweet and low. Her grey eyes scanned us, taking in every shifter that stood before her.

“I’ll ask again, who are you?” The fire in my swords blared higher and my muscles coiled tighter.

“Lilia? Is that you?” The girl squeaked, her eyes excited and wide.

“I’d know that surly tone anywhere, it’s got to be her!”

“Surly?” My tone suddenly changed as understanding filled Lilia. The girl giggled and ran to me, I pulled hard on my body and lifted on kitana to her neck and the other to her hart. The flames licked at her skin and her jacket.

“I don’t know you.. don’t touch me.”

“Guard down puppy, look in your memory banks. I’m right up there with the rest of them.” She gripped my wrist and calm ripped through me, I feel to my knees and groaned in pain. My eyes clouded over and understanding went through me. Memories flicked before my eyes, her hair spinning as she fought with me; for me. We’d called on them before, jus not in this lifetime; not with these bodies.

“The olden.” My voice didn’t sound like it belonged to me, it felt like I was stuck witht ose memories. We were laughing and dancing and singing. We were… friends.

“Ashley.”

“There ya go.” She let go of my wrist and the cluods went away and she stood there smiling at me. I looked at my hands and marvelled at how she managed to make my weapons go away.

“Where’ve you been, you heifer!” I yelled getting up and hugging her like the lost friend she was.

“Oh, y’know, out and about. We were shopping for thngs for the nursery when the portal opened. You know how impatient the big G-lady gets if you don’t hurry it up.”

“Nursery?” My voice squeaked and I looked down to the tiny little bump that was there. Her smile was radiant, and her skin glowing.

“Oh my Gods, when? How?”

“Well I think you know the how.” We giggled as I put my hand on her belly. My hand hummed and glowed as her baby responded to magick.

“Oh he’s going to be strong.” I smiled at her before realizing that there were still shifters on edge. I turned to them and raised my hand.

“Don’t worry, these are friends sent to help us through the war. More will come, do not be alarmed.”

“Can they be trusted? Fully, can the fully be trusted?” A fox woman asked, clutching her cub close to her chest. I looked at her and nodded slightly.

“I trust them all with my life, which means that I trust them with all your lives.” She looekd down quickly ad walked fnto the crowd. I looked back to Ashley and…. Merrick. With a wide smile I opened my arms and putting on an Irish brogue I jeered him.

“Well come on then, lassie, get yer ass over here and gimme a smooch!!” He grinned and hugged me, lifting meoff my feet and twirling.

“It’s been ages.” He responded and I giggle.

“Ya aren’t lying there.” He crinkled his nose and let me down.

“I’d wager that’s yer mate over there, all brooding and angry. Ya sure know how to pick ‘em Lily Girl.”

“Not my choosing there, all my body’s choice.” I out my hands on hip and brought myself forth. A hard look crossed his face before he stepped bac next to Ashley.

“You all can take the rooms down, not up. Whichever room you’d like is all yours.”

“By room do you mean hole in the Earth.”

“Well… I thought that was obvious.”

    After gettin them settled I ran to my parent’s room, watching as they slowly packed away what little they could grab. I watched as my mother lovingly stroked the picture of their wedding. She and dad were smiling lovingly at each other while their brats were making a mess of things. I was five when they officially got married, they hadn’t yet had Libby or most of the youngest. She held me and dad held Jesse and Alissa on his lap. We had cake and, hopefully,chocolate all along our mouths. We were happy, we were a family. They hadn’t yet found out what we were, my mother worked in a daycare and my dad continued his construction business. Everything was fine.

“Don’t you dare.” She said softly, turning around. The tears were in her eyes and on her cheeks.

“Don’t you dare blame yourself. This was all bound to happen-”

“But maybe there’s something I could’ve done, some way I could’ve stopped it.” My heart squeezed and my nose burned. Tears were gonna come and soon, I had to get away. Suddenly I was enveloped in warmth, the smell of family and love allaround me.

“You’re my little girl and you did the best you could.” Dad whispered, hugging me close and kissing the top of my head. Mom hugged the both of us. Before I could help it, I sniffled and then it was over. Sob after sob wrenched through me, shaking my whole body and providing more tears than I’d ever cried.

“Shhh, shh little pup. Y’know whn you were younger yo wouldn’t really cry. You’d judt holler an holler until somebody came. You would yell and screech until me or your mom came and picked you up; or rubbed your belly. Always so strong, Rose. Always a little fighter, you were, you wouldn’t ever give in.” Dad said sftly.

“And definitely not now. You’re not gonna give in now. You were born for somethin’ special, and you’ve always been somethin’ special Luna girl. But now, it’s time to take off your granny panties, put on that thong, slide on your leather pants and fuck up some people. Do it for me, kick their ass and don’t be broken…. we’ve already lost our homes, we can’t lose our kids too.” Mom whispered before kissing my ear. I still cried, curling into my father’s chest. Together they walked me to their bed and laid me down before sandwiching me between them. My mind whirred to a night fifteen years ago.

*Fifteen years ago, Dallas*

The thunder clapped around me and I let out a tiny screech. The sky was falling apart and the light spread aross the sky in frightening streaks. I ran into my parents room where mom was already sitting up. Her hair was brown and it was everywhere, but she had her arms open and waiting. I ran into them, wrapping everything around her and inhaling her scent.

“Hey, hey it’s only lightning and thunder baby. You’re safe, as long as you’re with me.” She laughed, and kissed my forhead. She began rocking back and forth until a soft growl hit our ears. Dad peeked one eye open, his eyes a bright amber.

“What’s wrong puppy?” He grumbled, grabbing me from moms grasp. He tucked me into his body, efetively crushing me. I giggled unntil thunder hit again.

“Hey now, it’s only the mighty roar of Mother Moon. Something is bothering her, so he screams her fury.” I sniffled and smiled as mom laid next to me and dad, effectively enasing me in warmth and love.

“What about the light?” My tiny voice asked.

“The promise of something better, and beautiful, in the morning when we wake up. Now go to sleep, puppy.” Surrounded by love and warmth, the sound of fear quickly went away  and I went to sleep.

* Present

I let out a whimper and my dad quirked a lip before grabing my side and tucking me beside him. My mom scooted closer and put her chin on my shoulder while wrapping her arm around my waist.

And, just like that, the fear went away.

Chapter 20

 

“Luna!!” I shot up, my heart beating fast and fire blazing from my fists.

“We’ve got a problem.” Alissa said, breathing heavy. She took in my appearance and calmed down slightly. I sat up straighter and scooted out of the now deserted bed and stood. I walked past her, not wanting to shine light on the fact that I slept with my parents like I was still a pup.

“And what’s wrong?” I asked, trying to blink the grogginess out of my eyes and setting my mind to a place where I was still asleep and nothing was wrong…. so basically, to another life.

“Isabel and her family is here.” I stopped in my tracks, dread and fear flooding me.

“What?” My voice was hollow as my mind raced. Was it a joke, something to wake me up. Was she finally getting me back for putting hot sauc in her cheerios.

“She snuck in through the portal somehow, one of them that were located in another ghetto. There’s about to be a bloodshed on the main level and she’s in the middle of it.”

“And you didn’t think to wake me up earlier?!” I yelled and bolted, running fast and hard cursing whatever god and goddess that brought her here.

    Yelling and screaming greeted me as I skidded onto the main level, Izzy held her siblings close to her but she kept her stature strong. I cursed mentally and brought air to me, I flew above them  and moved to stand in front of Izzy.

“Back. Off!” Most quieted but still glared at Izzy through me. They were scared, mothers held their childre and males held their mates.

“I can handle it.” Izzy mumbled, but I ignored her and took a step forward.

“I understand the fear, it’s both reasonable and perfectly acceptable. But she… she’s safe. Been with me since birth. She’s not like the others-”

“They’ll find her!” A mother hissed, cradling her baby close to her chest, her eyes bright with fear and loathing. “They’ll find her, then find us and all of this is for what?”

“If you claim this is for our safety, if this is meant to save us… give her up.” I stared at them all and crossed my arms.

“Never, have I ever had more faith in the humans than I had in you. We always kept our humanity intact. So, tell me, how do you propose that I give her up. I’m sure you don’t mean that I pop her back up there? No, you all want to kill her and her family. You all want to rip her open and tear her apart, limb from limb, just like she shredded your lives apart. You want revenge, and you’ll take that from her and her family…. And what does that say about you all? How much of your humanity will you have left after that? How much better will you be? In this moment, in this exact instant you all disgust me. She stays, her family stays. And if any of you lay one finger, spell, or element at her family you’ll be met by me.” I turned to face Izzy and glared, she looked down. I looked to her oungest sibling, Zena nd winked.

“Stay out of trouble.” I walked through the crowd and sniffed my way to the main food hall.

    Izzy ran after grabbing my arm and spinning me around, I kept my temper down and crossed my arms.

“It’s not my fault, they wanted us to come here. They felt like we would be safer with you guys than with them.”

“Your parents sent you here, and you came willingly? Are you fucking crazy!?”

“It gave us a chance, Luna. You see that, right? Please don’t be mad.”

“You want me to just take this sitting down? You were about to create an uprising, they need to be united now more than ever. You coming here, all of you coming here…. you’re stirring things up and everything is pretty stirred up already.”

“Because we’re human? MY family has been loyal from the beginning!”

“That’s not the point, Izzy!” I growled, grabbing her and moving further down the corridor, away from ears that might hear.

“There’s a fucking war coming, do you get that Izzy?”

“Yeah, but-”

“No, no, no there’s no but’s. Now is the time where I have to choose. Save one or the other, and right now those lines are muddling for them and me. They don’t know who to trust, I don’t know where to turn to, and here you are adding spice to a soup. This isn’t a fucking sleepover, this isn’t pretend, this isn’t like when we were younger and you came to us to be somebody else. You are Izzy the Human in a place where humans are not very welcome. I cannot protect you and them without hurting one of you. So I’m gonna need you to grow the fuck up, and realize that shit is about to get real. Protect your family, and I’ll protect mine. Don’t start anything and stay off the radar.” I let her go, pushing her away slightly. She looked hurt but I couldn’t focus on that. Too many things were buzzing around in my head when a thought hit me.

“Does he know that you’re here?” She looked down guiltily and I groaned.

“You need to go find him, tell him. Having a shifter on your side, more than me, might help. Beware the nasty stares though, it’ll take more time than we have for them to come around.” And with that I walked away, knowing that the battle with Izzy the Human wasn’t over yet.

    I went to the food hall and was overwhelmed. I always knew that there were a lot of shifters, but to have them all in one place was mighty surreal. They were a loud bunch, they always had been, and rowdy when it came to food. There were clumps of them surrounding the tables and the serve your self bar. Everything here was provided by the Gods, they needed their warriors to be healthy? So be it, steak and eggs for breakfast. I looked around and saw Filly laughing with some mountain lions, her hair pulled up in a ponytail and her stature relaxed. I smiled and ran my fingers through my hair, maybe here I would finally be able to relax like the rest. I fixed myself a plate and sat down next to Libby who looked like she might cry at any second. Because she was an omega she was grabbing too much attention, with me here the others could rest at ease.

“What’s the matter Libby?” I asked, picking up my steak and biting in to it. She pushed around the eggs and sighed, immediately I knew what it would be about.

“I don’t know where he is, I don’t even know if he’s gonna come back any time soon.” She said softly, still looking at her plate.

“Mason will be back when the training starts, and that’s today. So, get rid of those puppy dog eyes and don’t let mom see them because she will baby you to no end.” I said with a small smile on my lips. She looked to me, her eyes always that strange mix of green and blue that made me jealous.

“Really?” She whispered, trying to keep her excitement down. I laughed and stole a spoonful of eggs from her plate. She giggled and nudged my arm. Jesse flopped down in front of us with three steaks on his plate.

“I’ve never loved the Gods more than I ever have before.” He growled as he dug into one of those thick steaks, Libby laughed and I smiled. It had been so long since I heard her laugh, since I had a genuine moment of peace and happiness from Libby. I finished up my plate and made eye contact with FIlly, I nodded my head towards the exit and she nodded. I hated to be the one to break her apart from her kin, but I had to be broken apart from mine. Sometimes life just wasn’t fair.

“We have to gather them in the main corridor.” She pursed her lips and crossed her arms.

“And when do you propose we do that?” Her tone was a little too tart for my liking.

“What’s with the tone Filly?” I asked, cocking my head.

“They’ve just gotten here-”

“Wrong.”

“I think they deserve a little rest before we throw them into the storm. Let them stay at the eye for a while.” I looked at her for a long while before I stepped back.

“Maybe you’ve forgotten the gravity of the situation.”

“I haven’t-”

“Because it sure sounds like you did. We don’t know when the hyen is going to get here. After that, we have a month to train them. That’s not even enough time to teach them how to properly fight, nevermind use weapons and harness their elemental powers. I can only give them a certain amount of time before I don’t have any time to do anything. I wish I could give them more time, I wish I could give you more time but I can’t Filly. Please see and remember that.” With that I waited, she clenched her jaw and I cursed myself for my stupidity. I hadn’t noticed her eyes had turned red and that she was practically dripping with water.

“Don’t you-” I didn’t get o finish my sentence before she hit me with a burst of water. I was sent flying down the hall and into the main corridor. Whoever was there moved out of the way and I growled.

“That’s really fucking mature Felicia!” I snarled, calling Lilia to me. Flames dried me as she approached.

“Maybe that’ll teach you to stop being such a prick, Lilia!” She hissed until she stood in front of me.

“You’re letting your emotions lead you, that’s the first thing we were taught. Maybe you need to pull away from them.”

“Maybe you need to pull away from your family, let’s see how that goes for you. Maybe your little sister is too much of deadweight for you.” And just like that, my friend had become my enemy. With a growl I punched her in the face and grabbed her hair, slamming her nose down onto my knee with a pleasuring crunch. She hissed and grabbed my wrist, crunching the bone and making me pull away. She punched me in the gut before punching my jaw. We stood staring at each other, dominance fighting dominance. With a roar I ran at her and kicking her in the head, she caught my leg on the way down and threw me into the ground. She held onto my ankle and dragged me across the ground. With a snarl I bought out my claws and scratched at the ground.

“Oh, you’re finally gonna get yours Lily Bean.”

“Fuck you!” I growled, focusing on where she was grabbing, I sent heat there and she hissed and let go.

“You got dirt on my clothes.” I said simply, entwining my hand in her hair and bringing her close.i

“Not fucking cool!!” I said before headbutting her, with that she was knocked out. I stood over her panting, waiting for her to wake up. It might not take a lot to knock her out, but it took less than that for her to wake up out of it. She'd tricked a fey into blessing her with clearing the fog out of her head, a story she always tells when she's being particularly snobby. Leo appeared next to me, his hands on his hips and a deep sigh in his throat. I rolled my eyes and scoffed.

"Oh, of course you'll take her side! She tried to fucking drown me dude!!"

"And what'd you do to her?"

"Wha- seriously dude?!" I growled, balling my fists and preparing for another fight. Fully groaned as she sat up, her eyes hazy and less angry than they were before. She blinked and looked up at me before frowning.

"I can understand where you're coming from, but those cats. They've been through hell and back, all trying to protect the little misfit pack they have. It's hard not to get attached."

"I understand that, I do, but there are certain things we have to refrain from. The pain will be tremendous on the field. I told you to protect you, not to hurt you.” I helped her up and placed my hand on her arm. She sighed and looked me in the eyes.

“You’ve gotta meet them, they’re not even all cats. They’re just...family.” I sighed and gave her arm a slight squeeze.

"Fine, I'll meet them." With an expression that made my eyes narrow she grabbed my hand and ran past everybody who'd seen our fight and towards the dining hall.

    She was disgustingly giddy as we skidded towards their table. I made eye contact with Lina and sent warning signs. With a coy smirk she looked  down at her food and continued to eat.

"Treacherous cow." I mumbled before looking in front of me at the motley crew. A girl with pitch black hair and vibrant green eyes was the closest to me and she sized me up. With a mental eye roll I looked to the next person and was shocked to see she had green hair. She smirked, her blue eyes twinkling with the action.

"I dyed it." She said before forking a mouthful in her mouth. My body detected magick coming from her and I bit down on my tongue. I'd find out later. Across from them was a couple, judging by how the gripped each other's hand. She was Latina, her brown hair and equally brown eyes was proof of that. She watched me with shy curiosity and I nodded at her. The boy was the complete polar opposite of her, his pale skin and blond hair showed it. His brown eyes held strength and power in them. Alpha, my wolf told me.

"Luna, this is Lila," she pointed to black hair girl first and went around "Susie, Carmen and Brian." They gave a little wave each and nodded.

"Lila is a jaguar, Carmen is a wolf and Brian's a tiger."

"You took a handful from the pot, didn't you." She was too giddy to say words so she just nodded. With a sigh I sat on the edge of the table next to Lila. She had skipped Susie, I didn't know why but I would find out. I pulled my wife to the surface slowly, managing a smile to them.

"I reckon you know who I am." I said, soaking in their scents. Filly crinkled her brow slightly and leaned on Brian's shoulder. Magick tickled my nose and my ears pricked. Waves were flowing from Susie and they called to my wolf. With a chuff she pushed me out of her aura and disoriented me. The group chortled and looked down and Susie smirked.

"Think you were overreaching a little bit there."  She said confidently and I looked to her, crinkling my brow.

"Fae?"

"Half bear, half leopard. All fae." My interest, thoroughly piqued, damn near made me want to tackle her and study. Filly budged my arm.

"Knock it off, find out on your own." She whispered through the mental link. With a renounced sigh I looked to the couple.

"We've been together since we can remember." Carmen said, wiggling slightly due to the attention. Brian put his hand on her thigh and she took a breath.

"When we were all moved to the ghettos she lived in the same house with me." Brian spoke up, his cat pride not letting him stay quiet for long.

"Me and Susie lived in different houses across from them." Lila interjected, pushing her food around.

"It was a hard time, before we found each other, there were fights and nobody could really fit."

"We were placed in one of the under developments, they shoved too many of us with too much of a variety." Carmen said, her brown eyes downcast.

"A third of us died because they couldn't control it." She whispered and I felt her presence on my mind. I felt the ring of her and was tempted to probe. I didn't need Filly to tell me to back off, I did it without needing to be told.

"Well, we're here now. Were protected and we're safe." She nodded and gripped Brian's hand. A death grip if how his face softened was any indication.

"What exactly are we doing here anyway?" Susie asked, obviously bothered that her friend was bothered. I looked to Filly and raised a brow.

"Oooh, family huh? You didn't even tell them why they're here?"

"Most of them don't know why they're here if you remember Luna!" She practically yelled in my head.

"Are you guys done having your lovers quarrel?" Susie asked, her eyes flipping between us two.

"She can hear us." I said mentally and Susie's lips pursed.

"We'll tell you why you're here later, we'll tell all of you later. For now we need every body to just settle down."

"Haven't you heard?" Lila chortled "everybody is already settled in." The group smocked and Susie stood, carrying her tray with her.

"I'm done eating, anybody wanna come exploring with me?" Carmen stood quickly, gripping her tray and her mate.

"We'll come!" She all but yelled and scuttled away. With a sort of disgusted sigh Lila got up too.

"Was nice talking to ya, see ya around." She said as she walked away, shaking her head in humor.

“Welllll, what’d you think.”

“How is… Susie?” With a shake of her own, Filly walked off leaving me confused and alone.

Chapter 21

 

I walked around, watching how everybody was doing. There was slight sickness in the air, but that would be fixed. The portal that they all came through was healing and sustaining. Any wounds or sicknesses, so long as it wasnt immediately fatal and long term, would’ve been healed. Cubs were getting used to each others scents and were making friends. Were’s were using their elements, showing how they’d learned on their own. I watched as fire and water swirled in the air and how chunks of the Earth were picked up only to be put back. A small smile graced my face, they were inadvertently training.

“Luna!!!” Zena yelled, skidding in front of me. Izzy’s little sister looked nothing like her with wild hair and equally wilder eyes.

“Yeah little one?”

“Hey!” My eyes narrowed and I took a sniff.

“Did you steal some of your mom’s chocolate?” Her lips twisted and her face lit up.

“No…” I shook my head and started walking, she sidled next to me and wlaked in the same fashion that I did.

“How are you guys settling in?”

“Bella’s being a bitch about the whole thing, but Izzy’s holding everything together. Your shifters aren’t making it easy though. Cameron almost got into a fight with one of them because they kept pushing into me.” My eyes narrowed and I stopped, I stooped down to her level and looked into her eyes.

“Who kept pushing in to you?” Resolve settled in her eyes and she lifted her chin. She wouldn’t tell me, and on that I was absolutely sure about.

“My famil is settling in well, we’re all a bit tired and unorganized but we’re getting there.” She said with a small smile before walking away, her body slightly tense. I stood up and shook my head, this morning was turning out to be utterly confusing.

“If ti isn’t ring leader of the wolves.” Louie the polar bear said as he and Vixie walked behind me.

“Hey, did you guys eat breakfast?”

“Do you even know my mom?” Vixie scoffed, crossing her arms.

“Good point, did you guys settle in alright last night?” They both giggled until they realized that I wasn’t.

“Where were you last night?” Louie asked, his eyes inquisitive.

“I… went to sleep early.” Not the truth, but not a blatant enough lie that I was caught in it.

“Tonight, don’t.” Was all Vixie said bfore the walked off.

“I have a feeling they’re totally talking about me.” I grumbled before going to check on my family.

    Izzy ran into me on the way to where most of my family was, literally ran into me. Her heart was beating fast as she gripped onto my arms to steady herself.

"You OK, Izzy?"

"Too far!" She huffed before she ran past me and several other shifters who were  familiarizing themselves with the tunnels. Not even a second later the shifter boy who'd been interested in her skidded in front of me, his eyes an aged cognac. With a nod he turned the direction she'd ran and ran after her, not really using his speed. That would've been cheating. Shaking my head I continued toward my family on scent until I got close enough that I could hear them. Each room was essentially a hole in the ground. Tall enough to walk around at full height and wide enough to fit two bunk beds, maybe a bit more if one out their mind to it. My family was in one of the bigger holes and were louder than all creation.

"I said back off!"

"Yeah well I don't have to listen to you!"

"I'm older!"

"And my tits are perkier, let's continue to state more facts!"

"If by perkier you mean non existent, then sure!!" I heard a quick snarl before a grunt was heard and then a thud.

"Honestly people." Anna groaned, by then I'd arrived to see Alissa and Anna standing over Caras body and the rest of the family resting on the beds and holding in their laughter.

"She's gonna wake up soon and get pissed, when she sics JJ on you don't come to me." That boy was freakishly strong and stubborn, figures Cara would have him for a mate. Alissa rolled her eyes and crossed her eyes.

"She started it." For some reason I highly doubted that and didn't have to look to Jesse who was doing a slicing motion over his neck to know it wasn't true.

"I've gotta talk to you guys." Immediately they sobered and straightened. I say on the bed opposite to the one they were on. I sat down and rubbed my face and sighed, leaning forward I put my hands on my knees.

"Change is coming for all of us, a trying change. What occurs over the time we're here, it's going to be a lot. All of us will be tried and all of us will be assessed, those who make the cut and those who don't will all be used. I just, I need all of you to be safe and strong. For me and for yourselves, do you guys think you can handle that?" My voice, sincere and grave spoke in levels to my family. I saw Alissa grip Jesses hand and Lina inch closer to Libby.

"We've all been trying Luna, giving our all to help you. We can handle this." Libby said with a smile, only to be startled when Cara jumped up.

"Which one of you cows did that?!"

    The time was approaching and I could feel the need pull inside of me. Soon we would need to tell them all why they were here, we'd have to see the hope and freedom slide from their faces. I wasn't ready, but the victor in me was done waiting. My feet found their way to the main corridor and the other victors stood there, huddled. I walked to them and looked at them all, they each looked equally sickened.

"We might as well get it over with, huh?" Leo said light heartedly. I shrugged sadly and faced inward to the room. Using my pull I called all the wolves to me, tugging on each of their strings connecting them to me and held on. Slowly the others did the same and in minutes all of the shifters were at our attention.

"That was only a sampling of our power." Ursula announced, her voice loud and demanding.

"You will all feel it, that is a fact. You've all been wondering why we've gathered you all here. After all these years, after all the pain and the torture. After all the loss." Filly said stepping forward and looking to them all.

"We've gathered here to protect you, and to strengthen you." Leo announced, his eyes roaming over everyone. With a gulp I stepped forward.

"There's going to be a war, we're fighting them back. All of these years, we've all changed. Gifts from the gods. Our elemental powers and change in size are upgrades. We are soldiers now, all of us." I refused to look at them directly, I didn't have the guts to. There was minor noise but they quieted down quickly, when Ursula chuffed.

"We don't know how much time we have with you guys. We're pretty up in the air with you all on that one. The only indication that we'll be given that our time is running out is the arrival of the fifth victor." They mumbled and looked around, confused and rightfully so.

"We're awaiting the victor of Belbus, once he comes we'll have one month left." Groans and growls filled the air, the God has made quite Bad reputation for himself.

"And when will he come?" A fox asked, quaintly curious just like their whole race.

"We don't know, like I said we're in the dark about most things." I replied, still not able to look them in the eyes.

"We still have to train though. We've all been separated and scattered, left powerless and untapped. Each of you are your own beacon of power, it is up to us to tap into it and bring out the strength."

"We'll have to start training as soon as possible, tomorrow all of you will have to rest up. The only people here that have been thoroughly trained are those that had the luck of being grouped with us. They will assist in training you. It's grueling and it's demanding, but it is also what needs to be done."

"And none of you thought to tell us sooner?" A beat growled, my brows furrowed and I stepped up.

"Whoa there, we couldn't have told you sooner."

"And why not?" The same bear asked, she had children. Two boys and a girl, both of them stinking close to her.

"How would we have? Your rage is blocking all of you from seeing the bigger picture, trust me I know how it can block you from seeing everything. We would never have been able to get word out that a war was coming and be safe. We have no set communication that isn't monitored by the humans. There is constant surveillance of the ghettos, any information spread out would be tracked and stopped by the humans. We told you when the time was right. Our families are in danger here too, out whole lives have been uprooted. The only thing our families and our ghetto has that you all don't is they had been exposed to us. We're being given a tiny amount of time to help you. It won't help at all to be bitter and unforgiving, trust me I know. Help us, help you." They stayed quiet and for the first time I felt it, their overwhelming fear. It was stagnant, it was soaked into the walls, into their clothes. They had carried fear with them for so long, even in the face of hope they still quaked. It fed me, I didn't gain joy from it or anything like that. It gave me strength, and I understood my role. I was a warrior, designed to keep the peace and protect. But I was something more, something I didn't see until I was forced to see it. I was the hope that replaced fear, the light that led out the dark and brought them to a world where they wouldn't have to be scared. They were like this because I was scared, and I was angry and I was bitter. They could only take what I had, and all I had was my fury and my fear. I needed to be more, not for myself and not for my family. To protect those that needed to be protected and to lead those who were lost I would have to be a victor.

    I stepped closer, siding next to Filly, Leo, and Ursula. We were made to help them, and we'd been called in.

"We can protect you, and we will protect you. I know you're scared and I know you're angry. You've been scared and you've been angry for so long now that there's nothing else that you know. Let us help you learn, it's been so long since we've been free and fought back that we've forgotten how. Our claws taken and our paws tied. Here, there's freedom. Here we can roar and growl and fight and not be controlled. Here we will learn how to be animals again and we will destroy our cage! Here is where we claim back our lives for our own!" I stuck my fist in the air and the fog of fear that has clouded the room slowly faded. Kids ran up to us and peered up at all of us, they would remember this forever.

"We must learn how to fight back because it is our only option! We fight for freedom or we die in fear, and we're not too keen on the latter!" Filly said proudly, raising her fist too.

"Our roars are mighty alone, but together they are stronger than they could ever be. We will use everything we have and we will win and we will be free!" Ursula roared, her fist proudly raised.

"For our packs, for our fallen family, and for our young we will fight until the last breath is taken. Tooth, fang, and claw will be unleashed!" Leo roared, his fist high in the air. With that they all cheered, raising their fists and clapping. With a smile and the smallest laugh I lifted up a cub using air to push us up. The cub giggled and made water squirt from her finger tips. She hit my nose and laughed hysterically. I let us down and out her on the ground gently and stood up only to find Ander right next to me. I hugged him hard and he hugged me back, digging his nose into the crook of my neck and breathing deeply.

"How's-" he cut me off by squeezing tighter and I laughed but indulged. I didn't want to pull away yet either, as selfish as that was, and I knew that by speaking I would break the moment. With a sad little puff of air I knew the moment had to come to an end.

"How's everyone?" I asked, holding on to his forearms.

"They're settling in nicely, Anna has been with your family more than her own so things have been calm. We all huddled together last night, it was all very sweet." He said, his grin wide and satisfied. It was cute, but I'd only admit that internally and under high stress.

"How's Sarah?" I asked, flinching slightly. I didn't know if she'd complain ultimately about it or if she'd shut up and take it.

"She's handling it, the triplets are staying by her making sure she doesn't get too ahead of herself and dad watches over the triplets and make sure they don't get ahead of theirselves."

"And what do you do?"

"Making sure you don't get ahead of yourself. My family can handle theirselves, even if it seems like they can't."

"And I can't?"

"It's harder for you, that big head of yours gets in the way." I scoff at his laughter and smile.

"How are you doing? I know it can't be easy for you, you had to leave her without so much of a goodbye."

"She's a big girl, she'll make it in life. She doesn't need me and she understands, her parents hated me but she... She can't be weighed down with a wolf by her side." It hurts to see him hurt and see him try to hide it. I'm inside of him, as much as he is inside of me, we can't hide anything from each other successfully.

"She'll miss you, she had some kind of bond with you."

"Some bonds are stronger than others." He said and threw me a look that had so much meaning in it that it made my bones ache.

"Dinner should be soon, we should round up everybody." With a smirk that made my hands itch to slap it off of his face, he held out his hand. I didn't have to think, for once. It wasn't hard and it wasn't a judgement of character. Here I could hold his hand and not wonder the serious repercussions that would follow. I wouldn't have to feel heartbreak later when he went to someone else. Here it was just me, here I was his mate and everyone knew it. I took his hand and our fingers intertwined, joy spilled throughout my body that I could barely contain and he sensed that. With a laugh and tug, we went to get our families and nobody could stop us.

Chapter 22

Dinner passed by without incident and everybody was happy, the feeling liberated me and allowed me to breathe slightly. I watched as my family teased each other, as my mother and father sat next to each other as if they were teenagers, and as the children enjoyed being just that. We couldn't take away their happiness, the only thing we could do was to add to the little bit that was there. Vixie sidled up next to me and slid something into my back pocket before she walked away, whistling to herself. I rolled my eyes and ignored her dramaic flare and continued to eat my soup. Hearty and delicious, say whatever you wanted to about the Gods they made awesome food. Vixie sat next to me and sent a pointed look at me, to which I ignored and watched my family eat. Libby was devouring her soup before she stopped, her spine stiffening as she straightened. My brows crinkled before I heard it, the rush of feet. I stood up and blocked everybody’s ears with magic, they’d only hear each other and nothing else. Libby shook off the magic and stood too, rushing past me. With a slight huff I ran after her, not using my full speed knowing she was using hers. She ran toward the main hall, towards the sound of the footsteps; towards danger. With a slight gasp I added my full speed and ran into her, as she stopped in her tracks. I followed what she was staring at and realized why she’d been the only one that had reacted so greatly. The Master’s had come, all of them. They had followed Mason and Marcella’s lead and behind them their mother an father. Their mother was a famous vamp, rumored to be one of the first batch; Liliana. They got their blue eyes from her, her hair was a pale blond. Her eyes and her mouth held lines that gave off her age and happiness through the years. She wore black, like the rest of them, and her clothes, like always, stuck to her body showing her lithe form. Their father stood next to her, his black hair tousled and his brown eyes tired. They’d been running, hard.

“You guys finally made it! Just in time for dinner!” I greeted them, stepping past my shocked sister.

“Luna, dear! It’s so nice to see you again! And I love your new place, so… rustic.” She giggled and smiled a great big one and gave me a hug equal to it. Their dad, Richard, smiled and didn’t look too dark anymore while giving me a hug and kissing my forehead. He was like my second dad, he welcomed me almost immediately after me and the twins became friends.

“Make yourselves at home! If you’re having trouble finidng a room let me know. I’ll rough ‘em up for you.” They both chuckled and walked past their kids towards the scent of food. Liliana and Richard were both very old vampires, they’d been around since the balance started. When they first started they were blood thristy, the stuff of nightmares; they made the legends what they were. But they’d had time to curb their appetite, time to go the vegan way. When they had kids they were determined to make sure that they would never had the conscience of a killer. They ate food like humans, but occasionally the ‘call of the wild’ would be too strong. Vamps still needed to eat. I turned around and looked at the twins. Mason and Libby were still locked on each other, neither of them moving but staring at each other. Marcella, however, was looking directly at me with her arms crossed.

“You really think we’re gonna be welcomed here with open arms? Vamps and Were’s have never gotten along.” I pointed a finger at me and her with a raised brow.

“You’re different, you’re weird.” I rolled my eyes and walked to her and put my hand on her shoulder.

“We were all hunted, we were all singled out. They’ll understand that, and if they don’t… I’m pretty sure you still have that note.” I smirked when she chckled and shook her head. She walked away without sparing her brother or me a second glance and left me with the love birds. Looking at them both I stood back and nibbled on my lip. Mason took a step forward after a while and my eyes widened; Libby inhaled quickly. He took two more steps and held out his hand.

“No sir, well I don’t wanna be the blame, not anymore. It’s your turn, to take a seat we’re settling the final score. And why do we like to hurt so much? I can’t decide, you have made it harder just to go on. And why, all the possibilities where I was wrong?” Shock filled me and wrapped us in an air pocket. This was a decision that she needed to make, whatever it was. Without influences from the outside, including but not limitied to Lina and Jesse.

“That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa.That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa. I drowned out all my sense with the sound of its beating, and that's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa.” She growled and stepped forward, her eyes teary and angry.

“I wonder, how am I supposed to feel when you’re not here. ‘Cuz I burned, every bridge I ever built when you were near. I still try! Holding on to silly things, I never learn! Oh, why! All the possibilities I’m sure you’ve heard! That’s what you get when you let your heart win, whoa! I drowned out all my sense with the sound of its beating, and that’s what you get when you let your heart win, whoa!” She rushed to him, letting her tears fall freely.

“Everytime. I can’t win, never with you. You hurt me and you hurt me, you rip out my heart and I wish and I pray that you’ll be kind this time.” She shook her head and took a step back.

“But you never are.”

“Libby… you were dying. I could smell it on you. The pain and the agony, and then you would see me. You would be around me, and it was like I took some of it away. But I could never take away the must of death. I couldn’t bear it, I wouldn’t. You weren’t the only one that was hurting-” his sentence was cut off when she slapped him.

“Don’t you ever. My bones felt like they would break each time I would get out of bed in the morning, my blood felt like it had frozen and splintered. Headaches, nausea, blurry vision, insomnia; you name it. You were the only thing that kept it all together, and you would stomp all the hope I had by ignoring me, by treating me like I was some fucking little sister of yours!”

“I never thought you were my little sister!”

“You never fucking acted like we were anything differen!” He grabbed her arms and lifted her so she was at his height.

“You were fucking three, Libby. Three years old when we first met and I was eight. You were a cute little chubby thing that I would keep safe. You got cancer when you were eight and I was thirteen, my powers hadn’t really came in and I was scared. I barely knew what death was, and this little girl, one that I knew I’d always love, was partners with it. Watching you walk around, smiling and laughing as if you couldn’t feel it but I knew you could. I figured if you were gonna ignore it, I would ignore it too. I just ignored too much.” I watched, my eyes observant. I caught the way Libby’s eyes flitted down to his lips and how gently he held her as if she was still sick. They loved each other, they always would. They were just such the odd couple, it was always destined to fail.

“You don’t have to ignore now, now we can be together.” Her eyes lit up, her tone hopeful and bright.

“I don’t-” She slammed her lips down onto his, running her hands through his hair and brining herself closer. A huge smile lit my lips and I dropped the air pocket. With triumph I walked back to the dining hall and to my probably cold soup.

 

 

                I never did go to the place that everybody was talking about, I knew I would need rest for the training that qould start in the morning. I had a feeling that everybody else went though. I stood with the other victors, the only one that looked well rested and sighed.

“You couldn’t help yourself, could you? Ya just had to go with the in crowd.”

“But moooom, everyone was doing it.” Evangeline grumbled, throwing a frouchy glare my way.Zena chuckled next to me, I guess the thing everybody was so ecstatic about had an age limit and she was well below it. I rolled my eyes and lifted Zena up.

“You know what to do right, short stuff?” She nodded and I lifted her higher. I took the air from my ears using my element and knew the other victors did as well. I felt the amount of air Zena was taking in and knew the amount that she let out would be much more. She released a blood curdling scream that I heard slightly even though I’d blocked my ears. Leo had created a sound tunnel with his element so that literally everyone in the caves, no matter how deep a sleeper or how deep in the tunnels they were, owuld hear her. A collective growl ripped through the air,and it almost tramped the smell of fear that came with it. Slowly they poured into the main hall, their eyes aware but groggy.

"Welcome to the first day of training!" I said brightly, my hands on my basketball shirt clad hips. As ,y eyes scanned the crowd I could see understanding and dread seeping into the, as a collective whole.

"We're not starting immediately, so you're lucky in that respect. But from now on things are going to be changing. You will all show up in athletic attire, if you don't have any some will be given to you. You must all be on time, so to those few who enjoy sleeping in, better luck next time. Our meals will no longer be luxurious, but hearty and what we need. What we need isn't a craving, it's a necessity and if you wanna whine about it... I honestly don't care. That's not our department. We've been sent to condition you into the best you can be and the strongest you could be. Now, go on and get breakfast then go get changed. We've got a long day ahead of us."

 

 

                Everybody quickly ate their breakfast, munching and crunching on bacon and oatmeal. There was almost a serene silence, something that was rare in the were community. Spoons were scraping bowls and the carnege that  was going on witht he bacon though made me cringe.

“Net, ya ustal Dmitiri!” A roar wrang thruoghout the eating hall and one pissed off bear stormed into the dining hall. She was huffing, her brown hair flying as she practcally ran to the food bar.

“My ne sdelali ne govorit' Ursula.” Always calm and collected, Dmitri walked in behind her. The air around her, contrary to his facial expression, hurried and scared.

“Da ? Nu ya sdelal , tak otvalit'!” /she said, briefly turning around, my lips quirked slightly. My mind worked hard to translate, but either way I continued to eat.

“Vy buduchi irratsional'nym. Vashi emotsii blokiruyut vam uvidet' real'nuyu logiku pozadi nego.” Imploringly he started talking with his hands and that… was where he went wrong.

“Do I look fucking stupid to you, huh? Do I look like a fucking child, you need to speak with our hands to, huh?” She growled, stopping her walking process completely. Biting my lip I turned around completely, like all the other shifters.

“You’re not seeing it clearly.”

“And am I fucking blind that you have to blindly wave your hands around Dmitri?!” She roared, walking towards him the rage in her eyes making every shifter stop eating and move to protect their own.

“There’s no need to curse, as is there’s no need to make this public. Pochemu nam ne vernut'sya v nomer, lyubvi?”

“Ne chertovski nazyvayut menya tak! You want to fuck another sow, because they’re all here? And you thought I wouldn’t be upset?”

"Is it your time of the month? You shouldn't have reacted so negatively." I felt every male in the room wince and smelt the anger rise from every female. It was true, Ursula was in heat. But, it was common sense never to bring that up. Bears were way to blatant for their own good.

"Fuck whoever you want to fuck Dmitri, I no longer care." Lie, she titally cared. They'd paired off before Urse had even come over here. They'd grown up together knowing they would be mates. Urusla threw a knowing and hateful glare my way and I quickly shut down bothmy train of thought and my link to the victors. Just to be safe. She turned and walked toward the food, I could smell the salt of her tears, regardless that they were unshed. The hall stood quiet and Dmitri stood there, nobody really knew how to react to the outburst; especially the bears. They never really showed emotion in public, or ever, really.  She went to the psuedo buffet line and angrily stacked food before stalking to the Victor area. We all looked down as a whole, eating our oatmeal as quickly and silently as possible. I didn’t have to look to know that he watched her the whole time. I heard the softest of sighs before he went to sit down with a group of male bears.

“Thank God I’m not the only one having trouble with my mate.” One of the bears muttered.

“I think it’s all the dirt.” Another one agreed, mumbling around his oatmeal. Ursula bent the spoon that was in her hand, adding heat to it and melting it in her hand. I gulped and feared for  the bear, knowing when Urse got mad, she got really mad.

“Snap out of it.” I whispered to her through the link, locking eyes with her close to transitioning ones.

“Nado li napominat' vam o vsekh vremen vy byli s uma v vashey mat ?” She said calmly, way too calm for my liking, back.

“Of course not, this is me paying you back. You calmed me down, kept me from killing my mate and several others. This is me helping you out. Calm down, you need a clear mind for training or else you’ll hurt one of them.” She averted her eyes and shook off the melted fork. I let out the breath I was holding and sat back slightly. Everybody was tense around me, watching us and waiting to see what would happen. I rolled my eyes and bit into my bacon. So nosy.

 

 

                Everybody changed clothes and found their way to the training room. A room wide enough to fit at least two football feilds. It closely resembled our training field in Eternal, except it wasn’t blinding. Equipement lined the walls, and mats lined the floor.

“Here’s how this will work. Everybody is being grouped off by animal. Wolves with Luna, lions with me, so on and so forth. Today is just a test, literally everybody will be tested. Don’t worry, it won’t be anything too difficult. We just need to see where you are and how much training you need.” Leo said in his ‘good guy’ tone, making me roll my eyes and shake my head slightly. People began grouping off until there were giant clusters of people.

“Tonya Vell.” A gilr with black hair and brown eyes came forward. Her hair was in a tight ponytail and her eyes hard, she was ready.

“We’re gonna do a basic spar, the only thing you need to do is pin me. If you’re able to grab my neck or touch my heart, the test is over. Got it?” With one shake she got into a crouched stance. My lips quirked slightly and I matched her stance, unable to keep the excitement down. She watched me, so I gave her a fake weakness and adjusted myself; making it look like I had a weak left side. She smiled went to kick my left ankle from under me. I grabbed her leg and dragged her to the ground. She gave a squeak of surprise and her eyes widened before she came back to her senses. She hit the ground and I dragged her closer to my body, hoping she’d see the opening. Luckily, she did and kicked my chin, probably chipping a tooth, managing to disorient me enough to make me drop her leg, She stood quickly, not putting her back to me. I let my wolf out and crouched again, really looking at her. Her ankle would be sore from my grip, and she’d hit the ground hard. I would need to get to her back, or take out her legs. She let out her wolf too, her claws coming out with her fangs. She got too cocky, for her she would have to focus too much on staying the way she was and not shfiting completely. I swiped her legs from under her and gripped her throat as she struggled to get up. I changed back and let go. She looked down before changing back, but kept her eyes down. The wolves clapped sparsely and sent sad looks at Tonya.

“For the rest after, don’t do what I do. Actually, do not reciprocate anything your opponent does. Tonya messed up because she bought out her wolf to fight mine. There will be rogues involved, they’ve done what I did thousands of times. I doubt any of you would have needed to do that. If you’re skilled at it, they’re experts at it. If it uses too much energy to do, don’t do it.” I gave Tonya a reassuring smile and called the next person, prepared for a long day.

 

 

“Carmen Rodriguez.” She was one of the last few I called because I could feel the power wafting from her, even though she was an omega. She fiddled with her fingers before stepping up, I looked to the other groups and saw her friends watching her with worried eyes. My eyes narrowed in confusion, but I quickly masked the look and smiled at her.

“Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be, I guess.” Her voice was quiet and she stopped a foot away from me. I backed up slightly and crouched down a little, she watched me with nervous eyes before stepping back and putting up her fists. Lilia giggled at that, but I quieted her. I hadn’t been wrong, I knew that, she was strong. But what was this? I noticed how slunched she was and knew she was trying to protect her stomach, so I quickly punched her there. She grunted and grabbed her stomach, leaving her face unprotected. Sighing mentally I punched her in the face and she went to the ground. I was worried, but I had to continue. I moved to grab the back of her neck before she moved quickly and grabbed my wrist and twisted. I grit my teeth and looked at her, her eyes were a pale blue and her mouth was in a tight grimace. She punched me in my nose, definitely breaking it before reaching for my throat. I grabbed her wrist and crushed her bones, then looked at her face. There was nothing, if anything she looked angrier. She let gof my wrist before punching me in the jaw, sending me to the floor. With the slightest grunt she lifted herself and roundhouse kicked me in the back of my head pretty damn hard. There were huge black spots in my vision. She kicked me in the gut before raising me in the air by my neck. I opened my eyes and let my wolf out, applying an element while grabbing her forearms an lifting her over my head and slamming her into the ground. She groaned and growled, bringing her own element and lifting me in the sky before cacooning me in a rock. But that didn’t make sense, she shouldn’t have two. You only had two if you were a twin. With a war cry, she slammed the rock down, breaking almost every bone that I had. I was healing fast, but it still fucking hurt. She stormed to me and grabbed my throat, squeezing slightly, before leaning close. Her blue eyes were milky, and enraged.

“Pinned.” She growled before letting go. She backed up and almost instantly her body sagged, her wolf gone and her body exhausted. She looked at me, bloody and banged up and, most likely, twisted up and gasped. A hand went over her mouth as tears flew to her eyes. She backed up slowly, shaking her head before running out of the room.

“Carmen!” Her mate roared and her friends yelled, wanting to go after. They weren’t allowed to because we had made it so that it was an alpha’s order to stay. They would break themselves to go after her. I broke it and let them go, and instantly they all rushed after her. I grit my teeth as the other victors walked to me looking in amazement.

“Did you see that?” Filly asked and I growled at her, a nice and proper growl.

“I felt that, dickshit.”

“Do you want one of us to put you under?” Ursula asked, the magick already on her hands.

“God yes.” She put her hand on my forehead and put me in a healing sleep.

 

 

 

                I woke up damn near five hours later, and stretched. A few pops and cracks were heard and I shrugged out the rest of the kinks. I turned in the bed and came face to face with Ander, his eyes open and bright with humor.

“Shut up.”

“You had eighteen bones broken, Luna.” I mocked him and crossed my eyes, he laughed and stuck his tongue out.

“How’d the rest of training go?”

“Smoothly, you’ve still got about twenty people left, for some reason people seem to think I’m your bloody keeper or something. ‘When is Luna getting better?’, ‘When will she wake up?’. Why do they think I have a direct link to you?” I raised a brow pointedly and her rested his forehead ontop of mine.

“Shut up.” He said with a smirk. My hand reached up and stroked his cheek, feeling his stubble over his strong jaw. I traced my hand up to his nose and his brow line.

“Why are you so perfect?” I whispered and his lips twitched.

“Says the girl who never got a pimple.”

“I just never ate oily foods.” He raised a brow.

“You ate literaly all foods.” I shrugged and smiled.

“Be a hater, then.” He laughed out loud and watched me. He raised his hand and put it on my hip, my body reacted and warmth surged through me.

“This feels right.” He whispered. I bit my lip and moved closer, draping my leg over his and put my hand on his side.  My head rested on his chest and I heard his thick heartbeat.

“This feels more right, though.” I said, closing my eyes and just enjoying him. He smiled and inhaled deeply, I shivered at the feeling and closed my eyes. For a moment, blissful and peaceful, there was no war. I had been with him for years, from birth. We were together and we were happy. And then I heard a war cry, and the moment was shattered. Ander moved out of the way to avoid being pushed and I ran to the where the sound came from, knowing that Ander would trail after me.  It led me to the dining hall and I stopped, knowing Ander would stop too, to avoid knocking in to me.  Izzy stood on one of the tables, holding the Sword of Tears. And she had it pointed directly at a shifter. I pushed my astonishment aside and took a step forward, trying to understand. She looked at me, rage and desperation in her eyes.

“Iz-” She cried again, taking the sword with both her hands and slamming it into the table she stood ontop of, cracking the wood. The shifters stood back, protecting themselves and any person they were in charge of. I looked around, wondering and searching for a catalyst. I saw only shocked faces, except on one face. Amelia stood, regret and sadness laced on her face. I looked to the shifter and saw fear, smelled fear. It stank, even from this distance.

“Filly, one of yours got out of hand.” I said through the link, knowing she was somewhere in the room.

“But she’s your responsibility.”

“As are the cats yours, if one of them gets out of hand and she gets angry… that’s on the cat. Not her.” I heard a huff before a wall of water seperated the shifter and Izzy. I knew I would have to get involved, because she didn’t move. Izzy stood there, both hands on the hilt of the sword, just staring. I groaned internally because I would have to get beat up twice toay; that didn’t seem fair. I used air and floated above the group of people that had circled around them until I landed behind Izzy. I said nothing, did nothing.

“Uh oh.” Filly groaned through the link, about the same time that Amelia reached for me.

“I’m fine, honestly.” I looked at Amelia and grabbed her hand, searching for what happened. I got a fuzzy view, as I always did with humans, but I knew what happened and knew I was definitely gonna take an ass wooping.

“Your shifter will have to be punished, take her and hide her. I’ll deal with this as best as I can.” I said beore shooting a look to Ander.

“I’m about to do something stupid.” A smirk lit his face and he nodded once, knowing he’d have to join me.

“Run!” I yelled out, the surrounding shifters followed my advice; wanting to evade the shit storm that was about to go down. Ander, Alissa, Jesse, Anna, and Amelia stayed with me. The water wall fell and revealed the shifter was gone, something I imagine Izzy already knew. Her shoulders stiffened and her grip on the hilt got tighter. Izzy wasn’t herself now, she was but she wasn’t at the same time. She had strength, she wasn’t a regular human, anymore. She’d been welcomed into the animalia pantheon, and with a bang. The sword she held was infinite proof of that.

“Izzy, I’m gonna need you to drop the sword.”

“Nothing but kind.” She mumbled, slowly turning around and dragging the sword with her. I shut up and stayed my ground, if there was one person I was scared of that wasn’t my mom; it would be Isabel McReery.

“I have been nothing but kind, to all of you. I have defended you against thousands of people. my family has been blacklisted in the real world. And this is how we’re repayed.”

“Izzy, I’m fine. I swear!” Amelia squeaked, moving to go to her ister. I held out my hand and stopped her. First mistake,

                With deadly silence her face twisted and she raised the sword, I pushed Amelia back, even though I knew it would never make impact. Izzy was reckless, but not that reckless. She sliced my wrist, pretty fucking deep too, and I hissed. It was silver, and strong. Clenching my fist and calling my wolf to the surface so I wouldn’t bleed out I kicked her in the gut, pushing her back a little. She only dug her feet into the dirt and stopped herself. Taking out my claws I walked to her, as she did to me, When she raised the sword, I sliced her arm and kicked her in the side. Not needing my signal, Jesse charged behind her, his footfalls silent and his gaze set. She frofroze before swinging back and slicing his chest open. With a snarl Anna ran from the other side, only to be punched in the gut with the hilt of the sword. I looked to Ander before running towards her. I grabbed her ankles and he grabbed her arms, right after the sword sliced into my back.

“Alissa!!” I screamed, knowing Izzy would stay still for only so long. I could smell the water she was forming, going that way was tricky but safe. As soon as the water was formed Izzy screamed, a long enraged screamed and head butt Ander. He grunted and let his grip slip. She elbowed him in the head and got a stronger grip on the sword, but Alissa still tried. She grabbed my hair with the free hand that she had and threw me at Ander. He caught me in the most technical way possible. The sword was slowly wiggled from Izzy’s grip, which only set her sights on Alissa. Alissa licked her lips and raised the sword higher, until Izzy grunted a small cry and the sword stopped. My mouth popped open and Alissa stepped back. Izzy raised her hand and twisted it, the sword moved with her hand. With a sharp point of her finger the sword flew the air, Alissa wouldn’t make it in time. Panic flew threw me and I scrambled up, knowing even if I did move fast enough I wouldn’t make it. I would heal from that, Alissa woulnd’t. I would just have to move faster.

“ALISSA MOVE!”I cried, froming several layers of rock to hide her. She was stuck, in shock and fear.

“Jesse!!” I panicked and willed my legs to move faster. He was closer, he could move her. He wasn’t healed yet and he struggled to get up, Anna got up and stormed to Izzy. She punched her in the back of the head, hoping it would disorient her. The sword stopped and Anna smirked before the sword had sliced her stomach open. She fell to the ground, holding the deep gash that spread over her whole stomach. Jesse yelled and Ander snarled. He ran and shifted, going head first at Izzy. She turned around, the sword poking out bravely. MY rage consumed me and I shifted, my wolf already charging at her from the opposite side that Ander was. I didn’t know all that her powers were, I didn’t know all that she could do. But what she woulnd’t do, was hurt my family anymore. With a howl I picked her up in my mouth and threw her against the wall. blunt force would stop any person. Strong, or not. I panted and watched her, soft growls coming from her. Alissa and Amelia had went to Anna’s aid, although Amelia kept looking at her sister. She was torn, I could tell. When Izzy hadn’t moved for a minute I turned and padded to Anna sniffing the wound. It stank of silver and Anna was in pain. They all were, they were all touched by the sword. I licked her wound, putting magick into it. Before I could lick and heal ayone else, a soft keening sound hit my ars. I turned quickly and saw Izzy kneeling and crying. I changed back to human, ignoring my nudity, and walked to her. She was my friend, she always had been. She was always strong. It made sense that she was chosen.

                I touched her shoulder and squeezed lightly. Second mistake. She gripped my forearm and I cursed mentally. She lifted me over her and slammed me into the ground. She aimed the sword at my neck. It was bigger and I could smell the power pulsing from it. I looked up and saw Amelia running towards her, my heart skipped a beat and thought of how it owuld kill her if she hurt Amelia. Amelia jumped on Izzy’s back, her legs and arms wrapping around her sister.

“Please come back.” She whispered, a tear slid down her face and I bit my lip. There was a moment of serene silence and the sword vanished. It slowly faded into nothing and Izzy fell to the ground, Amelia on top of her. I grunted and stood up.

“Really? A please?” I growled, steping over her and going to my brother. I put my hand on his chest, pouring magick into the wound.

“Luna, your back.” Alissa whispered, tears in her eyes.

“The magick is pouring through me, it’ll heal. All I need is a nice sleep and probably several years of intense recovery from silver poisioning.” I looked to Ander and knew I was in trouble, I couldn’t taste anything but bile. But I hadn’t thrown up.

“Take me to them.: I said before blacking out, once again.

 

 

                I woke up with, possibly, the brightest light that anyone could ever imagine shining directly in my eyes. I groaned and sat up, regretting as a breif wave of pain washed over me. I had over exerted myself, knowingly. I squinted and licked my dry lips, my throat aching for some sort of liquid.

“Luna.” I heard a soft voice say and cursed mentally.

“They couldn’t have sent me anybody but you?” I said, looking back at the tall figure that stood bravely behind me.

“You angered the old wolf, and you’ve got Gaia worried about your tolerance level.” Marissa walked to me and sat beside me.  I clenched my teeth against the tears and smirked.

“I just took a beating from one of the Old Ones, I think I can tolerate a whole bunch.” She stared at me, her eyes no longer black but the pale misted gray of the dead.

“You don’t have to be strong, not in front of me.”

“I would think it would be the opposite.”

“Here, I’m not your trainer. Here, it’s perfectly fine to cry.” I scoffed and shook my head, wanting to move away from her so bad but bing unable to do it.

“They’re got you brainwashed. Everything I do is recorded, in an earlier time you knew that.” Her lifeless eyes blinked and her face smiled. This wasn’t my friend. This wasn’t the woman that had been my second mother and had taught me mostly everything I know. I hadn’t fought with her, I hadn’t done anything with her. This was a puppet, this was a hollowed out and polished version of that woman and I hated it. Anger rose in me, thick and disgusting. It covered my hands and feet and slid up on my body until I could be nothing but repulsed by this drawing of my friends; only then it wouldn’t hurt to move away.

“Where are they?” I asked, standing up and crossing my arms.

“They’re waiting for you. Even the big boss.” I grit my teeth and nodded. I would have to get this over with and head back to training.

 

 

                They sat in their usual semi circle of thrones, each one a representation of everything in their domain. I wasn’t swayed by their grandeur when I was younger and I certainly woulnd’t be swayed now. They all looked down on me, humor and knowledge in their eyes. Well, in most of their eyes. Mother Moon’s eyes were black as coal and her hair was thick and wild. I’d almost never seen her this angry before. I had to admit, I felt accomplished.

“What the hell is wong with all of you?” My tone was clipped , and my eyes were red. I’d let a little bit of my rage truly show.

“We’re sending them all to you.” Felicia said, her leg cocked over the side of her throne, while playing with the end of her frixxy red hair.

“Yes, I got that. But why is Izzy the Fallen One?”

“Isabel showed the most potential, she’s strong and brave.” Ave said, her eyes evaluating everything in the way that only she could.

“I thought we agreed you were gonna leave my friends and family out of this.” My bones were aching and my body was practcally shaking witht he effort it took to remain calm and not shift.

“We agreed on nothing Luna, we’re Gods’. It’s rare we agree to anything, especially if it goes against something we want to happen.” Leo said, a little laugh making it that much harder to not snap.

“When I took the sickness-”

“When you tricked us.” Felicia interrupted, still not looking at me, but her hair.

“I thought that was all of you agreeing that nothing like that would ever happen.”

“You thought wrong, pup.” Ave said dismissively, her eyes glancing up and I knew that I had already been settled in her eyes.

“She has a family, she has loved ones depending on her to live. That’s the only reason I took the illness, so she wouldn’t be compromised.”

“I thought you took the illness to save your sister. Your meddling up stories now dear.” Felicia said, her foot kicking up and a small smile on her lips. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before looking to Mother Moon.

“I’ve given so much to protect those that I love. Please don’t do this and countermand all that I’ve done.”

“I’ve given more.” Her tone was gravelly and her eyes were still on me. Slowly she stood, her height more pronounced now that her wolf was involved. She raised her dress so that her feet were free to walk, all the while keeping her eyes on me.

“I have given time, effort, and life to this. I’ve been giving a lot longer than you have. You are not the only one that’s been asked to give to fight this war. You are not the only one that is suffering, you are not the only one that’s fighting. Do you think any of us wanted this?” She stood directly in front of me, forcing me to look up to meet her gaze. She waved her hand in front of me and we weren’t in Eternal anymore.

                It was green here, lots and lots of green. We were in a clearing, surrounded by trees and inhabited by lilies and chrysanthemum. The trees were thick and he richest brown I’ve ever seen. A girl ran through the flowers, stirring up the sweetest scent my nose had ever encountered. She was about four or five, her brown hair hung halfway up, and she wore a lavender dress. She giggled as she ran from something, looking back to see if it was close. Movement further up in the field caught my attention and a glint of silver made me realize it was a wolf. The girl was going to get hurt. I looked up at Mother Moon only to find her watching the scene with a small smile. The girl ran closer to where the wolf was waiting. Anxiety rose up in me as the girl giggled and ran faster, picking flowers and being oblivious. Without warning the wolf pounced, silver and huge it’s mouth open and ready. I watched in silent fear as the wolf transformed into a younger version of Mother Moon, her hair curlier and free. She gripped the girl and rolled, both of them giggling like crazy. Mother Moon lay on her back, the girl raised above her.

“We had lives we had to give up. Lives that we were content with.” She raised her hand again and it was dark. We were in a forest, the heat of it reaching me and making me sweat. The leaves hung heavy and dark. A child of about eight ran past me, fast and silent. He stopped and cocked his head, I looked up and saw a younger version of Felicia pershed on a tree, her eyes bright orange as she watched him. He took a step and she pounced on his back and tackled him to the ground. He grunted and she laughed, a soft tinkling laugh.

“Mother, must you always pounce on me?” He spoke in thick Italian and she laughed.

“Must a jaguar always be fast?” She retorted before changing into a lithe cat and running deeper into the forest. He chuckled and shook his head before changing into a tiny tiger and running after her.

“Children we adored. Homes we were attached to.” She waved her hand again and we were in the sky, angled toward the sunset. Next to us stood a cliff with a cave impressed into it. Ave sat cross legged at the mouth of the cave and looked over the edge. Two eagle chicks sat next to her, she picked one up and dropped it, then watched as it caught the air and flapped slowly.

“Just like that, little one.” She said in soft german, before picking the other one up and dropping it. It plummeted, squeaking before shifting back to human.

“Mother!” The girl yelled, trying to shift back. Ave jumped off the edge, and shifted into a hawk. She flew further down, extending her claws. The girl grabbed on and climbed up until she sat on top of Ave’s back. Mother Moon waved her hand again, silent  and mournful.

“Mama, I’m scared!” A girl groaned. Light filled a small cave to show the girl writhing on the floor, her bones moving and shaping. Urse crouched next to her, lightly petting her hair.

“I know Sasha, jsut breathe.” She said calmly, her face was anyhting but. The first change was almost always painful.

“I don’t want the change anymore, take it away Mama.” The girl whimpered, unable to move. I could smell the pain and fear wafting off of her from where we stood, several feet away.

“Sasha, please. Just breathe, just like we practiced.” Fear was in Urse’s voice too, it wasn’t a secret that lots of pups died their first time around back then. Evolution had given us a big whopper to eat, and back then we’d had to just take it. Few died, but it was feared more back then. Sasha went still before her body burst into a bear, all the bones and fur sliding into its right place all at once and Urse looked relieved.

“You did it!” Urse announced with pride, her arms circling the cub and squeezing. Tiny bear roars came from Sasha and Urse laughed.

“We had families too, Luna. We had people we would die over and over again to protect.” She waved her hand and we watched as a young Leo got trampled by lion cubs. He laughed, deep and actual, as he pretended to be hurt.

“Get off of your father now, kids.” A soft voice chided, the smell of cooked caribou hit my nose as their mother came and pulled them off of him. Her hair was short and brown, he looked at her like she was his world. Mother Moon waved her hand again and we were back in Eternal, something told me we hadn’t really ever left.

“We’ve all given up things we love to protect our species. Families, homes, friends, and mates. All given up so that we might have a future as a whole species. You cannot throw that away because it’s not fair, you cannot choose now to destroy all that we’ve worked for, and for what? This is a war Luna, not something that we can brush off. People will die, people die in real life. You’ve been in your own personal hate bubble, blaming everybody for everything that’s happening. Did you stop to think that maybe it’s happening because it was inevitable? Do me a favor, don’t be such a self centered brat?” She turned and calmly walked to her throne and sat down. All of their eyes were grave, Felicia had her hand on her heart and a trace of tears in her eyes.

“My son, Anthony. Centuries I go without thinking of him, and it all cave on me at once.”

“We gave up so much to help so many. Sasha cried like a cub again when it was time for us to leave.” All was silent, all of the gods in their own memories.

                Gaia stepped forward, her hands folded loosely and pain in her eyes. She looked old then, like all the years had weighed down on her witht he light of the memories.

“I ask a lot of my children, all of them try to fulfill it. Then there are those who go above and beyond my wishes, those that give their all and their very being towards making sure that I am satisfied. I asked them to leave their lives, their homes, and their children because I knew that there would need to be guidance. I asked them to call their children to fight, because I knew that their children would be the strongest ones to fight. I asked that they continue to do it, because, even with lack of foresight, I knew that more wars would come and that they would need to be ready. You, you’re different. Because of that I’m relieving you of your duty as a Victor.” I stepped back, tears flying to my eyes.

“You… you can’t do that. You’re just fucking with me.” Gaia raised a brow and smirked a little.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I can kinda do whatever I want around here.” I shook my head and closed my eyes, begging myself to not believe it. To not fall for it, to not be stupid and to think it through.

“I’m needed, wherever I’m needed I go.”

“You’re not strong enough for this.” Anger peeked through the disbelief and I gripped it and pulled with everything in me. I pulled it over my body like a thick quilt and allowed myself to finally think clearly.

“My family was held hostage publically, my sister scarred  for life. My baby sister got a rare, uncurable form of cancer and I had to hold her down while she had seizures while she slept. I had to hold her hair back while she threw up, so bad that blood was streaked through it. I watched my mate fawn over some human for five yeats, because I wasn’t stable enough for him. I have dealt with nightmares of the dead, and those meant to be because of me for my whole life. Rage and anger run my whole life. I am responsible eleven children, protecting them from themselves. My best friend died and I had to keep moving through life as if it didn’t effect me. For you to say I’m not strong enough to be Red Lun is not only an insult, it’s dismissing all the bullshit I’ve been through.” I turned my backm allowing my legs to move.

“Take away my title if you want to, I’ll ride on the back of the Fallen One and tear this place down.”

 

 

 

                I woke up with a jolt and made Cara squeak and jump off the bed. She sent me a glare from the floor before getting up and rubbed her butt. I looked around and chewed my lip before settling on Cara. She narrowed her eyes and backed up one step; one step too slow. I called water and air to me, lifting her up and setting her in a water globe. She quickly called fire to her and stood in front of me, wet and angry. I stood slowly, keeping my hands braced in front of me and staying very far from her actual body.

“Before you do anything rash-”

“MOM!!”

“I said BEFORE ANYTHING RASH, YOU HEIFER!” I yelled, running before I got in trouble for attempting to drown my sister. Again.

 

 

                I walked to the McReery family hole , following the smell of human and peanut butter. I cocked my hip on the opening of the hole entrance, watching as Zena and Cameron dug their tiny fingers into a half empty jar of peanut butter. Cameron stilled and looked up, his finger coated in peanut butter.

“I thought we had made it clear there would be no food in the rooms.”

“This isn’t exactly a room, now is it?” Zena mumbled around a full gooey mouth of the sticky substance. I raised a brow and she stared at me, all the while moving her mouth around the peanut butter.

“Where’s  your sister?” They stilled and looked at me cautiously, thy even stopped eating their peanut butter.

“She’s with Amelia.” Cameron answered slyly, looking away. I scoffed at his way too powerful tell and moved closer into the hole.

“Where’s Amelia then?”

“With Isabel.” Zena replied smoothly, her frizzy hair moving with her as she went back to their treat.

“I could always probe your mind for it.” They both groaned and I barely held back a smile.

“They’re with the ones that came from the portal.” I gulped and hit myself for my own stupidity. Of course Amelia would be smart enough to pull everything together before I would.

“Thanks, don’t let the others smell that.”

“Who’d ya think gave it to us?” Zena said, her eyes rolling almost to the back of her head.

 

 

 

 

                I practically ran to the Old Ones living area, trusting myself to know where they were and to be drawn by their power. It was understandable that Izy wanted to know what was happening, and she was smart enough, well Amelia was smart enough, to know that they might have a clue to it. It just hurt that I wasn’t option number one. I slowed down, hoping none of them heard me as I picked up a piece of their conversation.

“What, exactly, happened yesterday?” Ashley asked in that sweet understanding tone she had mastered over the years.

“I don’t know, I told you. It was like rage and hopelessness took over me and I blacked out. When I woke up at least three of my ribs were broken and I had wicked sprain on my wrist.” Was that really all the damage we’d managed to inflict on her? Damn we’re getting rusty, my wolf groaned.

“Then I just… I healed. No, wait. Luna healed me, I remember that. I got a grip on my body at the end and I’d seen all the damage I’d caused. I think that hurt more than a few ribs could give me.” I could hear the fear shaking her and the smell the growing sadness. I crossed my arms and steeled myself off, I’d lost my cool once today; something I tried not to do twice in the same day. Crossing my arms I walked in and stood next to Ashley, looking down at Izzy. When she said nothing but looked up at me, I knew that she’d been really shaken.

“She’s the Fallen One.” I said briefly, looking at the plate of cookies on the table between the two and scoffed.

“If nobody’s gonna listen to the rules, why do I even need to keep saying them?” I mumbled before taking a cookie.

“Oooh, goodie. I thought she was one of us but then,” she tapped her nose and looked up at me “sniffer told me I was off. She’s got so much raw power.” Excitement rolled in thick waves off of her and I rolled my eyes.

“I’m a what-now?”

“The Fallen One, one of the entities from time of old; or Olden Ones as everybody calls them.”

“Yeah but, I’m not old.” My eye twitched.

“The spirit that has joined with yours is, and you’re perfect for the job.”

“W-why me? I’ve never done nothing to nobody…. except that bitch in pre-k. She deserved it though.” Ashley choked laughing on her cookie and I tapped her back a little too hard.

“You’re incredibly strong, even for a human. You’ve been asked to give so much, yet you continue to give more. The spirit that’s within you saw that. The Fallen One is an Olden One who feeds off of strength and sorrow, the greatest mix their could ever be. Humanity is in sorrow and power is in strength. When you fought us, the tears you cried are the signature mark and so is the sword you wielded.”

“Hold the phone, I had a sword?” My eyes narrowed and I nodded.

“Did you lose it?” Light shone in her eyes as she bit her lip and patted her pockets.

“Yeah, no?”

“Was that a question?” She looked up at me and scrunched up her lips, shrugging as she did so. Ashley giggled and I nudged her shoulder with my hip.

“Your sword only manifests when the spirit does, then.” All was silent and then Amelia looked up at me, those green eyes ever so smart.

“This means she fights, right?” Her voice was so so silent, but so so strong. I did her the liberty of looking her in the eye as I gave a short nod. Her face paled and I heard Izzy’s heart skip a beat.

“I can’t.” She said, standing and avoiding my eyes.

“All the Oldens fight, we need all the power we can get.”

“You said I’ve given a lot? Take that, I can’t give anymore.” She said, the snormal strength in her voice gone. She grabbed Amelia’s arm, as she seemed to be stuck in her seat, and lifted her.

“Izzy-”

“I can’t fight, I have to protect my family.” The truth hit me like a train and I gasped, a hand went over my mouth and tears came to my eyes. I don’t know how I missed it, really it had been my fault. They’d come alone, Izzy and her bandwagon family, nix two people.

“Your parents.” It was a statement, those two words hit something deep within her and her eyes glazed over silver. Izzy-who-was-not-really-Izzy-anymore stood in front of me, gripping her sister close to her.

“What happened?” I wasn’t scared by the Olden, I had grown up knowing we would fight alongside each other. They were friends not foe.

“E-everybody turned on us, when you guys disappeared. They thought we knew something about it, but we didn’t. They-they fought for us. One morning we all woke up and our house was surrounded, Zena was crying and everybody was scared. Izzy was going to go out there and fight them off but Mom and Dad… beat her to it. As soon as they stepped out, they were shot in the head. It was a message, ‘tell us or this happens to the whole family’. We couldn’t mourn them, we were too scared to do anything. Bella was just… everybody couldn’t function. Everybody but Izzy. The next day she woke us up and said we’d be safe. She opened a portal and we… I hsould’ve noticed I was just.”

“It’s understandable. The Fallen One was brought to you by your incredible strength and capability. Not to mention, your mind was probably screaming for help unconciously.” Ashley said with a shrug and a small smile. I looked in Izzy’s eyes and saw the tears stream down and knew some of it had to be hers instead of the Fallen One’s.

“I’m sorry but you have to fight, The Olden in you knows that.” I said, not wanting to fight today. I don’t really appreciate getting my ass handed to me by somebody that I trained. I walked past her, avoiding getting too close or looking too threatining.

“Meet me later, I can help.” I whispered as I passed her and left, barely holding myself together.

 

 

 

                I stood anxiously, twisting my fingers and shuffling my feet, outside the hall from where Izzy and her family slept. I could hear the rest of them sleeping, but I knew that Izzy wasn’t. I could almost feel the heat of her body, even though we were several feet away. I knew she’d come out here, she’d always been curious. She’d never back down fro a challenge, and with her upgraded talents I was barely a challenge. I could hear the moment she’d changed her mind. She took a deep breath and got off whatever bed she was on, whoever she was lying next to and slowly walked out. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail and her face was set.

“What is it you need to show me?” She said, her tone low, but still strong. I nodded my head towards the end of the hall and started walking. She waited until I got a few steps in before following. We got to the end of the hall and I opened a portal to Eternal, it’s shimmering white almost refreshing to see.

“You want me to go through that?”

“You went through a portal to get here.” She shut her mouth as I walked through, I knew that she would follow so I allowed myself to enjoy the transitioning. I stepped out onto the Eternal grass and moved out of the way for Izzy. She stepped through and her boyd was reasonably more relaxed.

“This is Eternal.” I ssaid, closing the portal after she stepped out of it. She squinted and sniffed, looking around and letting her eyes adjust slowly.

“Kinda bright.”

“Sorry about that,” Gaia’s voice sounded around us and I folded my arms “our old eyes need it to be as bright as possible. Izzy looked up, her eyes calculating and aware; she didn’t very much like surprises. She’d been born with that talent, I just expanded it.

“Don’t worry Isabel, you’re not under any harm. I think I know why Luna has brought you here; actually, I know. You can go on ahead and show her, I’ll stay out of your way.” Gaia shot Izzy a small smile and me a wink before she disappeared.

“Who the hell was that?” Izzy asked, her brow furrowed and her eyes on the place where Gaia disappeared from in wonder.

“Don’t worry about it for now, I’ve gotta show you something.” I took her hand in mine and led her further into Eternal, making it bend into what I wanted it to be. The blinding light slowly faded away and a stone tunnel appeared in front of us, the wooden door to enter it old and heavy. Izzy squeezed my hand once and I stopped, she didn’t want to go through. The Olden in her knew where we were going and it made her feel uneasy, her eyes scanned the door and the tunnel that seemed to have no end.

“Where are you taking me, and why do I feel like I’ll hate you after this?” She didn’t pull her hand away, she just stood her ground and stared at me. It would take hell on her heals for her to move, she knew I knew that.

“I’m going to give you peace.” She stared at me a good while before her eyes lit up with anger.

“So I can fight in your stupid war?” She tensed up and her hand was so close to being yanked ut of mine.

“So you can keep living on. You’re my friend first, Iz. I’d protect you even if you didn’t need me to, think of this as that.”

“Can I not fight?” I clenched my teeth and pushed down the anger.

“You may not want to fight, but you’ve got a whole other person in there that cannot not fight. I can’t keep anybody from the war, I can’t seem to fix things without fucking them up more, so I don’t want to tell you definitively no and then you have to fight. That’s an honest answer, I’m sorry if you don’t like it.” The anger was still in her eyes, but her body calmed down.

“What do you want me to see Luna? I don’t want any more games, I just want to go back to my family. That’s an honest answer.” The honesty burned me to my core and I squeezed her hand before opening the door and pulling her through the hallway.

               

                Warmth enveloped us and the environment shaped around my mind, I chose the only place I knew Izzy would be comfortable, and that was her living room. The wooden floors had clothing and toys on them, pieces of paper and pieces of home littered the ground. The couch had a quilt that her grandmother had knit by hand, one that she would always remind me of when I told her no female in her family had ever been girly. The walls were beige and held battle scars from each of the McReery children youth. Drawings that their parents could quite clean out, and stains that just wouldn’t come out. Her hand slid out of mine and she walked to where a family picutre of them hung up over the fireplace, her eyes wide and her body visibly shaking. Her hand reached up and touched where her parents stood, next to each other and holding a baby Zena in their hands while the rest of their children hugged their legs.

“I almost don’t remember.” She said faintly, a whisper that I had to struggle to hear.

“It’s the Olden in you, protecting you from whatever called its sprit to you in the first place.” I said softly, folding my hands together and watching patiently.

“I want to see it.” Her voice was slightly stronger, but her eyes hadn’t met mine yet. She was still looking at her parents, soaking in their smiles and the color of their eyes. I could see her memories flit by in her brain, it was hard not to, as she was searching for the memory herself.

“I want to see it.” She said again, her voice strong as she backed away from the painting and closed her eyes. The scene in front of me warped, the color was gone and the living room looked cold. The windows were boarded up so only fractoins of light seeped through and onto the floor, outlying the cold wood.

“Izzy, what are you-”

“I need to see it.” She said, her eyes now open and silver. Her parents rushed down the stairs as the noise from outside started to bleed in. It was deafening and it was all around us, it took my ears a while to seperate one sound from another. There was definitely a helicopter, or two from the way it was all around us, and there were people outside. Some of them bystanders booing the household, but most of them were armed; heavily. The amount of metal and sulfur in the air almost drowned me, but I reminded myself it wasn’t real. Her parents looked… off. Their laugh lines seemed to be almost non existent and fear had hunched their spirits, desperation wafted off of them and it made my wolf whine for them.

“Mom, Dad.” Izzy whispered, taking a step toward them but not bothering to take another step. Her father opened the door but stood in front of her mother.

“For the last time, we don’t know where they are.” His voice, normally strong, had lost its strength and sounded hollow. I heard the guns cock and my heart jumped, I knew what would happen but I still didn’t want to see it. I didn’t want Izzy to see it either, but she was in control of the psyche world.

“Mr. McReery, let me explain something. You’re making it very difficult for me here. I’m in charge of were-affairs, when they all disappear off of the face of the planet… you can see how we’d all be stressed. You’re the only close human contact any of them had, and when I say any I do mean any. They’d had to have told you something so, here, I’ll make you a deal. You tell me where they are-”

“God, are you always this dramatic. We don’t know where they are.” Her mother spit out, standing next to her father and crossing her arms. When he spoke again it was in clipped tones, the allusion of a passive voice.

“Just tell us where they are.” I could smell the resolve in the air, but only watched as they grabbed each others hands and squeezed.

“No.” I closed my eyes and used magic to close my ears, but I knew Izzy was watching. After I knew it was over I opened my eyes and looked at them, even though I didn’t want to. They still held each others’ hands, they were still together even in death. She stood there, motionless, her eyes were back to their hazel color as she stared at her parents.          We watched as her siblings ran down, surrounding the bodies of their parents and mourning. The only person that was missing was her.

“I knew it had happened, I just couldn’t come downstairs. Something was stopping me. I could hear them crying, I had heard the shots, I’d felt the sound in my heart. I just, I was stuck on my bed and I couldn’t move.” She fell to her knees and I had full control of the environment. I let it slide back into the happier living room, the one where life hadn’t turned sour.

“It’s not fair, we didn’t- they didn’t do anything wrong. They weren’t fighting in this war, we were just protecting you.” She hiccuped, before she turned to me. Her eyes were molten silver, her face was strong and her strength was deadly.

“Our whole lives we’ve been outcasted, and turned away by our own just for you.” She stood as the world turned to the blinding light that was Eternal. She had kicked us out of the hall of the redeemed and now Goddess knew what she was capable of now.

“You became my friend.”

“You chose me! You knew I was strong-”

“And you are, look at what you’re capable of.” I said, pointing to the realm that we were in.

“My parents are dead! That means nothing to me! None of it!!” Her screech filled the air and stuck, her breathing was hard and her fists were shaking with the amount of effort it took her to hold back her strength.

“Iz-”

“For you, for your stupid war. Your stupid, stupid inane need to destroy everything around you and strip everything away from people closest to you as long as it means they’re strong enough to fight for you! For you, my parents died and left me to protect all of us. They will not have died in vain, I’m fighting in your war but I’m not fighting for you or with you. I’m only fighting for them, don’t ask anything else of me, because I won’t give anything else.” With that she tore me from the world of Eternal and left me in my room with a gaped mouth.

 

 

 

                Ander snuck into my bed that night, his hand sliding onto my hip right before his body was pressed against mine. He shoved his nose in my hair and took a deep sniff before pulling me closer to him, impossibly.

“Izzy’s the Fallen One, she has to fight with us and her parents were killed because of us.” I let a tear fall down, and for some reason the rest of them thought that it was perfectly ok to follow. I put my face in my hands and sobbed, my entire ribcage wrenching around my lungs and making it hard for me to breath. His arms wrapped around me and he kissed the back of my head, but I didn’t need that. Not now, no. My mind went back to when Brandon died, how determined to be strong I was and how weak I actually was. Nothing had happened to me, I was just a brat who wanted everything to go her way and Is till was. It was just that, now, I had reason to be hurt. I had a reason to cry and to complain and to hate. I wouldn’t cry though, I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of more tears. My world was spinning apart and the only thing that I felt I could do was watch and, ultimately, cause more damage at the end.

“I need to dance.” I whimpered, sitting up and wiping my face. He sat up with me, his hand rubbing soothing circles on my back and occasionally squeezing the nape of my neck.

“I’ll take you somewhere.” I crinkled my brow, but I wouldn’t look at him. He was the only one I could be me around, the only one I could cry around and feel safe. He and I had been through so much and it was a miracle we’d made it this far; well, that and a little thing called mate for life. We couldn’t leave each other, and I would milk that until the cows came home.

“Take me where?”

“To the place that Vixie and her little pal have been trying to get you to go.” He took my hand and pulled me up, giving it a firm squeeze before leading the way.

 

                As we walked through the tunnels I noticed something was wrong. It was quiet, way too quiet. I couldn’t hear the snores or the breathing or the late night talking of anyone, magick tickled my nose but it was so faint that, if I wasn’t paying attention, I would’ve missed it. Somebody was masking something, but they weren’t doing it well. He stopped in front of a blank wall and stared at the rock and mud that it was composed of.

“Peanut butter pickles.” He said, leaning in closer. I scrunched my lips and thought about sliding my hand out of his and casually walking the other way before a portal opened, shimmering baby blue. That was new, my curiosity peaked and I practically ran into it. There were lights, strobe lights, and there was music. But I didn’t see the technology available for any of it to happen. There was a mass of shifters, all dancing and singing and laughing; drinking drinks out of plastic cups from a bar that was nowhere to be found. Vixie ran through the crowd, her powder blue shifter eyes wide and her breathing fast.

“You finally made it dude, I see he had to bring you.” She nodded once at him and stopped before cocking her head. She closed her eyes and swayed lightly before popping them back open.

“Occasionally I have to check the sound spell, make sure none of it gets out.”

“You made this?!” I looked around and marveled at the sight of it. Vixie was half fey, but only half. And she’d been born from a half fey, making all of this that more fucking impossible.

“Well, I’m not in charge of what happens inside of The Cave, I’m just in charge of keeping it a secret and making sure it doesn’t DTP.” Her fangs made it hard for her to talk but she kept at it.

“You told half the shifter population here.” I said incredulously, motioning at all of the people that were dancing and having fun.

“Spreading the love man, spreading the love.” She shrugged before a polar bear cub waded its way to us.

“Loogie, I keep telling you that it’s not OK to just walk around in your bear form.” The bear chuffed and shook its head before walking away, the shifters moving apart from him and making sure that they don’t bump into him.

“Let yourself go, dude. Here you can be you, and nobody would judge.” Vixie said with a knowing smile and walking away.

“She’s right, ya know?” Ander said, taking my hand in his and walking through the rowd. I didn’t argue with him, I just watched him move. The muscles in his back and shoulders moved along his form fitting grey shirt, and his presence demanded attention. Both male and femal looked at him, assessing him as either a friend or foe. His hair, a strange mix of brown and red, was ruffled around his head, but he’d need to cut it soon. Otherwise, he’d be rocking a man bun. That’s when we’d have problems, because I would not be able to say no to a man rocking a man bun. He looked back and smirked at me.

“Guess, I’ll just have to grow it longer then.” He stopped and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to his body and swaying back and forth; way out of beat, but I didn’t mind.

“It’s rude to snoop through my mind sir.” I swayed my hips in time with his and put my head on his chest, wnting to really dance. I needed to shake the kinks out of my body and be free of everything.

“It makes it easier to see what you’re actually thinking in there. You keep everything so titghtly bottled, I’m not sure about anything when it comes to you.” I looked up at him then, peering into those blue eyes that had clahsed with mine so many times.

“It adds mystery to me, don’t you think.”

“I’ve had enough mystery in my life, LunaRosa, I don’t need anymore.” His voice had dropped, but his face was so close mine. I could count his stupid eyelashes that were always way more full than mine could ever be even with makeup.

“You couldn’t tell what she was thinking.” I whispered, knowing that would break this moment. He smirked and shook his head.

“Humans are easy, they display their emotions so easily; but you. You, LunaRosa, are something so very different.”

“I thought you didn’t like different.” His lips were pouty and large and I wanted nothing more than to taste them and him.

“Do it.” He whispered mentally, his lips inching ever closer. We hadn’t kissed since the night I had trained and they stepped over the boundaries, the night that him dying was real and it hit me harder than anything. That was a kiss of pain and relief, one of need and reassurance. This one wouldn’t be like that. No, she knew what she wanted and she would take it.

“Lord, almighty, the inner monologue is like watching a bad Sex and the City episode.” He groaned before swooping down and kissing me softly, his tongue intruding my mouth and massaging my tongue with his and making me moan into him.

“Hey now, no fornicating on the dance floor.” Leo said loudly, bumping into us and separating me from him. A vicious snarl tore through Ander’s mouth and iit made me quiver, just a little bit.

“Don’t fucking touch her again.” He growled, his muscles tense and ready for a fight that he probably wouldn’t win.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, puppy.” Leo chuckled darkly, drinking liquid out of his cup before winking at me.

“We’re gonna dance soon, so I suggest you get your head in the game.” I could hear Ander’s breathing grow more erratic the more Leo talked to me and stared at me.

“Back off Leo.” I growled through the mental link, knowing that he wouldn’t but hoping to have done something.

“You might want to put a leash on your puppy, Luna. I’d hate for him to piss himself.” Ander lunged and I stepped in front of Leo, my eyes a blazing red and anger polluting the once happy dance floor.

“Enough, go play with your mate since you’ve nothing better to do.” His eyes flashed red once at being dismissed so publically and so quickly. He turned around and disappeared into the crowd, muttering curses under his breath. I turned around quickly, taking Ander’s rigid face into my hands. His eyes were a bright amber, but they kept flicking from wolf amber to mysterious green. Green was never good in his case.

“Ander, please. Calm down, just breathe and forget about him.” I pressed my forehead to his head and let myself listen in. It was warbled in there, a chaotic turmoil of good and bad thoughts. All I could hear and see was his wolf practically howling for the death of the male that had dared to touch his female and had the audacity to disrespect him. I searhed for Ander, pressing myself against his body to find him but I couldn’t… which only really meant one thing. Him and his wolf were on the same page, which was eight times more lethal than if it was just his wolf. I looked in his eyes and saw complete calm mixed with fire and rage.

“Vixie!” I yelled through the pack link, knowing she’d be the only person to hear me.

“What’s wrong, Luna?”

“Read me, play the song.” Was all I said before pulling my wolf and preparing myself for whatever was about to follow.

 

Chapter 23

 

As the song played I reached out and connected with his wolf, feeling them both so closely, and tugged his attention from kill to me. Where Have You Been sounded all around us and I moved my body in time with the music. My hand trailed down my body before raising above my head while my hips slowly turned before the tempo raised. I turned and put his hands on my waist, goading him to dance with me. My butt was pressed firmly against his malehood and I started to move. I knew he would move with me, it was instinct and we’d been doing it since we were eight.  His breathing was hard in my ear but I focsused on moving, and keeping us both in line. By the time the intense beat came on, he was starting to come back to me. I could tell from the little grips and tugs he would inflict on my waist. After the song had ended we stood in that position. He wasn’t completely there, but his grip on reality was starting to come back. I felt his claws rip through my shirt and press gently on my skin. It wasn’t a threat, it was a claim. He wouldn’t officially claim me until he knew I was ready, this would only be temporary. A mark that would follow with his scent temporarily clinging to my skin so anyone would know I was his. A mate bond that would only last until I showered it off. I nodded and held onto his arms as his claws pentetrated the skiin that was there before he retracted them. There would be no blood, there was only blood if I wasn’t willing or it had been forced upon me. I felt warm, and then hot. So very very hot that I couldn’t stand the feel of my clothes on my skin, and the air around me did nothing to help. It was too energized, it was all too much. My skin had grown ten times more sensitive and I could feel everything. The way that life moved around me was so hypnotic that, I’m pretty sure, I swooned deeper into Ander.

“We’ll have to mate soon, it’s getting harder and harder to control my wolf when males touch you.” He whispered in my ear, rubbing the puncture holes he’d made on me. I nodded but wasn’t able to talk, I was still trying to fix all of my emotions that ran through my mind. My wolf reached out to his and he hissed in my ear.

“We’re leaving.” I nodded but I didn’t move, my legs weren’t capable of holding myself up. He lifted me slightly and walked out until we were in the hall, and put me down. The air was cooler out here, it wasn’t charged with any sort of energy. It still was too much. I needed to be covered with something, him.

“Luna, stop thinking dangerous thoughts.” He growled, lifting me up again and storming to the training room.

“It’s… it’s the mate bond. It’s messing with us.” I didn’t trust myself to speak anymore, so I talked to him through the mental link. I groaned and took off my shirt, my eyes widening as I felt how damp it was. I was sweating, I never sweat. Our bodies were built self efficient, we didn’t need to sweat.

“Maybe you’re having a bad reaction to it.” He said, his eyes devouring every piece of skin that was shown to him. I hadn’t worn a sports bra, I’d worn an actual bonafide bra complete with lace and a color that wasn’t black or beige.

“I think it’s a good reaction, and that’s absolutely terrifying.” I wiped the sweat off of me and put my hair in a pony tail. I stood only in my boyshorts and bra, but there was still heat. With a growl I focused on my body and tried to read what it was telling me. I was hot and I was throbbing, I got that, but from where. I looked down and cocked my head and then blushed deeply.

“I can smell it on you.” He slowly walked forward as his eyes raked my whole body. I backed up slowly, my hands braced in front of me and my body slouched. In hindsight, that wasn’t a good idea. My breasts spilled over slightly and were more presentable. His eyes blazed amber as he watched me inch back, unease settled in my stomach. In his eyes, I was perilously close to running. I wasn’t stupid, I wasn’t going to just outright run away from a horny, aggravated wolf;  that would mean being caught and all sorts of bad things happening after that.

“Ander, think about this before you pounce.” I pleaded, trying my best to keep my voice strong and clear of weakness or fear.

“We’ve been thinking about it for awhile, now, love.” His voice was gruff, but he was still there. I couldn’t fight the both of them off, but I could try and focus on one. I let my wolf out fully and stopped backing up, I stood up straight and dug my feet in the Earth. He still walked forward and didn’t stop until I was pressed into his front and I could feel all of him on me.

“Do it.” Wait, what? His head cocked to the side and lust shone bright in those amber globes.

“Mark me as yours, and take me.” My voice was lust filled and needy, I crinkled my brow and fought against my wolf. It didn’t do any good, it just made me see the truth. We both wanted this, our body had been starved from his touch, if this didn’t happen we would be stuck in a loop. It wasn’t my wolf controlling my words, it was both of us. The playing field was levelled and we both wanted it. Ander could see it, and before I had a chance to respond he’d smashed his lips on mine and glee filled every part of my body.

 

 

 

                I lifted myself up and wrapped my legs around his wait, kissing him back with just as much fervor as he was to me. His hands went to my butt and he squeezed them while pulling me closer to him. I was only scantily clad in a pair of thin boyshorts and a bra, all of his clothes were on. Not for long, my wolf whispered as my claws grew. I shredded his shirt off and allowed my hands to feel all of his muscley goodness. His body was so warm, and so firm. I licked his skin and tasted the sweet caramel that I knew he’d always taste like. I inhaled him and he let me, I took my time tasting his skin and inhaling his deep sweet and smoky scent that made my wolf howl into the night for him. He kissed and licked my neck, readying the area he would bite and where his mark would rest. I moaned at the idea of it, my excitement making my panties moist and sending a waft of it up to his nose. He nipped my neck before pulling his pants down, and then we were equal. He wore boxer briefs, and the bulge in them was enough to send another wave of liquid to my pussy. He sat down, carefully cradling me in his arms and I adjusted myself so that I was sitting directly on top of his erection. He grunted, but those eyes kept watching me. He waited for me to make my move before he took over. Sharpening my claws I carefully ran them down his torso and watched as the muscles there danced under my touh. Slowly and carefully I ripped the elastic of his briefs and tore them off, watching wonder as his erection popped up. He was so ready, it almost looked painful. It stood straight up, making me wonder how much blood it took to do that, and the eins that lined it throbbed with each heartbeat that I didn’t do anything with it. We’d gotten far in our makeout sessions, but never this far. I’d felt the outline of this monster, but never felt or saw it in its actuality.

                I slowly grabbed it, unsure of how exactly how to do what I had in mind. I looked at him and saw that his face was hard but his eyes were encouraging. It was killing him not to touch me or react in ay way, he was giving me this small little piece of control. I leaned down and took him into my mouth, careful not to touch it with my fangs. I heard his intake of breath and knew that I would do this right. I sucked further, taking him deeper into my mouth. I wasn’t an idiot though, he was way too big for me to take all of him. I could feel how good it was for him through the link, and wanted him to feel as much pleasure as I could give him. I took him in until it hit the back of my throat, but quickly backed off and took a deep breath. He looked at me with wide eyes, pleasure clear in them. Without being goaded I sucked him back into my mouth, tasting his sweet skin and enjoying the feel of him in my mouth. I twirled my tongue on the underside of his cock and felt the pleasure spike up through the link. My eyes shot up to his and watched how his arms flexed in time with his jaw. Slowly I stopped and sat up, and stroked the length of him. It was almost hard to get my hand completely around but I managed.

“Take me.” He moved quickly, his lips tasting mine and his tongue exploring my mouth all while his hand grabbed and squeezed my breast. I moaned into him and wrapped my legs around his waist again, feeling his hardness pressing through the flimsy material of my underwear caused a gasp from me. He stopped and looked down at me, his eyes switching from amber to blue.

“Are you OK, we don’t have to do this.” I groaned at his sensibility and nipped at his neck, bucking my hips and watching his eyes bleed back to amber.

“This needs to happen, and today.” I all but gorlwed at him, wrapping my legs around his waist and locking him close to me. He wouldn’t escape this time, we’d waited too long already.

“God, I love you.” He whispered, kissing me before I felt his claw rip off my underwear. Air hit me and I groaned, wanting warmth and pleasure. I rubbed against him, bare now, and growled as his member was covered with his underwear.

“Patience.” He said against my lips and I nipped them, we’d been patient long enough. We needed to carry this out. I was close to demanding that he fuck me before his fingers penetrated me. I gasped and arched my back, bucking into his fingers and moaning out loud.

“You’re so tight, flower.” He snarled, pressing light kisses on my cheeks while fingering me. It wasn’t what I wanted and was barely doing what I really wanted but it did something. He only had one finger in me, but the wonders he managed to be working with it was astronomical. I bit on his ear and mewled softly, moving myself against his hand. I was growing impatient and he could sense it, his body tensed up and I felt his dick twitch.

“Please Ander.” I whispered, making him look at me. His hand stilled and his eyes perused my face, looking for any trace of a lie. I opened myself to him completely, letting own any wall that I had in place and making sure he knew it. I tore my eyes from his and bared my neck to him, leaving my arms to the side. I was submitting fully to him and I could hear his wolf howl with appreciation and love, so much so that it filled me and I closed my eyes at the sensation of it. I heard his underwear being ripped off, but I wouldn’t move until he told me to, he gave me what I needed so I’d give him what he’d need. He kissed and sucked on my neck, licking at places I never knew would be sexual. A part of me wondered how he knew all of it before he was pressed up against me and snarling. I wasn’t to think about that, not when we were about to further our relationship. He was directly linked to me in a way we had never been in before, a way that was too intimate to think about anything else that had happened before now. His dick was pressed right against my opening but he wasn’t moving.

“Look at me.” He whispered through the link, it was small but was still powerful. I looked at him and saw those beautiful blue eyes that seemed so much more all the time. He was himself, he wasn’t his wolf. This was him showing me that he was in control of this, it wasn’t his wolf. He pulled me to the surface and I looked at him.

“I haven’t been this open since I was a baby.” I said honestly, looking away quickly. His presence demanded I looked at him and he showed me through the mental link all that I meant to him. I saw us younger, my hair in its normal ponytail swaying side to side as I stormed away for one reason or the other. My scent surrounded him and I smelled purely vanilla and cinnamon, with something earthy. I saw myself glaring at him, my green eyes swirling with angers and the specs of brown in them popping. My freckles were especially apparent on my face and my nose was scrunched up. We were holding hands, as a part of a dare from the Master twins, and I hated it. He loved it, but he’d masked it. I saw myself change into a wolf, dark red and large, before running into the forest; a race. Then I saw myself in that moment. I was older than I was in the other memories, my cheekbones were sharper and my face more filled out. My eyes were big and bright, green with specs of brown, and my skin was darker but my freckles were still there. My lips were parted in pleasure and I knew they tasted like chocolate coated strawberries. He bought the memories back and looked at me.

“We’ll only go further if you want to.” His accent was more pronounced and it was an effort to keep his wolf back from the surface. I kissed him then, a real kiss. It was me, all of me, bared to him. I gave him everything, just like it was the first time we kissed.

“I want to.” I whispered against his lips and hugged him. He sighed before he pressed in further to me, my nails dug into his skin as pain tore through me. He kept moving, and soon the pain turned into pleasure. I moaned and tightened my legs around his waist. He growled and closed his eyes, trying to hide his wolf from me. I bought mine to the surface and made him look at me.

“I’m with you.” I moaned, not able to keep my eyes open. His thrusts got faster and harder until he slammed into me. My moans got louder and my movements grew to be more spastic. I watched as his fngs grew and knew what was abuot to happen, he could feel it and so could I. I nodded before the pleasure that was gathering crashed into me and I yelled his name, right before his teeth sank into my neck and burning filled me.

 

                I was blinded by the pleasure and held on to him, barely stopping my claws from digging into his skin. My fangs came down and I bit his shoulder hard until the taste of his sweet warm blood hit my tongue. It was thick and absolutely delicious. He howled as he emptied his seed into me and squeezed my sides hard. I kissed his wound, my mark, and licked them so that they would heal. He slumped over me, careful not to put too much of his weight on me but still relaxed. I slowly opened my eyes and blinked out the haze of arousal. He kissed my cheek before sliding out of me and laying down next to me. We stared up at the ceiling, I looked at hm before pouring magick out of me and around us. Sudenly we were outside, or the illusion was that we were outside. The sky was full of stars and were in the middle of a dense forest, the smell tickling my nose and making me feel at home.

“I love you.” He whispered, holding my hand tightly. I rolled over and snuggled against him, wrapping my leg around his and resting my head on his shoulder. I didn’t want to look at my mark yet, I just wanted to revel in this moment.

“I love you too.” I said softly, enjoying his scent and everything that I had created. Slowly I fell asleep, holding him and the little piece of ecstasy I’d just enjoyed.

 

 

                I woke up in a bed and clothed, but I was still next to Ander. His arm caged me next to his body and his scent surrounded me and made my wolf pur.

“This is nice, I’ve never had this.” She whispered to me, Ander grunted and kissed the back of my neck before pulling me closer and dozing off again. I closed my eyes and willed myself to enjoy a little bit more before getting up. There was still training to do, and I didn’t have the luxury of choosing to just not do it. With more strength than I wanted to use so early in the morning, I pulled myself from his hold and sat on my knees. His eyes popped open and I couldn’t help bubt smile. Anger was clear in them, but so was the fog of sleep and haze of confusion.

“What are you doing?” His voice was rich with sleep and so deep I felt like laying back down and sleeping.

“Training.” I crawled over him and stood up, stretching my bones and feeling how good my skin felt. I quickly put on my sports bra and an under armor tank top on before pulling on workout capris. I pulled my hair into a ponytail before turning to Ander. He stood, his height almost domineering, and stalked towards me. I didn’t back up this time, I watched him come closer with willing anticipation and excitement for whatever was about to happen. His hand lifted and traced the mark on my shoulder, causing waves of pleauser to roll down my body; I shivered and he smirked.

“I like seeing my mark on you.” He kissed me briefly before turning and going to his own room. Shaking off the stirrings in my abdomen I walked quickly so I wouldn’t be late for training.

 

 

                They all looked at me as I entered the training field, knowing smiles on the females except for Zena. She only cocked her head and crinkled her brow. Leo’s eyes tracked me as I walked closer to the circle of Victor’s.

“So you finally got on with the nitty gritty.” Filly said with a soft smile, her arms folded over her chest and her hip cocked. I rolled my eyes and stretched out the kinks in my shoulder. Eva gasped softly and grabbed my arm. All of the other girls gasped as they saw what she saw and made soft cooing noises.

“Have you seen it yet?” Urse asked, her eyes shiny with what looked like tears. I resisted the urge to puke in my mouth.

“There aren’t exactly a surplus of mirrors down here.” I said dryly, trying to shke their hands off but with no such luck.

“Let me show you.” She whispered, displaying the image into my mind much like Ander had last night. It was pale blue and spiraled around a skin colored wolf paw. Around the paw, words seemed to shimmer.

“The perfect world is a world with two.” I stared at it, mesmerized before Leo cleared his throat loudly.

“Can we get on with the training?” His voice was terse and his eyes were hard. I swallowed a growl and shook off the hands. He picked up Zena and she cleared her throat before letting out a curdling scream that Eva amplified. I crossed my arms and glared at the back of Leo’s head, wondering what had him in such a funk.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” He growled through the link and I backed off, not wanting to get on his bad side. I’d taken a bad beating from his mate, I didn’t want a repeat. Steeling my tongue I shook my head of the funk, and awaited as they all came down. This time they were ready, we had told them that the real stuff was going to be training in animal form, and they were excited to show their strength and strut their forms. My eyes would be looking out for a certain Omega that had the power of two and had managed to pin me even with my alpha out. An inkling of awareness spread throughout my body, a soft “look at me”. I followed it and saw Susie glaring at me.

“Keep your eyes off of her and there won’t be any problems.” A mental push followed the threatening statement. My wolf snarled and wanted to rip her face off, but I was intrigued. She was something amazing, and I was gonna figure out what it was even if it killed me. The wolves all lined up and one by one began shifting. I smirked befre walking to them, I rolled my shoulders before shifting into my wolf. A mental sigh rolled throughout me and I shook my fur out. It’d been a while since I’d been in my fur and I loved it. My nose picked up the scent of lilies and I looked to the opening and saw the Masters standing there. Mason wore a muscle tee and basketball shorts, Marcella wore a muscle tee but with compression pants. A few growls hit the air and I shifted back quickly, applying magick to myself to clothe me after shifting.

“They’re friends.”

“First you bring the human, now you’re bringing a bunch of fucking vamps and expect us to just go along with whatever the hell you say?” Lily snarled, moving from the group of cats. Fillly watched her with wide eyes before looking at me and raising a brow. Helpless ass, my wolf growled.

“I expect you all to trust me and stay in line.” My tone was strong and filed with command but it seemed to slide off of her.

“Yeah, your alpha type bullshit don’t work on me, honey.” She crossed her arms and glared at the Masters.

“So, what are you? They’re little whipping girl. They tell you to jump, you say how high? Is this ‘war’ even a real thing, or did they want you to move us so they could pick us off easier.”

“You need to watch your tongue, girl.” Cella whispered deadly, I could smell her anger rising and knew that it wouldn’t be good. As long as Mason stayed calm and kept his head, this might not be that messy for any of the parties involved.

“And you need to keep it to yourself bitch, this is our domain. We outnumber you so greatly, it’s almost a joke. Stay in your place I’ll stay in mine.” Aaaaand there went Mason’s cool.

“Shut up.” I whispered harshly, barely stopping myself from plastering my hand over her mouth.

“What?”

“No, literally dude. Shut up. I want a nice calm day of training. I can’t get that with you blabbering off.”

“You’re defending them?”

“Oh my sweet lord, what is it with you guys thinking that I’m choosing one side over the other??! Like seriously, calm the fuck DOWN!” My rage slipped a little and my eyes turned red, Lily stepped back and I groaned at the sound of a nasty snarl.

“Look at what you’ve done now.” My voice wasn’t my own, it was thick and gravelly and scared me.

“Lilia, you need to calm down.” Leo said, his eyes wide and an aged cognac as he watched me. I laughed a thick hearty laugh.

“Don’t you guys get it!? Or have I just been sidling alongside you for ten years while your heads were all up your asses? My rage is my own, MY own! My rage is what shakes down mountains and makes devils cry. My rage is what has carried me all my life and you asshat’s can’t seem to comprehend that. You poke and you poke, you look at my life and think that I’m overreacting-“

“Luna.” My mother said softly, Ander growled at her but my rage had blinded me so completely that I didn’t care. I’d held it in for so long; too long.

“No, mother. I have tried for so long to help you all, I have held my tongue and fought for all of you. I have lost so much and the people around me has lost so much more. Yet, all you seem concerned about are my BAD choices. So can you all for once, just back the fuck off and trust me on this one!” Fire licked off of my skin and I had lifted off the ground a little, the ground around me shaking slightly and air whipping all around my face. Ander was crouched down, growling at the Victor’s as they stood in front of the shifters prepared to protect them. I ballled my fists up and relaxed my shoulders by rolling them. I settled down and closed my eyes, I wouldn’t let my rage consume me. They didn’t need to fear me, I’d just gotten sick of their constant questioning of my judgement.

“That was way out of line, Luna.” Tabby said calmly, her nose stuck in the air like she was so much better than me.

“You look like your mother.”

“You cow!” She snarled, getting ready to come fight me. I geared my body up and realized tthat I wanted this. My bones were aching for a good, fair fight. I wouldn’t win against an Olden, and my wolf wouldn’t let me willingly fight an omega and potentially hurt them. But I could fight a Victor, I could fuck a Victor up; I wanted nothing more than that. Leo put his hand out in front of her and eyed me carefully, I smirked and let him look his fill. Ander snarled and stalked side to side in front of me. I knew my eyes were still red, but now I had some control over it.

“Don’t. Fight me, instead.” Ander barked the loudest thing I’d eer heard and moved from his crouched position and looked like he was ready to lunge on top of him.

“Me and him, Ander. This isn’t your fight.”

“Like hell it isn’t.” He snarled through the mental link. I looked to Anna briefly and she nodded before erupting into her wolf and moving in front of Ander. He snapped at her and she growled low in her throat. She’d keep him busy. I smiled and moved closer to Leo.

“It’s just you and me, golden boy.”

 

 

                Everyone had moved back greatly, giving me and him enough space. He’d bought out his component, too. The thing that made our eyes turn red, it wasn’t the same for all of us. For me, it was my rage. I knew Urse’s was her strength, but I knew nothing of the cats or Eva. His red eyes watched me and I could imagine his lion switching its tail back and forth, its head low and its muscels coiled. He was strong, that I knew. He had a strength that could kill and a punch that, if landed the right place, could do some serious damage. We were both too stubborn, it would come down to who would move first. Everything was silent, my ears picked up on everything and it was the small sound of shifting earth that had me ducking. A boulder flew past my head and I rolled my eyes, so mature. I stood and ran towards it as he flung it towards me, I stepped on it and used the air that it gave me to kick him in the face. He caught my foot as he was going and slammed me into the ground. It caved around me, but he didn’t let go. He lifted me and threw me across  our makeshift arena. I scrambled to get up and snarled as I called fire to me, igniting his throat and using air to bring him to me. He quickly dispersed of the fire and took air from me using it to choke me. I smirked before running to him and kicking his chin before taking his arm and twisted it behind his back. The only sound I heard was a snarl. I grabbed his other arm and lifted him up, careful not to rip his arm off. I slammed him face down, both of his arms dislocated and grabbed the base of  his neck. Lifting him up, I let all of my rage out and with a howl punched him in his face until my knuckles were burised and covred in his blood. I dropped him in a heap and calmed down my breathing. I looked up and saw only fear and admiration. I could hear Leo healing, and I had expected he’d be pissed. But didn’t know he’d still attack. I should’ve known, in hindsight. He grabbed my ankle and squeezed, crushing the bone, before pulling me down and punching my stomach. I shouldn’t have curled over, knowing it would be bad, but it really fucking hurt. He punched my jaw, damn near taking it off, before pulling me up by my hair. His eyes were red but tears came from them, and he looked pained by what he was doing. He grabbed my throat and squeezed and cruched my windpipe. The smallest squeak escaped my mouth, which only pissed me off more. I squeezed his wrist, breaking the bone, but he didn’t let go. I grew my talons and barely stopped myself from decapitating him, but sliced through his hand so he had no choice but to drop me. I scrambled away but he grabbed my pants and pulled e against his chest. He restricted my arms with one hand and held my head by my forehead to his chest.

“Your rage doesn’t belong here, don’t let it take over you again.” He whispered through the mental link, probably not stable enough to speak.

“Don’t assume things of us, know what you know and take that. Don’t overstep your boundaries, and keep your strength for the battlefield.” With that he let me go and I landed on my still healing ankle. He was right and I hated it when he was, he couldn’t ever just shut up and be wrong like every boy? I closed my eyes and focused, pulling hard on my rage. I couldn’t let it out now, I’d done so well holding on to it for so long. The fight had left me weak and pulled too much from me, my rage was strong and tangible. I grabbed onto its heated leash and pulled, trying so hard to bring it down. I wouldn’t be able to do that and it only fueled it. I felt strong hands on my shoulders and a breath of air filled me; Ander. I could feel him there, and knew his strength would help me.

“Fight it, love. I’ll help you, but you have to fight it with me.” His voice was all around me, yet nowhere at all and my fear did nothing but to help the rage grow stronger. It tugged on me and I felt my body grow hotter; fire. I wanted to scream, I wanted to tell Ander to leave because I could do nothing but tear the people around me down. That’s all I was good for, my rage. The fire and the strength that it unleashed in me was all anybody ever felt and I was tired of it. I wanted to be in control of it and not only for a short amount of time. My body was my own and I was tired of feeling so out of control of it.

“This is you, love, this is your strength. I can only help a little but you have to do the rest. Bring yourself out of this and see all that is here for you.”

“It wants to burn me, like it has so many others.” My voice was raspy and weak and I hated it, because it was me. This was who I was, I was a scared girl who never got the chance to be a girl. I came out of the womb older than I’d ever need to be, I came out ready to be used; another mold, another pawn.

“You are LunaRosa Green, the daughter of Molly Turanga and Thomas Green. The eldest of seven children and an inspiration for many. You are the mate of Ander Mascot and Luna of the England pack. That is who you are, that is what she didn’t manufacture. She gave you the power and the responsibility, but didn’t give you the wonderful things in life. Take the good and work with the bad, Luna. You are so strong on your own, use that strength. Come back to me, come back to us.” His strength was there but then suddenly, there was something else. Something I hadn’t felt before. A tingling in my stomach that spread throughout my muscles, a warming sensation that settled over my organs and crept over my neck. It was me, I was waking up after so long. After Marissa had died it had only been me and I was scared, I hadn’t wanted to be alone or scared. I didn’t want all of the responsibilities and the only one that I had knew that was like me. I let my rage fill me and my wolf cover for me. I was there, briefly. I was there at nights where the nightmares haunted me, I was there when I watched my sister suffer for most of her life. I was there, but I wasn’t there. I was waking up now, and my mate and my family was helping me.

 

 

               

 

 

                Getting used to my body was weird, it felt like sliding on a pair of jeans you had just bought but that was like so many other pairs you had bought before. New, but old at the same time. I stretched, getting used to muscles that were different than they were before. Lilia still held the pain of the sickness, and I knew she would lways hold it. She didn’t need me to be hurting, I needed to be strong enough to fight the war for her mother and letting me hold the sickness within me was counterproductive. Watch it, Luna dear, I might just let it slip once and see how well you deal with it, my wolf whispered softly.

“Luna.” Mom whispered, she was kneeled in front of me. Her eyes were scared for me, she needed to be there for me and I knew she thought she had failed.

“I’m fine.” She grabbed my face with both hands and peered into my eyes, eyes that would’ve been so similar to hers if she hadn’t fully embraced her wolf while she was pregnant with me.

“Are you… are you?” Her voice shook and tears pooled up in her eyes as a small smile lit her face. I nodded and she sobbed before grabbing me tight. She’d known I wasn’t there, she’d known that after Libby was diagnosed I had checked out temporarily. It was only her and my siblings who had noticed the change, and now it would be them who would welcome me back. I hugged her back, tightly, as I’d wanted to do for so long but I needed to be strong for her and so many. I looked up and through my family to see Leo standing there, his eyes bleeding from yellow to their oceanic blue. I gave a quick nod of appreciation and he dipped his head before addressing the shifters.

“Go get breakfast, by the time you come back training should have commensed.” They left silently, which was kind of a big deal considering how the whole lot could barely shut up for ten seconds.

“Oh, Lily, you stay back.” There was malice in Filly’s tone and I kind of felt bad for the jaguar. Just kind of, though. My body was all healed up and mom had let go, so I slowly stood up and smiled tentatively at my siblings. From youngest to oldest they all formed around me and gave me a hug, squeezing the life and breath out of me. It felt good to be surrounded by so much love that a tear slipped from my eye. Ander wiped it and sent me a wink before following the rest of the shifters into the dining room for breakfast.

“Go on and eat, I’ll be there soon I promise.” Mom nodded before pealing each sibling off and practically pulling them away while they yelled and professed their undying love for me.

“I hate you all!” Even though it was said with a smile, I still meant it. Very much, in fact. I turned to Leo and right before I was going to say something a band of children came storming through, thoroughly frightening me.

                It wasn’t because they were kids, I loved children and planned on having a litter of my own one day. It was because they came riding on the back of a baby dragon, and all of them looked to be under the age of ten. All of them including the dragon, judging by how steadily it was flying which was not at all.

“Zack! Iona!” Leo roared, his brother and sister giggling and pointing at him. I looked to Filly only to see she had blanched completely at seeing her baby sister dangling from the tail of an unexperienced flyer. None of my siblings were there, but Vixie and her friend were riding on top of it, tugging on its tuft of blue hair.

“Vixie! Your mom is gonna kill you!” I whisper yelled, knowing Valerie was always tugging on John’s wolf hearing to look out for her children.

“Sorry, what was that? Couldn’t hear you over how much fun I’m having!”

“Zack, I swear to everything that is holy in this world and everything else if you don’t get off of that thing I will murder you and wear your pelt as an ascot!” In response his brother just giggled. The blue dragon flew over us, showing us its belly and I choked on my spit.

“Is that… that’s not… holy shit…” Leo stuttered, taking a step back as we saw the tattoo that was there.

“Your siblings are riding a royal dragon cub, and I doubt the parents know about it.” Eva stated, barely being able to hide the laughter in her voice. A deep roar filled the cave and made the ground vibrate with the intensity of it.

“Actually,” She laughed, clutching her stomach as she oubleed over “they had no clue about it!”

 

 

                My eyes widened as everything happened all at once. As soon as the roar hit, the dragon’s wings gave out and they all landed on the floor, none too gently from the sound of it, and all the shifters came running into the training room to see what all the commotion was about. The sound of a hundred wings filled the air, making everything around impossible to hear. Zack and Iona ran to Leo, cowering behind his leg and clutching on to him for dear life. Filly didn’t even give her sister a chance to come to her senses before she used magick to bring her to into her arms and held her close to her chest. Vixie and Louie quickly ran to where I stood and tried to feign innocence. I rolled my eyes and pushed them closer to my body, knowing I’d need to protect them. With a deep groan the cub slowly started to shift, ice and wind bowing around it until a kid stood in the middle grabbing his should and wincing in pain.

“Damn, that hurt.” His accent was slight, but it was definitely Russian. He stood naked, but nuditiy wasn’t a big deal to us. He looked over at where we stood and shrugged with a sheepish smile.

“Sorry about that guys, got a little too cocky back there.” Several full size dragons  flew into the room, all of them ice and all of them very angry and very large. They landed, earning several snarls from every shifter and changed; causing one hell of an ice storm indoors.

“Ivan, what the hell do you think you’re doing? I told you we were to wait until the shifters were aware of our location!” The first one out was a female, tall and built. Her hair was the common blue amongst ice dragons and her face was angular but still beautiful in the deadly way that all dragons and reptilian shifters were.

“Mother, I went for a fly. No harm.” The storm had finally calmed down, revealing about fifty dragons in their human form. They stared at us, watching us as if we were the ones that turned into two ton giant reptilian animals that could spit ice.

“Respect your mother child, and come here.” A male said, he looked nothing like the boy so he probably wasn’t his father. Ivan narrowed his eyes at the male but went to his mother anyway, standing next to her and looking at his newfound friends apologetically.

“I am Inna, Queen of Ice Dragons and this is my son Ivan. We come because we were called by Gaia, you need our help.” It was a statement, not a question. Her eyes, a shocking icy green, matched mine and I knew she would never look away from my gaze. Eva stood forward, her hands on her hips and a wide smile on her face.

“Well, call us the welcoming wagon! I’m Eva, and these are my band of merry Victors-“

“I know who you are, child of air. I know who your friends are, I was informed of everything. Now I just need to know where we will be sleeping.” Eva was silent for a while, before cocking her head to the side and taking a deep breath. She was tapping in to the air, sensing something was off. My instincts told me something was wrong but my affinity for air wasn’t that strong that I could detect every single mishap like Eva and Urse could.

“There’s more.” Was all she said, the slightest of smiles widened on Inna’s face before it was wiped off.

“If I was told to come, who else do you think would’ve came? Your Gaia is all about balance, isn’t she? Who would balance the scales for me?” There was pun in there and I so wanted to point that out before two red dragons rolled in, literally, clawing at each other with bursts of fire going around like crazy. All the Victors at once put a protective shield around each shifter. We weren’t flame retardant. More of them flew in, but flew in mainly to watch the fight happen, and perch on the ground to cheer them on with flaps and roars.

“Are they-“ Vixie whispered before a giant roar filled the air and silencing her. She wasn’t afraid, no Vixie was never really afraid of anything that could cause her any harm. There was wave after wave of excitement pouring from her and she was barely able to keep still. We looked up to see nothing short of a mammoth flying over, red and brilliant; a brand over its belly indicating its status in the dragon hierarchy. My jaw dropped and I instinctly grabbed the two cubs closer to me, extremely tightly if their groans were any indication.

“That’s… That’s…” Leo whimpered, actually whimpered. The dragon landed without making a fuss behind the two rumbling and rolled its eyes.

“It’s reasons like this that I can’t take you two anywhere!” The thick lilt gave off the Irish accent immediately and I knew for a fact that I was thoroughly fucked because the father of the fire dragons was here, and I would have to deal with that shit.

 

 

 

 

                The dragons kept fighting, getting in a few decent blows but I knew they were kin. They smelled of the same blood, and there was no real anger there. Inna cleared her throat, clutching Ivan’s shoulder and bringing her closer to him. The fire dragon smiled, a toothy and menacing one, before turning around and smiling at her.

“Inna, dear. Who knew you’d be here? And with your babe, isn’t that sweet?” His voice was dipped in honey and poison.

“And you, with your whole litter. What, your little whore too busy popping out more demon seeds?” The dragons stopped fighting and they all stared at the altercation. It was no secret that Inna and he had created the dragon race. One of fire and ice come together to create the species and a cub of fire and one of ice was created. Lot of weird shit happened after that, some incest but then again, what species hasn’t had a little incest in it?

“There was a time when you were in her position, unless you don’t remember that?” The ice dragons seemed on edge, looking an instant away from shifting and ripping out throats. Inna raised her nose and small evil smile graced her lips.

“Must not have been that memorable.”

“No, no deary. There are a few screams and moans that I can bring up that would break up that notion.”

“Ok, there are children here.” I said, barely stopping myself from wincing before I stepped forward. The dragon turned and its eyes narrowed on me before a smile lifted its face. Oh God, I groaned, knowing that it would get really messy really fast.

“Is that little Luna I see, all grown up?” He stomped over to me, his tail raised and his eyes excited. With a small smile I nodded sending out the tiniest prayers tht Ander would somehow be knocked out before anything else would happen.

“Hey, I’m totally down for that.” Leo whispered through the link and only because I knew I had to be serious  didn’t reach and stab him. The dragon shifted into the seven foot tall, very naked, man I knew he would turn in to. He’d trimmed his beard down so it was only a little bit away from his face, but his hair was still wild and unkempt. If it were all white, he’d look like a mad man… now he just looked as normal as he could. He smiled down at me before wrapping me in a big hug I’d expected.

“You’ve grown so big from the tiny little lass you were!” He said, spinning and laughing that loud happy laugh I’d known him for.

“It’s good to see you again, Uncle Bercelack.” I squeaked out, and waited for life to explode all around me.

 

 

 

                He put me down and I expected a big wolf to come leaping at his head, but Ander merely stood with a sly smile on his mouth. I raised a brow at him and he shook his head so I turned my head back to my adopted uncle.

“Wait, what? Uncle?” Filly said, her eyes wide and watching as the dragon lumbered over us all.

“Little Luna here is like my own blood, I’ve known her since she was a wee little lass.”

“Who don’t you know?” Inna said with disgust clear in her voice, the link between them was strong. I knew it wasn’t real, none of it was. She cared too much about him and he ared way too much about her for it not to irritate him.

“Hey, pup, thought we talked about the mind thing when you were a wee lass.”

“Which time, I’m always wee to you?” He laughed that big laugh and got the attention of my parents, more specifically my mother.

“Is that the big bastard I hear?” Her voice sounded as she pushed her way through the crowd. Her voice brightened up and she ran toward the dragon. He opened his arms and his wings spread out as he flew up in the air and spun around. She giggled, actually giggled before patting him to put her down. If she’d been her old self she would’ve leaped from him but… even were bones age.

“Little rag doll Molly, how’s life and the brats been treating you?”

“Ask them yourself, there’s a little bit more than what you remembered.” All of my siblings lined up, beaming at their dragon god father.

“Jeez Molly, were you too bored to just sit still. Bunnies have less than you.” She punched his arm and rolled her eyes before waving everybody over. My eyes flicked over to Inna and through the icy stare I saw longing. She had a family, she’d stayed with her ice dragons and each of them were her own. She didn’t have what we had though because she’d never gotten close enough. I could understand it though but, as I looked down to Ivan, I knew that it had taken a rougher toll than she’d expected it to. Using magick, something that was tricky to do when surrounded by dragons who had a firm hatred for it, I connected with him.

“Later, come by where I live.” His eyes looked around before connecting to mine, his eyes shined and I cursed myself. Right before an iceball was spit, literally, at me. It was small but it still fucking hurt especially since it was aimed at my gut.

“If you’ve got anything to say, say it out loud. No magick needs to be performed in our presence.” Her right hand man hissed and I narrowed my eyes.

“Excuse me, my majesty,  is it OK if I have a small chat with your friend.” Her eyes were calculating, rorming over my body and seeing if I was a threat. She knew what I was, knew that I was stronger than the average wolf and could do quite a bit of damage. A small smile told me that she didn’t think it would be that much, and with a slight nod her lackey smirked before stepping forward. He was tall, and built with a lean structure but they all were. Bercelack stood in front of me, his red hair tied up neatly in a bun now and I knew that his face would be ten times as stern since there was no hair to mask the harsh dimensions of his face.

“Now, now. It was purely innocent, no harm was meant and you know that.”

“She aimed it at the young prince!”

“She was merely introducing herself!” Ivan said and I could smell the lie in it from where I stood so far away for him.

“You lie for them, Ivan?”

“Mother, I-“

“It doesn’t matter, it’s all irrelevant. You just have that huge stick up your ass and you feel the need to make everybody in the room as uncomfortable as you.” I spit out, walking around the mammoth that was Bercelack.

“Why, you little-“ I blocked the ice ball that her lackey sent out and rolled my eyes as I took the air from his throat.

“Titles don’t matter here, here we are all soldiers fighting a war.”

“And if I don’t wish to fight it?” The dragon was making choking noises and his face turning a red I didn’t know ice dragons could reach.

“You were sent here by Gaia, she holds as much reign over you as you hold over your dragons or that I hold over my pack. She gave you an order, and you have to follow them. You can go ahead and pretend like you’re so much greater than we are but really all you are is an overgrown lizard with wings that fucked until you had your own people to herd.” I should’ve known that was a bad idea, I really should’ve shut up but she’d made me upset and dismissed me one too many times. Her tail lashed out and grabbed my neck, she had shifted to her dragon form and she was huge and angry. She brought me close to her face, scaly and large. Her eyes were icy and glowing, it reminded me of a winter storm. Angry and deadly and far too cold for suitable life to form.

“Watch your tongue, little miss Luna. I am not so easily swayed by you.” Her tail tightened and I heard the growl of my family and knew she had overstepped. I nodded once, knowing my mouth would only get me in to more trouble. I didn’t need any of that. She stared a little longer, debating what to do with me.

“Enough.” Bercelack barked and she wasn’t stupid enough to blatantly disobey him. She put him down and shifted, throwing a disdainful look at her lackey that had passed out from air loss. He’d be fine, it took a lot more to kill a dragon.

“Where are we staying?”

“There is a lower level from where we are now, you guys are the first layer.”

“The first? Is there more coming?” Inna asked, I shook my head and parted my way through the shifters who still looked at the dragons with fear and admiration.

“Gaia’s the mother of everything on this Earth, and this is her biggest war. Do you think she would only grab a couple of her most powerful children? No, she’s bringing them all and I suggest you suck it up.”

 

 

 

 

                It had been a month and a half since the dragons had showed up and we officially started training before the clear path we were on got clouded. I should’ve felt the disturbance of air, I should’ve felt that something didn’t belong but I didn’t. With deadly silence I was yanked out of my bed by my throat and suspended a foot or two off the ground. I looked in to the red eyes of the enemy and grasped its arm. It was Azazil, his eyes burning into me and his grap unbreakable. One minute we were in my room, and the next we were in the training grounds, my eyes burning from te travel and from the loss of air. I grew out my claws and sliced through his hand, the whole of it including the bone, and fell onto the ground. I gripped my neck and choked out the rest of the dry coughs, glaring up at him and letting my anger muster.

“Well, hello to you too sunshine.” He merely glared at me and held his forearm until his hand had completely healed and he paced.

“They took her, and you’ve gotta get her back.” I raised my brow and a surprised laugh escaped me.

“You grab me from my bed, my mate who will be coming here soon to kill you, and start demanding things of me; to go to the surface, no less.”

“You don’t understand.”

“No, I understand perfectly and you’re gonna have to find someone else to be your bitch.” I stood up and felt Ander nearing and knew to prepare my body to stop him.

“Fitting choice of words, but you’ve got no choice. You swore you would help us.”

“Correction there, big guy, I promised Lilith I would help her and her succubi. That extension does not go to you.” I spread out my arm as Ander blurred in, rage and fear bundled together made him enter his wolf form. My hand grabbed his muzzle and I felt his hot breath  and knew he was calmed slightly by my scent.

“One demon, means every demon Luna child. We need your help and if you fall back on your promise, you’re on our bad side.”

“Yeah, well, you’ve always been on my bad side.”

“I think we should help.” A small voice said and I looked to where Libby stood with her arms crossed around her body and she stood in her pajamas. Ander growled and moved to where she stood, standing next to her and in front of her as well.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” I wouldn’t let the anger seep through my voice, because that would be a weakness. My words were tight lipped, and my eyes stayed on her.

“I felt a disturbance.” Her eyes flashed towards Azazil and a small smile lit her lips. My blood ran cold and I, accidentally, called for Mason through the link. Her face blanched and she looked back at me and took a step toward.

“He’ll kill him.” I fought the smirk that threatened to lift my lips and looked toward Azazil.

“I’ll help you, if you win.” His eyes hardened and narrowed before he sniffed the air. He smiled, a fang glinting in the light.

“You’re sending your undead lackey to fight me, instead of fighting me yourself? That’s a slippery slope towards being cowardly.” Mason stepped in and, upon seeing Libby in her pajamas, his face cleared of all emotion. His chest was bare and all of his muscles bunched at the sight of Azazil and he wlked to stand beside me.

“They let you out again.”

“Nobody has to let me out, I’m free to roam wherever I want.”

“Until you’re called back again because free time is over.” Azazil snarled at that and looked to me.

“Is it to the death? Because I can do that.”

“You just have to win.” Was all I said and waited for their arrogance to get the better of them.

“Mason, don’t do this. Violence is never the answer.” Libby started, taking two steps before stopping. Her eyes pleading with him and I watched him. His jaw twitched and his eyes seemed to be looking at her but I knew his mind was far away.

“Luna, please. Just help him, don’t involve fighting.” Her hazel eyes looked towards me, appearing to be more brown than green in the dim light.

“If he wants my help in a dangerous task, he’s going to  have to fight for it. Or have you forgotten that?”

“What, that everything to you is a fight?” Her tone held little acid in it and it ticked off my wolf slightly.

“It’s a warzone up there, they are looking for any shifter that they can find. What do you think will happen when they find one, me nonetheless? Any shifter that goes up there now is suicidal, they will find any of us and kill us or torture us. Don’t make it seem like he’s only asking for me to run to the store!”

“He’s asking for our help!”

“My help, he’s asking for my help. I will be the only one that will be going up there, if he wins. It’s so much more difficult than you think, Libby. Not everybody deserves the help.”

“Everybody does.” She hissed and stormed to me, pointing a finger in my face.

“Everybody deserves help, doesn’t matter what they’ve done or what for. Think of all the pain she’s going through, think of somebody other than yourself and this war for once.” She growled, her face red from anger and her wolf one second from coming out. I clenched my jaw and took a deep breath.

“She’s killed babies. She’s murdered whole families and left children orphaned. She’s spread plagues and diseases, a few disasters here and there. She’s one of the commanding demons down there, think about all the shit you have to do to get that high up.” I stepped back and took another breath to calm myself.

“I’m not going to go save her unless he proves that it’s worth it.”

“And for him to fight proves it?”

“Who are you worried about?” Mason asked and Libby quieted. My brows raised, I hadn’t even thought that she was thinking about either of them. He had a link with her, that’s what he was focusing on.

“I’m worried about everybody, don’t make this about that.”

“You dream about him.” He looked at her then, his eyes cold and his face saying volumes. She quieted and closed her mouth, her eyes averted and her face a bright red. Azazil looked between the two, the odd pair, and let out a boisterous laugh.

“Is the boy mad because I made his girlfriend want me? Classic.” Mason’s jaw clenched and he looked to me before his eyes shot to Libby then to me. I nodded and grabbed her quickly as Mason ran to the demon, breaking his nose with a solid punch to the face and then his arm with a twist before he picked him up and threw into the wall, denting it. She screamed and bucked against me. I held her closer to me, trying not to hold her too tight, and put my hand on her head and just listened. She was looking out for Mason, trying to salvage what she could of their relationship. Years of ignoring her and treating her as nothing but a sister had taken its toll. But that still didn’t make up for the dream, or why she was reacting so violently to the thought of them fighting. I dug deeper, holding her close to my chest and searching for the key. She slumped over and suddenly I saw it. I let her go and twisted her around, grabbing her face I made her look at me.

“He’s nothing like him, Mason is a completely different person than Azazil.” At that Mason looked up and away, the only distraction Azazil needed. He stood and reached his hand into Mason’s chest, where his heart rested. Libby screamed and ran to them, I didn’t have to ask Ander to step in, he did automatically.

“Libby dear, I’m hurt you would even compare us to each other. I’m so much better than he could ever be, I’ll make sure to show you after this whole nastiness is over.”

“Scum!” She screamed, I could smell the saltiness of her tears. Mason’s nose flared and he looked to her, those blue eyes icier than ever as he grit his teeth. Azazil sucked his teeth and squeezed tighter around his heart, if the way his arm flexed was any indication.

“No way to talk to me, if you know what’s good for you.” With a howl she shifted into her wolf and tried to leap around Ander.

“Stay.” I commanded softly, it rang through and she whimpered on the ground fighting her wolf. Azazil turned back to Mason.

“Guess you get to go visit the other side, I’ve heard your uncle’s and aunt’s have a few luxury places down there and it’s much better there than up here. Better for your skin.” Mason looked at him then, and smirked. One fang shining, as he shook his head.

“Do you wanna know why you fucked up?” The confidence in his voice was enough to take me back and make Libby stop pacing to listen.

“I don’t have a human casing, I was born in this body. I operate on a complete opposite basis than they do.” My eyebrows shot up before a smile lit my face.

“Then you insulted my mate, blatantly, and talked about her in a way I don’t particularly like. You were most likely going to die originally, but now I’ll enjoy it way more.” He grabbed Azazil’s wrist and squeezed tight, breaking and crunching everything in his way before pulling it out of his chest with nothing but the sickest of smiles on his face. Azazil fell to his knees, reaching for Mason’s arm but failing to grasp it as he punched him in the face again. The smell of demon blood was not a good smell, it was rotten and smelled too strongly of metal and hatred for it to be any sort of human. He lifted the demon who was the same height as he until he looked him directly in the eyes.

“I wish I could say it’s been fun, but it really hasn’t and I kinda really never want to see you again in any way shape or form.” Azazil smiled through bloody teeth and stroked Mason’s hair.

“See you soon, cousin. One of you will help me, whether you do it willinlgy or by force. I’ll tell father you say hi and mother you said happy birthday.” With that Mason squeezed on his throat until it was nothing but dust in his hands. Azazil had seeped back into Hell and would be back soon.

“Cousin?” Libby squeaked. Mason didn’t even spare her a glance as he walked back towards his room.

“When he comes back, and he will, me and Cella will go up to the surface to retrieve Abaddon. Don’t put any of yours in jeopardy.” With a nod from me he walked out and Libby struggled again. I let her go and she tripped slightly, Ander nudged her to her feet again before standing by me.

“You knew didn’t you, that they were related?”

“They’re both spawns of satan, all of ‘em are related in the end. Mason is just directly tied Azazil, their parents are from the first batch.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, I wouldn’t have-“

“What? Pined after a demon?” I crossed my arms and let the joking aside. I looked at my little sister, closer to a regular wolf than any of my siblings were. Her hair was in a disheveled bun and her night clothes were ruffled, her hazel eyes were upset but for a reason I couldn’t quite figure out.

“I wasn’t… I-I didn’t-“

“What is going on with you Elizabeth?” I asked, stepping closer to her. She looked at me and her anger dropped slightly but not enough to showo anything else.

“Ever since I was cured, I just… see things differently. There’s not just black and white anymore, it’s not a question of whether I live or I die but what will I do with the chance I’ve been given. I’ve been so close to death, a couple of times I was willing to call it. Then you took it away, and I grew into myself and I planned. I never got to plan before. I’ve known since I was ten that I was going to die, but now all that I knew is gone. For the better, of course, but still. I get to have new dreams and I get to see life for what it is, and not the sickness I was handed. I just understand that life is so precious and now… now it has be taken away again. If you can save me, why can’t you save her. If the Gods can spare me, why not spare the fighting?” Tears welled in her eyes and it reared my wolf up but I fought, I would deal with this one.

“You are precious to me, and to our whole family. The youngest of us all, and so much like mom that it hurts for me to stand so close to you without wanting to argue. You are the weakest of us all, which is a good thing but also horrible; because you can’t see it. You are an omega, your automatic response is peace in a situation that requires violence. Which isn’t bad, but it also isn’t good. Because that means that you are susceptible to the shittiness of the world and you are the opposite of color blind. You see all the vibrant colors and you smell the air and you taste so much of the worlds goodness, so you block out the bad. You make yourself oblivious to the darkness, to the sourness and the acridity of the world. I can’t let you hurt yourself, your mate can’t let you do that. So, you may not agree with my words and my actions and how I go about saving all of you from yourselves and from danger, but I don’t care. Because that means that I am saving you from a fate worse than death, and that’s falling for all the shit the world dishes out. The Gods didn’t spare you, I did. They will never give you anything on a silver platter without asking for something in return. I can save you, because I am strong enough to do so. My powers, they are a blessing. But living a life, where every death from here on out is your fault, isn’t worth it if I can’t do that. So I’ve gotta make the decision to save all of you, by saving myself. If I get caught, if any of us gets caught, up there it’s game over. Please see that, please stop trying to find the good in everyone when there is no good there. Please, for my sake Elizabeth Anne, go to sleep and don’t think about it. Close your eyes and remember your family, and the whole of the shifter race. Whenever you think it might be smart to go against me or the law that I’ve place down or risk your own life because you think somebody is good; think of us.” I stood up fully, wiping a tear from my eye and turning away. I hopped on Ander’s back and laid down, allowing his sent to calm me.

Chapter 24

 

I knew that Libby wouldn’t get up again, she’d been kicked while she was down and she was smart enough not to do it again. Mason was angry, pissed was a better term, and he wouldn’t go to her. He was never good at words or emotions, combining those two was an impossible feat for him. It hurt me that my baby sister was laying alone in her bed, saddened because the world wasn’t what she thought it was. It hurt me that I was the one that had broken that idea, but it had to be done. Ander nudged my shoulder with his head before wrapping his arm tighter around my abdomen. He was telling me to go to sleep, but I knew the dreams would return. I had resurfaced and brought with me the thing that made me need him to sleep in the first place. The nightmares of the screams and the judgement had reared their ugly head again and tonight, now that I had mentioned it, they would be amplified by a million. All those deaths on my head, and all those that I wouldn’t be able to save if I kept fucking everything up. I would have to save Abaddon, there wasn’t a doubt about it. I would take Mason, yes, and I would also bring Filly. I couldn’t take anybody else, I couldn’t risk hurting anybody else.

                I turned over in Ander’s arms, looking at him while he slept. He was my gift, the good that I’d gotten from dealing with their shit all my life. He was perfect for me, understanding and stubborn and my opposite and equal in every way. My hand stroked his cheek, it was growing rough. We didn’t have all the luxuries in the world down here, we were barely given soap for us to wash with. My father had grown a full on beard in just one month of us being here. He still had the laugh lines around his lips, they were slowly starting to fade now. He was worried about me, more than he’d ever been. We were more in tune since we’d had sex, I could feel more of him and he could feel more of me. He finally understood the gravity of my dreams because, now, when I woke up drenched in sweat he did too. I hadn’t gotten much sleep over the past month. I would take a few naps here and there but would never go in depth in my sleep because he wouldn’t sleep.

                I took a deep breath, petting his head and reveling in the softness in his hair. I leaned in and kissed his nose before kissing his forehead. It was about time to start training, I would have to leave him soon. We didn’t get to talk or touch much while training. I was focused on training them, making sure that they were always stronger than the previous day and he watched with silent pride and fear. I knew he knew that I didn’t sleep, he felt how tense I was at night and I knew his wolf and mine talked when we weren’t paying attention. He had gotten a strong mate, he was proud to have me but wished I wasn’t as strong as I was because I would kill myself if I kept on this path. I smirked and kissed his forehead again, loving how close we were. I just stared at him, feeling how deep his breaths were against my chest and the scent of cedar and male and warmth that he gave off.

“It’s time.” Leo whispered in my mind and I nodded, blinking away tears. This is how it would be until the war, how it would be until it wouldn’t be anymore. I stood and his arms let me go but he still feigned sleep, he even turned around. My breath was so close to hitching but he didn’t mean to hurt me, he couldn’t feel how close I was to breaking down because I’d hidden it from him.

                I was tired, and the energy in here was so close to bubbling up. There were so many people here, so many lives depending on us to save it and some days I didn’t think we could. But I did my job; I trained, I ate, I laid down with my mate. Rinse and repeat. I changed into training clothes, and put my hair in a ponytail before walking to the training center. We never did training at the same time, we changed it as the week went on and changed it weekly. I went to the training room and found them stretching with a yawning Zena. Her brown eyes found me and she waived weekly.

“Morning, if it is morning. I can never tell anymore.” Sadness was in her eyes and I smiled sadly before nodding.

“It is morning, about two a.m.” Her face scrunched up and she looked up at the rocky dome we were in before shrugging. She was a wild child and, like all wild children, she belonged in nature. Her body was practically created for it. She’d lost all her baby fat and was lither for a ten year old, her hair wild and the color of rich bark with highlights of lighter brown in her hair. Her eyes were wide but since she’d been caged they seemed to get smaller. There was nothing to look at here, there wasn’t anything green and everything was brown or gray. She’d been OK with it the first week, but then slowly the life seemed to sap from her. Leo picked her up and rested her on his shoulders.

“Ready little buddy.”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” She shrugged before taking the deepest of breaths into her lungs and letting out a piercing scream. Eva amplified the sound so it carried through the whole tunnel and it was quiet. People had gotten used to waking up at awkward times, they’d gotten used to the scream and had learned that no sound would saev them. We stood in our respective spots, waiting for the shifters to pour out. Inna and Bercelack walked in, red and blue, ready for training and the Olden Ones came out. They’d started attending training and would help occasionally in sparring when we needed to get the day over with. As the shifters poured in I geared myself to talk, I had been letting Leo and Filly run the trainings, I was too tired to talk but today I had to pop their safety bubbles.

“Change of plans.” My voice was strong, a beacon of power, and it was a lie. It wasn’t a real lie, it was a conceptual lie. A lie that, if you focused too hard on it, it would hurt your head.

“Tigers with me, birds with Filly, Lions with Eva, Bears with Leo and wolves with Urse.” Fear and excitement ran through the air and it was tantalizing to my wolf but I tamped her down. Everybody rearranged themselves until they were in the order I had commanded.

“Starting from right now, we’ll switch up fighting technique and who you fight with as the days go on. When we fight, it won’t be you against your own kind. It’ll be against humans and whatever army they’ve managed to conjure up. Humans aren’t completely defenseless, they’re going to have guns and the dark fae are going to be aiding them. We’ve worked hard to get your bases and set up and all of you are doing beautifully, but now we’re going to ruffle your feathers.” They groaned slightly but said nothing.

“Let’s begin, then.”

 

 

                As a wolf, I was automatically smaller than the cats, as a daughter of Molly Green I was shorter than a person. All of the cats that stepped up to me had the advantage of a foot or two, and I knew if they were to shift it would be the same. The first male to step in front of me must’ve been bordering on seven feet and I had to tilt my head up to look at him.

“Name.”

“Geoffrey Meer.” I nodded and got into the fighting stance, with him following. We stalked each other and blocked out the noise of the others. His eyes turned into a bright green and he watched me closely, his fangs peeking from under his lip. I wouldn’t bring out my wolf, I didn’t need to. I’d fought Filly enough times to know that he’d try to take out my feet. He stood and stepped closer, making me furrow my brow. I wouldn’t act, determined to make sure I knew what the hell he was doing before responding. Before I could ask another question as tp what the hell he was doing he reached out and tried to punch my gut, I grabbed his hand and brought him closer to me aiming for his jaw. With a tilt of his lip he twirled me arouond using the leverage that my hand grabbing him had and punched me in the back. He was tall and strong; which, if you thought about it, wasn’t fair. I stumbled slightly but got my grip and turned around, my fist strong and ready to strike his chest. With a snarl he grabbed my hand and squeezed, not hard enough to break anything, and brought me closer only to punch me in the nose. I gritted my teeth as my nose healed and brought my wolf out. His tiger was out for blood and to win, just a bit too aggressive for training. Using my speed I grabbed his arm and twisted so that he turned around, gripping his other arm as it tried to stop me and twisting that too. He struggled and I smelled the smallest ounce of fear, which he quickly hid and relaxed. I could smell the fire bubbling up through his ahnds and knew he was trying to focus on using his element, but he was using too much of his energy on that.  Hopped on his back and grabbed his hair, jerking his head to the side and put my mouth cose to his neck. He’d failed and raised his hands. I hopped off and nodded in his direction.

“Don’t focus on one thing too much, because your reaction time will be slower. You were spending too much time bringing out your element.” I raised my hand and called my element to me, letting the fire burn on my hand and spread to my forearm and back to the tip of my pinky.

“It’s gotta move through you, accept that more and you’re better off.” He nodded and moved to the back of the group, probably waiting for his friends to be done. Looking to the rest of tigers, I wiped the blood from my nose and rolled out my shoulders as the next person stepped up.

“Name.”

 

 

                I settled down on the ground and guzzled down a bottle of water, my skin was heated and I was very close to being sweaty. Leo was splayed on the ground and looked like he’d had better days. He’d been grouped with the bears and they weren’t kind to fight with. That’s why I always tried to stay on Urse’s good side. Bears didn’t particularly like cats, and Leo was the king of them all. He’d chosen them, so really it was his own fault. He’d been slammed against the wall and the floor so many times I’d just lost count.

“How’re your ribs?” Urse asked, a smile accompanied with a busted lip lifted her face.

“Ugh, I’m highly positive they’ve been pulverized.” I chuckled and drank more water, passing the bottle to Eva.

“Your lions are dirty fighters.” She grumbled before swishing water around in her mouth and spitting it out, blood streaming through the water.

“In the savannah, ya gotta be dirty to win babe.” I’m sure he winked, but he didn’t sit up so I had no clue.

“We’ve gotta teach them how to use their elements. A couple of your birds had earth elements and didn’t even know how to use it.”

“Same with the wolves.”

“And the tigers.” We were all silent, listening to the sound of life around us. Hearing them do whatever they did in their free time was so liberating. It was them living a life that was so much greater than the ones they’d had before, but at the same time still as constricting. Sometimes it killed me; knowing that we’d saved them from one cage just to put them in another. All of them struggled to keep it together sometimes, but we could see the ruffled feathers. Eva had hung around the dragons a lot more, but that was understandable. They were both creatures of the air, they both had the same background.

“Earth to Luna.” Eva snapped her fingers in front of my face with a kind smile and I blinked.

“What were we talking about?”

“We’ll have to fight in our animal form tomorrow so we’ve all got to get a hold on our animal natures. Last time it was almost a fight to the death when we brought out animals.”

“That’s because somebody was feeling a little bit antsy and started humming while we were fighting.” I threw a pointed look at Urse. She shrugged.

“I just wanted to test it out, make sure it was nice and calibrated.”

“Calibrated my ass, you almost caused a riot.”

“Almost and doing are too different things.”

“And the line between them is so small.”

“My legs have been broken in ten different places on each leg, and you guys are having a technicality contest?” Leo growled, sitting up on his elbows.

“You’re better, are you not?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He merely glared and laid back down.

“I miss the stars.” He said softly, looking up at the rocky terrain above us.

“I miss the smell of the air and the openness.” Ursula sighed, closing her eyes and drifting.

“I miss the trees, and the dirt under my claws.” Filly replied before laying down and splaying out.

“The moon, bright and swollen. I miss that the most. The feeling of its shine on my wings and the power it gifted me.” Eva laid down on her stomach and rubbed her arms. I looked around at all my friends and knew I wasn’t alone. They all felt caged, they all felt like this was no better. Do you know what makes a cage less frightening? My wolf asked sadly, she was settling in to go to sleep but had been woken by my thoughts. The bars, because then you can see it. The outside world isn’t shut off, it’s right there. You’re still in it, surrounded by light and air and sound. Here… here there’s nothing but dirt. The difference between a box and a cage, is that with a cage at least you’re free to breathe. I watched as their minds wandered, but their eyes still looked up at the rocky ceiling. We’d already been through so much, and we would have so much to go through more.  I put my hand on Ursuala’s, rubbing the soft skin there. She’d lost damn near everything at a young age. Her oldest brother and her father had died before she came over, she didn’t like talking about it but I knew seeing us with our families tore her apart each time. Her mother had died during childbirth with her, but she’d had time to process that before we were thrown into the crappy lives at the ghetto’s.

                I looked to Eva as she breathed in the cave air, knowing that her wings itched to  be in open air. She’d been orphaned since two, her parents were murdered by rogues and she didn’t have any siblings. She had been alone for a while, and she was the toughest here. She wore her pain proudly and wasn’t scared of it, she wasn’t scared of her emotions like the lot of her. I think that’s the only thing that allowed her to carry on with her life without anyone else. Filly’s father was killed in a match for power, so it was only her mother and four siblings, but she cherished her family. She stalked around them before proceeding with anything if there was danger. Her mother was a strong woman, but losing a mate can make even the proudest of shifter into a sniveling heap. Somedays they did argue, and somedays they did talk about him but we could all feel the pain that it generated through the link. She wore her emotions like a glove around her body and mind but, unlike Eva, she wasn’t proud of it. Half the time I don’t think she even meant to, it was one of her weaknesses. She had a big heart and big weight on that heart, but otherwise she was OK. I looked to Leo, sucking in my breath as my heart throbbed for him. Not in romantic way, he’d been through so much. While his family, one of the many, went into hiding his mother and father had been killed protecting him and his two siblings. They were too young to remember anything, but it haunted him. Sometimes when he dreamed, he would dream of them. I’d felt it through the link, a pain so much like my own just amplified. In my dreams, people I didn’t know died because of my incompetence. For him, his own mother and father was shot down because he wasn’t strong enough to protect them.

                When we’d all first grouped together he sought me out the second night, he felt something kindred in the both of us.

 

~ 4 Years Ago

                I hadn’t been able to sleep so I had just been laying in bed, Ander was trying to move on and integrate into human society more. He’d made excellent headway, I wouldn’t drag him back into my shit again just because of a ad dream. I took a deep breathe, taking in the night air from my open window and nestled in further to my bed, not trying to get too comfortable. It seemed that the more stress I was under, the worse the dreams got. I’d just met the rest of the victors and I hated them so much, and I’m supposed to protect everybody on my own and it wasn’t fair. I close my eyes and sighed before rolling over. When I opened them again bright amber eyes stared down at me. I squinted slightly and saw it was the lion boy, Leotis.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” His voice was gruff, as to be expected since he was so close to his lion.

“Why are you in my room?” He lowered himself to my levele and squinted slightly.

“You dream too, don’t you?” I didn’t answer, I just looked at him. His hair was short but still messy, and there were bags under his eyes that I hadn’t seen before. He laid down next to me and I moved over for him, and we talked. We talked all night long about everything. Our dreams and our fears, our families and our friends. We talked about the injustice of everything that was happening here; we talked until the sun rose. As the light hit my room and night air turned to early morning air we just stared at each other. We were so alike, and it was the first time I’d been comfortable enough to talk to anybody that wasn’t my family for very long. He looked at the sun rays that came into my room for a while before looking to me, and I didn’t feel vulnerable even though I’d laid everything before him.

“Wanna go for a run?” He had this tiny little cocky smile that belonged there and my spirit lifted with the idea that I’d helped him even when were both , still, so very broken. I nodded and jumped off the bed and out the window, shifting into my wolf in mid-air. He watched before jumping down and changing into his animal. He was a cub still, he had yet to grow a full main but there was slight growth. I wagged my tail and nipped at him before backing up. He swiped at me before mewling at me and twitching his tail. I barked and stretched before running to into the woods with all my speed. He roared a tiny roar before he following me. I’d found a friend even through all the madness.

 

 

~Present

 

                He’d been my best friend throughout all this, our closeness even managed to make his mate jealous; no matter how many times I tried to assuage her. He huffed through the link and I noticed he’d been peeking at me.

“Get out of your sad sap mood, the time for that is over. We need to focus-“

“Oh blah blah, when did you become the mature one?”

“Since never, I just need you to stop feeling so sorry for yourself; it’s stinking up the place.” I smiled and took my hand away from Urse’s.

“We should all get something to eat.” I said, standing up and ignoring the tremendous pain that it caused in my back and thighs. I’d need a really good shower and massage tonight if I was going to be in working shape tomorrow morning. We all stood, except for Leo and prepared to leave.

“Can one of you carry me there, I don’t think I have the energy to move.” I rolled my eyes at the desperation in his voice and shook my head. I heard Filly groan and knew she wouldn’t be able to leave him there.

“Aww, thanks sugar puss.” He said sweetly, before groaning again in pain.

“Told you not to call me that, countless times Leotis.”

“Gotcha, my bad for forgetting.” He said through clenched teeth and I fought the urge to laugh. My stomach rumbled and I realized how hungry I actually was. Leaving them behind I went to the dining hall, content to get my grub on.

 

 

                Ander met me at the dining hall with a knowing smile, he leaned up against the wall and stood up as I approached. He kissed my forehead and laid his arm around my shoulders.

“You OK today?” He asked softly as we entered, there were a few people here and they were mainly older mates. I nodded, grabbing the hand that was dangled and bringing me closer to him and I took a deep sniff of his scent.

“Better now, but I wasn’t that bad to begin with. I can handle myself against a couple of cats.” He huffed and handed me a plate before letting me go. I didn’t play around when it came to food, a hangry Luna was not a fun one. I stocked the plate with meat and potatoes, only putting on a little bit of vegetables before going to sit down. Ander sat next to me, providing me with his presence while I ate meant a lot. Putting down my plate, I sat on his lap and brought my plate together. He sent me a pointed look and I shrugged before shoving potatoes in my mouth.

“My butt hurts.” He huffed his disbelief and adjusted me on his lap to suit him, while I steadily shoved more food in my mouth. I watched as Vixie towed Ivan in behind her and as Louie watched from behind them with disdain.

“I can’t believe you haven’t had mashed potatoes before!” She yelled, her anger fake but dramatized to a larger scale.

“I have had potatoes before, da. I just haven’t had them mashed up before, is all. No big.” Ivan said, shrugging and walking at a steady pace. He was smilling at their hands and I grew interest but Ander tapped my shoulder and told me to eat through the link. I did, but slower than I had wanted to. My eyes flew to Louie and he was looking at the hands too but he was uncomfortable, I could tell.

“It’s no biggie, not no big.” Louie commented, crossing his arms and walking along as if he was the one that was being dragged. Vixie turned back quickly to glare at Louie before picking up a plate and plopping a healthy plateful of potatoes on it and dragging them to the nearest table. She sat near him, making Louie sit on the opposite side and just glare at the both of them.

“It is lumpy… from the potatoes, da?” He asked, picking up a spoonful and examining it.

“Yeah, and it’s made from the Gods’, so you don’t have to worry about it being yucky. It’s the perfect texture.” She said, shaking his arm in excitement. Her bright blue eyes were watching him closely and he looked at her.

“The potatoes, eat them. We were playing a rather enthralling game of Uno that I’d like to get back to.” His words were clipped and Vixie looked back at him, fire burning in her eyes. He wasn’t looking at her though, he was looking directly at Ivan.

“Whoa, chill out dude.” Ivan said, the lazy smile still on his face; he didn’t see Louie as a threat and I couldn’t blame him. Even as a cub, dragons were still lethal. All Louie was, was a little polar bear. His eyes narrowed dangerously and I could see his little body tensing up. I geared myself to stand up, things between us and the dragons were already tense enough as it was. We didn’t need a brawl to make things worse. Vixie stood up and quickly walked to the other side of the table, grabbing Louie’s arm and dragging him outside the dining room. I smirked and leand over the table, my curiousity not letting me drop whatever was about to happen. Ander gripped my abdomen and pulled me back, sticking his nose into the curve of my neck and took a deep sniff; a sweet warning. I looked back at him then and saw the amusement in his eyes, but also the concern. I smiled and purposefully loaded a spoonful and ate it.

“Happy?” He laughed and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. He grabbed my face and rubbed the circles under my eyes. A creature of the night I might be, but that didn’t mean that I was never tired and my body never showed it.

“Why haven’t you been sleeping?” He asked softly, his eyes the sincerest shade of blue I’d ever seen. I smiled and nudged him.

“I’ve been sleeping, it’s just the training that’s been kicking my ass is all. Not like I get a lot of sleep in general, then add the fact that I have to wake up early and go to sleep last means that sleep is halved. I’m fine.” I tried so hard to keep the lie out of it, and it had worked. It was so perilously close to being the actual truth that it I’d managed to bury the lie. He watched me closely and reached down to grab my hand, giving it a tight squeeze. He nodded and my wolf took a deep breathe, it was a risk to lie to your mate. They were always in your head, they knew what was right and what was wrong when it came to truth and lie. I finished up my plate, his hand still holding on to mine as we walked out.

“Why are you being such a dick?!” Louie’s eyes widened and he showed shock before his face was wiped clean.

“The pot calling the kettle black, and here I had so much high hopes for you.” He said, shaking his head and walking away, Vixie growled and grabbed his shoulder. She seemed hurt whe he pushed her hand away but covered it with anger.

“What’s your fucking problem?”

“You!” He turned around and his eyes were black and wide, he’d snapped. Luckily he wouldn’t attack her, of that I was sure.

“Ever since dragon boy got here you’ve been acting… different.” Her mouth popped open and her face reddened, she lokoed down and rubbed her arm.

“No I haven’t.” She was timid, and it was a new look for her.

“Yes, you have, and I don’t think I like it anymore. You used to be cool, but now it’s just… look, I don’t have a problem with dragon boy. I do have a problem with losing our friendship over him though. That doesn’t seem very fair to me.” His eyes bled back to blue and he looked embarrassed.

“Sorry.” She said softly, and Ander dragged me away from them.

“Don’t peek on them, love. It isn’t fair.”

 

 

                We went through our nightly schedule, we each took our own shower and met up in my room showered and ready for sleep. His skin was smooth, his chest bare and his legs clad with sweatpants. He was sitting on my bed, his elbows on his knees and his eyes serious. I cocked my head and asked with my expression, I didn’t want to go through his head; only made him angry.

“What are you planning to do for that demon?” He asked, not looking directly at me but spaced out.

“Of all the times you tell me to stay out, and you so openly peer-“

“You’re evading, answer the question.”

“No, I think you’ve violated my privacy. You don’t deserve an answer.” I crossed my arms, hoping to maintain the pissed off vibe, it was the only thing I could pull this time. There were few things he would allow for, and things he wouldn’t cross. He wouldn’t allow for lying, but wouldn’t bother crossing me if I looked ticked off enough for him to stay back. He stood up, his eyes barely focusing on me and stepped close to me; glaring down.

“I’m your mate, I deserve any and all answer I seek after.” His voice was too low, too calm for the amount of anger that was in his eyes. I narrowed my eyes and tried my best to add all the anger I could possibly muster.

“You’re sounding a little to ‘perfectly entitled’ for my liking.” He opened his mouth to say something but before he could his nostrils flared. He closed his eyes and took the deepest breath and all was silent. I heard the downfall of my heart as he opened his eyes and they were pure green.

“You’re lying.” I clenched my jaw and gulped, cursing the copius amount of spit that was in my mouth.

“What would I be lying about?” My voie wavered slightly and I would kick myself for tht later, but as of now I had an angry mate on my hands that would have to be dealt with. He took a step towards me and I took one back, staring directly in his eyes.

“You’ve been lying about everything.” He snarled continuously stepping toward me until my back was against the farthest wall from the opening of the room.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ander.” With a growl he punched the wall next to my head. I wasn’t scared of him, I could never be scared of him. I was scared that I would lose him, which was the only reason I flinched.

“Stop the bullshit, Luna. We’ve gone over this, we’ve been through this…. This bullshit. Can you not lie for once in your fucking lie!”

“Just be specific!” I yelled back at him, so close to tears.

“Why are you lying, why haven’t you been telling me the truth? We lay in the same god damn bed fro god’s sake! I would’ve thought you would’ve felt fucking comfortable enough to tell me the truth!”

“I’m not lying!” I hit his chest, my wolf coming out and meeting his eyes. We stood there, the both of us just looking at each other.

“You’ve been omitting the truth and hiding it behind your lies… hanging lies on the verge so that they’re not really lies. That’s a fucking lie, Luna! I thought we were past this, bullshit!”

“Just because we fucked doesn’t mean we’re suddenly golden!”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now, Luna? We mated, mated and fucking are two different things and you know that! You’re just terrified of everything that involves emotion, and now that there’s nobody to take my attention away from you, you don’t know what to do! And I get it, Luna. You’ve got serious commitment issues, and I don’t care to know the reason why I just want you to trust me enough. We’ve only got a little bit of time together, and in the short moments that we do spend together I sure as hell don’t want them to be spent with me wondering whether or not you’re lying to me.” He had calmed down considerably, his eyes bleeding from green back to blue and they were filled with hurt. I wanted to kick myself for having been the one to put it there. He closed his eyes and took a huge step back, pinching the bridge of his nose and placing on hand on his hip.

“What are you planning to do for that demon?” He was stressed, whatever information my wolf told his wolf had put them both on the edge and they were hanging on. They could deal with my crazy, and my strength but they couldn’t deal with the lies. I opened my mouth before biting on my lip, wanting to understand that it would kill me if he came. Do what’s right, my wolf whispered to me befre sitting patiently.

“Filly and I are going up to the surface to help bring back Abaddon.” He stilled, I’m pretty sure he stopped breathing and everything.

“It has to be done, otherwise Azazil will wreak havoc here and I can’t have that. I know there’s a risk, but it’s a risk I have to take. I don’t want you to be upset with me, and I’m sure you know that you can’t come… but don’t try to stop me from going either because I need to be there.”

“Does Leo know?” It was the first time he’d said his name in a long time and it threw me off but a bit but I cleared the fog out of the way.

“You weren’t supposed to know.” I evaded the question, he didn’t want lies but I couldn’t tell the truth.

“He’s letting you go, he’s allowing the both of you to get hurt? For what, Luna?” His eyes were green again and his voice was taught. This wasn’t like the last time, he was angry at me before. Now he was angry at Leo and Filly, causing my eyes to turn red.

“Ander-“

“For what!? Are you all really that determined to be killed, are you all so fuckign bloodthirsty for war that you’re willing to put your own lives in danger!?” The longer he spoke the more his anger rose, and the more mine did. I didn’t want to be angry though, I couldn’t get too angry.

“Please, calm down. Think about what’s happening and what it’s doing to me-“

“That’s all I ever fucking do! I worry about you like some fucking lovesick puppy and all you do is kick me down but it’s fine and do you want to know why, Luna?” Heat surged through me as his anger grew immensely,  I accidentally let out a distress signal as panic rose within me.

“Because of your fucking war, because it’s so precious to you. More than your fucking life, Luna, more than mine!” I wouldn’t show that I was in pain, it was hard wired in me not to show weakness and I couldn’t break that now.

“This war is my life, you dick! Why don’t you get that?” He rushed to me and grabbed my shoulders, peering into my eyes and making me see the dark green in his eyes.

“I’m your life Luna, not a fucking war. Me!”

“Get away from her.” Leo said calmly, his hand on his elemental sword that rested on his hip.

“I’d listen to him if I were you.” Filly said softly, her arms crossed. Her elemental weapon was on her hands, they were brass knuckles made out of pure ice and I knew that they were dangerous enough to stay away. He didn’t listen, if anything the rage inside of him multiplied by at least six. I didn’t understand until I realized that he was pulling on some of my rage. My eyes widened and I reached up and put my hand on his cheek, stilling him.

“Guys, take me out. Don’t be gentle about it, fight until I’m well and knocked out and do it again to make sure I’m actually down.” I felt them put away their elementals, but they were still on edge.

“I’m sorry baby.” I said softly before pulling my rage from him. He shook in my hands and I felt the energy shift to me. It didn’t feel like anything, really, it was just a shift of energy but it took focus. I let go of him and let the rage fill me. I opened my eyes to see the world had shifted to shades of red and purple, he’d taken more of my rage than I had thought he did. It was too much for just me to handle and, as a result, my wolf came out. It was weird, having the rage and the wolf hand in hand but I knew that it was too dangerous. It was my special, and it was my wolf. This was very much how the war would be fought, and for the war we would be lethal. I looked to my friends then, who looked to each other before turning back to me. Their eyes had turned and I knew then… this would not be pretty.

 

 

                They were talking in the link, everything they were saying was garbled up but I knew they weren’t talking to me. They knew I was too far gone to be talked to. It helped that my wolf was calm, because if she was angry it would’ve had a really, really bad effect. I walked toward them, fire sparking from my hands and wnting so bad to pull out my elemental weapon. I fought a battle with my rage, I wouldn’t have won if it was just myself but since my wolf was there I had a fighting chance. I never wanted any of this to happen, I never wanted Ander to get so angry he unwillingly grabbed my rage to wrap around himself. I didn’t want any of this to get to the level that it had. My body wasn’t in my control and I crouched down, my claws elongated. They looked at each other before looking back at me, their eyes vibrant red but their animals nowhere near in control.

“Luna, please. Pull it together.”

“She can’t, she’s too foregone. He took too much rage from her.” Leo said, his eyes flicking to where my mate stood staring at me. There was nothing anybody could do, Ander knew that much. I felt the guilt wafting off of him and wanted so badly to be in control, to go to him and tell him it was ok and that I was sorry.

“Did you know what she was planning?” He asked softly, his eyes never leaving my body. My eyes were straight forward, analyzing all that I thought to be a threat. Nobody answered him and he closed his eyes before looking down. My heart broke the tiniest bit, which was only to be added to the rage.

“Come now, why are we all standing around?” My voice said, it was gravelly and forced. With a wave of her hand Filly had teleported us to Eternal, the vast white and never ending space would ensure that nobody would ensure that nobody would get hurt here. Well, nobody excluding me.

“We don’t need to fight.” Leo said softly, his words echoing to my ears and filling it up with his voice.

“We’re not much different, we are a family. Same tree, different branch. Surely, we can keep the peace until we need to fight. Save your energy for then.” Filly said, her bright red eyes going wider as she stepped closer to me. I threw my head back and laughed, a scary one that resembled more of a crows cry than a laugh.

“We are so much different, sister, it’s disturbing. Look at you, how you maintain it all in; hiding the instinct inside of you. We are only here to destroy, might as well have a little fun with it.”

“It is not in my instinct to destroy anything, I’ve come to help-“

“Same tree, sister dear. We share the same genetic code, destroy-“

“Help. We’ve come to help.” Leo said, stepping closer to Filly and his red eyes boring into mine. I laughed again, standing up from being crouched and wiping imaginary lint off of my shirt.

“So delusional the better half are? I guess it is merely my fault for not reaching enough sun; my leaves are dry and brown, I suppose? It’s not good to keep yourself bottled up inside them, they don’t know how to utilize us. I will not be the play thing of some emotional girl. I suppose you are right, in one aspect, though. There need not be fighting today, and it certainly need not be us. I can keep the peace, tell her little boy toy to leave me alone from now on and there won’t be anymore nasty encounters, eh?” With a smirk the boiling rage simmered down and cooled in my body, bringing me to my knees and stripping me of air for a few seconds. Their powers left them too and they ran to me, surrounding me witht heir bodies and blocking out the blinding light.

“Are you ok?” Leo asked me, grabbing my cheeks and examining my face. I batted his hands away and scratched the back of my head.

“I’m fine, just a little disoriented.”

“What happened back there, I’ve never seen Ander so angry before. With or without help from your rage.” I bit my lip and looked down, I wouldn’t be able to lie to them as easily as I had with Ander.

“You won’t be able to lie at all so don’t even think about it.” Filly said, crossing her arms and staring at me.

“Azazil came back last night. He said Abaddon had been taken and that he required our assistance. I’d told him no, but I know that he’ll just keep coming back until he’s cause enough damage to force us into saying yes. I… I’m going to help, so I’m going back up to the surface.” I winced after I said it, awaiting the explosion that was sure to follow. It was silent, I looked to them to see they were looking at me with horror filled faces.

“You know that’s suicide, right? To actively go back up there is like being a red flag in front of a bull.” Leo said, his eyes searching my face.

“You weren’t going to go alone.” I looked to Filly then, begging her to understand with my eyes. She searched me until I let her find what I was hiding and her face went clear before she nodded.

“When were you going to leave?” She asked, standing up and dusting herself off to make herself look busy. She was scared, I knew she was, but she knew that fear was a low price to pay to keep the shifters safe down here.

“Tomorrow, at dawn.” She nodded before teleporting from Eternal. He looked at the spot where she was and looked at me.

“You’re taking her with you, aren’t you?”

“It’s not safe to go alone, we all know that. And it’s not safe having an angry demon seeking revenge after us either.” Was all I said, watching as he processed everything in his mind.

“You could die. They’re searching for any and all signs of shifter up there, you go now they’ll take you in and kill you.” I stood up and shrugged.

“Maybe I’ll be more useful as a martyr.” I teleported quickly before he could say anything and sat where I was. I hugged my knees to my chest and squeezed my eyes shut. I wouldn’t think about what could happen, I only had to think about what I needed to do. That was my purpose for being created, doing what needs to be done so that other people could live their lives happily. I couldn’t focus on ‘what if’s’ because then I would drag emotion into it, which wouldn’t be necessary. I took a deep breath and just listened to the sound of sleeping around me, the sound of acquired peace after a long time of fear and stress. I wouldn’t put them through whatever hell Azazil had planned if I didn’t go save Abaddon. With a brief head shake to myself, I got up and started planning.

 

 

                I had been up for most of the night, unable to sleep with the very clear oncoming threat. My hair was in a ponytail, but that didn’t stop the fly away hairs from escaping. I didn’t need coffee to energize myself, I was always in a state of constant energy. I knew my eyes would be wide and the circles under my eyes would probably be darker. I’d been staying up all night for the past month, this time I was actually applying myself. I had sent for Filly, she knew that the call was coming. I could feel the restlessness wafting from her through the link. She would be here soon. I looked at all the maps I had conjured up and ran the numbers and calculations through my mind again for the millionth time. I didn’t want to be right, because if I was this just got a whole lot more dangerous.

“You’ve been busy.” Her eyes were looking on the table where everything was laid out, I knew she was trying to figure out how bad this was going to be. I sighed inwardly at the fact that I didn’t even know how bad it could really be. I nodded and stood next to her, letting her take in the maps.

“They’ve been busy, too.” She said softly, her brain processing all the information.

“They’ve got biometric scanners all over the world, I’m pretty sure the whole world put money in the pot for that. As soon as we land, they’ll have us.”

“How does it work? Is it instant, or is it like sonar?”

“From the looks of it, it’s instant. Two little orange dots as soon as we step one foot up there.” She looked at me quickly before looking back down to the maps.

“What’s the plan?”

“Well, there are fae up there.”

“Those are dark fae, though. That’s dark magick.”

“If we use light magick we’ll be found instantly, they can sense it.”

“So you want to what? Steal magick from the dark fae to change ourselves? That’s suicide.”

“Not change ourselves, if we just cloak ourselves from any seeing eyes we should be good.”

“That’s still pulling magick from them, they’ll sense it.” She leaned forward on the table now, moving around the maps and looking for better options; there was none.

“Not if we take a little bit at a time and just cloak ourselves. That takes little magick and, if done correctly, won’t be detectable.” She was silent for a while before she closed her eyes and put her head down. She knew I was right, this was better than just popping up out of the blue and just running around in circles until they found us.

“So we pop up, siphon magick from dark fae and then what? Any other suicidal plots you’re cooking up that I should know about?”

“We’ve gotta go in to town.”

“Hell no.” She pushed herself off the table and looked directly at me, her eyes meeting mine.

“If we pop up in the middle of the woods, human or not, they’re going to advance us. They’ve got programming to search for anomalies, what’s a bigger anomaly than two random humans randomly in the woods?”

“Two random humans popping up in a city! If they’ve got an anomaly detector, most likely they’ll have accounted for everything already. That includes population. Any population plus two is an anomaly.” She began pacing and rubbing her fists.

“It’ll be harder to find us there, if we stick close to the humans there’s a lower chance of us being found.” She was quiet for a while before she turned to look at me.

“Do you know where she is? Do you know where they take the demons, or any shifter that’s caught any time soon? The pentagon, Luna. The fortress of fucking solitude. You don’t just walk into the pentagon, even if you have clearance to get into the fucking pentagon you still gotta jump through hoops. Do you know how hard it will be to infiltrate that? We can’t be gone for too long, because then the fae will start to notice that their magick is going elsewhere. I don’t wanna be around when they realize that.” I bit my lip and winced slightly at her outburst.

“We have to break in.”

“To the fuckin’ pentagon? Are you outta your mind?” Her Brooklyn accent was coming out and I knew that her tiger would soon make an introduction.

“Have you seen the pentagon? Do you know what’s inside of there? Thousands upon thousands of armed humans there, ready and waiting with an itchy trigger finger. That might sound like a fun evening for you, but I don’t like that shit Luna. Agents make me itchy. I don’t like being itchy, Luna.” The thick Italian in her voice made the words sound threatening but I knew she was scared. I let her breath it out before talking again.

“It’s our best bet, you know it is.” She ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath.

“Yeah. Just… get me when you’re ready.”

 

 

 

                I had been packing the clothes needed when he grabbed me by my arm and twisted me around. His eyes were red, I’d been up for most of the night and he probably had too. It was stress on him, but to me hours sort of blended in together. He stared at me and I peered into his eyes, grabbing his face in my hands.

“It wasn’t your fault, you were just angry. You look horrible, you’ve got to get sleep Ander.” He pushed through my hands and kissed me hard, wrapping his arm around my body and holding me tighter against him. I moaned against the feel of his mouth and everything he was providing. He grabbed my leg and I picked up the que, jumping up and wrapping my legs around his waist. I laughed against his mouth as he cupped and squeezed my ass, before turning and sitting on the bed. I was pushed directly against his hardness then, and I growled at the feel of it. I grinded my hips slowly, moving my lips down his jaw and neck tasting every inch of him. We hadn’t completed the mating yet and he knew it.

                Things were slightly different than they were when our parents mated. There needed to be a mutual mating in order for it to be the real deal in the eyes of the gods. He had to bite me, and I him. Tonight I would bite him, I would do him that one good to make up for all the bad that I’d been serving him lately. It was only fair. He continued to stroke my bottom lovingly as I sucked and nibbled on his skin. I would bite him here, this one intimate place where only my lips would be. I only had basketball shorts and a workout shirt on. The shorts were loose enough to easily slide off, I jumped slightly at the sound and feel of the cloth ripping. I felt him chuckle before he rubbed my bare ass softly, his touch sent tingles up and down my spine and I nipped him harder. He growled and slid a finger inside of me, shocking me and sending waves of wetness to great him. His other hand gripped my hair and pulled until I had no choise but to leave his neck. He slammed his lips down onto mine, making me whimper and his finger slam inside of me. With the smallest of growls and in a fast movement he had twisted me onto my back, moving his finger deper into me. I arched my back into him and bit deeper into his skin.

“I need you, Luna.” He whispered and I nodded. I widened my legs to allow him to fit and looked up at him, I would let him take all that he needed from me tonight. He pressed a soft kiss to my forehead as he reached down to adjust himself. He ran his length up my slit and I groaned, arching into his body. He chuckled and slowly slid into me, hissing between his teeth as I moaned sweetly into the crook of his neck. It had been too long, we’d done nothing more intimate than laying next to each other since he’d claimed me.

                I felt my body come to life as he continued to enter me, not stopping until he was as far as he could get and I blessed him for it. He let me get accustomed to his size and his entrance before he started moving. I threw my head back and rolled my hips in time to his slow thrusts. He growled softly, his thrusts getting slightly harder as he continued. I could feel him holding back and I hated it. I brought my wolf out and grabbed his hair, pulling and tugging, as my legs wrapped around his waist. He smirked before bringing his wolf out too and gripping the  back of my neck and lifting. I had no choice but to look him in the eyes as his thrusts became punishing and quick. I could feel where he claimed me sting, a pain that felt too good for me to actually complain about it. I realized that he had nicked it so that the wound had reopened. I couldn’t look to see if there was blood, his eyes had captivated mine and made everything so much better. I could feel him tensing up and slowing down, he was close to his release and wanted to make it last.  With the softest of smiles I escaped his grasp on his neck, careful of his claws, and bit deep into his neck. He howled, loud and victorious, as his blood filled my mouth and we were linked. I felt all of him then, the deep emotional connection that was shared wasn’t missed. He was entirely in my head, filling me with such happiness and sorrow that it almost gave me whiplash. Lapping at my mark I looked at him and saw his blue eyes watching me so carefully. He thought this moment was going to break, he didn’t dare move and I smiled softly. Cupping his face I kissed his nose and brought our foreheads together.

“This is as real as you are to me, and I am to you.” I whispered and he closed his eyes, breathing deep and smelling the way we both smelled. It was the thick honey smoke and dirt from him and cinnamon and pine from me. We were together finally and, in this moment, that’s all we needed to be for it to work.

 

 

                I slept for the first time in about a month, it was only an hour or two because of the whole rescuing Abaddon thing. He knew fully about everything, we were too close for anything to be hidden unless I tried really hard. He’d been through enough and needed to know some of the truth. I slowly removed myself from his arms and he woke up, his eyes wide and blue as he pinned me with his gaze. I pleaded with him to understand that I had to do this. With a brief nod he kissed the back of my hand and let me go. I pulled on exercise leggings and a black breathe free shirt. I picked up the satchel I’d packed and transported to where Filly waited for me. Her hair was in a tight ponytail and her eyes were alert but pained. She and Leo had fought, that much was clear, and I had hoped it wasn’t because of the mission. She shook her head and grit her teeth, I wouldn’t ask her about it; there was more important things on both of our minds.

“Remember, when we get up there only take as much is needed to cloak yourself.”

“Where are we even transporting?” She adjusted the bag on her shoulder and encircled herself with magick.

“A bathroom.” Was all I said before we were there, all white surrounding us. I was expecting nothing less, considering where we were.  I pulled the clothes out of the bag and she looked at me then, anger bubbling inside of her.

“You’re fuckin’ kidding me?” She whisper yelled, grabbing the black material fro my hands.

“Don’t rip it, it would be too much magick if we pulled and made more.” I said, sliding on the white button down shirt before pulling on the slacks.

“Please don’t tell me where I think we are, Luna.” She said again, dropping her bag and doing the same.

“You were right, they’ve got anomaly scanners. So many people come in and out of this building, the scanner will think nothing of it.” She glared at me as she buttoned up her shirt carefully.

“Control your temper, too. The more you pull on it the more they’ll feel the pull.”

“Me? Me control my temper? The pot telling the kettle to not be black. Also, this feels wrong. Like, way wrong.” She pulled on the blazer and attached a fake clip to her breast.

“You are now Agent Sarah Borrow, and I am Melinda Field.” I put my hair into the tightest ponytail I could stand and nodded at her. I left the bathroom first, quickly walking down the hall and wiping my hands on my, now buttoned, blazer. I looked around, avoiding looking down at every chance because then that would make me look more suspicious. Men and women bustled around me, not one foot dragging and no stride anything but confident. They’d sent out a call to all humans, they needed more warriors and filed agents. They were trying to be ready for when the fight came. I turned a corner and saw an elevator and had to stop myself from running down the hall. Filly passed me, jogging to the elevator and I followed her. She pressed the button and I raised my hand.

“Hold it!” I used a small voice, one that was still strong but hid my actual voice just in case. She threw back a look and put her hand on the door to prevent it from coming. As I walked in the door closed but we still didn’t talk to each other. I made a show of tugging on my arm sleeves. They kept the demons on the third level under the basement, I quickly pressed the third button under the big bold B and stood still. I kept my breathing even and looked ahead, I wouldn’t talk to Filly, I wouldn’t screw anything up. I walked out and watched as she got out behind me, walking the other way that I was going. We’d meet up again at the end, so I wasn’t worried about her. I walked down a narrow hallway that was pure white, a guard with a gun stood at the end of it. I picked up my nose and walked down the hall with assumed forced confidence. The male guard at the end smirked and adjusted his gun. I could tell he was heavily padded under that sit, he probably got paid a lot of money just to stand there. Jackass probably didn’t even know why.

“I would like access please.” I made my voice shake slightly, but still be strong enough to relay myself.

“Name, sweetheart?”

“Agent Field, new hire.” His brow raised and I smoothed out the front of my blazer and crossed my arms. I would have to pull on my inner mother and so much of me hated that.

“A newbie, jeez we get about a hundred a day. And you got assigned to this particular area?” He scanned me brazenly and I knew what he saw; it was exactly what I wanted him to see. I looked to be about twenty regularly, my face pale which made my freckles stand out. I was tiny, and new, and had red hair. He knew enough about my appearance to know that I wouldn’t last long. He calmed down and jerked his head toward the door.

“Have fun kid, when you come running and crying from out there know that I won’t judge you.” His elbow pushed the button to open the door and looked past me with a smirk. I inwardly shook my head, but otherwise continued through.

Chapter 25

 

There were rooms with windows into them, windows that were heavily guarded with so much black magick it almost made me hurl. The demons watched as I passed by, knowing smiles hitting there lips. Some of them, the insane ones, laughed maniacally as I passed. It was almost as if this was an insane asylum for the lost demons; demons that had been cast out of hell and had no way of escaping whatever the humans were doing. I sniffed slightly, keeping my head held high and my leg strokes confident. Any camera watching wouldn’t be able to detect I didn’t know where I was going or what I was doing for that matter. I let my nose lead the way, following the scent that was most familiar that wasn’t Felicia. After a couple of turns I was led to a heavy metal door guarded with a key pad, thankfully there wasn’t any identification scanners because then I would be boned. I typed in the password and giggled at the plainness of the human race, always resorting to religion. Her key code was the chapter that she popped up in the bible. The door opened to a dark cemented room, with nothing in it but Abaddon. She put her hands on her hips and looked at me, her lips was busted and her hair was matted but otherwise she looked okay.

“It’s about time you showed up.”

“You think it’s easy to break into the pentagon, because it’s not. Wanna know why, it’s the fucking pentagon. That’s why?” I said, keeping my temper in check and glaring at her.

“Help me take the chains out, apparently they’re bound with magick that I can’t control.” She said, tugging on her foot so I could hear the chains rattle against the floor. My heart dropped and I put my hand on my forehead.

“Of course they did, why wouldn’t they?” I growled, still keeping my rage under control and I looked at her. She looked forlorn, she knew I couldn’t touch those chains. She probably didn’t know that Azazil had sent for me to come get her, he probably wasn’t able to get past all of the spyware.

“As soon as I remove that, the spell is over. You know that, don’t you?” She stayed quiet and looked at the chain.

“I’ll owe you my life, and you know how much that means. They’re not planning anything pleasant for me… that I know.” I looked at her and groaned, knowing that none of this would end prettily and painlessly. I took off my blazer and kicked off the small heeled boots I’d put on and shook loose the charm. That wouldn’t be the problem though, it wasn’t that the fae would feel that magick had been taken, the scanners would go off immediately. I wouldn’t have long to high tail it out of here and get everybody to safety. So I’d have to make every second count, and I couldn’t waste time being bounded by the clothes I’d been forced to wear. Letting my wolf out I grabbed the chains, ignoring the sting of dark magick and tugged, easily breaking them with the brute force I applied. The cuff opened and let her ankle breathe, she sighed and leaned down to rub the sore spot. Alarms sounded and blue light blared with the sound of the alarms. I growled even as my heart beat in real panic, pure and strong.

“Do you have any access to your magick?” I asked her, grabbing the handle knowing very well it was locked. It was solid metal, even with my strength it would take longer than I was comfortable with it taking. I heard her hckle before she’d melted a hole through the door into the hallway.

“Oh yeah.” I nodded at her before running out into the hall and working my way back out to the other elevator. I didn’t go back the way I came because I knew that there was an immediate threat there, if I could somehow manage to avoid as much human interaction I would cut down how much pain would be in it for both of us. So we ran, turning and twisting, going deeper in but also coming closer to a safe haven. If I opened a portal any place something could get in that I didn’t want to. I’d have to be free from all ties to black magick. The elevators were just elevators, they had no magical ties to them and that’s why they were the safest places to open portals right now. I could hear the pounding feet of humans getting closer and I groaned before stopping.. I let Abaddon breathe before looking at her, a small point on her arm was blinking a bright green. I apologized really quick mentally before grabbing her arm.

“Luna what are you doing?”

“Don’t scream.” I ripped her arm off and chucked it in the opposite direction we’d ran. She bit into her lip and looked at me with  hell in her eyes, the demon so close to coming out and killing me.

“They were tracking us, now we might actually make it.” I said, using fire to cauterize the wound and tugged her other arm.

“We’ve gotta keep moving.” She nodded but otherwise said nothing. We came to a hall that looked similar to the one that I had come down on, and at the end of it stood the shining beacon of the elevator. Relief spread through me before dread.

“OPEN THE PORTAL!” I heard Filly scream and my blood ran cold. I ran to the end of the hall and saw her running towards me, trying her best to avoid bullets that were laced with silver. I quickly opened a portal and pushed Abaddon through, before standing in front of it. I wouldn’t leave Filly behind, but I also wouldn’t risk closing the portal and not having the chance to open another one.

“FREEZE!” A gun cocked and I smelled the magick loaded in it, so did Filly. She stopped, raiing her hands and her back going stiff.

“Look what we have here boys, not only did we catch ourselves some critters, but they’re the pack leaders. Seems like it’s our lucky day.” I stiffened at the voice, recognizing it from Izzy’s memory.

“Are we that famous up here? I don’t quite like the name pack leader, though. I prefer head bitch.” I said, smirking at Filly and wanting her to relax. Her tigress was out and she was gearing up for a fight. I wanted her to be ready, but any action that came that wasn’t unprovoked was just more ammunition against us that was unneeded. A man walked through the crowd behind Filly and came into my view, he had a cocky smile and the grip on his gun was firm enough to show me he meant business. His eyes analyzed the portal behind me and it made my wolf growl at him, he was in danger and he needed to be aware of that. He moved to stand between me and Filly and held his gun down, showing peace.

“Now, I don’t have a personal quarrel against any of you. It’s just my job to make sure that you guys don’t stay up here, now clearly it looks like you were just leaving so I won’t bother you on that. But, ya see, you took our prisoner. She’s done many crimes against us as a nation and has to be charged as such.”

“I thought religion and state were too different things?” Filly asked, her golden eyes looking at him up and down.

“Most of her crimes are against the church, but she’s still done things to our proud nation that mmust be accounted for. We never forgive, we never forget. So, how ‘bout you give us back our prisoner and we let you go on your way.”

“Even if that was remotely the truth, it would still be a lie. Your gun is laced with magick and silver, you’re here for us.” He shrugged and stroked the butt of his gun.

“Well, a job is a job.” He raised the gun and pointed it at Filly.

“Close your end of the link to us.” She did it without hesitation and I moved fast, jumping up my legs wrapped around his neck and I pulled him down. He pulled the trigger, but it shot the ceiling instead.

“RUN!” I screamed, struggling to keep the pain of him biting into my legs at bay. She nodded and ran but was shot in her back by a gun laced with silver. It stopped her in her tracks and she fell to the ground. I screamed and let og of the human agent, not wanting to kill him. I stomped on his hand, breaking it, and dodged a shot aimed for my head but otherwise used magick to protect my body. I ran to Filly and picked her up, we were still a few feet away from the portal but I could make it. I heard the agent grunt and heard the slide of the gun. I hoisted her over my shoulder and ran quickly. I felt the shield break as a piercing pain went through my body. I looked down to my calf and saw as the blood quickly seeped into the cloth. I looked up in a panic and sealed off the portal, I couldn’t let anyone in, including me.

“NO!” I screamed as my wolf howled internally, it was the last thing that was sent through the victor llink before I quickly shut it down, and with it my body followed suit.

 

 

 

                I blinked the haze out of my eyes and shook the pounding from my head, the queasiness in my stomach settling in and I knew I had silver poisoning. I looked up and held back my snarl, I was in the same room I had saved Abaddon from. The smell of demon wafted all around, including the smell of silver and I groaned. I didn’t have to tug on my arms or my ankles to know they’d been bounded in silver cuffs.

“Finally you’re up.” Filly scoffed, I looked to her and saw she’d been placed right next to me.

“How long have I been out, how long have we been here?” My voice was scratchy, at best, and filled with confusion. She shrugged, careful not to move too much as it would cause her bare skin to touch the silver.

“Could be days or weeks, it was a heavy bullet they put in us. I woke up not too long ago. No one has come in yet, I imagine they’re waiting for you to wake up.” She said, her eyes looked me up and down. She didn’t judge me, she knew I had to close the portal, I couldn’t risk their lives just in the hopes that I would’ve made it in time.

“Well I’m up now, it would be nice if we could get this over with.” I rolled my eyes and adjusted myself in the seat carefully, it was cold and hard metal. I had a decent sized butt, but it wasn’t nearly enough to cushion against the cruel hardness of the chair. There wasn’t much to look at, not even a nice little window glass looking to the outside like the other demons had. Four dirty cement walls, a small toilet to the side, and a camera in the top corner. I looked back at the camera and sighed. We were probably monitored by at least four people to make sure we wouldn’t do anything too tricky. I heard the door clink and smirked with realization that they had to replace that door pretty quickly, it made me happy to know they went to at least slight trouble to make sure we were detained. The male agent with the gun walked in with a female agent and they stood in front of us. The door closed with a finalizing clunk that would’ve put dread in any other person’s heart; but we were shifters. To us, that just meant our prey would have a hell of a hard time getting out.

“So much energy for two girls who couldn’t even run fast enough to escape.” The man said, crossing his arms and smiling down at us.

“Yeah, it’s a little sad if you ask us.” Filly said sweetly, smiling and cocking her head at him.

“Good thing we weren’t.” The female agent hissed, her face pulled tight by her brown bun. She looked to be in pain and a sick part of me was happy to see that.

“Oh no, are we doing good cop, bad cop thing here? That only works if the cops are good, you guys are mediocre at best.”

“How so?” The male’s brow cocked and I focused on reeling him in.

“Think about it, two shifters just manage to infiltrate the pentagon, under your watch I’m assuming, and successfully break out a prisoner. Half of that you were just giving to us, really.” I laughed slightly and leaned forward, watching his jaw tick in irritation.

“Like you said, we’re just two girls who can’t even run fast. What’s the problem agent?”

“Cat got your tongue?” Filly asked, her tone still sickly sweet with just enough venom to pierce through so it was heard. The female punched me in the jaw and I bit down on my tongue. I spit out the blood that pooled out of my laugh and looked at her.

“Oh that was cute, almost broke my jaw there. But, I think I heard a few of your bones either crack or shatter. Might not wanna try that again, your doctors figured out our bones are stronger.” I smiled, sticking out my tongue as it healed. She moved closer to me and leaned closer to my face.

“Watch it, bitch, I wouldn’t worry about my hand if I were you; you’ve got a whole mountain to climb.” I smiled up at her before snarling and head butting her in the mouth. I felt her teeth crack under impact and my skin tear, but it would heal and I would be fine. She would have to wear dentures or get those pearly whites fixed. She covered her mouth and backed up, blood pouring through her hand.

“Guess I nipped your nose there too, didn’t I? Come here so I can get the rest of your teeth.” I growled, leaning forward and smiling at her again.

“Clara, go to the doctor. I’ve got it from here.” The female nodded before glaring at me and pulling the door open. He waited until it was completely sealed before looking to me. I sat back in my chair and feigned innocence.

“Freak accident with your partner, huh? Probably shouldn’t get too close to caged animals, they’re just a little bit violent.” He chuckled and walked closer to us, he stayed his distance but leaned down and peered into our eyes.

“You’re just gonna make this worse for yourself in the end. Look, I’m a country man myself. I know that family comes first, and I suppose that’s what you all are to each other. I know that you’re just looking out, but know that I’ve got to look out for mine. We don’t want a war-“

“No, WE don’t want a war. Humans have been blood thirsty for it ever since they could walk on their little ape feet.” Filly said condescendingly, cocking her head at him and smiling.

“You’ve all bought this on yourself. Walking around and destroying things before you could speak, not caring or caring to notice how much damage you were doing to the Earth. We’ve met her, turns out she doesn’t like being used. Think of us as soldiers for the Earth. She’s tired of your bull and, quite frankly, so are we.” Filly hissed at him, gearing herself up. I knew she wanted to use her power, to break free from the cuffs and serve some very well deserved justice. We couldn’t. Any act of violence that ended in the, direct, death of any human that was done by us would be considered an act of war. We knew that Leo and the others would continue training, he would push them all harder because when we were to return it would mean war would be started. We had to buy them as much time as we could, even if it meant staying here and being very careful with our tempers. I watched as she calmed right back down, the fire slowly dying in her eyes. He watched too and he glared slightly before looking into her eyes particularly.

“Don’t worry, darlin’. We’ll break you soon enough. That is admirable courage you got there, and I do have to give you some sort of credit. Tell ya what, how ‘bout we don’t start the torturing and stuff today. We’ll give you guys a nice rest before we get the answers out of you…. Because we do. We always get the answers out.” He smiled and winked at us and stood.

“You can’t bait us, ya know.” I said through clenched teeth, wanting nothing better than to knock his out. He turned on his heel and moved to walk out.

“Do you know why you can’t bait us, Agent Brown?” He stilled with his hand on the handle to open the door.

“Because we’re not dumb. As soon as I cut off communication, as soon as I closed that portal and I wasn’t on the other side of it, they went into war mode. You know what happens in war mode? Ever put a wild animal in a corner? It’s that times a billion. Face it, you and the rest of your little monkey family are weak compared to us. You’ve been scanning for us for two months, with your fancy technology that you made to make yourself safe. Now that we haven’t painted a giant fucking bullseye on our chests it’s harder for you to see us, and you don’t like that. So you spend billions upon billions of dollars to find us, countries and nations grouped together that haven’t ever given the other one the time of day. You’ve spent so much time and devotion to find us, the filthy little moles of the earth, and the fact that you can’t just gives you performance anxiety; doesn’t it? We’re not so easily herded, dick head. So if you’re trying to use me and her to get everybody up here and have your grand spectacle of your power over us… sorry to disappoint. We won’t give you the satisfaction of gaining another trophy, so you can go back to your boss and tell him you’ve subdued us. You can tell him that we’re going to give you everything, even though we’re not going to give you anything. You can do whatever will make you feel good about what you’re doing, but at the end of the day… you’re not. Have a nice day, tell Lucy and Robert I say hi.” I smiled creepily at him and he quickly opened the door before leaving.

“He’s gonna magick up now, you know that.”

“Yeah, I know that. But we’ve got to have him on the edge and that’s the best way to actually survive this.”

 

 

 

     We’d been here a week, they hadn’t given us food and daily they’d come in deliver some sort of punishment that they thought would crack us. It was cute, honestly. The other day they tried to water board Filly, it wasn’t a good time for them. We still had access to our elements, because that wasn’t really magick; that was power. Filly was great at using the water element, it was her best gift, so when they tried to make her feel like she was drowning she just made them choke on the water that was meant for her. It took about five guards before they realized what was wrong, and then it took one of them passing out for them to stop trying. They took the rag off of her face to see her smiling. She got her nose broken for that, but that healed in a couple of minutes. They tried using fire on me, one of the sikc bastards actually dared to come in with a flame thrower; needless to say I nipped that in the bud. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as the door opened today though and I saw why. Alizar, one of the most infamous dark fey walked in with the sickest of smiles on his face.

“Good morning ladies.” His voice was sly and I felt my blood run cold, for some reason I felt like our luck was up. Agent Brown sidled in behind him and promptly closed the door.

“Is it morning? Couldn’t tell. How come you didn’t burn up on the way here?” His skin was pasty and his eyes were beady little black things. His hair that was normally long and thin was pulled up into a half way decent man bun. Most guys could pull that off, but he wasn’t a guy and he just wasn’t working it. He was one of the oldest fey, so old he’d stopped using glamour to hide how he looked. He let his power show and, often, whenever a fey did that it was because they had plenty of power; too much to be focusing on small things like appearance.

“Always the pleasure, Luna.” I rolled my eyes and looked to Agent Brown, he stood in his typical stance: leaned against the wall, legs and arms crossed and cocky look on his face.

“Good morning Agent Brown, how was your coffee?” I could smell it on his breath and his clothes, he mut’ve went to one of those really overly expensive shops where the smell of coffee served to burn the hair from your nose. Brown looked Alizar who merely waved his hand.

“She can smell it on you, it’s not magick.” I felt the anger pulsate from Filly and knew that today would be a bad day, one of the days where we both ended up getting hurt.

“You bought a doggie to tell whether or not we’re using magick? That’s a little too close to being cowardly for an FBI agent.” Brown just chuckled and shook his head.

“This whole building is officially a magick free zone, the spell forbidding magick from it is being produced by Mister Alizar here. He’s just making sure there isn’t a loophole in it that you can break.”

“Oh Gods, don’t you get it Brown? You’re human, you always make mistakes. And you know you, you had to add the term human error to all of your mathematical and scientific procedures BECAUSE you fuck up so much. If you made the contract with him, I can guarantee you there’s a loophole somewhere in there.” I said exasperatedly, almost feeling bad. But, that was almost and it wasn’t quite the whole feeling. Just a little niggle of empathy.

“Plus you went to the wrong side for a good contract. Dark Fey are notorious for their shitty contracts, you basically just got robbed whatever he wanted from you. I hope you’re proud of yourself, after all, you’re going through all this trouble for two teenage girls.” Filly said, her body tensing up and I knew she would slip. The link required magick, I could feel the lack of it and knew I wouldn’t be able to tell her to cool down. I looked to Alizar only to find him staring directly at me. He was offering me magick, which could only mean he wanted to talk.

“We have no quarrel with you, we haven’t violated the Shadow Proclamation or the Treaty of the Fey. Don’t do this.” I begged, keeping my tone strictly neutral.

“I have no personal quarrel with you, child of the moon. Your magick is light, mine is dark; inherently I have to hate you. Also he’s paid me handsomely.”

“You have no need for their human money, and they hold nothing that could be of value to a high fey like you. Do not bring the dark fey into this.”

“My dear, whenever there’s a fight against the light fey we have to fight. It’s like the scots and the brits. Automatic, basic hatred for each other.” I sighed, working my lip and watching Filly bicker at Agent Brown while he stood in his dumb position.

“Just… don’t include us. We are creatures of the night, the lowest of the low on the magical scale. Let us behave like the children the supernatural world views us as.”

“I simply cannot do that, you know that Luna. The contract has been signed by both parties. I have gotten my payment, I have to pay them back.”

“You weren’t bad at the beginning.” His features turned dark slightly before he continued to walk around the room.

“None of us, there wasn’t a divide. We were all together, as one. Then they wanted power and had different ways of getting it and there was a huge divide. I was born from dark fey, all of that initial power soaked into me but it didn’t change me. I didn’t have to be evil, I didn’t want to be evil. But… when it’s the title they give you…”

“A rose by another name-“

“Is still as dark. The building does not have magick, but you still have power. Don’t get me wrong, I still do want that war to happen. But it can’t happen with the help of us. You know how it has to start, I suggest you get moving.” With that he closed the small inkling of magick and I felt the supreme void of magick and knew it was wrong but I couldn’t do anything about that.

“Are you two done having your lovers quarrel? I’ve sealed the magick off in this room and all the others. If there’s ever a hiccup, you know what to do.” He gave me one last parting look before opening the door and walking away.

“Good luck playing your little tricks now girls.” He walked after him and as soon as the door closed behind him we proceeded to laugh our asses off.

Chapter 26

 

I had kinda accepted that we would die here, ever since the magick was sucked from the building our strength had been deteriorating slowly day by day. They started using things that had high energy to hurt us. The higher the energy, the more it took for our bodies to heal and the more energy it took from us. All the torturing the hunters had done, had only made it easier for them to find effective ways. They would torture us alone some times, but most times we were together. We were good at staying quiet, and we were good at keeping the link shut because otherwise our mental screams would’ve served to haunt everyone else. Agent Brown knew we wouldn’t give him anything but still tortured us. The door opened and I didn’t look up, I just focused on how much I would need to break my hands to get them out. Brown walked in, whistling the star spangled banner, coming to me and unchaining my feet. I would go alone today, which was kind of unsettling. With Filly there I could hang on a little better, my pride acting stronger with her around. But by myself, it was easy to let the smallest of whimpers out.

“Good morning, Luna dear. It’ll just be you and me.” He’d said good morning to us about twenty times, we’d been here for close to a month. I knew that us being gone would just be a fuel to a burning forest fire, but forest fires burn too greatly grow too large before it does any damage. I didn’t want them to ruin everything we worked for because their anger blinded them. I looked to Filly before he pushed me out and she gave me the tiniest of smiles, her eyes was still black from yesterday. They’d managed to slow down our healing to almost human capacity, it was still fast but even the smallest of things could take a couple of hours. I bit on my lip and walked, I knew where we were going so I walked there, careful not to go too fast because I knew he’d tug on my chains which is not something that I readily wanted.

“You can end this all, you know.” He started on his normal spiel and I blocked him out, knowing that he knew I would. I formed fists and knew I could do what I planned, it was just a matter of how we would get out of the actual prison. There wasn’t any magick. We weren’t strong enough to fight off an entire horde of humans out for our heads. The door opened to the room I would be in and I knew this one would be watched by everyone. I walked past the table of tools and sat in the chair, much like the one in our home cell. My ankles were gripped in cold iron and I rolled my eyes before glaring at him.

“Really? What’s with the theatrics? I’m assuming this one’s for the big guy?” He glared back at me and I just smirked and sat back, not even looking at him while he picked out the instruments. I looked to a corner and shook my head.

“You guys aren’t even goo at hiding the cameras, you might be acting out but I’m not gonna play along.” He picked up a gun and cocked it, pointing it directly at my head.

“Not asking nicely anymore, Luna. You’re going to tell me where the rest of you are, and you’re going to tell me right now.” A short laugh of surprise escaped my lips before I looked at him.

“I’ve kept my temper, you know.” I said through clenched teeth, grabbing my hand and squeezing tight. I didn’t even blink when all of my fingers broke. I slid my hand through the silver and waited for my hand to heal before doing it again. My wolf was rearing her head and I knew my rage wouldn’t be far behind. It was the only thing giving me strength.

“And I’ve kept my patience. I know you’re stalling, giving them time, and I get it; ok? Remember, we’re the same people.” With that my rage took over and I let it, I had to find a way out of this.

“The last time someone tried to compare me to them, I beat their face in. They were victors, so they healed. Do you think you’ll heal from that agent?” My eyes turned red and I heard his heart skip a beat, that was unsettling to him but he wouldn’t be frightened so easily.

“You won’t be able to do that Luna, empty threats will do nothing but anger me more.” The gun in his hand was steady and aimed directly at my forehead.

“Do you know what the mistake was that you made?”

“There’s no mistake in this room, Luna, so don’t even try it.”

“There goes that human ego again, everything you do is so perfect and there can’t ever be anything wrong with it? Big tip, super human, I can break through cold iron. The Fey can’t touch it, but I very much can.” His eyes flitted down to where my ankles were still cuffed and swallowed. I could smell the sweat gather up on his forehead and I smiled.

“Now, do you think you could put the gun down? That’s just gonna make me angry and, not to sound cliché, you won’t like me when I’m angry.”

“I am an agent for the Federal Bureau-“

“And I am a fairly pissed off teenage girl. You haven’t had the pleasure of having a girl, but let me tell you,” I leaned closer, placing my forehead on the gun “we’re fucking crazy.” He stared at me before pushing the gun deeper into my skull.

“Your eye color changing trick doesn’t scare me, your threats don’t scare me. I’m worried about the safety of my people, of my pack Luna.” I looked at him then, he was genuine. He didn’t think that any of this was bad, he was doing what needed to be done. I sniffed lightly and confirmed my thoughts.

“Your sincerity is the only thing that’s gonna save you. Get your family somewhere safe, don’t even think about fighting in the battle. Call it an early Christmas gift from me to you. Remove the gun, and I swear on my life, you will be safe.” I saw the mental battle that was waging in his mind, I saw the fear and the love that he had for his family flicker across his face. I felt the slight tremor in his hands through the gun.

“You know they’ll kill me if I do.”

“The moment they saw my hands were free they already sent out people. Your family is probably already in their hands, I had really hoped it wouldn’t be like this.” I sighed and grabbed the gun, pointing it at him with one hand and snapping my ankle bracelets easily.

“Your little hunter pals forgot to tell you one thing: You don’t grab a mated alpha, and you especially don’t grab a mated alpha if that mated alpha is me.” I said with the slightest smile and stood up slowly. He raised his hands and I saw his eyes flicker to the table. I shrugged and waved a hand toward the table.

“Go ahead, pick up a gun and piss me off more if you want.” I growled, standing my ground. He quickly moved to grab something and I shot him in the palm. I rolled my eyes as he screamed in pain.

“You’ll never be faster than me, that’s all you need to know to survive this.” I walked to him and grabbed the scuff of his neck, pointing the gun into his spine.

“You know as well as I do that one shot here will kill you, do me a favor and don’t be stupid.” I walked him to the door and nudged him with the gun. He nodded as best as he could and opened the door. I pushed him down the corridor, borrowing some strength from my wolf to hear farther down. There were people waiting for us, that much I could tell, but I couldn’t tell where they were. Filly wouldn’t be able to get out without hurting herself because her ankle chains were still silver, so I would have to go in there and break her out. We walked quickly and quietly, I know they still had a tracker in me, so it was useless, but I could still be fast enough to escape them. I got to my cell and jabbed the gun deeper into his back until he hissed with pain and opened it. Filly looked at me and smiled widely and I nodded at her.

“Undo her cuffs. If you try anything I will be forced to shoot you in the fucking face.” I could smell the anger rising, it mixed with his fear nicely and appealed to my wolf who was out for blood at this point. He walked over and took out a pair of keys, I saw the relief on her face as she stood and stretched out. He reached down and undid her ankles and quickly raised his hands to show he was doing nothing. I nodded and quickly blinked the tears out of my eyes, we might actually make it out.

“Now what?” She asked, looking to me for a plan.

“I’ve got nothing.” Brown laughed and crossed his arms.

“You held me hostage with no plan whatsoever? You said it yourself, they’ve sent people here. I’ve been compromised, they’re going to try to righ that. That means automatic execution of all of us. There’s no magick here so none of your little tricks will work here.” He started laughing but it was broken up by a knock on the door.

 

 

~SEAMUS~

 

     I had no idea how I’d gotten inside successfully, I’d been a bundle of nerves the entire time. It seemed like everybody was running somewhere, I don’t know what I’d been expecting. Probably layers and layers of security, not for it to be clear of agents. Without anyone manning the front desk I merely walked straight to the elevator, my brow still furrowing. I adjusted the baseball cap on my head and smoothed down my already wrinkled shirt. I felt very much the distressed teenager I was trying to portray. I had rememberd every detail and pressed the button I needed to. My heart leaped as the elevator jumped into action. I prepared my body to fight, need be. I shook the stress out of my shoulders as the door opened. A sole man stood at the end of the hall and that arose even more confusion. The quickest way to them was through them, I could go the other way but now that there was a complete magical void I’d have to rely on only my power. No magick to wipe the memories of the other guards. I walked straight down the hall, my long strides eating the ground as I walked closer to him. The guard there eyed me warily and adjusted his stance wider. He was asserting his dominance, I stopped myself from smirking at him. If only he knew.

“Yeah I was told to come see my dad here, the nice lady upstairs told me to come down here and he would be waiting for me here. Said somethin’ about her paging him or something.” I sniffed and rubbed my nose, knowing that I might be trying a bit too hard with the American accent but not caring.

“Who would your dad be, and why would she tell you to come down here?”

“Ricky Brown, and I don’t know. If you ask me, I’d think she’d been hittin’ a few cold ones. The smell of her breath would be enough to set fire to this place.” He raised one side of his lip before rolling his eyes.

“Agent Brown is busy at the moment. I would normally say you can wait here, but your dad’s doing important business and it’s very dangerous for untrained civilians to be here.” It sounded like a recorded spiel, I didn’t much care for recorded spiel.

“You think you could pull him out, I got a real important question for him?”

“Maybe I could ask him for you, and you go back upstairs?” There was forced kindness applied and it tickled my nose a bit.

“Exactly how long can you be unconscious before your body shuts down?” My eyes shifted and my hyena came out. He didn’t have time to reach for his gun before I punched him straight in the nose. I hoped it wasn’t hard enough to actually do damage, but things needed to be done.

“Sorry, dude. It’s nothing personal.” I grabbed the key card from him and opened the door. I followed the route I had ran through my mind until I reached the only door that it could be. With a deep breath I reached up and knocked, knowing that there was nothing else I could do.

 

 

 

~LUNA~

     I looked to the door and my blood ran cold. Agent Brown was right, I had gotten this far which wasn’t that far when I thought about it. I didn’t have a plan for what would actually happen.

“You’ve got a plan right, Luna? You didn’t just do this on a whim?” Filly asked, her voice very close to a growl.

“The document was correct, you are impulsive.” Without looking at him I continued to point the gun at him knowing my aim was still immaculate. The person knocked again, I sniffed but I couldn’t get a scent other than the thick metal of the door and Filly. Her emotions were making it hard for me to determine who it was. I tossed the gun to Filly and opened the door carefully, not wanting to open it too wide or be too close to it so the person could hurt me. A boy peeked through the crack I had created, his black hair falling over his eyes despite his baseball cap.

“I imagine you’re Luna?” His accent was thick and Irish and I rolled my eyes, they couldn’t send anyone from anywhere else besides the UK? Now that the door was open I sniffed and my anger rose.

“Of course they would send you.” I opened the door and grabbed him before closing it again.

“Oh uh, yeah. They told me you’d be expecting me, I was expecting a more welcoming expectation.” I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

“Take a whiff, then you’ll know why I’m not welcoming you with the widest of arms.” I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair but not fully. It was way too matted for that.

“I say we put aside our differences, seeing as you kinda need my help to get outta here.” He shrugged and I grit my teeth, glairng at him.

“Luna, he’s right. We can fight when we get out of here successfully.” Filly stopped me and I nodded.

“How do we get out?” I asked, starting to pace and nibble on my bottom lip.

“There’s no magick here, don’t you need magick for your little portal?” Brown asked condescendingly. I snarled and walked toward him, backing him into sitting down in the chair.

“There isn’t any magick here, but we’re not completely defenseless. You’re still inside of a cage with three wild animals. Wouldn’t test your luck by coming out of your mouth with snide shit. Try not to piss me off anymore than I already am.”

“Luna, we’re not completely defenseless!” Filly said excitedly, her face gaining color.

“Yeah, I just said that-“

“No, there’s still power!” She said before using water to grab the gun.

“You’re fucking brilliant.” I squeaked and backed away from Brown.

“Where are we, like the actual location?” I asked the boy.

“You’re dead smack in the middle of the pentagon. Under five levels of high security. This place is a fuckin’ maze, almost got lost a couple of times myself.” I just quietly seethed at him before letting my mind work.

“The only way to get out, is if you tear apart the pentagon.”

“The whole thing?” Filly asked, her eyes clouding over and her teeth set on nibbling her lip.

“Are any of you good with Earth?”

“The only one good with Earth out of us is Leo. We all have it but… he’s got the strongest affinity for it.”

“You’re talking about tearing the pentagon apart, do you know how crazy that sounds?” Brown scoffed, still not bothering to stand up.

“How about you just not talk at all? Huh? Maybe that’d be a good thing for you to do, buddy.” The boy said waving his hand towards Brown. I nodded in agreement and looked to Filly.

“You have to borrow his.” She looked to me and nodded slowly.

“It’ll make him weak.”

“Good thing he isn’t up here then, right?” I said lightly and she nodded. I looked to brown and put the handcuffs on him putting his arms behind the chair and locking his legs in.

“What happened to get far away from here?”

“You’ll be safe, it’s bad press if they kill you for something you couldn’t control. At most you’ll be dishonorably discharged and you’ll have to get a normal job. They’re not going after your family. I had to get out of here, surely you understand.” I didn’t care and blocked out anything he said after. I looked to Filly and the boy before gesturing to the door.

“Ready?”

“No.” They both answered.

“Good.”

 

 

 

       With three sets of ears out for even the slightest movement, we ran through the maze. There were a couple of close corners, but we managed to get to the middle. I looked up at the ceiling and took several deep breaths, I was borrowing strength from my wolf but even she was weak. A couple of weeks of daily torture took its toll on me and I hated it. Filly was damn near hunched over, they had left the bullet in for about a week and she’d gotten some pretty bad silver poisoning. The boy looked at both of us with worry but otherwise said nothing. I knew he wanted to say something, but one look at my face and he shut up. I opened the pack link and shut out the many voices that flew in.

“Luna! Oh God, I’m gonna fucking kill you! Who the hell do you think you are just getting up and leaving? What the hell do you think you’re doing!? I didn’t suffer three months and eight fucking hours just for you to just run head forward into a fucking sword! You’re so fucking dead, don’t even come back because as soon as your little ass comes back here I’m going to wring your fucking neck and kill you myself, you ungrateful little brat!!” My mom yelled into my ear and I felt my eyes burn. I squeezed them tighter and laughed a little.

“Mom, we’re coming back. We’ll be there soon, Leo’s going to be weak and Ander is going to be angry. Just watch them, make sure they don’t kill each other.” Was all I said before closing the link again, I turned and faced Filly.

“I have faith in you.” She nodded at me and bit her lip before looking up. She pulled out her tigress, they were both weak in their own ways but together there was enough strength to pull it off. Her eyes shifted to the amber of her tigress before they shifted to the red of her power.

“Feel it coming in the air, and the screams from everywhere. I’m addicted to the thrill, it’s a dangerous love affair; can’t be scared when it goes down, got a problem tell me now. Only thing that’s on my mind is who’s gonna run this town tonight.” She growled at the end of it and threw her fists in the air and squeezed them tightly together. Slowly she pulled them apart, I could see the amount of concentration that she was pouring into it. A bullet flew past my head and I growled, I used my fire element to form two short swords.

“Protect her left, I’ll protect her right!” I yelled, moving my swords to protect my body as the bullets flew. I knew he would do as I asked, so I didn’t worry about it. As the bullets showered onto us my anger rose and my actions became quicker. I got close enough to punch one in the face and us his body against me.

“Life’s a game but it’s not fair, I break the rules so I don’t care. So I’ll keep doing my on thing, walking tall against the rain. Victory’s within the mile, almost there don’t give up now. Only thing that’s on my mind is who’s gonna run this town tonight!” I felt the ground shake and relief flew through me.

“Stop fucking shooting, or I swear to your God! Don’t even fucking test me.” Nobody moved, the building shook around us, but they wouldn’t dare take a shot unless they had a good shot on me and only me. I ripped the gun from my human shield’s hand and pointed it at them.

“I wouldn’t let my trigger finger get itchy right about now if I were you.” A loud thundering crack filled the air and our bodies jerked. I looked to Felicia and saw her hands moving faster and all of her muscles bunching.

“Hyena! Help her!” His affinity for earth would be strong too, not as strong as Leo’s but strong enough to help. I backed away from the human and aimed the gun directly at all of them. They noticed my shield slumped over and fired at me. I was fast at aiming, but not that fast. I had twelve of them all aimed at my heart or my head. Quickly a wall of Earth separated me from them.

“No offense,” the hyena grunted getting back to helping Filly “but get your shit together Luna.” I nodded and stood next to Filly, she was moving faster with the separation. Using air I surrounded us and lift us out. She kept pulling, and singing softly to herself.

“Where does the magick pick up again, hyena?” I asked, pushing away the rocks that full down.

“They set out a mile radius with the void, they couldn’t manage to get it farther.” He was struggling to hold on to his elements and talk to me at the same time. I felt slightly bad for him, but he needed to learn. I looked up and pushed the debris away.

“Does that count up there?” He looked up and smiled before looking at me.

“No, it doesn’t.” I nodded and tapped into Filly’s mental link.

“Just a little bit more, we have to get up there. We can access magick.” I knew she heard because I felt her pull more. I pushed us up higher with air, needing to move faster; I could hear the blades moving on the helicopters they were sending out.

“Hyena, you open a portal. We’ll need to leave through it as soon as possible. If we have it open we can run through it. I’ll tell you when.” He nodded and I moved us faster until we were through the wreckage and in the air.  My strength returned as magick coursed through my body. There were humans screaming and running away, as if three teenagers in an air bubble was the scariest thing to happen to them. Two helicopters were coming up behind  us, but I focused on the one that was coming straight at us. Partly because we wouldn’t be able to survive that if it continued to fly as fast as it was, but mainly because the President sat next to the pilot. I smirked and crossed my arms.

“Luna.” The hyena whispered, but I ignored him. This was a pivotal moment for the war, a pseudo war conference; time stressed. He unbuckled himself and moved to the back of the helicopter and the helicopter moved with him, angling to the side so I could see him in all his glory. He turned on his megaphone and cleared his throat.

“Luna, Felicia. It’s been all too long.”

“Nah, to me it seems like just yesterday we were oppressed.” I used air to create the same effect that his megaphone had so there would be no confusion.

“In what way were you oppressed, when we drew that treaty it was beneficial to both parties.”

“Hmm, not really, no. WE were put into specialized housing, like the diseased are put into a hospital.”

“To help them get better.”

“We aren’t sick. WE were implanted with trackers, zapping and stinging us because just the thought of us getting too excited frightens you.”

“For the safety of my people.” Felicia scoffed then and stood up, saluting the president.

“I come from a military family, sir. My dad was in the Navy, as soon as they figured out he was a shifter, and my dad, they killed him. Called it a K.I.A., but you can’t lie about things like that when I know very well how to detect a lie. Quite frankly, sir, you can go fuck yourself.” There was outrage below us and I rolled my eyes.

“How are you going to explain that one? How are you planning on spinning this, so it’s anybody but not your fault?”

“We don’t need to fight, Luna. Things can go back to the way it was.”

“With us living in cages and fear. Us getting attacked for no reason, us being hated by the human population for no other reason than you told them to. So tell me, what happened to you huh? Why do you hate us so much? Got stood up by a shifter girl before?” My heart was beating fast and I was terrified. Maybe, if done right, this could be avoided. If I managed to sway the people or him enough for them to see it was wrong, there wouldn’t need to be bloodshed.

“My only concern is for the safety of my people-“

“You are safe.” The hyena said, cutting him off with a steely glare.

“Your kind is known for their violence.”

“Not to humans.” I raised a brow and looked between the hyena and the president.

“Young man, I don’t think we’ve met.”

“We haven’t, I’ve been hiding. You don’t know what hell is like, until you’re a hyena that has to live in the artic circle to survive. No animal, or human, should have to be there. It’s cold, and it’s dark most of the time. And, whatever sunlight is there is so faint that it’s like an eyelash on your cheek: if you didn’t see it, you wouldn’t know it’s there. Do you know why I ran? Because of you, and your mercenaries. The people you ordered for a genial swipe. Anything furry has to go. That was the order, wasn’t it? At the beginning where you were just killing us because there cannot be another race superior to yours on the same planet. Well, let me tell you something. The monkeys that shit where they sleep or superior to you, and there’s nothing you can do about that. You may hate us, for being born better in every way but that is not grounds for a genocide. It’s up to you to determine which is wiped out of existence, and I’d think hard about that.” He opened the portal and walked through and Filly followed.

“Don’t do this, don’t do anything you would regret or push my hand. Think about it: more than half of the Earth’s population is gone, either from your doing or they were shifters and we saved them. Of that half a quarter of the people are actually able to fight. What are you gonna do, draw a massive draft? Kids in the army, and for what? Pride? Look, all we want, at the end of the day is freedom. We want the same equality we had before you even knew about us. Without your scanners and your trackers you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Without help form the dark fae, you wouldn’t be able to weed us out. We are not any different from you. In this instance, right now, it’s animal and animal sharing a rock.” He looked down to the masses that had quieted down and he looked for a long time. And when he looked up, I knew what I’d always known. This was inevitable.

“You all are dangerous, I cannot have that threat looming above the human race. What kind of President, and person, would I be to personally sign the death certificates of all of us by letting your people come back?”

“You just did.” I said softly and looked to the sky. I waved my hand over it and showed them my memories. My family, my friends. I showed them the lives that we had before, running and loving and living freely. I showed them the laughter of shifter children, the beautiful sounds of the creautures of the night. Then I showed them my dreams. I showed them children, drowning in pools of blood. Lovers dying without ever saying good bye. I showed them families being ripped apart, and lives lost for no reason other than unnecessary fear and pride. I showed them what would come of this war.

“You have a month, when we show up you will know where. I would’ve liked to say that this was a nice chat but it’s kind of hard tryin to be friendly with the executioner.” I stepped back into the portal and closed it.

“Did it work?” The hyena asked and I shook my head, running my hands over my face and turning around.

“Let’s go alert the masses.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     The only thing I wanted, to be very completely honest, was a nice hot shower and several gallons of food stuffed into my mouth. But I knew if I wanted any peace during my shower and food stuffing I would have to go tell everybody we were back and break the news that I wasn’t able to smooth talk our way out of the war. Not that anybody had expected me to do it, but it would’ve been great if I could. I didn’t know who to go to first, so I let them come to me. I knew my scent would get married around pretty easily, it wouldn’t be long for people to know I was back. It took approximately ten seconds of me walking in to the training grounds before my mother yelled my name.

“You little cow!” I was crushed, literally crushed, into another body. I didn’t have to scent her to know that my mother was gonna kill me.

“You smell like them and pain, did they hurt you? I will cut a bitch if they hurt you.” She backed up to look me in my eyes. She grabbed my face and inspected it closely, no doubt counting every freckle and eyelash. I grabbed her wrists and smiled, my eyes burning from the tears that threatened to spill out.

“Mom.” My voice cracked and she broke my grip to hug me again.

“Lunarosa, if you ever do that again I might have to shove you back inside me.” I laughed and buried my nose into her neck, allowing myself to calm down.

“Felicia, I don’t know if you think you’re grown but you’re not. Your father’s probably tearing you a new one right now!” Filly’s mother’s hair was a frantic bun on top of her head that moved with her as she practically ran towards her daughter.

“Ma, would it kill you to be nice to me for just a minute or two?”

“Yes!” I didn’t look behind but I didn’t need to. I knew exactly what they would be doing.

“Your father’s going to kill you so is…”

“You can say it, Ander. Ander is going to kill me.”

“Finally you’re back, I thought I was going to have to come up there and tear shit up.” I tore away from my mom to see Leo walking in, he looked pale and sickly but otherwise healthy.

“We tore shit up for you.” He nodded in my direction and walked to Filly and her mom. He tapped on her shoulder and nodded at Filly. Her mom nodded and stepped away. Filly looked nervous and she averted her eyes.

“I know I should have told you and I’m sorry, I didn’t think we’d get caught. And I had to borrow because we wouldn’t have gotten out and I know you’re probably pissed off but I needed to do-“ He kissed her, a kiss that made the link between them shine so bright it hurt to look at directly.  The hyena gasped and suddenly everybody looked directly at him as if they just noticed him for the first time. There was general disdain in the room, nobody really liked hyenas. They made enemies wherever they went, more or less. I felt mom’s curiosity peek up at that and realized she would have no animosity towards the hyena. She walked to him and he eyed her warily, not knowing what to do now that he was in our element and we didn’t need him.

“I’m Molly Green.” She gave him a hug and he looked genuinely shocked. Knowing my mother, I knew she wouldn’t let go until he hugged her back and she was OK with the hug she’d gotten in return. He sniffed her before hugging her back lightly, he shot a glance to me and I nodded. He hugged her back slightly harder and I could only imagine what that would feel like.  The first motherly touch in Goddess knows how long.

“What’s your name?” She pulled away slightly and looked at him with what I can only assume the kindest of eyes. He took off his hat and cleared his throat putting his hat to his chest.

“The name’s Seamus, ma’am.”

“Ma’am? Do I look like a ma’am to you?” She tried to mimic his accent and hit his shoulder light heartedly. If she’d known him better that hit would’ve packed a lot more punch.

“You don’t look a day over twenty, I was just aiming to be a little more polite is all.” His smirk was friendly but it looked like it could be much more lethal if he wanted it to. Relief flooded through me as I felt my mom’s acceptance flow through him.

“Twenty and a grandma? I think that’s a mother’s worst nightmare!” She laughed at her own joke and nodded once at him before looking behind to me and winking.

“Definitely on our side.” She whispered through the link and I wrinkled my brow at her but she quickly looked back to Seamus.

“See you on the flip side Shay.” She walked to Filly’s mom and linked her arm and practically dragged her away from the couple that was still way into each other. It made my heart hurt and I took a deep breath before looking to the hyena.

“I would stay and wait for the welcome wagon with you, but I’ve gotta go fish out my mate. He’s probably really pissed at me… rightfully, but still have to fix it. See ya around Shay.” I winked at him before leaving the room and letting my body go into autopilot. I knew Ander had to be pretty pissed at me to not even come to see me, his wolf could feel I was here. He was fighting all those urges, the wolfy ones, for his anger. The link between us was open, it was one of the first things I’d opened when I’d gotten back near magick and I could tell he was holding back in telling me something. I knew it would go along the lines of him threatening me with locking me up if I continued to threaten myself and my body. But, it was always good to get the formalities out. I was squeezed from behind, all of a sudden, my lungs practically being forced out of my mouth. I held on to the hands that went around my belly and shook my hand.

“I see you found me.” I stayed still and let her get her hug out before she let go and walked around to face me. Her cute hazel eyes blazing with anger, this time justified. My eyes narrowed and my brow furrowed as I leaned closer in and saw the sickly yellow surrounding her eye.

“Who hit you?” She seemed taken aback my question but her eyes still held anger.

“Don’t worry about it. Who gave you the right to openly put yourself in danger?”

“At this point I’m asking the same thing about you. Who hit you, Libby?” I held her chin and analyzed her whole face until I took a deep breath and realized what I was bound to; my sister was growing up. That didn’t excuse the fact that somebody had hit her.

“It doesn’t matter, all that matters is that you’re back and I have half a mind to kick your ass.” She pinched my arm and I sucked in air through my teeth. That actually hurt and I looked at my arm.

“That was really close to getting blood out of me, you little piece of poop.” She rolled her eyes and glared at me and I did the same, not caring about Ander. Somebody had hit her and they would not get away with it so easily. Our staring contest was cut short when Cara slammed into and a bunch of other people. There were too many scents for me not to look behind me. I heard the satisfied little chuckle that Libby gave out and narrowed my eyes, she never chuckled. She either giggled or full out laughed. I fully turned and laughed at the small army of children that hugged me before looking up at the glares of all the eldest children: Jesse, Alissa, Anna, and Izzy.

“I assume your brother’s angry with me?”

“You’re worried about his anger? I am absolutely pissed at you, leaving me here without so much as a warning or anything! You put your life in danger and forgot that there was people here that actually depend on you!”

“Mom and dad were worried sick, mom all together stopped eating and dad damn near tore this whole place down because of it!”

“Training was really tight and we had to use the Master twins, which go down as easily as anyone would’ve hoped really. Shifters almost stopped coming to training, and there were a lot more fights than there should’ve been under any circumstances. It was a shit fest down here!”

“I’m just here to tell you that I had to pick up the slack with the wolves and I would love it if my paycheck could be direct deposited instead of a check.” I glared at Izzy as she smirked at me before realizing that they were all right. It was a selfish thing to do, but I hadn’t meant to get caught.

“Look, I don’t question why you guys do things-“

“That’s wrong.”

“Most of what you talk to me about is questioning me.”

“Yeah, no you do.”

“You’re quite an asshole, pardon the French.”

“Don’t question why I had to do what I had to do.” I looked each one of them in the eyes but put no power behind it, now I was just a sister and a friend appealing to them.

“Questioning or not, I still want my paycheck. A lot of broken bones thanks to your wolves and your siblings.”

“They don’t need training, I trained them all myself when I was going through with it.” Her eyes narrowed and all of them chortled and looked down and away from her.

“COWS, THE LOT OF YA! NEVER DOING ANYTHING FOR YOU MANGY ANIMALS AGAIN, COUNT ME OUT ON THE WHOLE WAR FIASCO!!” She lifted her arms and flipped us all off as she stormed off, slowly the smile returned to my face. I looked at Jesse and raised a brow, tilting my head back to Libby.

“She’s grown up since you were gone, wants us all to know it don’t you Libby?” There was a soft growl and she walked around me, facing Jesse head on.

“She doesn’t like to be talked about like she’s not here. I can do whatever the hell I want!”

“She gets into fights with the dragons, fights she, sometimes, knows good and god damn well she can’t win. I feel like she does it just to give us all heart attacks.”

“It’s like she’s got prison mentality, she goes to the biggest baddest lizard who’ll actually fight her, which isn’t many, and punch them until they fight her back.” Cara said exasperatedly. I didn’t have to look at Libby to know it to be true, I just wanted to know why at this point.

“It’s like a prison down here, there’s no new circulation of air. And I’m tired of people looking at me like I’m some fragile piece of china that, if handled too hard, is gonna crack into a million pieces! I’m strong!”

“Tell her what you did to Mason.” Alissa said softly, the anger from her face smoothing as she looked at her youngest sister. My eyes snapped to hers then, she didn’t look down she just stared at me.

“What the hell did you do Libby?” I asked then, dread settling into my heart as I thought of the worst.

“He was trying to stop me, he kept coming in my room at night and just staring at me whenever I had fought. He wouldn’t say anything, just kept looking at my face and all my bruises. But he wouldn’t talk to me for anything! He avoided me like the plague and whenever we were close he’d try to get away from me as much as possible and I got sick of it! Coddled by my own mate.” Her face scrunched in disgust even as tears filled her eyes.

“I had no choice but to break the bond-“

“No.”

“It wasn’t fair to me to be held on a string by someone I love. Dreams of actually living a life with him haunted me because I knew they would never come true. He kept me too far for this to go anywhere. I wouldn’t let myself become a victim of a loveless mating.”

“Elizabeth.”

“No, no, no, no! I couldn’t take it anymore!” She looked to me then, her wolf was out and her eyes were watery.

“Did you think about how it might’ve felt on him?”

“All I ever think about is him and I’m tired of it. When I broke it off there was so much relief. I couldn’t feel him anymore, he wasn’t there all the time with his thoughts and his emotions.”

“Mason is a vampire, born to the highest born vampire still alive. It’s not safe to give something that old something to love so fiercely. That’s what the mate bond does, all the love and the emotion that the wolf has was imposed on him. He’s born in darkness, it’s a constant companion for him. For him, you were the only thing stopping it from taking over. That’s why vampires who aren’t old enough to control their urges don’t stay up here for too long. The darkness calls to them and, if they’re not strong enough, they succumb to it.” I rubbed my face and groaned then, knowing that there was a huge problem on my hands that I would need to fix. Jumping from one demon problem to a vampire problem was not how I planned to spend my first day back. I wouldn’t bother Filly, she’d gone through as much shit as I had. With a mournful groan I walked and sniffed my way to the hyena, knowing good and well that I was not going to do this alone.

 

 

 

     The hyena didn’t have a choice in the matter, he knew that and didn’t try to put up a fight. I’d found him standing on the training field and cocked my head. He was just standing there, looking out at it. There was nobody there, and all the training equipment had been put to the side. At the moment it just looked like an empty football field. It smelled different from the last time I was here, it smelled like more hardship. Blood had been spilt on the floors and tears had been dried. He turned to face me, his eyes a bright burning amber.

“We have to go fix a vampire problem.” I said not unkindly, he just stared at me and slowly his eyes bled back to the green I knew them to be. He nodded and I turned on my heel, hiding my confusion well and trusting that he’d follow me. Mason and the rest of the Masters had been linked up with my pack when I’d learned they could be trusted, but since they weren’t wolf I wasn’t able to talk directly to them through any sort of link. I could only feel about as to where they were, but they were able to turn that off if they didn’t want to be found. I already knew that he’d turn it off, I don’t know why I expected anything less. When he turned that off it left the tiniest trace for me to follow, it didn’t feel like he wasn’t there it just made it seem like he was farther than he actually was.

     I stopped at a corridor that went two different ways. One of them was to the showering area and another lead to another branch of rooms, I closed my eyes and focused hard. It would be difficult for Mason to hide from me, if I had been any lesser wolf he easily would’ve been able to hide from my highly trained nose. I felt around the link, it helped gather that he was in the shower area, but I sniffed just to be sure. I wasn’t able to gather if he’d tricked me because the scent was so faint but I highly doubted he did. I walked toward the shower area until I stood in the threshold of it and looked around. We were under ground, so there was no indoor plumbing. What we had was similar to a hot spring, the water source came from up above and due to the internal heat of the Earth it was heated up. But it wasn’t so unbearably hot that my skin wanted to peel off, or so cool that it was unpleasant. I growled slightly in my throat, thinking that he had managed to trick me. We couldn’t smell past water, so this was very much a dead end. At the sound of my growl he lifted from the water, his icy eyes landing on me through the wet strands of black hair.

“I want to talk.” He stared at me, his chest moving slowly as he breathed in and out, in and out.

“Mason, please. You have to talk about it, otherwise it’ll tear you in half.”

“I’ve kept a whole lot to myself.” I was surprised by his voice, the complete normality of it. He didn’t seem to be stressed or worried, he just seemed to be there.

“Why don’t you let that out?” Shay the Hyena said softly, moving to stand next to me but still very much behind me. Mason looked to him then and his brow crinkled before a smirk lit his face.

“It seems your hyena has arrived, your war can’t be far behind.”

“Don’t change the subject. You need to talk it out, you won’t be able to hold this in.”

“I think I’ll be fine, I’m a child of the night. What’s the worst that could happen.”

“Black holes.”

“Excuse me?”

“Black holes are stars that keep sucking inward until it collapses on itself and brings everything down with it. If not for you, do it for Libby.” At her name his eyes seemed to harden more and he slowly moved out of the water.

“Everything I’ve done has been for Elizabeth. I’m tired of her not appreciating it, her and that entire crockpot you call your family.” I licked my lips and opened the link to the Hyena, letting him know what I was about to do would be a real risk and apologized for throwing him into this.

“The only thing you’ve done for Libby is hurt her. Wolves feel more, she feels more, than you ever could.” His jaw clenched along with my fist but I wouldn’t look away. This was the only way.

“I did everything I could for her. You know what I am, Luna. You know what my kind does to anything good. She was good, Luna. She was this pure little lilac, she would’ve only been tainted by me, by my darkness. You know that!”

“You hurt her-“

“Protected her!”

“Time after time-“

“For her own good!”

“And never once apologized for it.” His nostrils flared and he stood outside the water, clad in only boxer briefs.

“I would never apologize for helping to keep her away from me. She deserves better than I could ever be. I’m high born, Luna! High born and immortal, the two worst things I could be. I can’t love, I especially love her. Think about, me remaining how I am until the world ends and her…. Wolves have long lives Luna but not long enough. You can’t ask me to go through that, you can’t ask me to put her through that because that’s not fair! You don’t think I feel, Luna!? You don’t think it hurt when she took away the bond!? I can’t feel her anymore inside here.” He jabbed his finger into his head and growled out the words. He turned around but I could see the liquid pooling in his eyes.

“You chose to let her go. You chose to let the darkness take over. There is nothing that will make me think otherwise.” I growled and stepped closer and knew that this would be an impromptu training session for the hyena. Without a word he turned around and punched me in the gut, making me fall to my knees to hold it. I spit up blood and looked up at him, not allowing my wolf to come out. This was just me and him, friend to friend.

“You sound just like her. So hurt and abandoned. I never abandoned her!” He peered down and roared into my face, I never flinched I just stared at him.

“Mason, was it?” Mason looked up at Shay and I groaned internally but otherwise spit up the blood that seemed to come from my throat.

“My name is Seamus, I’m new around here and I sure as hell don’t have a mate. So, I’ve got no idea what’s going on or what you’re going through. But, I am sorry. Not about the circumstance, but for you. You’re so far up your arse you can’t even see what a good thing you had.” Mason stood tall, watching the hyena with blue calculating eyes. The hyena walked toward and around Mason, humming and tapping his chin.

“Seems to me like you had a great thing. A girl who loved you, probably more than she loved herself, and who didn’t care what anybody else thought. A girl who held on to you for the longest time while you gave her the short end of the stick. You took in all her love for your own selfish greed, now you’re angry that she finally realized what a cunt you are actually are.” He came full ircle and patted Mason on the shoulder before chuckling and standing back where he was, directly in front of him and behind me.

“Congratulations, my man, you are the epitome of a douche bag.”

“I was protect-“

“Oh save the lies for chicks like her and Luna, you can be honest with me. I imagine she’s cute and devoted, she was always by your side even when your side probably wasn’t the best thing for her. She probably defended you to a T from people like her sister and everybody else who laid down their lives to protect her. Because that’s what being in love is. It’s understanding that your own needs don’t matter, and you would do anything if it meant the other person was happy. Sound familiar to you? Oh wait, that’s right. That means Elizabeth was in love with you, big shocker there!” I had no idea what the kid was doing but, at this point, I’d just have to trust him. Seeing as my body was still trying to recover from Mason’s blow.

“So a girl loved you, and all because you were trying to protect her, which really means you were just trying to save yourself from any heartbreak, you led her on and got pissed off when she finally stopped following. How DO you do it, man? I obviously have to pick up a few tips from you.” With a humorless chuckle Shay clapped twice and stared at Mason in silent judgement.

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know enough to know you’re a little cunt, need I know more?” They were silent for awhile before Mason sighed, I knew he’d just finished debating whether or not he actually wanted to fight Shay. But he couldn’t, you can only run from the truth for so long before you just understand that you have to accept it.

“I hurt her, for my own selfish reasons, didn’t I?” With a groan I nodded and Shay scoffed.

“Ya think? It’s like taking out your own heart and giving it to someone, then them squishing every time and each time the squeezes get just a little harder. I know you’re not a shifter, so you don’t have the connection we have to each other but just imagine that. And imagine putting someone you actually care about through that, on purpose! Not cool man. But, we can’t tell you how to live your life. You seem to be pretty fine to me, I don’t smell any sort of darkness about you. Then again, maybe you’ve gotten really good at hiding how you feel and what you are. So maybe the darkness is coming to you, but as long as it doesn’t get out of hand then this should be fine. You can do whatever you want, this is your life and she is your mate. We can only suggest, deeply, that you think about whatever you’re going to do next and also find some place around here where flowers grow. I think I smelled some lilac around here. See ya around.” With that Shay left and I crinkled my brow before getting up to all fours and gearing myself to actually stand up.

“I think… I think he’s cool. But, then again, I thought you were cool but you’ve spent the past five minutes on the floor groaning quietly. Can’t really trust myself, can I?” Mason stepped around me and I rolled my eyes, standing up and stretching my newly healed muscles.

“You all can go fuck yourselves!”

 

 

 

 

     I knew I would have to look for Ander at some point, I couldn’t avoid it. The longer I stayed down here and didn’t see him the more likely it was that he would erupt. It was killing both me and my wolf to not be around him. The actual effect of withdrawals hadn’t hit me until I’d come down here and forced my body through such a rapid healing process. It sent tingles down my spine that worked to disable me, but I had to find him. I didn’t care that he probably wouldn’t talk to me, I just needed to see him to know if he was OK. See the actual being rather than memories in my mind. I stopped outside his door, standing right next to the threshold but not making myself go in. He would probably explode into a right and proper mood, and I would have to sit there and take it until he stopped being mad. He was a Mascot, though, and they never stopped being mad until they got even. With the smallest of sighs I walked in to find him standing with his back to me. He’d been waiting for me, he probably felt the pull grow lesser as I came closer and was ready to rip a new one in to me.

“You cut off the link.” Was all he said, his voice soft enough that I had to struggle to hear him.

“To protect you all from what was happening, also didn’t want any of those dark fey assholes pulling on it.”

“I understand the pack link, I really do, but our link. You cut off our link.” I could tell he hadn’t talked in a while, probably too busy sulking around. His sulk face was scary, not something I would want to be around.

“I had to protect you too.”

“I am Alpha.”

“Alpha or not, I had to protect you.” He stayed silent then, the only sound that was heard was him breathing and shifting from foot to foot.

“I’m honestly OK with you screaming at me, I don’t think I can handle this whole silence-“ He turned around then, his greens eyes taking me in from head to toe. I knew he was assessing everything that was physically wrong with me and all the things that could be wrong with me that I was hiding. I spread out my arms and smirked at him, softening my rigid body posture.

“I’m fine, really. I swear.’ He took a step toward me and faltered slightly, I took a step toward him as my brow crinkled. He chuckled softly and stood up to his full height.

“It hasn’t been a good month.” He said softly.

“Not for me either.” I laughed slightly as tears hit my eyes and suddenly he was there. He cradled my cheek as the tears fell and the fear flowed freely. He stuffed his face in my hair and took the deepest of sniffs while kissing it softly. I sobbed against him and he held me closer, I wrapped my arms around him and stuffed my face in deeper to his neck.

“I’ll make them pay. I’m so sorry and I’ll make them pay for everything they did to you.” His voice was shaky and silent, but I couldn’t focus on that. I needed him now, I couldn’t focus on his pain because it would hurt more. So instead I let all the hurt and heartbreak pour out of me with the tears. He kept whispering soft vows of revenge until the tears started pouring out and my body was good and exhausted. I’d forgotten that I had only gotten a couple days of sleep out of our entire almost month up there. My body would go into panic mode real fast if I didn’t manage to get at least a couple days more. Without a word he lifted me up and carried me to his bed, cradling the back of my head as if I were a child. Any other time I would’ve complained, but now it felt comforting. He laid me down first and I rolled over on to my side and watched as he came down beside me, instantly reaching for me as I did to him. He stared at me, and I stared back at him with the smallest of smiles. They would leave us alone, plus Filly and Leo would also be demanding some time. At most, I had a day or two to spend with my mate and relaxing before we were thrown into the thick of battle again. I would utilize that to the best of my ability.

Chapter 27

I woke because somebody was watching me. I felt their eyes boring into my body and with a growl I lifted up from the warmth of my bed to see green eyes like mine staring at me intently. With a groan I relaxed my body and nuzzled back closer to Ander who didn’t see Jesse as threat enough to be worried or wake up.

“Go away little brother, or I will smite you.” I grumbled after he stood there for a minute, just watching me.

“I want you to mate Anna and I.” With an internal groan I slowly raised my head and watched his face. He was sincere, this wasn’t Anna talking through him. I narrowed my eyes on him.

“Why?” He kept his gaze on me, the alpha in him not letting him looking away.

“If… If we’re going to war, and there are going to be casualties… I just want to know I did something right by her.” It was the only time I had heard Jesse talk about something serious without anger being a major factor. I huffed and blew a curl of hair out of my face.

“Fine, gather everybody up. I only plan to be up for a couple of hours today, so I suggest you hurry up.” A big smile lit up his face and he ran out of the room, I groaned and rested my head on Ander’s shoulder.

“He wants you to mate them, isn’t that something he has to do on his own?” His eyes didn’t open and his body didn’t tense up. He was curious, but not that much to actually wake up. I shifted slightly so more of my body was on his and stuck my nose into the crook of his neck.

“For a true mating to be complete it has to be consummated and then the Alpha has to bind them together; that way it’s a mating bond in the eyes of the gods’ and, if the two wolves aren’t in the same pack, it links them together. Also, a neat new perk, it prevents rogues from having children because you can only procreate with your mate.” I knew that would open up a can of worms so I opened my eyes and looked at him then. His jaw was clenched and he looked down at me and I winced.

“Did I forget to tell you that?” He sat up then, lifting me by my arm before taking my hips and setting me on his thighs in front of him.

“Lay it all out, right now. What else have you hidden from me?”

“Describe hidden.” He started up and I put a finger on his lips.

“We haven’t told anybody, we haven’t had time to. It’s just been us, this whole thing started with Leo being born. Any shifter after then is ruled by the new rules that are set in place. It has nothing to do with me holding it back, we didn’t want to give anybody any information because then it was more that the humans had against us.” I pleaded for him to understand with my eyes, leaning closer to him. He stared at me for awhile, I felt him moving around in my head and I knew he was looking for a lie. It hurt me that I’d hurt him so much that he wouldn’t believe me. With the smallest of smiles I touched his cheek and rubbed soft and slow circles on his cheek.

“We’re a month away from the war and we’re so close to being mated… There’s no reason for me to lie. Do I want to protect you at any cost? Yes, more than anything. Would I lie if it meant that you wouldn’t feel pain? Of course, but not now. Not anymore.” He searched my eyes, the blue that was a calming balm to my wolf and my heart desperately looking for the truth.

“You actually mean it, this time, don’t you? No more lies?” I nodded and my heart broke at the way his voice cracked slightly. He took a deep breath before kissing me sweetly and slowly, tasting my mouth and inhaling me; I let him. For ten years I’d gone without it, being too hard and loving too soft. I wouldn’t hold anything back for however long I had with him, even if it meant at the end I would suffer. With the cutest of smirks he backed off and I rolled my eyes and the wave of confidence surged at me from him.

“Guess we have a mating ceremony to get together.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

 

     It was a group effort, both family and friends that they’d made down here helped. We didn’t have an abundance of things to just randomly be able to throw a party, because that’s what this would turn out to be, so everything would be very much low budget. They did have a lot of fruit though, apples and pears because that’s what those two liked. I snagged an apple from one of many baskets that everybody seemed to be carrying around and bit inot it. I was angry at the gods, but I couldn’t be angry at the fresh supply of everything they gave us. My mother and Sarah were in the middle of everything, their battle faces on when all they were doing was organizing tables in the dining hall. They had managed to spiffy up quite a bit, if I was being very honest. There was lilac everywhere; makeshift vases, outlining an aisle I imagined Anna would walk down and hung up on the ceiling. I didn’t want to interrupt anything that might have been going on between the two and looked elsewhere. I saw Inna  walking around, she’d stop and just frown at things before looking at something else to be disappointed about. Knowing I would regret so many things about it, I walked to her and ate my apple until she noticed me.

“The best they could do was lilacs?”

“It’s the only thing that can actually grow down here. That and maybe a few cacti or a lily occasionally.”

“What about your mage? Couldn’t she have brought something up?” A serious frown was on my face as I stared at her until she scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“The fey. Don’t you have some here?”

“I knew what you meant, but you called them mages…. That’s weird. I don’t even think they use that word anymore and their older than actual creation. And we do have little fey here. The ones that are here are only half fey.” She cocked her head and sniffed the air.

“They seem more powerful than that.” That’s all she said on the matter and I shrugged, not willing to talk about that fact. Vixie was older for her age, magically, that much was true. She was way stronger than any child fae should be, especially since she was, technically, only a quarter fae. Her mother, the stronger of the two, was also strong for a half fae. We didn’t question it and nobody really wanted to, better to have the aid of somebody special than to know why they are the way they are.

“There are so many rules now, it’s strange.” She said softly, peering at me with those big blue dragon eyes that the ice dragons were known for. I shrugged and took a big bite of the apple, frowning when I saw I was close to the pit.

“Who will mate you?” I stopped chewing and looked at her, wanting so very badly to be defensive and walk off. Instead I shrugged and continued to eat my apple.

“I’ll worry about that when the time comes.”

“But the mating isn’t complete, you should be dying to get it done fully.”

“I am, deep inside. I won’t though, mainly because I couldn’t stand putting my mate through anything like losing me. That’s why there hasn’t been any matings, why we haven’t told them about it. War leads to widows and orphans, I couldn’t bear being either of those or being the reason those things exist. I know it’s selfish but, in the long run, it’s helping them.” Throwing the, now completely demolished, apple in the air and using magick to incinerate it I looked to her.

“You’ve had a hard go of it, haven’t you?” I shrugged again, not wanting to talk about the past knowing that it wouldn’t help in the future and would lead to too many emotions. Instead I watched as one of the teenagers struggled to move one of the heavier tables. It was made of solid oak so that was, very much, a fair struggle.

“Their lives were worse. I know that it won’t get better, I’m not expecting it to. We’ve got the whole shifter race down here, of that half of them are actually able to fight and a quarter of that is actually able to fight well. There are too many old, young, and pregnant shifters and those that can fight are in the prime of their lives. The humans, they’re not the smartest race but they are noble and they are many. I can’t protect all of them, hell I can barely get through them all with the help of the vampires and the Olden. To be, very, completely honest with you half the time I just think that we’re lining them up.” The teenager who was struggling suddenly had the help of my mother and, with the both of them, they moved it to where it was meant to go.

“We’re family, down here. Up there, they can barely stop fighting long enough to see that they’re killing the world around them. Pack mentality runs deep, but can it save us all? Definitely not. So, even though my go around was hard, it’s not nearly as hard as it’s going to get. The trainings will get brutal and it’l be narrowed down to who can actually fight and if the numbers dwindle down even more… I fear we might just be sitting ducks.” She was silent for a while, her eyes watching me and assessing me. I looked up and saw little sparks, it looked like fireflies but I knew it was just magick gathered up. She suddenly clapped my back, a motherly one and not the back breaking ones that Uncle Bercelack always seemed to give.

“Now is not the time for worries, young Luna. I think you’ve got a mating ritual to go through.”

 

 

 

 

     They’d whisked Anna away once Jesse had run back and told everybody what was going to happen. I was quickly getting tired, and this needed to be done and over with. Not that I wasn’t excited, I was glad the dumb ass was finally deciding to do something right but I was still exhausted. I walked to my room, knowing that all my siblings would fawn over her and help her there. Whether to spite me or because they had nowhere else to go. I cocked my hip on the threshold of my cave and watched as so many of my siblings and hers surrounding her, they blocked off her entire body. I cleared my throat softly, not needing to frighten any of them, wanting their attention. They quickly backed off of Anna and I gasped softly. She slowly turned around, her blue eyes daring me to say something about her dress. It was beautiful, and white. It looked to be made out of a soft material, probably silk, and covered her arms with long sleeves. It had a scooping neckline, but nothing so perilous as to make it trashy looking but just right enough so it wasn’t prudish. It fit her form just right, hugging her sides and outlining a figure most women would kill for. The end of the dress pooled around her feet in melted ivory with the tips of her toes peeking out. Her red hair, long and curly, hung loose around her collarbone; she’d been cutting it since we were here. She was beautiful.

“Well, go on then. Say something pissy so I can punch you in your snobby little nose.” She growled softly and I narrowed my eyes, lunging forward and mentally erasing my comment. Alissa held me back by my shoulders and Cara wrapped an arm around Anna’s waist.

“Ungrateful little cunt!”

“Flabby cow!” We stood still and looked at each other, slightly smirking. My smirk turned into a full smile and I sighed.

“You look beautiful, even though you’re still a cunt.” She nodded before a tear hit her eye. Concern flew through everybody and the girls collectively fanned her face, I rolled my eyes at their action before snorting at the annoyance that flew through her face for the briefest of minutes.

“He’s serious about this, isn’t he?” She asked, her voice breaking and I smiled softly. She sniffed and rubbed her nose, one tear falling and she wiped it with haste.

“Ok, so how does this work?”

“You’ll know. When I put the power through you, your wolf will know instinctively what to do.” Her brow furrowed and she nibbled on her bottom lip in worry. I walked past Alissa and put my hand on her shoulder.

“We’ve always been close, but soon we’ll be sisters. I’ve never been happier to admit that.” My smile was wide and actual and she saw it, making her smile as well. She looked me up and down, the expression in her face changing to something of slight disgust.

“You are going to change, right?” My eyes narrowed and I growled, quickly I was grabbed before my clenched fist could punch her in her stupid little nose.

 

 

 

      I had been forced to change, by none other than my mother and scowled the whole time. There wasn’t much white down here on account of all the dirt down here. I had to use my magick to bring new clothes, but my mother still watched over me. She finally settled on me wearing a white sleeveless flowy top and white pants. I put my hair into a ponytail and rolled my eyes as she moved on to the rest of my siblings except for Jesse. I walked out of the room and to the dining hall where it would be held only to see Jesse sitting down in one of the many chairs, his elbows on his knees and leaned forward.

“Having jitters?” I asked and he jumped, my brow furrowed because he should’ve heard me coming. He looked up and his eyes were bright with worry and something I’d never seen in his eyes before, fear.

“What’s wrong Jesse?” I asked, sitting down next to him and worrying for my baby brother who was far too alpha to show emotions.

“Why am I doing this?” The question shocked me and I bit my lip not understanding myself.

“I honestly don’t know.” He looked up at me and I could tell he was confused but I rolled my eyes. He’d asked the wrong question to the wrong person.

“I mean… Anna’s a bit of a bitch isn’t she? Also, she’s got that snobby nose. Have you heard her sleep? It’s like falling trees, the roar on that one. She can’t even fight that well, and that attitude is ridiculous. Fucking little prick. And, another ting-“

“Luna!” His shoulders were shaking in laughter and I smiled, rubbing his back slowly.

“You’re doing this because you’re head over heels in love with this girl, I’ve got no idea why, and she’s your mate. That’s all I got, really, but that’s what I’m assuming.” He chuckled and my heart swelled with pride and love for him.

“I do love her Luna, and I can do this.” He took a deep breath and sat up, still taller than me even when he was sitting down. He’d managed to pull his hair back and slick it down and shave is face. He smirked at me and I saw why Anna loved him and why they would go so well together. She was so rough and he was so smooth, him so caring and her so careful with their time. I sat up and stretched, watching as people slowly poured in. I was exhausted but for him I’d do it.

“She’s got a wicked snore though, doesn’t she?” I snorted and rolled my eyes, knowing my brother would be OK. I watched as many shifters could fit in the small space, people who didn’t even know Jesse and Anna came just to see the mating. They all sat, those that could anyway, and waited for Anna to come in. I could hear her taking deep breaths, I could smell her anxiety and heard the soft whispers that her mother and mine were whispering to her before they came in and sat down at the saved seats for loved ones. Anna slowly walked in, her hands clutching her bouquet for dear life as she looked down and walked in. I looked to Jesse and saw him gaping at Anna, I rolled my eyes and opened the link to her.

“Instead of being so anxious, maybe look up and see how in love he is with you idiot.” I scoffed at her and she raised her eyes first in anger then saw Jesse and stopped. They stared at each other and I held a breath. They stood for a while starng at each other before her face broke out in a genuine smile and she threw the bouquet down. She ran to him and he opened his arms for her. She ran and jumped into him, kissing him with such love and passion that it made me wonder how she’d convinced herself she hated him. Seeing this as my moment I smiled and opened the power to them, letting them be connected to me and to the Goddess. They gasped and looked at me, their wolves and their humans sharing the same body.

“Welcome to the mating of Anna and Jesse. Know that now, we all have a personal link to the goddess and it is OK to feel overwhelmed. Also, go with your heart and how you feel. The couple needs all of us to be one and their moon song will soon be ours.” I said in warning and then backed up from the couple and going to stand near my mate. He wrapped his arm around my waist and squeezed once, I knew it was a warning and that we would definitely needed to talk later. My attention was pulled to the pair as they moved in synchrony as they had so many times before, but this time was amazing.

“Give me love like her, 'cause lately I've been waking up alone. Pain splattered teardrops on my shirt, told you I'd let them go. And that I'll fight my corner, maybe tonight I'll call ya. After my blood turns into alcohol. No, I just wanna hold ya.” Anna startled me by starting, she’d never been one for singing. All that public attention and her being an omega just turned her off for it.

“Give a little time to me or burn this out, we'll play hide and seek to turn this around. All I want is the taste that your lips allow. My, my, my, my, oh give me love. My, my, my, my, oh give me love. My, my, my, my, oh give me love. My, my, my, my, oh give me love. My, my, my, my, give me love. Give me love like never before.”

“'Cause lately I've been craving more, and it's been a while but I still feel the same. Maybe I should let you go, you know I'll fight my corner, and that tonight I'll call ya. After my blood is drowning in alcohol, no, I just wanna hold ya. Give a little time to me or burn this out, we'll play hide and seek to turn this around. All I want is the taste that your lips allow. My, my, my, my, oh give me love.” Jesse sang, his voice sweet and full of so much love it damn near hurt to stand near them.

“Give a little time to me or burn this out, we'll play hide and seek to turn this around. All I want is the taste that your lips allow. My, my, my, my, oh give me love. My, my, my, my, oh give me love. My, my, my, my, oh give me love. My, my, my, my, oh give me love. My, my, my, my, oh give me love.” They joined in to sing with each other, circling each other but holding hands still. Their eyes were solely on each other and I knew that nothing, at this moment, would be able to break them apart from each other or divert their attention. I felt the change in me, felt it reach all the way down in to my core and bring my wolf and myself up to the surface. They were ready to be joined by the pack. We moved as one unit, those that had mates moved with them and those that didn’t just got with the closest person to them. My hips were gripped by Ander’s and I looked into his eyes and sighed at how badly I wanted this for us. He smirked briefly, squeezing my hip before we all started to move in the opposite circle that the mated pair were moving in. I scoffed internally that we were waltzing before my wolf was called upon and I realized I had tot ake this seriously. More seriously than I was taking it, at least.

“M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover. M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover. M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover. M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover.” The males started to chant before the females joined in, their soft voices mixing in well. All the while Jesse and Anna watched each other, their mouths moving.

“M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover. M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover. M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover. M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover.”

“Love me, love me, love me.” They sang together, the strength in their voices almost making my knees weak. I watched my mate sing and I hummed along, it killed me that I couldn’t sing at my own brother’s mating ceremony but this was their day. It didn’t need to be taken over by the tremendous power of my voice.

“Give me love.” They whispered as the song came to an end, the chanting of the pack done and over. They, technically, no longer needed us to be held in a link with them but I held the,; enticed by what they would do.

“Of all the money, that e’er I had, I’ve spent it in good company. And all the harm, that e’er I’ve done, alas it was to none but me. And all I’ve done, for want of with. To memory now, I can’t recall. So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all.” My mother sung sweetly, I sighed in relief knowing if my parents didn’t step in to sing them into the goddess part of the mating I would.

“Of all the comrades that e’er I had, they are sorry for my going away. And all the sweethearts that e’er I had, they would wish me one more day to stay. But since it falls, unto my lot, that I should rise and you should not. I’ll gently rise and I’ll softly call. Good night and joy be with you all.” My father sung, he held my mothers hand and walked to the couple. Anna had tears in her eyes and it looked like Jesse was on the verge too, his face a good blend of gratitude, love, and awe.

“A man may drink, and not be drunk. A man may fight, and not be slain. A may court a pretty girl, and perhaps be welcomed back again. But since it has sou ought to be, by a time to rise and a time to fall. Come fill to me the parting glass. Good night and joy be with you all. Good night and joy be with you all.” They sung together as they came to stop in front of the pair.

“I, as past Alpha, do grant you two: Jesse, Alpha of the Tiburon pack, and Anna, Omega of the England pack; to mate. May your relationship prosper, and the bond between you grow like a hearty fire and never dwindle.” My father spoke, his voice booming and I’d be dammed if I didn’t listen. I felt the mate bond click and connect within them, I felt closer to Ander, seeing as he was apart of the England pack and we had just merged them officially with a mating. I smiled as they kissed and the room cheered, I teared up when Anna looked at me and squealed excitedly. We had been close, but now we were sisters. Then, the little cheeky cunt, pointed to her hip bone and mouthed ‘right here’. I narrowed my eyes before understanding that’s where she planned on letting him mark her. With a snort I turned into my mate and hugged him tightly before moving around him. I desperately needed sleep.

 

 

 

     They had let me go peacefully, thank God. I didn’t want to be a burden anymore than they wanted me to be. I peeled off the pants and my shirt, wincing when it hit the dirt knowing I would never wear those clothes again unless there was another mating; which I was sure there wasn’t. I crawled into my bed, burrowing my head under the pillow and not caring that I wasn’t covered by a comforter. I was safe. People knew I was tired, and to advance me and try to fight would be committing suicide on their end. With the deepest of sighs I closed my eyes and let my body relax, tensing up as I heard a soft sound. It was the sound of someone trying not to be heard and, with the deepest growl I’ve ever made, I got up and faced them. I brandished my elemental sword and held it in one hand, the other a fist full of magick ready to punch whoever it was in the fucking face. Libby stood there holding a small broad sword in her hand and her face set.

“God Libby, I almost killed you!” I said but my body didn’t relax, something was wrong. I looked at her then, really, and growled low in my throat.

“Whoever it is that has control of my sister, know that you won’t make it out of this alive.”

“You won’t harm your pretty little sister, that’s why I picked her. She’s your nice little soft spot, and she is quite soft.” I stepped off the bed slowly, keeping a firm grip on my sword and working hard to keep my magick from lashing out and killing something. Libby-who-wasn’t-there stared at me with the smallest smirk, the gleam in her eyes evil and full of malicious intent.

“Let her go demon, I’ve made a truce with your kin there’s not a need for this between us.”

“I like how you speak as if you’re in some sort of position to barter with me. I’m inside her, dummy. Are you going to harm your sweet little baby sister?” It said mockingly, smiling and cocking it’s head at me. I sent out a warning signal to the victors and stood up slowly, willing my element to go away and fighting against my magick to make it go away.

“Drop your weapon, demon.” Libby twisted the sword in one hand, making it slice through the air so I could hear how sharp it was.

“I don’t think I will. I know you’re fast and I’m not stupid. This is the only insurance I have that you won’t snap and kill your little sister… well, at least not before I do.” Then the demon grabbed the hilt of the sword with both hands and pointed it at Libby’s stomach. I swallowed as my blood ran cold and I fought to stay standing.

“Why are you here, demon?” Leo asked and I thanked him, I doubted I could continue to talk.

“I’m just here to talk, is all.” Libby’s lip perked up and Leo growled. Filly and Ursula ran in behind me, careful not to do anything too quietly.

“That sword is saying otherwise. How’d you get past our magick barrier?” Ursula asked, barely spitting it at her.

“That old thing? I have my ways, and I’ve gotten through things twice as powerful before. I’m here on official business.” Libby says lightly, her eyes rarely leaving mine.

“What business does the underworld have here? I only let a few of you in and that was because they were magick bound.” My voice was getting rougher, I was becoming too angry too fast.

“The baby demon business is no business of mine. I’m here under contract.” Filly choked on a gasp and Leo’s fist clenched.

“What contract do you have that would include you coming here?”

“It’s simple really.” She looked to me then, something scary glinting in her eyes.

“I’m on contract to kill the Red Luna and ensure this war doesn’t happen.” I laughed in shock before her words hit me. Everyone looked to me and I saw the wariness that was in their eyes. They didn’t know what I was going to do, but neither did I.

“You’ve come to kill me.” I took one step forward, for once not trying to banish the rage but taking hold of it.

“You’ve come to kill me, and you decided the best way to do that is when I’m exhausted and my body is so close to going into panic mode. You’ve decided the best way to do that is to take possession of my youngest sister, my most vulnerable sister, and threaten her life. You’ve decided the best way to do that is to piss me off?” I stepped closer until my tummy was pressed against the butt of the hilt. Her eyes looked at me, steadily and never once flashing in fear.

“Not my best plan, I’ll admit. But I didn’t have all that much time. Just about a month, I’d gather. Better to get it done faster than wait until it’s closer to war time and you’re all on edge.”

“Hmm.” Was all I said before not talking anymore. My rage had soaked into my muscles and I greeted it, my heart was beating fast and my wolf practically begged to come out. I wouldn’t let her out, this was between me and my sister. This was my fight, and I’d fight it. In motions too fast for a human to track I punched her in the face twice, disorienting and grabbed her fists, breaking all the fingers so she could no longer hold the sword. I grabbed it and kicked her in the stomach, making her fall with an ‘oomph’. I aimed the sword at her throat and stood over her, staring her directly in her eyes.

“The problem about killing me is that, that’s impossible. Especially when I’m pissed. I’m quite a fighter, even more so when my family is threatened. So, how about, you go back to whoever you make that contract with and burn in the pits of hell because otherwise you’ll have your hands tied. Literally.” I said softly, never raising my voice or skipping a word. Libby laughed once and then twice before I crouched down too quickly and had the edge of the sword against her neck.

“I can bring my sister back, demon. I could do it by force, which just means your actual body would come up here and then the whole shifter population would be able to feed off of your carcass for strength until this war comes. Or you can leave peacefully and never come back. Next time, it won’t be me. You’ll piss one of us off and, between me and you, I’m the nicest of the whole gang when it comes to you lot.” I grabbed her hair tight and lifted her head up, cutting into the skin of her neck and moving my face closer.

“You’ve got five seconds to decide before I pull my magick out.” There was genuine fear in the demon’s eyes but I saw something that sent a sick shiver of glee through my body; determination. The demon would fight me, and some sick part of me wanted the fight, craved it. Throwing the sword to Leo, who caught it effortlessly, and lifted Libby by her hair. I infused magick through my body until it flowed through my hands and into her body and slightly winced as my sister screamed in pure rage and agony. It had to be done and when it was over I’d make sure the demon paid for it. With her mouth open, black smoke rose from it and her nostrils to leak to the floor and start to form a shape. I kept my eyes on Libby though, needing to know she’d be OK after this. I needed to know I was doing the right thing. When the last of the smoke poured and only my sister was left I held her against my body and handed her to Ursula, who quickly left with Filly to heal her. Being host for a demon wasn’t easy, it was hell on the body in fact and led to a not so fun exorcism if the demon held on too tightly.

      I turned toward the demon, whose body was just starting to come together and let the magick fall but held on to the rage. I couldn’t beat a demon with just me and my wolf, especially one that had so easily broken through a magick seal it had no business breaking through. The smoke slowly disappeared, flowing into the mouth of a tanned face. The demon was naked and that allowed me to see the ancient magick that had been etched into his skin, magick that allowed him to cross whatever barrier he wanted to and magick that he used quite often. His torso and legs were muscled and thick, leading to a powerful neck and the strongest jawline I’d ever seen. The last of the smoke entered his mouth and he closed it, his eyes snapping opening and the shocking black of them faded to a bright emerald green.

“I don’t know your name, demon, and I don’t care to know it. As much as I would love to seal your ass down there by using it, I don’t think my patience will allow me to just not kill you. Because I’m just itching to be coated from head to toe in your blood.” I stared at him, daring him to make the first move. His mouth tilted up in a smirk and I snarled, letting the tight grip I had on my wolf go.

“I’m here to finish a job-“I summoned my elemental weapon and, with a speed I was quite proud of, sliced him across his abdomen. It was deep enough so that the tiniest sliver of his intestines came out and I smiled in pride. He gasped and grabbed the cut, his eyes flashing to black.

“You want to fight, puppy? Let’s fight.”  Exhaustion slowly crept up on me and I knew that I wouldn’t have long to salvage this before it got ugly. Steeling myself I took a fighting stance, breaking my elemental into two tiny kitana and holding them up in my fists. I felt Leo gear up next to me and fought back the groan. I didn’t need a full blown fight in my room that often lead to furniture being broken and I wouldn’t give the gods something else to hold over my head. The demon rolled its shoulders, cracking its neck, as its hand moved away from the open wound that was just a bloody scar. Without warning Leo charged, throwing sticks of rock into the demons chest before jumping up and grabbing the demons neck with his legs and bringing him down. With the smallest snarl I ran forward, slamming broth my kitana into his back muscles, tearing up until I hit bone and hefting him up.

“Mason!” I howled, shaking off the tendrils of total and complete exhaustion that was quickly falling. Mason quickly appeared next to me, assessing and taking action he grabbed the demons head and twisted hard, yanking it off and slamming it down onto the ground.

“Valerie!” She was there instantly, magick flaring in her hands and anger in her face. I slammed the body down, knowing we wouldn’t have long until the demon came back. I nodded toward the head and she nodded in acknowledgement.

“Mom-“

“Back.” She hissed to her daughter, looking to me before kneeling beside the body and being careful not to touch it. I rushed to Vixie, standing in front of her and struggling to keep my heart beat low and steady. I watched as Valerie focused on a spell, her hands and arms humming and glowing pale blue with magick, as she skimmed her hands over his skin. She was soaking up the magick for herself, purifying it first. It would ensure that the runes would have no power and he would be stuck in his human casing until he finally died. I furrowed my brow as I smelled small magick, something different than Valerie’s and knew I would kick myself later. My body stilled as Vixie’s magick surrounded me and she walked around me, her wide eyes looking at everything her mother was doing.

“Mom, I can-“Valerie looked to her daughter then to me and, upon seeing what was about to happen, screamed at Leo to get Vixie out. I couldn’t hear anything, really, it was all muffled. Leo looked to me and his face cleared off all emotion as he reached for Vixie, but she was too fast; too tiny and entirely too cunning. Running to where her mother knelt, she called her magick to her and placed her hands on the demon and I felt her pain through the link that I had with all wolves and howled before I was no longer in control of my body.

 

 

 

~Seamus~

 

     We all heard the howl, but I imagine for the victors it bounced around in our skulls so we couldn’t ignore it if we wanted to. From the way that everyone, victor and not, scrambled to their feet I could tell nobody wanted to. I scrambled to my feet and ran to the sound of it, beating all of the regular shifters and even the bear victor. I slid to a halt, my eyes soaking in the information but my brain not being able to fully comprehend. Luna sat in a corner, her red hair frizzy and her green eyes wide and panicked. She only had a bra and underwear on so I could see her muscles twitch and spasm and knew it had to hurt a little. All I saw was the fear and craziness in her eyes. The fae sat on her knees, her lips moving fast but no words coming out and I could smell the earthy tang that was her magick. She was working over a decapitated body, demon from the smell of it, and it looked like she was sucking something out of him. Her face was terse, but I doubted it was from the magick, she seemed to be at peace whenever she was doing that. No, this had to do with the lion victor holding an unconscious tinier version of the fae in his hands as he looked at Luna warily.

“She’s gone into panic mode, Vixie’s pain was enough to push her over.” Leo said softly, I knew he was talking to me but I could only assume because his eyes remained on Luna.

“They probably didn’t let them sleep much, and whatever sleep they got was probably riddled with… She’s a strong one.” He continued to say, pain crossing his face for a minute before it cleared and he held the tiny girl closer to him.

“I’m sorry, what? Panic mode?” I said matching his soft tone, instinct telling me I was in the midst of a very dangerous predator; one that wouldn’t be well to agitate.

“Ever seen a rabid wolf? A wolf that’s been running for way too long and is exhausted beyond compare? Imagine that, but that wolf is a mother she wolf and would rather die than let her cubs die. They become feral. The same is the case for were’s, but it’s a million times more dangerous. The wolf in her is in complete control, but that wolf is exhausted and sees itself in danger.” The fae said, seeming to almost be done with whatever she was doing but she looked at him. There was power swirling in her eyes, power and fear and a Molotov cocktail of so many other things.

“Look, kid, she doesn’t particularly like you, the whole hyena thing, and right now she isn’t herself. Maybe let some of the bigger kids handle this one.” Felicia said softly, stepping forward carefully and keeping her eyes averted.

“Doesn’t she have a mate?” I asked softly, wondering what the poor bastard must be going through.

“I’ve got him covered, heavily sedated and locked up tight.” The bird victor said softly through the mental link we all shared and I looked to Luna then. She was staring at some spot on the floor with so much interest that it might’ve been the freaking Dali Llama.

“She looks calm enough.” I said softly, cocking my head to the side and narrowing my eyes on her.

“Knowing our Luna she’s probably trying to buy us time, trying to find a way to knock herself out.” There was so much love in the lion victor said that it made me question exactly how close the pair was.

“Well-“Felicia said softly but was interrupted by the scream of the tiny fae. I winced and looked at her, how she bowed in his arms and her eyes popped open; one misty blue and the other a darker blue. The fae rushed to her shushing, before putting her open palm on her forehead. Her daughter quieted, but not before her fists clenched and blue mist surrounded them.

“Oh, Victoria, what have you done?” The fae asked softly, a whisper meant for her daughter but that a room full of shifters was able to pick up easily. I was going to ask if she was OK, before I felt something next to me and everyone sucked in a breath. I slowly turned and looked to my right. Luna stood there, her eyes red and blazing, and she just stared at me. Breathing.

“What do I do?” I asked in the link, knowing well enough to not speak out.

“Do nothing. You haven’t hurt her directly, her wolf is measuring your sins.” Felicia said softly, her voice in my mind so close to a whisper I had to struggle to hear. Luna blinked once, and then twice before looking elsewhere almost looking bored. Her eyes settled on Felicia and before I had registered what had happened Luna rushed Felicia and tackled her into the wall outside the door Luna’s room.

“Mason, get Vixie to safety and Leo take the demon somewhere secure, he’ll heal and even though I took his magick he’s still powerful.” The fae barked out orders and the two listened. I watched as Felicia pushed against Luna, but Luna only grabbed her hair and slammed her head back which cracked something. I winced as I saw Felicia’s eyes slam closed in pain, only to open and be as bright and red as Luna’s.

“Sister, you’re letting your human get the best of you again.” She said laughingly, her claws came out and dug into Luna’s shoulder blades. If it hurt, she showed nothing to prove it. She only gripped her hair tighter and threw her down the hall.

“Hyena.” I looked to the fae who stood from the body and who only stood up to be mid chest height.

“Try to stop that, as little damage as possible would be nice. Don’t hurt either of them, though. You’re new, they won’t be kind enough not to remind you of that and kick your little Irish ass.” With that she used her magick to leave the room. I stood alone in the room, only rushing to move when I heard a roar of pain. With a groan I tore after the two, knowing I was still going to get my Irish ass kicked either way.

 

 

 

     Luna had her in a headlock, a rather impressive one seeing as Felicia couldn’t seem to get out of it, and was striking blow after blow into her head.

“Luna! Soon I’m going to get very angry at you!” She grounded her, her voice muffled by the constant hits. Luna said nothing, she just continued to hit her. Felicia’s hands grew into gigantic paws with very sharp looking claws attached to them and started whacking into Luna and, by the sound of it, she wasn’t holding back. Whenever Luna calmed down, I knew she would several broken ribs and probably severe internal bleeding. But, for now, she let no pain show. She just grabbed the tigresses hair and swung her around. With the mightiest of sigh, knowing this was gonna hurt like all hell, I stepped forward and clenched my fists.

“Oy, Luna!” I yelled out, knowing she’d have to pay attention to me, otherwise she would’ve let the interruption of her kill go. I might not have been a wolf, but hyena’s think the same way. Dog mentality stretched universally.

“Fighting against cats? Really? I thought I was the one you hated? Come on little puppy, show me how good that hatred is!” Her face lifted in a slight sneer but she turned around and stalked back toward Felicia. Internally groaning and cursing the God that chose me for this I summoned earth to me and formed a life size boulder and, very calmly, through it at her. It her whole body and I heard several things crack, but when she fell down she didn’t stay down. No, she hopped right back up and turned to look at me, really look at me, her eyes a bright and rage filled anger.

“Running away? That’s not like an alpha, Luna lass.” I said, putting as much condescendence in it as I could muster. She narrowed her eyes, cold and red, and walked toward me. I could see the magick gathering around her body and I knew she was brewing something dangerous that would do very unkind things to me, were her hands to land. Guess they just have to not land then, my hyena whispered and I nodded. I was fast, she was probably faster having been trained, but I could probably last a long while without being touched. I opened the victor link.

“As many of you that can get here, please get here. I can keep her busy, but think of something to knock her out. I won’t be able to last for long. Tell all of your shifters to stay in, I have a feeling she isn’t reckless enough to hurt innocent people, but take precaution.”

“We know.” They all seemed to groan out, but I could sense they were going to do what I asked. Knowing what I was about to do was a suicide act, she was a beast now in human form; whenever the beast was enraged it either wanted sex, a chase, or food. And since I wasn’t a rack of lamb and wasn’t her mate, the only thing I could offer was the chase.

“Follow me if you dare, Luna.” I sneered her name before turning on my heel at the sound of her snarl and ran, putting in my full speed, knowing if I was caught I’d be good as dead.

 

 

~LUNA~

 

    

I was chasing something, or somebody. Everything was dark here, I could just feel the cold grip of deathly anger and I knew I had slipped into panic mode. If I didn’t get control of it, and soon, the Gods would pull me and keep me on watch for a while. Something I was not only not looking forward to, but something I wouldn’t allow. Blindly I searched for something that would pull me back, something that would allow me to take control of my own body. My hand snaked around something and the tiniest bit of clarity and light shone through the darkness. Taking a deep breath and hoping I didn’t fuck anything up I tugged until I was in control of my own feet and I stopped. Seamus stood away from me, slightly panting, his knees bent and his body ready to keep running if he needed to. Furrowing my brow I opened my mouth and knew I would have to sing, knew that was the only thing that would allow me to stay in control.

“I don’t like walking around this old and empty house.” The notes were so soft, there would be little to no damage and hopefully the others would know that this was the only way and would protect the wolves.

“So hold my hand and I’ll walk with you, my dear.” He sung back softly, his eyes so unsure as he watched me.

“The stairs creek as I sleep, and it’s keeping me awake.”

“It’s the house telling you to close your eyes.”

“Some days I can’t even trust myself.”

“It’s killing me to see you this way, ‘cuz though the truth may vary this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore.” It was silent for a while and I just stared at him, willing my control to come over me.

“Don’t listen to a word I say, the screams all sound the same. Though the truth may vary this sip will carry our bodies safe to shore.” I swallowed once hard and blinked, raising my hand and putting it to my forehead. I could do this and I would do this.

“You’ve gone, gone, gone away I watched you disappear. All that’s left is a ghost of you, now we’re torn, torn, torn apart there’s nothing we can do; just let me go, we’ll meet again soon.” He sung softly, his voie carrying and lilting with his accent as the words calmed and soothed.

“Now wait, wait, wait for me. Please hang around. I’ll see you when I fall asleep.” He was closer now, but I couldn’t focus on that. My breathing was steady and my wolf was safely tucked into the back of my mind, my rage alongside her; both sour about me pulling them back.

“You feeling better, Luna?” He asked, tentatively steeping even closer to me, I nodded but kept my hand on my head. It was banging, and my stomach wasn’t doing much better.

“I think after a couple days of rest I should be fine.”

“Aye, I think that’ll do it.” I opened my eyes slowly and looked at him, he was sincere. I hadn’t come across many were-hyena in my days. They tried to stay in the more sunny and dry areas. With a soft smile he patted my shoulder and shook off the stress.

“How much damage did I cause?”

“Felicia is going to need a new face, and you gave everybody a right scare. Had to send all them inside their rooms for fear you might run them down in chasing me.”

“Smart move, running. How’s Vixie?” He narrowed his brow and cocked his head at me.

“The little one, how is she?”

“I don’t know, I was kind of busy keeping a homicidal werewolf busy.”

“Speaking of homicidal werewolf, where’s my mate?”

“Last I was told, the bird had him safe. Otherwise, I’m sure I’d be a dead heap of hyena. I can handle one wolf, but two mated wolves? Probably would’ve been safe to pretend dead, but even then you lot would slice into me for good measure after that. Just to be sure.”

“The more you talk the more Irish you get. Less Liam Nesson, more Uncle Bercelack.”

“I’ve no idea who that is, but I’m sure I’m offended.” I shrugged then instantly regretted it.

“Yeah I wouldn’t move around too much if I was you. You took quite a beating. From Felicia-“

“Call her Filly, she doesn’t like Felicia.”

“And a mini boulder.” I frowned, my deepest frown, and rubbed the shoulder that ached so fiercely.

“I should probably go collect my mate and head to bed, I’d hate a repeat.”

“I don’t think you’d be the only one in that statement.”

 

 

 

     As I walked through the halls and I felt the eyes of wariness peer at me from the rooms I felt my body slowly restoring itself, it hurt like all hell but it was getting somewhere. I would check on Vixie first, I only felt her pain and knew it wasn’t enough for her to handle. She’d passed out from it, but I knew her mother and father would be frantic. I walked into their room and saw Valerie running her hands over her daughter, nibbling slightly on her lips while her eyes remained glued to her daughters face. John was pacing the floor, his wolf out and ready to protect his mate and child. He looked at me briefly before continuing to pace, his muscles bunched up and ready for any fight if one were to break out. Isaac sat on his bed, his eyes hopelessly watching his sister while his adopted mother worked to do whatever she could.

“It’s just like her body shut down. I had purified mostly all of the magick, and the part she touched was already purified. She shouldn’t have this great a reaction to it.” Valerie said, her voice the softest of whispers.

“Why is she having any reaction at all? Isn’t she fae, shouldn’t she be welcoming the magick?” Isaac asked, standing to an obscene length and looming over his sister.

“The magick the demon had was dark magick, old dark magick. I don’t even let her around the dark fae, nevertheless let them touch her. We’re light fae, their magick is a sickness to us… a disease that isn’t really a disease. It hurts for us to use it, but she shouldn’t have this great a reaction.” She seemed to branch off and talk to herself but it was enough to make Isaac angry.

“So then why was she around it?” At that Valerie and her mate looked at him, anger bright in their eyes.

“You were supposed to be watching her.”

“All you do is sleep-“

“I go to training!”

“And eat, I asked you to watch her when Luna called me.”

“She’s so fucking tiny, she slipped away!” Isaac explained, his hand jutting out as he stepped closer.

“Don’t talk to your mother that way.” John boomed, gearing himself and his wolf up for a fight.

“Yeah well, she ain’t my fucking mom now is she?”

“I’ve got half a mind to teach you some respect.”

“Do it, old man.”

“Enough!” I growled, making them all jump and make them look at me. I rolled my eyes and stepped in closer, brushing past Isaac and glaring at him quickly before kneeling on the floor beside Valerie.

“The dark magick that’s still in her is making you guys lash out at each other. The longer you bicker, the longer it stays inside of her and the stronger it gets.” Valerie gulped because she knew, as well as I did, the consequences of dark magick routed too deep inside a fae. She nodded and I called my magick to me, because I knew she wouldn’t be able to do this on her own. She was a powerful half fae, but she was still only a Halfling. For the old magick that was soaked in the demon for Lord knows how long, she would need my help. My hands went to Vixie’s head and I went to work only to be interrupted by the sound of Isaac’s leg tapping.

“Go to your mate, you’re entirely too anxious.” His eyes bore into me but I kept my eyes closed and kept my magick flowing into Vixie. I would let her mother direct the flow, I wasn’t skilled enough to properly do this, I would only be able to provide a steady stream.

“How did you-“

“Ugh please, do you even know who you’re talking to. She kept nagging me to tell her who it was that I just looked into it. Haven’t told her but, something tells me she knows. She’s just entirely too polite and patient to deal with your ass. If it was me, I definitely would’ve killed you by now.” I popped one eye open and smirked at him before closing my eyes and pouring more magick.

“Too moody for me.” Was all I said and waved my free hand at him, sending him away without actually saying anything or putting any power into it. He stared for a little while longer before he walked out and I snorted.

“Teenagers, am I right?”

Chapter 28

 

It took me us awhile to get it all out of her, and it drained the rest of my energy out of me. I slumped down against the bed that Vixie was on, my body so ready to give out at any minute. Finally Valerie opened her eyes, they were bright and blue and hopeful. Her hands moved off of her daughter slowly and I stopped letting the magick flow. Vixie seemed to breathe easier and her skin was a healthy tan again.

“She’ll be fine, thank you.” Valerie looked at me and her eyes widened, she looked tired but I imagined I looked exhausted.

“God Luna, go to sleep. Don’t wake up until it’s war time.” I snorted and dragged myself up, my legs slilghtly wobbly.

“I’ve got to go to my sister, I didn’t think this would take as long as it did.” My voice is soft and raspy, and my body is entirely too heavy for me to carry. I use my magick, even though it drains me more and more, and zip to the infirmary where my mother is glued to Libby. She squeezes her hand periodically while her fae scans her face. They look so alike. By the time my mother had Libby, the mark on her belly had faded. Libby was the most normal wolf in the family besides my parents. Her hair was more brown than red, and if her eyes were to be open her eyes would be a comforting hazel rather than a shocking green. Libby was, in a way, my mothers child. All the children older than her still had the markings, red hair and green eyes, of the Gods. But Libby was hers. It broke my heart that Libby kept getting hurt because I knew that meant that my mother was getting hurt too. My mother looked at me then, her eyes red from tears she cried a long time ago and her face so aged with pain and stress.

“Did you kill him? The others wouldn’t tell me. Did you kill the demon scum who decided to make my baby a play thing?” Her voice was strong, even though she looked anything but. Her brown hair was pulled in a messy bun and the lines in her face looked harsh from the low lighting.

“He’s healing. Mason ripped his head off and I punctured his lungs. When he’s awake though-“

“Let me know. I’m tired of people hurting her.” To get to you, was what I felt like she wanted to say but she kept her mouth shut and looked back to Libby. I watched my mother, I watched the emotions slide over her face. Anger, fear, sadness, grief, insanity, then back to anger. I didn’t know what she was thinking, I never violated my parents privacy with any of my powers before and I didn’t plan on starting now.

“Has she woken up yet?”

“No, she just breathes.” She was silent for awhile before she sniffled and I looked to Libby, not wanting her to think I was judging her.

“She was a quiet baby. Never cried, only laughed and smiled. All the nurses wanted to hold her, because she’s omega. Made them feel at peace. The sweetest little girl. Loved her daddy and never gave me the time of day but it was alright because she would snuggle up against me and I could feel the waves of love rolling off of her. So strong. When she first got sick I could tell how much pain she was in, I could smell how lethal that sickness was and it hurt my nose. But omegas, they take pain and make it their own. She would only smile wider, or laugh harder. My poor baby girl, always suffering and never at peace. I don’t wanna lose her, Luna.” I looked at her then, saw how many tears she cried and the snot that was beginning to pour out of her.

“I don’t want to lose my baby girl. I’ve held on to her for this long, I can’t lose her now.” She met my eyes and, for once, it wasn’t for dominance. It was for understanding. Looking away I put my hand on top of my sisters, I felt how smooth her skin was and her innocence made my heart squeeze painfully.

“She’s just tired mom, she’ll wake up once her body is rested enough and after she’ll have to take it easy.” I let her calm down before looking at her, she wiped her face slowly not caring to hide her emotions. I got that from my dad.

“Are you OK Luna?” She asked suddenly after it had been quiet for a couple of minutes. I wouldn’t dare tell her the truth, she would be worried about more than one of her kids and that wasn’t good for anyone involved. I couldn’t lie to my mother, I hadn’t managed to acquire that skill yet so instead I said nothing. I wasn’t a person of many words, she knew that. Since I could physically talk I stayed quiet about whatever was going on with me. My mother wanted a normal family, as normal as a werewolf family could get and Iw as determined to give that to her even if it meant I had to stay back a little bit. I felt her eyes boring into me, I knew that she was trying to get a grasp on whatever was going on with me. She’d been trying since I was a baby. I could recall days where we just stared at each other because she didn’t know what to do with me and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I came into this world conscious and knowing. I knew what I was to become and who I would need to be. I knew that, that probably meant that I would need to live during my childhood years but I couldn’t. I could never give my mother or my family the satisfaction of being a completely normal shifter family.

“I didn’t want normal Luna.” Her words caught me off guard and I looked diretly at her then, my interest piqued and my hear beating too fast.

“I mean, I did want normal. Then I came back home and I met your father and my parents and my brother. I got pregnant, I found out the truth. I knew I couldn’t have normal, so I worked with what I had. After your father came back from the hunters I decided I wouldn’t let him go again. He was mine, and you, still in me, were mine too. I would make my life my own Luna. And I made this life for myself. I had kids, I raised you all to be so strong and stubborn. I know you can take care of yourself, Luna, I know you all can. That doesn’t mean I’m not here for you. I don’t resent any of you for the lives you live. I don’t hate you because you were the first of many un-normal children. I love you because you gave me something. You gave me a purpose. You gave me a title. The mother of the Red Luna, I had to be strong for you and the twins and all the others. You may think you got your strength from the gods but that’s all me baby. And if I had to, I would tear down the walls of eternal to make sure you were happy. Us regular wolves have a few tricks up our sleeves.” She looked back to Libby then, and stroked the top of her hand.

“She came to me, when I was pregnant. In a dream of course. You were next to her, playing in the grass and she sat and looked at me. You crawled into my lap and curled up like a little puppy, the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. She said that it would be hard, on both of us. She told me that I had a choice, that I could choose not to be the one to bear you. She told me all the things that I would be giving up, all the normality of shifter life and how I would need to be there for you. I had the choice to not have you, but I could feel you growing inside me. You could feel it too. You touched my tummy and you looked up at me, shocking green eyes that knew more than they should’ve peered up at me. I knew then, LunaRosa Green, that you would tear any other mother apart. She let me hold you, and I couldn’t think of anything to say. You were there and you were gonna be so strong and powerful, and you would be mine. You touched my cheek and I could feel all the love flowing off of you and I knew it was my own. I chose to have you Luna, and I chose to keep having kids. I chose to be the best mother I could for someone who would need all the love they could handle. Remember that, whenever you’re hating yourself or doubting. I chose to be surrounded in your crazy, and Ander somehow can take your crazy, and we all love you. None of this is your fault.” She spoke so softly and so truly, I hardly even noticed when the tears spilled from my eyes.

“Go get some sleep Luna, you need to be strong.”

I used magick again to zip me to my room and ignored the blood that nobody had bothered to clean. It would smell bad and I’d want to burn my nose off by the time I was done sleeping but that could wait until I was done sleeping. I laid down, my body being sucked in by the bed and my eyes closing for what seemed like the first time in an eternity. I felt Ander’s presence grow closer. He was running, and he was surprisingly calm for not having seen me for practically a day and all the things that happened. When he entered the room I didn’t move, I couldn’t. I was tired and I desperately needed sleep. He would do whatever he would do, and I trusted he knew I didn’t have the energy to fight with him or call him to me. With that being the last thing I thought, I let my body sink into darkness and took one deep breath before finally relaxing.

 

 

 

                I felt him leave when he was hungry and felt him come back and knew he came back as soon as possible. I couldn’t gear my body to move, I had done too much damage. So, knowing he’d understand, I promptly kept my eyes closed and went back to sleep. I knew it was a couple of days that I slept, my stomach growled angrily at me and I would have to eat as soon as I woke up. I felt him stroke my hair while I was in the stage of sleep where you’re still sleeping but you could wake up at any point. At that gentle stage in my sleep, I heard him whisper the soft promises of a better life and how we would make it through this. He would tell me how good training was going and how much everybody looked at him with pain in their eyes. He told me how much he hated the looks, how much he hated the situation we were in. He told me he loved me so many times and I believed each time. He left during the days, not that I expected him to stay. When you sleep, hours seem to mold into minutes so when he came back it was only as if he went to the bathroom. He would cuddle against me and then is when I’d let my body move. I’d snuggle up against him and revel in his heat and his scent, so overwhelmingly male it made my heart squeal, and feel his arms wrap around me and the healing sleep seemed all the more powerful.

     He would cocoon around me and gave everything he could to me. When I began to feel truly rested, my body no longer achy and my mind no longer fogged, my wolf reached out and began talking to his. I would peek into their conversations and it would be along the lines of what Ander would say to me.

“You’re healing up nicely, wolf.”

“Trying to, it’s hard with how much we’re damaged.”

“You’ll get through it. I know you will. I’ve so much faith in you, I could start my own religion.” At that my wolf would preen for him and they’d lay together in perfect silence. Such simple creatures, the wolves were. I knew that my resting time was coming to an end when my body was ready to be stretched out and worked. I groaned and opened my eyes slowly, knowing that it wouldn’t be bright. Big blue eyes looked into mine as I blinked the haze of sleep away from my body and looked up into the eyes that I’d only really dreamed about for the last days.

“Good morning.” I smiled at the softness of his voice and opened the link.

“My morning breath is going to be something unholy.” He smirked before swooping down and kissing my lips gently, I smiled and kissed him back but didn’t open my mouth.

“Let me in, love.” My smile widened and I shook my head, my nose rubbing against his. His hand cupped my cheek and his thumb rubbed under my eyes.

“The dark circles are gone.” He whispered gently, his voice a gentle caress on my skin. I nodded and sat up, my body desperately needed to stretch out or I would cramp up. He followed me up, a ghost hand sliding up my side and tickling skin that was so well rested.

“It’s healing sleep, it does that.” I cocked my head at him while he stared into my eyes. I knew he’d spent most of the time I spent sleeping just staring at my face, he’d probably memorized every little crook and nanny. He’d probably missed the color of them, but I wouldn’t say anything.

“How’s my sister?” He didn’t look away, he gave me that respect, but he didn’t answer. She’d gotten worse while I slept. I ran my fingers through my hair and crawled over Ander, I needed to see her. I grabbed my towel and a change of clothes and, without another word or though to Ander, I headed for the showers. He didn’t follow me and I knew it killed him. He would want to stay by my side at all times while I was awake as he’d done when I was sleeping. As I walked through the halls I knew that people were staring at me, but I didn’t care. I needed to be clean so I could see what was wrong with Libby. I knew, most likely, I’d have to get involved somehow with the gods and I didn’t know when I would be able to shower next. Once I got to the shower area I stripped my clothes and quickly submerged in the water, not stopping until all of my body was absorbed in the water. It burned my face slightly, the water was warm enough so that it wasn’t uncomfortable to be on but it was still new to my face. I stayed under until my lungs hurt, which took quite a while, and came up. I pushed the hair out of my face and blinked the water out of my eyes before taking out the soap and working on cleaning myself.

 

 

                My hair was still very much wet but I didn’t care. I walked through the halls, ignoring the very adamant stares, until I got to the infirmary cave. My mother still sat there, her hair more frazzled than it was the last time I saw her. Dad sat next to her, his face rugged and filled with so much emotion it hurt my hurt. They were clutching each other’s hands, mom’s knuckles were white and it looked like they’d been that way for a while. Mom’s hand was holding Libby’s, but not nearly as tight as she was holding his. Her eyes were rimmed with red and she looked like she hadn’t slept since I went to sleep. Taking a deep breath I walked closer until my legs bumped into the bed that Libby was on. I put down my towel and sat on the bed, being careful to not sit on Libby.

“You know what’s happening don’t you?” I asked softly, my voice a raspy whisper. I wouldn’t touch my sister, I didn’t want to feel how cold she’d become.

“My wolf is telling me, I won’t believe it though. She’s my daughter, Luna, I won’t accept that.” Her voice wasn’t soft anymore, it was hard and scared. I looked at her then, my mind working overdrive trying to think through the fog of the sleep.

“You won’t ask me, but I know what you want me to do.” I looked back at Libby and took another deep breath. I nodded before putting my hand on her forehead, ignoring the cold, and willed myself to focus on both of us. My body wasn’t a part of it anymore, we were two souls and I focused on dragging hers into Eternal with me. The blinding light that surrounded us was, for once, comforting. I closed my eyes and focused on Libby and called her to me, watching as she came closer until she stood in front of me. I opened them and peered into my little sister’s eyes.

“Why are we here?”

“Mom’s asked me to make a case for you.”

“What do you mean?” I blinked before turning on my heel and walking in the direction of the animal pantheon. She walked behind me, keeping a distance, but I could feel her mind at work. Her thoughts flew through me and I sensed all the control and anger and fear that was flowing through her and I let her have it. I wouldn’t take it for my own because I was done fighting. We were too close to war time for me to be picking fights with the Gods at this time. I needed to be level headed and all the emotions that I was feeling needed to be mine and mine alone. I walked until I was in front of a silver door that looked to be larger than life. Rolling my shoulders I knocked twice then waited before knocking again. The door groaned open after a moment of silence and led view to a grand hallway that was lined with jewels and glamor. I walked down the hall, letting my clothes change into the common white toga dress that most females wore when in the court of the Gods. Libby’s clothes changed too, if her soft was gasp was any indication. The Gods sat at the end of the hall, all of them sitting up and at attention. This wasn’t training ground, this was the Court. The formal gathering of the Gods and Goddesses of the animal pantheon, where cases were made and judgements were passed. Every shifter that died went through the court to have judgement passed and their lives certified. I stood in the middle and kept my gaze from their eyes. Here they weren’t the size as me, they were larger than life and they sat on thrones carved from the finest marble.

“LunaRosa Green, why have you come today?” Mother Moon asked, her voice soft and strong. I looked to her chin, not willing to look directly in her eyes just yet.

“I’ve come to make a case for Elizabeth Anne Green.” I felt Libby want to object, but knew that she knew better to say anything or do anything bold.

“Elizabeth Anne Green, step forward.” My instinct was to shield her from them, but she would have to be brave and I would have to be strong. She walked passed me, stopping three steps away from where I was. They analyzed her, weighing all of her sins and her life line.

“You bring a nearly dead child here, why?” Leo asked, I knew he was fighting a smirk and that made me angry but I swallowed it down.

“I wish for her to be granted immortality.” Libby sucked in a breath of air and her spine went stiff but she, otherwise, did nothing.

“You bring an omega sickly child here and ask us to immortalize her? I hate to ask it, but has the war finally broken you child?” Mother Moon asked, incredulity clear in her voice.

“This child is strong, though she is omega. She’s recovered from the sickness that you laid claim on her and she grows stronger every day.”

“A demon took hold of her, that doesn’t seem very strong to me.” Felis purred out, her cat eyes large and watching.

“It was an old one whose magick was ingrained in its body. Even I couldn’t stop such a possession.”

“And what are you?”

“I’m a demi-god.” I said plainly, looking at her then in the eyes.

“My sister has survived trial after trial, she’s only grown strong from it-“

“And bitter, she denied her mate. You only get one of those and she so blatantly passes that up.” Mother Moon preened, sticking her nose in the air.

“If I may.” Libby said, her voice so soft and fragile. Mother Moon looked to her and nodded once.

“I denied my mate because he was not a perfect match for me. He tore me down instead of building me up and, when I needed him, he wasn’t there. Wounds left gaping because of him, and hard sores on my body for times when I only needed him and he wasn’t there. I did not do it to spite the Gods, I’m fighting in this war for the Gods.” She never looked up, but her voice got stronger and stronger. I closed my eyes and took a step towards my sister.

“I not only ask as one of your children, I ask as a warrior of the Gods and descendant-“

“Barely.”

“Of Lupa, Wolf Goddess. Please grant Elizabeth an appearance in front of the High Court of Gaia.” Mother Moon looked at me, her gaze calculating before she looked to Elizabeth.

“You seem like immortality would suit you well. I approve the case, you may go.” Relief spread through me and I grabbed Libby’s elbow, pulling her gently to come to me. The room melted around us and the Gods vanished until we were in the blinding light that was Eternal.

“What was that back there?”

“I’m sure you heard mom speaking to you, your body isn’t responding but your mind has been running wild. You knew she would appeal to me-“

“But I thought you would ask me, first! What I wanted and not what mom wanted of me.” She tore her elbow away from me and her eyes flashed angrily at me.

“Look, Elizabeth, I’m only looking out for you.”

“Then ask me what I want instead of just doing things and hoping you get something right! I’m so done with people micromanaging me and everything I’ve got going on. I can take care of myself.”

“You just turned fourteen Elizabeth, you’ve gone through heat twice. In the eyes of me, mom, and the whole fucked up Pantheon we belong to you’re still a cub. I’m not going to sit here and debate with you what you think is best because, not to hurt your feelings, I’ve got more important things to do. You don’t want to be immortal? Fine, fuck it. I don’t care. You’re dying Elizabeth that possession took more out of you than you think. You’ve been dying for days, since I went to sleep. If you choose to not be immortal then you don’t come back from here. Once you’re dead, it’s Eternal everlasting for you. Sorry to have to be the one to burst your bubble. I’ll let you be the one to make the ultimate decision, but don’t let your stubborn attitude get in the way and choose life.” I stepped back away from her and left Eternal and slowly pulled my hands from her head. I took a deep breath and stood, stretching and listening to my joints crack.

“Well? When will she wake up?” I looked to my dad and shrugged, scrunching up my mouth.

“I made the case for her, now she’s got a hearing.” My mother glared at me before standing slowly, anger clear in her eyes.

“What the hell happened Luna? I asked for you to do this one thing for me and you couldn’t even do that.” She brought out her wolf and instinct wanted me to look away and apologize for my stupidity. But it was war time, and my mother wasn’t as much a priority as she once was. Pulling my wolf to the surface, I let my scent out more and stared my mother directly in her eyes.

“Firstly, rude. I did everything I could. It’s not my fault you raise the most stubborn minded pups. Secondly, I’m trying very hard here and she isn’t giving me much to work with. She wants to decide, so I left the decision to her. Whenever I’m pulled back in is when she’s made the decisions and her case will be heard then.” I shrugged and rolled out my shoulders, pulling my wolf back with it.

“You shouldn’t be here, we need your help. The guns and armory will be coming in tomorrow, we need all the help we can get with training them with that.”

“My daughter is dying and could very well choose to die… and you want me to help you in some stupid war? To train kids, because that’s all they are Luna, to die? I’m sorry, not that sorry, I can’t do that. I won’t.” She was sincere, her eyes teared up and her wolf backed down. This was her, and it was raw.

“Mom, please. I understand this is hard for you, but-“

“No, you honestly don’t. Ever since you were a baby you never let yourself get too attached to any of us, the only reason you tolerated Jesse and Alissa was because I made you. You don’t care about Elizabeth, you don’t care who lives or who dies in this. Ever since you came out of me you’ve had the mentality of a human General, instead of the wolf. Get the hell out of here and ask somebody to help you prepare those children for death, because I won’t do that. Not now, not ever.” She stepped back away from Libby and her body geared up. I furrowed my brow and took a step back, bracing myself for whatever.

“Calm down. Don’t do something you’ll regret.”

“I’m not going to fight you Luna, you should know I would never lay a hand against you unless I had to. But I will stand my ground.” I stared at her for a little while and straightened my back before rolling my eyes.

“I wouldn’t pull you away from your kid, mom. You can stay here, but don’t get too comfortable.” I said before walking out, shaking off the chills I’d gotten for no reason.

 

 

                My next stop was Vixie and I knew that it wouldn’t be a fun experience for me. There was a shift in energy whenever I tried to look at her in the pack link. She was alive, I knew that, but I didn’t know what she’d turned into. The amount of strength in power that was wafting off of her was scary considering how young she was and what she was. She was harboring the magick of a fully grown fae, and her mother knew it.  Taking a deep breath and hoping the shit storm wouldn’t stink too badly I walked into their room. Valerie sat on her knees in front of Vixie, combing back her hair with her fingers and smiling softly. John sat next to his daughter, his arm wrapped around her and his hand gently stroking her arm while he smiled down at her. Isaac wasn’t in the room, but something told me he hadn’t been in the room for a while. I walked in slowly, a small smile on my face, until I stood beside Valerie and the smile was whipped from my face. Vixie looked up at me and smiled, a big and bright one, making her eyes twinkle.

“Hey Luna, sorry for doing what I did.” She said cheerily and I smiled slightly at her but horror was rooted in me. I kneeled beside Valerie and grabbed Vixie’s hand in mine. I looked in her eyes while I searched her, feeling for what happened and why it happened. She looked back at me, leaning closer to peer deeper into me and I gasped softly. She was searching me too. Pushing away my shock I tugged at her fate line and read it intensely. My brow crinkled further as I felt the intensity of the magick that was wafting from her. She was no longer half fae, something had changed. I slowly took my hands away from Vixie and took a deep breath before looking to her mother. She looked directly at me, knowledge and excitement and fear lit her eyes but she never looked away.

“I don’t know what you want me to say.” I said softly, smiling a little before looking to Vixie. I leaned closer and looked at her eyes closely. They weren’t their typical blue anymore, they were a deeper shade and looked more violet. The specs that were once amber were now a pale blue and they looked stunning.

“You’re a full fae now.” I said simply and she just shrugged rolling her eyes at me.

“I kinda figured that already, there’s way too much magick flowing through me. I’ve been trying to tell them that I’m fine enough to go out and play but they’re being way too stressed out over nothing.” She darted her eyes to her mother in particular and I huffed once in laughter.

“Just be careful when you play, like you said there’s a whole bunch of magick flowing through you. If you let your emotions get the best of you there will be a lot more magical accidents. I’m not running an infirmary down here.” Her eyes darted from me to her mother before she rolled them.

“I got it, I got it. Can I go play now?” There was feigned annoyance in her voice but I wouldn’t touch that. I stood and ruffled her head.

“I’m fine with it if your parents are. See ya out there, squirt.” I sent one last look to her mom before winking at her and heading out. I still had to deal with the demon and eat. My stomach was beginning to revolt against me, which was fair enough. As I weaved through the tunnels people kept staring and this time I grit my teeth, it was getting entirely too annoying. When I made it to the training field and I saw people there and working on whatever they were told they needed to work on, and all eyes looked at me I let out a small growl.

“What?!” The person closest to me jumped a little bit before backing up slightly. They all said nothing and went about doing what they were doing before looking to me. I rolled my eyes and made my way past them, and made my way until I made it to where they were keeping the demon.

Chapter 29

 

Filly sat on a makeshift stool with her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. When she saw me she perked up before eying me closely.

“What’s your problem?” I asked curtly, not feeling up for anymore stares.

“Nothing it’s just… you seem different. More… calm. It makes me uncomfortable.” She said before shivering and standing up. She looked into the room, standing away from the magick barrier that would prevent him from coming out.

“We didn’t want to do anything to him, we figured that would be something you wanted to do.” She looked at me then, really looked at me before stepping closer. Before I could tell her to stop before I broke her nose in, she hugged me. It took me by surprise but also jolted me. My brow furrowed in confusion before I hugged her back carefully.

“You must be a mess inside.” She said softly into my ear and I shook my head before pushing her off of me gently.

“Look at me, I’m fine.  Thank you for saving him for me, I know how much effort that must’ve been. You don’t like waiting, or sharing for that matter.” She stepped back and waved it off.

“This is your kill, not mine. If he had hurt me or mine, I don’t think I would’ve been able to wait for you to wake up.” I felt the truth in that and nodded in her direction. Before walking to the opening of the room and looking in. The demon sat against the wall and looked directly at me, a small smirk on his face.

“I’ve been waiting for you to show up. Been licking your wounds, or your sisters? How’s she doing, by the way? I imagine I must’ve hurt her quite a bit, it’s not easy-“ His words were cut off when I threw an earth kitana into his throat. I stayed where I was and twisted the kitana, enjoying the face of pure agony he had. I waited until a nice stream of blood flew down his body before allowing it to disappear.

“I know not to go in there, I’m not stupid. But I’ve got impeccable aim and a short temper. So maybe watch your mouth.” I saw his jaw work as his body healed slowly. Valerie had stripped his entire body of magick, so now he would heal slower and wouldn’t be able to walk past this barrier. I sat on my haunches and got as close to the barrier as I would dare.

“Hurts doesn’t it? I imagine you’re trying really hard not to drown on your blood. You’re barely holding on there, and if you’re healing as fast, or slow, as I think you’re healing you’ll be barely holding on for a couple more hours. I’ll come back when you’re nice and healed up and maybe we can talk a little more later?” I winked at him and stood up before looking to Filly who had a nice little gleam of appreciation in her eyes.

“You hungry? I could really go for some food.” I said before turning and walking away.

 

 

                We walked in silence but together. She didn’t judge me and wasn’t scared, she was supportive and just wanted to know what was up with me. The healing sleep wipes away everything that’s wrong with you. Both inside and out. It cleared the fog of rage that had settled around my mind and left me calm. We walked through the trainging ground and I took the time to see what everybody had been up to. I watched as a female bear and a male lion squared off. They stood in stone silence, watching eah other and loking for any gives. Bears have little patience, in comparison to lions. Before I could process anything the sow had raised up a boulder and threw it head on at the lion. He lifted himself up and dodged it, but ran straight into another one he threw while he was air born. He landed with a thud and under the rock but with one good punch, which made me giddy, he broke the stone in half and stood. He ran to her, silent and angry as all hell. She smirked and readied herself for whatever attack, she looked to be calm but I could see she was analyzing a million miles a second. While she wwas thinking he slid and took her legs out from under her, making her fall face forward. Her skull bounced off the florr but she growled and tried to kick his grip from her. He smiled before lifting her in the air and surrounding her in water. He nodded towards Filly and I and we nodded back before leaving the training area.

“They’re using elements.” I said happily and she nodded.

“We had to go on without you. Izzy has been physically training the wolves and Anna has been training them with their elements.” I was Ok with that, they were good at fighting. I’d made sure of that.

“Also, while you were sleeping, the lycans showed up.” I stopped in my tracks and looked at her. She looked at me with pity and also a little bit of humor.

“Like… all the lycans?”

“Well duh, now the only ones missing are the fae.” I grit my teeth and forced myself to keep walking on the basis that I needed food desperately.

“He’s here.”

“Yeah I kinda figured that.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Hope that him and Ander don’t kill each other.”

“Well, we’ve managed to avoid that. We told him that you were in Eternal. Otherwise he would’ve just came to your oom and there would’ve been fighting. We knew you needed sleep.” I huffed and nodded at her in thanks. We paused outside the dining hall and I groaned that the overwhelming scent of lycan.

“You can’t hide much longer, he’ll just scent you out. This isn’t the largest place for trying to hide.” I rolled my eyes and shook out the aggravation before I walked into the cafeteria. All the noise stopped and they all looked at me. I fought back curling my lip as they all stared, their eyes wide and imploring as they looked me up and down. Growling under my breath I walked to the closest table and hopped on it, summoning my earth element and making a proper sword and aiming at all of them.

“Take a fucking picture, it’ll last longer!” They all laughed at me and I narrowed my eyes dangerously, fighting back cutting off one of their heads. It would only piss me off when they laughed at me and threw me across the room with my sword.

“Well if it isn’t little Luna.” I groaned and stiffened, looking at him as he stood from one of the tables. He grew, immensely.

“Don’t.”

“Little Loud Luna.” I hopped off the table and regretted it immediately. If I’d stayed up there I would’ve been somewhat tallr than him. Down here, I was a kid.

“I’m gonna need you to not.” He leaned down, his brown eyes bright and searching as he smirked at me.

“What’s it been, 6 years?” I dind’t answer, merely looked at him. His nostrils flared and the monster behind those eyes swirled and stirred before they settled on a darker brown. His pupils were dilated and the brown was flecked with green and he looked at me, into me.

“Little Luna got mated, did she?” I still didn’t answer, only gripped my sword harder and kept my body calm.

“Who to? I hop to the Goddess it wasn’t that little shmuck that always hung around you, mopey little thing wasn’t he? What was his name, Andrew? Andre?” He knew what his name was, he was trying to goad me and I wouldn’t fall that deep into it.

“Where is little Andy?”

“He hates when you call him that.”

“She speaks!” That got rise from the others who chuckled and continued to eat their meal. I knew what type of crowd they were. So they were still paying attention.

“How’ve you been Luna?”

“Not talking to you until you pull back your beast.” He chuckled but stood up, his eyes returning to normal as he did. He nodded his head toward the direction of his table and walked to it. I rolled my eyes, but followed, pulling back my sword. I saw familiar faces and happiness swept through me.

“Hey Luna!” Rhonda squealed as she opened her arms. I gave her a hug and squealed with her as I was enveloped in her scent of vanilla and rain.

“How’ve you been?” I asked excitedly, turning my back completely to him and paying all of my attention to Rhonda.

“Great! Stupid humans didn’t even think that we could ever exist. They just know we’re big and we’re bad, so they keep their distance.” We laughed  and I looked to the rest of them. They were my friends once, all before he ruined it. Izzy barged in the dining hall and walked to where I stood, tapping me on the shoulder lightly. When I turned around she punched me in the jaw, disorienting me, before kicking the shit out of my shin.

“You little bitch!”

“Yeah well, remember that the next time you decide to take another vacation!” She growled out before looking to him.

“Good morning MattyPoo!” She said excitedly and I laughed at the name.

“I told you not to call me that Isebail.” She rolled her eyes and stood on her tippy toes and hugged him.

“Why are you so mean to me MattyPoo, all I ever do is give you the bestest hugs!” I snorted and he glared at me. I shrugged and backed up, rubbing my jaw.

“Isebail-“

“It’s Izzy.”

“It’s Matt.”

“But MattyPoo-“ He lifted her by the hips until they were eye to eye.

“But Isebail!” He said in the same tone and they stared at each other before laughing. He dropped her and she landed effortlessly before turning to me.

“Friends that won’t make me do their dirty work have finally arrived.”

“You love it.” I sneered at her and she reared her hand back. Matt caught it and threw her to the other side of the room, making her hit the wall with a painful sounding thud and sliding down. The group snortled as she stood and snarled.

“Never mind then!” She yelled before storming out, grumbling under her breath about dogs. I looked to Matt then and crossed my arms, he looked down at me and smirked before copying my stance.

“You’ve been staying away.”

“You were in Eternal, I know not to bother you.” He sounded sincere and I rolled my eyes again.

“How is Andy?”

“Please don’t call him that when he comes around. I don’t want to get in between you two, not again. That didn’t work well for me last time.”

“It’s not my fault the boy thought he could take me.”

“Ok, firstly, you’re the same age. Secondly, please don’t call him that either when he’s here. That’s racist also he will kill you. Thirdly you were way more trained than he could’ve been back then, but now-“

“You’re saying he could take me?” I could smell his interest peaking and I backed up into Rhonda.

“No, no. That’s not what I said-“

“Because it kinda sounds like you said he could take me, now.”

“Not at all what I said, why are you getting closer?”

“And if I could take him, doesn’t that mean I could take you?”

“Why did you bring your beast out, are you sniffing me?” I passed Rhonda and now my back was pressed against the wall.

“Ways of the wolf and all that?”

“Wait, what?” His hand raised and rested beside my head on the wall behind me as he leaned in close.

“Wouldn’t I be able to take him and you in one swoop? Because of the ways of the wolf?” I narrowed my eyes dangerously and stood up, pushing my face closer to his.

“Listen here, you enormously large lycan, I-“ Ander stormed in, his face dark and his eyes the darkest green I’d ever seen. I had full grip on my rage, so my eyes didn’t turn red but my wolf did come to the surface.

“Oh no.”

“Oh, hey Andy. We were just talking about you!” I groaned and looked to Rhonda who had the widest smile on her face. She scooched everyone down before scooching down herself and patting the seat next to her.

 

 

                I looked to my old circle of friends, smiling at all the memories that I had stored of them. Lisa had grown her hair out longer and it fell in long black waves. I liked it when it was shorter because it framed her pixie face. Green eyes twinkled at me with the same mischief she had when we were younger.  Rick, Rhonda’s younger brother, sat next to her staring intently at me, his blond hair getting in his eyes but he didn’t seem to care. His eyes were entirely too intense, he was spending too much time with Matt and I’d be sure to tell his sister to watch out. Blake sat on the table, her ebony skin glowing and her hair with a life of its own framed her face and, with its coloring, served to make her freckles pop out.

“How’ve you been without us Luna?” She asked, her voice loud and demanding any and all attention.

“I survived before you-“

“Barely.”

“And I made it pretty ok without you when you left.” My tone was a little too acidic and I bit my lip. She raised a brow and smirked at me.

“We know you missed us.” Lisa said snarkily, her voice tiny but still a presence. I rolled my eyes before a crash bought my attention back to the two bone heads fighting. They were making solid hits, all of them connecting, and they were both in pretty bad shape. They broke a table and had stirred up a group of  people that were eating that just moved to a different table, but continued to eat.

“Maybe you should stop that.” Rick said smoothly, nodding his head in that direction. I looked directly at him and took a deep sniff before narrowing my eyes.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He stretched but still looked at me.

“Only that you can easily stop that.”

“Rick.” Rhonda spat out, her eyes boring into him but he kept his eyes on me.

“You all have way more strength and patience for that than I do.” He shrugged but in his eyes I saw everything. Standing slowly I placed my palms on the table and leaned forward. Blake watched me carefully, amusement and wariness in her eyes. She was ready to stop me should anything happen, but for now she’d enjoy just watching.

“If you’ve got something to say, I suggest you say it to my face instead of acting like a little bitch. Actually, I take that back. Bitches have more balls than you do.” The fighting stopped and everybody looked to me, they could feel the power pull. He looked up at me before he stood. He was entirely too tall to be younger than me, but I didn’t care. His full height was at least a foot and a half more than mine but he leaned down to my face. He brought his beast out and the intensity grew.

“I’d rather be a bitch than the whore that got between friends.” I heard Rhonda gasp and both Ander and Matt gasp. They moved to grab him but I held my hand up, stopping all movement.

“Oh you think you know what happened? You think you have any right to judge me, when you had just stopped pissing in your pants when you all left? You don’t fucking know me or anything that happened and I suggest, for your own safety, you don’t say the words whore or between to me again. Those two over there are willing to tear your fucking head off if I even looked remotely upset. I’ve got family. I’ve got fists. Say those words again and we’ll see how well a lycan will do his face caved in.” Standing I looked to Rhonda.

“See you around.” With that I walked past Ander and Matt and waited until I got outside the cafeteria before running back to my room to lick my wounds.

 

                After I’d run away I heard someone call my name, I couldn’t hear it though.  Blood was rushing through my ears and I ran, going fast until I was safe inside my room. I used the earth element to seal me inside and ran to the other side of the room. Resting my back I slid down the length of the wall until I sat on the ground and put my head between my knees. I knew what Rick said wasn’t actually right, but it wasn’t completely wrong either. I had done nothing close to getting in between them. They hadn’t liked each other anyway! Groaning I lifted my head and tilted it back. Suddenly Rhonda and Blake were in my room and surrounding me. They knew to keep a safe distance but were still close enough that I knew they were there.

“My brother is a complete penis burger.” Rhonda said softly, well as softly as she could, while leaning forward on the palms of her hands.

“I’ve wanted to fight him since he got his growth sprout. Always so moody and judgy. I feel like one good punch will put his fresh ass back in place.” Blake growled softly. I still looked up, but I could feel their eyes on me.

“We don’t blame you, you know? It wasn’t your fault.” I looked to Rhonda then and she looked sincere and her words were pure truth. I just stared at her and she sighed before rolling her eyes.

“We don’t. What Matthew did and you did was none of our business. It sucked that we had to go, but it wasn’t because of you.” My nose flared at the small lie and she winced.

“You’ve always sucked at lying.” Blake scolded before taking my hand. My eyes slowly moved to her and she smiled, crinkling up her nose and her teeth showing.

“We were needed back at the territory, it just happened to fall around the same time that shit hit the fan with you three. Was it convenient so we didn’t have to deal with the bullshit? Did it suck complete ass because Matt sulked around for three years? Yes to both of those things, absolutely. We didn’t leave because of you, you just gave us a better excuse to leave.” She was sincere and that’s all that mattered. My eyes started to burn and I snatched my hand away from Blake before cradling my face and hiding the tears.

“Oh honey.” Blake tsked softly and moved so that she was on my side. Her arm went around me and I leaned into her warmth, taking in deep breaths of earth and cinnamon.

“I didn’t mean to get in the middle, it wasn’t my fault!” I sobbed into her side and she quieted me, smoothing my hair down.

“We know, Matt’s the worst and Ander isn’t much better.” I nodded even though I knew they were both equally the worst.

“They were friends!”

“Barely.”

“How was I supposed to know he would get attached?”

“Because he’s a lycan, honey. They all get entirely too attached too soon.” Blake soothed softly and I cleared my face before sitting up and looking at Rhonda who had wiped all emotion from her face.

“Oh you cow! Don’t feel sorry for me.”

“I don’t.”

“Don’t lie either, you’re making it stink in here.”

“I’m not!”

“Gross!”

“Children, please.” Blake barked out and we all sat in silence before laughing. I had missed them so much, I didn’t have any wolf friends that weren’t, in some way, family. These people were the only, honest to goddess, friends that I had that were furry.

“Thank you for not blaming me, you’re the only ones that don’t that know the whole story.” They looked to each other before looking at me.

“We don’t know the whole story. Matt refused to talk about it and would always silence Lisa whenever she tried to tell us. I’m pretty sure he ‘alpha’-d her so she couldn’t actually tell us.” I took a deep breath and crossed my legs, settling in to dig up the past.

** 6 years ago***

                I laughed and looked up at the stars, the moon wasn’t out tonight. It was one of those nights where the stars lit up the sky and you could see the absolute beauty of it. Matt kept tickling me, hitting the same spot over and over again until I was a ball of laughter, then doing it some more. I sat up and leaned on my arm, staring at him in humor as he tried to look everywhere else but where I was.

“I said stop! You lured me out here to stargaze, now you’re doing nothing but torturing me!”

“But you look so cute when you’re tortured.” 

“I’ll try not to take that in a creepy way Matty.”

“Why does everyone call me that?”

“Because it’s easier than Matt.”

“There’s one more letter in it!”

“I didn’t make up the English language Matty, take it up with Shakespeare!” He sat up then, looking at me and smiling a big smile.

“Do you honestly think that Shakespeare made the English language? That he was just bored and was like ‘Oh what the hell, here’s all of the words in the world?’”

“How the hell would I know?” My face flamed and I stood up, having enough of him teasing me. He laughed and stood too, grabbing my wrist and pulling me closer. We were around the same height then, I only had to look up a little to meet his eyes. He snaked one arm around my waist and pulled me in until I was pressed tight against him, but kept hold of my wrist.

“I’m sorry, don’t be offended.”

“I’m not offended, just sick of your shit Matty. As I’m sure all of us are.” I smiled gently and looked into his eyes. They were such a pretty color, so brown. Like chocolate.

“Please, you all love me. Especially Andy.” I laughed at that and shook my head, bringing my hands up to push him away.

“He tolerates you, at most.” They were best friends, but ones that build their friendship on their initial hatred. It was a pretty delicate friendship, the type that would shake easily if the foundation rocked a little bit.

“And what about you Luna?” I crinkled my brow and looked at him, putting my hands on his chest.

“What do you mean, what about me?”

“Do you tolerate me, Little Luna?”

“Oh, Matty, I thought you knew what we were.” My voice is so soft, I don’t want to ruin this. I know to be gentle, but the situation is enough to shake anyone.

“Thank Goddess.” I watched as his face got close, but I was stuck, I couldn’t move. I didn’t know if I wanted to or not. His lips landed on mine and, in an act of pure instinct, I opened my mouth and kissed him back. Before the kiss could go anywhere else a truck rammed into us. He tightened his grip on me, but we still tumbled through the dirt. I groaned and pushed him away, standing and turning to the attacker. Ander stood there, breathing hard and his wolf so close to losing it stared at both of us.

“What the fuck Ander?” Matt growled and stood, he seemed taller now that his beast was out but I wasn’t paying attention. I kept my eyes on Ander and made my body relax.

“You could’ve seriously hurt her!” Matt yelled and I groaned internally before stepping in front of him.

“Ander, it was nothing.”

“Nothing?” Matt asked, his voice sounded hurt but I wouldn’t risk looking behind me.

“Nothing.” Ander stared at me and slowly his breathing calmed down.

“That wasn’t nothing, Luna. You kissed me back, there was something there.” With a snarl I’d never heard from him Ander charged, changing into his wolf.

“No!” I screamed spreading my hands out to protect Matt who just pushed me aside and shifted. The difference between werewolf and lycan is that lycan’s are bigger. They stand on their hind legs, and function more like humans. They are the true splice of wolf and man. Even though Matt was a kid, he was an alpha so he was bigger. Between him and Ander there was about 800 pounds of dog.  Running between them, I knew it would be dangerous. I didn’t want there to be fighting and there was only one way I knew to end it. I waited until both of them were going to strike and ran in between them, ignoring the pain and just standing there. The scream that left my mouth was one full of anguish and enough that my father heard it. They both backed up once they smelled and tasted my blood. I fell forward, not willing to get dirt in the deep gash and bite mark on my back. That just meant I would have to clean it, which I was not for. It took two days to heal and a bunch of magick. You don’t easily walk away from wounds inflicted by werewolves, and it was damn near impossible to be ok after being attacked by a lycan. Ander never left my side but he also never said anything. I could feel everything he felt, even back then. On the second day, when it was close to being completely healed, Matt and everybody were on the right side of my bed. Ander looked down and away from him, not because of a power thing but because the rage that was inside of him would’ve spilled out if he looked at Matt. Matt sat next to me and slowly reached for my hand, holding it gently. His hands shook a little and I looked at him. I shook my head softly and smiled at him, showing him it was OK. I knew everybody sensed something was off with the three of us, knew that they felt the rage from Ander and the awkwardness from Matt and I.

“We’re going back to the territory. I don’t think we should stay here.” His eyes flitted to Ander and I felt the blood leave my face.

“You-you’re going to leave?” My voice was so tiny, so scared and vulnerable. They were my only friends. He nodded and squeezed my hand making me look at him. He wasn’t pack, so I didn’t have a link with him. We stared at each other and I felt him reaching out for me, focusing I connected with him and squeezed his hand back.

“It’s not your fault, we have to go. There’s stuff going on back at the territory. I think we’ve overstayed our welcome anyway.” He looked to Ander before looking back to me. I felt the small lie he hid in it and it made my heart hurt.

“Promise me you’ll come back, promise me this isn’t because of what happened.” He looked at me then and worked his jaw.

“You got hurt. Lycan wounds scar, you’ll always have what we did to you on you.” He looked pained and I sat up, ignoring the slight ting of pain. Ander put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me back gently, standing and looking to Matt then. His blue eyes so close to going Amber. Matt didn’t get up, only looked at me.

“Don’t feel bad, I did what I did because I had to break you up.” I practically yelled at him, not moving anymore.

“You put yourself in danger because of me, who knows what could’ve happened. We were so ready to… We have to go Luna.” With that he slid his hand away from mine and looked up at Ander. In front of the small pack of kids he moved his head to the side, baring his neck and didn’t stand until Ander sat down.

“Bye Little Luna.” He said out loud before walking through his friends and leaving them to say goodbye to me.

 

**Present**

                I stared at the ground, gritting my teeth at the end of it. Ignoring the slight tingle of the scars on my back. I’d shut that part of my life out, not needing to be reminded that I couldn’t do anything right.

“He does get overly attached, doesn’t he?” Rhonda said quietly, looking at the ground too.

“We just knew you got hurt, not that he did it. We were kind of hoping that it had been Ander. Matt had hated him, we wanted to hate him too.”

“We were kids, Luna.” I shook my head and looked at Blake.

“No we weren’t. We knew what life was and we knew how it worked. Blake you were a beta before you could even walk. We all knew our places and… Matt and I just forgot. But I never got between them-“

“Hush, I’ll deal with my brother if Matt and Ander haven’t already. Hell I’ll deal with him even if they have.” Rhonda said, rising to sit on her haunches and looking directly at me.

“Hey, we’re back now. We’ve come to help you train them. Focus on the now and you should be fine. Besides, you’re mated. Matt is many things, but he’s not disrespectful. A mating is under the Goddess, he wouldn’t blatantly disrespect her. As long as you’re fully mated-“

“She’s not.”

“You’re not?” Rhonda looked at me then, her eyes big and round.

“Other stuff got in the way, we’ve done the biting.”

“But you’ve got your mark.”

“It’s not complete, we’re not a complete pair. We haven’t bonded under Mother Moon’s power.”

“Oh.”

“Fuck.” Blake hissed and ran her hair through her hair before fluffing it and looking at me.

“Well, this’ll be really interesting.

Chapter 30

 

 

                They managed to lure me out of my room, after my eyes were clear and my face wasn’t red anymore. I realized that I didn’t actually eat anything and was starving. Walking through the training room I was hesitant because all the lycans had moved from the cafeteria to the training ground and were decimating shifters. It was all out battle and a part of me was giddy for it. Anna stood in the middle of it, her hair up in a ponytail and a disappointing look in her face.

“Isn’t that Sarah?” Rhonda asked, pointing to Anna. Anna’s eyes snapped to where we were and her lip curled before she started stomping over. Holding up my hands I backed away from Rhonda who smirked at Anna’s anger.

“Who let you in?” She snarled at Rhonda, who only smiled at Anna.

“It’s good to see you again too. Anna looked to me and I raised my hands higher in the air, widening my eyes.

“You wanted them here didn’t you, just didn’t want me to be happy for too long.”

“Speaking of you being happy, where’s that sexy brother of yours Luna.” Rhonda asked, pouring as much lust as she could into the sentence. I giggled when Anna punched her in the nose.

“Little bitch.”

“Stupid slut.” Anna smiled before hugging her and clapping her on the back.

“You think maybe you can call back the lycans? They’re going to injure everyone. They keep throwing everybody who fights them, which is everyone. They’re trying to prove their worth or some dumb shit like that.” Anna said to Blake who merely shrugged.

“That’s all on Matt.” Anna rolled her eyes and kept her gaze from me and I walked away from the conversation. I could handle it. Walking to, approximately, the middle of the training area I summoned air to me and took a deep breath.

“Shut up, sit down and stay still!” I screamed, making sure it rattled everyone’s brains and smirked when all but two did what I said. Matt and Ander stood next to each other looking bloodied and bruised as all hell.

“You’re putting my shifters out of commission.” I said, putting my hands on my hips and glaring at Matt.

“Maybe they should be better fighters, whoever is training them isn’t doing a good job.” If possible my eyes narrowed even more. I sent a call out to the victors and walked to him.

“You versus us.” I said simply and excitement poured off of him.

“Us as in this lot, or your lot.”

“My lot.”

“Hey Matt!” Leo exclaimed, suddenly appearing behind me to my right.

“You called?” Urse drawled on, standing to my left.

“Hi MattyPoo!!” Filly practically yelled at him, jumping on Leo’s back.

“Have you guys been hiding from me?” Eva said condescdingly, standing next to Leo.

“I’d really appreciate it if you weren’t such an asshole when you call for us. A simple ‘Can you come here please?’ would suffice.” Seamus groaned, standing behind me.

“That isn’t hardly fair. There’s five of us and six of you, you’ll get hurt.” I rolled my eyes before shrugging.

“If they’re a waste of your time, spend it on something more exciting.” His eyes blazed with something before he nodded.

“If I beat you does that mean I, inherently, beat Ander as well?”

“Stop antagonizing my mate, you’re fighting me. Leo, you take Rick. Filly, you take Rhonda. Eva to Blake and Seamus you can take Lisa.”

“What about me?” Urse said, whining slightly.

“Help wherever you see there’s a weak link.”

 

                They all moved out the way, not wanting to get caught in the cross hairs of battle. We stood on one end while they stood on the other.

“You can just take back the mean stuff you said, we don’t want to hurt you!” Leo yelled, his muscles twitching as he stood guard.

“Don’t try and beg us to not pummel you!” Blake yelled back. Pure excitement circulated through me. I felt something poking at me mentally and I stood fully, looking around. Ander looked directly at me and I could tell it was his wolf.

“Calm down, nothing bad is going to happen to me.” I said softly through the link and winked at him. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall behind him.

“Ready!” Matt yelled, bringing my eyes back to him. I looked to Rick to see he was glaring fully at me.

“Hey Leo?” I whispered through the link while I shook out my hands.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t go easy on Rick.”

“Don’t worry, Filly told me what he said to you. It didn’t matter if you picked me for him or not I would’ve decked him anyway.” I smiled at that and focused on Matt.

“Go!”

 

 

                We all ran at each other, no real malice in the air and no intent to hurt each other. If it turned out that one of us was severely hurt then… well, they should try harder to not get hurt next time. My eyes locked on Matt’s and with a smirk I bought out my wolf. His beast took over and we ran to each other, neither of us a lesser alpha to give first. He looked a little too confident and with an inward roll of my eyes I let my legs give out and slid low, grabbing his shins and pulling him with me as I slid. Using half of my strength I dragged him across the dirt. I felt the resistance and knew he bought his claws. I came to a crouch and threw him across the field, smiling as he bumped into Rhonda and Filly knocking them both off.

“Come on Matty! I’m at least a third of your weight!” I taunted, carefully putting my hands on my hips and cocking my head at him as he stood and glared at me.

“Aww is the little lycan grumpy that the mean wolf lady threw him-“ He as fast, I knew that when we were younger but his speed seemed to have increased. One minute he was where I threw him, the next he was ramming into me. His shoulder dug into my ribs and he pushed upward. I gnashed my teeth and growled low in my throat, my nails digging into his skin as I pulled myself out before he could sandwich me in between him and the wall. He howled in pain but only ran faster. Groaning at his stupidity, I grew my claws out longer and dug into his skin more for better grip and threw myself out of his embrace, which was light. I jumped over him using his back and rolled until I was crouched and glared at him as he turned around.

“You tried to break my ribs!”

“Would I ever do that?” He asked incredulously, rolling his shoulders and the pain from his back out. I sensed something coming from behind me and I ducked, just in time to avoid Rick’s body as it flew over my head. He skidded until he lay at Matt’s feet and I stood up fully, folding my arms and looking at the pathetic younger lycan. Leo strode until he stood next to me and stretched out, his lion peeking out from those eyes. I could smell it and feel the presence of it all around me, and I took pride in it as I stuck my nose in the air.

“Seems like you overlooked one when you were training.” Leo said kindly. I heard a soft grunt before Rhonda was thrown into Matt, who caught her and placed her down gently.

“Make that two.” Filly said breathily, wiping her hands and standing next to Leo. I heard Blake groan as she got up. Eva kicked her in the stomach one more time which caused her to fall back down.

“She wasn’t that bad, managed to land a hit or two on me. “ Eva shrugged before crossing her arms and trying to keep from smiling.

“I was done with mine, but then we started talking. She’s actually pretty interesting.” Seamus said and crossed his legs. I let out a startled laugh, seeing him sitting on Lisa was hilarious. She was so red and I could tell she had tried to push him off of her at least once. I looked to Matty who looked to all of us.

“I see you made sure to keep yourself surrounded by strong people.” There was strange pride in his eyes and it made something in my heart twang.

“I did. Always have.” I didn’t look to the rest of them, my words were for him only and I needed to know that he knew that.

“You flatter me, Luna.” I shrugged and casually flung my hand to the side.

“It’s the truth.” My words were anything but casual and I saw the effect it had on him and the others.

“That’s all fine and dandy, but we have training to do.” Uncle Bercelack boomed, Matt looked away from me hesitantly and I wouldn’t admit how much of a loss I felt. I would have to keep my emotions in check. Being mated meant that there was a direct link to our emotions and I could feel the waves of rage as they crashed into me from him, and knew that anything that was felt in too great an amount would crash into him, only making the anger worse. I looked to Uncle Bercelack and didn’t see the joyous adopted uncle I had, but the vicious dragon warlord he was. He wore a black shirt and black sweatpants, his hair pulled into a ponytail and his beard seemed slightly trimmed. His arms were crossed and his feet were a firm shoulder length apart. His eyes looked disapproving and hard, which only made me roll my eyes.

“Sorry uncle!” I said happily, skipping to him and kissing his chin before smiling up at him.

“Go on and get dressed. It’s time we got serious.” His voice was gruff and he kept his eyes on the small group of lycans and they looked at him right back.

“I’d say what I have on is suitable enough.” I looked down to my shirt and shorts and looked back up at him, he still didn’t acknowledge me, his eyes were glued to the group that was steadily growing.

“They mean no harm, they’re friendly. Of that you have my word. We are all here and working together toward a peaceful goal.” I braced my hands out and stepped back slightly, moving in front of them and showing him where I stood.

“They need to be trained, we don’t have time to sit around lollygagging.”

“They’ve been trained already, by me. I trust that their alpha has passed along training to the rest of them. They won’t be a problem.” He stared at them a bit longer before looking down at me.

“As long as you promise not to get too distracted.” He cocked a brow and his eyes flicked to something over my head and I knew he was looking between Matt and Ander.

“It’s war time, I’ve had enough distractions.” He gave a curt nod before a tight smile lit his face.

“Well then, let’s get this training session moving!”

 

 

 

                I looked around at the petri dish of species that had been called to fight. The demons were spread about and everyone else looked at them warily, which they ignored and focused on whatever it was they were doing. There were gargoyles that stuck closer to the rocky walls, which was understandable. In this particular training room there were lycans, bears, tigers and dragons. Sounds of small battle were heard, but so was joy. Friends egged each other on, and the few people who fought with swords weren’t fighting too seriously. Ander stood next to me, looking at what I saw and bumping into me lightly. I looked to him to find him smiling down at me.

“You look relaxed.” He said softly and I smiled gently before looking back the training.

“I shouldn’t be, but I am. Like I’m doing what I was meant to be doing all along. Helping them. I was supposed to be there for so long, but now that I’m here… it’s like I can breathe easier Ander. I should be stressed, I’ve got less than a month to get everything together, they still don’t know how to properly use guns and they haven’t had combat conditioning yet. There’s still so much to be done, and I’m not worried about any of it.” He huffed out a breath of laughter and tugged on my arm until I faced him. Instinctively I put my arms around his waist as he stepped closer and cupped my chin and cheek. I looked up at him, into those blue eyes that seemed to soothe away anything I was feeling that I shouldn’t be.

“You can do it, I have faith in you.” The absolute truth in his words didn’t shock me because I knew that already. I knew that, no matter what, he’d have faith in me. I stood on my tippy toes and gently pecked his lips, smiling at how he leaned into me and followed my lips.

“Greedy.” I whispered through our link but relished the kiss, the soft and fun kiss that made my heart do backflips.

“Eww, gross.” Vixie scoffed as she stood in front of us, her violet eyes wide and teasing. Rolling my eyes I separated from him and looked to her. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and had changed into shorts and a shirt, her eyes looked determined.

“What do you want?”

“I want to train with the Olden.” I let out a shocked laughter before glaring at her.

“Don’t joke about stuff like that, your mother will hear you and lop your head off.” She cocked her head and stared at me.

“You know I’m not joking.”

“And you know I’m serious, you’ve been walking a thin line with her. If you so much as think too hard about it, she will kill you.” I stood and crossed my arms, hoping she’d drop it.

“I’m obviously an asset for you and the war, it doesn’t make sense to leave me untrained.”

“Untrained? Ha! You weren’t even going to be looking at the war line, never mind being trained! You’re a child Victoria, you would’ve stayed down here.”

“But now I’m a full-fledged fae. Face it, you need me.” She had a cocky little smirk on her face that, had she not been ten, I would’ve slapped off of her face.

“No, Victoria. We don’t need you. The fae are going to be coming soon and, listen to me, if you go near them I will kill you. With my own hands, then I’ll put your head on a stake so that other stupid little girls know not to piss me off and directly go against an alpha order.” I bought my wolf out then, knowing she was still enough wolf to be swayed by my word. Her wolf was bought to the surface and she worked her jaw and I smirked knowing I had her on something. With a small growl she pushed me back with magick, sending me into Ander who just went with me into the wall. I groaned and pulled myself from his grip and glared at the little girl.

“Isaac, you might want to come get your sister before I do something stupid. Like kill her.” I growled through the pack link and made a war path towards the little fae bitch. Before I could comprehend what happened an ice ball was sent in my direction. With a snarl I stopped it in its progression and glared at the dragon pup that threw it.

“You were a little hot headed.” He said with a shrug and a small smile on his lips. I narrowed my eyes dangerously and crushed the ice ball with air before looking back to Vixie. Isaac ran in just as I started walking toward her again and ran in front of his sister.

“What’d she do this time?” His hazel eyes looked me up and down and grabbed his sister’s shoulder, just in case he needed to make a run for it.

“She wants to train, but I’m telling her no. She threw me!” His brow crinkled before his nose flared in anger and he turned to his sister. He sat on his haunches and looked at her, grabbing her cheeks.

“Cut it out, dude.” He said softly, love lacing his voice. Her eyes grew colder and her stance got more stubborn. He growled slightly and tapped her nose, making her crinkle her brow.

“We get it, you’re tough. You don’t have to fight the whole human army to prove it. You’re bad ass enough, first you’re my sister now you’re a full fae and a shifter! You know how sick that is?! You might be a puppy, but you’re one of those German Shephard puppies that are wicked dangerous. I’m scared just thinking about having to sleep near you.” Her eyes started to water and her face scrunched up. She threw her arms around her big brother and sobbed. He shushed her while standing up, she automatically wrapped her legs around him and held on tighter. People stopped fighting and looked to the crying girl, everybody worried. I snarled at them.

“Got a problem?” I growled and they all went about their business. He sent me a look of appreciation before fleeing the scene with his sister clinging and crying to him for dear life. I looked to Ander before casting a longing look to where Isaac had ran through.

“Go, I’ll watch over the practice. You won’t be able to focus fully.” He sent me a small smile before rolling out his shoulders and stepping into the alpha power he kept hidden while he was with me. I saw the strength of both the wolf and the boy behind his eyes and gave a nod before kissing his chin.

“Later. I’ll pay you back for it later.” With a wink I went after Isaac, determined to know what got the little fairy so riled up.

 

 

                I followed slowly behind them, sniffing them out and making sure they knew I was following them. To my surprise he went to Alissa’s  room and I hid my smug smile and stopped at the doorway. He sat with her on his knee on Alissa’s bed, looking at Alissa with soft horror but otherwise protected her. She sobbed against his shoulder, I could feel her lungs trembling to take in the big gasps that she would take between tears.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Alissa sat on her knees between Isaac’s legs and rubbed her back softly.

“Vixie’s just had a hard time down here.” I said softly after she didn’t answer, shaking her head and nuzzling her nose closer to Isaac’s neck. Alissa looked to me, worry clear and present in her eyes as she looked to me.

“Mom’s been looking for you.”

“I settled what I had to settle.” Alissa stood and stepped in front of Isaac and the crying child, crossing her arms and her eyes going cold. It was a little off putting.

“You settled it? What does that mean?” I heard the unasked question, are you going to let Libby die? It made me more than a little upset. I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms too.

“I settled as much as I could. Sometimes I honestly feel like you guys forget that she can make her own decision. I made a case for her, and she can very well choose not to come back. You won’t put that on me, and I won’t let you.” I stood my ground and lifted my nose in the air, trying my hardest to look down at my little sister who got dad’s height gene. She narrowed her eyes dangerously before Vixie started to hiccup, then Alissa came back; the over protective mother wolf gone.

“How have you been having a hard time, honey?” She asked softly going back to being on her knees. I walked in slowly, but stayed away from the three knowing my presence would only make it worse. The room was silent, except the sft hiccups of Vixie. Sighing I sat on the ground, crossing my legs and putting my back against the wall.

“Vixie’s a hybrid.” I said softly as a reminder. Isaac snapped his head up, his eyes burning in to me. He hated when anybody brought up the fact that his sister was different, not wanting her to feel isolated. I lifted my hands in surrender.

“At least I didn’t say half-breed.” He narrowed his hair quickly before pressing a kiss to his sister’s golden hair. They still waited for her to say something. The hiccups had quieted down, now it was just breathing while we all waited.

“There’s something horrible inside of me. It just… it tears at me. It snaps at my wolf and it hurts. That’s why I needed Luna to bring the wolf out, because it was too scared. The magick in me, it’s not the same magick mommy has. It’s not the moon kissed magick of the wolf either. It’s churning and it’s scary and it’s powerful, it’s so powerful.” Her voice was a quiet tremble as she looked up at her brother.

“Remember Mom said that it was just because you had two different types of magick in you. Like hot and cool air, it makes a tornado-“

“But a pretty one. I know. I’ve thought about it, but there’s so much more fae magick in here. Hot air blowing all the time, burning and blowing and wiping away everything. There was a lot before I did what I did, and now there’s so much more.” He didn’t understand I saw in his face. But he was trying so hard and for that I applauded him.

“Vixie is a hybrid, but a special one. She’s so strong, even for a young one. Fae are more dominant, their blood more potent. Yes, she’s half wolf and half fae. But it’s more like she’s a third wolf and three thirds fae.”

“But she has a wolf.”

“Yes she has a wolf, she can even change when her time comes. I’m pretty sure. There’s just more fae in there. What she’s trying to tell you is there’s a constant power struggle inside of her. I’m surprised she hasn’t exploded or died from the shock and power of it all.” They all looked at Vixie then but she looked to her brother who just looked at her. His eyes were so hooded, and his emotions so closed off. He didn’t understand, still.

“There was already a power struggle when we were up there, surrounded by only a handful of shifters and humans. Now every shifter is down here along with other magical creatures. Every inch of her body must be screaming at the strain of it all. Her fae blood wanting to overthrow the wolf blood and the wolf blood trying to find its place in this hierarchy.” I looked at him too, then, the way that she looked at him, practically pleading for him to understand with his little sister. He grabbed her face and looked in to her eyes, seeing the purple for the first time.

“Are you… Is she right?” She nodded and her arms tightened around him.

“Now it’s worse. When she touched the demon she soaked in his purified magick. She’s got wolf, but that’s been amplified by the magick. She’s more than an average hybrid. She’s more than enough fae and more than enough wolf. There isn’t a dominance war inside of her, now it’s just the matter of space. I imagine it still hurts though, doesn’t it Vixie.” She nodded but kept her eyes on her brother. I stood and sighed, wiping the dirt from my butt and stepping closer.

“If you knew all this, why didn’t you help her out? Alissa asked and I could smell the emotional change in the room, and knew the anger was directed at me.

“I’m not allowed to interfere in any of the wolves lives until they ask for my help. If I would’ve helped the Gods would’ve punished her in some other way. I’ve seen it happen.”

“But she shares allegiance with Nimue and the Wolf Goddess.” Alissa practically growled out, her hand still rubbing slow circles on Vixie’s back.

“A God is a God. They don’t like being toyed with.” I ignored her and sat next to Isaac, looking at Vixie.

“I came to you when you were younger, you know that don’t you?” She looked to me slowly, her eyes so wide they took up most of her face.

“I remember.”

“I asked if you wanted my help, because I knew this would happen. Do you remember that?” She nodded mutely, I could tell she was using her magick to tap into her memory banks. I would’ve helped her, but she needed to get a hold on her magick by herself. Valerie appeared out of nowhere with a soft gasp. She looked at her kids and sat on the other side of Isaac.

“She pulled me here.” Valerie whispered, her eyes boring into her daughters head.

“She needs to do it herself, she has to get used to it being in her.” I said, silently cheering on Vixie as she embraced her magick. She looked at me suddenly and touched my arm, pouring magick into me and letting me see. She was asking a silent question that was shrouded in a hazy memory. I made a noise of agreement and she tugged hard on it. She let me see myself, a younger version of me, holding her. We weren’t alone, I knew that. We were at her first birthday party and Valerie had let me hold her. As soon as she touched me, I knew the hardships she was going to face. I talked to her with pictures and feelings and asked what she wanted to do and, with an acceptance that rivaled mine at 18, she denied my help.

“What is she showing you? She’s guarded it from me.” Valerie sounded a little off put by that but it was mainly underlined by the worry.

“You wanted to accept it, and that’s fair. I came to you again, when the fae blood had fully kicked in. You told me you were fine and I left you alone.” I reminded her and she pouted, gripping my arm a little and showing me a clearer image. She’d wanted to say yes, I could feel that through the memory but she’d denied it because…

“Ugh, stubborn the whole lot of you! !” I grit my teeth and wanted to push her hand off but she needed my help, and her hand that was already tiny felt tinier in that moment. She was putting herself out because now she needed my help.

“She denied my help because-“

“I wanted to be her.” She cut me off, slowly sliding her tiny hand off of me and looking back to her brother.

“She was so strong, and her wolf was so there. I wanted control and I knew she’d gotten it herself, she’d grabbed her wolf and made it obey her and I thought if I just had a  little more time!”

“When did you come to her the second time?” I didn’t want to answer, I didn’t want to leave a nasty taste in her mothers mouth, or strike more pain in her brothers heart. I could’ve acted like I didn’t hear them, or pretend they weren’t worthy enough but they were.

“After her seventh birthday, it was when the fae part of her kicked in over time. She was coasting by, because the fae blood hadn’t been activated. At eight I felt the pain she felt, for the first and certainly not the last time. I didn’t want to alarm you and I knew that, because Vixie is entirely too clever, she’d gone outside to lick her wounds and ensure you wouldn’t smell anything. Without knowing she walked to my backyard and stared up at my window until I saw her and came down. She was going off of pure instinct and she was in so much pain it rolled off of her, but she was still in control. A remarkable little hybrid you have, because she’d already handled the magick. She got the gifts down pact, but when it came to the consequences she had problems.” Valerie gasped and brought her hand to her mouth and, if possible, Isaac’s face drooped more.

Chapter 31

 

“We looked everywhere for you! You said you were hanging out with Louie!”

“That’s all I remembered! My wolf was in charge, it wasn’t me!” She sounded scared, her voice was so squeaky and high. I looked to Alissa and wrung my hands, I didn’t want to step in unless I absolutely had to.

“Victoria, you’ve been so reckless so… so stupid!” Everybody gasped and Vixie looked genuinely hurt but I was confused. All he’d done was call her stupid, and all she was was a scared little girl. Ohhh, my wolf groaned and I winced and scooted away from the two slightly.

“Isaac!” Valerie scolded, her blue eyes furious as she glared at her adopted son.

“No, she’s been acting like a stupid little girl and I’m going to tell her the truth. We are your family, you come to us when you need help. You don’t just ignore it and hope it gets better because then you’re suffereing and we can’t help you. Then you’re in pain and we don’t’ know and we go about living life while you’re stuck in a place. What were you thinking?” Vixie was quiet, seething with a silent and lethal rage. There was something else mixed in it and my sense kicked up. I widened my eyes and grabbed her as she doubled over in pain and wrapped my body around hers. Saying a prayer to Lupa I held her body close to mine and moved away from the small group of people, triyng to cause as little grief as possible. With a small cry Vixie’s body seemed to explode. There was too much magick and her wolf was trying too hard to come through and it was close to tearing apart. So, like a sun flare, magick was leaking out and it would hurt anyone who wasn’t magical.

                The magick assaulted my body, stabbing into my body as it poured from her. She shook in my arms, her skin was sweaty and cold and her breathing was labored. I closed my eyes and focused on her only, blocking out the sound and the rest of the wolves and put all my energy into her.

“You will make it through this, Vixie, I’m here to pull you through. Just focus on me, hold on to me.” I whispered softly to her, knowing she’d hear me. Her breathing started to hitch and her hair grew sweat drenched and her body twitched. I barely heard Valerie screaming, I only focused on saving Vixie. I opened my link to Eternal and to Mother Moon, knowing full well she’d pay attention to me. I focused on Vixie’s wolf and realized what the problem was. She was to be mated to an Alpha, as most Beta children are, so her wolf wasn’t as submissive as I thought. It was still struggling to fight off the fae side of her. While the magick grew, her wolf grew and she couldn’t handle it; she was just a kid. I couldn’t change the fate lines, the lines that had been in place since the beginning of the universe. I’d tried changing Libby’s too many times and came to no success. I could only alter what was going on in the now and now I would have to make an executive decision. I could take the wolf away from her completely, but I wouldn’t do that to Vixie. She was a hybrid, and Nimue didn’t take too kindly with the hybrids. If the wolf were to be gone, no one would be watching over Vixie and that didn’t settle over well with me. The only thing I could do was- She screamed, a blood curdling scream and magick was shoveled into me. It was almost too much but I pulled on my rage, the aspect that made me the Red Luna, and I held on tighter. Deciding it was all I could do, I pulled on Vixie’s wolf and used Lupa’s powers to aid me.

                Vixie went still and her breathing cleared, her body still twitched slightly but the magick stopped pouring out of her and when I looked into her I saw that there was peace. I took a deep breath and opened my eyes, not surprised to see Valerie on her knees with tears down her face and John so close to shifting.  Alissa was holding onto Isaac’s shoulders, her body pressed against his as he watched with the palest face. I cleared my throat and put my rage away and lifted both me and Vixie from the floor. She felt so tiny in my arms and I looked to Valerie who had fresh tears down her face. I looked to John and stood up, still holding Vixie, and walked to him. His wolf was present, but it didn’t matter. He held out his hands and I gingerly placed her in his arms and she moaned slightly.

“We can talk later, I did what I had to.” He didn’t seem to be listening to me but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that she was fine and she would continue to be fine. I made sure of it.  My body had already soaked up the magick, so now there was an excess.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some asses to whip into shape. Alissa, Isaac, I expect to see you both there soon enough.”

 

                                I jogged back to the training room and was relived to see that another war hadn’t broken out and that training was going smoothly. I sidled back next to Ander, who’s eyes were fixed to the training, and sighed softly. We could probably pull this out of our asses if we just kept at it. Eva cleared her throat softly and I jumped slightly, she was too good at randomly appearing places.

“A word, Luna?” Her blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail and her brown eyes were serious, crinkling my brow I nodded and walked off with her down the halls. She was going to the war room, which meant she really didn’t want other ears to hear. We had to take that precaution after the first week that Vixie spread panic throughout the shifters by telling them what was discussed in the room. She pushed open the door and held it for me before locking it snuggly behind us. She’d already wrangled up the rest of the victors, but hadn’t told them anything. They all looked anxious but war ready.

“What’s this all about then?” Seamus asked, folding his arms. He was an impressive specimen, his muscles toned and large but not bulging. He wore a sleeveless muscle shirt and performance leggings, his brown hair pushed away from his face and he looked entirely ready. Not too bad, my wolf murmured but then payed attention.

“They’re planning something big.” Was all Eva said before walking to the center table and looking at the maps. We circled around her and watched as she put pins in various places, but first starting with the north and south poles.

“They’re doing something, I can’t tell what exactly but my guess is it won’t be pretty for us.”

“What’s with the pins?” Urse asked, leaning forward on her palms and trying to figure it out.

“That’s where they’ve dug. Miles and miles into the Earth, each day getting further.”

“You think they’re trying to find us?” Filly asked, her head cocked to the side as she watched Eva.

“No, they would’ve started digging a long time ago-“

“What if they just figured out we were down here?” Leo said with a smirk, his bright eyes mocking.

“Even so, they’re not moving like they’re trying to find us. Their digging is diligent and it’s strategic. Why not dig everywhere, why only dig in these certain few places?” I nibbled on my lip and thought about it and looked at the pins. There were a handful in America, another handful in South America. Europe seemed to be where it was most concentrated.

“What else do you feel?” I asked, knowing there was probably more. It was no secret that Eva had the strongest affinity for Earth out of all of us, I knew she felt everything they were doing.

“It feels like they’re putting in some sort of radiowave technology. I can feel the currents, even here. It sends out this world wide ping, which is why I think they’re digging in the North and South poles.”

“They’re still trying to track us? Don’t they know the trackers are off?” Shay asked, slowly pacing but keeping his eyes on us.

“This is different than the tracker wave. The tracker wave was more consistent, this actually feels like a wave. Like it’s crushing and pulling, looking for something.” A thought came to me and I looked closer at the map.

“They don’t know where we are, nor where the war will be.”

“Yeah?”

“They’re taking shots in the dark.” Filly mumbled, glaring a hole through the map.

“The different digging sites are different towers, and is probably where the least population is in a given area. Most likely the wave is a paralyzing one, magick infused, which is why you can feel it even here. They’re probably ensuring that they’ll have the upper hand whenever and wherever the war is to take place.” Anger surged through me and I wanted to punch something but I had to keep my cool.

“They’ve got tanks, and they’re tearing apart the forests.” Eva sounded disgruntled but I knew she was pissed. She was like the poster child for environmental protection.

“They probably think we’re hiding in plain sight, or hiding behind a magick barrier.”

“Yeah but why-“

“You can run down anything in a tank, even if there’s magick involved.” Shay said, smirking at Eva as her face turned red.

“So now what? We can’t go up there because there’s 24/7 scanning and this time there’s no cloaking yourself. That’ll kill anything.” Filly said, mumbling that last part to herself. Taking a deep breath and puffing out my cheeks, I know they waited for me to answer. I was the war general, this time around, and they didn’t want to make any moves without consulting me. Granted they could do whatever they wanted, I had no actual hold over them. It’s more of a need for someone to lead.

“Eva, Leo, you two work together and take those towers down. Do as much damage as you can do from down here, and after they’re down seal up the Earth so that they’ll have to dig again. Buy as much time as possible.”

“I think they’re all working together. Typically, it takes them a couple of months to do this amount of work. I first started feeling it a week ago and they’ve got most of these pins actually in the Earth.” We were fucked, then, but I wouldn’t say it.

“Do as much damage as you can down here. Take down, seal, and strengthen. If we all have to do it daily, then we all have to do it daily. They’re just trying to keep us down here, and I’ll not let children be born under here and raised in a dirt cage.” With that I walked out, knowing they’d do what I told them and knowing that I needed to up the training, like yesterday.

                                By the end of the training day I’d deduced that they were all skilled in hand to hand combat, as much as we could hope for. That would’ve been all that was needed if we were fighting a rogue war. But we weren’t, we were fighting humans and they were not afraid to pull out their latest technology which happened to be guns. Lots and lots of guns. Everybody was eating but it was quiet, which made me uncomfortable. Had they really been whipped into shape so quick? I know it had been a month, but that was a lot for just a handful of leaders. I adjusted a little in my seat and my eyes flicked over to where the lycans sat closer to the food. They were the only ones being as loud as they should’ve been. I cleared my throat and looked around at my family. I’d decided to sit with them instead of the victors and I was starting to regret it. Anna and Jesse sat on the opposite of me and I knew that they’d mated. I didn’t even need to see the hint of her mark that peeked out from under the collar, but I felt the dynamic between them strengthen. Even with the link Jesse’s face was still rough and his jaw was clenched. I knew that their hands were held under the table, and I would catch Anna rubbing his thumb with hers and pushing out as much of her omega as she could on him without pushing too much to cause attention. Lena slammed her spoon into her bowl of soup and looked at me, her brown eyes almost cruel.

“Are you gonna let her die?” Alissa sucked in a breath between her teeth but all my siblings remained quiet, wanting to know the same. I put down my spoon and crossed my hands, placing them in my lap and looking directly at her.

“I’m not letting her do anything. I think she’s more than proven herself to the gods with her strength. This all falls on her.”

“And if she doesn’t choose life, if she’s tired of getting dealt shit without any sort of relief?”

“IF she doesn’t choose life, then that is her choice and I say as her family we should respect that.”

“Don’t give me that utter horse shit and claim it’s steak. You know she won’t choose life, she’s tired.”

“Yes I do know that, what I don’t know is why everybody’s angry with me.” At that I looked to the rest of them, noticing how they all looked down except for Anna.

“I did what mom asked, I made a case for her. I would’ve done it whether or not mom demanded me to. So why is everybody being so hostile towards me?” I asked the question calmly and softly, keeping my body and tone patient.

“You’re just… there’s no particular reason.”

“Libby is going to choose life.” Jesse said as he looked up. His green eyes sparkled with confidence and anger as he glared at me.

“My baby sister is going to choose to live, of that I’m sure. Sometimes you just manage to superimpose your own will onto others.” I narrowed my eyes gently at the accusation and shook off the anger that threatened to rise.

“You think I want her to stay dead?”

“You don’t want her to fight.” I closed my mouth and grit my teeth gently.

“With immortality comes strength. Her choosing to live is also her choosing to fight, and you know you won’t be able to keep her from the war if she’s immortal.” I stared at him before looking to the rest of my siblings and seeing how they kept their eyes averted or at their food.

“They’re hostile because you told them to be.”

“They aren’t anything they don’t want to be.”

“They don’t like to be talked about like they aren’t here.” Cara growled gently under her breath but didn’t look up.

“Hmm. Again, I don’t see how any of this is my fault, or why you guys are angry. If she chooses life then she chooses life. If she, then, decides that she wants to fight then… I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. Now, I’d appreciate it if you all go back to being your obnoxious selves.” When they were all silent I sighed and took up another spoonful of soup before getting up.

“Her case is being brought to attention tonight. If she chooses life, then she’ll be fine in the morning. Don’t tell mom though, it’s not a certainty that she’ll choose life.” With that I turned away from them and walked back to my room, getting ready to see what my sister would decide.

 

 

                The Gods were never one for being subtle, but Gaia was and I thanked her mentally for that. I knew Libby was nervous, I felt it in her essence as she paced back and forth in her mind. I appeared in front of her and she stopped, nibbling on her lip and watching me closely.

“She let me see.” I raised a brow and folded my hands in front of me, trying to appear as docile as I could.

“What it means, what would happen if…”

“If you choose immortality.” I finished for her gently, smiling softly. She nodded and gulped before looking down. She looked back at me and her eyes held slight water in them.

“I saw you fighting for me. For my voice, thank you. I also saw what Jesse said.” It didn’t surprise me, I had hoped that Mother Moon would let her see what was going on so she wasn’t bombarded.

“I know what I want, and it’s not to be a burden.” Her voice was a weird combination of strong and weak, and I felt my heart break. I nodded once and smiled reassuringly.

“Then, let’s go tell them that.” I put my hands on her shoulders and let my magick course through me and watched as our clothes changed back in to white toga dresses. I slid my hands down her arms and held her hands in mine and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“They’re all bark and no bite, half the time it’s just a pissing contest between them. I’m sure Gaia won’t allow it for too long.” I reached up and wiped the one tear that fell off her cheek and led her deeper into Eternal.

“Now is not the time for tears Libby girl, now is the time to be strong.” We walked again until a grand door appeared in front of us.

“You’re sure about your decision, right? You won’t go back on it?” I asked her before pushing. She nodded, her shoulders were strong and she looked me directly in my eyes.

“I’m sure.” I nodded and pushed the door and let her go first. This was her claim to make, I was only there for support. She walked forward and I looked down, following her as she walked through. In that instant there seemed to be a change in her, it called to my wolf yet repelled it. Typically, with Libby, there was always a great need in me to protect her. But, now, it seemed I didn’t need to. I watched as she walked past, resolution sitting in her face as she looked nowhere but ahead.  I smirked, knowing everything would be ok, and looked back down. She opened the second door and walked to the center of the full circle of Gods. They all sat on high pedestal, but the only one that actually mattered stood on the ground with us. I knew she had her own throne, she stood in front of it, and I knew it was higher than the rest of the Gods. Her hands were folded in front of her and she smiled kindly at Elizabeth. I bowed and knew Libby did the same thing but she came up faster. There was an uproar from the Gods that even I winced from, but Libby remained calm.

“What is the meaning of this?” The Dragon God roared, I looked at no one but Libby and Gaia. I would protect Libby if any of them got too rowdy.

“Calm, calm everyone. I’m sure she meant no harm by it.” Gaia simply waved it off and laughed at all of her children.

“She comes to your court asking for her life then blatantly disrespects you, does she have a death wish?” The God of the mountains thundered.

“It seems to be you that’s disrespecting her. She’s already cleared my actions, yet you still have something to say about it.” I smirked and wanted to do a little dance at the strength in my baby sisters voice. I looked to Gaia and saw the respect she had there.

“Worry not about my children, what is it you come to me for?” She knew, but the official claim needed to be made my Elizabeth.

“I come to you asking for immortality as a way to be a better fighter for the oncoming war and as reparation for the ill life I lived.” Her voice was so clear and powerful I wanted to record it and send it to mom. Gaia raised gentle brow and nodded.

“And has your God approved it? Has Lupa granted that?”

“She said I needed to come to you if I wanted such a feat as immortality.” I saw a flit of annoyance go across Gaia’s face and I knew the reason why.

“Well, you didn’t have to come all the way here, child. I grant you immortality, but you will have the choice as to whether or not you wish to fight. I am not a malevolent Goddess to force you to fight, and I am not a spiteful enough mother to wish any of her children to die for me.” With that the court went silent as Gaia walked forward and her placed her hands on Libby’s cheek.

“I grant you immortality, Elizabeth Anne Green.” Such soft words my ears strained to hear them before Gaia kissed Libby’s forehead. There was a liberating feeling that I felt from Libby’s end which meant a lot because up until that point I had felt nothing. With a smile I bowed slightly before standing up.

“See you back home Libby.” I dragged myself from Eternal and stood from my bed, stretching and popping my joints. I looked down on the bed at my sleeping mate and smiled softly before sneaking out and heading to the infirmary. When I got there Libby moaned softly and my mother shot up. She slapped my fathers arm with one hand, all the while keeping a gentle grip on Libby.

“Tom, Tom! Wake up, she’s waking up!”

“Mom?” Libby groaned and blinked her eyes open. My mother fell back in to her chair with silent tears falling down.

“Oh my baby, my little Libby baby. You’ve come back to me.” She sobbed softly, gripping Libby’s hand with two of her hands. With a small smile I walked to them and put my hands on her head and, letting myself soak in this win, I let out a victorious howl.

 

 

Chapter 32

 

Ander was waiting for me when I got back, his hair was tousled and his eyes were tired but he still smiled when he saw me. He moved over in the small bed and I snorted as he tried to make himself look smaller.

“Your bed awaits, m’lady.” He waved his hand over the empty spot and I smiled and took my hair out of my ponytail.

“Do me a favor, remind me not to have stubborn kids.” I walked towards him and the bed and peeled off my clothes.

“Have you met yourself, and have you met me? Our children would be entirely too stubborn.” I looked him in the eye and slid into the bed, sitting up and crossing my legs.

“Our kids would be brats, and you know it.”

“God you’re right. Running around, being rude.”

“They’d get that from you, I’m like the king of being polite. It comes in the blood of an Englishman.” I rolled my eyes and laid down, looking up and taking a deep breath. He laid beside me on his side and looked at me. I looked at him and kept eye contact as he put his hand on my exposed belly.

“Kids. That’s almost-“

“Too normal to even think of.” I finished with a whisper and put my hand on his.

“But I want it, I want that normalcy.”  With a soft sigh I looked up, rubbing soft circles on his hand with mine.

“We’ll have it, I know it.” There was so much conviction in his voice that I almost believed him. I smiled and looked back at home and moved to my side so we faced each other. His hand fell but his fingertips grazed the tip of my stomach and I longed for the day where it would be full with a pup or two.

“What would you name your first girl? And please, save her the long name. We don’t need another catastrophe like ‘LunaRosa’.” We both laughed and her pursed his lips, those blue eyes looking upward thoughtfully.

“Talula May.” He smiled and looked at me with challenge in his eyes.

“That’s… that’s beautiful.” His eyes grew unsure and I held his hand and gave it a small squeeze.

“I mean it, that’s a beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” He blushed and I kissed his cheek before sighing and closing my eyes.

“It’s gonna be loud tomorrow.”

“Guns?”

“Guns. I’ve gotta make sure the dragons are on their shit and make sure the others transition along well enough. All the girls have synched up so now there’s gonna be a cave wide heat cycle, and I’m just hoping nobody shoots anybody else. I need them all at top-“ He kissed me to shut me up and pulled back quickly.

“So I guess that means you need to head to sleep then.” He flipped me over to my other side and squeezed me to his chest.

“Night Luna.”

“Night Ander.”

 

 

                A gun shot rang through the air and I shot up, my rage and wolf already at the surface. With a growl I shot off the bed and ran toward the training grounds my claws and fangs out. A wide eyed girl stood in the middle of the arena with a small glock. A boy stood next to her and all the face drained from his face as he saw all the victors and some of the more trained shifters gather around him. With narrowed eyes Filly stalked forward, clad in only boy shorts and a sports bra, and snatched the gun from the girl and smacked them up their heads.

“Giving everybody a fucking heart attack, what the hell is wrong with you?” She roared and formed a paw with her other hand and smacked them against their head again repeatedly. Leo walked to her and lifted her by her abdomen but she kept smacking the girl in her head.

“You just see a couple of crates of guns and you decide that you want to scare everybody!?” She growled but Leo walked backwards. It didn’t mean she didn’t try, she still tried to kick her. With a shake of my head I walked to the girl and closed the crate, all the while looking at the girl.

“Two days of intensive training for both of y’all.” I crossed my arms and cocked my hip against the crate, watching as they skulked off. I looked to the rest of the shifters who looked at the rest of the crates in awe.

“I suggest y’all try and get some sleep, training has only been pushed back a half an hour.” With that I walked away, knowing there would be no more insubordinate actions this morning.

 

 

                Everybody woke up two hours later, groggy and sending glares to the pair that woke everybody up prematurely. I decided to wear shorts today and regretted it immediately. All the boys who were ignoring their mating bonds seemed to have a hard time remembering I could break their femurs with two pinkies. We started off with slight combat training before we called them all together. I opened a crate that held pistols and took out one. I cocked the gun and held it by my hip and walked to the middle of the crowd, knowing their eyes were following me.

“This is a gun, it’s a very dangerous gun but all guns are dangerous and I’m sure you all know that. I know you’ve all had bad experiences with guns but these are different. Somebody, only using your nose, tell me why this gun is different.” I held it up and waved it around slightly, willing the scent to travel.

“There’s no gun powder in it, it has no bullets.” Carmen said softly and I nodded my head once, smelling the pain that was laced in her voice.

“That’s right, there are no bullets. These guns were fashioned by the Gods, and they are not created to kill.”

“We’re not killing the humans?” A fox asked, his eyes amber and aware.

“No we’re not, that was never the plan actually. The only God that likes death are Gods of death, but we’re not fighting for that mean bastard. We’re fighting for our freedom and for Gaia.”

“So then what? It’s just there for decoration?” Lila asked snarkily with her arms crossed and her hip cocked. With a smile and lots of pleasure I flicked the switch on the gun that would stun and aimed it at her. Everybody gasped but I didn’t care and without any warning I shot her in her abdomen. Her entire body slumped down to the floor with a hard thud and everybody seemed terrified. I could smell magick being gathered against me and with a bored wave of my hand shot Susie in her leg, making her slump too.

“Now, this is only for short range attacks. It also has a cartridge so you can put bullets into it, but only under extreme duress are you to use the actual bullets.” I walked back to the guns and pulled out an assault rifle.

“This too has a stun option but it also has an electrocute option.” I looked to Seamus and with a deep frown he unfolded his arms and grimaced tightly. I flicked the switch and aimed at him and fired three shots, each of them making a triangle on his abdomen making sure it wasn’t too close to his heart to accidentally kill him. His body jerked and his black hair stood up, had it been a human he would’ve been knocked out cold. He wobbled slightly and shook his head before running his hands down his arms. My mouth dropped open as he seemed to take electricity out of his skin, he shook it off his hands and rolled his shoulders before looking at me.

“Couldn’t very well leave it in, could I? It gets uncomfortable.” I stared at him for a little while longer before clearing my throat and putting the assault rifle down and filed what just happen in the ‘freak out later’ box. I walked to another box and pulled out another god fashioned weapon.

 

 

“Hey so, do you know if Shay is like half lightning dragon or something?” I asked as I sat with the Victors for lunch. They all looked at me as I broke my bread dipped it into tomato soup.

“Any… Any particular reason you’re asking that?” Eva asked, leaning her elbos on the table and looking at me intently.

“You know the God guns, the rifles?”

“Did you electrocute him?” Leo asked while picking up a spoonful of soup.

“Yeah, I had to demonstrate it.”

“How many times did you shoot him?”

“Three.”

“Oh.” Was all they said and went back to eating in peace. I waved my hands in frustration and glared at them.

“So he is half lightning dragon?” Filly looked at me and cocked her head.

“How do you not know? We got shock therapy when we captured.”

“I didn’t get shocked, I drowned one of them before they tried to make me stand in that bucket.”

“Hmm.” There was a moment of silence and I threw a fireball at her head.

“Can’t I just eat my soup in peace?”

“You’re not answering me!”

“”We can harness electricity! We can’t produce it or anything like that, but we can control it once we have some.”

“How did Shay know that?”

“He’s probably been struck my lightning once or twice.”

“Four, I’ve been struck by lightning four times. Those bullets are nothing compared to pure lightning.” He sat next to me and winked.

“You could’ve just asked yourself ya know?” I rolled my eyes and ate my soup before something sent a tingle down my back.

“I think I have to break up a fight.” I looked over to Filly to see she had stood up.

“So do I.” Using magick we teleported to where we were needed and I growled low in my throat. Lila was in my sister’s face and she looked cynical and angry, her fae tilted in the smallest of condescending smirk. Libby’s fists were curled and she looked like she was trembling a little.

“What’s going on here?” Filly asked stepping forward and in front of me slightly.

“I’m partitioning her of her immortality.” My brows raised and Filly’s body went still.

“You want to take life away from a girl that was practically dying?” Filly asked, her tone dead silent and lethal.

“It’s not taking her life if I partition it. It’s more of a ‘realizing that I was the better species fit of immortality’.” Her tone was entirely too filled with smugness and I stepped forward but a small snarl from Libby stopped me from punching her actual head off.

“Fine. You want to partition me of my immortality? Partition away.” She stood up straighter and my eyes widened as Filly stepped back. I gripped Lila’s forearm and forced her to look at me.

“Look, I don’t know what you’ve got against my sister or whatever is driving this stupidity, but you need to back down.”

“Awww, afraid I’m gonna hurt your wittle baby sister?” She pouted and ended with a small evil smile.

“Are you actually stupid? I trained my sister, I trained all of them actually. I gave a highly dangerous girl life, and you angered her and threatened to take that away. She will demolish you, and while I’m all up to watch a fight and show the rest of them how it’s done, I’d rather not have any more warriors out of commission.” She looked at me before leaning down and looking at me in the eyes.

“I’m calling your bluff.” She sounded so confident, looked so sure of herself. So, with absolute pleasure, I let her go and backed up.

“Partition away.”

 

                Lila tugged on her elemental and brought a sword made of fire and smirked at Libby. She rolled her eyes and pulled on her Earth element and forming her bow and arrow. Lila laughed and aimed her sword down.

“You’re trying to beat me with a bow and arrow, little girl?” Libby said nothing, just loaded her bow and aimed.

“You’ll have to hit me first for me to be scared of you.” Lila said as she walked forward, twisting and turning her sword in her hand. Everything happened too quickly for me to track, and that sent waves of pride through me. Libby took aim and shot an arrow first at her foot, then through the fist holding the sword. While Lila screamed in pain Libby’s bow disappeared and she ran toward her, reaching down and grabbing the little dagger she’d kept sheathed since we started training. Lila struck her fist out and Libby sliced it, not caring about the blood that spurted out, and punched Lila in the gut. She gripped Lila’s short hair and put her dagger to her throat, pushing only slightly. Lila tried to elbow her in the stomach. Libby growled and snatched her hair tighter, taking her dagger and stabbing her in the upper arm before snatching it out and pressing it back against her neck.

“The next time you partition someone, try to make sure they don’t have the potential to skin your ass.” My little sister threw Lila on the ground and wiped the blood from her blade on her pants and sheathed it again. I smelled the magick brewing from Susie and pushed it down, Lila would feel the pain as punishment from me for trying my sister. Libby turned to face the small group of people that had gathered and growled.

“Anybody else!?” Everyone stayed quiet and even jumped back slightly at the sound of her voice. She nodded and turned back to me and locked her arms behind her back.

“I’m ready for training.” With a small smile and keeping the pride down to the lowest I could keep it I stepped forward looking around to the shock of the others and the matched pride from my other siblings before looking at her.

“It’s best if you eat first, it’s still lunch time.”

Chapter 33

 

I had finally settled down and managed to get something in my mouth before I felt a presence behind me and I groaned internally while settling my still full bowl on the table before looking behind me. Matty glared down at me with his gigantic tree trunk arms crossed and his legs spread wide.

“Is there any particular reason you’re trying to be domineering to me?” He just stared at me and I looked in his eyes to see I was dealing with the beast and not the man. With an outward groan I stood up and got on the chair I was sitting on. There were only a little shifters remaining in the dining area because it had taken me an hour to even begin to eat my soup, so I didn’t have to worry about that much embarrassment.

“What do you want?” I said simply, matching his stance and cocking a brow.

“I grow tired of your games, wolf.” I blinked. Then blinked again.

“I’m sorry?”

“You’ve been tantalizing me with that damn scent of yours, but have held on the precipice of mating so I can’t mate you but I also can’t not mate you.” My eyes widened before a giggle tore through me.

“Are you serious, right now? You’ve gone beastly just to tell me that you want me? That’s so pathetic it’s hilarious.” I shook my head and moved to sit back down. I should’ve known I wouldn’t get away with saying that without getting hurt. Before I could process he moved, he yanked my arm and threw me to the wall adjacent the dining room. My body flung against the wall and my knee shattered. With a growl I looked at him to see him still standing there and smirking. I stood up, limping slightly because he fucking shattered my knee and glared at him for a couple of seconds before deciding to flip him off and limp away. I heard an angered sigh and I knew he was coming after me. I wouldn’t run because I’d done something stupid already and my knee screamed at me not to do anything else.

“Luna, we’re not done talking.”

“Oh, you call that talking? Did you happen to move to Russia or some other planet when you left? Some place where throwing people is an acceptable form of communication?” I continued my sad limping and ignored all the shifters that casted me side glances.

“You were being mean.”

“So you threw me?” I looked back at him to see him shrug, he was maintaining the distance.

“I’ve never liked mean people.”

That would explain the self hatred that you spew at everyone a lot.”

“I’m not mean.”

“Tell that to my knee!” We hit one of the main training rooms and I felt the bones in my knee reconnect and I growled softly before returning to my regular walking. He was quiet and I looked up to see Ander standing at the other side, his nostrils flared as he looked at me then his eyes shifted to behind me where Matt was there looking stupid. He walked toward us and I stepped forward bracing my hands and trying my best to get into his head, but he had it sealed off and that terrified me. All I knew is that he smelled my injury and my anger and Matt and none of those things were good.

“Ander, whatever you’re about to do just think about it.” I felt Matt move closer to me and my temper flared higher but I forced as much calm as I could. I didn’t see any emotion on Ander’s face and my heart wouldn’t calm down.

“No, no Luna. Let Ander release some of the pent up energy, it’ll be good for us. He’ll finally learn his place and I can finally be rid of him.” Matty snarled low in his throat and moved to step around me, brushing my arm in the process. Ander stopped at the touch and looked at me then, his eyes pleading. With a sigh, and being more disgusted in Matt than I’d ever been I stepped back and nodded. Wincing at the damage I was about to let loose onto Matt. With a relieved and sort of cynical smile, one that I would not admit turned me on, he turned his eyes on Matt and his eyes turned their dark green and he shifted into his uber wolf.

~5 years ago~

                We stood in a semi circle, a naked Ander in the middle as he looked at us seemingly without a care in the world, under the full moon.

“We haven’t got all night.” Anna’s voice was a soft whisper and I knew she was trying to sound brave but it was just pissing me off.

“We do, we have tomorrow and the next day. But the sooner we do this the better.” With that being said my eyes floated to Ander’s to find his on mine. With a small nod and the smallest reassuring smile I could manage his eyes turned green. He spread out his arms and legs, letting the change take over him. Pain crossed his face, forcing it to scrunch up. We watched as his muscles grew and contracted, stretching and shrinking in his legs and arms. I furrowed my brow and stepped forward, my heart suddenly beating eight times as fast.

“What’s wrong? What’s happening right now?” Jesse asked, noticing everything and ready to help.

“Why is he in pain? Should that be happening?” Anna asked, her voice so low my ears struggled to hear it but I didn’t care. Ander bowed over, gripping his abdomen before he threw up blood and his dinner. I uncrossed my arms and surged forward, only to be stopped by Jesse’s arm.

“If you touch him it’ll hurt him even more.” He whispered into my hair. When Ander roared in pain and that roar slowly diminished into a scream that held the same amount of pain my knees buckled. I let down the wall I constantly held up between us and reached out, only to be burned. Everywhere. I felt his pain and my insides squirmed and lurched inside of me. I fell to the ground but Jesse kept hold of me.

“He’ll pull through.” Anna whimpered and I didn’t look at her, knowing I’d see the pain there. I could feel her omega seeping out and trying to help her brother but he was too far gone. He fell to the ground and curled up in the fetal position, his limbs still stretching and bending how they saw fit. I watched as my mate’s heart stopped beating and his body seemed to sag, all while still moving. Everything was quiet for a second, the whole world had hushed to hear my scream a second later. I fought against Jesse’s arm to go to him but he was still changing. Suddenly his body erupted into a mass of spit and fur. I stopped fighting and looked at the big black wolf that had taken place of my mate, it’s eyes his green eyes and his fangs ready to tear into Jesse. Jesse, knowing the warning clearly, let go of me and backed up into his own mate.

“Ander?” My voice squeaked as I looked up into the monster of a wolf that stood in front of me. He was at least two times bigger than his actual wolf, the muscles were large and bulged underneath his fur and even I was scared. His eyes were angry and scared, but mainly angry. I reached up and cupped a hand over his ear. With a deep breath and a silent thanks to Lupa I smiled greatly.

“Change back now, I think it would do us all some good to have regular Ander back.”

 

~Present~

                He’d gotten better at it, and it came as naturally as changing into his regular wolf now. His uber wolf stood at nine foot tall and still looked as lethal as it did before. The rage in his eyes was alive and thriving as he snarled at Matt as he watched Matt fully turn into his lycan form. Ander’s uber wolf could take down any wolf, even me and the victors, as could a lycan. This was a fair fight, even though the odds were a little more on Ander’s side, Matt could still give a strong one. Matt stood on his legs and stood out longer until he was around Ander’s size. Ander huffed and started circling around Matt. Everyone that was in the training room now backed away from the mammoth wolf, watching with wide and terrified eyes. Matt watched Ander wearily, the muscles in his body twitching and jumping as he anticipated any attack. With a resigned sigh I stepped back and crossed my arms. I had trained both of them, and they both had been trained by others besides me. With my skills alone they were lethal, but I knew from both of them the combined skills was a scary enough combo. Filly appeared next to me, her eyes aware and curious.

“You’re sending off sparks like crazy, what’s wro-“ Her words cut off as she saw uber Ander and lycan Matt squaring off.

“Oooooh. Want me to round up the rest so that we can actually pull him off of Matt at the end of this.” With a deep sigh I looked at her.

“Is it bad that I kinda want this to happen.” She pursed her lips and looked up for a second before looking at the duo who still were just circling each other.

“Not at all. Ander will put Matt in his place, then you guys’ll have the best claiming sex ever.” My cheeks went red and I glared at her. She simply rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

“Go ahead and act like that’s not what’s gonna happen if you want to. Fighting brings out the naughty in guys, that’s just a fact. Especially if it’s for a claim.”

“I know this, I just hate you.” We looked back to the duo and watched as Matt roared and rushed Ander. I’d trained him, I knew he thought that because of Ander’s size he would be slow but he was anything but. Ander dodged out of the way and grabbed Matt’s body in his jaws, biting deep and piercing flesh, and threw him into the wall making the floor shake. I looked to the few shifters that were there and nodded my head toward the exit. Nodding they scurried away in self-preservation, moving faster as Matt howled. My eyes narrowed slightly and I discreetly sealed off the entrances and exits.

“If I didn’t know you any better, Mattypoo, I’d think you were calling for help.” I did good to keep the snarl out of my voice, but Ander growled low and deep in his throat. Blake ran into the barrier, her eyes beastly and her fangs out. She analyzed the situation and with an eye roll relaxed herself and crossed her eyes.

“Seriously? This again? We’ve been here barely a week Matthew!” She said in absolute disgust and walked away. I shook my head and glared at him, even though he didn’t care. He circled around Ander, his eyes angry and calculating, a scary mix of human and beast. Honestly, Matt would’ve been able to pull himself out of whatever cloud he was in… but then, because my mate is MY mate, Ander sat down and huffed before laying down and putting his head on his paw.

“Jesus.” Filly hissed through her teeth and summoned her elemental weapon. Matt howled with one of retribution and went to grab Ander by his scuff,  blinded by anger, but Ander simply bit down on his wrist and yanked ripping his hand from the wrist. Matt growled and reached around with his other hand to grab his scuff and take him off. Ander let go of the severed appendage only to bark out a wolfy laughter and use his paws to push away and scratch Matt’s chest. Matt snarled and let go, being pushed back several feet even with his feet earing into the ground. Ander shook out his fur and rolled his shoulders, his eyes turning icy with pure rage and strength. Matt was injured bad, blood pouring out of him and onto the surrounding floor too quickly. He would pass out from exhaustion if he continued, and I needed him to be at his maximum peak. I stepped forward to stop this before someone got hurt beyond repair, I could fix a hand I couldn’t fix dead. As soon as I stepped forward fully Ander looked back at me, his eyes glaring into me.

“Stay, he has to learn.” Ander said softly, his voice a complete contrast to the beast I saw in front of me. He wouldn’t let it get too out of hand. I trusted him. With a short nod I stepped back, groaning at Matt’s idiocy as he tried to attack while Ander’s back was turned. With a lethal growl Ander grabbed him by his torso in his mouth and ran toward the wall, ignoring the good hits that Matt was putting in. Once he was against the wall, Matt took his claws and gouged out Ander’s right eye laughing with wolfish glee that would haunt me for the rest of my life. If Ander felt any pain he dind’t let it show, only moved back a little with him still in his mouth and crushed him slightly between his teeth only letting go when Matt roared. He threw Matt’s body in the air and across the field. With a grunt he shook his head, flinging blood everywhere and a part of me wanted to end this before they started doing irreparable damage to each other.

“One of them has to submit to each other for that.” Filly whispered softly, still holding her elemental weapon just in case.

“I know the rules.”

“And you know these boys. So how long will this go on before someone submits to the other? How many more punches do they have to get in for this to officially be squashed?” She never looked at me, but she didn’t need to. The scars on my back tingled slightly and I knew what I would have to do. Matt stood, slightly hunched on account of his multiple wounds, and Ander looked at him through his one eye. They stalked toward each other slowly before rage consumed them both and they ran.

“Wish me luck, and help me if something goes down you scag.” She rolled her eyes and I ran toward where they would meet, embracing my wolf and shifting into my furry skin. Just like last time, they didn’t see me. They were too engrossed on each other to even acknowledge my presence right in front of them. Sighing I sat down and, regretting instantly what I was about to do, I howled loud and high. They both seemed to see me at the same time and stopped before scratching or biting at me. They stood, Matt panting and Ander glaring quietly as blood quietly dripped from his eye.

“This is not to the death, I don’t know where you silly males got that idea from. You weren’t supposed to inflict serious bodily harm to another.” I let my wolf speak through the link, since both of them were in their most wolfy state and she could get it across better. Ander huffed in laughter and I inwardly scolded him but otherwise said nothing.

“I’m ending this match, because neither of you are any less alpha to submit. I’d rather not be here all day, my human has soup to eat and I was quite enjoying it too.” I stood and walked towards Ander, locking eyes with him and looking down to show my submission. I walked to him until we met nose to nose and I ducked my head, my nose digging into his neck before I bit into him. He growled gently at the pain and I stopped, licking the bite before stepping back slightly. I craned my neck slightly to the right and only winced slightly as his teeth pierced me, he growled at the wince and the smell of pain and licked my mark softly. I knew he kept his eyes on Matt and I knew my heart would break when I looked to him. Not stepping away from Ander, I turned to look at Matt and saw his eyes glaring at the dirt and I felt wave after wave of pain tear into me.

“It’s over now. I’ve chosen, and I know you both respect me enough to respect my choice. Ander is my mate, regardless how complete our mating is.” My wolf’s voice was strong in the link but I knew all she wanted to do was whimper and hide in a hole. We both had the same connection with Matt and, had we not had Ander, he would’ve been our mate.

“Eat.” Ander whispered softly into the link and I nodded, noting how much of an alpha he was at this point. To disobey him now would be the highest disrespect and would probably lead to another fight. I shifted back into my human form and looked to Filly. She nodded and walked with me, still keeping wary eyes on the two males, walking me back to my cold soup so I could finish the rest in peace.

 

                My soup was finally finished, I had to gulp it all down at once because cold it wasn’t great, but I still had to do rounds and heal the idiots that had injured themselves. I went to the infirmary and winced at the tension in the room. Blake sat next to a sleeping Matt and watched him with disdain. Anna sat with her legs crossed next to Ander who was sitting up and glaring at Matt’s sleping form.

“It’s over. You should be resting too.” My voice was soft and filed with genuine concern as I walked closer to him. Anna watched me carefully and her body seemed to tense more. She was giving off mega omega waves and it worked to soothe my soul but for some reason it wasn’t reaching and affecting Ander as much as it should’ve. He had closed the eye that he lost, and the one eye that was open looked to me and he relaxed slightly but not enough. I furrowed my brow as I stood next to him, putting my hand on his forehead and wiping at some of the blood that had splattered up there.

“What’s wrong?” He just looked at me, staring intensely at me and begging me for something and I didn’t know what.

“It was a claiming fight, Luna.” Blake whispered softly, not moving her body or her eyes from Matt. Ander’s arm slinked around my waist and realization struck me and made my cheeks blaze.

“Not here.”

“It has to be here, Luna. Matt crossed a serious line and the alpha in Ander can’t let it slide without putting Matt into his place.” I gulped and realized we were doing things super old school and that I would feel dirty after this. Ander kept his eyes on me, letting me make my decision. If I didn’t do this willingly, it would only be worse later and he wouldn’t let himself relax. With a deep sigh I leaned down and kissed him gently, cupping his cheek, and straddled him.

“Go away.” I whispered in the link to Anna and she got up quickly, her eyes down and away from me and Ander. I couldn’t tell Blake to leave without looking back so I just had o hope that she would keep her eyes on Matt. He kissed me back with strength and passion and domination, demanding my mouth and my time and my love. And, as his mate, I was to give it to him without fighting back.

“It’s yours.” I whispered against his lips, keeping my composure as he growled against my mouth and gripped my hips. Keeping my movements slow and as non-aggressive as I could manage I put my hands on his shoulders and gently grinded against him, doing a fantastic job of not wincing as his claws pierced my pants and gripped into my hips tighter and directed the movement of my hips.

“I’m going to claim you, and I’m so sorry.” He whispered softly through the link, only his human side showing. I looked into his eye then and saw that it was mainly beast, but a part of it was my Ander. And my Ander truly was heart broken. With a soft reassuring smile, I craned my neck to the side slightly but still looked at him. I would hate myself after this for being weak, I would hate myself after for succumbing to the drama and getting myself into this position in the first place, and most importantly I would hate myself because for that moment I didn’t hate myself at all; for that moment I was fine and happy, and thoughts of my future and what it could hold bombarded me as his lips approached my neck. For that moment I didn’t hate myself because I was giving myself a chance, and I took it. He bit deep into my neck, not really able to help himself as his fangs were the size of my middle finger, and stayed there for a second before his fangs retracted and he licked my mark softly. He leaned back but I didn’t look at him, instead I called my wolf to me and grew out my fangs before biting his neck and putting my all into him. I poured myself into him and he accepted it all, his fangs no longer there and only his fingers gripped me gently. While my fangs were in him I opened my link to Lupa and asked her to accept our mating. I wrapped my arms around Ander and spread the power to him, smiling around his neck at his small gasp and how tightly he held me back. She kissed me on my forehead and accepted the mating and suddenly I felt whole.

                Ander shuddered and his arms tightened around me and I felt safe, safer than I’d felt in a long time. Our bond strengthened and he was there with me in my head, holding my hand and my body. My fangs retracted back into my mouth and I kissed his mark before sitting up, smiling at him and wiping my blood from his lips. He did the same and we smiled at each other.

“Do you think you can fix this now? Now that my wolf isn’t in charge this is starting to hurt like a royal bitch.” He said softly, smiling weakly as he gestured to his eye. I nodded and cupped my hand over his eyes, pouring magick into it. He hissed softly between his teeth as his eye grew back and I scrunched up my face, but otherwise continued to give magick to him. When it was fully healed I pulled my hand back and tucked both of them under my chin. He opened his eye and squinted before blinking a few times.

“Good?”

“Good. I imagine you have to heal him now?” He didn’t sound entirely happy about it, but he wasn’t tense which was all I could hope for. I nodded before getting off of his lap and walking to where Matt lay, looking up at the ceiling. I knew it wasn’t easy for him, all that had just happened, on him and that he wanted to be anywhere from where he was now. I walked toward him, keeping my head up and looking at Blake. She looked down immediately, acknowledging I was the more dominant wolf, and scooted closer to her alpha who looked up at me. I met his gaze head on and watched as  his eyes moved slightly over, landing on the spot between my eyes. I sighed gently even as my wolf preened at the show of power. I sat next to him and held my hand out, without looking at me he gave me the stump of his hand. I gripped his wrist and let the magick flow into him. I heard his teeth grind against the pain, and watched as his hand grew back. Once it was done I released his hand as gently as I could and looked at him.

                He cleared his throat gently and sat up, all the while looking at that small spot between my eyes before they settled on my actual eyes.

“Hey, I’m still Luna. Little Luna.” I gave him the most reassuring smile I could muster that wasn’t a lie. I wasn’t the same Little Luna, I wasn’t able to become his. He was quiet as he gazed into my eyes, his teeth slowly became unclenched and his body relaxed.

“You’re right. Little Crazy Luna.”

“What’d I say about the crazy?” He shrugged and smirked at me and my heart swelled. I wanted to reach out and touch him, to hug him and tell him that I was sorry for the way that everything turned out.

“Go ahead.” Ander whispered to me through our private mate link. With a wider, and truer, smile I opened my arms wide and snatched him into me. He hugged me back, tighter than he should’ve been for the amount of damages that was given to him, bringing me close to him and putting his nose into the nook of my neck. I knew I wouldn’t smell the same. My scent was, essentially, the same but it was tainted with some of the masculinity of Ander’s scent, as his was slightly more feminine because of my scent. But he still breathed me in, taking a deep shuddering breath and gripping me tight.

“I’m sorry. Not for the reason you want me to be, but because of the way this happened. You’ll always be my best friend, one of my first few friends. Thank you for that and being there when I needed you there.” He said nothing, just held me there in that tight embrace. I stayed there for as long as I could and I would not be the first to let go. I’m sure he cried, I felt a little bet of wetness on my shoulder but I said nothing and I knew why he’d taken my mating to Ander to heart. It wasn’t because it happened right in front of him, or the question of his dominance, because both of those things happened in the wild and in the lycan community often. It was because he genuinely loved me, and I him. It was because the lycans were a dying breed and to find your mate was a welcome rarity, so most of the lycans merely settled for those who they found companionship in and those that they loved. He never thought, or expected, he would find his mate. But he’d found me, and he decided that he was going to keep me, then he discovered I’d had a mate and thought that maybe he could win me away not knowing that I’d already been won by Ander as soon as I saw him. Leaving me was the hardest thing he had to do because he knew that would just leave it up for Ander to steal me away even more, and coming back was even harder because he knew he could be coming back to me having a family and life of my own.

                Matthew wasn’t angry at Ander for claiming me, he was angry at Ander for having me as a mate. It had nothing to do with Ander, and had little to do with me but was really just him being angry at our Goddess for how his life had panned out. And for that reason, and that reason alone, I looked into his fate lines; something I swore I’d never do. Knowing how my friends would die and knowing what shortcomings they would have in their lives. Sometimes being human was good, especially in their clueless ways. Closing my eyes I let myself into his world and saw everything, everything he had done and would do. I ignored when he would die and ignored the length of the line and focused on the line that intertwined with his that wasn’t his pack or was me.

I gasped internally and kept my emotions under check, but still held on to him as he clutched me. I looked to Blake and saw she had her eyes on me fully. She shook her head gently and looked back to him, her face clear of emotion but those chocolate eyes of hers giving me all the information I needed. She knew. Matt sniffled and let me go, keeping his head down as he wiped his face, giving me more time to look at Blake. It looked like it hurt her to see him crying, and this time I knew it wasn’t from a Beta position, but from that of a mate’s. Suddenly, it all clicked. She was fiercely protective over him, but I had blindly thought that it was because of her loyalty. But now I knew. He leaned back into the bed, wincing at the rest of his injuries.

“If you asked nicely, I could fix it for you.” I smirked at him and he rolled his eyes, a soft smile on his face. I saw Blake tense up before she relaxed, her eyes constantly flitting to mine before going back to him. He put his hand on my knee, as a way to calm himself, and sighed deeply.

“I’m not one for asking.”

“You’re preaching to the choir, MattyPoo.” He growled softly and slapped my knee.

“I’m injured, does that not give me a ticket to not be teased?”

“Have you met me?” He chuckled softly and shook his head before his eyes drifted to Blake. I saw the little intake of breath she made before she released it and smiled teasingly.

“Honestly, Matthew, did Ander knock your brain around that much?” He laughed and she smiled a genuine smile.

“Again, I’m injured! Does no one have mercy around here?” Izzy burst out in laughter, walking in to the infirmary and slapping her thigh.

“Who knew our little Matthew could be a comedian?!” At that we all laughed and Matt groaned.

“In all honesty, you should rest. You both should. Your wolves will heal you before dinner and we can get back to training.”

“By training did you mean us beating on your little wolves?” I narrowed my eyes on him and slapped his ribs, holding in my smile as he winced and backed away.

“I SAID I’M INJURED!” I shook my head and looked to Blake, cocking my head to the side towards the exit.

“Care to walk with me to the training room?” She looked at me, her face clear but her eyes terrified.

“Blake wouldn’t leave me, she actually likes me unlike you mangy females.” Blake stood up quickly, masking her face before I could read anything, and smiled while putting her hands on her hips.

“Who said I cared about you? I had to be here, make sure our leader isn’t some little wimp who can’t handle a little beating.” He narrowed his eyes and she trilled out a little laugh before walking away.

“See ya for dinner MattyPoo!” I said, joining her and walking out with her.

 

 

                It was quiet for a while, while we walked farther from the infirmary. I was thinking of what I could say to her, how I could say it to her, and how to assure her everything would be fine when the little bitch grabbed me by my shirt and pressed me against the wall.

“If you even think about telling him, I swear!” She growled, her eyes wild and her fangs down. I held up my hands and didn’t move to fight against her. I had no doubt that she could beat my ass if she wanted to, and I’d been taking a lot of beatings lately.

“I wasn’t going to!” She growled and pushed me further into the wall at the smell of the lie.

“Ok, ok so maybe I was going to a drop a hint-“ a snarl from her “but he has to know Blake!” He forearm was pressed against my collarbone quickly and she leaned into me, her eyes looking angry and hurt.

“What does he need to know for? We’ve been doing fine as just Alpha and Beta, there’s no need to mess up that relationship.”

“Blake-“

“Don’t! Ok? Don’t pretend that you know anything about relationships now that you’ve finally settled down with Ander. Don’t pretend like you know anything about what’s happening between me and him right now, because you don’t!” Hurt was in her eyes, but so was anger and overwhelming strength.

“I do, I know how you feel absolutely.”

“Oh, do you? Miss There-Are-Two-Males-Pining-Over-Me-But-I-Don’t-Want-Any-Of-Them!”

“He wants me-“ Before I could finish my sentence her claws grew and dug into me which she used as the grip to throw me into the wall opposite of us.

“Shut up.” I groaned and got onto my knees, not even angry that she’d thrown me, and looked up at her.

“He wants me, not you, and that drives you crazy but-“ She gave me a vicious kick to the stomach which made me double up and I’m pretty sure she ruptured something.

“Stop. Talking.” She grit out between her teeth. I would kick myself for this later, but I leaned up and looked her directly in the eyes.

“He might not want you now-“ With a punch, that I’d taught her, to my jaw I was back on the floor.

“I would love for you to not say anymore, but this is good too. Let’s me get my aggravation out.” She cracked the joints in her hand and rolled her shoulders. Deciding it was best to stay down, I simply braced my hands on the floor and groaned.

“Ander fell in love with a human.” I could tell that she’d geared up to hit me again but she stilled at my words.

“He fell in love with a human, and it killed me to know that she had the affection of my mate, something that was mine by rite, but knowing I could do nothing about it. He loved her, probably more than he loved me and I could do nothing but accept that because I didn’t want to make him love me. I wanted him to love me because I was his mate and I was his. But he pined after her, even after days and nights spent with me he would just go right back to her whenever she was around and nothing ate at me more than that thought. So, yeah, I know how you feel. He doesn’t want you, but that’s because I was around. Ander’s finally claimed me, and I him. He can’t have me, and it’s been set in stone. He will notice you, that I can promise whole-heartedly.” She’d gone quiet and I risked a look at her to see her sitting down against the wall, her head leaned back and her eyes closed

“I know exactly what you’re going through and I’m so sorry. I know how it feels and I know that your beast is screaming at you to claw into me and eliminate the threat, but I’m nothing to him. He knows it and his beast knows it, he’s just stupid. He’s always been stupid, and we’ve always known that.” I was practically pleading with her at this point but she stayed quiet with her eyes closed. Biting my lip so I wouldn’t groan again, I sat up and mimicked her position, but crossing my legs and watching her.

“It’s fucked up.”

“What is?”

“The hand we get dealt. He’s wanted you since we came here. He saw how strong you were and was so fucking giddy about it. I’m pretty sure it’s the red hair.” She chuckled humorlessly and open her eyes, I wasn’t surprised to see how in control she was.

“He talked about you to me, y’know. Kept me up nights talking about you, and how Ander didn’t deserve you. We were kids and he’d already planned on having you as his bride and pregnant.” She scoffed and rolled her eyes, crossing her legs too and sitting up.

“He’d get so mad at me when we’d fight. He’d tell me that I should be showing you respect because you were my future Luna. That you were more powerful, more of a female, than I was and that I shouldn’t even try. It didn’t even hurt, it just pissed me off. I was his friend, I’d always been there for him and you came out of nowhere and all of the sudden I had to bow down to you. It wasn’t fair. I decided then that it wasn’t worth it, he was going to do whatever he wanted and he could do it. I would still always be his beta, if anything, and he wouldn’t be able to mate with you anyway because I was his.” The strength was back in her voice was back and her face wasn’t blank but it wasn’t angry. She was just… Blake.

“Is that why you didn’t like me at the beginning?”

“No, you were just a little cunt and I didn’t have the patience for it back then.” She smirked and looked at me, but then her eyes glazed over.

“When we left… When I saw what happened to you because of him, it was kind of the last straw for me. He’d fought Ander for you, he’d hurt you because he was blinded by his need for you, and we were just kids then. I was happy we were leaving because it meant we were getting as far as we could from you and your influence on him, but I was also livid because we were leaving because of his attraction to you. For months after we left he moped around, looking like a kicked puppy. His father had to beat him into shape, him and I fought. It was nasty. That sealed it for me. He wasn’t mine, and he probably would never and will never be mine.” I stayed quiet, watching as she went from defeated to strong within a couple seconds.

“I’m mated now.” I whispered to her and she seemed to snap back. Her eyes settled on mine, the beast no longer there, and she cocked her head.

“His beast isn’t blinded by me, he’ll see you. It doesn’t matter if you don’t tell him, Blake, he’ll find out.” We stayed like that in silence before she stood up and shook her head, reaching her hand out to help me out.

“Like you said, Luna, he’s stupid and he’s always been stupid. I might go my whole life standing right underneath his nose and he’ll never even notice.” She said with extreme confidence. I didn’t have the heart to tell her she was wrong so I simply nodded and walked with her to the training rooms.

 

                Training went on, even though tensions were high and that led to everyone being on edge but we made it through. It was almost over when the inevitable happened and someone was shot that couldn’t handle it. A cry reverberated through the room and all the victors looked over to see a bear shrinking down around her stomach and her body twitching. I counted my lucky stars that it wasn’t one of mine and continued helping the wolf that asked for my help aiming. I heard Ursula soothing the sow and lifting her up, I hadn’t accounted for the low threatening growl that seemed to spread and saturate the room.

“And what do you think you’re doing?” I heard Urse ask, not at all sounding angry but more amused.

“Put her down.” The southern twang making me turn around, gripping the wolf’s hand so he wouldn’t do anything stupid while I wasn’t looking.

“She needs medical attention, vozlyublennaya, and she can’t walk. Now, if you’d back down so I can help your mate.” The male narrowed his eyes and spread his legs for a more stable stance in front of Ursula. I felt and saw her bristle, the animal side of her not wanting to be questioned by someone lesser.

“Would you like to take her, mind you she’s kicking off wicked waves right now I don’t know if you’ll be able to handle it.” Urse leaned forward, poking the shaking girl out towards her mate. Her brown hair was masking her face but I could tell it would be pale and sweaty, she smelled like she was in a lot of pain so whoever had a mis-shot must’ve had the setting on entirely too high. Looking around I found the guilty looking one and walked over to him and took the gun away, glaring only slightly at him before clicking the safety and walked to Ursula.

“He had it on fifty.” Ursula looked to me then, the teasing in her face gone as she looked up and above me throwing a nasty look to the boy before looking down at the girl who’s heart was beating entirely too fast.

“Take care of him, will you?” I nodded and she zipped to the infirmary to take care of a girl who was entirely too close to death. The bear snarled  and stepped closer to me, I held my hands up high but stood my ground.

“If you want her, go to the infirmary. There’s no reason that we should fight to hinder you from your girl.” He chuffed and my hair flew back but I looked him in his eyes. I saw the battle there, the need to not be disrespected and also the need to go to his mate was strong and it was tearing him apart.

“I’m not gonna yield to you, couldn’t even if I wanted to. So just go to her, quick.” Something in my voice gave away her condtion and his face looked heartbroken and he broke away from the confrontation, racing to the infirmary. I felt sad for him, but I couldn’t end training.

“The setting is five, we aren’t trying to hurt each other. That girl is strong and it’s the only reason she’s still alive. Anyone who has the setting too high, fix it now. Carry on.” And with that, I continued to oversee training while my mind wondered to the girl with brown hair.

 

                Everybody was terse throughout training, but they were right to be so I didn’t care much. Life went on underground. The victors worked on knocking down the towers from down here, while training as many shifters as we all could. The number of able-bodied fighters were low, and each day they continued to dwindle. Shifters were getting pregnant, and I couldn’t allow pregnant people to fight. They’d be injured beyond repair, and would be grouped in with the elderly and the pregnant. Wiping my face I dipped back under the water and refused to think about what would happen to those that could fight. When I came back up I realized there was somebody behind me, and I turned to see Cara standing up with her hands behind her back.

“Is there something you needed that couldn’t wait until I was done bathing?” I tried to keep the edge out of my voice, but I was finding that more difficult to do as the days counted down.

“I have to tell you something, that I probably shouldn’t tell you. It doesn’t affect anything, anyway, but I just figured since you’re my sister you should at least know.” My eyes narrowed but she met my gaze head on. She’d been an alpha since she was 14, and she’d been one of two siblings that could meet my gaze head on for a long period of time.

“What is it Cara?” I ran my fingers through my hair to move it from my face and walked to the edge of the pool and put my elbows on the edge and looked up at her.

“I’m pregnant.” I stared at her for a little bit and licked my aching fang that wanted desperately to sink into her for being so stupid.

“Does mom know?”

“No, do you think she would’ve let me come alone to talk to you if she knew?”

“Why wouldn’t she have let you come?”

“I saw you lick your fang and I can see them growing in your mouth. The only thing stopping you from killing me is the fact that I’m your sister and you know I would haunt your ass.” She crossed her arms and started to tap her foot impatiently as if she was waiting for me to get over with it.

“How far along are you, Cara?”

“Two weeks.”

“JJ’s an alpha.”

“Yes.” I didn’t much like her tone, but I would let it slide because she was pregnant and my sister.

“Does JJ even know?”

“Again, do you think I would be here alone if anybody knew?” I nodded and slowly pulled myself out of the warm water. I passed her and walked to my towel, drying myself before steeping into clothes. She stood there the whole time, watching me and making impatient little sighs as she waited for me to do something erratic. Well then, give her something erratic my wolf growled. I walked out of the community bath, knowing she’d follow me. I wasn’t dangerously angry, nothing that would set off any alarms but more of a calm sister rage. I knew where JJ would be, because it was where he always was, in training trying to be stronger and better. I walked into one of the trainining rooms that I knew he favored and wasn’t shocked to see him here with Jesse, Anna, Alissa, and Isaac.

“Luna, what are you doing?” Cara said, her heart rate speeding up and fear spiking up. I didn’t answer, just kept on my war path to my brother-in-law.

“Luna take it out on me, you were supposed to take it on me!” She whisper yelled, running to be by my side before jumping in front of me. I stared at her for a little while and blinked once before giving a short nod and stepping around her.

“Luna!” She whispered as I stepped right behind JJ.

“Oh, hey Luna! How was your bath?” Alissa asked, her arms crossed and her eyes amused at my wet hair and damp clothing. JJ turned around and looked down at me with confusion in his eyes. I smiled politely and punched him in the nose making him stumble back and blood squirt out on my hand.

“You decide to knock up my baby sister-“

“I’m seventeen!”

“And have the nerve to not even notice?” My voice was deceptively calm and the small was still in place.

“What?” Jesse growled, kicking himself from off the ground and practically flying to where JJ stood. Blood was trailing down his nose but he didn’t seem to notice as he looked past me.

“What?” He whispered, sounding broken and…weak. With a growl I moved to punch him but Jesse did it for me, knocking him in the side of his head and standing over JJ’s fallen form.

“Stop it!” Cara squeaked, also sounding weak and had she not been my sister… and maybe also pregnant I would’ve slapped her. She moved to run to him, but Alissa moved fast and blocked her from going to her mate.

“She’s my sister, you dickhead!” Jesse kicked him in his stomach, growling heavily with the movement.

“He’s my mate, stop it Jesse!” Cara was starting to fight against Alissa and I knew she wouldn’t be happy about it, but honestly I didn’t care.

“I could deal with you knocking her up in any other case, JJ. Don’t take this as anger for getting her pregnant because I don’t envy you, my mom was a bitch when she was pregnant and I don’t doubt that Cara will be any different. But the fact that you didn’t notice? C’mon man, I trained you to be keener than that.” With that Jesse stopped hitting him and went back to sit next to Anna who sent pity looks to JJ.

“She’s not fighting, neither are you. I hope you’re happy.” Alissa let go of Cara and I turned to walk away when a fire sword was held at my neck, it’s flame burning my skin slightly but I didn’t really feel it. Cara held it with unwavering confidence and strength, her eyes strong and her body set.

“That’s bullshit if you think I’m not fighting.” JJ growled under his breath at her, but remained on the floor holding his ribs and stomach. I met her gaze head on while calling my element to me in two kitana swords.

“When your stomach gets hit, you’re out. If you pin me and manage to cut through skin, you and your mate can fight.” She nodded and stepped back, ignoring the glares I’m sure everybody was sending her way. Using magick I put up a barrier between us and them so there would be no interference but they could still see and it was still fair. She steadied herself and aimed her sword at me. With the slightest of nods towards each other we ran towards each other. I slid low, aiming for her legs, and she jumped over me trying to grab at my hair. With a quick twist I turned around and picked my self up, plucking her from the air and throwing her to the ground. She curled up slightly, one of her hands going to her stomach, but the hand with the sword slashed at me and I backed away slightly which gave her enough time to get up and back away from me. I smirked at her as she glared at me. She made her long sword into two short swords. I furrowed my brow internally, something’s off my wolf whispered to me.  Without warning she threw her swords at me, twisting and jumping in the air to throw one low and one high. I easily dodged them and growled at her. She ran at me and I simply waited, my kitana ready for anything. Using some of her magick, which they all gasped at and I growled out, she made herself invisible and left me pissed off and slightly scared.

 

~10 years ago~

“I can do what you can do.” Her voice scared me, I hadn’t gotten used to it yet. It had only been a month after the whole Terrance incident and we’d stayed inside and away from the media and, somehow, the cops. She’d snuck into my room which was scary in its own way but her voice, which had gone raspy due to the injury she’d suffered to her vocal chords at the hand of him struck more fear into me. I turned to look back at her and she stood there, smiling brighter than she had been in a while, with her hands tucked behind her back.

“And what is that, Cara? Turn into a wolf? Because, spoiler alert, you’re not the only one.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes at me and sat on my bed.

“Is it your element? Because, again, spoiler alert you’re not the only one.” She narrowed her eyes and used magick, something none of my other siblings had, to turn herself fully invisible. Supreme fully. I couldn’t even smell her anymore. I stood up and narrowed my eyes at the spot where she was and used my magick to try and see her. She was fully cloaked. She made herself appear again and smiled cockily up at me.

“Now… am I the only one who can do that?”

 

~Now~

 

With a small battle cry she made herself and her elemental war hammer visible again and she was above me. With a strength I should’ve expected she slammed her hammer into the side of my face, making me fly a good distance away from where I was. She walked to where I was and switched out her hammer with a small hunters knife and made a small slice on my leg.

“I’m fighting.” She didn’t even sound winded and a small part of me was pissed about that. With a glare I spit out the three teeth she’d gotten loose and worked out my jaw.

“Did you have to aim for my face though? Or did you wanna be a special breed of bitch this evening?”

“You slammed me on my stomach.” She said simply and kicked me in the back of my leg before walking back towards her mate. He stood up and I dropped the barrier. Setting my pride aside I stood up and stretched out my jaw again.

“Cara?” She turned around, looking ready to block any low blow that was coming her way. I walked to her and watched as everybody held their breath and how close she looked to just shifting and running away. I hugged her close to me and kissed her cheek, laughing softly.

“You’re gonna be a mom!” She laughed a little and hugged me back, her body sagging with relief.

“I know right?! It’s absolutely insane.”

“Have you told mom yet?” She backed off slightly, holding me at arms length with a soft smile on her face.

“I had to get over the tough part. I have no doubt in my mind she’s already aware with that keen nose of hers, and she’s probably already got name suggestions.” I winced at the truth and laughed with my baby sister before looking over her head.

“Your mate’s livid. I can’t tell if it’s because you didn’t tell him, because he took a beating for something he didn’t know about, or because you’re fighting.” Her face glazed over before she rolled her eyes.

“It’s all of the above. I’ll see you later, Luna. I’ve got an alpha mate to assuage.” She walked pass me, keeping her head high as she walked to the exit. With a lethal growl JJ went after her, nobody stepping in to stop him.

“You punched him pretty hard, Luna.” Isaac said, looking after the pair. I shrugged and stretched out, yawning big and wide.

“He knocked up my sister. I think it was a pretty fair trade off.” I sent him a pointed look before looking quickly to Alissa who looked deadly. I held my hands up in surrender and turned, beginning to walk away.

“It was fair!” Was all I said before I went off towards my room, suddenly desperately needing sleep.

 

Chapter 34

 

With a small groan I flopped down on my bed and stuffed my nose into Ander’s pillow. I had no idea where he was, but that had been happening more and more since we’d been officially mated. We could keep tabs on each other without having to go into the link, we could feel when we were near each other and when the distance was insufferable. And, currently, he was nearby but not too close. He was probably getting something to eat before he settled in for the night, which actually sounded like a great idea. I pushed myself up into a sitting position and sighed, staring down at my hands. While I was a werewolf and didn’t scar easily, my hands were still rough with damage. They were calloused and looked like they belonged to a middle-aged working man and not to a nineteen year old girl. I rubbed my hands down my face and, for the first time in a long time, let my body slump. My back was no longer rimrod straight and I let out all the air in my lungs only to take a good deep breath.

“Oh shit!” I scrambled out of my bed and ripped off my training clothes before putting on something comfortable and presentable before running to the dining hall. I skidded in, my breathing erratic, and ignored Anna’s glare before I sidled next to Ander who didn’t even look at me; which, admittedly, stung a whole lot.

“Happy Birthday Marie, David, and Maddock! Happy Birthday to you!!” They all finished singing and I watched as the triplets blew out one candle individually for their own cupcakes. I winced when Sarah threw me a glare before going to her children and kissing them on the forehead, each one of them reveling in it. Marie looked at me and stuck her tongue out, David simply smirked, and Maddock just stared at me. I waited for my mom to tell them happy birthday before me and Ander stepped up. I sat down across from them and smiled one of the few genuine smiles I’d smiled in a while. Ander sat down next to me but not as close to me as he would’ve typically sat next to me.

“How’s it feel to be ten? That was a while ago for me.” I asked them, folding my hands and trying not to read to into it.

“Not very different.” Marie Anne said politely, smiling primly and copying my stance. She typically spoke for the three of them, the boys weren’t very vocal.

“Oh, well. I guess that’s normal. Was there anything that you wanted for your tenth birthday?” She was silent for a while and her stare went slightly vacant before they seemed to focus on me again and her cheeks flared red.

“Not really, the cupcakes will be enough in this situation.” I looked to the rest of them then. David was licking the frosting off the cupcake and Maddock was already done with his.

“I guess so… Just remember, if you ever want anything I’ve got access to magick.” I waggled my eyebrows and she giggled while David smiled. Maddock cocked his head and looked around before turning to look at David who looked back at him. His brow furrowed and then they both looked to Marie Anne. Her eyes went blank again and I shifted in my seat, sparing one look at Ander who just watched them with happy curiosity. Her face seemed to scrunch up softly in concentration before it lit up and her eyes focused again.

“We want a day outside!” She said excitedly, then they all looked at me. My heart dropped and I heard Sarah take a sharp breath through her teeth before she made her way over to us. I could feel Ander’s unhappiness and the hint of anger and it ate at me. I held my hand up and all movement stopped, even Sarah halted in her war path to us. They weren’t like me and Ander and most of our siblings. They weren’t going to be involved in this war, and were not children of war. They would never understand what this war was for because I’d made it my job to leave that unknown to them.

“Do you? Do you want a summer or spring day? In a field or in the forest?” Their happiness permeated the air, but was quickly tainted with the anger of the adults. Sarah resumed her path and stood behind her children, bringing them together and shielding them with her hands.

“What kind of bullshit is that Luna? Teasing them with that?” She growled at me, her wolf coming to the surface and her eyes burning into me.

“But mom we want a spring day! And it can be anywhere, we don’t mind. Anywhere but here!” Marie kept her eyes on me the whole time and they seemed to shine so bright. I looked to David and Maddock and saw the hope and happiness that was shining in their eyes. With a nod I stood up and winked at them before leaving the room. I could smell the disappointment and anger and heard Sarah’s snarl and knew I was in deep shit.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Ander growled at me through the link and I took a deep breath before running to the main training room. Nobody came after me, which I was slightly expecting to happen, but all the people that was in the training room did look at me funny. I went to stand in the middle and opened every link I had to the people down here, but focusing mainly on the children. I hadn’t been so open since I was younger and didn’t know how to close myself off properly. I closed my eyes and sat down, feeling the lines and grabbing them all and tugging hard. The wolves that were in children weren’t really there, it was sort of the essence of the wolf. I would need to pull really hard for them to notice, and that’s what I set about doing. They all noticed and I could hear and feel their confusion but I couldn’t think about that.

“Come to the big room.” I whispered through the link and pulled back quickly.

“Bring all the children to me.” I said through the victor link and knew they would do what I wanted them to do.

“Leave.” I said aloud to the few people there and didn’t close my eyes again until I’d seen them leave. With a deep breath I closed my eyes and let my magick out. I let my mind wander and let my magick create what I saw in my mind, some place where they could run and feel the air and the sun and wouldn’t be reminded of the hole we’d been put in. I could smell the fresh air and the water and the grass. The subtle smell of dirt caressed my nose but it wasn’t stagnant; it wasn’t tainted. The flowers were in full bloom, and I knew they would always be in full bloom in this place. I opened my eyes and saw the Garden of Eternal and smiled softly. I stood up and stretched out my body and walked on the grass, enjoying the soft tickle. I heard squeals of joy and turned around to see wolf pups running in and rolling around in the grass. From another entrance the bear and tiger pups came running through, essentially doing the same.

“Bring the triplets.” Was all I said to Ander, my feelings still slightly hurt form him snapping at me. I knew he would comply though, by now everyone would’ve smelled the difference. I watched as the triplets ran in, joy and utter awe brightened their face and David ran in, shifting to his wolf in the middle of it and rubbing against the grass. Marie Anne put her hand over her mouth before looking up at her brother and pointing to everything she saw. The biggest smile graced Ander’s face as he listened to her and watched as she pointed to everything. She gripped his hand and ran to one of the bigger boulders and he let her drag him. Maddock stood there, shock evident on his face. I walked to him, fighting off tears, and got on my knees in front of him making him slightly taller than me.

“Do you like it?” My voice was so soft and scared and low, but he heard me. He heard everything. He blinked before looking at me, blue eyes like his brothers pinned me to where I was and he cocked his head slowly. I waited patiently, needing to know I’d done something right. He slowly smiled and nodded, his arms spread wide and he hugged me to him. Sarah walked slowly behind him and stopped in her tracks. Tears flowed freely down my face and I didn’t bother to hide them. My arms slowly came up and hugged him back gently, scared to scare him off.

“Thank you.” He whispered softly in my ear and I froze before hugging him tighter. Sarah fell to her knees and I watched as she became an emotional wreck. He let go of me and I returned the favor, loosening my grip that had to be killer at that point. He leaned back and wiped the tears from my face.

“Don’t cry. Thank you.” His voice was rough, but it was there. With a sniff I nodded and smiled. He stepped away from me and changed into his wolf, running to go play with his brother. I watched for a little while before looking to Sarah.

“Those are the first words he’s said since he was five. He said ‘Mommy, I love you’. Goddess knows how long it took him to try and get that out.” Was all she could say. She watched her son for a little while longer before standing up and wiping her face off too.

“Thank you, Luna. Honestly.” She put her hand on my shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze. I nodded and rubbed her hand once before turning and watching her go play with her boys.

                Maddock had been born Lupine, which was a rare occurrence in the werewolf world but when it did happen it wasn’t that big of a deal. He had to be cut from her, because when he was in the womb he shifted in to his wolf. It was a disease that caused a shifter to be more wolf than human. In the past, shifters that were born Lupine had to stay away from civilization and raised in heavily wooded areas. However, since we were out we couldn’t shelter him. He’d had countless human doctors poking and prodding at him, collecting things for science and I’d allowed it because it was meant to be. When he’d finally finished being poked and prodded at they couldn’t provide any further intel other than he would always be Lupine and he wouldn’t be able to function like a regular shifter. Words, human expression, and contact were hard for him to grasp. But over the years he’d managed to grasp human contact, that hug was proof of that. It took him a couple of years to nail basic words like ‘mom’, ‘dad’, ‘wolf’, and ‘pack’. I folded my arms and cocked my hip against the entrance of the cave, watching as everyone had fun. I heard Vixie saddle up next to me but didn’t look at her.

“This is nice.” Was all she said before walking in and looking around. I bit my lip and watched as she watched everyone play happily. She had been robbed of her childhood, and I just needed her to at least enjoy it. She didn’t look that impressed with the surrounding and then suddenly everything changed. Her face split into the biggest smile I’d seen on her face in a while and she did a cartwheel before laughing and doing two more. Louie ran in, his polar bear fluffy and a bright white, to go directly to her and tackle her to the ground. Her laughter and his soft roars mingled with the rest of the sounds in the air and I knew that tonight I would be able to sleep easy.

 

                He curled up behind me, surrounding me with his scent and enveloping me so tightly I was afraid I’d drown in him. It wasn’t a death I’d mind though. He nuzzled his nose into my neck and took a deep warm breath.

“I’m sorry I forgot. I came back from training and was exhausted, but I went as soon as-“ His hands tightened on my waist and he turned me around, his lips slamming into mine and demanding entrance. I shuddered as I gave it to him and wrapped my entire body around his. It was a while before we broke apart and when we did our breathing filled the room.

“Thank you for remembering. I knew you were busy and tired, but you still managed to come. I’m sorry for snapping at you, I should’ve known you wouldn’t do something so invasive and cruel to the triplets it’s just… Maddock gets easily excited and when he’s like that… It just would’ve sucked if you hadn’t done what you’d done but got his hopes up so high.” There was pain in his face and in his voice that he was trying to mask, and seeing it broke me. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and brought his head close to my chest, taking a deep breath. I felt his body slowly relax in my arms and I felt his shoulders begin to shake as he sobbed into my shirt. I said nothing and did nothing, only held him and breathed and, in that moment, it was enough.

 

                In the morning I woke up to find the little ones and their parents snuggled up on the grass and sleeping. I sighed deeply and went about gently waking them up, knowing the little ones to get a little too rowdy if woken up aggressively. They all got up and their parents threw sad, apologizing looks at me while they picked up their young and took them to their respective rooms. With more sadness than I thought I would have and a wave of my hand the training room returned to being exactly that. The rest of the victors came in and looked at the room and I could see the sadness and slight anger that was there. It was fair. It was a shit hand we were dealt, but we couldn’t fold.

“It’s time for intensive training. Call them to separate rooms. Good luck.” Was all I said. Before going off to the wolf intensive training area. Slowly they came to me looking thoroughly confused, but prepared for anything. Good, my wolf whispered softly as I folded my arms behind my back and stood firmly. I waited until they were all there and didn’t think too much about how little there were.

“Today you being intensive training. You will be reporting here for daily training three times a day for three hours at a time. After each session you are to check in with me, either mentally through the established link or personally, with your hours and progress. These rooms were designed by the gods, and are simulated through a link I will give you directly to Lupa. In the link your body will be transported to Eternal, where your individual training room will be. The room will give you the results and I expect you to report those back to me truthfully and in a timely manner. Any questions?”

“Any questions? You’re just handing us off to the Gods now?” Some male said, his anger sparking off everyone else’s.

“I’m not handing you off to anyone. I’m sending you on your way to training. This is crunch time and there’s only one of me and about a couple thousand of you. Mathematically, logically, and in every way you could think of that just doesn’t work. Any other questions that won’t earn you extra training time?” They all stayed quiet and I nodded before opening the link and extending it to them.

“You now have a direct line to your own training room, because that is the way you’ll be on the field. Yes, we’ll be there with you but no one’s job is to protect anyone but themselves. In these training rooms you can’t get hurt, but each time you die in the simulation will be recorded and you will have to start over. The more times you die in the simulation the more time you’ll have to spend in your room. The three hours that you spend in there is three hours of successful and efficient time, but if you spend an hour of that time failing and dying then you will be in there for four hours. Does everybody understand?” I heard soft mumbles and mutters and nodded.

“When trying to gain access to these rooms, you must simply open the link on your end. Good luck, and remember to make those hours as efficient and successful as possible.” With that and a wave of my hand they all went to their training rooms and I took a deep breath. It would either be easier or harder from here, it all depended on how much they’d managed to retain from training and how much they were utilizing.

 

                We checked the guns and protective wear while they were gone, making sure they weren’t defective and were as strong as we needed them to be. Which proved to be extremely fun, especially when I was able to shoot Shay as many times as needed.

“It’s for science!”

“Yer a right cunt, ye know that!?” His voice got deeper and pulled more on his brogue when he was angry, and electrocuted.

“I said it’s for science, now stand still!” I giggled as I mock aimed at him. The glare he threw at me would’ve stopped me in my tracks, had it been serious. Instead it only made me giggle more intensely until Ursula shot me in the butt. I was getting ready to turn on her, once I’d let the electricity run its course since nobody wanted to tell me how to extract it, when Carmen popped up in front of me. With a startled shriek I punched her in the shoulder, narrowing my eyes on her as she gripped it and hissed in pain.

“What’d you do that for?” She grumbled, squeezing and rubbing her bruised shoulder.

“What’d I do that for? What are you doing back here? It’s only been two hours!”

“I finished!” She shrugged and then winced before peeking at her shoulder under her shirt.

“Excuse me?”

“I finished it. My room went white and it said ‘results recorded’ and then I was here and you punched me. Which really hurt, by the way.”

“No, no you don’t understand. The minimum you need to be in there is three hours. The room can’t do that, can’t finish, unless you’ve met that requirement.” She answered with a shrug and I narrowed my eyes, and opened my mouth to say something when I heard Leo roar.

“Dude what the fuck?!” A female lion said, doubled over and clutching her stomach.

“You scared the shit out of me. What’s happening?” His brows furrowed and he looked to me. I was beginning to open my mouth and tell him I had no fucking clue what was happening before two wolves popped in one after the other. Filly sidled next to me, both our mouths agape and both of us equally confused.

“What the-“ Then, one after the other, they all started coming back. They looked as confused as we did, but I was willing to bet that we were, at least, eight times more confused. When a small crowd had gathered of assorted shifters I decided it was time to question them. We’d told them to stay in the big training room until we had figured out what to say to them. I made a beeline towards Carmen and she narrowed her eyes slightly, her body gearing up.

“What… happened?” Was all I could manage to get out and she snorted before rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

“We teleported to the training room and I was alone and suddenly we were in a forest and there were people shooting at me. So I took cover and I realized that I’d gotten a weapon, somehow, and was wearing a shit ton of protective gear.” She shrugged then and stopped talking. I furrowed my brow and cocked my head.

“You- Ok? What happened after that?”

“I did what I was trained to do, what we’ve spent the past five months learning.” She made it sound so simple. Sighing I opened her training information and took in a sharp breath.

“In an hour and a half you managed to take down a highly trained tactical squad. That’s 50-100 highly trained, highly dangerous humans, armed to the teeth with heavy artillery humans.” I opened my eyes and her cheeks were slightly pink.

“Let’s just say humans and I, never mind my wolf, don’t get along. I get a little nasty around them.”

“A little nasty? The bots were torn apart by hand-“

“I ran out of bullets.”

“Choked-“

“Couldn’t get to them all by hand.”

“And pummeled under the earth.”

“Now see, I was using too much of my energy fighting with air so I just took the rest of them out in one fell swoop.” I stared in admiration until she squirmed slightly.

“You didn’t even retain any injuries. Your gear doesn’t show any sign of harm.”

“I only let myself get hit during training because I feel bad. The others try so hard, so I typically let them get one or two lands on me.” My mouth dropped open and I leaned against one of the boulders near me.

“So you’re telling me… that you’re some sort of super soldier and you’ve just been playing nice down here?” One side of her mouth kicked when I said super soldier and she shrugged.

“I’m here to fight for my freedom, and the freedom of everyone else down here, Luna. So is everybody else. We’ve all got backstories, we’re all fighting for someone or something. We’re all efficient learners. Keep that in mind next time you think we’re all helpless pups.” She watched me intently, her head cocked and a slight amused smile on her face. I was silent for a while before reality hit me and I stood up straight.

“Have you all just been fucking with me? Letting me train you and get all stressed out for literally nothing?” I saw her lips quiver as she tried to hold in her laughter, she even did a small cough. My nostrils flared and I kicked off the boulder and stormed away from her.

“We didn’t do it on purpose! You just looked so happy and cute, maybe even peaceful, when you were training us. We didn’t want to break your little heart!” I flipped her off at the fake sincerity and her laughter while I continued walking out. I met up with Leo who wore the same expression as I and my eye twitched.

“If we didn’t need them all, we could kill them.”

“I mean, who says we need them ALL?” Was all Leo snarled and I could tell he was genuinely angry and suddenly I had an idea.

“Why don’t we see if it was just a fluke with the bots? Go against them ourselves and, if they manage to beat us, then we kill them for wasting our time down here.” I was only slightly kidding, but was serious enough that he heard it and was ready. In an instant Geoffrey was in front of me and looking as alarmed as I was. Leo grabbed him by the scuff of his neck and pulled him closer.

“We’re gonna go play in Eternal for a little while, there might be an issue with the calibration of those bots.” He winked at me before he was gone and I scoffed before teleporting a very shocked, eating Carmen.

“Anything I can do for you?” With an eye roll I grabbed her arm and teleported us to Eternal, entering the training room that Leo had picked on. I wasn’t surprised that it was his own personal one, meaning that they would be trained as hard as we had been. He pushed Geoffrey and I let go of Carmen.

“Survive. Keep yourself alive, and if you think that’s too easy then keep each other alive.” Was all Leo said before putting his hand on the wall and initiating the training.

Chapter 35

 

It got dark suddenly, and there were pine trees everywhere and it was freezing. Without needing anything more from him I scaled a tree, perching on a high branch so I could see everything without. They both looked confused but not as bothered as I imagined Leo would’ve wanted them to be. I felt the tree rustling and, instantly, Leo was next to me glaring at them with his arms crossed.

“Do you really think they can make it through this?”

“I barely make it through sometimes.” Was all he said, in barely a grunt. Rolling my eyes I sighed and watched them. They were equipped with armor and weapons, armed to the teeth and ready. They looked around then at each other and that’s when the shooting started. They ducked quickly, I watched as Geoffrey put up an Earth barrier around them as they crawled to safety. Smart, but taxing. It meant that the humans could follow your movement, but in the heat of the moment it was a good move. Suddenly they stopped moving and in instant the barrier was gone and they were shooting back and running towards the tree line. Carmen took one of the stun bombs and threw it at the humans, they kept shooting and merely picked it up and threw it back. I could almost taste her disgust as she kicked it away from them in any direction and slid into the tree line. I called on my wolf and watched as they ran from tree to tree, getting closer to them.

“What are they doing? Going directly for them? They’ll be expecting that.” Leo spat through the mental link, his body gearing up to run in and save them. I just kept watching, knowing they weren’t stupid enough to be reckless. The bots in this training room were, essentially, ideal human fighters. So, assuming that the humans were well trained and knew what they were doing, they would be able to fight hard. Almost as hard as us. I knew they were tracking Carmen and Geoffrey, and knew whatever plan they had it’d better be good, but I couldn’t interfere. They slowed down and dropped to ground level, before going deeper in the forest. Carmen’s wolf was out and I could smell Geoffrey’s lion, and knew they were acting on animal instinct. They were both predators now, and they knew how to track down powerful prey. The human bots played in, because they were human and had their own tactics; stupid ones, but tactics nonetheless. They aimed in the forest but walked in further, slow and calculated steps were being taken. Carmen cocked her gun and aimed it at them but Geoffrey simply crouched further to the ground, his muscles bunching and ready to attack. They had some link, some sort of connection that was driving them.

                I narrowed my eyes and sat up straighter, noting how well they were working together. One human crossed an invisible mental barrier for Carmen and she shot and continued shooting, hitting each of them with accuracy, until they were all down. She stood up and reloaded her gun, before cocking it and looking at Geoffrey who hadn’t relaxed yet. She closed her eyes and sniffed the air before her eyes shot open. Geoffrey tackled her to the ground as shots whizzed over their head. He growled and aimed at the enemy, still on her. She only hissed slightly and rolled onto her belly, as best as she could, and aimed too. The humans were going to start surrounding them if they didn’t get a hold of the situation. She took out another stun grenade and held it for a while, an alarming amount of time actually, before throwing it to the group in front of them who didn’t have enough time to do anything before it went off. They got up and took to the trees again, different ones that encircled the area they just fled. Slowly the humans that were going to flank them walked into their line of view. I raised a brow in interest to see how they would respond and they did not disappoint. Geoffrey slowly climbed down, making no noise thanks to his cat movements, and flanked them. They continued walking and he took the one at the back and snapped his neck, moving quickly to the closest human and doing the same. They suddenly stopped and Geoffrey stopped too, not fast enough and not nearly quiet enough. They turned around and before they could shoot him and the session restart Carmen launched herself from the tree, punching one in his ear and back handing another one which made them both fly and knocked both unconscious. They were shooting at her, but she wasn’t letting herself get hit. She used her air element to deflect the bullets. When she was ready she aimed her weapon and fired back, dropping the air defense and letting the bullets fly.

                Geoffrey pressed his back to her back and shot at the incoming humans that were running to the sound of danger, while also managing to occasionally use his earth defenses to throw them back or stop them completely. The sound of a sudden helicopter hurt my ears, but I didn’t care. They were magical to watch. My wolf was practically clawing at me to fight with them, but I had resigned myself to only watching. Suddenly the field was full, shifters everywhere and fighting. They were bots of course, designed to simulate the real deal, but that didn’t make watching death any easier. It threw the pair off and they looked to each other before looking around. They saw their family and friends surrounding them, and I felt the strength course through Carmen but also the pure and ramped anger that coursed through her. She looked around, probably looking for us, before she suddenly looked forward. Lilliana had gone down. I saw her body shake and I heard her scream throughout all the noise of battle. Geoffrey turned around at it and surveyed what was wrong with her. She fell to her knees and her gun dropped from her hand. I stood on the branch then, knowing her time was up if she’d dropped her gun. He crouched down and cupped her blank face.

“Listen to me, now is not the time to mourn them. That’s spitting on them and everything we’re working for now, if you give up. Bring out your wolf, and let’s get back to business.” He shook her face a little and I felt the resolve and tremendous power that she brought forward. She would still mourn her now, but she was on the back burner.

“No, no. It needs to be the both of you.” She listened to him, standing side by side with her wolf instead of just letting her wolf handle it. She looked up at the helicopter that was quickly coming toward them, I saw her scowl turn deadly and she looked to Geoffrey then.

“Give me a lift?” He simply nodded and gripped her waist before summoning his earth to him and making pillars of dirt to lift them both up. When they were close enough he leaped into the copter, taking advantage of them not seeing them, and ripped the human that was shooting out while she kicked the other two humans that weren’t flying out the other side.

“You know how to fly?!” She yelled at him, ripping the door to the cockpit off the hinges.

“It shouldn’t be that hard, plus you can just keep us up if I fuck something up!” He grunted as he ripped the pilot out and quickly assumed his seat. I was going to step in and stop them, because we weren’t aiming to kill the humans and a helicopter would ensure that’s what they did, but Leo held out his arm. I watched as they turned the copter around and Carmen aimed at the other helicopters. I knew her ears were probably begging to be ripped off but she still aimed proud and true. She held up an air defense around the helicopter to keep from regular bullets from getting in. If they were to throw a rocket or grenade launcher at the, they would have to jump out but something told me they knew that. I watched as they took down three helicopters before they were launched, but they jumped out Geoffrey protecting himself with earth and Carmen floating down.

“Enough.” Was all Leo whispered and the room became all white and the simulation was ended. They stood there slightly panting and looking at us.

“I didn’t think that was necessary.” She was looking directly at me and I shrugged.

“It’s war. Death is inevitable.”

“You’ve seen what I can do and you think it’s wise to piss me off?” My wolf came to the surface at being disrespected by an omega.

“You haven’t seen what I can do and you think it’s wise to talk shit out of your mouth?” She stood up straight and rolled her shoulders, a small sneer on her mouth.

“I’ve beaten you before.” A soft growl came out of my mouth and Leo put his hand out in front of me.

“Now is not the time. How many of you can actually fight?” They looked at each other and shrugged.

“All of us can fight pretty well, even the pregnant ones. If anything they’re more vicious. I’ve gone against your sister, and she’s a bit of an asshole.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re not as good as us, it takes them a little while to process things in their mind so they don’t move as fast but it’s not fatal. They’re good though, all of them are fighters.”

“How many are as good as you?” They looked at each other again before looking back at us.

“Anyone from the southern ghettos. Most wolves, cats, and birds are pretty good. It’s ‘cuz we’re fast. But the bears and dragons are good too because their hits pack a punch and they tend to analyze things faster. Everything they do is calculated, while what we do is off of instinct.”

“Wouldn’t that make you a liability?”

“Did you not see us out there? What about what we did screamed liability?” Geoffrey scoffed, crossing his gigantic arms and smirking down at me.

“I dunno, Carmen seemed to slip a little bit back there. Had this been real, any human could’ve taken her, or you for that matter, out.” I heard the softest growl emit from Carmen but her head was down, and watched as Geoffrey tensed.

“So you’re telling me if you saw any of your sisters or brothers being cut down in front of you, you would be completely fine?” Was all he said and met my gaze head on. Something stirred inside of me and suddenly I wanted to kill him. I stepped towards him, but Leo put his hand on my shoulder. That only stopped me for a moment, and then Carmen looked up at me; her eyes the milky blue of her wolf. Her eyes settled on mine and stayed there, and at that point the Alpha in me came out.

“Luna, no.” But it was too late, I pulled out my wolf and shrugged away from Leo and stepped to her and met her gaze head on. Her eye twitched and I saw her start to sweat slightly, but I kept my gaze head on and strong.

“You are still omega, girl, I’d remember that if I were you and before I’d start something I wasn’t entirely sure I couldn’t finish. You’re good, but I promise you if I wanted you’d be skinned and suffering before you’d have a chance to blink.” I looked to Geoffrey and he had the good sense to look down and away from my gaze.

“Now, it’s obvious that y’all are skilled and that’s good but this was the ideal situation. We don’t know where the actual war is going to be, so we have to practice with everything and we’ve got a little over a week. Report that to your friends, spread word.” I grabbed her by the nape of her neck, only feeling slightly bad when she cringed instinctively, and pushed her into the portal back to the training grounds and watched as Geoffrey practically ran through it too. I stood there, calming my wolf and just breathing for a while before Leo advanced me.

“What was that about?”

“I think it’s the mating, since it’s complete everything is way more powerful and potent.” I shook off the remaining bits of anger and looked to him then and saw what I knew I would see; fear.

“It’s all happening too fast, Luna.” His voice cracked and he fell to the ground, and suddenly Eternal was too quiet. My body moved from memory and I went to him, kneeling in front of him and just waiting. I let him cry it out, I let the boy who always had to be brave be scared. His hands formed fists and he punched the ground while he sobbed out his anger, blood spattering on the pure white only for it to disappear and I think that’s when he genuinely lost it. Lifitng his head up, not scared to show me the tears and the snot, he roared a loud and angry one. I just watched, letting him get out everything he couldn’t get out in the caves.

“It’s too much Luna, there’s too much to take care of.” I bit my lip and nodded solemnly, my hand itching to touch him but I knew that he needed to work through it the best way he could.

“There’s always been too much for us, though, hasn’t there been? I don’t know why I’m always so surprised!” He punched the ground again, fresh tears coming up.

“I’ve lost everything. My parents, my home, my fucking life. All of it. And for what? To just lose more? So that, at the end of this huge fucked up mess, my little sister and brother have to go through it alone? Why set me up to fight so hard for my life and freedom, only to take it all away from me?!” He looked up again, his lion out and eyes angry.

“Why play in this stupid fucking game of cat and mouse, if you’ve already set up an exterminator appointment?!” His scream was loud and it boomed around in my skull, but his words tore through my heart and I reached out then. I cupped his cheek and made him look at me, his lion so scared and so vulnerable.

“Leotis Bloomfield, get your obnoxiously large head from your ass.” He sniffled but couldn’t meet my eyes yet, I watched as fresh tears came from his eyes.

“This is what we do, Leo. This is what we’ve always done, and when this over we’ll probably be apart of the clean up team. It doesn’t matter if we’re up here or down there with them. We have a duty.”

“A burden. What we have is a burden.” He choked out his words and leaned into my hand. Knowing he needed it, I scooted closer to him and let his head rest on my chest.

“This is a happy burden. Just think about it. Them all running around, being free under our agreement. We win, that’s it. The chips are gone, the ghettos are gone. No more suicide rates, no more families being ripped apart. We win, we’re out. And, sure, at the end we won’t be here to enjoy it with them but they’ll live it for us. Think about it: Iona having a litter of her own and Zack being pride leader. Lives that aren’t bothered with meaningless and petty fighting.” At that he snorted and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.

“Have you ever been around lions? We are the textbook definition of petty. And if Iona is anything like my mother was, which she’s shaping out to be, she’s going to be nothing but petty.” I smiled and wiped the tears from his other cheek.

“Think about that. Iona grown up and micromanaging the pride, stepping on Zack’s toes and having little cubs. I know it’s hard but we have to think about the positive, otherwise we’ll get swallowed by the negative.” He was quiet for a while and the tears had stopped flowing, so I knew I’d managed to get through to him. He wiped the rest of his tears and blew a happy breath of relief. With a smirk I got up and wiped imaginary dirt from the seat of my pants before holding my hand out.

“Now come on, we’ve got to come up with a new training plan. I think tomorrow I wanna start the singing trials.” He looked up at me through his mop of blond hair and his eyes turned the red of his victor. I stood very still, knowing he didn’t know that his lion was out. He gripped my hand and pulled himself up, maintaining eye contact with me while keeping my hand in his grasp and it took all my willpower to keep his powerful gaze.

“Thank you.” His voice was so full of emotion, but his fangs weren’t down. He wasn’t feral, which was often what it meant when the victor in us came out, and he was in complete control. His hand came up and I prepared myself for the worst, and wasn’t able to hold in my gasp when he used the back of his fingers to stroke my cheek.

“So soft and so strong.” He sounded almost tormented, but those red eyes kept on gleaming into me.

“What are you doing Leo?” I asked softly, bringing my other hand behind my back and forming a small knife.

“You’ve always been so strong though, haven’t you? Since we were kids. Always.” With a small polite chuckle I tried to back away but his grip on my hand tightened and he seemed to almost pull me closer. With an internal groan I tried to move away again and he growled softly under his breath but his face was still so calm.

“Um, I might need your help guys.” I said through the link and watched as his face morphed.

“What are you doing Luna?”

“Helping your dumbass out, even though I should just handle you myself.” I squeezed onto his hand and expelled us from Eternal, taking us to Filly’s room knowing she’d be able to put an end to this. His hand clutched mine so hard I felt at least two bones break, but I maintained eye contact because I knew I had to. I didn’t know what had triggered his victor to come out, but I knew that I could keep it at bay if I just kept looking at him; I knew that a small piece of Leo would stay with me if I just kept looking for him. Filly sat up on her bed, her hair in a giant mass around her and her eyes alert and confused.

“I think your mate’s angry, and I’ve had enough of being the punching bag between you two.” I said softly, all the while looking at Leo who looked more and more lethal by the second.

“Why do you always misbehave when I’m not around? Honestly, it’s getting hurtful Leon.” She bought out Tabby and stood with her arms crossed and her hip cocked, her hair growing thicker with the arrival of her victor.

“You always come out to stop me from misbehaving, Tabitha, kinda puts a damper on my mood.” He said through grit teeth as his hand squeezed tighter around mine, thoroughly crushing three of my knuckles and almost bringing me to my knees. Almost.

“Why do you always have to go to her? How would your father feel to know you’re even considering consorting with her?” She lifted her nose and if I hadn’t been stuck in the vice of an insane lion I would’ve punched her in it.

“MY father doesn’t care about bloodlines unlike your demented mother. Lions and Wolves have been friendly-“

“Too friendly.”

“Since the beginning.”

“And what of the Hyena? You haven’t befriended him.”

“I did say wolves, didn’t I?” I saw her lips lift in a sneer before she wiped her face and stepped closer to us.

“Why don’t you let your little friend go, then? You’re hurting her, and you know it.” She didn’t sound like she cared, not that I expected her to, but it would’ve been nice.

“It isn’t me, it’s my shifter. He’s terrified, I haven’t the slightest clue why though.” Filly came to the surface quickly before Tabby kicked her to the back. She looked to me and I felt her gaze burn through the side of my head, but I wouldn’t look away. He needed me to stay here.

“Did you bully your way through him? They don’t like that. She’s kicking and screaming around in there, but honestly I couldn’t care less.” He kept his eyes on me and his lip quirked up and slow creeping came up the base of my spine.

“He’s scared.” Was all I said, and I saw something in his eyes that gave everything away.

“He’s scared, but why is he scared? It was just me and him talking, and we… were talking about it.” Realization spread through my entire body and I dropped my elemental weapon and relaxed. I was safe, no matter how hard Leon was trying to tell me otherwise.

“It’s love isn’t it? That’s what makes you come out, that’s why when he fought me earlier with you he was crying. Love runs you as my rage runs Liliana.” The side of his mouth quirked up as Tabby gasped in air.

“Love? Honestly, Leon? How are you a cat? It’s ridiculous.” She rolled her eyes and sounded thoroughly disgusted.

“He’s afraid of losing everything he loves and that triggers you, like how when I get angry and Liliana shines through. You push him to the back and you use your strength to fight, but you’re run by his fear. You mix fear and love, you’ve got a lethal mix.” A full on smile graced his lips and the pressure on my hand lessened as he stood to his full height.

“Leon?” Tabby said softly, her voice slightly squeaky, as she walked toward us. I looked to her then, knowing that everything would be over soon, and sneered.

“You’re not needed anymore, sweetheart, I’m safe.” Her eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth to say something snotty and, probably, rude, before her body went still and Filly surged forward. She clutched her stomach and took several deep breaths.

“Good goddess that cat is irritating as all hell.” Leon looked to her then and she looked to him. She dropped her hands to her sides and stood as tall as she could, still coming up slightly short on him but still taller than me, and held her chin high. I could see that he was fascinated with her, I could see it in the depths of eyes that were so similar to Leo’s, but she couldn’t and never did see that. She mistook his interest with distaste and his curiosity with disdain, and because of that he never could get too close to her.

“Shouldn’t you be gone too? I think that, as far as all of us are concerned, you’ve done enough.” There was disgust in her voice that I could tell hurt him. He clenched my hand again and I let myself hiss out air, deciding that I’d had enough of the awful RomCom deal they had going on. She looked to me then and looked back to him who simply raised a brow, trying his hardest to feign ignorance but his clenched jaw and terse eyes proved otherwise.

“Let go of her, Leon. This whole thing is getting a little annoying.” I inwardly rolled my eyes as if she had any right to talk as if she’d gotten most of the bones in her hands broken.

“And if I don’t want to? If I quite like holding her hand?” I saw annoyance flash across her face and knew it would only fuel him to continue.

“That’s not holding her hand, that’s holding her hostage. She’s got a mate, a powerful one at that.” His head cocked to the side slowly and he looked at her.

“You know he can’t beat me, especially the me that I am now. She could barely beat me at her best.” My brow furrowed and I growled low under my throat.

“I’ve already hurt you once Leon, and I’ve kept a good hold on my temper. I’d hate for that to slip.” He chuckled darkly under his breath and otherwise ignored me and kept staring at her.

“Why bring up her mate if you know he couldn’t take me on right now?” His voice was deeper and I saw the effect it had on her.

“You can’t have her. So stop king-konging this, and let her hand go and be a good little cub and rest until you’re called properly.” Before giving any of us a warning he zoomed to her, dragging me with her and popping my shoulder out of the socket and making me genuinely contemplate going full on rage at him.

“I don’t care to be told by a tigress what to do, especially an emotional one who does nothing but string me along.”

“Ok, whoa slow your roll. Back up several steps there partner. I’m not stringing anyone along, not you or Leo. And I am not emotional, you haven’t seen emotional yet.” Her tiger came to the surface and her fangs grew thick in her mouth as brown eyes laced with gold glared up at him. He simply smiled a menacing and slow crawling smile before he leaned down the couple of inches it took for them to be eye to eye.

“I have seen emotional sweetheart, I’ve lived for quite a while and seen females more powerful and more competent than you threaten me. It didn’t work.” I tried to warn him, and by that I mean I tried to pry my hand from his fist before I flew with him. I’d pissed off Filly enough to know that she strikes when you think she won’t and I was convinced that only I saw her fist clench; it was because I was the only one who did. Quickly she punched him in his nose, but gripped the back of his head so he couldn’t flee and continued to pound on his face. I was about to pull out my claws to scratch my way out of my imprisonment when he used me, yes actually fucking used me, to whack her off of him. From the sickening bruise that was growing around my wrist, I could tell that it was broken too but since my arm had been dislocated I no longer felt it as intensely as I would’ve. Her body made a scary thud as she was knocked to the side and she looked at him with her mouth open in shock.

“Did you just… use Luna as a weapon?” Using his other hand he reached up and popped his jaw back in before looking at a dangling me.

“You wouldn’t stop hitting me.”

“Let go of Luna, if her mate sees or feels any of the damage she’s going through he will come here and you won’t be safe.”

“Tell me, do I look like a man scared for my safety?” I looked to Filly then and saw she was barely holding herself from shifting and eating him, which is something her mom would’ve been proud of.

“Just let me go Leon, this whole thing is getting old.” He looked to me then and I saw the pain in his eyes and saw he was so close to crying and suddenly it appealed to me.

“Sorry about this, Leo, but you’re too wrapped up in your fear.” Pulling my claws out I brought my wolf to the surface and with a growl scratched him from his abdomen up to his arm, going deep enough that his skin peeled back and blood spurted onto my clothes. He roared then, the heat from his breath blowing my hair, and dropped me but punched me hard in my abdomen which sent me flying into her cave wall and dented it. I whimpered, the impact of the blast had broken most of my ribs and punctured my lung. I was going to choke on my own blood, but he had to see it and come back. I spit up some of the blood and three of my teeth but I couldn’t focus on that. I sent a panicked look to Filly who came to me immediately, cupping the back of my hand.

“Ander!!” She screamed, looking utterly disgusted at Leo but when she looked to me her eyes teared up and they were fear filled. I couldn’t hear very well, my eardrum had probably been exploded on my left ear but I could hear normaly in my right one and heard him coming along with half my family. Ander slid in and I looked up at him before coughing up more blood and wheezing gently. His eyes turned green and he looked to Leon who stood there completely still with blood still running down his body. Jesse ran to in and kneeled next to me, holding my hand and searching my face. I groaned gently as I turned my head to look at him, counting on Filly to keep my head up. I opened my mouth and felt my lip quiver and knew it wouldn’t be long before I blacked out.

“Don’t…. let…” Was all I could groan out and I didn’t want to risk any link to set any wolf off. His eyes searched mine and Alissa ran in before stopping behind him and putting her hand over her mouth and falling next to him.

“We have to help her!” She screamed before grabbing my shirt and lifting it up to see what I could imagine was a nasty bruise. I could feel my nose start to bleed and I looked to her. I shook my head gently, hissing through my remaining teeth when the pain shocked my spine and I almost, stupidly, arched my back. I looked to Filly and saw the pain there and the annoyance and the anger, but I saw the ultimate sadness. I looked at my chest the best that I could before looking back up at her and taking a deep wheezing breath. Her eyes lit up and tears flew to her eyes, before she looked to Jesse and then Ander.

“She’s choking on her own blood, I think her ribs punctured her lungs. I’ve got to get it out, but it’ll hurt her really bad. Our bones are really thick when it comes to penetrating them, it’s going to catalyze him. I need one of you to protect Leo.” Her voice was shaky and she brought up her other hand and called her magick to her to make a hollow and thick needle.

“Why should I protect him, she’s practically on her deathbed.” Jesse growled, his fist clenched as he kept watching me.

“Because this could get bad really fast.”

“I’d say it’s already pretty fucking bad.” Alissa snarled, her hand shaking while my shirt was in her hand. I kept my eyes on Filly, trying to relay to her that she’d need all the help she could get and that my brother alone would not be enough. She stared at me for a quick second before she looked up.

“Mason, Shay!” She yelled and I sighed in the best way that I could. They would suffice, if my brother helped. Under thirty seconds they were there, but with Mason Libby came along. She put her hand over her mouth and sobbed out before falling to her knees. Alissa dropped my shirt and went to her, holding her and rocking gently.

“What do you need?” Shay asked, looking around but not noticing Ander and Leo in a staring contest.

“When I plunge this into her chest I need you to grab Ander, because he will go for Leo and he’s in his uber wolf stage so that would not be good for either of them.”

“You want me to protect Lord Asshole against an uber wolf? You know those bastards are mean, right?” Mason growled out but went to stand behind Ander regardless. I looked up at him and he grit his teeth as he saw what I’m sure looked horrendous. Filly looked at me and gripped the needle tight in her hand.

“I need you to focus on me, because this is going to hurt but I need you to stay conscious. If you slip under, Ander will go insane and I need him to not to kill that son of a bitch because we kind of need him.” I swallowed and hid my wince well but nodded against my body’s wishes. She took a deep breath and gripped the nape of my neck hard, her tigress coming out, and threw her leg over my legs for extra stability.

“I’m sorry.” She lifted her hand and stabbed me between the ribs and directly into my lung. Suddenly I could breathe, but I didn’t care about that. Not being able to control it, I let out a blood curdling scream and arched my back which only made things worse. I felt my ribcage, in its entirety, break and part of my spin crack in half. My body slumped and tears were flowing freely from my eyes, but I couldn’t care and I couldn’t stop screaming. Red clouded my vision, but I wasn’t angry. Slowly my scream died in my throat, but I knew the damage had been done already. I could breathe, but doing so hurt and made me not want to do it.

“Fuck.” Filly hissed, and dragged my body closer to her as she looked at what was a major struggle. Mason had put his arms over Ander’s shoulders, which was sort of difficult because they were the same height, and Shay had childishly settled around Ander’s legs. My brother had gripped one of Ander’s arms and was trying to talk some sense into him. I couldn’t hear it though, blood was rushing through my ears as my body tried its hardest to heal. I felt entirely too cold, and I could only assume it was because I was losing too much blood too fast, and the more my body tried to heal the more blood I lost. I looked to the side and saw Alissa holding Libby back from touching me, which I appreciated. Filly’s touch hurt enough as it was, I didn’t need anybody clutching me as hard as Libby would.

“Luna.” I heard my mother whisper to me, and suddenly she was above me. Her face was clear from all emotion, but I watched as she kneeled next to me with pain filled dark eyes.

“My strong little baby girl, what happened?” Her voice was so soft, a whisper touch to my ears. I smiled weakly, even though tears kept falling, and shook my head. She huffed out one puff of laughter before her warm hand came up and wiped hair from my sweaty head and stroked my teary cheek.

“You’re gonna be fine, I promise.” She said softly and one tear fell, but that’s all she allowed. I looked her directly in her eyes, for once not scared to, and shook my head before my heart squeezed painfully. My body bowed again and I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out. With a howl Ander turned into his uber wolf, which left Shay no choice but shift into his Hyena, which was about the same height. He got in front of Ander and coughed out his laughing bark while shaking his head. Jesse shifted and stood beside Shay, his eyes determined and trying their damndest not look at me.

“Luna? Luna!” Filly screamed, but it sounded so soft. With wide eyes I looked at her, my heart still squeezed tight so I couldn’t breathe.

“You need to breathe Luna! For fuck’s sake breathe!” She screamed, tears flowing down her eyes and she lightly shook me. I couldn’t tell her that it hurt so much, but at the same time didn’t hurt at all. I was dying. I looked to my mom and with the last bit of strength I had I closed my eyes and let out a soft keening howl, a mourning howl, and let my body slump and let the air slip from my lungs.

Chapter 36

 

I sucked in as much as air as I could as I shot up, my eyes coming wide open as I blinked the brightness away. 

“You just had to go and kill yourself, didn’t you?” Lupa said agitatedly while she looked down at me. 

“Oh I’m sorry that the stress of war is too much sometimes. And I didn’t kill myself. If you’d been paying attention, I was brutally murdered. You could’ve taken me out of my misery at any point, y’know?” I said getting up and crossing my arms over my bare chest and glaring at her. We stayed glaring at each other, our scowls getting worse by the second, for a solid minute before she rolled her eyes, turned her back to me, and walked away. Rolling my own eyes so far back I was sure I’d seen the front of my brain I followed after her, wanting so badly to stomp down on her stupid dress trail. But that would be heresy and I needed her to bring my back to life before I started doing stupid things. Slowly, as we walked, the white world of Eternal seemed to blend into the muted colors of the forest I missed and the ones that dominated Lupa’s domain of Eternal. We walked into a clearing and I could hear the running water that I had gotten entirely too used to for it to be normal. She walked to the shore of the lake and hiked up her skirt before she sat down, plunging her feet and legs into the cool water. I stayed standing behind her, knowing this was her domain and if I were to directly disrespect her here there would be royal hell to pay and I was strapped on cash. With a deep sigh she spread open her arms and her dress seemed to melt off of her until she was left naked, the only thing shielding me from her completely naked body was her long black hair.  

“I don’t understand why you’ve always been so difficult, I think I’ve been nothing but accommodating. You could’ve had Felis as a goddess. I think you got off well with me. I’m much more lenient than my sisters and brothers.” She peeked over her shoulder at me and in her silver eyes I saw honesty. This was the only time it was ever there, though. Only when she was here, in the heart of her domain where nobody could get to her easily. 

“Just because you’re more lenient, does not make you better. It just means I can get away with a lot more stuff, for better or worse.” I stepped closer to her so I could look at her better. 

“I understand it isn’t easy, Luna dear, but it’s life. Just because we hand chose you, doesn’t mean your life will be better or even easier.” 

“That’s the understatement of the century.” Lupa snorted then and smiled a small, but still brilliant, smile at me. 

“No, the understatement of the century is back when Belbus said that Bercelack had a bit of a temper after he’d set him on fire.” The side of my mouth kicked up, against my will I might add, and she smiled wider beofer she turned back around to face the lake. 

“I am sorry, though, that you’ve had to live this life. It’s not easy, this life you’ve been given.” 

“I’ll say.” I sighed out before finally standing next to her and sitting down beside her, my feet and hers next to each other. 

“How many times have you died Luna? How many times have you felt the cold of the lake on your skin?” Her voice had taken on something else, something dark. Something sad. 

“Three.” Was all my lips, which seemed chapped, could say. 

“Once, when you were a baby and you didn’t know what was happening. You just got too sick, and then your heart gave out. Then, on your first trip to the White House as a representative for the wolf and human shifter alliance and an assassasin hired by the government shot you four times in your head and chest. And now.” She had folded her hands on her lap, feigning calm. 

“And now, after having brought Leo to his sense before his grief consumed him making him useless for the war.” I finished for her, staring out into the soothing water. 

“Yes. And now.” We were silent for a while then, no words worthy enough  to ruin this sovereign moment. 

“Your mother is skirting on the edge. She’s not sure how much more she, or your family, can take before the war ruins it all.” 

“Well, she’s not the only one.” I said, meaning for it to be under my breath but in that moment nothing couldn’t be said. 

“My Lily, she thinks that you can handle this. That your family, when this is over and what is left, can and will go on. I’ve always trusted her, she’s got that logic and reasoning that I try to have. I trust her, but it seems now she’s blinded by you.” I waited for her to finish her thought, but she seemed to be lost in them. I took a deep breath and looked to her then, and realized that I never really did look at her. I was never enraptured with her like every other wolf was, she was just my supervisor and I’d written her off. But now. Now that I’d looked at her, she was beautiful. Her nose was soft and small, her eyes the softest gray and seemed to shine brightly like the moon.  Her lips were pouty and full, and freckles were smattered like dirt over her face. Her hair was black, super black, but through it ran the brown, red, and silver of the wolves she gave life to. She was beautiful. 

“Mother Moon?” She looked to me then, her eyes wide with the shock that I talked directly to her. Her eyes searched mine, and for once in my life I wondered what she thought of me. 

“I can promise you that the Green family will survive this. That I will survive this. When Lily chose me, she saw something and when you looked me over you had to have seen something too. Trust that. Trust me. I will not let you down.” My hand reached down and cupped her hand and she squeezed my fingers softly in her soft and large hand. She smiled a soft, motherly smile, and cocked her head slowly to the side.  

“I believe you, LunaRosa. I always have. You are significantly strong. I wish your life didn’t have to be like this. Victor or not, you shouldn’t have to live like this. But, you know that I couldn’t meddle the lines even if I wanted to.” 

“The lines have never seen to be in my favor, I don’t blame anybody. Even though it expressly feels like I’m blaming you. I don’t mean to, it’s just hard not to blame somebody when my whole life has seemed to be some sort of experiment for Fate to fuck around with.” She scoffed and rolled her eyes, as her relationship with Fate was rocky at best. The only reason Fate was one of her consorts was because Mother Moon cared about her wolves and wanted them to have mates. 

“When I decided to become involved closely with fate, I knew that meant that they and I were going to have rocky lives at best. It was the best thing for them, though. I didn’t have anybody telling me how to be a proper goddess or even helping me out. All of us were thrown into the deep end, and Gaia couldn’t help us. None of us knew what to do, but I knew that I never wanted them to be alone. I wanted them to have a mate, and have that guaranteed, to share their days with. Fate took it upon herself to stay in your lives, and mine for that matter, simply because she wanted to.” She scoffed and rolled her eyes before looking out at the lake, her silver eyes shining brightly in their light. We were quiet for a while then, but it wasn’t like it usually was in its uncomfort. It was pleasant. She took a big breath, a clearing one, and the forest around us seemed to take the same breath. 

“I think it’s time I got you healed up so you can go back home.” I said nothing, just watched as she went into the water and her hair followed her. The water came up to just under her breasts, and her hair fanned out around her, creating ink clouds in the clear water. She looked back at me and held out her hand, her lips slightly upturned and her eyes slowly blending into the aged cognac of her wolf. But Mother Moon had a spectacular ability that all the Gods had, she could be both. One of her eyes turned amber while the other stayed the shocking steel gray that seemed to only be unique to her. 

“Come now, my child.” Her voice was low and soft, but was everywhere at the same time. She was talking to every part of me, reaching in and touching all the parts that I was at once and beckoning me to her. I took her hand and settled into the water, it came up a little under my armpit but it wasn’t cold. It was warm and relaxing, designed to swaddle you. She held my hand as we walked further into the lake which stayed at the same level throughout. She softly hummed under her breath before she pulled me in front of her, lovingly looking down at me. My wolf preened at her attention and I sighed softly at the song. She put one of her hands on my forehead and the other on the back of my head, all the while humming, before she gently pushed me under the water. I kept my eyes open the entire time and saw her soft smile and her eyes, so eerily different but so beautiful at the same time. She lifted me up and pushed the red strings of my hair back before tilting my head up. The moon was there, and I wasn’t sure if it’d been there the whole time or if it’d come when I was under. Her humming gradually got louder and the moon got closer, but still looked so far away. Her hand trailed down from my forehead to my chest, resting just above my left breast, where my heart was. It currently wasn’t beating, I was dead in the real world and Eternal reflected that. Suddenly the moon was right behind Mother Moon, large and swollen and so bright. With her hand still on my chest and that small smile still in place on her lips, she lifted her face to the sky and howled loud and fierce; a slow keening cry that called to somewhere deep inside of me. 

                The moon twisted and turned in place, seeming agitated by her cry, before it suddenly stopped and its glow intensified. She went back to looking at me and smiled wider to reveal her fangs, that were bigger than I’d ever seen but they didn’t seem that scary right now. She pressed her hand harder into my chest as her other hand raised and reached behind her to lay her hand on the moon. The glow soaked into her hand and into her body, traveling its way down until it was in her hand that was on my chest. Nothing happened and suddenly everything was quiet, so quiet it hurt my ears. She leaned down until she was eye level with me, taking her hand off the moon and cupping my cheek. 

“Beat again, my daughter.” She whispered to me before kissing my forehead. The world came back then, loud and there, but amongst all the sounds was my heartbeat. I gasped a hard breath and my wolf surged forward at my sudden emotion. Mother Moon chuckled and stood back to her full height, the moon no longer behind her. She dropped her hand from my chest and turned, her hair following her. The water was cold now, freezing in fact, and I hastily followed after her resisting the urge to shudder. She hopped back on the bank and I followed her, but kept my legs out of the icy water. 

“Your mother weeps for you, she does not know this isn’t permanent.” I felt guilty then and looked down. 

“The other two times she wasn’t around. When I was a baby, I’d been with auntie Carrie and she was sleeping. She didn’t know. The second time, my mother just assumed I was badly hurt. Not dead.” 

“Your entire family mourns for you. Your mate is howling to me as we speak.” I focused only on my heartbeat, listening to that instead of the words. I knew why she was telling me this. 

“They must know, Luna. They have to be prepared for when this is entirely permanent.” Anger surged in me, and it returned the heat that I’d lost from being in the lake for so long. 

“They don’t need to know anything. They know that death happens in war-“ 

“They think that you’re immune.” 

“My death will simply be another casualty, one that they will grow used to.” 

“A pack will be left without a complete mating pair, a mother without her child, a wolf without his mate.” 

“It happens all the time!” 

“Not with you, Luna. It doesn’t happen with you.” I was silent then, my rage offering me a something to concentrate on. 

“You know how significant you are to them, but you act as if you’re an average wolf-“ 

“Has it ever occurred to you that, that might be good for me? My life as fucked up as it is, I think I deserve to play pretend for just a little while.” I hated that my voice cracked, but I got the sentence out. 

“I thought you completing the bond was you playing pretend, even though it was reckless.” 

“Reckless?! Weren’t you urging me to mate him!?” 

“When you were younger, not practically on the eve of war.” I was quiet then before I stood up, suddenly too angry for words. I turned and walked away from her. 

“Be angry all you’d like Luna, that doesn’t make what you’re doing any less stupid or dangerous.” With a snarl I shifted into my wolf and ran away from her domain and kept running until I was tired. I caught my breath and shifted back, before taking a calming breath. I closed my eyes and let myself back into my body. 

 

      The transfer wasn’t instant, it was like my soul was being sifted back into my body. I knew that I was back, but I was absolutely freezing. I couldn’t smell or breathe yet, and I certainly couldn’t hear or speak. Something or someone was touching me, I couldn’t exactly tell what but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Suddenly, because I’m sure Mother Moon was acting a bit spiteful that I ran away from her and we didn’t have enough time for me to ease into this, it was like I was forced back into my body. My eyes opened and my chest cleared. I choked on a breath as I sat up, pushing whatever was on me off in my shock. Everything hurt because it was entirely too fast and sudden. I could hear everything and everyone, and feel everything going on around me. I heard a shriek and looked to the sound to see a tigress on the floor crawling backwards away from me, her face stuck in fear. My brows furrowed and I looked down to see a sheet made of pure silk with gold lined through it. Narrowing my eyes I pushed the sheet off and saw the dress that most likely my mother put me in. I lifted my hair and realized it was washed with something fruity smelling. I tapped my head and felt the crown of flowers that they placed on me. I looked down and around me, scoffing at the candles and the earth slab I was laying on. 

“Really? You buried me?” I asked softly, my voice low and gravelly. I stood up, careful not to knock down a candle or disturb anything and pulled my ridiculously long dress down and gathered it into my hands. The tigress stood up and held her fists. 

“I don’t know what you are, but you chose the wrong chick to inhabit. You know how many people are going to knock some sense into you?” She tried to sound tough, but her voice wavered. I rolled my eyes and walked past her, noticing that she scurried away from me. My hair trailed behind me in long waves and continued to walk, going past everyone and their shocked glances. I twisted and turned through the halls, avoiding the training halls on purpose, and going to where they all would be if they’d buried me.    

                It was now a tradition to bury wolves in white and adorn them with lilies and their favorite flowers to pay respect and wish them a pure start when Mother Moon recycled their wolves. The wolf would then be on display for a day or two, Mother Moon keeping them from decaying while people could pay their respects to the person, before that person was to be buried. While the person was on display, their mates and families sort of sat shivah in that they mourned in their house for the first day and the second day they went for a run before burying the wolf and howled to the heavens for them. I’d only been gone for a day, so they’d be in Ander’s room. Ander didn’t feel that I was back yet, the link hadn’t been completely fused back together yet and I knew the victors wouldn’t want to feel for my link and feel what would’ve been death. Taking a deep breath I walked to his room and stopped before just going in and smiled softly at the silence before entering. At first nobody paid attention, all of them looking down or into a vacant space. It broke my heart to see Ander sitting on his bed with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Something told me that was how he stayed since I died. Softly sighing, I cleared my throat and put my hands behind my back. They all looked at me and suddenly they were feral. My eyes widened and I stepped back, bringing my elemental weapon to me and crouching down with a snarl on my lips. 

“Who are you?” Filly growled out, her hair seeming more wild now that her eyes were red and she was rightly pissed off. 

“It’s me, you idiot.” I snarled at her, my eyes flitting to all of them. I watched as they got more stiff and Ander stood up. His eyes slowly lifted and they were such a dark green that they looked almost black. He walked forward slowly, and they parted for him but watched him. If they thought I was possessed I could understand their fear, he would damage my body beyond repair if he thought a demon was inside of me. 

“My mate is dead. And you decide that taking her body from her resting place and coming to us, to me, was a good idea.” His voice sounded so calm as he walked closer to me. I stood from my crouched position and dropped my elemental weapon, looking him directly in his eyes pleading with him to understand. 

“It’s me, Ander.” He flinched and I could see from the way his muscles twitched that he was restraining from hitting me. 

“You love me, and I love you. We met when we were thirteen and almost fought each other.” 

“Demon, I suggest you shut up now if you want to remain here and in that casing.” My mother hissed through her teeth, stepping forward only to be held back by Jesse. I looked to my mate and saw the struggle there, and I saw the man in there that mingled with the wolf. 

“When we were sixteen you asked me to homecoming and I said yes, and I was so excited and happy, but then she asked you to prom and you went with her and I let you because I knew you had feelings for her. You won homecoming king and queen and when we went to sleep you told me that you would’ve rather I won because I was your queen.” Tears came to my eyes at the memory and I moved closer to him, needing him to understand it was me. He flinched away and looked disgusted and it hurt so badly. I could feel the link slowly piecing together, but I know he couldn’t and wouldn’t be looking for it. 

“When you won your first football game I ran onto the field and you hugged me so close to you I thought you were going to squeeze me to death, and then she came and you put me down and kissed her. When we went out to dinner to celebrate it you sat as far away as you could from me and were so enraptured in her that you didn’t sleep with me that night.” My voice wavered and I didn’t care, I needed to relate to him. He wasn’t buying it, if anything he got angrier. 

“Think about it. Do you really think I’d let a demon access to all of this information? Information I’ve safeguarded for all my life? Only I would know this, Ander, please just think logically!” I reached for him and he summoned his earth elemental weapon, something he’s seldom done in anger, which was a sword that he aimed at my neck. 

“Come closer, Demon, and I will end you. Even in death my mate can’t have peace, and I will not have you desecrating her body with your presence. Leave or be forced out.” He grit through his teeth and my family growled in agreeance. In a last ditch effort and with a small prayer to Mother Moon I brought out my victor and closed my eyes, focusing really hard on our link. 

“What the hell are you doing Demon, and think about doing it before I end you.” He snarled out, the sword touching the base of my neck and I knew if I were to mess up he would have no problem with slicing my neck and bleeding me out. 

“Connect the link, now.” I growled at her. 

“These things take-“ 

“Now!” I barked at her before opening my eyes and looking at him. Suddenly everything felt right and I was connected to them all. They all hissed air between their teeth and grabbed their heads, but for me it felt like I was being split apart. My body bowed slightly and quickly the weapon was gone and I was in his arms. I closed my eyes and needed a breath before I could say anything because my brain was on fire, and slowly it died out. I opened my eyes and saw him staring into my eyes, his eyes the ocean blue that plagued my dreams for most of my life. 

“You… you were dead.” He whispered, his eyes flitting from one eye to the other and his hands tightening around my waist. 

“Luna?” My mother hiccupped as she stepped closer, tears gathering in her eyes. I looked to her and smiled sadly, not fighting the tears that rose up and threatened to take over. I ran out of his arms and into hers, gripping her tightly and her reciprocating. She sobbed into my shoulder before kissing the crown of my head and sniffing my hair. My dad walked over and wrapped his arms around us both, sniffing my hair too and letting his tears fall down. Lifting his head he howled loud and happy, making all the other wolves howl including my mate who hugged me from behind. I took a deep breath and let in all the scents that seemed new to me since I’d been gone. With a sigh I squeezed tighter around my mom who’d gone hysterical, and I wasn’t sure if she could take much of the stress any longer. 

“It’s good to have you back Luna, Leo’s been insufferable since he killed you. Tomorrow we start song training, so I suggest you don’t celebrate for too long.” Eva whispered through the link and I sent a small sound of affirmation before relishing in feeling my family around me. 

  

                By the time they’d let me go I was exhausted and hungry, my stomach rebelling against me for having been empty for as long as it was. As soon as Ander heard my stomach rumble he growled everyone away from me and practically carried me to the dining hall, not noticing or caring how people stared at me. I didn’t fight against it, relishing in feeling his skin against mine and hearing his heart beat. When we got there he sat me down before rushing to bring me food, snapping at anyone who got in his way or didn’t move fast enough for him. I watched him with muted happiness as he came back with a mountain of food on two plates and sat across from me, pushing the two plates toward me and looking directly in my eyes. 

“Eat, you haven’t… just eat.” Was all it seemed he could say and I smiled softly while picking up a piece of chicken and biting into it. He took a deep breath and I kept eye contact while eating slowly, ignoring the groaning of my stomach as it got used to the weight of food. My spine tingled and I straightened, looking at the door and watching as Izzy ran in suddenly and launched herself at me. With an oof I went down as she wrapped herself around my waist. 

“Who the hell do you think you are? Dying, and leaving me here with all these wolves! Then coming back and not even bothering to let me know!? You are something else you know that, LunaRosa? How long have we been friends, and I can’t even get a complimentary ‘Hey I’m not dead anymore!’? Fame has changed you my friend, and I don’t know if it’s for the better or the worse but from the little snapshot I’ve got it seems like it’s for the worst!” She screamed into my shoulder all in one go. I rolled my eyes and tried to push her off of me but she was holding on to dear life. 

“Get this female off of me, somebody!!” I screamed and all Ander did was chuckle and I swore vengeance when suddenly she was pried off of me and I was lifted by a massive trunk of an arm. 

“I only got her off of you to yell at you myself. You’ve gotta be more careful, your body isn’t what it used to be. You’re too fragile.” I narrowed my eyes at the lycan I was regretting healing and pulled away from him to sit down. 

“You look good in white. That’s good at least. So when you actually die you won’t look horrible. My aunt looked like a bloated whale when we buried her.” Blake sighed, sidling next to me and picking up a french fry. 

“We knew she wouldn’t keep you up there though, we tried to tell them they were jumping the gun but snarky mcsnarky pants over there kept snarling and howling. It was a shame really, got the wolves all riled up and we almost had to put some of them down.” Rhonda said contrarily sitting next to Ander and throwing him pointed looks. 

“Well to be fair, the links went dead and I was gone for two days.” 

“Yeah but you’re too vital to the war, and she’s wanted this war for a long time now. She wouldn’t let a fuck up from one of her nephews fuck that up.” Matt said while shrugging and sat down on the other side of me, putting a struggling Izzy on his lap and patting her on the head which only caused her to get angrier. I started eating again instead of saying my input around my friends and smiled as they talked around from me and as Izzy tried her damndest to get away from Matt. I could tell that Ander was trying his hardest to enjoy himself, but he couldn’t connect with them the same way anymore. We ran in the same circle of friends when we were younger, but because him and Matt had problems he’d never gotten that close to the group. There was still some affection there, but the ties didn’t go as deep for him as they did for me. I could see, though, that for me he was making a genuine effort and that meant a lot. Slowly more and more people started filling the dining hall as dinner time was approaching and they all seemed to crowd around me. Family and friends, and friends of friends all seemed happy that I was back and I’d never felt more appreciated and seen than in that moment. Leo walked in and locked eyes with me, pain swirling in those eyes before he grit his teeth and looked toward the food and made a straight path there. I groaned internally, knowing that even though I’d managed to pull him out of his funk I’d done it too late and probably not in the best way.  

“Hey, ignore him. He’s been sulking around this place since…” Blake pulled my attention away and shrugged, her eyes not giving anything she didn’t want to away. I bit on my lip and looked around at everybody as they talked and laughed amongst themselves but around me, like my presence calmed them. 

“It was dark days when you weren’t here. Your family went feral, and they were already pretty nasty. If Valerie and Vixie hadn’t put Leo under a pretty powerful protection spell they would’ve attacked him. They still came pretty close though, I think that angered them more but under the contract of the spell they couldn’t attack Leo in anyway, so they kinda turned that anger outward. Any person that got too close to you, them, or Izzy and her family quickly learned not to do that.” She was talking in hushed tones and I looked to my family then, furrowing my brows before seeing it. Their faces were more terse than I’d ever seen, there were more lines there that had been there before I left. I looked to Lina and realized that the soft twinkle in her eye was gone, and she looked to me. She smiled, a smile that was more like our father’s, and came over. She sat on the table next to me and looked me up and down. 

“Are you gonna cut your hair before training?” She asked teasingly, while picking up a red strand. I rolled my eyes and leaned forward on my elbows, grabbing a section of my own hair and pulling it in front of me. 

“I’ll have to, because there are a few cunts out there that play dirty.” I threw her a pointed laugh and she threw her head back and laughed. 

“I don’t play dirty, I play by the Green Code.” 

“Oh that code is a bunch of bullshit and you know it, it basically outlines playing dirty and praises the dirtiest player.” She looked back at me and smirked before leaning forward, so close we were almost touching noses and she peered at me with green eyes that used to sparkle with so much mischief but because the light hadn’t touched them in so long they’d lost their shine. 

“We missed you down here Luna, we didn’t know what was happening or what was going to happen. There was this void where you should’ve been and it was scary.” I looked at the girl who sat in front of me, now fifteen and mature for a wolf, and realized that she was exposing herself to me. I put my hand on her knee and gripped her hand, she gripped mine back just as tight if not tighter. 

“Well… I’m back now.” She looked in my eyes for a little while longer before exhaling a quick breath through her lips and sitting up straighter. She huffed out some laughter and her eyes seemed a little brighter and she tapped the back of my hand. 

“Yeah you are.” 

“Hey, didn’t you guys used to play a game?” Matt said ridiculously loud, and I looked to him to see that he’d been watching us. I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes at him. 

“We used to play lots of games. Like Throw the Lycan, remember that?” Rhonda snorted at my answer but quieted at the pointed look Matt threw at her. 

“No, not that. Scrimmage?” My eyes grew wide as an excited squeal came from Lina and I knew that I’d have to play the most brutal game of my childhood. Libby’s head poked up and she looked at me with the same fear. 

“Why’d you have to bring up scrimmage?” Alissa groaned, rubbing her temples as her twin looked so excited. Jesse and Lina were a force to be reckoned with and I knew that it would not be fun for the normal people. Aubrey walked in at that moment and saw the excitement that only Jesse and Lina shared and her face blanched. 

“I’m telling mom that you’re trying to play scrimmage after dad banned it!” She screamed and ran out. We all knew she wouldn’t tell mom anything, she’d just hide in her bed until she’d heard the screams recede. 

“If you all remember I just came back from the dead? Maybe now is not the best time to actively engage in scrimmage?” I winced and pushed the third empty plate from in front of me. Ander looked reasonably pleased and threw a small smirk at me. 

“I think working out the kinks would be good for your body, a nice stretch before training in the morning.” 

“You call scrimmage a stretch?” I couldn’t help the squeak my voice made, but did glare at them as they all laughed at me. 

“Anybody want to fill me in as to what this whole scrimmage thing is about?” Shay asked lazily from his hunched over spot on the other side of the table. 

“You ever play football?” Anna said dryly, her entire face pale and I could tell she’d run out of spit in her mouth. 

“All of this fear over football? God you Americans are weak, try rugby!” He rolled his eyes and sat up, throwing side eye glances to us all. 

“It’s football on crack cocaine. No protective gear, no rules, and there’s no immediate goal. It’s just whoever’s still standing at the end.” Alissa groaned, rubbing her temples and throwing pointed looks at Jesse who looked almost too ready to play. 

“… So you’ve never played rugby then?” 

  

  

                Excited and nervous laughter circled around me as I stood, athletically dressed, in one of the smaller training rooms. My family along with the Victors, the Lycans, and the Masters stood around me, all of them well aware of the massacre that was about to happen. My hair, in a ponytail to keep it safe, tickled my back as I shook my head as they argued about who should be team leaders. 

“I’m the oldest!” 

“I’m the strongest!” 

“Strongest my ass, you can’t even handle a punch- ow, you bitch!” 

“Why don’t we just have Ander and Matt be team leaders!” I yelled, massaging the temples of my brain and looking at Lina and Jesse. Ander looked at me with a brow cocked and Matt narrowed his eyes on me. 

“Or it could be me and you.” Matt said with a shrug. 

“Or me and you.” Ander said with a lighter flippance, looking at Matt with the smallest smirk. I heard the faintest growl in Matt’s chest and sighed a breath of relief as Blake stood in front of him. 

“Yay, Matt and Ander!” She said excitedly, her hair having been pulled away from her face bouncing as she clapped in excitement. Matt rolled his eyes and walked away, making Ander huff. 

“Would you stop egging him on? I can only come between you two, and live to tell it, once every three months and you’ve more than exceeded the limit.” I poked him in the rib and he only winked at me and moved to stand in front of the group. 

“So who’s deciding first?” Anna asked, crossing her arms and leaning on Jesse her face looking everything but pleased. 

“Height?” Lisa suggested, squeaking as she looked up to the two mountain men. 

“They’re both about the same height, Lisa, you just can’t see it that well.” Rhonda said politely, patting her on her head and chortling at the glare that was thrown at her. 

“Ander’s taller than Matt.” I said simply and tried my best not to laugh at the disgruntled look Matt threw at the floor. We all lined up, ready for choosing and I crossed my arms. 

“Luna.” Ander started, throwing a smile at me and his arm around my shoulder when I stood next to him. 

“Blake.” Matt sounded less than pleased and Blake rolled her eyes but I could see how much it’d hurt her feelings. 

“Anna.” 

“Jesse.” 

“Lina.” 

“Libby.” 

“Mason.” 

“Marcella.” She snarled at that, making us all giggle, but moved anyway. 

“Izzy.” 

“Leo.” 

“Filly.” 

“Eva.” 

“Shay.” 

“Ursula.” 

“Cara.” 

“JJ.” 

“Lisa.” 

“Rhonda.” Finally we had reached the last of them and I winced at how lethal our team was and sent a withering look to Matt who knew that he’d lost. We huddled separately and discussed through the link before lining up across from each other. With my magick I summoned a soccer ball and took a deep breath before placing it in between us. Several of us already had our animals out and, because I’d just gotten my body back and would’ve hated to have gotten it bruised, I brought out my wolf. 

“Ready.” I said softly, already preparing myself for pain. 

“Set.” Ander whispered, his eyes leveling with Matt. 

“Go!” 

                Lisa grabbed for the ball, being the tiniest, and I snarled at how quick Jesse tried to break her wrist. Using my speed I ran into him and pushed him back into Matt and ducked out of Cella’s way before she grabbed me. Lisa quickly moved out of the way of the massive huddle and was running toward the enemy base and I ran to follow her. I saw Mason’s head snap to her, at the same time I heard a frightening roar, and was going to throw myself into him but Libby tackled him to the ground. Jesse climbed off of his mate who, I’m sure, he’d tackled first and ran after Lisa. Ander was hot on his trail and I had an idea. Switching gears I ran toward Ander and hoped that it worked like I hoped it would. 

“Hey!” He looked at me and we made eye contact and I let him in my mind. He nodded and quickly and still running caught me and picked me up. 

“This better work.” He grunted before throwing my body like a spear at Lisa. 

“Lisa!” She looked back and held her arms up, the ball there for me to grab. Praying that my body would move as fast as I needed it to I grabbed it and rolled in front of her, my feet digging in to the dirt as I scrambled up and ran the last few feet I needed to get to. I slid into the enemy base and howled in victory, gaining small satisfaction at the snarls from my friends. 

“That was brilliant!” Lina crowed, blood pouring freely from her nose. 

“Ursula got me pretty good back there, but it was just my nose.” She said when she saw my confusion, wiping the blood on her arm and crinkling up her face. 

“She broke my leg!” Ursula roared, glaring at my baby sister who simply shrugged. I smiled and wrapped my arm around the girl that was too much like me for it to be safe, and shrugged. 

“Shouldn’t have broken her nose.” I said simply as we lined up again. I locked eyes with Blake and crouched down, watching her eyes follow me and slightly uncomfortable at how brightly they shined. Her hair grew thicker as she hunched down, crouching in front of me and maintaining eye contact. 

“Ready.” The word was thick and laced with something that made me feel uneasy but I shrugged it off and bought my wolf back to the surface, feeling my hair grow thicker in its ponytail I took it out of the ponytail to avoid pain. Something wasn’t happening, but I couldn’t understand it. I knew that it needed to happen, I’d seen this happening but for some reason it didn’t feel the same. 

“Set.” Cella said, I’m sure she was looking at her twin but I couldn’t look away from Blake. Something told me that was anti-what I should do. 

“Go.” Matt’s voice was so distant it made me want to look at him, but that was super not what I should do. I moved away, wanting desperately to be out of the way from her glare and away from anyway that she could directly do damage to me. I’d always been faster than her and I heard the snarl she spit out but ignored it and looked at who was running. I saw Libby giggling with the ball safely tucked in the corner of her arm. Deciding that was the best course of action I ran after her and noticed how quickly she noticed me. She started to run diagonally and then switched it up, trying to avoid being tackled. I simply picked up speed and slid on the ground into her, knocking her off her feet and making her land on her back. I heard a nasty crunch, but breaking your bones was healthy for a werewolf so I simply snatched the ball from her arm and kicked my self away from her. When I stood up I saw everybody running toward me. 

“Oh, fuck.” Quickly tucking the ball in my arm I ran at the them, backhanding Jesse and ducking Cella narrowly before sliding in between Leo and Eva, ignoring the dirt digging into my skin. 

“Ander!” His hands were ready and I threw the ball to him quickly before tucking into myself to avoid being punched. Matt ran into me and knocked us both over, making me land on my back and him on top of me. His eyes widened as he realized where he was in relation to me and noticed my legs were holding him in between them before they swirled the dark color of his Lycan. My eyes widened and I pulled my wolf from the surface and held my hands out in front of me, placing them lightly on his chest. 

“Matt, you’ve got to get up. I’m not trying to get my ass handed to me on a silver platter. And I’m mated. You can smell that on me, you can see it. See reason Matt, come back.” I was pleading and I knew it and knew that it wouldn’t help. There was desperation in my plea and he could smell that. The others were all too busy trying to tear down Ander so I knew I had a little bit of time before they noticed, before it became serious. He was quiet, so achingly quiet as he looked down at me. He leaned forward and opened his mouth, the fangs in his mouth ridiculously sharp made the scars on my back tingle. 

“Matt, Matt no.” I said, trying to keep the shaking out of my voice and out of my body. The fear would only push him further. I heard the cheering of a team getting a goal and my heart spiked, all of my nerves jumping out of my body at the same time. 

“What the fuck are you doing?” I heard a very angry Ander growl out as he bounded across the field. I needed to keep my eyes on Matt’s otherwise he could do anything and I needed the damage to be as little as possible. 

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing is happening Ander.” I said very softly, knowing he would hear me and I opened my link. I shared the information with him and he stopped moving immediately. 

“Fix it.” Was all he growled through the link to me before standing where he was a couple of feet from us. An idea hit me and regret hit me hard, but I let Ander know what I needed him to do and hoped that he would just go along with it. There was a light growling in his chest, and I knew that he would do it he would just be really fucking pissed about it for a long time. Looking at him and taking a deep breath I let out my wolf and kissed him with everything I had. This was all I could give him. I put my soul into the kiss, letting him feel me and my wolf in one and feel what he’d wanted for so long. A surprised breath of air came out before he kissed me back with so much fervor and passion it made my head spin. I heard the snarl I wanted to hear and I put my wolf back to the side, my eyes bleeding to green as I looked at the boy who loved me. In a blur he was knocked off of me and she was straddling him, damn near shifted into her lycan, and hitting blow after blow to his face. 

“You stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid prick!” She screamed and I could smell the salt from her tears, Ander was there instantly helping me up and dragging me into his body part for protection and part to stake a claim. 

“Blake!” Rhonda yelled, running to her friend and trying to pull her off of their alpha. 

“All this fucking years! Stupid, arrogant, piece of shit!” She was still trying to hit him even as Rhonda and, now, Lisa pulled her off of him. I watched as his eyes bled back to their normal color and he looked at Blake. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Who do you think you are? I should, and have every right to, expel you from this pack.” With the most vicious snarl I’ve ever heard in my life she ripped herself away from the two and, with tears still in her eyes and her lycan still out, she charge at him and pointed a finger at his nose. 

“I fucking dare you, Matt. I fucking dare you to expel  me. I will tear this whole shit show down and you fucking know it, so try it.” She growled out, her muscles twitcing. Everyone was silent for a while, but her tears still fell. When he still said nothing she scoffed and turned away, fully content to walk out and had made it past Rhonda and Lisa. 

“I know who you are.” Was all Matt said and her back went straight, everything seeming to stop including her breathing. 

“I’ve known for a while. I’m not as stupid as everybody seems to think I am.” He walked forward slowly, his eyes only on Blake. 

“How could I not notice Blake? You were there, every step of the way. I noticed as soon as we hit puberty.” At that point, as if her body couldn’t handle the mix of emotions, she fell to her knees noticeably sobbing now. He stood behind her, not knowing what to do and I didn’t blame him. 

“You still chose-“ 

“I didn’t choose anybody, Beta. I love Luna in a way that I don’t love you. But I love you in a way that’s incomparable to her. You’re mine and you always have been, I’ve just been waiting for you to see it. And I figured while I wait… I just… .” His voice was so soft, a whisper in the wind. Her back was hunched over and she seemed to be clutching the earth beneath her with an iron grip but I couldn’t blame her, she was trying so hard to get control of her still emotion-sacked body. 

“Blake, I’m sorry but I thought it was the best course of action. You didn’t leave me with anything else. You pushed me away because I liked Luna and I thought you… I’m sorry.” He said simply and waited a second before he kneeled behind her. His arms came out and, with a confidence that only an alpha could have that she wouldn’t lash out, wrapped them around her body and pulled her closer to him. With the softest mewling sound I never thought Blake could make, she turned on her side and into his shoulder and cried louder. I looked around the room and noticed that they all looked so sad for Blake. I rolled my eyes and moved closer to Ander, wanting them to have their moment. Taking a deep breath I pulled my wolf to the surface and looked at the pairing, their link a pale silver that was thick and strong. I couldn’t do anything though, the lycans had their own traditions for mating and I could not intrude. That was work directly for Lupa and I would not breach onto her territory. His arms came completely around her and he lifted her up, cradling her close to his chest, and walked out without another glance at that. It was silent for awhile before Rhonda glared at her little brother. 

“I swear I thought he was gay, so I’m not paying you anything!” She growled and stormed out, her brother stood there with a small little smile. 

“We had a bet, she lost.” I rolled my eyes and walked out, holding Ander’s hand and tugging him along with me. I had almost made it out when something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. Libby and Mason standing next to each other, just standing. Nothing was particularly wrong with that, except that everything was wrong with it. Since Libby had gained immortality they hadn’t been in the same room, never mind standing so close to each other. She held her forearm and had her hip slightly cocked while she looked everywhere but next to her. Mason stood simply with his hands behind his back but something was wrong. They weren’t angry. I stopped walking and cocked my head to the side as I looked at the two before sniffing faintly. There was nothing there. It wasn’t the bitter stench of unfiltered rage that had seemed to pour from Libby or the calm and deathly anger that was plentiful in Mason typically. I walked toward the two and watched as they looked at me warily, seeming to want to take a step back; together. 

“You do know what’s happening right?” Libby narrowed her eyes dangerously and Mason’s face went completely blank. 

“Oh this is all too grand! I didn’t think you had it in you, Mason!” I crowed with glee and crossed my arms. Anna strolled up next to me and looked at the two. 

“It’s unnatural, really. I didn’t know they could exist near each other and not be snarling.” I snorted and Mason seemed to stand taller before smirking. 

“Well we are mates, after all.” He said slyly before walking between me and Anna and walking out. My mouth popped open as I watched him leave before looking to Libby who looked flustered but otherwise matched my shock. She cleared her throat and walked past us, keeping her head to hide her shock. 

“Weird.” I mumbled before walking back to my mate and walking to one of the training rooms to get an actual workout going. 

  

                We went on for about five hours before my body felt like mine again. Ander and I were both sweaty and exhausted and had finally collapsed on the floor when we heard the faint sound of singing. It wouldn’t have been anything new down here, as singing was a way to calm down for the antsy wolves, but it was human singing. Shifters were particularly good singers, on account of our throat muscles being stronger, and on a level that humans could never really reach. A lot of shifters deciding to go to opera if all else failed, because they had the lung capacity and strength to do so. But the singing that we heard was nice, but it was definitely human. We looked at each other before sharpening our ears to listen to it. 

“If there’s a prize for rotten judgement, I guess I’ve already won that. No man is worth the aggravation, that’s ancient history, been there done that.” 

“Who’d you think you’re kidding he’s the earth and heaven to you, try to keep it hidden honey we can see right through you. Girl ya can’t conceal it, we know how you’re feelin’, who you’re thinking of.” That sounded like three girls singing, all human, and laughter in their voices. 

“No chance, no way, I won’t say it no, no.” 

“You swoon, you sigh, why deny it uh oh.” 

“It’s too cliché, I won’t say I’m in love. I thought my heart had learned its lesson, it feels so good when you start out. My head is screaming ‘get a grip girl unless you’re dying to cry your heart out!’ Ooh, ooh.” There was genuine emotion in that, it made her voice slightly thicker, but we were too far to smell what it was. 

“You keep on denying who you are and how you’re feelin, baby we’re not lyin hon’ we saw ya hit the ceiling face it like a grown up when you gonna own up that ya got, got, got it bad?” 

“Woah! No chance, no way, I won’t say it no, no.” 

“Give up, give in, check the grin you’re in love!’ 

“The scene won’t play, I won’t say I’m in love!” There was genuine frustration in her voice. 

“You’re doing flips read our lips, you’re in love.” 

“You’re way off base I won’t say it.” 

“Girl don’t be proud, it’s ok you’re in love!” 

“Ooooh! At least out loud, I won’t say I’m in love.” She growled and I knew it was Izzy and wondered why her siblings had chosen to pick on her today. Ander cocked his head and looked at me. 

“That lion was interested in her right?” 

“He was a tiger, and yeah. They’re fit to be mated.” 

“Fit?” 

“With cats it’s different. They don’t mate for lives like we do or like bears or birds do. When they mate it’s for numbers, there’s no connection there. When they mate it’s just who is more compatible for mating. It typically is who has the strongest genetic link. A lot of tiger mating’s break apart after they have two kids. Filly’s parents were lucky to actually like each other, and I think before Leo’s parents died they were only together to raise them better. So Izzy and that tiger are fit to be mated, but I think there’s something else there.” 

“I don’t like him!” I heard her roar and then there was a silence before she squeaked. 

“Jesus, Fuck! How long have you been standing there!?” I heard the little snickering of her siblings and I knew they would pay. 

“Long enough. Do you wanna go get some food?” It was silent for a while and I knew that she was thinking, and genuinely thinking, about what going with him meant for her. 

“It’s not that difficult a question” 

“’It’s not that difficult a question’, shut up I’m thinking.” She mocked him in a whiny voice, and I knew she was holding up a finger. 

“Look, fine, we don’t have to-“ 

“Tonight. I’m gonna go the Cave, and dance and sing. I’ll be there.” Was all she said, but there was no inflection in her voice. She was reading him, and I knew that, but trying to be indifferent with a tiger wasn’t beneficial to anyone. 

“Fine.” 

“And because I know you’re listening, you cow, you and your mate better be there too. I suffer, you suffer!” She yelled and I gasped, not because she’d caught me because I’d known that she knew I was listening, but because she’d called me a cow. Rude. 

“I’m not going anywhere with you cat lover!” I didn’t hear anything in response and was genuinely terrified, making me jump and grab Ander. 

“I think it’s time we left.” We hightailed it out of there, but there was no doubt in my mind that I was still going to die later. 

 

 

            

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 04.12.2013

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