Curse of the Luna (Wolves of Dralesa: Book 1)

A Fatal Curse

Four Winters Ago

“Am, Citrine is hungry.” A very tired Peridot stumbled from the tent.

“Did mother leave?” I asked as I wiped off my morning training sweat.

“She left not too long ago, but she seemed to leave in a rush.” Peridot simply told me as she rubbed the sleep from her light green eyes.

Figures, I sighed. All though her time as Alpha ended when Misti and I won the Alpha trials held every ten years, she still seemed to be as busy as ever. I had already seen eighteen winters, and Opal had eleven without Emerald's motherly care. I had thought it would be different for Peridot and Citrine, but like Opal was for me, they had soon become an added responsibility to my already full list. Not that I minded though.

Peridot was born six winters ago, and she was so different than energetic Opal was at her age. If anything, she more so took after me. Then there was sweet little Citrine. She thankfully lived through her very first winter. Even at such a young age, this pup was such a character.

In the tent, little Citrine sat up straight, mumbling her baby nonsense. When she was hungry, she neither cried nor yelled. She simply hit the nearest sister or pack member till they fed her or went to fetch one who could. She would wait ever so patiently after, knowing that food will come soon enough. I don't know how she learned this habit or who from, but it was the strangest yet funniest phenomenon. It even made stern Emerald laugh.

“Morning sweet girl.” I cooed as I scooped her up. Her golden yellow eyes shined with happiness when she saw me. Though I had my first moon cycle two winters ago, I never had the urge to mate, even while I was in heat. If anything, it was only just a time of annoying and excruciating pain. My priority was, and always will be Opal, but Peridot and Citrine were just like my own kids as well my sisters. If it wasn't for the curse, they would be able to have an actual mother.

It has never been the same since the Rouge attack all those winters ago now. That was only the start of the difficulties our pack had coming. More and more of us have been disappearing during their heats. Found by their mates and to never return. Most are now afraid to leave during their heat, fearing that the curse will capture them like our lost sisters. There were only three pups currently, and two of them were Emerald's. There wasn't even one pregnant woman either. At this rate, our own fear of the curse instead of the curse itself will be our downfall.

It had become Emerald's sole purpose to create a new method of us being able to mate and bear children without the fear of the curse.

As I fed Citrine some mashed carrots that Opal had prepared prior before heading to her own training this morning, I couldn't help the festering anger I held towards men. Emerald had tried countless times to sway my feelings, as without them our ways would have died long ago. It was pretty obvious why, as a woman could not impregnate another woman. However, we are dying out now because of them anyways.

They are the ones who placed this damned curse upon us. All because a wolf from our pack, generations ago, rejected her mate when he found her. When he had learned of our ways and found out that she rejected him without any hesitation due to our pack's ways, through spite and rage, cursed our pack after killing her. A curse that disallows us from rejecting our mate, from hurting them even if it's in self-defense, from disobeying any command they give.

Men are selfish. They are cruel. They are the reason we had to retreat into hiding. They are the reason we live in fear now. Frantically trying to hold on to the whole reason the Goddess gifted the very first Luna to shift into a human.

Our freedom.

“Yummy wasn't it sweet girl?” I giggled as she ate the last spoonful. She patted her stomach, telling me she was satisfied.

“You get to hang out with me for a while, both you and Peri. We can go play in the stream.” As soon as I mentioned the stream, she grew excited. I swear she was more fish than wolf.

I had just finished bathing Peridot, Citrine, and myself and was playing in the stream when Emerald jogged over. There was a wide smile on her face when Citrine excitedly reached for her.

“I'm sorry to take up your time Amethyst. I know you have much on your plate.”

“It’s okay mom, being Alpha is a great honor, but watching these two is also one in its own.” Emerald was going to say something but there was a warning howl in the distance back towards the camp.

“WE ARE BEING ATTACKED!” Dawn yelled over mind link. Everything after that fell into utter chaos.

Loud bangs echoed through the forest, the ground shook as if it were shattering and opening up to hell itself. I had made it over to my Beta Misti and her mother Rain. Not only were we far outnumbered, but the attackers also had devastating weapons on hand. Never had I seen such weapons. They held the small metallic thing in their hands. I, along with everyone else, could barely see what happened next. One second there's an ear deafening bang and the next one of our sisters was down, a hole through their head or chest. Other attackers threw a metallic ball in to our ranks. It seemed to explode within seconds, killing all who were near it. I had no time to wallow in the shock as their blood and flesh rained on us.

We threw everything we had at them. Every ounce of Earth's energy was not spared to taking them down. Sun's fire burned some to a crisp, roots from the ground pierced many through the heart, and boulders and matured trees fell and squashed others. All it did was slow down their progression. It was not even an hour into the fight when I realized we were no match for this onslaught. All of us had exhausted our energy and were now trying our best to defend those who were left in our wolf forms. Hoping they could somehow get away safely.

My alert eyes panned the attackers, looking desperately for their leader. I was separated from everyone, I could barely hear, only a ringing sound pierced my ears. I jumped over a fallen tree and that's when I saw them. I small group of men and woman waiting a little in the forest, watching our battle to stay alive as if it was some joke. I got closer and noticed a woman crying on the floor. She had a silver chain around her neck, and she was pleading for the Goddess's mercy.

I recognized her instantly and knew exactly how today came to be. Willow was a fellow sister who had disappeared not even a year ago. We all knew she fell victim to the curse and to her mate. He had to of forced her to tell him about us and our whereabouts, as even through torture she would never have told. I listened in as their leader was giving those around him commands.

“They are putting up a bigger fight than we expected Alpha.”

“None can survive! I don't care if you're out of ammo! Get back there and do your f*****g job!” Their Alpha spat at an injured male. Dread filled me, they weren't here to subdue and capture us. They were here to annihilate us.

Willow looked up as soon as she felt my presence. Her eyes were filled with regret and heart shattering despair. They were also begging me to kill her. I could only imagine the amount of pain she must be in.

I looked before me, and my plan quickly formed. I will kill two birds with one stone. I will end this by defeating him and free her from this vile man's grip.

I had gotten as close as I could before I dashed. I took two down in an instant, despite my fatigue they were no match for me one on one. I saw the wide yellow eyes of their leader as I lunged at him.

“What are you doing, protect me!” He commanded Willow. Willow cried as her body moved on its own, arms spread out to protect him. I slid to a stop, even if I tried, I couldn't hurt one of my own.

“Why did you stop?” Willow cried. “You should have killed me.” She let out another sob as I was tackled in the side by another wolf. We rolled away from them, tumbling down the hill. I was caught off guard and didn't realize how much strength I had depleted until now. I couldn't even gather the strength to kick him off. Us rolling was the only reason he couldn't get a secure hold on me, so I made sure we kept rolling.

He obviously had no idea of the layout of our territory, which I used to my advantage. If I were going to die, I wanted to make sure I took this man down with me. The forest broke open and there it was. There was no stopping at our rate. I watched the shock register on the wolf's face as we rolled over the cliff's edge. I kicked him away while I still could so we wouldn't be on top of each other as we fell. His wolf let out pitiful cries as if someone or something would save him.

I closed my eyes, not wanting him to be the last thing I see. I allowed my head to be filled with images of my pack, especially of Emerald and my sisters. Embracing all the feelings of love they had shown and given. I could feel that love filling me up, giving me the illusion of a new energy flowing through me.

"This is no illusion!" My wolf suddenly yelled at me, and she was right. We both knew what we had to do. I shifted back to my human form and steadied myself in midair to slightly slow our decent. I took a deep breath, allowing the last of Earth’s energy I had left to build and compress in my palms.

“NOW!” We both yelled as called upon the wind. I shot down my arms so that they faced the ground. I was immediately met with a torrent of wind that blew up towards me. In the corner of my eye, it looked like I had stopped for a second as the other wolf fell at full speed. Seeing his body hit the ground and being basically blown apart by the impact made me even more determined.

From a fall that was about five hundred meters, I hit the ground as if it were only twenty.

I rolled to a stop after the impact. I was breathing heavily, and I could see black specks clouding my vision. Pain burned my left shoulder and wrist, a pain that was the only thing I felt as I gripped for consciousness. I dragged myself back towards the bottom of the cliff, determined to climb it back up and kill that bastard. My body however betrayed me as I began to slip into the black nothingness.