The Other Luna

Day 10

When I woke up, the forest was giving me an eerie feeling. There was a thick fog preventing me from seeing the forest floor beneath me. I used my sense of smell and hearing to find my way back to the pack. In the distance, I could hear screams and a foul smell was almost overpowering. By the time I reached the pack, the fog had lightened up slightly and it was easier to see.

My jaw dropped as my eyes landed on rogues. Hundreds of rogues. I hadn't realized there were so many against the pack. Rogues generally lived by themselves, if I didn’t know better I would have guessed this was another pack. I was only hidden for a few seconds before I was attacked from behind, stumbling a few steps forward, I cursed under my breath for not following Evan's advice about always being prepared.

The wolf sank his teeth into my arm and I gasped from the pain. The sound of ripping clothes was heard and suddenly I was on all fours. I shook the rogue off and sank my canines into his neck, piercing a blood vessel.

When I had killed him, my eyes swept over a crowd and I rolled my eyes when I saw the women and children trying to defend themselves. A lot of them weren’t strong enough to protect themselves. Did Aidan not have a spot to keep them safe? i***t. I ran into the crowd and gathered as many small children as I could. They all looked at me with wide eyes. When I found Max, I was quick to give him instructions.

"Take the young children, lock yourself in my room and unless you hear the secret knock do not open the door" He gave me a curt nod and herded them into the pack house. He liked the responsibility and importance of his job.

I noticed a group of children being harassed by a wolf. I crept up behind him and knocked him out.

"Follow me" The children trusted me and followed. I made my way to my bedroom knocked three times, paused and knocked twice again. A few seconds passed and with each second that passed my stomach churned even more. What if something happened to them? What if they never reached the room? But the door suddenly opened and I took a breath of relief. I pushed the kids into the room and made sure that Max locked the door behind me. When I had gotten back outside, I did a head count.

Around 23 pack members dead

4 kids hanging onto parents

13 pregnant women. I quickly grabbed the left-over children and rushed to the pregnant women.

"Come with me, you'll be safe" We traveled in a big group and naturally we gained a lot of attention, but the men of our pack kept the rogues busy, so we could make it into the pack building.

With all the people in the room, it was starting to get a little crowded and hot, but they would have to live with it for a little while. Many of the children were crying and I wanted to sweep them into my arms and comfort them until they stopped, but I knew I had business to finish. When I got outside, it was clear that our pack was winning.

My eyes swept over the crowd, looking for my mate. His wolf was all black and the moonlight reflected on his fur. His eyes landed on me for a split second. A woman crying quickly caught my attention. Olivia.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I approached her. Although I didn't like her, I wasn't going to abandon her, especially at a time like this.

"Wouldn't you want to know?" She hissed at me

"Why aren't you defending your pack?" Ignoring her comment

"It doesn't matter. I lost all the children. They're gone. All gone." She seemed heartbroken.

"No, I put them somewhere safe."

"Where?"

When we got to my room, I started to feel sick. The door to my room swung softly in the wind from my open window. My guess is that they had gotten too hot, so they cracked open a window. Now they were all gone. The rogues had gotten them. I flew down the stairs and outside, the rogues were gone too. A look of confusion were on all the faces of the pack members, wondering why the rogues had left so suddenly. They had gotten what they wanted. The children and women.

"Where are they?" Aidan's eyes shone fire. I could feel Olivia smirking behind me. "Where are the children and pregnant women of this pack?"

"Mia knows" Olivia peeped up from behind me. My heart was thumping in my chest.

"I thought they would be better protected if they were hidden in a room"

"And..." I could've blamed the children and women for opening the window, but it would've angered Aidan even more.

"Someone found them," I said in a quiet voice. My eyes were on my feet, not daring to look into Aidan's. I knew he was angry, but I didn't expect him to raise his hand and slap me. The sound of his hand touching my face was the only thing breaking the silence.

"You're a f*****g i***t" He yelled, I could feel his breath on my face. I could feel blood dripping down my knuckles from digging my nails into my hand to keep me from crying. "Who the f**k told you to do that?"

"I thought it would be safer"

"Bull s**t" Shock was written all over my face "You wanted them to be taken. You're just sorry that they didn't take Olivia with them."

"You can't honestly believe that" I scoffed

"I don't like the tone of your voice," He said threateningly. But at this point, I could barely think straight. He hit me. My mate hit me. I took a step away from him and looked at the crowd. They seemed confused about his remark about Olivia. My eyes didn't land on the two people I was looking for.

"Where are my parents?" He seemed taken aback, but his answer was even angrier than the previous

"Don't change the topic"

"Did they leave?"

"Did you not hear what I just said?"

"Did they?"

"What does it matter?"

"They are my parents"

"So, what if they did?" I shook my head at him.

"They never told me" I could feel the anger radiating off of Aidan "And you never told me either. Why didn't you tell me" Anger was clear in my voice.

"I am your Alpha and I don't need to tell you everything. You are not my mate" When I turned to look at Olivia, she raised her eyebrows and flicked her hair over her shoulder.

"Whatever. You won't be needing me here anymore." I turned to leave

"No. You deserve to be punished"

"Aidan, leave her alone. It was a mistake" Evan said approaching me.

"You're taking her side?" Aidan looked like he was going to kill someone.

"You're going to regret this in the morning." Evan’s voice was soft.

"Do I look like I care?"

"Don't come crying to me, when you can't find her" They hadn't looked at me in a while, so I snuck away and back it back into my room, found my old backpack that I used as a suitcase. I looked at it for a second, pausing momentarily, I didn't think I would ever need it again. I shoved my belongings into it leaving behind only a shirt that I couldn't fit into my backpack, it was Aidan's and I wasn't sure how I had gotten it, but I was starting a new life. I didn't need him anymore. He made his choice. I escaped through the back door and could still hear Aidan and Evan yelling at each other in the distance. I just hope that they didn't ruin their relationship because it would have all been for nothing. The smell of decay and blood became less and less pungent as I ran away from my old life. I didn't have a watch with me, so I didn't know what time it was. Who knew how many hours had passed since I had woken up in the forest.

All the extra training in the night had paid off because I hadn't needed to stop moving since I left the pack. At one point I shifted into my wolf so I had better orientation skills, I didn't want to find out that I had gone in a circle. When the sun started to come out I decided to take a rest, leaning against a tree and closing my eyes.

~~~.~~~

I awoke with a start when I felt the same sensation I had felt when Aidan was mating with Olivia. My throat was closing and I couldn't breathe. As soon as my eyes opened it went away and I was finally able to breathe again. I frowned slightly when I realized that Aidan was already over me so soon after I had left.

Quickly I shifted and continued my journey to the neighboring pack. At least I would be able to start in a new pack. I had begun to get hungry, and to soothe my appetite I ate a duck that I saw swimming around in a lake. Although my body was exhausted, I didn't want to stop moving until I was no longer on Aidan's territory. I didn't get a lot of sleep the previous night and I was hoping to get some shut eye when I was safe on the neighboring pack's territory. Not that anyone would come looking for me considering my parents had left and all the children and pregnant women of the pack had been kidnapped. I bet they were already looking. I refused to think about that, however. I needed to focus on moving.

Soon I reached the oak tree that had been painted white to show the boundary between the two territories. As soon as I stepped over the imaginary line, I rested against the white oak tree. My mind drifted to Aidan's beautiful smile, but the memory turned sour when I saw him holding Olivia's hand and looking into her eyes. Then I felt his hand slap me. I was still stunned that he did that. My hand caressed my cheek. I wonder what Max was doing. I hope the rogues were treating them okay. Max had already been through enough. Sleep claimed my eyes and although it was only mid-day and the sun was blaring, I fell asleep.

My throat was closing again. I couldn't breathe. My hands flew to my neck and my nails dug into it, trying to somehow allow myself to breathe. My eyes flew open and I took quick breaths to ease myself.

"Again? Doesn’t he have better things to do? How come it's only when I sleep? Does he know I'm sleeping and decided to punish me? I'm just so tired." I thought out loud, not really liking the silence I had been living in. My eyes closed again, and I slept for what felt like only a matter of minutes when I couldn't breathe.

"Ugh" I groaned, not caring how loud I was being.

"Excuse me, are you okay?" I wiped my head around only to see a boy maybe a year or two older than me. "I couldn't help to watch, as you are very pretty, and I noticed that you are having some trouble” Not pretty enough for my own mate. I looked the boy up and down. I had brown hair and warm green eyes.

"Who are you?"

“I should be asking you that considering you do happen to be in my pack territories.” Something clicked in my head.

"Alpha of the Silver Wolves Pack" I almost groaned out loud, but I didn’t want to disrespect him. Not another Alpha.

"I'm having some trouble sleeping. My throat closes and I can't breathe anymore. Almost like I'm being choked. But when I wake up, I'm fine. I'm sure it will go away though"

"Do you want to see my pack doctor anyway though, just to make sure?"

"No, it's okay"

"Cool"

"Cool," This Alpha was much more laid back than Aidan was.

"So, what are you doing in the forest all by yourself? On my land" He added a bit more aggressively, wanting to know whether or not his pack was in danger. It took me second to think about if I should tell him the truth or not. I decided to give him the half truth

"I'm running away from my Alpha" his eyebrows shot up

"Aidan? Why?"

"We're having some personal problems" He squinted his eyes at me.

"You're Aidan’s mate." It wasn't a question, it was a fact. He wasn't supposed to know so much but now that he already knew, there was no going back.

"Yeah," I said in a quiet voice. He squinted his eyes at me.

"Well, I can tell when a wolf is lying, and you're not"

"Could I stay in your pack for a while till things get sorted out?"

"Aidan is going to go nuts looking for you. He won't be able to smell you in my pack. I'm surprised he hasn't shown up yet, considering the first place he would look are the neighboring packs.” I looked down at my feet as I answered him.

"He wanted me to leave like I said, personal problems. I doubt he'll come looking for me anytime soon. He has other problems to take care of" My mind strayed to the women and children of the pack who had disappeared. Every mated male in the pack would be on edge and stressed since their mate wasn't near them. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Whatever, I don't need him anyway" He looked at me surprised.

"You won't be thinking that in a few days" He scolded, a slight smile on his face.

"After all that I've been through with him. I guess only time will be able to tell"

"Well, you can stay in my pack till you sort things out" I didn't want to tell him that I didn't plan on solving things.

"Sure" We proceeded to make our way into the pack

I found out his name was Cole and the layout of his pack was very similar to Aidan's, just smaller.

As soon as I was given a room, I unpacked my limited clothing and threw myself onto the bed, closing my eyes immediately. I hadn't been able to sleep very well in the forest since I was uncomfortable and cold. At least, that's what I was telling myself.