Moon Children

SECRET MATE (2)

First, I smell my father, and then I see him. Thoroughly engaged in a battle with a large auburn colored wolf. The wolf is snapping wildly towards Henry’s throat, but he is clumsy and slow. My father’s wolf, Gauge, rips into his neck with a single swift motion, killing him instantaneously. He drops the lifeless rogue to the ground and immediately swivels his head in my direction. Vyra wants to bow her head in submission, but I won’t allow her to. Instead, I force my wolf to look directly at my father’s, having a silent battle of wills.

“We are stretched thin Dad, there’s almost as many of them as there are us, and we’ve never fought off an attack of this size. You KNOW I can help us, so let me or I’ll do it anyway.” I linked to him.

There was no time to waste staring at each other in a pissing match. Almost on cue, Luca and Harvey approach from behind me.

“I tried to stop her Dad, I swear she-” Luca started.

“ENOUGH. We haven’t the time to have a damned family meeting right now! Darci you’re already here but do NOT get in the way. Stand back and kill anyone if they get past our first lines of defense. That is an order! Luca, Harvey, Henry, we’re down to the last 100 or so but we need to take 2 in alive. You 3 and Edgar will take the first 2 rogues you see and report back immediately after they’re secured in the dungeons and start bringing the injured to the pack hospital. Michael and Todd, stay up front with me.” Our Alpha echoed through us.

Grumpily, I held my stance about 50 yards back from the blood bath going on in front of me. I cannot defy my Alpha’s orders. I watch in anticipation as Alpha Chad, Beta Michael, Gamma Todd, their sons, and the few hundred warriors we have left standing tear into the flesh of the other wolves – hoping for one to slip past. Just one. I didn’t have to wait long, as the warriors on the left were being flanked inward by rogues. 2 immediately snapped their heads towards me and upon seeing my wolf, they growled dangerously low.

Great, we’re back here alone sticking out like a neon sign. We should’ve at least hidden while we waited. Vyra voices.

Cowards hide Vyra. We are not cowards. Let them see us, I know we can take them. I digress confidently.

One of the rogues who spotted me pauses, but the other charges full force. I wait until he’s close, calculating each move he makes.

He seems to favor his left paw slightly, indicating he may have an injury already. As I suspected, he swipes at me with his right paw, leaving his chest and side exposed as he tries to tuck his left paw in. I block his right and aim to bite his left foreleg, causing him to whimper in pain. As he pauses to assess his leg, I bite into his neck and twist, effectively ending his life. I stare down, momentarily horrified at what I’d done. I knew it was my duty to help protect my pack, and I didn’t care if my father didn’t like it. But at the same time, putting the lessons from training into a real situation for the first time was a more startling transition then I had previously expected. I look up when I hear a vicious growl coming from the other wolf. I now notice it is a she-wolf, and by the looks of it.. I just killed her mate.

Shit, Vyra, she looks pissed.

We just killed her mate Dar, of course she’s pissed.

The angry she-wolf howls mournfully as she looks at his lifeless body, no doubt feeling the bond between them being snapped. She looks fully prepared to murder me and I don’t blame her. The mate bond is sacred and even though she is a rogue and an enemy, I still feel sympathy towards her pain. I’ve heard losing your mate is one of the most excruciating aches to bare. Her golden-haired wolf stampedes straight for me, and I feel the fear course through me.

The first rogue we’ve ever killed, just had to have his mate with him, f*****g naturally.

I curse inwardly and prepare myself for her attack. Hell hath no fury like a woman who just lost her mate. When she gets just a few feet from me I decide to dodge her, and just as she turns around and is about to strike again, I jumped forward to deliver a swift death to her by snapping her neck. I thought I'd show mercy by ending her life quickly so she could be reunited with her mate. Just as I jumped into midair, however, I am struck from the side and plummet into a tree trunk, hard. I feel a couple ribs break, but I try to shake it off. I look up to see a massive golden she-wolf nuzzling the smaller one, and I sense she is comforting her. Almost as if she knew I was watching, the large she-wolf meets my gaze and growls in unison with the small she-wolf.

Great, now there’s 2 pissed she-wolves that want our head. Vyra groans.

Turns out, we enjoy training more than actually fighting. I guess we’re both a bit empathic. Killing anything is not a good feeling for us. We can’t show enemies our weaknesses, though. That was drilled into my head by my father nearly every day. I stood tall and growled loud at the both of them in warning. They both proceeded to howl at me and charge. Two against one, they each came to attack me on either side as expected. I jumped into the air and the two nearly crashed into each other but quickly recovered. I took the opportunity to land on the smaller she-wolf and rip her throat out. The large she-wolf pounced at me ferociously and bit deep into my shoulder, causing blood to gush from the wound she’d just inflicted. Vyra howled in pain and tried to stand upright to take this filthy b***h down.

A rogue that thinks they can injure a Moon child? Born of ancestral blood! Is she serious? Vy spats, outraged.

Down girl. She has no idea what we are. She’s not an elder or a senior pack member. She’s a filthy rogue. I quickly snapped back at her, not appreciating her theatrics at the moment.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a giant black mass running full speed and in seconds it has its large canines sunk into the golden she-wolfs throat. It shakes the she-wolf vigorously and tosses her limp body next to the two I had killed. When the wolf looks at me, I realize it’s none other than the next Alpha in line, Chad’s oldest son Ezra. He looked at me strangely, and Vyra felt uneasy.

As the Delta’s child, all of my siblings and I grew up and were very close with the other 3 blood-lines children. In fact, upon turning 18 –the official age of maturity- the Beta’s daughter Cheyanne found out she was mated to my brother Luca. Our pack had long suspected they were bonded, but it was confirmed just a few months ago in spring at Chey’s party. Luca was already 20 but he couldn’t sense that Cheyanne was his mate until she was of age. Only Alpha wolves can sense their mates before maturity. The Beta’s older kids, Lucy, Cheyanne, Cohan, and Rex were all very close with the older Alpha and Delta children growing up - while Alpha Chad’s eldest 2 daughters, Clara and Maria were my 2 closest friends. Luca and Ezra were best friends, and Alpha Chad’s other son Lyle was Harvey’s best friend, as well as our Gamma‘s oldest son, Mark. We all sat together for lunch at school, and frequently hung out together at the packhouse, spending our weekends and any free time together as a group. Except, Ezra has never really acknowledged my existence much. We used to be best friends, but since I was about 5 years old, he stopped speaking to me, or so I’m told. I never really cared, there was so many of us I’d hardly noticed him throughout the years either. I always thought it was just some sort of respect thing for also being my brother’s best friend, and me being the only older sister in our family. Stella is 9, and Eve is 4.

Ezra looked at me as though he were seeing me for the first time, and his gaze was so unnerving even in wolf form that I could feel the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I don’t think he’s ever seen me in my wolf form, but while it’s no secret I’m a moon child, most people don’t know about the abilities they possess; or the prophecy about me.

“Darci, you must be more careful next time. Hesitation is weakness.”

At only 20 years of age Ezra spoke with the perfect blend of poise and power. Even though he wasn’t my Alpha until he found our Luna and Alpha Chad deemed him ready to take over for Black Brook, the authority rolled off of him in waves. The smoldering stare he was giving me sent tremors down me, landing right in my core; a sensation I'd never experienced before.

“Sorry Ezra. I was a little distracted getting my shoulder mangled.” I linked back to him with sarcasm.

When he heard me say I was injured his eyes shaded slightly darker for a brief moment.

“You’re hurt?” He snapped hastily back at me through our link.

“The last of the rogues have been taken down. Everyone needs to be disposing of their bodies, or finding injured pack members and getting them to the pack hospital.” Alpha Chad linked to everyone.

In unison, hundreds of us responded,

“Yes Alpha.”

“Let’s go, we need to get you to the hospital.” He says to me.

“I was exaggerating. It’s barely a scratch. Let’s go round up the troops.”

Suddenly, he stalked towards me, still in his wolf form. I tried to bow down. Vyra instantly winces in pain and lets out a barely audible whimper.

“I’m taking you to the hospital.”

I can sense that he’s angry, but why? He really needs to leave me alone.

“I told you I’m fine. I’m not a f*****g pup Ezra, I can handle it.”

Without warning, his eyes change again, to a deep orange indicating his wolf Felix was taking over.

“DOCTOR. NOW!” He exclaims.