The dark moon

Chapter 28••The thing

Alisa POV

I felt extremely tired after visiting Alex and Chloe, so decided to go and have a nap. I didn’t realize how exhausting it was being a newly mated wolf. I shouldn't be surprised. Cam has been keeping me up most nights. I don’t mind being exhausted for that though. He can keep me up every night if I get to have wild, mind-blowing sèx with him. Just thinking about it makes my core buzz with excitement.

“Hey, where are you going?”

Sam walked up behind me and asked. She was very sneaky and quiet. I could never hear her sneak up on me, even now that I had my wolf and my hearing was astounding she would still manage to be extremely quiet.

“I’m tired.” I yawned.

She looked at me and chuckled.

“Mason has been working all day with Cam. I was gonna see if you wanted to chill with me, but you do look like you're about to drop. Come on, I’ll take a nap with you as well. Mason has been working me hard,” she smiled.

Sam and I had always shared the bed with each other when we had sleepovers even as teenagers. She wasn’t just my best friend, she was my sister. I don’t know what I would do without Sam in my life. She always knew how to calm me down or get me worked up depending on what was happening and how she wanted it to go. She knew what I was thinking and always had my back.

“Ok,”

I looped my arm through hers and we strolled up to my room talking about nothing in particular, just the usual dribble me and Sam spoke about. I thought it would be weird saying my room, but it’s not. It makes me feel complete when I think of anything to do with Cam. I climbed into bed, followed by Sam pulling the cover up over both of us, and we both fell into a blissful sleep.

“Have you ever seen anything so adorable?”

I could hear Mason. He was extraordinarily loud, making my eyes squeeze together and me pull the cover up higher over my head, hoping to block out his noise. I was having a wonderful dream about Cam and wasn’t ready to wake up just yet.

“No, I’ve not,” Cam‘s voice sounded soft.

His scent drifted over to me and even if I wanted to go back to sleep, I couldn’t now. He consumed me and knowing he was close by made my body come to life.

“Hey,” I said sleepily.

He sat down next to me on the bed and stroked the hair off my face. I felt myself leaning into his touch, wanting more.

“Are you ok?”

He looked down at me, his eyes full of concern. This man of mine was too good to be true.

“I am now” he flashed his beautiful smile at me.

“Are you hungry?”

“I’m starving. I could eat a scabby horse,” Sam answered, stretching her arms out above her head, and making Cam and Mason laugh.

“Come on, then sweetness, let’s get you fed. I think you're in luck. I heard Mrs. Williams say we’re having scabby horse tonight,”

I looked over and saw Mason holding his hand out to Sam, she placed her hand in his and he pulled her out of the bed and into his arms, he wrapped them around her and placed his nose into her neck, I could hear him deeply inhaling her scent, seeing Sam so happy filled me with blissfulness, Mason idolized her and she deserved it. Sam had lost her father at a young age and her mum wasn’t fully accepted at the Nightwalkers pack. The older members ostracized Sam but she didn’t give a shít. She always held her head high, and it really píssed them off. I never really understood why they were like that. I think it had to do with her heritage. Apparently, a long time ago, one of her ancestors had some wacko vampire obsessed with her and he had promised to come for the chosen one. I was terrified that it was true and that some crazy vampire would come after Sam but Lyn, her mum, had assured us she was safe, but it was something I always worried about until now. Now I know Mason wouldn’t allow that to happen. He would do everything in his power to keep Sam safe.

As we sat down to eat, Violet and her mate walked into the dining hall. He was an intimidating-looking guy. He was just as tall as Cam, with dark hair and dark eyes to go with it. He was built like a brick house, but when he looked at Violet, you could see how much he loved her. I could tell he was a good guy.

“Hello again Alisa, this is my mate and lover Maximus” she winked at Cam making me giggle.

“Hello Alisa, it's lovely to finally meet you and call me Max. I can’t tell you how happy I am to finally see Cam so happy. You’ve changed him, you know. "

“She has indeed. I’ve never seen you looking so happy. Mom and dad are sooooo excited to see you as well,”

Cam shook his head whilst smiling at his sister.

“I had to threaten them with no grandkids if they cut their cruise short,” he smirked, making me choke on my food and everyone else laugh.

He slapped my back, helping clear my throat. He rubbed his hand up and down, making me shiver as the tingles ran down my spine.

“Don’t you want children?” Violet asked.

“Of course I do, just not yet. I’ve got college and I need to get used to all the Luna duties first before I want kids,” I replied.

“I don’t care when you want them. As long as I can enjoy practicing with you, I’m happy… And that we have 6,” Cam said, making me choke on my food again.

“Cameron, are you trying to choke the girl?” Violet scolded him.

“So Violet, how far along are you?” I asked, hoping to get the conversation away from me.

She stopped eating and looked at me with wide eyes, which then darted over to Max.

“H..how did you know? I’ve not told anyone yet!”

“Is it true, my love?” Max asked with a face-splitting grin.

“I found out today. That’s why I was at the hospital earlier”

Max stood up, picked Violet up, and swung her around.

“I’m gonna be a daddy!” he shouted joyfully.

Cam stood up and wrapped his arms around them both.

“Congratulations.”

Cam had a huge smile plastered on his face as well. His eyes twinkled when he smiled like that. I couldn’t help smiling with him.

“I get to be cool Uncle Cam,”

“Only if you get cool in the next 5 months,” Max replied, making the table erupt with laughter.

They all sat back down talking amongst themselves, but I couldn’t enjoy myself. I felt terrible for telling everyone about Violet's secret. She didn’t even get to tell Max because my big gob blurted it out and ruined it. This was her first pup, and I ruined her chance to tell her mate.

“Violet. I’m so sorry. I thought everyone knew.” I whispered, feeling like a right díck still.

“Alisa, it's OK, it was actually amazing seeing the surprise on his face. If I had sat him down to tell him, he would have guessed straight away.”

Her eyes furrowed together and her lips pulled tight into a straight line. Her eyes fixated on my face, really studying me.

“How did you know?” She asked.

I felt everyone’s eyes on me now and felt myself sinking back into my chair. I hated everyone’s attention on me like this.

“I… I don’t know how…… I just knew… I can feel it.”

I didn’t have an explanation for how I knew. It was just a feeling I got deep within myself when she sat down beside me. It was like I could feel that she was pregnant. Oh goddess, I really am crazy.

“I have someone I want you to meet tomorrow. She might be able to shed some light on this for you,” Cam added.

He wrapped his strong arm around me, pulling me closer to his body. He leaned into me and kissed the side of my head. Everyone else began to chat amongst each other but I felt distant. The meal seemed to fly past and I didn’t really remember eating or anything else that happened after that. All I remember is spoiling something that should have been special for Violet and Max.

After eating, everyone seemed to disappear. I felt an overwhelming urge to go and find my parents. I hadn’t seen them all day, and I felt terrible for ruining Violet's chance to tell Max herself, and what better way to make me feel better than the unconditional love and adoration from my mum and dad?

“Hello dear,” my mum smiled as she opened her door.

“I was just going for a walk. Do you want to join me? It’s a beautiful night,”

“Sure mum let me tell Cam so he doesn’t worry.”

She closed her door and slipped her arm through mine. She pulled me along the corridor toward the stairs.

*Cam, I’m going for a walk with my mum. I'll be back soon.*

*Please be careful Alisa, we don’t know where that woman is yet, and she has demons helping her.*

Cam had filled me in on everything that had happened when they found Chloe and I was in disbelief. Poor Chloe had been through hell. Literally. And whoever had done this to her was still out there somewhere. Alex wasn’t going to be letting her out of his sight anytime soon and I can’t blame him. I didn’t want to let her out of my sight either after hearing what had happened.

*I will. I love you.*

*I love you more. I have a guard waiting outside for you.*

I rolled my eyes. He was extremely overprotective, but I loved how much he cared.

*Thank you.*

I cut the link off with Cam and allowed my mum to pull me outside. The night air was cold and refreshing. Everything smelled fresh.

“Cam has a guard waiting for us. He must be hiding so he’s not invading our privacy,” I said to mum as we moved toward the forest surrounding the pack house.

“Probably dear. Why don’t we go to go the lake? I've not been there in such a long time. The last time I did it was when your uncle met your aunt.” Mum smiled as her mind ran through the memory. Walking to the lake didn’t seem to take long. We spoke about what I had done at dinner, and as I suspected, mum made me feel better about the whole situation. I didn’t realize how much I had missed my parents.

“It’s exactly like I remember it,” mum gasped.

I felt on edge, though. Something didn’t feel right. My heart was beating fast and my wolf was pleading with me to turn back. She felt whatever it was as well.

“Mum, I think we should go, something…”

The air shimmered around us, stopping me mid-sentence. I grabbed my mum and pulled her behind me, and took a protective stance. I could sense the evil in the air.

“We have two little lambs,” a deep voice that sent chills down my spine said.

It echoed around us, bouncing off the trees. I looked around but couldn’t see anyone.

A menacing laugh filled the space around us. The temperature dropped, and the smell was vile. It made my stomach roll, saliva filled my mouth, and I had to fight the urge to throw up.

“Who are you?” I said in a clear and demanding voice.

“I’m going to enjoy you.”

I felt something cold touch my face, my skin felt ice cold and the hairs on my body all stood on end, like I had walked into an electrical storm. I stood frozen on the spot, unable to move. A blood-curdling scrėam made me snap back. I spun around to look at my mum and saw she was pointing toward the trees. I followed her finger with my eyes when I saw it. Fear consumed me, engulfing me with its shadowy barbs. A pair of blood-red eyes glowed, peering through the trees. This thing was either really tall or sitting high up in the tree. The evil emitting from the area it was in was overpowering, it felt suffocating.

“Little lambs, I can smell your fear.”

“What do you want?” I demanded.

In a blink of an eye, the thing stood in front of us. I had never seen anything like it before. It was a black mass in a human form. It was huge, much taller than Cam or anyone else I knew. Its eyes were as red as blood and glowed. It had two large horns that curled around the side of its head, like a ram only large. Its hands looked more like claws and its feet like hooves. It wore a black overcoat that landed below its crooked knee. Its coat revealed its body which had red markings that stood out against the blackness of its skin. I could feel the evil coming off it in waves, and it smelled like death. I took a step back, keeping my arm outstretched in front of my mum to try to put some distance between us.

“Please let my mother go and I'll do what you want!” I said, trying to be firm, hoping my voice wouldn’t betray me.

“Little lamb you would do that, you would give yourself to me to save the mutt?”

His glowing eyes bore into mine and I felt my stomach twist painfully. I fell to my knees as pain ripped through my body. It felt like somebody was grabbing my intestines and was twisting and pulling them.

“P..ple…please don’t do this. Take me. Leave my daughter alone,” my mum stuttered. It broke my heart to hear the fear in her voice. This woman was my rock. She made me the woman I am today and I’ll be damned if I let this fücker take her strength and light away. I shakily pushed myself up from the ground. My arms trembled from the pain and I felt sweat beading on my forehead. I stood up and my eyes met with the pools of blue I wished to see every morning for the rest of my life. I didn’t see him arrive, and I wasn’t sure how he knew I was here, but Cam was here with his pack warriors. It was like he was trying to break through an invisible wall. He looked so angry. I could see he was shouting, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Warriors were running and smashing into something that couldn’t be seen.

“Little lamb, your mate has come to witness your end,” the thing hissed.

His voice sounded dead, void of any emotion. It made a chill run through my body.

“Mum, run,” I said as calmly as I could.

The thing's eyes darted between us. He let out a dark and twisted laugh and before I knew what was happening, I was flying across the ground, the thing had released a blast of red light that hit me sending me hurtling across the ground, my body crashed against the hard floor, scraping against it. I could feel my skin burn from the friction. I could see Cam going crazy outside of the barrier and heard my mum's scrėam. I rolled onto my stomach and pushed myself up again. I wasn’t going down without a fight.

“You’re a strong one, little lamb. I will take great pleasure in breaking you,”

Everything now was going in slow motion, as if time had slowed down. The thing shimmered behind my mother, and her beautiful face changed from one full of fear to a face full of peace and love. I saw her mouth moving and heard the soft whisper of her voice as she told me she loved me before she fell to the floor with a thud. The thing had killed her. It had punched its disgusting claw through her back. I saw as it exited from the front of her chest, still clutching my mother's heart. It pulled its claw back through my mother's body and took a bite from her heart.

My heart clenched, and I tried to scrėam, but nothing came out. Cam was banging his body against the barrier, desperate to get to me, and my father was crumpled in a heap on the floor. I didn't even see him before. Oh my goddess, my father saw my mother murdered.

Rage coursed through me. The thing stood there laughing and I have never wanted to kill anything more than I have the disgusting creature in front of me. I started to feel my anger surface. My body felt like it was being consumed by the fires of hell. A blue glow encased me. The thing's eyes widened and its laughing stopped. The fücker actually looked scared now. I scrėamed, a scrėam filled with pain and heartbreak, and as I did, the blue glow that had wrapped around me shot out, covering the area around me. It was like a nuclear explosion; the trees bent from the force.

The blue glow hit the thing, but I don’t know if it hurt him or killed him because I let the darkness consume me.