Moonlight Run

Twenty-One

Isa’s POV

“Any questions?” Julius asked.

I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn’t will any sound to come out.

I stumbled over the tale Jay, or Julius, had just told me; repeating it in my head again and again. But I couldn’t make it line up with everything I’d been told my whole life, even as he sat here in front of me.

My brother was alive.

I could only look at Leon, breathless. “You let us think he was dead… for sixteen years?”

Leon would not look up from his plate to meet my eyes.

Julius leaned back into his chair, sighing. “Now, now… Try not to be so hard on him. I’m the one who’s had to slum it all this time, and if I can forgive him, so can you.”

“Slum it?” The man named Vlad had entered the enormous dining hall. He leaned against a buffet table on his elbows, raising his eyebrows at Julius. “You forget, we were the ones who had to tolerate your stupid ass.”

Julius must not have taken any offense to the comment as he burst into laughter, and then Vlad did, too. Then Julius looked back at me, motioning over to Vlad. “Have you met Vladimir then? His father, Boris? He was the man who raised me, you know… a man I grew to call Dad. He’s the one who told me where I came from… and what I was up against. He spent the last years of his life readying me to lead these people… to put an end to Phineas’ Blackburn.”

My brother took a long drink of the water glass in front of him, and I looked over at Leon once more as I considered what my long lost brother had just revealed to me.

Sixteen years ago, after Leon and Phineas unseated my father, Leon began to worry for my brother’s future. After Ivan was removed from power, my father was driven to the edge of our land, forced to live as a rogue for the rest of his days. But Phineas had revealed to Leon that he planned to have my father killed on the way out of town… a car bombing that would be staged to look like his still-angry people had done it.

“Of course,” he had said to Leon. “There’s still the matter of the boy. We can’t have the former Alpha’s son growing up to challenge my son for a title he may think is rightfully his.”

While Phineas had previously promised Leon that he would spare my father’s wife and children, Phineas’ concern about my brother’s future was enough to plant the seed of doubt in Leon’s mind and he knew he had to keep my brother safe.

So Leon sought to make a deal with a group of rogue wolves outside our borders. They agreed they would take the boy in. And then Leon had tampered with Phineas’ plans, arranging for the car-bomb to go off while my father said his goodbyes to Julius. Under the cover of the chaos, the rogue wolves, who were hiding in wait in the street sewers, saved the boy. Leon knew if Phineas believed he was dead, he was no longer a threat.

“I have one question,” I said, looking instead to Vladimir. “Why’d your father say yes?”

I looked over to Leon. “What did you do, send them money all this time? Supplies?”

Leon cringed, still not looking up from his plate at me.

“He’s been compelled not to speak,” Julius said. “So I wouldn’t bother asking him anything.”

Vladimir straightened up. “My father had history with Phineas Blackburn. I guess you could say he was happy to take Julius in, given everything Blackburn’s taken from him.”

“And what did Blackburn take from your father?” I asked cautiously.

Vladimir closed his eyes, and then looked away. “He took away enough.”

I could sense a genuine sadness in Vlad’s reply, and I didn’t push it. I didn’t need to. The truth is that I knew what Phineas was capable of, and imagined very little would surprise me. I turned back to Julius.

“Why won’t you let Leon speak?”

The smile fell from Julius’ face. “I’ve grown tired of his excuses and his apologies.”

“Excuses? It sounds to me like he saved your life.”

Julius slammed his fist suddenly on the table, shouting. “He let you all think I was dead!”

“When you met me, you didn’t have the slightest idea who I was, Isa. That night… I don’t think I’ve smiled like that in such a long time. Getting to know my sister… That’s a joy I would never know if Leon had it his way.” He looked at my mother, who had tears welling up in her eyes. “But she saw me drop you off that night… And she knew immediately who I was.”

“Any mother would,” my mom choked out.

I remembered sitting next to my mother on the porch swing after Jay, or Julius, had dropped me off. She looked like she’d seen a ghost. Of course…

“Is this what you wanted then? A family reunion?” I felt my heartbeat race, and I looked over at Maximus and then to my mother. “They said you’d let me go if I didn’t want to stay. Is that true? Now that you’ve told me who you are, now that I know that you’re alive… I can go back if I want to?”

“Knowing what you know now, why would you ever want to?” The corner of his lip turned up into a sneer.

“Pipa and Carina are—”

“We’re already arranging to have them brought here.” Vlad said.

“Yes.” Julius nodded, looking from Vlad back to me. “Does that ease your concerns then?”

“Why were you there that night? … the night of the party, I mean. Why would you risk coming back onto the pack grounds?”

“Like I told you, I was visiting a friend. That wasn’t a lie. Thanks to them, I knew there was going to be a party for the… future Alpha,” he said the last words with disdain. “And I knew with that many out-of-towners around, so many new scents, I could blend in more easily… I knew there was a chance I would see you there. I was right.”

“What friend?” I asked.

“One who I prefer to leave out of this for now.” He said, cutting into the last bit of steak on his plate.

“And Friday night? Were you there to meet this friend again?”

Julius shoved his plate aside, having taken his last bite. “No. When I met mother the week before, I promised her I’d come back when I got the chance again. I thought that the young Alpha and his cronies would all be busy participating in Phineas’ reprehensible Moonlight Run…” He paused, cringing. “Imagine my surprise when you crossed the street in front of me while I was on my way to meet our mother… and with him following after you like a lovesick puppy.”

I said barely above a whisper, “He thinks we’re mates.”

“So I’ve heard.” He stood from the table, throwing his napkin onto his plate. “But we’ll see to that matter soon enough.”

“What do you mean?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Going back or not depends on you, Isadora.” Julius leaned over me now. “You can simplify all matters by rejecting him as your mate, and we can move forward. That makes things much easier for everyone, really. But before you even think of entertaining this… relationship… with the usurper’s son… I want you to ask yourself, do you think would he give up his title for you?”

I felt my pulse quicken at his words. “Why would he have to give—”

“Because I’m going to f*****g take that title back from him,” Julius seethed.

“And you’re going to help me do it.”

***

Nikolai’s POV

I pushed open the broken door of the packhouse bedroom, and cringed as I shut it behind me. I couldn’t help but thinking it was as much a blessing and a curse to have been mated with such a strong willed woman. Yet there was momentary fury, knowing if she simply did what she was told she would still be here. She would be safe.

And that wasn’t all that troubled me tonight. I looked at the message Cyrano had sent me, again and again, trying to understand what possible connection Marisol could have to this rogue wolf. I kept looking at the footage, trying to keep an eye out for anything I missed, but at some point I fell asleep.

Soon after I fell asleep, my dreams came in strange short bursts that didn’t make sense. I was cuffed by the ankle to a bed… And then I’m punching a mirror, but then the face looking back at me isn’t my own, but Isadora’s. My knuckles are bloody. I wonder, have I hurt her? Finally, I’m standing in front of a house… it feels so familiar, and I look up at a round window that sticks out from the rest… I know that round window, but I can’t place it.

I woke up with a gasp. My whole body was drenched in sweat, and I felt nauseous. I got up and went to the bathroom to towel myself off. As I’m looking at myself in the mirror, I recall the strange dream again. I see the crack in my mirror, just as it was in the dream. But I shake my head and close my eyes, and when I open them again, it’s gone.

As I try to fall back asleep, I toss and turn. Everytime I close my eyes I’m in front of that familiar house again, staring up at the same round window. But eventually, I’m sleeping soundly again.

And then Dimitri bursts into my bedroom.

“Niko! We’re under attack!”

I scramble out of bed. “What? Where?”

“From everywhere. We don’t know how they got past our patrols… they’re just outside the packhouse, near the treeline by the gym.”

“How many?” I ask as I pull a shirt over my head.

“I… I don’t…”

“Dimitri, dammit, how many?”

“Too many, Niko. We’re outnumbered here. Everyone’s at home asleep or still recovering in the infirmary.”

“Wake them.” I snapped.

“Wake who, Niko?” Dimitri asked as I headed down the entryway stairs.

“Everyone.”

***

Isa’s POV

“And why do you think I would help you do that? What happened to not punishing the son for sins of the father?” I stood from the table now, pushing back into him.

Julius replied, “There will be no punishment if he is willing to give up what isn’t rightfully his to begin with. That pack is not his. It belongs to us. That is why I would expect you to help with that.”

I shook my head. “I know what father did to those women… You blame Phineas,” I looked to my stepfather, who still sat helplessly in the chair next to my brother, “Or Leon, but the people— our people— didn’t want him anymore, Julius.”

“What Phineas Blackburn and the council has permitted is no worse than what our father did!” He said through gritted teeth. “I am still the son of the true Alpha of the Cuyahoga Valley, and when Phineas Blackburn steps down, I should be in line to Ascend— not his son.”

I swallowed, backing away from him. “You’re wrong, Julius. We can move on. This vendetta does not have to be our family’s legacy. Don’t you think our father’s tarnished it enough?”

“Don’t you speak that way about him!” He growled. “Our father loved us both. He gave his life, agreed to be part of Leon’s lie, so that you and I could live.”

“No, our father was as power hungry as Phineas Blackburn. He knew he was going to die anyway. When he let Leon smuggle you away under the cover of his death, he only did that to protect his bloodline, not his son!”

I felt the slap spread hot against my face. And I looked up in horror. But as I realized my brother’s expression mirrored my own, it occurred to me that the smack did not come from him.

My mother stood beside me, a peculiar rage in her eyes I’d never seen the likes of.

“Your father was a lot of things, and I am often the first to admit to the worst of those things. But Julius is right, Isadora. He loved you. And he died protecting you, making Leon and I promise to as well.”

She continued. “Why do you think Leon and I became mates, Isa? Do you think I could love the man that helped take down my husband, who I thought was partially responsible for the death of my only son?” She shook her head no. “Leon knew that you and I would never be treated fairly in the pack if we lived among the rest of them. We did that to protect you, because he promised your father he would do everything in his power to make sure we still had a good life, and I knew that. That’s the last thing your father asked of him, was to take care of you.”

She looked at Julius now. “And it’s that very reason you could also stand to show Leon a little more gratitude. If you had stayed with us, Phineas Blackburn would have found a way to kill you, Julius. I have no doubt about that. Leon’s actions spared you, and he’s been living out his penance under the rule of Phineas Blackburn all this time. You both could at least bother to acknowledge what he’s done for us.”

My brother clicked his tongue against his teeth a few times as if considering his words before he spoke… “Thank you, mother. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind when I determine the manner in which I’ll have him executed.”

My mother clutched her chest, and Leon groaned from his seat at the table.

Julius shot one more dark look at me before he left the room, saying over his shoulder. “Maximus, take Isadora’s dinner plate back with her to her cell, would you? She needs to keep her energy up for what’s to come.”

He turned towards the living room. “Everybody, it is time. We leave within the hour.”

Every head in the crowded living and dining hall turned in Julius’ direction. “By the break of dawn, we will show Phineas Blackburn the true might of the people he would so foolishly dismiss!”

They cheered, “From the rogue shadows, we will rise!”

***

Nikolai’s POV

The battle on the front lawn wasn’t looking good. Every time we’d take a handful of wolves down, more seemed to appear. We couldn’t figure out where they were coming from.

“Dimitri,” I called out over the mindlink. “Don’t worry about the fight right now, I need you to figure out their point of entry. It’s the only way we’ll find Isadora and the rest of her family.”

“Heard,” He replied.

One after another I saw fur flying past my head. It seemed their target was less about fighting us, and more about trying to get into the packhouse. It occurred to me that my father had stayed inside, cowardly as he was, I could not say that I was surprised.

“I think I know what they’re after,” I said over the link. “Protect my father!”

“Nikolai!” Valric called. “I figured out how they’re getting in!”

I narrowly escaped a claw that had come flying at my head by a grey wolf, as I headed towards Valric’s voice. “Talk to me, Val.”

“It’s the manholes! They’re coming up from the sewers; they’re not coming across the borders.”

It was smart, I realized. Not only did it lead them right into the center of our grounds, but it would mask their smell as they moved around, too. Damn.

“Dimitri, did you hear that?” I called out, after I sunk my teeth into the neck of the grey wolf and his body fell limp to the ground. “Dimitri?”

“Guys, I think Dimitri’s a little busy…” Cyrano called.

I looked around for any sign of Dimitri’s large white wolf, but couldn’t see him at first.

“I don’t have eyes on him. What’s going on?”

“It’s Phoebe and Bianca—” Cyrano said. “They’re literally at each other’s throats.”

“Dammit, we don’t have time for girl fights!” I shouted across the link.

As I threw a smaller brown wolf off of me just as their teeth almost sank into my haunches, I landed on my feet in time to see a familiar flash of a dark brown coat with golden brown trim pass by. Chocolate with caramel swirls, I thought to myself.

“Isadora?” I called out over the mindlink, giving chase to the wolf.

It skidded to a stop in front of me, turning on its heel when it heard the name. “Not today, pretty boy.”

Impossible, I thought. Now that I was closer, I could see that this wolf was indeed larger than Isa’s wolf… but the markings were strikingly similar. Moreover, they could speak to me over mind-link. Only wolves within the same packs were able to do that… unless they were other Alphas. Alpha wolves could always communicate with each other when closeby.

I snarled back at him. “You again.”

We circled one another closely, waiting for the other to make their move. And then he lunged at me. I whipped around in time to narrowly miss his strike, and then threw my body weight back into him to send him flying. He landed on his front paws, teeth barred at me.

I began to circle him again, readying myself for the strike when his ears perked up and he cried out in a whimper. I was too confused by his reaction to take my move, and by the time I regained my composure, he was running off in another direction. “COWARD!” I called.

But I realized as I chased after him that he was not retreating, he was running towards a wolf that lay injured on the ground. I recognized Dimitri’s white wolf standing across from the limp body, guarding what looked to be like Phoebe’s wolf behind him. She was limping, whimpering slightly.

I looked again back to the she-wolf that the rogue hovered over, and I was shook with realization. It was Bianca.

I growled back at the rogue wolf again, which he returned, and then looked back under his paws to Bianca’s body. He looked around, understanding now that in his moment of weakness he had found himself nearly surrounded by myself, Valric, and Dimitri. And then he turned and ran.

As he did, the others followed. Some of my people began to pursue, and I called across the mindlink, “Let them retreat! We can’t lose anyone else. They may return and we’ll need our numbers, and our strength.”

Valric called on everyone to begin gathering the wounded, including those who had come with the rogue wolves. They would be questioned and cooperative, or they would be left for dead.

I looked away as Phoebe shifted back to human form, so that Dimitri could carry her inside easier. My eyes fell back on Bianca’s body, which was slowly turning back to her human form.

I allowed myself to shift back, and Valric appeared beside me having also changed.

He spoke first, “Did you see the way that wolf reacted when Bianca went down?”

I nodded. “I did. Did Phoebe do this?”

“Only after Bianca attacked her first.”

“What happened? Did you see anything, hear anything? Why would Bianca attack Phoebe, they’ve practically been best friends since Phoebe moved here last year.”

Valric sighed. “All I heard was Phoebe call Bianca a traitor… That’s all I know.”

“Carry her inside for me, please. And then go find out what you can from Phoebe. We’re missing something.”

Valric nodded and dismissed himself. I looked around at the bodies, ours and the rogues, that lined the lawn. I was about to go inside when I heard a soft sob coming from the tree line. I went over to investigate. I took a step back when I saw the familiar blond girl clutching her knees to her body, crying.

“Pipa… I didn’t know you had come out here. Are you alright?”

She sniffled, and tried to use her limbs to shield her body from me. “No, I’m not.”

I looked around for something to give her to cover herself with, and saw a ripped t-shirt on the ground from where another wolf must have shifted. I handed it to her and she held it across her midsection. I extended my hand and helped her to her feet.

“Are you hurt?”

“Not in any way that matters, I guess.”

“Pipa, what’s happened?”

She looked at me with a woeful expression. “I finally met my mate tonight.”

I looked around at the bodies on the ground again and groan. “s**t, I’m sorry Pipa.”

“Oh, no. He’s alive. But he retreated with the others that he came here with.” She wiped the tears from her eyes, looking off to the woods where the rogue wolves had ran.

“Believe me, right now I think I’d prefer if he was dead.”