The Queen's Luna

Chapter 7

I press my hands into her chest to attempt to staunch the profuse bleeding, “Rana! Open your eyes! You, hag. Open your eyes,” I plead.

She coughs and blood splatters out on her pink lips. She opens her eyes more and tries to speak, “Girl? Is that you?”

She wheezes and I nod, “I’m here, Rana. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Please. Just stay with me.”

The pup skids into the house and trips over the door as she pants, “Your friend? How is...” She spies Rana in my arms, “Oh, no...”

I have to refrain from growling at her, “Shift and get the horses attached to the carriage!”

She whimpers, “I can’t... I’ve never...”

Rana tries to speak again, “The collar... Take...” She coughs and blood splatters more this time.

I sniffle and Sage merges with me, “Don’t talk, Rana. We are here. We aren’t letting you go!”

I turn my head to the pup as I listen for movement outside of the cottage. I can hear them readying their weapons.

“She-wolf, come,” I say as Sage holds Rana’s hands and tries to comfort her. I take one hand from Sage and Rana in order to extend my claws through my nails, “Don’t pull away from me, you will just make it worse. Do you understand?” 

The pup nods as she shakes, but gives me access to the buckle on her neck. 

I look her in the eyes, “Keep your eyes on me and this will be over as quick as possible.”

She holds her breath and I nod to signal my movement. In one swift and dept movement, I have the corroded chain and leather snapped and have yanked it from her neck. She yelps and pulls away from me while shaking her neck.

I look back at Rana and I can feel her life slipping from her, “Shift, pup, or I will have to give you an Alpha command and you will have to!” I ground out. 

Sage is whimpering in my head as she holds both of Rana’s hands. 

I look back at the pup, her eyes are wide, “Just do it! Use your Alpha command… I can’t do it by myself!”

I wince as I go back to putting pressure on Rana’s chest with one hand and holding the other, but blood just keeps coming out. I half sob and half growl, “You can’t die on me yet. We have a bet that I lost. We had a deal: I let you take me to a pack, Rana. You promised me. I’m finally ready to go and now you’re leaving me. Dammit, you old bat. I’m talking to you,” I hiccup.

Rana seems to smile and she gives my hand a gentle squeeze, “Letter… Folded into the quilt I finished for you… The information you want and need.”

“No!” I say, “I don’t want that. I want you and I want you to take me to the FireFall Crescent pack like you promised me that you would. We had a deal. A binding contract!”

The she-wolf whimpers. I turn on her, “You will shift! Now!” I command and before I know it her bones are crunching and her body is reforming into that of slender, petite, auburn-haired-female. “No time... Carriage and horses. Put one of my dresses on . The ones in the left of the closet will fit you. And a wool cloak. Hurry… The hunting men will not attack. They saw me. I am the prize they want.”

“Why....?” Rana slurs through the blood in her mouth, “Are you always causing trouble…”

I squeeze her hand and smile sadly though Sage and I’s tears, “You started it…”

I watch as her chest rises and falls. Slowly. For the final time.

Our heart shatters, “Rana!”

 A scream that turns to a howl rips from my throat as the she-wolf pulls the carriage up to the front door. I press my hands into her chest, feeling a strange energy come to me. It tingles all the way down my arms. The energy building in the entirety of my body needs to be released. It’s too much. I scream and force it out through my hands. Silvery-blue light flows from my hands into Rana’s chest as it sears its way out of me. Sage and I scream out of anger, and now pain as she tries to help me manage this energy that built inside of us.

After a whole minute, the light is gone and I collapse to the floor, just barely able to catch myself before my head hits wood, “Sage…” I mumble, “Let me drive.”

“Too weak,” She says… “I tried to help… Tried to help… You drive…”

I blink the room into focus again, doing my best to right myself.

The she-wolf scrambles to me, and stands me up, “What can I do? What do you need?” 

The wind whips around outside and I can feel the storm clouds moving in. I have to take deep breaths to force my incisors from not coming through and stopping my shift. I need to wrap Rana in a blanket and put her in the carriage. I’m not leaving her. The room spins again as I try to move from her arms, ending up against the wall again, “Trunks with gold locks. In the carriage. There are five. Hurry,” I urge.

She looks me up and down, “What about you?”

In my weakened state, my body is still trying to shift due to my rage. I look up at her, “I’ll get Rana in. I’m not leaving her here,” I take a deep breath, “They’re waiting for us to make our move. They know that they have only left us with one way out, or so they think. Start with the trunks, anything that looks important, put it in one of them. The garments in the wardrobes in there,” I point to my room, “Put them in the trunk at the foot of my bed and bring that. I’ll get Rana in and start on the opposite side of the house. As quick as possible. I can only hold my shift back for so long.”