The Luna Who Burned The Pack

CHAPTER NINE

If I say I don’t believe in magic, I will sound like an i***t. Afterall, the existence of werewolves is based on nothing but the magic of the Moon. But there are some things that happen that we have no explanations for. They spook us, and if care is not taken, we become ostriches burying their heads into the sand.

Last night, after Curran and I had our heart to heart, we retired to the bedroom. Him on the spare bed while I lay on the main bed and gazed at the ceiling. He'd been so elusive up to that point, and even though he expertly avoided the issue of black veins climbing up his back, he still asked me to be his luna. Not in name, but for real.

And the way he reacted when I brought up Dark Moon. But then, I’d been drifting asleep when growling woke me up. I jumped up the bed and grabbed onto the wooden edge of it in fear. And then I looked at Curran, and he seemed draped in darkness.

“Curran? What's wrong?” I asked. I felt afraid, but strangely, it was not of him. For him.

“Don’t come near me! Stay away from me!”

“But I just want to he...”

“No!”

His words made me angry. It felt like he was pushing me away, and I had been so enraged that the only thing that snapped me out of it was when I suddenly smelt something sharp and sweet. The smell was like wood smoke and wildfire, and the smell distracted me enough to snap out of it.

But when I had taken my hands from where they had gripped the wood, they were darkened with my handprint, as if I had somehow managed to burn then.

And when I turned my hands, I could have sworn they glowed faintly.

But obviously, the only explanation for any of that is that I have finally gone mad. It had to be nothing but a trick of light.

Besides, I have better things to do. Like hangout with Mira. I do not have the time to entertain delusional thoughts. No. No. Nope.

We're currently in the kitchen. Mira is something of the head supervisors for domestic affairs in the pack. Any decisions that have to do with the domestic wellbeing of the pack run through her first. She is telling me about it all, but I honestly can’t be bothered.

“You’re not really paying attention, are you, Luna?” I’ve tried everything to make her call me Violet, but she refuses to budge on the Luna thing.

“No, I can’t say I am, Mira.”

“What’s on your mind then?”

“My mate.” Oops. And that just came out. I look at Mira, expecting a mocking reaction to the words, but she just smiles.

“What about him? I’ve known Curran for over ten years, so ask your questions.”

“How did he become this? How did he become the infamous rogue king?”

Mira purses her lips and looks at me for a moment. I get the feeling she’s deciding whether to tell me or not. Like she said, she has known Curran for years. I am sure she is very protective of him. We sit in silence for another five minutes, and I have already concluded that I will get nothing from Mira.

“Curran’s father died four years ago. The death was so sudden, that nobody had prepared for it. There is an enemy of the family, a witch-wolf hybrid who calls himself the shadow king. He murdered Curran’s father and set panic to the pack. By the time Curran was able to climb over the grief, the pack was no more.” A haunted look peeks at me through Mira’s eyes.

“My mate had been his father’s right-hand man, and I still remember running around looking for him, just to find my mate impaled on a silver spear. It is a sight I will never forget.”

I stand up and run to Mira before I even know what I’m doing. I hug her. Words will fail me if I try to console her. The horror. I couldn’t imagine what witnessing that would do to a mated wolf. The loss, the breaking of the bond.

Mira pats my arms and pulls away from me. I can see the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. But I watch, fascinated, as she seems to pull the grief back into herself, and all I’m left with is the Mira I know. The one who seems infallible. She shoos me back to my seat.

“By the time Curran was able to come back to himself, the people of the pack had scattered and had been absorbed into other packs. And he would have left things well alone. But then we started to hear stories. His father had been a strong Alpha king, and the other Alphas had been jealous of his reign. And for some twisted reason, they decided that since he was dead, they would punish his subjects for his perceived sins.”

“They were maltreating the wolves who took refuge in their packs?”

Mira nods. “I remember the terrible anger that overcame Curran that day. I think that was the first time he voluntarily gave room to the shadow beast. His anger was a terrible, beautiful thing. The shadow beast recognized its own, but every other wolf in that pack suffered the consequences of daring to hurt Curran’s people. That was how the evil, rogue king came to be.”

“Curran’s father had bought him hectares of land for when he wanted to start his own pack, because even his father knew his son was a bright thing. And Curran’s brought us here, to this empty land full of tree. He was just twenty-five. He was still young, but because he felt responsible for us, he forced himself to grow up for us.”

Mira looks at me then, her eyes hard.

“We all know about the curse that haunts him. And I know it is part of why he brought you in. If you harbour any ill thoughts towards him, I advise you to leave now. No one in this pack will allow you to hurt him. He means the world to us, and we will be willing to jump between him and a silver sword. Come now, dinner is ready. You're to join us in the hall today.”

“Has Curran been carrying it all alone?”

“Well. He doesn’t let any of us in. He has Raze, and Raze has him. And now, we hope that he has you too.”

*****

There are thousands of people in the hall.

Now, I know that there are a lot of wolves in the pack, but I’ve never stopped to consider just how much they are.

There are a lot.

The hall is built like a warehouse: tall wooden beams interconnected with brick walls. The walls are plastered and painted over with very light brown paint. Long tables that sit at twelve on each side, with two at the heads, making twenty-four seats per table, are splattered around the halls.

The food section is cafeteria style, with people standing up to get food. It's all very organized, and I’m impressed. The children go first, then the women, and the men go last.

Where I’m seated, it’s a small table meant to sit four, but only three people are on it. Curran, Raze, and me.

A platter of meat, and a casserole holding what looks like lasagna sits on the table with a side of some what looks like potato salad with a very generous splattering of broccoli and asparagus.

When I came into the hall, Mira led me to Curran’s seat. He had obviously not been expecting me, because his eyes light up with surprise first, and then he smiles at me and stands. He pulls a chair out of me and stays till I’ve lowered myself into it so he can scoot me closer to the table.

He puts a very generous serving of the steak and the salad on my plate and when I look at him, he shrugs.

“I don’t like that you’re so lean. We need to get some meat on you.”

“Why? So you can eat me better?” I say the words and then pause in horror because the closest tables to us freeze. My big mouth is definitely going to get me in trouble.

But Curran just chuckles. Raze does a very good job at ignoring my existence, and I try my best to return the favor, but I can’t deny it hurts a bit. I still wonder what he had been saying the other day, and I would ask him if his gaze is trying its best to set me on fire.

I finish my plate of food and relax back onto the chair because I think if I try to stand right now, I’ll keel over. That's when we hear the commotion coming from the door.

Wolves snarl, and the sound of it is so full of anger that it sends shivers down my spine.

I watch two burly male wolves push another wolf forward towards our table. It is when he gets within seeing distance that I freeze. My body becomes a block if wood, and I hope that I am dreaming.

Curran doesn’t miss my reaction. “What is it, Violet?”

“I know that man.”

They are the only words I’m able to push out, but it turns out I do not need to say more. Curran remains seated, but from the corner of my eyes, I watch him change from Curran, my mate and beloved by his people, to Curran, the evil rogue king. If I am not here to witness to trasformation, I would think it was two different people before me.

It all the eyes. His green eyes darken, and his jaw clenches so hard. I hope he doesn’t hurt himself.

They finally push the man till he’s right in front of us, and sure enough, it is James. Gideon Moon’s trusted messenger. James is a scout and messenger. He was chosen for the role because of his long legs and wiry wolf. And now he’s standing right in front of me.

This can’t be good. I steel my nerves and turn my face into an expressionless mask. James sees me and his eyes widen, but the surprise changes into a sneer.

“His name is James, and he’s Gideon messenger.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Curran’s answer is devoid of any emotion. He says to them with such boredom that I only know he’s mad because I can see his fists clenched under the table.

“Greetings, Alpha Curran Sharpblade. I bring a message from Alpha Gideon Moon of Dark Moon.”

“Deliver it then.”

James stands straighter and clears his throat and hands Curran the letter.

Curran tears it opens and reads the words out for the whole hall. It is then that I realize that the hall is so silent that I could hear a pin drop. “’I demand that the runt you too, Violet Harpsichord be returned to us. She is pack property, and it was a lapse in judgement that made me give her up to you. Give her back so that we may afford any bloodshed. I shall expect her to come back with James.’”

Currans laughs so suddenly that James flinches, and the laughter cuts out as abruptly as it started.

He turns to James with Green eyes that are now edged with darkness. Darkness seems to leak from my mate, and James trembles under the wight of that powerful gaze targeted at him.

His next words send tingles down my spines, and they end between my legs.

“Tell Alpha Moon that his pack’s borders will be ash with a fortnight if he persists with this foolishness. Violet Harpsichord is my mate. She will not be going anywhere.”