The Luna Who Burned The Pack

CHAPTER SEVEN

I am currently outside right now. I met Raze a couple of hours ago, after Mira had brought me back to the cabin. I’d waited there for about thirty minutes for Curran, and when he didn’t show up, I decided I’d go explore the land.

I was a few steps away from the wall when Raze appeared.

“You must not go near the perimeter. It is very out of bounds to you.” His voice was cold, and his tone was empty as if a robot was speaking to me. I had a feeling that Raze didn’t like me. Maybe he saw me as a distraction to his alpha, or maybe he thought I wasn’t the Luna his Alpha deserved. The Luna he deserved.

That made the two of us.

After those very brief words, he left me alone, and I continued walking around. The land stretches far out in the back. After the houses, there is a huge barn that holds more than a hundred horses with young wolves, both female and male cleaning them up.

After the barn, there is a pen for pigs. I count one hundred and fifty before I give up. Then a pen for sheep and wolves. A pen for chicken too. I see young pups picking eggs. After the animal pens are the farmlands.

Food crops grow on acres of land; food enough to feed a community. I also notice that each house has a little garden behind it where they grow some vegetables. So far, this whole pack looked very well planned. It had been built with families in mind. With comfort, survival and safety in mind. Even I, who just got here a while ago, felt safe already.

It takes my mind back to the discussion I’d had with Curran last night. I keep thinking of the way I had felt when I’d promised we would do it together. Like electricity had flown through my body.

Now, I want to keep walking around. I have no responsibilities, and for some reason, no one was being mean to me. I didn’t take that for granted. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, for someone to put me in my place again just like they did in Dark Moon.

I guess you never really know how traumatized you are until you’re free.

I spot a huge tree a few meters away from the perimeter and decide to go there to sit. I packed a small basket with a sandwich, some fruit, orange juice, and some coffee in a flask from the kitchen with the hope of finding some space to sit alone and eat.

I’m also carrying a picnic mat. When I get to the tree, I lay the mat down, carefully arrange my food, and then lie down.

I suddenly feel very exhausted. I don’t know how to cope with this new life where I am a free person, and Luna to a Pack. I don’t know how to cope with this new life where I have a mate.

I'll make every single person who has ever hurt you pay.

Curran's words flash through my mind again. I have no doubt that he meant them, but in exchange for his help with my revenge, I must help him with the shadow beast. The thing of legend and lore is my mate.

How did you help a male burdened by so large a burden?

A branch falls from the tree on my head and I yelp. It's about ten inches long, and it’s broken off too smoothly to have fallen from the tree by itself.

I look up and see a young boy up in the trees. He has a defiant look on his face, as if he is ready to fight me. I wonder what for.

“Hey. What did you do that for?”

“This is my tree! Mine!”

“Really? I sure don’t see your name written on it.”

“That’s because everyone knows!”

“Do they? Well, no one told me. What is your name?”

“My name is Eli. and I’m nine.”

“Nice to meet you, Eli. I'm Violet. Do you want to come down here?”

He squints at me suspiciously. “Why? I want you to leave my tree alone!”

“It’s just that I have a lot of sandwiches here. I can’t possibly finish them all alone. I need some help, and since you’re here, who else to help me but you?”

“Okay. But you leave my tree after, right?”

“Yes Eli. Now come on down.”

I watch with amusement as he makes his way down the tree. Eli is a very cute kid, with waves of brown hair on his head and big blue eyes. Freckles decorate his face, and his build is smaller than the nine-year-olds I know. I suspect that it may be part of why he has decided that if he will present as a tough kid so I can take him more seriously.

He sits on the mat with a petulant expression on his face, and I stifle a chuckle. I have a feeling he’s going to take offense if I tell him he’s cute. I grab one of the sandwiches, put it on a paper plate, and hand it to him.

He wolves the food down in a minute, and I give him a second one. When he is done eating that. He lies down and turns to me with a sheepish look on his face.

“I’m sorry I threw a stick at you.”

“Ok Eli. Apology accepted. Why did you do it though?”

“I recognized you as the woman Alpha came back with yesterday, and I heard the guards saying Alpha married you under the moon goddess’ gaze, and now you are the Luna. I don’t want you to take Alpha away from me.”

“And why do you think I’ll do that, Eli?”

“Well. Before Alpha rescued me, my mama died and it was my dad and I for a while. And then my dad married a new wife, and she had her kids and then she took my dad away from me.”

My heart broke for him. I can’t imagine having to be subjected to that as a child. To think that you weren’t worth love, being chosen. And then Curran had come to his rescue and now, he mated me. Yeah, I would throw a stick at myself too.

I smile at him and motion him close. “I promise that I won’t take him away from you, or from the pack. I'm here to help, okay?”

I'm pretty sure he doesn’t believe me, but he nods.

“What is wrong with you?” Eli asks and I raise a brow at him.

“Well, the Alpha only rescues people who are being maltreated because there is something wrong with them. Like me, he rescued me because they treated me badly for not having a wolf yet.”

The Moon has to have a cruel sense of humor. “Well, will you look at that? I also don’t have a wolf.”

If Eli’s eyebrows could fall off, they would. “But you’re grown!”

“Yup.”

He frowns. “Alpha Curran says sometimes wolves come late. He says that for some people, the moon goddess just takes her time choosing the best option for them. Did he lie?”

“No. Absolutely not, Eli. I am an anomaly. You're just nine. I'm pretty sure that in a couple of months, your wolf will manifest.”

“Pinky promise?”

As I wrap my little hand around him, I pray to the goddess to grant him a strong wolf. “Pinky promise.”

Eli runs away after that, and I pack everything up and return it to the kitchen, thanking the cook for the meal. They're all polite, but I can still tell that they’re wary around me.

By the time I get back to the cabin, it is night. The crescent moon is up, and stars speckle the sky. I wonder if Curran is back. With a jolt, I realize that I missed his presence.

I push the door open, and I’m greeted by a shirtless Curran with his back to me. Massive, dark veins crawl up his spine like cracked earth. I let out a horrified gasp.