Her Unexpected Luna

Chapter 20

Thalia

The moment Tasia began to feel unstable in her arms she tried calling out to get her attention but she was unresponsive. Seconds later Tasia lost consciousness completely and crashed to the ground pulling Thalia with her. She slipped her hand behind her head quickly as they fell so she wouldn't hit her head. Memories and emotions began to flood Thalia's mind from a time in a situation similar to this. Her vision started to shake and contort as she stared down at Tasia, her face starting to take the shape of Jaspers's bloodied and cut-up face. Thalia's heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest as her breath began to increase.

"T..Ta... Jasper?" She said rocking back and forth trying to figure out what was going on. She looked around and found herself in a small cave-like hole. She could hear wolves and warriors shouting and howling all around them, looking back down again was Jasper laying in her lap covered in dirt and blood. His heartbeat was faint and his breathing ragged. She could hear her name being called out, it sounded distant even though they were surrounded. She was losing control of her emotions and she could feel herself shifting. Her wolf began clawing her way to break through the surface to protect the both of them, once she was through she was met with a familiar face who was trying to call out to her but for some reason, she couldn't hear any words leave his mouth. Everything surrounding her began to flash and contort once more until she was back in the ring with Tasia underneath her. All of her senses came back at once hitting her like a freight train. The person that was in front of her was Vincent calling out to her with his palms stretched out to stop the other people that surrounded them from getting any closer. Thalia realized she had shifted and stood over Tasia to stop people from getting to her, her unstable emotions must have forced her to shift.

"Thalia, we need to get Tasia to the infirmary, you are safe" Laurens's voice came out of nowhere. She was standing behind Vincent trying to break through to her. After remembering what happened she took a few steps back to let Vincent approach them. Another warrior tried to step in to help Vincent but immediately backed off when Thalia bared her teeth and let out a warning growl.

"Get everyone else out of here, I'll take care of her. She took a lot of damage to her head today so she most likely has a concussion. I'll take her to the infirmary, the matches are over for the day. Alpha Ryan's Orders." Vincent said as he commanded the warrior. He bowed his head and left the ring.

Thalia paced back and forth around them as Vincent covered Tasia and lifted her up to head to the pack infirmary. Instead of following them she sat and watched them leave trying to process what had just happened. Lauren approached Thalia quietly and rested her hand on the back of her head, letting her know it was okay to shift back. Thalia felt at ease with Lauren around and was able to shift. She felt something warm wrap around her shoulders and another presence on her other side. Molly.

"She's going to be okay, she fought hard and is paying for Marcus's stupid stunt," Molly said as she pulled her into a soft side hug. She had expected the mention of his name to anger her but she was done with feeling emotions today and remained silent. Molly looked over to Lauren for help. Lauren leaned down next to them and began to brush Thalia's hair out of her face and wipe away the lingering tears on her cheeks.

"Something else happened," Lauren said as she studied Thalia. "Vincent mentioned that he heard you calling out to her but he said he thought he heard you say a different name," She said. Thalia remained silent for a moment thinking back to what she had seen. It was a memory from an event that happened a few years ago that she tried to block out. Seeing Tasia in the state that she was in must have triggered it.

Flashback

This was it, this is the moment Thalia would finally meet her fate. all because she suggested splitting up to make it harder for them to be followed. She found herself tied up to a chair with a piece of fabric tied around her mouth to keep her quiet. Her face was swollen and bloody from being beaten and it felt like she had a few broken ribs. Her body healed slower than normal because of how malnourished she was. She couldn't believe how quickly they were found and why they thought it would be okay to find a quick spot to rest in the woods out in the open. They had been on the run for three days straight after the vehicle they had was totaled, not being able to stop and rest their eyes for more than 30 minutes at a time. It was as if they knew where they were going before they got there or were being tracked somehow. It wouldn't surprise Thalia if they partnered up with someone to try and get them, over the years Thalia had noticed fewer scarlet wolves and more.. different wolves. Either they were from different packs that agreed to help with their pursuit or the population of the red wolves in Scarlett moon declined by a lot.

She couldn't tell exactly where they were, but she knew they were still in the woods. They had her held up in a run-down overgrown cabin, half of the roof was caved in and the thick smell of the termite infestation made it hard to sense anything else. They were discovered during the night when they accidentally fell asleep longer than they meant to, their exhaustion getting the best of them. Thalia heard them coming when it was too late, they had tried to get Jasper while he was still sleeping since he was the bigger threat but failed to immobilize Thalia at the same time as she was able to alert Jasper before they could do anything with him. Jasper shot up straight out of his sleep and immediately started attacking the warriors that were near him, he was surrounded and caught off guard not being able to shift without putting himself at risk. Thalia was able to slip out of the grasp she was in and take out the wolves that had her pinned. She attacked one of the wolves that had ahold of Jasper, giving him the little time he needed to shift into his wolf to take care of the other two. He shifted back once they were all taken care of to make sure Thalia was okay.

"Shift and run now!" Jasper cried as he broke a neck of a warrior that came charging toward him. There were more heading their way, she could hear howling and shouting in the distance, there was a bunch of them this time more than they have ever sent before like they knew they would be caught in the open like this. Something wasn't adding up.

"I think we should split up," Thalia said as she took her clothes off so she could shift, the heavy beating of paws was getting closer.

"That will make us vulnerable and more liable for us to get caught, we are stronger when we're together!" Jasper said angrily at the thought.

"There's too many of them, if we split up, they split up and it weakens their forces. We are more likely to lose them on our own" Thalia said in a panicked tone. From what she could hear they were coming from all directions, they would be caught in the middle if they moved together. Jasper hesitated and finally nodded his head.

"We'll go in the opposite direction but make your way back to the river, they will lose our trail and we can meet up south of the banks," He said. They didn't waste any more time and shifted into their wolves to take off in opposite directions.

As expected the warriors split up to go after them, Thalia ran as fast as her paws could take her. Six wolves were soon hot on her heels. With the lack of rest and food, she was unable to run to her full potential. She didn't know how long she had been running but if she didn't lose them soon she was not going to be able to fight her way out of this. She could hear the running water of the river ahead, she took a sharp right to climb up a hill that went high above the river. Thalia kept running until she knew the river was at its deepest, stopping in her tracks as she came dangerously close to running off a cliff. She turned her head and could see the warriors in the distance as they neared closer to her. Without thinking she took a few steps and charged towards the edge, launching herself off the side and aimed for the river.

Thalia broke through the surface of the water and immediately started being carried downwind. The crushing forces of the moving water were making it hard for her to swim up to the surface, she was on the verge of passing out until she finally broke through and gasped for air trying to frantically paddle so she wouldn't get sucked back down. She spotted a tree that seemed to be rooted to the bottom as it wasn't going anywhere. Thalia did her best to paddle her way over so she could grab onto one of the large branches that were sticking out, once she was sturdy she looked back to see the pack of warriors staring at her as they stood on the cliff before they turned their tails and walked away.

It took Thalia a while to make her way to the shore on the other side of the river, once she drug herself on land she shook out her fur and sat down to catch her breath. She was getting ready to take off thinking it would be best to stay in wolf form when a loud noise rang through her ears and she felt a splitting migraine rip through her head causing her to whine and cry, feeling her body slowly fall to the ground and curl up. The noise got louder and closer, and her bones began to snap and reshape against her will forcing her back into her human body. She brought her hands up to her ears to try and block out the noise but it felt like it was ringing within her own mind. Thalia suddenly felt a presence, she looked up with a blurred vision to see a feminine figure standing over her, the last thing she saw before passing out was her crooked smile.

Someone came walking through the door of the cabin, just by the aura she knew it was the woman from before, the same woman that found her and instructed the warriors to beat her until she gave up Jaspers's location. Thalia remained silent and refused to tell them anything, It's not like she knew exactly where he was only where they were to meet. The woman was tall and slender with long curly dirty blonder hair. Her skin was tight and flawless with high and defined cheekbones and no blemishes or freckles to be found, her piercing blue eyes stared Thalia down with no emotion to be seen in them. There was no doubt about the fact that this woman was a witch. No wonder why they were being located so easily, and how she was forced to shift back into her human body. Scarlett moon must have turned to desperate measures if they managed to convince a witch to help them. Thalia never understood why creatures under the same goddess hated each other, they worshiped the same creator so why were they constantly at each other's throats? Witches were rare around these areas anyway since the wolf population continued to grow. A lot of the covens relocated, being driven from their homes and lands so that packs could grow. It was kind of sad and wrong the more Thalia thought about it.

"Just tell me where he went, I can't go back with just you," She said annoyed. The witch tapped her foot impatiently and glanced up at the warrior that stood next to Thalia and gave him a nod. Thalia was struck in her cheek, she could feel the blood pooling up in her mouth again as it leaked out through her cloth-covered mouth. She did her best to not make any noise, refusing to let them know they are causing her any kind of pain. Of course, the more annoyed they became the harder their hits got. The witch jerked her head at the warrior, signaling him to untie the fabric from her mouth. Thalia was now curious about one thing, she seemed insistent on Jasper. Almost like if they caught him instead they might have just retreated with him and left her alone. Why was that?

Once the cloth was removed Thalia was able to spit out the rest of the blood that was in her mouth, she raised her head so she could make eye contact with the witch for the first time. "Why is he so important in this when I'm the supposed traitor and outlaw. He's done nothing wrong!" Thalia pleaded. The warrior next to her scoffed and shook his head.

"The future Alpha needs to be returned to start his training so he can take over the pack one day, not gallivanting around with someone who tricked him into running away with her." He said but was soon choking on his own words, he reached up to grab at his throat as he was gasping for air. His body began levitating off the ground until his face turned purple.

"Stop!" Thalia cried out without another thought about it. The witch looked at Thalia and chuckled as she released the warrior who crashed down to the floor gasping for air and coughing.

"Funny, the wolf pleads for the life of a wolf who beat her to a pulp. How interesting." She said as she paced back and forth.

Thalia was shocked at what the warrior had said though. If he referred to Jasper as the future Alpha then that could only mean that his father was now the Alpha of the pack. She doesn't know why that surprised her, given that the previous Alpha hadn't had any children before he died the pack would vote on candidates for the next Alpha. Of course, the Beta and Gamma were usually selected, and other pack members could have the opportunity to step up and try to take the title by fighting for it. In this case, Trevor would have been the next best candidate considering the Beta, Thalia's father was accused of murdering their Alpha. The pack most likely would have stood behind him too. No one else knew what Thalia did about their Gamma, most of the members probably pitied the Gamma after what had happened to his mate. Jaspers mother.

"How come you can't just track him yourself? You tracked us all the way here and found me, what's stopping you from finding him?" Thalia spat. The witch had an annoyed look on her face and raised her hand towards Thalia but stopped when someone came bursting through the door.

"We've got him!" A younger warrior said "But, there's a problem, they got attacked by a rogue wolf pack. We are also on someone else's territory, they will be sending out warriors here pretty soon if we don't take care of the rogues and get out of here now. This particular pack doesn't like witches and we can't be caught working with you, their Alpha's father is a counsel member" The young warrior rambled on. There was no way he was even out of training with how young he was, why on earth would they send him out on a mission like this? The witch grumbled to herself and followed the kid out of the cabin, the door slamming on its own without anyone touching it.

Thalia tugged at her arms trying to loosen the restraints in a panic. She needed to get out of here and get to Jasper, for all she knew he could be hurt. With this new found information she knew they wouldn't kill him, but the rogues and pack land warriors however wouldn't think twice if they saw him as a threat. The ropes were digging into her wrists as she pulled, she knew that if she tried to shift she could hurt herself or her wolf but she was becoming desperate. If she could just focus on shifting only her arms she might be able to get out of the restraints. Closing her eyes to focus on the specific limb she wanted to shift she started to feel it break, but before she could go any further the ropes on her were cut and she was loose. She opened her eyes to see the warrior that had tormented her was cutting her loose.

"you could injure your wolf permanently doing that," he said as he cut the restraints that tied her feet together.

Thalia could feel the rest of her bones snap and reshape, she tried to stop the process so she could ask him why he was setting her free except it's impossible to stop a shift once it's begun. It wasn't too long till she was standing on all fours staring up at the warrior. Now that she was looking at him, his features resembled the scarlet moon warriors she was familiar with. He was older, his strawberry blonder hair tied back in a long braid that reached the middle of his back. His strained dark greenish-blue eyes held sorrow in them but his posture said something entirely different. He walked over and opened the door of the cabin for her.

"Go, get out of here before I change my mind," He said as he tried to keep his stern and mean composure. Thalia didn't wait around for him to repeat himself and took off into the woods. She immediately caught the scent of the young wolf who alerted the witch, her scent was non-existent. She must have covered it, probably the smartest thing to do if you're secretly working with a wolf pack even though it wasn't particularly forbidden. Just frowned upon. She could hear the sound of fighting in the distance as she got closer but she wasn't able to pick up jasper's scent. She slowed down and ducked behind a bush that she slowly crept into. The smell of blood and death was thick in the air, from what she could tell scarlet moon was losing this fight. She hadn't seen so many rogues working together in one place before, it was mildly concerning but she was more worried about finding jasper and getting the both of them out of there.

Thalia crept closer every chance she got careful to not get herself caught, after a while, she finally spotted Jasper who was trying to fend off a rogue wolf while being tied up. He was tied up with silver restraints, the witch must have done it to prevent him from shifting. That kind of proves what they thought about the two as individuals. No one else was paying attention to Jasper, the warriors who were guarding him either got themselves killed or took off, he was using his silver restraints to try and keep the rogues off him as he tried to get free at the same time. Thalia rushed in and tackled the wolf that was on top of him ready to rip out Jaspers's throat, they rolled together and landed with Thalia on top of the rogue ripping out her throat. She took out the rogues that were around him and quickly shifted into her human form so she could drag Jasper out of there. He had gashes and bruises all over his body, he had lost a lot of blood and wasn't healing. She found a holed-out cave at the bottom of a hill underneath a giant tree whose roots grew up and out of the ground to create a small cave. Thalia drug him in and fell to the ground with him in her lap, she was exhausted and felt like she was on the urge of passing out. She looked at his restraints and reached over to try and untie them, he moved his wrists away so she wouldn't touch the silver.

"You are going to die if I don't get them off of you," She said as she reached over again to touch the silver, her skin burning and sizzling as she tried to undo them. The constant pain slowed her down but she powered through until they were off of him. The skin on his wrists was melted and rancid where the restraints sat, now they were off of him his body could start healing. She wanted to cry at the sight of him, if she had taken any longer he most likely would have been dead. Tears ran down her cheeks and fell onto his bloodied and cut-up face causing him to reach up and caress her.

"It's okay, we're safe for now. They were outnumbered, there's no way they will survive" He said.

"They have a witch on their side, even if she fled, she can track us down again," Thalia said as she pushed his hair out of his face and attempted to wipe the blood off.

"She-" He started but stopped when they heard footsteps nearby, fighting was still happening in the distance as Thalia held her breath to eliminate as many sounds as possible. She was prepared to shift so she could protect them better, they had to make it out of this, this is not how they will be captured or everything they have gone through would have been for nothing. All of a sudden the warrior that was nearby started screaming out in pure agony, his bones snapping and piercing through his flesh until his body hit the ground motionless and rolled off the hill to fall in front of the entrance of their little hole. He was a pack warrior but didn't belong to Scarlet moon and his death wasn't one that was caused by another wolf.

"Well isn't this convenient," The Witch said as she appeared in front of them. Thalia got into a defensive position, she knew it wouldn't do her any good to shift if the witch could control it but she refused to give up so easily. Thalia felt that familiar high-pitched ring in her head that had her body sinking back to the ground. Jasper was feeling it too as he was groaning out in pain cupping his ears to try and drown it out. Thalia was on the verge of passing out again when her head finally cleared. The witch had been caught off guard and tackled to the ground, her blood-curdling screams echoed as she was torn to pieces. Once she was sipent a red wolf peered into the small cave and met Thalia's gaze, she recognized his sad blue eyes. He shifted back into his human form and came inside the cave to pick up Jasper. Thalia moved back and let him, not feeling the need to protect him.

"We need to get you guys out of here, the rogues have run off, it's only a matter of time before they find you and their Alpha is here now," He said as he hoisted Jasper onto his shoulders and started huffing it through the woods with Thalia not far behind them. She looked back behind them to make sure no one has caught sight of them, only to find a man was standing still staring at her. He was tall and young with dark brown hair, she was too far away to notice any other features but she knew for a fact he was Alpha. Thalia slowed down for a moment to watch him, he didn't seem to have any intentions of going after her, if it were anyone else they would have already been charging at them.

"Thalia!" Jasper called out to her from ahead making the warrior who was carrying him stop and turn back. She took that as her cue to turn and leave to catch up to them.

"What did you see?" Jasper asked her but she just shook her head.

"Nothing," She said as they continued to push forward to safety.