The Red Moon Curse

Chapter 2 Asher POV Memories

I had been awoken by the weirdest dream, or, more accurately, a memory. A memory from a long time ago, a birthday we never got to celebrate, a truth that caused more pain than the lies said to cover it, an intruder that took the most precious treasure from me and a girl, forever lost from my life.

I am the Alpha of the Silver Blood Pack, the biggest and most feared pack of America, I was the strongest wolf I had ever crossed the path with and still, I was sweating like a little boy over a f*****g dream.

“Memory” corrected Xande, my wolf.

“Whatever” I replied angrily. Maybe it was because the lack of sleep, but lately me and my wolf felt restless, as if we knew something big was about to go down, or maybe it was just my head playing games on me, making me relieve that memory over and over as if it meant something more than what it was.

“Maybe it is Asher, maybe is the Goddess herself trying to talk to you through your dreams” sometimes Xande really got into my nerves.

“Or maybe is just that her birthday is today. Besides, what do you think the Goddess is trying to tell us? That we were weak, and because of us, she is gone? Flash news, I already knew that” I said closing the laptop a little too aggressive. That thought was the sole reason why, as soon as I took the tittle as Alpha, I made mandatory training for everyone on the pack, that is why I made sure to train every day, to never been called weak again, and the reason why my pack became the most feared pack. But it was late, ten years late.

“Nobody has ever called you weak, no one other than you” I didn’t bother to answer that, there was no point on doing so.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I missed the knock on the door, until Leandro and Erland stepped inside the office.

“I’m sorry Asher but this is urgent” Leandro stated while taking a sit on the chair in front of my desk. He was my beta, and my best friend, Erland, on the other hand, was my gamma, my best warrior, and the one in charge of the pack trainings, the three of us bonding over the same pain and scars from the past.

“Yeah, that’s ok, I just fell asleep. What’s up?”

“I got a call from the sheriff of the human town on the South border, he told me he received reports of sights of big wolfs on the forest” Erland answered. He is in charge of coordinating with human police for any possible cause of concern, the sheriff was aware of us and we help maintaining the order and keeping away any rogues and other creatures from the town.

“How long ago was that?” Maybe they were just passing by” I mentioned trying to sound casual, I didn’t have the time and patience to deal with this situation.

“He said he’s been receiving reports since yesterday and the most recent was this morning, I don’t think they are just passing by” Erland had a point, no rogue wolf would last that long in the same place if he wasn’t after something, or someone.

“But that is not the most important part of the conversation” Leandro looked at me with caution.

“He said that most of the reports mention a gray wolf with a scarred face and just one eye” Erland said the last part slowly, like trying to explain complicated information to a child.

“That bastard! How dare he enter MY territory after all these years? I won’t let him escape, this time, I will kill him” Xande reacted to the information faster than me.

“Erland, call the warriors, we’re going on a hunt” I said getting off of my chair, Xande was roaring inside me, begging to let him out, but I couldn’t, at least, no right now, because I needed to talk to the sheriff myself, I needed to be sure about the information and I knew that I were to give control to Xande, it was going to be impossible to get the control back. I knew Leandro and Erland felt the same, I could see their eyes shifting from brown to black regaining control over their wolves.

“Asher, the warriors are ready, they are waiting for us outside”.

“Thank you, Erland, let’s go!”

The drive to the town was only 1 hour, which was nothing for our wolves, however we could not get in to the town as wolves, risking the humans to see us like that, so we needed the cars to move around without raising suspicions. Besides, I loved sports cars, it was almost as exciting as running with my wolf.

“Are you serious human?”

“I said ALMOST” I thought back.

“Pfffff” I could feel Xande going to the back of my mind. It was better for the time being, I was not able to think clearly when he was trying to take over.

“We’re here”.

The car pulled over and I got out, the police station was just across the street, right in front of the church, so it wasn’t a long walk. We got in to the police station and went directly to the sheriff office, he was already waiting for us at the door of his office.

“Welcome gentlemen”.

“Sheriff” the three of us said at the same time. The sheriff moved to the side allowing us to enter the office and taking a seat on the chairs that look so tiny compared to our massive bodies that if it wasn’t for the anger I had running through my veins, I would’ve found the situation hilarious.

After we took a seat, the sheriff handled us a folder with all the information from the reports and a few photos taken from the security cameras of a house at the further part of the town. It was him I could see him partially hidden on the trees but the light was enough to clear his factions, it was as if he was staring directly at me, mocking me, like he had all these years, and now he was here, in my own backyard, and I was not going to allow it.

“The last time somebody saw it, it was this morning”.

“Thank you, sheriff, for the information, we’ll ta…”

“Sheriff! You’ve got to see this! There’re huge wolves running after something behind the church!” One of the officers came in yelling at the sheriff, he didn’t have to finish the sentence before we were out of the police station following the scents of those motherfuckers.

“Asher, they’re going after someone!” Erland said through the mind-link.

“I know! I could catch a glimpse of her before she was lost by the forest” I was so consumed by the rage, that I was having a hard time keeping Xande under control.

“We have to save her” Leandro yell on the verge of losing it, I knew Soren, his wolf, and he was very protective of the innocents, I knew how hard it was for him not to shift right now in the middle of the Townsquare.

I kept running until I reached the verge of the forest, and then I let Xande completely take control of the hunt but as soon as he did, the most precious scent caught me by surprise, Vanilla and strawberries (my favorite fruit) filled the air around me and suddenly, nothing else matter more than that smell, I just stood frozen.

“Mate! Mate! That’s her! It has to be her! Let’s go after her Asher!” My what? After all this time?

“Asher! What the f**k! Why you stop! We have to move; we are going to lose them!” Leandro and Erland were looking at me and saying thinks through the mind-link, and expect me to move, but I just couldn’t force my legs to react.

“Asher! What’s going on! We have to go! They are going to kill her!” That made the trick, the next second I was running again, I don’t know why, but those words actually made my body react, faster than it had ever reacted, running through the trees, but no matter how fast we were, we couldn’t catch them, it was as if they were disappearing, only to appear on a different part of the forest. We kept chasing, we tried different tactics, we tried to hunt them in solitaire, but they saw us coming, we tried to attack head on, but we were meet by a spell that created confusion, causing the warriors to start attacking their own, for some reason that didn’t have any effect on me, so I just kept running.

Two days had past, and we were still in the forest, we had managed to kill a few of the rogues, but their leader was nowhere to be seen, so I tried something different, instead of following them from behind, I tried to go ahead and think like the girl they were chasing, if I was her, I would want to get to a crowd, somewhere to get lost, and I knew there was a city crossing the forest, if you knew where to go, so I went ahead and waited at the border, waiting for something to happen, I waited for a few hours but I wasn’t able to hear anything, maybe I was wrong, or maybe they… NO! I couldn’t even thing of them catching up to her, if I was right, the girl they were chasing was my mate, and I couldn’t lose her…

“Stop it, Asher! We are not losing our mate!” Xande was going crazy, I knew I had to think clearly and I couldn’t do that with him growling and hitting every tree within our reach, so I calmed myself, and changed back to my human form. I know there’s something I must be missing and I need to concentrate.

I was standing at the outskirts of the hill that separated the forest from the city, when I heard a growl and then a thud, and when I turned around to see where the sound was coming from, I was hit by a beautiful white wolf, all covered in mud but still, the most beautiful creature, the smelling of vanilla and strawberries was so intoxicating, so mouthwatering, it was clouding my mind, so I just stood there like a complete i***t contemplating my mate, forgetting for a moment of the danger she was in. Only for a moment though, because the next second, I heard them right behind her, just as she tried to get up from the floor.

“Mine!” I felt this raw instinct to protect her; everything happened so fast after that; that motherfucker growled as he came close to her, making me release a growl so loud I could feel the earth beneath me shake. I jumped and shifted midair landing on top of that filth of a wolf, he tried to bite me on the side but I moved before he got a chance, rolling to the other side and pulling him with me, I grabbed him by the neck and throw him to one of the trees further from my mate.

“I found them! Hurry up, I’m on the verge of the forest with the city” I mind linked Leandro and Erland.

“I’m the closest one, I can hear you!” Erland replied and almost immediately I heard him and the warriors with him.

When he arrived, Ares, Erland’s wolf, was solely focused on taking as many rogues as possible, so I focused on keeping them away from the girl. Right now, she was my priority. At some point all started to retrieve, disappearing almost immediately as if by magic.

“Leandro! get the car, I’m going back with the girl”.

“On it Alpha” Leandro replied through the mind-link.

“You don’t know what you’re up against wolf! I’ll be back to get what’s mine!” the f*****g i***t still had the audacity to call MY mate his? I’m going to kill him! I charged at him but he disappeared through a black hole before I could reach him.

I will destroy him. For her. I turned to look at the girl… our mate.