Beneath The Full Moon (The Moon Series Trilogy#1)

Chapter 6

"Miguel cut it out," I hissed through gritted teeth, knowing full well he was the one breathing down my neck. Although for a second, I admitted I'd actually thought that it had been a werewolf. 

Maddison was to blame for that.

My partner grinned before leaning away. I turned to my right where he sat and gifted him with a glare. "It's not funny."

"I know," he said, faking a yawn and in the process carelessly wrapping an arm around Brittany's shoulders who ignored him completely.

"Can we move on with the history?" asked Maddison softly, her eyes wide-eyed at John who sat staring mindlessly at the fire. We all knew she was frightened yet she still wanted to hear more.

And apparently, so did we.

"Of course," John replied and nodded, but didn't look away from the burning light. "The hunter bit her. But instead of the bite killing her, it changed her instead. Not only did he manage to transmit in her the ability to transform into a werewolf, but it also had an effect on her whole demeanour. A bite from a werewolf means death unless the moonstone is in the turner's hands, which would stop the victim from dying by transmitting the werewolf DNA through the bite. But for the hunter, it was for him to choose whether she would live or die since the moonstone was already dissolved in his blood."

"Wait, if the moonstone had dissolved in his blood then how come there is more than one werewolf around? Wouldn't they not be able to turn others if the moonstone's gone?" I asked curiously. "And how did it even get there?"

John shrugged. "That, the natives don't know. They only told me what one of them had witnessed upon following the hunter that night. And to your first question, I'm getting there."

Clearing his throat, he continued, "When humans get bitten, they don't just change physically, but emotionally too. Their whole being changes and they never become the same again. The good become bad and the bad become even worse. Sometimes, it can even lead to severe depression.

That was what happened to the maid; she changed. She was no longer the quiet, shy woman secretly in love with her master, but instead, she became dark and cold. Her eyes turned red and her whole nature changed completely. But when she stared into the hunter's wolf's similar red eyes, she felt something foreign pull her closely towards him until it became impossible to break away from his gaze. 

The hunter also appeared as if something tugged in his chest because his nostrils flared furiously all of a sudden and it seemed as if he didn't have any control over it. The beast then morphed back into a human. And the second he did, he didn't hesitate to take the maid into his arms and take her right there on the ground, in the middle of a surrounding bush."

"Wait, wait, take her? Take her as in..."

"Miguel, I'm sure everyone knows what those words imply. Including you. Now don't interrupt."

Said person shrugged. "Fine, just wanted to ask in case."

John gave Miguel a stern look before proceeding. "During the taking, however, something in her snapped the minute the hunter pulled himself out of her after climaxing. She started to scream, her body appearing as if she was burning from the inside. Bones twisted and reshaped as the harsh crunch sounds echoed. Short fur burst out of her skin and immediately, she felt her arms and legs distort and bend into odd angles.

The hunter, still being dominated by his inner wolf, Albus, just stood there and witnessed the scene. He transformed into his true form and watched in fascination as his mate changed her form. The sight was horrific, but he liked it. The more pain, the more anger, the more kill, and the more pleasure.

Her screams were bloodcurdling and it gradually drew in the wolves towards that clearing. They gathered around Albus and his mate, snarling at the two warily. But then they reluctantly bowed their heads into submission when Albus morphed into his wolf

form and challenged them. He felt authority surge the wolves bestowed on him and he loved it. Albus was the supreme wolf and no other had the power to overtake him.

He had been trapped in the moonstone for centuries, waiting years and desperately for a male human body to come across his stone so he could reincarnate himself into that body and be finally reunited with his mate. And he had succeeded. They had completed the mating process and were ready to create their very own pack of wolves.

They left the clearing that night in their human form and back to their cabin. No longer was he the lonesome hunter who was obsessed with wolves and no longer was she the meek maid who was madly in love with her boss."

"So, the maid didn't love him anymore?" Maddison cut in and asked in a breathless whisper, as if the story had literally taken the breath out of her. The way she was poised - sitting cross-legged with her elbows propped on her knees, her chin between her hands and her eyes staring wide-eyed at the narrator - showed that her entire soul was in the story.

"It's hard to say, but I doubt that the love would've been the same, because it wasn't the maid anymore," John answered. "The bad she-wolf took over the meek maid. Alba, the wolf inside, was doing most of the controlling."

"How did they create their own pack?"

John looked up from the fire. "Isn't it obvious? They attacked the villages nearby. They bit as many people as they could get their fangs on and those victims, unfortunately, turned into werewolves.

The few people that escaped that ordeal told the end of the story. Others made up rumours about the whole event but what I'm telling you is what really happened. Because it came straight from the natives' mouth, right before they suddenly disappeared."

"Then you really had a close bond with them, for you to be the only one who they  entrusted the truth with before disappearing," I remarked, almost frowning at the sound of that statement coming from my own lips. I could bet that my tone held a tinge of suspicion to it. And with the way John snapped his attention away from the fire to stare at me, I could easily guess that he thought the same.

"The survivors said they could still hear the terrifying snarls and growls of the wolves as they destroyed their village," John continued as if I hadn't spoken, his eyes still fixed on mine, the intensity a bit frightening. "They said it was deep and menacing. Something terrifying like this..." He pressed his lips together in what I assumed to be preparation for demonstration before a low rumbling sound erupted from his throat, echoing in the cove we were perched in. The sound causing my heart to skip a beat.

Immediately, I jumped back, and so did everyone.

What the hell?

I stared at John in shock, not knowing what to say. It had sounded so real, too real to have been fake. Either that, or he was onomatopoeic, which I didn't expect a man like him to be.

John, surprisingly, also had a confused expression on his face at the sound of that rumbling noise. I guess he realized that it sounded too animalistic to be produced by a human.

"John?" I asked with uncertainty as I slowly shifted away from him.

"No, it wasn't me," he said confidently before turning around to face the opening of the cove we were hiding in. "It came from outside," he muttered quietly then stood up and doused the fire with the only water in a bottle we had left. "Come on."

Naturally, the rest of us hesitated. "You won't come? Haven't you noticed that if the werewolf were to come through this entrance right now, we'd be trapped?" John sighed and ran a hand through his short black hair. "Look, I wasn't the one who made that noise okay? It came behind those bushes." He pointed outside the cove where a line of bushes faced the opening. "And if that beast were to come now, we'd all be dead. So as your guide, I advise that you get out of this cove. And hurry!"

Without second thoughts, we all scrambled out of the cove and stood outside. We all stood close by each other, everyone watching around for any sign of the werewolf. The chill breeze that had just passed did nothing to soothe my upcoming fear as I carefully made my way towards John with Maddison at my heels. 

"I thought you said it wouldn't be here?" I accused between clenched teeth so that my rousing argument with him wouldn't increase the level of fear in the tourists.

"I didn't know." He sighed before eyeing our surroundings carefully, "I thought that since it, or they, killed so many people, they'd call tonight a night. But apparently I was..." he trailed off, looking at something behind Maddison who was leaning against a tree behind me, and told the poor girl to be as quiet as possible. 

Suddenly, the air stilled as the tourists, those who hadn't turned yet, turned to look at what the others were so transfixed on.

Maddison caught our gazes the second she raised her eyes from peeking at her nails which were probably ruined in dirt, before speaking warily, "Why are you all looking at me like that?" she asked before a second passed and after, her eyes bulged as they knowingly brimmed with tears and landed on me. "I-Is it...?"

But before I could respond and tell her to calm down, Maddison span around and let out a shrill scream.

When I saw her come face-to-face with a huge, unfamiliar black wolf, I froze.

Maddison's constant screaming only seemed to agitate the werewolf further because the beast then let out a fierce howl before it instantly lunged for her, snapping its jaws in an attempt to trap her face between its fangs.

And it almost succeeded.