Blood Moon

Chapter 05

Chapter 05

Lucas’ POV

On my tenth birthday, I blew out the candles on my cake and wished for my father’s safety. He was alive and healthy, as strong as ever keeping up the reputations of our pack, and he always smiled. Every other alpha around him was stern. They had everything to hide.

Birthday wishes only last the day. An hour after my tenth birthday, my father died protecting this pack from a rogue attack. They ambushed him and tore him into so many pieces there was barely a body to find. But we didn’t need to find a body to know he had died.

I killed those rogues when I was eleven. Another packed allied with ours to get our revenge, we hunted them down and we killed them. I can’t remember their faces. I just remember seeing how shocked they were that an eleven year old had the strength of an alpha. I don’t think they expected to die.

On this day, every year, I stare out of my window and think about what I did. I wasn’t proud, it bothered me to have their blood stuck in my fur, it bothered me how emotionless Alpha Carlos was when he helped me.

My mother entered, wearing another purple blouse. Ever since Darcie had been staying with us, as requested by her father Archgallo, mum made an effort to wear deep shades of purple. She would do that whenever she felt the need to show she was part of this pack too—in this case, she was putting Darcie in her place.

“George told me I would find you brooding in here,” she said gently as she crossed the room to meet me.

I laughed through my nose.

“He also told me you haven’t eaten.” As she said this, a new scent ambled through the air. Then the sound of a plate being placed on my desk.

“Thank you,” I said reaching to uncover whatever food she had brought. Cookies, all with a smiling face iced onto them. I smiled and sat down.

“Archgallo visited today.”

I rose an eyebrow. I wasn’t expecting to see him for at least another week. “What did he want?”

She dropped onto the sofa next to me, draping one leg over the other with a sigh. “Just visiting his daughter apparently. She’s still here.” She rolled her eyes. “As if we don’t know why.”

My mother wasn’t one to easily be tricked. I think she figured out the real reason why the Artic Stalkers came to us before I did. They didn’t come all of this way to ‘make sure’ we were still allied. Archgallo made a point of telling me he didn’t trust Carlos and claimed that’s the reason why he was here.

He dragged Darcie with him just to see if she was my mate or not. When I shook her hand, my wolf swore his relief.

She was kind and pretty and there wasn’t a scheming bone in her body. But she was weak and done whatever she was told to do like an obedient little pup. I’m sure she’ll make someone else happy but I needed someone strong enough to be able to run a pack. I needed a luna.

“I don’t think I could imagine a worse match,” my mother mumbled, knowing she shouldn’t talk ill of our allies but doing it anyway.

I nodded in agreement.

“I met them when I was your age. Of course Archgallo was much younger and his brother was with him.” She smiled at the memory. “They tried to do the same thing to me. But I had already been marked so their travells were for nothing.” She laughed. “Serves them right.”

I smiled with her. “I’m beginning to get the impression that you don’t like them very much.”

“I’m not their biggest fan. But I’ll admit they are a brilliant pack. It’s a blessing to not be their enemies, they make so many of them.”

We stayed silent for a moment whilst I tried to clear my mind of any sort of pack business. I loved being an alpha, it was what I was born to do, but I had my days, especially this day, where I wanted to find a cave on the edge of the earth and curl up by a rocky fire.

I noticed mum had an envelope in her hands. They were shaking. When I looked up at her face, she was staring off into the distance.

“Mum?”

“I got it this morning.” She still didn’t look at me. “From Wyatt’s parents.”

I shifted in my seat to face her. The envelope had her name and address handwritten. The ink smudged onto the corner.

The last we heard of his birth parents they were still in hiding from hunters. Before Wyatt was born, they trailed hunters and gave information back to the pack. When necessary, they would kill the hunters. They were supposed to stop once his mother became pregnant, but the hunters weren’t done with them.

On their last pursuit, they found out they were the next targets and an attack that nearly killed them made them decide to give Wyatt to my father. Wyatt has been raised by my side since the day he was born. He was as close to me as a brother.

I tried not to choke as I spoke. “What does it say?”

She handed it to me. I slipped the letter from the envelope, the scent of Wyatt’s parents lingering with it. As I read, I felt my body deflate with each line.

“Dead,” is the only word I found myself saying.

She confirms with a nod. “I haven’t seen him today, I’m not sure if he knows.”

I hadn’t seen him either.

*

Carlos took my hand between his. “I’m so glad you could make it. The others are already here,” he said to me as if I was still that eleven year-old boy. His hand waved the air towards the door and his beta opened it for us.

The Silver Tail pack house has always been dark. It’s underground with all exposed walls and blue flamed candles that are supposed to scare away the horrible spirits that Carlos believed in. The first time I came here, I clung to my father’s arm because the darkness scared me, and I hadn’t brought a coat to keep me warm.

I’ve learned from my mistake since then… I brought a hoodie this time.

I followed Carlos as Darius trailed behind us. The ceiling was low and radiated with the same chill from the walls and floor. There was nothing in any of the rooms for warmth.

We headed down to the bottom floor. No decorations and basic furniture that matched the rest of the cave. Books were colour coordinated on orange shelves, no plants or photos sat beside them. There was a table in the middle of the room, old and antique looking, and sitting at either end were two alphas.

The first alpha looked young, maybe somewhere in his twenties, with glossy black hair that almost covered his right eye. He had thick eyebrows that looked like they were travelling up his long forehead and a protruding chin. Carlos gestured to him, “this is Alpha Maël of the Griffes du Lichen pack.”

I had no idea what that meant but I nodded anyway and hoped that I would never have to pronounce that name in my life.

Next to Maël was Archgallo who looked less than happy to be sitting here. You’d think for someone who’s pack calls themselves Artic Stalkers, a basement wouldn’t be too cold for him, but here he sat pressed back against his chair to stop from shivering.

I nodded towards him, but he only grimaced in return.  

“I’m sure you’ve already met Alpha Archgallo.”

Carlos called me on Monday night to tell me his pack had a break in where members were killed or kidnapped. It wasn’t like him to ask for help but he didn’t need to. Carlos helped my pack avenge my father and in return, I would help him with whatever he desired.

This meeting was called to discuss the plan.

Carlos looked around the table as I took a chair at the top. “Where is Alpha Kenneth?” he asked.

Just then, a fourth alpha strode into the room. His shoulders hunched and he barely looked at the people who had brought him here when he walked past. He pulled out his chair, directly opposite mine, with too much strength and slumped into it.

“Now as we’re all here-” Carlos had tried to start.

“So, you’re the legend then?” The voice came from Kenneth’s scythe shaped nose with flaring cavernous nostrils. His tiny eyes stared dead ahead.

I was no legend. My pack, on the other hand, was the most famous pack to ever live. It was the first pack parents would tell their children about after their own, it was a name that made alphas tense and a pack that had been very much favoured by the Moon Goddess. But as for myself, I was just a child who became alpha. My pack’s reputation spoke before I did.

“Does that scare you?”

Kenneth gave a laugh that sounded like rattling chains. It echoed around the stone walls and carried itself away down the corridors. “I’ve met many legends. I’ve outlived them all.”

“Back to the topic at hand,” Carlos interrupted. He sent a glare to both of us as a way to remind who we are here for. “The Blood Moon pack think they’re on the rise again. They’ve broken our codes of honour and called it justice.”

I wondered why he was explaining all this. Maël looked on intently, nodding along since he already knew this story. Kenneth looked like he was bored of hearing it. But then I looked to Archgallo who was not here for Carlos but for me. I hadn’t filled him in at all.

“So you want to kill them?” He asked which confirmed that he doesn’t know a thing.

Carlos covered his smile by shaking his head. His thumb pressed into his ring. “No, I’m sure the pack itself is innocent. We only need to eliminate the alpha. Whatever her pack wolves decide to do after that is their fate and may we act lawfully on it.”

Archallo flinched. “Her?” He looked at me and I nodded. He had already met her. “Am I to assume you already have a plan?”

Carlos gave another sluggish smile. “The only way we’re all going to be able to trap her without hurting anyone else is at the gala. Whoever she brings may get caught in the crossfire.”

At this, my eyes turned to him too quick for him not to notice.

“Yes?”

I swallowed. If I tell him what I know, he’ll demand I kill someone else to prove my loyalty. If I lie to him now, I’ll just end up telling more to the people close to me.

“Lie. Casualties are not our fault,” my wolf practically pleaded.

They are if we’re the reason they get hurt.

“There’s no way to know if she will be attending the gala.”

Carlos’ dark brow deepened. He leaned onto the table. “I asked you to make sure she got there.”

“She’s stubborn, and if she has decided to attend then I’ve heard nothing about it.”

 His wolf growled through him. Kenneth watched me as if he could see all that lays hidden within me. And his smile wasn’t at all reassuring.

“This entire plan can’t work if you can’t pull your weight,” Darius said.

I had forgotten he was here. He’s spent the entire time lurking in the shadows under one of the arches which suited him nicely. People like him were much better out of the way.

“I have been,” I growled back.

He stepped forward, orange light glowing on his dark skin. “You have the easiest job here. You don’t need to plan, you don’t need to kill, your job is to bring that b***h to the gala. Drag her by her feet if you have to.”

 I found it unnecessary to talk to Carlos’ beta. He wasn’t part of this meeting, he was certainly no alpha, and was in no place to speak to me as he was doing. Perhaps when he learned how to take his head out of his backside, I’ll consider him something more than a worm.

Apparently, the other alphas agreed with me. Maël spoke up with his chin jutting forward. “What exactly is your purpose here, Darius?” His voice was thick with an accent that seemed to give his words an extra punch. “If you mean to belittle your alpha’s help, then perhaps he should consider someone else to be his beta.”

Archgallo nodded beside him.

I wondered if they had all gotten a mouthful from him before I got here.

Carlos turned to his beta and tilted his head for him to leave. Darius’ arms dropped. He straightened his back to say he wasn’t moving but with five alphas glaring at him, he didn’t have much of a choice. Darius turned on his heel and left with only shreds of his pride still intact.

 “She will be at the gala. As stubborn as she is, she’s just as prideful.”

I was thankful when Carlos shifted his attention to Maël. He regarded him with narrowed eyes before questioning him. “The weapon?”

“Weapons take time to make.”

This caused Carlos to swallow. I’m sure if Darius was here, Maël would have gotten a mouthful from him too. Perhaps that’s why he spoke up when he did.

“We have a week.”

Kenneth smiled and I’m not really sure why.

“You will have it by then unless you want something so weak it shatters in the wind,” Maël retorted.

Carlos shook his head. “Make sure to have it ready in time.”

I realised I knew nothing about Maël’s pack. I didn’t know what they specialised in or what they honoured, and the lack of knowledge annoyed me. After years of studying English packs, I should know everything about everyone.

I had the same problem when it came to the Blood Moon pack. There’s nothing written about how they fell, or how Elouise rose up to become alpha. It was like she had hidden everything from the world.

“You two,” Carlos addressed Archgallo and Kenneth, “I need you to watch her at all times. When Maël has killed her, I will need you and your pack to storm in to stop anyone who might want to stop us. Perhaps we should surround the building for the whole night in case she tries to escape.”

Carlos dismissed the meeting after ironing out a few more small details. We all stood and walked out of their pack house only to be met with a glaring Darius at the exit.