The Luna Sage

Chapter Three: Moon Beasts and Gold Dust

We rode in silence before the doors finally opened and I was guided out of the elevator.

"Tell him to call me when he needs me." Was all she said, stepping back and disappearing behind the elevator door before I could protest or ask who He was.

I stared at the doors for a second too long, I felt something seethe behind me. Darkness swirled and an intoxicating sensation took hold of my senses.

I turned, not looking around me or seeing anything but the plumes of Gold Gust that sprinkled the air suddenly. I followed them towards a door where it swirled and gathered before slipping under the door into the room behind.

Ignoring the essence of danger that danced with them, I opened the door, my mind racing.

I had only heard about Gold Dust visions.

Was I having one?

My heart hitched into my throat as I opened the door and followed the swirls of hope before my eyes fell to the source of it.

"You," I whisper out, coming to stare into the brown and gold eyes of the Moon Beast from the other night.

He stared at me, his hands on the desk in front of him, white with strain as they clenched into fists.

"Sit." He gritted through his teeth, his piercing gaze never leaving mine as I looked around quickly at my surroundings for the first time.

I was in a large room, a glass wall window stretched behind the man, edged by large plush-looking ruby curtains pushed aside to let daylight in.

An oak desk sat before the man, paperwork, electronics and other office supplies I guessed strewn across the desk. Two seats were in front of that, large and brown leather, they looked comfortable.

Bookshelves stuffed to the brim with books lined the opposing shelves on either side of me. A filing cabinet sat on either side of the door I'd barged through.

Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I rushed to close the door and take a seat, realising I'd taken longer than the man had liked.

A soft but deadly animalistic growl erupted from him until I was seated.

I folded my hands in my lap and looked down at my clean skin. Though peppered with healing scratches and bruises, they were the cleanest I'd seen them since I left.

I heard a strained sigh but didn't dare look up.

I felt the tension ease for a moment.

"So, Moon Beast huh?" The husky voice forced my head to snap up, meeting the man's now soft gaze.

My heart beat rapidly, but I couldn't be sure it was from fear.

My mind absorbed what he had said and a small smile betrayed my lips.

"When one is on the verge of death, we say some wild things," I muttered, smiling wider when I saw the corner of his lips twitch for a second.

"I have heard my fair share of final words. It's not what I had expected. We prefer Werewolves these days." He folded his arms and leaned back in his large chair. The black sweater pulled tightly across his frame and I looked away, feeling heat swarm my cheeks.

My brain flickered, a sudden pain in my frontal lobe and I screamed, gripping my head in my hands and folding in half to rest on my knees.

I feel a warmth spread across my back and my hair is swept to the side.

"Branded." He hissed, I managed to catch his gaze out the corner of a tear-filled eye.

My branding.

A serpent wrapped in a figure-eight to eat itself scorched into the skin behind my ear by my captures years ago.

The pain in my head subsided, soothing it with magic I knew wouldn't last. I slapped his hand away, recoiling quickly at my reckless actions.

I'd dealt with Moon Bea-Werewolves before, but I was always guarded and they were drugged, I'd never thought to be so stupid.

His hand caught my fleeting wrist and held it, pulling it forward, me with it.

He turned my palm up and held it to his nose, staring at me he inhaled deeply, his hand on my back had started to dig in, claws elongating and piercing my skin painfully.

I don't pull away, the warmth makes it worth it.

I closed my eyes and felt as he moved his nose down my hand towards my wrist, fully aware his soft full lips are pressed firmly against my palm now.

My head tilts back and a sigh escapes me as the warmth soothes the aching muscles he grazes over.

"Tell me why you're here." He suddenly pulled back, gripping my wrist so painfully I locked eyes with him as I yelped, trying to pull away.

"If you're here to hurt anyone, I will kill you right here." He pulled me closer, his eyes turning black and a growl erupting from his throat.

"I escaped," I whisper, my breath bouncing off his skin to hit me with a sickening warmth. Tears broke free again and I cursed myself.

Crying was for the captured.

Looking around at my surroundings and the Beast who held me, I thought maybe crying was okay.

"What do you mean, escaped?" His minty but metallic breath hit my skin and I found myself staring at him, unable to break his gaze as tears fell freely.

"I was a prisoner," I whispered, when his brows pulled together and his eyes lightened so I could see the gold dance in them, I continued. "I was given to them after my Coven was destroyed by Hunters, they kept me locked up until I came of age, then they used me as a Seer and Sage."

"You didn't cast magic?" He interrupted, his fingers loosening just enough that they didn't draw blood anymore.

"No." I nodded. "I made simple sleeping and healing elixirs and had visions, that's all I can do." I tried to pull away in defiance but his hold of me was strong and I only ended up wincing at the pain in my shoulder.

"Why?" Another hiss.

I shrugged, giving in to the pain. "I'm unnamed, I can make potions and have visions, I can't cast lasting magic. When they killed my Coven, they kept me in a holding cell, letting me learn the basics from books they'd stolen from my home and, I assume, selling the things I did manage to make, but most of the time they just made me have visions, took my blood and then left me alone to make more potions." I sighed heavily at how peaceful my time there had been in comparison, mostly because they heavily drugged me anytime I was allowed to leave the white room and don't remember much of what happened until I was back. "And then they moved me to the Grounds and started to sell me to rich humans to give them insights into their futures or locked me up with a small amount of herbs and a tiny kit to brew with." I found myself chuckling at the thought of my room.

Prison cell. I corrected.

It was cramped with nothing but a lumpy mattress, a stained sheet and my altar, a brewing kit I had to make myself out of a tin can as my heating source, the small stone slab and rounded rock I'd managed to break out of my wall a few weeks ago when they'd pulled me out of my clean white room I'd been in since I'd arrived. They'd given me a list of potions and some herbs and told me to make them all before they came back. I'd been allowed to make potions in my last cell, but they'd at least given me the basic kit. Here I had nothing and had to make it, another makeshift item was a broken in half and sanded down to not cut me glass bottle I used as a beaker.

The only thing they gave me was vials and herbs for the final product.

Nothing more.

Well, they gave me beatings to say thanks for the décor, but that didn't, really, count did it?

I notices the tension and the Gold Dust that swirled around the man beside me.

I watched it for a second before his lips pressed in a hard line, he released my arm and his thumb and index finger gripped my chin suddenly, making me face him.

His eyes are pure darkness and I tremble, moving towards him uncontrollably.

"Keep talking." He growled.