The Prophecy of the Second Moon

Damian

Two weeks before the ball

Damian had just finished training and was wiping the sweat off his face with his now ripped t-shirt, when he heard Ivan’s voice through the pack’s mindlink, coarse and impatient as always: “All senior members of the pack, meet me in 30 minutes in my office. Don’t make me wait.”

“Oh great…what is it this time? Five bucks the Luna dearest is throwing a tantrum again,” Beta Cain laughed.

“Probably,” Damian snorted unapologetically. “Moon Goddess help me, I’m so glad I turned down the Gamma position. Could you imagine having to protect HER at all times?” Damian visibly cringed and shook his head as if trying to get rid of a nasty taste on his tongue.

“Training pups and being in charge of protecting the pack is something I am definitely more adept in…it feeds my soul really,” Damian exclaimed, emanating love for what he does with a fervour rarely witnessed. Not being able to help himself, he added chuckling shamelessly: “Poor Kairon though, he got stuck with her instead.”

“Well, I know Renee wasn’t happy when he found his mate…tried getting him to reject her even. Can you believe the audacity?” Cain replied.

“You're joking, right?” Damian knew Renee all too well, but this seemed a bit too far even for her.

“Who in their right mind would reject their mate? Who in their right mind would ask someone to do that in the first place?” Damian asked.

“I have no idea, man… Something about her having to be the most important person in her Gamma’s life for him to be able to fully commit to his duty, and having a mate compromises that. I swear to the Moon Goddess herself, if the four of us hadn’t grown up together and if it wasn’t for the fact that I had been mated to Neoma, I would have quit my position a long time ago. I know Renee is our Luna, but that b***h…she is insufferable,” Cain breathed out turning towards the pack house, his disdain for his Luna clear as day.

Watching the pack house in the distance as if the mansion itself was somehow to blame for housing that despicable creature, Cain thought out loud: “I almost feel sorry for Ivan, he acts like she’s the most amazing thing walking on earth. If I had been the one mated to her, I’d sell my soul to those witches on the other side of the forest and ask them to take my entire memory and feelings in return, use them how they see fit. Anything to keep me away from her,” Cain spat in disgust.

Damian knew his friend was not serious as he would never jeopardise his own pack by giving access to all the intel a Beta certainly has, but this seething anger mixed with disgust he nurtured toward their own Luna; that was new.

Damian thought back to growing up with the guys; Ivan, Cain, Kairon and himself, the quartette had been inseparable ever since they were only pups. When it became obvious that Ivan had been mated with the Alpha Samuel’s eldest daughter, the Alpha title had been transferred to him soon after, due to the fact the old Alpha could not have been more eager to step down from his position.

Samuel was a well respected old wolf but he has seen his fair share of battles and they left their toll not only on his body, but his soul as well. One of the biggest battles of his life was led inside his own home and with his own blood; the very same eldest daughter of his, Renee. He knew he must have failed her as a father as he did not recognise the person she grew into. Nothing like his younger daughter Neoma, who somehow turned out to be her sister’s polar opposite. Samuel indeed fathered only these two girls and no male pups that would be next in line in succession of the title.

The old Alpha felt he was done fighting though; with warlocks, rival packs or his daughter…he wanted nothing more than to live his last years the way he saw fit, unburdened with the responsibility of being a leader, the way a human would in his old age. His heart yearned to greet pastel sunrises in peace and not on the battlefield waiting for his opponent to make their first move. His eyes longed for relaxing sunsets that would shame a prominent artist’s skillful painting with the vibrancy of colours, rather than assess the damage on a field painted red with blood.

The moment he realised Renee was mated to Ivan, he saw it as both his resignation and his daughter’s possible redemption. Ivan was a good man and a strong wolf already, and Samuel’s resolve to pass the Alpha title to him was even more reinforced by the fact that Ivan’s father was Samuel’s loyal Beta, while Ivan’s mother was of an Alpha bloodline too, making Ivan a potent mate and a promising leader. Even more than that, Samuel hoped Ivan’s compassion and love he had for their people and life itself would rub off of Renee and change her highhanded and overbearing demeanour, her shameless insolence. Yes, a father should never be able to say that for his own daughter, but the greatest downfall for Samuel and a source of his greatest contrition, was the day he had to admit to himself that he was ashamed of his own child. Renee was beautiful indeed, but within that beauty grew a seed of tar and nothing more. Samuel hoped Ivan’s light nature and good heart could take that tar and light a fire of good in her, making her into a Luna their pack needed.

Knowing Renee, Damian was sure that Ivan’s younger brother, Cain, had got the better deal being mated to the sister of the Luna, sweet Neoma. Both of them were about two years younger than their older siblings, and while Cain was much like his older brother, light natured and good hearted, Neoma was the complete opposite of her sister. Where Renee looked down on everyone, including Neoma and Samuel, Neoma treated everyone with respect, treasuring those in need the most. Whenever Renee was cruel to people of lesser rank, Neoma would come in to console them right after, offering at least a caring hug if she had nothing else to spare. Neoma was truly a treasured gem of the Nightblade pack everyone held dear to their hearts, and even Damian himself thought of her as his baby sister he never had.

When Ivan had been given the position of the Alpha in training, Samuel asked him to name a selected few as his trusted team who will undergo the necessary training with him, and with time take up leading positions in the pack.

“The new generation of the Nightblade pack”, Samuel used to say.

Cain, being Ivan’s brother who he loved and respected above all else, was the most reasonable choice for Beta as his blood and upbringing was strong just as Ivan’s, and Cain accepted immediately; pledging his life to his brother and his Alpha.

However, when the dice rolled to Ivan’s fidus achates, Damian, to take over the Gamma position, no one really expected him to decline; much to the shock of their entire squad, and even annoyance of some. Instead, Damian had asked if he could carry on his warrior training as that is where he felt his heart was.

Even though he was stunned at first, Ivan quickly recovered only to realise he never really had any reason to doubt Damian’s judgement or reasoning before, and he was not about to start now with this heartfelt request. Although ever-so-slightly hurt by his friend’s decision, Ivan granted him his wish immediately and went even further than that with making Damian the pack’s head warrior. Wanting the one man Ivan actually looked up to at that time to receive the recognition he deserved, Ivan had not realised that by promoting Damian, he was not actually doing his friend a favour but rather condemning him to sideways thrown looks and constant whisperings, as it looked like Damian got leapfrogged over warriors who have been there longer.

It took Damian five good years to gain his warriors’ trust and about as much time for them to stop seeing him as just the Alpha’s buddy, and to actually give him credit for his hard work.

Showing them what he was truly made of was hard work indeed and it took him a while, but it was well worth it. If he wanted, Damian could have shown off his bravado and boast around with earning everybodies respect and being best of the best, but alas, he was nothing like that. What Damian did instead was show gratitude and train even harder, earning him unwavering loyalty of his brothers in arms. That respect was hard earned and he was never going to betray that, not if he can help it. His training methods both in human form and their wolf form, made the Nightblade pack’s warriors an elite team of fierce fighters that were revered and feared amongst other packs. Even Ivan as a new Alpha took great pride in that fact.

“Damian, come on man. Let’s get up there and get this s**t out of the way. We would not want to make him wait, now would we?” Cain snickered and made a crazy face at his brother’s serious tone he used through the mindlink.

Ivan was Cain’s Alpha but he was still his brother too and Cain just could not help himself to mock Ivan every opportunity he got. That amused Damian to no end.

“One of these days, Cain, you’ll earn yourself some corporal punishment,” Damian laughed wholeheartedly while pretending to lean over to strap his right arm over Cain’s shoulder, only to lean back in the last second and push him forward, immediately running away towards Ivan’s office as fast as his legs could carry him. Cain who stumbled from the force of Damian’s push got slammed against a tree trunk and fell back over like a sequoia log, jumped up faster then he got down and ran after his friend, yelling-laughing after him:

“I will fight you for this, you dog!”

Alpha Ivan sat in his office, looking at his friends and subordinates who sat around waiting for him to start the meeting. As he reached for his phone to check the time, Cain and Damian came barging through the door in the last second, still bickering like two pups. Everyone turned their heads toward the sudden intrusion and then immediately over to Ivan, holding their breaths and waiting for his reaction.

Ivan rolled his eyes seeing this; he was a strict Alpha, but he was not a monster, and he saw this as an overreaction. These two however, if they don’t start acting in accordance with their positions, he’d have to teach them how to act as grownups. Ivan shot a disapproving look stern enough to discourage those of weak spirits, but he knew it was nothing to those two oafs.

Keeping the stoic expression on his face, which made his next words even more funny, Ivan greeted his squabbling friends: “Everyone, please, welcome our two beefy cherubs. They just got back from training, so excuse their…intoxicating musky smell of a bull in heat. But I have to hand it to them, this time they were not late at least.”

The room was looking incredulous between the three of them only for a split second and then erupted in fits of laughter. Only the corner of Ivan’s lips curled upwards showing he was having fun, but struggled to remain serious as an Alpha should.

Seeing his brother and Damian like this, messing around, threw him back in time when he was still ‘one of them’ and could still allow himself to be imperfect and do the same. He loved being one of the moppets they all were, to whom the people would roll their eyes seeing them jumping at each other like those lion cubs on National Discovery channel. They were the goofiest, funniest and most reckless bunch ever to become friends in the Nightblade pack, but they always had each other’s back. It changed after he became the Alpha and mated to Renee; not the ‘having each other’s back’ part, that would never change, Ivan thought.

But ‘the having fun part’…After he became the Alpha he had to lose the reckless, spontaneous part of him and put up his serious, stoic and responsible act on perfectly.

His heart downright ached when he saw his friends still indulging in the same luxury of being carefree most of the time. As much as he would never punish them for being themselves, he could not deny the pang of jealousy that marbled the kindness of his heart. He knew very well his friends are not the ones to blame, he himself accepted Samuel’s offer, but he would do anything to have at least one more day to be as carefree as they came barging into his office. One more day to be more like them, and less like a dead dog covered in paperwork.

Only thinking about his predicament made his good spirits plummet and he decided to cut back to business.

“Ok, enough buffoonery now, we got work to do. No interrupting until I’m done,” Ivan said while briefly scanning over everyone present.

“We have had an invitation to the ball the Amberwood coven is hosting in two weeks. Since they will be having a change in leadership, we are also to witness the power transfer ceremony in three months, as Grandmaster Corin is handing over his position to his son while he himself will take over from Theodore and become the new Elder.”

“Now, I have already accepted both invitations as I see both events as an excellent opportunity. As much as they are our closest neighbours and nurturing friendly alliances is always considered smart strategic planning, I would also like to use these opportunities to gather intel. Cain, you and Neoma will stay behind to protect the pack and hold the fort while we are gone. Kairon and Damian, you will be coming to protect your Luna. We will select a few more pack members to join the delegation we are taking with us. Right, any questions?”

“Alpha, no disrespect but I would like to volunteer to stay behind and oversee the protection of our borders and the pack. My men are trained for this kind of things and I can assign three of my best warriors to accompany you instead.” Damian interjected as soon as Ivan stopped talking.

“Sc**w that, you’re coming. I need my buddies with me, all who I can spare without leaving our pack defenceless,” Ivan exclaimed and only then noticed his Luna was giving him a scowl. He understood it perfectly as it made him clear his throat right away and quickly add:

“Besides, Renee has asked for you personally to accompany us, and I agree with her assessment. Both of us will feel safer if you are around if anything goes south. I need to stress out that I am not expecting anything like that to happen as this should be a fun and peaceful visit, but you know what humans say; better safe than sorry.”

Damian just nodded his head, dropping all ideas of pushing his Alpha’s orders any further. He knew damn well if the Luna had requested him specifically, there was no way in hell of him getting out of it. Ivan followed her lead like a blind puppy and was too enamoured with his mate to see her for what she is or what she was actually doing.

Renee was always trying her best to get Damian on his own, always trying to get too close. He, on the other hand, was loyal to his friend and avoided her as much as possible. Damian also wanted to stay loyal to his wish of finding his destined mate. Seeing that he was now 27, the chances were getting slimmer every year, and that made him feel left out and alone. He was tempted to take a chosen mate too, but every birthday he promised himself just one more year of looking for her.

Looking back, Renee really was the one mistake Damian would never be able to forgive himself as long as he lives.

While they were still young wolves, right before they came of age, Ivan and a few other promising wolves got sent for a one-year training camp to one of the neighbouring packs, as a sign of good faith. Damian was forced to sit that one out cuz his foot got injured pretty badly in defence training against the silver weapons; a silver spear was thrown at him and in an attempt to do a roundhouse kick to interject its course and smash it to the ground, he misjudged his initial position and the spear sliced through his foot like a knife through butter.

Being triangular, it tore through several tendons and fractured at least five bones on its way through Damian’s foot, while silver made his werewolf healing slow down considerably. Suddenly, he had felt very human and even though he normally liked those weird creatures, their slow healing abilities always made him anxious. It was millimetres and milliseconds in combat, Damian learned that the hard way.

Not two months after their warriors went to a training camp, a friend of theirs, a she-wolf named Alina who was one year older than their bunch, came of age, getting her wolf and also finding her mate on the very same day. She was one of the luckiest ones, as that was rare to happen. She and her mate were a good match and instantly fell in love, proceeding to hold their bonding ceremony in three days. After the official part of the ceremony only those most resilient remained, as the party was at its highest peak. Werewolves were not an easy bunch to get drunk as normal stuff did not work on them, but Alina’s mate happened to have a cousin in one of the witch covens. Needless to say, he was given a wedding gift rarely anybody forgot about after that night; a special brew of neon blue colour, enchanted so that it makes even werepeople let loose and have fun. Dremora, they said it was called.

Even though alcohol was not his thing in any form, Damian promised himself he would only try the damn thing as everyone was hounding him to drink, but forgot about the silver; its residues had still been coursing his bloodstream even after almost two months. When everyone took three shots and only then felt some effect, Damian had to sit after the first glass; a few minutes in and the room started spinning slowly but painfully. At the worst time ever, Renee suddenly appeared out of nowhere and headed straight for where he was sitting trying to hold on for dear life in the carousel that was his mind.

She swayed her hips right over to him and without asking permission, sat down in his lap, immediately starting talking about how amazing Alina and Thomas looked together, in an attempt to distract him from what she was actually doing. At the state he was in, he could not have moved her with determination she would understand even if he wanted to, but somehow that damn blue liquid made him pliable and eager for the heath that started forming behind the zipper of his black jeans whenever she adjusted her ass in his lap ever-so-slightly, something he never felt before.

Damian had indeed never laid with a woman before as he always said he is saving himself for his own mate, and he could not have been more eager to finally see the dawn of the day when he meets her. He was a strong believer in the sacredness of destined mates, and wanted it to be special and magical when it first happens. The blue liquid, however, made him forget about all that he was and all that he thought or did before, but the sheer will made him sober up only for a moment. He pushed Renee and got up himself, only to stumble forward as the sharp pain shot through his injured foot. Renee caught and steadied him, offering to help him get to his room. Damian knew he had no choice but to accept as everyone else was too immersed into getting drunk for the first time in their lives, and there was no manoeuvring his drunk self with that foot.

Reaching his room in the pack house he thanked Renee for her help and limped away trying to close the doors behind him, but that hellish harpy put her foot down to stop him and stomped into his room instead, adamant on ‘helping’ him get into bed.