Under The Blood Moon

Chapter 1

“I, Damian, heir to the Alpha of Cranil pack, reject you as my mate!!!!” Damian said with determination, drawing attention to myself and him.

“You are not even a complete wolf yet, and they want to punish me with such a plague?”

I could not handle the shame, all eyes were on me and I always told myself ‘who did I offend to get this kind of treatment?’.

Everywhere I turned my eyes to it was countered with either stares of hatred or disgust.

I ran out of the pack square only to find no one at my back to console me, Evan was nowhere to be found. Eve was at the corner smiling and obviously happy and told me to leave if I was no longer feeling comfortable. I left that night, but I never returned home.

I didn't want to blame anyone for my predicament. Maybe that's just my fate.

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I was frightened by how my parents were always scared of something, I never knew what it was and whenever I asked they would tell me I was not up to the age to know and that only gave me more suspicion and curiosity to know.

The night of the rogue attack was the last time I saw my parents and it wasn't just their death, it was also the death of my fate in this pack.

“Mum, Dad, wake up, don't do this, don't leave me this way” I was surrounded with dead rouges that night. I struggled to keep my parents alive, but I guess it wasn't in my power to do so.

“Annie, Annie,” my mum whispered and gently tapped my hand.

“Mum, mum, you're ok, stay with me, I can't lose you” I said to her holding her really close to my chest as though I was passing some sort of energy for her to regain full consciousness.

“You're more than you think you are”

“Mum, mum, you won't leave me, will you?”

My mum subtly smiled at me “I have something to tell you Annie,” my mum started coughing out blood.

“You're ok, please go on,” I gently tapped her cheek multiple times as tears formed in my eyes, my face felt hot and at this point I wanted to go with them.

“You are…” she started coughing again in my hands. She struggled to breathe in my hands and I concluded that was the most disturbing moment of my life.

“Mum, no, no, no, no” I started shivering. The blood in my hands was warm and at that moment I didn't think of the disgust, I thought of it as my last memory of her, and then I thought of how to bring my parents back.

My father's eyes were wide open staring at me, lifeless, but I wished they were all acting it out as a prank. I was disappointed by my own thoughts.

I cried that night, there was nowhere to go because we lived on the outskirt of the pack.

The night passed and it was daytime. I lay down next to the corpse of my parents, the pungent smell of the dead rouges did nothing to move me from where I lay, my hands and clothes stained with the blood of my dead mother and my father's eyes still stared at me, as though it was excited to tell me something.

“Annie, Annie,” I heard a voice come from the front of our house. I made no attempt to move, I just wanted to be with my parents. “What happened?” My mum's friend, Loretta, ran to the backyard of our house and saw me lying on the floor.

“My goodness, Annie, stand up from where you're lying” I saw as she hesitated before coming close to me. “What happened here?”

I still said nothing but I slowly stood up and started perceiving the pungent smell my nose initially ignored.

“Annie, what happened?,” She tried coming close to me but I shifted away from her.

“You don't have to run from me,”

I burst out crying again.

“Rogues… last night….” My voice seized and she ran to catch me before I fell.

My body was stained with dry blood and I imagined how she would have felt holding on to me.

“Why don't we go and wash you up” she held me up and took me in.

“How did this happen?”

“The rogues came in last night and were asking my parents about a secret they had and were hiding,” “they tried as possible to protect me, they did, but sustained too many injuries and that's how we're here”

“People have secrets and it's ok to have secrets you don't want to share with people, with your parents gone I believe it should be your motivation to make them proud”

“How do I do that without a wolf?”

“You're more than just a wolf, Annie”

“Nobody thinks that, nobody in this pack thinks that, Loretta”

“Does it matter what they think?, You are more than you think you are” That statement Loretta said immediately rang in my head, those were one of the few last words my mum said to me before her exit.

Fresh tears trickled down my cheeks and Loretta pulled me into a very warm hug.

“It's fine now, it's so fine, you will be”

“What do I do now?” I was really curious as to what lay ahead of me.

At that time, the rogues and parents were already taken away. There was no need for an autopsy, the evidence was clear that it was a ‘rogue attack’.

“You know, long ago, your mother and I made a promise, she wasn't just my best friend, she was just like my sister too, it's now coming back like we both knew what was going to happen” I watched as Loretta's voice changed to a more sober tone.

“We both promise to watch out for ourselves and if anything happens to one of us, the other one must take responsibility”

“Now I guess that's responsibility has surfaced” she turned and stared at me.

“What do you mean?” I was lost.

“Annie, I'll be so happy to take you in and take care of you as a fulfillment to the promise I made to your mother”

My face was stained with embarrassment and gratitude, I didn't know which one was more valid in this situation.

“Wouldn't that be too much on your hands” I tried to be considerate.

“Stop it, you're family to me, it's not too much, besides I wouldn't want you to end up in an orphanage and get you segregated by people” She took me into her arms and into a very warm hug “you're enough, I want you to not be bothered by anything, I'm here for you and I'll always be.”

I nodded at what she said, it sounded really reassuring.

“You have two siblings now”

I went to the house with her, with the hope of having siblings I never thought I'd have.

“Everyone, This is Annie”

“Why and what is she doing here?”

At that point, the situation I found myself in made me regret why I didn't initially decide to face segregation at the orphanage.