Silver Moon Huntress

Emma

“Where are we going?”

No one answered. Zander marched in front of me and the two other Hunters brought up the rear. They walked so close to me that I had to keep my pace up so they wouldn’t bump into me.

No one had said a word since we left the arena. Normally I would’ve loved the silence, but I was nervous and confused, and the quiet was unnerving.

We entered the pack house grounds but veered to the west, marching around the mansion to a tall ornate iron gate.

Inside the gate there was a cluster of buildings resembling a small village. To the left I saw a boxy modern house with a large sign staked in the ground that read Building 1: Barracks.

To the right I could see an outdoor training arena with a track and obstacle course. Adjacent to the obstacle course, I saw two dozen wooden pillars, spaced in even lines of three. I wondered what those could be for.

Zander led me into the barracks, which were so clean you could probably eat directly off the floor. We walked down a hall and stopped in front of a door with two gold nameplates on it:

Laurier

Archer

“Wow, you guys were really prepared for me, huh? I feel like I’m getting the royal treatment”, I joked nervously.

“This is your room. Laurier will show you your schedule and give you a tour.”

“What about my family? They’ll think I’ve been kidnapped!”, I exclaimed.

Zander gave me an appraising look, then said, “they’ll be notified. Welcome to the Hunters.”

Before I could say anything else, he turned on his heal and walked away.

I raised my hand to knock on the door, then stopped. Did I need to knock to go into my own room? Before I could make up my mind, the door opened.

In front of me stood a beautiful red headed woman. She had sparkling green eyes and skin like milk. She stood a tiny bit taller than me and had an lithe, athletic frame. I guessed she was in her later twenties.

“Hello”, she said softly. “Come in.”

She had a soothing, musical voice—quite in contrast to Zander’s clipped, abrupt mannerisms.

I walked into the room and looked around. It resembled a college dorm, with a bed and a desk against each wall and a window opposite the door. There was a tiny bathroom to the right and a closet to the left.

The bed to the left of the room made, and the wall behind it was empty. It was in stark contrast to the right side of the room, which had a partially made bed and several pictures tacked to the walls.

“Sorry about the mess. I was just making my bed when you can to the door”, said the woman. “We go by last names here, but you can call me Vesper when we’re in our room.”

“I’m Emmaline, but I go by Emma. It’s nice to meet you.”

My eyes darted around, taking in my surroundings. Vesper could clearly tell that I was overwhelmed.

“Don’t worry. Things might seem crazy right now but you’ll fall into the rhythm easily enough.”

I walked to the window. Outside, slate paving stones cut a path through the perfectly manicured lawn, and flowering hedges lined the wrought iron fence. The sun was starting to set over the arena, and the light reflecting off the metal roofs bathed the compound in an tangerine glow. It was picturesque, but I was too confused to appreciate it. I asked the first question that popped into my head.

“What am I doing here?”

“You’re a Hunter now. You’re here to protect the Alpha and our pack.”

“And how am I supposed to do that? What do I even do here?”

“It depends on your schedule,” she said, grabbing a stack of paperwork from her desk and handing it to me. “We rotate between guard duty, training, intel operations, training the pack’s army, and cleaning or grounds maintenance. A select few of us also attend strategy meetings with Alpha Holland, but if you’re chosen for that it’ll be later down the line.”

“Damn. That’s a lot to take in. Do we ever get free time?”, I asked.

“We get one day off per month to take care of personal tasks and visit with family and friends.”

“So we’re basically slaves”, I said flatly.

“Not at all. We’re a close-knit group here. We look out for each other. It’s an honor to be chosen as a Hunter”, she said, so earnestly that I felt my resolve to be obstinate slipping.

“Let me show you around”, she said, opening the door.

We stepped out into the hallway and headed back toward the lobby.

“How many of us are there?”, I asked, my curiosity growing.

“Sixteen”, Vesper replied. “You and I are the only ladies.”

“It must’ve been hard being the only female”, I mused. I would’ve felt so awkward. Then again, it’s not like I hung around with other girls very often.

“It wasn’t so bad.”

We walked outside and into the adjacent building that was labeled Building 2: Mess Hall. Inside was a single room containing a full kitchen, with one long table in front of the window.

“This is the mess hall. We cook and eat meals here. There are no servants, so of course we do everything ourselves.” She grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator and turned back toward the door. “Let’s move on.”

Vesper took me to the indoor and outdoor arenas, where four people were training. We didn’t interrupt them, but Vesper said their names were Chambers, Ollivette, Locklear, and Aukland. She then took me back to the barracks, but shook her head when I reached for the door handle to our room.

“This way”, she said, gesturing further down the hallway. “One more place to show you today. We’ll also go to the army barracks tomorrow.”

I followed, and she led me to the only door with no nameplate on it. Vesper opened it, and I saw that a stairway descended into darkness.

She started walking, saying, “turn on those lights, will you?”

I flipped the switch next to me, which illuminated the stairway and the slate-lined tunnel it led to. We walked in silence for a minute, before I asked a question I’d been worrying about.

“Does the Moon Goddess give us mates?”

Vesper stopped and turned to me, a sad smile on her face as she shook her head.

“The Moon Goddess has chosen a different destiny for us. We are all unmated.”

I followed blindly, no longer paying attention to our path. I had always known it was strange for me to be unmated at my age, but I assumed it was because my mate was out there somewhere in another pack. Now I knew he didn’t exist.

My stomach plummeted. It was silly to miss something I’d never had in the first place, but I felt as though I had lost a part of me. My soul felt like it had a hole in it that could never be filled. Would I ever feel complete?

I almost walked into Vesper, not noticing that she had paused. She climbed a small staircase and pushed open a door. All I could see was a thick, dark blue velvet curtain hanging in front of the doorway. Vesper paused to listen for motion on the other side, then pulled it aside. We were inside the pack house.

I remembered the entrance hall from my excursion with Caleb, all those years ago. It looked almost exactly the same, with only a few new paintings on the walls to show the passing of time.

“This is our secret passage from the barracks to the pack house. No one but the Alpha and us Hunters know it exists, and we’d like to keep it that way.”

I looked back at the door we had just emerged through and saw that it was hidden behind a large portrait of our Luna. Although it was beautiful, it could not quite do her justice.

***

I sat on my bed, alone my room. So much had happened today, I was having trouble processing it. Vesper was at the mess hall, but I had declined to accompany her because the churning thoughts in my head had completely zapped my appetite.

To keep myself from totally spiraling, I made a mental list of the things Vesper had told me about my new life:

1. No free time, lots of chores and duties

2. Only see family once per month

3. No mate

So far, everything was coming up negative.