Gypsy Moon

Chapter Nineteen: Lilian

. . . . . . (early July)

I was walking with Luna Marie, she wanted to stop by the kitchen while the boys were causing shenanigans and Sinah was with Gigi.

"How much longer do you have before you pop? Your belly is huge!" Luna Marie laughed and pulled a couple pints of ice cream out of the freezer, handing one to me.

"I can go into labor any day now, and I cannot wait. It'll be so nice to be able to go more than twenty minutes without needing to pee." We laughed and she put her hand on her stomach, her eyes unfocused while she felt her cub moving. "Ooo, put your hand here, this feels so crazy!" I giggled and put my hand where she indicated. Almost immediately, I felt something roll under her skin and snatched my hand back in surprise while she laughed.

"Ohmigod, that's so freaky!" I giggled and put the ice cream down so I could put both hands on her stomach, feeling the little one wiggling around in the womb.

That's when the screaming started. We both startled, looking towards the noise.

"What the fück?" I think we both said it at the same time, and we both started moving towards the commotion. Then there was a crash and the whole packhouse shook. I grabbed Luna Marie to keep her from losing her balance and we shared a panicked look as pictures crashed to the floor around us. We made it to the common room in time to watch Alpha Derek rip his shirt off and wrap it around the stump where his right arm had been, then he snarled and ran from the destroyed room, out a huge hole in the wall. Luna Marie cried out at the sight of her wounded mate and her feet seemed glued to the spot, looking over the destruction.

"ALPHA DEREK! HERE!" That was Bryce's voice! I grabbed Luna Marie's hand and raced toward his shout. A crowd was starting to gather outside of the infirmary. I could hear Alpha Derek shouting angrily.

"YOU SCARED THE SHÏT OUT OF US, DESTROYED THE PACKHOUSE, AND RIPPED OFF MY FÜCKING ARM. WHAT. THE. FÜCK. HAPPENED?" I pushed us through the crowd, everyone was just standing around in shock and it took some effort to push past a few of them with Luna Marie in tow. We made it to the massive hole in the infirmary wall in time to watch Derek deck a very naked, bloody Aiden. Bryce was glaring down at Aiden and there was a big gray wolf taking up most of the room. The wolf shivered suddenly and shifted into Sinah. I gasped. Then I jumped when Luna Marie yelped next to me.

"Areyoufuckingkiddingme-aaaaAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" I stared at her while she doubled over. Alpha Derek bumped me hard trying to get to his mate and I stumbled into the wall.

"RIVER TALON! TRANSPORT YOUR LUNA! TAKE HER TO YOUR MIDWIFE, NOW! ALPHA DEREK MUST BE TAKEN TO A HUMAN DOCTOR. IMMEDIATELY, WE CANNOT TREAT HIM HERE! NOW!" Bryce suddenly started shouting orders and the wolves around the courtyard began snapping out of their trances, rushing to do as he said. "ALPHA AIDEN CAUSED INCREDIBLE DAMAGE, MAKE SURE NO ONE GOT CAUGHT IN THE RUBBLE OR IS HURT!" The pack scattered, everyone moving with purpose now, and I stood up shakily after a moment.

"bryce?"

"what's wrong, sinah?" I whipped around to stare into the infirmary and saw Bryce holding Sinah by the shoulders. She was shaking from head to toe and turned her eyes towards his.

"I'm standing." My hands flew up to my mouth as she passed out and Bryce caught her, switching her to a bridal carry. The fabric she was clutching fell to the floor when he picked her up and he froze like a statue, staring at the same thing I was staring at.

Sinah's perfect legs. Both of them. I couldn't even see any scars on her left leg, and it had been crisscrossed with them. I couldn't contain my excitement and I squealed. Bryce made a noise like a stepped-on cat and rounded on me, his eyes black.

"COULD EVERYONE STOP FÜCKING SCREAMING, PLEASE!" He roughly handed Sinah to me, but she was too heavy for me to hold the way he had her, so I fell backwards, with her in my lap. Bryce stalked away, his body shaking as he fought to keep from shifting. I could hear him muttering as he went, and I bit my lip to keep quiet until he was gone. I glanced around, for the briefest moment I was alone, sitting on the sidewalk with my naked best friend in my lap.

A cuckoo clock sounded somewhere in the building behind me, and I blinked. Two calls. It was only two am. I began to shake as the adrenaline started to drain from my body and I started laughing. A pack warrior turned his head at the noise and loped towards me, shifting as he advanced.

"Apologies for my nudity. May I help?" I nodded, still giggling, and let him scoop Sinah up out of my lap. He had the decency to make a point of not looking at her body, but I'm ashamed to say I did not give him the same consideration. As a result, I was blushing furiously when I managed to meet his eyes. I coughed and kept my voice as even as I could.

"We might need more help; Aiden is inside and there is no way I can carry him." The warrior nodded and his eyes clouded. A few minutes later, another warrior ran out of the packhouse, headed for us. He had an armload of robes and he handed them to me before turning to take Sinah from the warrior next to me. I handed him a robe, still blushing, and turned to help the second guy wrap a robe around Sinah.

I followed the first guy into the room to help him put a robe on Aiden and I gasped, biting my lip hard to keep from screaming. Gigi was on the floor amid the rubble, dead. An empty syringe was in her hand, claw marks on her chest and shoulders. The warrior looked up from Aiden at my gasp and stared at Gigi's body in disbelief.

I was shaking. I've never seen a dead body before. All of the weird shït I've seen growing up around werewolves, a mangled corpse was something new I wasn't prepared for. The warrior seemed to understand my distress and picked me up, cradling me against him like a child. He carried me outside and shared a look with the warrior holding Sinah. Their eyes clouded and the warrior holding Sinah gasped. Two women came running from the packhouse, followed by another warrior.

The wolf holding me turned towards the packhouse, followed by the second warrior with Sinah, and after a moment the third warrior emerged from the infirmary carrying Aiden across his shoulders. An impressive old man waited at the door for us and pointed up to the Alpha's office, all three warriors obeying silently. An equally impressive old woman waved the warriors towards various couches and chairs.

"Beta Mike, report." The man holding me set me gently into a soft armchair and sat on the ottoman in front of me.

"Honestly Alpha Jake?" He scrubbed his hand across his face and shook his head. "I have no idea what is going on. I don't think anyone does."

"The past hour has been madness, and no one knows what is going on?" I giggled and Alpha Jake frowned at me. "How is that funny?"

"Don't you see?" He clearly didn't, so I stood up, smiled at him and bobbed a curtsy. He blinked at me.

"My name is Lilian Elizabeth Roth. You may have mistaken me for a wolf, but I am a nineteen-year-old human. I just know all about your world. I've already been to see a couple of Elders about myself, but I think they've probably spread the word about me by now. Alpha Aiden has been told to establish a pack of his own, with me included, making me his responsibility, so you don't have to worry about me." I smiled at him and pointed to Sinah on one of the sofas. "Her name is Sinah Richmond. She is the daughter of White Moon's Gamma and is mated to Alpha Aiden. She was in a bad accident right before she should have gotten her wolf and died for like three minutes, and she lost her wolf." I paused and thought back a few minutes.

"But I think she has a wolf now somehow, because she was a big gray wolf when I saw her in the infirmary. I don't know, we'll have to ask when she wakes up." I shrugged and held my hand out to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm very excited to be here, and I totally call dibs on whatever you call the maid of honor in Sinah's Luna ceremony." He blinked again and barked a laugh, gripping my hand and pulling me into a hug.

"Pleased to meet you, but is this really the time?" I laughed.

"Yes." I grinned at everyone in the room. "Luna Marie said. Aiden thinks introductions are best when no one has any idea what's going on. I don't think he expected things to go THIS far, but I do think he wanted to throw everyone off balance before introducing us." Everyone blinked in unison and the old lady laughed.

"You know, I think she might be right..." She shook her head and closed her eyes. I watched everyone else's eyes cloud over; she must be speaking to the whole pack. That's impressive. Everyone stood quietly for a moment before their eyes started clearing and she looked directly at me.

"Well, clever human, as it seems the madness is passing, I've given orders to secure what is needed to prevent further damage until morning and for everyone else to go to bed for a couple hours." She chuckled and waved her hand towards Sinah and Aiden and the two warriors I still didn't know picked them back up. "Put them in the guest suite, the large one. His suite is still being prepared, since we didn't expect him until morning." She took my hand and patted it.

"Beta Mike will show you to a room near their suite. Don't worry." I nodded and looked towards him, and he gave me a smile that made me blush again. He chuckled as he led me out of the office behind the two carrying Aiden and Sinah. I paused at the door he showed me when the most random thing of the night popped into my head, and I laughed. Beta Mike raised an eyebrow at me while I tried to smother my mirth.

"I just remembered all of our luggage is still in the SUV." He laughed with me for a few minutes and gave me a quick hug.

"Lilian Elizabeth Roth, I believe you are going to be a fantastic addition to his pack."

. . . . . .