Mistress of Blood and Fur

Chapter 33 - Moonlight

Grace

The moon is full, but nobody’s going to walk in the middle of the forest to take their vows in an official mating ritual. At the moment, I don’t care. I have claimed and have been claimed by Onyx Warcloud a few nights ago. Though we hunger even more for each other, we also manage to stay away from each other. We are in the time of mourning. It has only been a few days since we bid Tobias goodbye.

Two days after we claimed each other, Alpha Kele had finally decided to tell everyone else about Tobias. There was soft crying, even from the men. We are a pack. I realize just how hardened I have been after seeing the reactions of the other wolves. I’m becoming like my mother.

Pack members dug up the shallow grave. We were all shocked at what we saw. Instead of seeing a human rotting corpse, we beheld a wolf carcass. The stench was overwhelming. Even those whose strengths were not in their sense of smell staggered backward. I felt bile rise up my throat as I took in the full strength with my unprepared nostrils. Only Onyx’s strong hand held my bicep to keep me firmly on the ground. By his low growls and flared nostrils, however, I knew that he was smelling the whole thing, too.

“That’s not what we f*****g buried,” Dash mutters, his fist covering his mouth.

“I’ve read something like this. It’s happening again,” Fox says in wonder. There was a war inside his heart and mind, I could tell. As much as the whole thing was a fresh new discovery for his hungry mind, it was also a devastating moment for the pack. Yes, we weren’t surprised but I was rattled at the way everyone grieves.

“You are strong, Grace,” Greta whispers in my head.

“I’m not. I’m heartless,” I protest. “Selfish. All I could think about was keeping Onyx to myself.”

“It’s a message from the gods or even the goddess,” one young werewolf cries out, his face looking like he has seen paradise.

“How?” his friend asks.

“We are coming back to our nature. It hasn’t happened in a long time.”

Thoughts of how we trapped the shapeshifter in its wolf form came to mind, and my hands felt cold and my heart felt like it was being squeezed by a firm hand.

“What do we do, Chief?” a guy in his mid-twenties asked. He was called Edrel, I thought.

“We can’t bury or burn him. We need to put him in the wooden box. I already sent word for his parents. They will be here tomorrow morning.”

I heard the murmurs and saw the worried looks on the wolves’ faces. They knew that one night could still be dangerous with Dennington’s men sniffing around. Sarah had her arms crossed in front of her chest. I felt like she was worried that everyone might know about her identity, but only our little group did.

Tobias’s parents arrived at daybreak. Everyone was relieved that the night had passed without any trouble. Tobias’s mother screamed obscenities and pointed fingers at Alpha Kele, who simply listened to her anger and grief. The mourning father merely stood next to his wife and mate, sometimes tapping her back to comfort her.

At some point, Tobias’s mother even screamed, “That’s not my son! How would I know that’s him! You’re hiding him from me! I trusted you with his life. He could have been at school. He’s supposed to be a junior this school year!”

It took hours to calm her down. When she quieted, we thought we would be relieved but the dead stare she had would haunt all of us forever. We still had the culprit in the guys’ cabin, still pulsing in a box. One little mistake would break the spell and free the shapeshifter or attract more of her kind our way. We couldn’t afford a war against supernaturals when Dennington could be harboring silver bullets and witches.

That night, everyone gathered in the forest clearing to witness the burning of Tobias’s wolf remains. His smell subsided, turning into smoke, stone, and leaves. He had become part of nature, ashes in a box for his parents to carry. How many more of us would become like that? What if instead of raising the population in Opium Hills, we were working the pack toward extinction?

The next few days seemed to support the second possibility. Some parents came for their teenage wolves, college-age men near my age. Older young men in their mid to late twenties also left. The brides held on. They had reasons to hold on. Each young woman had more story to tell.

Because of the exodus, the population that was at almost one hundred fifty wolves had become halved. We were now even more vulnerable to attacks. There were fewer of us.

“There’s seventy in all,” Fox said then as if reading my mind. “Eight are women. Just statistics, Grace, before you bite my head off. I’m not saying the women are any less, especially you, who descended from the Grants and Sloanes.”

“Right, Fox,” I grumbled then. I was feeling out of sorts like everything was spinning around me. If I had not met Onyx and the rest of my friends, I would have been one of the ones rushing to leave Opium Hills.

So, when the night of the full moon finally arrives, I volunteer to join the run. I’m here now. This is my new life, and I’m going to embrace my wolf.

“It’s time to let me fully in, Grace,” Greta urges.

“You are me, and I am you. We have always been together. But I’m not going to be like my grandfather who repressed my father’s wolf with drugs. I’m going to give you free rein.”

There are at least twenty of us in the forest. Of course, Fox, Dash, Grace, Elaine, and Josie are there with Onyx and me. We’re going to run together, as friends. We are running as a pack. Perhaps doing it not as a mating ritual will take the pressure off when it finally happens to me.

Some are quicker to strip, shift, and run to howl at the moon. I tremble, feeling Greta pressing through my skin, wanting to be let out. Heat pools between my legs, and I plan to tame it. My animalistic nature is taking over, but I remind myself of the purpose of this run. It’s not to mate with Onyx. We are young and there’s plenty of time for that.

Tonight is all about declaring how much we support each other. The wild howls are defiant. It’s almost saying, “Look at us, Dennington. Hear us, you f*****g pig!”

I finally strip my clothes. I am wearing nothing other than a flimsy sundress with nothing underneath. The heat of Onyx’s gaze follows me. I swear I see Dash’s eyes flash before he moves away from me toward Josie. Fox is with Sarah, helping her calm down. I feel all their presences, male and strong. Their scents are powerful, arousing desire. My n*****s harden in the crisp air, and Onyx reaches out to rub one of them.

“Are you ready, Grace?”

“I am,” I say with conviction. Then, I give in to my wolf. I feel my body curve until I’m on all fours on the forest floor, my back dipping in and my hips moving forward and backward. I’m like an animal in heat.

“Greta,” I warn.

“It feels delicious, isn’t it? Letting me in?”

My hands turn to claws, digging into the soil. My jaw pushes forward into a furry muzzle. My vision blurs, but something fires and lights up in my brain. The rest of the transformation goes faster.

“It’s only slow when you don’t do it that often. It only hurts so much the first time,” Greta whispers.

“It’s not my first time.”

“Of course not.”

Then, we are off. It’s like one of those dog hunts that royal families have, except we are the wild dogs. We tear through the forest, yelping and howling. The sounds are almost human at times, like laughter echoing in the woods from a group of young people that we are beyond this form.

A couple of wolves can’t help but rut in a corner in their current forms. Carlotta and someone I can’t quite place. Greta sniggers in my head. She’s louder now, having taken over. Then, there’s a blast of light.

“What’s over there?” I ask nobody in particular.

“A precipice, I think,” Greta answers. She has lost the mirth she had from earlier. She feels danger, and I can feel it, too.

It’s a wolf. It’s as large as Onyx, whose wolf is easily the biggest in the pack. It can’t be Alpha Kele. This wolf smells different.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, although I doubt he can hear me.

“I’m here for revenge,” he answers.