Bloodmoon

Chapter 3

Lycan king Alpha Ethan Pov

“Ethan, are you listening to me?” My sister asked.

“Yes, I am trying.” I answered honestly.

“You don’t need to try to, you just need to listen,” She retorted.

“It’s a good thing you’re my little sister. No one else gets to talk to me like that.” I laughed.

“It’s a good thing I am your beta then, because no one else can handle you.” She giggled but was cut off by the clearing of Hunter my Gamma’s throat.

“As much as this sibling squabble is amusing and no disrespect intended, we need to focus on the Black-Hearts.” He approached the desk and sat down. “They are acting peculiarly. There has been more vampire activity in the area. I have had reports from our patrols and from other pack territories as well. It is causing unease in all the packs in the general area.” He paced.

“What could they possibly up too? I mean truthfully, we have not had any problems with them in at least a decade. They hold their meetings and handle their own kind. We are not set for another council meeting for another few weeks. They may have a breach in security within their ranks. They are much more skittish about paranormal secrecy than we are. They are more fearful of humankind. Perhaps that is why we are seeing more strange faces in the area. We have not had any breech of our territory, so they are upholding our mutual agreement.” I listened to my sister defend. She hated the idea of war. We had taken a beating the last time the vampires had crossed the line; we were incredibly young during the fighting and our father had almost died. He luckily surviving but he had been severely injured. Jenny, being the daddy’s girl, that she has been more traumatized than myself. For this reason, she would fight to the end so that there was no need to fight against the demonic beast. It was our job, however, to keep the balance much to the blood suckers dismay we protect the humans and our kind have been taxed with a war with them since the dawn of time. They have always been jealous of our control and that we are the moon Goddess preferred.

“While you may disagree Beta and again no disrespect intended, I feel it would be negligent not to indulge the fact they could be up to something.” Hunter pressed to which I tilted my head in agreement.

“Ethan!” Jenny wailed her blonde hair bouncing, “You cannot entertain this. We do not know they are up to anything, and we do not need a fight right now when while we are strong, we are also a young pack. Maybe we could handle a fight of this caliber when we have had time to prepare but…”

“That is my point Jenny, my point exactly, if these beings are to be as powerful as we have been brought up to believe; then we must assume they are just as smart as well as resourceful. They would be aware that we just obtained our positions; that there has been a shift in power here. They would know this would be the time to attack us.” Hunter interrupted and at this point stormed toward my desk, “If we were looking at another pack for some reason not saying that is who we are, we would never, willing, attack with intent to over throw another pack but if we were going to, Ethan you were the best at tactical war fare in school; wouldn’t it be the weakest point of the pack when there is a transition of power, when priorities are not on the protection of the territory and the pack itself but on those in power settling in and getting comfortable instead.” He pleaded. “I know Jenny that the possibly upsets you and you as well Alpha, but I can feel it in my bones something is up.”

Jenny stood to argue but I cleared my throat, “Enough!” I glared at them both. I also did not want a problem to arise with the vermin across the border, but I also had an obligation to protect my pack and kingdom. “To understand you, correct Hunter, there has been more vampire sightings and magical activity near our land and human territory, correct?” He nodded. “Jenny, do you have any reason to say for absolute certainty that there isn’t any possibility of an attack from the Blackhearts or one of their affiliations?”

“I have no proof of an attack or otherwise”, She said flatly, “But neither does he.”

“The fact that other packs are reporting the same increases has me inclined to agree that we need to be more open-minded and precautions; we owe our pack members and our families that. We will not be blindsided again!” Hunter clapped. “However, I am not agreeing solely with you, Jenny is right. We are young, and we are just getting the hang of our roles and learning to be in complete unison; a war would be more difficult, especially with those beings’ having extra gifts.”

“So, what are you saying Alpha?” Hunter asks as he took his seat in the large leather chair.

“I am wanting more Intel and when you get that information, we will take it to the table with the Elders and find out what we should do from here. Let us also remember that I am now on the council of the Realms thanks to the last war and

father's actions, the next meeting was set on the next Eclipse which I thought was strange, perhaps we should request a meeting with the council ahead of time or an audience with vampire queen and ask her what is happening. we ask the pack Elders and keep our options open.” I stood them both following me. “Jenny, I want you on board with Hunter on this, speak to Drake as well. It will not do any harm to find out more about what is going on. If they are getting out of line and do attack, we won’t stand a chance if we are not watching and prepared. If they are not coming for us, then we will learn more about who they are and what other kinds of things go bump in the night around us.” I smiled, “For now let’s get check in with the patrols at the border it may not be a bad idea to double the patrols temporarily to be more vigilant.” We exited the house and hit the pavement outside as we took off on all fours. It was such a relief; I could feel the stress just fade away as the wind rushed through my fur. “Phillip, Wayland” I mind linked to have them check in for an update, that was until it hit me that smell, it was intoxicating, it brought me to stop as I sniffed the air around me trying to pinpoint where was coming from. I had caught it once before a few nights ago it was vague then but stronger now, I never found where it was coming from. I couldn’t concentrate on anything but the smell of the sweetest peaches and Gardenias. I must have been quite the sight as both Jenny and Hunter stood speechless watching me turn in circles.

“How long has it been since he got out of the office?” I heard Hunter mind link Jenny,

“Apparently too long,” She scoffed. “Bub, what the hell?”

“Yea dude for real.” He stared.

“You’re the alpha So you can probably do it, but I’ve tried it before like a million times and I can’t never catch my tail.” Phillip linked as his amber wolf came to a stop sitting beside Jenny. Who was as confused as everyone else watching me go in circles; “Don’t you smell it?” I asked them.

“Smell what?” Jenny whined realizing something was wrong.

“I need to clear my head I am running I’ll meet you back at the pack house. Get the reports and fill them in” with that I took off toward the smell before I could lose it again.

A few nights before

I had been running for a good hour along the border; checking up on my patrols and taking in the scenery. It had been a while since I had taken time out of the office to just let my wolf out. I had taken a mental note to do so more often in my earlier wolf days, that is all I had done was run. Not to say I was old now or anything I am only twenty-five now and I just meant in my days of not having real responsibility; you know those days of driving fast cars and going to prom, the days of sneaking out of class and trying to party. During those days I had spent weeks just staying in my wolf, staying out in the woods just wolfing it; I called it. “About time” My wolf barked at me. “I know” I responded back. While we were kind of two beings, we were one as well it was like having two sides of yourself. We were always in unison. I had heard of some others say that their wolf could overpower them or even argue with them but for some reason Zeus and I have always been in unison, and he rarely had to say anything for me to know exactly what was on his mind. My wolf was huge being that we are an alpha and Lycan together. I shifted a lot younger than everyone else. most don't shift until they were sixteen, but I shifted at thirteen. I was always bigger than everyone else. My fur was a dark gray almost black with a metallic hint to it. My little sister and beta says I glow making me growl a little when she makes the comment. I had almost reached the end of our territory where the garden my father created with flowers for my mother was one of the areas populated by the average human. When the smell hit me like a ton of bricks, I felt as if someone had hit me with a truck. The sweetest smell of peaches and Gardenias making me howl out. Zeus was going crazy to howl this close to the town. What could it be? My heart was racing, and my stomach ached. I felt warm all over and it was as if I was being pulled toward the garden itself. I ran as quickly as I could shifting as I did. I had hoped that there weren’t any people nearby considering I wasn’t near any clothing stations, and I had no garments handy. I stood behind the trees naked as the day I was born glancing from place to place but the fragrance had faded, and it was so faint now I couldn’t get a direction now. Zeus whimpered in my head, “What was that?” I asked him internally as I shifted back and made my way back home. “This I am not sure, but I want to find it I need whatever it is.”