The Rejected Luna

Chapter 4

Lucien

My wolf had been feeling weird, off for three days. That's the only way I know how to put it weird and Off. I'd been blaming rogue activity, which was a reasonable thing to blame since Shadowcrest territory sat at the outer edge of the empire. My wolf hated rogues with a feeling that ran past strategy and more into something personal, I'd learned to let him have that. But I had a feeling that this wasn't a rogue-feeling. That something was about to happen and I couldn’t pin point what it was. I've tried to ignore it for the past two days now but by day three I stopped ignoring it.

"My Lord."

Varren appeared at the ridge. He was my second in command, he was reliable, quiet, better at reading a territory than anyone I'd worked with. He had a specific was of getting things done that always certified our territories victory. "Report."

"Rogue pack, southwest edge. Eight or ten of them, moving fast and together." Pause. "It seems that they are following someone."

"Human?"

"No Wolf. But" He stopped. Varren almost never stopped mid-sentence. "Her scent, the scouts that were in slow proximity with her, said that her scent was different. Clean, but with something under it, Something old, something ancient, something different." He paused again. "Fen said it was like the air before a storm, a dense suffocating storm . And Fen doesn't.” "Fen doesn't say things like that, I know." Hearing what Varren had said his wolf had gone completely still inside me. Not calm still but Ready-still.

"How far is she from our territory?" "Two miles, maybe less as at right now." “ Prepare everyone, we are going into the forest tonight.”

That night my soldiers were already situated in designated areas in the forest when I heard something through the trees before I even saw it. A Wolf fight I moved fast, my wolf pushing forward, and came through the undergrowth into the clearing and took in what was in front of me:

Six rogues. A woman on the ground, not moving. Silver-white hair spread out in the mud. Exile marks on her wrists, still raw and red. The rogues circled her in a particular pattern about attacking her, I didn't shift, I didn’t have to for a number that small. I moved through the trees that surrounded them quickly, no wasted time, no drama. But before I should strike an outburst of power so strong, so rare, enveloped me. I had never witnessed or experienced such in forever and here, a weak, fragile woman who just got exiled displayed that power. Wiping out everyone and things on her part, me included. I woke up suddenly as the impact from what happened earlier hit me hard, weakening muscles in strange ways and giving me a bloody head ache. “I had never felt this weak”, I said to myself as I stood up and took a step towards the woman. She looked barely alive. I could hear her shallow, hard breaths. Soaked from blood as she bleeds from several places. The exile marks told enough about the story: she was thrown out of her territory, too weak to fight, She'd had a really bad day or days.

But suddenly something spread out from her. At first, I thought it was a sound, then a light. It moved through the ground, through the air, and through me.I felt it deep in my chest, It felt the ancient power, far older than anything I’d ever known. I’d been to the High Shrine of Selenrath, I’d felt its power, but nothing compared to this feeling.

Silver lightning came down and formed a ring around her, a Perfect circle. A beam of light hit the ground and trees around us shook hard ,and then suddenly it stopped. The mark on her collarbone was glowing. The glow from the mark was faint and the moon shaped was very visible.

"Varren, get a stretcher," I said in a quiet but steady voice. Quietly he moved from behind me, to the base location in order to get the stretcher. Within a few minutes Varren came back with the stretcher, and slowly we walked towards the glowing werewolf, carefully picking her up. She felt too light, she'd probably been out here starving. Checking her breath I realized that every breath she took was made with effort but at least she was breathing. I carried her back to the palace, trying not to think about what had happened when I touched her. My wolf, which had been restless and unsettled for three days, had gone completely calm the moment our skin met. It was the most peaceful I’d felt in years.