The Luna Chronicles: A Mate's Betrayal

Chapter6

When I came out of my mind, Genius was rubbing my back, Zeus and Alcide were looking at me, and I could see that they were concerned. “Guys, I am alright, I promise. How long was I in there for?”

Genius looked at me, “Princess, you were in there for like a half-hour, what happened?”

I stood up, needing to stretch, “Violet and I just got into a fight!”

Saying it so calmly, I surprised myself because it freaked me out. They all looked at me with a worried look. Alcide was more worried than the Zeus and Genius, or at least that is what it looked like. “Artemis, what do you mean that you guys just fought?”

Stretching my arm out above my head, “I don’t know what happened honestly, I woke her up, and her eyes were straight black, but in the middle of the fight, the moon goddess came and saved her from the darkness. She said a lot of stuff, but can we talk about this later, please?”

All their mouths fell open they went to start asking questions. I held up my hand. “Guys, I just want to let Violet out so she can run. We have all had our wolves cooped up, and I don’t maybe that is part of the reason everything happened, did Ares’s show anyone where we were allowed to run?”

The boys all looked at each other, then back at me; Zeus was the first one to respond. “Squirt, nobody showed us or told us where we are allowed to run, so I don’t really think it matters as long as we stay in the barrier, right?”

That is a good point; maybe that is all that matters. “Ok, well, the moon is almost at its fullest, so are you guys ready I know I am.”

They all nodded in agreement, they all stripped their clothes off and threw them on their chairs, then they shifted. They were all beautiful in their own unique ways. I finally took a good look at Zeus, and he was black, but with a blue tint. On his rear end, there was a crescent moon on one side and a red circle on the other. I wonder what that means. Do I have any marks like that? All their wolves c****d their heads at me, so I stripped my clothes off, leaving them in my chair before allowing Violet to flow through me.

My skin started to ripple, and the fur started to poke through, then my bones started breaking and realigning themselves. Before I knew it, I was on all fours. I let Violet take over, knowing she needed it. I just sat there in our minds, allowing Violet to stretch herself out. The boys linked me, “Are you ready to go? Come on!”

Violet c****d her head, “Wait a minute, I never asked your wolves what their names were.”

All three wolves started jumping around and wagging their tails at that, and I could hear the boys laughing. Zeus stepped forward first and bowed, “Hi, my queen, my name is Xolotl, I am glad you finally asked I have been waiting.”

Then he stepped back, and Alcide’s wolf stepped forward and bowed, “Queen, I have waited a long time to meet you. My name is Convel.”

Then he stepped back, and my mate stepped forward. Now I know Alpha’s are not supposed to bow, but Genius’s wolf did just that; he bowed before me. “My sweet Artemis and Violet, I have wanted to meet you for as long as I could remember, but Genius kept telling me we couldn’t. My name is Fenir.”

Violet bowed her head in return, “It is nice to meet all of you, let’s go for our run, shall we?”

We started running with one another. I had my mate beside me, and Alcide was beside Genius, and of course, my brother was on my side. We were running through the forest when suddenly Violet stopped. I was so busy watching the boys that I hadn’t noticed anything. “Violet, what’s wrong?”

She lifted her snout in the air and inhaled, “Don’t you guys smell that?”

The boys all lifted their snouts into the air and took a deep breath in, then they all hunkered down and started growling. “Violet, what is going on?”

Violet started looking around the forest for something, but she still didn’t answer me. She darted forward through a line of trees, then shifted right and went forward, then came to a sudden stop. The boys were right behind us. “Artemis, there is danger close by that is what we are picking up on. Just stay with me, please.”

That confused me, “I wouldn’t go anywhere even if I could.” Genius stayed by my side while Alcide and Zeus went to search ahead. There was something bad coming, and I could feel it, but I didn’t know what it was. “Artemis, Genius, please come here, there is something you need to see.”

Fenir and Violet took off in the direction the boys went, and when we got there, the scene before us was horrid.

There were rotting bodies everywhere, not only wolves there were humans and some other creatures that I couldn’t quite make out. “What the hell is this?”

All our wolves started sniffing around the bodies when Violet let out this terrifying growl. I could feel the anger rising in her, “Violet, calm down, please, we don’t want what happened to happen again, do we?”

That didn’t seem to work at all. “Violet, listen to me until we know what happened to you the last time you got angry, you have to try and control it, so we don’t hurt the boys, please.”

That seemed to get her attention, “Artemis, some of these wolves are from our pack!”

“Wait, how the hell do you know that all the ones that are at the pack are still there, right? We would have felt if something happened to them.”

Then Convel Alcide’s wolf piped up, “She knows because she is the queen of the pack, she can feel a link before any of us can, unless they are already linked to us.”

That made a lot more sense, but I was still unsure of what is going on. "Well, what happened to them, and when did they die? Does Hera know of this?”

Fenir’s Genius wolf came over to Violet and nuzzled into her, ” I honestly don’t know, princess, but we cannot do anything right now. Let us finish running; we can talk to Hera about this when we get back. Let’s mark the spot with our scent so we can find it later.”

So, Violet and Fenir started rubbing themselves on the surrounding trees, and Xolotl and Convel started pissing on the bodies so that we could find the spot later. We started to walk away from the spot when Violet turned back and let the saddest howl that she could out, and the boys followed suit, mourning the loss of our pack members. We may not have met, but it still broke Violet’s heart. We started running again. When we smelled deer close by, we all hunkered down, stalking towards them.

Zeus was the first one to jump his, then we all followed suit, allowing our wolves to feed. Alcide stopped eating and turned around, growling. We all stopped and started looking around, but we could not see or smell anything. So, we all spun around, but we still couldn’t see or smell anything. "Alcide, what is going on?”

His wolf Convel c****d his head at me, "Violet and Artemis, please tell me you hear that?”

I didn’t think to listen to anything, so Violet c****d her head up, listening. Now I heard it; it sounded like something was running towards us, but neither of us could see anything. We started looking around, trying to find them, but we still couldn’t see anything. The next thing I knew, Violet was thrown a good distance away by something that nobody could see. The boys all ran towards me, hunkered down, and started growling.

Violet got back up on all fours, "What the f**k was that?”

We started looking around again, but could not find anything. That is when we heard the steps once again, but could not see who the hell it was. I could feel Genius and his wolf Fenir growing angrier. I understood it because I was getting angrier. We all put our ears together, forming a circle to try and look and see where it was coming from. But the next thing I knew, Alcide was on the ground whining.

We all looked at him and could see that there was a gash on his side. Violet walked over to him and started to lick the wound. Convel started whining. I knew it hurt, but Violet has some healing properties in her saliva and wanted to help her uncle. What the hell is going on? Is something attacking us? Why can’t we see it or smell it.

We got Alcide up and off the ground and back into the circle. We all had our noses up in the air trying to smell whatever it was that was attacking us, but we couldn’t smell anything, nor did we hear anything again. “What the hell is this thing and why is it attacking us?’

Violet turned towards the boys, “What the hell is going on?”

They all c****d their heads at me. Genius stepped up to me and nuzzled into Violet, “Princess, I honestly have no clue.”

Looking at them, “Well, should we continue or head back to Hera’s?”

They all looked at one another before turning back towards me. “Well, I think we should continue. We can bring it up to Hera when we get back?”

With that, we started running north again when Alcide stopped and shot right, so we followed right behind him. “Alcide, what is going on? Why are we running this way?”

He did not answer; he just kept running forward for about two miles before stopping and putting his nose in the air. We all stopped, putting our heads up, “Convel, what are you sniffing for? We don’t smell anything?”

Convel c****d his head at me, “My queen, I thought I smelt something a minute ago, but then it disappeared again.”

What the hell is going on? There should be no reason all of this is happening while we're running! Violet closed her eyes for a moment, and I am not quite sure why, but when she opened them, I could feel the uneasy feeling she had. “Violet, what is wrong?”

I waited a moment before she responded, “Artemis, we ran past the barrier. I don’t know how because Hera usually has it up, but for some reason, this part of the barrier is down.”

Oh no, oh no, oh no, this can’t be good. I linked the boys, “Hey, boys, um, we might want to turn around and head back towards Hera’s. We ran past the barrier somehow.”

They all c****d their heads towards me, “What do you mean?”

Violet shook her head, “What the hell do you think I mean? We are outside the barrier. I think we should shift back, just for the time being, give our wolves a break.”

They all looked at each other, then I heard Violet say, “Artemis, do you think that is a great Idea with everything we have seen right now

I thought about it for a moment, “No, I don’t, but honestly, Violet, until we know what happened with you last time you got angry, I don’t think it is a wise idea for you to be in charge right now till we can figure this whole thing out together.”

Feeling the sadness coming off Violet, I never meant to hurt her feelings, but it was the truth. I went to say something to her again, but before I could speak, she spoke first, “No, Artemis, don’t feel bad, what you say is the truth, so I believe until I am needed for this you might be better suited to lead us. But I will be right here if something happens to help.”

With that, she thrust me forward in our mind, and I started shifting back to my human form. Soon, the boys followed suit. “Um, squirt, we don’t have clothes.”

Laughing at my brother, I waved my hands, and we all immediately had clothes on. Don’t ask me how I knew I could do that, but I just knew. They all looked at me with shock on their faces, but honestly, right now, nothing should surprise them about Violet and I. Genius walked over to me, grabbed my hand, and placed a kiss on top of my head. “Princess, should we head back or continue on? I feel like this is something we’re supposed to do?”

Standing there staring at the boys, when Violet spoke, “I think we should continue I know that you’re worried, but let’s just go a little further and see what we can find out. If the danger gets too much worse than we can turn around and go back to Hera’s, ok.”

Looking at Zeus and Alcide because they had been quiet this whole time, “What do you guys think?”

Zeus looked conflicted, I could see it in his face, “Well, squirt, I want to continue, but at the same time I don’t want to risk it, we don’t know this forest as we do at home, but on the other hand I want to continue and figure out what the hell that thing is tracking us.”

I could understand his conflict, but I turned towards Alcide because he still hadn’t said anything. “Uncle, what do you think?”

He remained quiet for some time. “Artemis, honestly, I think we need to go back because something is not right. My mom would know what the hell is going on. We shouldn’t have been able to get past the barrier; that is why we suggested going for a run. But the decision is ultimately up to you. At the end of the day, you are our leader.”

The boys all turned towards me. “Violet, what do you want to do?”

I sat there and thought about it for a moment, “Let’s go ahead and continue for just a little bit, but if we run into any more trouble, we will shift back to our wolves and run back to Hera’s so that we can make sure everything is ok.”

They all nodded their heads; we started walking right the direction that Alcide and his wolf drug us. We kept walking until we heard this god-awful screaming coming from just ahead of us, so we took off running towards the sound. The closer we got to the sound, the louder it got. When we got to the spot, all we could smell was blood. The closer we walked to the area, the more blood we could see; it was everywhere. There were parts of people hanging from the tree’s piles of guts and blood on the ground. I looked at Genius, “What the hell is all this? Can you make out any of it?”

Genius just shook his head back and forth, but that is when Violet started howling in my head, and growling. “Violet, what is wrong? Artemis, this is another pack member.”

What the hell is going on? “Genius, Violet says this is another pack member?”

I am going to link Daniel and make sure nobody is missing from the pack. “Daniel, can you hear me?”

Waiting for a while before he responded, “Ya, Artemis, what’s up? How is the trip going?”

“Honestly, not good at the moment. Is anyone missing from the pack like at all?”

Again, it was silent for a moment, “I am not sure, Artemis. The last head count I did, everyone was there, but give me just a little bit, and I will link back.”

Ok, well, at least he is going to double-check. Honestly, it didn’t matter if this wasn’t one of the pack members from back home because they were still one of our pack members. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t notice someone or something standing behind me. The next thing I knew, I was being thrown into the tree across from me. I hit the tree with so much force that I could feel my ribs immediately shatter. But me being as strong as I am, it won’t take long for me to heal; I know that much. I turned back to where Genius was standing, and he was on the ground, and so were the other two. “Boys, are you ok?” What was that what happened?”

I noticed Alcide being the first one to start to sit up on his bottom. I gently pushed myself up off the ground, walking over to my uncle, “What the hell happened?”

He just looked at me, shaking his head. That is when I noticed that Genius started moving. I walked over to my mate, “Genius, what happened? Are you ok, my love?”

He just looked at me just shaking his head. Last one up was my brother, Zeus. I walked over to him, “What happened? Did you see anything?”

Zeus just shook his head; they all slowly stood back up. Genius, my love was the first one to speak, “What the f**k was that, and how did we not notice that it was here the whole time?”

We all just shrugged our shoulders. Then Zeus spoke up, “ I don’t know about you guys, but I think we need to go back and talk to Hera because we are having a hard time with whatever the hell this is."

We all just shook our heads; I know we need to head back, but I kind of want to keep going. “Artemis, I know you want to continue, but we need to head back. We don’t know what the f**k is going on, but if we keep going on, one of us might not make it back to Hera’s, so let’s shift and head back. Maybe she can help us understand what is going on.”

I looked down at the ground I knew Violet was right, but I don’t like feeling weak anymore, especially with what happened with our mother. I looked at the boys, “Let’s shift and head back.”

I didn’t take long, and we all shifted to our wolves and started the run back to Hera’s. We kept smelling stuff and hearing stuff, but I ordered them to head straight back, no stopping. When we got closer to Hera’s, the lights that were normally on were off. “Guys, I don’t think she is back yet. Should one of us try to get a hold of her?”

Convel stepped forward and bowed, “My queen, let Alcide and me try to get ahold of her, she is our mother, you guys go ahead and go back to the house, we will be there in a moment.”

Nodding my head, making sure that he understood me, before I started running back to the house, once we got closer, Violet shifted back to our human body. I looked back, and Genius and Zeus had done the same thing. We went inside and went to the dining room table, sitting down in silence, waiting for Alcide to come in. It seemed like forever before Alcide walked in the door. We all looked at him, “I can’t reach mother, I don’t know what is going on but who wants to cook while we wait?”