The Luna's Revenge

Chapter3

I stood over the battered form sprawled in the dirt, unsure if life clung to her still. I used my boot to nudge her side. There was no twitch. No sound.

“What a mess,” I muttered, looking ahead into the shadows where the rogue wolves had fled. Tracking them now would be a fool’s errand. They would have melted into their dens beyond the boundary of the territory lines. I returned my gaze to the lifeless form that was before me. Who was this woman, wandering alone under a full moon? I didn’t think she was a wolf. No wolf would have a complete human form under the full moon.

I glanced at Lynn, my escort. His face was tight with unease. “Do you think we can still catch them?” I asked.

He shifted, avoiding my gaze. I could see he was uncomfortable. Lynn could never keep up with my adventurous spirit and it saddened me that he was such a spoilsport. I knew my father had made him my escort to tame my wild spirits, but I was going to disappoint him.

‘’We can try another night, Ares,’’ he said. ‘’Tonight is not a good night for hunting.’’ he looked at me, a look I had seen many times when he wanted to scold me. ‘’It's the right time to find a mate for you. You cannot become Alpha if you don’t have a mate.’’

I snorted, crouching to sniff the earth, catching rogue musk and her blood’s tang. “You’d rather see me kissed up to some she-wolf than chase a real fight against rogue wolves?’’

‘’Quite frankly,’’ he said. ‘’I’d rather prefer engaging in much less dangerous affairs.’’

I stifled a laugh. ‘’I’m disappointed, Lynn. You are beginning to sound just like my father.’’

A faint stir drew my eyes back to her. She twitched, a shallow breath rasping out. “She’s alive,” I said, kneeling closer. “Barely.” My hand pressed her neck wound to stem the flow, and just in an instant, her blood flashed blue under the moonlight, a pulse of color before reverting to red. I blinked, heart racing. Blue blood? Like my dreams. The visions I’d had since I was a cub. Did my dreams have a meaning then? Was this a sign?

“She needs a healer,” I said, tracing the claw marks on her face and shoulder. Something in her scent, her wounds, called to me. It told me she had all the answers I’d chased in silence. Her chest was rising and falling slowly and breath was back to her nostrils.

“We can’t take her back,” Lynn warned, eyes darting. “Your father—”

“Would never know.” I cut him off, rising up. “I won’t tell him if you don’t. Fifteen minutes to the healer’s den, Lynn. You carry her.”

He grumbled but hoisted her, and we trekked back through the wilds. At the healer’s, we gathered around a crackling fire pit, the woman laid out on furs. “No one speaks of this,” I said, locking eyes with Lynn. “Not a word to the pack.”

“Deal,” he muttered, resigned. I knew my father would go into a fit of anger if he found out I wasn't at the mating ball, but instead brought a strange woman to the pack.

The healer, an old crone named Mara, studied her through the night. We sat in a semi circle around a fire. ‘’It will be weeks before she wakes. If she does,” she said with her croaked voice. “Her lupine essence hangs by a thin thread.”

I was intrigued. ‘’So, she is a wolf?’’ I asked.

‘’Barely,’’ she said, mixing some of her herbs.

I nodded. We slipped out to the stronghold under the cover of the dark. The ball was over and the mated pairs were in different dens, mating.

As I returned home that night, I thought of the vision I had seen. I was sure that I wasn't mistaken. Her blood had turned blue under the moonlight. I took a shard of glass from that was lodged in my belt, and tore the flesh on my skin. I watched the blood swell and then it flowed until it turned blue momentarily before changing back to red. I let out a deep sigh as I wiped off the blood and held the bleeding spot. There was something about this woman and I had to find out what it was.

Nearly a month later, word came from Mara. The strange woman had woken. I bolted from the stronghold, leaving Lynn behind. He didn’t need to know that I was going to see the strange woman. I hoped he would have forgotten about her. My pulse quickening with every step to the healer’s den. She sat upright on the furs, draped in tattered cloth, scars criss crossing her arms and face. Her silence was heavy, her presence barely registering mine.

“Hello,” I said, stepping close but keeping distance, wary of her stillness.

She lifted her head, eyes swollen and red-rimmed. “Where’s my daughter?” Her voice quaked, fragile as a breaking twig.

“Your daughter?” I frowned, confused.

“I was holding her that night,” she insisted, her gaze searching mine.

No cub had been with her. I had met only her blood and the rogues’ stench. They’d taken the child and probably torn her apart before we arrived. I shook my head. “She was gone. You were alone when I found you.”

Her stare hardened, cold and unreadable, fixed on some point beyond me. I hesitated. Should I console her or let the silence hold? Silence won.

Minutes later, Mara pulled me outside, her voice a hushed rasp. “There’s a strange energy in her. Something dark, vengeful. She’s after blood. For our safety, she should go.”

I had ignored warnings all my life. Father’s lectures, Lynn’s cautions. This would be no different.

“Keep her presence from the Alpha,” I said. “As soon as she is strong, we can let her go.”

It was not the full truth, but it was not a lie either. As soon as I got my answers, I would let her go.