Lunar Conspiracy

Chapter 3: Into The Den

We rode in silence, towards the den. Lucas drove deeper into the industrial district following a series of winding streets past more buildings that long since served any purpose, where entire blocks remained empty, windows shattered, doors barricaded. Emily rode shotgun, puzzled on speeding thoughts of fear, she was still in shock after what had happened to her and now being taken to a place filled with more people like her – werewolves. It was all too much.

The silence was broken when, upon nearing an abandoned warehouse, Lucas spoke for the first time. 'Never again,' he repeated in a tone slightly more reserved than explicit. "Pack lives HERE.

Dread crept into her belly as Emily watched the warehouse. There it was, in all its splendor—a decaying derelict building with busted windows and scuffled up by graffiti. It was the type of building nobody would go inside; it took on an air of mystery.

"Why here?" “Are you sure, Emily asked.” Her voice barely reached a whisper.

“It is sequestrated,” Lucas answered> No one ever comes up here so it is easy to keep concealed."

But he parked the car and got out, beckoning Emily to come. There was a lull as she debated whether to open the door or not but finally did. She must continue at this point—there was no going back now.

Lucas took her around to one of the side entrances -- a massive metal door, covered in so much rust and grime you'd think it never opened. He rapped three times, and soon the door creaked open. Standing in the doorway was a tall man, dark hair and borders on intimidatingly muscular with a no-nonsense set to his features but there wasn't much can those aquamarine eyes hidden behind narrow lids expressed as he shot Emily an un-amused glare.

"Who’s this?" the man growled.

“Emily,” was his response. "She’s one of us now."

The fellow's eyes lit with surprise that quickly melted into suspicion. They approached the door and he stepped back to let them through. As they walked by him Alex muttered under his breath, Marcus isn't going to be happy.

The warehouse was dimly lit on the inside with old furniture strewn around and makeshift beds lining the walls. We were met by what appeared to be a hide hole. The air smelled musty and the old wooden floor creaked beneath her feet as she listened to water dripping somewhere in the distance.

As they continued deeper into the cave, Emily saw people huddled around a table with stones stacked in front of different geometrical formations. They were still talking in low voices when she left, but they went quiet the moment that her eyes caught their gaze. Now they all turned their eyes toward her, liquid with questions and skepticism.

One of the women, slender and taller than most with fine features and sharp dark eyes, moved ahead. She glided with the grace of a predator on the hunt.

"This is the new girl?" The woman snapped with sarcasm. "She doesn’t look like much."

“Her name is Emily Hart," Lucas roared, refusing the argument point like a bull on cracklin. Now she is our old lady and very much a pack member.

The woman raised an eyebrow, now obviously annoyed. “Lena…” she said, in a tone icy as the wind. 'You better not hold us up!

Emily's swallowing now felt like she was trying to push a tight knot of anxiety down her throat. This was what she had feared the most, and assured by her gut feeling that rejection is best left again to pass as a fleeting thought. They were the dangerous ones, and they did not believe that about her. And why should they? To them, she was an outsider — a woman who had blundered into their universe by mistake.

Lucas met Lena's eyes. "No, she won't." She still has to acclimate, she will learn.

Lena scoffed, but let it lay. Instead, she pivoted and departed from Emily standing there crushed.

Lucas placed a comforting hand on Emily's shoulder. "Don’t worry about her. She’s just cautious."

Emily nodded, but something didn't sit right she felt odd. Lucas stood up and she followed him to a small room, separate from the main area. In the room there was a cot, and a little round table. There it was claustrophobic and dark but at the very least private.

Lucas had simply stated, “You get this room. I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks,” Emily said, her voice soft with appreciation.

Lucas gave her a small smile. I know that sounds like a lot to stomach, but you'll grow into it. You are not alone in this, Emily. We’re all in this together."

Emily put on a fake smile, but inwardly she was everything but. The woman was terrified, bewildered and in over her head. She needed to ask Lucas questions; she wanted answers badly, but before she could even say anything there was a big crash coming from outside the room.

The light was gone from Lucas' eyes and he dropped down off the desk to look out into the main space. “Wait here,” he instructed firmly as the door shut behind him.

Emily sat up, her heart beating fast as she tried to understand the murmured voices next door. Incident: something was going down, something sinister and she could do nothing to vary it.

For an age it seemed and the voices subsided, Lucas was back. He had a grim look on his face and worry clouded by eyes.

"What happened?" She said with a tremor in her voice Emily was unable to hide the fear now

Just a whole lot more to be pressed about, Lucas asseverated in an uncommitted voice and it was certainly not convincing. "Just some pack business."

Emily frowned. She didn't believe him, but she knew not to touch some subjects. She could feel that he was keeping something from her, something secret all the pack seemed to be in on but her.

The longer the night went on, Emily tried to get comfortable with her surroundings thus far she felt a sense of discomfort hanging over her. The pack members paid no attention to her, proceeding with what they had come here for as if she were not in the room. Lucas, who had been the source of comfort to her, was keeping his distance and she knew something else was on his mind.

Later that night, when the den settled down and half the pack had gone to their rooms for bed, Emily couldn't sleep. On the tiny bed, she laid there gazing at the ceiling as a maelstrom of thoughts raced in her mind.

I needed an answer. I had to get in on it, not just for myself but also the pack. The whispered conversations, the nervous silence—it echoed of something greater…something darker

Determined to learn more, Emily slipped out of bed and across the floor. She knew it was stupid but the curiosity tugged at her like a worm in her stomach.

The warehouse was eerie silent as she stepped out of her room, only the faint tapping on the concrete floor coming from beneath her boots. Trying Not to Betray a Sound as She Moved towards the Others

As she neared the center, she could hear voices — low whispers behind her coming from a room at the back of the warehouse. She knew one of them was Lucas but the other one, she was not familiar with.

Her face close to the wall as she creeped, listening.

‘She’s not prepared for this,’ Lucas was saying, sounding worried. This is not a war to include her in. She is too fresh, too inexperienced.

The other voice did now answer in a deep and commanding tone ( because he spoke first). "The threat is real, Lucas. We can use all of them to fight for us as the wolf pack. That includes her."

“Then she has no idea what the hell she is. You throw her into this, and you'll ruin whatever potential she has.

The other voice was cold: “We don't have time to be coddling her. She was going to have her work cut out for her, that much I knew. The pack comes first."

Her heart was racing as she listened, When were they talking about a threat? Why did it involve me? But she couldn't look away. She just shouldn't be there!

Lucas's words were almost a whisper. "She is not just any new wolf." “Somehow she is a little bit strange. I can feel it."

And that is all the more reason we have to be cautious, The other voice replied. We hope that she may be the base of our own salvation--or Cease.

Emily wheezed in a breath. What she may turn out to be — they spoke concerning her. Fear, and anger mixed together. Why wouldn't they tell me what was happening? Why keep me in the dark?

Figuratively the guys shoot back and forth but Emily left with her most significant sounds she wanted to eliminate. As she retreated, questions ran through her sensations. She had to learn more, find out exactly what she was in the middle of and why.

But as she began to go back up the path leading to her room, a stray board caught in a foot and creaked.

The room was silenced by the voices.

"Who’s there?" the deep voice demanded.

Suddenly, panic raced through Emily and she sprinted back to her room as silently as she could. And she closed the door and her heart pounded against it as if it were hiding unsure of what was next. She prayed to god that they had not spotted her, and wouldn't come after.

Still, she knew she wouldn't be able to hide forever. She was in, whatever it was, whoever the threat was running at them. She needed to be prepared, no matter how much it horrified her.

Lying on her bed, she tried to piece everything she had heard together. The pack was in peril, and for some strange reason she seemed to be the focal point of this predicament. But what she did not know is who was one of them and how it actually fit to all this.

Survival is the only thing that matters to me which means I have to get the facts—whatever it costs “She thought.”