Hannah: The Red Moon

Chapter One – Charred Trees

“Out! Now! All of you!” I opened my eyes slowly to see a man standing at the entrance of the cell. “Are you all deaf!? I said out! Now!” The people around me started moving around slowly. The woman who was sitting next to me coughed and got up on her feet slowly, but then her knees gave out. As she was falling back to the floor I quickly got up and caught her underneath her arm.  

“It’s okay,” I whispered. “Let me help you.” She smiled at me in a silent ‘thank you’ and let me support her right side as she limped out of the cell with me. We walked past the man in silence and I followed the crowd to the outside. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Houses were on fire, animals were running around wild trying to escape the fire and smoke, and everywhere I looked I saw women and children huddled in groups. The men were in a goat enclosure on their knees with their arms in the air.  

“No.... no!” the woman who I was helping collapsed on the ground and she started sobbing. I followed her eyes and saw who she was looking at. There was a man lying on the ground, not moving, in a puddle of blood. His eyes were wide open and blood was still trickling out of his mouth. The woman hobbled over to him and she let go of me dropping to the ground. She took the man’s head and held it in her lap, rocking back and forth, letting out a blood curdling wail. I reached around her and shut his eyes.  

“You there!” I looked up and saw the same man who told us to leave our cells looking down at me. “You need to go over to that group.” I looked at where he was pointing and saw a group of young women huddled together at the base of the tree line. “Go!” He grabbed me by the arm, hoisted me up to my feet, and threw me in that direction. Instead of tripping over my own feet, I actually was thrown and fell with a thud in the mud. I heard the man and other’s laughing at the spectacle they just saw.  

“Alex, don’t be so rough on the women,” someone said as they walked over. He made his way over to me and crouched down. “Are you okay?” I turned to look at him. He had blonde shaggy hair and blue eyes. His nose and mouth were covered with a black bandanna. The bandanna had a picture of three gray wolf heads. The middle wolf was staring straight ahead while the wolf on the right and left were howling. My eyes widened at the picture I saw on the bandanna.  

“You.... you’re....,” was all I managed to get out of my mouth.  

“Yes, we’re from the Three Wolves Pack,” he said. He extended his hand to help me up from the ground, but I just swatted it away.  

“Don’t touch me!” I growled.  

“Feisty one we have here eh?” he asked. He stood up and walked over to the group of young women cowering. Some screamed as he stood in front of them. Alex, as he was called, walked over to me and hoisted me up by the arm again.  

“I’m not going to tell you again,” he growled in my ear. He gave me a little shove as I walked over to the group. I looked to my right and there were women and children and to my left were a group of young men.  

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the blonde said, “we have taken over your pack. The Three Wolves Pack will spare the women and children, but the young males will become our warriors. The older males...well... we’ll just see what we do with them if they answer our questions right.” He smirked and walked away. Alex went with him.  

“Hannah?” I turned and looked around.  

“Allie!” I screamed. I ran to her. My best friend was covered in mud too, but I’d recognize her red hair any day. We embraced one another and Allie broke down in my arms. 

“What’s going on?” I asked her as she started to calm down. 

“I don’t know. I heard little bits and pieces, but it seems we’re going to go back with the Three Wolves Pack,” she said. 

“Who is going back with them?” I asked already knowing what she was going to say. 

“This group. The young women. What do you think they’ll do to us? Do you think they’re going to torture us? I can’t.... I’ll kill myself before they lay a finger on me,” Allie said as she started to hyperventilate.  

“I won’t let that happen Allie. I won’t let that happen to any of us.”  

“How? They have guns. They burnt our village down to the ground. They're holding my dad hostage.” Allie started sobbing again. I hugged her tight again and wouldn’t let her go.  

“Hey you.” I looked up and saw the blondie again. “I need you to come with me.”  

Allie looked up through her sobs as I said through gritted teeth, “Over my dead body.”  

“Don’t worry honey... that may come sooner than you think,” blondie said. He yanked me away from Allie who was screaming hysterically this time and clinging on to me. The other young women pulled her away as Alex walked over to them.  

“Quit your yapping bitches!” Alex yelled at them. He raised his right hand like he was going to strike Allie, but then all of a sudden, he stood still. Allie stopped screaming and trying to get out of the other girls’ grasps. Her body went still too. They were transfixed on one another. Her eyes glazed over with a crimson red and she said, “Mate.” Alex also said the word mate after Allie said it. Allie shook her head and opened her eyes again staring at Alex. Her eyes weren’t glazed over anymore. She started to back away and let out a blood curdling howl. She did not want him as her mate.  

“No....,” she said shakily, “no... you’re not my mate. You can’t be.” Alex took a step towards her, but she retracted from his advance and disappeared into the throng of women behind her. Alex turned around and I could see the hurt on his face. His mate didn’t outright reject him, but she didn’t want to be in his sight. 

“Now, now Alex,” blondie said, “don’t be so down. She didn’t reject you. She just despises you... for now.”  

“f**k you Harry,” Alex replied.  

“Don’t worry. I’m sure soon enough you’ll be doing that with little red riding hood,” Harry grinned. Alex stormed off as Harry turned his attention back to me. “Now you, again I need you to come with me.”  

“No,” I said.  

“Now,” Alex commanded this time. “I’m not asking.”  

“Who said you were?” I countered back. 

“I did.” I looked up to see a male dressed in all black with the same black bandanna around his face. He had brown, almost black, hair with piercing crystal blue eyes. He looked to be around six feet tall, kind of slender, yet muscular. I turned my head away, but in a flash, he was standing in front of me. I barely stood to his shoulder. Compared to his six-foot height I was a foot shorter at only five feet. He bent down and sniffed me. He got close to my neck and took in a big whiff of my scent. I shuddered under his presence looming over me and felt my heart thumping faster and louder. My wolf was stirring and jumping around like crazy. She was howling inside my head and I heard her yell, “Mate. Mate. Mate.”  

“He is not our mate,” I yelled to her inside my head.  

“He is. He smells so good,” my wolf said.  

“You best listen to your wolf,” he said as he took in another whiff of me. “Mmmmm... you smell like lavender and strawberries.”  

“You better back away. Now,” I warned him. “I don’t know who you think you are, but you’re barking up the wrong tree.”  

“Told you she was feisty,” I heard Harry chuckle.  

“She won’t be feisty with me,” black hair said. “Take her to the car. She will be riding with me.”  

“What the -,” I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders marching me to SUV’s. I looked up and saw Harry smiling down at me.  

“Don’t worry dear. Alpha Evan will be, what shall we call it, tender with you?” Harry said raising an eyebrow.

“Al--Alpha Evan?” I asked. I turned to look at him and he had a smirk on his face. “He didn’t even claim me yet. He didn’t say the word ‘mate’. How can he claim me when his wolf hasn’t?” I was so confused. Alex claimed Allie as his mate once they both said the words ‘mate.’ Allie’s eyes glazed over and I’m sure Alex’s did too, but neither Evan or my eyes glazed over like theirs did.  

“That’s because you’re the daughter of an Alpha, aren’t you?” Harry asked. I stopped in my tracks. “I’m right aren’t I?” 

I turned and looked up at Harry and his messy blond hair. “Who do you think you are? Coming into my pack lands burning everything to the ground!? We didn’t do anything to your pack, but you come sweeping in guns blazing and burn everything to  the ground!?”  

Evan was there in a second when he heard me yelling at Harry. “You will NOT treat my Beta that way!” I froze from fright because Evan had run so quick over to us. “I tried to be nice, but now I don’t think I can be nice anymore.” Evan grabbed me by the arm and threw me up against a red SUV. He slammed both of his hands on either side of my head and stared at me straight in the eyes. His eyes glazed over, completely blacked out, and he turned his nose into the crook of my neck. He inhaled my scent again deeply this time and brushed his nose up and down my neck.  

I shivered under his touch and my heart beat so loud I thought everyone could hear it. Then I felt his tongue running up and down my neck. My knees wanted to buckle, but I couldn’t give in to his lewd act. I placed my hands on his chest to push him away, but instead of pushing, I clenched his shirt in my fists and pulled him closer to me. He stopped what he was doing with his tongue and looked at me again. His eyes still complete black.  

A force within me pulled his face so close to mine that our foreheads were touching and the tips of our noses meeting, but not enough to have our lips meet.  

“Mine,” I whispered looking at his black eyes.  

Evan grinned and whispered back to me, “Mine. All mine.”  

I felt my fists let go of his shirt and my knees finally gave out. As I fell to the ground I felt an arm around my waist catching me. I looked at his face again and then I blacked out.  

***** 

“Hannah?” I heard a voice saying my name. I felt like I was moving, but floating at the same time. “Hannah... are you awake?”  

My eyes slowly flickered open and I saw that I was lying in a vehicle that was moving. My head was in someone’s lap and as I looked up I saw Allie. 

“Allie?” I said hoarsely. “Where... what... what’s going on?”  

“We’re being taken back to the Three Wolves Pack grounds,” she said quietly. I sat up slowly and looked around the vehicle. It had a leather interior and Allie had her seat belt on. I looked in front of me and Alex was driving with Harry sitting in the passenger seat. Then I slowly turned and looked behind me and sitting in the third row by himself was Evan. He was actually glaring at me and throwing daggers out of his eyes. 

I turned back around and looked at Allie. She just shook her head as tears fell from her eyes. I saw Alex reach back with his right hand and place his hand on her left knee. She flinched, but she didn’t push his hand away so I pushed it away. 

“Don’t you dare touch her!” I screamed at him. “Stop this car right now! Let me out!”  

“We could just push you out,” Harry said as he turned and smiled at me, “but what fun would that be? Let’s play some car games. This ride is longer than I had anticipated.”  

“Harry,” I heard Even growl behind me. The hairs on my neck stood straight up at the sound of his voice. 

“I’m just having some fun Evan. Lighten up a little. It’s fun scaring your mate,” Harry smiled again and turned his attention back on the road with Alex.  

“It’s Alpha Evan,” Evan said, “and no, we’re not stopping this car until we get back to my pack lands.”  

I started fumbling with the door handle on my side of the car and the door wouldn’t open. Then I fumbled with the door on Allie’s side and it wouldn’t open either.  

“Child proofed,” Harry chuckled. “Sorry love, you won’t be escaping.”  

“Harry!” Evan yelled. “Call her ‘love’ one more time and I swear you won’t be Beta anymore.”  

“Okay, okay. I quit,” Harry said.  

“It’s no use Hannah,” I heard Allie say, “I already tried that. We’re their prisoners now.”  

Prisoners? The hell we are! 

“If you let us go now there will be no retaliation,” I said confidently and loudly. “I promise.”  

“Retaliation from who? We dismantled your whole pack. The women and children along with some of the males were left behind to rebuild what was once the Red Moon Pack. Your father, the Alpha, has been defeated and is laying in a shallow grave somewhere. There will be no retaliation from anyone left,” Evan said bluntly.  

I turned around and stared at him wide eyed, “My father... he’s... dead?” Evan nodded.  

“He defied me and his punishment was death,” Evan said coldly.  

“What did he do to you!?” I screamed as my right hand lashed out at his face. He caught my wrist just as my hand was about to make contact with his left cheek.  

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now is that anyway to treat your mate?” Evan asked me as his hold on my wrist tightened. I could see the anger in his eyes as they flashed from his icy blue stare to black. Over and over again the colors kept on flashing.  

“You are not my mate!” I screamed. I unbuckled my seat belt with my left hand and turned to face him. I tried to pry his hold off my wrist, but his hold was so tight and he was too strong. Instead he yanked me over the middle seat and I fell into the back seat with my head in his lap staring straight up at him. My wrist still in his grasp, he leaned his head down to mine and grinned.  

“I love a challenge. Don’t you?” he asked connivingly.  

“f**k you” I growled.  

“Soon,” he said loosening his grip and brought my hand up to his mouth, “you’ll get to f**k me soon.” He kissed the back of my right hand and released me. I scrambled away from him and sat as far away as I could from him. Evan turned his attention to the road again and Allie turned to look at me wide eyed and blushing. 

“What!?” I asked her annoyed.  

“No-nothing,” she answered turning back around. Alex again placed his right hand on Allie’s left knee and this time Allie placed both her hands over his. I saw her give his hand a squeeze and he squeezed her knee in reply.  

I turned and looked out the window. Nothing but desolate burnt forest for miles. Charred trees lined either side of the road and I knew we were crossing borders. That’s how packs marked their territories by burning the forest around pack territories. This means we were already three hours out of the Red Moon Pack grounds. Three hours away from home. I felt my bottom lip trembling and closed my eyes. Tears seeped out and I sighed. I opened my eyes again and could barely see anything but burnt trees whizzing past. My home, my family, my pack... all gone in an instant. I was this murderer's prisoner now much less his mate. He had claimed me and in return I had claimed him, but I wasn’t going to let that happen.  

I’ll reject this motherfucker in front of his whole pack. Just wait. 

I kept staring out the window and letting my tears fall, sniffling here and there.  

“Hannah?” I looked up to see Allie looking at me again. “It’s going to be okay. We’re alive, aren’t we?” I just looked at Allie perplexed. How could she be grateful to be alive while my father was dead and who knows which other wolves were dead too?  

“Is your mom and dad dead too?” I asked Allie through sniffles. She shook her head.  

“No, they were spared because I’m Alex’s mate,” she said as she turned and looked at him somberly. He turned around and looked at Allie too and squeezed her knee again. She gave him a halfhearted smile and turned back to face me. “I’m sorry about your dad.”  

“At least your parents are alive. Both mine are dead now. As if losing my mom wasn’t enough, now I’ve lost my dad. Don’t talk to me ever again traitor,” I said to Allie coldly.  

“Hannah...” Allie started.  

“Stop,” I said turning back to face the window. “I don’t want to talk you ever again.”  

“Hannah...” Allie tried again.  

“Allie,” I heard Evan say her name. I turned to look at him and the way he said her name brought a fury into my chest.  

“Don’t you ever say her name like that ever again in front of me!” I yelled at Evan. I just stared at him in disbelief of what I just did. Harry turned around and chuckled. I sank back into my seat and felt overwhelmed with jealousy.  

“Now there’s a jealous mate,” Harry chuckled.  

“Allie,” Evan said again and I twinged at the way he said her name softly, “if Hanna doesn’t want you to talk to her, then don’t. A lot has happened today and she may not want to talk to anyone.”  

“Yes Alpha,” Allie said. She turned back around and held onto Alex’s huge paw like hand that covered her entire knee like her life depended on it.  

I looked at Evan who was staring at me coldly. Then I turned back around to face the window and covered my face with my hands. I started sobbing and didn’t care who heard me. I had just lost everyone and my best friend betrayed me and our pack for a man she just met. Who the f**k cares if he was her mate? I was her best friend since day one when we were five in pack school.  

I felt the seat shift and a body sat closer to me. I knew it was Evan. Hell, we were the only two in the third row of this SUV anyways. I felt his arm slide behind me and his hand land on my hip. I would’ve pushed him away, but I was so tired now. Tired because I was angry and sad. He inched closer to me and our hips and thighs were side by side. I took my hands away from my face and just looked down at his hand on my hip. I wanted to pinch those fingers off me and break them one by one, but again, I didn’t have the energy to. I closed my heavy eyelids and hoped that sleep would consume me and that’s exactly what happened.