Hannah: The Red Moon

Chapter Twelve - The Promise

I watched as Mama Rosa went to chase after her daughter. I turned and glared at Madeline who had a giant smirk on face.  

“What the f**k is wrong with you!?” I roared at her. I didn’t care if any of my pack members heard me. She needed to be dealt with.  

“E--E---Evan,” Madeline said taking a step away from me. I strode towards her and all I could see was red. Is this what Hannah and her mom saw too when their eyes turned red? It took all my strength to not slap Madeline in front of the pack members. Instead I took her by the wrist and dragged her back into the pack house and into the council room.  

“Madeline!” I roared. “What was that all about? I thought you were fine with us breaking up once we realized we weren’t mates.”  

“But Evan-” Madeline started.  

I cut her off saying, “No buts Madeline! You and I were and are over. Got it? OVER!” I stormed out of the room and mind linked Harry and Alex.  

I need you guys to drag Madeline back to her house and post guards there. She doesn’t leave her own damn house without me knowing.  

You got it boss (Alex).  

Yes sir! (Harry) 

I shut my mind off and ran out of the pack house and down the drive way. I hope I was able to catch up with Hannah and her mom. The questions I had before about this so-called vamipre were at the back of my mind. Right now I had to make things right with Hannah.  

***** 

I couldn’t believe it. First, I saw him kissing some slut and then she was naked in front of him and he was touching her boob. What the f**k! I had come back to apologize to him because maybe I had misunderstood the kiss, but I definitely didn’t misunderstand her standing there in front of her naked. And he looked like he was enjoying touching her boob! Her goddamn boob!  

“Hannah!” I turned to look through teary eyes and saw my mom trying to catch up with me. “Hannah, are you okay?”  

I shook my head, “I don’t know mom. There’s so many things happening and I have all these questions with no answers. And now... my so-called mate just cheated on me with some skank.”  

“Hannah, slow down. I’m old,” my mom said panting as she was trying to keep pace with me. I stopped and looked at her.  

“I’m sorry mom,” I mumbled. “It still feels weird to call you mom after all these years. I know you’re my mom because I remember what you looked like, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t mad at you.”  

“I understand,” she said looking down, “but I just want you to know that I slapped the Alpha.” I looked at her shocked and gasped.  

“Why?”  

“No one treats me daughter like that,” she said with a menacing gleam in her eyes. I couldn’t help it and started crying again. Not because my mom slapped Evan, but because she slapped him in defense of me. She wrapped her arm around me and we started walking slow towards the market. We made it back to her tent in silence and we both sat down at the table across from one another.  

“Mom?” I asked quietly breaking the silence.  

“Yes dear?”  

“Did you know how dad died?” I asked looking at her. I searched her face as she grew pale in front of me. She gulped and nodded her head. Her eyes turned a rosy color and her sholders hung down in a slump. I could see tears forming and she was forcing them to not drop.  

I went over to her side knelt in front of her. I took both her hands and said, “I know it’s not okay, but it’s okay mom. I’m here. I didn’t see it happen. Did you know who did it?” Again she nodded and we both were just like that for a while. Silent.  

“Hannah,” my mom said her voice hoarse. I looked up at her as I had been staring at the dirt floor. She had tears streaming down her face. “I felt him. You know how strong the mating bond is.” I nodded. “I could feel pain and regret. I could feel anger. And then....” 

“Then?” 

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” She finally let the tears fall, but she didn’t sob. “This kind of pain is unbearable. When a were loses their mate they are forever lost. Only the strongest survive and may find a second mate when their mate dies, but most don’t survive from the anguish and take their own lives.” Her hands trembled in mine. “No matter what I did to ease the pain of being away from your father, it didn’t work. I always felt him. The pain of losing me, the confusion and frustration of raising you, but most of all I always felt his love for me. As long as he knew I was still alive that’s all that mattered to him.”  

“Mom....” I whispered, “why did you leave?”  

“To protect you. To protect you and Evan.”  

“Me and Evan? But... why? I don’t understand. Why did you need to protect us both?”  

“Because something evil and sinister is coming and you both need to be alive to defeat it.”  

“But-” 

“That’s why you can’t reject Evan. Not now, not ever,” mom said as she got up. She went to her desk at the back the tent and dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief. She handed me one and I didn’t even realize that I had been crying too.  

“You both need to sit down for this,” mom said. Both? I turned around and looked and saw Evan standing in the doorway of the tent with the flap up. Evan nodded, found a chair, and sat at the table. He didn’t sit next to me as I was sitting next to my mom.  

“Please, proceed when you’re ready to Mama Rosa,” Evan said. I looked at him and then quickly looked away when his attention came to me.  

“When I met Hannah’s father I felt a pull so strong that I couldn’t let go. He marked me the first night we mated. He knew I was a vampire, but he didn’t care because I was his mate. It's not unheard for different species to be mated to a werewolf. I know of a witch that is mated to a werewolf and another vampire that is mated to a werewolf. I know of humans being mated to werewolves too. But it’s prohibited between and vampire and werewolf because of the children you would bring into the world. For centuries, werewolves and vampires have been at war with one another. I was part of the vampire revolution that threw down the vampire empire in this part of the world. The vampires and werewolves made a pact that we would work together to ensure a smooth transition into a whole new world where we could coexist, but we were never to have any relationships with the other species. Of course, no one listens to decree or rule and the rules were broken. 

I had been with a partner for 100 years and we had met so many werewolves and witches in our time I’ve lost count. My partner’s name was Lucien. He was made into a vampire the same night I was. We had the same maker, but we hated our maker for turning us into vampires. We didn’t have a choice in the matter as most vampires don’t. Lucien and I had traveled the world and watched it change. We learned new languages and went to new locations. We had been searching for our origins. The one vampire, but we never found him or her.  

When the revolution rose up because we couldn’t love another species, Lucien was against it. I was all for it. Love is love and it shouldn’t matter what species you are. So when I went to join the fight, Lucien left. I haven’t seen him since. I was only 50 years old at that time, but when I was turned I was 25 in human years. So when I met your father I had been roaming the world for 100 years already. There has been no stories or tales told of a vampire and a werewolf having a child, but then I was pregnant with you. It was a miracle. What kind of miracle we don’t know.  

You were born under a red moon. Your father and I didn’t even have a pack yet, but we had a following of weres and vampires who loved one another. That’s how the Red Moon Pack had started 25 years ago. The night you were born you had united vampires and werewolves alike. But try as other pack members could, they couldn’t have a child with their vampire mates. Everyone was devastated, but you were their hope dear. You were the hope they all looked to. Lucien caught wind of me giving birth to a baby and he came for me. He visited me one night as I was holding you, feeding you. It was a full moon that night and you father had went on a run around the pack grounds with the others on patrol.  

Lucien stared at you grotesquely. He threatened to take you from me if I didn’t leave with him. I begged him to leave you alone. I would go with him if he left you alone. He felt something of pity for me and said he would leave me alone for the time being, but he would be back with me. We were supposed to be together he said. Then just like that he was gone, but not before he said he’d be back for me.  

Your father caught wind of Lucien leaving and chased him out of the pack grounds. I told him what happened and went to see Evan’s dad, Alpha Brandon Black Moon, leader of the Three Wolves Pack. The strongest and biggest pack back then and to date. He offered the Red Moon Pack his alliance and protection on one condition.” 

I grasped my mom’s hand and she was trembling recounting all that had happened.  

She sighed, took a deep breath and said, “His condition was that we promised you to his son, Alpha Evan.” My mom looked at Evan and sighed again. “What could we do? We were a new pack and we were a small pack of misfits. We were a mix of weres, witches, and vampires. We needed the protection. With as much hesitation as we had we promised Evan’s father that when you were 18 we would bring you to him. We didn’t even know if you two would be mates.” My mother’s shoulders started trembling.  

“Then he came for me. Lucien came back faster than I had expected. You were only seven Hannah. Just barely learning of the world you were born into. The world you would grow up in. It was me or you. I chose to leave to protect you. I couldn’t let Lucien have you. How was he going to raise a seven year old hybrid wolf and vampire child? I knew your father would be able to take better care of you than Lucien could. So I tucked you into bed, watched you fall asleep, and left. I left and never came back. I’m sorry.”  

My mother started crying and I gripped her hand as tight as I could.  

“I didn’t want to leave you, but I knew that Lucien would kill you. He wasn’t ever going to raise you. He was going to take you and kill you to make me hurt. To make your father hurt. To know what it’s like to lose someone. But the pain Lucien felt losing me to your father would’ve never compared to losing a child.”  

“Oh mom,” I sobbed pulling her into my arms. “I’m here now. We found one another. I won’t leave you.”  

“But I can’t promise that I won’t leave you,” my mom said, “for Lucien is still out there somewhere. I lost sight of him 10 years ago. He just up and left me alone. He hasn’t come back, but I can feel him just like how I could feel your father all these years before he died.”  

“He didn’t die. I killed him,” Evan said out of nowhere. 

“I know,” mom said, “I know. And you had every right to.” I looked at my mom shocked and so did Evan.  

“What are you saying mom?” I asked. “That dad was in the wrong.”  

“Of course your father was in the wrong,” Evan scoffed. “Did you come here when you were 18? No, I had to drag you here seven years later after my father died and told me everything.”  

I stared at Evan not knowing what to say because he was right. I had been with my father at the Red Moon Pack until I was 25. Until Evan killed my father for being a traitor and dragged me back here to the Three Wolves Pack.  

“But my father must’ve had a good reason not to ‘deliver’ me when I turned 18,” I said. “He must’ve.”  

“He didn’t. My father would send someone every year to collect you and your father refused. No reason. Just flat out refused,” Evan said. “On his deathbed I found out from my father’s Beta that you and I were meant to be together. I didn’t know what that meant and I still don’t. So that’s why I’m here Mama Rosa. What does that mean?”  

I looked at my mom. She looked at me and patted my hand. Then she looked at Evan and took his hand.  

“She’s your moon and you’re her sun. She was born under a red moon, but you Evan, were born under a black moon within the same year. Hannah is a couple months younger than you. When Hannah’s father and I met with your father for protection there was a witch amongst us as well giving your father council. She was the one who made your father give the condition to have Hannah brought to your pack when she turned 18. The witch said the black moon rises before the red moon to protect it, and the red moon will always follow the black moon to protect it. It’s a never-ending cycle, but one that can’t be broken.”  

“I still don’t get it,” I said to my mom. “So we’re just going to forever follow one another?”  

“Yes. Just like how the sun and the moon follow one another constantly. Evan may have been born under a black moon, but he’s the light in your world Hannah,” my mother said gripping my hand. “You can’t be without him and he can’t be with you.” She turned to look at Evan and smiled at him. “It’s fate. Destiny. You both were meant to rule together and bring all packs together.”  

“Bring all the packs together?” Evan asked. “For what?”  

“To defeat evil,” my mother said.  

“Evil? What...?” I asked perplexed. I let go of her hand and stood up. I started pacing around the tent confused and frustrated. Nothing was making sense.  

“Hannah, please sit down,” my mom said.  

“I can’t sit down. What is this ‘evil’? Is it Lucien?” I asked throwing my hands up in the air.  

“It’s worse than Lucien,” my mother said.  

“Then what is it?”  

“I don’t know dear,” she sighed. “I really don’t know. That we will need to find out from a witch or a seer. Even a sorcerer or mage if we can find one.”  

“And how do we find one?” I asked sitting back down next to her and gripped her hand again. “Tell me mom, where do we find one of those? You would know right?” She nodded, but then sighed again. “What?”  

“I know of a great sorcerer, but he’s on the other side of the world. He was such a dear friend of mine that I went to visit when Lucien left me,” she said, “but it’s been so long I don’t even know if he’s where I had left him oh so long ago.”  

“You have to go and find him,” Evan said. “If there’s this ‘evil’ that you speak of, we need to be ready. I’ll send some of my best warriors who haven’t found their mates to go with you.”  

“Thank you Alpha, but I can manage on my own,” mom said her eyes glowing red. “I am 125 years old.” Evan smiled at that and I couldn’t help but to smile too.  

“Then I leave it to you Mama Rosa,” Evan said.  

“Please, call me mom,” she said. Evan looked down at the ground and shook his head.  

“Not until Hannah forgives me and I mark her. Until then, you’ll be Mama Rosa to me,” Evan said. My mom nodded and rose up to put her arms around Evan.  

“Your mom was a good woman Evan. Don’t ever forget that. And I’m sorry Hannah’s father and I couldn’t keep our promise to your father before he passed, but he was a good Alpha and leader. I’m so sorry,” she said to Evan.  

“Your mom was human?” I whispered.  

Evan looked up at hearing my voice and nodded, “Yes, she was human. We have co-exited with humans since the revolution, but have since opened our pack to witches and vampires too although none of them have accepted our offer yet. That’s what my father wanted. He wanted our pack to be bigger and stronger and the only way to do that was to accept other species into the pack. He saw the way the Red Moon pack grew in size over the years and although your pack was big, it wasn’t strong.  

When I came for blood most of the vampires, witches, and humans had left Red Moon already. We met some on the way onto your pack lands. But we weren’t there to necessarily kill everyone. I just wanted what was promised to my father, but I never once thought you were my mate. I hated the fact that promises were made, but I’m my father's son and I couldn’t break the promise I made to him on his death bed. I just buried my dad and then we came for you.”  

“So then why did you have to kill so many of the male weres?” I asked.  

“Because we don’t kill women and children or even younger males for that matter. Younger males can join our pack if they want. The older males posed more of a threat. We only killed the five you saw in your dream. You father being one of them,” Evan said. “I had just had Alex dig a shallow grave and dumped your father’s body in there when I picked up your scent.”  

“Strawberries and lavender,” I whispered.  

“Yes,” Evan nodded.  

I shook my head, “I’m still confused. I don’t know what to think. So... I’m a hybrid. I’m wolf and vampire and Evan is wolf and human. So if Evan and I were to have a child their dominant trait would be wolf.”  

“The big word is if,” my mom said. “A triple hybrid child. Now that’s never been heard of.”  

“That’s if I even want a child with a cheater,” I said behind my teeth, but I knew Evan and my mom heard me.  

“Hannah,” Evan said.  

“Stop saying my name. You have no right to say my name with that mouth of yours,” I spat out.  

“Hannah!” my mom said startled. “I told you that you are both fated and destined to be together. I can’t make you like one another, but hear him out. I’m sure he has an explanation or two?” She raised her eyebrows at Evan and he got up clearing his throat.  

“Oh... umm... yeah. That’s part of the reason why I came here,” Evan said. My mom raised her eyebrows at Evan again. “Okay, that’s the main reason why I came here. I didn’t come here per say to hear about your life Hannah. That’s wasn’t for me to know or hear, but I’m glad that I know it now. And I’m sorry for everything you have been through. I’m more sorry though for hurting you.”  

I just stared at Evan and could feel the anger rising up in me.  

“You’re sorry!?” I asked/yelled. “What are you sorry for? Stop apologizing to me.”  

“Can we talk somewhere else?” Evan asked.  

“Yes, go and talk somewhere else. Mama Rosa has a pounding headache from all this crying and reminiscing,” my mom said.  

“I’m NOT leaving,” I declared.  

“You ARE,” my mom said.  

“No.”  

“Hannah,” my mom said rising out of her chair and her eyes turning red once more. I winced because this was the first time I’ve ever seen her or heard her use that voice on me.  

“Ugh... fine,” I said getting up, “but I’m not going back to his house with him.”  

“We can talk where Harry found you,” Evan said. “Meet me there.” Evan shifted into his wolf and trotted to the tent door/flap. He looked back and nodded his head at my mom and then he looked at me in the eyes. Bella nodded at him and then he left.  

“Mom?” I asked looking back at her. 

“Yes my love?” she said looking at me.  

“If you leave again to find your sorcerer friend will you let me know?” 

“Of course honey!” she got up and pulled me into a hug. “I’m not going to leave without ever telling you again.” I sighed and fell into her embrace. “Now go and find Evan. Make up with him if you can. I know it’s hard with all that you saw today, but I’m sure there’s an explanation.”  

I nodded, “Okay. I can hear him out but I don’t know if I can forgive him. At least not right now.”  

“That’s understandable,” my mom said. She pulled back from our hug and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “No go. Don’t let him wait too long. Alpha’s don’t have a lot of patience.” 

I smiled at my mom, gave her another hug, and left towards the back of the tent.  

“Wanna shfit?” Bella asked me.  

“Yes, let’s do this,” I said. I shifted into my wolf and Bella caught Evan’s scent. She stretched a bit and sniffed around some more until I urged her forward. Then we bounded to find Evan.