The Wolf's Song

The Rising New Moon

Michael

It was the full moon, the pull of its magnetic force. I couldn’t deny or deny it. I wished I could. This bed had never felt better than lying in it with Diana by my side.

I wasn’t eager to leave it now, but I must. Telling her was, unfortunately, in the near future as she would discover it soon enough on her own if I lingered any longer. Her curiosity had been sparked, somehow turning her suspicions onto me, and lying to her face turned my stomach.

I brushed her wayward hair from her brow, her face pure enchantment in the moonlight. Lifting my eyes to the glass windows, the call of the moon increased. And being an Alpha, no wolf could resist the full moon; we were like two pieces of a magnet, repelling each other during the moon phases, until one was flipped, the moon full and the pull instant.

I untangled my limbs from hers and didn’t bother dressing. I drew the curtains, dimming the effects of the moonlight. I kissed her cheek, but she didn’t stir, her body exhausted.

The cold remained despite spring desperately fighting for dominance, but it felt perfect against my skin.

I cleared the tree line before shifting, my paws crunching into the snow. I sniffed the air, searching for my pack. I found them quickly but didn’t head for them right away. Instead, I sniffed again for Anna. There was still nothing, but I knew my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me.

Unable to research the areas Francis already covered, I headed for my pack. It was the first full moon since the attack and some of the bodies from the m******e were sure to have been away. The number was unknown, but the night was young, and I was expecting a long night.

Francis and Robert were here, also in their wolf forms, pacing the borderline separating the forest from the town. We didn’t need to spread out, as crossing the distance to prevent a new wolf would be easy enough; it was subduing them that would cause the bigger problems. I reached them and downshift, they did the same.

“Anything?” I asked.

“Been pretty quiet, but as they say, the night is young,” Francis answered, always surveying.

“Is Anne secure?” I inquired, knowing Francis had the same fears I did. My pride prevented me from asking him how he managed it, but our situations were different. He didn’t have a jealous, grief-ridden fiend on his tail.

“She always puts up a fight, but nothing will be getting close to her tonight. Oh, she also brought these doorbell camera things. This century is a wonder.”

Francis always seemed so out of time. Though he was bitten maybe two decades after me, his soul was much older than mine.

“Please, tell me I didn’t just hear that?” said a voice coming up behind us.

“Thought I recognized that smell,” Robert said, rubbing the top of my prodigy’s head. Clarissa Hale, not yet a member of my pack, but one I had taken a keen interest in, cleared the forest and made her way to me. She was shorter than Diana, with long raven hair, and catlike features with the temperament of one as well. Her distrust of men was apparent, but she shoved it aside for me, seeing me as an ally.

“This old man was impressed by a doorbell. Don’t most people have a camera these days? Know what a smartphone is?” she mocked.

Francis glared at her, scoffing at his lack of pleasure at her teasing. She bumped his shoulder as she passed, but her smile softened her teasing.

“What brings you here, Clarissa?” I asked, knowing she had no love for Bamberg.

“I watched the news, Michael. Eleven deaths could mean eleven new ones. Figured you’d need my help, and I have a snag in my own revenge gig and figured I’d recharge by taking out some shifters before they ruin another teen’s life,” she said, shrugging her shoulders as if she had come to terms with her turning.

She hadn’t; her anger still at the fore. She was nearly wild herself but was wise enough to know when she was about to cross that line to seek me out. I was tempted to ask what her reasoning was for returning but a noise drew our attention.

Two figures headed tilted skyward, enchanted by the bright moon, emerged over the town line. It was two of the boys from Diana’s attack. They didn’t notice us yet, the moon a new wander, the call of its brilliance drowning out their rational thoughts.

“Here we go,” Robert sighed.

The closest boy suddenly dropped, his red hair flaming in the light, he cried as his skin rippled from the change, fur fanning across him. His human screams became altered as his wolf manifested for the first time.

Whimpers reached us and, as always, we were reminded of our first turning and its sensations. We felt for them. I felt it three times, my pack’s turning linked to my own. The other boys quickly fell after him, dropping to the ground.

I shifted first and drew their attention, letting my Alpha energy try to deter their wild and scared nature. My growl was low with just enough of a threat to let them know running about the forest was in their best interest. It rarely worked, as new shifters weren’t thinking clearly, but it cleared my conscience, having felt like a warning had been given.

“Every time,” Clarissa groaned, then shifted.

Whatever was eating her clearly needed unleashing, so I held back, understanding that I needed to lash out. Her wolf was black like mine, except her nose had a stripe of white and her underbelly was white as well.

The first wolf, the redhead, as his wolf was a deep amber brown, tested his skills. She pounced on him, her size nearly doubled his, she grabbed his neck and flicked him away from the town line. She bowed low, baring her teeth in warning to stay back.

I got what she was saying, but he could smell the humans, feel their innocence and he wanted it. He charged at her again, clumsy paws sinking into the melting snow, but he was no match for her. He tried to body-ram her, smacking his paws against her snout but she bit down, his whimper loud.

She rounded him and grabbed his neck again, only this time she clamped down, until, like a baby wolf, he submitted. Not trusting it, she held a bit longer, then the other wolf tried his luck but Robert leaped over the twosome and sent him crashing into the snow. He reared up, his teeth dripping hot saliva.

As Robert charged at him, my attention was pulled as three more fully-shifted wolves emerged. One saw me and was smart enough to flee into the woods. I nearly let him go when I remembered Diana was still at the house. I took off after him, knowing my pack and Clarissa could handle these two until I got back.

I caught up with the wolf and blocked its path. Knowing he could smell Diana and heading right for her enraged me. Remembering my own rule of no killing was the only reason I didn’t snap his neck for even attempting to harm her.

He growled, trying to intimidate me, but my howl in response drew a whimper, but he didn’t retreat. I started my attack when two more wolves joined in, their growls ever confident, having outnumbered me.

They didn’t seem like new shifters though; the way they carried themselves was surer. At this rate, I would be here all night. “How have I let this many new wolves in my area? That night is a wake-up call, one I used to egg me forward.”

The killing was not my intention, it was theirs, and though the two newcomers weren’t as wild, the battle was fierce, furs cluttering the air, my paws, and jaws in perfect unison. Weeks of built-up frustration were unleashed. I almost started enjoying myself, at least, until I remembered that it was because of them that Diana’s safety was in jeopardy, and with that thought in mind, I set out to teach them their place in my Bamberg.