The Red Moon Pack

Season Two. Chapter 4.

It was very strange, knowing that Nathanial now had a mate. Kinley was happy for his friend, at the same time, hoping one day soon he too would find his, hoping that Sebastain too would soon find his Luna. Because of the order that Sebastian had made, that nobody should leave the park territory alone, it did make it tricky for Nathanial to spend time with his mate. In fact, none of the group believed Nathanial had found his mate for a little while because there was no proof, not evidence. That was until she finally contacted him, but phone.

It was odd though, she put in a number of strange requests. Like, not to call for any reason. To only message between fifteen hundred and eighteen hundred and only on weekdays. Kinley felt like it was too strange and questioned more about this strange girl to Nathanial. He was confused, but he did admit, he had a feeling that his mate’s brother was not as simple as he seemed when they first met.

As it was, October arrived and that meant Nathanial was aging up. He was finally seventeen. Not many knew he was generally a young younger then the others. Because he was smart he had advanced a grade in school and he was their good friend because before they passed, his parents had been very important members of the pack. Most people forgot that and just assumed Nathanial was eighteen like Sebastian and himself, but they would be wrong. In fact, while Nathanial was only turning seventeen, he was very wise, very smart and very clued in on tings.

That was why and how Kinley, Maximus, Stacey and a couple of other members of the Redmoon pack spent a four hour car trip to Darkmoon. It was Nathanial’s birthday and he wanted to at least see Penny during the day, go on a date with her. He had hoped she would have made her way to Redmoon to see him and join the small party that would be held that night, but for some reason the girl could not make it.

Even just planning the date seemed to be a hassle and a half, but Kinley could feel the excitement that Nathanial had in being able to spend some time with Penny and getting to know her even more. Their plan would be for the whole group to show up together, go to the town centre and then they would leave Penny and Nathanial alone to have lunch together and then meet up again later so then they would all travel home after saying good bye to Penny.

While they left Nathanial to his lunch, Kinley and the rest of the group went for a small walk. Alpha Liam knew they were visiting, one of his Luna’s helping them all plan and organise the day. It would seem the relationship between Darkmoon and Redmoon was getting better and Kinley knew this would do well for future connections.

As the looked around, Stacey saw a cute little shop, full of baby and children items. She got excited. Kinley teased her and Maximus about pups, earning himself a slap across the head. Maximus and Stacey did not want to be in that position yet, they wanted some time. Kinley kept teasing them that even if they were not ready now, a pup took six months to cook. Being werewolfs, the process of developing a fetus was a little shorter then a full human. In nature, general wolves take between sixty two to seventy five days. So he kept teasing them, claiming they had six months to be ready.

After the kid shop, they had a little fun in a second hand shop, looking at the items. Darkmoon was not a big pack, so it was not a major store. Stacey had a crazy idea to randomly select clothes for each of the guys and made them get changed into the clothes and show her what it looked like. When they came out of the dressing room, they lost it, laughing at the way each other looked. Stacey was way to far gone, almost rolling on the floor laughing. Even after the guys got changed back into their own clothes, she kept laughing hard at them.

It was a fun afternoon, they did not need to buy anything, but seeing the way a smaller pack lived and work was kind of fascinating to Kinley. They did notice some things were missing though. The Darkmoon pack did not have a movie theatre or a pool for swimming. They did not really know what the young children and then teens did around Darkmoon for entertainment, but as they hoped Penny would join their pack and not Nathanial joining this one, they knew it did not matter too much how entertaining the place would be.

It would seem they had spent a lot of time wondering around. They had arrived at Darkmoon just before eleven, left Nathanial at eleven and yet, at twelve twenty six, Maximus got a message from Nathanial asking them were they were and letting them know the date was over. Kinley was shocked, Stacey too as to why it had been such a short date.

They went back to the car, rounding up everyone else that had also travelled with them, meeting Nathanial there. He seemed annoyed about something, but he was silent most of the way home, not saying much about the date. The only thing he ended up saying as they crossed the boarder of Redmoon territory was that Penny had to leave early and so they were cut short. Kinley felt there was more to it, something like that would not make Nathanial so annoyed, he would have understood if it was something serious that was happening to make Penny leave early. So Kinley knew that something more was going on.

***

To say, the party that night did not go so well was the best way to put it. It was not a huge party, since Kinley’s party, there had been tight restrictions on parties, set until things got better and the vampire that wanted war was gone. Until then, all parties were to be in a safe place, the pack house and with guards around keeping an eye on things.

Everyone tried to have fun, with fifty people invited. They had music, they had drinks, they had a pool table and games going. Yet, because they were being watched, it was clear nobody was going to go over board and that meant a number of the guests left after a few hours. It was not in reflection of their friendship with Nathanial, it was just different to have a party now, compared to before.

What it did though was allow Nathanial the chance to sit down with his friends and discuss things with them about Penny. Maximus knew something was up, could sense that Kinley felt something was up with the whole situation his friend was in, but he had not wanted to discuss it much in the car. It was a few hours into the party, with less people there that Sebastian arrived. He looked a little tired, expressing while they had been gone, there had been another boarder breach.

He explained to them that it had not been a fight like last time. Instead, it had been a vampire, sneaking in, and hiding from them as they went looking for them. It was like a cat and mouse situation, but eventually, what ever the vampire was using to mask his smell at first did not last long and they found him, sneaking around pack house, about to climb up a wall. Maximus did not think this was a good thing, hearing they were masking scents this time. It was like every time they came to Redmoon, they did something different. Like they were trying to find weak spots, figure out their strengths and use that against them. Maximus felt uncomfortable about it all, but hoped they could figure out where this vampire lord lived.

With the way the conversation turned serious, and they could tell that Sebastian was worried, Nathanial decided to finally speak up about his concerns about Penny, wanting to get her away from Darkmoon and her brother. He explained he did not trust Conner and was hoping to keep an eye on things, but worried with all the threats going on, it was getting harder for him to see his new found mate. Maximus felt bad, wished for a way they could help their friend.

It did not take long though, for Kinley to come up with a couple of suggestions, ways for Nathanial to catch up with Penny and send some time with her, and ways to keep an eye on that brother of her. They all discussed it, planned it and Maximus hoped that it would all do well for them. Hoped that Penny would finish her year in school and then move to their pack.

As the night went on, their group were the last ones standing. It was a tiring night and Stacey was keen to get home. Maximus walked her home, making sure she was protected along the way. He could have stayed, or could have invited her to his house, but there was something else that Maximus wanted to do before the night was over.

Taking a deep breath, he watched as the guard knocked on the door, seemingly to communicate in mind link and then was silent, standing and waiting. It took a couple of minutes, where Maximus was not sure what to think or do, before the door opened and Sebastian came out, quietly and closed the door after him. He looked around at Maximus and gave a friendly guy smile.

“Everything ok?” he asked.

“I wanted to ask you that question.” Maximus said honestly.

“Things are ok.” Sebastian said, nodding his head but not sounding too convincing.

“Seriously?” Maximus asked with a firm tone. “You are here way more then I expected you to be. I know you have feelings for Adira, but I think you should get out more, do more.”

“I know. I feel…. Torn.” Sebastian said looking down at the ground.

“Are you worried, they will find her in here?” Maximus asked thoughtfully.

“I am… I wont lie… I am worried, it is Adira they are looking for, her and Julian.” his friend replied.

“Julian is gone.” Maximus stated.

“We are aware, but is the vampire?” Sebastian questioned.

“Hmmm… ok, that is a good point.” Maximus said with a nod. “So you think every time they come it is to confirm what happened to the two of them.”

“Yes.” Sebastain answered with a nod. “That is why… I want to stay… to be ready and protect her.”

“Do you trust me?” Maximus asked.

“Yes.” Sebastian said with a firm nod, not thought to it.

“Good. Because as you Beta to be. I am asking you to go home to your bed for the night. Get a good rest and then come back in the morning.” Maximus stated.

“But Adira….” Sebastian started.

“I will stay. I will watch over her tonight.” Maximus advised. “You need to rest better then on a sofa. And I also promise you, the moment anything happens, anything changes, I will let you know.”

Maximus watched his friend, his Alpha to be for a moment. He could see the torn thoughts in his mind. He knew what it felt like. Wanting to stay and be there for those you care about, but also knowing you needed to do a duty. Sebastian’s duty was to get a better nights rest so he was alert and up to speed on things. If he kept having lack of sleep by staying at the hospital every day and every night, then Maximus feared what would happen if there was another attack and Sebastian was only at half his game.

No. Maximus needed his friend to look after himself as much as he is looking after the girl in the room. He needed to regain strength and health and all of the friends in their group could see it. He had darkness under his eyes that was not normal. He hair was longer then it had been a couple of months ago, and he was starting to grow a jaw line shadow. He needed a good rest and Maximus had mind linked Alpha Gabirel and Luna Iris and advised them the idea, of getting Sebastian to go home. They agreed and promised to make sure he did rest and nobody disturbed him until his body was really recovered again.

After a moment, Sebastina took a defeated sigh and brushed his hands through his hair, nodding. He was agreeing, accepting it was the best for him. Maximus nodded, placed a hand on his friend shoulder and told him to rest well. As Sebastian headed off down the hall, Maximus watched him, before he finally entered the room. It was silent, aside from the machines beeping and sending out signals for the stats they were monitoring. He watched in silent for a moment, the girl on the bed. Then he shook his head and went to the sofa, sitting down on it and turned the television on, muting it and turning on the closed caption option, watching a Korean drama called ‘My Name’.