Blue Moon Rising

Prelude

When her inner eyes opened on the scene before her, Stella Azul silently thanked the Moon Goddess for the vision unfolding in front of her. Something must be wrong with the drug concoction that Alpha Zane fed into the ever-present IV in her left arm, because rather than a forced premonition of the future, she had been transported backwards to the week leading up to her parents' murders. Even though a knot formed in her stomach thinking about that horrible night, before then had been the happiest time in her life. 

Stella watched the vision like a soul fresh out of the desert, desperate for the cool, sweet taste of a glass of water. She was back in the patchy yard in front of her parents' tiny cottage, with a old white fence covered in moss and ivy encircling the yard. Beyond the fence, only towering trees of almost every variety could be seen, virtually isolating them from the rest of the Silvermoor pack. This cottage had previously been the residence of the last Alpha's mother, an eccentric recluse, who had enjoyed the silence of the woods and the freedom to lope around in wolf form without being disturbed. After that Alpha was challenged and lost, he and his family were offered two options: leave the pack or die. Once they left, the cottage stood empty for a number of years, until her mother Harmony gave birth to Stella. She and her mate Esteban craved the quiet of the woods, and asked the new alpha, Zane, if they may leave the pack house and take up residence in the tiny cottage. He reluctantly agreed, not because as Alpha he was responsible for every pack member's wellbeing, but he desired for each wolf to be within his grasp and under his complete control. After this request, Alpha Zane and the rest of the pack shunned the couple, derisively calling them the "Human Hippies," as they grew their own food, hunted their own meat, and only came back to the Silvermoor house for required pack meetings. Only some members of the Azul family, like Sasha and her parents, would occasionally make their way into the dense woods to visit the couple and their newborn, Stella. 

As 5-year-old Stella romped around with her cousin Sasha, tails wagging and the cute, hiccuping howls of young pups alternating between them as they attempted to pounce on each other, the 17-year-old Stella looked around eagerly for her young mother. Through the French doors that opened to the back yard, Stella saw her glowing mother cooking dinner, occasionally stopping to look out at the children and smile at their antics. Stella felt her breath hitch at the vision of her mother, alive and well, looking exactly as she remembered. A tall, willowy and athletic frame supported golden hair and golden eyes that seemed to glow even in the hazy vision. This beautiful woman would also transform into a golden wolf, with a coat that shimmered in the moonlight, and blazed in the sunlight. 

From behind, as Harmony busied herself with preparing the meal, Stella saw the flash of a dark, grey-blue mop of messy hair and watched as her father Esteban stealthily crept up on her mother from behind. While her father seemed to be the polar opposite of her mother's golden looks, Esteban's harsh grey coat seemed to transform with a sparkling, silvery sheen in Harmony's presence. When he pounced, her mother let out a very girly shriek, before recognizing the arms encircling her. Harmony smacked him lightly on the shoulder, before melting into his embrace and laughing at his antics. She watched them nestle together and look out at the children, envious of the contentment clearly shared between them. 

As her father nestled his face into the crook of her mother's neck, she was surprised to hear her father speak, loud and clear, as his voice carried through the open doors and kitchen window; a conversation that, as a pup, she was too preoccupied with her play game to notice. 

"He knows." 

Stella watched as Harmony's face, previously full of color and joy, drained to a deathly white.

"What do you mean?" she whispered back. "How much does he know?"

Esteban sighed, lines of worry now very obvious on his face, as he looked back at Harmony. "I don't think it's much at this point, but his suspicions are mounting. The more we keep her away from him, the more he pushes, and the harder it becomes to keep him away. I know we've been avoiding it, but I think it's time."

Her glimmering mother looked dull, but also scared, emotions Stella had never seen from her as a child. "But Zane will know once we leave Silvermoor land without permission and then break the pack bond."

"Hopefully we will be long gone before he can do anything about it. I love you and Stella, and I am willing to do anything to protect you both, even if it means betraying the blood bond and going rogue." 

Harmony's face initially showed her shock, but it faded and was slowly replaced by the steely look of a determined wife and mother, bent on survival. "Then we leave. It will take me a couple of days to prepare because, besides packing, I think we need to plant a number of fake scent trails, and make the house look like rogue wolves attacked. That should buy us enough time to disappear." 

As her parents continued their planning in hushed voices, Stella's vision started to shift, and she let out a whimper, and then a howl, desperate to hang on to the memory of her parents. So she was instantly happy that the shift took her to her parents' bedroom, even though it was in the middle of the night. In the strong moonlight, Stella saw three duffle bags packed in corner, but was shocked at the state of chaos the room was in. Watching the even breathing of both of her parents, she realized that this must be the day they were going to leave.

As she watched her parents slumber, the quiet of the night was broken by the noise of claws clacking against the polished wood floors in the hallway, and the creak of her parent's door as it slowly opened.

Fear took ahold of Stella as, with sudden clarity, she understood that this was the night her parents were murdered. She screamed and begged, "Wake up! WAKE UP!" to no avail, as three vicious-looking wolves stole into the room and slaughtered her parents. Through her distress, some part in the back of Stella's mind recognized the wolves: Alpha Zane, his second-in-command, Beta Jack, and his mate and acting Luna, Regina. 

With three of them sneaking up on Harmony and Esteban in the middle of the night, there was little to no resistance as her parents' throats were ripped out. Beta Jack and Regina seemed to take sick pleasure in the task, and even after the bodies went still, they continued to bite them and rip at their limbs. Stella felt physically ill, a remarkable feat considering she had no body in this vision. 

Once Beta Jack and his mate were finally done and the fur around their mouths was matted in blood, they looked to Alpha Zane and the three shared in the atrocity with steely glint in their eyes and wolfish smiles. With the need for stealth no longer present, the wolves ran out of the room, Beta Jack and Regina nipping at each others' heels and playing with each other like pups as they exited the small cottage. When only Alpha Zane remained, his wolf stalked down the hall and nosed into Stella's nursery, staring down at her still-sleeping body, and let loose a low, quite, feral growl that seemed to say Mine.

When this vision started to grow grainy and deteriorate, a disgusted and teary-eyed Stella did not protest this time. Rather, as her consciousness faded into the present, the revelations from this premonition ignited a fire in her soul, as an unknown voice chanted in her head. Escape. Escape. ESCAPE!