Luna's Revenge

Chapter 6

I can't say that it was all that surprising to see Marcus amongst those who emerged into the clearing. He was the alpha after all. He was the only one meant to enter the Sacred Grove, save for those in his company. He had a small entourage with him, including Stephan. For a moment I was surprised that Andre wasn't there, but then I remembered that at this time he still would have been with the Crimson Moons.

"Wait here," Marcus told his followers as he went alone into the Sacred Grove.

The remainder of the group spread out around the clearing, seemingly to keep watch. I found myself praying that they remained in their human forms. As a wolf, or even as a half-human beast, their sense of smell would have been strong enough that I was certain that they would smell us, particularly me. After what Adam and I had been doing earlier, I'd imagine that my smell would have been rather hard to miss.

Had they been particularly worried about any threats, they probably would have transformed. Clearly they weren't, though, so much to our reliefs they remained as humans.

There was one thing about the whole affair that bothered me. I'd been to the Sacred Grove, much more than your average female in fact thanks to being the daughter of an Alpha. While it was true that only the Alpha could hear the Mood Goddess, it wasn't typical for him to enter the Sacred Grove alone. Typically he would bring one of his lieutenants, or even his young daughter. Yet Marcus had done just that!

I glanced over at Adam. We couldn't speak in our wolf form, at least not the same way that humans do, and hidden though we were we probably wouldn't want to anyway. Still, that didn't mean communication was impossible. To some measure I could read his expressions, and I could tell that he seemed to find the whole scenario as strange as I did.

To be sure, it didn't have to mean anything. It may have been that Marcus just wanted to be alone. Still, that explanation didn't quite sit well with me.

Marcus was in there a long time, much longer than was typical. When he did finally emerge, he had a grave expression on his face, and his entourage gathered around him.

When Marcus began to speak, I was glad I was a wolf. My hearing in that form, like many of my other senses, was far more acute. I doubted I'd have been able to hear what he said as a human, but as a wolf I could.

"Comrades," Marcus said, "The Moon Goddess whispered to me, and she told me that the time has come to once and for all put an end to our feud with the Crimson Moons. No more shall we engage in mere petty skirmishes. It is time for all-out war!"

The declaration brought back a memory from many years earlier. It wasn't long after Marcus and I were married that he'd made the declaration that the Moon Goddess had decreed all-out war with the Crimson Moons. At the time I'd been shocked. The Moon Goddess' main commandment had always been preservation of the forest, and as my father had said many times and escalation in our conflict would only inflict greater harm. I'd told Marcus as much, and I could still remember the look in his eyes. It was the first time he'd looked at me with disdain, though it would be far from the last.

I hadn't known that he'd communed with the Moon Goddess on the night of our wedding, though! It was... strange timing, to say the least. It wasn't like the Moon Goddess typically summoned Alphas to the Sacred Grove. They went in their own time, and it wasn't as though Marcus didn't have other matters to attend to that night!

It was then that I realized that the skirmish that had drawn him away from me had been a lie...

Marcus and his comrades spoke for some time. Some reacted with surprise much as I had, and I recognized those who did as ones who would later fall from grace. Meanwhile others, like Stephen, embraced the coming war and would go on to be some of Marcus' most trusted Betas and other leaders within the pack. Those that survived, that is. A war truly was coming, and while we would win in the end, no victory comes without a cost...

Eventually the conversation died down and Marcus and the others headed back the same way from whence they came. Adam and I remained where we were for a short while until we were sure they were gone. Once that time had passed, Adam slowly walked back into the clearing, and I followed shortly behind him.

Adam took back on his human form, and I did the same. Of course, our clothing was still beyond the edge of the clearing, so when we did so we were still in the nude from earlier. While it may have been tempting to pick up where we left off earlier, the weight of what we'd just seen and heard was such that the mood had passed. The war that was coming was a total surprise for Adam, and while he didn't have the same knowledge of the future that I did, he also must have known that his own pack's odds weren't great in such a conflict. The Night's Blessed had always been the larger and more powerful of the two packs.

I walked up to the man, my hand reaching up and softly touching his back.

"Adam..." I began, trying to find some words to ease the turmoil I was sure he felt.

The man spun around and glared at me. For a moment I was afraid he might hit me. His posture was an aggressive one, and there was an intensity in his gaze that bordered on rage.

"Ariel, Luna of the Night's Blessed," Adam growled, speaking my name and title as though they were obscenities, "The Moon Goddess brought you to me this night for a reason. Tell me what it is. Now!"

Not knowing what else to do, I told him. I told him the entirety of my impossible, crazy story, and I just hoped that he'd believe me!