A mother for a Luna (#3 of the Spike pack)

July 30th, 2020

It was a hot summer's day. Tonight would be a full moon, and for weeks and weeks, word had gone around the pack, that a party would be held deep inside the forest tonight, close to the southern borders of the Spike pack. Everyone would be there, and without question, this party would be the go-to event of the year. Or at least one of the few ‘good’ and ‘fun’ days, while living inside the Spike pack.

Yes, living inside the Spike pack wasn’t fun, not at all. It wasn’t ‘nice’ and there was nothing to look forward to growing up here. Alpha Michael ruled the pack with an iron fist. Using violence on his pack members, or scaring them by threatening their families, in order to keep everyone in line and under his thumb. Torture wasn’t anything special around here either. We all knew Alpha Michael loved his whip, and even more what damage he could do while using the damn thing. So, once my sister and I had become older, my father had moved us away from the packhouse, as far away as he possibly could, to get us out of sight of the Alpha, or any other vile wolf for that matter. There were little rules inside the Spike pack, it was mainly ‘every wolf for itself’, the battle of the strongest. But luckily, we had formed ourselves a little family in the meantime, living deep inside the woods, away from everyone.

Me, my father and my older sister Tamara, lived inside a small wooden cottage deep inside the woods. A few yards away was another house, belonging to the Wardens. They lived there with their two sons and one daughter, Tyler being their oldest son at 20 years old, David being the middle child at 15 years old, and Annie, who was the baby of the family and only 12. Just like my father, James and Alayna had chosen to move away from the pack house, to provide some safety for their children and away from the Alpha’s rule. And till this day, it had worked out just fine for all of us. We had stayed underneath the radar for years. We had lived our lives in silence, and for the most part, it worked out just fine. Working throughout the day, staying inside our home at night. We contributed to the pack, but other than that, we stayed by ourselves mostly.

But my older sister, Tamara and myself, girls being girls, we had begged our father to go to this stupid party. We had heard about it at school the other day. We went to school in the human world, along with most kids of our pack, since our pack didn’t even have a school to begin with and the Alpha simply didn't care about our education one bit. But word got around fast with the wolves, and once Tamara had heard about it, it had been on her wish list to be able to go. Hers and mine, actually. And luckily, our father, for once, had agreed. We were both adults in the wolf world now, as he had said himself. So, we were allowed to go to the party. On one condition, we needed to stay with Tyler, our neighbor's oldest son, at all times. And with some yelps, kisses and hugs to our father, we had both agreed. And for a little while, we had both been walking on clouds. We had been so happy for a little while.

The night of the party, we were both not really overdressed. Tamara wore a simple dress, which came just above her knees. It was a hot summer's day after all, but Tamara being Tamara, she looked absolutely stunning. But me being the weirdo of the bunch, I had opted for a pair of jeans. I had always hated the way my knees looked, and all hell could freeze over before I would go to a party with those exposed to the outside world. So, a pair of jeans and a tank top would do just fine for me. It wasn’t like we were going to a ball or anything like that after all. This was just a small party, some music, a bonfire, having fun and making memories for life while probably getting very drunk.

Tyler had come to pick us up, along with one of his own friends, Wallace. He was the same age as Tyler, who was one year older than me and the same age as my sister, Tamara, as they were all in the same class. The look on Tyler’s face, when he had seen Tamara in her dress that night, was just priceless. I had always known that Tyler had a massive crush on Tamara, he had for years. But for some reason, Tamara didn’t seem to notice that, and Tyler was probably too scared to confess his true feelings to her, I guess? Maybe tonight, after some drinks, tongues would loosen up and maybe they could finally hit it off. Tyler was one of the few good guys around this pack. So, if Tamara could not find her true mate, I hoped that one day, she would choose Tyler as a chosen mate. The boy deserved at least that much after everything he had already done for her. And I wouldn’t mind having him as my brother-in-law either.

The four of us had walked towards the party, while having some small talk and sharing some laughs, and as we made it to the right location, the beats of the music filled up the dark night skies. A big full moon was shining bright, as if the Moon Goddess herself was present for the party, and soon enough, we had found our way towards the drinks. Tamara and I had somehow drifted apart during the night, both finding friends from school to hang out with. While I was on the sidelines, just talking and laughing with my own friends, Tamara was in the middle of the dancefloor, laughing and singing along with some songs, and after a while, I even spotted her dancing with a guy I had never seen before. And I frowned, as I saw the look on Tyler’s face, as he was still close to Tamara, but not liking what he was seeing without a doubt. I had looked at the guy who Tamara was dancing with. I didn’t know much about reading people, but this guy had ‘trouble’ written all over him. And I wondered if he would be one of those guys who lived inside the pack house. A warrior or a guard for the Alpha. He sure looked the part. Dangerous and way too full of himself.

Hours later, as people slowly started to leave the party, Wallace, Tyler’s friend, had walked up to me. He wanted to go home, but he couldn’t find Tyler or Tamara anywhere. I had simply shrugged it off, telling him that they probably were drunk and they finally had confessed their feelings for each other and they were possibly somewhere hidden behind a tree, licking each other’s faces off now. Wallace had offered to take me home, and I had accepted so I would keep my word to my father by not walking through these woods alone. It was the middle of the night and most of my friends had already left anyway, so I didn’t mind leaving the party as well. And thirty minutes later, I was back at home, standing in my kitchen, as I was having a glass of water, going over the past night once again in my mind.

Out of nowhere, I started to hear shouting outside, and someone else was crying. I frowned, as I placed my glass of water in the sink, and slowly walked towards the window to look outside. My father was already asleep, and I didn’t want to wake him up by barging through the house. The wooden floors were all nice and cozy, but they also made a lot of noise.

“Howly s**t!” I gasped, as my eyes took in what I was actually seeing outside, before I quickly opened the back door which led into the kitchen, and let in Tyler and Tamara, who were both looking as if they had just gone to hell and back. Tyler was all beaten up. His whole face was bloody and was already starting to swell badly. By tomorrow morning, I honestly didn’t think he would even be able to blink his right eye, it would be completely shut from the swelling. Tamara was shaking and crying, her body was covered in dirt and her dress was torn apart. Now showing much more skin as it did in the beginning of the evening.

“What the hell happened?” I called out to both of them, hearing how Tamara started to cry even harder, as she covered her face with both of her hands, and as I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, I knew that her cries had woken up our father, who five seconds later, barged through the kitchen door. A baseball bat in his hands.

“Tamara? What the hell, it is 4 o’clock in the…” He stopped talking, as he must have seen the state that my sister was in. His mouth had dropped open, as he had looked up at Tyler, and his eyes had spread wide, as he saw the way that Tyler was looking at him at the moment.

“What the hell happened to the both of you?” He yelled, seeing how Tyler cringed at my father’s angry tone.

“There was this guy.” Tyler began to speak, his eyes shifting over to Tamara. I knew my sister, she had probably told Tyler to keep his mouth shut forever, but Tyler was about to break that promise to her, and he probably had good reasons for doing that as well. Or else, he would never have done anything to betray my sister’s trust.

“He… he took Tamara deeper into the woods… I followed them, I tried to fight them off but then his friends came out and they, they started to punch and kick me… I tried to fight them off but there were too many of them…” Tyler stopped talking and took a big swallow, as his eyes started to shimmer with unshed tears. Tears of hatred, hatred towards himself. I knew Tyler he would never forgive himself for this.

“Tamara, what happened to you, my child?” My father asked his daughter, his voice sounding a lot less angry now. But all Tamara could do was cry, and as my father tried to comfort her by putting his hand on her shoulder, Tamara pulled away, as if his touch burned her flesh. And that’s when I saw something click in my father’s eyes.

“Did he force himself onto you?” My father asked, his voice sounding nothing but a vessel. Not one emotion in his tone. All Tamara did was cry harder, giving us all the answers that we needed. And all I could do was pull her into my arms, as reality sank deep into my brain.

Raped

My sister had been raped

And all I could do, was cry along with her.

“I’m going to see the Alpha!” My father screamed, his voice coated in anger. And even though I didn’t think that this was a wise idea on his part, I knew right now, my father was in such a state that he wouldn’t listen to us anyway. Someone had hurt his child. I figured that one day when I would have children of my own, and someone would hurt them, that I would feel exactly the same. So I tried to reason with him.

“Father, please. Don’t go now.” I begged him, seeing how he started to pace the room back and forth.

“That bastard needs to be punished for what he did to her!” My father yelled, pointing his baseball bat at Tamara, who was still crying, clinging on to me now.

“I know, and he will, but you cannot go to the pack house and wake up the Alpha, he will punish you for doing it and I cannot stand to see both of you in pain!” I yelled back at him, and my father stopped moving as he looked down at me. He knew I was talking the truth here. Nobody woke up the Alpha, not for anything. It would only get us in trouble if we did. Tomorrow morning, my father could go over there, but if he tried to do it now, I would tackle him down and tie him up if I had to, in order to keep him safe. My father was a good man, and a good father, but he was no match in a fight with an Alpha. You didn’t need to be a genius to know that.

“Tamara needs you now.” I added, seeing how my father sighed, turning around as he walked into the living room, returning shortly after with a bottle of whisky in his hand, as he took out four glasses, pouring all four of them so full, the glasses would almost spill over.

“Here…” He stated, giving me, my sister, Tyler and himself a glass.

“We can all use it.” He sighed, as he sat himself down at our small kitchen table, reaching over and holding my sister’s hand.

After we had all poured our glass 'empty' into our throats, and all of us were becoming quite groggy from the whisky in our system, my father had told us he would bring Tyler home. So he could have a word with his parents about what had happened tonight. In the meantime, I would help Tamara out of her ripped clothes and into the tub. She needed to get rid of the dirt on her skin, and as I was washing her with soap while she was sitting in the bathtub, I hoped I could wash away every single awful memory along with it. For a split second, I was catapulted back in time. I thought back to when I was still a pup, when I would sit in the tub and my mom would wash my hair and sit next to the tub while me and my sister would play in the water. It all seemed like a lifetime ago now. And I sighed, as I looked at my broken sister. Her eyes were red from crying, and bruises were starting to pop up all over her body, places where that fucker had held her down, where he had hurt her. I knew the bruises would fade away over time. They would heal and go away, but as I looked at my sister, and the way she was just staring out in front of her, I wondered if her spirit would be able to heal and recover from this as well.

Once the dirt was washed away, I helped her into pajamas. Tamara hadn’t said a single thing since stepping inside the house with Tyler. It was as if she had checked herself out, as if she had locked herself away somewhere, to not be able to feel the pain anymore. Without thinking, I had put her into my own bed. It was a queen-sized bed, so we could easily both fit in there. I knew my sister she shouldn’t be alone tonight. And knowing myself, I knew that I would be there for her, always, no matter what. I would make it my mission to make her feel better again. To make her feel like herself again. So, I pulled up the covers and I laid down with her as I pulled her into my arms and I started to hum a song that our mother used to sing for us, before she was killed during a rogue attack a few years ago. And ever so slowly, I felt how Tamara drifted off into a deep sleep, while she held on to me for dear life, while I wasn’t able to find rest myself that night. All I could do was think about what I could possibly do, to make this all go away.