Claiming You under the Blood Moon

Crescent Moon

The moon shines high in the night sky, bathing my five-year-old sister with its pale, ethereal light. It streams through the window of our cheap hotel room. Fortunately, she is sleeping, thumb tucked in mouth, her long, red hair covering her frail body like a second blanket. She is lying on the foldout bed the hotel has provided for us. That means I have to sleep on the couch and our mother gets the only actual bed in the other room. I don’t mind though, if it means Sapphire is still with us and she’s safe. I thank the Moon Goddess for this enormous favor.

“Don’t wake her yet, son,” my mother whispers from the desk chair. “Let her sleep, even if only for a few more moments. We need to plan.”

“I’m not going to wake her.” I wander towards the large bay window, enjoying the full force of the moon glow on my body. My skin prickles in response.

“Do you want to go outside and shift? It’s a full moon out there.”

“Nope, I’m good.” Did she forget I’m sixteen? I have my wolf fully under control.

“It probably wouldn’t be safe, anyway.” She grips the blanket closer to her throat even though it’s the middle of July. My mother Emerald used to be considered a real beauty, with her frost blonde hair kept in a bun, green eyes, and pale, almost luminescent skin. Many men and wolves have put themselves in danger to possess her. But she only wanted my father, a simple omega from the Jewel Moon Tribe. Me and Sapphire resulted from their union. And now all three of us were paying the price.

“Come here, Jade,” she beckons to me. “We need to talk.”

I kneel by her chair and she touches my ash blonde hair, then passes her fingers above the brows of my deep blue eyes. The blue eyes are a trademark of all members of the Jewel Moon Clan.

“You’ve grown into a handsome young man. You look just like your father.”

“Yeah? Well, I still haven’t found my mate.” I stand up and move back towards the window. There are no new cars in the parking lot. Not yet anyway. A good sign.

“You don’t need a mate at age sixteen. It’s your sister I’m worried about. You know what the Blood Fangs want to do to her.”

“They won’t kill her, ma.” I mutter. But some things are even worse than death. Instead of murdering Sapphire, the Blood Fangs would steal her away from us. We’d never see her again. Then they would put her in suspended animation until she reached the proper age she could mate with Lucas’s son, who some compared to the devil himself.

But it was what the Moon Goddess wanted.

“I will not have my only daughter stolen from me. I thought of a plan that might save her. We will wed her to Tyrone Chevalier. Right now, tonight.”

My mouth falls open. “Ma, that’s crazy. She’s only five years old. She doesn’t even know she’s a —“

“And that is where you come in. We’re both going to explain to her who she is and what is about to happen to her.

“Yeah, but a marriage ceremony? For a child? Who’d you want her to get hitched with, anyway?”

My mother takes a deep breath and spits out the name. “Tyrone Chevalier.”

“Ty? He’s a baby!” I remember the last time I held him in my arms. The red-faced, screaming infant had pissed in his diapers so much that his urine had run down my arms, much to my family’s and the Windrunner’s clan amusement. Take him, take him, take him! I shouted, even as he favored me with a wicked smile.

“That was seven years ago. Of course, I don’t expect the two of them to consummate the marriage. It will only be a vow, a promise for the future. But once Lucas discovers that she is married to someone else, he may give up this ridiculous hunt, and our family will finally be safe.

I stand up, shaking my head. “The moon goddess won’t like it. Sapphire’s life would be cursed for not following her true mate. We’d be cursed for the rest of our lives.”

“We’re cursed now, Jade!” my mother stands up from her chair and shouts at me. Her spittle sprays my face. “What do you call this constant moving around from state to state? No real peace. No proper home. Always afraid.” She sits back down in the chair and breathes heavily, composing herself. “Give me, Sapphire.”

I wipe my face with my sleeve. I’m on the verge of saying, Get her yourself, but I hold on to my temper. No use escalating our already stressful situation.

I go to the bed and give Sapphire a friendly swat her on the butt.

She sits up and I’m greeted with the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. Two brilliant jewels, so unnaturally blue, you can sense the wolf in her. Wanna guess how she got her name?

Sapphire immediately flops back down on the bed.

“Leave me ’lone, Jade,” she mutters.

“Nope Ariel, you gotta get up.” That’s another one of her nicknames. She looks like a baby-fied version of Ariel, from The Little Mermaid. We also call her ‘Fire’. Not because of the red hair, or even her angry temperament, but as another play on the word ‘Sapphire’.

I pick her up and tickle her. She giggles until she remembers she’s mad at me. Then she struggles, narrowly missing kicking me in the groin.

“Fire, quit your kicking! I swear to Luna, I’ll drop you!”

She immediately calms down once I put her on our mother’s arms and she nestles her red head against ma’s shoulders. Her eyes begin to close once again.

“My sweet, wild Fire,” my mother croons. “I need to tell you something about the three of us. You see, we’re different from most people. We’re not like the grocer, or the bus driver, or the kids you see at school. We’re …we’re special.”

“Wanna go to sleep.” Sapphire’s thumb is back in her mouth.

“No sweetheart. Don’t sleep just yet. You need to hear this, and understand if you’re able. You see, what makes you, me and your big brother special is that, we uh …we can become other things …animals. Jade, help me out here.”

“We’re werewolves.” I grin and wiggle my fingers at her. I produce my evil laugh. “Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

“Jade!” my mother shouts, frustrated at my humorous tone.

“I don’t wanna be a dummy wolf.” Sapphire wrinkles her nose. “I wanna be a little Mermaid.”

“Undeeerrr the Sea. Underrrr the Sea” I sing in my wobbly, off-key voice.

“No, I changed my mind. I wanna be a Red Riding Hood.”

“That’s the wrong character in the fairytale, kid.”

My mother rubs her forehead as if massaging away a headache, but I see a smile creep on her face. “If you two could be for serious for just one moment. This isn’t a game. If —“

An unexpected knocking on the door. Heavy, ominous and a little humorous too. Shave and a haircut …

Suddenly, the smiles that we are using to cover up the stressfulness of our situation flies away. Real life crashes back in. We are the hunted. We are the Omegas and the Blood Fangs have found us.

“Little pigs, little pigs,” comes a soft whisper from behind the locked door. “Let us come in.”