Moonbound Legacy

Silas

The forest around the ranch grew long shadows, extending across the waving fields of alfalfa hay. Light was fading fast here beneath the trees. I crouched in the top of the highest tree, watching a group of humans and their flashlights. They bunched together, obviously afraid of the legends surrounding this place. One of them pointed at a small light that appeared on the mountain, and two of them let out small shrieks.

I rolled my eyes and settled back against the tree branch. With the moon at my back, I didn’t move unless necessary. Yes, I blended so well with the dark I was almost indistinguishable from it. But the last thing I needed was to shift against the bright backdrop and give away my presence.

Being on ghost tour duty was, frankly, boring. But someone had to make sure the humans didn’t wander into anything they shouldn’t. And that the two young guides didn’t get into too much mischief…Just last week they’d nearly led a group of humans right into an active patrol route. There was a rumor spreading through the little human town of Duchesne that the old Sherman ranch had massive wolves prowling it, so obviously the two groups had gotten far too close to each other.

This was a good opportunity to keep my skills sharp, however. One hand braced the bark, while the other flexed casually at my side. I tracked the movements below, stilling my breath as Lexi and Cassie led the tour group closer to my tree. Thankfully they kept the humans on the marked path tonight, which made my job easier.

They paused at the bottom of the tree and pointed into the darkest patch of trees. Lexi swung her long, dark hair behind her and spoke in a hushed, dramatic tone. “This is where they’ve seen the eyes. If you look hard enough, you might see them, too.” The participants reacted with nervous laughter and turned their phones toward the trees. A couple of them swept their flashlight beams over the brush.

I studied their body language, watching who strayed from the group. Who was the loudest. Who seemed the most likely to panic. It wasn’t like these particular humans seemed at all dangerous, but I still manually mapped the most likely paths should they bolt and any blind spots from here.

A flicker of light appeared deeper in the trees. One of the humans gasped, followed by a low, distant howl. But it was slightly distorted and didn’t surprise me at all. I narrowed my eyes and glanced up at the moon. Hm, the tour was running a few minutes behind. The howl came too early.

I waited until the humans turned away from my tree and moved along the branch silently. With practiced grace, I dropped down to a lower level without a sound and blended into deeper shadow. As I moved, the darkness seemed to cling to me. It blurred my outline just enough to feel wrong. Before I could move to the next tree to follow the tour, a snapping twig to my left caught my attention.

From behind a tree emerged another wolf. His voice was low as he approached. “They’re pushing farther tonight.”

I shrugged and dropped down to the leaves with little more than a soft crunch. “They were told to. Added a few minutes to the tour to freshen it up, or whatever those two said. Adjust the perimeter and keep the patrol away. They’re running behind.” He hesitated, not entirely defiant, but obviously not too happy I was bossing him around. I’d only recently been made the patrol captain, so there was obviously still work to be done on that front. He did eventually nod and disappear, leaving me to keep watching the humans.

And at just the right moment, too. One human, a young male, had broken away from the group. He was following the lights deeper into the woods, which would put him directly where he was not allowed to be. I reacted instantly, my body lunging even before my brain caught up. Quickly and silently I rushed through the woods to get ahead of him.

I got into position just as the wandering human hit the border of where they were allowed to go. He was staring at the world around him through the phone screen rather than just with his own eyes, the idiot, which made it all the easier to sneak up on him. I stepped into view, but only partially. To the slow-witted human, I’d be little more than a dark shape, my reflective eyes catching the light of his phone camera. Something too still as it stared at him from the nearby tree.

He turned his phone toward me and froze, his breath stuttering as he lowered the object to get a better look. I narrowed my eyes and let out a soft, rumbling growl. A high-pitched, terrified scream ripped from his throat and his phone fell from his hand. I didn’t advance or attack, just lingered in his line of sight. The scent of the human’s fear spiked, but then his face shifted to confusion and landed on overwhelm.

Damnit, he was going to faint, wasn’t he? I sighed silently and pulled on my magic. I couldn’t fully manipulate the human like a true shadow wolf, but I could suppress his reaction. I stepped forward, my eyes beginning to glow. “Go back.” My voice was low and steady, laden with power. The human nodded, his eyes showing that he didn’t understand why. He turned and stumbled back toward the group, and I watched to ensure he didn’t wander off again.

Troublesome humans…but the pack needed to support itself. Our territory was boxed in by them at this point. If we were going to survive on our ancestral land, we needed to have human money to maintain our facade. It took nearly a decade to gather enough of it to buy the land and remove the human government officials who thought they could prove the place was plagued by the supernatural.

Unfortunately for them, the supernatural is not that stupid.

I started to follow the group to the EMF site when something shifted in the atmosphere. The forest grew too quiet. Even the hum of the machinery hidden throughout the trees paused. The air felt…stretched, almost. Tight. Like someone was trying to rip the atmosphere in two.

My eyes unfocused as my head tilted slightly at a ripple through the environment. It wasn’t physical; instead, it rippled through my spirit like an earthquake caused by two opposing forces brushing too close. Whatever caused it either didn’t belong…or belonged too completely. My jaw tightened slightly and my chest tightened, making my breathing shallow.

I shifted direction immediately. Whatever this was, it was more important than a little group of humans being paraded around by a pair of wolves. Without hesitation, I moved with silent precision through the terrain. I used shadows as cover instinctively, my time with the Dark’s soldiers making them a second home. In fact, as I moved, the darkness bent subtly toward me as light seemed to avoid me.

Something was coming.

I climbed the hillside and stopped abruptly at the top of a ridge. My keen eyes peered into the darkness, but I didn’t see anything. Not yet. But the direction it came from was clear. I waited another minute, but not seeing anything, I decided I better warn the Alpha. If anyone would know what disturbed the peace like this, it would be him.

Hurrying toward where the current patrol should be, I kept my ears and nose wide open until I heard a pair of wolves traveling through the underbrush. I stood in their path and they came up short, caught off guard by my sudden presence. “Keep an eye on the humans. I need to speak with the Alpha.”

Before they could argue, I disappeared into the brush, making a bee-line for the main cabin. I shifted as I went, my robes appearing around my body as it changed. When I reached the door, I didn’t bother to knock. I burst through to find Alpha Thane sitting at his desk, flipping through a stack of paperwork.

He looked up, calm as if he’d expected me. “Beta Silas, you seem uncharacteristically…flapped.” He set down the paper he was holding and looked at me with a mild expression, which only served to annoy me.

“Something’s approaching. I felt a shift like two rams grazing horns as they passed. My spirit reacted in a way I’ve never felt before.”

One eyebrow raised and his lips pursed. “Is that so?” He watched me for a moment, then I felt his consciousness tapping at mine. I released the locks and let him in, shivering at the chilly sensation of the Alpha rooting through my mind. He examined the last hour of memory, his physical body freezing when he reached the moment of the shift.

A serious expression overtook his usually-calm face. “I see. So it found its way back.”