Blood Moon

It always felt like home when I was with the pack, like this was where I was meant to be. Among our small pack, consisting of around twenty of us, I was the only natural-born shifter, which automatically made me alpha, even if I was the youngest.

“Good turn out. All of us are here, except for Daniel, who had to run errands for his wife. Ready wolves?” I asked, looking at them all in turn. In response, a few of them shifted, but my three good friends stayed human.

To be honest, I didn’t really care that Daniel wasn’t here. Just a few months ago, he tried to challenge my authority as an alpha, and I handed his butt back to him. A handful of wolves voted him out of the pack, but I couldn’t bring myself to kick him out. No matter what, he was family.

As soon as I finished speaking, Mel and Calyx waited to talk to me. “Um, you guys go on and start running. We’ll catch up.” With a blink, the other wolves were gone.

“We haven’t had time to talk lately. How are you?” Mel asked, her eyes scanning me with motherly concern.

I shrugged. “I could be better. How is Autumn?” I questioned. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Calyx shift uneasily. Mel looked down at the ground.

“Let me guess. It was Zak.” A long time ago, before Mel was a wolf, she was once married to a human, Zak, and they had a daughter, Autumn, who was Mel's pride and joy.

She nodded, biting her lip, her eyes glazing over with unshed tears. Zak must won the temporary custody battle that was ongoing for years.

“Come here.” I extended my arms, and she buried her face into my shoulder. Behind her, I saw Calyx pretend-gagging. I resisted the urge to kick him very hard where it hurts.

He stuck out his tongue, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. She pulled away, and I smiled reassuringly at her. “You’re one of the strongest women I know. You will gain custody of Autumn, and everything will be fine.”

I turned to Calyx, and we did our classic hand dance. My arms embraced him and he squeezed me.

“It’s felt like I haven’t seen you in years,” I admitted, and he grinned from ear to ear.

“Did you miss me?” He wiggled his eyebrows, and I lightly punched him.

“You’re such a-”

“Are we going to run?” Mel interrupted in an impatient tone, clearly wanting to smack us for our jeering. I laughed, as did Calyx.

“Yeah, let's head out,” I confirmed as I got down on all fours and shifted, feeling every intense moment. In a matter of minutes, I was wolfed out. I looked at my friends, Mel and Calyx.

Calyx was a gorgeous ebony wolf. Even though he dyed his hair red a couple of weeks back, his wolf still had silky black fur with eyes the color of two Hershey’s Kisses. His tongue lolled out his mouth, and he looked at me with expectancy. I glanced over at Mel, and she was also a wolf, but a subtle chestnut one in that.

She indicated that she too was ready, so I started darting through the forest, weaving through trees, Calyx and Mel hot on my tail. I’d only seen a blood moon once in my life before tonight, but it was just before I turned sixteen when my foster parents kicked me out.

I walked out of their life when I finally decided to dye my hair blue. I left their house with a few dollars in my pocket and a bag of clothes on my back. I didn’t know what to do, so I came to the pack and confided. Mel negotiated for me to stay in an apartment in the city since she was a real estate agent.

I took in the beauty of the trees at night, the glow of the moon eerily casting down its orange light on us. The trees seemed to contain a life of their own in their dark green foliage, which hid the star-speckled night. My nose tilted upwards, and I searched for the pack’s scent. They were at the clearing.

Calyx was by my side as all three of us sprinted. Mel was a tad bit slower than both of us, so Calyx took that to his advantage by racing full-speed ahead.

Suddenly, my nose hit a stale stench in the air, and before I had time to react, I was standing in front of a man, who was about six feet tall. I yelped and scrambled backward, but the man grabbed my scruff. I snapped my jaws at him, and he just dug his finger in the groove of my neck and collarbone.

Both Mel and Calyx were snapping at the man’s leg, but he kicked Mel, and she whimpered. Calyx nuzzled her gently and stayed by her side. I snarled in the man’s face, causing him to chuckle.

“You couldn’t hurt me, even if you wanted to, mutt,” he spat out the last word, and a warning growl escaped Calyx. The man turned to the midnight-black wolf. “Settle back down Winter. Your precious alpha will be fine.” Calyx backed up in shock that the man knew his last name.

“Sarika. My master requests a concourse with you.”

I slashed his arms with my claws, but he seemed unaffected. “Meet him in the Belle Vue in an hour.” The man let me go and turned to stalk away.

“And Sarika?” I looked up at the mention of my name, still reeling from the encounter. “I highly suggest coming if you want to see your wolf friend alive again.”

My eyes narrowed. Wolf friend? All of the wolves were here, except...

"Daniel," Calyx whispered, already back into human form. As soon as the man was gone, I shifted back as well. The pack heard the commotion and came to see what had happened. Calyx gripped my shoulder, which was bare. I was cold from the frigid night air hitting my open flesh, and I bit my lip so hard that I tasted a metallic twang in my mouth.

“Are you-”

“I have to go. He never said I couldn’t bring anyone,” I justified and stared at Calyx with a grim expression.

“I’ll go with you, don’t worry. But how the hell did he know our names?” Calyx questioned.

“I don’t know. Unless he had been watching us.” At this, I nervously looked around to make sure no one was watching us disperse at this very moment. I stared intently at the pack, and they all peered back with their wolves, predatory eyes, their gazes fierce with rage.

“We’re willing to fight with you, no matter what,” Mel said, her fierce gaze as determined as mine.

I gave her a weak smile. “I’ll call you guys if things heat up.” She smiled sympathetically. Turning back towards Calyx, I nodded.

I led the pack back to the outskirts of the woods, and they all went back to their apartments and homes in the city. I slipped into the driver’s seat of my car, and Calyx hopped in the passenger.

We were enveloped in the overwhelming silence and shock of that man's sheer strength. Both of us seemed to have minds racing a mile a minute. However, hearing the pounding of my own heart amidst the quiet ambiance felt startling, more than the man's impact on me.

“Sara,” Calyx called my name after a few moments of silence, his dark eyes focusing on me.

“Yeah?” I croaked out unintentionally, my nerves jittering about at the sudden shift of atmosphere. I didn't dare look up at him.

“Be careful,” he warned and took up my hand.

“Yeah, I know,” I said in an impatient manner, but that was only because Calyx’s hands were warm. Yeah... That was the reason.

I started the car, and we set off toward Belle Vue's.