by Bianca Griso
“Or something like that we can have letters and numbers, and she can point,” Alpha Ethan said, finally speaking. He’s been through a lot, and he kind of keeps to himself along with his pack. He lost everything in one night. Lost his mate, he just met at eighteen, his father, mother, and brother. “We can try it,” I tell them. Tyler leaves the room without being dismissed. Everyone looks at me now, but before I can do anything, Tyler comes back with something. It seems to be an Ouija board; I give him a questioning look. “Sorry, Alphas, no, we aren’t communicating with the dead, but I would like to know my Luna’s name,” Tyler said as he walks toward my mate. “My name is Tyler, your Beta, Luna, what’s your name,” Tyler said to my nameless mate. He puts the board down in front of her and says, “point to the letters to spell your name, and I’ll write it down.” He grabs a piece of paper and a pen that’s in the center of the table. She starts to lift her paw and puts it on E, and Tyler writes it. Then an S, M, E, and Tyler writes it out. Esme. “Esme, is that it?” I ask her. She nods, and I see a smile form. She is starting to feel a bit more comfortable around us. I look over to her and see her muscles aren’t so tight. Esme is starting to relax a little. “Great,” Tyler said. “Okay, so do you have friends to you need us to get in contact with it,” Tyler continues. She nods her head and starts to spell out M, A, R, I, S, A, and keeps going. We begin to spell everything out, and it’s Marisa, Cassandra, and Chelsea. “Are they friends?” I ask. Esme nods in response. “We will find them and let them know where you are,” I assure her.
“Why has our Goddess punished you?” Alpha Jack asked. She pointed out what letters she wanted to answer, and Tyler wrote it down. “I Ignored her warning. I thought they were nightmares,” Everyone was stilled.
“What was in these nightmares?” Alpha Crimson asked as nicely as he could. She starts pointing out the letters, and Tyler says, “Extinction.”
“Are you sure, Luna?” Alpha Jack questioned; she just nods in response. Everyone is silent, with nothing to say.
“Explains the disappearing of werewolves around our borders,” Alpha Crimson spoke first. “What does this mean for us?” Alpha Ethan asked. Looks over to Alpha Jack for answers; we all do. He is the oldest Alpha of us, Alpha Crimson, the second oldest. “I don’t know Ethan,” that’s all Alpha Jack said. I am lost with words like the rest of us. The room smells of fear, but not fear of dying never that, but for our kind. “We need to figure out who is doing this to us,” Landon states. “Little hard to do that when there is no trace of them little pup,” Alpha Crimson replies.
“I can ask Elder William,” I said.
“Would he know anything?” Callum, Ethan’s Beta, asked.
“It’s worth a try,” I said, getting up. “I will be back with my elder,” I tell them as I leave. Esme is at my heel. “ Darling, you can stay in with them; they won’t harm you,” I said, trying to assure her. She growls at me in response. “You can come, Esme,” I tell her. I smile at her and run my hand in her fur. She doesn’t seem to mind it; I think she would tell me otherwise.
As we walk through the garden, I look over at my mate, who is in awe. In Esme’s wolf form, she really can’t see all the beautiful colors. We usually see different shades of red when in wolf form. “I will take you to see the garden again, once you are human,” I tell her. She looks up at me, and I smile at her.
I wave to get the elder’s attention, and the older man waves me over to him. I walk over with my mate next to me. I shake William’s hand and greet him. “Alpha Mason, the third Alpha I had served and most likely my last, how can I help you,” Elder William states.
“It will be better if you came with us in the conference room Elder William,” I told him.
“This is the first time you had asked for help, and the first time any Alpha in this pack requests me to go in that room,” he tells me. “I will do what you ask my Alpha,” he continued. He starts to follow me back to the meeting. We need to figure out who is doing this. We walk back to the conference meeting room, where I left all of the Alphas. “This is my Elder William; he will help us figure out what’s happening,” I tell them.
“So is everyone going to know that our kind is disappearing,” Alpha Crimson comments.
“Not just the people in this room, my sister Anna who is busy, and Alpha Jack’s mate Lorraine,” I state. “So with all comments aside, let’s get working,” I order.
Chapter Four
Esme
The Moon Goddess punishing me is a horrible feeling. She loves all, even the ones who don’t believe in her. I know I was wrong to ignore her warning, but I was scared. I wasn’t ready to embrace who I am; I’m not sure I am yet. She wants me to embrace the white wolf that is within me. I’m not sure if I’m ready for that or to be Luna of this pack. Standing there with all the Alphas in one room, it was very intimidating to be there.
As we sat there in the meeting when we bought in Elder William, he had dug up old texts he had to study in school growing up. Looking to see if whatever is doing this now was doing this back then. William can’t recall anything like this happening. If we learned anything yesterday, it was that we are going to have to look deep for answers.
Everything is changing now. I have to embrace being Luna of Pack Rivers, the White Wolf. The White wolves, also known as the albino wolves, are more spiritual to the Moon Goddess herself. That doesn’t mean we are well-liked by our pack members, the others don’t like my kind, and I have to rule them. I’m not sure if people will take it well when they find out a white wolf is their pack’s Luna. Maybe they won’t really care and more focused on the war.
The Alphas feel guilty lying to their people, but they didn’t have much of a choice. They have to protect the pack, so they had to tell them something. They couldn’t tell them the truth; the packs wouldn’t react well. We tell them we are being attacked and killed, but we don’t know why, who, or even how. They understand rogues and fear them, so they would listen and follow curfew.
I lived with the average pack members; I understand them. I was one of them. Since I got here, I haven’t been back to my old home, the ranch I rent, which is fine. That place was just temporary until I found something bigger. This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but this will do. The Pack House is huge; there’s at least four floors, plus a basement. I haven’t been able to look around completely, being in my wolf form.
I am not sure if people are staring at me, being Mason’s mate, or because I am a white wolf. They are continually bowing at me every time they walk by. Once I am in human form, I need to get them to stop doing that every five minutes. I do appreciate it, but it can be too much.
Once I am human again, my family is going to visit the Pack House. I want to wait until I’m human again; that way, I can explain things myself. Mason contacted my friends and family personally, letting them know I am safe. When I am human again, I have wanted to ask what happened to Mason’s parents; they just disappeared.
I hope living in the Pack House will be less stressful once the other Alphas are gone. It’s only the Alphas, along with Landon Alpha Jack’s son, and Lorraine Alpha Jack’s mate. They are all leaving the morning or afternoon the day after the party. I think Anna, our head doctor, she’s my mate’s sister is going too.
Something is going on between Anna and Alpha Ethan; you can cut the tension with a knife. Alpha Jack has been trying to help Ethan with whatever is going on with Ethan and Anna. I hope everything works out between the two of them. I am going to ask Mason what’s going on with them.
“Esme, let’s go for a run,” a voice interrupts my thoughts. I turn around and see my mate standing right in front of me. He starts to strip down to the nude. I turn away, hoping he didn’t see me turn pink. The omegas by the door open for us as Mason shifts into his wolf.
Once Mason is done shifting, he runs out the door, and I follow him out. I am right at his heel, with a nice breeze run through my white fur. I smell my mate’s woodsy scent within the wind. His grey coat is
moving with the breeze. His eyes match mine, although his eyes are red because he’s the Alpha. With being Alpha, he is the biggest wolf I have seen. His paws are double my size.
We run past the gate going into the Pack House, and run into the woods. I follow Mason all the way out to the meadows. The river is next the meadow of flowers off of the trail we followed out here. The trail leads to a open meadow covered in all beautiful flowers and colors. As we run into the meadow, I do a love nip at his butt. Mason whips his head over at me, I think mostly in shock. I smirk at him, and he tackles me in the meadow. Pollen goes everywhere, and Mason sneezes a lot. I start to giggle at him. Mason catches me off-guard and gets on top of me. I nip his nose and he wiggles it and frowns. I lick is nose, and he starts to lick my face. I catch him off-guard this time, and I am now on top of my mate. I start to lick him, and we start to roll overall through the meadow. Pollen is all in the air, and the flowers are destroyed and squished.
Mason finally pins me down, and I can’t get up this time. He chuckles at me and then frowns. He licks my face again, and I nip his nose. Mason then gets off of me and lays next to me. I curl up to my mate with the best of my abilities. I look up at my mate and lick his nose. I start to drift off a little bit, feeling a bit tired.
My ears perk up as we hear Alpha Ethan and Anna walking down the trails. I get up to see where they are going. Mason stops me and turns back into a human. “Esme no darling, we can talk about Alpha Ethan and Anna in my office,” Mason said. I realize my mate naked in front of me; I turn around. Mason must have noticed and asked, “Have you not seen a naked man before?” I don’t turn around when he talks. I hear him sigh, and his bones start to break. I have never been with anyone; I wanted to wait to find my mate, which many people in this pack do that.
Once he is done shifting back into a wolf, we walk back to the Pack House. We take our time walking through the trail back home. Once we do, Mason turns back into a human. I sigh in response wanting the ability to do that again. Mason turns to face me and says, “we will get you back to human again, Esme. Now come on, follow me into my office, and I can tell you what’s going on with Ethan.”
We walk into his office, and I sit on the floor it is much easier for me to do so. He sits in his fancy chair. I miss the carpet that’s in the conference room, it’s more comfortable than the hardwood floors in his office. “Esme Alpha Ethan has been through a lot and is continuing to go through a lot. Something happened at the Blood Moon Pack. No one knows what exactly happened, including Ethan himself. He lost everything a few years ago when his father died their Alpha six years ago. I believe the anniversary was fairly recent too. My sister is helping. I’m not entirely sure what’s going with that. Alpha Jack, as you noticed, is trying to understand what has happened in-between Anna and Ethan,” Mason explains. I sit there, understanding what he means.
“Anna has found her mate, but it’s impossible because Ethan already had found his,” Mason said, reading my thoughts. I walk up to him and nuzzle my head into Mason’s side.
“We will get you back to human so we can properly get to know one another. I can’t wait to kiss you Esme and see with my own eyes to see how beautiful you are,” he assures me. He holds on to me, and I cry a little. I want to wrap my around him and kiss him. “It’s okay, Esme, we will figure out what to do,” he said, speaking the truth. I know it just hurts. Not able to talk to any of my pack members, not really. I leave his arms and lick his face and leave the office.
I head to the river; I want answers not just for me, though. For Ethan too, see if he can be happy also. The woods are beautiful full of trees and trail to walk; flowers are everywhere. The scent smells fresh and beautiful. I sit in front of the river, and I focus my energy. “I know you can hear me, Luna,” I tell her.
“I can Esme what is it that you want,” she said.
“I need to be human; I need to communicate with my pack members as Luna. I need to get to know my people like they need to get to know me. I also want to know if I can assure Ethan he can be happy with Anna,” I tell her.
“He can be happy if he lets himself and forgives himself. As of your situation, you are not quite there yet,” She told me. I sigh in frustration, but know I need to be patient “When will I be ready?” I ask.
“You will know my young wolf,” Luna, our Moon Goddess, said, disappearing. Before I can react or turn around, I howl in pain. Wolves are everywhere; we are under attack. Before I can do anything, everything turns black...
Chapter Five
Mason
After Esme left my office, I started to do my daily alpha paperwork. The other Alphas are using the conference room and the spare office to do their paperwork as well. They may be away from their pack, but not their duties. I sigh to myself, being a little overwhelmed in paperwork.
I go inside my desk and grab a bottle of Johnny Walker and grab myself a glass. Before I can bring the glass to my lips, I feel an awful pain in my side. I drop the glass, and it shatters all over the floor. I fall on the floor, screaming from the pain. The doors swing open, and Tyler runs to my side. “Something is wrong,” I warn Tyler. I have this feeling in my gut; something is wrong with Esme. My mate is hurt, and I can’t even move myself because of the pain. I growl in frustration. “Alpha, what can I do. What’s wrong?” Tyler asks questions trying to help me.
Anna starts to lift my shirt. I’m assuming looking for a wound. “Mason, what’s wrong!” Anna shouts at me, finally breaking me away from my thoughts. “Esme, find her,” I was finally able to tell them something. “Okay,” Anna said. She’s still talking to me, but it’s going in and out. All of a sudden, I feel like I’m being moved. I blink my eyes and realize I’m now on my couch in my office. Anna is gone somewhere. I blink a few more times. Tyler is in the back of the room, freaking out. Alpha Jack is over there, trying to calm him down. I look over next to me is Alpha Ethan, with an anxious expression. Ethan starts to say something, but it’s like no one has audio to their voice. I can’t hear a damn thing. I feel like I can’t breathe, my side hurts so bad, the pain is unbearable.
The pain is still unbearable until I felt a cold gel type of texture. Anna came back to put whatever she put on me. She took away some of the pain. Everything starts to come in clear again, and the sound is beginning to come back. Before I can respond to anyone, the door swings open. It’s Aaron; he walks up to Tyler and punches him. Aaron doesn’t look pissed off, more like annoyed. Alpha Jack goes up to Aaron, and they just walk out of the office after Jack said something in Aaron’s ear. Alpha Jack spoke too low to hear.
Alpha Crimson walks in the office, pissed off. Crimson goes over to my desk and knocks stuff over. Alex and Luke run after Crimson to get him out of the room. Everything in this room is clear, and I can hear everyone, but I still feel like I can’t say anything. Am I in shock, maybe? I’m not sure.
At some point in the commotion, Anna left my side. I still see Alpha Ethan kneeling beside me, but everyone else is slowly disappearing. Once it was just Ethan and me, it gets easier to think. “What’s going?” I ask Ethan, finally getting my voice back. The look on Ethan’s face tells me he doesn’t want to be the one to deliver bad news. Ethan sigh before he starts to explain, “Listen Mason, I didn’t want to be the one to tell you, but with my experience, I was tasked this. The horrible pain you had experienced was from your mate. Esme is hurt; there was an attack out in the woods by the river. It was rogues, not a small pack relocating this time. Her whole side is torn up; we started the investigation; it seemed to be a surprise attack.”
Ethan looks over at me to see my reaction. I nod my head for him to continue; I need to know what happened to my mate. Ethan continues to tell me the worst news, “Esme is okay. Anna is taking care of her. Only the best for her.” Ethan seemed to hesitate to say Anna’s name; I’m going to have to talk to Ethan about the two of them. I find myself asking the question, “Who found her?” Ethan starts to continue to explain things, “Tyler was supposed to lead the pack and
get things done. He didn’t; he panicked badly. Aaron had found your mate. Aaron took control of the situation and found Esme by the river. The rogues was all over her; he called out for help. Alpha Crimson came over to help Aaron, but they are pissed. Aaron punched Tyler in the face, and Alpha Crimson came in here and knocked stuff off your desk. Anna put some special pain reliever on you for situations like this. It’s what was used on me when I lost Allie,” Ethan looks guilty when he spoke her name.
“I need to see my mate, now help me up,” I tell Ethan. Ethan Looks at me like I’m crazy or has three heads. “Mason, you can’t move; you need rest. You may not have been attacked, but your body was still very strained. Believe me; I know your body needs to rest. You’re not going anywhere,” Ethan demands. Ethan has a look in his eye, determination.
I don’t care how determined he is; I am going to see my mate if he likes it or not. I take Ethan by surprise and push him out the way. I slowly get off the couch, but Ethan was too quick for me. I am still in a bit of pain. The pain is numb to where I can tolerate it. Ethan pushes me back slowly and sighs. “I understand wanting to be with your mate. I understand because I was in that position,” Ethan continues to say as he sits on the couch. “Even though I knew Allie was dead. I still felt the need to be with her, and once I got there, I didn’t want to leave her. I promise I will help you to see her if you at least rest a few hours. Esme is in surgery; you would just be getting in everyone’s way.” I know he’s right. All I would be doing is getting in everyone’s way. Plus, my body feels like it wants to shut down for a while. “Esme is in good hands, Mason, your sister Anna is taking care of her,” Ethan reminds me. I nod in response, and almost immediately, my eyes started getting heavy.
I start to wake up a bit; my eyes are still shut closed. I hear voices in the background, talking in hushed voices. It sounds like Alpha Jack and Tyler. Tyler sounds panicked, and Alpha Jack sounds calm and collective. “Alpha Mason isn’t going to like this; he won’t react well,” Tyler said. I hear the door swing open. “Is he awake yet?” I hear Anna’s voice sounding worried. I hear a sigh, and Alpha Jack whisper is hushed, “No, not yet, hopefully soon. No, he won’t like it that Esme didn’t awake yet. She is in her human form. The Moon Goddess gave her permission to shift.” After I hear that, I couldn’t help myself.