by Eva Harper
Time seemed to pass quickly after the gathering, one day into the next. Almost every week, an Alpha would visit our home to speak to Theo about some important manner. Theo claimed he didn’t want to be like the previous Enforcer who was unapproachable and closed off. He wanted to be accessible and work together with the Alphas.
On days that we didn’t have company, Theo and I would cook and take walks around his property. He made sure to have two guards following us at all times, although he thought I didn’t know. Werewolves were not the quietest people.
Since Theo was more concerned with the protection of the border, he had the guards stationed at the front of his house to monitor the perimeter as well as the house. The guards would take turns, leaving the house to check in with the border guards every hour. This meant that Theo was super protective whenever I opened the door, and I had made it a game to see if I could beat him to it.
The doorbell rang on a Tuesday when Theo was in his office, talking to Alpha Trissur. I looked up from the book I was reading and marked my page before setting it near my feet. I crawled off the couch and tiptoed to the door. I peeked back and still heard Theo’s steady voice on the phone. Theo told me Gabriel was going to stop by sometime in the next day, and I was excited to see someone I knew.
The door was heavy, and I had to lean with my entire body to pry it open. As I threw it open, I looked around curiously, no one was at the door. I went as far as stepping out on the porch and looking on either side of the house.
Theo wandered out from his office and met me at the door with a scowl on his face.
“Why did you open the door without me? What if something happened to you?”
“Oh, don’t be such a baby,” I teased, elevating my voice. “No one’s even here.”
“Then who rang the bell, Margo?” he asked seriously. Before I could open my mouth to answer, Theo grabbed my hand and pulled me into the house. He flipped the two locks on the door and walked up the stairs quickly, nearly dragging me behind him.
He pushed me into the bedroom, locking that door behind us as well. I watched as his eyes glazed over, mind linking someone.
“Theo,” I said softly. The situation was settling in over me as we stood there. His eyes came back to me, and he pulled me towards him, pressing me to his chest. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, little one,” he breathed, kissing the top of my head. “But I’m going to keep you safe. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried about that,” I admitted, pulling my head back from his chest. “I’m-”
“Margo,” his voice was strained.
“I’m just confused,” I continued, trying to step away. His arms surrounded my body and held me in a tight prison, forcing me to stay glued to his frame. “Theo?”
“Margo,” he said again. The color of fear in his voice made me pause.
“What’s wrong?” He didn’t answer. “Theo, what’s wrong?”
“If you trust me, I need you to face the door when I let go of you.” My body clenched at his request. I slowly slid away from his body, his hands guiding me, and stood in front of him. His face was looking away from me, staring at the window.
I lowered my head and stepped to the side, walking the few steps towards the door. I heard his footsteps move to the other side of the room, and I tensed every second the room was silent.
“Theo?” I whispered.
“Close your eyes, Margo.”
“What’s going on?”
Theo’s hand violently hit the window, and on instinct, though I knew I shouldn’t have, I turned towards him. Theo stared out the window, his fist pressed against the glass, staring at something outside. I tilted my head as something pale stuck out from the dark, green leaves. I followed it up and saw it connected to something bigger.
I stepped towards Theo, and he turned around, mouth open to tell me to turn around again, but I couldn’t hear him, because he had moved just enough to reveal the body that was strung up in the tree facing our window.
Little White Envelopes
My breath was knocked out of me, and I tried to swallow, but my mouth was too dry, and I just choked. My feet propelled themselves forward, not even hearing Theo as he called my name. I hit the window with enough force to shake it, arms beating the glass, nose pressed against the plane.
Theo pulled me from the window, but I fought him, kicking, and flailing my arms. I memorized the face; female, young, curly brown hair, completely naked. It was as if I was hanging there myself. Theo gained a better grip on me, one around my collarbone under my right arm, and the other around my waist.
He plucked me from the window, gently settling us on the ground. I fought against him weakly, pushing at his arms, trying to find out where the noise was coming from. Theo shushed me. So close to the sound, I realized it was me screaming. The noise was breathless and wavering.
His hand pushed my hair back from my clammy forehead multiple times, peeling the strands out of my vision. At some point, another body came into the room and began asking Theo questions. His hold on me didn’t loosen while he was talking and tightened more when soft whimpers made their way through my lips.
I turned my head slightly, restrained by the cage of Theo’s arms. Outside the window, wolves started lowering the body that was strung up with rope. When the body was on the ground, they undid the ropes and checked the body in a makeshift autopsy.
A man came and told Theo of something found on the body and wondered if it should be brought up to him. He said no and assured the guard he would be down shortly to look at the body. He said this in hushed tones with my ears covered by his body, as if he was hoping it would block the sound.
Slowly, my heart rate returned to normal, my breathing evened, and my body stopped shaking. I pushed gently on Theo’s chest, and he loosened his grip, leaving just enough room for me to sit up on my own.
I couldn’t look him in the eyes. Instead, I stared at a freckle on his arm that danced when he clenched his muscle. His face scrunched up and relaxed and moved as he had an internal battle with himself.
He stood up, grabbed my arms, and forced me to stand with him. I didn’t know where we were going until I saw a warm bath.
Theo sat next to me on the stool, running his right hand over my curls; his left hand gripped his chin. The water continued to fill as I sat in the tub. When it was filled, Theo turned the water off and watched me sit for some five or six minutes.
He left me in the bathtub, most likely going to meet with the guards outside to look at the body. I didn’t move until Theo came back in and unplugged the drain. I stood up, with assistance from Theo, and he wrapped a towel around me. He led me to the bed, slipped his shirt over my head, and sat next to me.
“Talk to me,” he said roughly. I blinked twice and scratched my hand.
“About what?”
“You know what, Margo.” He wasn’t joking around.
“What do you want me to say?” My head remained bowed, unable to look at him still.
“I want you to say what’s going on in your head. You haven’t looked at me in two hours.”
“Why did she look like me?”
“It was a threat from Porter’s group, there was something carved into her back that made it clear,” he said. I was glad he didn’t try to sugar coat it for me.
“What was it?”
“It said ‘lunam actio postulate.’ It means ‘the moon demands action.’” I shivered as his tongue grazed the Latin words.
“Action? Action as in killing humans,” I said, understanding the meaning. Theo breathed out heavily and put his hand on my knee. I pulled my knees together, but he didn’t remove his hand.
“Nothing is going to happen to you, Margo. We have more packs with us than he does; we have more Alphas, more wolves.”
“That’s not the problem. The problem is that the longer I stay here, the more people get hurt.”
“That’s not true, you can’t think like that.” Theo stood up and w
alked to the edge of the room before turning around.
“Theo, how many other people are going to be strung up in our trees? How many others are going to be left on our doorstep? How many will die in that battle?” My voice rose higher and louder as I spoke. My hands frantically clutched the shirt around my thighs and pulled at the hem.
“Margo, that girl was a wolf, she wasn’t human. This is not your fault. Reed Porter has been looking for a reason to attack for years, and he used his hatred of humans to rally his troops.”
“Wolves, humans, it’s all the same, Theo. It’s all lives being taken away!”
He stormed over to me and grabbed my chin in his hand, forcing me to submit to him.
“You need to stop talking like this. This is my problem, Margo. This is my battle to be fought, not yours. I need you healthy and happy and not worrying about bodies in our trees.” His eyes were hard, it reminded me of the first time I met him, looking up into those cerulean gems. “Now, you’re going to stay up here and get some rest. I’m going to go and make some phone calls. We need to be prepared, if these threats are coming, this battle is probably going to happen sooner rather than later.”
I nodded and jerked my chin out of his grip, rubbing it slightly to make him feel guilty. He sighed and kneeled in front of me, turning my head towards him with his hand.
“What would I do without you?” he asked wistfully. I snorted at his cliché. “What?”
“You’re corny,” I told him, finally smiling a little at him.
“And you’re smiling.” I wiped it off my face, but he stood up happily anyways. “I’ll be back in a little while, my love."
I nodded as he left and curled up on top of the sheets. I couldn’t close my eyes, so I laid there for a while and listened to the gentle hum of Theo’s voice through our vents.
We took it slow for the next few days. Theo doubled the number of guards outside our house and the ones around the border. The guards caught one wolf trying to sneak through the territory lines, but they ran off before the guards could question them.
A few of the other Alphas received threatening, ominous notes as well. Caddy called Theo and told him of the deer antlers he found on the pack’s front entrance. It was derogatory to refer to humans as deer as if we were their prey.
Theo told me of each of these. I didn’t have much to do, so I made a poster with all the items and packs, color-coordinated it, and hung it on the wall. Theo laughed at me when he saw it, but after the phone calls kept pouring in, day after day, he started using the chart as well.
Over the next two weeks, the progression of events accelerated; Reed Porter was ready for this battle, whether we were or not. Small skirmishes broke out on rogue land and the edges of pack borders, testing the waters to see how their aggressions would be matched.
Several human pack members had become the victims of violent crimes and murders; pack members wanting to protect their families by taking care of the issue themselves. It was what Reed Porter was hoping for, that this issue would turn pack members against each other.
On the first day of the month, Alpha Omar, the pack farthest away from us on the East coast, received a plain white card with the number “5”. Alpha Horik received the same card with the number “4”; he lived slightly closer. A third card was sent to Alpha Trissur, only a few hours away from us, with the number “3”. A bordering Alpha was given the number “2” a few days later.
Theo called the Alphas together when the third card was received. They decided to come to our territory and the neighboring packs when the number "1" was received to prepare for the battle. Hundreds of thousands of wolves from across the country camped in our territory, sleeping outside in their wolf forms, coming inside Gabriel’s packhouse to eat and bathe.
Caddy and Bodhi came with their Warriors and wolves who volunteered to fight. I made up the guest room for them to stay inside, but they insisted on sleeping outside with their pack. I knew Theo wanted to do the same, but he wouldn’t dare leave me by myself.
Packs across the continent were joining together, ready to fight for their own freedoms as they received threats from packs on their borders. We were not the only ones fighting this battle, and that somehow made it better and worse at the same time.
Two days after the wolves arrived, a Warrior from Gabriel’s pack noticed a white envelope was hung on a tree at the edge of the territory. Theo brought me along when he went to open it. We trudged through the territory, nearly a mile and a half of the forest, and came to the tree. Alpha wolves stood behind us, waiting for Theo to open it.
I stood next to Caddy and Bodhi as he peeled the envelope and took out the last card. He took it out slowly. It was a plain white card like all the others, but there was no number inside. Instead, there was a smear of blood.
Theo lifted it and smelled it. He turned to us, confused.
“It’s deer blood,” he said, looking at the other Alphas and then locking eyes with me. The Alphas became tense and turned in fighting poses as footsteps quickly approached.
They relaxed when they noticed it was one of our wolves, but he was panting, shaking, and nervous. His Alpha barked out an order to tell them what was wrong.
“They’re here.”
Zero.
Fate
I didn’t move an inch from Theo’s side as we made our way back to the territory. His hand gripped mine too tightly. He walked faster than me, and I jogged to keep up with the wolves.
The Alphas were preparing for war, their faces like steel, bodies shaking on the verge of shifting. Caddy’s face was dark, like nothing I’ve ever seen on him. Bodhi’s expression matched his, and they grabbed each other’s hands.
We broke the tree line and came into the clearing where the warrior led us. Our wolves had already shifted, a portion of them were in the clearing but most were still tucked back in the trees.
Reed Porter stood in the middle of the clearing, casually dressed, kicking his heel back and forth.
Theo pulled me along with him at the front of our group, walking towards Reed with disdain in every step. I trailed behind awkwardly, trying not to shrink away from Reed’s wolves. It was difficult.
“It’s not too late to hand over your prey,” Reed angrily yelled, narrowing his eyes. Theo growled low in his chest. “You really think one little human is worth all of this?”
“It’s not about one little human,” Theo growled.
“You’re foolish, Theodore. Just like your father was, and where did it get him?” His eyes closed a little, and he tilted his head to the side, peeking over at me. Theo stepped in front of me and snarled, more beast than man.
“Don’t look at her. And don’t talk about my father.”
“I don’t know how you can even stand to look at her, let alone mate her. She’s food, she’s not a fucking Luna.”
Theo didn’t take kindly to that, and I had to give him a hard tug on his hand to keep him from starting the battle right then.
Theo mind-linked someone quickly as Reed glanced at all the wolves. From behind me, someone touched the top of my arms. I whipped my head around quickly and saw Eli and another guard.
“Go with them,” Theo murmured. I stared at him for a moment too long, and he pushed my hip to encourage me. I stumbled a few steps with them. Theo grabbed my hand and stopped me just long enough for him to place a kiss on my palm.
We turned, and the wolves parted just enough to give us a walkway. I walked first; Eli and the guard flanked me from either side. Halfway down, someone stepped into the parted area, and we stopped moving.
I noticed Albia’s blonde hair and looked at her, confused, trying to catch her eyes, but she was paying no attention to me. She walked fluidly, staring straight ahead at something behind us. We moved to either side of the pathway so she wouldn’t walk straight into us and watched as she continued on her way.
Theo looked back to find where I was and turned fully around as Albia quickly approached. He grabbed her arm menacingly as she
came up to him, but in one sharp shake, she broke free. He growled at her disobedience. She was unfazed.
She continued marching until she stood right in front of Reed Porter. He started breathing deeper and moved in towards her. His right hand reached out and touched her cheek gently. She shivered.
“Mate,” Reed growled deeply. He then blinked rapidly, shaking his head, muttering the word, "No, no, no,” over and over again.
Theo’s growl could be heard for miles. He was halfway shifting, trying desperately to hold onto his human side, but it was a losing battle.
Reed stepped in front of Albia protectively at the new threat. His eyes darkened, and I knew he was fighting his own wolf. Theo shifted completely, lowering himself into a crouch, ready to attack. Reed pushed Albia back into the arms of his warriors and shifted as quickly as he could.
This snapped the other wolves into motion, and suddenly they were all shifting.
Eli pulled my arm harder, and we quickly ran to the back of our wolves. I knew very little about wolf fights, but I did know it was heavily dependent on strategy. With Reed and Albia as mates, it set both sides back. No one on our side wanted to hurt Albia, and no one on their side wanted to hurt their new Luna’s family or friends.
It was an impasse. No one moved. They bared their teeth at each other, their fur stood up, making them look larger, and they looked to Theo and the other Alphas for an order to attack.
I didn’t know what God to pray to, humans believed in many different gods, but wolves believed in the power of the moon. I prayed to both asking for protection and guidance. Eli placed his hands on my shoulders, standing almost a head taller than me. His grip was tight.
I knew he wanted to be fighting with his pack and family, but Theo needed someone he could trust to watch over me. There were a few others that stayed back near us when the other wolves moved forward.
“How can they be mates?” I murmured, more to myself than anyone else.
“Because fate is cruel,” Eli responded, giving my shoulders a quick squeeze.