Page 60 of The Wolf Moon

“Still only you, then,” I confirmed with a frown, “The packs won’t care until they have a future. I won’t go back, Diana. If I go back, Roman would only have an excuse to continue once I’m no longer in the path of danger. I can’t risk that.”

“Are you that dense?” Diana said in exasperation. I felt a flash of irritation at her insult, but didn’t act on it. She only continued, stepping forward to grab me by my arms roughly. “You’re the reason for everything. The Goddesses didn’t listen to me. They’re only looking at you. Do you really think they wouldn’t grant us a future with you? Of course they will.”

“How do you know that?” I snapped back, “Maybe you were just a fluke. Why would they give so many wolves mates in one snap of a finger, but just one a child? It doesn’t make sense. They don’t make sense. And I’m tired of bothering with them. I’m tired of everything, Diana!”

“I understand that, but this is the entire existence of werewolves on the line. You need to be strong and-”

“Are you blind?” I interrupted her angrily. “The werewolves lives are on the line? You’re deities! You’re superior beings holding humans in isolation and willing to massacre them mercilessly! Figure it out without me!” I lifted my hands and shoved her by her shoulders forcefully, making her release me in the process.

Just as Diana stumbled back, I saw a blur of movement to my right. In half a moment, I turned to look in surprise, but Greg was already running past me determinedly. He dove into Diana with a look of desperation, his body colliding with hers with a sickening thud.

I expected it to be something useless. After all, what can an eleven year old child do to a full grown lycan? But a strangle cry of pain erupted from Diana’s throat as she stumbled away from his form quickly, bending forward before screeching in agony. The sound lifted through the trees terrifyingly, causing a stir of commotion as wildlife fled from nearby. I rushed forward towards her, halting with hesitation to look to my younger brother.

Greg stood with a wet blade in his grip, panting heavily with widened eyes of horror. I looked from the blade, the hilt engraved in wolves, to Diana. She stumbled further back, yelping in pain before falling to the ground.

“Diana!” I cried out, running to her with my heart pounding even louder in my throat. I reached for where her hand gripped her wound and blood seeped dangerously over my own hand. Greg was still too small to aim for the chest. The silver knife had been buried into her stomach mercilessly. “Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.” I whispered the words in rising panic.

Diana was gasping in agony, her eyes wide with surprise and fear. It’s silver, Roman had said, it’s lethal to wolves. She was gasping for air in my arms, grasping at her bleeding stomach painfully.

“You… you have to… come back…” Diana continued to press me, despite her injury.

“I’m sorry, Mila,” Greg cried out, no doubt realizing his mistake when seeing my reaction on the ground with this wolf. “I thought she was trying to take you away again! I thought she wanted to hurt you. I didn’t… I swear, I didn’t mean to…” I was looking at Diana helplessly, horror on my face as she struggled to breath around the pain. And then I lifted my head to look at my brother, who looked just as horrified with blood on his own hands.

I looked from Greg to Diana and back again, tense and torn. Diana would die like this. She may die no matter what I do. Either way, she’d been injured. A deity shapeshifter had been injured with a forbidden weapon by the hands of a human. A terror was rising within me and with it a growing dread. Diana was in danger. Greg was in danger.

“Hold on, Diana,” I told her softly, watching as she began to fade in and out of consciousness, “Just hold on, okay?” I lowered her to the ground carefully and then stood to walk towards Greg cautiously, yet urgently.

He stood frozen before me, a new fear on his face. I didn’t have to ask. He was afraid of what I’d think of him. I bent to my knee in front of him and then held out my hand slowly.

“I’m sorry,” Greg repeated sincerely, tears in his eyes, “I didn’t want her to hurt you.”

“I know,” I said, a warmth of fondness still shining around the sorrow in my heart despite the horrors surrounding us. He looked from me to my hand and then lifted the blade in his with a trembling grip. Then he dropped the bloodied weapon onto the palm of my hand before stepping forward to wrap his arms around my neck in a fearful embrace.

“I’m sorry,” He repeated over and over, crying. I touched his hair, closing my eyes to inhale his scent carefully. Behind the blood, he smelled of stolen sweets, woody projects, the heat of welding, and strains of hard work.

“You’re a good boy,” I told him firmly, the words choking in tears in my throat that I stuffed back with a hard swallow. “I need you to go home. Tell mother and father that I love them, understand?”

“No,” Greg cried stubbornly.

“Gregory, go home,” I demanded, my tone much more sharp. I pushed him from me firmly, but didn’t shove him away further. Instead, I lifted my hand and rubbed his head one last time. “Go home and live a long life.”

His eyes, so similar to my own, were red with tears. He stiffened at my demand, his hands clenched into fists, but then turned abruptly to flee home wildly. I watched him go only for a moment and then I looked down at the blade in my grasp. The sheath was on the ground not too far away. I covered the weapon, still wet with Diana’s blood, and walked back to her form on the ground.

Diana was unconscious and bleeding on the ground. Beyond this, I could still hear her heart beating stubbornly in her chest. I had to get her back to Trinity and I had to be quick, but I had no idea on how to manage this. I attached the blade to my waist determinedly before looking at my own hands.

“Shift,” I said to myself. The beast that had been quiet all this time was suddenly rising to the surface, stretching within me as though waking up. And yet, I remained human. “Do you hear me? I said shift.”

I pushed my own command into the words, my power rising like electricity around me. But I wasn’t reaching out for any other creature around me. I only focused on myself. My hands began to form like liquid into that half-shifted form, my feet following close behind. Fangs formed dangerously in my mouth, but still this was only a half-shift.

“All the way,” I demanded the beast angrily. It was like speaking to a tree. I could tell it to move all day, but it wouldn’t move. This was my limit. I was truly pitiful. I growled in frustration, unable to waste time further and bent down to grab Diana’s form with what shift I could manage.

With the power of the beast in my grip, it wasn’t so difficult to put her on my back. However, I wasn’t sure of the direction to the pack from here on my own. I took a deep breath, opening that part of me that was connected to Roman abruptly. I reached for him almost violently and I could feel him jolt from the impact with equally violent surprise. With this, I began to go in his direction as quickly as I could.

The half-shift was trying to fade not long after I’d called it to me as though it were something borrowed and not natural to me. I had to fight to keep it, fight to hold the strength to carry Diana on my back, and fight further to push myself towards Roman and his pack. My skin was wet with sweat, fear flooding my senses for a wealth of reasons. I could feel Diana’s blood leaking over my back and down my legs dangerously, and yet her heart continued to beat stubbornly.

I wasn’t sure how long I’d carried her through the forest until the shift left me entirely. The weight of Diana’s body was suffocating me as I pushed on with nothing more than a human’s strength. My muscles burned, my breath tore through my lungs with strain, and I became slow; too slow. Tears were stinging my eyes from frustration and despair, but I couldn’t stop. If I stopped, she would die here. I couldn’t stop.

A sense of alarm jolted within me and I hesitated mid-step. Before I could react, a fully shifted wolf tore into view, running towards me with terrifying power and speed. I’d never seen the wolf before. Its fur was more tan than gold, its form trembling with growls, and those eyes were wide and wild with desperation.