Page 61 of The Wolf Moon

“Beta Caleb!” I exclaimed, knowing somehow it was him, and felt immediate relief once he was before us. He didn’t shift to human form. Instead, he stood rumbling before me, his head twisting side to side as he looked at his mate on my back. “You have to take her to the healers quickly! Take her-” I turned with difficulty, pushing to stand up straighter so that I could lift Diana as high as I could.

Caleb understood without me having to command him. In fact, it seemed this was the entire reason he was here. How foolish of me. Of course he felt her injury and would come for her immediately. Despite my terrors, I was relieved. He lowered himself before me and I struggled to hoist Diana’s form onto his large back. His fur seemed to envelope her small body, yet I worried she might fall off.

I removed the blade from my waist and used my belt to wrap around Caleb’s neck, twisting it around her wrists as quickly as I could. It would be the best I could do. When I was done, Caleb didn’t wait for my order. He stood and ran, much more carefully than he had before, but with much greater speed than I could dream of achieving. In just a couple of breaths, he was gone from my vision.

I stood frozen for a time, my limbs beginning to shake violently as though I had been left stranded in a snowy, harsh winter rather than the cool of autumn. I wanted more than anything to turn back and go home, to hide from everything that had happened, but I knew I couldn’t. I bent down stiffly, grabbing the blade from the forest floor, and stood once more to face the direction Caleb had taken Diana.

Roman was there. I could still feel him in the distance, but I wasn’t sure what kept him from coming for me as well. It was as though he was waiting for me. I took a deep breath and began to continue my path back to the Trinity pack.

My heart pounded sickly within me. I was afraid. More than anything, I was afraid of the consequences. I had a wish over and over in my heart; that Diana would live and beyond this that her child was also unharmed. But even within this wish was a fear. She would tell them it was Greg who had injured her, wouldn’t she? I was so afraid.

By the time I reached the outskirts of Trinity, Caleb had already long arrived before me. The village was busy with panic, even if I couldn’t see them. And waiting for me along the edge of the village was a smaller group of wolves; all of them familiar.

Roman stood in the center, stiff like the statue I had left in the forest months ago. As I approached, I carefully blocked him from within myself, building that wall solidly so that he wouldn’t know my heart even if he tried. Behind him, a line of warrior wolves stood just as stiffly. Of these wolves, only two seemed hesitant.

My Sol, Logan, was looking from Roman to me carefully, trying to keep his face clear of emotions but even I could see his uncertainty. What kind of greeting was this for his Queen Luna? A little further to the side was Cate, silent and unmoving like a shadow. She leaned against her lance, her entire form speaking of an obvious unwillingness to even a hint of a threat towards me.

The rest stood prepared to attack, as though I might have brought an army of humans with me. For a moment, I wanted to look behind me to search for this imaginary army, but instead I kept my eyes on Roman.

Without a word, I tightened my grip on the wolf blade. I lifted it before me, reaching with my other hand to remove it from its sheath, and revealed the silver blade covered in Diana’s blood. My hands didn’t tremble and for this I was at least thankful. I was, after all, pretty much committing suicide.

“I was the one who stabbed Diana,” I declared determinedly.

The wolves adjusted their position with confusion, looking to Roman for understanding.

“You,” Roman said, rather than asked. I could feel him reaching for me, scratching at that wall within me curiously. “Lower your guard and say that again.”

“It was an accident, but it was me. I stabbed her,” I ignored his request and declared again before throwing the blade to the ground. The tip struck the floor, leaving the hilt pointing to the sky proudly. I couldn’t breathe as Roman’s glare remained on my form so intensely.

“Are you hoping your title will save you, Queen Luna?” Roman asked me, his tone careful and yet I could still hear a hint of anger.

“She is with child. I know my title won’t save me,” I answered before swallowing heavily with difficulty. I waited, my heart racing as I stared Roman down unwaveringly. After some time, he seemed to come to a decision, turning to the wolves next to him.

“Put her in the solitary cell,” Roman ordered angrily before turning away entirely. I froze at the statement. Even now, he wouldn’t order death? Even hearing what I’d done? Or was he only postponing it?

I suppose it didn’t matter. If it meant my family would be safe from the wolves’ wrath, I would accept imprisonment. As a couple of the warrior wolves approached me, intending to follow their King Alpha’s orders, I didn’t push them back with my abilities or refuse their attempts. I let them grip my arms firmly and allowed them to begin leading me away.

Twenty Six

Chapter 25

Iwas in a prison cell. As I sat in the corner with my knees to my chest, holding myself in deep thought, I was reminded of the cell I had been held in the night of the Wolf Moon. This place was different. The door wasn’t made of bars, but rather solid steel. There was a barred window just above my own eye level and a smaller opening on the bottom for things like food to be handed to me.

At the top of one wall was a small squared opening, too small for even a child to get through, that allowed in a small ray of daylight. There was also a bed, however uncomfortable it may be, and in one corner a toilet and small sink. The cell itself was fairly cleaned, with no jagged rough edges in corners.

I supposed there would be a difference in how humans were imprisoned versus wolves. It was deadly quiet. I had already reached out, ever so carefully, to check the surroundings beyond the prison. The village wasn’t close and there weren’t even any wolves nearby to guard me.

Roman was being smart. Solitary was a good idea, being that he knew of my abilities. I wouldn’t be able to call on someone to free me. And with how the entire cell was built, I knew I wouldn’t have the strength to break myself out. All I could do was wait.

Despite the fact that I wasn’t in immediate danger any longer, I couldn’t help but feel the concern pulsing throughout me. I clenched my hands into fists, grinding my teeth together, and I wondered if Diana was still alive. Her blood was already dried on my legs and her screams of pain still echoed in my mind. She hadn’t deserved that.

I looked to my hand absently, her blood almost darkened to black in the shadows. I shouldn’t have given something as dangerous as a silver blade to a child. First Cynthia and now Diana… people who showed nothing but kindness to me and paid the price for it.

At some point during the day, someone brought me food and water, but left without a word. I wondered if it was Roman himself, but I didn’t dare drop that wall within me to check. After some more time passed, I finally gave in to my undaunted hunger and then used the sink to begin trying to clean my skin of the blood covering it.

When my mind couldn’t spin around the same thoughts and concerns any more than it already had, I finally slipped into a troubled sleep.

“Were you really the one who hurt Diana?” A voice jolted me upright on the steel bed in the night. My heart was immediately racing as I found Roman there, on one knee, beside the bed within the prison cell.

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