Page 63 of The Wolf Moon

Cate stepped closer to the door, reaching for a part that I couldn’t see myself. In just a moment, the door clunked loudly before opening just a crack. My heart jolted in my chest, both excitedly and nervously, as I reached to open the door further.

I stepped out of the prison cell I had spent so many days within now and immediately took a deep breath. I lifted my face to the night sky, closing my eyes to feel the cool breeze wrapping around us with relief. I hated contained spaces. I loved the openness of the wild.

“Are you ready to go?” Cate asked me simply. I lowered my head to face her. She looked just as dangerous as usual, but in the most unconcerned way. It was hard to imagine this wolf was the greatest warrior wolf among the Trinity pack just by looking at her, but I suppose this is what gave her comfort in times of tension like this.

“Who’s waiting for us?” I inquired uncertainly.

“You’ll see. Come on,” She lifted her lance over her shoulder and began to easily trot into the forest. A quick glance the opposite direction revealed the village in the far distance, nearly impossible to see from the solitary cell. Wherever Cate was leading me was away from the pack. “Mila…” Cate sang to me teasingly and I turned follow her with a sigh.

I hated surprises.

I caught up to Cate fairly easily, being that she didn’t seem to be in any real hurry. As I walked behind her, I looked to the sky again to see the moon, full and bright as a dangerous omen. It was the Hunter’s Moon. A dread was seeping over me. I looked to Cate’s back and wondered, if only for a moment, if this was something of a trap. I had to shake my head to clear it. Cate had never shown herself to oppose me before, so why would she now?

“Cate,” I addressed her carefully. She glanced over her shoulder at me with those bright blue eyes, acknowledging me quietly before continuing ahead. “Did you hear of Diana? Is she… Did she…”

“She’s alive,” Cate answered me simply. “She hasn’t awoken, yet. The child is gone. I’m not sure if you heard.”

“I heard,” I muttered, a sorrow still swelling within me at the thought.

“To be fair, it was a nice effort on your part. The whole taking the blame thing. If the King Alpha hadn’t fallen head over heels for you, it might’ve worked,” Cate continued lightly as if the child loss wasn’t something that bothered her. I looked at her intently, taking in her easy stroll through the trees before sighing once more. She looked far too at ease. It unnerved me when I was an ocean of anxiety, dread, and fear.

“I guess I’m supposed to think it’s normal for lycans to imprison people they’ve fallen for?” I gritted my teeth with irritation. I just couldn’t fathom the idea that Roman would actual grow feelings for me beyond that of the duties of being mates. Plus, Cate seemed like a type of person to have her own fantasy filled life in her mind.

“Come now, you’re not that slow. He didn’t want you to get in the way, obviously. Poor luck on his part,” Cate flashed a smile at me, “That’s all you do is get in the way, isn’t it?” She teased me lightly, something of devious glee in her tone. She was up to something and it didn’t seem like it would be something fun on my part.

Cate looked to the sky and stretched as she walked. We continued on in silence. I tried to keep watch around us, looking for any sign of a trap I might be walking into. But the further we walked, the more silent the world seemed to get around us. As we continued, I felt a twinge of wolf presence not too far ahead. I hesitated in my step, but Cate didn’t seem bothered herself. She had said they were waiting for us.

We approached an entrance to a cave. Vines and shrubbery covered the front of it so that it was difficult to see in the night, but Cate merely used her lance to part a path for me to step through. I looked to her hesitantly, once again wondering if I should trust her, but decided there weren’t many other options at this point. I stepped into the darkness and paused.

“This way,” Cate said to me, calling me to the left. I followed the sound of her steps in the dark nervously. The further we walked, the more slanted the path became as though we were descending into the depths of the cave.

Instead of becoming darker, the path appeared to become brighter. I glanced up; spotting jewels along the roof of the cave that seemed to have their own glow. There were only a couple at first and then there were many, lighting up the path before us easily. It was like looking at the night stars within the cave.

The ground evened out until we were walking beside a stream. The water seemed to glow as I looked at it, those jewels resting underneath. I watched the stream curiously as I followed Cate, not noticing when she threw her own curious glance towards me.

“They’re called the Tears of the Goddesses,” Cate said to me without waiting for me to ask. “They’re extremely rare. None of the packs know of these hidden places.” I looked around the cave more curiously, now that I knew it was a place not many other people or wolves stepped within.

Cate led me beyond the stream and into a large, magnificent opening within the cave where the ceiling seemed to rise endlessly above us. My eyes fell from the ceiling to the floor, where a group of wolves were gathered around one large jewel in their own discussions easily. Cate stopped, making me pause next to her, and waited.

I didn’t recognize a single wolf before us. Their eyes turned to us, first to Cate familiarly and then to me curiously, yet no one spoke out to greet us. I felt too seen with all their eyes on me, but I looked at each one with my own curiosity. Who were these people?

“Mila,” A familiar voice said from behind me. I froze, my heart feeling as though it stopped within me. I almost didn’t want to turn around; afraid no one would be there. But I couldn’t stand not to. I twisted and took a stumbling step back.

“Cynthia,” I breathed, hesitating as I looked at her. It was her. She stood like a ghost before me, her hair silver under the glow of the jewel-like tears. “Cynthia?” I had spent months mourning her death and somehow she was here. I couldn’t fathom it.

“I told you I would be waiting,” Cynthia said to me gently, stepping forward to pull me into her arms with warmth only a mother could hold. I felt tears instantly sting my eyes as I reached to embrace her as well. She was here. She was solid. She wasn’t a spirit.

“I thought you burned,” I choked in pain. “I didn’t think you could get out. I thought you were gone. It was my fault. I left the door opened and led them to the temple…” Cynthia pulled away as I the words spilled from me, holding me before her. She reached to wipe the tears from my face with a frown.

“I’m sorry I worried you, Mila, but we have much to discuss and not a lot of time,” She said to me with a familiar determination. Even now, when it was clear I had failed, Cynthia had faith in me. I just couldn’t understand it.

“I don’t understand…,” I didn’t know how she could have escaped that burning temple. I didn’t understand how I could possibly do anything more to stop this impending doom fated on the humans and werewolves alike. I looked to Cate briefly. I didn’t understand how Cate knew to come here, that Cynthia would be here, or how she even knew Cynthia. I looked to the random wolves waiting patiently in the hidden cave. I didn’t know who they were, either.

“These are oracle wolves,” Cynthia said to me when my eyes fell on them. I looked from them to her in surprise.

“Oracle wolves?” I asked, looking back to them. There were probably fifteen of them, male and female altogether. Was this too few or much more than expected? Had they been living their lives in this cave after being banished?

“There are many more hidden throughout the land nearby their previous packs. These are the ones who survived the banishment from the Trinity pack,” Cynthia explained to me before addressing the wolves. “This is Milena, the Queen Luna of Trinity.”

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