Page 3 of Moon Guardian
Punctuating my fear, a breeze carried a new scent into our section of the forest. My nostrils flared, picking up that faint metallic stench that came with the storm I saw in my nightmares.
While I was just as human as the rest of my village, the Moon Shadow Plague had affected me differently than my sister when we’d been caught outside in a sudden storm a few years ago. She’d grown sick and weak, whereas I had gained the ability to scent the storms before they came.
I didn’t tell anyone about my strange new talents.
Not even Charlie.
The scent faded after a moment, making me shake my head as a wave of dizziness washed over me. Maybe I was just going crazy after no sleep. Even when I did get home, I doubted I’d fare much better. Not when my sister suffered.
Not when I failed to fix her.
“Let’s keep looking,” I said through clenched teeth as another whiff of metallic disease slithered across my senses. “Four blossoms won’t be enough to line my roof, much less yours or anyone else’s to deflect the worst of the magic.” I didn’t trust the rest of my village to come up with the Moon Blossoms that absorbed the invisible essence that made humans sick. Charlie seemed to have an uncanny ability to find the flowers, but the Moon Blossoms had become scarce, as if the protective blooms were dying out.
At the rate we picked them, I wouldn’t have been surprised. The magical blooms couldn’t be grown, only harvested. We had tried. Their seeds never sprouted on human lands. Their nature required access to wolf magic and a specific dose of moonlight, which meant they only grew on wolf territory in exposed areas. Although even a sliver of moonlight through the forest canopy could do the trick, if the ground was rich enough. Given that we couldn’t risk being exposed, the forest was the best place to scavenge.
Human lands scarcely grew anything anymore. Simple crops proved difficult and we were growing desperate enough to venture onto wolf territory, not just for Moon Blossoms for protection from the storms, but for food, too. There were a few territories down south, and east, that humans hadn’t explored, only because the terrain was inhospitable to our kind. It made it difficult to find the protective blossoms that could keep us safe from the worst of the magical effects when the wolves chose to call their Goddess.
We were human. We weren’t meant to mix with magical things, and the wolves didn’t give two shits about that. They shifted as much as they wanted to, hunted and killed, and used the humans when it benefited them.
Now it was biting them in the ass. Their cocky nature was why their alphas had gotten killed, because a new predator had entered the playing field. One that I hoped would be on our side.
Given my shit luck, I doubted it. When the wolves were gone, we’d probably be next.
Charlie caught me by my wrist, forcing me to stop. He misunderstood the worry that crunched my brow. “Your sister can be saved. The entire village can be protected. We don’t need many flowers, just enough to line the roof of a single house. We can all huddle up for a few nights, if we have to. The village can count on us. That’s why we’re out here,” he reminded me. It was dangerous. Being outside in wolf territory was a death sentence if we were caught.
Especially now, after humans were accused of breaking the truce.
I wish we’d been the ones to kill all of their damn alphas. Seeing their heads roll would have given me a thousand blessed nights of peaceful sleep.
No, we couldn’t take the credit, but we’d sure as hell take the blame.
Glancing down at the gorgeous blooms in my bag, I sighed as I resumed my search. Twigs crunched under my feet and I winced, hoping any wolves in the vicinity would only smell the caked mud we’d slathered all over our bodies. “I wish these grew closer to home.”
He squeezed my arm as he walked beside me, matching my pace. “I don’t,” he said cheerfully. “Because then I’d never get to play moon-tag with you!”
“Wait,” I said, glancing up, “Charlie we don’t have time—” I didn’t have a chance to protest because Charlie snagged one of the precious blooms from my bag and tapped me on the nose with it, making me sneeze as the potent floral aroma puffed in my face.
“Catch me if you can!” he whispered, keeping his voice low as he returned the bloom to my basket before sprinting through the forest as if wolves were after him.
It amazed me how silently he disappeared into the forest. I blinked, finding no trace of him. My nostrils flared, unable to scent him.
Because that had been a new thing, too, and Charlie smelled like firewood and earth.
Like home.
The mud around my cheeks cracked as I grinned, the first true smile I’d had in days.
He always knew how to make me feel better.
Crouching, I adjusted my bow strap across my chest and strapped my bag across my shoulder, securing the blooms against my hip.
Then I ran, a secret joy spiking in my blood.
Charlie knew what I needed to get my mind off things.
The hunt.
Dash
