The Dragon's Moon

Chapter 10: Betrayed

Author's Note: I am soooooo sorry for leaving you guys hanging for so long. Collage has been kicking my butt lately so I haven't had a chance to write anything for a while. I hope this makes up for it, and I promise that the next chapter will be up within the next couple of days.

Anyway, now that I have hopefully appeased the fans wielding torches and pitchforks, let's get on with this book!!

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For nearly a month I trained with Coralline in secret.  Every morning before sunrise, and every chance I had during the day, I would sneak away, using a scent hiding spell to avoid the others.  We would practice in a clearing that Coralline had found that was two miles from the pack house, just in case one of my spells got a little out of hand.  For the first couple days I felt guilty for hiding this from my pack, and especially Aaron, though with Coralline's warning quick to surface, I suppressed my urge to tell them and continued on as normal.

It wasn't until I came back to the pack house one morning, exactly three weeks since my training had begun, that I noticed something was wrong.  The bright morning sunlight was just poking over the trees, and yet the entire pack house was in a frenzy.  Wolves ran back and forth like wild beasts, while humans searched about like they had lost their most prized possession.  Men and women alike ran around with their hands waving in the air, and the noise was so loud I could barely hear myself think.  I tried to stop several people but they would run past before I could get in a word edgewise.  Finally, I sucked in a deep breath, and yelled out as loud as I could with Melanie's roar backing me.

"Everyone shut up and SIT DOWN!!!!"  The effect was as instant as it was shocking.  Everyone froze in their tracks and promptly sat on the ground.  Everyone's eyes met my own as I took a couple more breaths to calm my nerves.  Once that was done I nodded once to myself before calling out in a normal voice, "Blaze!  Front and center!"

He stood up from the middle of the group and ran up to me, "Yes Luna?"

"First of all," I said, "why is everyone running around like chickens with their heads removed, and second, why is it that Aaron isn't kicking your furry behinds into shape for me?  I mean really, the entire pack is falling apart and Aaron isn't stopping it?  Tell me where he is so I can go kick his butt back into shape."

Blaze gave me the most miserable look I had ever seen, and for the first time I noticed the fear scent that practically choked the air with its spine-tingling aroma.

I stepped forward and placed my hands on his shoulders, "Blaze, where's Aaron?"

He swallowed thickly and opened his mouth, except whatever he had been about to say was choked off by thick sobs that shook his entire body.  I watched in horror as the Beta of my pack, a man who stood at least a head taller than me and must have weighed two hundred pounds of pure muscle, crumble to the ground like a deck of cards.  He couldn't even look at me when I knelt down to try and comfort him, and as Maddy appeared I noticed that her normally cheerful expression was contorted by pain and misery.

I slowly stood up and looked out over the rest of my pack, who had collectively followed their Beta's example and were crying their eyes out on the front lawn.  I spun in circles o try and find someone who could talk to me, but everywhere I looked I was met with the same thing.  Finally, I couldn't take it anymore, so I spun to face Maddy and pulled her to her feet by sheer force of will.

"Where.  Is.  My.  Mate?"  I said in a commanding voice.  I hated to do this, but it was the only way to get an answer out of her at this point.

Her eyes flashed brown as her wolf reacted to my orders, and for a minute it wasn't Maddy talking to me, but her wolf.  "H-He, he took them.  He took your mom and sister and the Alpha.  He just showed up out of thin air and spoke some strange words.  Then these glowing balls formed around them and he laughed in our faces."  Tears stared to run down her face as she continued, "We tried to stop him, but he tossed us around like we were nothing to him.  H-He said that if we ever wanted to see them again, you and Coralline had to go to the place of endless summer.  He said you would know what that meant.  Then he vanished into thin air again, along with the others."  She swallowed thickly as she met my gaze fully, "P-Please forgive us Luna.  W-We did the best we could, but he was just too powerful."  She closed her eyes and turned her head away from me as more tears ran down her face, "We tried to stop him but we just weren't good enough.  We couldn't protect your mate or your mother and sister.  We, we don't deserve to be your pack anymore."