Children of the Moon

• chapter eleven •

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Setting my wolf down after I had made sure the locks on the cages were good, I thought about the day while I waited for the moon to show. Chatter was echoing throughout the cells and I was glad the pack were in such high spirits, considering the circumstances they were about to face.

I had woken up about ten minutes after I passed out to be greeted with Kieran's worried look - which was a nice sight. According to the doctor, my body, after suffering through the anxiety attack I had, just went 'fuck this shit I'm out' and passed out. Afterwards, Kieran had all but disappeared; no one knew where he was.

And there I was, guarding the entry of the pack cells so that any out of control wolves from other places would not be able to attack my pack.

My pack. I liked the sound of that. Only, it wasn't true.

I had assigned Andrew the job of protecting the children who hadn't shifted yet, so I was outside the cells alone. Usually, both the Alpha and Luna would guard the cells and the children would be put in a separate, secured room within the cells, but seeing as none of the pack knew where Kieran was and we didn't have enough room for the children, it was just me.

"Are you sure you don't know where Kieran is?" I asked the girl in the cell closest to the door.

Her eyes widened dramatically and she shook her head. "No, Luna. Sorry."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion as I turned back to face the pack lands. Quickly scanning the area, I checked for threats. When satisfied that there were none I sat myself down before the door and waited.

The sun set, sending a beautiful orange glow scattering across the vast sky above and I marvelled at it. The orange canvas of the sky was quickly being replaced by fragments of night. Soon the moon would rise, and with it, the sanity of the pack would disappear.

Growling echoed behind me and I braced myself. It had begun.

I moved to the side of the door, stripping down and shifting. As the moon rose high in the sky I could hear the increase of growls as they all lost control. The sounds reverberated throughout the cells and I winced. They were all in a great deal of pain and I wished I could help.

A growl.

That's all it took for me to be on high alert. For this growl was not from the cells; it was from the pack lands. Someone was here.

My wolf crouched low to the ground, crawling forwards slowly as she assessed the situation. We could both hear the disturbance in the forest and were torn between staying to protect the pack and investigating. I reined her in, telling her that unless it came out of the forest, this thing wasn't a threat. Sitting on the ground, I swept my eyes over the land once more, seeing a rustling in the leaves.  My eyes fixed on this movement, before a wolf burst out, writhing and growling as it thrashed about. My wolf, who had previously been growling at this threat, abruptly stopped and sat down, tilting her head to the side.

It was then that realisation sparked within me like a flame to a dry tinder forest. This wolf was Kieran. I didn't know what to do now. Should I help him, their Alpha? Or do I remain and do my job? I could feel myself start to panic as I struggled with the choice. If I didn't help Kieran then he could possibly harm someone, or worse, himself. But if I did, the pack would be left defenceless.

However my decision was quickly made as my wolf attempted to communicate with him. For a while I feared it wouldn't work, that he wouldn't hear me, but then his head snapped toward mine and he began to crawl towards me with curiosity.

As he approached I could see that predatory gleam within his eyes and I froze. Kieran had lost control as well. My mind raced through questions; why did he lose control? He's an Alpha he should be able to control his wolf! All I knew was that he was advancing toward me with that glint in his eyes, and I just hoped that his wolf would recognise me as his mate.

The growling intensified as he reached me, and he stood still for a minute, his eyes sweeping over me. I stood still also, shaking as the look in his eyes remained. I didn't want to have to fight Kieran.

I tried to shake my head at him, willing him to see that it was me - that he didn't want to attack me. Please don't do this, I begged in my head, beginning to panic again.

No, he couldn't do this. He wouldn't hurt me. Sure, he had lost control of his wolf, but those who lost control never hurt their mates. So why did he look like he was about to attack me?

Growling, Kieran left at me and my wolf scrambled to get out of the way. Why was he doing this?

I rolled on the ground to avoid the sweeping claw of Kieran and whimpered as one of his nails caught on my rib cage. I didn't want to have to attack him, so if I could lure him into an empty cell and lock him there I would be okay. Slowly I backed away, keeping his focus on my with little growls sand nips on his tail if he turned away.

Evidently though he grew tired of my games and jumped on me, sinking his teeth into my shoulder. I howled in pain and thrashed about, trying to throw him off me. I was growing desperate and at this point would do almost anything to get his teeth out of my skin. I feared that if they were in there for much longer he would tear a piece of my body off. I could feel my strength slipping away by the seconds and I worried that this would be it. I didn't want it to end like this as I didn't want Kieran to have to suffer the guilt of having killed his mate. I wouldn't wish that guilt upon anyone.

A shot rang through the cells and I felt the full weight of Kieran fall onto me. I whimpered as his teeth retracted, taking a small piece of shoulder with them. The teeth were gone, but with the weight of Kieran's body and the anxiety attack I could feel coming on, I felt out of breath.

Wait.

Kieran's body. Was he dead?

My eyes widened and I scrambled to push the weight off of me. Surprisingly though, his body rolled off easily, and I looked around to be met with Andrew's worried face.

"Malia, are you okay?" He asked, rolling my wolf over to inspect my shoulder. He grimaced as he saw the blood running down my leg. Holding out a towel towards me he turned away and I shifted.

"What did you do to him?" The words spilled from my mouth as I crouched over Kieran's motionless body, rolling him over and biting my lip as I took in the shot wound.

"Don't worry, it's a silver bullet. It won't kill him, just paralyse him for a couple of hours. That should be enough to knock him out until morning." Andrew replied, tucking his arms under Kieran's and dragging him into one of the empty cells.

I nodded in worry, glancing over toward my poor mate. "How did you know to come down here?" I asked, switching my attention to Andrew.

"Your howl Malia. It probably could be heard over the other side of the country." He joked, setting himself against the wall. "But yeah, when you howled I knew someone was there who wasn't supposed to be so I rushed down to make sure it wasn't a howl of a dying girl. Which, thankfully, it wasn't."

I chuckled slightly, wincing at the pain in my shoulder. "Yeah, unlucky for you I'm going to be sticking around for a little while."

He clicked his fingers in mock disappointment, "Damn."

I sat down on the ground and leant against the door to Kieran's cell. I was exhausted.

"You go rest with the children, Malia. I'll guard the cells for tonight, okay?" Andrew kindly said, hoisting himself off the wall and holding out a hand for me to take. I nodded and smiled gratefully at him. I was in no position to refuse help now. With my half mutilated shoulder and exhaustion I welcomed the easy job and thanked Andrew that he was kind enough to take my role for the night.

Making my way slowly up the trail we had made towards the pack house I unlocked the door to the room with the children and found a mattress to rest down on. I wouldn't sleep, but I would rest my shoulder, and hopefully that would be enough to heal it Moby morning.

I could only hope that Kieran remembered none of this.

Bit of a longer chapter for yous today, well longer than I usually write for chapters anyway. 😁 until next Friday my friends ✌️