Moon's Crescent (Book One)

Twenty: Eye For An Eye

***Moon's P. O. V.***.

I wake up to find that Crescent has made me soup for breakfast. He says he wants me to start eating "lighter meals" while I'm still under the weather.

"I'm barely even sick anymore!" I protest. "It was just a little stomach bug!"

"No, I want to make sure you get better all the way!" he combats.

"Fine. . ." I groan.

He doesn't let me do much else the rest of the day. He's being like an overprotective mom!

"Your options are coloring, watching movies, reading books, or cuddling. That's it. You need rest," he says.

Throughout the day I do most of those things, really enjoying the cuddling. I grab his butt a few times, but he always scolds me for doing it. He insists at one point that I take a bath, bringing me tea and pouring plenty of bubble bath in.

~~~~~~~~~~

That night, I wake up at two a.m. to find that Crescent isn't beside me. At first I think he's just in the bathroom, but after fifteen minutes, he doesn't come back. Ugh. I slowly sit up and get out of bed.

"Koala?" I call out, but I don't hear an answer.

Going downstairs, I find that the patio door is open. Is it a crescent moon? Maybe he's out there doing his thing. I peek outside to find out, making sure not to disturb him. When I look outside, I see him sitting cross legged on the ground, just like the first time I saw him do this. But this time Crescent has manipulated all the tiny, glowing lights into the shape of a man. It looks like a ghost. Crescent is twitching and grunting every now and then like it's hurting him to do this. I almost gasp in shock when I see his "dad" standing about a hundred feet away.

"What are you doing here?" my inner wolf barks.

Crescent stops what's he's doing. The lights fade and he turns to look at me as the blue color comes back to his irises.

"M-Moon. . ." he says before his eyes roll back into his head and he passes out.

I start to run over to him, but Medianoche suddenly grabs him off the ground. By his throat. I growl and feel my canines begin to lengthen, the first stage of my wolf surfacing.

"Who the hell are you?!" I snap.

He doesn't reply, instead he smirks slyly. A shadow of another face flashes across his, and I immediately know what he is.

"Shapeshifter scum," I spit.

He chuckles and tightens his grip on my mate's throat, probably cutting off his air supply. I crouch down as my body changes, my clothes ripping to shreds. I will kill this man. I will kill him.

"Why are you here??" I ask angrily, pacing back on all fours as I try to form a plan. He'll kill Crescent if I lunge at him now.

"It's simple, you took something off mine. . . And now I'll take something of yours."

I growl again, swishing my tail back and forth, trying not to show that I'm confused.

"You killed my mate, and now I'll kill yours. And there is nothing you can do to stop me," his eyes flash red and he tosses Crescent backwards into the pool. Oh god, he can't fucking swim.

I go to jump in after him, but Medianoche (or whatever this guy's name is) comes barreling towards me in his wolf form. He's a huge, white wolf with red eyes. He looks powerful, but not as powerful as me.

He jumps at me, his mouth open to try to get me around the neck. I extend my paw and slap him across the face, drawing blood as my nails scrape across his cheek. He takes only a moment to recover, and I almost make it to the edge of the pool before he drags me back. I howl as his claws dig into my sides.

Suddenly, I hear a thump next to me. Both the shapeshifter and I look over in surprise. It's Greg, I know by his scent. He howls into the air for five straight seconds. The other warriors will know to come rushing here. He comes running towards us and knocks the shapeshifter off of me. He continues to fight as I shift back into a human and dive into the water to retrieve my mate. I can hear other wolves arriving as I swim towards him.

He's sopping wet and not breathing when I pull him out. The fighting seems to have stopped, and when I glance over, the shapeshifter is laying there with blood spilling out of his head.

I lean Crescent over, patting his back roughly. He's gotta get all that water and shit out of his lungs.

"Come on, Crescent," I growl in frustration.

He splutters, and then a bunch of gross fluids come spilling out of his mouth. He inhales sharply, still struggling for breath.

"You're okay, Koala," I say, surprised that I'm comforting him like this.

I wait until he's breathing more normally, then I turn him around so I can see his face. He begins to shiver and his lips are an odd color.

"Someone bring him a towel! And bring me some shorts from that basket over there so I'm not ass naked," I command.

A few different wolves shift back into humans and carry out my orders. A lot of times, warriors will carry clothes with them, so they slip on whatever they have.

"M-Moon," my mate's teeth chatter. "I-I'm s-s-sorry-"

"Sssshhh, don't talk right now. I'm gonna bring you inside and get you warmed up," I say as I wrap a towel around him tightly.

I pick him up like a baby, nodding at everyone. It's their cue to leave. I'll thank them properly later, they know that. Greg follows me inside, saying he'll call Clarke. At first I insist that Clarke shouldn't be woken up at this time of night, but Greg says he'd want to examine Crescent himself.

"Do you want to take a warm bath?" I ask Crescent as we go upstairs.

"N-no, Moon," he replies quietly.

I'm an idiot. He almost drowned and I'm asking him if he wants to go in water. Smooth, Moon.

"Here, let's take these wet pajamas off of you and get you new ones," I say, sitting him on my bed and peeling his shirt off.

When he's totally naked, I pat him dry and shake up his hair with the towel. I put new underwear and fuzzy pajamas on him. Greg finds the space heater and plugs it in where it's warmth will radiate towards Crescent.

"B-but, Moon," Crescent begins as I tuck him in to bed. "A-are y-you f-feeling better? Y-you shouldn't t-take care o-of m-me if you're s-still sick."

Oh my god, he's still worried about me. He almost died and he's only concerned for my health.

"You're so sweet," I mumble under my breath. "I'm perfectly fine, Crescent. Not sick anymore."

"A-are y-you sure?"

"Positive. It's my turn to take care of you. Now go to sleep. Clarke will be here very soon to check you out. Tomorrow you can tell me exactly what happened."

"Okay. . ." he yawns.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Can you take a deep breath for me?" Clarke asks, holding a stethoscope to Crescent's bare chest.

He does as he's told, coughing lightly at the end.

"You're really lucky," Clarke says. "You don't seem to have suffered any permanent damage. Just stay warm, and don't push yourself too hard for the next couple days. But if you're feeling normal, you can do pretty much everything you do on a day to day basis."

"Okay. Thank you," Crescent says, smiling weakly.

"You're welcome, bud."

As soon as my uncles leave, my little koala begs me to come snuggle with him. Of course I comply, wrapping my arms around him, enveloping him in my warmth. I'm still angry with that shapeshifter bastard, and I desperately want to know what all that was about, but I'll just have to wait until morning.