The Moon Phase Trilogy | Protected | Book One | ORIGINAL

Seventeen

Ruby emerged from the darkness in her cell and clung to the cold, metal bars, "Jayden, you can't kill him...can you," she said, looking at him with worried eyes.

Jayden looked up and didn't say a word. He sat down beside Blu, who had shifted back to Shaun and he gently ran his fingers through her hair as she slept. He clenched his fist that wasn't tangled in Shaun's hair and punched the ground. He heard a yelp come from Ericka's cell and looked to see her surprisingly as her wolf. He tried not to move too quickly, since he didn't want to wake Shaun. He just stared at Ericka's ash black wolf. He thought about what her fur color was before and wasn't sure why it had changed. Her fur was a deep red before...why is it ash black now? He thought to himself and Ruby raised a brow, looking over to Ericka in the next cell. She gasped and put her hand over her mouth in surprise and shock. "What is it, Ruby?"

"I--I've only seen this once before..." she said softly. She could hear Jayden's thoughts, but she didn't tell him that.

"Seen what once before, Ru?" he asked confused. He looked between Ericka's wolf and Ruby concerned as to what she meant.

Ruby looked to Jayden with a serious face, "She is an Adapter." she stated. She sounded very serious and didn't even blink as she stared at Jayden.

"What do you mean by an Adapter?" Jayden asked with his eyebrows raised. He continued to stroke Shaun's hair as he spoke. He was interested in what Ruby meant, but grew worried for Ericka. What if it was something dangerous and evil? He didn't want his mate to be in danger of herself.

"It's hard to explain...but I can try to explain it," Ruby said and sat down in the right corner close to Jayden and Shaun. She took a deep breath in and let out shakily, before she started to explain what an Adapter was. "Well...Adapters are werewolves that their fur change color to adapt to the surroundings around them in dreams or nightmares. And if their fur changes color in the dream, it changes in real life until the next dream or nightmare that it happens. 

"So if Ericka dreams of a forest fire and her sisters die, her wolf runs to the forest to try and save them and her fur changes from a dusk red to an ash black, to blend in and not get harmed by her surroundings.

"That seems to be the situation here," Ruby explained as she looked at Ericka's wolf with interest. Jayden noticed how calm Ruby had become and he looked from her to Ericka with a sigh. He wasn't sure how to feel about all this new information. He had never heard of Adapters, and he was worried that Ericka didn't need him to protect her after knowing the new information.

"Then what becomes of me, Ruby?" He said softly, feeling very depressed all of a sudden. Jayden felt Shaun move a bit and looked down to see her slowly wake up, her hand going to her head instantly. "Good morning, Moonstone," he smiled softly, hiding his fear and worry.

Shaun slowly got up and groaned, "What the hell happened, Jay?" She looked to Ericka's cell and noticed her fur was a different color. She growled and clenched her fists, "What did they do to Ericka's wolf?" She demanded.