Crimson Moon

Six

"Mom, we have to get them," Blake said to Ellen.

"We'll ask Cain next time he orders supplies, okay?" their mother promised.

Lou immediately noticed that no one asked where Cain was, which they should have since he'd implied he'd be right back after he made her dinner. That's how she knew they'd heard their spat in the kitchen, and her cheeks reddened deeply. Fortunately, they didn't seem to want to acknowledge it or anything to do with it, because they simply continued watching the movie.

Lou couldn't think of a single time her pack had sat down to watch a movie together. Or even sat down to do anything together. Her two older brothers and their friends had done it every once in a while, but not her whole pack. Besides, she'd never been invited to hang out with Lance and Joey's friends, per their father's orders. Lance didn't want to hang out with her anyway, but Joey would've. Joey was her best friend, her only friend. She tucked her knees close to her chest and hugged them close. She wished Joey could have come with her, but he'd had to make sure the pack didn't wake up. Besides, she'd rather be alone than risk Joey's life by letting him leave with her. It was bad enough he'd helped her at all. If anyone found out, they would probably kill him.

Joey was the only person in her life that didn't think it was her responsibility to preserve the purity of bloodlines. He and their father, Reid, had argued about it more than once, but Joey had never been her father's favorite so their father wasn't likely to listen to him anyway. Lance was the one who was to become Alpha, so Reid had always favored him.

Her chest tightened and a lump formed in her throat when she realized she likely wouldn't see Joey for a long, long time, if ever again. She couldn't go home, she knew that wasn't an option. They would just try to hand her over to the High Council again, but this time she wouldn't be given the opportunity to escape.

She inhaled deeply and fought tears for the rest of the movie. She had no money, no clothes, nothing but what she'd brought with her. She had no destination other than "away". She couldn't shift, so travel would be slow. Going back to Canada had potential; it was huge and she could probably find refuge somewhere, even if it were among humans. Getting there was the real challenge.

Another presence entering in the room had her sitting up and hugging her knees closer. Cain's huge form carefully moved over to the couch with the warriors and sat down next to them. He didn't look at her once, she noticed, for which she was grateful. She was afraid of what those light blue eyes would hold in them, whether it be desire, contempt, or nothing at all.

Her wolf whined, not at all angry at the Alpha, which shocked Lou out of her tears. Her wolf hated men, Alphas especially, but she longed for the attention of this one. Perhaps it was because he was denying it to them. Which was exactly what Lou had asked for, so she snapped at her wolf and forced it back. She couldn't let whatever was going on with her beast cloud her judgement. Her wolf just growled softly, but relented. Lou knew what was best for them, not an animal who was willing to throw herself at any man who didn't attack them.

They all sat in silence during the final battle, Blake and Bryce completely transfixed to the screen even though they could likely recite it word for word, move for move. She thought it was sweet though, how much they were enjoying themselves. She wondered if they could shift yet. They were the right age; twelve to fourteen was generally when male wolves shifted for the first time, as if they didn't have enough to go through with puberty entering their lives as well. What Lou didn't know was if half-bloods shifted at the same age as their pure-blood counter parts. Their wolves were weaker, so it possibly took longer for the wolf form to overpower the human one and take control. Having fought their humans sides for control for so long, young wolves were feral when they first shifted, having no manners or respect for hierarchy yet. They learned quickly though, otherwise they were expelled from the pack.