Blood Moon (MalexMale Paranormal Fantasy)

Chapter 3 ∞ REEVE

Matt studies me without comment, though his arm presses more fully against mine. I'm here, it says. You're not alone.

We make it to class just as Theta Redd corrals everyone to take a seat in the ankle-deep grass. Our tutor shows no outward signs of the emerging full moon: there's no thick stubble on his face, no mess about his black hair, and no hitch in his steps or crack in his joints, which for a wolf in his mid-twenties is practically unheard of. He looks strong, like a lycan archetype, and it's not hard to see why Rainer had a crush on him for so long.

The excitement among my fellow xi—wolves between the ages of fifteen and twenty who have yet to commit to a specific focus of study—is hard to contain after months of being pent up indoors on all but the most temperate days.

Matt and I take a seat in the middle of the field, where others crowd us, drawn to the scent and power of an alpha. I run my hands over the shoulders and necks of those nearest, marking them with the scent of my family.

Theta Redd distributes supplies for the day's task and I scoot closer to my cousin Marcus, who's slumped on the ground with his hands pressed over his stomach. His dark brown hair stands at every odd angle and his chestnut eyes are clamped shut.

I smirk and knock into his bent knees. "Not again, Marcus. Are you alright?"

He groans as Theta Redd looks us over like we're the sorriest lot of wolves he's ever seen. "Looks like many of you are handling the effects of the upcoming full moon moderately well." He skims over Marcus and a few others clutching various body parts. "And some of you are still adjusting. So, today we are going to spend time outdoors in the garden and around the greenhouse. I want to keep you all in the fresh air so you don't go crazy and bite someone's throat," he teases to a mostly unresponsive crowd.

I look toward the field in front of the greenhouse where the younger xi play and socialize among the vast rows of sprouting vegetation and know it's the last place Marcus wants to be. I nudge him again. "Let's go get you some ginger."

His deep moan ebbs into a whimper. "I'd rather you just dig a grave for me while you're over there and roll me into it."

I snort and pat his back. "At least you're not being dramatic about it."

"Come everyone," Redd orders then sweeps over Marcus's indisposed body. "Marcus, if you need to remain lying down for a while, you may, but I think you'll feel better if you get your body up and moving. Let it work itself out."

Our tutor turns and leads the others over to the wood fence at the perimeter of the garden. I stand and cast a frown at my cousin. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, go on. I'll be there in a minute."

I catch up with the class congregating near the greenhouse door listening to the outline of our work for the day, though my attention is elsewhere, waiting for an alert from our border patrols or my father. Any confirming sign that I'm not going crazy.

My best option to pass time in class seems to be overseeing the sorting of the greenhouse plants and replanting them into the prepared beds from their pots, hoping that the active monotony might help dissolve my jitters.

I step into a wall of humidity and grab Theta Redd as he passes. "Do you have any ginger for Marcus? He thinks he's dying." I point through one of the glass panes to where he's still rounded into a fetal position in the grass.

"He gets this every month," Redd says in a tone clearly asking When is he going to learn better? The theta nods and tugs off his dirt-smeared gloves. "I can brew it into a tea for him, for what little good it's done him in the past. I'm not some vampyre warder able to use my blood to conjure special remedies."

"If only," I grin, though the comment shakes loose a thought too weak to grasp. "The tea will be better than nothing. Thank you."

"No problem. He needs to stop eating every disgusting rodent he comes across in his wolf form before a full moon. Surely, he can control his urges better than that by now. He's not a pup."

"Eh, it's Marcus. Most of the vermin he eats now are from bets because the older wolves in Rainer's class think it's funny."

"Speaking of Rainer," Redd says while grabbing a ginger root from a shelf, "your brother told me you're starting morning trainings with Zeta Braun soon. Everyone's excited to get to spar with you. There are already bets on who you're going to take down first."

My grin spreads. "I just hope others don't hold back in their fights with me. I've heard of that happening in other packs; everyone too afraid to upset or damage their future alpha."

"Nah, there are plenty of wolves who would enjoy knocking you around," he teases. "And when you pass all of the lessons, at the end of the season you'll get to track and spar with Rainer's group. And, all bets aside, I'd love to watch you beat your brother's ass. That guy needs to be brought down a peg or two. He's been trash-talking the wolves from my class since he started school as a young xi, two years behind us."

"I don't doubt it."

Theta Redd shakes his head, grinning as he paces down the nearest aisle toward the kitchen in the back of the greenhouse.

I grab a pair of gloves from the pile near the door then make my way to my assigned spot, passing varying shades of green and striking bursts of color: the peaches of the trumpet honeysuckle, the yellow of winter hazel, and the bold red tulips.

The time passes quickly in a rhythm of indoor-outdoor, kneeling-digging, patting-standing.

Class is nearly finished when a flare of alarm fires through my wolf's bond. Delta Banks' distinct call has me rushing out of the greenhouse, guiding me past the garden fencing toward the Moon Field where I can sense him.

Noticing my hasty retreat, Matt abandons his task to join me, and the ten minutes it takes us to get there in an all-out sprint seems like a lifetime.

Banks, our pack's lead guard, stands in the center of the field, shirt off, baring a wide chest and washboard abs as if he's about to shift. "Bulging Banks" is the nickname the younger xi use to describe him; all seven feet of hard cut muscle. He's surrounded by four others in the elite force—the highest-ranking wolves in our pack. A mix of guards, scouts, and emissaries, who disperse when noticing my arrival.

Delta Banks bows to me with a heightened air of authority. "Glad you made it. Your father wanted you to join our task force." He flicks his eyes behind me to Matt. "You can go back to classes. This isn't a mission for a beta pup."

"I'm not a pup," Matt shoots back.

"You aren't a formally trained beta, either."

Matt fumes. "Someday."

"But not today." Banks shoos him off.

"What's going on?" I ask as my friend sulks away.

"Our tau scouts have reported a small pack approaching the southeast border," he says.

"A pack?"

Delta Banks nods, seemingly unruffled and ready to confront any scenario. "We'll need to track them and keep them from coming in toward pack borders, especially this close to the full moon. Their presence could agitate some of the pack, and with the recent attacks, I'm not sure it's wise to be welcoming strangers right now."

I do my best to hide my nerves and ask, "Anything else?"

The delta wags his eyebrows and flashes a truly wolfish grin. "It's reported that the pack is traveling with a vampyre."

My heart nearly stops. "A vampyre is leading a pack of wolves toward our border?"

"Yes, Young Alpha. His scent is non-threatening, but that might change once we approach them."

A vampyre. I've never met one, but the bats from my alpha vision intrude on my thoughts with new clarity.

Nerves roll high into my stomach. This is what I've been waiting for.

Certainty twists in my gut, in my soul, that this day is the last day my life will ever be the same.