* * *
Please make sure you've read the previous chapter from Friday
***
Randal Moon had been given many names over the years he inflicted war over the Americans, but for some reason the one that plagued Remus' mind caused him to shiver.
They called him Fenrir, regarding him as the same beast that inflicted Ragnarok over the Asgardian race to start anew. And goddess it had been the perfect reflection of his father and his actions.
So realistically, Remus didn't think anything could surprise him in the realm with his father. Granted, he's learned much more this past year than he has over the timespan of the twelve-year break, or the council's reign as most were calling it.
The way they traveled was that Enzo would take the lead with Rebekah in front and wait a small bit for the others to catch up. Sprinting at full speed would only tire out the party, however, in seeing the two standing idly by in the center of the roundabout of this particular peek, it caused him to tilt his head.
"We're not getting any signal on the phone, it must be blocking it." The witch hissed, which caused her familiar to flutter off towards a still Enzo. Who was still as could be just staring off towards the shield trying to see through the cracks.
"Is there any way through the shield?"
"Of course, I'm just worried about what might be behind the shield—It could very well be a booby trap just waiting to spring." Remus inhaled heavily at the prospect of danger. Looking to his pack members, they all looked prepared to take on whatever it is behind the shield.
"Can you bring it down?" He questions, earning himself a smirk just as it rung through her ears.
"Love, you aren't strong enough to—"
"I'm only taking part of it down, Enzo, the whole thing is far too wide to handle myself. I know what I'm doing." She bites back, and the male was left to dig through the bag, taking the handful of necklaces and passing them around while he settles one around her neck.
Only adding to the layers she had on.
"Are we ready?" She offers, and the Remus naturally agrees—He remained in skin while the others shifted back into fur. But that isn't what caught the Alpha's attention, it was strange to see Sage's natural movements come so heavily from a witch's culture.
The Elwoods had just assumed that it was the fighting style she had picked up from the Underground, and it is—But it had a raw twist to it. He only recognized it when Rebekah had displayed a similar technique by planting her feet down into the ground before extending both of her fists out to punch the shield.
A rumble cast out, and she laughed in regards to it. "Enzo, remind me to give Silver Branch a call when this is all over. Lousy, no good, two face—"
"Concentrate Rebekah, bring down the wall then rant." The Vampire said shutting his mate up to continue the task.
And that she did, though it took a small chant of the same phrase over and over again. "Aperi Apud Me Voca...Aperi Apud Me Voca." Remus couldn't identify from the small amount of Latin he had overheard Sage starting to grasp, but this was harder to maintain as the veins on the witch's arms had blackened.
"If it's too much for her then we can—"
"It's too late to stop, I was right. Whatever's behind here is set blow if I stop now." The unsteady movement of the wolves caused Rebekah to lose concentration at the distraction and Remus caught on well enough. Settling them all with a growl.
However, it had finally been accomplished after a few agonizing minutes, the small place where the witch had planted her fists had been the setting points of where the structor had shattered down like glass.
"Goddess, what have we uncovered..." She breathed, and Remus didn't hesitate to follow in pursuit after the two guests of his pack. And sure enough, what had once been a clear path up to the mountain suddenly turned into a structor.
The Alpha of Crescent Moon had stood in shock, the building held an industrial chimney that could mandate that this was indeed a factor of the sorts.
But why did nobody recall this being a part of the pack?
Why was this never on any maps, this was surely important enough to—
"What the actual living breathing fuck is that?"
"Jack—"
"Rory, look I can handle a lot with a straight face. But this," The male said gesturing with the entirety of his arm length to show emphasis, "...Is too much for me to take in, there's nobody here...Right?"
The question sprang the shock from everyone's system and return them to their guard stature, but Enzo shook his head. "No, the shield was not meant to house living beings behind it."
"He's right, this wouldn't allow anything in or out—Though any competent witch could take this down, even Sage could probably take a crack at it," Rebekah said, holding up her long cloak to start venturing forward.
"For the most human of the group, I swear she believes she's invincible," Enzo growled, following after his little mate with long steps. The wolves however took a much more cautious approach, this place completely foreign even though it was so close to home.
The structure of a cabin-like built had a wolf's signature style etched all over it. Nothing about this was human.
"The house knows we're here..." The witch said, her wrist coming up to call her familiar closer to her and he hopped onto her shoulder.
"What do you mean the 'house knows', what does a house know?" Jack called out, and the mere idea of an inanimate object—Or structor, in this case, was sentient caused their beasts' fur to rise further.
"It's a shelter, isn't it? Someone made this their home base and left their mark." Rebekah answered the Delta's question, and the male simply looked off towards his Alpha with a saddened gaze.
"This has my father written all over, it doesn't look too old." Remus beckoned, and it was made blatantly clear once they looked at the finer details, his father's insignia was branded straight onto the door.
But it was faint.
"The door won't open, it requires an offering." She beckoned, looking expectedly towards the Alpha who frowned. Only for Enzo to place a hand onto the wolf's shoulder. "House requires blood."
"Blood? You make the house sound alive and you still want me to give it my blood."
"Alpha, it's not the same force that the shield used. This is different. If this really is your father's doing then he'd use his blood to enter." She made perfect sense and Remus begrudgingly followed after the witch and summoned his fangs to cut along his palm. Which she didn't instruct him to touch the insignia, it was surely a place marker for this exact reason.
And once the damn thing recognized the blood, the symbol glowed with a sickening golden glow before the door swung open violently slamming against the wall.
Remus couldn't retain himself from not going first, and while it didn't smell as moldy as the bunker he ventured down. It did hold a similar constricting sense within the building.
"You think this was a safe house? I remember dad always saying that there was somewhere to go if—"
"Dad's idea of a safe house was throwing the pack into the bunker. No, this is something else." Jackson threw out one of the first theories, but as everyone started to pick up the fallen furniture and lingering bits of documents. It was concluded that this place was abandoned, most likely in a hurry.
There was nothing to really express what this building was in the first room, they needed to go deeper. However, Rebekah was still not over the sense of the silver affecting her senses and thus she waved her hand up and opened up the windows surrounding the sitting room to let fresh air in.
Causing the wolves to jump up in defense.
"Sorry...We can use the open windows as a marker to which rooms were already searched." She claimed, and while Enzo wanted to remain with his mate. It was better to have her closer to the shield in case it still decided to detonate.
Which left the vampire to team up with the Alpha in heading through the cabin. Remus still thought about Jackson's mention of a safe house, and while there were a few stationed bedrooms—It looked more like a prison in his mind.
Everyone, mindful of the witch, could smell the blood and death that lingered. Though Enzo doubted his little mate couldn't feel the negativity in the air.
There was clearly something wrong.
"What do you make of this?" Enzo questioned, and Remus sighed.
"Like what Jackson said—Before I mean, this must've been home back for the more 'illegal' shit my dad did. Bounty hunter and witch meetings...I just can't understand why it's been hidden for so long." He looked towards the male as though he had the answers, but the silence only brought them to dwell in the darkness further, or until one of them pulled up the window like Rebekah instructed to show it was already searched.
It wasn't that it was messy like the sitting room they first entered in, everything was meticulously put together just not taken care of with the layers of dust laying on the ready-made beds.
Rounding a corner the two met up with the Delta couple and both came up empty-handed. "Nothing really, found a kitchen stocked high...Whatever the hell this place is, it was prepared."
"Jack's right, it's...Eerie. Like we aren't meant to be here." Aurora followed up her mate's summary on what was in their search, however, Remus' eyes began lingering on one of the many doors.
Which had been locked.
He instantly offered his opposite hand to give a blood offering, letting the door open instantly. "I wouldn't make it a habit of letting the house have too much of your blood, Alpha. There's no telling what magic is tied with this house." Enzo informed, but the warning had fallen on deaf ears as Remus was in awe at both the scent and the offering of perhaps some answers.
Remus made a choking sound that caused Jackson to backtrack on another room that Aurora had taken a peek in, but the Alpha making such a noise caught his attention.
"Sir, what is—" The Alpha had taken the room by storm, causing Jackson to stand in shock, the smell didn't register in his mind. But by the way his Alpha was acting, surely meant he caught something familiar.
"It's her." The male hurried, and by the objects around the room, it was clear that the room was for a she-wolf. But the second that his eyes locked onto a picture, the answer was settled.
This was Emery Moon's room.
A pained smile almost curled up onto Jackson's face, how could he forget the beautiful scent of the sweetest woman is in the world? Who took him in as his own mother died and his father was just on the same path to follow her to the moon.
While Jackson was fighting his own tears, Remus seethed out a strangling mess. No part of him wanted to hide his emotions, but the way he was breathing caused Jackson to leave—He had no place in the Alpha's grief.
What Remus needed were answers.
Answers, Sage and the pups for comfort
He remained at a distance while Remus rummaged through the given furniture, and even Jackson noted how much this was personalized compared to the other rooms that were searched.
But why was his mother up here?
The questions continued to topple, and while he hadn't meant to kick the bed, it was far too still for him to think it wasn't hiding something. Causing him to drop down and reveal a trunk.
Yet there was nothing more than gibberish in the letters, between her and father—Between her and her siblings. There was nothing here other than apologies for the war.
But even a decade later, Remus was still apologizing.
"There's no use in saying sorry, mama." He whispered, but he looked around the rest of the room and tucked away everything inside the large trunk that could later prove to be useful. Though he doubted it.
"Alpha, there's a grand door at the end of the hall that—God, those curtains are ghastly." Jackson nicked the vampire and shook his head.
"Yeah, mom always had a strange taste..." Remus smiled, letting his hand reach out to touch the thinning fabric. Enzo realized his mistake as he looked guilty in adding to Remus' stress and anxiety, the smell wreaked of it already.
"I'm sure Sage would love them...It's not doing anything here, Rem." Jack offered, and it didn't take long for him to take them as well.
There were hardly any things remaining that belonged to Emery in this type of condition.
So Jack helped in complete silence to take the small decorations and pack them away in the suitcase as well.
They didn't deserve to be forgotten here.
"There's a locked door at the end of the hall, I can take this to Rebekah. It'll be safe in her backpack." Remus nodded, his eyes slowly ticking to his beast as he turned almost robotically towards the door and opened it just as fluently as it would open normally.
And if his mother had given him a trip, then this certainly did. The room emulated the scent of Randal Moon that Jackson instantly felt ill, but even that could not prepare him for Remus's reaction. Not when he walked right up to the painting that hung above the desk at the sidewall. It screamed a narcissistic parasite, and nothing of it offered the mystical offering that the goddess was depicted to give him.
It was all propaganda, the whole work of it.
And sure his fist was burning at hitting pure concrete or layers of wood, but it made him feel great seeing his father's face no longer present in the room.
"Shit—Alpha, you need to look at this." Remus was in the midst of trying not to shift into his beast, yet seeing Aurora at the desk caused him to delay the reaction. He needed to remain calm and collected, and showing this much emotion was not smart or healthy.
He needed to get through this and let it out later.
"What is it?" He questioned, leaning over Aurora's shoulder. However, the fact that even Rory looked horrified put matters in an even worse perspective. Taking hold of the aged letter, Remus scanned it through with a tightened jaw.
_____
Randal,
I expected the deal to be completed by the first of the month, if you aren't up for this type of task I'll find someone else to complete it. My contact will be there by the end of the week to provide the necessary supplies to secure her.
If she is harmed, I will not hesitate to end you and your pathetic ruling. Crescent Moon is hanging by a thread. If you want Mystic Grimm to follow you'll follow this lead, Moon.
It will only do you good to take my aid, what do you say?
Shall I give you one more chance? Meet my associate at the same place and time, the previous dose won't work. Throw it out.
-A
_______
Remus read the letter, then re-read it. Hoping that it'd give more than just a summary of an expired product, but the symbol that was written beside the signature initially caught his eyes instantly.
"That's the vampire we're looking for, the one that Sage is—" Deathly fucking afraid of, is what he wanted to say. Yet the idea of almost gaining a name caused him to huff.
"But we already knew that Willow was kidnapped not killed, that your father—" Aurora started, but Jackson had just finished gazing at the letter on his own to interject.
"Yeah, but this sounds like a threat, Rory. It sounds like Randal owed him something." Remus nodded at his Delta's interpretation of it, however, Enzo groaned in revealing another dozen of letters that would take time going through.
"They're not dated, it might take some time to organize them properly." He deemed and Remus continued elsewhere around the room. It was similar to his father's office on pack grounds, but he sighed in relief to see a proper map of the pack, and the small flags could only suggest what his father's actions would've been on that particular day.
It made him feel instantly sick in seeing the landmarks of the rogue wall making an indent to signify its place on the map.
"That's where we dug up silver, those must be the rest everywhere else...What do you think—"
"I don't know Jackson, I wish I did." Remus finished, and the Delta instantly felt guilty in bringing up yet another question they were here to find.
"Alpha, does the phrase 'apen etter—"
"Goddess Enz, you're butchering it!" Rebekah interrupted and properly put the pronunciation correctly.
"'åpen etter min vilje.' What do you propose that means?" She mumbled her question, but the house answered fruitfully as the bookcase by his father's portrait began to open.
"You're kidding...What language is that?" Jackson huffed, and Aurora groaned into the air. "It's Norewiegn Jack, the former Alpha must've been a fan. Otherwise, the symbol on the door wouldn't be of the Norse wolf." Remus nodded, the door was much more intricate in design but speaking of the Norse pattern there it was once again.
Remus squeezed his hand to draw more blood before touching it firmly against his father's insignia. "'åpen etter min vilje,'" He repeated, and the door took to the words issued by the Alpha and revealed a pit black hole of nothing.
Or not that the eye could see at the moment.
"I want everyone together for this, there's no telling what the hell is down there." He ordered, and Jack went ahead to gather the rest of the group. Yet just as the Alpha was going to ask Rebekah if she had any sort of flashlights she had one at the ready for him to grab.
"Thanks. That bag ever have an end?" The witch threw up a wide grin, it was clear that she was prepared and thus Remus shined a light through the pitch darkness and huffed.
The sound of a creaking door caught the Alpha's attention to shine it straight towards what he was questioning. While Aurora shined another light to the fading map and gawked.
"It goes into the mountain. Oh goddess, then what the hell is the normal opening for?"
"That's a good question, sounds like he was mining silver instead of buying it himself from the market," Enzo confirmed this as there were a few transactions in the collected bit of letters that suggested another contact was interested in purchasing bulk of their product.
And what else would a factory need to be on a mountain for?
"Sir, this could very well be a mine. It could be out of commission and dangerous without upkeep." Aurora interrupted, and Dante came in laughing.
"See, I told you it's straight out of Scooby-doo or something—Hey! I babysat with Sage a few times, the twins love that show!" Remus rolled his eyes at Jackson, but the small smile that started to bloom on Rory's face caused him to smirk.
He surely was making this much more light-hearted than it is. And once everyone was given a flashlight, two males were instructed to find more information aboveground in the office.
Just in case something were to happen.
It was the only way to get further into the secrets his father tried to bury.
______
Date:03/14/2022
Time: 10:00
Words: 3484
Author's Note:
The truth is slowly revealing itself, can it get any worse?
Well--An author doesn't tell her secrets too early.
But nobody is innocent. Nobody.
I'm really liking Rebekah & Enzo as well as Aurora & Jackson.
Now--From my lovely Beta-reader, we're both interested in reader's interest--
Which is your favorite Alpha couple-
-Sage & Remus
-Jade & Harlow
-Mary & Issac
-Haylee & Drake
Who is your favorite Elwood?
-Leo
-Camilla
-Luke
-Caleb
-Liam
-Cameron
-Casey
We'll try to come up with new questions every chapter to hear the reader's thoughts. Remember, there is absolutely no wrong answer!
With that being said, I love votes and comments!
You know the drill, Wednesday? Updating The Luna of Crescent Moon
Friday? Right back to the mountain and the rest of the gang
Until then, hope everyone has a great weekend!