Ghost Moon

Nyko

I watch as she stands behind Margo, not too close to touch, with her eyes to the floor. She shouldn’t be standing there. She should be at the front with Margo behind. She’s the future queen, for crying out loud.

“Why are you here? Didn’t Nyko tell you to go home?” I hear Ayn question her. My eyes are trained on Nix, though. I have no interest in why Margo is here.

“Is that any way to talk to your future queen, Beta?” My wolf bristles at this.

The audacity.

“What do you want, Margo? I thought I was clear. I’m busy.”

She seems taken aback at my attitude toward her. “I— I just wanted to know if you wanted to have lunch with me later today. I was coming to ask when Diedre asked me to bring her to you guys.”

“I can’t. I’ve got a lot to do today,” I reply coldly. That’s when Ayn steps in yet again.

“Why don’t we leave you two alone. I planned on showing Nix around the yards this morning anyway.”

He stands up to go toward her, but I put my arm out effectively stopping him in his tracks. “I’ll take her. You should head over to the training grounds and see how the training warriors are doing.”

Nix seems to take interest when I mention the warriors in training. Interesting.

“I thought you said you were busy?”

“Why are you still here?” A look of hurt crosses her face, and I realize I’ve said that out loud.

“Go home, Margo. I’ll visit with you this evening.” I walk over to my mate and gesture for her to walk ahead, and she obliges.

I don’t wait to see what Ayn or Margo does.

I guide her into the courtyard and watch as she stops and looks up into the sky, making a slow circle with her arms out. She stops, and her eyes land on me, and she smiles. And my heart melts.

“You didn’t get a lot of sunlight where you were, did you?” I watch as the smile falls from her face, and she shakes her head.

“Well, don’t worry, you’re not a prisoner here. You can come outside whenever you feel like it. Better yet, tonight I’d like to take you to the lake. It’s a sight to see at night fall. May I?” She slowly nods her head, and I smile.

I lead her to the training grounds because I sense that’s what she wants to see the most. I can feel the excitement pouring off her when she sees the warriors practicing in both wolf and human form.

“We start training our warriors from the age of sixteen, like most packs. As you may know, there are some who start a bit younger. All of the king’s guard are taken from a special pack, though, at least they used to be.

“This pack starts training warriors from the age of eight. Their seer would call upon the chosen and they would be initiated and begin training. It was a lot tougher than any out there.

“That pack is no longer with us—” I’m cut off when I sense her curiosity mixed with happiness, but when I look to my side, she’s no longer there.

I look around and see her walking toward… No. Oh shit!

“No! Wait—don’t go too close to…” I watch in horror as Cerberus jumps on my mate, engulfing her entire body with his.

Cerberus is literally a dog from hell. He was found as a pup, abandoned because he only had two heads instead of three.

What whoever abandoned him didn’t know was that because of this defect, he was a lot more vicious than any other we’ve come across.

Growing up, he was playful and friendly with everyone, but as he grew older, the only one he’d allow close to him was me.

He follows my every command and is a great guard dog. You just can’t get too close to him.

I pull to a halt, and I’m about to order him to stand down when I hear the most beautiful sound.

Giggling? She’s giggling?

Cerberus jumps up, wagging his tail in the air, both his tongues lolling out. I look down to see Nix tickling his stomach, her entire body covered in dog drool.

A crowd has started gathering and Ayn runs to my side, panting for breath. He needs to work out more, he’s getting out of shape, I find myself thinking.

“Is…Are…they” deep inhale, “Are they playing?” he finally asks.

I look to the side, a huge smile plastered on my face. “It would seem so, my friend.”

“She just keeps getting stranger and stranger.”

It’s then that she finally notices her audience and gets to her feet, her hand still rubbing his stomach. Cerberus is a massive dog, larger than my six-foot-three height, and she’s much smaller than I am.

“Alright everybody, back to work,” Ayn yells at the group before sending a wave her way and jogging back onto the field.

I move toward them, noticing how Cerberus is trying to gain her attention once more. Placing my hand on the scruff of his neck, I gently pet him, and he rolls over so I can get to his stomach.

This causes her to break out in another fit of giggles.

“You know, this brute doesn’t allow anyone to touch him but me. I’m not even sure when the last time he actually played with me was, either.” She looks at me, a small blush creeping across her cheeks.

I try again. “His name is Cerberus. I found him when I was nine. He was only a pup.” She looks at me again and lightly shakes her head.

“What? I wasn’t nine or he wasn’t a pup?” I ask.

I can see her arguing with herself before she makes a decision. She says nothing. Damn.

“His name isn’t Cerberus. Cerberus is what he is. His name is Daemon.”

My eyebrows shoot up to meet my hairline.

“Did you just… talk? In my head?” She looks away and nods her head.

“How did you— That’s impossible.” And then it dawns on me.

There’s only one other clan that has—had—the ability to connect with others' minds without being an Alpha, but even then it’s the leader or future leader who holds that particular ability.

The very same clan who no longer exist because of a rogue attack that happened over two years ago. The ones who trained their warriors for the king’s guard.

The Ghost Moon pack.

I’m about to ask more questions when I notice her eyes start glowing a wonderful ice blue and she sniffs the air. At the same time, the Delta of the pack, Sam, mind-links to inform me of my uncle’s arrival.

I turn to my mate to find she’s once again missing. I sense her heart rate accelerate and, scanning the yard, see her running at full speed, a speed to rival even my own.

I call out to her, but she ignores my pleas to stop. I take off after her and see Ayn running toward me out of the corner of my eyes. I ignore him, knowing he’ll follow close behind.

As I round the corner to the gates, I see my uncle, now exiting his SUV, as well as his many guards.

They don’t see her. She’s too fast for them. I watch in horror and amazement as she jumps, claws bared, ten feet in the air.

Only an Alpha has the ability to shift partially. Not even Ghost Moon pack members can do that, beside the Alpha.

I shout to my uncle’s guards to clear the way, but they don’t seem to hear me. She lands on my uncle, knocking him to the ground onto his back. Now she’s caught their attention.

The first guard grabs hold of her shoulder in an attempt to remove her but he quickly loses a limb. I’m frozen in my spot as I witness the most brutal and yet fascinating scene before me.

Quick as lightning she dispatches two more, bending and weaving around them so quickly they don’t even stand a chance.

Ayn reaches my side and when he sees what’s taking place, shakes me back into action and we run the rest of the way there.

We get there just as she guts his last guard and turns to face my uncle, blood dripping from her head all the way to her feet.

Now she’s got the attention of my guards and other pack members, and I have to wave my guards away lest I lose them too.

She takes a slow step toward him and he retreats, eyes wide, fear emanating from him in thick waves. She releases a growl and—I know it’s wrong—but I feel something down there, stirring to attention. I know, I’m a perv.

My uncle, dumb as he is, turns and tries running in the opposite direction. In the blink of an eye she’s in front of him, grabbing him by the neck and effortlessly lifting him into the air.

I take a step toward her. Ayn grabs my hand to stop me, but I roughly pull away and walk over to her. My wolf is agitated, he wants to come out, to assist our mate in whatever it is she’s doing, but I can’t let that happen.

Just as she brings her free hand up, claw bared and ready to strike, I take hold of her wrist.

She snaps her head in my direction, lips curling in a snarl. I’m not scared, I’m turned on. No doubt every wolf here can smell my arousal, but I don’t give a shit.

Bringing my wolf to the surface, my eyes now a stormy gray, I command her to release him, using my Alpha voice. Surprisingly, she doesn’t do as I say.

She looks at me, her head cocked to the side, her eyes still blazing. Her hold on my uncle tightens.

Trying again, I raise my voice an octave and command her to release him once more. I hate using my Alpha voice on her, but I don’t have a choice. My father would be upset if I let his only brother be murdered.

Then she does something that surprises me even further.

She speaks.

“You expect me to release this monster? This pathetic excuse for a wolf? The one who has tortured me for over two years? Is it because you’re just like him?

“Are you all like him?” She roars to the crowd at large. Her voice is magnified and threatens to have even me submitting.

Ayn steps forward to try to talk to her, “What do you mean he’s tortured you? You were with rogues. You killed them, all of them. I saw it with my own eyes.”

“I was with rogues. Every day. But once a week he…,” she shakes his body, which flops like a rag doll, blood seeping from the puncture marks her claws make.

“He would come, he tortured us all. Did things to us that shouldn’t be done by our own people. He…hurt…me.” My heart goes to pieces as I hear her voice break at the end of that speech.

It’s then I realize what she’s saying. My uncle hurt my mate. MY MATE!!

She starts speaking again, “The last time I saw him I promised I would make him watch as I tore his insides from his body and feast on his flesh, but like the worm he is, he ran and left the rogues to kill us.”

She turns to him with her canines distended and glistening, “I killed all your rogues though. Now it’s your turn.”

My uncle is visibly shaken. He’s being accused of something so heinous and yet he says nothing.

I’m angry but still I cannot let her kill him. Allowing my wolf to surface completely, I step next to her and take her free hand in mine. This way our wolves will be able to communicate with each other.

She looks at me, confusion clear on her face. Her eyes begin to flicker between their magnificent ice blue and their normal color and before long her hand goes slack, dropping my uncle to the ground.

He scrambles away from us, looking for an escape.

I pull my mate into a tight embrace and feel her tense up before her arms reluctantly go around my middle.

“Sam, lock my uncle in the jail house until I get to the bottom of this.” Sam nods in confirmation and grabs onto my uncle before he can even protest.

I look down to Nix and take her face in my palms, looking into her eyes. “What did you do? How did you make me do that?” she asks.

“It was my wolf. He connected with yours. We have a bond, beautiful, do you not feel it?”

She steps out of my embrace and shakes her head before saying, “I don’t feel anything. Not anymore.”

She turns away from me and heads into the house, her head held high even though everyone is looking at her with horror-stricken faces.

It’s only then I notice Margo in the crowd, tears streaming down her beautiful face, before sending a hardened glare my way and storming off.