Tears of the Moon

by Quinn Loftis

  Zara’s wolf had been contained inside the human form for entirely too long. It had been trapped, helpless, while the poor human had endured everything the vampires had done to the girl. The wolf had felt every bite, every cut, every desecration. It had screamed to break free and take revenge on the vampires but was powerless to do so. We won’t be caged again, the wolf whispered into her mind.

  It was a scary sensation, to have someone else’s voice in her mind, especially when she still hadn’t gotten used to having Wadim there.

  I’ve always been with you, the wolf told her.

  But I didn’t know that, Zara responded.

  She’d thought she’d been utterly alone during her time in the vampires’ captivity. Her family was gone, and Zara hadn’t known if she’d live to see the light of day ever again. In fact, at some point, she’d resigned herself to a slow, painful death in the vampires’ dungeon. It would have been a comfort to have known about her wolf then.

  You survived, her wolf said. She could hear and feel the admiration of her animal side, and it made Zara a little proud.

  “Zara, please stop.” Wadim’s voice in her mind was a gentle caress. He was trying to soothe her.

  “Stop what?” she asked him. In spite of herself, she could hear the desperation in her voice. “Stop randomly transforming into a wolf and acting like a rabid beast? I wish it were that simple, Wadim.”

  “No. Stop running.”

  She was about to respond when someone—well, several someones—emerged from the trees in front of her. They quickly spread out into a semicircle around her, forcing Zara to slide to a halt to keep from crashing into Jen, who was standing directly in front of her.

  “You can’t run from this,” Jen said as she stared directly into Zara’s eyes.

  Zara dropped her gaze, her wolf instinctively recognizing Jen as the more dominant.

  “We can help you,” Decebel said, stepping close to his mate.

  The large man loomed closely over Zara, and the girl wanted to cower. With some effort of will, she forced herself to remain standing, though her head stayed lowered.

  She felt a hand on her head, running down her back. Wadim. Zara leaned in to her mate’s touch. It was still weird to think of him in such a way, but his presence certainly made her feel safe.

  “If you will be patient with yourself and us, we can figure out a way to help you gain control of your wolf. Can you do that? At least try?” Jen asked her.

  The wolf growled internally, but Zara fought against him. What choice did she have? It’s not like she could leave the pack and survive. She’d probably get herself shot by a hunter or wind up butt naked in front of some random humans because she couldn’t control when she phased. Finally, Zara nodded her wolf head and then looked up at Wadim.

  “I’m searching the archives,” he said gently, “for anything on that might explain your condition. Dormants have always been a bit of a mystery, but hopefully we will find something that explains why you have no control over your transformations. If I can’t find anything, maybe Peri can help,” Wadim said, his eyes full of something she hadn’t seen in a very long time—love.

  Zara turned back toward the Romania pack mansion and walked closely by Wadim’s side. His hand remained on the scruff of her neck, his touch a reassuring reminder he wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Never,” he said through their bond. “I will never leave you. We will get through this with one another and with the help of our pack.”

  Chapter Two

  “My parents always used to say, 'One day, when you have children, you'll understand.' Sometimes parents just say stuff, or so it seems, and teens are like, 'Um, sure, whatever.' Turns out, my parents were right. Now that I have Titus, I understand exactly what they were saying. He changed everything.” ~ Sally

  * * *

  “Dearest wolves, fae, elves, and warlocks. You are being watched. Don’t consider your recent acquisition as a victory. We will get what we want. If you do not comply, then we will start attacking humans openly. Entire towns will be wiped out. The vampires are hungry. You, have after all, kicked them out of their homes. We want the healer, and we will get her, or innocent people will die. Hope this finds you well. Sincerely, TOBC.”

  Vasile placed the wrinkled paper back into the top drawer of his desk. He’d read the demand letter from the Order of the Burning Claw so many times he had the words memorized. The Alpha had hoped to find some clues as to the organization’s true plans, or, if he was really lucky, some hint as to their whereabouts. Unfortunately, the cryptic message yielded nothing helpful. It didn't help him, but it did infuriate him. How dare these people try and steal something so precious to his pack—their gypsy healer? Like all gypsies, Sally was light and goodness personified. Vasile had no doubt the Order would turn her into something just the opposite. They’d already started. Though Sally was on the mend, recovering from the psychic trauma of having her memories stolen and replaced with a terrible dark magic, she was far from the pure young woman he’d once known. And now these cretins thought he would just turn her back over to them. Over his dead body, and every other wolf in his pack as well. Sally wasn't going anywhere.

  Still, the demand itself was troubling. If the Order had the audacity to make such threats, then they had clearly grown in strength. At one time, long ago, they had enough members to make life for peace-loving members of the hidden supernatural world very difficult. If the Order had regained that kind of membership, then the implications of standing against them would be catastrophic. Considering the size of the hives they'd discovered, Vasile didn’t have much hope that the Order of the Burning Claw was bluffing. Just a couple of months ago, he would have written them off as a few disgruntled supernaturals throwing a hissy fit about living in secret. Now he couldn't make that assumption. The sheer number of vampire covens they'd found was alarming. It appeared they had an army, and if the Order declared war against the mortals, many innocent people would die, humans and supernaturals alike. But giving in to their demands would be far worse. If Vasile didn’t fight them, if he stood idly by while their power grew, the organization would eventually become strong enough to take over the world.

  The Alpha wished he were just being dramatic. Vasile would love to believe the human authorities could stand against a combined onslaught from a group of supernaturals. Such hope would be in vain. The Order’s letter threatened violence against the humans, promising the destruction of entire towns if he didn’t comply. He had no doubt they were capable of such violence. But despite that threat, Vasile would not capitulate. He’d never bowed to tyranny before, and he wouldn’t start now. The only hope of his pack and the other good supernaturals was complete and total victory. Vasile was ready and willing to lead his wolves in that effort. But how could he fight a battle against enemies who hid in the shadows? He needed to find some way to expose the vermin to the light. But try as he might, he could think of no way of flushing them out.

  His phone rang, jarring him from his thoughts and he growled at it, thinking to ignore the call. But when he saw the name on the caller ID, his growl faded in his throat. Vasile snatched the cell phone and swiped the screen to answer.

  “Where the hell have you been?” He snarled as his fear and worry morphed into anger.

  “I found my mate,” Skender said.

  “I would congratulate you, but I’m too pissed off to be happy for you. It’s been months, Skender. Why haven’t you checked in?” Vasile asked.

  “I haven’t been able to. Even now I’m taking a huge risk in contacting you.”

  “Risk? What risk?”

  Skender sighed. “You remember the Order of the Burning Claw?”

  A chill spread down Vasile’s spine as the hair on the back of his neck rose. “I do.”

  “My mate is a member.”

  Vasile bit back the string of curse words that threatened to spill out. At the same time, a myriad of thoughts swirled in the Alpha's mind. What did this mean? A wolf who'd found h
is mate couldn't really control who or what she was. For good or bad, a true mate was a true mate, no matter how despicable. But this revelation certainly complicated things, which were complicated enough already.

  “Who is she? What pack is she from?” Vasile asked.

  “No pack. She grew up in the Order. Her parents were members,” Skender explained.

  “Were?” Vasile asked.

  “They were murdered,” Skender said, his voice sounding strained when he continued, “by humans.”

  “Humans?” Vasile frowned. “Did these humans know the true nature of her parents? Did they intentionally murder Canis lupus?”

  “Yes. There is much I have to tell you,” Skender said. “But I can’t do it over a phone. I need to come back, and I want to bring my mate with me.”

  “You sound as though you are asking permission,” Vasile said carefully. “What are you not telling me, Skender?”

  “When I first met my mate, the Order brought me in as a carefully watched guest.”

  “A nice way of calling you a prisoner?” Vasile asked.

  “You could say that. But as time went on, they began to trust me. I was able to move more freely, and they relaxed around me. I heard some disturbing things, Alpha. Things that maybe I should have done something about, but I didn’t because of fear of retaliation against my mate.” Skender cleared his throat before continuing. “I heard they got Sally.”

  Vasile didn’t respond immediately. He waited, hoping Skender would reveal more of what he might know.

  The other wolf cleared his throat again. “I heard they wiped her memory,” Skender said.

  “Who, exactly, did you hear this from?” Vasile asked after another moment of silence.

  “Alpha, I can’t discuss this over the phone. It just isn’t safe. I need assurances before I can return,” Skender said. “I need to make sure none of the other pack members will try to retaliate against me. I’ve finally convinced my mate to leave the Order. I made her see just how evil they are.”

  Vasile could hear genuine concern in his packmate's voice. The wolf was scared. Skender was wise to be wary. Other members of the pack might attack Skender on sight if they knew he'd been part of the Order. But Vasile hesitated. Vasile had known Skender a long time and the Alpha could tell his old packmate was hiding something. But Vasile couldn't figure out what. Part of Skender's story wasn't true, and Vasile needed to know what the wolf was up to. The Alpha hoped if Skender was there in person, he would be able to pick apart the lies from the deception.

  “Come home, Skender, and bring your female. We will figure this out as we would figure out any other problem—as a pack.”

  A half hour after finding Zara, Sally and the others returned to the pack mansion. By this point, Sally was chomping at the bit to see Titus. She hadn’t forgotten about him when they’d arrived. She’d simply reacted to helping a packmate in need when she saw Zara sprint off into the forest. But now that Zara was out of the woods, literally and figuratively, at least for a while, Sally could focus on her son and how desperately she wanted to see him.

  “He’s with Gavril,” Costin said.

  Sally looked up at him as they entered the doors to the pack home. Her brow furrowed.

  Her mate shrugged. “I can feel your need to see him and I want to see him just as badly,” her mate said. “We can meet up with the others in Vasile’s office later. I’m sure they will understand. Also, I wanted to see if you were okay with us staying here at our suite instead of going back to the Serbia mansion. We’re probably going to be here every day anyways.”

  She nodded. “I think that’s a good idea. I bet Jen and Decebel will be staying here too. We should just talk to Vasile about expanding this mansion or adding some homes on the land around and bringing everyone to the Serbia mansion.”

  Costin took her hand, and she let him lead her to Gavril and Rachel’s suite. He knocked and they waited, though Sally wasn’t feeling nearly as patient as Costin seemed to be.

  The door opened a few seconds later, and Gavril stepped back to allow them to enter. Sally had barely stepped through the door when a small body crashed into her legs. Little arms wrapped around her legs and squeezed her tightly.

  “You’re back!” Titus exclaimed as he looked up at her, his bright smile beaming like the noon-day summer sun. “The angel said you’d be back. She also said you were better and that Daddy was better. She said I needed to ask you questions about wolves, but I’m pretty sure I already know what that’s all about. And she said that I was destined—that means meant for—great things. She said a lot of things, but the most important was that you and Daddy are okay and back home.” He didn’t take a breath as the words rushed out of him in one long run-on sentence.

  “Sounds like your angel had a nice long chat with you,” Sally said as she pulled him back so she could kneel in front of him and pull him into her arms. She held him tightly, as if she could somehow protect him from all the nightmares in the world by keeping him in the shelter of her arms. Sally knew that wasn’t possible because Costin held her tightly all the time and still she faced the ugly evil of the world.

  When she released Titus, Costin knelt down and wrapped their son in a hug and then stood up, holding the little boy and looking at him as only a father could. There was pride, joy, love, concern, and much more shining in Costin’s eyes.

  Titus framed Costin’s face, as he was known to do, with his little hands. “You’re a good man, Daddy. You know why?”

  Costin shook his head. “Why?”

  “Because you do the right thing even when it isn’t easy. That’s what the angel said.”

  Sally bit her bottom lip as tears slipped from her eyes. How she and Costin were blessed to end up with Titus as their son, she would never know, but she was eternally grateful.

  Titus wiggled until Costin put him down, and then the boy took both Sally’s and Costin’s hand. “Come on, I need to show you what Uncle Gavril has been teaching me.”

  Sally looked back at Gavril, who simply shrugged with a sheepish smile on his usually grim face.

  She sat down next to Costin who had taken a spot, directed by Titus, on the floor by the coffee table. Several books lay on the table, opened to display various pictures. Sally moved closer to get a better look. The books were old. Some of the pictures were paintings, and others were drawn with pencils or charcoal. But they all had one thing in common: they were all pictures of wolves in various forms from full-on wolf, to half-wolf and half-man, to man with only parts of the wolf showing, like in the glowing eyes or the clawed fingers.

  “Um, Gavril?” Sally said slowly, unsure of how to ask in a polite way, “‘What the hell, dude?” when there was a four-year-old present.

  “He’s teaching me all about werewolves,” Titus said. “I knew there was something different about everyone, especially Alpha Decebel because he talks so much about growling and biting. But Uncle Gavril taught me more.” He pointed to several different pictures in rapid succession. “These are all from different packs and the packs are all over the world, but they all want the same thing.”

  “And what’s that?” Costin asked Titus, sounding as unsure as Sally felt.

  “To protect humans and those weaker than them from bad people.” Titus’s voice sounded a tad exasperated, as though Costin’s question was ridiculous.

  “Are we talking, like, comic-book werewolves? Superheroes in a make-believe world?” Sally asked as she glanced at Gavril, whose face was unhelpfully blank. She turned back to Titus and had to cough to keep from laughing at the expression on his face.

  “Make-believe?” Their four-year-old son frowned, his shoulders pulled back and his back ramrod straight. “This is not pretend, Mommy. This is serious business. Uncle Gavril says I have a lot to learn before I become a werewolf like him.”

  Sally started slapping Costin on the back as he seemed to be choking on absolutely nothing as she stared at their son who was flipping through the pages of one of the large
books.

  “Here,” Titus said, pointing to a picture of a humongous wolf with glowing blue eyes. “That’s Papa Vasile. I can’t read the words, but I remember what Uncle Gavril told me about this picture. This was during the werewolf wars when Papa Vasile fought against other wolves. Uncle Gavril said he was in that war too.”

  Titus continued to flip through pages and point out different pictures, explaining to Sally and Costin what Uncle Gavril, as he continued to call the man, had told him. Sally sat and stared with her mouth hanging open for any passing fly to pop on in. She was waiting for the minute when someone would jump out and say “Gotcha!”

  Sally’s phone vibrated in her pocket, and she pulled it out to see she had a text from Jen.

  Jen: We’re meeting in Vasile’s office to discuss the Zara situation.

  Sally: Costin and I can be filled in later. We’ve got some stuff to discuss with Titus. Gavril took it upon himself to introduce our son to the whole werewolf thing.

  Jen: What?! Well, at least you don’t have to dance around it. Besides, he knew about vampires. What’s one more monster?

  Sally: I guess. Take cliff notes for us. We can meet up after dinner.

  Jen: Will do.

  Sally looked up to see Costin watching her, questions filling his eyes along with the worry she also felt. “They’re meeting in Vasile’s office. I told them we would just get the synopsis after dinner.”

  Costin nodded. “Good idea.” He looked back at Titus and took a deep breath. “So, buddy, how does the whole werewolf thing make you feel?”

  “Uncle Gavril said werewolves are the good guys. I like being a good guy,” Titus said, a proud smile spread across his face. “The good guys beat the bad guys, which are the vampires. And the vampires need to be beaten.”