by Bianca Griso
I smile and nod in response. “Any omegas that can hear me, can one of you send someone for coffee for Esme please,” I mind link the omegas, and one responses quickly and that he will have coffee sent up.
“Esme darling, an omega is sending someone up for coffee for you,” I tell her. Coffee came sooner than I thought; they must have some leftovers from breakfast. Esme opens the door when the omega knocks on the door. Selene is the omega at the door; she was brought into the pack when the disappearance of the werewolves started. Her father was a high-ranked member of the pack she came from. Selene has black hair and crystal blue eyes. She had a big adjustment when she first arrived. She came from a nudist pack, so clothes were foreign to her.
Many werewolves came to us and the other three packs when small packs attempted to cross over. We didn’t want to confirm that small packs were disappearing until we got to a certain number. Peter, our new head omega, was the last one and the first alpha to survive. A lot of people who we find tell us their alpha was the first to go. So what we took from that is they are hunting to kill innocent people.
After the whole morning trying to get Esme out of bed, we were barely on time. Everyone is all gathered by the river, and the small wooden boat is ready to go. Fuck, I still can’t believe I’m doing this. Not many people care about omegas, but I grew up with Daniel; we were friends. He was just much as a friend to me as Tyler is growing up. My father told me to respect all members of our pack, as we are all one the same.
I stand in front of our people, with Daniel’s body is behind me, in the boat ready. My people are waiting for me to say something, but I’m lost for words. I’m not sure where to start; I didn’t realize that I began to cry. Esme comes over to me and rubs my back. “We didn’t just lose an omega of the pack; this is a hard loss for us. Daniel took his own life after being rejected. Daniel was a kind soul who didn’t mind his rank; he knew friends and family surrounded him. Ranks didn’t matter to him; his pack did.” Esme starts to speak to everyone. It took me and everyone else by surprise when she spoke.
“We shouldn’t have lost Daniel. We lost him because my friend didn’t want to be an omega again. We are in dark times with the rogues; this loss should have been prevented. Things will change; this law will change with females having to go with the male rank. The old way will change, starting with a new law, a new way, and it starts with Daniel’s Law. Your rank won’t change when your mate is a lower rank, and you both go with the higher rank. We are in dark times, my wolves, and things will change for a better world for all of us. Today, we say goodbye to a good friend,” Esme continues speaking to our people.
Esme walks over to the torch, and before she lights Daniel’s boat, she pushes it off and tosses the torch. We watch everything burn, and I go over to Esme and hug her. I don’t understand what happened; I just had no words to say. More tears fell as Esme rubbed my back for the loss of my friend. “There won’t be any more loss,” Esme whispered in my ear.
“We are about to be at war; there will be more death, my love; sadly, it’s just the beginning,” I whisper back to her. Esme kisses my cheek and says, “ then we will make sure there’s an end to it.”
Esme did great this morning talking to everyone, with the cameras there from Wolf News. Our people really saw their Luna of the pack today. Esme is really becoming a great Luna and accepting her role in this war. With all of us having our mates, we will be officially announcing war in a month’s time.
The other Alphas want to talk to Esme and I about what she said, especially Daniel’s Law. I like the idea, and I’m going to back her up, hundred percent. She doesn’t need me to; Esme is getting a backbone more and more every day. “Mason, before we talk about what we are going to talk about, how are you doing,” Alpha Jack says.
“I’m doing okay, thanks for asking,” I said as we all sit in my conference room. It’s only me, Esme, Alpha Jack, Alpha Ethan, and Alpha Crimson. Tyler is helping Anna and Peter set up dinner for tonight. We are having food after this little meeting at the last minute.
“I wanted to start off by saying I’m backing up my mate, and we are going with this new law,” I said to let them we aren’t budging on this. They all smile at us, and Ethan says, “We wanted this meeting to tell you that Esme did fantastic, that we are doing the same thing, and we are also calling this law Daniel’s Law.”
“You guys don’t have to do that, naming it after my friend,” I tell them. Crimson comes over and pats my back and says, “we all need to do that, things are changing, and this law needs to happen if we are to survive.”
“Thank you, my friends. Now let’s celebrate the lives of two kind souls today and tonight,” I announce.
We all leave the room and head out and have food and drinks. Normally I won’t drink in the afternoon, but today unusual. I just said goodbye to a friend, and Esme said goodbye to a sister.
We head over to the dining room, where Peter prepared food for us. It’s almost time for us to eat after a long morning, and I’m sure we can all eat right now.
We sit and talk for a few minutes, to relax a bit. Alpha Ethan stands up with a glass in his hand. We all follow suit and lift our glasses. “Alpha Crimson gave a toast last night. It’s my turn. I wanted to start off by saying, I’m sorry, Alpha Mason and Luna Esme. I know what loss feels like; I wish I can tell you it will get better. That time will heal all the pain you both are feeling now. You will think about them all the time, and you miss them until it’s your time. Today and tonight isn’t about us; it’s about celebrating the lives of your friends that you lost today. I’m sorry they couldn’t have had better, but by celebrating their lives. We can make this world better, so this won’t happen again. I am here for the both of you when needed. To Marisa and Daniel!” Alpha Ethan toasts to our friends. I look over, and Esme has a few tears in her eyes. I hold her hand as we drink to the toast.
Dinner was wonderful, and we celebrated as Daniel and Marisa wanted. I hope they can be together in another life and together in the afterlife now. I know for sure that we will make this world a better place, from how our past Alphas and Lunas left it.
Chapter Fourteen
Esme
Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster, but it’s going to be normal again. The Alphas are leaving today, along with Anna, Mason’s sister.
Chelsea and I are going to the movies this afternoon to see New Mutants. I know it’s not ideal, but there isn’t anything we can do to fix everything right now. Chelsea also wants to leave the Pack House for a little while. It’s still an adjustment for her with the move.
As I get ready for the movie, to get Chelsea out of the house. I hear a knock. “Come in,” I shout through the door. I finish putting on my pants getting ready; when I hear a voice, I didn’t expect to hear it again. “Luna Esme,” the voice behind me said. I turn around, and Cassandra and Chelsea are there. At first, I don’t believe my eyes. Then my legs do the talking, and I run-up to her.
Once I have her in my arms, I don’t want to let go. We have a win today; we have Cassandra back. I lost track from when the last time I saw Cassandra. I’m just so happy that she’s here with us again.
The three of us sit on the bed, not sure where to start first. “What happened?” I ask, breaking the silence.
“I guess I should start from the beginning. Chelsea was at work, and that is when they took me. The people who took me wanted me specifically because of who my mate is. They knew who the Moon Goddess paired me with before I did. My mate found out someone took me, for experiments, mixing our very different DNA.” Cassandra explains a little. What she tells us takes me back. Cassandra found her mate, and people took her because of her mate. That’s what I’m gathering from what she told us.
“Who did take you?” I ask her; maybe they are connected to the smaller packs disappearing. Cassandra takes a deep breath, Chelsea, on the edge of her seat, like me.
“Vampires that were exiled from their clan, and my mate is Cassius, the Prince of Dark
ness of that clan. He saved me, and the vampires who took me are also apart of the disappearance of the smaller packs. Cassius’s clan isn’t a part of that; they wanted to stop it before the packs found out about the vampires. I know this is a lot, I’m still trying to understand all of this. I didn’t know about the smaller pack until Cassius told me. The vampire clan doesn’t want our DNA mixing together; they fear that it will cause their extinction. We have been in hiding, waiting for everything to blow over; his father, the King of Darkness, doesn’t like our kind mixing together at all. We live very differently from them, and they decided to separate from the world after a big conflict we had with them.” Cassandra finishes her explanation.
I don’t have much to say after she explains all of this. It’s strange to me, and I’m sure it will be for the Alphas, who need this information.
It’s almost evening, and the other Alphas left our pack hours ago and long gone. “We need to tell the Alphas about this; it can change everything,” I tell them.
Chelsea doesn’t look like she agrees to that at all, but she really doesn’t have a say. We are at war, and Cassandra needs to tell Mason this information.
“Cassandra just came back; she needs rest,” Chelsea comments.
“No, Esme is right. This will change everything for us, our Alpha needs to know,” Cassandra said. I’m happy Cassandra can agree with me and is willing to tell Mason everything. “Esme, my mate Cassius is right outside our territory; he needs to help coming inside. They burn in the sunlight, and I didn’t want anyone to hurt him,” Cassandra warned.
I smile at Cassandra and nod my head. “I won’t let them hurt your mate, but let’s go now and tell Mason, and that way, we can bring Cassius inside,” I tell her.
Once Cassandra was okay with talking to Mason, Chelsea had to go along with it. We can’t hide this vital information from Mason and the others. We knock on his office door, and Mason answers us quickly. “Esme, what are you doing here?” Mason asked.
“Well, as you can see, Cassandra is back, and she has some important information to tell you,” I explain. Mason sits up from his chair and tells us to sit down.
Cassandra tells him everything she told us, including about her mate being the Prince of Darkness. They also used to go by the Cold Ones, and we had a big conflict with them.
Mason stays silent for a while. It’s a lot to process all at once. “I will personally help Cassius inside the Pack House, and after, I’m going to have call the other Alphas and have Aaron and Kyle go where they kept you. So they can look for additional information and to destroy their experiments and kill the people who did this,” Mason said after the long silence.
“Let me go with you, Alpha Mason, he is my mate, and if he sees me, he will be willing to come with you,” Cassandra tells him. I agree with that, rather be safe than sorry, no more fighting.
It has been decided that it was just going to be Cassandra and Mason going to get Cassius that’s outside our borders. Chelsea and I are both waiting in my room for them to get back. Chelsea hasn’t spoken about anything with what we learned.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Cassandra’s mate is a powerful vampire who is also next in line for the throne. It’s crazy to me, and I can’t believe any of this I thought things were going back to normal. We are far from that; I wish the only unusual thing were that I was Luna of Pack Rivers. Things definitely changed the past three months, and nothing normal happened.
I understand that war happens; I didn’t think that vampires were apart of it and that they can burn in the sunlight. I know Cassandra told us everything she knows, but I do have questions for Cassius. There has to be more information. How did he know who his mate was before she did? How did the vampires who took her know too? We are missing some pieces to the puzzle still.
When Cassius comes inside the Pack House, you can smell it. His scent smells like death like something is rotting inside. Everyone is all gathered by the foyer to see a vampire. We didn’t know that they were real not that long ago. Cassius is ashen and red eyes. His dark hair is messy from being in the woods.
A lot of my people have their noses covered from his scent. I thought the smell from Cassandra was bad, his scent is pungent.
I stand in front of the crowd to introduce myself as Luna of the pack. Cassius walks up to me and puts his hand out. I redundantly shook his hand as Luna. I know he would never hurt her, Cassandra, but that doesn’t mean I’m not weary. “Luna Esme, the pleasure is all mine. I heard so much about you,” Cassius greats himself. His accent is ancient. It sounds like old English; you can hear his age in his voice. His voice still sounds very smooth and still very full of life at the same time.
“Cassius, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” I greet him. Mason gets everyone back to work and got them all out of the foyer.
“Follow me to my office so we can discuss some things,” Mason said. We follow him up to his office, so it’s more private. Not everyone in the Pack House knows what’s really going; the omegas doesn’t. I’m sure they gossip and talk about what they think is actually happening. Some of the higher ranks do know, but not all of them.
We all sit down in Mason’s office; an omega brought in some extra chairs and left the office. “Cassandra explained who you are and what you are, Cassius. She also said that your clan doesn’t have anything to do with the disappearances with my kind. We do have questions about what had happened in the past. The former Alphas buried the past, and it’s important for us to know what happened. We think someone else was also involved with a conflict between vampires and werewolves. We also think the third party is involved with issues we have now; please tell me what happened,” Mason explains what we need to know.
Cassius doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, having a battle with himself. “Vampires and werewolves, we live very differently. My father doesn’t care for human lives, as he is an immortal who lived over three thousand years. The previous Alphas had the same issues with a certain kind of beings as we did. When we tried to come together, it didn’t end well. The Alpha didn’t want to kill the whole kind because there were many innocent people, but my father didn’t care; we wanted to kill all of them. So we had a supernatural World War, the species fought for survival. You guys held your own; you found ways of killing thousands of my kind and vise versa. After years of fighting, we came to a peace treaty. My clan stays hidden away from the world, and you guys went into hiding, but there was a catch. My father compelled any living werewolf and destroyed evidence of our existents. Which how did you guys find out?” Cassius explains the war to us, and that explains why we have very little information on this.
“I guess the Alphas back then decided to keep a bit of information from you guys. We found it deep within our ancient textbooks. What was the third party during this war?” Mason asked Cassius. Cassius runs his hands through his hair, having another battle within himself.
“They are called Hunters, and they aim to kill,” Cassius replies. Now I see why the Moon Goddess spent years behind the scenes trying to stop this.
Chapter Fifteen
Mason
All of us are still in my office, talking about the third party. No one said anything when Cassius noted that it’s hunters. Humans are killing us off, and that they were also involved with a war over a thousand years ago. I run my hands through my hair, not sure what to say. All I know is I have to tell the others; this changes everything.
“Alpha Mason, I know this a lot to take in, and I’m sorry this has happened again. I will help the best way I can, but my clan, I’m no longer apart of it. I left it to spend the rest of my days with Cassandra. My father doesn’t like werewolves or has any interest in being involved in helping, as it didn’t go well the last time.” Cassius said, explaining that he has no ties with his old clan.
“Thank you, Cassius; I am going to call the Alphas tonight; I would like you to explain this to them; they will understand the vampire side better. First, I am going to se
nd in my best people to the location where Cassandra was being held; no one harms my pack members and live,” I reply to Cassius. He nods in response. “I will send for you when I call the other Alphas; all of you are dismissed,” I added.
Everyone leaves except Esme; she gives me a sad smile and hugs me. I don’t want to let go of her, as I’m afraid to lose her in this deadly war. “Go and spend time with your friends, you just lost Marisa, and you just got back, Cassandra. Go out for a walk with one another; I’m going to have a meeting with Aaron and Kyle,” I tell her.
“Okay, Mason, if you need anything, call me okay,” Esme replies. I nod, and I kiss her soft lips, and she leaves my office. I mind link Aaron and Kyle to come to my office. They had come by from their last go-around two days ago, and I’m sending them back out again. I feel bad because they are never home getting to know their mates. We need them right now, and they understand; once this war is over, I am giving them a vacation.
“Alpha Mason, what’s wrong?” Aaron asked. I tell them to sit down, and they get worried. They’re usually here for five minutes and don’t stay around for long.
“Cassandra and her mate are here in the Pack House, so you’re no longer looking for someone. I need you to follow a trail that smells like death, the people who took her have that scent, be careful; they are powerful and vampires. They were exiled from their clan for experimenting with vampire and werewolf DNA. Find the location, look for any kind of information, and kill them. If you need muscle, take your pick, you leave tomorrow morning,” I said, giving them another mission. They both nod and leave my office to prepare for their mission.
