by Quinn Loftis
“Sleep, mate,” his wolf’s voice rumbled in her mind. “He will need not only your strength tomorrow but also your peace.”
“I love you, wolf, just as I love him,” Jacque said, because she felt like he needed to know.
“And I adore you, as I do your she-wolf. You both are ours. As we are yours. Always.”
With those words filling her mind and her heart, Jacque was finally able to close her eyes and drift off.
Peri stared out over the clearing that had been the site of the bloodiest battle of the Great Werewolf Wars. It was a good distance from the Keep, and they would be flashing in everyone who was willing to show up once it was time for the ceremony, though not directly onto the field. Peri had decided they should gather in the forest that was up a hill a ways from the old battlefield. For some reason she felt that just flashing them all there at once would desecrate the place where the Great Luna would be performing the ceremony.
Her heart was heavy as she thought about the many lives that had been lost here. It was the only time in history the wolves had been engaged in a civil war. Packs fighting packs, and in some cases family fighting family, because of members who’d mated into other packs. And now, the Great Luna had said there were unknown packs ready to rise up and attempt to challenge Fane. It would cause another rift between the Canis lupus. They didn’t have the time to fight amongst themselves, not with the Order trying to destroy the human world.
She’d tried to get rest but sleep had escaped her, and so she’d spent the night and the rest of the day walking up and down the field until she’d covered as much as she could in a spell that would prevent any blood from being spilled. These wolves that thought they could attempt to take Fane’s pack were not about to pull that crap on a day when they were mourning and celebrating the life of one of the greatest alpha pairs to have ever ruled. She would do whatever it took to make sure that the Blood Moon ceremony was peaceful. Granted, the Great Luna was going to be making an appearance—she didn’t really need Peri’s help—but it made Peri feel useful.
“Though I know you can supply yourself with food at will,” Lucian said as he stepped up beside her, “my wolf likes to feed you.” He held out his hand, and in it was a bowl of soup. Steam rose up, and the aroma of spices made her mouth water as she realized she was indeed quite hungry. The cool air of the coming fall made the soup even more welcome and appreciated.
“Thank you,” she said as she took the bowl and smiled. “Anything you bring me is better than what I could provide myself.” It wasn’t a lie.
The sun had set, and the moon was already shining so brightly that even a human’s eyes would see without a problem. The usual white glow was gradually beginning to turn. An hour after Peri had finished her soup and magiced away the bowl, the moon was orange. It was an hour away from midnight.
She heard footsteps behind them and turned to see the Romania pack, in full force, walking toward them. Though Peri had worked with Vasile and Alina for centuries, she still didn’t know all of their pack members.
Fane and Jacque were at the head of the pack. Slate was in Jacque’s arms, dressed in a black pair of pants and a black collared shirt. Now nearly seven months old, he looked like a little man sitting on her hip, staring around in wonder. He had no idea what was happening. Peri envied his innocence. Fane wore his black battle gear while Jacque wore a black dress that flowed down her like water. There was a cape attached, and it was covered in tiny, scattered diamonds that were strategically placed to resemble infinity symbols. It was a tribute to her in-laws. Jacque had asked for Peri’s help in picking out something to wear. The high fae had made the outfit for the new female alpha. It made her look regal, but it also showed her mourning and great love for the alpha pair. When she’d thought to add the cape, Peri remembered that Vasile had given Alina an infinity ring as one of his gifts at their mating. Alina never took it off.
On Fane’s right walked Decebel and Jen, who held Thia. Decebel’s daughter looked ready to cause trouble. There was a glint in the child’s eyes that was too much like her mother’s. On Fane’s left were Costin and Sally. Titus walked between them, holding both of their hands. The little genius looked every bit as determined as his parents. The second row consisted of Adam, Crina, Wadim, Zara, Gavril, Rachel, Drake, Bethany, Sorin, and Elle. All wore battle attire. Behind them walked the rest of the pack, at least a hundred and fifty strong. The majority didn’t live at the Romania pack mansion, though they lived in homes close by. Like Costin’s bartender job, many of them had regular employment, but they answered to Vasile and Alina when pack business required more than his strongest members. All of the pack, aside from Jacque, wore battle gear. They were showing their great respect for the pair who had given their lives up in a battle they felt was worth dying for.
When they reached Peri and Lucian, Fane and Jacque stepped apart, and those behind them did the same, until a long opening formed. Moving down the newly made aisle came a floating wooden slab, and resting on it were the bodies of Vasile and Alina Lupei. The magic that directed the biers was her own. Vasile and Alina were surrounded by hundreds of moonflowers, the flower that represented their Creator. It bloomed only at night. The wooden bier upon which the pair rested was a foot thick. Carved around the entire piece were words written in their native language. Peri knew what it said because she’d watched each one of the males closest to Vasile carve the words into it. The words read: “The Great Luna blessed you in life. She gave you strength when you were weak. She gave you peace even when you were in the midst of war. She brought you a daughter, and then she gave you life through a son and a grandson. You found favor in her eyes, and you will forever have the respect of your pack. Rest in the arms of your Creator for you have done well, Alphas.”
Behind them, each floating on their own wooden slabs, were the other fallen Romania pack members, seven in all. They, too, rested on moonflower carvings etched by their loved ones.
Peri watched with tear-filled eyes as the bier bearing Vasile and Alina floated until it hovered between Fane and Jacque. They began walking again, and Peri and Lucian moved in step with them. When they were in the middle of the field, Peri moved the seven fallen wolves to hover behind Vasile and Alina and then kept the wood still while Decebel directed the pack to form a semicircle on the right side of the field. They all turned and faced the direction from which they’d just come. Fane and Jacque stayed on either side of the former alphas and watched the next group join them.
Peri’s eyes fell on the queen of the warlocks as she began walking toward them. Beside her, Cypher lay on a slab much like the alphas, only his bier was made of stone. The king was dressed in his royal uniform, laying on flowers that grew around their mountain home that had been gathered by their clan. Behind Cypher came six other fallen warlock warriors, also dressed in their uniforms and surrounded by flowers. Lilly was dressed in a layered black gown that left her shoulders bare. It had silver trimming down the sleeves and edges of the dress. She wore a silver headdress that matched the silver trim on her gown. As she walked, Peri caught glimpses of the sword that was fastened at her hip by a black belt. Behind her, on either side of Cypher’s body, the entire warlock clan, roughly three hundred strong, walked with heads held high. The males were dressed in battle gear, and the females wore black dresses, similar to their queen.
When they reached the middle of the field, Cypher’s body came alongside Alina and Vasile’s, and Lilly moved to stand next to Jacque.
“Queen Lilly,” Peri said as she gave the warlock queen a slight head bow. “If you would, please have your people join the circle.” Peri pointed to where the Romania pack’s semicircle began and ended.
Lilly nodded and then spoke to her general, once Cypher’s right-hand man and leader of his army, Gerick. With a wave of his hand, the warlocks fell into position.
The fae elders came down the path next. Vale and Talia were first. Both laid on glass biers that hovered slowly forward. The glass was etched with words
in the fae language, giving descriptions of each warrior.
Dain walked beside his son, Vale. The high fae was dressed in black robes. His body glowed with power, but it was significantly dimmed, no doubt by his grief.
Disir was on the other side, walking beside Talia, his hand rested on hers, and Peri could see him trembling. Her throat caught to see such emotion in the fae male’s reaction. For all the time she’d known him, he’d always been stoic, almost cold. It wasn’t an uncommon quality of their race. But it was obvious Disir loved his daughter. Gwen and Nissa walked behind on either side of the fallen. And while it was quite a sight to see the four high fae, all glowing in their black robes, what came behind them was truly breathtaking.
The fae army—not including the ones who’d gone to retrieve the other packs and sprites—a thousand strong, were dressed in full battle gear, silver armor that fit like a second skin and shined like it had been polished minutes ago. On their head they wore woven silver bands. Glowing swords were attached to their sides. There was a slight tinkling sound as they followed behind the procession of high fae. The sound came from the tiny bells woven into the hair of the snow-white horses they each rode.
The procession continued, and Vale and Talia were brought to the other side of Cypher with high fae remaining while the rest of the formidable fae warriors rode their horses to join the closing circle. They had to layer themselves in order to leave room for the others joining them.
Next came the other packs who had fought in the Keep battle. The Coldspring pack alpha, Jeff Stone, walked beside his fallen wolf who was laid on a floating wood slab, just like the others with the moonflowers. The entire pack, Peri counted twenty-five, followed behind, their heads lowered in respect for their fallen pack mate. Jeff and the fallen joined the group in the center, while the Coldspring pack continued the circle.
The Missouri pack was next. Tyler led with two of his fallen wolves on wooden biers. His entire pack of fifty followed behind. They wore dark grey uniforms, much like the black ones that the Romania pack wore. On the front of their uniforms was the emblem of a moon over a wolf with his head bowed. Tyler joined the others in the center with the two fallen warriors. His was the last of the fallen.
The last to proceed down from the forest where everyone had been flashed and onto the battlefield were the djinn. Thadrick and Jezebel were in front, with the elders following. And behind them were the rest of the djinn race. Peri estimated there to be around seventy-five. She wasn’t surprised that there weren’t more. A race that powerful should not be allowed to have great numbers. The djinn were dressed in what Peri assumed must be their battle gear, though it wasn’t like any of the others. Their fighting clothes were called shinobi shozoku and made them appear as an army of ninjas. The only difference was that the elders and Thadrick did not wear the head or face coverings. Peri was not sure if this was their typical fighting clothing, as she’d never seen Thad in anything that resembled it, or if it was a special uniform for this occasion. As the djinn joined the circle, the elders, Thadrick, and Jezebel remained in the front while the other djinn gathered behind them, standing in straight horizontal rows. Peri met Thad’s eyes, and he bowed his head to her. She acknowledged it with a respectful head bow of her own.
Now, they had to wait for the fae who had been sent out to gather those that would stand with the Great Luna in this fight. Peri glanced up at the moon, which was almost completely red. They would be cutting it very close.
Just when she was about to say something to Dain, hundreds of fae appeared, each one with Canis lupus or sprites in tow. Moments later, Adira and the pixies loyal to her also appeared, the only other kind able to travel in a similar fashion as the fae. She saw Ciro, Italy’s alpha, with Stella at his side. Her eyes were wide as she looked around the field. Not far from their pack was the Ireland pack. She saw Kale and his Alpha, Angus. The female next to the alpha, holding his hand, was no doubt his mate. Holding on to Kale, with her head tilted as though she was listening to everything she could, was Heather.
Peri let her gaze roam over the area, looking for the rest of her new healers. She found Nick and Kara. The Canada alpha, Drayden, was motioning for his pack to gather up. Nick began yelling out orders, helping his alpha, and Kara seemed to be trying to get the female pack members, probably the un-mated ones, to form lines. Next she saw Gustavo, the Spanish alpha, with Anna tucked close to his side. He, too, was giving his pack orders, and Anna was standing tall as she motioned to some of their she-wolves.
With one last sweep around the field, Peri saw that Dillon’s pack was also getting organized. Dalton was there with Jewel. She was working with Tanya to get their female members organized. Peri tried not to laugh as Dalton attempted to help his alpha but also keep an eye on his mate who was at least twenty feet from his side. Peri had contacted Dillon and asked if he wanted to bring his pack early. Despite not having been in the Keep battle, his daughter had lost her in-laws, and Dillon had been connected to the Romania pack through Jacque. But he’d declined, expressing that he knew Jacque had enough to worry about, and he didn’t want her to feel obligated to share her time with him, especially when her mate needed her. Peri had respected the Denver alpha’s selflessness when she knew he no doubt wanted to at least hug his daughter and allow his wolf to have that much-needed pack touch to assure his child was indeed safe.
Peri let out a breath as she once again glanced at each of the five healers she’d come to care for and thanked the Great Luna that all her girls were okay and appeared to be handling themselves well in their new packs. That eased a tiny amount of her tension.
The other packs on the field were Hungary, and Poland. Dragomir, the alpha and his mate, Agnes, of Hungary, were waiting patiently. Both alphas looked tense, and Peri noticed that Agnes kept glancing over to where Vasile and Alina lay. Agnes’s grief was quite clear. The Polish alpha, Artur, looked especially stressed. His pack was one of the smaller ones and had few mated males. No doubt they would be feeling the discomfort of being around so many dominant mated males.
The Romania pack which had been joined with the packs from Bulgaria, Denver, Missouri, Coldspring, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Hungary, and Poland. Eleven total. Once upon a time, there had been twelve, but since the Serbia and Romania packs merged only eleven remained to stand with the Great Luna. Peri had to wonder how many hidden packs there were, and would their numbers overwhelm the legitimate packs?
Bringing her attention back to the matter at hand, she held up her hands and sent out a spark of light that shattered into the night sky. This grabbed everyone’s attention. “Please join the circle,” Peri said as she pointed to the remaining space. “Alphas, line your packs up. Andora,” she said to the sprite queen who stood with the entire sprite race, which had to be over four hundred strong, “could you please organize your people and move them to join? If we need to spread the circle back to make room, then do so.” Peri turned to Adira. “Thank you for coming.” The pixie had thirty others with her.
“I’m sorry there isn’t more,” Adira said. “You know how pixies are. They won’t commit if they don’t know who is going to win.”
“We appreciate you all being here,” Peri said to Adira’s pixies.
They bowed their heads. Some of them Peri knew because they’d worked with her before, and she was glad to see they were loyal to this cause and not their crooked king. Adira moved her group to join the growing circle.
The minute the circle was closed, the ground shook beneath their feet, and a blinding light flashed. A second later, every single being on the field fell to one knee at the exact same moment.
The Great Luna had arrived.
Chapter 21
“This life is but a blink to the humans. A short life is a gift my children do not have. With long life comes the opportunity to make many more mistakes, experience more grief, more heartbreak, more loss. But what my children have that the humans do not are the unique powers that allow them to be a force for good in th
e world, a force that can take on the evil that is minute-by-minute attempting to crush anything worth fighting for. At times, they will stray. At other times, they will stand fast. Through it all, they will have me as their ever-present help.” ~The Great Luna
* * *
Warmth rushed over Fane. Next to him, Jacque leaned in closer. The ground was covered in leaves that crunched beneath his knee. Summer had faded, and fall had quickly taken over. Why he even noticed that was lost on him. Maybe it was because he didn’t want to think about why he was in the middle of the field in the first place. He closed his eyes and focused on the peace flowing through him. For the first time since that morning, he felt like he could breathe.
“This is not the end, Fane Lupei.” The Great Luna’s voice filled his mind. “This is the beginning of what must happen.”
He didn’t know how to respond, so he simply remained silent and focused on breathing.
“This is a sad day,” the Great Luna spoke out loud. Her voice sounded as if it could be heard for miles. The power behind it was soul-jarring. “But it is also a day of celebration. We come to mourn those we love, my children, who I created and have loved since before they were born. Each of those who lay before us are mine. I feel your pain, and I hurt with you. I understand the grief of loss more than you know.
“But we also must celebrate the lives they lived. Each of them was willing to put themselves at risk for others. They died because they were willing to make the greatest sacrifice for all of you, as well as those who will never know what they gave. Each has a place with me, but there are two who have earned a special place in eternity.
“Vasile and Alina Lupei never allowed the darkness to take root in them. They fought bravely for centuries.”
