Claimed By The Crown

REMI’S P.O.V.

“I’ve changed my mind. It’s not worth it, Remi! Please, let’s go back!” My best friend Thesta begged, grabbing my arm as the bell chimed three times high above our heads in warning.

My body jolted as I flinched from the sound, but Thesta ducked, covering her sensitive ears.

The ringing of the bell was loud enough that no shifter wanted to come this close to it, making it the perfect place for me to hide.

Three chimes.

Three minutes left until the full Blood Moon would rise like a spotlight to watch the massacre.

Then the wild beasts of the North would start their hunt… and we were their prey.

We were taught from childhood that the Blood Moon was the one night a year that no one could be outside.

The Blood Moon did something to the Lycans on the mountain. Their beasts would come forward and their bloodlust would be uncontrollable. By sunrise, they disappeared again, leaving only carnage behind.

No one knew why, and no one had been able to stop them.

“Join me or don’t, but I am going up there, Thesta,” I whispered, her uniquely pale-blue eyes shooting up to the top of the bell tower with unease. “I have to.”

Seeing the Lycan beasts for myself had been all I could think about for the past two years, ever since I had turned eighteen.

They were even in my dreams, calling to me from the forest. I knew it was them. I could feel it.

Desperate to see them, I would launch myself forward, but the second I crossed the treeline, I was thrown back into consciousness, alone and confused in my bed.

Still, even awake, I felt it. They were calling to me, summoning me to them.

“You have to? You have to do what…die?!” she hissed, crossing her arms over her chest, looking over her shoulder as if she were expecting one of the elders to show up and catch us disobeying pack law for lockdown at any moment, or worse, the Alpha… my father. “Do you not remember what happened during the last Blood Moon?”

The deep look of agony that crossed her face filled me with guilt. 

There was no forgetting it or all the blood we were greeted by in the morning when we came out of the pack house.

So much blood…

We lost three of our pack members that night. Four if you count Thesta’s sister, Shay, but none of the blood was hers.

She was just… gone.

But even that couldn’t make me change my mind because it wasn’t my choice.

“I’m sorry, Thesta,” I whispered, stepping closer to the door. “I can’t explain this. I know this sounds crazy, but I HAVE to see them.”

Just one glimpse.

“You’re right,” she growled. “It does sound crazy! I wanted to see them just as badly, because I wanted to follow them back to their den and find Shay! You just want to what… be able to say you did it? To tell the world that you survived the hunt? This isn’t some game, Remi! If you stay out here, you will die!”

There was always that chance, but how could I resist the pull? It was too strong for me to say no to it.

Above us, the loud, heavy toll of the bell sounded two times.

Two minutes left.

“I love you too much to let you do this,” she said, her short brown hair brushing against her collar as she shook her head and lowered her hands from her ears again.

“It’s too late, Thesta. By the time you get to the pack house and find my father, the doors will be closed for the night.” I said, lifting my chin in that direction. “If you’re not staying, then you should go now, before it’s too late.”

“Remi,” Thesta whispered, her voice thick with sorrow as she sighed before pulling me into a bone-crushing hug.

“I love you, too. Now go!” I whispered back, holding onto her tightly as the final bell chimed, and she released me. “Go! The doors close in one minute!”

With one last tear-filled glance, she took off toward the pack house while I entered the bottom of the bell tower.

I had just made it up to the top of the steps, ducking under the giant bell to the side of the belfry to see the ground below, when my blood ran cold by the sudden feeling of being watched. I froze, slowly scanning the town but saw nothing.

After a moment, it was gone, but I didn’t get a moment to relax

A chill shot down my spine as the first howl sounded from the forest, and I dropped to the floor where they couldn’t see me behind the brick wall.

Goosebumps rose over my skin as the eerily familiar sound shook my core as they howled out again, but this time it was laced with what I could only assume was anger… or hunger.

And was closer, significantly closer.

My eyes widened with excitement.

I knew that howl. I had dreamed of it every night for years.

Turning on the balls of my feet to face the wall, I took a deep breath before placing my shaky hands on the top of the low brick wall and pulling myself up to peer over the edge into the treeline.

Yet, movement from within the town caught my attention first, and I ducked lower quickly as three people entered the town square.

What were they doing out after the final bell toll? Were they insane?

The irony in that thought wasn’t lost on me, and I peeked over again, wanting to see what they were up to.

The familiar grey robes of our elders made the hairs rise on my arms, and I held my breath as I realized the third person wasn’t walking with them.

They were being dragged between them, with a black sack over their head, the toes of their shoes leaving a trail on the ground behind them.

“Let’s get this over with. They will be here any minute,” one of the elders growled, and my eyes widened as he kicked over a flower pot and pulled out a large silver chain from beneath it in his gloved hand.

“Are you sure she is acceptable?” The other asked, moving in front of the girl to pick her up and over his shoulder.

“She’ll do. She is of age, and unmated.”

I wanted to scream for them to stop, to demand they explain whatever they were doing, but who was I to demand anything of two elders? I was just the wolf-less runt the Alpha had been disgraced with for a daughter.

If they turned on me, there would be no one to stop them.

“Quick!” The elder snapped, thrusting one end of the chain into the other elder’s chest.

“What…” I breathed before catching myself and slapping my hand over my mouth to stay quiet as I watched them wrap the chains around the woman, trapping her against the whipping post like a… like a sacrifice.

The realization made my blood freeze, and I stared in absolute horror. Since when did we start sacrificing members of our pack?

Did my father know about this?

My throat went dry as I watched them rip the hood off her head, exposing her brown hair as it hung limp.

The distant howling was joined by a yowl of pain that was cut off suddenly, and my breathing came faster knowing they were only minutes away.

And from the sound of it, they had just gotten their first taste of blood for the night.

The excitement I had been feeling before was suddenly gone as the Elders disappeared, and the woman groaned, starting to wake.

I glanced from the dark and hopefully empty treeline to the woman just as her head rolled to the side, and my heart squeezed so painfully I thought it would pop as I saw her face and the blood dripping down it.

Thesta.