07| LUNA.

As I race down the winding road, my heart pounds in the nest of my chest, and I can feel the wolf's eyes boring into me from behind.

Its presence is palpable, a dark force that seems to be drawing closer with each passing moment. 

 I grasp the steering wheel in a death grip, my knuckles turning white as I try to keep my focus on the treacherous path ahead.

But no matter how hard I try, I can’t shake the feeling that the wolf is gaining on me, its breath hot on my neck. I know that I must keep moving, to keep driving forward no matter what, or risk being consumed by the terror that is closing in around me.

“What the fuck is going on!” I scream out loud, gripping the steering wheel tightly as the car starts to swerve at the speed it is going. “Just leave me alone! I help your kind, damn you…” On the verge of tears, I suddenly wish I had listened to my mother and applied at the hospital that was solely for humans.

Me being defiant and trying to prove to my mother that I’m in control of my future doesn’t sound so appealing after all.

As I approach the stop sign at the bustling intersection, my heart races with fear. 

I glance up in the rearview mirror and see the massive wolf hot on my trail, its powerful legs propelling it forward as it leaps over any obstacles in its path.

The enormity of it all sends shivers down my spine. Fast. The figure that now stands behind me is a haunting sight; intimidating. 

After looking to my right, left, then right again, I close my eyes and put my trust in the unknown as I speed through the intersection. 

Holding my breath, I feel the weight of the unknown pressing down on me. The surrounding air grows thick with an eerie stillness as if the very atmosphere is holding its breath alongside me.

“I’m so going to hell…” I murmur, fighting against my fear to keep my eyes wide open.

Crossing past the intersection safely, I make a right turn at the next street, which leads to an underground tunnel that is fully lit and my mother’s house. It would be quicker for me to go back to my apartment, but the thought of me having to run up four flights of stairs makes me feel petrified.

I exit the tunnel, keeping my foot planted on the accelerator, swerving to make a sharp right as I pull into my mothers’ driveway. Slamming on the brakes, I kill the engine, and as I grab the handle, I scream.

The howl of the wolf echoes through the night as it chases me relentlessly.  Suddenly, the wolf leaps out of the shadows, its eyes glowing with an otherworldly light. With a sickening thud, it collides with my car, sending it tumbling through the air before crashing to the ground on its side. 

“MUM!!!” I cry out, trying to release my seatbelt.

The wolf snarls, circling the car like a predator preparing himself to devour his prey. The front light on the doorstep switches on, followed by the door being yanked open to reveal my mother adorned in the Harry Potter dressing gown I had brought for her last Christmas.

“Mum, oh my gawd, mum… no, get back inside the house!” I scream at the top of my lungs, still trying to get out of the vehicle.

As the wolf’s attention shifts toward my mother, I frantically yank on my seatbelt, cursing, and sigh with relief when I’m released from its clutches. 

I kick the jammed door open and crawl across the shattered glass; wincing in pain as the sharp shards pierce my flesh.

“You stay away from my mother, you dirty mutt!” I growl, suppressing the fear that still clings to me.

My mother raises her hand with the palm facing upward, and a gusty breeze encircles the wolf, preventing it from approaching her further as it struggles to maintain its balance.

I stand motionless, speechless, and almost breathless as my mother closes her eyes for a heartbeat, and when she opens them again, they are no longer green. 

Her irises are a vibrant violet hue with silver flecks.

My mother isn’t human. She is a witch, just like Blaze had said.

My mother thrusts her other hand out, tearing the front bumper clean off my car, and swipes her hand towards the wolf, making a tight fist with her hand. I gasp, unable to tear my gaze away from the wolf as the bumper wraps around the wolf’s thick neck like a vice, and it begins to crush the bones in his neck. When the pressure becomes too much, the wolf’s head explodes, sending fur, blood, brains, and parts of its skull soaring through the air.

I open my mouth to scream as my mother looks at me, and she touches her index finger to her lips, stealing my voice; Nothing but silence breaks free from my lips.

“Can you walk, child?” My eyes grow wide as her voice enters my head and her lips don’t move.

My gaze wanders from my mother to the dead wolf splattered across the ground.

“Luna! Can you walk?” Her voice enters my head once more, but this time with great urgency.

Nodding my head, I move one foot in front of the other on autopilot and shuffle towards my mothers’ waiting arms as her eyes feverishly search through the darkness. The second I reach her side, she pulls me into her embrace, muttering incoherently as her hands run up and down the sides of my body.

Gradually, the pain and unease that accompanies the fear in my chest vanishes. My mother then drags me inside the house behind her, making sure to use all the locks on the door she had personally installed herself roughly five months ago. She jams a wooden chair under the door handle for extra precaution.

In a daze, as my body still feels weak, I stand in the centre of the living room and I glare at my mother. Her eyes glisten under the light with a purple hue that I have never seen before and her hair… it was grey when I left for work hours ago, but it's now pure silver.

“So, it’s true?” I murmur while I continue to gauge her appearance and come to terms with the truth that she cursed the fallen pack and everything that Jaymie had said earlier in the operating room is true. 

I'm meant to be their savior.

I'm meant to be a…. Moon Witch.

Has my entire existence been a lie?

My mother crosses the room, closing the distance between us, and she places her fingers on the sides of my temples—her nails piercing my flesh. 

“Forgive me child, but I need to see what you have seen,” she mutters, and suddenly pain disperses across my skull, causing my eyeballs to roll in the back of my head.

Her gasps filled with alarm, shock, and uncertainty encase me, “No, it cannot be…” She breathes out in fear, “I was so careful… two mates… an alpha and his beta… your source of energy….”

Hot tears sear my cheeks as they glide down my face, and blood-curdling screams are torn from my throat as flashes of what I have just seen and been through flicker in my mind like a movie reel.

“Stop… please… it hurts…” I whimper, paralyzed by the crippling agony my mother is bestowing upon me.

I don’t know how much longer my mother had me in her clutches before the front door busts open, and the pain she is subjecting me to disappears. 

A cold breeze whips past me and I sense myself helplessly collapsing to the ground.

A familiar scent fills my nostrils, followed by a murderous growl that makes me dizzy with desire and unexpected solace; I feel safe and my heart begins to beat in a slow rhythmic melody.

Large arms catch me before my body collides with the ground, lifting me flush off the ground and crushing me against a warm wall of muscle. “You dare inflict pain on our mate with magic that you used to curse our pack!”

“Bl… Blaze?” I mumble, raising my hand to cup his face which expresses nothing but the fierce rage that is solely directed toward my mother. 

“Please… please don’t hurt her.” I plea, feeling the soul-crushing hatred he harbors toward her.

“We should kill them both, so we can move forward with our lives, Blaze,” Saffron sneers in a murderous tone that strikes my heart with his cruel words.

“No!” My mother screams at the top of her voice, “It cannot be… But how? I placed a cloaking spell on her presence, so you would never feel the pull towards her,” my mother's voice is a whisper away from sounding hysterical.

Blazes grasp tightens around my body, “It seems that the Moon Goddess has chosen her side and is a firm believer in fate.” With a low growl, he advances toward my mother, his eyes glowing with an otherworldly intensity.

 I shudder as a chill runs down my spine, feeling as though I am caught in the midst of a supernatural battle beyond my comprehension. 

“Your daughter is ours. We will own her. Mark her and if she runs, we will chase her down and punish her. Is that clear enough for you, witch?” Saffrons’ voice is barely audible as if some unseen force is constricting his throat. As if every emotion is being ripped from his chest and forced out into the open. Like he is being compelled to reveal his thoughts that are meant to remain hidden. “She will bear the first female pup that will break the curse in our pack and end with your demise.”