The Return to Darkmoon

Violet:

FIVE YEARS LATER…

Elroy McNeal, human guardian of the neutral lands, had become like a father to me, like a real father… Now, he was dying.

With every shallow breath his lungs forced, he tried to reach for me.

“I’m here.” I reminded him, taking his hand in mine.

He had been restless last night, and even more so this morning.

“You… have… to… go… back!” He forced out between pained breaths.

“I know.” I told him, and I did. He had trained me well, trained me better than any pack training I had ever witnessed. He had made me ruthless, cold even. Except for where he was concerned.

I looked at his staff in the corner. The rickety old wood held enough magic to kill rogues left and right but couldn’t save his life. I looked away before the tears started again. I didn’t want him to think I was scared… but I was terrified.

When he brought me into his home five years ago, that staff healed me. He left the comfort of his cabin and asked every girl in every shop around for help until he brought me home a full new wardrobe.

He bought me a laptop, and every book he could find so I could continue my education. How could I repay him?

“Promise me.” He muttered.

“I promise.” I told him, gripping his hand, and before I knew it, he drew his final breath, leaving me in a world that I was afraid I couldn’t face without him.

Like his staff, his body turned to ash. The cabin began resetting itself, cleaning any trace of Elroy away as it prepared for the next guardian.

Quickly, I wiped my face and grabbed the duffle of clothes and favorite books I had packed days ago, and I slung it over my shoulder, hesitating at the front door in hopes that maybe if I lingered too long the house might erase me too.

“Promise me.” Elroy’s voice rang clear in my mind, and I growled before stepping out into the crisp morning air.

“We’re going to be fine.” Neoma reminded me. But if I were telling the truth, I just wanted to curl up in my bed, in a room that was no longer mine, and listen to Elroy whittling wood.

“I know,” I answered her, finally. Though, I certainly didn’t think we would be.

The trek back to Dark Moon would take two days on foot, and each step into the woods I took, the moments that led to Elroy saving me replayed through my mind like a damned reminder I didn’t need.

I was thankful those two days passed quickly, but now that I was just outside of Dark Moon, my stomach churned. I wasn’t ready to face Neal or Pen… or my parents.

It was odd that the gates were so heavily guarded this early in the morning… that could only mean one thing.

“They’ve been posted all night.” Neoma said softly as if the men perched at the gates could hear her.

When did they start night guarding the perimeter? When I left there wasn’t enough guards for such a thing.

I stepped from the heavy woods into their line of sight.

“Freeze!” The one to the left yelled, I didn’t recognize him, but the one to the right…

“Marcus?” I asked, shocked that the boy who helped me find library books was now guarding the gates of Dark Moon.

“Violet?” his shock was palpable. “We thought you were dead.” He stepped forward, pulling me into a hug I couldn’t help but return.

“What are you doing here?” he asked when he finally let me go and stepped away. I took note of the way his eyes traced the scar that stretched through my eyebrow and down to the center of my cheek.

“I need to see the alpha.” I stood straighter, chin up, barely breathing, waiting.

“No can do.” The man to the left said.

My eyes trailed to the man as I calculated just what it would take to take him down.

“He’s right Vi. The alpha won’t be seeing anyone today.” Marcus spoke softly, making me almost sorry for what I was about to do.

With one hard chop to the neck Marcus crumbled to the ground. The man behind him pulled his sword and for a moment, I thought about running. Not from him, but from seeing Neal, and from all of the trouble I was going through just to see him.

Instead of giving in to that urge to run, I disarmed the guard in two moves. The first one sent his sword flying across the drive, and the second one positioned me at his back with my knife blade digging into his throat.

“Take me to him.” I snarled in his ear, jumping on his back so he could carry me where the alpha would be and where I could keep my knife in his throat.

I recognized James House as well as I could five years ago. Not much had changed.

My breath hitched when the soldier took us to the doors of the Alpha’s office.

“Kick the door in,” I grumbled, ready to end this.

“No. He’ll kill me if I do that.” I could feel the soldier's body trembling beneath mine.

“I’ll kill you if you don’t.” I reminded him that my blade was already in his throat.

The door splintered wide with the massive boot of the man I had used like a donkey to get here. I let myself slide from his back and, using the same hit I used on Marcus, I laid him to the ground as I stepped into the office looking at the back of a massive leather office chair.

“I accept your rejection, you prick.” I roared, enjoying the feeling of the sparks dancing along my skin, how the hair on my arms stood on end.

It was a short-lived joy though as the chair turned, and the most beautiful man I had ever seen stood, a look of pure death was painted on his face, and it somehow made him that much more attractive.

“Welcome home, Violet. Care to explain why my office door is laying in splinters?”

“Where is Neal?” I wanted to know how he knew my name. I wanted to know how he knew this was once my home when I had never seen this man before in my life.

“It would appear we have a lot to discuss.” He rolled the arms of his shirt up and sat back down in his chair motioning for me to sit and suddenly I felt too hot, I felt cornered, I felt like a brat who had a temper tantrum.

“Sit Violet.” His command was stronger than any alpha aura I had ever felt, too strong to ignore. I sat in the chair across from him, the only thing between us was the wooden desk.

“Two years ago, Dark Moon was attacked by a group of rogues so large it was nearly impossible to defeat on their own.” My heart started thundering. Was Neal dead?

“Neal abandoned the pack and left them for dead, and he took your family with him.” Rage boiled in my system, so hot I couldn’t catch my breath.

“I know you’ve been through a lot, being rejected by him, and now this, but I think you could help us bring him back, he must be charged with treason. If you help me, I will pardon your family of their charges.” My head snapped in his direction.

“Why would they be charged for following their alpha?” I asked.

“They didn’t follow their alpha; they followed their daughter.” Pen… I realized he was talking about Pen.

“I thought you were with them at first, but then the truth of your rejection was told.” That snapped me out of my haze.

“Who are you?” I finally found the words to ask this stranger who seemed to know so much about me.

“Lycan King Alec Gray.” My jaw nearly fell and hit the desk.

“You, of course, are welcome to stay in Dark Moon and help me find your family. I’ll even be willing to let you accept Neal’s rejection before I kill him and spare you from feeling it.”

“I haven’t felt him since the night of the ball, I just have to accept the rejection to get my wolf back; that is the only reason I came back to begin with.” I wanted to smack my hand over my mouth before I told this man anything else that he didn’t ask about me.

“Your wolf is dormant?” his eyes, as blue as the clearest sky, flared hot.

I nodded. Deciding then I should say something that didn’t make me sound like an idiot, I finally said something else.

“I’ll stay; I’ll help.” Then, a sly smile crept along his handsome face.

“Great! You will begin your training tomorrow with the rest of the pack, and…” I held up a hand, cutting him off.

“That won’t be necessary, I have already had plenty of training.” He stood, rolling his sleeves down as if now that I had agreed to stay, having them rolled up to fight was senseless.

“You have never had Lycan training, Violet. You will attend the training if you intend on journeying with us on leads. You will also be permitted to stay in the pack house if you choose not to stay in your family home. It hasn’t been touched since they left.”

“Fine,” I muttered, turning on my heels.

“And Violet,” I turned to face him again, the tone of his voice knotting something unfamiliar in my throat.

“Don’t burst in my office again unless it is truly an emergency.” I gritted my teeth before turning once more and fleeing the pack house in the direction of a home that never truly felt like my own.