The small group was up just after dawn the next morning and were trotting through the woods. Most were on four feet, but a few carried packs and such. Two witches came with them, Angelica, and April. Sapphire insisted on going with them. The rest of the group comprised Magnus, Hayden, Ran, John, and Magnus’ father. “So, let me get this straight: whoever is hiding out here is powerful enough to make people fight each other and forget their existence.” “Yes, like an ancient vampire or some such creature.” “Remind me what’s going to stop this creature from doing the same to us?” “I don’t think they can just make us forget. That’s where the treaties come into play. It wasn’t easy for them to do it or maintain it.” They debated the details as they walked through the woods. Magnus listened as he monitored the surrounding woods. When they came to the river, it was really only a stream at this time of year; it seemed. So it was fairly easy
It took quite a while for the others to arrive. They got a little turned around with the confusion they had with their compasses. All Magnus could do was silently fume over their reliance on technology. He went by the sun and the trees. Hayden was no tracker. “So, clearly, we’ve found the place. Now where do we look for this Helbourne creature?” “Well, I would think since there’s no buildings as we know them close by, logic would dictate anyone living or existing out here would be underground. I’d say we go downward into wherever that leads. If this is an ancient vampire, I doubt they know the modern rules, so no one is safe from a feeding or hunger attack. It could be a nest that’s gone dormant as well. So if you find a body, try not to disturb it. We’ll have to request help from the vampiric council to remove them safely.” “Remind me again why there’s no representative here again?” Magnus’ father glared down at his mate.” “It’s a private
Sapphire watched her mate closely. This wasn’t fair. She usually felt like everything was falling in around her. But what she felt now made anything she ever felt before like nothing at all. She wished Ivory was here so she could make her explore whatever was in that nasty hole. Sapphire didn’t want Magnus anywhere near that hole. The images on the walls in there were more than enough. They should take this knowledge and get out of here. Find some kind of information on this thing and come back prepared. But no one did that. They were just going on. Planning to climb into the bowels of some long forgotten, condemned world. Where nothing good could live. If that was a nature spirit, it was of death, destruction, and decay. Nothing could produce life and love from that. Sapphire had to agree with April. This couldn’t be the sentience behind the town. The town was full of love, light, and life. This was decay and death. Blood and gore made up its basis. It had to, and
Sapphire was shaking noticeably by the time they returned to their packhouse, and Magnus took her straight to bed. He would make her suffer anymore than he had to. It was long and hard fighting with everyone fighting their instincts to get out of there. Realizing just how long this went on for. How everyone was a victim of past atrocities. Now Sapphire needed to remember that he loved her, and this was a turning point toward a better life with him. When the door closed to his, not their rooms, she was in his arms, and he was kissing her. “No more talking, just make me feel good.” was all she said to him, and he did. Clothes were torn from their eager bodies as they both pursued what they craved. In the shower, with hot water cascading over their naked flesh, Magnus held her to the tile wall, her hands above her head as he explored her lush curves with his mouth. His other hand prepared her core for his shaft. Sapphire used his fingers as she panted. “Magnus ple
Ivory watched the devastation pass by as the vehicles slowly made their way up. This didn’t look like the home she’d left just a few days ago. It looked like it’d been in a war, or abandoned for a hundred years. Broken windows, and burned buildings, even trees were in different places. Grass and weeds were almost waist high and looked like they’d not seen any care or maintenance in years. It was unreal. If she didn’t believe in magic, this would have changed her mind. “This can’t be. There’s no way. Even magic can’t do this so quickly. Can it?” “I’m afraid that, yes, it can. Especially natural magic that’s on some kind of timer or trigger without intelligence behind it with a conscious moral sense.” “I don’t understand. What do you mean?” “I mean in a moral sense of the damage it’s causing. Loss of life, environmental damage, and all that. But it’s running amuck on nature logic. Death isn’t an end. It’s the end of one thing to make way for the next.
Ivory struggled with her very existence. How much of this was her parents’ fault and how much was actually Sapphire’s? The truth was, she didn’t know. Because she didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t. Ivory watched Sapphire happy in this pack. While she now existed at the mercy of Ran. Without a pack to call her own or family beyond Sapphire. They’d found her father and several others in the old healer’s cottage. The healer was nowhere to be found, but the cottage was swarming with different vermin. No one could explain how they’d died, only that the vermin were taking advantage of the loss of life. It took hours to get through most of the buildings. It appeared as those not in favour with her father had left. Abandoned the sinking ship and avoided the punishment created by all of this. Ivory remembered hearing that someone would come in and give the dead a respectable funeral rite. The pack would need a new alpha or be dissolved. Ivory wasn’t sure anymore if she
Sapphire and Ivory sat in her office drinking coffee for a little bit before Ivory gathered up enough courage to speak to Sapphire. “If my mother was the reason we hate each other, does that mean in another life we might have been friends?” Ivory wasn’t sure if she was ready to apologize to Sapphire for the years of emotional and physical torture, she put her through.” “I don’t know. If you weren’t so self absorbed and demanding, maybe. It’s hard to tell, really. Your mother tried with all her might to make you into a shifter version of herself. Now I don’t mean this as a slight against you, but she was pretty successful. She pulled so many tricks with us, I’m not sure either of us knows who we truly are.” “You really think that?” “We’ll see, won’t we, now that we know she’s gone and can no longer influence us directly? I know that her influence made someone lock my abilities away so I couldn’t use them. Whoever did that seemed to know a wa
Ran watched the two women leave out of the corner of his eye. “Gods, I thought they’d never leave.” The two men stopped training and mopped themselves of the sweat they’d built up as they spoke. “Here’s hoping they can be sensible and learn to get along with each other.” Magnus said as they tapped water bottles. “Have you told Ivory she’s taking over as your Luna?” “No, not yet. I’m not sure how she will take the news, and I’m still coming to terms with it.” “I get it. Sapphire took some easing into it, too. I couldn’t just hand her the keys after I bit her. Sarah Ann says there are things Sapphire just doesn’t have a clue about, so it will take a while before she’s got things mastered.” “Oh, I suspect she does not understand about what the position truly entails. My problem is not having her bulk in fear. Her training is still months away from completion.” “So, you really are training her to obey you without question?” “I
Sapphire and Ivory met the rest of their family over time. It took a long time to become comfortable with every one of them. So many differences from how she grew up to her life as she knew it now. She needed to find a new normal as mate, sister, and Luna. But it happened. Ivory and Ran took over the Vagas Moon Pack, and they renamed it, the New Moon Rising. Ran was still not sure he wanted to be their Alpha, but his family and his in-laws made it clear he could and would be the Alpha of this pack. The girls’ father took some time to warm up to Magnus and Ran. He claimed he needed to know his daughters first, to know what was best for them. Until then, he would reserve his opinion on if he approved of their mates. Ivory and Sapphire found their mother was a force all her own to be reckoned with. Margaret insisted there be ceremonies to recognise their mating. She was the mover and shaker when it came to teaching her daughters how to be e
“We’re still trying to unravel the truth here. So when we figure it out, we’ll happily tell you the entire gory and horrific parts. Just understand Ivory and I are learning to get along, but we only found out we were sisters. That we still need to work through.” “Betty made us adversaries. Sapphire was all but a slave. She had me believing I was their daughter and better than everyone. Sapphire was trying to replace me. I know better now and I’m trying to make amends. This is new for us. We just learned they planned to force Sapphire to commune with the Moon Goddess, and I was a sacrifice. We believed I was her daughter then.” Both parents were horrified. “We’d have tried harder if we knew she would try that. Gods, we’re sorry.” Howard came closer to their sister’s back. “It’s complicated.” “Let’s move on to happier things. If we’re talking, we can enter. So, let’s get the introductions done. You know me. I work as a teacher and r
Sapphire was too confused and overwhelmed. She let Ivory lead her to the bathroom, where they straightened themselves. Both looked at the results in the mirror. With the same ponytail and makeup. Thank. They looked similar. “I’m not wearing the same outfit, so don’t suggest it. Gods, Ivory, I don’t look like me.” “Yes, you do. If that monster hadn’t this, we’d be sisters, and this Sapphire is what you would be. No wonder I was jealous of you.” Sapphire’s head shot to Ivory’s face for clarification she’d heard correctly. “Jealous? I thought you hated me. I would never have said you were jealous.” “Do you think our mom can reverse the suppression spell on you? Or me? If there is one on me.” Sapphire pretended she didn’t hear it. They had enough to deal. “Why not? We’re part of a magical litter of wolf shifter pups. Does that sound like a fairy tale comedy movie opening line said by a narrator?” Sapphire wondered what would have happened if she’d gone to t
“Let’s see if we can figure this out.” April leaned over the page. “Okay, this is an edited version of what we see here. Well, that’s interesting, though it shouldn’t be a surprise.” April pored over the papers, looking closely at the words and symbols. Ivory tried her best, but she wasn’t sure what was important and what wasn’t. So, she tried to get everything she could. “What is it? I don’t get half the marks on the page. I just copied them the best I could.” She felt like a fool. What good was she? “The mark here leading to Betty. That’s new, or old. Different, at the very least. However, you want to describe it. It’s the mark used to denote an adoption. Betty isn’t blood related to your mother. She’s an aunt by adoption, not by blood. Her blood would have been useless, and she wasn’t the girls, so she’d have seen nothing. Now here are the names we’re interested in. Jane and Howard Percival. That next part here says there are three pups all born over two days. L
April couldn’t believe what she was about to do. Normally, anything to do with blood magic was off limits. Well, usually that’s because the magic would cause get harm to the person or persons involved. In this case, she’d risk the disapproval and any punishment. Which would be laughable when she showed the council of elders what they would have to do to break the curse. From what little she could understand of the magic used in the treaties, and resulting events. No one before her cared about the limits that were placed long ago on how magic could be used. When someone called North America a Wild and Lawless Land. It wasn’t just the humans that were wild and lawless. Those that practiced magic were too. Doing things in the middle of nowhere that they couldn’t anywhere else. Even now, they uncovered places like this occasionally. Places that the locals would call, better left alone and untouched. In this case, if April was correct. The page with their b
Magnus watched his mate carefully as she and Ivory went through the journals and other documents they recovered. April was still completing what they needed to do for the witches to be released by the nature spirit. Or if anything needed to be done since this Roger Helbourne was gone. As far as anyone could tell, Roger made the deals. Without him, they weren’t sure if the deals survived. That’s why he’d been kept like he was. As long as he was here and functioning, the treaties were active. But they wanted to be sure they were gone for good before inviting the other packs back. Ran was in talks with those of the Vagas Moon Pack who ran and survived. They’d have the grisly job of cleaning up the land and making amends to it. The Vagas Moon would then fall under the McConnell Pack umbrella after that, and the isolation would have to end as well. Magnus’ pack was settled here now and the previous pack happy where they were now, with no interest in returning here. Each
Ivory couldn’t find out what happened to Cliff or Xavier. Those two and their buddies were missing in action. They’d been at the fight, but they weren’t among the dead there or on the Vagas Moon Pack territory. Ran assumed they went rogue after the battle and were in the wind. Ivory wasn’t so sure. Cliff was a jerk, but he wasn’t a very bright one. It took days to find any trace of them. Sadly, that trace was a campsite out in the middle of nowhere. Sadly, whoever they joined up with at the end was more than evil and stronger than them. They’d survived only to end up being hunted by a human with more money than brains. If they read correctly, the evidence. She was scared now. What if they were wrong and Cliff came back for revenge? Ivory couldn’t tell Ran what she’d done. Snubbing Cliff after her father turned rescinded his favour. Cliff came to her for help, and she deliberately messed up his plans to get back into her father’s favour. It hadn’t
Ran watched the two women leave out of the corner of his eye. “Gods, I thought they’d never leave.” The two men stopped training and mopped themselves of the sweat they’d built up as they spoke. “Here’s hoping they can be sensible and learn to get along with each other.” Magnus said as they tapped water bottles. “Have you told Ivory she’s taking over as your Luna?” “No, not yet. I’m not sure how she will take the news, and I’m still coming to terms with it.” “I get it. Sapphire took some easing into it, too. I couldn’t just hand her the keys after I bit her. Sarah Ann says there are things Sapphire just doesn’t have a clue about, so it will take a while before she’s got things mastered.” “Oh, I suspect she does not understand about what the position truly entails. My problem is not having her bulk in fear. Her training is still months away from completion.” “So, you really are training her to obey you without question?” “I
Sapphire and Ivory sat in her office drinking coffee for a little bit before Ivory gathered up enough courage to speak to Sapphire. “If my mother was the reason we hate each other, does that mean in another life we might have been friends?” Ivory wasn’t sure if she was ready to apologize to Sapphire for the years of emotional and physical torture, she put her through.” “I don’t know. If you weren’t so self absorbed and demanding, maybe. It’s hard to tell, really. Your mother tried with all her might to make you into a shifter version of herself. Now I don’t mean this as a slight against you, but she was pretty successful. She pulled so many tricks with us, I’m not sure either of us knows who we truly are.” “You really think that?” “We’ll see, won’t we, now that we know she’s gone and can no longer influence us directly? I know that her influence made someone lock my abilities away so I couldn’t use them. Whoever did that seemed to know a wa