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Chapter 58: Own Terms
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2024-10-15 18:06:11Related chapters
Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 59: A Familiar Face
Delaney “Thanks,” I tell the stranger when he stops the car right by the entrance of the city. I’m not sure I recognize these parts all too well, but I’m sure I’ll find my way. I just have to believe in myself. “I mean it.”“You’re welcome,” he tells me. I watch him drive away for a few seconds before starting down the sidewalk. I quicken my steps and even jog lightly, mostly because I don’t want to waste more time than I already have by getting here. I start to look around, at the shops and restaurants along with the buildings right in the heart of the city. I will myself to focus so I don’t get lost, and I also make sure to cover my vibrant hair every chance I have. I don’t want to make silly mistakes that will cost the lives of good people. My nightmare begins when half an hour in, I still haven’t reached a familiar place. I look around at everyone while breathing harshly. Nobody is looking at me a second time. I’m just someone else who’s probably trying to get somewhere like e
Last Updated : 2024-10-16Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 60: Worthy Knowledge
DelaneyI continue down the steps until I reach the bottom. Although the entire space is dark, there’s a small lantern emitting a soft green light, and a man with a heavily wrinkled face is standing behind it. His eyes meet mine from across the room, and in a soft voice, he says to me, “Come closer, little one.”Once I get closer to the table, I see the chair that’s directly in front of him. There’s a faint herbal scent in the air that’s unpleasant at first but gets better and more tolerable with every breath that I take. I take a seat, and put my hands together in front of me. “What is your name?” he asks. The lantern is hiding about half of his face, so I can only see his eyes. “Delaney Waters,” I tell him. “Allow me to see your hand,” he says. I extend my hand to him, and he places his beneath mine. His hand is rough. Only the lantern is illuminating my hand, and he moves closer to the light while his free hand traces the lines on my palm.“Hm,” he grumbles. “I see why Anna c
Last Updated : 2024-10-17Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 61: The End of Things
AlecI kill the engine, and then make my way inside the house. With the clouds gathering in the sky, darkening it, it kind of feels like I’m stepping into a house of horrors. I brace myself for what’s to come, and even so, I’m not ready. Carla is in the living room. As I close the door, she stands up. Her eyes are a little wide, and she seems to take all of me in. Her eyes then widen, and she gasps, “Is that blood?”I realize that I still have Alpha Jason’s blood on my clothes. I look down at them absently, and then nod. “It’s a long story, but it isn’t mine.”I sound exhausted. I feel exhausted. I don’t know what it is about coming here that makes me feel so damn tired and done with it all. This is supposed to be my safe space; my home. The only place in the world where I feel like nothing can hurt me. But instead, I feel like this is the place where all my hauntings begin. “You haven’t been here in a few days,” Carla claims, getting to the point. “I understand that you’re upset b
Last Updated : 2024-10-18Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 62: Fire In The Hole
Delaney I sit by as Francesca and Cade gather almost everyone who lives underground to go rescue Matteo and the others, and all the while, I'm thinking about what the fortune-telling man said to me about my curse. I have a brand new perspective on what my life could be, and I feel like a new person. I’ve never associated the curse with anything good, but I’m starting to enter that state of mind, and the first thing I’m doing is telling myself that we’ll be able to rescue everyone. They’ll be fine. I’m scared and nervous to make it there and find out that it’s too late, but something else is telling me that everything is happening for a reason. Even finding Anna in the middle of the sidewalk when I was lost and desperate was a kind of a miracle. Who knows where I’d be now if I hadn’t found her? Maybe I would’ve been too late, or caught by the authorities after dark or something. The rescue mission is going to be at night, mostly because people tend to be more vigilant during that
Last Updated : 2024-10-19Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 63: The Escape Plan
Delaney My left leg hurts every time I put weight on it, but I have to keep moving. Francesca is ahead of me, racing to reach the car. Paola’s arm is draped over my shoulder, and my arm is hooked around her waist to keep her up. She constantly slumps forward like she’s going to pass out, but wakes up before she falls. “Just a little bit more,” Francesca says while clutching her side. Her clothes are drenched with her own blood, but she’s forcing herself to keep going. We’ve been hit hard. Harder than I thought we would, but at least we didn’t walk into it with false expectations. We knew what we would be getting ourselves into. It doesn’t make what happened hurt less, though. “Almost there,” Francesca pants before stopping and bending over to place her hands on her knees. I nearly bump into her, but I miss her by a few inches. I say to her encouragingly, “Keep going, Francesca. Don’t stop now. We’re almost there, as you said!”She nods, and then keeps going. Once the gates were
Last Updated : 2024-10-20Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 64: The Important Meeting
Alec I look around at the mess caused by the escape of the rebels, and I can hardly believe my eyes. Alpha Fredrick is ushering his family into his car while his Beta—the man who would’ve married his daughter—yells orders for the mess to be cleaned immediately. My Beta is here too, making sure that our Gammas remove the bodies littered all over. The silence in my head is deafening. Deep down, I know that this happened because of Delaney’s escape. Somehow, she’s behind all this.And once again, I’ve gotten away with committing treason. Alpha Fredrick makes his way toward me as soon as his family is safely in the car and are being driven to my territory, where they’ll meet with Carla. We’ve decided that it’s better and safer this way, because we don’t know if there are any rebels nearby. Honestly, I think it could’ve been worse. If his family had been slaughtered, then that would have been a cause for global concern. But only Gammas died, and some unidentified bodies seem to belong
Last Updated : 2024-10-21Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 65: Opening Up
Delaney Connor is dead, and it’s all anyone can talk about. The others have been arriving over the course of a few days, but it was Pollux who gave us the news. He showed up the morning after we broke them out, and that’s how we found out that many of the fighters are still out there, hiding so they don’t get caught and draw attention to themselves and to the rest of us who are hiding. Cade is genuinely devastated by what’s happened. Connor was his brother, and I’ve since discovered that it’s a blessing to have a sibling in the rebellion with you. Most people have lost their families, for crying out loud. To have a relative is a blessing. Despite his grief, he hasn’t left Paola’s side. She’s not doing too well; she’s been seriously injured, and the healer fears that she might not be able to walk again. Silver was injected in her spine, and it’s been eating away at the bone, and there’s nothing we can do about it but wait for it to pass out of her system. The effects of silver are
Last Updated : 2024-10-22Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 66: Him Again
DelaneyPaola wakes up, thankfully, and I’m the first one there to see it. I go to her side, and grab her hand before squeezing it. Her eyes flutter open, and then she looks around disoriented and somehow surprised. When her eyes meet mine, she gasps and says, “Delaney?”“Paola,” I say, relieved. “We’ve been waiting so anxiously for you to wake up. How are you feeling?”“I don’t…remember what happened and how I ended up here,” she claims. “The last thing I remember was…oh, by the goddess…they were doing such awful things to us all and—”I place my hand over hers. My throat is closing up at the sight of her despair, but I say, “You’re safe now. They’re not going to hurt you anymore.”“But they will,” she states, her eyes filling with tears. “They always will whenever they have a chance. This isn’t something that stops, Delaney. How did you…they’d dragged you out, and I tried to reach you but we were all captured apart from you.”I briefly explain what happened, and she says, “He saved
Last Updated : 2024-10-23
Latest chapter
Under the Shadow of the Moon Epilogue 2
AlecI wake up suddenly, in the middle of the night. It’s another one of those nightmares that make my fucking ankle burn like shit. I sit up, reaching for it in hopes that it’ll remember to stop hurting, and that’s when I realize that Delaney isn’t in bed beside me like she has been for the past seven years. “Delaney?” I say loudly. “Here,” I hear her say. She’s standing near the balcony, which I only realize now is open. The curtains are billowing in the wind, covering her from view. I get out of bed, and limp to where she’s standing. She turns to look at me, and fuck, my heart stops beating for a moment. She’s never not stolen my breath from me. Snatched it right out of my lungs. “What’s wrong, baby?” I ask her as I approach her. “Just thinking,” she says as she turns to face me. She places her hands on either side of me, and I inch closer to her and kiss her lips. “I didn’t mean to wake you,” she says. “No, it wasn’t you, it was my foot,” I explain briefly. I then pay clos
Under the Shadow of the Moon Epilogue 1
DelaneyAlec comes up behind me, his arms circling my waist. It startles me because I was so deep in my thoughts that I completely forgot that he was somewhere behind me. All I can think about is the election that will start in about twenty minutes. We’ll be late if we don’t leave the house now. “You okay?” he asks while placing a tender kiss along my jawline. I find it in me to smile at him. “Never been better.”“It’s finally happening,” he claims as he steps back. I turn around to face him, and he hops back on his one good foot to circle my waist with his arms again. “I hope that’s not sadness I see in your eyes.”“No, I’m just thinking,” I admit. The memories claw at the edges of my mind as Alec’s arms tighten around my waist. His warmth anchors me in the present, but it’s not enough to silence the ghosts of the past. Faces flash before my eyes—people we lost, friends who sacrificed everything, moments drenched in pain and blood.But here we are. The war is over. We won.It doe
Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 118: The Real Rebel Army
Alec Delaney. No. Pain courses through me, thick and intent to kill. She shouldn’t be here. When I realized she wasn’t in the car that came speeding down the road, I was relieved. But now she’s here, with the few other rebels who came here to save me. I don’t know what is going on. “Ah,” the sick fuck next to me says. He has his eyes on Delaney. On my girl. And the gleam in his eyes is twisted. “Miss Renner. You’ve finally joined us. I thought you’d never come.”At the sound of the man’s voice, her face completely transforms. She appears fierce. Ready. A warrior. My heart swells with pride, then shrinks with fear in the same beat. “You’ll unhand him,” she says, stepping into the role of a rebel leader swiftly. Seamlessly. “Or, we’re going to rain bullets down on you. On all of you.”The man laughs, and the crowd gasps. I stare at her face, and pray to the goddess that she won’t die here, right before my eyes. That’ll kill me faster than the silver will. “How typical of rebe
Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 117: Pushing Forward
Delaney I drive around in circles, and nothing springs to mind. I don't find Alec, nor do I figure out what to do. I even drive all the way to our pack, and nothing. I think it's ridiculous for me to assume that I'd find information on him so quickly. Who would tell me? How would I just know? I guess what made me run so fast was the need to get away from Pollux. The fact that he'd hated on me for so long simply because I hadn't recognized him as my mate means a lot. He was always toxic and problematic, but at least I didn't fall for his schemes. I have this distinct feeling that tonight, everything is about to change. Thinking about Alec makes me cry. If it weren't for Pollux, he would've been safe. He doesn't deserve whatever will happen to him. He's a good person and all he ever tried to do was help us. I feel so responsible. Now, I don't know where to find the others or why they even left the camp to begin with, and I have no clue where to find Alec.I've never felt so lost
Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 116: The Trap
Alec When I open my eyes, I realize that I’m in a very bright room. That’s the first thing. The second thing is that there’s someone standing right next to me. On my right, to be precise. I look up and see the man from earlier. He’s peering down at me with disdain written all over his face. When he sees that I’m awake, he smiles a little and asks me, “Ready for what’s to come?”I look down at my body and realize that I’m still in wolf form. Pain immediately shoots down my paw when I try to move, and a growl leaves my lips. I’m chained to a metal table, and I have to way of moving without feeling a crippling kind of pain. “Yes, I think you are,” he claims. Before I know it, the table starts to move and I’m being wheeled out. The sharp screech of metal grates in my ears as the table wheels over the polished floor. Because all my senses are sharper in this form, I see and hear a lot better, so these little sounds while I’m disoriented are too loud and obnoxious in my ear. But not
Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 115: Clarity
Delaney “How!?” I yell as I continue punching his chest. “How could you have done such a thing!? HOW!?”Pollux takes the punches and doesn’t say anything. I grow angrier with his sudden silence, and punch him even harder. After a while, my arms start to hurt and my throat grows hoarse from all the screaming. I step back, and let my arms drop to my sides. By the goddess. What the hell is happeningHow did things take such a terrible turn in a matter of hours?I realize that I’m screaming in the streets while people are driving and walking by, and that somehow, I lost my beanie. My hair is out, red and wild, but I could’ve give a shit less about that. Alec has been captured. Everything has gone to shit. Shit, shit, shit.A strangled sound leaves my throat as I try not to cry. I can’t cry now. I have to use this anger to focus on what the hell I’m going to do. I bite my knuckles and think deeply. Where could they have taken Alec? “Delaney,” Pollux has the audacity to say. “You’re not
Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 114: Evil Confession
Delaney Upon reaching the bar, I find it empty. The doors are barricaded and it looks like there hasn’t been anyone in here for a while. The windows are broken, and when I peer inside, everything is covered in dust. What’s worse is that I don’t even see footprints, so I know that nobody was in here. They aren’t here. I’ve wasted my time coming all the way here. Bile rises up my throat, and I have to throw up on the side of the road, right next to Cade’s car. I don’t feel better afterward. Instead, this has made me more nauseous. I don’t have much left inside of me, though, just breakfast from earlier. I get in the car, and shut the door. I run my fingers through my hair as wave after wave of despair crash into me. I pull my knees up to my chest and rest my forehead against the steering wheel as despair takes hold of me. This wasn’t supposed to happen. They were supposed to be here. I hoped they’d be. I’d imagined walking through those doors and finding them—safe, together, alive.
Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 113: Captured
Alec It doesn’t take me long to find out that there will be a raid in a newly discovered rogue camp not too far from the city. They were hidden in the middle of nowhere, but someone leaked the information and now, everyone will be headed there when the sun sets. I have a feeling deep inside of me that Delaney is in that camp, and I now regret telling her not to tell me the address of where she was staying. That way, I’d be sure.Fuck. That doesn’t mean I can’t call her though. I tell myself that as soon as I can, I’ll give her a call and ask for her exact location. Right now, I’m just waiting for this meeting to end. I notice that the hall is uncommonly empty, which makes me wonder where the hell everyone else is. Where have they gone? I’m not in the state of mind to ask, though. Carla’s burial was meant to be today, but I’ve asked for them to cremate her instead. I’ll keep the ashes at home and…I don’t know. I don’t know what I’ll do with them. So much is going on. I don’t have
Under the Shadow of the Moon Chapter 112: Empty Lands
DelaneySaying goodbye to Alec is always a bittersweet moment. This time, it’s more bitter than it is sweet. He drops me off near the car, and after saying goodbye to each other for the hundredth time, I start making my way back to the rebel camp. At least now I know that we have Alec’s support. What happens next can’t be predicted by anyone, we’ll just have to wait and see. And keep fighting, of course. I hope I won’t find the group as demoralized as they were last night. I come bearing good news, I hope. I hope it’ll cheer them up. We’ll see.The drive back feels longer than it should. Maybe it’s the silence in the car. The rebels don’t exactly have state-of-the-art vehicles, and the rumbling engine is loud enough to drown out my thoughts if I let it. But my brain insists on working overtime, replaying Alec’s words over and over again.I clench the steering wheel tighter, his words curling like smoke in my mind. I’ve never felt this desperate, not even when I was in the prison.
