Waxing Moon

Third Person's POV

Cora stared at the gravestone that was buried in their backyard, where her mother was buried. It was nestled underneath a tree that Cora had helped plant when she was a child.

Her mother had been a spitfire, always pushing their family to leave Kamas and aid the hunters of Van Burren, but she had died before they could commit to such a thing.

Over twelve years later, they might finally get the chance. The hunters had visited two weeks ago, bringing grim news. "Soon, we will start an initiative to reclaim what has been stolen from us. The lycans think they won the war, but it"s just begun."

War. The hunters wanted war. Cora didn"t know how she felt about that. On the one hand, she was revved from the energy of actually fighting rather than hiding. On the other, she didn"t know if humans could survive another one.

She shivered in the crisp morning air, the cold wind brushing over her un-braided hair to chill her head and neck. She took a sip of the hot water in her mug, the steam smothering her face. They were out of tea but she still liked the warmth of it. The mug had a pink heart, and the word coffee printed over it in cursive.

Such a unique design and I don"t even drink coffee.

It was from a mug collection found in their home when her mother and father settled in Kamas.

The squeak of the patio screen invaded the silence of morning, accompanied by the dramatic sigh of her ten-year-old brother. "What"s US 248 mean?" Ben asked.

She looked down to the younger version of hersel, and he kept pushing his dark brown hair out of his eyes. She"d need to trim it soon.

"What?" she asked, gripping the mug tighter to warm up her hands.

"The sign in the living room. I was looking at it while I drank my hot water and I just realized that I have no idea what it means," he said, pulling a walnut from his pocket and using it to tap the wooden railing of their porch.

She furrowed her brows. "You really don"t know what it means?"

He flicked the walnut up in the air and nearly missed catching it. "I thought it was just odds and ends! Like your coffee mug. But then I saw that Harry had one at his house, and he said it was for the highway, but he didn"t know what that meant either," he said, glancing up to his sister.

He had dark brown eyes like their father, the only thing that was opposite of Cora. She had her mother"s hazels eyes instead.

"US 248 was a highway, and those are signs that they used to put on them. Our village is near that highway," she explained.

"What"s a highway?"

"Those giant roads that the cars drove on," she explained.

His eyes lit up. "Oh, cars...like what the hunters drive?"

She nodded. "Kind of. Father says that cars used to look a lot different than the ones that hunters drive today. They use diesel instead of gasoline."

"What"s the difference?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea. It"s just what father said."

He caught the walnut again, smiling to reveal teeth that were still coming in. "I want to go to see the highway. I want to go see the mountains and where the Van Burren Hunters live. They live in southern California. How far away is that from Utah?"

She pursed her lips and clenched her jaw. After meeting a hunter two weeks ago, Ben wouldn"t stop talking about leaving the village to explore.

She said, "It doesn"t matter. You"re not going. You"re only ten, Ben."

"Then why can"t the witches just take us exploring? They keep the witching border up, don"t they? I"m tired of them keeping us cooped up in this little village."

She laughed. "It"s not little. There"s like three hundred people that live here."

"I can walk the whole perimeter of it in a day! That"s too small. Van Burren"-he said, looking to her with wide eyes-"has thousands of humans. They even have giant cities where people don"t even have yards! That"s what I want."

"Well, that"s all for our own safety. You leave the border and a lycan or vampire, or whatever else is out there, could eat you alive."

"Lycans don"t need to feed on humans, just vampires," he said with a stern face.

Her face relaxed as she had gone through his very phase once. "I know. But that doesn"t mean they don"t attack humans. They don"t like us, and yet still see us as the enemy. Unless you want to live in their servitude and slave away for them instead of the witches, then you stay inside the border."

"Tell me more about the lycans," he said, his eyes eager for anything other than walnuts and farming.

"I can"t. I don"t know more than you do. And even if I did, I wouldn"t. You need to accept that anything outside of Kamas is dangerous. Out there"-she took a hand off of her mug to aimlessly point at the land way beyond theirs"-is no business for a ten-year-old."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, whatever. Everyone is just so dramatic. I just, I want to see one. Or anything. It"s so boring here. I mean, maybe I should just become a hunter. I"ve been thinking about it a lot," he said and gave her the most earnest eyes he could muster. "When a hunter visits next, it might be for the best that I tell him to take me with him. I want to know how to fight, and I want to help. I could start training in Van Burren. I"m nearly a man, and if I have to pick a trade, I"d rather learn how to be a hunter than a farmer."

She sighed and looked to their mother"s grave, gently smiling at his comment about nearly being a man. Oh, Ben, you"re so young.

Although, he wasn"t entirely wrong. About the fighting part, and how pointless it was not learning how to fight. Something was brewing outside of Kamas, and she didn"t feel content just sitting here. Even the hunters admitted a war could be coming. Despite how much it made her nervous, sitting around with one"s head in the ground was not her style, nor was it Ben"s.

But Ben was ten and not of age to be worrying about such things. I guess he can still be right about his observations, though.

"See, you"re not saying anything. It"s because you know it"s a good idea," he pestered. "I"ve seen you look at Hugo too like he was pumpkin pie himself. You like the hunters just as much as I do," he said, poking her in the shoulder.

"It"s just a fantasy, Ben," she said and glared at him, her cheeks warming with a blush at being called out. "Honestly, we don"t even really know what it"s like to live with the hunters. What if it is brutal work? In all of my twenty-two years of life, no one has ever stepped foot into the village that wasn"t invited. That"s safety that cannot be undervalued. Look at it this way - do you want to become like Aunt Tilly? Because leaving Kamas and becoming a hunter is how you become like Aunt Tilly."

He dropped the walnut when she said that and picked it up, his eyes wide with a grotesque curiosity. "I forgot about that..."

Oh, great. "No, don"t get that look in your eye, Benjamin Elijah Gabris. You better not go ask her about it. That"s rude, and it traumatized her."

It was too late, as the childlike wonder glossed over his eyes. He loved learning about the paranormals, more than just what the witches told him. He was the worst combination of brave and reckless, always hungry to prove himself.

"Ben, come help me with the farm!" their father shouted from inside the home.

Ben groaned but did his duty and left to help.

Cora stood there for a moment longer, thinking about her brother and what would be best for him before she went inside herself. She put more wood in the double-door wood burning stove, braided her hair, and changed out of her nightdress into pants and a white tank top. She then spent the first hour of her morning mending clothes.

Most of the clothes she needed to mend were for her cousins, who had a father that worked as a mason. Tilly was his wife, and she couldn"t sew the clothes herself. She had lost an arm and half of her face when she journeyed past the witching border four years ago. She went out on her own to pick walnuts from a nearby grove and didn"t bother to take a patrol with her.

It was a symptom that they had been living in privilege. Otherwise, no one would be so reckless. Except for Ben. The thought made her nearly roll her eyes. What am I going to do with that boy?

If aunt Tilly hadn"t been carrying a silver blade, she probably would have died. She was able to kill the beast, although when they went to collect the body at the witch"s command, they found that the lycan couldn"t be much older than seven. The witches said it must have been a rogue that was starving, as most lycans and vampires knew to stay away from witching villages, lest they wanted to face the wrath of their magic.

After mending the clothes, Cora went on a long walk to visit the orchard with a basket, collecting apples to make applesauce, pies, and jams. When she returned, she placed the basket by the cabinets that were in desperate need of replacing. She spent the next hour kneading sourdough from the mixture she had going in the corner of the hodge-podge kitchen. She kept it stored in one of the many bowls that didn"t match at all. Just like her coffee mug.

Once the morning chores were done, she sat outside on the porch to eat an apple as she eyed the only tree in their yard, glancing to the stone that had her mother"s name carved into it. She missed her mother every single day.

In the last forty years, everyone had lost someone. Though, it didn"t make losing her mother any easier.

Cora looked up at the endlessly blue sky and thought of the things called planes. Her father said that large pieces of aluminum used to fly in the air like a bird, although she sometimes wondered if he just made that up.

For centuries, the pendulum of power remained on the side of humans, their arrogance their downfall. They overlooked that all pendulums must eventually return to the other side.

And so it did, forty years ago. The pendulum fervently swung in the opposite direction when the bombs and EMP blasts changed everything.

Her father told her that after the EMP blasts, all the logistics seemingly vanished. Grocery stores were not restocked, places called pharmacies were no longer getting their medicine, and the reach of communication inverted overnight. He said giant metal flying objects called airplanes used to operate in the sky, and if they were within the EMP range, then they crashed when their systems went "offline." Families that lived states away lost all contact. Her father himself never saw his parents or siblings again, as he was serving in Utah for the military.

He described it once like it was stepping on an ant hill and digging up their tunnels, forcing everyone to start over.

The creatures that were forced into obscurity saw the disorder how any predator would - their forced hibernation was over, and it was time to feed. They found victory where humans found chaos.

And so, the calculated hunt began.

If it weren"t for the witches, Cora didn"t know what would have happened to humanity. The women of magic corralled the surviving humans into protected villages, and forty-something years later they were still barely surviving. The hunters were, indeed, humanity"s only hope now.

And she replayed the hunter"s words in her mind once again. War. They want more war. Was it wrong, though? In the end? It was either that or continue living a life full of fear. She was of the mindset that she"d rather die fighting for something.

She chewed on her lip. She would also have to see what her father would say, as they could all relocate together. She could marry there, Ben could find adventure, and her father could stop working so hard.

Kamas was full of nothing but hard, tedious work, anyway.

She threw the apple core into the compost bucket that they used for her aunt"s chickens. Once she tended to the chores for the rest of the day, she baked and cooked until the sun was starting to touch the western horizon.

Ben was outside visiting their mother, something he did nearly every night. He never got to meet her, although they would often tell him that he and Cora looked like just her. They both had her tan, Native American skin, her nose, and the shape of her eyes. Although it still did very little for him, as nothing could genuinely heal him from such a loss.

Her father was away on patrol for the night, so she would leave out some bread and butter for him when he returned. He was sixty-four and yet acted like he was in his forties. He said it was due to his Greek heritage. Although she didn"t really know what that meant, as heritage meant very little to their world. Skin, eye, and hair color was nothing more than an arbitrary trait anymore. All that mattered was if one could help

She took off her cooking apron, hung it up, and turned around to go see how Ben was doing. She furrowed her brows when she looked at the end of the counter.

It was Ben"s bear, the one her mother made while she was pregnant with him. He still slept with it but was embarrassed about it, so he never let it leave the room.

So why was it there?

She turned around to walk to the back door, and when she did, she let out a throaty cry.

Standing right in front of her was a man she had never seen before, and he had eyes that were the color of bright amber.

It was the eye color of a lycan.

Cora tried to open her eyes, but they were stuck together from eye gunk.

What...what happened?

The sound of something being dragged permeated her clouded mind. The smell of dirt became more evident, and finally, she realized that she was lying on something hard.

Why is it so hard to focus?

She opened her mouth as a small groan escaped. She went to wipe her eyes, but her arms wouldn"t move. She gently wriggled only to realize they were bound. Ripping her eyes open her, a few eyelashes remained stuck together. She stared ahead, blinking a few times before she realized what she was looking at.

The nearly full moon gave it away; she was staring at the night sky.

How did she get here? Why was she bound? She furrowed her brows and racked her brain; the last thing she remembered was cleaning the kitchen.

Her heart raced like it did when she got word that her mother wasn"t going to survive childbirth. The kitchen, the stranger, the eyes of a lycan. In my home. There was a lycan in my house.

A guttural groan escaped her, her head delirious like she had consumed too much sleeping tea. She breathed deeper as she tucked in her chin to look at her feet. Her entire torso was bound by rope and she was lying on a plank of wood. It was being dragged through the dirt, as if attached to a wagon.

As she looked around, she stared at a completely black part of the sky, near the ground, where the stars didn"t seem to exist.

Then it hit her. They had to be the silhouette of the mountains.

The mountains.

If that was true, then she was outside the witching border.

"Wha-" She aimlessly looked around, gently rolling back and forth as the need to stand overwhelmed her. Even though her arms were bound, she didn"t seem tied down to the board. She craned her neck back to see that a horse was pulling her, its tail swatting at flies. Then she saw that there was another horse with a man on it.

She screamed and unintentionally rolled off of the wooden plank, hitting the dirt with a thud as some of it got into her mouth.

"Knulla. Hey! What are you doing?" the man yelled. She rolled onto her stomach, trying to figure out how to stand with bound arms.

"Who are you?" she slurred, heart palpitations stealing her attention as she tried to calm down. She felt drugged. Maybe I was...

"Well, I am sort of in the process of abducting you," the man casually replied, and she heard his feet hit the dirt.

She rolled on her back as she felt like she couldn"t breathe.

"Excuse me?" she asked, staring at the stars.

She moved her gaze to him as he walked over to her, the bleak moonlight casting the harshest shadows on his face. He shrugged his shoulders. "I mean it can"t get more obvious than this."

Nausea erupted in her stomach, adrenaline causing her jaw to shake as a cold sweat consumed her. She couldn"t remember anything past seeing him in the kitchen. I"ve been drugged and kidnapped. Oh my god.

"You"re the man from the kitchen, right? Where are my father and my brother? Did you hurt them?" she yelled at him, his chin-length hair getting in his face.

"Nope, you"re the only one."

She groaned again and decided that she couldn"t stand looking at him. She started to roll off in the other direction, stopping when it was only getting more dirt in her mouth and making her dizzy.

"Plan on rolling back to Kamas?" he asked.

The sudden humor caught her off guard as she rolled onto her back. Dirt was now everywhere, getting into her pants and hair.

She assessed her situation. She needed a plan. I"m not getting anywhere if I"m bound, especially if he"s a lycan. An incredulous snicker escaped her, as she breathlessly asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"For the pack. Now, when you"re done rolling around, we really need to keep moving," he said.

This audacious asshole.

"When I-" she began and tried to sit up again. "You"re the one that bound me!" she shouted, swiveling until she got enough momentum to throw herself up into a sitting position. She was worn out from all of this.

"That, uh, was impressive to watch."

She felt entirely unprepared for this. The witches had always told them that as long as they didn"t venture outside the border, they"d never need to learn to fight, unless they wanted to become a hunter, anyway.

They had shamelessly used Aunt Tilly as an example. Cora had been so focused on her small little world, that she had never imagined a lycan could have gotten inside.

How did he-

A corner of her mouth moved, the dirt around her mouth turning to mud from her saliva. "You"re a funny guy, aren"t you?"

She saw him cross his arms and put his weight on one leg. "It"s not hard. You"re giving me most of my material."

Her body vibrated with anger as she seethed, a strand of hair flying away from her face as she asked, "What the fuck is going on? How did you even get into the village? I didn"t hear any bells or anything, and yet you were in my kitchen!"

He didn"t immediately respond. "How I got in is my business. And my pack needs you, as I said. It"s a long story. I"d rather just get you there than talk about it."

She shook her head. "What? No, you tell me right now why you are doing this. What do lycans want with me?" She felt a chill rush down her back. "Are you going to eat me, or enslave me?"

She heard him tut. "No, we aren"t going to eat you. But we are going to use something of you that"s useful."

"Like a limb?" she asked thoughtlessly, not wanting to verbalize or even think of other options.

She heard him sigh. She tried to stand up by leaning forward, her shoulder hitting the dirt as it allowed her feet to get underneath. She finally stood, stumbling around without the ability to use her arms to balance herself.

"Alright, I"ll tell you this much. You have blood type R. It"s useful to us. Now I don"t want to tell you anymore, because you"ll probably panic, and I don"t want to deal with that. That"s why I had to drug you."

She felt her heart pounding so hard that she could feel it in her neck. "What does that even mean?" she finally asked.

"Do you really want to know now, or wait until we get to where we are going? You might not like the answer," he cautioned as she stared at him, the moonlight just barely showing the details of his face.

"Well, moron, if you actually cared about me, you wouldn"t have kidnapped me in the first place," she spat.

"This is more complicated then it seems, moron," he retorted, and she straightened her back at the verbal sparring. "We just need you for your blood. That"s all you need to know for now."

"No, tell me. Right now. I have a right to know," she commanded.

She heard him sigh once more as he looked at the ground before looking up to her. "Alright," he began, his arms unfolding as he held his hands like he had no option. "But don"t say I didn"t warn you. Blood Type R means you can produce offspring that are insanely invaluable and even immune to silver. So that"s why I am taking you to my pack so that we can use you for that."

She looked to the ground, dark strands of her hair in her eyes, blocking out the glow of the moon. Offspring. He said offspring, oh fuck me sideways. I never thought something like this would ever happen...

The witches failed her. They had utterly failed her.

"Where is your proof...of my blood type?" she asked in a small voice, her body growing lighter as her head began to spin.

"A vampire informed me," he said with reservation.

She started to shake her head. "No...nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Not doing this." She spun around in a circle, looking for anything that could get her away from him. It was a futile act, so she just started to walk in the opposite direction. At least it was something.

"Hey, get back here! You don"t have an option. Our Alpha Ludovic needs a mate, and you"re the perfect contender! I"m not just going to let you walk away."

"I"m not even a lycan!" she shouted with her back to him as she kept walking.

"Use your head, idiot. We can always turn you into one. Now, either get on your horse or the wooden plank. Your call. I don"t want to waste any more moonlight."

She mirthlessly laughed. "I"m not going anywhere with you. I"m walking home."

"I mean fine if that"s how you want it. I"ll just drug you again."

She stopped and stared ahead, looking at nothing in particular. She couldn"t face the thought of willingly getting on the horse or the plank. It would only solidify that she had no means to go home, and that thought deeply frayed at her sanity.

I can"t believe this is happening.

She also decided that being drugged was worse. She let out a long sigh, looking in the direction that must be home, wondering if it was the last time that she"d ever face it.

"No, please don"t," she said in a monotone voice, turning around. "I"ll," she said, swallowing dirt as her voice quivered. "I"ll just ride the horse.''

Cora stared at the speckled horse that had been pulling her earlier, and they detached the wooden board she has been lying on. The animal reminded her of a Dalmatian, a dog she had only ever seen in books.

She didn"t know how much time had passed since she had gotten on the back of the horse. All she knew was that the moon was starting to ease its way over the sky and touch the horizon. She had been on this horse long enough for her ass and thighs to start hurting.

She had thought about turning the horse around and riding it for home. All she had to do was get close enough. Surely they could then shoot him with silver bullets.

But the horse she was riding was Jack. And Jack was old. And Cora still had ropes around her body, her hands free enough just to grip the reigns. She"d never be able to get into a full gallop, which she"d need if she wanted to outrun a lycan.

She closed her eyes and sighed. She didn"t want to be drugged again. She had no way to fight him.

It was a kind of hopelessness that meant she had no option but to go with him.

It didn"t mean she wouldn"t stop looking for a way out, however. She recalled her father and the way he was always so calm in a desperate situation. He"d often say "what is the point in panicking? If you panic, you might miss your opportunity."

So she"d do her best to keep panic at bay, although it was tougher than she thought.

"My back itches," she said, feeling restless. She looked at her wrists that were bloodied at this point from trying to escape her bindings. It was a futile effort, but it made her feel like she was at least trying.

All of it was futile, in truth. She"d never escape him bound.

"Well...if only you could scratch it," he replied. The sound of him chuckling at his joke made her sharply look his way.

She glared at the lycan, her eyes lingering on him as if the glare could somehow maim him. He straightened the jacket that he was wearing, which was of a style she had never seen before. It was beautiful, made of new leather, and had black fur lining the collar.

It was much nicer than anything she owned, which had caught her completely off-guard when she noticed it while he helped her onto her horse. For some reason, she had always imagined that lycans would run naked through the wilderness. It probably came from the knowledge that werewolves did such things, which were lesser evolved versions of lycans.

Lycans were so much more dangerous. They were organized, immensely powerful, and had control over their shifting states. They were known to be terrifying enemies, even if one was armed with silver bullets.

I"m fucked, I think.

"I hate you," she said. It was the most childish reaction, something that Ben would say. But her delirium from lack of sleep and stress was altering her temper.

"Humans have terrible manners," he said snickering.

"Lycans do too, apparently," she retorted.

He let out a hoot, "Oh, touché! You"re funnier than I thought, Cora."

She was shocked that he knew her name, and then it made her realize she didn"t know his.

"How do you know my name? And what"s your name?"

"Well, obviously, I was informed. I didn"t just accidentally wander into your home and think oh look a blood type R!" he said. "My name is also Roman."

She grunted in return. When he put her on the horse, she had numbed everything that she could to survive. She stared ahead with tired eyes, noticing that the sky was beginning to slowly turn into a darker blue, signaling that the sun was ready to make an appearance. It wasn"t long after that that the pastel colors of reds and yellows painted the atmosphere, giving her light to finally see her surroundings.

They trotted alongside the broken highway to save the hooves from the pavement. She hoped that he brought water, as she was starting to get thirsty.

She felt a sorrow swell in her chest as she saw a bent over US 248 sign. She frowned, feeling her throat burn. She wished she could pull Ben out of thin air to tell him that highways were actually quite dull. Abandoned cars, some with missing tires and smashed in windows littered them. Other remnants like bent over street signs, clothes covered in dirt, and small trinkets of another era were scattered like war skeletons, nature slowly working to reclaim them.

She took in a deep breath. There honestly wasn"t much to look at. And the mountains were worse, always towering over her like giant personifications of the witches, warning her that she was moving toward her doom.

Countless more hours passed, silence sitting between them. There was still no sign of anyone coming for her. She let go of any hope that they would. Only hunters would dare such a thing. She hoped that Ben wouldn"t take it upon himself.

It was that thought that made the tears begin to fall. She loved him so much, and it shattered her heart to think that"d she"d never see him again.

The severity of her situation grew exponentially further that they rode.

"Do you even care at all that you just stole me from my house? From my life?" she asked Roman through a shaky voice, sniffing when she finished.

He didn"t say anything right away. "Your life compared to the pack"s needs...well, they don"t compare."

"You"re a monster; you know that? You"re a terrible person, lycan, or whatever. This is wrong; it"s all wrong. I had a life to live. I was going to find a suitor, and everything," she said through sobs.

"I don"t really have an option," he said.

"Yes, you do, and you"re choosing to kidnap me."

"Well," he began. "Life isn"t fair," he said, although the tone was completely sober.

"Clearly, or I"d be home right now warming up water and getting ready to take care of my cousins. But no, I am stuck with a kidnapping lycan who wants to give my womb to his pack."

He pinched the area between his nose. "I regret not gagging you. You just won"t stop talking."

"Well, what else are we going to discuss? Your favorite food and color?" she asked, the tears finally stopping as her anger took over.

"Oh, see that"s a better topic!" Roman said as if they were on a terrible date, and not a hostage scenario. "I love the color green, and my favorite meat to eat is deer, although my favorite cooked food is cornbread. Sweet cornbread, none of the salty shit."

She stared at him with an expressionless face. She didn"t know whether to laugh or not. This was absolutely ridiculous.

"What"s your favorites, then, Cora?" he asked, his brown eyes looking at her.

"What?" she began. "Pancakes? I don"t know. Why does that even matter?" she asked with upward turned brows, starting to wish she didn"t have such a sarcastic abductor.

"What"s a pancake?" His brows furrowed.

She stared at him for a moment before answering, "It"s like cake, but you cook it on a skillet."

He raised his brows and gently rose his shoulder inconsideration. "Sounds similar to cornbread."

"Oh my god," she said lethargically, closing her eyes for ten full seconds to collect herself. She just wanted to sleep, but that wasn"t happening any time soon.

"Don"t worry, lycans still have hankerings for human food. We can probably get one of the human chefs to learn to make pancakes."

"You realize pancakes are the least of my worries at the moment?!" she snapped.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Just trying to give you something positive to focus on."

"Taking me home would be a start," she spat.

He took in a deep breath, and then he shouted, "Fuck yeah! Arlo brought the semi! "

Cora scrunched her brows, glancing at him to see that he was looking ahead of them, so she did too. It took her a moment before she saw something on the road in the distance, moving through the waves of heat. She knew the term semi. The hunters used them.

Although she doubted that that was a hunter.

Nausea in her stomach returned. This was why the villagers never ventured beyond the border, as there was nothing for them to be found out here other than predators.

It was just another reminder that humans were prey again.

The fire rumbled as its flames licked desperately for the starry sky above.

It rumbled so fiercely that Ludovic could feel it in his chest, the flames reaching higher than a house. Embers floated, only to fall and disperse, sometimes onto exposed skin. A drum rolled as the dancers beat their feet to the rhythm. Chatter and laughter laced throughout the crowd of three hundred lycans, males and females interlocked in each other"s arms while younglings ran around to play. The golden glow of the fire and torches cast harsh shadows, the smell of smoke and leaves intertwining them all.

A warm gust of wind periodically moved his way, carrying the heat of the fire.

Wooden benches were strewn throughout with four totem poles on either side of the main grounds. They each represented a season. The grounds were paved with river rock with stone stairs stone guiding the traveler. The grass was well-maintained with scythes, trees ideally planted to line the area.

The humans that built the Reiger Commons made it with the same craftsmanship that they were renown for before the Final War. The principal architect called it a "European City in the Woods if the Vikings ruled the Renaissance."

Ludovic Reiger sat at his designated throne while watching over the small portion of his Pack. His throne was carved into a massive tree trunk that was the width of six men, the top of his throne pointed into the shape of pine trees, the ends of the armrests curved into the form of a wolf"s head. His chair was adorned with silver decorations. Silver owls were strewn throughout, with the most substantial chunks being that of the eyes of the wolves silver and the moon that sat directly over him. It was to demonstrate that the Alpha could withstand such a poison.

His gaze trained to a female that approached his throne.

He first noticed her smell. It was of mint and pine, mixed with her personal musk, stirring something pleasant inside of him. Humans had visual seduction, while his kind was riled with scents.

In truth, it was mostly just nature"s way of ensuring that they never forgot to fuck each other.

He eyed her, taking his time to enjoy the shape of her body. She had warm brown skin with silver hair and deep blue eyes. Sava was of the Front Moon Clan, one of the esteemed Clans of Reiger. Legends say that the moon kissed them long ago, turning their hair white. Mating with a Frost Moon was the closest honor to mating with an alpha.

Most of the PPack thought that Ludovic would choose Sava.

In a low bow, Sava"s face was parallel to the ground to display her submission, her beautiful straight hair gently brushing against the dirt. She was wearing the traditional summer clothes for lycan females - a white, shoulderless cloth top that came just beneath the breasts, a black leather neckband holding it up, paired with a white cloth skirt that came to her thighs, a leather strip holding it at the hips. Golden decorations encasing blue gems adorned her body.

Humans rarely produced such beautiful creatures.

Her outstretched hand presented him with a pendant. He examined it momentarily before reaching out to grab it. When he took it, she looked up, her eyes eagerly awaiting him.

Sava had frequently complained that Reiger was receiving an R, knowing that she would be a serious contender as Ludovic"s mate. He could tell that Sava was worried.

Giving him this pendant was the ultimate offer from her.

He looked at the steel piece of jewelry to see that it was of a wolf"s head, hanging on a steel chain. He noticed that the eye on the wolf had a scar over it. Dagmar Dalgaard. His father, who was no longer here.

"I had this made for you, my moon. So you can carry his teachings with you wherever you go. Then one day, when you have your own younglings, you can have one made for them as well," she said. She had a voice that was smooth like a howl, and he always loved when she talked.

Her offering was a tradition unique to her Clan, symbolizing the maturation of a generation. If he were ever to wear it, it could only be done as her mate, as only Frost Moon"s wore such a thing.

Ludovic curled it into his hand and looked down at her.

She was bold. They hadn"t agreed to anything, and yet she was giving all of herself to him. She knew he could say no, that he should say no, despite their long history. He admired her audacity. It was pure passion.

"Thank you, Sava," he said with a low, soft growl.

She slowly raised her head to face him, her shoulders relaxing as if his words were the only source of warmth on a winter morning.

"You"re welcome," she said breathlessly.

They stared at each other, the space between them begging for them to say more. He and Sava had grown into a likely pair over the last year. She was ready to welcome him at any moment. All he had to do was say it.

He blinked and looked away, to which she immediately backed away in respect. Ludovic glanced to her Clan, who were all watching, and he looked away from them as well.

He did not like to display affection or favoritism publicly. Perhaps one day when he had a mate that would change but for now, he kept his emotions private.

Ludovic drank his mead as he mindlessly turned the pendant in his other hand, the metal warming the longer he held it. One of his Betas approached not too long after. The Beta named Erik positioned his head in the same way that Sava did.

Erik rose and sat on the lessor stump to the left of Ludovic. To his right was another empty stump with more extravagance.

It would be filled soon.

"Did you hear about Booker?" Erik asked, his voice roughened with age.

"No," Ludovic said while watching Sava dance with her cousins. He enjoyed watching her move.

It had been four weeks since he fucked anything. That was a part of the problem. The Matriarchs were invoking a new set of rules in the mate selection process, which was to remain abstinent the month prior to viewing the potential females. The desire for each other had to be raw.

It was wolf"s shit, in his opinion. He couldn"t even remember why he agreed to it in the first place.

"He was killed. His entire Clan," Erik said lowly.

"What," Ludovic said, his attention entirely on Erik, the blood that was rushing south halting completely.

"A group of human hunters are the culprit. They"re calling it an initiation ceremony. They sedated his Clan with wolfsbane, tied them up, adults and younglings, hung them upside down, slit their throats, and collected the blood to harness for whatever magic they"re using," Erik said with disdain.

Ludovic"s hair from the nape of his neck traveled down his spine, feeling his hackles raise. He frowned. "That"s a bold fucking act."

"Aye. The rumors of war continue to take wing, despite how idiotic it is," Erik said.

"Why do they even want war?" Ludovic asked and looked to Erik. "They nearly died the last time, their entire civilization wiped out. Ingram Pack needs to get behind this."

"They are abnormally stingy about it."

"The fuck for? We have an alliance with them for a reason."

"More rumors, I am afraid. Deals with the humans in the south."

Ludovic licked his lips, sat up straighter, and grit his teeth. "Well fuck Ingram. We are not sitting by while our own kind gets slaughtered for an initiation. The human hunters in the south want a second round of war, and then we give it to them."

"I think the others Alphas feel similarly."

Ludovic sucked his bottom lip to his upper teeth. He was not happy with this news. Not at all. "What does Riona say?" he asked.

"She can"t not act, as Booker was a part of her Pack. I personally think we need to visit Ingram. All of the packs. Force them to work with us, despite whatever rumors float about. They can"t be that idiotic. I bet it"s something else, but we still need to know what."

Ludovic merely nodded, his heart hammering in his chest as he tried to keep himself calm. As much as he enjoyed watching his Pack enjoy the thrills of life, he could no longer relish in it. He just wanted to leave, return to his den, and figure out what the fuck to do.

"We need the R younglings protected. I want three Betas with them at all times. Delegate that schedule however you see fit," Ludovic instructed, his tone passive. That was the first order of things.

"Speaking of Rs, when is your R coming? That"s a whole "nother situation."

"Oren said his brother Roman was on it," Ludovic replied, slowly rubbing his eyes before leaning back into his throne. His mind was already gone from here.

Ludovic"s gaze fell back to Sava. He personally didn"t want to mate with the R. He had no interest in trying to convince a human female to enjoy becoming a lycan, not when other females would kill for that position and treat it with the respect it deserved.

"You know you have to choose her. The R, not Sava," Erik said. Ludovic glanced over and saw his Beta was watching him.

Ludovic tutted. "Only if she agrees to it."

"What do you mean? You"re an alpha. Take her. You don"t need her permission."

"You"re right. I am an Alpha. I shouldn"t have to force it at all. I have an apparent war at my feet now. I"m not going to waste my nights dealing a mate who doesn"t want it."

"You could be throwing away the R younglings, Ludovic. We need them, especially with the human hunters. You"d be a fool to waste that," Erik patronized.

"It"s not like I"m leaving her to the wolves. She won"t be wasted," Ludovic retorted, rapping his fingers on the arm of his wooden throne. "She will go to one of the Betas. If the younglings aren"t mine, then it is not the end of the world. They"ll still be of the Reiger Pack."

"Yes, but the Matriarchs have said that they can transfer the power of an R to their mate. I caution giving that away to another."

"I appreciate the insight, Erik, but I won"t budge on it. You choose that person for life."

"Once she is your mate, she won"t know any better."

"That makes it worse," Ludovic said, his temper growing short.

Erik shook his head. "I don"t get it, Ludovic. This would solidify your position, and yet you"d give it to a Beta."

"Goddess gave us free will for something," Ludovic said with a snarky tone.

"Then why not just tell us to never shift again?" Erik asked. Ludovic always thought his Beta was terrible at jokes.

Ludovic huffed. "You"re hyperbolic, and you know it. I serve my lycans, and I always will. Reiger gets everything of me. I don"t want to give it my own den as well."

"I hope the R takes to you. It won"t haunt you now, but the Beta that gets her will challenge you."

"Good. It"s been a while. I am getting bored," Ludovic retorted.

"Well, enjoy the boredom. It"s about to end."

Ludovic took in a deep breath, breathing in the smoke of the fire and scents of everyone around. He is right. Peace seemed to be coming to an end.

And Ludovic knew when to see the forest for the trees.

"We should host a feast with Kalfa," Ludovic began, lessening the severity in his tone. "Have the lycans go on a hunt to provide the meat and drink whatever mead we want. I agree with you, Erik. This peacetime is coming to an end."

The conversation eventually petered out, and Erik left to be with his Clan, leaving Ludovic alone on his throne. He leaned over, his elbows on his knees, his braids dangling over his shoulder. As much as he wanted to leave for the night, he needed to stay.

He wondered if the hunters were genuinely gaining momentum, then how long it would be until they had a night like this again?

The sound of a large truck approaching interrupted Ludovic"s thoughts, the headlights of the vehicle confirming its arrival. The lights were as if the moon itself split in two, hovering over the ground in unison.

The R was here.