The Lunar Warriors: The Elemental Wolves Book 2 (Part 1) Read online

  It’s my men.

  This must be the warzone. I take another ghostly step, and I’m suddenly in the middle of the main part of the fighting. It’s then that I notice the wolves. I couldn’t see them from where I stood before, but there’s no missing them now.

  There must be thousands!

  All at each other’s throat. The sight makes me sick to my stomach as I see so many fall. So many lives lost.

  Because of me.

  The guys told me that this was supposed to happen. That there has to be a war, and I know that there are many corrupt things going on in our society. It was deemed by the Mother that there was to be a cleanse.

  This, though?

  This seems to be a massacre. Is this what’s going to happen. We’re just going to murder each other? I’ve been around violence all my life. Hell, I’ve been the main one receiving it. You’d think that I’d want to get revenge on those that have wronged me, but that doesn’t mean that I want them to be killed even if I thought about it in my most angry moments. I just wanted it to end.

  I look at the ground to see rivers of blood. The fallen wolves stare back at me with lifeless eyes, and I know my own must be leaking tears. I look up from the death at my feet to see a group of black, shadowy wolves staring at me with teeth bared.

  Their eyes have me floating still, unable to do anything else but stare into their depths. The only color I see in the sockets is red. It’s like it’s illuminated from within, but they’re not bloodshot red. No, their eyes are the shame shade as the red that paints the ground on this battlefield. The longer I stare, the clearer I can hear their savage growls.

  Of course, I’d be able to hear that.

  “They’re tainted. Their souls have completely forsaken me.”

  I jump at the melodic voice that mutes all other sounds. Spinning around, shock cannot describe the feeling I get from seeing Her. She can be no one else.

  She is the Mother of All.

  “Mother of All?”

  “Hello, my lovely,” She says with a glowing smile. Her smile isn’t the only thing that glows. It’s like She is moonlight itself.

  Duh, Jahla. We worship the fucking Moon Goddess.

  Oop! Did I just curse the Goddess? Ugh, I suck.

  “How…? What…?”

  “I have been allowed to visit with you in this vision for a short time.”

  “Wh-what am I supposed to do?”

  “I know that you have many questions, my love. I cannot answer them all for you. This is your journey. Yours and your mates. I have interfered with fate too much already. I cannot do more than give you gentle guiding when the situation is dire.”

  I almost don’t realize that She’s stopped talking, so caught up am I in Her soothing voice. I’m sure I have a dopey smile on my face until Her words register.

  Then, that shit drops.

  “Wait, You can’t help me?”

  Forget the battle, and the freaky wolves salivating at my back. We’re on our own in this shit? I mean, yeah, I thought it would just be us before. I thought it would be ok because I thought we had time to prepare. Time to train.

  But after She appeared?

  I felt a glimmer hope that maybe, just maybe, we had a fighting chance. We can talk a big game, but the reality is that we’re just kids. What can five kids do to make a change? How the hell are we supposed to win a fucking war?

  “My child, I am still with you. Always.”

  Why do I feel as though a “but” is coming?

  “But-”

  There it is.

  “-I cannot interfere any more than I already have. You and your mates are an interference that I created for the future that I saw coming, but I cannot influence the outcome of this,” She says as She sweeps her hand to encompass the scene still playing out around us.

  “Wait, these wolves,” I say, motioning to the wolves that are still growling behind me. “You said that they have forsaken You, but the wolves from my old pack have also turned their backs on You. When they shifted the last time I saw them, their eyes weren’t like that.”

  I think back to when I say Alpha Henderson and his wolves shifted when I left the pack. I remember how much hate I saw in their eyes, but I know they weren’t red like this.

  “Yes, that is true. They had turned away, but they were not actively fighting against me as they are here. If they are to remain shifters, they have to worship another to retain the gift.”

  “But… I thought you had to be born with it.”

  “It is still magic, my dear. It has to be allowed by one such as me.”

  “So, who are they worshipping?”

  “That is something that I am not allowed to tell you. It will be revealed when the time is right.”

  Figures. Moving on, I guess.

  “Why am I seeing this now? Is it to show me what’s going to happen?”

  “It is to prepare you. This is a vision of what may happen, Jahla. Have you noticed that a prophecy never has an ending?”

  “Yeah… It just tells about something that’s going to happen that will lead to something else happening. Never the outcome.”

  Now that I think about it, I wonder why that is. It’s like She’s reading my thoughts because my question gets answered with Her next words.

  “It is because nothing is set in stone until it becomes the past. Up until the very last second. Fate can be changed.”

  I think about Her words as She turns to watch something happening out on the battlefield. I follow Her gaze, and the breath seizes in my lungs.

  There, standing in the center of it all, is… me. Spread out around me, protecting me from all sides, are my guys. We’re all fighting multiple foes at one time.

  Not going to lie, I look like a bad ass right now.

  As I’m basking in self-glory, I feel a shift in the air. It’s like the feeling you get when you know something’s coming, but you also know you’re not going to be able to stop it. I immediately think that I’m about to watch myself die.

  But it’s so much worse.

  Right before my eyes, one of Mavrin’s attackers gets a good lick in to his temple. He stumbles as he becomes disoriented, quickly becoming overpowered by the other three shifters that he was fighting. As they take him down, I see one rise and point a gun right at his head… and pull the trigger.

  I can do nothing but watch as his death is felt throughout the bond for the rest of us left standing.

  Because of his distraction, Cash is the next to fall, taking an arrow straight through the heart that he was unable to block by raising the stone barricades he was using before.

  I watch as I crumble even more.

  Krix tries to hold off his opponents, but his survival comes to an end from several throwing stars that seem to come out of nowhere. His body hits the ground, his blood joining that of so many that have met the same fate.

  Quickly, I scan the field for my Denny. Vision me is now down on her needs, her enemies slain by her furry and pain. With the loss of her first mate, her vengeance knew no bounds. As the others followed his soul to the skies, pieces of her spirit went with them which left her the pitiful sight before me now.

  I finally seen Denahi as he fights his way to her. Anyone and anything in his way gets consumed in fire. I watch as she weakly raises her head in his direction. I can’t tell if she senses his approach, or if he calls out to her because the sounds are once again muted.

  She reaches for her, and he does the same. Right as their fingers touch, a blood is shoved through his chest from behind. Everything seems to freeze as he drops to his knees. His lips are moving, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. His eyes slide closed, and he falls to the side.

  The look of devastation that crosses vision me’s face is… wait.

  No.

  I try to move towards myself to get a better look, and I’m taken there, quickly standing before, well, myself. Her head raises, and I’m so shocked that I stumble back, tripping over my own feet. As I lan
d on my ass, I’m suddenly transported back to the meadow that I started in.

  I scramble to my feet, whipping my head around until I spot the Mother of All standing in its center.

  “Why,” I scream. “Why did you take them from me?!”

  “I did not take them from you on purpose, Jahla. It was their fate.”

  “So, my mates… all four of them… are going to…”

  I can’t bring myself to actually say it, afraid that speaking it into the universe will actually manifest such a thing.

  “It is a possibility.”

  “And what about my… eyes.”

  Such a look of pain crosses Her beautiful features, aging Her many years in the process.

  “Yes, my love. The loss of your mates… makes you sever your bond with me.”

  “Wait, we have a bond?”

  “Yes.”

  “How?”

  “What did you see, Jahla?”

  I take a moment to bring the image back to the forefront of my mind; albeit, with great reluctance. It’s not something I want in my mind’s eye.

  “My eyes were blood red… like the wolves I saw before, but… they were bleeding and… empty. Like, there was nothing and no one within my body.”

  I go over everything that we’ve talked about since She showed herself to me. I recall what She said pertaining to why the wolves’ eyes were red.

  “I… turned away from You? I became… tainted?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is that what happened when all shifters sever their bond with You?”

  Their eyes turn red, yes, but only yours are bleeding and empty. I do not really have a bond with my other shifters that goes beyond loving a creation, but you, Jahla? With you, I have the bond that a mother shares with her child.”

  I am once again rendered speechless with shock.

  “You’re my mother?”

  “Yes, my love. That is why you are so special.”

  I can see it now. The love that shines from her eyes as she looks at me. The pain when I mentioned my eyes in the vision.

  “I blamed you. When they,” I pause and force myself to say the words, “died, I blamed you for taking them from me. I turned away from you.”

  “Yes. The pain of losing a mate that you have formed a compete bond with can bring someone when there is just one, but you had four whom you felt had been stolen from you. The pain was too much. Their deaths killed your soul, and broke your mind. It was too much.”

  I look away as everything tumbles though my mind. This can’t be how it ends. There’s no fucking way that we all have gone through all of this just for it to end with that! I refuse to believe that this is the only outcome.

  Going over everything that I heard and saw through this whole vision thing, I try to figure out wat went wrong.

  “Wait. You said that nothing is set in stone until it becomes the past. Up until the very last second. Fate can be changed. This is a vision of what could happen in the future, right?”

  Fuck, I hope I’m right.

  “Yes.” She has the same hope shining in Her eyes, that’s beginning to fill mine.

  “I can… I can change this?”

  “Nothing is set in stone-”

  “-until it becomes the past. There’s hope,” I say with conviction, forcing it to be true.

  “There’s hope. Keep that in your mind and heart for the times to come, but for now, we must part ways.”

  “Wait! Can I… can I hug You?”

  “Yes, please,” She says with another moonlit smile. “I have been waiting for this day for many moons.”

  I throw myself into Her open arms, and become immediately engulfed so much love. It’s like all the love that I missed out on is there within the safety of Her arms.

  “Do not let the fear of what you have seen control you,” She whispers into my ear as Her arms tighten around me ever so slightly. “Allow it to guide you. Be strong and wise as I know you can be.”

  “I’m going to fix it, Mom.”

  “I know, my love, but right now you must leave me.”

  “What?”

  “It is time for you to wake.”

  With those final words, She gives me a gentle shove that throws me out of the vision. It’s like one of those dreams where you’re falling, and right before you hit the ground, you land softly in your bed and open your eyes to your room.

  Except I don’t open my eyes to realize that I’m back in the safety of the home that I share with my mates. No. the sight that I open my eyes to has me curling my lips in a savage snarl as our eyes meet.

  “Well, look who’s awake. Welcome to hell, bitch”

  Benson.

  Chapter 4

  Krix

  I don’t like this. I don’t like this shit at all.

  I can still feel Jahla, but only her presence. I can’t feel if she’s in trouble, and I know asking her to open up that part of the bond will only make things worse in the long run. None of can afford to be distracted right now.

  Doesn’t stop my mind from going to the absolute worst scenarios, though.

  Can’t dwell on that. Can’t dwell on anything. I have to keep all of us together. If I fall apart, there’s no telling what the fuck could happen to the other three.

  Right now, everyone is focused on getting her back. That’s the only thing keeping them in their right minds. Cash’s heart broke, Mav panicked, Den exploded, and I… felt lost. It’s like I didn’t know what to do. Hell, I still don’t. We’re all just pacing around the cabin right now.

  Well, Den is standing by the door.

  I shake my head to clear the rambling thoughts because his stance is one that means business.

  “Okay, we have to alert the pack to what’s happened. We have to see which packs James trusts to gather allies.”

  “We have to get Jahla back first. The war can wait.”

  Denahi is still a little withdrawn, but I can sense his determination. He’s holding back what he’s truly feeling. As much as it pains me to know that he’s holding so much in, I’m also relieved.

  That fucker can be volatile, and we don’t need that fueling us while we plan.

  “Why are we preparing for the war? We have to get her back first! We can meet with everybody else later.”

  “I’m with Mav on this one. We have to get her away from Benson before we waste any more time. Let’s just go. We can feel what direction she was taken.”

  Mav and Cash are about to fly into a panic attack. I expected this from Cash because he can be a little spastic at the best of times, but Mav? I can’t believe he isn’t the level headed one right now. I look from him to Den, and can’t figure out how the hell they switched places.

  “Do you think that we’re just going to go into wherever he has her, and walk out with her hand-in-hand? This shit’s going to get messy fast. He won’t live to see another sunrise after what he’s done, guys. We need to be prepared for the fallout.”

  “We’re killing anyone who stands in our way.”

  Okay, I didn’t mean all of that. I don’t correct Denahi because I know that he’s barely restraining the flames right now.

  “Fine, but we need to hurry. She’s already been gone for a while, and we don’t know if he’ll be working alone. You know what he put her through when she was growing up there.”

  “I know, Cash. That’s why we each have our own roles to play so things can move faster. I want you to go to our dads, and gather weapons. Make sure we’re well stocked in everything. Den, I need you to get the warriors rounded up and ready. Make sure their aware that the war is on the horizon. Mav, you’re going to get all of the women and children to the bunkers. They need to stay out of this, and be protected.”

  “You’re going to James?”

  “Yeah, I’m going to let him know that shit’s about to go down. We already know that the corruptions go all the way to the council, but I’m sure he knows or can find out what side everyone is on.”

  “How long is
this shit going to take, Krix? The longer it takes us to do all of this running around, the more time he has to hurt her!”

  “I know!”

  I can’t hold it back anymore. I can’t be everybody’s calm all of the time, and Jahla being taken seems to be a trigger for destroying me. I hate that I’m yelling when the guys just need guidance, but damn!

  “Look, I’m sorry for yelling. Well, not really.”

  “Really, Krix.”

  “Yeah, Cash, really. I’m doing my best to hold myself together, too. Let’s just get this shit done so we can go get our girl. The more time you spend complaining and whining, the longer it’ll take.”

  I look at the others, and they seem to get what I’m saying. One by one, they head out to start on their assignments. I leave right behind them to get my job done, too. Our pack knows all about the prophecy and how important Jahla is in this war. It shouldn’t take long for everything to be ready for us to head out.

  Mavrin

  I feel sick to my stomach.

  I’m glad that I have something to do to keep me occupied, but I’m not sure it’ll work. Nothing can make me stop worrying about Jahla. She’s currently in the hands of a spoiled bastard who’s throwing a fit because his favorite toy was taken!

  On top of that, he’s obviously psychotic. What other type of person would waltz into an enemy’s territory, and kidnap someone else’s mate?

  There are so many questions running through my mind as I climb the steps of the first house, but I push them down for later. I have to get the women and children to the war bunkers before anything happens. For all we know, Benson taking Jahla could be a part of their plan to initiate the war. We may not even be the ones starting this thing.

  Fuck, I can’t think of this stuff right now. I’ll leave that to Krix with his strategizing. Mother knows I’m not in the right frame of mind for it. My heart is still pounding, and has been since I realized she was missing. The only thing keeping me from going off the deep end is the fact that I can sense her through the bond.

  I shake my head to clear my thoughts, and set my face in a serious mask as I raise my fist to knock on the door. Taking a calming breath, I wait for someone to answer.