Filed to story: Tangled in Moonlight Unshifted Novel by Lenaleia
Fine.
“Yes, Luna?”
“Get me another set of ropes. I’ll engrave them with runes, too.” Better to be prepared in case they wear off or something. “Actually, get me a few. We should have some for backup.” Never know when we’ll have another magical thing held captive.
His eyes are thoughtful, even as he immediately barks out commands to get things done as I’ve asked. I guess he’s noticed my change of mindset. Good. That means what I’m doing is working.
Throw all the stupid shit into a box and lock the damn lid. My own Pandora’s box of bullshit.
Elverly appears in the doorway with a plate piled high. Bacon, sausage, and eggs, along with a single fluffy biscuit. “Eat,” she demands, slamming the plate onto Kellan’s table.
Eyeballing the food warily, I ask, “Aren’t the kitchens closed? We should be on full alert.”
“They are,” the pack beta confirms.
Elverly just stares at me, her diminutive stature somehow more intimidating than someone who towers. “Eat.”
“But how did you—“
“Eat.”
“Okay.”
The eggs look delicious but taste like cardboard in my stressed-out state. Still, I force them down under th gnome’s watchful glower, though I return my attention to Kellan. “We need more scouts out there. We can’t keep sitting around with nothing to go off.”
He shakes his head. “Too much time has passed since the breaches. We’d be spreading ourselves thin for no reason.”
“But we need information.” A piece of bacon snaps between my teeth with more force than necessary. “We’re sitting here blind.”
“That would be the worst decision.” Kellan leans against the wall, arms crossed. He’s stressed, too. But like Lucas, you can’t even tell. He’s got this whole leadership thing down pat. If he wasn’t a beta, he’d make a great alpha of his own. “Think about it. If they wanted a direct confrontation, we’d have found them by now.”
The fork scrapes against the plate as I stab another chunk of eggs, imagining it to be someone’s eyeball. A little gruesome, but I’m kind of feeling a certain way toward people who would harm my pack. “So what, we just wait?”
“We bunker down. Secure what we have. Prepare for the worst. Whoever’s out there is playing stealth, but that doesn’t mean they won’t take an opportunity we hand to them. A weak central force is exactly that kind of opportunity.”
Damn him and all his reasonable logic. I’m practically zinging with the need to do something, but he’s shooting down everything. As he should, but God. I don’t want to sit around waiting for something to happen to us.
It’s like this entire year has been just things happening to us.
The Grand Sage, almost forgotten despite taking over three-quarters of the table with the watch he’s deconstructed, suddenly snaps his head up with a hiss of what I think might be outrage. I’ve never heard him make a sound like that before. “Someone’s trying to break into my ship.”
“What ship?” I ask, because it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of this thing. We have a ship? We’re not even close to the ocean, so how can we have a ship?
But the Grand Sage isn’t interested in answering. He jumps to the floor in a flurry of movement, snapping his fingers in our general direction. “Come, come. You wanted to know where they are. Now we know.”
My eyes brighten. If the Grand Sage knows where they are, then—
“Stay here,” Kellan says.
“No.”
Okay. Maybe Functioning Luna—
Stop.
Maybe Functioning Ava shouldn’t be heading out. Maybe she should be staying here, safe in Wolf’s Landing, with her people.
But there’s something zinging around in my blood, insisting that I need to be there. My wolves are great people. They are strong, capable, and I know they would lay down their lives for this pack.
Magic, though? They’re woefully incapable of handling anything to deal with magic.
“I’m going,” I say, even though my instinct is to ask for permission instead.
Kellan just nods. That’s it. The argument’s over in half a second. “Understood. Dr. Blackwell, how far is this ship?”
The Grand Sage shakes his head. “It’s close. Near where your soldiers picked us up when we got here.”
I have no idea where that is, but Kellan seems to know immediately. “Understood. Greg,” and he motions to the wolf in question, “will be your guardian. Stay with him at all times. Do not separate from him.”
The gnome waves his hand. “I am aware of how to travel with a guard, young beta.”
Marcus, though, is the one to bring up the overwhelming issue at hand. “What about that?” he asks, jerking his head toward the captive in the corner.
Still unconscious. Still roped up.
Damn it. I need more than one of me. We need an army of freaking witches I can send wherever I need. Maybe I can start some sort of magic school and hunt down the talented and—
That’s exactly how covens began. Along with wizarding academies and the like. Grimoire perks up at my train of thought, sounding excited at the prospect, but I shake my head hard to dispel my little squirrel trail of thinking.
Not the time, Ava. Not. The. Time.
“The ropes are warded.” Mustering confidence is hard, considering how much damage this creature can do to my people. “They shouldn’t be able to do anything once they wake up.”
And then a brilliant idea hits me. Or maybe it’s not brilliant. I’m not sure how the biology of gray-skinned Fae-maybe people work, after all. “Have Vanessa come by. I’m sure she has something on hand to ensure they stay knocked out a little longer.”
Kellan nods along with my words, a silent approval of my plan. It isn’t the kind of nod where people have to check with him to make sure it’s okay to obey me, though, and that’s important.
“Understood, Luna.”
“This one doesn’t leave your sight for a single moment, Marcus,” Kellan orders.
* * *
Lisa’s back before we leave, but there’s no time to even acknowledge her. We’re in a rush, and there’s a whole-ass army behind us.
Well, like twenty wolves, anyway.
Half of them are shifted, and I learn through Kellan’s orders that they’re going to split off. Some ahead, some behind, just keeping an eye on things to make sure we’re safe.
Everyone just needs a word or a motion of Kellan’s hand to know what they’re supposed to do. I’m a lot less trained, so I just follow my beta as we run out.
It’s an easy lope, and my body adjusts to it immediately. It’s easy to breathe, even in this cold. The sky is clear and bright, without any clouds to muddy us up with any possibility of snow. The breeze is a bare minimum, not adding to the chill.
Unfortunately, that also means visibility is far and I’m deeply concerned the people we are out to hunt will spot us first.
Always assume they will, Selene says. She’s far ahead, scouting with the shifted, and her predatory instincts are strong enough to underline every thought she tosses back to me.
Hunt.
Hunt.
It’s like a rhythmic chant in my bones, an insistent whisper in my ear.
Hunt.
Grimoire is silent in my head. This isn’t his kind of thing; he’s just around in case I need him.
Time passes in near silence; everyone’s absorbed into the moment. The mission.
My muscles burn from the constant motion, but it’s a comfortable kind of burn. Running like this? I could do it for hours now. At least that’s how it feels.
They’ve found something, Selene says. Her voice carries an edge of anticipation that makes my skin prickle and my heart rate pick up. Kellan wants us to slow down.
I watch his form ahead of me. His shoulders are taut, head up as he scents the air.
My magic stretches out like invisible tendrils, seeking anything unusual in our surroundings.
Kellan’s hand rises, palm flat. Stop. Even I understand that one. The wolves around us freeze mid-step.
My senses go further, across the rolling hills. Nothing out of the ordinary, but that doesn’t mean anything. My ability to sniff things out with magic is still pretty limited.
Kellan points left, then right. Two fingers.