Filed to story: Tangled in Moonlight Unshifted Novel by Lenaleia
Muddy Blue Eyes snorts, before walking to the window and peering outside. “Kind isn’t a word anyone uses to describe the Beta
Mentor.
Nodding in silence, I can only agree. Kind is not really a word that fits his crotchety personality.
But it’s there, hidden in his gruff words and demands for more,
Both men stiffen, turning to glance at each other. Neither of them say a word, but their faces show how distracted they are inside their heads.
My shoulders tense again, and Selene perks her cars. Something’s happening. Maybe they’ll explain it when they’re done talking.
Without thinking, I twist one of her ears. I don’t mean to; my fingers have been fiddling with them for a while, and my skyrocketing anxiety brought it to a new level.
Ouch!
I wince as her claws dig into my thigh. Sorry. But my stomach is churning, acid eating through its lining as we wait.
When Muddy Blue Eyes seems to be done talking, I lean forward.
“What’s going on?”
He glances toward me and shakes his head. “No one’s injured. that’s what you’re worried about
Well, that’s good
But that doesn’t answer my question.
Both men seem on edge, taking station on either end of the room Muddy Blue Eyes stays near the window, scanning outside without pause.
His partner stays by the door, opening it only when someone approaches. It must be the new guards, because he shares a few quick words before closin back down the hall.
Every movement is tense. Jerky. Restless.
Whatever happenedit’s significant.
“What’s going on?” I press, unable to ignore the palpable shift in the atmosphere.
The guard by the door finally speaks up, his words clipped and devoid of emotion. “The bodies were taken.”
My heart lurches in my chest. “How is that even possible?!”
The guards remain silent, their faces unreadable. Selene shifts beside me, her hackles raised, sensing the unease permeating the room.
She was right, that dhampir. This is far worse than expected.
Selene’s grim words only give me the urge to vomit.
What could they possibly want with the bodies?
The words hang in my throat, choking me, until I can barely breathe. My mind races, desperate for understanding, but any possible motive is an clusive w behind.
The guard’s gaze darts around the room. “We don’t have details yet. Just that the pyres were disturbed and the bodies are gone.”
Gone. The word echoes in my head, bouncing off the walls of my skull until it’s all I can hear. Those wolves, those lives lost because of my actions, my choices… and now even their final rest has been violated.
Selene presses closer to me, her warmth a small comfort against the icy dread seeping through my veins. It’s not your fault, Ava, she murmurs in my min
All those families. All the loved ones who will now be denied even the small solace of a proper farewell. The weight of it…
So heavy. Overwhelming.
There are no words for this pressure crushing every bit of my soul.
“How could this happen?” I whisper, more to myself than the guards. “For so many bodies to disappear, how many are involved?”
MuddyBlue Eyes shakes his head, his jaw tight. “We’re looking into it. Alpha Westwood is handling the situation. Just relax until they return.”
Lucas. The thought of him out there, dealing with this new horror on top of everything else, makes my heart ache. I know he’ll blame himself.
I’m utterly useless. What good is my identity, my supposed power, if i can’t even protect my own pack?
Selene nuzzles my hand, sensing my spiraling thoughts. You’re not useless, Ava. You’re doing what you can, what you must.
But it doesn’t feel like enough. It feels like I’m sitting on the sidelines while everyone else fights my battles for me. While Lisa suffers, while the pack grieves, while Lucas carries the weight of leadership alone.
I close my eyes, trying to center myself, to find some shreds of calm amidst the chaos. But all I can see are the faces of the dead, the accusations in their
LUCAS =
Who the fuck steals burning bodies of the dead?
The motive is completely unfathomable.
Angry flames lick at the night sky, smoldering remnants of what should have been a sacred night, with souls returned to the embrace of the Moon Godde
Instead, there are eighteen disturbed mounds, with no bodies to be found.
Nude after my shift, my bare feet sink into the sodden earth as I move closer, mud squelching between my toes.
“Alpha.” Kellan’s voice cuts through the haze of my thoughts. He holds out a bundle of clothes, emergency spares we keep on hand for situations like this.
Grabbing only a pair of jeans, I pull them on with a vicious yank, fury boiling just beneath my skin. The breeze, cool and oblivious to the undercurrents of the night, is almost soothing against my heated sk
Around me, my wolves move through the clearing, noses to the ground as they try to parse out any lingering scents. But there’s nothing. The air is too cl before us.
“I don’t understand,” I mutter, more to myself than anyone else.
“How can there be no scent? It’s like the area’s been sanitized.”
Kellan frowns, his brow furrowed in concentration. “It’s not just the scents of the offackers that are missing. I can’t even catch a whiff of Ava”
It’s true. Even her scent has been erased from the very air around
I turn in a slow circle, taking in the scene with growing frustration. The disturbed heaps continue to burn, casting an eerie glow across the clearing.
My wolves move like shadows, their movements precise and focused as they search for any clue, any hint of who could have done this.
But there’s nothing. No scent, no trail, no sign of the monsters responsible for this atrocity. It’s as if they never existed.
“Keep searching I order, my voice rough with emotion. “There has to be something we’re missing”
But even as the words leave my lips, I know it’s futile. Whoever did this was meticulous, leaving no trace of their presence behind.
Of course it’s probably the vampires. But if it’s not, we risk a war that will take too many lives.
So many wolves are already clamoring, screaming for the streets to run crimson beneath our silver moon. A true war hasn’t come to any pack in a long t in this moment.
It’s real.
ICCs Devery
So many have already died, but for what?
As much as I love her, as much as my life revolves around her, Ava alone can’t possibly be the reason.
There’s something else. It feels like we’re all being led to one conclusion, like sheep to slaughter,
Closing my eyes, I breathe.
Deep.
Slow.