Filed to story: Tangled in Moonlight Unshifted Novel by Lenaleia
Focus. Grimoire’s presence wraps around my mind. Your magic belongs to you. It is under your power. You are in command.
The corruption pulls harder. My vision blurs at the edges. The buzzing under my skin turns to needles of ice.
Fight it, little witch.
I close my eyes, concentrating on Grimoire’s voice. On Selene’s steady presence. On Lucas waiting for me back at Wolf’s Landing. On Lisa who needs me strong and whole.
On all of Westwood, who have come to accept me as their Luna.
The corruption’s hold wavers.
I yank my hands back from the earth, falling backward into the snow. My chest heaves as I gasp for air. The magic inside me whirls like a storm, making me dizzy; if it were truly sentient, I’d describe it as angry.
Breathe. Selene presses against my side, her dog-breath in my face as she licks me desperately. Just breathe.
I stare at my trembling hands. Selene’s right; I am glowing. The light beneath my skin pulses erratically, matching the chaos of my stored magic.
“What happened?” My voice comes out raw. “It was so easy, and then it just wasn’t.”
You reached the denser corruption, as I warned might happen. It will seem effortless until you’re lacking energy, and then it’s like walking through knee-deep mud. You did well, but your control still needs work.
Good thing they were both there for me.
Now that you’ve experienced it, things will be easier the next time. You’ve never encountered an amount of corruption you can’t cleanse on your own. It’s understandable to falter in the face of its power. Grimoire’s words are a soothing balm in my tired head. Now, we should return. You need to eat and recoup your power. We should return in two days, before it grows too much.
Vanessa’s cool fingers press against my wrist, her frown deepening. “Your pulse is racing. How do you feel?”
“Tired.” Despite trying to project a strong front, I yawn around the word.
“You’re clammy.” She presses the back of her hand to my forehead. “And pale as fresh snow. You need to drink some water.”
Huh. Water. I didn’t drink a single sip during that entire process.
Everything blurs together after the first hour or so.
Aurum says Lucas is worried sick. You’ve been at this for eight hours straight.
Eight hours? That can’t be right. But I glance around, taking in the deep purple shadows stretching across the snow. Twilight bathes everything in muted colors, the sun nothing more than a memory on the horizon.
“I didn’t realize it would take this long.”
Marcus steps closer, his boots crunching in the snow. “How much of the taint is left? How many more times will we have to come here?”
“About two-thirds.”
Sharp inhales from the wolves around me. Greg mutters a curse under his breath.
“Two-thirds?” Vanessa’s voice rises, her eyes wide. “You’ve been working for eight hours straight and there’s still that much left?”
Marcus and Vanessa have been there for every purification trip; they’ve seen how much I’ve done in the past. It must be a huge shock for them to see different this patch is than the others.
“Yes. It was very large.”
Vanessa shakes her head, already digging through her pack. “Here. Small sips.” She presses a water bottle into my hands. “Your body temperature is all wrong. We need to get you warmed up. I have some energy bars, too.”
The water tastes like heaven on my parched tongue. I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was until that first drop hit my mouth.
“Careful,” my ever-present healer warns. “Not too fast.”
Greg paces at the edge of our group, his agitation clear in every movement. The other wolves mirror his unease, though nothing happened during the purification. Maybe they can sense how close I came to losing control.
You weren’t as close as you think, Grimoire says, but I disagree.
If he and Selene weren’t there…
You would have won in the end. It just would have taken longer.
The vote of confidence gives me a little boost.
“We should head back,” Marcus says. “It’s getting dark, and you need rest.”
My body betrays my exhaustion. My hands still shake, and the magic inside me feels raw and unstable, and uncomfortably full.
“The corruption isn’t going anywhere,” Vanessa adds, misinterpreting my silence for reluctance. “We can come back tomorrow after you’ve had proper rest and food.”
The mention of food makes my stomach clench. When did I last eat? The morning feels like it happened in another lifetime. When Vanessa hands me an energy bar, I crunch through it like it’s the best treat I’ve ever tasted.
Everything’s more delicious when you’re starving.
You should use some of your stored magic to heat the area around you. Be careful with it. Then flush some through your body. It will temporarily relieve your exhaustion so we can return home without too much delay, but it isn’t a cure. It’s more of an illusion than anything.
Sending a burst of acknowledgement in Grimoire’s direction, I chew on another bite of my energy bar as I send out my magic to surround me in heat, much as I had done to my wolf-shifted bodyguards when they pulled the sled.
LUCAS
I rub my temples, staring at the radio equipment spread across my desk. Static crackles through the speakers, a sound that’s become far too familiar these past days.
“Nothing.” Ryder switches the dial again. “Dead air on every emergency frequency. Been like this for a few days now.”
Vester crosses his arms. “That’s what worries me most. The humans have been relying on their radios to stay organized; why would it go silent now?”
My wolf paces beneath my skin, sensing a storm on the horizon. “And Jericho’s message?”
“Just as I said.” The healer’s mate pulls out a crumpled note. “‘Be alert.’ His vampire contacts are usually more specific. I can only assume that it’s a gut feeling on their side, as well.”
“Given the recent attack, we can assume—” Ryder begins, and I already know where he’s going. To tie Jericho’s vampire refugees with the Mad Prince; it’s something everyone’s already thinking, and I can’t deny that it would make sense. But in my gut, I know it’s wrong.
“Enough.” My words are sharper than I mean for them to be, but both my deltas are used to that. “Jericho should be here. His insight with the vampires could prove invaluable.”
Ryder scoffs. “If we could even trust his friends. Who knows? Maybe one of them is related to the Mad Prince. How else would they know he’s on the move?”
“Jericho’s contacts aren’t affiliated with that monster. The warning came after our contact with his thrall.”
“Can we be certain? The world’s gone dark, Alpha. For all we know, those vampires aren’t even in hiding. Maybe they’re trying to use Jericho to get to us.”
The pack’s bias against bloodsuckers is one that won’t disappear anytime soon. There are many who still look at Sister Miriam with some suspicion, and her recent disappearance has only heightened those feelings.
Of course, I’ve learned that not all vampires are evil as we always understood them to be.
“We can’t afford to alienate potential allies. This is no simple territory war.”
“And we can’t risk bringing enemies inside our walls.” Vester’s calm voice sides with Ryder. He’s been more cautious since the betrayals from our own pack members. “Though I agree—having Jericho back would be a great help.”
There’s little more to be said on the subject. I was hoping to see Jericho in person and discuss the nature of his vampire friends, but with our current situation, that’s impossible. I can’t leave the pack.
“Something’s happening. Ava says the taint has gathered and become dense. The radios have gone silent. It’s been too peaceful for too long, and now this attack by the Mad Prince.” Drumming my fingers against the table, I lean back in one of our folding chairs—our luxurious seating arrangement in the debriefing tent.
Vester sighs. “There has been no suspicious activity in the last few days. The patrols report nothing but snow and more snow. Animal activity seems normal, and the human cities still seem to be keeping their stores stocked.”
“So, why now? The cold should work in our favor. Isn’t it what stopped them?” Ryder is skeptical; he doesn’t have the same view as I do. He thinks the Mad Prince’s attack is unrelated.
But we’ve all learned to assume the worst.
The real problem is that he’s right. Winter has been our greatest ally these past months. The snow slows everyone down—rogues, vampires, and humans. With the lack of easy communication and the severe winter conditions, we assumed all the attacks stopped due to basic logistics.
My deltas and I assumed our enemies would wait for spring.
“What if the cold is exactly what they want?” It was only ever an assumption, anyway. One that we decided must be correct after months of peace. “What if they’ve been waiting for the worst conditions, hoping we’re all weak and hungry?”
Vester’s eyes narrow. “It would be clever. We’ve gotten comfortable thinking the weather protects us, waiting for the thaw.”
“Yes. Look at our situation. We’re housing refugees. Our supplies are stretched thin. The cold makes it harder to hunt, harder to gather resources.”