Filed to story: Tangled in Moonlight Unshifted Novel by Lenaleia
The chains on her outfit jingle as she takes a step back. Her pulse races, the sound clear even from this distance. She’s terrified.
Her ears are pointed under all that purple.
Fae, then.
Vester, I warn, but I can already feel his understanding in response. He’s seen it, too.
“I’m not a threat!” she blurts out, holding up her hands. A book falls to the ground, but she’s too scared to pick it back up, her eyes darting from one wolf to another. When her eyes land on me, she flinches, her eyes widening even further.
My wolves tighten the perimeter, their golden eyes fixed on our unexpected visitor. Someone wanted us to be here for this meeting, though our guest seems less than prepared for it.
The shift ripples through my muscles, bones cracking and reforming as I return to human form. Aurum’s displeasure rumbles in my mind.
One bite. Quick and clean.
No.
The Fae girl’s eyes widen as she looks below my waist, then she covers them with her hands, nearly slapping herself with the frantic movement. “Oh, sir. No. I’m not here for that. I swear I’m not here for that.”
Her chains jingle as she trembles, and a laugh almost escapes me. Almost. The situation doesn’t call for humor, even if her reaction is amusing. She doesn’t seem to have much experience with shifters.
I grab my backpack from where it fell on the ground, pulling out a pair of pants. The fabric scratches against my skin as I slip them on, still watching the girl. Her hands remain firmly pressed to her face.
My feet already feel half-frozen against the snow, but I don’t expect to be human for too long.
“Who are you, and why are you here?”
Her trembling intensifies. “C-Can I look now?”
“Yes.”
She peeks through her fingers first, then drops her hands with a relieved sigh. “I’m Pip. Just Pip. And I really wasn’t supposed to land here. Or now. Or in front of you. Especially not in front of you.”
“Why are you here?”
“I was aiming for The Rejects.” Her shoulders slump. “But someone messed with the coordinates. Again. They always do this to me, you know? ‘Oh, let’s send the newbie, she won’t mind if we’re off by a few miles.’ Except they’re never off by just a few miles, and now I’m probably going to die because you’re going to eat me or something.”
We could, Aurum suggests.
“The Rejects?” My voice sharpens. “Who are they?”
“Um.” Pip’s eyes dart between the wolves surrounding her. “Not who. It’s a place. I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you about it, though.”
Vester snarls, and she jumps.
“Okay, I’ll tell.”
She’s easy.
“Um, there’s a bunch of vamps who refused to work with the New Order. They’re working with a bunch of… uh, you guys, I guess. Maybe not you guys. I don’t know if you’re friends with those ones. But yeah, you guys. They have a hideout and—“
She stops in the middle of talking, looking around again.
Should I growl at her again? I’m starting to feel like a bully, Vester asks privately.
The feeling is understandable. She might be Fae, but she’s tiny and young-looking. I have to remind myself that she’s probably a hundred years old and not thirteen.
The girl then asks hesitantly, “Are you the bad guys?”
Aurum huffs. Even his bloodlust is lost against this child before us. She’s an idiot, he observes. Probably a distraction.
“No.” Though that doesn’t mean we aren’t her enemy. “Why are you trying to reach The Rejects?” It sounds suspiciously like Jericho’s camp and his rogue vampires.
“Um.” Her tongue touches the top of her lip, and her eyes bounce around again. “That’s kind of, um, a secret.”
“Un-secret it, then.”
“You can’t un-secret a—” She blows out an aggravated breath, but even that shakes. “Are you going to e-eat me?”
“He might.” I jerk my head toward Vester, who lets out a little grumble on cue. “Why are you trying to reach The Rejects, kid?”
“Um.” Her eyes roll in fear as she clasps her hands together. “Well, they said if it turns green, then that’s my cue. And it turned green. It took me a minute to remember the exact sequence, but—I’m just here because they said to do it if it turns green.”
She speaks nonsense. She’s distracting us, Aurum rumbles, his bloodthirst returning with his suspicions.
But breaking down her words—even if I don’t fully understand them—it seems simple. Someone told her to come here when something turned green, and that sounds suspiciously like a thing that might happen when a wolf steps on a strange button in a bush.
“Who are they?”
“I…can’t tell you.” Her shoulders shrink in on themselves. “Please don’t eat me.”
Vester snaps at the air, and she jumps back a step with a scream. “I really can’t tell you! Even if you eat me, I can’t tell you!”
LUCAS
Pip is terrified, but she has answers. Answers we need.
Acting like a bully to a child isn’t on my top list of things I wanted to do today, but there are too many lives at stake.
My feet sink into crusted snow as I step toward the tiny Fae. Her purple hair stands out against the white backdrop, making her look even more fragile as she cowers, crouching low with her hands over her head.
She thinks she’s going to die.
Forgive me, Moon Goddess.
My fingers close around her throat, lifting her to eye level. Her feet dangle, chains jingling. “Choose a side. Now.”
Pip’s face turns red, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her hands clutch at my wrist, but she’s too weak to break free. The sound of her sobbing pierces the air, and my stomach turns.
Aurum growls inside my head. He has no sympathy for those he’s deemed the enemy, even a child.
A child who could get our entire pack killed.
But the sight of her crying, the way her tiny body trembles—this isn’t what an alpha should do. This isn’t what a leader should be, a bully of children.
“The New Order,” I say, keeping my voice steady despite my disgust at myself. “What are they?”
Pip’s sobs quiet. She blinks at me through wet lashes, her expression shifting from terror to… confusion. Her eyebrows scrunch together as she sniffles again.
“It’s the New Order.” She says it like I’ve asked her what color the sky is. Like the answer should be obvious.
My grip tightens slightly, until I remember she’s just a kid. Maybe a hundred-year-old kid, but the visual’s still there. “That’s not an answer.”
“But it is.” Her voice comes out scratchy, and she claws at my hands. “It’s just… the New Order. Everyone knows that.” The way she says it, it’s as if it’s common knowledge and we’re the idiots for not understanding.
“Explain.”
My fingers loosen as I set her feet back on solid ground. Her chains rattle with each shaky breath, but my hand stays at her throat—a warning rather than a threat now. My conscience relaxes a little.
“The New Order’s everywhere. Government. Schools. Police. They started the apocalypse and threatened everyone with more if they didn’t submit. They’re everywhere.” Despite her fear, there’s a faint condescension in her words as she asks, “Where have you been the last few months?”
That’s a lot of sass for someone who genuinely thinks I might eat her.
Teenagers. Aurum still sounds as if he’s ready to eat her on command, though; not sympathetic or giving her an inch for being young.
“How?” I demand, ignoring her question.
“I don’t know. They just are.” Her pulse flutters beneath my palm, kicking up a little higher. Maybe she realizes questioning our ignorance isn’t the best choice. “They know everything about everyone.”
“And what do they want?”
“Um, order?” She swallows hard against my grip. “They’re tired of the human governments.”