Crimson Moon

I woke up and stretched my arms. This was the first night that I slept soundly all the way through. I rubbed my fresh eyes and looked over to my left where Tiberius was once laying. To my surprise, he was no longer there. I sat up on the bed and looked around the room confused. How did I not wake up when he got off of the bed? Usually, I am a really light sleeper and wake up from the slightest bit of movement or sound.

“Tiberius?” I called out.

“One-minute Calla!” I heard Tiberius call out from the other room.

I tucked myself back into the warm blankets and waited for Tiberius to arrive. In about a minute, he was walking into the room with a platter in his hand. He was already dressed in blue jeans and a black shirt that showed off the muscles in his arms. I gave him a questioning look, my head tilted sideways.

“What’s that?” I asked him confused referring to the plate he was carrying.

“Breakfast in bed,” Tiberius answered casually.

“For me?” I asked him.

“No for the monster under the bed. Of course for you Calla.” Tiberius said as he was handing the plate over to me.

My heart fluttered and I smiled up at him.

“Did you cook this?” I asked him.

“Yep, so if it doesn’t taste too good I apologize. I don’t have too much experience with this whole thing.”

“You know, nobody has ever done this for me before. Thank you.” I cooed to him.

He crawled up next to me and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “You are very welcome, now enjoy. We have some things we have to accomplish today.”

“Like what?” I asked curiously.

“I’ll explain once you are done. For now, enjoy your meal.” I nodded my head at him and began to eat the delicious food.

Once I was finished with my food, Tiberius took the plate back into his kitchen.

“Thank you again, it was very good,” I said to him very gratefully.

“You’re welcome. Now come on we better get going.” He said as he stood next to the bed and extended his hand to me.

I took it as he helped me out of the bed. “Go where?” I asked him.

“Well first we gotta go bring you back to your room to change, then we are going out for a run.”

“Ooh sounds like fun,” I said to him as we exited the room.

Reed was right outside Tiberius’s bedroom and when he saw the both of us his face lit up.

“Oooh, my boy has some explaining to do.” Reed’s face contained the biggest smile I have ever seen.

“Relax dude, we didn’t do anything,” Tiberius said rolling his eyes.

“Uh-huh,” Reed said then looked over towards me causing me to blush. “Calla’s face says otherwise.”

“Her face always says otherwise, no offense.” Tiberius gave me an apologetic expression.

“None taken.” I mumbled back to him and looked at the ground. “I couldn’t sleep last night so I went in Tiberius’s room. That was it. Oh well, that and the breakfast Tiberius made me this morning. Other than that, nothing happened.” I told Reed being honest.

“Hmm alright, I’ll believe you for now,” Reed said flashing us a smile.

“Oh, and by the way Reed?” Tiberius said.

“Yes?” Reed answered.

“Meet us outside in twenty-minutes and tell the rest, would you please?”

“Hmm well, I suppose I don’t have much choice in the matter so yes, your highness.” Reed bowed in fake mockery.

“Thanks,” Tiberius said clapping him on the back.

“Yeppers, see you soon. Oh and Calla?” Reed addressed me.

“Yes?” I responded.

“You look beautiful today.”

“Why thank you, Reed.”

“No problem,” he said as he walked away. Tiberius yelled after him, “what the heck man, why you always trying to steal her from me!” I giggled and shook my head.

“Come on weirdo,” I said to Tiberius and pulled his muscular arm.

After I got changed I made my way over to where Tiberius said that he would be waiting for me. Once I got outside, I realized nobody was anywhere to be found. I checked my cellphone to see what time it was. It read 10:30 a.m. which meant that I was on time and not late.

“Guys?” I asked trying to figure out where they all went.

Nobody responded. I heard a twig snap behind me which caused me to tense up. Everything in my body went on overdrive. I turned around just in time to see a body of a wolf jump towards me. Barely having enough time to react, I jumped to the side as the wolf landed on its paws. Without thinking, I grabbed the nearest weapon to me. Thankfully they must have been doing landscaping around the house since the tool that I grabbed was a shovel. My heart pounding, I began to swing the shovel only to stop within a few inches of hitting the wolf on the head. My jaw dropped open when I realized who it was.

“Reed! What are you doing?! I could have hurt you.”

“Dang Calla! A shovel really? Don’t you think that is a little excessive?” He shook his head.

“Uhh no! Not when you’re coming at me like a crazy maniac.” I retorted defending myself.

“I could have seriously hurt you!” I said worried about what I had almost done. I dropped the shovel and ran over to him.

“Are you alright?” I asked checking to make sure he was okay.

He squirmed and said, “I’m alright Calla, gees.”

“Hmm alright. I’m so sorry.” I said again still worried.

“Relax Calla, he is okay.” I heard Tiberius say from behind me.

I spun around to face him. Tiberius along with the rest of the pack was walking towards me all holding a smirk on their faces, all clapping their hands together.

“You did pretty good Calla, although I would highly recommend using your nose. If you would have done that you would have smelt that it was just Reed, but I do give you credit. Sorry Reed, but I think she would have kicked your butt.”

“Nah, I don’t think so,” Reed responded shaking his head. “No offense Calla, but I can handle myself.” I quickly darted my head back and forth between the two.

“Wait, you saw what happened?” I asked him making sure that I was getting all the details correct.

“Of course I saw what happened. It was a test, I told Reed to do it.”

“You what!” I yelled angrily at him. “Why?” I asked crossing my arms over my chest and giving him a dirty look.

“Chill Calla. We had to see how you do under pressure. You did very well and you pass. I’m sorry we had to do it like this. Otherwise, we will never know what you’re capable of.” I furrowed my eyebrows in annoyance.

“Whatever,” I replied angrily.

Liam yelled out and put his hand in a diss motion. “Oh, she gave you the whatever man. You in the dog house.”

“Next time I’ll hit you guys with the shovel,” I said still giving Tiberius the dirty look.

To my astonishment, he laughed.

“I do not doubt that you will," he chuckled

I bawled my hand in a fist. Tiberius walked over to me with his arms spread out wide. As soon as he got close enough to me, I gently punched him in the chest.

“There, that is what you get,” I smirked at him not being able to stay mad at him for too long.

“Better?” He said returning the smirk and tilting his head.

“Ehh maybe.” I retorted. “I may need a little more convincing."

“Hmm, let’s see.” He said as he bent his head down towards me and gave me a soft kiss on the lips.

“Mmm better,” I said against his lips.

Somebody cleared their throat causing me to jump back in alarm. My hand flying to my lips.

Caleb spoke, “sorry guys. I’d prefer no PDA in front of me. Thank you.”

Tiberius shook his head and rolled his golden eyes. “Let’s get going.” He said and walked out further into the woods leaving us scrambling after him.

“What are we going to do?” I called after him.

Being that he was so much taller than me, I had to jog to catch up. His strides were double if not triple the length of mine. He didn’t answer, the only sound evident was the crunching of the leaves on the soft forest floor.

“What’s he doing?” I turned to look behind me towards the rest of the group.

Eli shook his head and shrugged. “No idea.”

I looked at the rest of them giving them a questioning look. “Any of you guys know?”

They shook their heads.

“Reed?” He shook his big wolf head in a no position.

Unlike the rest of us, he was still in his wolf. As if Tiberius read my mind, for all I know he probably did, he jumped over a log and transformed into his wolf. The clothes that he was wearing shredding into millions of pieces littering the forest floor. I halted and the rest ran into me. I stumbled trying to regain my footing while someone grabbed my arm from behind me. I looked back at my arm and towards the person who was helping me. Liam was holding my arm and looking at me.

“Thank you,” I said to him.

“You’re welcome, just be careful.” I nodded my head. “Are we supposed to do that?”

“Beats me.” He said.

I looked back to where Tiberius was, except he wasn’t there. I transitioned my eyes to the distance. Sure enough, he was already a pretty far ways away.

“Wouldn’t hurt,” Caleb said as he immediately transformed padding after Tiberius.

“Just so you know, I’m totally against destroying clothes for this but oh well.” I shrugged and transformed like the rest. “Bye-bye clothes,” I said glancing back at the shattered pieces on the floor.

Jerimiah, Dante, Eli, Reed, Darius, and I, all had to run to catch up to the group. I was confused by what was going on so I ran past Tiberius and cut him off, standing in his way. Apparently, he didn’t even see me as he ran straight into me, his weight towering over mine almost causing me to stumble.

“Calla?” Tiberius looked puzzled. “What are you doing?”

“I think the real question here is what are you doing?” I gave him a weird look. “Are you alright?” I asked him concerned.

“Yeah, what makes you think I’m not?” He said confused.

“Well I mean one; you didn’t even realize I was in front of you which, may I add, isn’t like you at all, and two; you haven’t told us what you’re doing.”

If I was in my human form I would have shown him my fingers just to emphasize my point, but since I didn’t really have fingers, that wasn’t an option. He huffed and sat on the floor. We all followed his lead. Tiberius always had that commanding alpha aura to him, he didn’t even have to order us to do things. We did it automatically, not questioning him on anything. I really did admire how he had that natural presence to him. He did something you did with no questions asked.

“Sorry.” He said as he bent his head towards the floor.

“What’s the matter?” I asked as I walked closer to him, lifting his heavy head to look at me with my small paws.

He hesitated, “It’s nothing.” He settled for.

“Tiberius please tell me,” I said worried and concerned.

He huffed and then looked back to face the others who sat there quietly.

Personally, I almost forgot they were there but apparently Tiberius didn’t. “Could you guys give us a moment?” Tiberius asked them.

Liam nodded his head and turned around to walk away from us. Eli, Jerimiah, and Dante followed him without a word.

“You realize that we can still hear you in our minds right dude? I don’t think going away will help that at all.” Reed said being his usual self.

Tiberius and I both gave him a death look.

“What?” Reed said confused.

“Oh, come on idiot,” Caleb said and pushed him away towards the others.

“We will be back soon,” Caleb said to us.

Darius padded after them making sure Reed doesn’t try to turn around. I nodded my head and focused my attention back on Tiberius.

“Now what’s the matter?” I asked Tiberius concerned once more.

He hesitated obviously not wanting to look weak. “I,” he began but I cut him off.

“Shh,” you don’t have to worry about looking weak in front of me, you know that right?” I said looking him in the eyes.

He flashed me a small smile. “I’m just worried about you.” He said to me. “I’m worried that you will try to save your sister and go back to Adolph. I don’t know what I’ll do if you try that.”

I exhaled loudly and sat next to him. “I can’t promise that I won’t go, it’s not me to just sit here when she is in danger. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet, but I can’t do anything. That’s not who I am.” I said to him in a hushed tone.

“I know it’s not. Just please promise me something.”

“What?” I asked him.

“Promise me that you won’t go alone.” I hesitated not wanting anyone else to get involved. I couldn’t stand anyone else getting hurt because of me.

“Please?” Tiberius prompted me further.

I hesitated but reluctantly agreed.

“Thank you.” He said to me and stood up to press his head against mine. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”

I jumped as a voice yelled inside my head.

“ARE YOU GUYS DONE YET!” I heard Reed yell.

My heart raced as I looked around for him spooked, not yet used to the whole talking in the head thing.

“Dude, shut up!” Caleb yelled back to him.

Tiberius laughed and shook his head. “Yeah, we are done. You guys can head back over here if you want.”

Reed ran back over to us while the others took their time. Reed came to a grinding halt right in front of us.

“Dude, I swear you’re like a child,” I said to him.

“Thank you! I take that as a compliment.” I rolled my eyes at him.

“I wouldn’t,” I said jokingly at him.

Before I knew what he was doing he ran into me and knocked me over, jumping on top of me. I struggled under his massive weight.

“Dude, you need to lay low on the calories,” I said squinting and squirming.

He laughed and got off me.

“You better watch your back because I am gonna kick your butt one of these days when you least expect it.” I threatened him.

“You wouldn’t hurt a fly.” He said to me.

“I almost hurt you earlier,” I said reminding him of the incident. I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head. “I would just be careful if I were you.”

I faced the others as they were approaching. “Reed do you always have to be such an idiot?” Caleb asked rolling his eyes.

“Of course. You have to keep life interesting.” Caleb just shook his head but said nothing.

“But do you have to pick on Calla?” Darius asked him.

Caleb looked at me and I stuck my tongue out and squinted my eyes in a mocking gesture. “Yes, because she is the easiest one to mess with.”

“Hey!” I yelled at him offended. “I’m not easy to mess with!” I stomped my paw on the ground in a childish manner.

“See! So easy!” I just shook my head and walked away from him.

“I’ll show you easy,” I muttered under my breath.

“Hey, Calla?” I heard a quiet male voice say and put his tail on my shoulder. I turned around to see who it was since I still haven’t memorized everyone’s voices yet.

“Oh hey, Eli, what’s up?” I asked him.

“I just wanted to tell you that I am very sorry for what happened yesterday with your sister. I know it must be hard on you.”

“Oh, thank you,” I said back to him while redirecting my attention towards the floor.

I appreciated the effort that he was doing but I doubted that he could understand how I felt right now.

“I’m serious,” he said. He hesitated for a minute then looked at me with a deep sorrow from within. “I don’t know if you know this but a few years ago, my family went missing. My younger brother, mother, and father. I searched for days on end not finding a trace of them anywhere.” He took a deep breath then continued, “it turns out that they were killed by what we can only guess was a group of rogue wolves. I still feel the pain of it today.” He looked at the ground avoiding eye contact.

I was stunned, I had no idea what to say. “Say something Calla!” I said in my head frustrated with myself. He told me something that has to be very hard on him and he barely even knows me.

“I’m so sorry Eli!” I ran over to him and hugged him, well the hug I could muster in my wolf form at least. It consisted of putting my head next to his and putting my tail over his back. By the way, his eyes pretty much bugged out of his head, I knew that he wasn’t expecting me to do that. I was surprised myself, I wasn’t the type of girl to give a lot of hugs.

“It’s alright, it was a few years ago.” He tried to give me his best fake smile.

“It’s not alright. Nobody should have to go through that pain. Thank you for telling me.” I said to him sincerely.

“You’re welcome,” he said. This time a real smile did curve his thin wolf lips.

Dante trotted over to us, coming from the rest of the pack who were all huddled up together. “You guys ready to go?” He asked us.

“Go where?” I said back to him.

“Tiberius wants us all to do a patrol together. We haven’t been doing that recently. We used to do it multiple times a day but with everything that has been going on, we have been falling behind.”

“Sorry,” I said immediately. “It’s my fault that the tradition has been broken.” I apologized.

I felt really bad for everything that I caused these guys. Before me, their lives were so much easier and so much more peaceful.

“Nonsense,” Dante said to me. “Since you have arrived, you have helped us in more ways than one. Since you have arrived, Tiberius is actually happy. I haven’t seen him like this for as long as I can remember.”

As Dante was talking about Tiberius I couldn’t help glancing over to him, talking peacefully with the rest of them. Sharing laughs at what I could only guess was something Reed said.

“Calla?” Dante said to me.

I shook my head and said, “what did you say.”

They both laughed and said, “are you ready now.”

I blushed and said, “oh yeah.” We all started trotting towards the rest without saying a single word to one another.

As we began our patrol, I stayed in the front with Tiberius. It wasn’t that I wanted to be right next to him, it was more towards the fact that everyone was so much bigger than me that I couldn’t see over them. It bothered me when I couldn’t see directly in front of me.

“So Tiberius?” Jerimiah spoke up.

“What’s up?” Tiberius said still looking forward instead of turning his head around to where Jerimiah was located.

“Are you ready for your birthday coming up?” He asked.

Tiberius grumbled.

I was shocked, I didn’t know Tiberius’s birthday was coming up. We never talked about it.

“When’s your birthday?” I asked him.

“Ehh in about a month.” I rolled my eyes at him.

“What day.”

“The end of July.”

I scoffed. “Tiberius quit being so vague. What day at the end of July and why don’t you want your birthday?” I asked him.

Tiberius shook his head and said “July 31st and because it doesn’t matter.”

I squinted my eyes in confusion but didn’t probe him any further. Seemingly, Reed didn’t get the memo of dropping it because he said, “of course it matters. It’s your 21st birthday. If you wanted the crown you could take it.”

I dropped my jaw and stumbled. Tiberius stopped and turned around to face Reed.

“Thanks, dude, totally needed to be reminded of that.”

Reed looked at Tiberius sheepishly. “Sorry, I don’t have a filter.”

“No kidding,” Tiberius said shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

“You will be the king next month?” I questioned him not believing what I was hearing.

“No. I could but I’m not going to.” Tiberius said and began walking again, this time at a much faster pace.

I had no problems keeping up, but that didn’t mean the others didn’t. Sounds of protest entered the group.

“Tiberius stop,” I said to him.

He came to an abrupt stop. I stopped next to him.

“Why aren’t you going to take the crown?” I asked him.

He huffed in annoyance. “One, I don’t want to be king. Two, in order to do that I would have to be married which I’m not going to do yet.”

“Wait, you have to be married to take the thrown?” I asked him trying to clarify what he was saying.

“Yes.” He simply said not adding any more to the conversation.

“Wait, is that why you were supposed to marry Adelina?”

“Yes and no, now are we done with the questions?” Tiberius said angrily and walked away.

I widened my eyes and watched him leave, his fur scattering as the wind blew into him. By the way, his shoulders sank when he walked, I could tell he was agitated.

“Did I say something wrong?” I asked the others who stood next to me, watching Tiberius as well.

“He just doesn’t like talking about it,” Jerimiah said to me.

“Why not?” I asked him.

Instead of Jerimiah answering it was Liam. “He was supposed to marry Adelina to tie two countries together. His parents also thought it was a good idea because he could take the crown over. They have been trying to get him ready to take it for quite a while now, but every time they even mention it he flips.”

“Why would he do that? I mean Tiberius would make a great king. He is determined, strong, non-judgmental, kind, a great listener, fearless, and many more. I mean he has all the qualities a king should possess.”

Eli whispered, “I know, we all see it too. We just can’t convince him to believe it himself. We think that it may have to do with how his older brother was originally going to be king.”

I scanned the rest of them. Their faces painted the picture of sorrow. My heart ached just seeing the way they were reacting.

“Will he ever take it over? I mean what happens if he refuses?”

Dante was the one to answer this time. “Then we will be in a lot of trouble. We can’t force him, but he has no siblings anymore. Being that he has no siblings there is nobody else to fall unto in the family. If something were to happen to his parents, then we would have nobody to turn to. We would probably face war if it came to that. Everyone would fight over becoming king. Some wolves just want it to show dominance.” Dante said shaking his head as if he didn’t even want to think of it.

It was obvious that he was disgusted by it. Terror hit me as hard as a rock in my gut. My eyes scanned over Dante and the rest of the pack. They were all avoiding each other’s eye contact. Dante was pawing at the ground, embedding soil within his paws. It was the first time that I saw Reed absolutely speechless and looking worried himself.

“We have to convince him don’t we.”

“That we do, but we have all tried,” Caleb said to me. “The only one left is you.”

“Me?” I almost coughed as I asked it for better clarification.

“Yes, you. You are our only hope. ” Caleb said as walking away.

I watched Caleb trot over to where Tiberius was sitting. I didn’t even notice that Tiberius stopped moving. I was sure that he would have been miles away by now. My heart raced as I thought about what Caleb and the rest said. How could I be their only hope? I could hardly convince myself things at times. How could I convince him of this that would surely affect him for the rest of his life? I mean convincing him of doing this is also going to force him to get married since he can’t become king without a wife. I couldn’t make him do that nor did I want him to for my own selfish reasons.

My head spun as fast as a twister, causing me to sit down. I had to at least try to talk to Tiberius about it. I couldn’t be selfish, too many lives were at stake. My heart ached at the thought that I would have to try and convince him to marry someone else. Probably back to crazy Adelina in order to save the pack. I was crazy to ever think that Tiberius and I would have ever worked out. In reality, he was so much more than I was. He was a prince and I was just some poor damsel in distress. We would never have worked out; I know that now. I was going to have to sacrifice my feelings for him for the greater good. Never again will I feel the butterflies in my stomach that only Tiberius can cause.

Right now wasn’t the time to talk to him about it. I would have to wait until later to bring the news upon him. I slowly stood up and walked over to Tiberius, the rest following me. It was weird having a pack of wolves do what I do. Usually, nobody followed anything that I did. I was a follower, not a leader.

“I’m sorry for intruding on your personal life.” I apologized to him looking him straight in his golden eyes.

He huffed, but not in an annoyed way. I watched as his body became relaxed, his muscles losing tension. “It’s alright. I shouldn’t have reacted so strongly against it. You didn’t know, it wasn’t your fault.”

I raised the corner of my mouth up into a small smile and let it fall back into its normal position. I saw Tiberius come closer to me. I couldn’t let that happen, I couldn’t become any closer to him than I already was. My heart would break and it would never repair itself if I kept this up. Quickly, I pretended I saw something run into the woods. I perked my ears up and turned to face it, arching my back.

“What?” Tiberius asked. “Did you see something?”

“I thought so, but I must have been imagining it. ” I muttered.

I moved to the rest of the pack causing as much distance between us without making it obvious that I was avoiding him. Luckily it worked because Tiberius’s face didn’t show any signs of hurt or annoyance.

“Are we ready to get going again?” I asked everybody.

“Sure.” They all responded and Tiberius shook his head signaling that we could.

We only had one more area left to go over, the area that gave me the creeps every time we got there. It was the clearing in which I first found the pack. As we started to head in the direction of the clearing, Reed went in front of me slowing me down.

“One minute.” He whispered in my ear and stopped moving.

I took the queue and stopped next to him as well. The others kept moving forward. Once they were far enough away that they couldn’t hear us whispering, Reed started to speak and we began to slowly trail behind the pack. “Calla, I know what you’re thinking and I don’t like it,” Reed said to me in a serious tone.

“What are you talking about?” I asked him confused.

He huffed and turned his face towards me, his nose almost hitting me in the head. “You can’t tell Tiberius to take the thrown. Even more important than that, you can’t tell him to take Adelina back.” My mouth dropped open.

“How did you know….” I began to say before being cut off by Reed.

“I can hear your thoughts remember.” “

"Hey, why would you intrude on them?!" I whispered angrily.

“Never mind that now,” Reed said by flinging his tail to cut me off. “Calla, what you two feel for each other….”

I cut Reed off by coming to an abrupt stop. I sniffed the air once more to make sure that my suspicions were right.

“Do you guys smell that!” I yelled towards the rest of them.

“Smell what?” Tiberius asked as he stopped moving and turned around to face us. His eyebrows furrowed.

It was then that I recognized what the smell specifically was, “blood.” I said and began running towards the source. Having to get closer to make out more details of it.

Tiberius smelt the air as well. His eyes widened in shock. “Stop her!” He yelled at the rest of them.

“Why?” I asked him as I suddenly stopped.

The rest of them cocked their heads in confusion as well. I smelt the air once more giving it a very prolonged sniff to try and pick up more details. It was then that my body went into a ridged cold and it felt like everything went into slow motion.

“Mother?” I questioned, knowing the smell.

“Mother!” I yelled realizing that it was indeed my mom.

Everyone came after me in order to try to stop me from advancing. I didn’t care I weaved through everyone trying to get to my mom as fast as I could. Nothing mattered right now. A twig hit right next to my eye and snapped. Blood began to trickle down my face, but I couldn’t have cared less at the time. The only sound that I could hear was the pounding of my own heart, everything else was silent. My mind clouded over with images of my mother. My mother laying in the clearing bleeding everywhere. “It can’t be true, it can’t be.” I thought to myself, trying to convince myself. Nothing would have happened to my dear mother, it couldn’t have.

I made it to the clearing and stumbled. My mother laid in the clearing with blood all over her. My heart stopped beating for a moment as I tried to take in the scene.

“Mother!” I yelled once more and tried to advance towards her.

Suddenly, I was knocked off my feet and onto my back. All I saw was a black coat and knew it was Tiberius. I struggled under his weight, trying to get him off me.

“Calla stop! I don’t want to hurt you!” Tiberius yelled at me in a commanding alpha voice.

I didn’t care, the only thing I cared about at this moment was my mom. “Get off me! Your commands don't work on me.” I snarled and snapped at him.

“Tiberius! It’s not good!” I heard Liam yell from the direction of where my mother was.

I stopped struggling as a tear fell from my eyes.

“She doesn’t have much time left!” Eli said. “Let Calla up. She deserves to see her mom. Don’t make her regret it for the rest of her life, Tiberius!” Eli yelled at him.

“Please Tiberius, please,” I begged him as hard as I could.

Tiberius hesitated before reluctantly agreeing. I ran over to my mom and immediately transformed back into my human self not caring if the rest of them saw me without clothes on.

“Mom!” I yelled at her as I approached.

Her body was full of blood. Bites and scratches lined her entire body. Her stomach was bleeding profusely. I lifted her shirt up a little and gasped. A gaping hole lined her belly. I put as much pressure on it as possible.

“Someone help!” I yelled at them.

They all lowered their gazes and Tiberius said, “I’m sorry Calla.”

“Please!” I yelled once more but this time nobody responded.

I looked back at my mom and the tears flowed down my cheeks. “Calla?” My mom asked.

I jumped up and grabbed her hand as fast as I could. “Yes, mother! It’s me!” I yelled not letting go of her bloodied hand.

“Calla, I’m so sorry.” She said to me as a tear fell from her eyes. “Shh, mother it’s ok. I forgive you.” I said to her kissing her on the forehead.

“No matter what happens to me, I am proud to call you my daughter.”

“Nothing is going to happen to you momma. I will find help, don’t worry!” I said to her shaking.

My mom began to cough up blood and I tried to sit her up. She whispered, “you're beautiful. You and your wolf, never forget that.” She went completely still in my arms.

“Mother?” No response.

“Mother!” I screamed but still got no response. My mother was gone; she was dead just like that.

It felt like the world fell apart at my feet. I failed my mother. I didn’t keep a good enough watch on her and she was attacked by Adolph. It was all my fault. I should have just left them when I first transformed. I was foolish to think that my life wouldn’t affect theirs.

“Tiberius come look at this!” Reed yelled.

I slowly wiped the tears from my eyes and stood up. I wasn’t going to cry anymore, I was done. From now on the sensitive side of me was going. I wasn’t going to be the weak girl who cried all the time. It was then that I realized the rest of them were in their human forms as well. I walked over to where Tiberius and Reed were before being stopped by Liam, Dante, and Eli.

“You don’t want to go over there.” They warned me.

“Get out of my way guys,” I growled with my jaw clenched together. They hesitated before reluctantly agreeing. Tiberius saw me and immediately stood in my way.

“Calla, you don’t want to see this.”

“Seriously Tiberius, I’m not in the mood. Move over.”

“Calla…” He started and I shoved him to the side snarling.

I walked past him and over to where Reed was still standing. He looked up at me with a flush, pale face. I looked towards the floor and saw a chunk of wood cut from a tree. It was covered in my mother’s blood and had a bloody paw print in the corner. Even the words were written in blood. It wrote,

“Dear Calla,

Just to make sure that you knew I was serious last night, I decided to pull this little stunt. Wasn’t it cute? Remember you have until midnight before your little boy toy or sister gets chopped up just like your sweet old mother.

You're soon to be husband,

Adolph.”

My blood began to boil with hatred. My ears turned pink as I dug my fingernails into the palms of my hand. Red blood began to drip from my palm to the forest floor which soaked it up. Of course, it was Adolph, only he would be so sick to pull off something like this.

“I’m going to kill him,” I said quietly to Reed, my eyes turning red with fury.

“Calla…” Reed began.

“I’m going to kill him!” I yelled and began to stomp on the forest floor to go find Adolph.

“Calla wait!” Reed said and grabbed my hand.

I forcefully removed his hand from mine, and not so gently.

“Ow, Calla!” Reed exclaimed from the pain that I inflicted. “Calm down, we will get him but we aren’t ready yet.”

“What do you mean we! I’m going to go kill him myself, right now!” I yelled as I started marching over to the clearing once more.

Tiberius along with the others jumped in my way. I huffed agitated by them. I put my arm over my chest and glared at them. “What!” I exclaimed pissed that they were in my way.

“Calla stop. You can’t go alone, there are too many of them for you to take on alone.” Tiberius tried to reason with me.

“So? I don’t care if I get killed, as long as I take out Adolph I’ll be perfectly fine with it.” The rest of them gasped and Tiberius frowned.

“Well, I’m not okay with that Calla,” Tiberius said to me with a saddened expression. “And it hurts me that you would even think that way.”

“Just please get out of my way so I can go finish this,” I said agitatedly.

Tiberius nodded and said, “alright but first just give me a hug." I sighed loudly and went to give him a hug. Unexpectedly, Tiberius grabbed me by both arms locking me still. “Eli now!” Tiberius yelled. Before I knew what was happening Eli came at me and everything went dark.