Crimson Moon

I was outside of the castle within minutes. As I appeared I noticed that everyone was already in their wolf forms.

“Hmm overdressed, am I? I said mockingly trying to enlighten the mood.

Tiberius just looked at me and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“Go get in your wolf form Calla.” He said and turned around towards the rest of the pack.

I walked behind the tree and quickly removed my clothes. Before I had time to think, I quickly changed into my wolf. My white fur bristled in the wind as it roared past. I tried to breathe in as much of the luscious scent as I could. The smell of flowers and freshly mowed grass brought a moment of happiness. Who knew if I could be able to smell this wonderful scent again. Tiberius interrupted my moment of happiness with him yelling for me to get back over to the group. I huffed and slowly descended towards them.

There were a few more wolves around than I was used to, I figured these were the extra that Devlon was talking about. I nodded to them as I approached, signaling that I appreciated their accompany. To my dismay, some of them bowed towards me. I could feel my cheeks getting warmer in embarrassment.

“Calla,” Tiberius said looking me straight in the eyes.

He said nothing for a minute making me uncomfortable. I began to fidget under his gaze.

“Yes?” I finally questioned as I looked towards the ground, afraid that he wouldn’t let me fight after all.

Tiberius exhaled very loudly and to my surprise gave me a sincere look. “Just please stay away from Adolph and keep to my side at all costs.” I nodded not wanting to fight any longer. Also, there was something about staying at Tiberius’s side that seemed to calm my nerves.

I watched as Tiberius slowly crept over towards me, one big black paw at a time. His golden eyes watching me intently. I stayed, still not sure what he was about to do.

As he approached me he nuzzled his head into my neck and said inside my head, “I’m sorry Calla. It’s not that I don’t think you’re a strong enough fighter, I don’t want you to get hurt. I have no idea what I would do without you. And may I add, you are a pretty good fighter.” He said backing up and winking at me.

A large smile etched upon my face. “Thank you, Tiberius,” I said to him in gratitude.

Relief swept over me that he was finally talking to me again.

“Umm hey,” Reed said within our minds cutting us off. “I know that you two are having some sort of hallmark moment over here, but we kind of have a battle to get to.”

Tiberius laughed and turned around walking back towards the rest of the pack. I myself on the other hand went completely red with embarrassment. I was amazed that Tiberius didn’t show any sign of embarrassment by the situation.

Everyone began to walk forward towards the circle where the battle was unfortunately going to take place. I ran to catch up to Tiberius and stay next to his side as he asked.

As I approached him, I saw him smile and say “thank you.”

I smiled back at him and bowed my head in acknowledgement.

“Hey, Calla!” Reed called out from behind me.

I turned around and walked backwards still staying in sync with Tiberius. I just hoped that I didn’t trip and fall or else that would be embarrassing and would give Tiberius more reason to not have me fight.

“What’s up!” I called back at him.

“We just wanted you to know that we will do everything in our power to get your sister back,” Reed said glancing at the rest of the pack who bowed their head in respect.

“Thank you you guys, you have no idea what it means to me.”

Throughout my life, nobody cared this much for me. Sure, I had my sister and my mother, but that was it. I haven’t had very good friends my entire life. Nobody that would stick up and fight for me that is.

“No worries,” Caleb said. “That is what pack members and friends are for.”

“That’s right,” Liam said in agreement.

All I could do is bow my head and turn back around, walking forward. Tiberius nudged me and smirked. I avoided his gaze, smiling at the floor.

“Look at that, you made her embarrassed again!” Jerimiah yelled and as far as I could tell from the way he said it, he was grinning from ear to ear.

“She’s always embarrassed.” Dante called out to him and I heard an “oof” come from Jerimiah.

“Guys cut it out you’re going to embarrass her even further.” I heard Eli chip in. I laughed and shook my head. It was nice to have such great friends.

When I reached the clearing, I could feel my heart pounding against my chest in a fast-paced rhythm. I stared intently at the circular clearing and sniffed the air making sure that nobody was there yet. I felt Tiberius do the same as he was leaned up against me. We looked at each other and both shook our heads. Nobody was there yet, we had a few minutes to prepare.

“Calla, I want you to go in the back of the group for now. As soon as the battle starts I will come join you. I need to talk with Adolph right away to make sure that this is really what he wants. I don’t want any bloodshed if it is not 100 percent necessary."

I shook my head and went to the back of the pack. I was not in the mood to argue. I knew that Tiberius was stressed enough already. He had full alpha authority out right now, commanding everyone on what to do.

“Reed, come up here with me. I need my beta for this.”

He shook his head and went to the front of the pack.

“Caleb, Jerimiah, you two stay in the middle. Dante, Eli, Liam, Darius, I want you in the back of the pack. Stick next to Calla at all costs. I don’t trust them that they won’t try to go straight for her. If they try to get pasts us, block them off.” Tiberius looked at the extra three werewolves. “I want one of you on the left, one on the right, and the last in the way back making sure that we don’t get flanked. Any questions?” Tiberius asked. Everyone shook their heads no and went to their correct locations.

The breeze blew swiftly by and the hair on my back began to rise. A low growl escaped me as I smelt Adolph and the others. Mixed in the smells was a smell that reminded me of home. My sister was within the group. Instinctively, I took a step forward, but was cut off by Eli.

“You can’t Calla.” He said to me while ducking his head.

I froze in my tracks knowing that he was right. A small whine escaped my lips. I tried to contain it but I failed. I knew that the others smelt the other pack as well. I watched as their broad muscles under their fur coat stiffen. Tiberius drew his ears forward trying to listen to anything that they said. I did the same as well. All I could hear was the snapping of sticks. I imagined that they were trying to be quiet probably because they knew that we would be listening in.

“Can you hear anything?” Tiberius said to us in our heads not bothering to look back at us.

“No.” We all answered in unison.

“All I heard was the snapping of twigs,” I answered.

“Ok,” Tiberius said to us. “Just stay on high alert.” He called out.

We all nodded, following orders.

Adolph and the rest of his pack entered the clearing. He was laughing at us and shaking his head. I glared at my old pack members not missing the time that I spent with them. I watched as one by one they approached the clearing. Adolph who was followed by Rafiq who was then approached by Thorn, Donavan, and finally Andrew. Not being able to contain it, I snarled at them as they approached.

“Hello, baby Calla,” Thorn said. “You slutting around with these guys, now are you?”

“Shut up Thorn.” I simply said to him not letting him see that he got to me.

He chuckled and shook his head. The rest of them said nothing.

Adolph broke the silence and spoke directly to Tiberius. “This is all you brought,” he said glancing around to everyone. “Such a pity, I was hoping to make this a much harder fight.”

It was then that a terrible feeling began to go through me. I glanced around once more and realized that my sister was not within the pack. The problem was that I could still smell her. The confusion started to bubble up inside me. Adolph looked directly at me and laughed.

“Looking for your sister I suppose.” “Everyone come out!” Adolph yelled into the clearing.

To my surprise, not only did my sister come out of the woods dragging her paw one at a time, but a group that had to have been at least 10 more wolves. It was clear that we were outnumbered. My focus went straight to my sister scanning to see if she was hurt or not. In the background, I could hear Tiberius and Adolph talking about how we were outnumbered. That was not my focus. Just as I thought that she escaped Adolph without any wounds, I noticed that she had a cut just above her eye. I growled very loudly and went low to the ground in anger.

It was enough to draw everyone’s attention and make Adolph and Tiberius quit talking. Rafiq glanced in the direction I was looking and gave out a quick evil chuckle.

“What’s the matter, Calla?” Rafiq said in an all-knowing tone.

“You hurt her! What did you do!” I screamed in anger.

“Oh, you mean this?” Adolph said padding over to my sister and signaling the cut above her eye. “It turns out she has that little rebel side to her just like you. We had to teach her a little lesson. Don’t worry, she is much smarter than you are. She learned pretty quickly. Isn’t that right baby.”

“Of course, love,” Kat said in a sweet hum.

My jaw instantly dropped. “Love?!” I yelled in question. “Kat, you don’t love this man! He doesn’t even know what love is! He is just in it for the power, please move away from him!” I screamed at her trying to get her attention. She just laughed and shook her head.

“Please just shut up already Calla. You are pathetic.”

I shook my head in disapproval. “Kat…”

I started before Adolph yelled “ENOUGH!”

It made my pack growl in anger.

“This is your last warning Calla. If you want to save your sister, you will need to take her place. Come marry me and she will be safe. In fact, if you come to marry me right now, I will allow everyone here to go home without harm. What do you say?”

I looked across the clearing. The last thing that I wanted was for everyone to get hurt because of me. I couldn’t stand my friends getting hurt or worse, killed, because of a fight that wasn’t even about them. Before I knew what I was doing, my feet began to walk in the direction of Adolph. I was interrupted by Tiberius jumping in my way, blocking me off.

“Calla, please. I know what you are thinking. You can’t trust Adolph. He will still use your sister against you. Don’t go to him, please.” He begged me, his eyes full of sorrow.

I looked straight at him and said, “what choice do I have? I can’t stand to see you or anyone else get hurt because of me.

“Please dear sweet Calla, let me take care of you.”

I looked into his golden eyes and immediately felt the warmth radiating through them. I gently inclined my head and gave out a small whine.

“Katherine, I am so sorry,” I said and started to turn around to walk to the back of the group.

Before I knew what was going on, Adolph yelled “Attack,” and I was pushed over from my side. Immediately I stood up to see who my attacker was. It was all but Adolph who decided to attack me. “Oh, Calla. If I can’t have you nobody can.”

I backed up away from him as he was creeping towards me.

“Calla! Get away from him!” I heard Tiberius yell into my head.

I quickly darted my eyes around the clearing to see where he was at. After a few valuable seconds, I found him being attacked by Rafiq, thorn, and one of the rogues. Adolph laughed snapping my attention back on him.

“He won’t be able to save you this time Calla. You are all mine.”

Suddenly he jumped on me, his weight much heavier than I predicted. My body crumpled as he overpowered me with his massive body. In a panic, I rolled unto my back and was able to scratch Adolph in the eye. In pain, he whimpered and jumped off my body. As soon as he released me I got up onto all four of my paws and began running away from him.

“You slut! You will pay for that!” Adolph screamed chasing after me.

I ran as fast as I could, getting separated from the rest of the pack. My paws stretching out further than they ever have before. My breath became labored as I was running for my life. I glanced behind me and Adolph was nowhere to be seen. I found myself re-imagining the dream that I had when all of this started. The dream about being chased by Adolph and the rest of the group. I thought that waking up would get me out of that nightmare, but I know now that was not the case.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a grey wolf jumped out and slammed me to the ground. Weighing less than Adolph, I was able to exert enough force and flip him off of my body. When he was trying to regain his balance, I jumped upon him. Without thinking I snapped my jaws around his neck, making him go limp. Once the adrenaline subsided I realized what I just did. I just killed this wolf. Sure it was out of self-defense, but I have never done something like that before. My breathing began to accelerate after panic began to fill in.

Laughing began to fill the woods, vibrating off the trees. I turned around in circles trying to find the source.

“Such a pity Calla, I had high hopes for that wolf that you just killed.” Adolph appeared behind the tree, his eyes digging into my soul.

I growled at him in disapproval trying to warn him from coming any closer to me. He walked up to the body and kicked it.

“Oh well, he was just a rogue anyway. As for you Calla, your time has come to an end.”

I tried to make a distance between Adolph and myself as he came closer to me. Unfortunately, I realized that there was a large tree behind me as I ran into it. I was trapped and there was no place that I could go. Adolph began to pounce in the air as I prepared for the impact that was surely going to come. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the inevitable.

I heard a loud noise and I immediately opened my eyes. A grey body jumped in between Adolph and me taking the blunt force. The body fell to the ground in a large thump. It was then that I noticed who it was and dread filled my body.

“Katherine!” I screamed out loud and ran towards her.

She had a large cut across her belly that Adolph inflicted. Her eyes were closed but I could tell that she was still breathing. For how long I didn’t know.

“I’m going to kill you!” I screamed and charged Adolph.

I knocked him over in strength that I never knew I possessed. All fear that I previously had vanquished and turned to anger. I put all that anger in my fight. Adolph’s eyes widened when I knocked him over, clearly not expecting that I could do something like that. Taking full advantage, I jumped onto his body. He tried clawing me, but I moved too swiftly for him. I quickly scratched his belly and jumped off before he could return the favor. He whined from the pain of the wound. He tried to stand up but I knocked him back over biting his hind leg. I squeezed until I heard a snapping sound, breaking his leg into two pieces.

“Calla!” I heard Tiberius yell into the woods.

“Tiberius!” I screamed back trying to find him, losing my focus on Adolph.

As I scanned the woods, something plowed into me. Before I knew what was going on, my head smacked the ground and Adolph was on top of me pinning me to the floor. I tried to struggle under the weight, but it was too much. No matter how much I struggled I could not get out of his grip. He was too much for me.

“You really shouldn’t have turned your back on me. That was stupid of you Calla. Now your sister is going to die for absolutely no reason. You know that she is going to die right? Just look at her, her breathing is slowly decreasing. Soon she won’t be able to breathe at all and it will all be your fault. How does it feel being the reason that your sister is dead?”

“No,” I whispered to him.

“Oh yes, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Strength filled me once more and I twisted throwing Adolph off me. He crumpled to the floor in exhaustion. I gripped my teeth around his neck and snapped it. I heard a noise from behind me and I jumped around and growled. It was Tiberius who slowly backed up giving me space not wanting to frighten me. I ran towards him and pressed my head against him.

“I’m so glad that you are safe Calla.” He cooed into me. “You gave me a huge fright, you know that right.” He said in a shaky voice.

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault I should have protected you better. He said to me in sorrow.

“Shh, there wasn’t anything you could have done.”

Just then I remembered my sister and began to run in the direction towards her.

“What are..” Tiberius started to say and then he went silent.

“What happened!” Tiberius asked when I got to her.

I changed back into my human form immediately not caring who saw me like that.

“She saved my life. Adolph was about to attack me but she jumped in the way. She saved me, Tiberius.”

Tiberius transformed and immediately went over to help her. As we were trying to cover the wounds the rest of the group showed up. Everyone seemed to be in good condition considering the battle that just occurred.

“We need help!” I yelled towards them.

“Everyone grab her and let’s carry her back to the infirmary. We can do it faster than the emergency crew!”

Tiberius yelled and we all jumped to pick her up.

“Calla?” I heard a faint whisper from my sister. I put my ear next to her mouth to try to hear her better. “I’m so sorry.” She muttered.

“Shh don’t be,” I said to her, a single tear dropping from my eyes.

“I am so proud of you Calla. You have grown to be such an amazing woman. I couldn’t have asked for a better sister. I will always love you never forget that no matter what happens.”

“Kat you’re going to be ok.”

“Shh not now Calla, you must promise me something.”

“What Kitty.”

“Promise me that you will never forget who you truly are.” She sputtered.

“I promise,” I muttered out.

A hard cough erupted from my sister and a stream of dark blood emerged from her mouth. She began to shake violently as her body trembled.

“Tiberius!” I yelled in panic.

“This doesn’t look good!” Eli screamed.

“We have to hurry!” Reed yelled.

“We have to run!” Tiberius yelled.

As I watched my sister, I saw that her breathing was becoming shallower and quieter by the ticking minute. I was afraid that within minutes my sister would no longer be with me on this Earth. I was going to lose my entire family within just a couple of days all because of me. Suddenly, as we entered the castle grounds, my sister choked on the blood and her breathing went silent. Her body went still, not a single movement occurred. I fell to the ground in utter shock and disbelief. She had to still be alive. There was no way that I could continue on without her. She risked her life for me and there was nothing I could do to repay her.

Out of nowhere immense pain erupted from my head. Immediately, I put my hand to the back of my head. It was full of blood.

“Calla’s hurt!” Someone yelled.

Blood dripped to the floor next to me and everything went black and silent.