Chapter 17
TARIA
Having spoken to Bronze about my visit to Wolfsfoot, I was annoyed that he knew before I had a chance to speak with him. As much as I hate to feel that I’m asking permission, I’m going to have to discuss any of my plans with him before I talk to anyone else. He must get fed up with hearing things from other people. I know I would.
Before setting off for Wolfsfoot this morning, I had a chat with Alpha Connell and Luna Hope and they were both very positive about my stay there. Alpha Connell told me that when I first arrived I had an abrasive manner, but during my stay it has improved, and was replaced by a much more approachable one. That was a surprise until I thought back to how my behavior has changed for the better, too. Luna Hope was just gushing with the positives and must have mentioned Dahlia at least a dozen times. That had Alpha Connell rolling his eyes after the third one.
I was sad to be leaving Blackshadow Pack, not in a ‘I wanted to stay forever’ kind of way, but I’d made some good friends there, I thought, and I know how little the packs get to mingle with each other. It wouldn’t be difficult to lose touch. Maybe that could be something else to be put under the Luna umbrella of responsibilities?
I was surprised that I had a six-warrior escort to Wolfsfoot’s border, as it is only a couple of hours' journey, especially when I saw who they were. It’s more like an honor guard than an escort. Chief Warrior Oscar, Iona from the warrior council, Swan and her brother, Ryan, both at the top of their warrior game, and then Brian and Theo. Theo I like, Brian, I am not so sure of. I know he came from the rogues and that he was originally associated with a Blackshadow Pack traitor, but I don’t think it’s that which has me on edge around him. It’s hard to put my finger on it, and I honestly just believe it’s a personality clash. Swan, I have a high regard for and I think she’s where she is because of her competitive nature with her brother. There is definitely an air of anything you can do, I can do better between them.
As we travel through the forest towards the border, I notice Brian stays close on my left flank. Swan stays close on my right, and Chief Warrior Oscar stays in front of me. Iona, Theo and Ryan are further forward, with one of them always scouting ahead. As we run, I marvel at how my stamina has improved in such a short length of time. Running as Taria, I feel much more confident in my abilities. Running as Maya makes me realize, even more so, what an impressive wolf I have.
About time I got some appreciation in this relationship.
‘What? You have never been under-appreciated. How can you say such a thing!’ I’m appalled at Maya’s statement.
When you were a selfish pup, you appreciated nothing, especially not me. We went for weeks without speaking and without me running. You are much better to be around now that you have been awakened to your true potential. I am so stunned by this that I don’t have anything to come back with. If we’d been running as Taria at this point, I think I would have stumbled and fallen flat on my face.
Brian's wolf, Deefer, suddenly sprints forward to Chief Warrior Oscar’s, Conan. We are all signaled to stop and we shift to our human form. Brian motions to the trees and we all scramble upwards into the dense foliage. Taking something from his pack, he spreads it across the ground and then climbs into a tree.
As we all watch from on high, we hear movement coming towards us. Four males appear and one is definitely excited about something.
“I can smell them, I tell you. They are nearby.” He is speaking in the loudest whisper you can imagine.
“I don’t smell anything. I think you’re imagining things again. You’ve been overdoing the wolfsbane again,” one of the others comment, and they all laugh at him.
“That’s not funny. My wolf would have left me by now if I didn’t sedate him. Failing my shadow warrior training, all but had him leave then. When I became rogue, he swore he would leave, so I started taking wolfsbane to keep him.”
“That was over a year ago. It’s a miracle you haven’t killed him, never mind him leaving you.” Listening to the disgust in their tone should have told the failed shadow warrior how they truly felt about him.
“That’s none of your concern, anyway. I tell you I can smell those you seek. They are near.”
One of his companions sneers, “You can smell old guts from an old kill. Look around you. Something had a killing spree and there is evidence everywhere. We’re wasting our time. Our information was wrong, or we arrived too late. We missed the Luna this time. We need to report back to Alpha Arric and be sure that when we do, we tell him we arrived in plenty of time, but the information we were sold was wrong. I’m not having my head on a block because we were too slow.”
Watching as they disappear back into the forest, we wait until Brian drops from his tree and confirms that they have left the area. Oscar joins him on the forest floor and then signals it is safe to join them.
My first question is, how did Brian know they were close by? No one else suspected a thing, or was aware of their presence. Seeing me looking at him, he speaks before I put my question into words.
“Luna Taria, if you suspect me of anything, please say so. Before you do, think of this. If I was a part of some plan to kidnap or kill you, why would I have warned you? That would defeat the purpose of being their informant. I knew they were there because the forest was too quiet. There were none of the sounds of animals or birds scurrying away from us. They were already silent and in hiding. I lived in the forest when I was with the rogues and it is my first home. Also, one of them was shadow trained, if only in part. That would explain how your escort didn’t sense them.” Brian looks at me, and I sense the hurt as well as see it in his eyes that I should feel this way toward him.
“Luna Taria, I don’t have any doubts that Brian is anything but loyal. When we reach the border we will not return immediately to the Blackshadow Pack. I will speak with Alpha Connell and we will continue your escort until you are safely at the Wolfsfoot packhouse and your own Eclipse Pack warriors are present. Only then will we return home. I will also inform Alpha Connell that either Blackshadow Pack or Wolfsfoot Pack have an informant in the pack. Someone knew of your travel schedule and where you would be at a given moment in time. Failing this time does not mean they won’t try again.” Oscar looks at all of us individually until he is sure we are all aware of the danger.
“Chief Warrior Oscar’s word is good enough for me. Brian, my apologies for having any doubts.” Seeing him tilt his head slightly, I understand that he accepts my apology. “So, what do we do now? Continue our route or divert to a new path?”
“Diverting to an alternative path would mean that the packs would not know where we were, also it would mean a longer journey and more exposure to a second attempt. I suggest we carry on as planned and stop for irregular breaks.” Oscar makes perfect sense and we all agree.
Taking a break now, as we’re already stopped, Oscar contacts Alpha Connell through the pack mind link, and advises him of the incident. When he has finished his mind link, he tells us how it went.
“Not surprisingly, Alpha Connell is furious. The fact that rogues have penetrated the border is one thing, but to attempt to kidnap or kill someone under his protection has him raging. He wanted to send more warriors to escort Luna Taria, but I have told him that by the time they reached us we would already be at the border with the Wolfsfoot Pack escort. He is going to notify Alpha Gabriel immediately, so don’t be surprised if we arrive at the border with half of the Wolfsfoot Pack in attendance.”
“Why would the rogues be interested in me? I am not yet a Luna and the Eclipse Pack is the furthest from their lands. It makes no sense.” I am confused as to any benefit that I would present to them.
“You are already the Eclipse Luna, in everything but the ceremony. You are the Alpha Heir’s mate, everyone is aware of that,” Swan explains to me. “Alpha Arric has already tried to get a Luna of the correct bloodline. He wants to be seen as a legitimate alpha, or as he puts it, King of the pack lands when he succeeds in his war. He is the only one that believes he can win. All he will do is get a lot of innocent shifters killed in his greed for power.” Swan watches for my reaction to her statement.
“I’d die fighting. They would not take me to their rogue king. I give you all this Luna order. If I am unable to defend myself and they are going to take me, you are to kill me. You are not to allow me to be taken.” I watch the look of both horror and respect cross their faces. “Now, can we move along?”
We reach the border with the Wolfsfoot Pack without further incident and although we don’t meet the entire pack, we do have an escort of eight warriors, including their legendary fight instructor, Drake, their warrior trainer, Thomas and Flint’s Shadow Warrior friend, Xavier.
The Blackshadow Pack escort stays with me, as promised, until we reach the packhouse. As soon as I have been introduced to Alpha Gabriel and Luna Tati, we head to their dining room for some much-needed food. Everyone seems very friendly, and the pack has a relaxed feeling about it.
Once our meal is done, we take our trays and join the queue to clear up after ourselves, before rejoining the Alpha and Luna. As I’m standing there, I notice a female watching me, and so does Swan, who’s at my side.
“I think that is a female from the Eclipse Pack that was causing Bronze some minor irritation,” I whisper to her. “Alpha Chet sent her to Luna Tati to learn some manners.”
“I see that has failed miserably,” responds Swan, grinning. “Oh. She’s heading over here. Shall I stop her?”
“Let’s see what she wants. I’m sure I can handle this.” Watching her walk towards me, I smile at her with my best down-my-nose look.
“You must be the Savannah I’ve heard about,” I say as she stops in front of me.
“It’s good to know that Alpha Heir Bronze speaks highly of me,” she preens.
“Oh, no. You misunderstand. None of it was good, and it wasn’t from Bronze.” I shouldn’t taunt her, but I can’t help myself after the things she’s done. Seeing her stiffen, I prepare for the fight that I’m sure she is going to start, however she surprises me when she leans forward and whispers, “I don’t know how the rogues missed you, but I’ll be sure they don’t next time.”
Seeing Swan tense by me, I know she heard Savannah. “There won’t be a next time.” Grabbing her head, I twist it viciously and she drops at my feet, dead.
The dining room is deathly silent as I step over her, leave my tray on the counter, grab her by the hair, and drag her lifeless body out of the room. The guard by the alpha office door sees me and immediately slams open the office door, shouting for Alpha Gabriel.
Alpha Gabriel rushes out of the office with Luna Tati on his heels and sees me dragging the body to the main doors.
“You no longer have to worry about the informant. It’s been dealt with,” I can’t help but snarl.
Alpha Gabriel signals to two pack members and they take the body from me. I smile at them both, as though this were an everyday occurrence, yet inside, I’m trembling with the knowledge that I just killed someone without a moment's hesitation. Swan must see this and gently takes my arm as she guides me to the alpha’s office and onto a couch.
Swan asks for a glass of water, which she immediately hands to me. Luna Tati sits by me and asks if I’m okay and what happened. I look to Swan and she recites the incident and the brief conversation. With a tremendous show of pride, she tells them how I calmly dispatched Savannah by breaking her neck with the smoothest move that Swan has ever seen.
I can see the shock and horror on Alpha Gabriel and Luna Tati’s faces at this incident so soon after my arrival, and whilst under their protection. I assure them they could not have known that this would happen, or that Savannah would be so twisted. If there was any blame, it would lie with the Eclipse Pack for not recognizing how dangerously unstable she had become.
I have just begun to calm down when we all hear a scuffle at the door. Alpha Gabriel’s eyes show that he is linking with his warrior guard and then smiles an unhappy smile.
“Taria, it appears your Gamma has arrived and is not happy that you have killed someone to protect yourself. My warriors have them subdued in the hallway for the moment. All except one female that is standing alone and has injured two of my warriors with a stick that she refuses to relinquish. Could we take a moment to calm the situation, please?”
Jumping from the couch, I rush to the door and dash into the melee that is Ember. “STOP! That’s enough. I am safe and was never in any danger while I have been here. Ember! Stand down at once. The rest of you behave in a manner befitting your position.” Ember turns to me, stands with her feet apart, rests the head of the bat on the floor while leaning on the handle. She gives me a beautiful smile that looks so innocent, you wouldn’t think that only moments before she had been trying to decapitate half the Wolfsfoot Pack.
Looking at the Wolfsfoot warriors, I see four of them restraining one of my Eclipse Pack escorts, two more of my escort restrained by two Wolfsfoot Pack warriors each, and the two on the floor injured. Ember is surrounded by what looks like a dozen others, but I don’t take the time to count them.
“Release them, please. There will be no repeat of this incident. What are you thinking of, coming here and behaving like rogues? You bring shame on the Eclipse Pack with your actions. Go seat yourselves in the dining room, and wait until I call for you.” Pointing at the escort that had been restrained by the four warriors, as he tries to speak, “Not a word until I call for you, do you understand?”
Nodding, he turns and walks into the dining room, where he gestures the others to a table that gives them a clear view of the alpha’s office door.
Back inside the office and I can’t help but smile when I see Luna Tati laughing with tears on her cheeks. Alpha Gabriel is smiling, but definitely not laughing.
“Well, Taria. It’s never going to be boring having you visit us. I’ll give you that. One death and one riot in less than two hours of your arrival in the packhouse. I’m confident that is going to stand as a record for some time.” Luna Tati wipes at the tears as she speaks.
Alpha Gabriel then joins in. “Apparently, my pack members were a little too enthusiastic when explaining the incident in the forest, and what happened with Savannah. Your Gamma was concerned that you were in very real danger and my warriors wouldn’t allow him to speak with you, because you were with their Alpha. I think we can say that both parties were responsible for the riot. I must say that I’m impressed that it took four of my warriors to subdue your Gamma. Impressed with your Gamma, that is, not my warriors. I think I’ll be speaking to our trainer, Thomas, about that.”
“Speaking of which, do you have somewhere private where I can speak to my escorts? I haven’t met my Gamma yet, so this should be interesting, to say the least. Before that, I’d like to contact Bronze and let him know what happened to Savannah.”
“Use my Luna office for both. I’ll be busy for a while now, so it will only stand empty.” Luna Tati smiles again and I just thank her. I don’t know what I’m going to say to the escort team other than well done. Seeing Ember, the only one still standing in that hallway, will be an image burned into my mind for a long time to come.
Seeing a bench outside the Luna’s office, I fetch my four escorts and have them sit on it, like naughty pups awaiting my displeasure. Sitting behind Luna Tati’s desk, I pick up the phone and call Bronze. He answers almost immediately.
“Alpha Heir Bronze speaking.”
“Hi, Bronze. How’s things there?”
“Taria! How wonderful. I wasn’t expecting to speak to you until tonight. I thought you’d be far too busy with just arriving at the Wolfsfoot Pack to take time out for a chat with me.” He sounds excited to hear from me but I think that will die off shortly.
“Just arrived and very busy, you are correct in that. Time for a chat, no. This isn’t a chat, more of an incidents report.” That certainly curbs his enthusiasm.
“What incident? Are you okay?” Now he sounds worried.
“Incidents, plural, and yes, I’m good,” Taking my time so I sound calm and okay, I explain the incident in the forest. Fending off his questions about the possible informant and their location, I give him the lowdown on Savannah.
“Your stalker Savannah, remember her?”
“Oh no. What has she done this time? I thought Luna Tati would have her reined in by now,” He sounds exasperated at the mere thought of her.
“You won’t have to worry about her as an issue anymore. I’ve dealt with it,” I think a little bit of pride may have slipped into my voice, that I didn’t mean to.
“You’ve solved it? Oh, well done you. How?”
Taking a deep breath, “I broke her neck. She’s dead.”
“No. Seriously. If you’ve solved it, how did you solve it?” I knew he wasn’t going to believe this.
“Yes. Seriously. I broke her neck in the middle of the Wolfsfoot dining area, in front of everyone having their lunch.” I then explain what happened and that Swan, from my Blackshadow Pack escort, heard and saw everything. There’s a stunned silence and then an enormous sigh.
“Wow. So, she was certainly unhinged. I’m glad that you dealt with it as you did. That prevents any further future issues with her. Are you okay in yourself with taking her life?”
“Strangely, yes. Ultimately, it was going to come down to her or me. In fact, it was already at that point after the rogue attempt, so I feel completely justified in my actions.”
“Well, I didn’t see that coming, but I’m glad that you’re safer now, with her out of the picture.”
“I have something else you didn’t see coming,” then proceed with the story of the near riot in the packhouse, and of how Ember was the last man standing!
Once the call is ended, I take on the next task of speaking with the escort. I need to speak with my Gamma, alone first, and will then deal with the rest in one fell swoop.
Opening the office door, I give all four my sternest look, which I feel backfires when Ember beams at me. What on earth am I going to do with her never ending optimism and boundless enthusiasm?
“Gamma, come in.” Sitting behind the desk, I watch him march in, close the door and stand in front of the desk. Sitting there, staring at him in silence, I realize I don’t even know his name.
“Name?”
“Wesley, Luna.”
“Wolf’s name?” I snap.
“Duke, Luna.”
“Show me Duke. I’d like to meet him. See if he’s as dim as you are.”
“He is certainly not dim, Luna.”
“Neither is Alpha Bronze, but he made you Gamma!” I see him flinch at that comment and take note.
Watching closely, it is certainly a fast shift, and Duke stands before me. I have to force the stern look to stay on my face as I want to smile at the size and color of him. He’s a magnificent wolf.
“Alright, Wesley, come forth.” I watch as he shifts back and their transition again is both slick and smooth.
“I don’t expect a repeat performance of today's debacle. Do I make myself clear? You will perform your duties, not only to the best of your abilities, but you will make all other gammas pale in comparison. This is not for my personal gratification, it is for the honor of the Eclipse Pack. Wherever I go, I want all other Lunas swooning in envy at the way you take care of my protection. I don’t want a butler, but I do want the best from you at all times, day or night. Are we perfectly clear on that, Gamma Wesley?”
“Yes, Luna. My life is yours to command.”
“I don’t want your life, but I do want your mind, your body and your wolf at my disposal, twenty-four-seven. Now. When you fetch the rest of my escort in, you will seat them and then stand at my right shoulder, slightly behind me. I intend to show everyone that we are on the same page and are united in our roles. Bring them in.”
Wesley steps to the door and invites the other three in. Sitting them in front of the desk, I ask him to introduce them and their specific talents.
He introduces the female that is unknown to me first, as Giselle, and she is a high-ranking warrior. Her wolf is called Fox. Next is Wylder. Another high-ranking warrior whose wolf is called Goliath. Presumably then, another large wolf. Finally, he introduces me to Ember. Ember is a pack member who hasn’t qualified in her warrior training as yet.
“How on this green earth has Ember NOT qualified in warrior training? You were all subdued, and yet she had disabled two warriors and was the last man standing. Ember, I will be taking you under my wing as my personal project when I get to the Eclipse Pack.”
“Thank you, Luna Taria. Chief Warrior Dixon has been giving me one-to-one tutoring with my bat, as the normal warrior training doesn’t cover it. There isn’t a qualification for bats, either, so that’s why I haven’t qualified.” There’s that smile again.
“Just because there isn’t a bat test doesn’t mean you are not a warrior. I want you on my protective detail from now on. Gamma Wesley, make sure that Bat Warrior Ember is now on my detail.”
“OH! Bat Warrior Ember! I love it. I’m exclusive. I’m the only Bat Warrior in the Eclipse Pack. That is awesome!” Her excitement is catching as I see Wylder and Giselle grinning from ear to ear. “Oh, I’m sorry, Luna Taria. I get carried away at times.”
“So, I see. Right, down to business.”
I spend the next half hour explaining to them what my expectations are going forward when they are chosen for my protection detail. I let Wylder and Giselle know that they will take turns with the other warriors fulfilling this task. I can’t help but see the pride bursting from Ember that she is on full time Luna protection.