Chapter 29 Cherry

Chapter 29 Cherry

Dylan had rallied the Starsmoon Pack in the lower fields. All the males were gathered, their grey and white coats glinting in the star and moonlight as night swathed the landscape. Heather and I had collected the females of our pack in our old Luna’s house. Those who could fit had taken to the balconies at either end of the huge reception room, wanting to be outside to watch the battle. The rest of the women were gathered in the main reception room, still alert and listening to the quiet ushering around us.

Alarm for Dylan, for my dad, and Bert, and all the other males of my pack swept through me. Sweat beaded along my forehead, even in the crisp coolness of fall. I was pleased that Fern was being looked after by Maisy at my dad’s house. The other children were gathered in the main reception room. Their quiet chatter was the only noise punctuating the stillness.

Worry bit at me as I thought of Fern. What if, after finally being given her dad back and after meeting her grandfathers, she lost them now? I clenched my hands, refusing to let fear swallow me. I remembered Dylan’s promise to me: “Your Alpha, will lead our pack into battle, and we will be victorious.” The pack was strong and powerful. The lines of male wolves gathered on the plain declared that. The full force numbered two hundred.

The full might of Starsmoon would defend our lands. Dylan and our pack would win. Belief filled me up, not just in Nuu-Chah, but in my mate. After all, he had so much to fight for: me, his daughter, and his pack and home. Dylan would win, and we’d build our lives here in Lord Hills as we’d always been meant to.

My voice sounded firm as I shared with the other wives, girlfriends, and daughters around me. “They’ll win this. I know they will. Because they’re blessed by Nuu-Chah, and because they are fighting to keep us all safe.”

Heather’s comforting tones rolled through the night from the other balcony too. Fulfillment rushed through me at the sound of my old Luna’s voice, realizing that I’d taken on her role, the one I was always meant to have. I was the pack’s new Luna.

I thought fondly of all the times I’d shadowed Heather all those years ago, learning what I needed to be the pack’s Luna. Despite being on the brink of battle, contentment came over me as I knew this was where I was meant to be and the reason Dylan had asked me to come back. So I could serve our pack as his other half.

I pushed all of my faith into my words. “Our Alpha has never been stronger than he is now. He is fighting for his fated mate, his heir, and our pack. I promise you, he will not fail you, and his men will fight with the same courage as their Alpha.”

My words washed over the women who gazed out at their men on the front lines. I watched the females’ stances around me become straighter, their faces stronger like mighty trees, certain they would weather the approaching storm.

The first glint of grey and white fur over the hillside showed: the enemy ranks. Even from so far back from the border of the fields, my keen shifter senses homed in on the wolves. I knew the other females lining the front of the balconies were taxing their eyes to watch the stream of Bloodmoon wolves stalk down the hillside too.

With a collective inhale, we watched the males of our pack begin their rush across the plains to meet the enemy. As the two sides clashed, the night was punctuated by rumbles as if a storm had broken out. I knew the sounds would be echoing across the open countryside and funneling through the valleys. The noises would do nothing to help with the suspicion and fear that the human community had been afflicted with thanks to the Bloodmoon’s attempt to sow unrest. But even as the thought whirled through my mind, it was soon masked by fear as I watched the wolves clashing, unsure which pack was dominating the other.

I imagined Dylan’s fearsome beast hurtling through the rival pack, spilling blood and creating chaos. He was the Starsmoon Alpha, my heart cried. Nuu-Chah would be running with him and protecting him. Why, then, did the lump in my throat grow as I watched the continuing onslaught of wolves locking with one another’s jaws and claws?

The whines and howls that broke through the night had gotten wilder, too, as if one of hell’s pits had opened up below the night. The females around me wrung their hands, the woman beside me wrapped her arms around her, another started to sob. Did they see our side taking too many casualties? Had they deciphered who was winning?

A few women started to murmur a prayer. “Nuu-Chah, enshrine them in your ancient power. Let their bones and blood sing with your strength.”

At the mention of bones and blood, a flash of Dylan’s wolf clawed open, his bone displayed to the night sky stabbed through me. I couldn’t linger on the balcony any longer. I wouldn’t. My place wasn’t to wait in the wings for my mate. I needed to be at his side. Just as he had refused to leave my side all these weeks, fighting until he’d won me, I would fight for him now.

I didn’t announce my decision but simply shifted into my wolf form. I wouldn’t give anyone a chance to dissuade me from my decision. I was the Luna of Starsmoon, and it was mine to make. My soft grey and white coat cut through the darkness, and I stalked through the reception room, through the hallway, and out into the night.

I heard the howls that greeted me behind me as other women within our pack chose to follow me. With hurtling paces, I bounded through the shorn fields, leading more wolves into battle. I didn’t stop until my fangs found purchase in the flank of an enemy wolf. Their scent was like the pine of their area, and I knew it was my rival as I clawed at the male, only extracting my teeth when he collapsed into the dirt.

Just then, my hip rippled with pain, and I flinched, biting out at a female Bloodmoon wolf. She’d clawed my back haunch open. It was a nasty wound, but not to the bone. I snapped my jaws at her again, landing a bite on her flank. With a yelp of pain, she retreated swiftly.

I lost track of time after that. At times it seemed to slow, as if the enemy’s blood only dripped. At other times their blood seemed to flow in streams, and time hurtled by. Finally, the lines of the enemy dwindled. I observed only Starsmoon wolves surrounding me. Both the females I’d led into battle and the males of our pack. I realized that we had vanquished the enemy.

One enormous wolf stood apart from the pack in the center of the field. He raised his muzzle skyward and howled out our victory into the night. As he did so, the last of the enemy still within the field bolted across the plain, making for the shelter of the trees in defeat.

My wolfish eyes admired my mate in his hunter’s form, and I married my howl with his. As our tones paired, he came to me, transforming into his human form and throwing his arms around me as I shifted too. I ran my hands over his handsome face, marveling at his strong jaw and lean body around me. There was no shame in our nakedness as the rest of the pack shifted into their human forms too. Yet, I smiled knowingly as Dylan draped his arm around me, shielding as much of my bare form possessively from the rest of the pack. I could tell from his scowl he didn’t like the idea of me being naked around anyone but him. I thought about the other naked shifters, our pack, around us and hoped they didn’t get too close. After all, my possessive mate was in a territorial mood.

My wound stung where the female Bloodmoon wolf had sliced me open, but I knew my shifter powers would heal me soon. The relief and happiness of victory, as well as my mate’s arm and strong body where he’d pinned me to his side, dulled the sting of pain too.

As we approached the pack together, cheers and applause broke out around us.

“All hail our Luna!” The women’s voices in the crowd dominated as they cheered for me. Then the whole pack, deep and high voices blended together as they cheered, “Hail our Alpha and Luna!”

Even as the sight of them gladdened my heart to be accepted by my pack, my eyes couldn’t stray away from Dylan. I looked up at him lovingly and reverently.

“My Alpha, my mate.”

He kissed my temple fiercely. “My Luna, who ensured our pack’s victory.”

He grabbed my hand, and I held it tightly as if I would never let it go.

A heady rush of love enveloped me, and I thought my eyes were tearing up with emotion as the night and my handsome mate blurred. But then the pain in my hip flared, and the night pressed in around me.

The last thing I felt as darkness took me were strong arms cradling me.