His Rogue Luna

Artemis

POV

Going to the pack lands of my deceased family was quite an experience. The whole journey there was solemn, my uncle just as lost in thought as I was. It was also eerily quiet, which only made us all more tense and alert. While I couldn't hear any minds or sense anyone nearby, I felt something was off and couldn't ignore my gut feeling.

I was soon distracted from my nagging thoughts by a sudden shift in the atmosphere. I startled, looking around and wondering what had suddenly changed until I realised: we were on the pack lands.

The air was thick and heavy, still filled with the anguish of that treacherous day. What should have been warm and fertile land was dry and barren, forever poisoned by the blood of the innocent.

I looked to my uncle, feeling his emotional turmoil grow the more we walked into the lands.

The land looked completely empty, with sparse trees. The wind rustling leaves was the only sound asides from our footsteps. My skin was crawling with unease as I felt we were being watched, but I couldn't catch a single scent or mental signature.

I wasn't sure where to start looking, since there didn't seem to be any obvious signs or clues so far, so I stuck to silently following my uncle. His face was impassive, his eyes distant as he walked purposefully in one direction.

The guards flanked us, not lingering too far from us. I could tell they were all as uneasy as I was, from the way their fur bristled and their ears remained perked, noses in the air.

As we continued walking, I count help but find it strange how I hadn't ever stumbled across this one before, even by mistake.

As a nomad, I had frequented the southern parts of America, and the new Silverclaw Guardians' pack lands was not too far off from here. This land was currently no man's land, and if the pack ever did expand, they would surely reach this old territory soon enough. My uncle suddenly stopping had me halting too.

He shifted, slipping on the clothes in the bag he carried. I did the same and we soon continued walking in our human forms.

The guards remained shifted.

"Do you hear that Mija?" He whispered hoarsely.

I stayed silent, listening to for what he could have possibly heard. The only sound was the wind whistling through the trees, the sound almost wispy and mystical.

I was about to respond that no, I found t hear what he was talking about, until I hear it.

Cynthia, you're here.

Save us.

Free us.

At first I couldn't make out the words, but the whispering voices eventually grew clearer as they kept repeating those words.

The Alpha's daughter.

You must avenge us.

I shivered as my skin broke out in goosebumps, the wind suddenly blowing much stronger than before. The voices grew from their almost inaudible whisper into a demanding cacophony of wails and cries. Evil has poisoned the land.

Lift the curse.

Free us!

I winced and looked towards my uncle, who had his eyes closed. His face looked almost serene as the violent wind began whipping his hair around him, carrying the anguished screams of the dead. He opened his eyes, looking at me silently.

"Come," He said, and he continued walking, with me silently following. We seemed to walk for a while and I grew more uneasy by the minute.

I was also suddenly cold, despite the fact that we were on dry arid land, in an almost desert area.

The sky was growing dark with thick grey clouds looming over us threateningly, mimicking the uncomfortable churning in my gut.

"This is where it happened," My uncle spoke up, stopping at a large clearing.

Like the rest of the land, the earth was dry and cracked, with nothing but stray weeds growing. There were random pieces of rock and wood scattered haphazardly around the place. It took me a second to see it.

This was exactly the place I saw in my visions.

The place my uncle so clearly explained to be where it happened.

The place where my parents were murdered. The place where a lot of the pack members were lynched, their homes burnt into ash and rubble.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

The place where McConor told my parents he'd find and murder me.

The place where my mother made that promise, the one I was so desperate to fulfil.

"I wish I hadn't run," My uncle whispered, tears running down his distant eyes. I wrapped my arm around his waist, comforting him as he mourned.

"I wish I had stayed with everyone and fought, not run like a coward," He said bitterly.

"If you hadn't run, I would have never met you Uncle," I said, turning to him. "I wouldn't have learned about the Gifted, I wouldn't have ever known anything about my parents. I might not have even ended up as a spirit wolf either," "Without you, the Silverclaw Guardians would have died that night. Their legacy would have never continued like it does today," I continued.

"You staying would have only resulted in your death and I don't know what would have happened to Romeo without his father, and I without my uncle," I finished, my own tears falling down my face and mirroring his. "Your parents would have been so proud of you," He sniffled, cupping my face.

"They would have been proud of you too," I said, pulling him into a hug.

We held each other for a moment, standing on tainted land. The wind was whipping even more so violently, pushing my hair all over my face and I pulled back, looking around, suddenly hit with an awful feeling. The voices were suddenly quiet and it was eerily silent.

The guards were nowhere to be seen and as I tried to mindlink them, this sense of dread washed over me.

"How wonderful!" An unfamiliar voice exclaimed. We both turned to te source of the voice, finding a man stepping out of the shadows, flanked by what appeared to be twenty or so people. "We all love a family reunion, don't we?"

I growled loudly at the man, hatred and anger crawling all over my body, burning my skin.

"McConor," I snarled, standing protectively in front of my uncle.

"And you must be that silly baby that escaped all those years ago," He taunted, walking even closer.

His men had guns and arrows all pointed at us, and despite the urge I had to close the distance between me and that old man, I wasn't stupid enough to think I could get out of this alive. "You won't be so lucky this time," Hs smirked. He was smart enough to stop a couple of feet away from me, two guards flanking him while the rest circled us.

"She will fulfill my sisters vision and wipe you all off the face of the earth," My uncle snarled from behind me.

For the first time since I knew him, I saw rage burn in his ochre eyes, his face transforming into a terrifying visage.

The old bastard didn't look impressed, his face looking rather bored. He waved his hand and suddenly, we were flocked by his guards.

I was being yanked and pulled, attacked from all directions. Despite my good fighting skills, I was outnumbered severely and received a few blows to my stomach, knocking me to the floor.

I managed to claw one hunter's face and with a pained scream he let me go and I scrambled to go try and help my uncle.

Before I could move towards him, I was suddenly pulled back, pushed onto the ground and restrained. I could only watch in horror as what happened next.

Two hunters were throwing a flurry of punches and kicks to my uncle, which he tried to defend himself from. One hunter stood behind him, lifting his arm, a gun pointed.

"No!" I yelled, watching as the wretched human pulled the trigger.

For a split second, everything froze. I watched in slow motion as the bullet hit my uncle straight in the back, making him arch suddenly.

His shirt stained red as a growing patch of blood blossomed from the place where his heart was. His face was surprised, glancing down at the growing red circle before looking up at me.

So many emotions passed over his face.

"Mija."

He spluttered, collapsing on the floor as the hunters moved away from him. I could tell the moment the life left his body.

A second of silence passed before I let out a pained shriek.

I screamed into the sky, my ears ringing from anger and pain. The voices screamed with me, the wind whipping my hair back and forth. I felt the sky rumble with thunder, cracking and splitting just as my soul did. More hunters jumped on me, trying to restrain my struggling form.

"I should have done that eighteen years ago," McConor smirked, sauntering over to my distressed form. All I could do was snarl up at him.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you just yet. I want you to suffer more, watch as I kill your mate and his pack just as I killed your parents," He sneered, crouching done to my level.

I roared, trying to snap at him, my vision tainted red and focused on his throat.

I mustered up much anger as I could, using the pained cries of the dead to fuel my flame as I spoke.

"By my hand, the Moon Goddess declares you a dead man McConor!"

I didn't know what exactly he saw in my eyes, maybe the pain of watching my uncle die before me and all the visions that haunted me, but whatever it was, it scared him. That was the only comfort I had as I felt something hit me at the back of my head, making me pass out.