Daughter of the Tides, Servants of the Moon Book 2

Helios and Charlemagne Des Rues walked into the home of the daughter of the Alpha of White Mountain as if they already control the pack, but her face told of all her disappointment.

“He didn’t die… I thought you said they would kill him,” she hissed.

“He was weak and unable to defend himself in the hospital, why didn’t you just kill him there?” Charlemagne snarled at her.

Melinda couldn’t hold his eyes and looked away, muttering in a low voice, “He escaped before I could.”

“What? I’m sorry, Melinda, I didn’t quite catch that,” Helios taunted arrogantly.

“He. Escaped. Before I could,” she snapped. She threw herself down on the couch, and declared tiredly, “I am so glad you came. How did you know I needed help?”

“We have our ways.” Helios sat down next to her and took her hand. “Talk to me, Melinda, you’re upset.”

“My parents are freaking out since the rogue attack. I think they were going to break the alliance and make Marcus the Alpha now that he has found a possible choice mate. Then he vanished, and they think he was kidnapped from the hospital. My mate even accused me of going to far.”

“We both know Marcus shouldn’t be Alpha after he lost his true and is without an heir, he is weak now. You are eldest and should be the Alpha Female. Your son should be the Alpha heir, not your brother.” Helios’ voice dropped into a seductive purring tone, “Now, tell me everything that has happened and how we can help you?”

Two hours later, Helios and Charlemagne waited for Melinda to finish inviting her parents and her brother’s possible choice mate to dinner.

Charlemagne grinned at Helios. “It never ceases to amaze me how you do that, brother. She would believe snow is warm if you told her it was so. Don’t ever try that on me.”

“It is because she is a weak wolf.” Helios laughed then assured him. “It will never work on you, brother.”

Charlemagne cocked an eyebrow. “Really?”

“You are family and a strong wolf. The things my mother taught me will not work on you, but these weak, greedy wolves… they will gladly accept whatever I tell them. That is why we will rule this land, you as Monarch and me as your Beta,” Helios promised with a confident smirk.

Hating travelling in the icy fog, Marcus arrived well before the dawn with a frozen crust of ice on his fur. With an iron resolve in his heart to save those he could, he scratched on the door of a small cottage on the outskirts of the pack housing area. The patter of light footsteps ran to it and locks clicked. Rairi swung the door open and shut it quickly behind him. He stood patiently while she scrubbed the ice from his fur enough for him to shift.

“Goddess! Marcus, I thought ye had been dragged from the clinic and killed,” Rairi gushed, clinging to his chilled skin.

He pressed his lips to hers in a quick kiss, when he was with her, he didn’t feel so alone; the pain in his mate-lost soul eased. “I went to see the Oracles at the Moon’s Gate. I need you to pack our things.”

She nodded quickly, her golden blonde waves swinging around her face, “But why? What did the Oracles tell ye?”

His fingers traced her face, “Thank the Goddess, I didn’t let you go to Des Rues like my sister wanted. They are forcing unmated females from outside their pack to be breeders.” He whispered in her hair as he held her tight against him. “After what that bastard Cullen put you through, I couldn’t bear the thought of you living through that.”

“But it brought me to ye. The Goddess has a way of turning every bane into a boon if we just have faith... Luna Merida told me that before I came here. She forgave me for what I did and sent me to a place where I would find friendship and then love.” Her fingers trailed over the scar along his jaw. “What else did the oracles tell ye?”

“Everything they have been telling us is false. The Des Rues tried to kill the Delphi more than once. They don’t have permission for the temple they built on their territory. They are kidnapping and killing all the wolves who disagree with them, sometimes entire packs just disappear. We have to get all who will go to safety,” he insisted as he tried to pull her toward her bedroom, but she resisted.

“What else, ye are not tellin’ me all of it?” Her light blue eyes keen and intense.

He didn’t want to tell her know but he couldn’t lie to her. “I know who destroyed your pack… Some survivors were hidden in the territory, they are at the temples now. The Des Rues, they did it, they killed everyone in New Wemyss, even the pups.”

The air rushed out of her, her legs folded, and she would have fallen if he hadn’t been holding her. “But... but Alpha Helios promised he would help me and the others find out who did it... He-he lied to us all. Aire ye sure?”

He growled heavily as if angry then he pulled the carefully folded paper out of the waterproof bag that hung around his neck. “There was a tiny red-headed acolyte that gave me this picture of the two paths our packmates must choose from. The Wanderer Oracle and the Delphi both told me that I couldn’t save them all. The Des Rues are leading all wolves on the path to destruction.”

Rairi looked at it then gasped as if surprised when she smelled the scent on it, “My cousin Ainsley is alive. Did... did her sister, I mean, was her sister Moire with her, and a warrior with blond hair named Comhnyall... Where they with her? Did ye see them? I... I owe them for the wrong I did.”

Marcus shrugged, “I only saw the Delphi and her twin and the little seer.”

Trembling, Rairi grabbed him and dragged him to the back door, “Ye have to go now, save yeself and the others. If I can escape, I’ll find ye.”

He looked at her panicking eyes and gaped in disbelief that she would betray him. “What did you do, Rairi?”

“They lied to me, said if I didn’t help them catch ye, they would have to kill ye because ye had gone feral. They said ye needed help and if I loved ye I would help ye. I am so sorry, Marcus. I love ye, I do. I was just tryin’ to save ye.” She shoved him out the backdoor with the paper in his hand.

Marcus ran for the tree line. Tucking the paper in his neck-pouch before he shifted to his wolf. Looking back at the house of the she-wolf who loved him, betrayed him, and then saved him, his wolf whined. His sister and one of the Des Rues Alphas were walking up to her door with several warriors. He had to rescue her, but he didn’t know how.

A chill and the scent of moonlight had him pausing. A brilliant beam of moonlight coalesced into a wolf as the first few snowflakes sparkled around it.

‘Patience, my child, you have another task first.’ A glowing wolf bowed her head to him and trotted in the direction of the pack detention cells. He felt compelled to follow.

There were guards in front, but none in the rear. None were needed there because there were no windows or doors on the back of the building. The Moon’s wolf looked at him and walked through the wall. A moment later, it walked back out with several of those loyal to the Moon touching her. She walked back to the tree line where he waited. His best friend and Beta rushed to him while the others shifted to their wolves.

Tomas linked him, ‘Alpha, I prayed the Moon’d rescue us. Your sister has gone nuts. After you disappeared, she killed your parents and her mate. They told us all to swear loyalty to that ass Helios and renounce the Moon, or go to the cells. They took Rairi off to make her help them catch you.’

Marcus bowed his head as the Moon’s wolf led another group toward them. ‘She saved me. They are with her now.’

His grandfather was in the last group, he looked older, tired, blood was dried on his clothes as he stripped, Marcus could see his flesh was marred with bruises. ‘Marcus, thank the Goddess. We were afraid they killed you when you disappeared from the infirmary.’

‘I went to see the Delphi. Last summer, Helios told me the vision I got from them was false because it wasn’t really from the Moon, but something told me he lied and to go again, so after I was attacked, I did. We have to get everyone who still believes in the Goddess away to safety.’ Marcus looked at the Moon’s wolf who was sitting expectantly. ‘Granddad, Beta Tomas, take everyone to the old mines beyond the far northern territory edge. The thermal caves will keep us warm until spring. Melinda won’t think to go there, she’ll think we headed south to escape the winter. As soon as the weather breaks, we need to head toward the Moon’s Gate.’

‘Where are you going, grandson?’

‘To get my mate, the Moon gave me a second chance at love, I am not going to let her die too.’ Marcus growled with determination.

After following the glowing wolf back to Rairi’s house, Marcus watched the guards standing around it as his sister and Helios Des Rues walked away. His sister looked enraged, he could see and smell Rairi’s blood on her and swallowed his growl.

The Moon’s wolf looked at him, Her voice was gentle and motherly, ‘You’ll need your skin. Do not remove your hand from my fur until we are in her room. Do not fear, they cannot see us.’

Slowly, they walked between the guards and through the backdoor into the small cottage. She led him straight to Rairi’s bedroom. The she-wolf he loved was lying on the bed, badly beaten. Marcus sank to his knees taking her hand in his, he cringed as the broken bones in her wrist scraped against each other. Gently cradling her hand, his soul ached. He feared he was watching her die, but the Moon’s wolf licked her wrist several times, and as she did, it healed. Marcus stared at it shocked as the wolf continued to lick the battered female until her wounds were healed.

‘Pick her up and walk beside me. The sun is coming, we must leave this place.’

Carefully, Marcus lifted Rairi from the bloody bed. With a knapsack of clothing she had packed for both of them slung over his shoulder, he carried her away, with the Moon’s wolf leaning against his leg. The Moon’s wolf’s fur was strangely cool but comforting. He only looked over his shoulder once. The guards never noticed them leaving. These two wolves he had known his whole life. They just treated him the way they did because he was the Alpha’s son. He realized they had never been his friends, but he knew them well, and how they went to town and partied. They chased human females and pretended they weren’t wolves. They always wanted the easiest patrols and the most recognition. He knew he was leaving them behind to die. It was their choice to renounce the Moon that doomed them. He and the glowing Moon’s wolf made the tree line unnoticed and continued walking for several minutes.

‘Go, my child. Take care of your new mate and pup, save the faithful of your pack until the time I need you.’ The Moon’s wolf leaped into the sky and vanished into the clouds, which billowed and rolled before the icy rain mixed with snow began to fall.

The weather meant they would be safe from the trackers now, so Marcus kept walking, careful not to jostle his precious cargo.

Deeper in the forest, Rairi stirred against his chest. “Marcus? What happened?”

Marcus almost sobbed his relief that she woke, kissing her like she was air, and he was a drowning wolf. After the kiss, he revealed, “The Moon saved us. She said we are mates now, and we are having a pup.”

Rairi’s wide eyes stared at him in disbelief then she smiled beautifully, hugging his neck tighter. “Oh, thank the Goddess! I love you, Marcus.”

“I love you, Nathrairi.”

He continued to carry her until he caught up with his packmates, only twenty-one, counting he and Rairi, had chosen the Moon out of over one hundred-fifty. He had told the Delphi one-third of his pack still believed, but less than half that number had refused to renounce the Moon. He refused to grieve for them, they had chosen apostasy over faith.