Their Silver Moon

Nathaniel Black

The floor was cold. Not just winter chills, cold, but frozen solid cold. The type of cold that freezes the ground, that froze the stone floor that my body was being pressed into. Not by anything in particular, but purely the force of gravity, the pain that rendered my body unable to move.

The air was hard against my lungs and with each breath I cringed, as the ice ladened air cut down my throat and filled my body. It was like every piece of my body was trying to survive, it was like the world around me was trying to kill me.

A gold light seemed to shimmer in the darkness of the room, and I squinted, trying to focus on the shadows that seemed to move, dancing around the room. I realised I was no longer alone. Their heat beats slow and steady, their footsteps light against the stone and their eyes dark and wondering over my body. Shifting my weight onto my arms, I tried to lift myself from the floor, but my body refused to respond properly.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” a deep voice said from within the shadows, echoed around the space and filled the air with a thick fog that made my stomach turn

And fine silver chains glinted as they streaked across the floor, not conforming to the frozen stone, at first glance, I thought they were snakes. Yet their master followed, a couple paces behind. His body draped in black, and the silver snakes seemed to start and end from him, scaling up his legs and arms, and curling around his neck like a scarf. His skin was sickly and pale and grey, and his dark eyes seemed to absorb scares light that filtered into the room.

He crouched down in front of me, and my body – my wolf, screamed at me to move, to run, to shift, to fight. Every piece of my body screamed danger, trying to warn me, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t move. His eyes scanned my face and neck, and he reached out a blackened hand towards me, “unless you’d like to have some fun?” he said, one of the silver chains traveling down from his sleeve and over the palm of his hand.

His breath smelt stale as his grinned, and the silver touched my skin – an excruciating pain filling my body and a scream left my lips.

* * * * * * * * * *

Alice Black

My body jerked to life, and I sat up, my skin was drenched in sweat as I looked at the simple light blue wall in front of me. I wasn’t in my bed, but I wasn’t in that dungeon either. With a couple calming breathes, I regained my composure and pulled my phone of the charger, it was five am.

I could have flopped back into the bed, and gotten the sleep that my body so desperately needed, but my stomach seemed to knot as I dwelled on what I saw. At least I knew Nate was alive, if only his screams would stop ringing in my ears, echoing around my head like thoughts that were not my own.

And I wondered if his blood was spilling on the cold stone floor, if his body was left to freeze, or if his life had been spared. The thoughts igniting an anger within me, and I got out of bed, throwing on my athletic wear and sauntering out of the house. Jamie and Grace lived a short walk from where the morning training session happened, so that he could keep an eye on the recruits, guards, and warriors. So while I had always liked the convenience of living behind the pack house, at least I didn’t have to walk up the hill to an empty home.

“Luna,” the training officer said, his posture straightening, “I wasn’t expecting you this morning,” he said, clearly taken aback by my presence, “will the Alpha be joining us this morning?”

“The Alpha is still away on business, I just came to let off some steam,” I smiled and he gave a quick nod, stepping to the side and letting me stand by him as the last of the wolves stepped into line.

“Will you be shifting today?” he asked as he looked down at his clipboard and reshuffled some names.

“No, just some old-fashioned hand to hand sparing for me today.”

“Excellent,” he huffed, “I’ll pair you with Orly, he’s transferred from one of the Southern Units,” he said and gestured to the tall man with dark hair and dark eyes that stood at the end of the line-up.

Orly stepped forward out of the line up, “Sir, I’m not sure I feel comfortable sparring with the Luna, as I understand the Alpha is very protective over her and I would rather not endure his wrath should the Luna get hurt.”

I would have smiled had my ears not be ringing with my mate’s screams, had his words not triggered something within me that made me realise my mate may never return, “thank you for consideration and concern for my wellbeing, but if you continue to disrespect and disregard the wishes of your training officer, you will find that it is my wrath you will face, not that of the Alpha.”

Orly swallowed and stepped back in line, “yes Luna,” he said with a nod and lowered his eyes to the ground.

It was at this point that Jamie emerged into the training grounds and while he looked as sleep deprived as I felt, a smirk was plastered across his face and I had no doubt that he had herd my outburst. ’That was a bit harsh, don’t you think?’ he asked and I was relieved to find his voice drowned out Nate’s screams.

’He’s new, he needs to realise his place in the pecking order,’ I huffed, letting out a shaky breath.

’Are you sure you should be sparing?’ he asked as he stood by my side, his eyes wandering over those neatly lined up in front of us.

’Are you asking for me, or my child?’

I heard his heart skip a beat and he swallowed nervously before he turned to look at me, I met his gaze and his eyes scanned my face, as if looking for something, ’I’m asking my friend, who’s husband is missing, if she is okay? If sparring when pregnant is smart, you can’t be very far along, you need to take care of yourself.’

He wasn’t wrong, but neither was he right, ’wolves don’t miscarry Jamie, not unless you spend too much time shifting – then there are complications,’ I replied, and I left him standing there, going to join my new sparring partner.

Author's Note:

Is it obvious that this is the part of the story I wanted to write?