The Protected Luna

Unrelinquished, Undisputed

Artemis

"What's the matter Artemis? Did the bitter tea render your voice useless? Tell us what happened in Sapphire Sea," Bria urged as she stopped at another red light and turned to look at me in the back where I was sitting. After we left Celestial Moon I claimed the backseat to escape Bria and Lana's taunting. Lana sat in front and Everice sat next to me.

"There's not much to tell to be honest. We went to Sapphire Sea, we talked with Alpha Caspian and Luna Cassandra about the prophecy and Luna Cassandra told us that the first Queen of Celestial Moon, Queen Isla, stole magic from the Fontaine De Vie that belonged to Sapphire Sea. Then I called Aunt Selena and she told me that Fontaine De Vie was swept away in a flood," I said.

"Cassandra said that Isla said she was compelled to steal the fountain. Both claims sounded plausible, equally discriminating  and not something that someone could just make up just for the sake of it," Everice added.

"The compulsion theory sounds a lot closer to the truth than the flood theory," Bria mused. "There's a possibility that a vampire compelled Isla to steal the fountain and when she was deterred, she sensed that she was under the control of under supernatural being and said so when she reverted to her normal self."

"Vampires have been known to use compulsion to make others do their bidding. Our family told us stories about vampires who used compulsion to control the wolves of Moon Beam Pack," Lana said.
"We took that theory into consideration, but Presha denied this," I told her. "But I think otherwise."

By this time we had arrived home. Bria was quite the fast driver.  The four of us climbed out and walked towards the packhouse. I could hear voices inside and prayed Deidre's wasn't one of them.
"Now remember girls, not a word. Let's keep this conversation to ourselves for now. Don't tell your mates and don't talk about it unless we're alone with no one else around," I told them.

"We won't say a word," Bria promised.
"And if they ask what took so long, we'll just say we lost track of time while talking to Kennedy," Lana said.
"That witch Presha better not read our thoughts,"  Everice murmured. "Because if she does, there's no guarantee that she won't tell anyone about what we were discussing."

"I'm sure she won't suspect a thing, just breathe normally, don't think too much and remember to keep a straight face," I advised as I opened the front door and stepped inside with Bria, Lana and Everice coming in behind me.

"I must confess Shannon, I missed the taste of your cookies,  they are simply divine," I heard Deidre say this the second I stepped into the living room. Right now she was seated on the sofa with Presha, Todd, Alessandro, Dimitri's parents and Uriel. Dimitri was nowhere to be seen. I was hoping to avoid him for a while, at least until we had our emotions under control. Taking a deep breath I forced a smile on my lips then announced that we were back.

"Hello dear, how was the journey, did you encounter any trouble on the way to Celestial Moon?" Mom asked smilingly.
"No trouble, but a truckful of guys passed by and were attempting to flirt with us," Everice said as she picked up a cookie and took a bite. "But we flipped them off."

"Good. I don't want any frat boy, playboy or any type of boy flirting with what's mine," Todd said as he got up off the sofa and possessively pulled Everice into his arms.
"Same here baby. You're mine, and only mine," Everice giggled as he wrapped her arms around Todd and kissed him on his lips.

"Such a beautiful couple. If only the Moon Goddess could have paired all wolves with suitable mates. It's quite unfortunate that not every she wolf is as lucky as Everice to have a loyal, caring and protective mate such as Todd," Mom remarked.

"Yes, some she wolves have such unlucky fates, being paired with a wolf that treats them like trash and uses them solely for their bodies," Deidre sighed. "And there are the rejectees. The ones that get rejected by their mates because of their poor habits, behaviors and qualities. Mostly the females."