Virago

8. Hesper Lowe

To conserve our energy, we walked at first. But when I sensed a wolf trailing us, we began to run. The wolf who followed us was injured from the bloody scent she had and just as I had predicted, she fell behind.

But we could not take this lightly. There was still half a day's travel to MoonDust pack and if that wolf called for reinforcements, we were done.

How did that MoonSong track us so fast?

Standing on the bank of a river that divided this neutral land with the border of the HalfMoon pack, I sighed. Summer was creeping its way through the spring, yet these lands were comparatively cooler than the southern border of the MoonLight pack. MoonDust would be further colder.

"HalfMoon pack?" Syrus asked, frowning through the mid-noon sun. "They leave their border unguarded?"

Paige snorted. "Archer once told me. They have help from a witch. She has put a spell on their borders. Only if the Alpha allows, they could enter."

"A witch?" Iliara stepped out of the water. The tips of her brown hair were wet and the shorts and shirts we had found in the tunnel clung to her figure. "Aren't they like rare?"

"They are," Paige said, stroking Kade's hair as he hugged his mother tighter. "But Alpha Snow had a dealing with... one of them."

"Axel Snow?" Syrus asked, plucking a river grass.

Paige shook her head. "His father. He did."

He whistled. "A witch, huh? That's interesting."

"Is it?" my grandma asked. She had been removing the tangles from her hair and right now, she had put it up in a bun. "My mate, Julian, found a young witch in our pack lands. After she was saved, we found that she was the young heir of the Dark coven, one of the oldest and most powerful covens of witches. They helped Julian tide over the Vampire problem that threatened to tear ou... MoonLight pack apart."

A moment of unintended silence washed over us. When my grandpa had been the Alpha, two vampires wreaked havoc among the werewolves' packs. No one knew where they came from, just that sunlight did not burn them nor could they be killed by a dagger through the heart. Finally, it was Julian Lowe, my grandfather who killed them and became a legend whispered at night.

Before I could open my mouth, a different kind of pain hit me. It was slow and soft but eroded everything I knew. I gasped and shared a look with Paige who bit her lips. Syrus looked down while Iliara was shaking in Aston's embrace. My grandma stroked Kade's head who cried with confusion.

Our pack lands were no more. MoonSong had claimed them. Even if my Alpha, Luna and heir were alive, where would my pack live? If we were to settle in a neutral land, that would be impossible. Hunters, rogues, vampires and witches. Everything in between strolled here. Defining a boundary here was difficult.

"How?" I managed to ask after a while. It could have been just five minutes or it could have taken an hour. Who knew? "How did grandpa kill the vampires?"

I was trying to distract from the obvious. This was a different kind of pain. The pain of losing your anchor when everything else had failed and it had been the only thing that held you alive.

"I don't know." My grandma's voice held a tremble. "The vampires had taken me and I was unconscious. I don't know what Julian had done, but we both walked out alive. If anyone knew what he did, that Dark Witch might know. But rumours say that she died and the coven is currently ruled by her daughter."

I did not know what shook my grandma. The memory or the loss of MoonLight pack land.

Deep in the boundary of HalfMoon, a tiny wolf saw us. Then as if seeing us would burn it, it fled deeper into its pack lands.