Forever Luna

message

noun ~ a communication or statement conveyed from one person or group to another

CHARLIE

With no interaction in the outside world, I wasn't sure what day of the year we were on. It was cold still, and the hours and days blurred into one giant time ball. Dark was day and day was night, and it was just how we moved. We napped when it was convenient and safe to, and ate whenever something decent enough passed us by.

Calida grew less hostile as the moon passed us by, to the point I could even share food with her. I didn't take it for granted; not after knowing how fast she turned the last time. Thankfully, in the days since we left my family home, she didn't start any fights. We seemed to move across no-man's-land; not getting warmer or colder.

There were a few times I had no choice but to take part in because rogues were rogues, and even the odd fang appeared out of nowhere. Those were worse, because those could talk. So far, they were a load of loose fangs with no coven, but they would sneer and jab as they tried to distract us.

They didn't want our blood. They just wanted a fight. I had no doubt they heard about Calida's beast; Gaia said that Phoenix heard about what happened in her old pack. I assumed it wasn't just quiet news now.

People had to know that there was a feral rogue wolf going around pack borders. She's killed so many; it was only a matter of days before the numbers reached triple digits.

I tried to keep track of where we were based on my knowledge of where I grew up. We weren't going in any specific direction anymore, and I wondered what our purpose was becoming. Calida's wolf clearly had a vendetta to begin with; she killed half of her old pack. Her wolf meant business, and now that business was finished with...

Would she come back to me?

I had hope.

It was all I had anymore.

As hunger and tiredness ate at my bones, I found myself growing paranoid. Every crack, every twitch in the trees had me on edge for another fight. I was prepared, as much as I resented having one.

So, when the slightest of ruffles came from behind me as I slept, I was waking up, ready for it. I remained still, glancing at Calida's sleeping form beside me. She was about five feet away, her head rested on her paws as her chest rose and fell with slumber.

My ears angled backward, listening to the sound of the lightest footsteps. There was no scent down-wind, but I picked up the faintest tinge of blood. This person was not human, because there was no heartbeat.

I braced myself, and when they grew close enough that I could get a good look at them, I growled lowly. Their footsteps faltered, and my ears twitched as they smoothed their hands down the side of their clothes.

"Now, now. Is that anyway to treat a passer-by?" The male voice taunted.

I slowly rose to my paws and turned to stare at them. I kept my rear toward Calida, as much as I feared she may bite it herself, and bared my teeth.

This male was interesting. Besides being dressed in a suit jacket and trousers, his shirt was white and unbuttoned. But it was the specks of blood that littered the collar and his jaw that caught my attention. As he regarded me with bright blue eyes, he slicked back his shaggy brown hair behind his ears.

"Do I not deserve a conversation with the man beneath the fur?" He cocked his head, rubbing his hands together.

I growled, shaking my head with a huff. He smirked, shrugging playfully considering a wolf was growling at him.