Howl at the Moon

Chapter 2

   The pounding of running steps had stopped, but the werewolves were slowly closing in on me. Closer and closer. For some reason I was actually afraid-no, afraid is not the word. I was worried, not for me, but for them. They didn't stand a chance against me. Then who I assumed to be the leader spoke, the same one from before, Aryn.

   "What are you doing with Darion?" His voice thundered, obviously he hasn't learned his lesson yet.

   "The better question is why are you talking to me again? I thought that you already learned your lesson. You have obviously forgotten what I carry," I said referencing my necklace.

   "We are not afraid of you," a nameless face hissed.

   "You should be."

   "Please don't hurt them," Darion stepped towards me and begged. I immediately took two steps back, careful to keep a safe distance from the lycanthropes.

   "How sweet, you care for them. I won't hurt them just let me go." I don't want to fight them, but I will if it's my only option, I can't hesitate. A boy about 6'4, beside Aryn lunged at me but before he could get far Aryn grabbed him by the scruff.

   "Quil, pick and choose your battles." Aryn whispered loud enough for the whole pack to hear. Quil's green eyes turned dark, he obeyed Aryn; though his eyes never left me.

   "Aryn let her go," Darion demanded in a low tone. Aryn nodded and moved aside, creating a gap in the circle for me to go through. I made my way toward it, straightening my spine. As I walked past Darien my brown eyes locked with his aqua eyes for a split second. Our hands brushed and a jolt of electricity tried to run up my hand, but I pulled away before it had the chance.

   I quickly walked out of the forest, and a shiver ran up my spine. I turned expecting someone to be watching me, but no one was there. I shrugged it off and looked forward to find Dawn sitting on the bench at the side door of our school. I started to walk towards her, as I neared she looked up at me, a look that could kill on her face.

   "Where have you been? After you left Chance started hitting on me! It was awful, he put his arm around my waist and said 'we could be Luna's right hands, and when you feel down I'll carry you.'" Her Chance impression was spot on, and when she ended she added a wink. At that I burst into laughter, forgetting what had just happened. "It's not funny! It was pretty horrifying" she whined, her anger slowly diminishing.

   "With me we could rule our tribe! Nothing could stop us; we'd be the power couple of the century!" I said mimicking Hunter now, Dawn and I both burst out laughing. We fell on each other and landed on the ground, tears in our eyes.

   "Never leave me again," she pleaded.

   "Don't worry we'll be friends forever!"

   "You got cheesy!" A teenage male, in ripped jeans and a green hoodie, with a very familiar voice came up to us from behind.

   "Acel!" I squealed sounding totally unlike myself.

   "What are you doing here?" Dawn asked as she jumped up and hugged him, I quickly followed suit.

   "Well my parents decided that it was finally time to leave Quebec. Where else could we go but here?" He hugged us back tightly and I was reminded of when we were little children. Running around our small town, never quite understanding why we couldn't go into the forests and play with the kids that live there.

   One day, when Dawn and I were eight, and Acel was ten we went on an adventure in the forest. While the rest of the tribe was in a meeting we snuck out, and found a few cubs playing tag in the woods. When they saw us they froze, I thought their hair would fall out. They looked terrified, but they looked almost normal. You would think they were humans that is if it weren't for the crescents on their arms. Then Acel asked if we could join a bright smile on his face. A female cub smiled at us, tagged Dawn and ran away. She had let us join without knowing anything about us, she was so trusting. I suppose all children are naïve, be it werewolf or human.

   We were there for hours, and the sun was begging to set. We were about to leave when my mother and father, as well as Dawn and Acel's parents and a few others barged into the clearing ready to kill. They looked furious, but they also looked worried. Our mothers ran to embrace us, while our fathers checked the perimeter and cornered the cubs.

   "Leave them alone! We came to them! We wanted to play with them!" Dawn shouted as she tried to escape her mother's grasp.

   "The creatures should know better than to play with you!" Acel's father spoke, and that's when I noticed the silent tears running down the kind cub's face. They have emotions. It filled me with rage and anguish to know that they had emotions, because if they were not mindless people why would the kill great, great, great, great, grandfather, Clovis Rouge?

   Acel was always one to stand with the underdog, this time was no exception. He somehow managed to escape his mother and stand in front of the scared cubs.

   "Please just leave them alone! Let them go," he yelled. My mother was hesitant, but they were only children so she told them to go and never come near us again. Acel's father protested, but no one can deny the Chief. They thanked Acel and turned to run away. In their rush to escape one of the boys lost his balance, and as he was trying to regain it his hand flew, Acel's face caught it. He got scratched just under his left eye, just deep enough to lightly scar. I reached up and touched his scar, now you can barely see it if you don't know that it's there. Those cubs ran out of there faster than I can say wolfsbane. We never saw them again, Acel didn't want to risk them getting hurt. Though Acel can't beat me in a fight, I respect him enough to not go against his word.

   Our parents took us to the tribe's infirmary to make sure that we were okay, and Acel and his mother went into a different room to treat his wound. After a few minutes I went to check on them, but I didn't go in. When I looked in I saw his mother lecturing him about how terrible the werewolves are. About how stupid we were and about how she expected better. As she spoke the pressure she put on his wound got harder and harder, until he finally cried,

   "You're hurting me!" The pressure his mom applied to his wound lessened, but her lecture continued. She was crushing his spirit. He always wanted to believe in people, but his parents did not have the same views.

   "They're not people."

   Acel's parents were always hard on him, though they never physically beat him, they constantly crush his spirit. They love him, but I fear they love uniformity more. Acel always does what feels right for him, but his parents have a path laid out for him. A step in the 'wrong' direction doesn't work for them, and by that I mean in his own direction. Though, he is my cousin, he is like my big brother. I love him with all my heart, and so I vowed to protect him, to protect all of them. Even if that means hating a species I hardly know. He will never get hurt again, and his new scar will forever serve as a reminder of that vow.

   "So Luna, Dawn, I hear there's boy trouble?"

   "More than you know..." We filled him in on Chance and Hunter, and by the end tears were in his eyes from how much he was laughing.

   "You want me to beat them up for you?" Although Acel doesn't look particularly strong, he is. He is second in our class in fighting, after me of course. He is a sweetheart, but he will not hesitate to protect the ones he loves. Lucky for us Dawn and I are the ones he loves most in this world.

   "Nah, then Luna and I will have to explain to her mother why they have black eyes."

   "On second thought girls you are on your own!" It seems that Acel is afraid of my mother, this will come back to haunt him! Dawn and I playfully punched him, and he pretended to be in pain. We continued to tell each other what has been going on in our lives for the past few years. It's nice to have him back.

   The rest of the day was uneventful, except for some reason I kept feeling eyes on the back of my head. It's probably paranoia, but still it was getting irritating. Oh, and that Quil boy is in my advanced chemistry class. I so look forward to having to deal with that! Sigh!

   At the end of the day I walked home with Dawn and Acel. We took a secret path Acel found to the right of the school to avoid Chance and Hunter. We were home in less than fifteen minutes.

   "Luna, thank God you're all ok!" My mother had stridden up to us. To the world she looked calm and composed, but to me she looked fearful and worried.

   "Mom, what's wrong?" I asked, a bit panicked.

   "It's your father, there's been an attack." The blood drained out of my face. "The doctors say he might not make it through the night." At that she cracked, her façade failing her. She sobbed and leaned heavily against me. I did what I could to keep her up, but I could barely stand. My legs felt weak, and my knees buckled.

There's been an attack.
My dad's dying.

xx

Hello again,

   Special shout out to @MariunTheWeirdo for being my first commenter on Wattpad! I truly appreciate it! Also, a shout out to my biggest supporter and best friend, @mpardo24 ! Thank you for always rushing onto whatever platform I post on and liking and favouriting every chapter! You are a big part of why I keep writing, along with all my other supporters of course!

    Now with that aside, what do you think about Acel? I think he's one of my favourite characters to write about. Now, I hope that you were paying attention to that flash back, because it's a big part of what motivates Luna! 

   Lastly, please don't forget to vote everyone; it really helps!

Thanks and don't forget to Howl at the Moon,

Maisie

P.S I just realized that this chapter was accidently deleted... so here it is again *sighs*