"It all starts with a night like tonight. The moon was at its brightest and humankind at its darkest", the old lady whispered as the flames of the bonfire flickered behind her. "When greed, jealousy and blood were far too common. Evil was lurking around every corner..."
Children sat enthralled around the old lady silently waiting for her to continue her story.
"One night after another long blood soaked battle a coven of witches had had enough of the humans and their selfish ways. The witches concocted a spell. Anchoring it to the moon, they made the humans the animals they wanted acted like."
"In their haste to seek revenge the witches failed to realise the power taken to enact the spell. Instead of turning the humans into wolves, they doomed them into roaming the earth as beasts who were half wolf and half human. Once the beasties realised what had been done they gathered together and killing the witches until only the leader remained."
Standing up with a groan the old lady slowly circled round the fire until she was on the other side. The children watched as the flames danced across her wrinkled face wondering why she had moved so far. Straining their ears, they listened over the crackles of fires and chatter.
"Alone and weakened the witch knew she would be no match for the cunning beasts. She lured them in and when she was cornered..." The suspense hung in the air as once again the old lady stopped speaking. No one dared to make a sound though, patiently they waited to hear what became of the last witch.
"And BAM!" The fire burned with a new intensity. All the kids screamed as some ran frightened crying to their parents whilst the old cackled loudly. "Gets them every time," she mumbled.
"I let you out of my sight for two minutes, and you're already terrorising the kids," came an amused voice.
"I was just telling them a little bedtime story," the old lady continued to laugh.
"I'm going to have a load of upset parents at my door tomorrow morning," Bryson said half jokingly. "They already think I give you preferential treatment Nana." Walking over to her he gently placed an arm around her shoulder, manoeuvring her towards the food.
Rolling her eyes at his bossiness, she allowed him to help her. "Tell them to come to me, and I'll show them a trick with the fire that'll really scare them. Besides the kids were looking a bit bored."
Nodding as he passed by members of the pack, Bryson reached the table of food. "They're four Nana. You only told me those stories to scare me into behaving."
"And what a good boy you turned out to be. All thanks to my stories," Nana said as sat down at the table whilst he quickly piled up a plate of food and handed it to her before making his own. Looking down at the woman who had raised him he chuckled softly as she picked at her food. "How about we make a deal, stick to the older kids and leave the little ones to the-"
His phone ringing breaking his train of thought. Taking out his phone he glanced at who was calling before answering. The whole pack had gathered for a bonfire to celebrate the marking of a new moon apart from few members. They were tasked at patrolling the grounds. Bryson was aware that some the younger wolves liked to take the opportunity to cause trouble when they thought no one was watching.
"Alpha. We have problem near the town border," Theo greeted.
"Is it the kids again?" Every new moon the teens tended get a little rowdier than usual. The new moon tended to excite their wolves and some of them hadn't quite figured out how to control the pull yet.
"No, it's not that. Frank spotted something and when we went to check it out we found an unknown female," Theo paused, sounding quite serious for once.
"What is it?" Bryson tensed, sensing something amiss. At this point Nana had got up and was trying to listen in.
"She's not conscious. She was laid out naked. No sign or scent of anyone else. Bryce, I don't know what happened to her but she's a mess. She's covered in blood, got a black eye and busted lip. She smells off as well man, nothing like any human I've ever smelt."
"What do you mean she smells...," Bryson stopped, already deciding to go meet the female. "Is she breathing?" He asked glad that the noise of the pack made it hard for someone to ease-drop.
"Yeah, we're making out towards the hospital."
"Okay. Good. I'll meet you there. Have Frank call a few of the warriors. Tell them to do a full sweep of the border." He hung up before Theo could reply.
"I need to go. Something's come up," He announced to Nana, who already had heard snippets of the conversation.
"Okay."
"Alice is here. If I'm not back in time, call her and she'll help you get home." Looking her in the eye he told her sternly "don't go off on your own." He knew she was too stubborn to ask for help.
"Go before I start scaring the babies," Nana elbowed him in his side, annoyed with how overbearing he could be.
"Be good," he sighed as he kissed her cheek and turned to leave. He caught Alice's eye from across the table and gestured his head towards Nana. Getting a nod of understanding in return, he started making his way towards the woods. That was one less thing to worry about at least.
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