Alston was the first to speak as he began the ancient chant to call the Luna’s children. It was a chant that had never been spoken out loud. And, one by one, they all joined in.
By the power of the moon,
It’s light over all it looms,
By the radiance of the stone,
You are not your own.
We call you.
You who are strong,
You’ve wandered far too long,
You who lead the weak,
It is you your creator seeks.
We call you.
Your time is now, your purpose is here,
Division is gone, restoration is near,
Heed the call, baying into the night,
Make yourself ready for the fight.
We call you.
We call you.
We call you.
The Packs of the Great Luna,
WE CALL YOU.
The final words rang into the night as the four Fae lowered their hands and looked back up to the moon. The calm that had draped over the forest began to dissipate as the wind began to blow and the trees swayed in a timeless dance. Over the howl of the wind they heard her voice as clearly as if she were standing before them.
“Ready yourselves. It is done.”
Nissa looked over to Alston and let out a shaky breath. “Why does that sound strangely ominous?”
It was Dain who answered. “Because, that is the only word that could possibly describe the joining of the packs.”
Chapter 5
“I felt it in my soul as I stood in the cool evening air. She beckoned to me, urging me to hurry, telling me time was short. As I stared up at the moon, the moon that shouldn’t be full on this night, I knew that every wolf looking up into the sky, anywhere in the world, would see a full moon. The Great Luna had sent out her call and we, her creation, were to answer it. For the pack.” ~ Victor, Bulgaria Pack
“Is that what I think it is?” David, Beta of the Coldspring pack asked his Alpha as they stood on the porch of the pack headquarters.
Jeff didn’t answer right away. He dwelt upon what the moon was saying to him. He didn’t know how, but he knew that their creator was calling them? Finally, he looked over to his Beta. “Yes, it’s the call of the moon. We’re being summoned.”
“What does that mean?” David asked. The Coldspring pack was a very young pack and didn’t have the knowledge and history like the other packs did, especially since they had been operating under the radar when Lucas Steele had been their Alpha.
“I’m not sure exactly, but I know who does.”
Jeff pulled out his phone and flipped through his contacts until he found the name he was looking for. Vasile. He dialed and waited for the line to connect.
It was only two rings before his call was answered.
“Hello?” A deep voice answered from the other end.
“This is Jeff Stone of the Coldspring pack and I’m calling to speak with Vasile.”
There was a pause on the line, some scuffling, and then a new voice came on.
“This is Skender, I’m Vasile’s fourth. Vasile is a little tied up at the moment. Is his regarding the call of the packs?” Skender asked.
Jeff let out a deep breath. “Yeah, about that, what exactly does it mean?”
“The moon stone is the way the Great Luna calls the wolves to her. We are being summoned to come.”
“Come where?” Jeff asked.
“Close your eyes, Jeff Stone, of the Coldspring pack and focus.” Skender’s voice was deep and soft as he spoke to the Alpha.
Jeff closed his eyes and listened. He felt it deep in his soul and could hear her voice like a gentle whisper of wind against his flesh.
“Carpathian Mountains,” Jeff muttered under his breath.
“Very good,” Skender answered. “Your pack is young and you wouldn’t have known what to do, but the others will know. If she is calling them to the Carpathian Mountains then they need permission to be in Vasile’s territory, which means you will come to the pack mansion.” Skender gave Jeff the information that he would need to get to the Romanian pack headquarters and then explained the rest of what it meant to be called.
“The moon stone isn’t just a call to gather,” Skender said. “It is a call to arms. There is a threat to her creation and she is rallying the troops, so to speak. Obviously, you can’t bring your entire pack. There are twelve packs in various places around the world and to have them all together in one place, would be not be wise. So, you are to bring yourself and your top three. You may bring your mate as well, but the top three must leave their mates with your pack. This is not a vacation, Alpha.” Skender’s voice grew more serious. “There are things going on of which you are unaware, but you will be soon enough. Get on the first plane here. Do not waste time.” There was a pause and then in a formal tone Skender spoke. “For the pack.”
“For the pack,” Jeff answered, automatically.
Jeff ended the call with Skender, and then looked over to his Beta and the other two at the top of his pack.
“We’re going to Romania. Get packed. I’ll explain on the way.”
Q
Denver, Colorado
Dillon stood next to his assistant Colin, along with his Beta, Lee, and his other top two wolves. Dalton, and Aidan. They were just about to board the plane when they felt it.
“Wadim said this would come,” Dillon explained, softly.
Lee looked over to his Alpha; the line of his mouth was tight giving his face a severe appearance.
“We’ve never been called before Dillon, in fact, though we’ve learned about the moon stone in our history, it’s never been used.”
“Well, it’s being used now,” Aidan spoke up and though he was usually the most light hearted of Dillon's wolves, tonight, with the call of the moon and the information Dillon had shared, he was as focused and intense as his pack mates.
As their ticket numbers were called to board the plane, Dillon looked each of his wolves in their eyes, waiting as one by one they lowered them.
“Remember what I told you. We were created for such a time as this. The Great Luna needs us, our pack mates need us, the world needs us, and so we go.”
They spoke as one, when they answered their Alpha.
“For the pack.”
Q
Vratsa Province, Bulgaria
Adrianna watched Victor pack quickly and efficiently. She felt the pull, the call of the moon stone, but Victor didn’t want her to go, not after what had happened at The Gathering.
“Are you sure?” She asked for the hundredth time.
“Luna,” Victor stopped his packing and walked over to his mate. “We are called and gathered as one pack for one reason.”
“War,” Adrianna answered. “Yes, I know that. I’m an Alpha Victor, you know I can fight.”
“I don’t doubt it for a second.” He smiled at her and the adoration he felt for her showed in his eyes. “But, I’m taking Andrei, Sergey, and Pavel. Leaving the fourth in charge, and you are more dominant than he. I need you to stay and lead our pack. Keep them safe for us. That is what would help me the most.” He took her hands in his and pulled them to his chest. “You are strong and I don’t keep you here to protect you from harm. I keep you here to protect the pack.”
Adrianna leaned forward and kissed her mate. Before she pulled back, she whispered against his lips. “For the pack.”
Q
Ramnicu-Valcea, Romania
Serbian Pack Mansion
Seraph answered his cell on the first ring.
“Seraph,” his voice was clipped, as he answered.
“You are in charge of Decebel’s pack as his fourth,” Skender began speaking without introducing himself.
“Yes,” Seraph answered though Skender hadn’t been asking.
“You will need to come here. The others are on their way.”
Seraph’s words came out in a hushed voice. “All of them?”
&nbs
p; “The call has been sent. Be here as soon as possible. Just you. Set up whoever is supposed to be in charge after you and let them know what is going on.”
“For the pack.” Seraph spoke without thinking, before ending the call.
Q
“They’re all coming.” Wadim stood next to Skender, peering out into the crisp spring afternoon. Winter continued to hang on like a claw, refusing to relent to Spring, whose time had already come.
“They should begin arriving with in a few days,” Skender answered.
“What the hell are we going to do if Vasile and the others aren’t back by then?”
Skender looked over at the historian, and longtime friend. He chuckled briefly at the shirt Wadim wore, it said: Save a garden, eat a rabbit. Then the smile faded as his eyes met Wadim’s.
“We fight.” Skender’s words reverberated in the quiet room. “And we have to assume they won’t be. We must prepare for the worst.”
“For the pack.” Wadim answered.
Chapter 6
“I dreamed I was running. I was trying to find you. Searching. Every time I got near you, you were gone. I was growing so tired and my breathing was labored, but still I ran. I called out your name but you didn’t look back. I started to fall, but you weren’t there to catch me.” ~ Jacque
“You must wake up.” Jacque knew that voice. It was so familiar to her and yet foreign at the same time.
“Jacquelyn, you must wake up.”
The voice was growing more insistent, pushing into her mind, trying to force its will on her. She wasn’t ready to wake up. The world was in chaos, her mate was gone, and her friends were broken by their loss, why on earth would she want to wake up?
“Because they need you love, I need you.”
“You need me?” She asked the voice.
It was a male voice and it sounded strange, like he was straining under a great weight.
“Who are you?” She finally asked.
“I am yours,” he answered, through gritted teeth.
She tried to think. She’d heard those words before. Her mind was a whirl wind of images and words all jumbled up like a bowl of alphabet soup. Nothing made sense.
“Luna,” the growl in his voice, brought the barrage of thoughts to a halt. “I am Fane, your mate. I have been captured. You are under a spell and you must fight it! I can feel you slipping away. I think that is the only reason that I am able to block this horrid place. My wolf and I can feel us losing you. You must not succumb. Fight Jacquelyn. Fight!”
“Mate? Fane?” Her voice sounded small in her mind. The words brought forth images now of only one. A tall, dark haired, powerful male with the bluest eyes she had ever seen. In her mind’s eye, she could see adoration, when he looked at her, and felt the love when he kissed her. This was her mate, her Fane.
She reached for him again with her mind, but all she found was emptiness. A profound sense of loss slammed into her and she tried to cry out, but nothing would emerge from her useless vocal chords. Fight, he had said, fight the spell. Jacque didn’t know how to fight the spell, didn’t understand, so she started to think of anything real and tangible, things that she knew were true. She thought of her mother and how it had been so long since she had seen or even spoken to her. She thought of her two best friends and all the things they had endured together. She thought of her pack, her new family, and the acceptance she felt with them. Then she thought of Fane, her other half. He was her home. Without him, nothing else had meaning. She let the thoughts bring the emotions and she let the emotions flow throughout her body. She didn’t know if it would work, but she wouldn’t give up. She would fight, for herself, her friends, and for Fane.
Q
It was dark when the storm finally stopped. Peri stepped out from under the overhang of rock and looked up into the now, clear sky. Mona had been in that storm. There was no doubt about it. Peri had lost control of the storm. No, the storm had been wrestled from her control. They were only alive for one reason. Mona wanted them alive for now. She looked back, as the other ladies began to climb out from their protected spot and saw that they all seemed all right. They were a little soggy, but alive and well. All but Jacque, who continued to lie still and quiet.
“Are you going to tell us why you’ve been leading us in circles for days?” Alina asked Peri, as she wrung out her hair, splattering water on her already soaked feet.
“So you noticed?” Peri’s brow rose as she watched the Alpha female.
“I have a nose Peri. It wasn’t hard to catch our scent as we kept coming back to the same places.” Alina looked around at the others. “I’m just surprised no one else noticed.”
“My mind has been a little preoccupied,” Jen spoke up. The others grumbled Jen’s sentiment as they staggered wearily to lean against the forest trees.
“Well it’s about to get un-preoccupied,” Peri motioned for them to follow. “Let’s get a fire going and get dry and warm. I have crap to tell you and you aren’t going to want to be all soggy for it.”
“Does anyone ever want to be soggy while getting information?” Crina asked.
A collective groan rippled through them as Jen spoke.
“I can think of several scenarios where being soggy while obtaining vital information can be a very fun activity.”
“You walked into that one,” Cynthia told Crina.
Crina snorted out a sharp laugh. “I’m too tired to think about Jen and having to filter all of my statements right now.”
They gathered around the fire that Peri had conjured up with her Fae mojo, as Jen referred to it, and slowly began to thaw and dry out. They ate Fae bread and sat quietly staring into the dancing flames of the fire. Sometime later, Peri began to speak.
“If my plan goes like I hope it will, then this time tomorrow we should have your males back in our care,” she announced to the group. Heads flew up, eyes widened impossibly so, mouths hung open, and there was stunned silence before the bombardment of questions started at a quick-fire pace.
Peri held up her hands to silence them.
“I’m going to explain, good grief, keep your panties on.” Peri waited until they had all stopped blurting out questions. Alina gave her a pointed look that said get on with it or I’ll eat you for breakfast, so she got on with it.
“I’m taking us to the troll who guards the bridge to the In-Between. I have a bargaining chip for him.”
“A troll?” Rachel asked, softly. “Last I remember trolls where not the most friendly of beings even on their best day.”
Peri nodded. “That is true, but you forget healer, trolls are greedy. Shiny things easily sway them. The trick is in the wording. I can’t just say we want to go in to the In-Between because then he will not let us out. I can’t just say that we want to go in and out, because then he would not let us bring anyone back with us.”
“Jen is practically Johnny Cochrane when it pertains to loop holes. Just run it by her and she can tell you if it’s fool proof.” Sally eyed Jen across the fire. Jen gave a slight smile to her friend, but that’s all she could muster.
“So what happens if the troll goes for it?” Cynthia asked.
“The simple part is he opens the veil and we go through.”
“What’s the hard part,” Elle asked, dryly.
“Making it out alive with the males.”
“Oh, is that all?” Crina quipped.
“You guys are just one big bowl of rainbows and butterfly soup,” Peri snapped.
“Okay wait,” Jen raised her hand to Peri. “I just have to know, how the hell would you get rainbows and butterflies in a bowl. If you did, who the crap would want to suck down some butterfly guts?” She shrugged her shoulders. “And who is Johnny Cochrane?” She asked Sally.
Sally and Crina both tried to muffle their laughter at Jen’s comments, but failed miserably.
“Go on and let it out,” Peri told them as she crossed her arms. “If you try to hold those laughs in your mouth any longer their lia
ble to come out your ass.”
That comment broke the peace and they were all laughing. It was the kind of laugh that started in their toes and radiated up their bodies until they were writhing around like they had bees swarming inside. They laughed until tears flowed from their eyes and their stomachs throbbed with the effort from it. Peri stood there watching them, wondering how in the world any of them even dressed themselves in the morning.
“Are you finished?” She asked once the laughing had trickled down to a few random giggles.
“Wait,” Jen cautioned, and looked around as if expecting something then looked back at Peri. “I think we’re good.”
“As I was saying, the In-Between is dangerous, not because things will attack you, but because your mind becomes your enemy.” She began to walk slowly around the outer ring of their circle as she spoke. “We must get in quickly, and I don’t care if you have to sing the sound track to Greatest Love Songs of the Century a hundred times to keep your mind focused, then do it. If you have to shout as loud as you can over and over that you are real and your mind is lying then by all means shout. But, you must not give in to the thoughts.”
“If the guys can’t even do that, how do you expect us to be able to?” Elle asked.
“The males have been sent there. We are going of our own will. There is a big difference. Because we aren’t going there as a form of punishment, it will not affect us the same way. It will be a much weaker disruption in our minds, but it will still be there. It will dig in deep, rooting out your darkest fears, so you might as well face them now. I want you to close your eyes and picture what your worst nightmare might be. Make it real to yourself, breathe it in, feel it on your skin, bask in the heat of the fear it erupts in you. Once you have it in your mind, imagine yourself facing it and winning. Imagine standing up to that fear and telling it to….”