It’s early morning. King Fenris unchains me from the chair and waits for me to stand up. After a moment, he realises I have no intention of moving.
‘Maia, get up now.’ He yells. I keep my head down. My cheek still hurts. All I want is to be in Damon’s arms.
King Fenris takes my arm and drags me from the tent to his horse. Despite my best efforts, my emotions cause my elemental power to go into defence mode, causing my wrists to burn. As King Fenris releases me to the ground, I sob in agony.
Looking up, I see thousands of soldiers giving me a look of pity. Only a few of them smirk. Tears begin to roll down my face.
‘Is this what you all want? You all have the power to stop this,’ I yell. King Fenris knocks me out to stop me from convincing his men to stand up to him.
Upon waking, I realise I am in King Fenris’s arms. We are mounted on his horse.
‘My love, nice of you to join me,’ he says.
I look around to see where we are.
‘Have we passed Wellmore already?’ I ask in shock.
‘You have been out for the whole day, my love,’
Commander James and General Zander are on either side of us on their horses.
‘You know it doesn’t have to be this way. You could just accept being my Queen by my side, and everything will become much easier for you,’ he whispers.
I lean forward and fling my head back with all the strength I can muster. I headbutt him in the nose. He cries out in pain and falls off the horse holding his bloody nose.
Nudging Nimble, he gallops. I hold onto the reigns for dear life while Nimble sprints forward. I turn to see King Fenris is still on the ground. Blood drips from his nose as he yells at Commander James and General Zander to go after me. A group of soldiers follow them and chase after me.
The area I’m in is familiar. I can see I am close to my forest, which gives me the upper hand to escape and hide. No one knows the forest as well as I do.
The soldiers, along with the Commander and General, chase me. Finally, I reach the forest and bolt through the trees.
If I can just make it through the forest into Moon Crest Valley, I might be able to find safety with the wolf warriors or at least find other werewolves to help get these iron cuffs off of my wrists.
I can feel Nimble is growing tired.
‘Please, I know you’re exhausted just a little further. You can do it,’ I say.
I see movement to my left up ahead. I begin to panic.
Suddenly Ember comes forward and leaps up into my arms onto Nimble’s back.
‘Ember,’ I cry out in tears of happiness.
Ember rubs herself against my arms.
‘I thought I’d never see you again, Ember. I’m so happy to see you,’ I cry.
There is more movement up ahead in the forest. I bring Nimble to a halt and climb down.
‘Nimble, I need you to go a different way from me so you can lead the soldiers astray from me,’
Nimble gallops away. I slowly creep through the bushes. Ember is by my side. We creep as close as we can to investigate the movement up ahead. I can hear their voices.
‘You will have to try my scones then,’ I hear in a familiar posh tone.
‘I will eat anything you give me, darling.’ I hear in another familiar voice.
‘Vivian?’ I yell. And fall over in the bush.
‘Maia, is that you out there?’ She yells.
‘Yes, Vivian, it’s me,’ I say, exhausted.
I’m struggling to stand up, and my balance is off. I hear footsteps run towards me.
‘Maia, your cheek is red. You look… terrible,’ she cries as she pulls me into her chest and embraces me.
‘Luna,’ Troy says and falls to his knees in front of me next to Vivian.
Overwhelmed and relieved to see them, I burst into tears.
‘Luna, you are tired. Let me carry you,’ he says.
I nod, accepting his offer.
He carries me towards a crowd of people. I recognize they are villagers from West Wallow.
‘What are you all doing here?’ I ask in surprise.
‘We have come to fight for you, my Queen,’ one villager says as they all bow.
I nod and smile, accepting them as my people.
‘We must be quick. The army is near, and I only just got away from the soldiers. King Fenris’s Commander and General are also with them searching for me,’
Troy nods and sits me on Vivian’s horse with her.
Yelling can now be heard close behind us.
‘There she is,’ a soldier yells.
Unknown to the group of soldiers, they are outnumbered by a few thousand villagers here to protect me. It’s too late for them when they realise they are surrounded. Commander James and General Zander are behind the soldiers and quickly gallop away toward King Fenris and the army.
Troy shifts into his wolf and kills ten of the soldiers himself.
‘Leave the bodies. I want King Fenris and his army to see them,’ I command.
We continue forward and reach Thistle Well.
‘Luna, we are here. We are finally here,’ Troy says with relief.
Hundreds of pack warriors approach us.
‘Troy, it’s good to see you,’ a warrior says, then looks and inspects all the villagers.
‘Troy, are these humans?’ He asks.
The warriors begin to sniff the air and confirm their suspicions.
‘Yes, they are here to help. They are going to fight alongside us,’ Troy says.
‘Alpha King Damon and our Luna have also offered them our protection,’
They all look at each other.
‘So, it’s true then. Alpha King Damon has found his mate?’ They ask. Troy nods.
‘As a matter of fact, she is here right now. She needs food and water. She has only just managed to escape from King Fenris,’
They all let out a gasp and looked through the crowd of people on horseback.
‘Vivian darling,’ he says.
The warriors give Troy a look.
‘Darling?’ A warrior asks.
Vivian trots forward. I sit saddled in front of her.
‘Everyone, this is my mate Vivian, and yes, she is human and to be treated with the utmost respect, and this is our Luna and Queen, Maia,’ Troy says, introducing us.
The pack warriors begin to kneel and bow to me.
One of the warriors’ approaches, lifts me from the horse and gently carries me.
‘I will take our Luna to be fed and tended to immediately,’ he says.
‘I will settle the villagers in amongst you,’ Troy replies.
The warrior carries me into a hut and places me on a makeshift bed. There is another man in the hut.
‘Take your time sitting up, Luna,’ he says.
I wait for my eyes to focus and look around. The man takes a chair and sits next to me. He passes me a cup of water.
It’s nice and cold. I drink it down.
‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, Luna. I’m Nelson,’ he says.
‘Thank you for the water, Nelson, but I must find Damon,’ I say, trying to stand up.
‘Alpha isn’t here yet, Luna,’ he says, looking away.
‘Where is he?’ I say with worry.
‘Last I heard, he was in Shadowguard village following behind King Fenris’ army, so I assume he would be near Wellmore or the forest by now. You should stay and rest here till he arrives back,’ he says.
The army could be entering through the border at any moment. I will be of no help resting in this hut.
‘Nelson, please just find someone to remove these iron cuffs from me,’ I command.
He mind-links another for assistance.
‘I have someone on their way to remove those for you, Luna.’
He brings me a plate of food, and I happily demolish it all down. Not wanting to wait any longer, I walk out of the tent and see thousands of pack warriors. Although it’s a large army of warriors, it only seems to be half the amount or less compared to King Fenris’ army.
Everyone begins to bow when they notice me, and they are in utter awe at my beauty and violet eyes.
A warrior approaches me and kneels in front of me.
‘My Luna, my Queen, I have come to remove the iron cuffs from your wrists, and I want you to know what an honour it is to finally meet you,’ he says.
I smile at his genuine heartfelt words.
I follow his lead, and he gestures for me to sit in the chair. After a few moments, he removes the iron cuffs the moment they are gone, I summon flame in one hand and a sphere of water in the other.
The warriors have never seen anything like this before.
‘Luna, how is this possible? What are you? You have no wolf?’ A warrior says.
I approach him with a smile.
‘Did Damon, my mate, forget to tell you all that your Luna and Queen is a primal sprite?’ I smile.
They all look at each other in shock?
‘Sprites are just a fairy tale, Luna, just like witches, orcs,’ and vampires,’ he says.
Oh, this is going to be fun.
I run forward towards the pack warriors. They begin to part aside as I run past them. I stop, close my eyes, and focus.
The weather is hot, and it’s very dry out here. So I decide to make it rain. I smirk to myself and open my eyes. A massive sphere of water is high up in the sky above us.
Everyone is mesmerised, I clap my hands together once, and it bursts into a myriad of raindrops that fall upon us. I twirl in a circle and embrace every raindrop that lands on me. Just as I did the day, I first learnt how to do this. The warriors all cheer and chuckle at what they are witnessing. Troy approaches with a smile.
‘I see you are feeling better?’ He says.
I nod and look back to the warriors basking in the rain.
‘Luna, I’m going to mind link Alpha. I thought you might want to be here so I can pass any messages onto him for you?’ He offers.
‘I would like that, Troy.’ I say, beaming.
