LUNA ASTERBELLE'S POV
Jerome left the Dark Shadow Clan's premises under my supervision, as he was forced to go to the Crimson Moon Pack to communicate with them and hopefully gain their trust. Nero and Zen were still there, so I'm sure that they would assist him along the way. I can't help but admire Jerome, even if I can't see him do it personally. It's such an impressive feat that he wanted to take Shin's troops as his own, because I haven't seen him have a soft side for all the decades I spent with him during our childhood years.
I haven't heard anything from him yet. He told me before he went there that he'd mind-link with me once everything's settled.
"Luna, aren't you going to eat your breakfast yet? Jerome might not come home today as well," Mrs. Asterbelle mumbled, the tone of her voice hinting at concern. "If they insist on defying Jerome, he'd have no other choice than to get rid of them..." she added.
Mom knew Jerome's personality since his days in the orphanage. She probably believes that his attitude hasn't really altered and that he's just pretending to be an affable person.
I turned around to look at her. I didn't notice that she was carrying the tray where my meal was served on golden plates and bowls. I claimed it from her and placed it above the table beside my bed.
"Thanks for this, but I currently have no appetite. I can't eat without determining if Jerome's safe and sound over there," I sincerely said.
Mrs. Asterbelle sat beside me on the bed as she carefully tapped my back and gently stroked it. "Jerome would be fine. He killed that pack's alpha. That only proves how much power he holds," she whispered.
She has a point.
Jerome wouldn't allow himself to lose to those warriors, even if it meant that he would need to sacrifice half of his entire lifespan.
"Luna?"
I stood up from my seat the exact moment that I heard Jerome's voice in my head. "What happened there?" I immediately asked.
"They agreed to team up with us in the meantime. If they see that we're worthy to be their next leader, they swore to serve us for the rest of their lives," Jerome proudly answered through our mind-link. "I'll be coming over with Nero and the butler," he said before disconnecting.
Jerome mentioned that he threatened those warriors that they'd suffer worse than how he tortured Shin before he died if they didn't obey him. Even if it was a coercive decision from Jerome, I believe that those wolves wouldn't carelessly choose to betray him since they also treasure their own lives.
They were just afraid of the fact that they had to work alongside vampires, who have been the lifelong rivals of the werewolves in Grimstone, since a vampire's blood is poisonous to wolves.
I finished all of my food. I also tidied the room that I used and cleaned everything from the interior of the mansion, which made the surroundings sparkle to the point that our reflections were seen through the ground.
A few minutes were all it took for those three to arrive. The butler waved at me when our eyes met, then went near me.
"Your blood sample has successfully been delivered to our pack doctors. They would be experimenting on it today, and the entire process would take about two weeks to finish. Whether it can serve as a vaccine for the disease or not would depend on how your blood would react to the added chemicals," he explained, which almost made me doze off in the middle of his statement.
I smiled at him, which was soon followed by an awkward laugh while I scratched the back of my head. "I see..."
Nero didn't talk to me; he probably went to find Yuki. If only I didn't know that they were siblings, I would have assumed that they were mates.
"After five minutes, we'll launch a surprise attack on the Blood Moon Pack. Their alpha wouldn't expect that we'd go there even if it's not midnight yet," Jerome said.
Zen told us that he'd go with their warriors, so that at least someone they were familiar with would guide them.
A minute before our scheduled plan, we were already inside the enemy's pack house. As usual, no one else aside from Brian welcomed us at the entrance.
Yana was really taken hostage by my adoptive father.
"Set her free. We're now here as per your humble request, Brian." I coldly ordered him, knowing damn well that he wouldn't abide by what I said.
Instead of letting her go, he locked her neck up with his muscular arm. Yana was evidently struggling in her attempt to escape from his grasp, as she was holding his arm, which made her knuckles visible.
"It's useless. I won't release her unless one or all of you die," Brian responded.
Jerome stepped forward with the intention of striking the alpha, but I held him back. "You might get Yana involved; Brian might use her as a shield so that he could defend himself and at the same time torture us through Yana's cry for mercy," I muttered.
"Don't you dare hurt my sister, Jerome. I don't care if you're Luna's mate; I won't turn a blind eye," Yve seriously said to him.
"How about we get into positions and attack simultaneously?" Nero suggested, and Yuki nodded twice to support her brother's idea.
I turned down the beta's idea, saying, "That would be too risky as well. Brian has a quick reaction time; it's impossible for him not to block our attacks even if we do as you say."
Brian ran out of patience as he asked all his men to strike us behind, which we managed to survive. It would be crucial to attain a lot of damage from mere warriors.
My wolf was yearning to shift with me again, but I didn't want to. As long as I can still stand on my own two feet, I won't unleash her at all. Nevertheless, I still couldn't prevent myself from stealing my pistol from Yve's grip. Aiming it directly at Brian's forehead to target his brain, I pulled the trigger.
As I expected, Brian really made use of Yana as his defensive item. Fortunately, I only scraped a small portion from her left forearm, which I guess was part of Brian's plan.
"Yana!" Yve screamed out her sister's name when she started to bleed due to the gunshot. "What have you done?" she asked me with dismay in her facial expressions.
I couldn't speak. I kept my whole attention focused on the way Yana's tears seemed to be fake. There were tears coming out of Yana's eyes, and yet there were no signs that she was in pain.
Was Yana born numb, or was she just holding her emotions in so that Yve wouldn't worry that much about her?
"Don't worry, Yve; she's not injured," I uttered before I returned the gun to her. "Those tears are obviously fake. They might have been planted there since before we arrived. Brian is trying to deceive us with her fake tears," I confidently told her my inference.
"Liar. You're just trying to escape through this, aren't you?" Yve replied with a doubtful voice. "How can I not worry when she's bleeding exactly where you shot her?"
I bit my lower lip as deep as I could when I started to question my own thoughts.