Shadows of the Past

Shadows of the Past


We arrived at the Oceanside Packhouse, greeted by a severe-looking woman standing outside with her hands on her hips, glaring at the car. Her dark black hair was pulled to the top of her head in a high knot, and baby hairs curled around her forehead perfectly. She looked like a force to be reckoned with.

As Markus stepped out, he smirked at the woman before reaching into the car to drag me out to him. “Morghan, I didn’t expect you to be the first in line to greet your new Luna.” His hand dug into my arm, a hiss of pain slipping through my teeth.

The woman’s eyes snapped to mine before looking back at Markus. “You know damn well that’s not what I’m standing out here for, Markus. You’ve lost your damned mind if you think we will keep standing aside while you doom the pack the way you have been.”

“Alpha Markus,” Markus growled to her. “You will address me properly, Morghan.”

“I will address you as my Alpha when you start acting like him again,” Morghan growled, her teeth peeled back in disgust. “If it wasn’t for your scent, I would swear you aren’t the same man at all.”

“Morghan, that’s enough.” Thompson stepped between Markus and the she-wolf, turning anxious eyes to me. “Greet the new Luna and tell the others to prepare a feast for tonight; we celebrate in her honor.”

Morghan glared at Thompson, turning to the door and storming inside. “All hail, his majesty!” she yelled out behind her. “And his stolen bride!”

Markus growled, pulling me to follow him into the packhouse. Pack members were already stepping into the hall and watching us with curiosity. A few whispered, quickly disappearing with anxious glances in my direction, Nyte’s name fluttering in the air within their whispers. From the looks in their eyes and the fearful whispers, I could tell they knew who I was. They knew the truth, so why was their Alpha so adamant that I was his to claim?

“I present to you your new Luna!” Markus announced as he entered the packhouse, smiling at those still present. “I expect the feast to be ready as soon as possible. We shall celebrate our new Luna and the protection she will provide us from here on!” He looked at me. “You should set the perimeter around the compound, like they do in the Rigel Pack.”

“I don’t know what you think I’m capable of, but the Rigel Pack’s witches are an entire coven. I’m only one witch.”

Markus frowned. “You are Luna, and it’s your job to protect this pack. Now protect it!”

Something in his eyes looked detached, a tick in his cheek showing the growing rage under his fury. I felt his hand twitch around my arm, tightening as his fingers dug into my skin. “Okay, okay. I will protect the packhouse. I can do that.” I lied.

My powers were focused on protecting my baby, but he didn’t need to know that. I didn’t have enough energy to protect the entire packhouse, but he wouldn’t know the difference. Besides, something told me the only thing he needed protection from right now was Nyte, and I wasn’t about to prevent my true mate from getting to me.

“Good girl,” Markus purred, pushing a strand of my hair behind my ear. It took all I had not to flinch away, swallowing the disgust as it rose in my throat. “Take her upstairs to the Luna rooms.”

Markus shoved me into Thompson’s arms, the Beta nodding at the order and turning me toward a large staircase, reminiscent of the Coronado Packhouse back in Point Loma. As I ascended the stairs, I looked down at the pack, their gazes following me as I reached the top. Their stares broke from me as Markus walked to them, an uneasiness settling in their postures as they looked at their Alpha.

“What happened to him?” I asked Thompson as we approached another set of stairs leading to a third floor.

“That’s not your concern,” he growled at me.

“He's claiming me as his Luna, so I think I should know what I’m getting dragged into,” I insisted.

“We both know you aren’t his mate,” Thompson growled at me, pushing open the door at the top of the stairs and shoving me into the room. “Just play along until Nyte gets here for you. I’m unsure when that will be, but I doubt he will stay away for long. Until then, mind your own business.”

The door slammed shut behind me, followed by a slight click, telling me the door had been locked. To keep me in or to keep Markus out, that was the question. It was more than clear that he was the only one who thought I was his mate. The rest of the pack knew better.

What the hell is wrong with him?

I looked around the room, taking in the clear remodel that had recently been done. It was an attic room, the ceilings arched with the roof above. A beautiful vanity sat next to the large circular window overlooking the beach through tinted glass. Between the vanity and me stood an antique iron bed, a quilted comforter folded down in a welcoming gesture.

Exhaustion settled over me at the sight of the bed, my feet moving before I even gave them the order. I fell onto the soft mattress with a sigh, my eyes drifting closed, but just as a void of darkness greeted me, a flash of light chased away the dark around me, fading into a vision of a forest. The forest shifted before my eyes, creeks and rivers moving by in a blur before settling over rocks and caves. Inside the caves, the sounds of children crying echoed off the walls. I moved closer to the caves, looking inside the darkness.

My heart stuttered at the sounds coming up through the darkness of women consoling their weeping children and men screaming in agony after the sound of leather cracking. I ventured deeper into the cave, my hands tracing the side of the cave to keep my balance as I moved deeper into the cool, dark earth.

“Shift!” A snarled voice yelled, another crack of a whip piercing through the cave. A light began to shine at the curve of the tunnel, my pace slowing as I approached.

I pressed my body to the side of the cave, looking around the corner; a gasp barely held back as I saw the rows of cages strewn within the cavern. Women and children huddled together in large pens, separated by bars of silver. I watched as many of the women pressed their bodies against the bars, reaching over to the crying children on the other side, their flesh sizzling beneath the pure metal.

A domed cage loomed in the center of the cavern, men in both human and wolf forms chained to the ground within. Standing over them, holding silver-tipped whips, vampires paced back and forth. They yelled at the men to shift repeatedly, the werewolves panting in exhaustion from the energy of changing back and forth between the two forms. I covered my mouth at the sight of their blood pooling beneath them, their skin blistering under the silver cuffs and collars.

Another sound stole my attention from the horrors of the cavern, and my feet began moving of their own accord. The sound was far more familiar, a sizzle telling me that magic was being used nearby. The pull led me deeper into the cave system, passing more caverns with cages and the sounds of whips and cries. The tunnel opened wider, lights of flickering lanterns hanging from the walls and ceilings, the sound of a woman’s chants surrounding me with the taste of magic. I stepped out of the tunnel, the light of the moon filling the space from a large crater in the earth. I looked around the room, like a hidden oasis within the forest, with trees stretching their boughs over the opening above a waterfall filling a pool at the center of the room.

The water pulled me to its edge, but my feet didn’t move this time. I stayed put, my eyes moving past the pool of sparkling water to the other side.

“How many packs do we have so far?” a raspy voice asked just as he came into the moon's light.

I nearly stumbled back, hit with the power rolling off of him; the blood-red eyes were somehow seeing right through me, yet seeing me all at once. Even in this vision, I could feel the power he held, the energy that only an Ancient being who had witnessed the dawn of time could hold.

Ancients were rare. Most are believed to have died centuries ago, bored by the long life of a vampire. Yet, here, one stood, somewhere deep in the forests nearby, holding the missing werewolves enslaved. As awful as it was, it also made sense. It was the way of life in the beginning. The belief is that witches created both werewolves and vampires with spells and curses. Werewolves quickly were seen as of a lesser race than the vampires, the bloodsucking creatures taking it upon themselves to tame the werewolves as humans did to dogs. It hadn’t been until the first werewolf king came to be that the slave trade of werewolves had ended. Vampires couldn’t hold their own against a werewolf king.

A werewolf king like Nyte.

What were the odds that an Ancient was behind all this and that Nyte was here now with the power and strength of a werewolf king? The only creature capable of standing up against the ancient vampire lord.

“We are up to thirty,” a softer voice answered, her long black hair curling down her back.

She was the source of the magic I was feeling. Dark veins spidering along her paled skin matched the dark aura that surrounded her. The waves of magic rolling around her revealed her magic use, her lips moving in a soft chant as her eyes closed, looking up into the night sky above.

“Soon, my magic will be strong enough that even the werewolf king will not be able to sense us. Then you can strike, My Lord.” There was a softer tone in her voice as she addressed him, her body leaning toward the vampire lord as though drawn to him.

The water of the pool began to sparkle with her spell, and my feet moved forward before I realized what I was doing. I watched as the dark witch also moved to the pool, a soft smile on her blackened lips. Her eyes remained focused on the water, dark lashes blocking them from my sight.

At the pool’s edge, I looked down, watching the ripples move from the waterfall, cool splashes of water bouncing off the surface to my bare feet. An image began to take shape, showing a vision of more wolves being ripped from their homes, swirls of magic covering their tracks as faceless vampires overpowered them. They had been enhanced with magic, even the strongest werewolves not standing a chance against the horde of vampires invading their pack home.

The image shifted again, the witch letting out a small gasp as she watched. An image of Nyte appeared before us, and his lips peeled back in a snarl to reveal partially shifted teeth. He was fighting the Ancient and overpowering him with the packs at his back, holding back the hordes of vampires attempting to help their lord. The ripples moved again, showing me and the witch, our magic flashing between us in a fight.

When the water rippled again, it showed another version of the fight. Nyte alone, the vampires and witches stopping him before he ever reached the Ancient. I watched his life end in a matter of moments, only for the image to shift back to the first, watching him kill the vampire lord, and the packs call out in praise to him as their Alpha and me as their Luna. As we raised our hands in victory, I saw the flash of a pendulum dangling from our joined hands. The scrying tool was somehow familiar to me, though I couldn’t recall where I knew it from.

I understood then precisely what had to be done. The paths laid out to me and the dark witch by the fates themselves. Ever a balance, she would know just as much as I did what had to be done. I also knew how it was that I would find this cave and the forest where it hid, although I wasn’t sure the dark witch would understand that part of the message.

I looked away from the visions in the pool, recognizing what must be done. As I did, my eyes met the witch’s pools of black, staring right back at me with a smile that would haunt me for the rest of my days. My eyes widened as they looked back into hers. She shouldn’t be able to see me. This was a vision. I wasn’t really here; I was safe in the Oceanside Packhouse. And yet a chill ran down my spine as she stared back at me, her smile holding no joy, only pain and cruelty.