Moon Bound

Judah

“I’m afraid that everything that can be done has already been done.”

I watched in horror as the best doctor that I know told me that there wasn’t anything she could do to help Alpha Wren. The same doctor that I have witnessed take wolves that were knocking on death’s door and had them ready to go back into battle within a week.

“Jade there has to be something that you can do.” I insisted.

This can’t be the one thing she can’t fix. There has to be something, anything.

“I’ve never seen this kind of damage done to a wolf before, let alone an alpha. Every three hours he has a seizure, and they seem to be getting longer and worse. Other than that he is stable, so we need to get Scarlet to assess what kind of magic that was used so I don’t make his condition worse.”

I nodded my head before placing my hand on Alpha Wren’s shoulder. “I need to go check on Scarlet’s progress and see if she has anything right now.”

The magic that these witches used is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Unlike anyone has ever seen before. Whatever it is these witches have, it is more powerful than anything that they have had before, and that makes them dangerous to us all.

I turn to Cole. “Go check on the warriors and see if they need extra medical attention.”

He bowed before silently walking out of the room quickly.

“I’ll go with him, you know how stubborn wolves can be when they are in desperate need of help.” Jade bowed before leaving the room as well.

I gave Wren my full attention, hearing the machine beep beside me was annoying, but it let me know that he was still fighting to live. Like a true alpha.

I’ve never felt as powerless as I do right now at this moment. A sneak attack and they somehow managed to get magic strong enough to take down an alpha.

Even though the attack has left Alpha Wren’s pack in shambles, I fear that this is only a small taste of what these witches are capable of.

We can’t let this go on for a moment longer.

I am sure the next attack that they carry out will be a fatal blow to any of the packs.

After fifteen minutes of sitting with Wren, I started to get restless.

I leave the room and walk up to one of the nurse’s stations. “Have someone keep an eye on Alpha Wren at times, make sure his seizures are monitored,” I demanded.

The nurse nods, before walking in the direction of Wren’s room.

I leave the hospital wing to go find Scarlet.

I pass by some of the pack members as I head towards the exit of the pack house. They all bow as I walk by showing me their respect, but I don’t have time to acknowledge them right now.

I find Scarlet outside at the edge of the pack’s lands sitting crisscrossed on the ground.

I can only pray to the moon goddess that this type of magic is familiar to her.

“Have you found anything?” I asked once I reached her.

She’s staring very intently at a leaf, and for a moment I think she didn’t hear me.

“I have never in my life seen any type of magic like this before, and I’ve seen everything.” She turned to me and then bowed her head slightly. “Look at this leaf, it just looks like it’s been burned a little, but I can sense the magic coming off of it. I haven’t felt anything like this before, but I know it’s dark magic. It is rolling off of it in waves.” She said as she held it up.

She placed her finger on a scorched part of the leaf and a burn immediately appeared on her finger. She hissed as she dropped it and began to shake her hand in an attempt to ease her burn.

“Let me see your hand,” I said as I snatched her left hand to observe her finger. It looked like a second-degree burn on her finger.

She rolled her eyes. “Nothing that hasn’t happened before with magic, but still this is foreign to me. I need to go to one of the doctors and then I’ll come back here to try and figure out what kind of magic this is. With gloves on.”

“Go get it checked out, and don’t touch anything without gloves.”

“Whatever magic they used is very dangerous and I am worried for us all.” She said while shaking her head.

She walked away leaving the leaf that she was observing behind on the ground.

When I looked up to the woods that surrounded the pack I noticed that the trees were in the same state that the leaf is in.

Burned and damaged.

This is going to be a bigger problem than I anticipated.

If Scarlet says that she’s worried for all of us, then we all need to be worried.

I hear footsteps behind me and I turn to see the pack’s beta, John walking up to me.

“What the hell happened?” I asked him as I turned to start walking the perimeter of the pack to assess the rest of the damage.

“We have five wolves on patrol at all times, we only have one from the five that were on patrol during the attack with us right now, he should be able to give you an account of what he saw. I’ve been wary about sending out search parties after all that has happened. As you know they ambushed us, but even if they didn’t catch us off guard there wouldn’t have been anything that would have been able to prepare us for this attack.” He explained.

His explanation is all over the place, but I can’t blame him.

So many things have happened in these past few hours, and I am not even sure how to piece it all together.

Not even five minutes into our walk I could see all the devastation that happened to the edge of the pack, individual family homes that looked like they were either burnt to a crisp or hit by a tornado.

“How many lives?” I asked even though I was sure that I didn’t want the answer.

He signs deeply, “We aren’t sure, but these witches. They were feeding on the fallen wolves’ blood.” He let out a growl. “Mostly pups.”

I felt a growl building in my throat as my wolf demanded retribution. I crack my knuckles in an attempt to release tension from my body, but it doesn’t work.

As we kept walking I couldn’t help but notice all the trees that were burned, I stopped walking and John followed. I noticed a leaf like the one Scarlet had been observing.

I picked up the leaf, making sure I didn’t touch the burnt edges, and held it up for him to see.

“My pack’s witch Scarlet was studying a leaf like this one before you came to me, and she said that the magic in the leaf was very dark, it burned her.”

John’s eyes widened immediately. “Don’t touch the burned part of that leaf! I thought that someone in the pack would have warned you all!” He exclaimed.

I dropped the leaf even though I didn’t like his tone, “Warned us about what?”

“The burn-”

He was cut off by Jade’s hysterical crying and calling for me as she ran towards us “Alpha King, please! I don’t know what to do. It’s Scarlet! Scarlet needs help!” She cried out.

She collapses in front of us, but I catch her before she hits the ground. “Tell me what happened,” I said as I helped her stand upright.

“S-she came to me about a b-burn and-” She cut herself off with all of her crying again and almost fell over and this time John helped her up.

“Take us to her, yeah?” He asked her softly.

She immediately nodded, pointed to the direction of the pack house, and started speed walking in that direction. She unsuccessfully held in her sobs as she led us to the medical wing.

“When she came to us, she told us that she had a second-degree burn on her pointer finger on her left hand, but when I looked there wasn’t anything there. I told her just to sit with me for a few minutes while I checked her vitals, then she passed out. A few moments later she started having seizures.” One of the nurses explained to us when we reached the hospital wing.

I nodded along as one of the pack nurses recounted to me what happened.

“How long was the seizure?” John asked.

“About fifteen seconds.”

“Is that the same amount of time Wren’s started at?” I asked.

“No, his started at a minute,” John answered.

Jade stepped into the room, and it seemed that she had composed herself. “Well, the common denominator with Alpha Wren and Scarlet is that they both came into contact with burned parts of the leaves and trees.”

The nurse who was just speaking to us turns to Jade. “That is true, but why did Alpha Wren’s seizure start at a minute, and Scarlet’s only fifteen seconds?”

“ I spoke to some of the pack warriors, and they said that Alpha Wren ran into the forest to defend the pack against the witches that were attacking. A lot of the trees are scorched like the leaves so I am sure that he came into contact with it more. That would explain why he is in the condition that he is in.” Another nurse said.

“Good work.” I compliment.

She beamed under my praise before stepping away.

I turn to Jade. “That still doesn’t explain why Alpha Wren isn’t healing like he should be.”

“I know,” Jade responded before her eyes downcast to her feet. “Since Scarlet only came into contact with a small amount I am hoping that she wakes soon. When she does, we can ask her about it, and maybe she can look into the reason why it caused them both to react to it like that.”

“The warriors came into contact with it as well, yes?” I asked John.

“Yes, while they aren’t currently experiencing seizures they aren’t responding. We are confident that they will be up within a day or two. They aren’t healing as fast as they usually do, but it’s not as slow as Alpha Wren.”

“You need to warn the pack to stay away from the burned-down houses as well, there’s no way to tell the difference between this magic they used, and if something was burned down by a regular fire.”

He nodded.

I could tell how his eyes clouded that he was mind-linking his pack, no doubt giving them the information that I had just given him.

“On top of doing that, I need to get wolves to stand guard the areas with the burns. These young wolves sometimes like to see how far they can bend the rules for fun.” He huffed before exiting the room.

He is right, a pack without a visible leader can make things complicated.

Without a visible authority figure things can quickly descend into chaos.

Another pack nurse walks into the room. “I am thinking that since Scarlet is a witch it is going to take her a few days to fully recover. Her healing process isn’t as fast as wolves.” She explained as she placed her clipboard down on a table.

“We don’t have a few days. I need her to figure out what kind of magic is being used so we can figure out a way to combat it!” I exclaimed.

Everyone in the room flinched, but I couldn’t find it in myself to care. This is a matter of life and death for everyone involved.

All I can think about is Beta John telling me that the witches were drinking the fallen wolves’ blood.

It doesn’t make any sense.

“This is beyond my realm, if I attempt to heal Alpha Wren or Scarlet, or whoever knows how many warriors I can end up doing more damage than good. We can’t afford for that to happen.” Jade responded.

I sighed.

“I understand.”

I turned back to the pack nurses that are observing Scarlet. “One of you show me where the warriors are located.”

I silently followed the pack nurse to the area that is currently holding the warriors.

“I think that they will wake up in a few days. The burns that they had have healed for the most part, but they still have bruises and cuts from the attack that are healing very slowly.” She explained as she stopped walking in front of one of the doors. “The warriors are all on this side of the pack wing.”

I take a deep breath, the air filling my lungs slowly calming the anger that has been brewing. “Do you think that this? Whatever it is, is what’s stopping the wolves from healing?” I asked.

“Maybe? but at the same time, the burn marks healed.” She answered.

Yes, this is going to be a bigger problem than I anticipated.