Chapter 87

Aurora

When the panic subsides, Jaxson and I move slowly, trying to keep the pups quiet enough to inspect the living room first. Snowflake is startled and froze upright, worried as she looks out the front window. I follow her gaze, the morning simple and bright and warm as it pours into our small, quaint hut.

Jaxson clings to one pup, while I juggle the other two. He gives me a daring look of caution.

Stay close but stay behind me.

I give him an approving nod, not stupid enough to face anything when I’ve got a perfectly capable, super strong Alpha with me. He and I both leave the hut and make our way to the beach, turning in every direction to see everything seems rather calm outside, like nothing happened at all. Everything except for a tall stack of black smoke in the distance, trailing into the sky.

“Aurora!” My mother finds me first, thankfully taking Dawn from my grasp, clinging to the little pup. My father is next, taking Lily from Jaxson and then taking the young male pup from me. “Go, go,” my mother hums, as though giving us permission to leave the pups in good hands.

My parents and pups flee inside without a moment to spare and Jaxson watches me, as if I am to return inside with them, but the smell of the fresh fire has me far too curious. I have vested interest in this so far. Jaxson and I both sprint through the woods, nearing the smell of burning pine and the undergrowth of the woods.

I recognize Paul and Row’s wolves trailing beside us, a short orange wolf not far behind them, Ann. We all approach the fire together, staring into a hidden trench in the woods. Jaxson holds an arm out for me to ram into, keeping me from falling straight into the ditch. We all stare down at the fire, confused as the fire seems to emanate from a carriage.

Jaxson peers up, staring through the woods to spot a set of wheel marks where this carriage obviously lost control for some reason and managed to crumble into a flaming ball of splinters down into the hidden split in the ground.

“It’s a royal carriage,” Jaxson sighs, looking down to the hopeless fire below. “It will die out but—Aurora, do you smell that?”

I wince. “Smells like fire.”

He shakes his head, cocking his head as he stops to listen, to inhale deeper. “Rogues.”

“Rogues,” I breathe, petrified. “And—and Royal pack carriages, Jaxson, this doesn’t make sense.”

He looks to Paul and Row. “Go round up the pack warriors of Dawn. Then help then set up a boundary around the pack, just incase of attack.” He turns to Ann, her head lowered in respect to her new Alpha. “Ann, do us a favor and protect our hut. Aurora’s parents are with the pups.”

She bolts off, needing not a secondary command to explain her role.

Jaxson looks to me next, my heart pounding in fear. “Are you ready, sweetheart?”

I only nod, both of us finally shifting, stretching out our limbs and showing our sharp, prepared teeth for battle. His wolf is stark in darkness, bleak and black, while my wolf is a slight and snowy creature, trembling in fear and in adrenaline.

Both of us pounce over the burning crevice, racing back through the woods to trace the path of this royal carriage before it met it’s fiery demise. My fur tingles in warmth, and a little bit in anticipation of what waits further into the woods.

We cross through the tracks where they went from straight on the path to a rather uncontrolled manner. The stench of royals overwhelm me, I’d know them anywhere, but there is also the hint of rogue blood that intertwines through the same path. Jaxson leaps off to the side, onto a hill that overlooks a rather loud ruckus below. I join him, seeing royal carriages trampled in a battle that overtakes Royal pack warriors below.

Jaxson storms down the hill, toward Alpha king Kennedy, his wolf so hard to miss in the fight. I dare to follow, like my mate said, but I don’t get the chance to catch up to him. Hefty paws swipe at me from behind, a rogue clawing into my hip and throwing me down the vast hillside.

I manage to catch my balance near the bottom of the hill, surrounded by rogues and royals alike. I feel too overwhelmed, worried I won’t be able to fight any of them off and I’ll be subject to the death at the hands of either group; frankly, even as a Luna, the royals couldn’t care any less if they scratched my eyes out, I’m still commoner filth to them. And rogues, per-usual, hate authority in any semblance of the word—meaning Luna’s left defenseless are easy targets.

I bite back a few interested wolves, nearing me with every intent to rip me to shreds. I land a few blowing bites, spotting a familiar wolf parade through the crowd and trampling over two rouges in the process. Luke stands beside me, towering over me with his fierce wolf, while Jaxson bites a few strays off of his father who seems to fight with a bloody limp.

I don’t have time to process what is happening, or why, and Luke and I team together long enough to chase off a few rogues in fear, snapping a bite into several others who are brave enough to stick around. Warriors of the Royal pack soon overtake the pack of rogues and thankfully we earn the strength back in this fight.

Rogues who aren’t killed are chased off out of sight. That’s when the attention turns to the wounded king, his rejected Alpha son, and the two commoners who joined into this fight without thinking about the repercussions. Royal wolves surround Luke and I suddenly, baring their teeth, and we both shift back, kneeling and pumping with spiked pulses.

I bow my head in shame, and mostly petrified with fear.

“Enough!” Jaxson barks, storming through the royal wolves who act as though they hadn’t seen us fighting of rogues on their behalf. He grabs for me, pulling me to my shaky legs and pushing my chest to his, as though to hide from the sight of the onlooking royals. I blush. Jaxson is obviously furious. “She dares to help you all and this is how you repay a Luna’s kindness?!”

“Stand down, all of you!” the king’s voice booms through the woods.

At last, the royals all disperse. I recognize the king, shuffling myself behind Jaxson, unsure how he feels about everything that has happened since I last saw him. I know he was told I was dead, but I think by his sudden appearance near our new pack lands now means he is well aware that Jaxson and I have made our peace by rejecting the royal title.

I hope deeply that he hasn’t come to convince Jaxson to take us back to the Royal pack.

“Son,” he breathes, looking his son up and down like it’s been years. He glances at me, a sincere smile forced onto his aged lips. His hair has since grayed out completely, like smoke, and it’s hard to miss how exhausted he has grown to look in our lapse of time apart. “Aurora Hunter. I can’t express how great it is to see you.”

Luke nudges my side, Jaxson giving him a short, stern nod, as though giving him permission to leave or to thank him, perhaps both. We all watch Luke trail off in his wolf form until we finally are alone—just the King, his Alpha son and the Luna mother to his pups.

“We have so much to catch up on, don’t we?”