BLUE MOON.

chapter one.

70th day of sunshine.

morning.

FOX, Kenai Peninsula Pack.

"FOX!"

"Ahhh, m'dear Tristan! How lovely to see you! My, my, I love your new hair." Tilting my head and chewing on the tip of one of my well-manicured fingernails, I gave what I knew was one of my most charming smiles. "What brings you here on this fine morn–"

"I'm going to fuckin' KILL YOU!"

"Fabulous!" A shiver ran up my spine as he started to charge at me, looking far from intimidating with that hot-pink hair of his. Looks like Athena really did a number on him...

His vibrating body would have been a blur to human eyes, but I could see him coming with perfect clarity. Part of me was indignant, calling for me to defend myself and say I had nothing to do with Athena's latest prank, that their little feud was between them and not me. Not that there was a feud... she just liked pranking her son for whatever reason. That same part ordered me to pull rank and stop him in his tracks with an Order. The rest of me, the non-Pack me, told that other part of me to fuck off and let me have some fun.

He burst from his human skin, tan-red fur exploding from what very well may have been nowhere, muscles expanding and contorting, his face elongating and going from human to canid in a split-second. My self-preservation instincts kicked in, I shed my human form effortlessly, landing on four paws to face him. We moved at incredible speed, but even the briefest of seconds was stretched into a longer span of time, adrenaline making every detail so very clear. A line of drool stretching from canine to canine when he curled his lip in a snarl, a clump of dirt being ripped from the ground as he sprang into the air to try and tackle me down.

Ah, lowly Kappa, you've made a mistake. I taunted him through our mind-link, scrunching my neck and tucking my chin down to protect my throat before tacking advantage of his exposed underbelly. While rolling away, I raised bared-teeth skyward, slicing into the tender flesh of his flank and jerking out of the way as he went crashing into the grass, inches away from the tip of my tail. A steady stream of expletives, foul and angry, ripped through our joined minds, while I 'silently' cackled away.

Unfortunately for me and my thirst for a good fight, he quickly realized that I had not been behind the prank that had turned his human hair pink. Instantly apologetic, he sunk down to his belly and crawled over to me, much to my disappointment.

So sorry so sorry so sorry so sorry so sorry! Delta Delta Delta Sorry Sorry I am sorry Delta Delta Delta I was wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong – Thoughts were so repetitive, rarely clear, especially in times of great emotion. I growled, trying to coax him back into a fighting mood.

C'mon Tristan! Humor me. Let's spar, pretty boy. He was unbothered, rolling over to expose his belly; the gashes I had given him were just about healed, a few droplets of blood being all that remained. Your mom's ugly.

She's your aunt. He was calming down now, rolling over again, flat against the grass, peering up at me with gray eyes that surely mirrored my own in color. Who knew that Moonchild eyes were such a dominant gene? All it took was a hint of Werewolf blood and poof, all your babies' eyes will mirror the moon's face, no assembly required. All of us in the Pack had them.

So? She's ugly.

I resent that! A cheery voice, totally not offended, floated through our minds as my Aunt Athena shifted forms.

Pfft. You're absolutely gorgeous, Auntie.

Now you say that, you suck up.

As if. I bounded over on springy feet to the cream female who was lounging in the shade of a tree. What brings you to the role of the 4-legged?

At least I have the decency to shed my clothes before I shed my skin. It struck me that this would sound terribly weird if we were only in the company of plain-Jane humans. And it's none of your business. Of course, you can't hide anything from your Pack, our pack, the Pack. Nikolai was rejecting her advances again, she was hurt that he couldn't even pretend to have a 100%-physical relationship.

Mom, you're not his imprint. Sympathy wasn't one of Tristan's strong suits. The relatively small female was a big fluffball of rage now, flying at the unsuspecting Tristan, jaws outstretched.

Fighting was common, you had to test the bonds to strengthen them. I hindered them none as they growled and rolled about, all teeth and snarls, but I watched to make sure it didn't turn deadly. Pack did not kill Pack.

That thought shook Athena out of her anger, made her stalk back to her tree, tail stiff in the air (never higher than my own). Tristan stood up only to sit down again, disoriented to the extreme.

Take a chill pill, Mother. I can feel your love surrounding me. I don't need to hear about your not-quite sex life, either. Ugh! With that, he concentrated on relinquishing his fur, relaxed his muscles and shed his wolf skin. Unbothered by nudity, I strode, not cautiously in the slightest, over to Athena.

Athena.

Fox.

I don't think you really want to be the Alpha's bitch. She winced at the term, so affected by it that I winced, too. You're better than that. You'll find someone who's right for you... it's not fair.

Well, of course it's not! I mean, after everything I've –

I meant for him. Surprise, from her. And to yourself, of course. But if he imprints... what happens to you? A whine from her, followed by horribly painful visions of potential hearbtreak. I laid down, neatly resting my chin on my front paws. See? What happens to him? Niko's a good guy. He'd feel like shit for you.

But he's hot.

I barked out a laugh. There are plenty of hot hu–

–but they're so fragile!

You dirty dog.

Damn straight. But, anyway, he wouldn't feel jack shit, he'd be imprinted. That means everything will be perfect.

Not necessarily.

Absolutely perfect. For him. Not me.

Hence why you should not bang him.

Fox, this is out of character... A wolfy smile pulled the corners of my lips up.

I know.

Usually you're tellin' me to go get 'im!

Not this 'im.

Apparently.

I let my tongue loll out of the side of my mouth, turning my head as I heard someone leaving the House, the scent of one of the Gammas wafting toward me. Damon.

Ooh la la?

Not at all. Damon was too reserved, too touchy, too moral for my lack of prudishness.

That sounds like a challenge.

A worthy one. But not a good one. It'd be the same sitch as with you and Nikolai, not that there is, or ever will be, I ignored her flinch and hurt, a you and Nikolai.

Mmhm.

Well... I should go.

For...?

Iunno.

Come laze with me. We can be lazy beasts.

Lazy beasts lazing? Shocking.

I know, right? Strange, how there were centuries between us, age-wise, and we were so much alike. Or there was the illusion of similarity. How could someone be so unchanging? Hey, I'm not that old.

Only like 600. Yeah, real young...

Has it really been that long? She crunched the numbers in an instant. Liar! I'm only 588!

Big difference.

Yes.

I'm hungry.

We always are. That desperate to not laze?

Well, I'm more hungry. My stomach rumbled, its surprise onset of emptiness making it a pitiful little thing. Plus, I'd like to be productive today. A scoff. Peace out. I winked, though she had closed her eyes, ready for a nap, not bothering to shift into human form. I employed a similar technique that Tristan had done, we'd all learned the same way, learned from Niko. I focused on my hands, imagined my toes elongating and slimming to be fingers, imagined my thick fur disappearing, could see my human face, my human body, and... "Ta da!" A little harrumph was all the reply I was gonna get from Wolfy-Athena.

Of course, I'd forgotten that I'd forgotten to save my clothes before shifting in the first place. "Damn it!" I knew I had a rockin' bod', one thing about being what we were, but decency was expected. We might be out in the middle of nowhere, in one of the forests on the Kenai Peninsula of the grand Alaska, but my Packmates had seen enough of my naked ass to last for a lifetime as it was. I sprinted into the House, the restored bed-and-breakfast we'd turned into the HQ for the Pack. I sniffed the air, making sure I wouldn't go streaking past any of my Packmates, trying for a stealthy route.

Smells were fascinating. My inner wolf always wanted to know more, more, more about my surroundings and scents told a thousand stories every second. The bread on the counter was at peak freshness, the eggs in the fridge were flirting with the edge of being not. Damon had been bleeding when he went into the bathroom, I could smell the metallic odor as I rushed past the closed door. I could still smell Athena's sweat, gross as it was, from when she'd tried to seduce the Alpha, could smell his own odor, could smell the broken-into wood upstairs where he'd punched the wall.

I'd been so focused on smelling the old things, learning what had already happened so early in the day, that I stopped paying attention to the now.

Bursting into my bedroom, moving to where I knew my dresser was, I bumped into something that was definitely not my dresser.

"What the –"

"–the fuck?"

"Fo–"

"Da–"

"–x?"

"–mon?"

Leaping back as though I'd been burned, though our hot temperatures felt perfectly normal to us, being the same temperature and all, I (futilely) moved to at least cover my chest, crossing my arms.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BEDROOM?" I heard giggling upstairs, no doubt from the teenage half-Sirens who had moved in recently. They could suck it.

"I-I-I-I-"

"Spit it out, damn you! No, wait! Actually, get the fuck out! Close the door! Then you can spit it out! I'm dyin' to know!" I was talking so fast I was forgetting to breathe.

"I really d–"

"OUT!"

"–o apolog–"

"OUT!"

"–ize!" I did not appreciate the fact his eyes hadn't left my chest the whole time. Usually, it'd be kinda flattering, but right now, it just pissed me off. Apologizing to my boobs was not going to achieve anything, buddy. I was strangely aware of the fact his arms were trembling as he struggled for control, while mine certainly weren't. I should have been a big 4-legged beastie right now, I felt ready to rip his throat out with my human fingers as it was, but I felt absolutely no inclination to shift. Odd. In the meantime...

"MY EYES ARE UP HERE!" He was gone in a flash. I could hear the thump-a-thumpthump-thump-a-thumpthump as he went barreling down the stairs, tripping over himself in his haste.

Then I noticed all the blood.

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