A/N: Don't own Garth, Lilly, or Candu. Today, things get bad!
For any Reba fans reading, there's a small tease at the show. Also, when you reach the third horizontal ruler, I recommend a background Reba song like You Lie or Because of You or Forever Love…(wink, wink)
Logan climbed up the ledges and rocks that led to his favorite cave. He had gone to his brother's cave tonight for some reason. They got into a fight and then Hawk and Cheyenne came in, so Logan left. He wanted to spend the night by himself in his own cave.
Logan put his paws on the last two rocks and hauled himself up. He wagged his tail, happy to be back somewhere away from Seth and his little kiss-ups.
Logan walked in, searching for the pile of feathers he called a nest in the dark light. He pawed around, since his eyes hadn't adapted yet. He felt something soft but it wasn't feathers. It was fur…
"Honey, I'm home."
The pile of fur snapped to life and sprang at Logan, pinning him down. He found himself looking into the blue eyes of his brother. His eyes finally adjusted to the darkness and he recognized his brother's light grey pelt with its light brown snout, chest, and socks. As usual, he wore a snarl too.
"What took ya' so long? Your pet mole was waiting," Seth growled, smirking. He pointed with his nose to Cheyenne who was trapped underneath Max. Her fur was stained with tears and she was bleeding from wounds that dappled her entire body. Some other wolves were snarling at her and Logan. Three stepped out of the shadows to block the exit.
"What are you talking about?" Logan hissed. "Get off of me! And let her go!"
"We know your secret," Seth whispered in Logan's ear. "Your precious little Cherry sold you out."
Logan looked at Cheyenne. "Is that true…?"
Cheyenne whimpered. She struggled to escape Max's grasp, but was unsuccessful. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed. "They were about to kill me…"
Logan gagged as he felt claws sink into his throat.
"You've betrayed me, brother," Seth growled. "But I think I can figure out how to use this to my own advantage…"
"If you lay one claw on Luna—!" Logan's threat was cut off as Seth sank his claws deeper into his neck.
"I must say…" Seth went on. "I love your choice in girlfriends. Although this one won't be shown as much mercy as my current one."
"You already have Cheyenne! Luna isn't yours for the taking!" Logan growled back.
"Don't defy me, brother," Seth retorted. "I need you to play a part in my newest plot. And if you disobey…well…we're gonna have a problem."
Logan coughed and began to see stars.
Finally Seth snickered and eased his grip. Logan suddenly thrust his hind legs under the brown belly and threw his brother off. Seth flew off, and hit his head on the hard rock of the low roof. Logan scrambled to his paws and ran off. He jumped over the three wolves guarding the exit and used an Alpha flip to land safely at the bottom of the mountain.
"You'll have to kill me if you want to get to Luna!" he shouted before running away again. Only he knew this mountain forest like the back of his paw. He ran up the spiral trail of the mountain he and Luna had howled on top of. He had hoped to just hide up there, but when he saw Seth's followers running up the trail, Logan felt desperate. He began to howl a distress howl, hoping that someone would care enough to come and help. He instinctively called for one wolf in particular. "Lu—!"
Logan yelped as his howl was cut off. A jet black wolf had his teeth sunk deep into one of Logan's hind legs and was dragging him down the trail. Logan used his other leg to scratch Jake's nose, an extremely sensitive part. Justin yelped with pain, releasing Logan. He hopped off of the ledge and onto the ledge of nearest mountain.
Logan jumped from the different ledges until he was at the bottom of the other side. He began to run. He could feel other wolves' breaths hot on his tail, but didn't dare look back. He began to swerve and weave through the various passageways between each mountain until there weren't any breaths on his back anymore.
Logan began to slow, only to collide with another wolf. He recognized the wolf when it squeaked as they crashed.
"Cheyenne!"
She scrambled to her paws, still crying. "Logan! I am so sorry! I didn't want to…I swore to secrecy but…"
"Just get out of here," Logan sounded more concerned than angry. "Before they hurt you again. Just go around that mountain," Logan pointed to one behind her, "And the one in front of your nose should lead to my cave. Go! Hurry!"
Cheyenne was surprised to be forgiven, but quickly obeyed. Logan fled in the opposite direction. He ran as fast as he could. But so much mountain climbing could really scrape and cut your paw pads.
Logan ran but mistook one path for another. He accidentally ran right into a dead end. He whirled around to see pretty much all of Seth's followers. They were snarling and the moonlight lit up their narrowed eyes in a creepy way.
Logan whipped around again and tried to climb up the cliff face. He felt claws rake down his spine, making him yelp and fall. He landed with a huff as the air was momentarily knocked out of him. Logan scrambled to his paws only to be knocked back down with a blow to the head.
Hawk stood on top of Logan, forcing his head onto his paws and looking at Seth. Seth flicked his ears and Hawk stepped off of Logan reluctantly.
Seth clawed Logan's face and bit down into his throat. Logan yelped and gagged and choked but didn't struggle. He heard a gasp from the back of the crowd and guessed they had caught Cheyenne and were forcing her to watch her childhood friend be tormented.
Seth literally dropped Logan. "Well it's not fun if you don't fight back," he complained.
"I'll let you kill me," Logan spat. "For Luna!"
"Very loyal, this one…" Seth narrowed his eyes. "Take him back to my place," he ordered Hawk. "It's about time we told him our plan…"
Hawk sank his teeth unnecessarily deep into both of Logan's hind legs and dragged him back to Seth's cave. The other wolves began to follow, a miserable Cheyenne in the center. Max lagged behind with his leader.
"Sir? Just out of curiosity, what is the plan?" the second-in-command asked.
"Simple. I'm going to take over all of the packs. All I have to do is force Hayden or Loony to be my mate. Most likely Loony. She has the blood of an Eastern and Western wolf. And it'll taunt my brother more. And I must kill her parents. All I'm missing is bait. That's where Logan comes in…"
"Good plan…" Max nodded. Although the idea of Seth ruling all the packs didn't sound like such a good idea to him. He didn't like the young, blood-thirsty ruler. But he pretended to be his friend for his own life's sake. "You're sure to win."
Seth grinned evilly. "I always win…"
The next morning, Luna slept in. She didn't speak to her mother when she woke up. When Garth and Troy were heading out to carry out Alpha duties and said their good-byes, Luna mumbled a 'bye' to her dad, but gave her brother the cold shoulder. Troy hadn't even said anything to her or even look at her. Lilly was getting worried. Why weren't her pups speaking to each other? What could've possibly made them fight?
Lilly had gone out for her Head-Alpha training with her parents. Luna slept while her mother was gone. She was awoken by some of her friends who wanted to play.
"Not now, guys," Luna had muttered. "I feel sick today."
"What with?" one of them had asked.
"Heart-ache," Luna said to herself. "I mean…belly ache. Could be the flu."
Her friends quickly walked out after that. Luna fell asleep again.
Later, her mother came in. Lilly had tried to have a casual conversation with Luna, but the young she-wolf only muttered her half of the conversation. After a while, Luna got tired of her mother pestering her, and walked out. She walked to the main river. She stared at the cliff she always climbed when she went to see Logan. But she didn't want to go to him right now. So she stared at her reflection in the river, thinking.
Luna flicked her ears as she heard someone approaching. It was one of her Omega friends. It was Shakey and Janice's son, Lucas. He was a brownish-gray with black ears and black socks. Seeing him always reminded Luna of his mother's friend, Reba, who was married to Mooch, which Luna thought was an odd couple when it came to eating habits. Salty had married a cream-colored wolf whose name Luna couldn't remember, but she knew her as the wolf Hayden and Kate went to when their fur got knots.
"Hey, Luke," Luna greeted half-heartedly.
"Hi, Luna!" he greeted back, cheerfully. He was always so happy around her. He sat down next to Luna, tail wrapped around his paws. "Did you hear the news? The moonlight howl's been rescheduled to tonight!"
"Why was it rescheduled?"
Luke shrugged. "Beats me. But isn't it great? I don't think I could've waited another night."
"I don't think I'll be going," Luna said gloomily.
"Why not? Is it the flu? Jake told me you thought you had it. Are you sure you should be out here with it?"
"Yeah. Maybe I just needed the fresh air. I think it's starting to clear up," Luna lied.
"Oh! Oh, great. So maybe you can go."
"I don't want to. There's no one I really want to go with."
Luke's tail twitched. "Oh…well, you shouldn't miss it! You'll just regret it later. Not that I would know! I heard about it from my mom. Would you consider going…with me? As—as friends?"
Luna twitched her ears. Luke obviously liked her. A lot. But…she loved Logan. She didn't want to go to the Moonlight Howl without him. She wanted to howl with him in their own place…their own world.
"You'd really like that, wouldn't you?" Luna asked him.
Luke nodded.
Luna sighed. "I'll think about it," she promised. "Meet me at the place where my dad was supposed to howl with my Aunt. You can ask Aunt Kate where that was."
Luke stood up, his tail wagging a mile a minute. "Great! Great, I'll see ya' there?"
"If I don't change my mind—"
"Oh! This is great!" Luke interrupted as if she hadn't spoken. "If your stomach clears up, I'm going log-sledding with Reba and Mooch's pups, Henry and Brock. You're welcome to join us."
"I can't guarantee I'll—"
"Okay!" Luke was already running towards Rabbit Mountain. "I'll see ya' at the Moonlight Howl!" he called before running off. "Jake! You'll never guess who just agreed to go with me…"
Luke's voice faded away as he ran farther away. Luna sighed and her ears drooped. Luke was a sweet wolf, but he could be a little rude when he got excited.
Luna saw her depressing reflection again. She felt bad being so cold to her family. Why couldn't Troy understand how she felt? She wanted to believe him, but…but she trusted Logan. He made her feel comfortable and safe. Fate was cruel. Why did she have to fall in love with someone her family wouldn't approve of?
Troy felt numb. He had been assigned to help catch lunch, but his mind was whirling around in so many places. He had to bring down this caribou, but his sister was upset with him and he was upset with her. He had to begin his extra training to be Head-Alpha, but he needed to find a date to the Moonlight Howl. He needed to ask why it had been rescheduled to the curiosity would stop gnawing at him. He needed to think of who would make a decent date, but he couldn't stop thinking of how much he wanted to take that Northerner, Cheyenne. She was so beautiful and kind and gentle and thoughtful and considerate and friendly and her eyes were like…whoa.
His hunting partner, Delilah noticed Troy was distracted. "Troy? Should we send you home?" she asked, concerned. "You look so tired."
Troy shook his head, but didn't speak. He still felt numb.
Troy lunged for the caribou. He snapped at its heels and herded it to where his father and Candu were waiting in the taller grass. They leapt out to pounce on the large creature, but Troy had mistakenly sent the caribou running in the opposite direction. The two Alphas caught nothing and landed with an "Oof!" on dirt.
The caribou ran towards the safety of its herd.
Candu stomped his foot in frustration. "Troy! What were you thinking? That was a perfectly good meal—"
"Candu, back off!" Garth growled. He walked up to his son. He had noticed the young Alpha had been acting lethargic all day. "Troy, are you feeling alright? You look really tired and haven't been focused on your duties today. Do you feel sick?"
"Actually, dad, I do have the worst headache ever," Troy admitted.
"Would you like to see Eve?"
"No thanks," Troy shook his head groggily. "Can I just go back to the den?"
Garth nodded. "Sure. I'll send your mother to check on you later. Or Luna."
Luna was the last wolf who'd help Troy's headache right now. But he didn't say anything. He just muttered a small 'thanks' and walked back to their cave, hanging his head.
"It's not my fault Luna's upset," he mumbled to himself. "She practically betrayed our family, falling for a North wolf or…South wolf or lone—oh! Whatever he was! Maybe I should just tell mom and dad. They'll believe me…"
Luna trotted through the forest. Visiting Logan at sunset was early for her, but she didn't want to miss the Moonlight Howl. Maybe she'd meet someone else there who'd replace Logan. Everything would work out better if she met someone else. But she loved Logan! How could she just find a replacement?
Luna shook her head. This was all giving her a headache. She just wanted to see Logan one more time. It could be the last if what Troy said was true.
Luna thought she had gone the wrong way. She saw the clearing that was bordered by the four mountains, but there was no pile of rocks guarding it. They had been knocked down and were scattered across the floor.
"Luna?"
Luna whipped around, her fur standing on end. Then she recognized the wolf she was here to see. "Logan," she exhaled. "What happened to the pile of rocks that was here?"
Logan stared at them as if he was confused. He seemed distracted and a little wounded. Luna noticed he was favoring one of his hind paws. "Huh? Oh, that? I'll explain later," he said, walking past her.
"Huh?" Luna followed him with her eyes.
"Luna, get out of here," Logan hissed under his breath. Luna noticed he was trying to make his mouth move as little as possible. His eyes were darting around, as if he knew someone was watching them.
"Wha…why?" Luna was actually starting to feel a little scared.
"Just go! And don't return," Logan growled.
"What…no! I want to stay with you!" Luna argued.
"Luna, I'm saying this for your sake, don't stay here! Go home. Go to your Moonlight Howl. Forget about me!"
"Forget about…no! I can't forget about you! I love you!"
Logan's eyes widened. "Y…you do…?"
Luna thought it was obvious by now. "Yes. Don't you love me too?" she wondered, walking up to him and giving him a wolf hug (her neck pressed against his). She realized he was tense and bleeding.
"Logan…where did those come from…?" she pulled away, looking him in the eyes. He only looked back at her. She was shocked. She saw a hurt, and sad, and old wolf. Not the young, fun-loving, and witty wolf she had fallen in love with.
"Luna…I do love you."
"Did you lie to me?" Luna blurted. "About…being a lone wolf…?"
Logan flattened his ears and tried to avoid her gaze. Then he looked her hard in the eyes. "Yes. I'm the son of the Southern female and the former Northern Head-Alpha."
Luna's blood turned to ice. She backed away from Logan. Her ears were pressed tight against her head and her tail was tucked between her legs. She had gotten mad at her brother…betrayed her parents…lied to her pack…she had been willing to give up anything for this wolf that had been lying to her this whole time! She was in love with a liar.
"You lied…it doesn't matter," Luna declared, shaking her head. "We're in love. Isn't that enough?" Let's face it. She was a sensitive drama queen. She was tired of getting so upset over small things. She had done so much just to see this one wolf. It wasn't going to end now!
"You should've believed your brother," Logan murmured. "I heard the whole thing from behind a tree…I'm sorry I made you get mad at him like that."
"It's not your fault. I can be dramatic sometimes…" Luna confessed, rolling her eyes at herself.
Luna felt a rock fall on her ear. She flicked it and looked up. She thought she saw a flash of brown and gray from one of the mountains. "What was that?" she wondered aloud, hoping Logan had seen it too.
"It's a sign. That you should run!" Logan tried to warn her. But wolves suddenly charged out from behind him and behind Luna and drowned her in a wave of their massive bodies. Luna squealed and yelped as they scratched and bit her and clawed her up.
"Stop it!" Logan snarled. He leaped at them but Hawk only knocked him in the head with his claws, sending Logan flying. The gray wolf hit his head on a sharp rock and was knocked out.
"Enough!"
The wolves all paused. Seth leaped down from his perch on a ledge on the mountain Luna had been looking at. He stood in front of his wolves and flicked his ears as a signal for them to step off of Luna. They parted reluctantly to reveal a battered and scarred Luna. She was crouched down low, whimpering.
"What do you want?" she demanded. She didn't know it was the leader of the united Southern/Northern pack she was snarling at.
"Simple. I want your parents' power of ruling. And I enjoy a good blood bath to get it. Starting with yours—"
"Over my dead body!"
A red and white form launched itself through the air and pinned down the blood-thirsty leader. It snarled and sank its teeth into Seth's throat.
"Troy!" Luna gasped.
Max charged from the line of Seth's followers and sank his teeth into Troy's scruff, yanking him off of Seth. The gray and brown wolf coughed and gasped for air before glaring angrily at Troy.
"Stupid…worthless…dead, animal!" Seth roared. "Kill him!" he ordered. Seth's followers all lunged for Troy.
"Nooo!" Luna wailed. She stepped in their way. Their teeth sank into her shoulders and belly and legs and tail and face. Their claws caught her ears and shredded them.
"Luna!" Troy gasped. He snarled and leaped for the wolves. Logan, who had finally come to, quickly grasped the situation. Furious, he leapt at his brother and bit into his foreleg and thrust it over the wolf's head, breaking it.
At Seth's pained yelp, half of the enemy wolves left Luna and began to tear into Logan. He fought back ferociously, but he was gravely outnumbered.
"Leave them alone!" screeched a new voice. Cheyenne leaped in from no where in particular and ripped Hawk off of Troy. She snarled at the other wolves who tried to get in too close. "Go! Go to your home," she commanded Troy over her shoulder.
"What? No! I'm not leaving Luna, or you!" Troy protested.
"You have to!" Cheyenne cried. Hawk regained his paws and pounced on her from behind. Even though she was an Alpha, Cheyenne couldn't fight too well. She yelped and struggled and clawed at Hawk's belly with her hind-legs. But the dark brown wolf was not impressed, and sank his teeth deep into her neck.
"Cheyenne!" Troy panicked as her eyes began to close. He wrapped his forepaws around Hawk's neck and thrust him off. Cheyenne stayed where she was, unmoving. He pinned the wolf down, clawing at his belly with little mercy. Scarlet pools sprouted from the sensitive skin and flowed onto Troy's claws. Hawk yelped with pain. His younger brother, Nick sprang out from attacking Luna, and he bit into his former friend's throat.
Fury blocked out the pain momentarily, but soon it became unbearable as the jaws neared Troy's vein of life. He clawed blindly and struck the white muzzle. Nick yelped, releasing Troy. Troy regained his composure and raised a paw, ready for a brutal strike.
But Hawk head-butted Troy's belly, knocking him to the ground on his side—belly exposed. Hawk pinned him down again. He put a paw on Troy's throat and slowly raked his claws down his stomach. He sank his teeth into Troy's ears and bit nearly completely through. He pressed his forepaws down, hard, blocking Troy's air.
Troy's eyes were about to roll back, when he saw something gray knock Hawk off of him. Unfortunately, it was Seth. "Take care of the girl!" he snarled. "I'll handle this pitiful wreck."
Hawk narrowed his eyes. He flexed his claws, as if imagining Troy's throat still under them, but obeyed after a long hesitation. "And don't kill her!" Seth added. "Not yet…" he smirked as he neared his jaws to Troy's face. Troy snapped at the Head-Alpha's muzzle.
He yelped but regained his composure quickly. "What do I look like, caribou? It'll take more than that to hurt me…"
Seth wrapped his jaws around Troy's neck. "I'll let you live…" he growled around Troy's throat fur. "Only to let you go tell your parents about this. Go ahead. Tell them. I'll be taking their daughter. If they want her…they'll have to come to my mother's den to get her. In Southern Pack territory. Come without them, I'll kill you both on the spot. Don't come at all, she'll be killed, no questions asked."
Seth dropped Troy, making the red and white wolf yelp. He put his unbroken paw on Troy's head, forcing it down. "Enough! Stop attacking!" he ordered. The wolves calmed down after a few seconds to comprehend what their leader had said.
"Alright," Seth's voice echoed off the mountain walls. "It's about time we took the little princess on her field trip. Who has her?"
The wolves parted as one of them threw Luna from his jaws and onto the ground. She whimpered as she hit the floor. She was scratched and bleeding all over. When she tried to stand, her legs only gave way immediately. Troy struggled underneath Seth to get to her.
"Luna!" Logan whimpered. He was in no better condition. He was being stood on top of by Max, who only shredded his belly for speaking up.
"Leave him—!" Luna rasped.
"If you think he's got it bad, wait till you see what's in store for you," Seth snickered. "Nick," he turned to the brown and white wolf. "Take this one back to his border," Seth looked at Troy underneath him. "In fact, why don't you 'drop him off' in his territory."
Nick nodded. As Seth stepped off of Troy, he lunged and tried to get to his sister, but Nick already had his scruff and was pulling him around her. Troy's scruff was about to rip off as he desperately pulled towards her. She only whimpered and made failed attempts to stand up. Logan received claws pressed to his throat as he tried to help.
Nick had to literally drag and thrashing and pulling Troy. Finally they reached the cliff by the waterfall. Nick dragged Troy to where half of his body hung over the edge. He released his scruff. Troy scrambled and clawed to pull himself up. But Nick pressed a forepaw between Troy's eyes. He smirked before pushing him.
Troy tried to do a fancy Alpha flip as he fell down. He somehow managed to land on his forepaws, but it still hurt like crazy. He was so weak and could barely stay awake as he looked up to see Nick's head looking down at him.
"Sorry 'bout that old pal. By the way, you've got 'till the full moon reaches its highest point tomorrow to tell your folks. See 'ya!"
And with that, Nick disappeared into his own territory. Troy growled. Furious, he stumbled to his paws and clawed at the cliff face. He only slipped and fell down again. He tried again and again, but each ended the same way.
Troy fell down one last time and couldn't get back up. He whimpered and tried, but his legs shook and failed him. He whimpered again.
"I'm so sorry Loony…" he whispered. He put a paw over his snout, covering his eyes and gave way to dizzying blackness.
Has Troy died? Will Luna die? Has Cheyenne died? What's in store for Logan? And is there a traitor amongst the Western/Eastern pack—whoops!
Yeesh, I've got myself on the edge of my seat. Well what do you think is going to happen? Who do you think is the traitor in Winston/Tony's pack—dang it!
Yeah, I feel like being mean and actually waiting to update. Irritating much?
Curse you for having a birthday, mother!