Grace The Luna of the Hidden Pack

Chapter 4

Evanora walked back into her room slowly. They had a conversation with her sister, Aradia, before. The pack members never allowed them to check their future, but even if they could not do that, they slowly understood the Moon Goddess.

There were a few happenings which they did not quite understand, but it seemed like the main characters still needed to experience things that only meant they were not completely ready yet.

“Did you talk to her?” Aradia asked her sister as soon as she entered the room. She sighed heavily.

“Yes, she might calm down.”

“I feel sorry for her,” Aradia said quietly.

“Grace is still young, but she will be fine.”

She walked closer to her sister. She held her hand and gently pulled her to sit down.

“I’m worrying about Marge more.”

“I know, but what should we do? We talked to her already. What else could we do?” Aradia asked her sister sadly.

“I don’t know. We cannot do more, I'm afraid. I think we just have to leave this to the Moon Goddess.”

“And what if Marge does not accept the fact? What if she is going to do something that no one can undo?” Aradia had fear in her eyes. Evanora just looked away. She thought for a while. She needed a few moments to answer.

“Then we have to help the wolves as much as we can.”

“Would you go against our sister?” Aradia asked in surprise.

“I would never do that, but if she returns, we will have to fix what she ruined.”

Aradia swallowed, then looked away.

“She’ll try to make Alastair stay away from the pack and never return.” She whispered, but Evanora had a small smile on her face.

“Don’t worry. He'll remember his responsibilities.” Aradia just looked at her, while Evanora continued. “If Marge made him forget them, we'd remind him.”

Eventually, Aradia smiled at her sister, and she nodded in agreement.

***

Alastair noticed Marge was really clingy. For a moment, he remembered what Farlan told him, but he pushed these thoughts away. He thought that was impossible, as Marge was a witch, and he had never heard that a witch would ever fall in love with a werewolf. He still thought that Marge was just a good friend of his.

He told himself he would finish this dance with her, then he wanted to ask Grace to dance with him. He still wanted to talk to her about her behavior. What he told her today about her father was true, and he really wanted her to understand Urquhart loved her, and he could only work at ease if he knew his daughter was safe, but he worried about her safety as well. He really liked Grace, and he knew he could not endure it if someone harmed her.

When they finished the dance, he looked at Marge.

“Marge, will you excuse me?”

Marge looked at him and frowned. She did not want to let him go, especially because she felt a strange feeling about it.

“Alastair, this celebration is for you!”

“I know, Marge, but I’ve got something important to do, and I also have to have a good rest to be fit tomorrow.” Alastair smiled at her.

Marge didn’t like that at all, but she had got no choice. She nodded sadly.

“I’ll have a rest then, too. Will you accompany me while I’m going back into my room?”

“Marge, I told you I had something to do.” Alastair looked at her apologetically.

“I can wait.” She said,

“Marge, I don’t know how long it will take. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

The sadness was apparent on Marge’s face, but she nodded.

“Then good night, Alastair.”

“Good night, Marge,” he said. He turned around and walked away. When he was out of the crowd, he walked to the main table. When he saw there was no one, his chest felt heavy. He looked around, hoping that he would spot Grace somewhere, but he had to notice that she was not in the room. He opened the line to Urquhart.

“Alpha, I hoped to have a dance with your daughter, but I cannot find her.”

“Do not worry Alastair, she asked my permission earlier to let her go back into her room. She was tired.”

Alastair closed the line. He did not want Urquhart to know how disappointed he was. That meant he probably wouldn’t see Grace before he leaves. They planned to leave in the early morning. For a moment he thought he was going to her room, but then he stopped himself from doing that, as it was out of politeness to disturb a she-wolf in her room this time in the evening. While he walked back into his room sadly, he heard his dear wolf’s voice inside his head.

“Why don't you mindlink her?”

“I cannot do that, Farlan, and please do not try to mindlink Morag. They might be sleeping. Urquhart said she left because she was tired.”

“It could take years for us to come back. I want to say farewell to them. I’ll miss Morag.” He told his human, trying to push him.

“No Farlan. I won’t disturb her.”

Farlan stayed quiet. Alastair felt he could not satisfy his wolf with this answer, but he would never break the rules, especially if it was about a she-wolf.

He walked back into his room, then he went to bed. His chest was still heavy, but he told himself that was just because of the mission. Finally, he fell asleep. He had a quiet, dreamless night.

He woke up early. The sun was just about to rise. They chose this time to leave, as they had to get out of the forest by sunset. During the daytime, they had less chance of meeting a vampire.

The rogues around were mostly friendly. For them, they were rogues too, as they did not know about the pack’s existence inside the hill either. So usually they did not care about them at all.

After he got ready, he took his bag. The Omegas made these bags for them as a “Good luck present”. It was really practical. It could be carried easily by both Farlan and himself.

He double checked if he got every necessary thing in there, then he prayed to the Moon Goddess to take care of them. He had a last look in his room, then he sighed and left.

While he slowly walked down, he was thinking of Grace. He just couldn’t believe he had to leave without seeing her. For a moment, he felt a little anger at Marge because she moved his attention from Grace. If she had not pulled him to dance, he would have seen her leaving, but he also knew Marge had no bad intentions, therefore he could not blame her for that.

When he arrived, Urquhart, his father, Struan and his mother, Fiona, were already there. Struan looked at his son proudly, but Fiona’s face was full of worry.

She asked Struan not to let Urquhart send both of her sons away. She said if the worst happened, one of her sons can stay alive at least, but Struan didn’t even want to hear that.

He said both of them are strong enough, and leaving is just going to make them well respected and famous, especially if they succeed.

She hugged her son. Alastair asked his mother not to worry by mindlink. He asked her to calm down. He said he can only be at ease and focus on his mission if he does not worry about them.

As soon as he pulled himself away from his mother’s hug, he felt the familiar gaze on him. He turned around to see the three witches. Even if he knew he could not blame Marge, he just didn’t feel like saying anything to her at that moment.

Soon Lennox arrived as well, and after he hugged his mother too, they looked at each other and nodded. That meant they were ready. They had a last look at their parents and they walked away. They were ready to shift when they heard a familiar voice.

“Alastair,” Marge shouted.

He turned around to see the witch walking towards him hurriedly. Alastair was a little confused when she hugged him. He stood motionless, not hugging her back.

“I’ll see you often, and don’t forget, if you need help, you just need to call me.” She whispered into his ear before she let him go. Alastair nodded and thanked her. He then turned around, walked next to Lennox, and both of them shifted.

Their huge white wolves walked slowly to their bags, and this time Struan and Fiona helped them to put them on. They pushed their foreheads at their human mother, then they turned around. They were about to run when they both stopped, as they heard another familiar voice shout after them.

When Alastair heard that pleasant voice inside Farlan’s mind, his heart felt happier instantly.

“Farlan, Tavish!” Grace shouted as loudly as she could. When she woke up this morning, she thought she had missed the opportunity. She wanted to get up much earlier, to bid farewell, but she slept a little longer than she wanted. After dressing up hurriedly, she just made her look acceptable to appear. She ran down as fast as she could, and her heart couldn’t be at ease until she saw the two wolves stopping. She panted for air while she walked towards them.

First she hugged Tavish.

“Tavish, please take care of yourself, and return in one piece.” She whispered into the wolf’s ear. Tavish whined and pushed his forehead to her shoulder in agreement. Grace caressed his head with a smile, which wasn’t really a smile. Then she turned to Farlan.

She stepped there and hugged the huge, pure white wolf. Farlan started whining instantly, and he breathed her scent in deeply.

Alastair never understood this feeling, but somehow he felt at ease smelling her scent. The heaviness in her chest that he had felt since yesterday slowly faded away. Farlan's eyes widened when he felt Grace’s little hand caressing his neck, and he felt the coldness of a chain.

“This necklace is a gift from my mother. I want you two to keep it with you all the time. It’ll bring you luck. But don’t forget that this belongs to us, so I also want you two to bring it back to me and Morag.”

Farlan and Alastair’s heart filled with an unfamiliar happiness when they felt she breathed their scent in deeply before she let Farlan go. She caressed his head, and she showed the same smile that she showed earlier to Tavish.

“Take care of yourselves and please return in one piece.”

Farlan nodded, and pushed his forehead into Grace’s face, then he pulled himself away.

The two wolves turned around and ran into the forest. Grace looked after them until she could see them. She only turned around when they completely disappeared from her sight.

When she walked back, she felt a gaze at her. This wasn’t pleasant at all. When she moved her head to search for who the gaze belonged to, she met Marge’s yellow cat eyes. She moved her gaze away quickly, and she tried to ignore the bad feeling. She knew it did not mean any good, as Morag started growling inside her mind. That was the first time she growled at Marge.

When she arrived at her father's, he held her hand, then he hugged her. His smile was weird as he leaned closer.

“Gracie, if you like Alastair that much, I’m sure he has a good reason to come back in one piece.”

Grace looked at her father and frowned.

“What do you mean, Alpha?”

But Urquhart didn’t answer his daughter, he only laughed. Grace didn’t understand him at all.

“Dad, why did you say that?”

“You are too young yet, but I promise you’ll understand me one time.” He pulled his only daughter closer, and he kissed the top of her head.

“Come on Grace, breakfast is ready. After we finish breakfast, we are going to have a nap, then we are going out.”

Grace looked at her father in surprise.

“Where are we going?”

“We are going out for a run first, then I’m going to train you a bit. If I can’t make you two tired, then we can also see your favorite tree.”

Grace's eyes widened. She felt excited, not just because of the training, but she used to love spending time with her father around the big tree.

After her mother’s death, her father tried to focus on Grace a little more, even if he was very busy with the pack. Urquhart always found the time to tell little Grace a fable. Grace’s favorite was called The Magic Tree. In the fable, this tree could make wishes true for those who deserve it.

One time, when she was out with her father, she noticed a tree. It looked exactly like in the story. The only difference was it had a Celtic symbol engraved in its trunk, an eternity knot. The tree was surrounded by rose bushes and their scent was intoxicant. From then on she named it the magic tree, and she always made a wish when she was there, hoping that someday she would deserve her wish to come true.