#2 When the Moon Turns Red

Noah

“Dude, it’s your party, you can’t miss it.” My younger brother, Greyson, was grumbling at the door of my office.

“I already told you, Grey, if you want to go, go.” I snapped, typing away at my computer.

“It’s Saturday night, Noah, take a break.” He shook his head at me.

“Go to the party.” Remi, my wolf, was pacing in my head, ordering me to go.

I growled at the pair of them, slamming my laptop lid shut.

“Fine.” I agreed,

“Let’s go.” I shoved passed Greyson but I could hear him celebrating behind me.

“Go get the car.” I ordered him, already annoyed with his bullshit.

I wasn’t in the mood for this party. It really wasn’t even mine. Greyson and Sawyer planned it last week in my name because, apparently, I needed to ‘get a life’. As if running the largest pack on the East Coast wasn’t enough to deal with. Why did I choose these idiots as my Beta and Gamma?

Not to mention my wolf, Remi. I had no idea what had him in such a mood or why he wanted to go to this party so badly. Usually, we were both on the same page. We were both cranky, grumpy, and had no desire for a social life. We took care of the business, took care of the pack, and took care of our needs; no more, no less.

Neither of us were interested in friends, girlfriends, or parties. After spending ten years looking for our mate, we had both given up hope. We were always on edge, but kept it under control the best we could.

Greyson pulled up to the front of the packhouse and I jumped in the passenger side.

“Where’s Sawyer?” I asked.

“He’s already at the party. He left hours ago.” I rolled my eyes,

“Of course he did.”

Sawyer, my Gamma, was a partier. He was a good guy, good head on his shoulders, but he loved to party. Not that my Beta , Greyson, was much better.

Greyson was the manwhore of the family and the least interested in finding his mate. Sawyer had a little more respect for his future mate, at least. That’s why I chose him as the Gamma. If I ever did find a mate, a Luna, he would be in charge of her protection. I trusted him around my girl more than I would ever trust Greyson.

By the time we reached the party it was already dark. The parking lot was filled with cars and we could see the bonfire from the road. Remi was going crazy in my head and it was giving me a killer headache. I was in a worse mood now than when we left the packhouse. I stepped out of the car and started walking towards the beach. The closer I got, the more on edge I felt. I kept looking around, expecting to find some sort of danger.

I walked towards the bonfire, on a mission for something, I just wasn’t sure what. I had no idea where Greyson went, and I didn’t care. I walked around to the opposite side of the bonfire and that’s when it hit me, the most incredible smell. It was like the smell of old books mixed with something else, chocolate maybe? I took another deep breath, yes, definitely chocolate.

I looked around for the source of the smell as Remi howled in my head. When I finally found her, it was like the rest of the world went blank. The fire was gone, the crowd was gone, it was just her.

She was sitting on one of the log benches, her hair so blonde it nearly glowed. I could tell from here that her skin was tan and warm, I imagined how soft it would be to touch. She looked up and I caught a glimpse of her eyes. They were the bluest blue I had ever seen. She wiggled a little in her seat and I noticed the hem of her shirt didn’t quite cover up her belly and I growled in approval at the bare skin it left exposed.

I started walking towards her when a figure blocked my few. I stopped abruptly and watched in horror as my Gamma, Sawyer, sat down next to my mate on the bench. He wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and I nearly lost it.

By the time I reached them, he had his arm around her, and Remi and I were both out of control. Sawyer made eye contact with me and he knew right away that he was in trouble. I saw him say something to my mate, but I didn’t pay attention to his words. Instead, I grabbed a hold of his throat and threw him across the beach, careful to avoid harming my mate.

I slammed him against a tree,

“Get your hands off my mate!” I growled at him.

I could tell he was trying to say something, but no noise came out as I crushed his windpipe in my hands. I didn’t care what he had to say anyway. The only thing I cared about was the smell of my mate swirling all around us. I released him and he dropped to the ground.

I turned around to see Sawyer’s little sister, Molly standing beside my mate. When my mate’s eyes made contact with me, I nearly lost it. I started walking towards her and was horrified when I noticed her retreat. Before I could speak to her, Sawyer was in my face again, yelling.

Did he have a death wish?

“Noah!” He yelled in my face, and then started mindlinking me.

“She’s human. She doesn’t know!” He yelled through the link. I finally listened to what he was saying,

“She’s human?” I was surprised. I looked up at her and registered the fear that was all over her face. Remi whimpered in my head, our mate was afraid of us.

“Just give her a minute. She knows Molly, let her take care of Evie.” I looked back down at Sawyer,

“Evie?” I repeated.

“Yes, that’s her name.” Evie. What a beautiful name, my new favorite name. I wonder if it’s short for something?

“Molly, take her to the guest house.” I ordered Molly through the mindlink. She nodded and grabbed Evie’s hand, leading her away from the beach.

“I’m sorry, Alpha, I didn’t know Evie was your mate.” Sawyer said out loud, once Evie was out of earshot. I kept my eyes on our mate the entire time.

“Don’t say her name.” I growled at him and he bowed in submission. It wasn’t really Sawyer’s fault, he didn’t mean any harm by it. But, I couldn’t handle the thought of someone touching my mate. Remi was out of control and I was hardly hanging on myself.

“I don’t understand, she’s human?” I said again, mostly to myself.

“Yes, Alpha, she’s human, she just moved here.” Sawyer said, careful to avoid using her name. I finally looked at him, no longer able to see the outline of my mate.

“Tell me everything you know about her.” Sawyer quickly told me every detail he knew about her and I drank it in.

I was surprised to be mated to a human. No one in my pack had been mated to a human in years, let alone the Alpha. I never thought of it as a possibility, but now I couldn’t think of anything else. I didn’t care that she was a human, it didn’t matter. She was mine, she was made for me, and I was hers.

“What are you going to do?” Sawyer asked me.

“I’m going to go see her.” I said plainly, marching towards the guest house the pack had on the edge of the beach.

“She doesn’t understand any of it, Noah. You can’t just barge in there and tell her you’re mated.” I stopped and looked at my Gamma, he wasn’t wrong. I ran my hand through my hair, frustrated.

“She’s probably scared, maybe start there.” Sawyer suggested. I nodded and shoved passed him, nearly running towards the house. The closer I got, the stronger her smell was. It was intoxicating. It made it almost impossible for me to think, let alone think rationally.

I shoved open the door and my vision was immediately filled with her, my mate. She stumbled backwards and into the kitchen counter. I watched as her eyes scanned my body. Remi purred with pride as our mate observed our appearance. I reached out to help steady her, but she retreated quickly. I felt hurt and betrayed, and so did Remi. It was hard to feel our mate acting this way, but it wasn’t her fault, and we had to be patient.

“I’m so sorry.” I apologized for nearly hitting her with the door. She crossed her hands over her tiny frame. If she wasn’t so mad at me, it would be adorable.

“It’s fine.” Even though her tone was angry, her voice was the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. Until it was demanding for me to move. She wanted to leave and I wanted to die thinking about our mate leaving us. I begged her to stay, but she wasn’t having it. When she said Sawyer’s name, when she expressed concern for him, I struggled to keep it together.

I was shocked when she tried to shove past me, like actually attempted to move me. She was all of five feet tall and the tiniest woman I had ever seen, and she was trying to square up to me. Her arm touched mine and it took everything I had to keep it together.

Her tiny gasps filled my ears as her eyes looked up and into mine. She felt it too. I nearly had a celebratory dance party right there. She was human and she felt the connection, too. This was perfect. I grabbed her arm and bent down so I could look into her eyes. I needed more of her. I took a deep breath, filling my nose with her amazing scent.

“Please stay.” I begged her, my eyes pleading with her not to leave me.

“You’re hurting me.” Her tiny voice broke my heart. I immediately let go of her wrist. When she said my name, I decided that no one in the history of the world has ever heard their name sound like that. She slipped past me and was out the door.

“Let her go.” Molly said softly. My hands turned into fists as I struggled with my desire to go after her.

“Mate. Mate. Mate.” Remi was whining in my head, demanding that we go after her. I growled, slamming my fist through the front door.

“That’s handling our emotions well.” Molly muttered. I glared at her,

“Shut up, Molly.” I growled at her,

“You’ll keep your eye on Evie.” I ordered her, knowing from Sawyer that they go to school together.

“Yes, Alpha.” She submitted.

I pushed what was left of the front door and watched as it fell off the hinges. I stepped over it and transformed into Remi. We followed our mate’s scent though the parking lot, where she must have gotten in a car. Her scent faded, but Remi was still able to follow it.

To avoid human attention, I shifted back into my human form and continued to follow her scent through the city. It led us to a townhouse with a navy blue door. I saw a shadow walk in front of the window and I purred at the sight of my mate, even if it was just a dark outline. I had no idea how I was going to survive being without her, even if it was just for the night. I would do whatever it took to make Evie feel comfortable, even if it made Remi and I feel like we were dying.