The Moon Phase Trilogy | Protected

Zandyr and his helpers stalked towards the four werewolves. “Ha! They have an old ugly ass wolf with them!” Asher laughed.

Cerberus snarled, ‘I have more power than you think, mut.’

Ericka and the others stood their ground. She felt Dusk’s rumble and her body relaxed. Her bones cracked with each deformation and she cried in pain. The others just watched, knowing they couldn’t do anything to help her pain. Dusk formed in her place and her eyes narrowed, lips pulled back ready to lunge. The wings that were once on her back were gone and her fur was pitch black. Her eyes were daggers of dark blue oceans and they were staring right at Zandyr.

“I know what you want, mut. You can’t have her. She’s my new queen.” Zandyr taunted. Dusk snapped at the vampire.

Jayden let Light take control, “You aren’t king yet, blood sucker.” He barked.

Zandyr laughed, “Attack.” And with that single word, the others moved in, fast.

Light swiped at the vampires while Grant went after the werewolves in his human form. Cerberus charged the stragglers. Dusk kept her eyes on Zandyr. He was hers and only hers to kill. Zandyr knew Dusk was after him.

He took off and Dusk followed. A blur of black in the sun set ran through the forest. The amount of anger towards Zandyr Dusk had came from Ericka. Most of it did anyway. “You’ll never find her or your siblings!” Zandyr shouted.

Dusk snarled and pushed on. She could feel Ericka panicking. She tried to take control, but Dusk stayed strong. It wasn’t safe for her to take control yet. Ericka continued to push, “What did you do to Max and Alyx?” She called out. Dusk was slowly losing control.

“You’ll find out when you meet my acquaintance. Which would be right...about...now.” Zandyr was gone and a man with a crow mask appeared in front of her. Ericka’s strength weakened and Dusk took back control. She ran full force at him, as wings sprouted from her back. Dusk snapped at the man, but he was too quick for her. He dodged her lunges so easily, it was like his feet weren’t even touching the ground.

Dusk looked down for a split second, just to see if he had contact with the grass beneath her, but that was when he struck her down. He pinned her down with his weight with ease, throwing a muzzle around her snout. She struggled. Her wings flapping, as she tried to get away. Her heart raced as she panicked. She tried to howl for help, but the muzzle burned her snout. “And this is why you have two protectors, not just one. You dive in head first, when you should be thinking before you act.” Dusk turned to see someone she trusted, or at least she thought she trusted, walking towards her and the crow masked man. Someone she hadn’t seen since she was ten years old. Her best friend from grade school until he moved away.

“Tobias, welcome back.” The masked man spoke.

Ericka watched through Dusk’s eyes at the man she used to be so close with. The man her other best friend used to be interested in. She snarled and Tobias glanced down to her with a smirk, “Ericka, you haven’t changed a bit. Except the fact that you have a wolf, but I could sense that since we were young. I am a witch after all.”

“Then why are you working for him?” Ericka’s voice slipped out of Dusk’s mouth.

He didn’t answer.

Ericka snarled, taking back full control. Her bones cracked back as her body formed into a human. The muzzle didn’t break, instead it reformed to her face. Her face burned at the touch of it. “Tobias...”

He just rolled his unique solar orange colored eyes as Ericka struggled. Tobias snickered softly and observed the situation.

The crow masked man roughly handled Ericka as a large hawk-man creature came to snatch her. “What...is...that?” Her eyes grew wide and she tried to run, but the man’s grip was too strong. She let out a scream and was taken up in the air.

~•~•~•~

Light, and the others heard Ericka’s shriek as they finally defeated the others. Jayden took over in a blink of an eye and took off into the woods. “Jayden wait up! We can’t just dart off into the woods alone!” Grant called out as he held his arm. “We need backup!”

Jayden ignored the newly bitten werewolf and trucked on. He was injured, but all he had on his mind was saving Ericka and finding Shaun. He caught the scent of Ericka and another familiar scent. “Shaun...” his voice a whisper.

His heart was torn between what scent to follow. He heard Light in the back of his mind. ‘Jayden, your mate is important. You’ve never second guessed on who to save first. Why now?’

“I don’t know, Light! Shaun is blood. She is my cousin! I can’t let her die alone.”

‘She isn’t alone. I caught the scent of other werewolves and some others with her. I promise you Shaun is safe.’

Jayden snarled, throwing his hands in his hair and pulling hard. He fell to his knees, howling at the tree top sky. Some rustling grew louder. He froze and a snarl escaped his chest. A brown hare jumped out of the brush and their eyes met. The hare froze as it watched it’s predator’s eyes changed shades of blue.

Grant and Ceberus caught up with Jayden, “Jay!”

The hare hopped away and Jayden’s eyes went back to their normal shade. “Thanks...that was my dinner...”

Grant scratched the back of his head, “Sorry...” he cleared his throat as Jayden stood up. “I would suggest splitting up, but I don’t think that’s a great idea.”

‘Agreed. We already lost two of us. We can’t lose any more.’ Ceberus mentioned.

“Were you ever gonna change back?” Jayden raised his brows.

Ceberus shook his head, ‘It’s not safe to do so. Gaelan can feel it isn’t safe either. That’s where we agree to stay in this form.’

Grant noticed giant claw imprints in the soft ground near them. “What the hell made those tracks?” The others looked to where Grant was looking and Ceberus took a step back while his ears flattened and his tail went between his legs. He yelped and curled up in a ball under a tree.

“I think he knows...” Jayden motioned to Cerberus.