Slave Lunas Ch. 05-07

Author's Note: Chapters 1-4 are posted in Non-Consent/Reluctance. Remaining chapters will be posted here in Non-Human.

*****

I caught the clothes Moose tossed me, he had shifted in the woods and dressed already. He moved back, giving me my privacy as the tears fell down my face. "I'll be a few moments," I told him.

I walked up the steps and opened the door, it was unlocked and creaked as moved it. The entryway and living room were trashed; there were beer bottles and mattresses piled on the ground, and I saw rats running across the floor. I moved in, looking in the kitchen; it was completely trashed, the appliances gone, cabinets torn apart, dishes broken on the floor. I kept going to the main stairway, losing hope with every step as I saw the damaged walls and graffiti. I reached our room to find it had been stripped of furniture except a few mattresses, sheets covered the windows, condoms and cigarettes on the floor with the booze bottles. My closet had been emptied, the clothes and jewelry stolen; the bathroom was a mess.

I couldn't take it anymore, there was nothing of my old life left here. I was finding it hard to breathe as the sobs came faster; sinking to the dirty floor, I screamed out in my loss and frustration. I heard a commotion on the stairs and Moose burst through the door, almost breaking it to bits in his haste to get to me. "Are you all right?"

I shook my head. "I'll never be all right, Moose." I must have looked like a mess, because a few seconds later he had picked me up and was holding my head to his broad chest. I relaxed into the embrace, my wolf trusted him, he wasn't like those men who had used me. He had honor.

I closed my eyes as he walked us downstairs, I didn't want to look at the house because all it brought was bad memories. When we reached the bottom, Moose froze and turned me. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU," he bellowed.

I opened my eyes and looked at the door, a big old man with grey hair and light blue eyes was standing there holding a shotgun. "I should be asking YOU that, sonny. Now... oh Luna, my Catherine is back!" He dropped the shotgun and rushed over, taking a knee and exposing his neck to me. "Thank the Goddess, I feared I would never see you again."

"Let me down, Moose." He did and I sank to my knees, pulling my old friend into a hug. "I've missed you so, Max." Max had been a grandfather figure to me when I grew up; he had served as a Beta to my grandfather, and had retired long before I was born. He used to take me fishing, show me how to track, he was a gem of a man I thought had been killed in the attack. "What are you doing here?"

"Those bastards didn't care about an old man like me, so I stayed around," he said. "I'm sorry about the house, I couldn't stop them from trashing it. The only way I could live here was if I didn't get in their way. I stayed at the heat cabin up the valley." The cabin was where unmated females going through heat would go to be protected from wandering males. It was one of the most secure buildings we had. "Now, what are you doing here, Luna, and who is this?"

I stood up and helped Max to his feet. "I'm Moose," he said as he extended a huge paw. "I'm Luna Catherine's escort today."

"Max Tomkin, Beta of the former Whiskey River Pack, retired." The two shook hands, sizing each other up. "Now, can you tell me what is going on?"

"Yes, but let's walk. I can't stand being in here any longer." I took one last look, I might ask someone to go through the place to look for pictures or other things worth keeping, but I doubted they would find anything. The house was scrap now, not worth fixing, and I had no desire to have it rebuilt. I soon made my way out the front porch and down the vine-covered steps.

"Have you visited their graves, Luna?"

"Graves? What..." I looked at him in shock, Alpha Kendrick had taunted me, saying he ordered the bodies to be left where they fell for the scavengers to feast on. "He said they were left on the ground."

"And so they were, Luna, but only until they left. It took me over a week, but I gave all of them a proper burial, all one hundred and eighty-seven. I had to leave them unmarked, but I left a map in a jar at the entrance." I was already walking, then running towards the Pack graveyard. It was on a hillside overlooking the river valley, the big oak tree at the top still going strong. A metal fence was overgrown with weeds at the outside. I ran to the gate, searching the weeds, and found a Mason jar with a note inside.

The map showed the graveyard with the named graves from before the attack, and numbered graves that Max had done afterwards. My shaking fingers moved over the list until I found him. "87- Alpha Thomas Sterling." I moved into the graveyard, I could hear the men arriving but they let me have my time. I walked through the rows until I reached the raised area, a rock with a faded number marked it. I sank to my knees and sobbed, thankful to finally have a chance to say goodbye to him. I poured out my love, my hurt, my anger at what had been done to him.

He wasn't my true mate; my father had died in an avalanche when I was sixteen and I was his only child. I had planned to travel and find my true mate, but there was no time for that now. As the word of his passing spread, others would seek to take advantage of our weakened state. My father had always taught me the Pack comes first, and I needed someone older and stronger than me to hold it together. A young female Alpha was like hanging a "Please Attack Me" sign, either to knock me off or knock me up.

The Pack elders had contacted our allies, and Thomas came to meet me. He was the third son of an Alpha, our Packs had a long history of cooperation despite being far apart geographically. We hit it off well, and he agreed to give up his true mate to become my mate and Alpha. Thomas was a good man, a good mate, and I had loved him dearly. I talked to him as my fingers stayed busy, pulling the weeds and straightening it up. My knees ached by the time I finally got up.

I looked at the map, stopping to pay my respects to some of my friends and those who had died trying to protect me. I said a word of prayer to Luna over each of them, asking her to show them favor when they are sent back in a new body.

The sun was almost to the mountains when I finally left. I didn't have tears left in my eyes. Max was crying as well, he had been holding out hope there were other survivors from our Pack, but those enslaved and taken away had not survived long. We were the only two left. "Luna?" He looked up at me tentatively. "Are you coming home?"

I shook my head. "This isn't home anymore, Max. This place belongs to those people buried back there."

I was interrupted by the sounds of howls, pained howls of loss echoing off the mountains. "What is going on?" I broadcast it to everyone, hoping someone was close enough.

Craig answered quickly. "Alpha Catherine, we need you to come to the Red Moon Pack territory immediately."

"What's going on?"

"You're needed... the Pack needs you."

I looked over at Moose. "I know the fastest way there," he said as he started to pull his clothes off. He stuffed them in his satchel, mine quickly followed as we both shifted.

"Thank you Max, thank you for taking care of them," I sent as we ran off.

"Thank you, Luna. I can die in peace knowing you are free again."

We moved quickly through the trees and hills as we headed north to the Red Moon Territory. It was on the other side of the Moon Mountain pack when I was younger, that was Luna Sheri's pack that she mated into after I was captured. Since it was all Black Dawn territory now, Moose knew it well. I opened the bond to my people, feeling the sorrow, the despair and the anger they all held. Something bad had happened, nobody wanted to say what it was and thus it must be bad.

We finally burst out of the trees above the valley where their Pack buildings sat. As we ran down, I could see them gathered around the front yard; we stopped just behind the building and shifted, I pulled on the clothes quickly and walked out. The crowd gathered was silently crying, and they made way for me until I could see what was at the center.

Vivian was on the ground, her hands covered in blood as she cried over her friend. The other Lunas were beside her, offering her comfort as she held a lifeless Kirsten in her arms. The handle of a silver knife was sticking out of her chest, above her heart. Her body was draped over a large wolf that had been torn apart, his glazed over eyes staring into nothing. "Oh Luna," I cried as I sank to my knees. "Her mate?"

Vivian nodded. "She begged us to come back with her, she had to see that her Pack members had proper funerals. When we arrived, she went straight for him. She let out a wail, we stayed back, then she pulled out a knife from under her skirt and stabbed herself before we could stop her." She broke down in tears. "You didn't even say goodbye!"

I leaned forward and cupped Kirsten's cheek, then placed my forehead on Vivian's. "It's not your fault," I told her. "Honestly, if I had come back so soon after I was taken, I would have done the same thing. She's with her mate now, it was her choice." She started to cry even more as I stood up. I pulled Craig and David aside, both were broken up as well. "What are your traditions?"

"We burn the body as the moon is highest in the sky," Craig said.

"Then gather people to build the pyre, have the women take her and prepare her for the ceremony." In one way, her Pack was lucky; the Black Dawn Pack was in such a hurry to get back for the raping party that they hadn't looted the buildings yet. The two quickly organized working parties, and once Kirsten had been carried off I pulled Vivian and the other Lunas into the main house with me. Moose followed behind, not willing to leave me alone. "I know you're sad, I am too, but we have a lot of decisions to make quickly," I said as we sat at the kitchen table. "The Black Dawn house is gone, and they don't have any infrastructure left except the training building, slave building and some houses. I went to my Pack, it's a total loss. No hope there. This place looks workable, though, and we have a number of her old Pack with us that would love to move back."

"What about our old Pack lands," Tandy asked.

"Go check them out and report back tomorrow," I said. "Take trucks if you want. Just don't expect much, Moose said the Alpha wouldn't let people live there and it's likely the houses and buildings have been looted or lost." They all nodded, tears in their eyes. They had seen in my eyes the heartbreak of a lost home when I had mentioned what I found. We moved to the upstairs room, they pushed me towards the Alpha Suite and took the other rooms along the way.

I stopped when I entered the room, the smell of Kirsten and her lost mate still hung heavy in the air. Their clothes and things remained out, like they had just left for the day instead of being gone forever. I felt weird moving around in there, but I had to put that aside. I took a quick shower, found some clothes that somewhat fit me and met the others downstairs. "Come on," Mary said, "They got the Pack Kitchen up and running, they are doing a late dinner."

The meal was a somber affair, those Pack members that hadn't come with Luna Kirsten had all arrived since the news broke. I could feel the love they had for her, and it broke my heart. At midnight, I followed their Pack Elders along with the fifty or so wolves here as we made our way through the trees towards the river.

Kirsten's body had been cleaned and she was covered in a white lace dress, her hair braided back. A huge black wolf was at her side, her arms around its neck as his head laid above her breasts. The pyre was huge, and humans and wolves alike had been cleaned up and dressed and placed in a long line. Tonight, we would send them all to the sky.

The Elders performed the funeral ceremony, and Pack members were given a chance to say a few words about the people that had been lost. As Alpha, I was last to speak. "Kirsten had love and courage without bounds," I said as tears ran down my face. "She sacrificed everything, knowing exactly what it meant, in order to save as many of you as she could. She died that night, though, the same time her mate did. Reunited in death, may they find peace together, and may all these fine wolves be found in Luna's arms tonight."

I moved forward, and Craig handed me a flaming torch. I waited until every member had a torch ready, then walked forward and shoved it into the pyre, igniting the grasses and tinder between the large logs. Others did the same, causing the entire line to catch on fire at the same time. The heat forced us back, and as the flames licked at the bodies, we all stripped and shifted.

I howled, full of pain and sorrow, and the Pack picked up the call as we sent our song to the Moon.

Ch 6

I woke in the middle of the night, my wolf was on edge. I looked around the room, it was going to become my new room so I had asked some of the Pack women to help me clean and gather their things from the room and remake the bed. Her mate had been an only child, parents were killed when he was a boy. Vivian told me Kirsten no living family except an older cousin who was Alpha of a Pack two states away. I had their stuff boxed up, hoping he would want it. The room looked bare and it would take a while to make it mine.

I sat up, pulling the sheets from Nancy on my left side as I climbed over her to get to the bathroom. Once again, my girls and I found it necessary to stay together in order to fall asleep; it was the only way our wolves could relax and we could feel safe. Too many years of being helpless, being awoken in the middle of the night to be taken and hurt had left their toll on us. None of us slept deeply, so as soon as I stood up I felt five sets of eyes on me. "What's wrong," Nancy asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"I don't know," I said. My wolf and I were starting to get used to each other again after over a decade without each other, and it was weird. "My wolf is restless." I looked out the window over the valley, the moon bathed it in light. It was a windy night, but clear, I could see the trees moving.

"Mine is too," Mary said. "I think she wants to run." My wolf was in favor of that, and frankly after being locked up so long I liked the idea as well.

"I'll go," Nancy said. I looked over at Sheri and Tandy, they were wrapped in each other's arms and were already going back to sleep. Vivian curled up to Sheri's back, more interested in sleep than fun. I looked over at the clock, it was just after four in the morning, and we had only slept a few hours. I went to the bathroom and came out wearing my shorts and a T-shirt, Nancy and Mary were waiting for me.

We left the house quietly, not waking up the wolves who were crashing in the living room or the extra bedrooms. The Red Moon Pack wolves had returned to their houses, but they had so much on their minds with their lost members that I asked all the others to stay in the Alpha house with me. When things calmed down, I would work on getting housing allocated. There was no way I was going to make my home anywhere near the burned-out house that had been my prison.

We exited through the door out the back of the kitchen and left our clothes in the cubbyholes provided for that purpose. Shifting into our wolves, we headed towards the trail behind the house. The silver in my coat almost glowed in the moonlight, the pattern broken up by the black and white patches. Nancy's wolf was still growing by the size of her paws, and her back came about to my shoulder. Her fur was reddish-brown in color, but the wiry topcoat had some black and white in it. She nipped at my tail as we trotted, impatient to get going. Mary bumped her rear leg with her muzzle, her wolf was the smallest of us just like she was in human form. Her fur was light tan with black streaks.

I gave my wolf free reign and my human part sat back to enjoy the ride. She gladly took control, pushing hard up the hill and heading west towards the Pack borders. Now that I was the Alpha, I could sense my territory even though I had never been to the boundary line. We moved quickly in single file, and when my wolf turned her nose into the breeze and sniffed, I knew what she wanted.

Mary and Nancy came up next to me, also scenting the buck. My wolf was almost giddy with excitement, hunting had been missing from my life for a long time and we were all hungry and underweight. I looked over at my friends, they nodded and moved to each side about twenty yards away as we silently moved down into the valley. Our wolves were in lockstep with each other as we circled the mule deer from downwind; it was bedded down in heavy brush near a creek. "Mary, circle around to the right and come down along the creekbed. When you are close, make some noise and drive him into us."

"You got it," she replied. Nancy and I took up positions downwind, far enough away not to be detected by the buck's keen hearing. It took Mary twenty minutes to start her move. She got as close as she could to it before she started making noise, growling and splashing through the creek. The buck snorted and took off away from her, crashing through the brush and into the open only to realize we were waiting for him.

The buck dug its front hooves into the soft ground and tried to turn, but Nancy was already on him. She bit into his back right hamstring, her teeth ripping muscle and sinew away as he bellowed in pain. The buck turned its antlers towards her, giving me the opening I needed to jump for his throat. My jaws clamped on just below his head, my teeth ripping open the flesh as the blood poured out. I held on as it struggled, and soon Mary had jumped on his back and our combined weight forced him down. I ripped the flesh loose as it fell, dropping it on the grass. We all jumped away from the still-dangerous antlers as its life slipped away, finally going still. I lifted my bloody head to the moon, letting out a powerful howl of joy that was soon joined by my two sisters.

The stood aside as I used my claws to tear into the soft underbelly and let the organs spill out. I reached in and yanked out the liver, holding it for them to each take a chunk of before I devoured the rest. I then pushed into the chest cavity, grabbing the heart and gobbling it down in a few bites. We were gorging ourselves on the tender meat of the backstrap when I smelled another wolf approach. "You have enough for me, Alpha?"

I looked up at Moose, no wolf that big should be quiet enough to sneak up on us like that. "Sure, dig in." He tore into the haunch and ripped a back leg free, taking it over to a small hill where he could eat while watching over us. "Why are you here, anyway? I didn't ask for a guard."

"You didn't ask, but I was told to watch you and Luna forbid something happened to you while I wasn't around. Louise would hand my ass to me." I snorted at the picture in my mind of this mountain of a man being backed down by the tiny little mate of his. We went back to work on the deer, but it was a big one and we couldn't come close to eating it all. I figured we could each take a chunk back home with us for our sisters who had decided to sleep instead.

My wolf was content; she was free, full and in her rightful place. We all waked down to the creek to get a drink of cold water and rinse the blood away. "Come on, this creek joins a river about a mile from here. Feel like a morning swim?"

"Oh hell yeah," I replied. The three of us started down the hill, catching glimpses of the water through the trees as the first rays of sunshine started to break over the horizon. It was a beautiful sight, and our wolves wanted to play. We ran into the water, play-fighting and chasing each other in the shallows until we were tired.