In the Shadow of the Moon

Gregory threw the bookshelf viciously at the wall. That ungrateful trollop, she would pay. She had thrown herself at him. She had laid herself out on his bed and let him pound into her repeatedly, then snuck off into the night taking their daughter with her. That ungrateful whore, she would get what was coming to her. He picked up an end table and pitched it at the door. Snarls flowed as smooth as blood from his chest. He stalked towards the door and stepped into the hall. He would hunt them down and beat sense into the traitorous backstabbing bitches. He unleashed a howl into compound.

5 months later

Victoria new the picture she must have made as she walked across the parking lot of the club. She had just moved to Bayton with her mother. They had lived on the outskirts of the midwestern town for 2 months, before her mother had settled on joining the pack. Victoria had been there long enough to have a few friends, something she had never really had. So when they had invited her out for a night on the town, she hadn't really known what to do, but with a little pampering from Shannon and Lauren she looked like a bombshell.

Natural curves and a flat stomach on her 5'9, 137 lbs frame, this being her father's idea of perfection, had always left clothing doors open for her. The shirt, a deep purple and gold, left a large expanse of her back and stomach open. Her jeans looked painted on and her feet in delicate heels that, if not for her preternatural sense balance, she wouldn't be able to walk in. She had left her black hair to cascade softly down her shoulders. She had never felt like this. It was something her father didn't allow. It was all about fighting, survival, and violence.

Tonight she wouldn't think about this though, tonight she was going to hang out. She took a deep breath as they approached the bouncer, the bass of some rap song reverberating through the walls. They were quickly let in; she could feel the heated gaze of the men in line as she disappeared through the entrance. Her friends were bouncing on the balls of their feet, electrified by the atmosphere of the club. Along with the pulsating vibes of the people on the dance floor, she felt the pull of something else. Her body flushed, her heart raced, and her wolf perked up. The sensation intoxicating, she leaned in the direction of the back of the club. She had started to head in that direction, before she caught a hold of herself. Victoria didn't know what it was but she didn't want to know. Nothing with a pull like that could ever be good news.

She quickly turned and headed for the bar. Carmen and Shannon moved to the dance floor, Stacy, Lauren, and Jessie moved to scope out a booth. Tomorrow would be full of pack introductions and challenges, the only bright spot being her fencing practice around 11, tonight Victoria would let loose and dance. Being a pack owned bar she had no hesitations when she ordered a bottle of C. C was a powerful substance, it was created by the Fae, distilled and magically enhanced. Any human who drank it would go on a trip more powerful than LCD. For pack it awoke every cell in the body, it was one hell of a rush.

The bartender was cute and she quickly picked up a conversation with him.

Antony sat dazed at the back of his club; his mate had just walked in the bar. With the rush of the closing door, her scent had been wafted back filling his body with a flush of desire. His wolf had stood up and howled at smell. He quickly tried seeking her out, but she had moved away from door. A low growl started in his chest. He closed his eyes and cast his mind out, giving in more to his wolf. He ran into the jumbled minds of humans and the minds of pack that easily gave way to his touch.

When he reached Josiah he was talking to a group of girls, they had her scent, but only faintly as if they had touched her. From there it was easy to follow their trail to the door and follow hers to bar. He opened his eyes and growled. There she was at the bar laughing with Terence. Antony snarled and quickly threw himself into Terrence's mind, the word mine a deep snarl in his chest.

He watched with keen eyes as he fell to his knees getting her a drink, his profuse apologies were ringing in his head.

Victoria stood, waiting; Terrence had gone to get her another bottle. She was enjoying their conversation, he was funny and sweet and since he was pack she would get to talk to him again. She smiled as she saw him coming back and he flinched. She quirked an eyebrow, what was that?

He waved it off and placed the bottle in front of her.

"Your drinks are on the house tonight, alright?"

She smiled and laughed.

"Now get out there and have some fun, that's what you came to do."

"But we were talking, is something up?"

"Nah nothing I just gotta get back to work."

Victoria nodded grabbing her bottle and slid off the bar stool, a little confused. She quickly didn't mind, her song flowed in the air. Her hips automatically began to sway as Gyptian's Hold You played. She sauntered her way over to her friends, the music taking control of ever muscle in her body. She was so deep in the music that she didn't notice the flush that covered her body and the tantalizing scent coming closer. And when the hands spanned her hips, she leaned back falling into step with the distinctly masculine form behind her. She couldn't help but smile at finding a guy who could actually dance.

In wasn't until the disjointed cords a bouncing club mix came on that she could bring herself back together. She became aware of her pacing wolf, racing heart, and the intoxicating smell of man behind her. She tried to pull away but his grip on her body tightened.

"Your Addyson's daughter."

Victoria froze and turned in his arms. "How do you know my mother?" She didn't know who this was, didn't know if her father had sent him.

"Your mother has been moving your stuff into my packs compound. I wondered what kept drawing me to that room, why it smelled so good, now I know."

She kept her face a still as possible, the Alpha of Gaylen pack had his arms firmly around him, and all she could think was "what the fuck?" So lost, all she could do was watch as his face came closer to hers. The kiss was more than mind numbing, it was a full on tingly, kept your body in one position for too long, got out of the bed too fast, full body numb. It spread like a flash fire from her lips down to her toes. She pressed herself hard to his chest. She had never kissed someone before and here she was plastering herself across this mans chest.

She gripped his shirt hard and held on for dear life. The kiss was a sensation overload. The soft and firm touch of his lips and his smell had her quickly soaking through her new panties. When he pulled away she loosened he death grip on the bottle in her hand, but not his shirt. If hadn't been for her holding on and him holding her, she was positive that she would be on her ass on the floor staring up at him. Instead she rested her head against his chest getting her breath back, she looked up at him when he slid the bottle out of her hand.

He drained what was left of the bottle and then smiled down at her.

"We need to talk." With that he set the bottle on the bar and began leading her to the back of the club. She simply followed a still stunned until her friends grabbed her arm. They probably thought she was crazy.

"V what are you doing?"

"Um...nothing he's an old friend." Their freakishly high-pitched giggles were doing wonders for her current mind stupor.

"Are you going somewhere with him? Are you sure that's safe?" She could hear their excitement at the taboo of disappearing with some man in the back of the club.

"We are just going to talk somewhere private, that's all. I'll see your guys later ok." She was once again distracted, he was staring at her, so with a wave to her friends she started moving her feet again. He pulled her in close to his body. She was confused, she didn't know what he was doing, all this touchy feely and kissing, but she knew from experience you didn't say no to an alpha, not unless you were one.

Despite what Victoria had thought they only stayed at the back of the club for a few moments, he tossed his keys to a large bulky man with blonde hair and then moved us towards the door. She wasn't going to challenge his authority, but it was starting to grate her nerves, his leading her around. So once they exited she stopped walking. As he was keeping such a close hold on her he knew the minute she stopped and stopped himself.

Antony looked back at her in confusion.

"What?"

"What do you mean what? Where are you taking me? I haven't done anything wrong and until tomorrow you aren't my alpha so you can't command me." Her wolf bristled at the blatant disrespect for...for an alpha. She could feel the rim of something more. There was more to her wolfs protesting, than mere respect for an alpha. Normally she and her wolf worked cohesively and they understood each other, but right now, she couldn't put a peg in the word her wolf wanted to use.

He was in her face, barely an inch away, the coming off of him was intoxicating and she felt herself lean forward. She wanted to burry herself in his skin. The deep growl rumbling deep in his throat, only served to throw her deeper into empty space where only they existed. "Actually I am your alpha," he stepped back, the possibility of a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth, "but since you asked so nicely, dI am taking you home. You have a busy day tomorrow and your need to sleep. Besides I need to talk to your mother about a few more things. So lets go."

Despite what she wanted her feet began to move, as if that had been enough of an explanation for them. Still he was right, she could feel the compulsion to do what he asked, he was her alpha and the primal part of her knew that. Her wolf had rolled over, as if all she had been waiting for was his claiming. She picked up her feet and moved faster, walking in front of and away from him, towards her beast of a car.

The 2011 Camero convertible was a gift from her grandparents. They had spent a little time there after they had left. The black car was one of the few shiny spots in her life on the run. One thing that was strictly hers, one thing her father had no claim too. She slid into the front seat and started the car, lowering the roof. She contemplated the idea of pulling off, but it was passing thought. With the roof down he reached over and unlocked his door. She connected her ipod and peeled out of the parking lot to Sam Sparro's Black and Gold.

Antony smirked at the song, it fit the beauty of the car he was in and the woman next to him.

"Isn't this car supposed to be in my garage?"

She looked at him and rolled her eyes, swiftly moving her hair out of her face.

She shrugged noncommittally, "I had shit to do."

He chuckled.

"Your mother wasn't lying."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Her guard up, if he thought her mother was lying, why did he agree

He stared at her profile. It was sexy, the curve of her nose and the pout of her lips. Her thoughts a roiling, wild flicker behind her eyes eyes, but that was the only place it showed. Her faced, remained stoic with its nonchalance.

"I agreed," casually addressing the thoughts in her head, "because your mother was truly desperate. Even if she was lying, that desperation was real. She was friends with my mother, those to two stipulations were enough."

He could tell she was waiting for him to finish explaining, but he didn't. She was so wrapped up in trying to decipher his words that she missed his dip into her head.

"You do realize that there are speed limits right?"

"Now why would I have to worry about that? With the alpha of the local pack in my car and most of the police force being pack, where's the trouble?"

His laughter was a force that couldn't be stopped, it rolled from is throat in deep rich waves. Crashing on the banks of her body. She was sassy and highly observant. He had been deflecting the few cop cars wishing to stop them.

He noticed her smile at his laugh and it was at the moment that he knew he had her. She would find her malcontent again, but he would have her in the end. The twenty-minute drive, over she swung smoothly into the drive of her house. With out another word to him she hopped out of the car and walked up and through the front door.

Victoria was more than a little agitated to have him her house.

"Mom." She called out.

Her mother walked out of the kitchen, the fluffy soft blueberry robe cocooning her body complimented her fair complexion.

"Vicky, I didn't expect you back till later, did something happen? Are your nerv...oh!" Victoria felt him at her back, his tall imposing figure throwing off heat like the sun in spring. It battered at her relentlessly, and it took all her might to let the sentence come out and not the moan. The moan that beat fearlessly at the words, attempting to push its way out of her body and make itself known to the world.

"Yeah, he wants to talk to you, I am off to bed, night." She quickly moved towards the stairs.

"I actually would like to talk to both of you." He reached out and grabbed her arm pulling her back. His grip was firm and she closed her eyes at the touch, before she could completely lose herself, she pulled up short. Her wolf had been asserting itself. The constant tide of lust acting as an aphrodisiac to her struggling sub-conscious, she took a deep breath and rolled her eyes. She deftly maneuvered her wrist from his grasp and positioned herself on the corner edge of the couch. It was one of the few things left to move. It still looked new, the corners unbeaten, the fabric threads neat and straight. They showed no signs of the friction of many butts and too large thighs sliding past.

"Addyson, tomorrow is going to involve a bit more than we planned. I know your daughter hasn't gone through her trials and that is on as scheduled, but I also she will also be going through challenges to her claim as alpha female."

Shock slid through her body, everything slowed down and sped up as her mother simultaneously quirked and eyebrow and Victoria unleashed the word "WHAT!?!?!?!" like a proclamation into the air.

"Yes, I was surprised as well. I have been trying to figure out for sometime what keeps drawing me to your room in the compound and tonight when she walked into the club, I realized it was her beautiful scent. She is my mate. Now I..."

"No, No No NO! I am not your mate, I am not mating with anyone ever." She stood up, furious. Her anger reverberated in every muscle and every bone. The anger however was completely human, her wolf was ready haunches playfully held in the air. She was ready for her mate to hunt them down and claim them; to force their submission.

Victoria lost track of the conversation between her mother and Antony. Anger at herself had always been a strange concept, but she would not shy away from it tonight. She felt the confusion from the other half of her.

"What angers you? He is our mate he will protect and take care of us. Love us and provide for us. Where is there a source of anger in that?"

"I will help you to recall that our mother had a mate. Do you remember why we are on the run, why we had to request sanctuary and protection in joining this pack?"

"That wolf was not our mother's mate, not mate would do that. There is nothing to fear, I am right in this matter."

"Right my ass, you have the same experience and knowledge as I have and you can't make a valid argument, that what happened to everyone else, won't happen to us."

"The elders who gave us the car are very happy and they are mated. You can feel the love every time we are around them. You cannot deny this."

" No I can't, but I can cite chance. We have only seen that in one place and they were mated long ago. I won't let this happen to me, I will fight...Mating can only end in disaster. Look and Lulu and Heather. Both sent off to different packs, the letters Lulu sent back sounded like nothing, but misery and we never even heard from Heather. There is nothing to be had in a man dominating your life. I will not be someone's punching bag. I wont allow all my decisions to be stolen from me. I will not go quietly into the nothing existence of bending to the whim and command of a mate. You will not drag me into this, I refuse, No, and you can't make me, I make the decisions."

The panic and fear were rising she fought to get out the deep concentration she had slipped into. Pushing the mind of her wolf back, but the body forward. She felt the large set of arms around her and the scent that went with it, only served to aggravate her more.

Antony watched as her eyes flashed a deep silvery purple. A sign of the power within her, he was stunned. He could do nothing, but stare, the power of his mate and the beauty that resided in the passion of her anger. She shrugged herself out of his arms and jumped off the couch holding her breath. She would run until the power and emotions bled out of her and into the ground. Let Mother Nature deal wit the emotions, because she couldn't, wouldn't. With the hint of a thought she flashed her clothes to her room and stepped from the living room to the patio. She shifted and when her feet touched the grass, she was a gorgeous black wolf. Larger than most, deep silver undertones in the midnight fur, and purple eyes, she let herself become and invisible black streak as she fled into the woods.

Antony watched as she fled. Her shift was liquid; a smooth flow from human to wolf. Watching the beauty and the grace that was her pure release of emotion had brought his wolf to the surface. His eyes had shifted and vibrations rolled in waves down his body. He felt Addyson at his back, but she was keeping her distance. He had never felt this before; this overwhelming need to shift and chase her, to show her who she belonged to. He was just getting his breathing under control, when the wind shifted. It a scent he instinctively tagged as dangerous. Especially with his emotional driven mate in the woods. When a howl let loose, a howl that could on signal one thing, his shift was instantaneous. He was on his paws and darting after her.

He senses, singling in on her essences, the scent she left on leaves and branches; his mind reaching for hers. When he finally found the spot where the other wolves had caught up with her, he come upon a scene that he was intuitively sure would haunt him for years to come.

Victoria was pressed to the ground, the wolf trying to force himself on her. From the fog in her mind, she had been stunned. He let out a low threatening snarl and leapt at the wolf on top of her, ignoring the other two. As if the snarl were a slap in the face, Victoria jumped up and attacked. By this point, Antony had dispatched the wolf and though his instincts told him to jump in he stood in awe.

Stunning her had to be a requirement, the way she was fighting now, that would be the only way fighters of low caliber could get the upper hand on her. She was a moving streak of black against the airy shadows of the forest. With decisive snaps of her jaw and vicious swipes of her claws, she deftly and quickly incapacitated the other wolves.

One left wolf lay dead, the gaping hole in his throat a testament to his end. The other Victoria stood over, a deep gaping slash down his side, they both watched as the life slipped from his body. Antony began forcing his wolf, back. Though every muscle in his body was telling him to protect her, he had learned his lesson long ago. Sometimes the wolf's instincts could lead him to hurt people he loved.

He sighed and knelt on the grass. Fear, blood lust, and the instinct to protect were still running through Victoria, it was a tangible heat wave on the air. Slowly she calmed, and they both stood up from the ground, the tension a large gaping chasm between them. He held his arms open and watched as she hesitated. When she finally did, he closed his arms tightly around her. She collapsed, blacking out.