I am the Moon Spirit

Captured

Don’t look back. Keep running, keep running. Danielle repeated to herself inside her head. Over, and over again. Don’t you dare stop.

She was forced to come back to the ground a mile, or so back. When the space between the trees became too much for her to continue jumping from one to another. She wasn’t going to risk falling down and breaking a leg. No, there was no way in hell she’d be that stupid.

She used her last stupidity ticket the moment she let her guard down earlier. Now she was facing the consequences.

Danielle heard another twig breaking behind her. And this one was too close for comfort. She let out a small frustrated groan before forcing her body to it’s maximum capabilities. She was running so fast she was sure she could put those professional runners from the sports magazine she once read to shame.

The sound of several large bodies pursuing her was overwhelming, but Danielle wasn’t particularly scared. She was more worried they would find out she was human, and that they would then spread the news to their fellow shapeshifters.

If that was to happen she would definitely be in a lot of trouble.

She couldn’t even count how many supernatural beings would then hunt her down and try to kill her.

Danielle looked over her shoulder for a brief moment, without ever slowing down. There were two giant wolves closing in on her. The largest one was gray while the slightly smaller one had light brown fur. Both had glowing golden eyes, that she noticed were fixed on her back.

She probably looked like a scared rabbit trying to escape in their eyes. But she wasn’t going to make things easy for them.

Danielle made a sharp turn and headed to a small river that crossed the lands. Despite not going to school she wasn’t stupid, she knew very well what she could use for her advantage, and when.

There was a good side to werewolves being such lunatics when it came to their property.

A loud snarl and an angry bark reached her ears, and she smirked to herself. They had already noticed what she was doing.

Danielle acted as fast as her tired body allowed her to. Knowing that if this plan failed she was going to get caught.

She threw her stuff to the other side of the small river with as much force as she could muster up. And then, with a little impulse, she jumped over the water.

Danielle managed to safely land on the other side with a little yelp. And only then she turned back.

The two wolves were pacing from one side to another. Growling as they looked at her. Even in their wolf form Danielle could see their frown. It didn’t help that she was pretty much smirking as she faced them.

It was a pity they didn’t read minds. If they did they would’ve known she wasn’t smirking at them, but for them. She was just happy she had managed to outrun the two athletic werewolves. But she was tired. So she sat down for a moment without breaking eye contact with the werewolves that followed her. Still trying to control her breathing. That was a hell of a run.

The two werewolves stopped and looked at each other for a moment, almost seeming as if they were communicating. Then, suddenly they both looked back at her and the sound of bones cracking and rearranging themselves reached her ears.

Danielle couldn’t help but cringe a little. And when the two man finally finished shifting she quickly looked away.

“Ugh, you guys have no manners.” She mumbled to herself as she glared at the orange rays of fading sunlight coming from above the trees.

She was sure both of then heard her comment. But apparently they decided to ignore it.

“Who are you?” At the sound of that demanding voice, Danielle instinctively looked back at the men. Regretting her action immediately.

It was that dark haired guy from before. The one she kicked off the tree.

“You’re Aiden, right?” She said with a raised brow, making sure to look anywhere else but at the two naked figures. “Sorry for the kick earlier, but it was all your fault for sneaking on me. You’re lucky I didn’t stab you in the eye.”

“I believe he asked you a question, girl.” Danielle noticed how the other man emphasized the word ‘girl’, she just wasn’t sure why.

She tilted her head to the side, a little confused because she didn’t know what he was trying to imply.

“You killed that-” Aiden started, but Danielle cut him off.

“He was a filthy bastard. You’re welcome, by the way.” She took one last calming breath before jumping to her feet again.

“You had no right!” The other man, that she finally recognized as the one who sniffed her arrow back at the clearing, spoke. “He was supposed to be taken as our prisoner; to be punished by our hands.”

Danielle didn’t even hide the fact the she was less than interested in his complaints. She just rolled her eyes at him and threw her bag over her shoulder.

“Just so you know,” she gave the guy a sly smile. “He was mine before you even knew he existed.”

The brown haired man gave her a wide eyed look, but didn’t say anything else. His colleague didn’t take his example though.

“Why don’t you tell us your name? We would like to have a proper conversation with you.” The one named Aiden suggested, this time sounding less unfriendly. But it was Danielle’s turn to act deaf and ignore them.

She was already turning around to walk away when he spoke again. And this time his words froze her on the spot.

“I’d really like to know why it was so hard to smell your presence. Humans usually have the strongest scents, but yours was barely noticeable.”

He knows. She almost panicked.

“Seriously, who are you?” Aiden asked again. “You don’t dress or behave like normal hunters, so I know you’re not one. I want to know why you were in our lands. And I want to know why you helped us.”

Yeah, now I’m screwed. She mentally slapped herself.

“And you even knew how to get to the borders,” the brown haired man mused quietly. He was silently analyzing her. She didn’t have to look at them to know they were both staring holes on her back.

“I tracked that rogue for days before I finally found the perfect spot to put him down.” Danielle turned back to the men, but still didn’t look at them directly. Their nudity made her uncomfortable. “I was going to kill him before you even showed up back there. And when you guys appeared I almost missed my shot.”

There was a very long, very unsettling moment of silence between them until someone said anything.

“So it is you,” the brown haired guy scratched his head a little. He suddenly sounded a bit reluctant. “Not exactly what I expected. But you’re fast, I’ll give you that.”

Danielle didn’t want to, but felt forced to actually look them in the eyes this time.

“What do you mean?” She questioned, feeling suddenly suspicious.

“He means we have been looking forward to meeting the famous Moon Spirit that’s been roaming these woods,” Aiden clarified. “And we’d like to apologize in advance.”

Danielle narrowed her eyes at them, “Apologize for what exactly?”

“For this,” said a voice from behind her, and Danielle didn’t even have time to whip her head around or make a run for it.

She felt something hit her head hard and in one second she was out cold.

...

“You’re telling me this skinny little human almost outran you and Victor?”

“Not almost, sir. She outran us.”

“And then she jumped over a river, into the Harris’ territory. We were lucky she ran into one of our allies’ lands, otherwise we wouldn’t have caught her. Aiden managed to distract her long enough for the boys to surround her.”

“Impressive.”

...

Impressive will be what I'll do to you later. Danielle thought numbly. Her head was pounding. She felt completely drained. And her body felt stiff. Wait until I can finally open my eyes, you d**k.

But for now the only thing she could do was let herself be dragged back into an endless flow of memories she would much rather leave untouched; at least until she got over her loss.

She saw John and Alice calling her over with arms wide open, they were happy to see her. Saw Claude too, with that big warm smile no one else in the entire world could ever compare to. Their house before that night, when everything was still pure and untainted; warm and safe. And then she saw it: death.

The destruction of what she held most dear.

The end of her; the end of everything.

...

“It’s already been two days, Victor. Maybe we should have Marcus give her something to force her to wake up?” There was the sound of a slap, and a groan. “What was that for?”

“Don’t be stupid. She’ll wake up eventually. Until then we’ll wait.”

“I’m tired of waiting.”

“I am too, Leo. But Aiden and your father would kill us both if we did anything to her.”

“Ugh, those two... Explain to me again why they were so interested in finding this girl again?”

“Apparently she helped prevent three wars in the span of one year. I guess they were hoping she would do it again.”

“This tiny, defenseless looking girl?”

“Yeah, well... No one was expecting the so called Moon Spirit to be a girl, brat.”

“I’m just stating the obvious here- Look, she moved!”

“Thank goddess, finally.” There was a sigh. “I’ll call Aiden and the alpha.”

So annoying, Danielle thought as her tired eyes fluttered open. She still felt drained even after two days of sleep and supposed it had something to do with the fact her brain wouldn’t stop bringing up all those painful memories.

Danielle saw a pure white ceiling above her head and smelled sterile alcohol somewhere near. She on the other hand didn’t smell too good - with two days worth of old sweat and dirt stuck on her skin and clothes. She couldn’t help but scrunch up her nose with disgust.

“Ew...” Danielle groaned as she slowly forced herself to a sitting position.

She took a small look around. She was in a pure white room that had medical supplies neatly placed on shelves, and several equipment she never once saw in her life scattered around. There were three beds, all of them covered in pure white sheets. Hers was the closest one to the windows, from which she could make out a few sounds coming from outside. Someone is wrestling out there.

“Awake at last,” said an amused voice. “We’ve all been waiting to finally speak with you.”

Danielle turned around, narrowing her eyes a little. The boy who she ended up saving was sitting on a metallic chair right beside her with a wide smile on his face. The ripped clothes he was left in when they were in the woods had been replaced by a thin blue shirt that clung his his body in all the right places, making every one of his muscles evident. His white sweatpants made him look a little bit sloppy, but he still looked handsome and extremely comfortable.

Danielle looked at his face for a moment, taking in his appearance now that they were close enough. His hair was short, but not too short. The strands had a gleam to them that made it look like they were made of gold. His skin was very light, and his dark green eyes looked warm and friendly.

The guy looked like the type of person anyone could get along with.

“I’m Leo,” his voice was very soft. “What’s your name?”

Danielle eyed him suspiciously for a moment, “Leo... As in Leonard, or Leonardo?”

“Leo, as in just Leo” he replied with a small laugh.

“I’m Danielle.”

He took one of his hand to his chin and rubbed it softly, seeming deep in thought.

“I’m sorry, but I have to ask...” He made a small pause, as if choosing his words before continuing. “Are you really the one who’s been taking down the Scarlet Rogues?”

Danielle furrowed her brows in confusion. She had no idea what that guy was talking about. “Wha- What’s a scarlet rogue?”

Now it was Leo who furrowed his brows.

“The Scarlet Rogues are rogue alphas,” he explained slowly. “We don’t know why but one year ago the number of alphas gone rogue exploded. And now the bastards formed a sort of... pack. They’ve been targeting smaller packs and killing everyone in their paths.”

“Alphas,” Danielle repeated to herself. “I might have killed some rogues that were alphas, but they didn’t seem like anything special. They were just... like that guy that got you.”

Leo scoffed, “You talk like there’s some other type of rogue. They’re all sick in the head.”

“I know,” she said in a hard tone. She felt kind of offended by him stating the obvious. “I know rogues are sick. That’s precisely why I’ve been healing as many of them as possible.”

Leo’s eyes suddenly went wide.

“What do you mean you’ve been healing them?” Asked an unfamiliar voice coming from the door.