In the peak of training, three days in, a ringtone cuts through the grunting and groaning, everyone stops dead and stares at the solitary mobile phone lying off to the side of the group. After training is done, they have time on their phones and laptops to do what they need to do for their packs, but when it is training time, there are no interruptions.
This is no one's personal mobile, the shrill ringtone freezes the air, because when it sounds it can only mean one thing. Jade looks at Axel, her heart in her throat, she has been waiting for the call, but she was just hoping it never came. To tell the truth, it came a lot sooner than she was anticipating, she thought that they would be pressed for time, hence the extreme pressing every minute of training time but even this is too short, they have progressed as much as possible in three days. But three days is still only three days, the gains made in such a short time frame are never going to be where she wanted to be.
Jade walks toward the phone, her feet feel like they are filled with lead, each step is cumbersome, each step takes an eternity, how is the ringtone so loud, it pierces every bit of serenity and peace they had been feeling, hiding out here in their own little world.
As Jade reaches out to grab the phone, her hand has a slight tremor in her nervousness, Axel appears by her side, Axel’s big hand covers Jade's small hand as he stabilizes it. They grab the phone together. Jade’s green eyes meet Axel’s blue eyes with a look of deep appreciation. The others all gather around the phone as Jade raises a single finger to her lips. Everyone knows Jade and Axel but no one knows about the others, so she doesn’t want them to make a sound.
Jade slides her finger across the screen to answer the call and then puts it straight on speaker.
“This is Jade”
Muffled crying can be heard. Jade looks at the others.
“Hello?”
“Mummy and Daddy said to call you if something happened”
A small childish yet raspy voice sounds in between sobs.
“Yes sweetie that’s fine, can you tell me what happened?”
“Mummy and Daddy..... t...t..they are up side down and their eyes are open so they can’t be sleeping, but they won’t answer me”
Jade is at a loss for words. She was expecting a lot of things, but not this. While she is pregnant, her maternal instinct is nearly non-existent. Jade doesn’t do well at hiding her anxiety of having to deal with a child. Ava grabs the phone from her.
“Hey buddy, my name is Ava, can you tell me what your name is?”
“Brodie”
“Brodie is a great name. I bet you are very handsome”
Brodie’s voice clears a little.
“I am”
“How old are you Brodie?”
“4”
“Can you tell me which pack you are in?”
“Blood moon”
“Okay sweetie, sit tight. We will be there soon. Don’t disturb your parents any more okay”
“I won’t Ava"
"Have you got a beta that you can stay with?”
“He is in the next house”
“Does he know?”
“No, I called you first, that s what mommy and daddy said to do”
“Okay, go see him and tell him we are on our way”
Ava says goodbye and hangs up the phone. Suddenly silence prevails for a couple of minutes as they all look at the black screen of the phone.
It has started. While they were all expecting it, they were still not prepared for the call. The training has seemed like a bit of fun now compared to what they have to do now.
It was expected that there would be more dead bodies, but it still hits hard when there actually is a death toll so early on. It is common consensus amongst the group. Blame. They can’t help but feel responsible. The moon goddess trusted them, yet people still died, it is even harder this time because a small child is involved. Alina breaks the silence.
“How far away is blood moon?”
There is a collective shake of heads, they all finally come back to their senses and head inside the house. The dining room area s***h meeting room, the walls are covered in information, Jade gets straight on the lap top where they have been busy compiling lists of name and locations for all the packs.
“It is in the center of the country, Alina, can you book tickets for half of us?”
Alina nods and sets to work.
“While I feel it is too early to reveal ourselves, I think the moon goddess wanted us to do this together. Half of us fly, half of us run, we don’t want to give ourselves completely away, it is going to be a long run”
Jade stops and ponders for a moment.
“Ava is known now, Ava and Hunter. You both travel with Axel and I. The rest of you, how do you feel about a run?”
“Yep”
Alina and Alexis answer at the same time.
“Keep together and report any findings. It will take you longer than it will take us. Don’t come into the pack, skirt and outside and see what you can find”
Just as they are all about to run off in separate directions, Jade adds
“Don’t carry a bag, we will take extra clothes for you, don’t draw unnecessary attention, hunt for your food, don’t enter populated areas and try to keep clear of everyone, if you see something, observe and report, if there is something to do, I want all of us to face it together, Lucas, roll in the dirt or something you are too bright”
Lucas chuckles, Ava nods, she knows the feeling of having a way too noticeable wolf. They move around into their rooms and organise themselves.
They have unconsciously been ready to go anyway, so it is not hard to organise. Within half an hour, four wolves are running off toward the treeline and four people are loading in a car to head to the airport.
Jade looks at Ava, who is looking wistfully in the direction that the others ran off earlier. Jade smiles. She feels the same but feels she has to explain herself.
“We want to get to Brodie as soon as possible. You have already exposed yourself and you are better at talking to him than I am”
“I know, I just like to run”
Jade nods her head, putting a hand on her belly as she purses her lips.
“Me too”
The list of tasks that she can’t do will soon start to increase and she is worried about how much of a burden she is going to be to the group. Is she still meant to keep tagging along if she doesn’t go? It means Axel is out as well, because they physically can’t be separated. It does enough damage to her body. What would it do to the pups if they tried to separate?
“From now, if we need to talk about the others, do it over link”
“Do you think it is so serious?”
“To tell the truth, I have no idea, I am making up every step as we are going. I could just be being over the top, the unknown is just daunting, we need more information”
Jade pauses, twisting her fingers together as she speaks.
“I am just sad that we have to see some dead bodies again in the hopes of getting some more information”
Axel takes a hand off the steering wheel and pries Jade’s hands apart and holds one of her hands in an effort to comfort her. Jade looks at Axel, giving him a sad smile. She looks back at Hunter and Ava.
“Prepare yourself, I know you have seen the photos, but seeing it in real life is different, it is hard, it is the most brutal yet strangely serene death, it is morbid, yet the lack of blood is so unsettling”
Ava nods her head and looks out the window. Death is nothing new to them, it is not like they have never seen a dead body, or even taken a life themselves, but Ava is well aware that it is going to be a hard thing to handle.
“I understand, I just hope that the beta is good and I don’t have to explain death to a four year old”
Jade’s face is grim.
“That is your job, I froze up as soon as I heard his voice, I can’t understand it, Samuel and Anna had a full grown son, these ones must be so young and what is the blood moon pack, I have never heard of it, if the victims are so different are we going to be able to find anything? Are we going to be able to work out the next move?”
Axel tightens his grip on Jade’s hand and says.
“We won’t know till we get there”