Guardians of the Opal Moon

Chapter 3

Axel looks out at the quiet crowd, expectant eyes are trained on him. He takes another breath of Jade's scent before he continues. His gentle blue eyes while looking at Jade are replaced with a stern gaze full of unquestionable authority.

"I am Alpha Axel and this is my Luna Jade. We would like to welcome you to the opal moon pack on this historic day. This gathering is completely unprecedented but we felt that it is necessary to let you know that there is a threat each and every one of us here today"

The crowd is hanging on every word, they are interested anyway, but the tone of Axel’s voice and his general aura, no one would dare to make a sound. There is a general consensus that one would take their life into their own hands if they dared to talk over the top of him.

"Jade and I have only just recently taken over the position of liaison to the alphas. Most of you would know in some capacity Alpha Samuel and Luna Anna. While we were getting groomed for the position anyway, the process was sped up suddenly when they came to us fearful that something was going to happen, fearful that they were being watched. Their worries came to fruition just a week ago, when we visited their pack and found them hanging from their feet drained of all the blood. We believe that a dark witch is behind this. We have limited information, but what we do know is that this is not an isolated incident"

A worried murmur runs through the crowd. In the werewolf world the intersection between wolves and witches is kept to the minimum. The witches stay out of the wolves way and vice versa. That is the way it has been for fifty years to keep the peace. Hearing word of a dark witch attacking wolves is a massive shock to everyone. For those who knew Samuel and Anna, it is a double shock to learn that they are dead and they died in such a way. Jade's loud, firm yet sweet voice carries just as much authority as Axel’s.

"Today we are not only here to warn you of the threat, we are also here to form alliances. We are as one. We will fight this outside force together. If someone threatens the werewolves, we must still band together for the good of us all. We have no idea how far spread this problem is, but any information you can give us would be most helpful. We want this to be the last death like this. The more blood the dark witch gets the worse for all of us it'll be. We ourselves have been attacked by the same dark force for reasons that we do not yet understand just yet but this is not a threat we can take lightly. All past grievances between packs must be put aside for the good of us all, at least until this threat is eliminated."

Axel looks around the crowd, his gaze firm and somewhat threatening, yet no one takes offence as they try and digest the information that they have been fed.

"Does anyone have a problem with this?"

The whole crowd seems to shake their head in unison. No one would dare have a problem. After all, few of the people present have even met a white witch, let alone had to tackle the threat of a dark witch. The years of peace between the two supernatural forces have garnered a certain level of complacency. The knowledge of how to defend against such a threat is all but forgotten.

All that is drilled into Alphas during the academy is to defend against other wolves, nothing about other forms of defence. The lunas at the alphas side are just as lost in such a situation. Jade speaks again.

"While we are here to warn you about the threat and get any information that we can, we must enjoy this momentous event. Please refer any information to either Alpha Axel or I about this threat, and from now on there's going to be a free flow of information between all of us. We all need to be on the same page here"

The crowd bows in unison to Axel and Jade. As soon as the two turn their backs on the crowd, the masses erupt in a cacophony of chatter. No one even knows the people they are talking to, they just want to make sure that what they heard was right, that their ears didn’t deceive them. It is a massive threat that no one is taking lightly. Axel leads Jade off the stage. Holding her hand and helping her down the stairs like she has lost the ability to walk, which earns him an inconspicuous elbow in the ribs.

‘Stop it’

Axel smiles gently and regains his composure. He did promise her, not today. But still he pulls Jade close to him by her waist as they join the crowd trying to seek out any extra information from the guests.

Alina looks at Phoenix who has listened intently, but as soon as she sees a gap, she guides him straight out of the crowd. Phoenix has a strong wolf but it is also fairly volatile, keeping him out of the crowds where way too much can go wrong seems like the best course of action.

Alina and Phoenix find a quiet area off to the side. Alina gazes up toward the stage at Jade. She has officially found her idol. She is in awe of the powerful Luna. She shakes her head to clear her thoughts and looks at Phoenix.

“What do you think?”

“I thought rouges were bad enough, dark witch? That is crazy”

“I am still stuck on dying by being drained of blood”

Phoenix pulls her into his strong embrace.

“Babe, can you not talk about dying? We have been there, done that, not interested in doing that again”

Alina smiles into his shoulder and rubs his back. She wasn’t talking about herself dying, she isn’t stupid enough to say things like that unless she is planning on triggering the man, which she has absolutely no interest in doing, she wouldn’t dig that hole for herself.

Jade can’t handle Axel’s over protectiveness, so splits from him, with the valid excuse of finding more information from more people in a shorter time. She has a small notebook that she jots down the bits and pieces of information that she gets, nothing is standing out as very important, but with the limited information they have to go on, any thing could be of help. Something insignificant could lead to realising what on earth is going on. While both Axel and Jade sounded confident on stage, they have about as little information as everyone else, laying what little they have themselves out in front of everyone.

Axel has one eye on Jade the whole time, ready to take out anyone in the path to protect his mate as he tries to listen to the useless dribble that some of the guests are spouting. It seems like most of them are just trying to cozy up to the powerful duo instead of actually contributing any relevant information.