Guardians of the Opal Moon

Chapter 5

Ava looks at Hunter in a questioning way, wondering what they did to garner this reaction. Jade is still holding Ava’s hand like she wants to remove the mark from her skin and peer closer at it. No wonder she felt drawn toward these two, but how did they know and how did they get it?

"I am Alpha Hunter and this is my Luna Ava from New Moon"

Jade has never even heard of New Moon, so they are obviously not a giant pack. She has never heard of either of these names either, so that gives her no clues. She is desperate for answers, so her voice is more hurried than usual holding a tinge of desperation that can be rarely heard in the usually steady tone.

"Why do you have this mark?"

"We don't exactly know. We got it on the last full moon. What does it matter?"

"Have you ever heard of Axel and I before now?"

"No, well, only since the invitation"

"Is this mark fake?"

"No, why on earth would we fake having something like this?"

Jade stares so hard at Ava and Hunter, nearly looking like she is ready to cut the top of their heads open to fish around in their brains to find out the truth. She is very good at reading people and she can see the genuine confusion on their faces. If news of the marks had spread, it would be unlikely to make it all the way to New Moon and even if it did, for what purpose would the two fake the marks? If they did want to fake the marks to attract attention they wouldn’t have had them hidden behind sleeves, it would be out so that they could get the attention they so desire.

Jade eyes them wearily but decides to go with her gut instinct on this. She can only come to the conclusion that they are telling the truth. Her slim tanned fingers move down her own sleeve and slowly unbutton the sleeve, she pulls up her sleeve to reveal 8 black lines, identical to the two just revealed on Hunter’s and Ava’s arms.

Jade watches the expressions on the two younger wolves faces, it is genuine shock as they both look upon her arm. Jade places her arm against Ava’s, even the spacing of the lines is identical, down to the very last detail. Even if they faked it, they could not have done it so perfectly. Jade links Axel.

‘Axel, get here now, like as in right this second’

Axel has been looking over the whole time, he has noticed that Jade has been stationary for a while but can’t see anything else as it has all been hidden in front of Jade. Axel wraps up the conversation he has been having in such a quick way that it is nearly bordering on rude, but he has zero care. If his mate wants him, the top priority is to be at her side as quickly as possible.

He looks at Jade without noticing the arms in front of him. His one and only concern is Jade.

"What is it?"

"Look at this"

Axel finally looks down and notices the two young wolves arms, boasting identical marks to Jades and his own. He looks at Jade with nothing but questions on his mind, but she looks as lost as he is.

Hunter and Ava still haven’t managed to remove their eyes from Jade’s arm. No wonder she was sounding so accusatory, they haven’t even noticed that Axel has arrived at the scene, they miss the interaction between Axel and Jade.

Axel undoes the button of his shirt and pulls it up to reveal his own mark. The four arms get placed together, there is no doubt that they are the same.

"What does it mean?"

Jade shrugs, that is something that they do not have answers to. It seems like lately they don’t have answers for a lot, everything just seems to be getting more convoluted. She wishes she could answer with any sort of certainty, but all she can say is the truth.

"We haven't worked that out yet, we got it on the last full moon as well"

Axel and Jade stare at Hunter and Ava, like they have the answers hidden under their cute young exteriors, but the truth is that none of them know the purpose. Hunter and Ava do not shrink under the intense scrutiny of the two powerful wolves in front of them. Lesser wolves would have been shaking in their boots but Ava and Hunter may be young, but they are strong and they have faced many challenges already, so they are not about to bend at the knees under a little pressure.

Jade’s mind is going a million miles a minute. She was led toward these two for some unknown reason and they both have marks, she can only assume that others will have the same, without knowing the purpose of the marks the only thing in her mind that seems rational is to gather all the people with marks. After all, someone has to have the answer, they have to have a purpose.

"New plan, let's all split up and find anyone else with this mark"

Axel looks at her, covering up his mark again with his sleeve, a slightly worried look on his face. He was actually hoping the marks meant nothing, that it was just something random that happened to just the two of them. Now that there are others, it is hard for him to deny that they are actually for some type of purpose.

He just feels like danger is building up around them, it is just getting deeper and deeper with no sign of stopping.

He sighs and resigns to his fate of infinite danger. He can’t help but state the obvious.

"Jade, everyone is wearing sleeves. How are we possibly meant to do that?"

The weather is a bit cooler this season and nearly everyone present has their arms covered so seeing the marks is easier said than done. Jade scoffs at his comment and rolls his eyes, as if that tiny thing could ever be a problem.

"I don't care, look at the marks Axel's and Hunter’s are both on the left side, mine and Ava’s are on the right side. I will beat up everyone here if it comes to it"

Ava laughs as she looks at Jade. Axel just shakes his head with a serious look on his face, the corner of his lips slightly upturned as he imagines that actually happening. But says in all seriousness to Ava.

"She isn't joking, Jade settle down. I think we can find a better way than that. Sorry was it Hunter and Ava?"

Ava is still smiling, only shocked for a second, Jade is a bigger badass than she first anticipated, it just makes her idolise Jade even more. Hunter gives an affirmative nod to Axel’s question. Hunter is a man of few words, unless of course, it is to Ava. Ava is the talker of the relationship but since Ava seems to stuck in a reverie of Jade, he answers. Axel continues with a slightly better plan than beating everyone up.

"So we only have to try and check one person from each couple right? Each of us have the mark, so somehow, try and get a look at the arms of the women or men depending on who you think you can do it to without raising suspicion. We don't know what this is, so the less people know the better are we clear?"

Ava looks at Hunter, it sounds like an impossible task but they are up for the challenge. Now that they have found others with the mark they are both pretty excited to find out the meaning if there is one. Hunter squeezes Ava’s hand in silent assurance. Jade and Axel hardly seem like bad people, so he assumes they are not getting led astray or led into some sort of trap. Ava says.

"Luna Jade?"

"Just Jade is fine"

"Okay Jade, what if we split into two teams that way we can all link each other”

Jade nods at the suggestion, being able to cover the most ground is optimum and being able to link for faster results is for the best as well. Axel eyes off Hunter, he seems strong and he doesn’t seem bad, but he doesn’t trust anyone with the protection of his mate. He knows this is the right thing to do and he can still keep an eye on Jade.

Axel splits off to walk with Ava and Jade walks with Hunter. Both of the males are more worried about the situation than the girls are.