Luna's Sokjan (Book one) (6 page)

“My bond to you is
finished, killer and accomplices are dead.” I told Thomas in a
hushed tone, when I opened the door.

We both looked towards the
bed.

“Thank you, for Megan’s
sake.” He said to me in a quiet pain filled voice.

I nodded and headed for
the glass doors.

“McKenna, you can go out
the front door.” He said. “Are you well enough to travel? Do you
need help?” He stared at my wounds.

“No, someone might see me
and yes, I can travel.” I gave him a small smile. “I hope the next
time we meet it will be a happier occasion.” I lifted a hand in
parting before jumping off the balcony.

Shifting back to my
panther form before I landed on the ground and headed for my SUV.
It was time to go home, finally!

Chapter 3

The young black female
wolf had finally picked out her prey. It was a young female deer,
and now we were crashing through the forest after it. The pack was
five strong and extremely young, probably around their first
change. As we chased after the young deer, I wondered, why the pack
Alpha’s had let them go hunting alone. Why didn’t they have an
alpha teaching them how to move without making noise, how to pick
their prey, or how to make the kill quick and clean? I must admit,
I was curious about what they knew. So, I had followed them. It was
the most entertaining evening I had in years. Watching them fumble
around and make the same mistakes I had made so many years ago. I
had forgotten what it was like to hunt with a pack. Knowing that
someone had your back, letting you focus all your senses on just
one thing, the prey. I had come out to the forest to run off some
steam and clear my head. I wanted to forget my last case and the
little girl with big brown eyes, who haunted my every
thought.

The deer jumped into the
clearing. The time was now! If, the little female was going to make
her kill, this was the perfect place. The deer had just enough room
to move, and the little pack of wolves had enough room to surround
the deer for the take down.

The female made her move,
and it was fast, timing her jump to match the leap of the deer. She
sprang up and opening her mouth wide. She bit down hard into the
right flank of the deer. I heard the bones crunch. As soon as they
felt back to earth with a loud thump, the female let go of the leg
and leapt for the throat. It was all over in a matter of seconds,
and her first kill was done.

This little female had all
the makings of being a skilled hunter and a strong alpha. What a
shame that I would never get to see it. With a sigh, I jumped up
into the nearest tree and walked out on to a low limb to stretch
out.

When they shifted back to
human form, I studied the little pack. Michael was a tiny kid with
reddish brown hair, with striking green eyes, making him terribly
cute, and he was the smallest of the males. Ryan had a slime built,
black hair with white streaks and his young pale face held big
black eyes. Ben was the largest male, also the unspoken leader of
the pack, and was going to be a heart stopper with brown hair and
eyes. The last male was Ethan, he was well built, black, brown mix
hair, and his brown eyes were kind looking. Jennifer, the little
black wolf, was a pretty girl around twelve with black hair as long
as mine and her brown eyes seemed sad.

The little group joked and
kidded with one another over mistakes made during the hunt. They
were experiencing the rush one got from hunting. I loved the rush I
got just before a kill, the taste of blood in my mouth when I bit
into the prey’s throat. I was a hunter, a true predator, and I
loved it.

I flipped my white tail
and absent mindedly as I rubbed the side of my face against the
limb of the tree. Breathing deeply, I took in the scents around me,
the crisp smell of blood and death from the deer, the earthy smells
of the forest, and something else. The new smell was strong, feral,
powerful, and it was getting stronger. I sat up quickly scanning
the area carefully trying to locate the owner and direction of the
smell. The next thing that happened took the young wolves and even
me by surprise.

Two creatures crashed out
of the trees and into the clearing. One was a colossal humanoid
beast standing close to fifteen feet tall, with a wide, flat nose
across its broad face. A large mouth with boar like tusks jutting
from it and the creature’s long hair hung in dirty clumps around
its long, pointed ears. I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was a forest
troll, and its roar of fury froze the young ones in their
spot.

The other beast was a
perfect blend of a black wolf and man, a werewolf in warrior form.
My warrior form is close to ten feet tall, but this monster was
over thirteen. He bared his massively long teeth in a snarl at its
opponent. His hands were the size of hubcaps and dripped with
blood. The creature’s amber glowing eyes watched its
prey.

The werewolf staggered
slightly showing a wound in his left side and the forest troll
charged swinging one tire sized hand. The blow caught the werewolf
in the face and sent him flying backwards into the woods. The troll
started to charge after the werewolf to continue his attack, but he
stopped.

Turning it looked at the
young wolves. It had just caught the scent of the deer’s blood. The
young wolves just stared at it, ironically enough just like a deer
caught in the head lights of a car. The forest troll would
slaughter them if I didn’t act fast. A tiger leapt from the tree,
but a woman landed on the ground.

“Hey dumb-ass, you wanna
dance?” I yelled at it.

The creature and the
packed turned together to stare at me in surprise. The forest troll
recognizing another predator leveled its brown almost black gaze on
me and screamed in rage warning me that this was his
kill.

Shifting one finger into a
claw, I opened the skin on my forearm and waved my arm at the
monster. Most of us monsters are attracted to the smell of blood,
and I was hoping big boy would want mine more than the deer’s. The
creature sniffed the air.

“Come on, big boy. You
wanna taste?” I started moving away from the young wolves trying to
get a clear shot at the monster without getting any of them hurt or
killed.

As I had moved, so did the
monster slowly turning its back to the young wolves. Everything
went horribly wrong from there. Once the wolves had a clear shot to
his back, all of them shifted to warrior forms and attacked like
one.

If I had known the little
dumb asses were going to attack it, I would have stayed in my tree
and watched the show.

The monster grabbed the
first young werewolf and slammed its back against a tree, the echo
of bones breaking filled my ears. The troll grabbed the second
werewolf and tossed it high up in the air, it disappeared into the
forest. The white wolf bit into the troll’s calf muscle and the
black wolf slashed its long razor sharp claws across the troll’s
brawny back. It screamed in pain and in frustration swatting at the
young werewolves as if they were flies.

With the beast’s attention
on them, I shifted to my warrior form. My fur was white with black
stripes, thick fingers ending in long claws, a mouth full of teeth,
white glowing eyes and standing nearly ten feet tall. I was a
nightmarish white tiger on two legs.

I attacked, running the
distance between us. I launched myself up onto the trolls’ stomach
and digging my claws in. I climbed up its belly towards its throat.
The troll screamed in pain and grabbed me by the leg. He jerked me
off his chest. Bringing its massive arm back like it a pitcher, he
aimed me at the trees, but he never got a chance.

Using his motion to my
advantage, I twisted in midair and swung back at his face. Digging
my claws into his eye sockets to brace myself, I bit down on the
bridge of his nose. I heard my leg break just before intense pain
flooded my mind and body. The troll’s vibrating roar of pain and
anger echoed over my own. I slammed all my power into the
creature’s head with so much energy. It exploded the head and sent
pieces of brain flying everywhere.

Unfortunately, the force
of the blast threw me across the clearing and slammed me against a
tree. The impact broke my shoulder, ribs, and my arm, when I
finally hit the ground. Shifters can take a lot of damage, broken
bones usually heal within a couple of days to a week and as long as
we don’t puncher any vital organs we can recover from almost any
wound. I took inventory of my battered body as I lay on the ground;
broken leg, arm, shoulder, and ribs. I had, also, reopened the ten
claw marks from the previous fight. Nice, I was a bloody mess.
Feeling the tattoo’s healing magic beginning to work, I blended my
own healing chants with it until I passed out.

Chapter 4

The room was lit by the
dying orange-red rays from the sunset. I gasped in shock when I
rolled over and stared at the old man sitting next to the bed. His
white hair was braided in old Celtic warrior braids, his wrinkled
face was pale, and his tired earthy green eyes were filled with
concern. He looked the way I always remembered him. I had lost
Angus ten long years ago and tears filled my eyes at the sight of
him.

He touched my face and
smiled at me. I didn’t know ghost could feel so warm and solid. I
must be dead also.

“I’m glad your awake
lassie, you gave us quite a scare.” His voice still held Scotland
in it. Just like, I remembered from all those long training
sessions with him.

“Really, have I been dead
long Angus?” I didn’t even recognize my own voice, it was rough,
and it hurt like hell to talk.

He laughed. Yup, the same
old laugh and it melted my heart to hear.

“No lass, you not dead but
you’ve been asleep for a few days. It’s not nice to scare an old
man like that.” He scolded me.

“I am sorry. I didn’t know
my dying would hurt you so much, but it did hurt me an awful lot.”
I replied sarcastically. “Angus, where are we? I don’t recognize
this place.” I started to sit up.

“No don’t move lassie. It
took us a while to fix you up.” He said stroking a hand down my
cheek. “Later, you can explain to me how you came by all those claw
marks on your back and why you felt the need to blow all your power
in one burst, but for now, you need to sleep.” He gave the order so
cleanly that I almost missed it, but I felt the jolt of energy in
the words.

I gave a little laugh as I
turned to snuggle back down into the pillows, trusty old Angus
still trying to make me obey. From the corner of my eye, I caught
sight of a black form and I opened my mouth to warn
Angus.

“Sleep Branwen,” its deep
Scottish voice commanded me.

It was different from
Angus's voice but yet familiar somehow, it made me think of the
hills of Scotland. I watched the black figure touch Angus’
shoulder. I felt their powers blend together before the darkness
claimed me once again.

The next time I awoke, the
sun had set, and the room was entirely dark. I jerked up and looked
at the side of the bed, no Angus. I rubbed my face as sorrow laced
through my chest. Branwen? No one but my father had ever called me
Branwen not even my mother. It had been years since I had dreamed
of Angus or my father. That dark form was not my father, dead or
not I would have known him. Had it all just been a
dream?

I had to get out of
here.

Standing proved to be
extremely difficult and painful. I remained still as my newly
healed leg grew accustomed to my weight again.

Had I actually been asleep
for days as Angus said?

I slowly limped to the
French doors testing the strength in my leg. Opening the doors, I
walked out on to a balcony that over looked a large courtyard. The
tall buildings created a U shape around the courtyard. I looked at
the sky, quarter moon tonight. It would throw off just enough light
to see by. I back away from the edge of the balcony after noticing
there were people moving around below. No, they weren't people but
werewolves.

Fuck me! I was in the den
of the Castilian Springs wolf pack. I had spent years trying to
avoid any contact with the pack, and now I was in their fucking
den! I judged the distance between the balcony and the closest
building, about twenty feet away. I could make that, or I could
fall to my death, hmm. Did I honestly have a choice?

Nope.

Moving back to the bed, I
stretched out my legs. Taking a deep breath and I slowly let it
out. Focusing all my thoughts on what I was about to do for a
moment. Then I ran as fast as I could out onto the balcony and
jumped. My swan dive was excellent, I do love flying.

When I landed on the roof
of the other building, I was a tiger. Smiling to myself, I took the
time to look down. Apparently, my beautiful swan dive had not gone
unnoticed, judging by all the commotion coming from the ground. I
raced across all four building tops before landing on the
ground.

When I disappeared into
the trees, I was laughing at the sight of all those wolves
scrambling around. It was certainly something I would never forget.
Once in the trees, I changed into a lynx. The smaller size would
allow me to go anywhere.