Alpha's One Night Bride
Alpha’s One Night Bride – Chapter 96

The red moon was fast approaching; I wasn’t sure we were half as prepared as we wanted to be. Ronnie was still safe in the bunker; Erick would bounce in and out to make sure she was safe, but he hired a few different wolves, including the new chief of the police department, to keep a watch on the bunker and Ronnie to make sure nothing suspicious was happening around her.

Jessica arrived shortly after Jess did after Ronnie and Erick left. She was still clueless as to what was happening and who everybody was, but she wasn’t as freaked out as she was when she first woke up. We set her up in the guest bedroom where Spencer was staying. He was sweet by taking care of her and making sure she was comfortable.

I felt better knowing they were close by and safe from Greggory. None of us knew where Greggory or Willa was; they were impossible to find even with Jonathan’s Overseer powers.

The morning of the red moon, the Sabrebite pack was setting up for the upcoming ceremony that night. The merchants were already setting up shop outside and the women of the pack were working on decorations and baking. Some of the men were preparing for the bonfire. The musicians were setting up their equipment in the center of the town and practicing their music for later that night.

I was excited for this red moon ceremony because this was the first, I would be an adult for the occasion. Which meant I was a full-fledged werewolf and would be able to feel the strength of the moon. Typically, my strength would be drained for the night and given to the other stronger wolves; last year I wasn’t affected because I was pregnant, but this year I was all game.

Spencer stayed home with Emee and Jessica while Jonathan, Jess, and I went into town. Jess immediately started to prepare to summon Naomi for when the time was right, once the red moon rose into the sky.

Erick met us in town once he made sure Ronnie was still safe. We weren’t sure what to expect, but we knew we could at least expect an appearance from Greggory and Willa. We didn’t know if they had an army or not considering we couldn’t see either of them.

As the day went on, the sun began getting dimmer in the distance and the sky was turning into an orange shade. On the other side, I could see the moon beginning to rise; I felt my mother’s along with the moon rise and at that moment I felt more powerful than ever. I felt like nothing could stop us.

The pack started the bonfire, and the flames ignited the sky. I felt the warmth of the fire heating my chilled features; I wasn’t sure if I was cold or just worried in general.

I looked up at Jonathan who had his eyes closed; I knew he was keeping watch of Jessica, Emee, and Ronnie all at the same time, so he needed concentration. We needed to be sure that Greggory and Willa weren’t going to show up there instead of here.

At this point, anything was possible.

The moon began rising to the peak of the sky and we could see a tint of red appearing in the corner of the moon. It was almost time for the countdown to begin and for Jess to summon Naomi. Last time at the countdown there was a giant explosion that nearly took us all out and war broke loose. This time we weren’t sure what was going to happen.

As the countdown began, Jess began her summoning ritual. The fire that burned around her circle grew more intense, enclosing her around it. Jonathan and I skipped the countdown itself because he was too focused on keeping everyone under his watch, but he looked as though he was in distress. He was still very new at this Overseer role, and I could imagine it was difficult watching everybody at once.

“Arina?” A voice came through my head from the link; I recognized it to be Spencer. “Something happened, it’s important.”

“The countdown is about to begin,” I told him through the link; glancing up at Jonathan to see if he could hear it too.

“I know but something’s wrong,” he said, sounding strained.

“Jonathan is keeping an eye on everything and so far things look fine,” I assured him.

“I’m not so sure though,” he said, still sounding worried.

“Let us do the countdown and complete the transformation and then we will check back in with you,” I promised him.

“Okay…” he said softly before disconnecting the link.

Whatever it was, it was going to have to wait. Jonathan was keeping a close eye on everybody, and he would know right away if something was wrong. So far, there were no signs of Willa or Greggory so that was good.

I watched as the pack began cheering and chanting the countdown; the red haziness was almost covering the moon entirely. I breathed in the energy the moon was giving off and I felt my body begin to illuminate a hazy red aura around me. Typically, at this point, I would start to feel my strength weakening and my powers draining, but it was the complete opposite.

Even Jonathan had his eyes open and was in awe of the powers that were being filled into his body. I noticed everybody around us, including Jess, was glowing a hazy red color and they were staring at the moon in such wonder. I knew this was my mother’s doing and I smiled up at her, feeling her smiling back down at me as well.

I felt strength being pumped into my body; my wolf was howling deep within me. She was strong and she wanted to be broke free; I didn’t think I was going to have a choice. I could feel myself transitioning without my telling my wolf to do so. Jonathan was transforming with me as was the rest of the pack.

We howled around the same time; the ones that were too young or too old, or weak in general, remained in their human forms and began kneeling around the bonfire getting ready to pray to the red moon gods and goddesses.

I saw a white glow surrounding Jess and I knew it must have been Naomi’s passage to our world; my heart leaped with joy as I silently cheered for Jess who successfully summoned Naomi for the second time.

Naomi appeared through the white hazy light; her dark features radiant as she stepped through the light. She was exactly how I remembered her if not even more beautiful. Her hair fell down her shoulder in one long, thick, and dark braid with gems looping around her braids.

For a moment, she looked confused as to why she was being summoned. She looked over at Jess with a frown; but then her feet touched the soil, and she could feel the distress of the world around her. She knew exactly what was going on almost instantly touching her bare feet to the ground.

Her eyes traced the crowd of howling wolves until they landed on Jonathan and me. We were both staring at her in awe at her presence; it was hard not to stare at her. I wanted to bow to her, but I was too stunned to even move.

Her face fell almost instantly as she saw us; there was a look of panic in her expression as she rushed over to us. Jess snapped out of her trance and frowned at her worried expression, following closely behind her.

“You need to go,” Naomi warned us. “They aren’t coming here.”

“What?” I asked, almost forgetting what we summoned her for.

I thought back to when Spencer was trying to link me right before the countdown began; did he see something that Jonathan couldn’t?

Jonathan snapped out of his trance almost instantly; he knew what she was talking about. He had his eyes closed.

“Shit,” he muttered

“What?” I said again, snapping out of my own trance and staring at him.

“They split up to keep us occupied. Greggory is going to Emee and Willa is going to Ronnie,” he explained.

“Oh my god,” I breathed. “We need to get there quick!” I told him.

“You both need to get to your daughter and protect her. If he kills her, there’s nothing more we can do. She’s the last piece of the puzzle that he needs to complete the transformation,” Naomi ordered. “I need to deal with my sister.”

We didn’t argue with her. We all split directions to go to where we needed to go. We ran quickly in our wolf forms and were able to reach home within seconds. We could hear the screams of Jessica as Greggory appeared out of the darkness of the woods. He had a few people from Moon-Valley that I didn’t recognize.

They were in their wolf forms as Spencer stood in front of them, also in his wolf form. His teeth snarled at them, and they were snarling back. Jessica was crying in the doorway; she was holding Emee close to her. Her body was trembling as Greggory and his friends began closing in around them.

Jessica and Spencer were outnumbered, and I knew they weren’t going to be able to fight them on their own. Jonathan was standing beside Spencer within seconds; both of them snarling in the direction of their enemies.

I ran to Jessica’s, I was unable to form back into my human form, but I stood in front of her, trying to protect her and Emee.

Emee was screaming in her arms wildly; she could feel the tension in the area, and it terrified her.

“It’s over Greggory,” Jonathan hissed.

“It will be,” Greggory responded. “I waited way too long for this plan to fail.”

“You aren’t going to touch my daughter!” Jonathan yelled.

Greggory gave a laugh that sent chills down my spine; he was planning something much bigger than us both combined. It worried me because we couldn’t see what he was planning.

Without any warning, Greggory lunged toward Jonathan and his men followed pursuit and began attacking as well. I watched as Jonathan and the boys fought; they oddly enough didn’t come toward me, and I didn’t go towards them because I was too busy keeping Jessica and Emee safe.

I heard the painful yells of one of the wolves as Jonathan’s claws went straight through his back. I winced as another wolf bit his teeth deeply into Spencer’s shoulder blade. B***d began splattering around the scene and I couldn’t tell whose it was.

They were outnumbering Jonathan and Spencer; my heart was racing heavily against my chest knowing that it was almost impossible for them to defeat Greggory and his men.

Jonathan yelled in anger as he lunged toward Greggory who managed to dodge the yell and roll over onto his back; Jonathan landed on the ground with a thud, and I could hear the cracking of the cement underneath him. Greggory lunged towards Jonathan and managed to get on top of him, his teeth bearing into Jonathan’s flesh and ripping out some of his fur within his bite.

“Arina!” I could hear Spencer through the link as he continued fighting; I knew the link was only set up for me and I was confused as to why he was calling for me during a fight he was clearly losing. “I need to tell you something.”

“Now? During a fight? Can’t it wait?” I asked him.

“No,” he said, even in his link he sounded breathless. I wondered what could be wrong that he needed to tell me at this very moment. “I was trying to tell you a bit ago, but earlier today, I got up and went to do some hunting. I shouldn’t have left but Jessica looked weak and needed to feed on something for her wolf. I was only gone for a little bit…”

“Okay?” I said, I was getting nervous as to where he was going with this.

“When I returned, she seemed different,” he continued.

He got tackled by another wolf that came from his left, so he had to pause to fight back for a moment.

“Different how?” I urged; completely ignoring the fact that he was just attacked from the side.

I waited for him to recover.

“I can’t explain it,” he said once he got back to his feet and had the upper hand on the jerk that attacked him. “Just not herself. But before I could ask if she was alright; we were being attacked.”

I frowned; I didn’t like the sound of that.

I turned to face Jessica was staring at the back of my head; something was lingering in her eyes that I didn’t recognize and couldn’t put my finger on it. But I knew Spencer was right; something was weird. At that point, I was finally able to transform into my human form. I stretched my arms as my human self formed.

She took a step back into the house as I continued staring at her; she held Emee close to her chest; a smile playing on her lips. My heart was heavy; something wasn’t right. I could feel it.

This wasn’t Jessica.

“Foolish,” Jessica chuckled. “To be fooled by the witch of trickery.”

Willa.

If Willa was here, then where the hell was Jessica?

Soon, both her and Emee were gone. Before my eyes, they both disappeared. I could hear Greggory laughing as he continued fighting with Jonathan and Spencer.

I screamed; I couldn’t help it. Willa had just taken Emee. Where was Naomi? Where was Ronnie? What the hell was going on around here?

I ran back outside with tears springing from my eyes, screaming for Jonathan. My body was numb, and it felt as though there was no air left in the world.

I saw the moon’s rays shining bright in one spot of the yard; it was so intense that it nearly blinded us. I squinted; the fighting began to cease as the light grew too intense for even them to grasp.

Once the light began easing up and we were able to see again; we came face to face with a familiar and beautiful figure that stood before us. Her hair was shimmering curly blonde and fell around her shoulders were different colored flowers entwined in her curls. She wore a white gown with flowers detailing the fabrics and falling around her feet.

She was elegant and more beautiful than I could ever picture.

“Mom?”