The Blood Moon Twins
Chapter 141

CAULDER

It was strange seeing Harper with Rido over the next couple of weeks. She was so good with him, which wasn't surprising. She had always been good with children. She was drawn to their innocence, and she was beyond patient with them in a way a lot of people weren't. It was very different from her low tolerance towards adults when they did something wrong.

The way she cared for Rido, and the way he grew more and more attached to her stirred something in my heart. One day I would have a family with Harper. Not any time soon. We were still much too young, and before I even thought about having children, I wanted to be settled into leading the pack, but I knew one day Harper would make a wonderful mother and a wonderful luna.

Rido knew a lot about Draven, and some of the details I wish he didn't know. Unfortunately, most of the information wasn't useful. However, he gave enough information that Scythe was able to start scouring the news for information on where Draven might be. With the numbers he needed for war, there would have to be a rise in cases of missing persons. Days dragged on as we waited for news.

"I found it," Scythe linked everyone. "I know where Draven moved to."

"Everyone to the conference room ASAP," my father responded.

I looked at Harper, and she gave me a smile. "Go. I'll watch Rido. Just catch me up later." I raised my eyebrows to make sure, and she said, "Go."

I moved over and kissed the top of her head, lingering for just a moment to inhale her scent. I wondered if she truly knew how amazing she was. When I pulled away, I glanced at Rido, who was working on reading a book. Harper was teaching him how to read, because when she learned he didn't have an education at all, she took it upon herself to provide him with the knowledge someone his age should know. It was rather incredible how quickly Rido picked up on everything, and he didn't seem like a normal child. He was beyond his age with intelligence.

Knowing I couldn't linger for any longer, I said, "I'll see you two later. Have fun."

"Bye," Rido murmured, not taking his eyes off the page for a moment.

By the time I made it to the conference room, half of us were already there. Scythe and Percy stood over a large map that was spread over the table. It looked like a map of the entire country, and I was surprised we had a map of the entire area. It had very few details to it compared to other maps I had seen. Our pack territory was highlighted, but it looked insignificant compared to the entire land mass.

There were also lines that clearly defined the three territories that belonged to the vampires, sorcerers, and werewolves. In the center of it all, the neutral territory was circled. It was barely anything compared to the other areas, but it was bigger than our pack's territory.

When everyone essential to the meeting arrived, Scythe began. He pulled out a metal rod to help him point out specific areas of the map, so he didn't have to throw himself over the table to point out something.

"After scouring news outlets through all of the major cities in the vampire territory, we finally found a story that piqued our interest," Scythe said.

"The missing person cases in that city have been steadily climbing for a few weeks now," Percy added. "The numbers are unlike anything else."

"That has to be Draven," I said. It couldn't be a coincidence. We were running out of time before the Blood Moon, and I was sure Draven would be prepared. "Can we go after him and stop him before his army gets any bigger?"

"Going after him in a city like that would be extremely difficult for us," Scythe said. "Werewolves wouldn't be able to blend with the people, and without shifting, we would be at an extreme disadvantage."

"Is there any way to stop him from adding to his army?" Remy asked.

Scythe looked at Blade. "I haven't been able to think of anything, but do you know something that could possibly stop him?"

Blade crinkled his forehead and stared at the map, as if it held answers. "If we had our own vampire warriors, it would be possible, but as it stands, I don't think there's a way to take him out within the city. We would have to draw him out, and he wouldn't fall for a trick like that."

"What if I was used as bait?" Remy asked.

"No," Blade and I said simultaneously.

"We are not going to risk using you as bait. Draven's too smart to fall for something like that," Blade said with complete confidence. I agreed with him completely. "He would find a way to use it against us."

"If Draven got a hold of you, he would have what he wanted," I added. "There would be no war, and we would lose."

"So what do we do? How do we stop this?" Remy asked. She sounded desperate, and I felt bad for her. I didn't want to go to war any more than she did, but I had already accepted it as the most likely possibility.

"We don't," my father said. "We are preparing for war, and there's no way around it at this point. Draven is clearly someone who won't negotiate, so we fight, and we do our damndest to win."

Everyone gave a silent nod as these words fully sank in. War meant death. There was no way around it. Not only did we have to prepare our bodies and skills along with the battle plans, but we also had to prepare for the toll it would take on us mentally. "There's something else," Percy mentioned, taking the metal rod from Scythe. "The city Draven is staying in borders the sorcerer's territory. I'm confident it's no coincidence."

My eyes fell to where he was pointing. "The Council of Magic's base is close to there," I whispered, my throat tightening too much to speak any louder. I knew Winslow was coming for his revenge. He made it clear he would make me regret the things I did to him. That, mixed with Remy's vision, told us the sorcerers were going to come after us at the same time as the vampires. I just never thought Winslow would have resorted to working with the vampires.

"Is he really stupid enough to work with Draven?" Remy asked. "I mean, vampires have resistance to magic, so if Draven changed his mind, it would be easy for him to take out the council, right?"

My mother pulled her lips tight. "Either he's stupid enough to willingly work with Draven for revenge, or the fact that Draven could take him out would drive him to join sides with the vampire. We definitely need to prepare for the possibility."

-

REMY

"Remoria. Where are you?"

I turned in my sleep. I was aware that I was in my bed, but I couldn't open my eyes. Everything was dark, and the seductive voice filled my ears. I had heard it plenty before, and it made my heart start to pound. I needed to wake up, but my eyes weren't cooperating. "Join me, Remoria, and together we will destroy this world."

My blood cooled as the voice whispered sweet temptations in my brain. The darkness under my skin rolled and crawled, desperate to reach out to the dark creature, but I refused to let it out.

"No," I managed to mutter, but I still couldn't wake up. I could feel my body, but it was paralyzed by fear from hearing this voice.

"You won't win without me. You and everyone you love will die." Its voice seemed like it should be soothing, but I hated it. I wanted to run far away from it.

"Leave me alone!" I screamed.

My body jolted forward, and the voice quickly retreated. I wiped the sweat dripping off my cold skin and took a moment to steady my breath. I looked around the room, and I felt utterly alone. Normally, Blade hung out in the room with me while I slept, but I knew he was with Rido. I thought about calling him, because his touch always helped me relax. However, I didn't want to pull him away from Rido. They were probably hunting for food or something, and I didn't want to come across as too needy.

Instead, I shoved the blanket off of me and crawled out of bed. After pulling a robe over my shoulders, I ventured down to the kitchen, hoping a glass of water would help me calm down. When I made it to the kitchen, I was surprised to see Caulder already at the fridge. The light from the fridge blinded me for a moment from the stark difference of the unlit room.

Caulder glanced over his shoulder and then said, "Milk?"

I nodded my head and moved over to the cupboard and grabbed two glasses. I set them on the counter, and Caulder poured us each a glass of milk.

"It's been a while since I found you in the kitchen like this," I chuckled, pulling my cup to me as Caulder put away the milk. We used to randomly stumble into the kitchen around the same time when we were younger. We always laughed and said it was our twin senses tingling.

"Yeah, I guess we've both been distracted by our mates," he laughed back. He grabbed his own glass and sat down.

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked.

Caulder shrugged. "It's been hard to sleep knowing what's coming. I kept tossing and turning and didn't want to disturb Harper. What about you?"

"It spoke to me," I whispered, trying not to shiver as I thought about its voice ringing in my head. "That creature was calling out for me. It's coming for me, Caulder."

"It's only a few nights until the Blood Moon," Caulder said, looking down at his glass. "If Draven is controlling that thing, I'm sure we'll face it on the battlefield. It probably can sense that."

My mouth went dry at the thought. I quickly took a sip of my drink to try to push down the stark feeling. "I'm not ready for war. I mean, I'm ready to fight and do whatever I have to, but I'm not ready for the loss."

"I don't think anyone is ever ready for the loss that war causes," Caulder said solemnly. He reached out and grabbed my hand, "But we'll get through it. Together."

"Together," I mimicked, hoping it was enough and fearing it wasn't.