Chapter 8: Chapter 8

I awake to shuffling in the cave. I notice Trevor is gathering supplies. "Morning, Luna." A flash of last night floods my mind and I blush slightly. "Good morning." I say shyly. "What are you up to?" I nod my head at the supplies he gathered. "Well, it's going to be a long trek home. I thought it would be a good idea to grab some things. You know? Water and food." He snickers. "Alright, smart guy. Also, I haven't agreed to be your luna yet." I get up from my spot and make my way over to him. "I know, but I have a feeling you won't be able to resist me for long. Plus, getting you accustomed to it would be better now than later." He sligs a makeshift bookbag over his shoulder. "Wow. Confident aren't you?" I tease. "That's why I am Alpha, baby." He teases back with a smile. I shake my head at his comment. We make our way out of the cave into the bright sun, shining down on us. I couldn't figure out why we couldn't travel as wolves. Maybe he wanted the trip to last longer? Or maybe because he couldn't carry the stuff in wolf form. I think the second option makes sense. We walk a few miles before taking a short break at a pond area. There is a waterfall rushing down a cavern into the pond area. I could see a small creek where the water was flowing out from. "Wow. This is so beautiful!" My wolf starts to pace back and forth inside my mind. I couldn't tell what was wrong with her. "Want to take a bath in it?" Trevor asks. "Is it even safe? Or clean for that matter?" "It's going north and flowing water usually means yes." His tone was matter of fact. I mull the thought over in my head but my wolf starts to snarl at the idea. /what is wrong with you?/ I ask in my mind with irritation. She shows me flashes of when I saw her on the pond, but there wasn't a waterfall or creek. At least I don't think so. "I think i'll have to pass." I hold my hand up. "Damn. Quite a shame to waste this." He starts to strip and I turn around immediately and wait behind some trees'. "Little warning would've been nice." I shout to him. "I thought I did." He says sarcastically. I roll my eyes. I think he could tell I did that because he started laughing.

About an hour passes and I shout back over to Trevor, "You ready to go yet, Alpha boy?" "Alpha boy? Where pray tell do you come up with such peculiar names?" I laugh, "Can't tell you all my secrets." "Uh huh." doubt laced his words. I could hear him making his way out. I give him about five minutes before coming out. "You sure you don't want to try it out?" He looks at me and pointing his thumb towards the pond. I nod. "I am sure." "Alright, then let's get going." Suddenly, I feel something beneath my foot. I, then, am yanked into the air captured by a net. "It's a trap! I thought I lost them!" Trevor growls, "Don't worry Shane! I'll get you down!" A few moments pass and we can hear hums of vehicles making their way to us. "Trevor..." I say low. "Damn it! I am looking for something to cut the rope!" I think something through quickly as the hums get closer. "Trevor! Shift! Bite it! If you can't get me down, run for it!" I shout down to him. "I am not going to leave you! Not after I found you! Everyone is waiting for us!" Without a moment more of hesitation, he shifts. Tears fill my eyes. It's me they want...I want him to be okay. I want him to take care of everyone. He is the Alpha. I suck back the tears and muster all the courage I had left, "Trevor! You are an Alpha! I cannot come before the pack! You have a duty to lead! If you can't save me now then come back with an army of your pack!" His wolf stops trying to bite the rope through and growls at me. The vehicles burst through to the pond area. "Trevor! As your mate and future Luna, I need and want you to go back to the pack!" I scream this time at him. He snarls and takes off reluctantly back to the pack. I hang my head with my eyes closed and let the tears flow. I could hear a howl in the distance, knowing it was Trevor.

"Shane..." my mother's voice slowly dries my tears. I look down and see her honey gold hair laid about her shoulders. Her amber eyes staring at me with tears. "Mom? Why are your eyes amber and not brown?" She immediately turns around to look at my father who was running up to her. He saw her eyes and whispered something to her. She then turns back around to me and her eyes were brown again.

"I don't know what you are talking about, honey." Her voice was cool without a hint of nervousness. I see, so she is going to lie about even this. I turn my head away from her as I am slowly let down from the net. I stand up and my mom goes to hug me when I back away. "Shane... we came to get you..." Her tone was that of hurt. "Shane. What is the meaning of this? She is your mother." My father comes to her defense. I give him a disgustful face, "Is she?! Or was I born from some stupid concotion you both made!" My mother slaps me and I grab my face from shock. I take another step away from them. "Shane, I am sorry...I didn't mean-" "Save it!" I shout at her and my father. They both show shocked looks when I see a tail float next to me. It was blue with electricity surrounding it. I knew instantly it was my tail. I put my hands in front of me and see my nails are sharp with a point. I reach up to my head and feel wolf ears. What the hell...I didn't even shift! What the hell is this?! My parents could see the confusion in my face, "We need to get you to the lab, it seems your illness has progressed further..." my mother reaches for me again. I growl at her and in turn she growls back at me. Why would she growl? I touch my teeth to feel small incisors on top and bottom of my mouth. I then get myself in a fighting stance that Drake taught me. "Fat chance of me going. I would ask about why you growled, but I feel that would be another lie!" I launch to fight them. They both dodge me. The next time I see my mom she has teal hair, amber eyes, ears, a tail, and incisors that match my look. "LENA! I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO KEEP THIS A SECRET!" my father shouts. "WHAT'S THE POINT?! SHE ALREADY KNOWS WE ARE LYING." I am caught off guard by her appearance when she rushes me. I barely was able to dodge her. "WHERE'S YOUR ELECTRICITY?! HUH?!" Mom makes a confused expression at my comment. "I CONTROL THE WIND!" she shouts back. This time I zip in different directions and kick her in the back. She falls over and raises her hand. The wind around me picks up and I am lifted off the ground. "You wanna know what your weakness is?" She smirks evily. I didn't know the woman in front of me at this point. She held me over the pond and I start screaming erratically. "WATER! YOU WERE NEVER ABLE TO SWIM AS A CHILD!" She closes her palm and I fall instantly into the water. I guess this is what my wolf was pacing about. Why didn't she just give the memory of it. Was it so traumatizing? I flap about the water gasping for air when I am shot with a dart to the neck. They got me this time...why am I so weak?

I awake to a loud bang against some metal. I sit up abruptly and grab my head. A migraine like no other rips through. I see a pair of feet in front of me through some bars. I figure out that I am inside a cage. I hear the loud bang again as I look up to see Jessica smirking like my mother did when she dropped me. I was still holding my head from the migraine. "Well, well look whose awake. Hopefully I didn't cause anymore pain to your headache." As she bangs the cage again. This time I scream from the ringing. I reach out to claw her but she jumps away. "Careful...I don't want to kill you before I am able to let them get samples and test on you." "As if I will let that happen!" I spit at her. "Disgusting abomination!" I scoff at her, "Ironic words coming from a someone who betrayed her pack." She comes near the cage to swing at me with the steal bar she had in her hands. I go to reach my hands through the cage to trip her, "Enough! Jessica leave! Now!" My father commands. "Mr.Knight, what pleasure do I owe your presence?" Sarcasm leaks off every word. I seeth from anger at the audacity he had to come near me. I scoot backwards back into my defensive sitting positon. Knee's up and arms crossed over them. Jessica had already left by this point. He sighs at me with side smile. "That..could've been worse I suppose." He makes his way over to a wheely chair and sits down. He was wearing his lab coat and glasses. His chestnut hair was disheveled which in turn revealed a piercing on his ear I never noticed before. My dad was very good looking for his age. "What interaction did you expect? A happy one?" "Heh. Not exactly. Much more like your mother when she finds out I mixed the colors wrong again." He chuckles at the light hearted joke. I give a small smile not able to fight off the humor of the memory. I quickly shake it off and keep my mind focused. "If you are my parents, then why..., why are you doing this to me?" His head hangs low and a grim look appears over his facial features. "It's a long one, just know...you were never supposed to be found out." I scoff. "So, you're telling me those files you have on me...just magically appeared and disappeared?" He rubs the back of his head. "Look, your mom was the original test subject. She was an abnormal supernatural. There is an old legend, that chosen wolf shifters can have elemental powers. Your mother was the first we found...by accident." I scrunch my face in confusion, "I don't...I don't quite follow...you're not a shifter?" He shakes his head. "Human." My eyes widen how a human and shifter could be together. "I was a researcher in Stone Valley back in my late 20's. I came across your mother one evening at the very pond we took you from earlier." Isn't that just ironic. Nyx you are playing a sick game, my friend. "She was making leaves flow around her when I saw her teal hair from behind a bush." His voice pulls me back from my talk with Nyx. "I'll spare you the lovey dovey stuff. " He waves his hand with a smile at me. "Well, after getting to know her more, she was afraid of her power. She thought it was an illness. At the time, I believed her because I didn't even know shifters or even mythicals were real. I was a man of science and your mother denied all meaning of science." I chuckled at his comment. "So, your mom and I eventually discovered a old book about elemental shifters chosen by Nyx. Some shifters, were blessed with two." "What about mom's pack? Didn't they dislike you and what you were doing?" "She didn't have one. Lena told me she had been outcasted for her abilities. Nobody wanted to be her mate. Then she told me I was her fated mate." I am in aw of the story my father told me. I felt really bad for my mom not having anyone until my dad. I wonder if she felt I rejected her as my mom? My heart sinks at the thought. Though, she did try to kill me. My pity slowly died away. "So, when she tried to kill me...that was her being my mom too?" I say doubtfully. "Kill you? I know she threw you in the pond because she said you couldn't swim, but that not the whole truth." "So, tell me what it is then, because this is going to be really hard to sell." "Dominance." I blink wide at him, "Dominance? You're telling me, the woman that used to beat me with a flip flop for being late to school...needed to prove her dominance?" He does a small smile, "Your human side was already submitted to her. However, not your wolf. She is somewhat new. Yes, you were full shifter when you were younger, but your mom was against trying to push dominance on you at a young age. Now, she had to pay for it when you were older. As soon as you were knocked out in the water, your mother was already in the water pulling you out. Doing CPR and holding you. Lena was crying Shane. You're her baby. The real only blood she has left and she believed she would never have to hurt you." My mind is overwhelmed with information I had a hard time believing. "She tried sedation but you were far stronger than either one of us imagined." He said. "Why did you lock me up then and why was I human? Why tell me all this now? I am just a test subject. So, was Maze." He leans forward in his chair, "You remember Maze?" "Yeah. She was my test subject buddy. More like a sister, if anything." He rubs his chin and leans back in his chair. "As for why we locked you up, it's because...you have two elements fighting for dominance. We put those side's asleep so they wouldn't tear you apart. You became human through a bond ceremony. That was withered away by your first element. Lightning." I didn't know how to take having two elements and my mom was one. There wasn't anything telling me he was lying, so all I could do was believe him. "Why do you guys want me as a test subject now? Jessica seemed really enthusiastic to get a sample." "We used to own this company Shane. Since the Society... found out about us having some test subjects. They bought us out and took over. We got you into hiding after you became human. All the data was saved on a hard drive that was destroyed. Somehow, they learned of your existence." I remembered the wolf that recorded me in footage back to the pack. "That probably was the pack I am in. Jessica must've done it! She saw me as a threat from the beginning." He nods. "That makes sense. Her father is the owner now." That means she was associated the Society from the very beginning. Oh my god. Trevor and the pack! Tix! 'OMG SHANE! You reconnected the link! Are you ok?!' I pause from shock. Tix's voice was linked to me again. 'Shane? Shane? SHANE?!' Her voice became very panicked. 'Yeah yeah, I am still here. I have alot of tea to tell you. ' ' I bet! For now, just don't panic from what I am about to tell you.' My heart races from worry. 'What?' I ask hesitantly. "Trevor...Chase...and Drake. They were captured. The pack ran while some stayed to fight. The majority are safe, but the Society followed Trevor back and immediately swarmed us.' A tear runs down my cheek. "Shane?" Dad asks worried. "You ok?" "Where's Trevor? And Chase, Drake?! I want to know where they all are! Maze included! I know there was a shifter that saw me when I was younger from Trevor's pack!" I shout abruptly at him. "You're not going to like any answer I give." I give him a pointed look. "I don't care. Tell me." He sighs. "We needed you back because...Maze and that shifter you're talking about years ago, escaped somewhere. They orginally were our subjects. We didn't hurt them but the others might've. Those boys...they are being tested for elemental affinity. If they are found compatible. They will be used for further research on how to utilize it for warfare. Destruction on both sides. Your mom is included on these tests now." My eyes grow wide. "What...no. why? Why are you telling me all of this anyway?" He walks over to me and unlocks my cage. "I refuse for my daughter and wife to be subjects. Go save them." He smiles and hugs me. I could sense that this was goodbye. "No. No. You're not leaving me now. You...have to atone for what you and mom did. You hear me?" Tears well up in my eyes looking up at him. "I am. You and her are my salvation. Go." He pushes me out the door and tells me to run. I immediately take off. My father stops some guards from shooting at me. I shift into a wolf and howl as I run down the familiar white hallways. 'Don't worry Shane! If you have a memory of that spot we can send it to Serena! She can portal us there!' Tix's plan waves away any nerves and sadness inside me. I mindlink back to her the image, ' Got it! Go save our boys! We will be there in a few seconds!' 'Baddest bitches ever. ' I reply back. ' Damn straight!'