Sold To The Alpha
The Cursed Luna Chapter 9

Awaking in the morning, the men presented themselves to the kitchen at 8:30am to be greeted by plates piled with eggs, various meats and toast. Groaning hungrily, Merrick was the first to take his seat, giving pleading eyes to Nanny Anna who rolled hers at him before signalling him to help himself. The other warriors needed no further encouragement and each dropped themselves in a chair, helping themselves to the mounds of food that covered the table.

When they had eaten their fill, having been refused their help to wash up, the Red Moon members packed up their belongings, making sure to leave the rooms tidy before congregating outside the front door where they found Xano waiting for them. Grinning happily Xano set off toward the Elder's house, chattering happily to the warriors as they made their way up the dirt road. Reaching the door, he motioned to Lucian to wait whilst he went in to check his Grandfather was ready to receive them before sticking his head out to opening and beckoning them to enter.

As they walked through the house, they were impressed by the magnitude of oriental decor that adorned the walls and floors, 'Grandfather was a traveller when young, he visited many places before returning home' said Xano proudly.

Ushering them into the sitting room, he gestured to Lucian and his men to take a seat on the many chairs and sofa's that were arranged around the room, once settled the Elder slowly entered the room, surveying the visitors before settling himself in a plush armchair, signalling Xano to sit on a foot stool beside him so he could interpret for them.

Placing his fingertips together the Elder peered at the group over the top of his glasses before speaking, Xano translating for both sides as the conversation progressed.

'You must understand that I put us in great danger by speaking to you leader' Said the Elder sternly.

Lucian lent forward in his chair 'Nothing that is said in this room will be uttered to anyone else by myself or my men' he said earnestly.

Thinking deeply for a moment, the Elder finally began, 'When I was a small child, our village was hidden from the world, even more so than now. It was a right of passage for a man of age to leave the sanctity of our home and travel, bringing back stories and tokens from outside of our walls. As children we all dreamed of our day to prove ourselves, and we would play at being explorers much to our Elders amusement. We had a rule though, no child or adult was to make way into the mountains, the beginning of the slope leading to the first peak was as far as we could go. he said quietly

'We were told stories of wolf men who would enter the village, attack and kill any male that they came across, that they would capture and take any woman, keeping them for their own enjoyment, torturing them until they were useless then slaughtering them to their Gods. As children we thought it was just a tale told to keep us near the village, until one day some of the women were out collecting berries from the bushes at the entrance of the slope, one of the younger girls, her name was Freya, stepped round the corner to harvest a bush she had seen, a loud roar filled the air suddenly and she did not return. Men searched as far as they dared but found no trace of her other than a piece of her shirt that seemed to have been shredded from her body by claws. 'Time passed, no child went near that slope again, frightened that the wolf men would take them too. One morning a large man built like a warrior entered our village from the direction of the slope, he had long black hair, his eyes were dark as night, he was muscular like you are and wore fur lined clothes as if he spent his time in the ice covered regions. He was wounded badly, he collapsed in our midst. Our healer Zara ran to help him though the others told her to stay back, she pulled a large silver dagger from his side which made him howl out in pain before he passed out. Our Elders decided that the best thing to do was restrain him but allow Zara to try and heal him, thinking that if they helped one of these mountain wolf men maybe they would show us favour or at least not hurt our people.'

'The healer worked tirelessly on him, cleaning and stitching his wounds, trying different herbs and roots to see if they would help the healing, it took two weeks for the man to awaken, when he did he thrashed against the chains that held him to the bed, managing to free one of his arms before Zara gave him something to make him sleep and the village men could restrain him once more. When he woke a second time he struggled and shouted at us in a language we could not understand but we could tell he was furious. Zara was the one that calmed him down, he looked in her eyes, his face lost in hers as he growled one word. After that he would do whatever Zara asked of him, they found a way to understand each other without words, his wounds eventually healed and the Elders began to worry about how they could let him go without being killed. The decision was taken from them though as one night the sound of chains breaking carried the air, when they ran to the healers home both the Wolf man and Zara were gone, he had taken her with him and she never returned to us.

The Elder looked up at the Red Moon pack sadly, 'This is why we were scared of you, the only men like you to enter our village have been from the wolf men.

Lucian looked at his pack members, the surprise he felt mirrored in their own faces, this certainly sounded like a pack that had lost its Alpha, though werewolves didn't slaughter humans for no reason and they didn't take women unless that woman agreed, something wasn't right.

Carefully Lucian said 'Can you tell us how to get to their territory Elder?'

They could see the internal struggle within the Elder's face, torn between wanting to help the warriors and gain favour and fear of the repercussions from the feared Mountain Wolf Men if they found out he had led people too them.

'We will never speak of what was said here Elder' promised Lucian 'Our word is our highest honour, we do not break promises'

Nodding reluctantly, the Elder lent forward, whispering as if fearful that the Wolf Men would hear him 'I know no-one that has been to their land and returned' he said quietly, 'but there was a rumour that was passed from father to son, it spoke of a sorceress with the powers of magic, they said she travelled upwards to the peak of the mountain, visiting the Wolf Men and entrusted them with something so secretive and powerful that she had to then hide their location from the world. The story says she left a trail that could only be found by those that were meant to replace them.

'Is there a clue to what the trail may be?' asked Merrick captivated by the story.

The Elder held Merrick's gaze for a moment before uttering one word 'Lilies'