Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted

LUCAS

If there's a button in the snow, there's a reason for it.

But there's still no hint of oncoming attack, leaving us all on edge. Is this another sick prank of the vampires? Lead us on a merry chase with nothing at the end, time and time again, until we become complacent and lazy?

Months of chasing empty leads has proven we won't fall for that tactic.

Fall back. I send out the command just as the air shimmers in front of me and a young girl falls about five feet to the ground with a curse.

"Dammit, they can at least calculate the coordinates properly," she mutters, pushing herself to stand.

She's a tiny thing, with short purple hair, wearing black jeans, a tight black shirt, and a lot of chains. There's one from her belt loop into her pocket, another from her shoulder to her belt, one from her wrist to her elbow—it's a strange aesthetic.

The growls of my pack echo. Vester takes point, hackles raised and teeth bared in a vicious snarl as he approaches the strange girl. Her scent carries traces of magic, but nothing like what we tracked here.

The girl's head snaps up from where she's been brushing snow off her black jeans. Her eyes widen, and the color drains from her face.

"Oh, Royal King, I'm so fucked."

The chains on her outfit jingle as she takes a step back. Her pulse races, the sound clear even from this distance. She's terrified.

Her ears are pointed under all that purple.

Fae, then.noveldrama

Vester, I warn, but I can already feel his understanding in response. He's seen it, too.

"I'm not a threat!" she blurts out, holding up her hands. A book falls to the ground, but she's too scared to pick it back up, her eyes darting from one wolf to another. When her eyes land on me, she flinches, her eyes widening even further.

My wolves tighten the perimeter, their golden eyes fixed on our unexpected visitor. Someone wanted us to be here for this meeting, though our guest seems less than prepared for it.

The shift ripples through my muscles, bones cracking and reforming as I return to human form. Aurum's displeasure rumbles in my mind.

One bite. Quick and clean.

No.

The Fae girl's eyes widen as she looks below my waist, then she covers them with her hands, nearly slapping herself with the frantic movement. "Oh, sir. No. I'm not here for that. I swear I'm not here for that."

Her chains jingle as she trembles, and a laugh almost escapes me. Almost. The situation doesn't call for humor, even if her reaction is amusing. She doesn't seem to have much experience with shifters.

I grab my backpack from where it fell on the ground, pulling out a pair of pants. The fabric scratches against my skin as I slip them on, still watching the girl. Her hands remain firmly pressed to her face.

My feet already feel half-frozen against the snow, but I don't expect to be human for too long.

"Who are you, and why are you here?"

Her trembling intensifies. "C-Can I look now?"

"Yes."

She peeks through her fingers first, then drops her hands with a relieved sigh. "I'm Pip. Just Pip. And I really wasn't supposed to land here. Or now. Or in front of you. Especially not in front of you."

"Why are you here?"

"I was aiming for The Rejects." Her shoulders slump. "But someone messed with the coordinates. Again. They always do this to me, you know? 'Oh, let's send the newbie, she won't mind if we're off by a few miles.' Except they're never off by just a few miles, and now I'm probably going to die because you're going to eat me or something."

We could, Aurum suggests.

"The Rejects?" My voice sharpens. "Who are they?"

"Um." Pip's eyes dart between the wolves surrounding her. "Not who. It's a place. I don't think I'm supposed to tell you about it, though."

Vester snarls, and she jumps.

"Okay, I'll tell."

She's easy.

"Um, there's a bunch of vamps who refused to work with the New Order. They're working with a bunch of… uh, you guys, I guess. Maybe not you guys. I don't know if you're friends with those ones. But yeah, you guys. They have a hideout and—"

She stops in the middle of talking, looking around again.

Should I growl at her again? I'm starting to feel like a bully, Vester asks privately.

The feeling is understandable. She might be Fae, but she's tiny and young-looking. I have to remind myself that she's probably a hundred years old and not thirteen.

The girl then asks hesitantly, "Are you the bad guys?"

Aurum huffs. Even his bloodlust is lost against this child before us. She's an idiot, he observes. Probably a distraction.

"No." Though that doesn't mean we aren't her enemy. "Why are you trying to reach The Rejects?" It sounds suspiciously like Jericho's camp and his rogue vampires.

"Um." Her tongue touches the top of her lip, and her eyes bounce around again. "That's kind of, um, a secret."

"Un-secret it, then."

"You can't un-secret a—" She blows out an aggravated breath, but even that shakes. "Are you going to e-eat me?"

"He might." I jerk my head toward Vester, who lets out a little grumble on cue. "Why are you trying to reach The Rejects, kid?"

"Um." Her eyes roll in fear as she clasps her hands together. "Well, they said if it turns green, then that's my cue. And it turned green. It took me a minute to remember the exact sequence, but—I'm just here because they said to do it if it turns green."

She speaks nonsense. She's distracting us, Aurum rumbles, his bloodthirst returning with his suspicions.

But breaking down her words—even if I don't fully understand them—it seems simple. Someone told her to come here when something turned green, and that sounds suspiciously like a thing that might happen when a wolf steps on a strange button in a bush.

"Who are they?"

"I…can't tell you." Her shoulders shrink in on themselves. "Please don't eat me."

Vester snaps at the air, and she jumps back a step with a scream. "I really can't tell you! Even if you eat me, I can't tell you!"