Mona nodded as she stood. Ainsel took a step back as he looked up at her, his mind still reeling over the information she had just dropped on him like a ton of bricks. His shoulders felt heavy with the weight of her request.

“He will never expect you,” she mounted her steed and looked down at the little king. “I don’t know how long it will be until he shows himself to me, but you need to have him in your sights and be ready to take him down if I need you to.”

Ainsel raised his hand to halt her. “How am I supposed to take the warlock king out exactly?”

Mona shrugged. “Be creative.” And, before he could respond she was galloping off into the forest, the trees swallowing up her retreat leaving nothing behind, but the slight disturbance of the foliage she passed.

Ainsel stood there in shock, unable to process what had just happened. Desdemona had opened the veil to their world, a veil that was unstable and had been closing and opening on its own. He knew it was just a matter of time before it closed for good. Mona had sought out his help with the wolves and in return, she was to keep their veil open. Originally, she had not kept up her end of the deal and he figured that she never would. But now, she needed him again. He didn’t trust her, not as far as he could throw her. He would carry out this task she had given him, and he would be watching over his shoulder for the inevitable knife that she would eventually plunge into his back.

Q

Alston, highest member of the Fae council stood at the opening of the veil from their realm to the human. Nissa, Gwen, and Dain were with him. The Great Luna told them that Mona had blocked Peri from crossing, but not that they couldn’t get through.

He held the moon stone in his hand and the weight of the responsibility that came with it settled over him like a heavy blanket. The packs had not been united in millennia. They were too volatile to bring together, and that was exactly what they were going to do. They were going to cross the veil into the human realm, and call every pack the Great Luna had created. It would be the largest gathering of super natural beings in their history.

“Alston,” he heard his name spoken softly behind him from Gwen. He turned back to look at her.

“Shall we go?” She asked.

Alston let out a deep breath and as he stepped through the veil, his voice reverberated over each of them. “So be it.”

They stepped out of the Veil into cold, crisp air and a canopy of tall, ancient trees towered over them. Night had fallen in the human realm and where there should have been stars in the sky, only dark clouds could be seen. The ground crunched beneath their feet from the light frost that had accumulated and the leaves of the plants shimmered like diamonds from the frozen droplets.

Walking slowly, further away from the Veil, they each turned to face one another in a circle. Alston pulled the moon stone from his pocket where he had slipped it when they'd crossed the Veil. He looked down at the small, seemingly insignificant rock, and shook his head. This stone was about to change the course of history.

He looked up to the faces of his kin, their eyes filled with determination, but shadowed by doubt. He leaned down, laid the stone on the ground in the middle of their circle, and then joined them again.

“We must wait for the moon to reveal itself from the clouds. The Great Luna indicated this night would be a full moon.” His words seem to reverberate into the night and they each turned their faces up one by one.

The night grew silent and the air stilled. All of nature seemed to be holding its breath, waiting, and watching.

The four Fae watched the night sky as the clouds began to slowly part. Gradually, little by little, the moon began to shine through the opening. And, then it was there, full in all of its beauty. The clouds encircled it but it shone fully, as if it were looking down on them. Though no heat came from the moon, its light bathed them in a different kind of warmth and they knew it was from the Great Luna. The light from the moon hit the moon stone that lay on the ground and it began to glow, a soft white light at first, but quickly grew in brightness.

Alston was the first to speak as he began the ancient chant to call the Luna’s children. It was a chant that had never been spoken out loud. And, one by one, they all joined in.

By the power of the moon,

It’s light over all it looms,

By the radiance of the stone,

You are not your own.

We call you.

You who are strong,

You’ve wandered far too long,

You who lead the weak,

It is you your creator seeks.

We call you.

Your time is now, your purpose is here,

Division is gone, restoration is near,

Heed the call, baying into the night,

Make yourself ready for the fight.

We call you.

We call you.

We call you.

The Packs of the Great Luna,

WE CALL YOU.

The final words rang into the night as the four Fae lowered their hands and looked back up to the moon. The calm that had draped over the forest began to dissipate as the wind began to blow and the trees swayed in a timeless dance. Over the howl of the wind they heard her voice as clearly as if she were standing before them.

“Ready yourselves. It is done.”

Nissa looked over to Alston and let out a shaky breath. “Why does that sound strangely ominous?”

It was Dain who answered. “Because, that is the only word that could possibly describe the joining of the packs.”

Chapter 5

“I felt it in my soul as I stood in the cool evening air. She beckoned to me, urging me to hurry, telling me time was short. As I stared up at the moon, the moon that shouldn’t be full on this night, I knew that every wolf looking up into the sky, anywhere in the world, would see a full moon. The Great Luna had sent out her call and we, her creation, were to answer it. For the pack.” ~ Victor, Bulgaria Pack

“Is that what I think it is?” David, Beta of the Coldspring pack asked his Alpha as they stood on the porch of the pack headquarters.

Jeff didn’t answer right away. He dwelt upon what the moon was saying to him. He didn’t know how, but he knew that their creator was calling them? Finally, he looked over to his Beta. “Yes, it’s the call of the moon. We’re being summoned.”

“What does that mean?” David asked. The Coldspring pack was a very young pack and didn’t have the knowledge and history like the other packs did, especially since they had been operating under the radar when Lucas Steele had been their Alpha.