Crimson Moon
Chapter 9

The next morning, I was awoken by the sound of thunder on my door. I went to go answer it. It was Reed at the door exhilarating a childish grin.

“Hey, Reed, what’s up?” I asked him.

“Good morning Calla, nice pajamas.”

My face blushed as I came to the realization that I wasn’t dressed yet. Seeing my face caused Reed to laugh out loud in a dark husky voice.

“Don’t worry you look nice. No matter what you’re dressed in, you will always look nice.”

“Thank you, Reed,” I responded to him.

“You are very welcome. Anyway, the others and I were wondering if you would like to go on a run with us.”

I looked back at my family debating on whether or not to leave them.

“Don’t worry about them,” Reed said as he pointed his head towards my sister and mother. “They will be completely fine. There are plenty of us here who can watch them.” “

Hmm ok.” I responded back to him. “You must give me a little bit of time to get ready though. I have to get dressed before I can do anything.”

He bowed his head and said “Of course. Meet us outside where the party was the other night.”

“Sounds good,” I responded back to him, and with that, he turned around and left to join the others.

I walked back into my room debating on what to wear. I decided on a pair of jeans that had holes at the knees along with a white tank top. Being that I would be taking it off in a few minutes anyway I didn’t want to dress in anything fancy. I walked over to the mirror that was beside the closet. I remembered the leather outfit as I did so. Maybe Cassie and the others didn’t have anything to do with the outfit, maybe Tiberius and the others did? Maybe I should just ask them instead for the fact that I had no idea when I would see Cassie again. She probably has her hands full with that Adelina girl that she said was such a pain to be around.

Once I was completely dressed and ready, I made my way out the door and into the hall. It felt so strange that there could basically be a house inside of a bigger house. It was mind-blowing if you asked me. The chandeliers on the ceiling of the hallway always lit my interest each time I walked in it. It was an exuberant sight. The light flickered as you walked past, not in a creepy way, but in a peaceful manner. I followed the red carpet until I made my way to the door that led outside where the others would be waiting for me.

The morning sun hit me as I walked out the main doors and into the area where I was just a few nights ago. Panic struck me as I remembered the horrific events that occurred from this dreadful area. Before I knew it, Tiberius was next to me his face full of concern. My eyes were focused on the grass in front of me, my eyesight clouded from the events that occurred.

“Calla? Are you ok?” Tiberius asked me.

I slowly dragged my eyes away from the grass and towards him. I shook my head to clear the images that were forming. Then I looked straight at Tiberius and said honestly, “I’m ok. Just thinking about everything that happened here the other night. I’m still a little shaken up about the whole thing. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be Calla. It is I who am sorry. You did nothing wrong. I shouldn’t have left you alone. If it makes you feel any better, they had a court hearing and everyone who was involved has been kicked from this castle and is now a rogue group. They were sent off to Alaska to replace a new place to live. You don’t have to worry about them anymore. If they even step foot around this territory their lives will be in danger, since they have been exiled.”

“Thanks,” I said to him. He simply bowed his head and took my hand to the rest of the group.

“I think it is about time that you were introduced to the rest of the gang,” Tiberius said. “Well you already know Reed quite well, so I don’t think you really need to be introduced to him.”

To this Reed pretended to make a pouty face.

“But what if I really wanted to meet her?” Reed questioned Tiberius.

To this Tiberius laughed and said, “Go ahead and meet her than you big baby.”

Reed walked up to me and I said to him playing along, “Have we met before? Your face is so familiar I swear I’ve seen you before.”

Reed smiled at me. “No, I don’t believe so. I think I would have recognized that beautiful face if I would have seen it before now.”

“My apologies Sir,” I said back to him bowing. “It must have been a different man.”

Then Reed grabbed my hand and gently kissed the back of it.

“No need to apologize my lady.” I rolled my eyes at him and we both laughed.

Tiberius rolled his eyes and grabbed my arm. He pulled me along to the others saying “I think you two have had enough time to get acquainted. Now let’s be serious and meet the others.”

I swore I picked up a hint of hurt on Tiberius. Once I looked at him again though, the hurt expression was gone. I must have been imagining it, it wouldn’t be the first time in which my mind made me see things that weren’t true. Hopefully, I wasn’t going crazy. I didn’t need that in my life as well.

The first man Tiberius brought me to after Reed was a tall slender man. He wasn’t as tall as Tiberius but almost. I would say that he was approximately about one inch shorter than him. He had green emerald-colored eyes that sparkled in the sun. “This is Liam, he was the wolf that helped you take down the elk at the neck,” Tiberius said to me.

He stuck his hand out for me to shake while he said, “Pleasure to finally meet the famous Calla properly.”

I smiled at him and said “Pleasure to meet you as well. I’m not very famous though.” He smiled back at me and said, “If only you knew the truth.” We stopped shaking hands and I put them back to my side.

The second man Tiberius brought me to was one with a very tan skin tone. He had a very broad chest, bigger than the others. His eyes reminded me of dark chocolate. He was around the same height as the others but a little shorter, but what he lacked in height made up for muscle. “Calla meet Darius,” Tiberius said nodding his head in the direction of Darius. “He was the wolf who took over Reed’s place when he was injured.” I looked at him with a grateful expression.

“Thank you for doing that. No matter what Reed tells you, he was injured, and he needed your help.”

Then Reed interrupted us saying “hey! I can hear you guys over here. I’m not a pansy.”

I just waved him off and Darius said, “You’re welcome Calla. Plus, even if I didn’t want to save that crazy dude,” he looked over toward Reed flashing him a smile who in turn rolled his eyes at him, “I’m pretty sure Tiberius would have made me.”

“Oh well, it means the same to me whether you were forced to help him or you chose to.” He bowed his head to me in an accepting gesture.

“Ok Calla, come on we don’t have all day.” I then walked over to Tiberius and stuck my tongue out at him.

“Speak for yourself, I don’t have a life.” He smiled at this response and grabbed my hand and brought me to the next guys amongst the group.

This one had medium-length hair that went to his chin. He had soft blue eyes, not like the color of mine as mine were dark, but his were very light like the color of baby blue. He was one of the only ones without the brown color hair amongst the group. His was a blonde color that reminded me of a summer day. He had a crooked smile on his face as I approached. I got the feeling that this werewolf was a pretty nice guy. He also looked like if he was just a regular human he would have been very popular in high school based on his looks. Without even waiting for Tiberius to say anything, he stuck his hand out to me. His tenor voice said to me “Hello beautiful, my name is Caleb.”

“Calla,” I said back to him smiling at him as my cheeks began to turn red.

I hated how every time someone gave me a compliment I blushed. I wasn’t used to this type of behavior around me. He inclined his head to me just like the rest of them tend to do.

“Why do they always incline their heads?” I thought to myself.

Caleb began to laugh and I gave him a puzzling look. “Sorry I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. When you are in such close proximity to us your thoughts are louder in our heads. It makes it difficult to block out your voices and yours if frankly very easy to pick up on. As to why we all do that to our heads I wouldn’t be able to tell you.”

“Man I really need to learn to think quieter don’t I?” I said to everyone.

“Nah,” Caleb said to me. “We don’t mind it at all. Your voice is kind of relaxing. Not in a creepy way that is.”

We all laughed at what he said. Unlike what would happen with me, he didn’t blush whatsoever. I admired his level of self-esteem, something I wish I possessed.

“You know what I really need to learn how to do?” I asked him.

He looked at me with a puzzled face and tilted his head. “What?”

He asked me. “I really need to learn how to read your guy’s thoughts as easily as you can read mine.”

Everyone laughed at that and Reed said, “Oh trust me, you wouldn’t want to read our thoughts.”

“Why not?” I turned around to ask him.

“Just trust me, it’s not something you would want. Guys tend to have very inappropriate thoughts quite frequently.”

I just shrugged my shoulders and said “If you really think so then ok. I’m still going to try to master it though. You might want to learn how to contain yourself then.”

“Maybe,” was all Reed replied to this statement.

After I got done talking with Caleb, Tiberius went to go introduce me to the next member of the pack. I was extremely thankful that Tiberius was bringing me from member to member, that way I didn’t have to go by myself. I knew that they wouldn’t hurt me or anything based on the fact that they saved me many times already, but I was still shy talking to new people. The rest of the three were standing side by side.

“These guys are Jeremiah, Dante, and Eli,” Tiberius said.

As he was calling out their names he pointed to each one to save me from getting confused on which he was referring to. Jeremiah was the first one Tiberius pointed to. He was a werewolf with pale skin and dark brown eyes. His hair was also a darker brown color than the rest of them. He had a full beard unlike the rest of the pack who didn’t have any hair evident on their faces. It looked like the rest shaved regularly. The second one he pointed to was Dante. Dante was the only other one without the brown hair. His hair color instead was pure white that kind of reminded me of an albino. His eyes were a silvery color that brought out the white hair. It was interesting to look at. The third and final member Tiberius pointed to was Eli. He wasn’t as muscular as the rest of them and he seemed to be one of the smallest of the group. He did kind of look like the weakest amongst them making him the omega. Not that I cared who the omega was, I really hated that word. To me, everyone should be equal amongst status, but I knew that would never happen.

As Tiberius called their names they bowed their head to me in respect.

All three of them said “hello,” and I repeated the gesture to them.

They weren’t the most talkative bunch of the group which kind of reminded them of myself. “It’s nice to meet you,” Eli said.

“Thank you,” I responded.

“It is nice to meet you as well.” He seemed so much more fragile than the rest of them, but I knew that this couldn’t be true.

To be amongst this pack, you had to be strong, Tiberius told me himself. Based on what I saw all of these guys do with the fire and with the hunt, I knew none of them were weak. There of course had to be a weakest member of the group, but nobody can have the exact same strength. I’m sure Eli had strengths in which none of us possessed. Based on his appearances he looked really smart but hey that could be a stereotype based on his glasses. I wasn’t really for stereotyping people.

“Thank all of you for saving me at the fire,” I said to them my face showing off my gratitude.

“You are most welcome,” They all responded at the same time.

“How did they get the fire out?” I asked Tiberius.

“It took a while and we lost some of the forest, but they were able to put it out with the water.”

“I’m sorry,” I told them. “It’s a shame that the woods had to be destroyed.”

I dropped my head as sadness overcame me.

“We didn’t lose much,” Caleb spoke out. “There is still plenty of space for us to run and the vegetation will grow back quickly.”

“Good,” I responded back to him.

“Oh, Tiberius?” I asked him.

“Yes Calla?” he asked back.

“Do you know how the outfit I was wearing made itself back into my room?” He looked at me and smiled.

“You looked too pretty in it for me to just leave it there and let it burn. Once I made sure you were safe at home I ran back to pick it up before the fire could scorch it too bad.” “Thank you,” I said to him. “It means a lot.”

“No problem,” he said giving me his crooked smile that made my heart skip a beat.

Why it did this, I wish I knew. The only thing that I was certain of is that my heart reacted to Tiberius in ways that it shouldn’t nor that I could let it.

“Alright now after all the introductions, who wants to go run?” Reed asked as he was ripping his shirt off.

“Dang Reed you don’t have to just rip your clothes off right in front of everyone,” I said to him.

“Aww, but don’t you like the sight?” He said flashing his childish smile at me.

“Oh my,” I said as I walked away from him.

He pretended hurt by putting his hand on his heart like he was shot. “Ow, my poor heart. Why you got to hurt me like that babe.” Reed said.

I laughed, picked up a dandelion off the grass, and threw it at him. He caught it in the air “Aww for me. You shouldn’t have.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes at him.

“You two really need to get a room,” Caleb said as he walked past us to lean against the nearest tree.

“Are you guys ready yet?’ Tiberius asked impatient and in an unpleasant tone. “I honestly don’t have all day. I got plans later that I can’t be late for.”

“Sorry,” Reed and I mumbled in unison.

“Calm down Tiberius. They were only having fun.” Liam spoke out.

Tiberius exhaled very loudly. It was obvious that he has been stressed out from something only that I didn’t know what.

“I’m sorry guys. I’m just not in a very good mood.”

“No need to apologize. We were acting childish. Is something bothering you? Are you ok?” I asked Tiberius not letting him speak before asking more questions.

“Relax Calla. I’m ok, no need to worry about me.”

“If you’re sure,” I gave him a look that he knew meant that I didn’t believe him.

Caleb walked towards the woods taking off his shirt. “Come on guys, let’s get going. We don’t want to make Tiberius flip anymore.”

He turned around to flash him a gentle smile so Tiberius would know that he was only playing. Before I knew it, they all started taking off their clothes in front of each other. “Ok, well, I’m just going to go over here,” I said as I started backing away from them.

“Alright, sounds good. We will be here when you’re ready.” Darius said to me.

I backed up into the tree and then went around it for coverage. I truly needed to get over the whole hiding my body thing. It’s not like they didn’t see it before at the fire. I quickly took off my clothes and changed into my wolf form.

I padded over to them as they were all already shifted into their wolf counterparts. Once I reached them they started to slowly make their way to the gate.

“So where are we going?” I asked them as we made our way out of the gate and into the woods.

“Just for a run to see where we end up. It’s pretty much just something fun to do and some bonding experience. Plus, it will help us relax. Some of us could really use it.” Eli said as he looked towards Tiberius who rolled his eyes.

Tiberius really didn’t look like himself today, it was bothering me. He was usually so relaxed in all situations, but whatever was under his skin today was tearing him apart.

“You better keep up Calla,” Reed said to me as he turned around to look at me.

“Don’t you remember last time Reed? I’m pretty sure you were the one begging for Tiberius and myself to slow down.”

“Hey, I was having an off day.” Reed joked back to me.

“Sure,” I said in a sarcastic tone.

Tiberius’s laughed before joining in on the conversation. “She is quite correct Reed. No offense, but she has you in a box here.”

In response to this Reed used his body to push Tiberius to the side growling at him.

“Oh bring it, Reed, you know you couldn’t win a fight against me.”

“Maybe but hey you can’t judge a brother for trying can you,” Reed replied.

“Oh come on guys lower the testosterone. Poor Calla is probably drowning in it right now.” Eli responded causing me to laugh.

“Thank you, Eli.”

“I got you,” He said in return.

Tiberius looked at us with happiness beginning to fill his eyes once more.

“You guys ready to run?” He asked us. “You sure you can keep up?” I asked Tiberius challenging him.

By the look in his eyes, he was ready for a challenge. “Oh, dear sweet Calla. I would be careful if I were you. You’re running with the big dogs now.”

As soon as he finished saying this he was off running.

“Really you gonna cheat like that? You didn’t even give me a fair start.”

I heard everyone laugh as we all took off after him.

The wind blew in our direction causing my fur to ruffle from the breeze. The woods were covered in green grass, shrubs, and moss. It was so green it felt like it radiated off my eyes. I spotted Tiberius gradually getting farther and farther from me. I decided that I needed to show him that even if I was running with them I could catch up. Plus, I wanted to know if I really was faster than him or not. This time I didn’t need to keep the others with us as we weren’t going hunting. I pushed harder on the ground causing myself to go faster. I was determined to show Tiberius that I was stronger and faster than I looked.

I ran faster and faster as the others began to disappear behind me. The only person on my mind was Tiberius. I needed to catch up to him, I had to. I made it right behind him and I pushed even harder until I was right next to him on his right side.

“Welcome back Calla,” he smiled at me as I heard his voice in my head.

“Oh don’t get too attached, I don’t plan on staying very long.”

A surge of energy went through me as my competitive side kicked in. I pushed faster trying to run faster than Tiberius. He pushed faster as well as we were locked side by side both of us trying to outrun the other. In our path, there was a fallen tree covered by moss. Not wanting to risk falling behind Tiberius, my mind made a quick decision. The most practical route I could take would be to go under the tree as it was being held up a little bit by rocks, but my mind made another decision. Either one that could help me or it could do the complete opposite. I quickly looked to my left and saw Tiberius go under the tree. My heart pounded as I ran up a rock that was connected to the fallen tree. Reaching the end of the stone I pushed forward with all my might leaping through the air trying to have as much air as I possibly could to go a farther distance. I looked down and saw Tiberius directly under me and that was when I knew that I succeeded. When my paws hit the solid floor, I landed a few feet in front of Tiberius. That was the biggest jump I have ever completed. Pride struck my body as I was overwhelmed by happiness.

I ran as fast as I could, and it looked like Tiberius was slowly falling behind. We might have the same speed capability, but it seemed like I had more endurance. I could run farther at a high speed than he could. What I saw in the distance caused my heart to skip a beat. There was a gigantic cliff that I couldn’t see the edge to. I ran right up to it and came to an abrupt stop not knowing what to do. A strong breeze flew past me causing me to look to see what it was. I realized it was Tiberius as he pushed forward with his strong muscles quivering with the exertion and force. His body soared in the air as his body spread out before he landed. His paws struck the ground as he landed on the hard soil. I was in awe as I realized what he just did. I never thought someone of that size could do that.

I looked around and I saw the others taking another path to go over there. I could easily follow them, but I wanted to surprise them. Backtracking farther back into the woods I left the others.

“Calla? Where did you go?” I heard Tiberius's voice break out in my head. “Follow the others. They will lead you over here.”

Little did he know I was not going to do that. He was going to be in for a surprise. Going back to as far as I needed, I thrusted as fast as I possibly could, dirt flying through the air behind me. My paws hit the edge of the cliff as I soared into the air. I noticed Tiberius was facing the other way giving me the perfect chance. I adjusted my body so I would hit my target. My plan worked to perfection. I landed directly on Tiberius causing him to fall onto his back from the weight. I put all of my paws around him locking him into that position. I felt his heartbeat against my own.

“Calla? How did you manage that? Nobody besides me has ever been able to do that.”

“Ahh, poor Tiberius. You misjudge me, you know that. Oh and by the way I totally won the race.”

“Oh, I know that you are capable of many wonders.” He said back to me. “And I’m pretty sure I got here first.” He smiled as he said that.

A drop of blood fell from my face causing alarm to rise from Tiberius.

“Are you ok? What happened?” He questioned me.

“I don’t really know. I must have cut it on a branch. I’m not the most graceful person.”

It was a little weird, I didn’t feel any pain. It was probably because my adrenaline was running so fast, it blocked everything out. Before I knew what was going on, Tiberius’s tongue began to lap up the blood from my face. A spark of burning fire began to fill my body.

His voice broke out in my head, “You really are beautiful Calla, even with blood on your face. By the way, you were right when you said that blood stood out from your fur. It’s kind of like a sore thumb.” I smiled at him and my heart fluttered.

Someone cleared their throat next to us causing me to fall off of Tiberius and into the dirt. An “oof” escaped my mouth as I hit the forest floor. My body got hot from embarrassment as I shook my coat to get the dirt out of it. I looked to see who it was, it was Reed. The others following slowly behind them.

“Tiberius man, don’t steal my girl. That’s not a friend thing to do. Plus, what about Adelina. Don’t get mad, I’m just trying to save you from trouble.”

Just then a female voice screamed out causing me to duck my head and cover my paws with my ears. Once I realized that it was in our heads and covering my ears indeed wouldn’t help, I dropped my paws.

“Tiberius!! Where are you?! You’re late you better be here in the next ten minutes or you’re going to be in a heaping amount of trouble!” She screamed and then she was gone.

“Who was that?” I asked.

Tiberius got up onto his paws and said very quickly to me

“I got to go, Calla, Reed make sure she replaces her way back to her room.”

Reed replied “Of course,” and with that Tiberius was gone.