Ten years ago…
Edith was walking down the stairs, her small footsteps leading her to the living room, where she saw her mother and father standing and talking with two men. Edith looked at the four adults in front of her from behind the wall dividing the living room from the corridor.
Edith saw that her father had raised his voice to one of the larger men. Her father looked angry at the two men, while her mother stood silently beside her father with her hand clasped tightly.
“Maxence, check upstairs! The girl must be in her room.”
“Not before you step over my dead body!” said her father angrily.
“I’ll be happy to do it,” said the big man.
The man named Maxence immediately took a step to leave the room and head upstairs, but her mother held him back. She stretched her hand forward and stopped his movement with the wind she created.
“Don’t you dare touch my daughter!” said her mother.
Edith saw that her father had been attacked by a large man. His body was pushed against the wall, and his head hit the floor first. Blood poured from her father’s head. Edith began to shed tears. She didn’t know why those two men had come to her house and made such a terrible mess.
Edith was horrified when she saw her mother hovering a few inches off the floor and holding Maxence’s body with one of her hands. At the same time, her mother moved her other hand to attack the big man by throwing things in the house.
Edith crouched down because she could not see what was happening in front of her eyes. She only heard the screams of her father, who was moaning in pain. The next minute was followed by the mother screaming her father’s name until Edith heard no more.
“Mum? Dad?”
Suddenly, there was silence. Edith opened her eyes and saw a large man approaching her. Edith could only cry. She was terrified to see that the man was now in front of her.
Edith heard the sound of glass breaking. She saw a large, dark grey wolf running from the window and attacking the man in front of her. She was so shocked that she couldn’t bear to watch the horrific scene as the wolf bit the man’s neck. She felt her surroundings begin to darken, and her body hit the floor.
The dark grey wolf growled at one of the vampires standing before him. He put his front paws on the ground and leapt at him. The wolf managed to knock the vampire to the ground. Not wanting to waste an opportunity, the wolf immediately sank its sharp fangs into the vampire’s neck to separate him from his body.
The other vampire was terrified after seeing his friend killed by the wolf. He turned around and moved quickly away from the spot. The wolf let him, as he knew that the escaping vampire was not the killer of the couple lying dead in the room. The wolf turned around and looked at the two wolves behind him.
[How is their child?] asked the dark grey wolf.
[Their child just fainted,” replied one of the wolves.
[Call Ashley immediately to check on the child.] You two clean up everything, and from now on, I order one warrior to take turns standing guard around this house. [Don’t make any suspicions, got it?] Chris ordered.
[Yes, Alpha.]
[Luna I need you to help me with this child. When she wakes up, she will definitely be scared. I need you to handle her. I’ve asked one of the wolves to call Ashley; I’ll wait until one of you comes. After that, I have to go take care of something, he said softly to Luna in a place far away from the house.
[Poor little girl. [I’ll be right there, dear.]
The wolf approached the little girl lying on the carpet. He lifted her up by biting her shirt and putting her on his back. Chris carried her to one of the rooms in the house and laid her on the bed.
[The Moon Goddess has a destiny for her already, Chris.] We are only tasked with taking care of her until she grows up, said the wolf inside Chris.
“And my son, who is imprinted with this veela, the Moon Goddess, also set Seth’s destiny even when he was a child. The supernatural realm indeed works beyond my human logic, Ulf.” Chris chuckled softly.
[Quit complaining; it’s for the good of Red Crescent Moon.] Ulf said.
“Yeah, I know.”
There were heavy footsteps behind the door. A few seconds later, Chris saw a brown wolf coming towards him. He approached the brown wolf and said in mind-link, [I didn’t get to save her parents, Hope].
[You did your best, dear. Are you going to leave right away?]
[No. I really missed you, Hope. The thing about vampires is driving me crazy; I need some recharge!]
Hope understood, so she shifted herself to her human form and stood up with a smile on her face. Chris did the same. He shifted himself and immediately grabbed Luna’s waist to get closer to him.
“One kiss from you, and my energy will be replenished,” Chris teased.
“And it will end up in bed. Remember, Chris, this is someone else’s house.”
“So what? It’s just the two of us and this kid; she’s unconscious anyway,” said Chris, who was already brushing Luna’s lips ferociously.
“And me. Bloody werewolf, you don’t know your place when you’re in heat; just get a hotel!” someone in the doorway.
Chris and Hope loosened the distance between them. Hope quickly took the clothes from the bag, gave them to Chris, and did the same for herself.
“What a slow wolf. You might as well not have come,” scolded Chris.
“Calm down, Chris! Ashley has other things to do outside of her wolf self,” Hope defended.
“No wonder he likes to be on his own. You’re too nice to him, Hope.”
Hope just chuckled at Ashley’s complaint, while Chris just grunted and sat himself on the edge of the bed roughly. Ashley checked the little girl’s condition, and she nodded in understanding once she was done. Her gaze turned to Chris, who was waiting for her to speak.
“She’s just in shock; the rest is fine. I’ll make her forget about this tragedy; it’s a great pity if she remembers it. What happened exactly, Chris?”
Chris recounted all the incidents that happened in detail. Chris’ tone turned bitter as he explained that he couldn’t save Edith’s parents. Hope tapped Chris on the shoulder to calm him down after the incident.
“Is this the girl Emma was talking about?” asked Ashley.
“Yes, you’re right, Ash. I’ll go first; see you later.”
Chris left the room, leaving Ashley and Hope alone in the room to look after the little girl until she woke up. Until an hour later, Edith opened her eyes and looked confused at the presence of people she didn’t recognise.
“Who are you, people?”