It's almost been a full year since the last update of this story and I know a lot of you have forgotten about this story or don't care anymore but I've also gotten some requests for an update so.... I tried my best....? I'll try to write this story more but I think I bit off more than I can chew. We'll see! Hope you like this chapter at least!

"GODDAMNIT!!" Griselda angrily exclaimed as she grabbed the table and flipped it towards the wall, sending all of the candles and stones and crystals flying.

Ulrik sighed and laid his head in hands, Millicent flinched and recoiled from her mother, Rahul rolled his eyes. The tension in the air was thick and stale as Griselda fell to her knees and buried her fingers in her hair. Very slowly, Urvashi's head rose from between the wall and the table, looking as if she was crawling out of it as she pressed her back against the wall to push the table away from her. Urvashi then stood and calmly smoothed out the shredded black fabric that poured off her figure.

"I can't get through to her. Why can't I get through to her? I've done it once before. Do I not have enough magic?" Griselda looked to Rahul, her bloodshot eyes wide with desperation. "You have to restore your magic, Rahul!"

"No." Rahul firmly rejected.

Griselda shot up from her knelt position on the floor. "You have to! Urvashi isn't giving me enough magic because her footprint is stronger! Give me yours and I can do this!"

"I refuse to unleash my magic for something as insignificant as a nightmare, Griselda. Urvashi shouldn't even be doing this shit. The more you use our magic for these dumb ploys, the easier it is for him to find us. It's too risky for it's payoff." Rahul countered.

Griselda pointed an angry finger at Rahul, her expression even more twisted with rage as she stared him dead in the eyes. "Then, drop that stupid little mask and use the rest of the magic you haven't sealed away to figure out what's going on."

Rahul was naturally defiant against anything and everything, which was the simplest answer to why and how he was what he was. But, when it came to Griselda, he didn't have a whole lot of say in the matter. Millicent didn't know why it seemed like Rahul's attitude, that she only recently came to know, was crumbling so quickly under Griselda's demand. She was only a witch, they were demons. Didn't they have more power than her? Shouldn't she be threatened by them?

"I will go with you," Urvashi stiffly insisted.

"No need," Rahul grumbled bitterly as he rose from his chair.

"I will. I have an idea in mind that may help us. Let me see it through," Urvashi said.

Rahul sighed, submitting to his sister's request, and then his figure began to grow and transform as he stood to his full height. Millicent cowered back against the headboard of the bed she was sat on as she watched Rahul turn from a relatively normal human to a grotesque skeleton that stood too high for the ceiling of their motel room to contain any longer. Rahul's skeletal form was hunched over, his long, bone-structured arms holding him off the ground as his big leg bones folded beneath him.

Millicent understood what Griselda meant when she told Rahul to drop his mask. He needed his magic to look like a normal human, and when he dropped that mask, this skeleton was his natural demon form. It was completely the opposite of Millicent's expectations. Human was a natural form to her, so it was strange to consider it a mask. But Rahul was a demon. He probably did not have a human face any longer, so he required a mask made of his own magic.

No sound effect accompanied Rahul and Urvashi's disappearance. There was only a faint cloud, that was so thin that it almost appeared to be a light mist, when they vanished. The mist quickly cleared and left zero sign of the demon sibling's existence. Millicent stared at the open space in the room where Rahul's skeletal figure and Urvashi's dreadful figure once stood. She wondered how long they would be gone. She wondered where they went. She wondered if they were going to hurt anyone, maybe even Sophie, while they were away.

The mist reappeared but, this time, it didn't show up in the dingy motel room. Instead, it swirled excitedly in the room that belonged to the Alpha and Luna of the Destine Moon pack. Very cautiously, Rahul extended his skeletal fingers through the mist to enter the room, grabbing at an invisible wall that separated the physical plane from the one he traveled through. As each bone in his finger curled around the wall, Rahul pulled himself through the gateway, up until his waist, and looked forward to the little Luna pulling a cardigan from her closet.

The blank, grimly emaciated face that now replaced Rahul's human features slowly tilted as he examined the back of Sophie's figure. She was small, petite, appeared to be nothing but a young, human girl, but Rahul could sense the energy she had swimming within her. The magic lying within her was strong, like any Alpha or Luna's would be, but there was something deeper. Something was being concealed within her spirit. She held magic that even she must not be able to tap into.

The first thought that came to Rahul's mind was how perfect of a vessel Sophie would be. She wasn't just a bottle for him to slither inside to take a comfy nap inside. She was a bottle that contained a locked box. Rahul knew he would be safe there. Better yet, he knew Urvashi could be safe there, inside Sophie. Her magical footprint was faint, masked by all the other werewolves surrounding her, and yet, the stronger magic that laid inside her was nearly untraceable unless it was being sought out. Rahul was intrigued.

Unfortunately, when Rahul reached his thin, bony finger out towards Sophie, Urvashi was right there to interrupt him. She grabbed his radius bone to stop his hand and shot him a glare. He was greedy, Urvashi knew that. It was no wonder he ended up in the same mess as herself.

Stepping in front of her brother, Urvashi unraveled her curled fist and let her magic flow out of her like a heavy fog of blackness. As the fog left her palm, it broke apart and formed into small crows that squawked and shrieked as they obeyed her murmured commands. With Sophie's back towards to the chaos, one after the other, crows dove through the walls and the floor in search of their victims. Though they were loud to Rahul and Urvashi, Sophie could not bear a thing.

"How many must you release?" Rahul impatiently asked his sister.

"They have around three hundred pack members. I need to cover everybody to make sure this plan works," Urvashi explained as fog poured from her palm and trickled between her fingers until crows formed and flew away.

"Is this going to take awhile then?"

Urvashi snapped her teeth as her annoying little brother, making his skeletal form flinch. She bared her teeth at him, showing off the blackness that had stained every tooth, her gums, and even the rest of her mouth. Rahul did not have eyes in his skeletal form, although he could see perfectly fine, but wished he could roll his eyes at his sister. She never had any humor, even when she was human, so Rahul did not know why he was still surprised every time she proved to have no patience when it came to his jokes. At least, he thought he was funny.

Rahul tried to be as patient as possible as Urvashi muttered incantations under her breath to command her little drops of magic. He kept his eyes, or eye sockets, on Sophie all the while. She had dressed in a cardigan and was fixing her hair in a mirror, that luckily could not reflect the magic of a demon. Rahul could not stop staring at her. She was a perfect vessel. His soul was bound to Griselda, as was his sister's, but all of this drama was making Griselda a careless witch. She would reveal herself to Lucifer and then he would find Rahul and Urvashi.

They couldn't stay with Griselda for much longer if she was going to be trouble. They could not risk it.

"Take her," Rahul blurted. Urvashi stopped her incantations to listen to her brother, though the fog continued and the crows still flew off. "She will keep you hidden. Griselda will get us killed if we stay with her any longer."

"I am indebted to Griselda." So stiff and short, Rahul bitterly muttered to himself, everything she said.

Rahul grabbed Urvashi's arm with his floating bones and used his other hand to point at Sophie. "She is safe."

"Does not matter. I am loyal to the one I am bound to. That is what will keep me safe."

"Stubborn!" Rahul snapped.

"Insolent!" Urvashi shouted back.

Rahul growled impatiently at his sister as he held her steely stare. "Fine. If you do not care for your freedom, I will not either. I will bind myself to Sophie and leave you to get caught and your soul shredded with Griselda's."

"Wha-" Urvashi breathed in confusion.

Before Urvashi could question her insane, ignorant, selfish brother, Rahul turned away from her and reached his hand out to the little brunette werewolf. As soon as he got close though, the magic rooted deep inside of Sophie started to spread through her body like wildfire. Rahul could feel it. That little white flame in the pit of her soul was growing so quickly that he barely had time to respond. He still had the tips of his bony fingers inches from Sophie's hair when it drained of all color, from her roots to the ends. From brown to white like a rushing waterfall. In Rahul's form now, he could see the blinding light that laced every strand of her hair and could feel it's bountiful heat.

Sophie didn't feel a thing. She didn't feel the raging fire that Rahul saw and felt. She didn't even notice her hair was changing colors as she turned from the mirror to grab her fluffy slippers. It wasn't until she turned to walk out of the room that she realized something was happening. Because, in the split second that she turned around, her vision went white. Sophie stumbled for a moment, her hands reaching out to grasp whatever would catch her as she was visually thrown off balance.

The white light was blinding, no matter how many times she blinked. It didn't feel like someone was shining a light in Sophie's eyes. It was brighter than that, bigger than that, even more vibrant and pure white than Sophie had ever seen. Sophie was so disorientated by the sudden blinding light that she fell to her knees with a loud, helpless cry. She quickly locked her fingers behind her neck and stayed curled up on the ground as she desperately cried out for her mate, shouting so loudly that it hurt her own ears.

Rahul and Urvashi were already leaving by the time Sophie was crying for her mate. Rahul knew coming here and reaching out to Sophie was a mistake now. He hadn't just seen Sophie face to face, but another entity that was already holding her body and her spirit as a vessel. The entity and it's magic wasn't immediately recognizable, but it was familiar. It's magical signature had a lot of the same variables as Sophie's natural signature. It was beastly in nature, potent in it's scent, but kept it's intentions concealed.

Harmful or helpful, it didn't really matter to Rahul. He was a demon. There was no entity or spirit in this vast universe that wasn't harmful towards him. Sophie was not the perfect vessel for him after all.

"Sophie!" Cortez shouted with a booming voice as he threw open the door to their room.

Cortez was quick to spot Sophie on the ground and in the fetal position but didn't see, smell, or feel anything else in the room. All evidence of Rahul and Urvashi's visit was gone. Besides, the white in Sophie's hair that was slowly receding back into her scalp and revealing her naturally brown hair again. The sight caught Cortez off guard and worried him to no end. Sophie's alternate personality was fleeting back inside her and he actually got to see it happening this time.

"I'm right here, Sophie! Don't worry! I've got you!" Cortez reached for Sophie to pulled her into his arms. The second she felt his touch and heard his voice so close, Sophie wrapped her arms around Cortez and clung to him to absorb all the warmth and comfort that her mate was meant to deliver in times like this. "Are you okay, Gorgeous? What happened?"

Cortez's fingers seeped into Sophie's hair as he held her close and listened to her heart race in her chest. Sophie sniffled to hold back the sobs that threatened to escape as she focused on calming down. Cortez couldn't help but get distracted by her hair. It didn't feel any different, was the same length and color as usual. There was nothing that would give away that it had just changed colors. But, Cortez did wonder if that little patch of white hair was still hidden beneath everything.

"I don't know.. I don't know what happened." Sophie weakly sniffled, her fingers gripping Cortez's shirt tighter than even she knew. "I was just putting on a cardigan and when I turned around, everything was so white and blinding and I couldn't see.."

Cortez was admittedly distracted from Sophie's story as he tried to look into her eyes to see if they were as white as they were the last time this happened to her. That would be strange if that was the case though, because Sophie seemed to function just fine the last time they glowed. Maybe it was different this time. Maybe it was brighter. Or, maybe, the Moon Goddess, or whatever spirit was inhabiting her, could see passed that light no problem and Sophie couldn't.

But, if Sophie had realized what happened, that meant it hadn't completely taken over because she had no recollection of what happened last night. Was the spirit inside of her just toying with her now?

"Did it hurt?" Cortez whispered as he combed his fingers through Sophie's hair. She shook her head. "Did you have to fight back? So... it didn't take over..?"

Sophie was hesitant but slowly began to shake her head. "No.. It went away on it's own. I could feel it come and go but, I could also tell I had no control over it."

Cortez's eyebrows furrowed as his jaw clenched. He was getting frustrated already. He didn't want Sophie to have to go through something like this after all she'd been through. Cortez wished he knew what was going on so he could stop it. If it was anything like her transition, he could help but, this didn't seem like it was that. This was something bigger. The Moon Goddess was doing this directly, she had to be. Cortez just couldn't figure out if this was a good thing or if she was just being cruel.

"Fucking great!" Rahul barked as he threw open the door to the motel room, walking in as his usual, human form. Urvashi walked in behind him, calm as ever. Everyone stared curiously at them as Rahul ran his hands violently through his hair. "Something's protecting her and I just showed my face to it!"

"You were being greedy. This is what disloyalty gets you." Urvashi calmly argued.

"Thanks, dear sister! How supportive of you!" Rahul roared as he slumped lazily into the chair he was sat in before.

"Well, what is it that was protecting her?" Griselda clenched her fists tightly at her sides, her sharp words directed at Rahul.

"You know, Griselda, if I knew, I probably would have said so when I walked in." Rahul gave a fake smile that quickly vanished as he grimly stared at her. Griselda didn't humor his attitude so he continued. "It's holy. That's all I know."

"Holy?" Griselda's tight fists and her twisted expression relaxed as she tried to regain her footing from that shocking bit of knowledge. "H-How..?"

Millicent excitedly perked up as a thought came to mind. "Like a guardian angel?"

"If guardian angels were real, they would've sniffed out Urvashi and I a long time ago and the world would be a lot more peaceful than it is..." Rahul bitterly grumbled.

Millicent slumped a bit as the room grew silent. Everyone was trying to figure out a plan of action. Griselda wanted to send out a warning, or maybe even get some kind of revenge for Sophie's future crimes, but couldn't figure out how to do it indirectly. Rahul and Urvashi were to focused on staying hidden to give much help. Ulrik was desperate to take care of his pack and kept that as his priority. Millicent... Millicent was basically a bystander trying to figure out her role in this game.

"That was such a waste. I can't believe that little wolf-"

Urvashi interrupter her brother. "Not a complete waste." All eyes landed on her so, she continued in a soft, calm tone. "They have an ordinary dog in the house. It was the only thing unprotected by whatever holy entity is protecting the pack. There is a weak link in the chain."

"A dog?" Ulrik shot into the conversation, drawing all eyes to him. He looked riddled with disbelief and annoyance. "How is a dumb dog going to gain us any advantage in this fight?"

"You said this wasn't war.." Millicent stammered, her words slightly shaken with fear.

Millicent knew how territorial and protective and savage wolves could be. They were capable of war and destruction. But, Ulrik seemed like a noble man that meant it when he looked Millicent in the eyes and reassured her that she would never be involved in a war between packs. Unfortunately, whether Ulrik liked it or not, there was a battle. It wasn't war yet and he didn't want it to come to that but, he had to save his pack. Even if that meant war.

Ulrik held Millicent's stare, trying to show his nobility through his stare as he also silently begged she spare him some lenience in the promise he shared with her. This was a conversation for adults and for wolves. He knew Millicent would not understand. But this was her battle just as much as it was his. Her life was on the line, along with the rest of them. She needed to understand that battle needed to be brought up as a possibility, even if it was only to prevent them from being blindsided.

"I am not asking for an advantage in war-" Ulrik calmly corrected as his eyes shifted from Millicent to the demons and his mate. "I am asking for a fair chance at survival."

Rahul rolled his eyes as Ulrik's compliance to Millicent's stuck up attitude. She was a child correcting a grown man's word. Rahul wouldn't have left enough room to interject if she tried to with him. Griselda, however, was concerned. She heard Ulrik promise Millicent there would be no war and that was not a promise she approved of. She did not want Ulrik making false promises to her daughter. They were only lies. He was going to hurt her if he shielded her with nothing but lies.

"We can level the playing field. Our presence seemed to scare off some of the power within the infected members of the pact before we were interrupted, but Sophie is still holding onto the biggest obstacle," Urvashi explained, her eyes glazed over as if she was looking at something that wasn't even in the room she was standing in. "As long as I have this dog within my grasp though, we have the advantage."

"And, what are you going to use the dog for? What if they catch on to us because of that little beast?" Griselda challenged.

"Stay calm, Griselda. I'll use the dog to get rid of the rest of the infected so there is no holy entity hunting us down and then, do away with him. We're not going to be able to take care of Sophie, so our best bet would be to just separate her from the pack and attack." Urvashi further explained.

"That doesn't sound like a war." Millicent whispered, mostly to herself. A few eyes in the room landed on her, but she only looked at Ulrik. "I don't want to kill anybody else but... If it's only Sophie and we leave the pack alone, that sounds better than war..."

Ulrik wanted to support Millicent's desire to keep the peace and preserve the rest of her innocence but, it wasn't that simple. After they went after Sophie and killed her, the rest of her pact would know and they would find them and it would be a war. You couldn't just kill a Luna and run. If it wasn't Sophie's pack that got them before they ran, another allied pack would avenge the Destine Moon pack anyways. Whatever had to be done for Ulrik's pack to survive, he would do, even if that meant war. He just wished he didn't have to disappoint his mate's child in order to do so.

"Then, we isolate Sophie.." Ulrik shrugged as he looked to the rest of the magical beings in the room. "We get her and run. After all, you said Sophie is the one that kills us all. One kill and we relocate to somewhere safe. Can we all agree on that?"

Rahul and Urvashi exchanged looks, both silently asking each other how the other felt about that plan. Obviously, it was still dangerous. Sophie has the strongest connection to the holy entity so, even if she didn't have a pack surrounding her, she would still be dangerous. Besides, the pack was the least of their worries in the first place. It wasn't the pack that killed them in the end, it was Sophie. If she could kill all of them then she would either way. It would just be easier to get to her if she didn't have her pack and it would lower their chances of losing members of their own pack in the fight.

"We'll focus on that plan, for now, since it sounds like our best option-" Griselda agreed, glancing around the room to make sure that everyone agreed. When she got no protests, she turned her attention to her daughter. "However, if we need to, I will not hesitate to wipe them all out. If it means our survival, I will do anything it takes."

Millicent gulped as she stared into her mother's eyes. The guilt from burning down Sophie's home, a girl close to her own age, and killing her grandfather, her last living family member, was eating away at Millicent. She didn't know what she would do if she was the cause of an entire packs extinction. If she hadn't agreed to that stupid grenade plan, this war would never have come to be. Millicent was the one that opened the door to this war and people were going to die because of it. Because of what she did.

-

Sophie sat at the top of the staircase in the foyer as everyone below was being checked on. She hugged her cardigan tightly around herself and gently rocked in place to ease some of the restlessness she felt rattling inside her. Everyone seemed to be fine. They were a little shaken and all seemed to feel a little drained, but otherwise were fine. Sophie wanted to check on her pack members herself but was too scared to move or even face them. This was all her fault anyways.

Something happened. While the white light blinded Sophie, the rest of the pack were being attacked by something. Nobody saw what it was, and thankfully nobody was injured, but the story was the same between all the members of the pack. Everything was normal and fine until they were blinded by a white light. Then, they were weak and tired, as if drained of all their energy and strength. Though they were left without a scratch, almost everyone was freaked out.

Many wondered if the Moon Goddess has abandoned them. She gave them more power and strength than ever before, and now they were all drained of that feeling. She must've pulled her power from them. With that thought in mind, that pack was not only drained physically but also in their spirit. They were sad, wondering why their goddess had abandoned them so soon. It couldn't be a good sign.

"How are you doing?" Delilah softly asked as she took a seat beside her Luna on the stairs, a gentle hand falling on Sophie's leg.

Sophie moved her leg out of Delilah's grasp, having no desire to be touched. She was scared of hurting Delilah, maybe even infecting her. She couldn't even look her in the eye. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm your Luna and you're with child." Sophie paused and wallowed in her self pity and guilt as she realized she had spoken a little too harshly. "How are you doing? How's the baby?"

"I'm fine. Just a little spooked, of course. The baby is blissfully unaware," Delilah said with a humorous tone in her voice that let Sophie know she was smiling.

Sophie still didn't look at Delilah, her eyes glued to those in the foyer as Cortez and Alex talked with everyone. Even being this close to Delilah was making Sophie uncomfortable. She didn't want to be rude but she couldn't help but force herself on her feet and start down the stairs. Sophie kept her cardigan trapped in her self-soothing hug and kept her head down as she hurried through the foyer to get to the backyard. She didn't make eye contact with anybody and moved quickly, until someone caught her arm and stopped her.

"Where are you running off to, Gorgeous?" Cortez softly asked as he rounded the small brunette to stand in her path.

Sophie kept her eyes down, her discomfort growing with Cortez's physical contact. "I want to go for a run."

"It looks like it's about to rain. Your scent will be hard to pick up. You should stay in the house and get some rest," Cortez advised.

With a frown, Sophie's eyes lifted to meet Cortez's as she argued, "You always want me to shift. You nag me about it constantly. Why would you stop me now? I'll stay within our territory. I'm not stupid."

Cortez was taken back by Sophie's angry retort but didn't hold it against her. He couldn't. She was obviously stressed beyond her control over everything that was happening. He could hear it in the anxious rhythm of her heart, feel it in the tension in her arm, and the sleepless haze of her eyes.

Sophie never had it easy but Cortez was always a little comforted by the fact that he had the answer to all her questions. It wasn't the same this time around. Whatever was happening to her, he had absolutely no idea, and that stressed him out nearly as much as it did Sophie. Even if he wanted to help Sophie right now, it was probably useless, and that made him feel useless. He couldn't help but go back on his previous advise with so much doubt swirling within him.

"Fine. We'll go for a run," Cortez conceded.

"I want to go alone." Sophie looked annoyed, angry, unyielding and Cortez didn't know how to break through that.

"That scares me, Sophie. In the condition you're in-"

Sophie cut Cortez off as she glanced briefly at the members of their pack lingering around them. "And this scares me, Cortez..."

Cortez looked around them, at their pack. Some were sat against the walls as they tried to wrap their head around the situation, some were given water or food to get them back on their feet, while others were quaking with fear.

"You can't hurt me, Sophie." Cortez's eyes returned to Sophie's, full of undoubted sincerity.

"You don't know that. None of us know what the hell is inside of me or what's going on," Sophie whispered. Cortez had no argument against that so Sophie continued, slipping her arm out of Cortez's grasp and sidestepping him. "I won't be long. Just need some fresh air."

Cortez wanted to protest but he knew they would only be talking in circles. He let Sophie walk off, watching her as she fled from her pack members. Cortez could feel the guilt inside of him swell at the sight of it. Sophie was already scared of wolves and they were working on that by getting her accustomed to her lifestyle with werewolves. If she was actively avoiding everybody because she was scared of hurting them, she'd never ever become comfortable here.

Although, Sophie was leaving so she could go for a run. Likely as a wolf. Getting more familiar with her wolf would hopefully make her feel comfortable around other wolves.

There was nothing for Sophie to be scared of, after all. If she was scared of the teeth or the violence or the claws, she didn't need to be because she was twice as strong as any wolf that would dare to attack her. The only wolves she would have to worry about are other Alpha's and Luna's, and that was only because she was new. Otherwise she was still strong and she could still heal. She didn't have to be scared.

Cortez understood it didn't work like that though. Sophie was scared of spiders too and they couldn't hurt her either. They would just have to keep working on it.

Sophie wasn't so concerned about wolves right now. The only thing she worried about was what would happen when she shifted, so she waited until she was far enough away from the house. With her eyes squeezed shut, she forced herself to shift and opened her eyes with relief when everything looked the same and she felt like herself. The only difference was the fact that her eye level had dropped a bit and her cardigan was laying on the ground beside her.

Shifting with clothes on was a finicky concept. They didn't completely shed when a wolf shifted but things did fall off depending on what they were. Backpacks, hats, sometimes shoes, sweatshirts, or jewelry fell off when someone shifted. It really depended on how big or detached the item was. Anything tight to the body would still be on the shifter once they reverted back to their human state but even this cardigan wasn't that big and it had fell at her feet anyways.

Sophie took the soft fabric between her teeth and trotted back to the house to leave her cardigan on the back deck. She wasn't at all surprised when she saw Delilah standing there with her hand on her belly, which wasn't showing but she still felt like cradling. Delilah wasn't going to run with Sophie, since she wanted her space, but she was going to keep an eye and ear out just in case. That should be Alex's job but he was probably busy with the others still recovering inside.

Keeping her eyes on Delilah, she laid the cardigan on the steps of the deck and then turned to rush into the woods. Sophie ran leisurely at first, getting herself use to the feeling of being on four feet, but picked up her pace as she ran. The faster she went, the faster her heart thumped in her chest and her lungs worked to keep up with her. It felt good. Sophie enjoyed being able to push herself like this and knowing—or hoping—she wouldn't be suddenly consumed by whatever was laying within.

Sophie's mind wandered as she ran. She thought about the thing laying within her, wondering if it was the moon goddess or something else entirely. It took over and controlled her, making her do some sketchy things to Cortez, but it hadn't done anything super evil yet. Hopefully it wouldn't at all. But then, why was it there? What was happening or what was coming that would cause this entity to inhabit her anyways? Why her? For how long? Was it something she had to fight off or yield herself to?

And why wasn't it inside Cortez? If this was about the Moon Goddess and she really was here to help, why did she choose Sophie and not Cortez? He said punishment was coming for him. He was due. Did that mean this thing inside her wasn't a punishment? But she had scratched him until he bled the last time they had sex. Was this entity inside her in order to punish him and it was working its way up to something bigger and more painful?

It was raining before Sophie even realized it. The soft pattern of rain against the leaves above her grew until it demanded her attention and poured water on to her fur. Sophie stopped her running to look at at the leaves as they rattled with the falling rain. It was coming down more aggressive than before with every passing second. The storm was rolling in and it was strong. And since Sophie didn't want to smell like a wet dog for the rest of the day, she jogged back to the pack house.

Thunder suddenly roared ahead and Sophie slowed her steps, keeping her body low to the ground in fear of the storm. She tried to keep moving but every crash of thunder seemed to get louder and louder, until she nearly felt the ground shaking under feet. It wasn't until Sophie made it out of the trees and into the backyard of the pack house that she could see light flashing through the clouds as it thundered.

"Luna!" Delilah yelled from the deck, the aggressive sound of rain and thunder attempting to drown her out. Jeremiah was beside her and trying to herd her inside but Delilah was dedicated. "Come on! Hurry inside!"

Sophie glanced at Delilah but her eyes went back to the cloudy sky. She had never seen this much lightning in the clouds before. And the clouds were so dark and moving in unusual patterns. Storms were bad in rural areas like this but Sophie had never seen this before.

She definitely didn't expect the lightning to strike down right in front of her eyes and strike one of the trees in the forest. The sound of the impact was nearly deafening and it rumbled through the ground like an earthquake. Sophie stumbled back in awe and fear but didn't retreat as she stared into the woods. Even though she could feel the presence of something—or someone—nearby, she didn't retreat. Her instincts were telling her to stand guard and protect, despite her total lack of confidence in her ability to do those things.

Her instincts proved proved themselves when she spotted multiple silhouettes moving through the trees, towards the pack house. The silhouettes were so faint and blurry in the rain that she couldn't make them out until lightning struck and pierced through the forest. For a split second, she saw them, and they were not humans nor wolves nor anything she had ever seen before.

The black silhouettes ran clumsily but relentlessly through the trees, using their long, clawed fingers to push themselves off of and passed trees. She couldn't make out their faces but it seemed they didn't actually have any. They just had mouths, which gates open to reveal razor sharp teeth as they shrieked. Those black silhouettes were eerily skinny, like they didn't even have ribcages or hips. They looked like demonic, bloodthirsty, stick figures that only knew how to attack and destroy.

Sophie braced herself with her claws digging into the wet grass, her self doubt and fear completely gone as she prepared for battle. Strangely, she didn't care what these creatures were or how dangerous they could be. All Sophie cared about was that they were running for her pack and she wasn't going to let a single one of them passed her. The anticipation as they sprinted forward, wide mouths stretching as hey shrieked, made Sophie growl in return.

"Sophie, no!" Cortez shouted as he rushed outside to stand beside Delilah and Jeremiah.

Cortez could feel the every presence of someone intruding on their territory and that presence was strong. There were dozens. Sophie couldn't take them all on her own. She would get hurt and she wasn't strong enough in her wolf form yet. Cortez was scared. He didn't want to lose his mate to whoever was attacking them or the entity that was inside of Sophie, trying to take over at every opportunity.

The demonic creatures breeched the forest without reluctance, all heading directly towards the pack house. Sophie felt her consciousness drift into blackness before her body lunged forward to sink her teeth into the first creature that reached her. Cortez leaped over the deck railing as he shifted, hurrying to help Sophie defend the pack house and hopefully save her as well. But he could see it as he jumped. As Sophie sunk her teeth into one of the black, blurry creatures and slammed it into the ground, her eyes shone a bright white light.

Sophie wasn't there anymore.

Jeremiah guided Delilah inside, despite her protest and leaped to join his Alpha and Luna. He called for help through his mindlink, summoning Alex, Miguel, and a few other warriors. Like ravenous zombies, the demonic beings clumsily sprinted out of the forest and raced towards the pack house. Each being was stopped and pinned to the ground, but they continued to get up and fight their way towards the house before Sophie came by and sunk her teeth in them, ripping their incorporeal flesh and limbs from their body.

The Moon Goddess divided her mind in two, leaving apart of herself with Sophie as she forced opened a door to a Parley that she was welcoming Lucifer to. She smoothed the front of her long, silk dress and let the train float behind her as she stepped forward to converse. The Moon Goddess tried not to hold anger and hatred in her heart for too long, but her patience with Lucifer was always short. He was selfish and unyielding. So she figured, in order to avoid a headache tomorrow or the next day, she might as well get this over with now.

Begrudgingly, Lucifer forced opened the door to Parley and shot The Moon Goddess a glare before he even stepped inside. The wispy, incorporeal room they were standing in darkened as he entered, dimming everything but the white light that surrounded The Moon Goddess. His tall, slender frame was hunched with annoyance as he trudged towards her, his thin but sharp lips twitching and his eyes narrowed into dark slits. It had been awhile since he Parley'd with a fellow god. He forgot how unforgiving their glow was.

"Already, I have a headache," Lucifer chided, summoning a dark throne behind him as he sat before The Moon Goddess. He rested his elbow on the arm of the throne before resting his chin between his fingers, his legs obnoxiously spread and posture slumped and lazy.

"I don't care." The Moon Goddess summoned her own chair and gently lowered into it. Her spine remained straight, her chin high, and her hands politely crossed in her lap. "Leave my children alone this instance, Lucifer. They have done nothing to deserve your wrath."

Lucifer raised her head from his hand but stayed slumped with his expression annoyed. "I don't care about your children. Footprints of two of my defective souls led me here and I want them back."

The Moon Goddess scoffed as she averted her eyes from Lucifer, her attention returning to Sophie. The creatures were still attacking. One jumped on top of Sophie and bit into her shoulder while she ripped the throat from the one she was standing over. The Moon Goddess could feel the pain of the bite and her blood boiled with anger. Lucifer was right in front of her, talking to her, while attacking her own. He was relentlessly merciless.

"I saw one. He wanted Sophie. But he is no longer here, so you must leave them alone before someone gets hurt." The Moon Goddess met Lucifer's cold, dark, serpent-like eyes again.

"Where did he go?" Lucifer asked.

"How would I know?"

"The other one, the sister, her magic still lingers here. I want her back."

The Moon Goddess gripped the arms of her chair with both of her skinny, ghostly pale hands as she hissed through her teeth, "they are not here anymore. Leave my children alone."

Lucifer smirked at The Moon Goddess's visible annoyance and lack of patience before he looked around at their wispy atmosphere. "This is Parley, sweet Luna. You can not harm me here."

The Moon Goddess may not be able to hurt Lucifer in Parley, but she could definitely do so once they were done speaking. And unfortunately for him, the gods and goddesses above him were far stronger than himself. That was exactly why he needed his rebellious souls back. He borrowed them his power, thinking them to be loyal subjects, and they ran from him with that power still in their grasps. He could not risk such a thing with so many gods and goddesses anxious to see his ruin.

"Leave. My children. Alone." The Moon Goddess's long, white hair began to float off of her shoulders and expand from her hair as her anger grew. Even the wispy smoke around her fluffed up with irritation.

Lucifer sat up and gripped the arms of his own throne, rage coursing through him until the orange around his vertical pupils turned red. "You holy deities pride yourselves on peace and purity but forget to hold yourselves to your own haughty standards! Look at you, brimming with anger! Give me my souls and I'll be gone!"

"I don't have them!"

"This isn't the first time my souls have been stolen and hidden away from me, Luna. You can not trick me so easily. If you keep them from me any longer, I will send my other souls to tear yours apart so I may claim them all for my own."

"You declare war over souls I do not have? You lose track of your acolytes and blame me for stealing?" The Moon Goddess seethed, her bright white light brightening and consuming her tall figure. "I have no use for your filthy, tainted, dead souls. They are not here. Now leave my children alone, Lucifer!"

"Fine." Lucifer shot up from his throne and it disappeared as he did. The demonic creatures in the forest shrieked in agony as they tumbled into the grass and dissolved into nothingness. The ones attacking and being attacked by the pack also shrieked before they disappeared in a puff of black smoke. "I will take your word for it that they are not here, Luna, but I will come back if those souls return."

The Moon Goddess slowly let go of her anger, which caused the tension in her posture to release as her white hair fell back on to her shoulders. She kept her silver eyes glued to Lucifer's reptilian ones as she said, "Don't worry. I will return them to you myself if they ever come here again."

Lucifer held The Moon Goddess's glare for a moment before he turned his back to her, showing off the deep, bloody, gruesome gashes left behind from his confiscated wings. With a flick of his wrist, the door of Parley opened and he jumped out, letting his figure fall into the darkness. The Moon Goddess flexed her own pure, white, feathered wings, cringing at the imagery of having them ripped from her body. She didn't entertain the solemn thought for long before she pulled her mind from Sophie and turned to leave Parley as well.

"Sophie! Gorgeous! Sophie, can you hear me?" Cortez panicked as he collected Sophie into his lap and cradled her face in his hand.

Sophie was in her human form again and the creatures were gone, but Sophie had not returned yet. Her wide eyes were still a bright white as she gasped for air through her parted lips, her body paralyzed but trembling. The wounds on her arms, legs, and shoulder from the demonic beings teeth were dripping black ooze but also healing at an amazing rate. He was watching them close as he called her name, scared and amazed by everything that was happening.

With a desperate gasp, Sophie's eyes dimmed to reveal her normal green eyes as her hand reached to grip Cortez's shirt. Sophie coughed and choked on the gulps of air she was taking in, her eyes glued to Cortez's as she collected herself. Cortez gently stroked Sophie's soaked hair as the white faded back to its usual brown. She was returning to herself and she was healing and Cortez was so relieved, he almost felt like crying.

The fact that Sophie might not come back after one of her episodes was constantly haunting him. She had come back every time so far, but they still had no idea what was going on. There was no way of knowing that Sophie would always come back after being taken over by this anonymous entity.

"Cortez..." Sophie breathlessly said, blinking as the rain bounced off her pale features and threatened to fall into her eyes.

"I'm right here, Gorgeous. I have you." Cortez planted a trembling kiss on Sophie's forehead. "Are you okay? How do you feel?"

Sophie gulped and turned her head toward the forest. A few warriors were jogging into the woods to find out where those creatures came from and to make sure no more were coming. Sophie reached out to them, wishing she had enough strength to call out to them and beg them not to go. She didn't want anybody getting any closer to those things, whatever they were. She only saw them for a moment before she was shoved into darkness.

Judging by the wounds on her arm and the wounds on Alex, who was being tended to by Miguel, they had been attacked after Sophie blacked out. And the black sludge leaving said wounds as they closed proved the otherworldly property of those scary beings. It didn't make sense to Sophie. She didn't know what those things were or why they were coming for her pack. She also wondered if they had anything to do with the thing inside of her.

"What was that? What happened?" Sophie asked Cortez.

Cortez shook his head, his eyes darting anxiously between her green ones. "I-I... I don't know..."

Sophie took a few steadying breaths, her eyes unfocused as she trembled. "I can't be here any longer, Cortez. It's too dangerous."

"No, Sophie. You'll be okay. Everything is fine. We can get through this," Cortez insisted as his hold on his mate tightened. He couldn't even entertain the idea of being separated from his mate.

"No. No, no, no." A tear slipped from Sophie's green eyes. "I can't put the pack through this any longer, Cortez. I'll go insane with guilt." Sophie's bottom lip trembled as she kept herself from crying. "Please, Cortez."

Cortez gulped as he stared into Sophie's eyes. Just by the look in her beautiful, solemn eyes, Cortez could tell that she was desperate. Sophie cared deeply for her pack and didn't want the chaos inside of her to hurt them. He understood that perfectly well. Cortez simply couldn't stomach the idea of taking the Luna from the pack, and maybe even separating himself from her as well. They would have to find a way, somehow, to keep Sophie and the pack happy and safe.

"Okay.. Okay, Gorgeous. We'll figure it out," Cortez assured as he stroked Sophie's hair.

-

Daisy slept soundly in her dog bed as pack members chatted idly in the kitchen. With a bowl of popcorn, the pack members left the kitchen with a few giggles. Daisy shifted in her sleep but did not awake. After a moment of silence passed, screams of pure terror erupted all around the pack house and shook Daisy out of her sleep. She jumped to her feet with a frightened growl and trotted through the kitchen to investigate what had caused the pack members to scream.

Before she reached the door though, a crow soared through it with a deafeningly loud squawked. Daisy skittered backwards with a loud bark but didn't make it far before the shadowy creature flew into her body and took hold. Daisy whimpered, tucking her tail between her legs and cowering towards the ground as she the blackness flooded her consciousness. Within moments, Daisy was still silent, her eyes pure black and dripping with black liquid as she calmly breathed.

Daisy stood again and walked back to her bed before she began to rub her face on the cushion. The blackness smeared across the cushion but was no longer staining her golden fur. When Daisy was satisfied, she circled in her bed and laid down once more. She breathed steadily, eyes still black and unblinking, the blackness staining her bed hidden by her circled up form. The rest of the pack gathered, completely forgetting about Daisy to tend to one another.