Lunar Cycles

Chapter 5

Sonja’s face possessed the quality of a storm cloud as she followed close behind Varek, Grenier riding at her side. Varek had not notice, or if he did, he could not care less, as he was too focused on finding Zo. Of course an alpha’s priority was the rest of the pack’s priority, but the way the young leader reacted to the situation, one might think they were lovers or something.
Repressing a cruel sneer, she thought back on the noise made the night of that legendary blue moon Grenier had mentioned. Varek could wander around all he wanted, plugging whatever ass he found favorable, but he might as well have pumped his seed into the knot of a tree. Sonja was the one he actually made love to, and anyone who said otherwise was a complete fucking idiot. She was the one Varek had chosen to take away from the miserable human world. Zo was just an old rabid mutt, and not an attractive or charming one at that. Why anyone, male or female, would want him was a mystery to her.
Blue moon, my ass, she thought. This was all some sort of conspiratorial agenda between Grenier and Zo. Legends were one thing but what the Cajun spoke of was pure nonsense stolen from the likes of ancient mythology.
Coming over a hill, Varek spotted Zo’s hog from miles away. Any human would not have been about to determine what kind of vehicle it was, let alone to whom it belonged. He hurried ahead, thirty-five miles over the speed limit, until he finally reached where the parked motorcycle was still humming loudly. Zo’s scent was all around him and the alpha made a mad dash for the thicket adjacent to the road, Grenier and Sonja hastening to catch up.
When they did, they saw the hesitation in Varek’s face as he stood motionless, staring at something behind a square of bushes. The pause however only lasted two seconds and Varek was on his knees, calling Zo’s name. Grenier and Sonja came closer, discovering Zo’s unconscious body sitting against a dead tree. At first the elder skinwalker did not react, but soon enough his eyes were opening and he realized where he was and who had found him.
“No, leave me alone…” he objected as he struggled to rise, but Varek’s arm shot out and pinned him against the tree before he could so much as blink. The wind was knocked out of him as he sat helplessly in place, the dead tree behind him creaking dangerously as though it might topple over them at any second.
“Just kill me already,” Zo managed to croak out, his throat squeezed uncomfortably by an incredibly strong forearm. “Whatever I have, I could be giving it to you.”
“Shut up and listen for a moment,” Varek responded, his eyes faintly gilded with the hue of those of a wolf. “Grenier explained it and you’ve got it the wrong way around.” Gold was replaced by brown as the alpha wolf struggled to maintain his self control. Slowly, the pressure of his arm against his beta’s neck became slack.
“This is something I gave you.”
“You? How?” Zo wore a mask of confusion as he rubbed at his throat. His arm brushed up against his presently bare chest, causing him to instinctively wince. Varek noticed, carefully pushing his second-in-command’s arms aside and inspecting the naked flesh, though Zo visibly protested to it.
“Grenier,” Varek muttered, intrigued as he waved the dark werewolf over. Sonja only looked on with the same skepticism as before while her companion leant over and observed with the intent of a scientist examining a rare specimen. This sort of attention made Zo greatly uncomfortable, but he only avoided their eyes, as it was all he could do as he sat there. He tried not to flinch too much as one of Varek’s fingers curiously poked at his chest.
Pulling on his clothes, Zo looked up, his eyes a frigid glare when he brought himself to glare at a dark, scarred face.
“Grenier… what’s wrong with me?”
“Well, technically nothing…” the other man replied, half lost in thought. “If you were a woman, that is…”
“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?!”
“Zo, calm down,” Varek said, his voice low, but his offer was rebuked.
“Look who’s talking, you fucking hypocrite!” Zo got to his feet and was ready to wallop Grenier if his question was not answered. “Just tell me what’s going on!”
“It’s… a little hard to explain,” an uncharacteristically doubtful voice came from Varek’s lips.
“I don’t care, you’d better fucking explain it!” Zo shouted at his alpha, furious, confused, and scared shitless. “Whatever it is, I can take it. I don’t care if I’m dying anymore, just tell”—
“You’re pregnant.”
Three heads turned toward Sonja when she finally broke the news. After nearly a minute of silence, Grenier and Varek looked to Zo, curious of his reaction.
“I’m sorry, I think I’m still half asleep. What?”
Sonja arched an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t make this sort of shit up. You’re pregnant.”
Zo looked to Varek for some sort of sign that all of this was somehow some tasteless joke to comfort him when he was truly dying of some rare disease, but all he found in those beautiful brown eyes was earnestness.
“We think it’s true.”
A flash of a grin broke out on Zo’s visage, his chuckle fleeting. “It’s some fucked up dream. Any minute I’m going to wake up and realize it was just an excuse to explain all this.”
“It does explain it,” the alpha replied, hands on his beta’s shoulders.
“Cut the shit already, Varek!” the older skinwalker exclaimed, pulling away from his pack mate. The scent of fear nearly escaped like mist from Zo. He had never looked so visibly frightened in his whole life as a werewolf.
“Zo, calm down,” the alpha urged, stepping forward, but he was only rewarded with a step away.
“Don’t want to hurt him in his condition,” Sonja muttered, though her remark was heard by them all.
“Sonja, enough!” Varek snapped, and he tried to take Zo by the arm, but he received a warning snarl, yellow eyes flashing and tapered claws and fangs unleashed. “If you’ll just hear us out on this…”
“NO!” Zo roared, and he staggered away from his leader and mate, nearly bumping into Grenier in the process. “I don’t want to hear any of this. I’m a man and I’m not fucking pregnant! I’m dying, so just LEAVE ME ALONE.”
Shoving past the members of his pack, he stormed away, not towards his bike, but further into the woods. Sighing, Varek shook his head.
“That could have gone worse,” Sonja stated, her voice a false tone of sincerity. She approached the lead wolf and smiled sweetly. “Don’t worry, Varek, he’ll come around.”
Varek only took the absent beta’s place against the dead tree, fuming silently. Grenier lightly kicked aside a small stone next to his feet and took the opportunity to speak up.
“I’ll go talk with him.”
Receiving a nod, he turned and left, following after Zo. Seeing that they were now alone, Sonja took the opportunity to close the distance between her and her alpha. She leant in to kiss his somber face, but he turned away from her, his frown deepening.
“Not now.”
In less than a second, Sonja felt a stab of jealousy in her heart. Bad enough was the fact that Varek fucked others beside herself, but now this? On some strange freak accident he had knocked up another man (if Grenier was even telling the truth) and now did her alpha actually have feelings for him? Eyes narrowed, the raven haired female contemplated the notion of Varek not being hers. Perhaps it was his own freedom to choose Zo as his mate.
But perhaps Sonja could find a way to persuade him otherwise.