Chapter 241: Silver Moon
"I can help to pick them up," I offered. "It wouldn’t hurt me, and it’ll give me something to do in the meantime while you’re repairing the premises." Also, it allowed me time to think about an alternative to Darach’s proposal. Even with Fangborne in crisis, he still deserved a proper answer.
"Don’t be ridiculous," Blaise said in horror. "Our grounds are vast, you would take an entire year to comb through them alone."
"I highly doubt that it would take that long," I said dryly. "I work fast."
"Not to mention that it’s dangerous," Damon growled. "They could simply be lying in wait for a second chance. If there’s anyone who should be picking up these gifts, it should be Darach."
"You want to make the werewolf that just lost his wolf pick up tiny bombs?" I shook my head in disgust at Damon’s words. "I cannot believe you."
"It was a joke," Damon grumbled, mollified. "Why are you so overprotective of him?"
Before I could argue, Blaise interrupted us.
"Don’t blame him for being unfunny, Harper, all the humor went to me, along with this stunning personality and my dashing good looks," Blaise said, easily diffusing the tense atmosphere.
"We have the exact same face, you piece of shi―"
"Anyway, we have something more important to do," Blaise said, barreling on. "Harper, you might want to pay Darach a visit, and Damon, we’ll need to scout our territory and fix our fences. For now, no pups should be out unaccompanied, and everyone should go in pairs, just for safety."
"Who is the alpha here?" Damon complained, but I could tell that he wasn’t actually upset at all. Since Blaise had been getting updates throughout the ride, he must have been thinking of possible contingency plans when we arrived.
"Harper, we will see you later," Damon said gravely, as he caught sight of one of his men waving him over.
"Alpha Damon! Beta Blaise! We found something!"
I decided Darach could wait a while longer, and followed cautiously behind Damon and Blaise to where the man was, situated slightly further away from the packhouse. The twins’ nostrils flared in unison, I guess they must have smelt something especially foul.
To my surprise, I could also smell it. The faint scent of blood.
The man pointed to a white sheet on the floor, stained with red. But that wasn’t peculiar at all― instead, what gripped my attention were the two words written in blood.
Argentum Luna
I staggered back in shock, and Damon grabbed my arm before I could fall, his hand a brand on my skin. My hand instinctively came up to reach for my mother’s necklace, where the very same inscription was carved onto the back of the pendant.
Upon closer look, the white fabric had lilies stitched around the border, similar to the ones I saw on my mother’s urn. My breath came out in shallow gasps.
It was just as the oracles claimed. They were out for me. In fact, they must have retreated once they realized I wasn’t in the pack at all. Their main goal was to capture or kill me, which explained why they didn’t bother actually killing Fangborne’s werewolves.
To have zero casualties was almost too good to be true.
Next to me, Damon narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on my arm. Since he had seen my mother’s pendant before, he must have caught the hidden intentions in the message.
"Are there any others like it?" Damon demanded, turning to squint at the outstretch of grassland spread in front of him, as though he could spot similar presents from so far away.
"We don’t know yet, Alpha. We’re still looking," the man reported.
"Keep looking," Damon instructed before turning to me. "Harper, get inside now. You’re definitely not picking up any of those miniature silver thumbtacks now."
I could only nod glumly. My easy acquiescence immediately caused Blaise to be suspicious.
Blaise’s gaze darted between the both of us. "What is going on? There is something you’re not telling me, isn’t it?"
"I’ll go speak to Darach first," I said shakily, not wanting to explain everything about my mother right in the open where every other wolf could overhear me. "Blaise..."
I chanced a hopeful look, only to catch sight of Damon’s stony face. Perhaps the severity of what was happening would offset that promise Damon made me keep.
"Damon will catch you up on things," I said, before turning tail and heading straight for the packhouse without waiting for Damon’s reply.
Since I promised I would only tell Damon what was going on, the only way I could let Blaise know was if Damon told him of his own volition.
And if Damon didn’t want to speak, I had no doubt that Blaise could worm such information out of him.
For now, I had to settle one issue at a time.
I made my way back to Fangborne’s infirmary, where there were a lot more patients than before. Nicole could only wave a cheerful greeting before helping her next patient, so I made my own way to Darch.
He was already waiting on one of the beds. He did look a lot better in person than he did over the moonwater’s shaky connection, but his face was still awfully pale.
"Harper! You’re here already?" Darach exclaimed. "I wasn’t expecting you for another day at least."
"Well, once we got news of the attack, there was no keeping Damon away. He practically slammed on the accelerator the whole way here," I said wryly, noting how Darach’s expression hardened when I mentioned Damon’s name.
There was still so much bad blood between the two men― not even divine intervention could resolve it. Since I wasn’t on par with an oracle, I decided to leave it.
This was a problem between the both of them.
"Are you doing better?" I asked cautiously.
"I’ll live. I’ve been through a lot worse than vampires and hunters attempting to kill me," Darach replied, surprisingly cavalier. I supposed losing a wolf would make any hardship seem like child’s play.
"More importantly, have you come to let me know of your decision?"
