A Daring Play

Kazriel sat at a wide oak table. His fingers drummed an irritated beat on the worn wood and his brow was furrowed. A dissatisfied scowl kept his eyes boring into the table instead of at the wolves around him. Several of his pack members were making their reports. Nate, his Beta, flipped through a short stack of papers as he talked. His task was to keep an eye on the pack when Kazriel wasn't around and he did the job exceptionally well; it was Kaz who couldn't concentrate on what he was saying. He couldn't stop thinking about the girl. A part of him regretted throwing her into the Basin. If she was who he thought she was, she deserved much better treatment than that; but she'd openly defied him, arrogantly attacked him, and seemed to have no regard for her own place. An Alpha and his Luna had to be one creature, one being, one leader. They needed to be united on all fronts. If she'd just done what he'd said, she could've been enjoying the feast his pack had made for her.

They had all known why Kazriel had left earlier that day. He'd woken restlessly, with the almost full moon looming over their den and sending silver slivers of light through narrow openings in the ceiling. The slivers were thin, barely noticeable due to how high the roof of the cave was, but every time one touched him, he'd been woken with a start. The Moon had been telling him something, and it had guided him to a high school filled with teenage pups. His nose had done the rest, leading him to a small motorcycle; a sleek black and gold Triumph Street Triple 675. The scent was familiar the way an old house was familiar. He had been near it before. It reminded him of warm nights curled in a fluffy blanket before a fire, the arms of someone he loved wrapped securely around him, a book filled with undecipherable symbols open before him and a sweet, lyrical voice reading him to sleep.

It had been a jolt to recognize it.

It had been nearly a millennium since he'd last known it, and it carried the remembrance of blood and sorrow. He shifted in his chair, slouched back and scowling, and realized all the leaders of his pack were staring at him.

"... anything else?" he asked.

Nate flopped the papers on the table with a chuckle. "If you're not going to pay attention, Kaz, you could've said you weren't in the mood to have a meeting."

Kazriel let out a low growl and raked his hands through his hair, shaking them into a mess around his chiseled cheeks and jawline. "Sorry." He rubbed his jaw and noted he'd need to shave before waving his hand and dismissing all of them.

Nate lingered behind the others. When they'd all made their way out the heavy doors to the counsel room, he dropped back into his chair. "What's going on with you?"

Kazriel's dark eyes flashed toward him. "What do you think?"

"If she's that much trouble then just give her back," Nate shrugged. "Rachel's got a thing for you, y'know. You could start a family with her instead."

He snorted. Rachel was a curvy wolf with soft, dark brown hair and brown eyes. She had a tendency to act as though everyone was her enemy, however, and had poisoned people's opinions on more than one occasion when she felt it was necessary to protect herself. In short, she started fights. "Rachel's not Luna material."

"She thinks she is," Nate pointed out. "That'd give her a good start."

"I want someone who isn't going to die in the next hundred years, thanks." Kazriel's eyes drifted to the door. Luna Rose was young, but she was different. She held herself differently. She had an air of immortality he'd only ever seen in himself and Elias. Even Nate, who had made a personal pact with Kazriel, wouldn't survive longer than three hundred years.

Nate raised his eyebrows. "And that girl will?"

Kazriel was thinking about the way Luna Rose's eyes shifted color the way a butterfly's gossamer wings shifted color in sunlight. He thought of how the sunlight had caught her hair, turning the black to an impossibly deep blue similar to the night sky at twilight. She had a small, fae-like face and the way she'd felt under him left him restless. He wanted her up here, with him, sitting in his lap, where he could spoil her and give her whatever it was she wanted. Then he remembered the fire in her eyes and the way she'd completely dismissed him; she'd treated the wolf who had been guarding her with more reverence than she'd afforded Kaz - and he was older, smarter, stronger! He grit his teeth with a growl rumbling deep in his chest.

No, he wanted her to look at him with the same concern. His black eyes flicked up to where Nate still patiently waited for him to reply. "Yes."

Nate shrugged. "Alright. Well, I suggest not starving her if you want her to actually like you."

Kaz's eyebrows shot up. "You want me to bend the rules for her?"

"She's your mate, right? You definitely break rules for your mate."

***

The darkness of the pit was damp and cold. Rose had pushed herself up carefully not long after she was left alone and had wrapped her arms around her legs, trying to sustain some warmth. She had nothing in the ether space between shifting and solid form which could be used to keep her warm, and so she huddled against herself as tightly as possible. The pit itself wasn't very big. She could've walked around it in less than a minute. It was smoothly carved into the stone of the mountain and was littered with small rocks and gravel at the bottom. She knew she had several bruises from landing on the rocks and she was pretty sure she'd gotten a scrape on her head which was bleeding. She could feel the stickiness of not-quite dried blood when she tried to brush her hair out of her face and any time she moved too quickly her head spun.

Rose tilted her head up to the opening and blinked back tears. She felt utterly helpless. Even if she used her magic here, there were too many of his pack to take on by herself. She wasn't that well versed in how to control her powers. That was what one of her college courses was about, but she wasn't to start it until she was out of high school. She was still learning the foundation of spell-casting, the basics, the things one needed to know in order to always find power no matter where they were.

Well, she could find her power, that's for sure. It was a flickering flame of opal white deep inside herself. When she reached out to touch it, it flickered warmly and blazed up. A shiver went through Rose and she had a sudden thought. She could at least keep herself warm. She'd used her power before to light candles and start a campfire. Closing her eyes, she reached deeply again and drew out the slightest bit of magic. The moon was nearly full and so her power grew with it. Soon she'd made a small, delicate flame and held it in her hands. Small though it was, the space around her was immediately warmed. Rose felt herself relax.

Good, she thought. I can at least keep myself from getting sick.

She stared at the fire in her palms, nudging it here and there until it burned steadily and put out a significant amount of warmth. Then, she released it. The small flame shifted and coiled until it was a ball of fire hanging in the air. Rose smiled.

She didn't know how long she stayed there like that, staring at her magic wistfully, before she heard something in the walls of the cave. She jumped up in alarm and felt the world spin around her. Staggering back, Rose braced herself against the smooth stone and searched the small circle warily. There was some scratching, a bit of muffled noise, and then a tumble of small rocks and dirt as a semi-wide circle appeared in the stone. A familiar face poked through.

"Squeaker!" Frederick cheerily said only to immediately follow with, "Ow! Don't hit me!"

"Shut up!" George hissed from the darkness beyond.

Rose felt herself nearly burst into tears. To keep from doing that, she threw her arms around Frederick's neck. "Fred!"

"There there," he murmured quietly, wriggling an arm free to pat her back. "We can do hugs later. Let's get you out of here, yeah?" His blue eyes fixed on the fireball and he grinned. "Clever! We'll need to use that."

She looked over her shoulder and quickly wiped her eyes. "Anything you need, guys. I mean it."

Frederick grinned and wriggled himself backwards. "Careful, it's not all perfectly carved."

Rose waited for him to disappear into the dark before waving her little flame before her and crawling after him. "How did you get through here? It's solid rock!" She crawled carefully on her elbows. The space was barely wide enough to accommodate the twins and while it was a little bigger for her, it still didn't allow her to crawl comfortably. She wondered if she'd have better luck as a wolf.

"Magic!" Frederick replied simply. "I'll fill it back up behind us once we reach the first cavern."

"Magic?"

"Yeah! We've got magic, Fred and I." George's voice came from the darkness ahead, a cheery, warm reminder of how much she loved the twins.

Then she did a doubletake. "I'm sorry, you what?"

"We've got magic!"

"Always have," George added. "Our parents just told us not to get too fancy with it, so we've sorta been keeping it a secret. Sure came in handy tonight, though! Ah, sweet Moon Goddess Divine, I can stretch!"

There was some scuffling ahead and two arms reached forward to Rose, pulling her out and into a small cavern. Rose dusted herself off as the twins inspected the hole.

"Nicely done, Fred," George was complimenting. "Now let's see. To fill it back up again - we can probably just use the dirt, right? I mean, who's gonna notice?"

"Their next prisoner, I bet." Fred answered wryly.

"All the better!" George insisted. "Let's stick it to them twice."

They soon fell into quiet mutters together. Rose peeked over at them, holding her flame steady, and was surprised to see the same silvery white of her own magic flow from their own hands and breath. Before long, there was no indication of a hole being made aside from slightly different shades of earth. George patted the circle they'd carved and dirt crumbled to the ground by their feet.

"Good as new!" He grinned. "Now we gotta go up."

Rose looked up and saw a rope hanging straight down. It seemed to go on forever and her body began to complain even before she started the climb. "Is... how far up is it?"

Fred put an arm around her. "Don't worry. We'll help you."

Rose offered him a faint smile. "Thanks." She scrubbed her tender hands together and grabbed hold of the rope.

***

"Kaz!" A familiar voice shouted to the man as he made his way toward the Basin. He stopped as a woman came trotting up. She was dark skinned and dark eyed, with almond-shaped eyes and a mass of soft, wildly curly hair.

"Ramona." He acknowledged her. She was one of his best fighters and hunters. He respected her immensely and was glad he'd come across her after she'd been chased off by her other pack.

"Bad news," she cut him off from saying anything else. Her mouth was set to a grim line. "The girl is gone."

Kazriel felt a flash of anger. "What?" His voice had gone dangerously dark.

"I don't know when." Ramona put her hands on her hips and glared over her shoulder. "I was checking on her. She used a bit of magic to make a fire and keep warm about an hour ago. When I checked again recently, she was gone. There's no indication of how she got out, either."

The Alpha's jaw clenched. He shoved the plate of food he'd been bringing the girl into the hands of a passing man. "Give this to your children." Then he was a wolf and racing out of the cave.

***

"How did you find me, anyway?" Rose asked. They'd made it through the mountain and were now trotting downhill as fast as possible.

The twins exchanged a glance. "Uh, well." George pursed his lips and looked up at the sky. "Uhhh, you wouldn't believe us if we told you."

"I'd have to, wouldn't I?" she countered. "You found me. You dug a hole through a mountain and found the exact spot I was. How?"

Fred chewed on his bottom lip for a second before hesitatingly saying, "We're uh. We're bonded to you."

Rose stopped walking and stared at them. "What?"

"Not like that!" George cut in, waving his hands desperately. "Not like that. Just - ever since we were born we could tell where you were."

"And what you were feeling."

"And if you were hungry."

"Or if you were hurting."

"It's weird to us too, but, hey, it worked out, right? We knew immediately when something was wrong and came out to find you."

"Saw that big black wolf take off into the woods so we decided to follow him."

"Not touching a vampire," George grimaced. "Besides, he didn't seem like a threat."

"Good thing we did follow the big black guy. We got help from Taka immediately. He's fine, by the way," Fred patted her arm before coaxing her to start walking again. "He'll heal."

George fell into step beside them. "We would've cut in but then we would've been hurt too; and so we chose to follow the big black guy up the mountain and then we just..."

Once again, the twins looked at one another, "Followed our nose."

Rose was still gaping at them. "Is that... is that why we're friends?" She felt a sudden swoop of disappointment in her stomach.

"No! Definitely not!" George insisted hurriedly and wrapped an arm around her. "We like you too much for that to be it. Just because we know how you're feeling doesn't mean that if you were a right cad we wouldn't have given you what for."

"Just turns out you're a good person, too."

"Hold on a second," Rose slowed again but wasn't able to finish what she was saying. A lone, haunting, furious howl came from the top of the mountain. All three of them froze and whirled.

Standing before them was Elias Darcy, looking as neat and organized as he'd been when he walked into Rose's gym class. His eyes went from each of the twins to Rose before he calmly said, "I would suggest coming with me. If he catches you here, there will be little hope for any of you."