The club was loud and flashing lights pulsed with the beat of the music that vibrated the bones. Anjael shut out the distraction as she watched those who paid the exorbitant door fee. 

Inhaling the scents of lust and euphoria from the dancers, Anjael caught the scent she was waiting for; wolf and power. The next monarch of the wolves followed Heather through the crowd and up to the private rooms and balcony that wrapped three sides of the dance floor. Heather left him by a rail with a drink. Watching him fending off the flirty human females, Anjael grinned and her inner demoness laughed to herself about how out of their league the werewolf was. He was a magnificent male, but her inner self preferred dark wolves over golden ones.

"I brought him," Heather sounded resentful but Anjael ignored her tone and went down the spiral staircase from her private balcony and office as Ourorbos clicked to his niece.

'You shouldn't let her disrespect you so.'

'Leave it, Uncle. She is just a petulant child who self-harms out of survivor's guilt and blames everyone but her own will for her survival.' The tall, beautiful female wearing a floaty silk minidress the same color as her skin seemed ethereal compared to the club-goers. The crowd unconsciously parted before the predator walking gracefully through their midst.

Heather led Anjael up the stairs. The future monarch of the wolves eyed her like he felt there was something hauntingly familiar about her pale skin and eyes.

"Nyall, this is Lady Anjael. She lets me work for her sometimes and she wanted to meet you."

Nyall nodded in greeting. He smelled cautious with his wolf's awareness that she was something dangerous to it.

"Don't worry, Monarch, you are safe here... This is my club. Heather told me the werewolves are trying to help the vampires? Is this true?"

"Aye, the Delphi has ordered it." Aggression tainted his scent like his wolf bristled to defend them from a predator.

In her reflection in his eyes, she could see her curved-up lips were the only part of her darker than the palest peach of her skin and platinum-blonde of her hair. Her teeth gleamed unnaturally white, but pearly like the inside of a shell as she grinned at him.

"What are you?" Nyall asked cautiously. He smelled of uncertainty and curiosity. He didn't know what she was.

Her demoness shifted, making her dress flutter like the rustle of wings on an unfelt breeze, while her pupils slit like a cat's, except the slits were sideways. "Something you don't have the power to kill, Alpha." She inhaled the scent of his wolf's sudden and surprising fear at the revelation. "I cannot get involved directly in your little power struggle, but the one who put the bounty on the vampires is in the private suite designated The Inferno. There is a torch by the door. Heather will take you there. Don't worry about wrecking the rooms, I'll make him pay for it later. Just keep it contained to the suite."

Nyall narrowed his eyes at her. "Why would you help me?"

"Who says I'm helping you?" Anjael walked away with the lilting stride of a runway model. The long 'wings' of her dress floating behind her like a train as she eavesdropped.

"Who... what is she?" Nyall asked.

"Don't." Heather looked down at the dance floor. "Do you remember when Shakespeare wrote, 'There are more things in heaven and earth'?"

"Than dreamt of in your philosophies," Nyall interrupted, "Aye, I know it."

"Lady Anjael is one of those things." Heather answered. "Don't ever piss her off."

"Why?" Nyall demanded as they started to walk toward the other set of stairs. Anjael walked below them. Her heart ached at Heather's reply and she hated the lie her uncle created to keep them safe.

"Because she's a demon, a real one. Fangs, talons, wings, tail... all of it. She can't be killed, not even by a pack. She will skin you alive before she consumes your soul and drink your blood as your heart stops beating. Forget you met her, forget everything about her. I wish I could."

"You've seen her kill." Nyall's curiosity stopped Anjael's stalking as she waited for Heather's answer.

Saying nothing, Heather walked down the stairs with deliberate purpose. Anjael leapt up and swung herself over the rail unobserved. Heather took a pair of shot glasses off a passing tray, then she downed them before facing Nyall. Even across the throng of club patrons, Anjael could see Heather's eyes radiated despair.

"Remember, Nyall, that no matter how desperate things become, demons don't do anything for free and their favorite thing to ask for in payment is the souls of the firstborn." Glancing above the dance floor, Heather saw Anjael watching them, so she shoved through the crowd to get away from the eavesdropping Bibre Cruor.

Looking up, Nyall saw Lady Anjael. Her demoness was watching him like prey, with a hunger that had nothing to do with food, curious about this courageous and powerful golden wolf. She wondered what he would taste like. Anjael looked back at the throng of dancers, then spoke to her uncle in their language.

"Be prepared to intervene. I do not think the confrontation between the Des Rues Alpha and the Monarch will go well."

"I am ready." He answered as he appeared on the office balcony. They waited.

Suddenly two warform wolves rolled over the top of a table from the private rooms onto the dance floor.

Her phone vibrated, it was from Jake, her ward and feeder. Heather says the Des Rues have a vampire boy in The Inferno Room.

Get him out now! She texted back as she leapt down behind the screaming, fleeing humans. Snarling Anjael when she recognized Helios Des Rues as Nyall knocked him down. She cursed as she texted Woods. Block all cell phones and delete any recordings made of the brawl.

She trilled her frustration as she shouted, "Get out! Run! Go!" Encouraging the humans to flee. "Evacuate them!" She ordered her staff who reacted instantly to her command while Helios and Nyall battled as their beasts. The dancefloor cleared as most of the club bouncers were rushing the remainder of the patrons out.

"Ouroboros!" She clicked and growled as Wander Zane jumped at Alpha Charlemagne who was about to attack Monarch Nyall and they all began fighting in earnest.

"Enough!" Anjael shouted but they continued to punch and wrestle.

Ouroboros dropped on the monarch and the elder of the Des Rues Alphas in his demon, with a downward punch to their heads, and rendered both unconscious. He stomped over to the wolves fighting in their skin form and yanked them apart. While Charlemagne struggled, Zane did not resist the giant gargoyle who held him by the throat.

Anjael snarled at them in a strangely inhuman voice as her demoness pushed forward. "I said, enough lycans." She walked between the unconscious Alphas to them. "I told them they could destroy one suite, but I will not have my main club demolished."

Wanderer Zane crossed his wrists over his heart in an ancient sign of submission.

"Mercy, my lady, please." Zane rasped out as he held perfectly still, head bent with chin pressed downward respectfully over the giant hand around his neck. Charlemagne struggled, clawing, kicking and hitting the gargoyle-looking creature that held them. Lady Anjael looked at the younger Des Rues Alpha in disdain as the male demon slowly choked him into unconsciousness, then she turned to Zane, who kept his wrist crossed over his heart despite the fact he feared he would pass out.

"Release him, Ouro."

Zane immediately dropped to one knee, wheezing out, "Forgive me and my alpha, my lady."

Silver blue eyes appraised him, curiously. "You know what we are?"

"Yes, my lady. My grandmother was the Delphi of Numidi before we were driven from our land. The temple protector saved our family."

Her gaze was soulless, "I am aware of your heritage. I can smell her blood in your veins. That is why you were not just slain."

"Forgive me, my lady, but I know you are not permitted to interfere in the affairs of other species. This is a private conflict between the two factions who would rule the wolves of this continent." Zane kept his head down in submission, she could smell his worry and hope they would not kill them.

Her demoness hissed at him, as white bat-wings unfolded from her back and trembled in agitation. Zane's change in scent revealed a conflicting rush of absolute terror and the want to surrender to unbridled desire. Her tail lashed back and forth as Anjael restrained her demoness from making a thrall of him. Fangs protruded from behind her bottom jaw, pearly white against blood-tinted full lips.

"Restrain your inner self. He is terrified enough and would be an unwilling thrall despite the fact he smells just like Zanji. You have Lazarus at the pack, make him serve her needs." Ouroboros  made a series of growls and clicks which she answered.

"Zane is not my first spouse and do not order me to force Lazarus. I will never do to anyone what was done to me!" Her wings folded back, returning to the illusion that they were part of her silk dress.

"Do not lecture me, I am aware of your coming war, grandson of Zadunwahi. Take your monarch and go... None of those you are seeking to protect will remain in this region after tonight."

Zane bowed again and went to where Nyall lay. "Thank you, my lady. The Delphi of the Moon was told by the Augur Vampyr to send them to the Isle of the Archives." He responded as he hefted the young alpha over his shoulder.

"Very well, I will send them to the place called Patmos. Do not return to my domain, moon follower."

"Yes, my lady. Again, my apologies."

Zane carried Nyall out with a straight spine. It reminded her of the last time she saw Zanji before the Temple of the Moon fell and she was bound to keep her promise to him to save his sister and nephews.

"Woods!" She shouted.

Her hacker, bouncers, and bartenders came to her immediately, and all bowed.

"Clean out the club, move everything to the new location across town."

"What about them?" They looked at the two unconscious Alphas of Des Rues.

"Dose them with something to keep them asleep then strip them naked and throw them in a dumpster when you are done. I want them to wake up with the trash they are." Anjael glared at them like she wanted to skin them alive before she turned and stalked toward her office with Ouroboros following.

"As you wish, my lady." Woods smirked, because he hated all Alpha wolves. He secretly despised that he was a werewolf, and he would enjoy humiliating the arrogant Des Rues Alpha Heirs. Tapping on his smart phone, he turned to the others. "Pack everything. The moving trucks are already on the way."

Ouro eyed her as they entered her office, he whistled and clicked, "My niece?"

"Uncle, please go help Jake with the vampire boy... just go, I need some time."

"He is not..."

"I know who he is not. Unlike you, I have never been blessed with the return of the soul who loved me most. He went to his Moon and to his true and I am happy for him, just like I was when Lycanos found his true. I love them and I lost them. I accept my curse, but I choose to love still... Now go." Tears leaked from her silvery-blue eyes as she stared out the skylight at the moon.

Ouro shook his head as he left. He knew he was blessed by whatever deva or diety watched over the Bibre Cruor even though, through the blood of his grandmother, he remembered the faces of the Edenoans who left the twenty-five sentient species on this world to sort themselves out.

/\^^^^/\

1396 C.E.

Delphi Zadunwadi screamed in her vision. Anjael sank her claws into the walls to keep from rushing into her scrying room. Finally, she staggered out and Anjael caught her as she pitched forward.

"What is it? Wadi, what did you see?" Anjael begged.

"Your uncle is coming with another. A young guardian the color of golden marble or sandstone. I... I need to talk to my brother." The werewolf oracle of the moon deva or goddess had become a dear friend to Anjael. Wadi looked up at her with such sympathy, the gargoyle suddenly feared she had seen her death.

"Wadi? Am I going to die protecting your temple before my uncle arrives?"

Tears escaped dark eyes as Wadi shook her head. "The vision was not for you so I cannot say. It will be up to Zanji to tell you." She walked down the hall leaning on the wall for support.

Worriedly, Anjael climbed to the top of the temple, looking at the city. Numidi glittered with torchlights. She spread her wings and flew out to see how close the approaching army was. She counted the numbers of horses and soldiers, then she landed and changed into her beautiful midform. Pulling a veil over her face and wrapping her wings around her body, she went into a tent.

Her thrall slept. She let the vibration in her throat lull him then murmured, "Tell me of tomorrow, my precious."

"My beautiful angel, you returned to me," the Almohad general muttered.

"I have, tell me about tomorrow and after, so I may pray for you," Anjael lied then smiled as the man revealed that in three days' time they would attack the Temple of the Moon and drive the werewolves from their land. She took some of his blood to be certain he wasn't lying.

There was a startled exclamation as she licked his arm to heal it, so she leapt at the guard before he could alarm the camp or wake her thrall. Her wings spread as she leapt skyward taking the struggling human with her. He repeatedly stabbed and hit her, unable to damage her impervious skin, while she laughed as they spiraled higher. Then she dropped him before flying back toward the Temple she protected.

Zanji was waiting and snapped at her. "Where were you?" He smelled upset.

"I went to count the enemy," she announced.

He sniffed her then growled possessively, his wolf was forward, "You carry their stench and are bruised. Who touched you?" He smelled jealous and grieved.

Her inner self answered, "Their general is my thrall, he told me in three days they will attack, his blood confirmed it. A guard saw me and attacked me, so I carried him away then dropped him." She gave a purring trill in her throat as she touched his face and ran her thumb over his elongated canines. "I allow none to touch me that way but you, my beloved wolf. Only you."

Kissing her roughly, he pressed her against the wall of the tower before he growled, "Take us to the beach out of site of the temple."

Shifting to her largest form, she carried him. The moment they landed, his wolf's fighting form emerged and bred her demoness. They rolled in the sand and surf battling for dominance until she submitted to him. When they finally shrank to their mortal skins, he laid her in the silky sand and kissed her with all his intent. He made love to her until the sun rose, and then bathed her in the sea before carrying her up the beach.

"I love you... I will love you for all time, even after I go to the Moon and my true, part of my heart will always remember you," he murmured into her white-blonde hair.

"I love you too, Zanji. You don't have to tell me this again. I know you will return to your true and your moon someday." Anjeal looked up at him in confusion because he smelled like he did when his brother died.

"My beloved pale queen, someday is today."

"No, no, we have three days," Anjael insisted as she struggled to be put down but he squeezed her to make her be still. "I read the Almohad general's blood."

"You were seen by more than the guard you killed. They are coming now. The Moon told my sister that she must flee at sunset today, I... I will not go with you as we planned. I will lead the mate-lost protectors of the temple against them until the darkness falls so you can evacuate her and my nephews." He nodded to the horizon. "There are boats blockading the coast which we cannot see. Your uncle and his companion will have to fly ashore then the three of you must carry our family to his ship and escape to the Mali Moon Temple in Djinné. You cannot save me this time."

Pushing out of his arms, Anjael stood and shook her head, "No, I will come back for you."

He reached for her tentatively, then hugged her tightly when she didn't step away. "A promise to the Moon cannot be broken. I am a Servant of the Moon, I accept my fate, and I am grateful for the love you gave me. You were my boon and my blessing."

Unable to speak, Anjael clung to him and sobbed. Her guilt stabbed her like a knife. She was the reason he must fight and die today and the enemy she did not expect on the opposite horizon was the reason the hoped-for rescue ships had not come. Finally she looked up at him and begged in a timid voice, "Zanji, may... may I carry your name? May I call myself Anjael Anutari Wasi?"

He inhaled sharply, then dragged her after him. The other wolves of the temple smiled and bowed to them, not realizing what his fierce countenance meant. Their late Alpha's brother had been given a boon, an otherworldly winged female to love him and fight as fiercely as any male at his side. He opened the door to his sister's room.

"What do you mean by rushing in like this?" Zadunwadi demanded as she rose from her bed.

He released Anjael's hand and went to her dresser, yanking open the drawers until he found a scarlet cord. Turning he held it out to his sister, "Bind us."

The Delphi shook her head as she closed her hand around his. "I cannot. I know you love Anjael. I love her too, but she does not belong to the Moon." She looked at her friend and protectoress with tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

Snarling, Zanji jerked his hand from his sister's. "Then I will do it myself."

"You cannot. Your true is waiting for you on the Moon. I told you, your second love would only last a season. You have been blessed with a four decades-long season. Be grateful for the time you were given, brother. Do not be selfish. Let Anjael be free to find love again."

An alarm shout echoed through the temple and the pack's shared consciousness. Desperately, he looked between his sister and the Bibre Cruor he loved.

"They need you, Alpha Servant," Zadunwadi said softly, then she kissed him on the forehead before going to her nephews' room.

"Save my sister and nephews as you promised." He looked at Anjael, inhaling deeply before saying, "It would be my greatest honor to be joined to you, my pale queen." He gave her the scarlet cord then he squared his shoulders. "Find love again." She watched him walk away with a proud, straight spine.

/\^^^^/\

Opening her eyes, Anjael saw the moon had moved beyond the skylight. Long ago, she stopped wondering if Zanji ever looked down on her. She still had the fragments of the scarlet cord in a sealed glass bottle. On the days when Lazarus' hatred for her was particularly sharp, she would look at it and remember what it was like to be loved unconditionally.

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