Dillon knelt down to the forest floor, the hard ground offering very little comfort to his knees- but he stayed there, his fingers tracing crescent moons on the base of his throat. It was well past midnight, and if he had been human, the cold would've sent his body into a state of constant shivering... but he wasn't human.

In fact, he welcomed the cold that caressed his bare flesh.

"Peto pro tua erat gubernata," he recited the words that his father had taught him so long ago. I ask for your guidance.

The light radiating off of Her full form was an answer enough.

Tracing one more crescent moon to the hollow of his throat, Dillon bowed, pressing his forehead against the hard earth below. His palms laid facing upwards, a gesture to the Moon above that he was bearing his soul to her in submission. He was allowing her to look into the depths of his soul, to examine his wrongdoings.

There were only two things that an alpha would ever kneel before: his mate, and the Moon.

Dillon knelt before his mate every day, but the act of kneeling before the Moon was scarce and far between.

After kneeling to Her thousands of times over, and getting no assistance or answer in return, his faith in Her had been declining slowly but surely.

Is there even a goddess?

Dillon had shaken his head clear of that horrible question. Of course, there was a Moon Goddess! How could there be not? She had blessed him with a beautiful female, an amazing pack, and an extraordinary daughter. She was his creator, his leading light in the darkness that consumed this world.

But even now, the question still swirled in his head.

Rolling back onto his knees, his large hands covering the area between his legs, Dillon turned his face upwards. Icy blue eyes filled with emotion gazed up at the full moon that loomed overhead. Her brightness was so stark against the darkness of night, but Her greatness wasn't the only thing that had caught his eye.

Five stars surrounded the ball of white light, forming a perfect circle around Her... Or it would've been a perfect circle if one of the stars had been in the circle with the others. The star was slightly out of place, and dull compared to the others.

As if it's light was escaping it.

As if its goodness was melting away.

He started, still staring up at the family of night. "I need your guidance."

"My daughter is not well. Physically or mentally," Dillon swallowed with force, his Adam's apple bobbing. "I know that you are aware of this, but she was cursed. She was cursed by a foe that is hiding right under our noses but might as well be thousands of miles away. And the curse that was given to her, has slowly been killing her. My mate and I are going to find the welder before it's too late, but a part of me believes that we are already too late for her; that we are two years late."

As Dillon spoke, staring up at the Moon and stars, the wind shifted to the west as smoothly as a feather. Its weightless fingers ran through his hair, caressing his neck and scalp in a gentle breeze.

He closed his eyes, letting his arms hang loosely by his sides. "Please, your Greatness. Please give us the strength and courage to fight this evil. Please... Please help us save our daughter."

The Alpha's throat burned with the tears that were welling up from his tired soul, but he wasn't ashamed of letting them fall. Like the fingers of Hell, burning hot tears trailed down his cheeks, over his chapped lips, along his jaw.

He had to be strong; strong for his mate, his pack... his daughter. But sometimes shedding tears was all he could do.

Sometimes it was necessary to cry, especially when life threw you so many curveballs, that all you could think about was giving up. He wanted to give up. He wanted to just disappear off of the face of the earth and never return, but Dillon couldn't give up... not now, not tomorrow, not when so many other lives depended on him.

If Noorali arrived right now, telling him that he needed to go to the underworld, Dillon would fight with everything in his soul to stay. He couldn't leave now, not when there were so many things left unanswered.

Death would have to wait to claim Dillon Manson's soul.

But there were only two things that Dillon would die for; his mate, and his daughter.

He'd lay down his own life for them without hesitation. He would embrace death with open arms if it meant that his daughter and mate could live. He hoped that he would never face a situation like that, ever, because he knew that his death would hurt them.

It would hurt them, but they would eventually move on.

Leaning forward with one hand holding him up and the other placed over the spot where his heart beat, Dillon bowed his head. "Your Greatness, please help us... help my pup. Point us in the right direction, and once we find the welder, please have it in your heart to forgive me when I rip her to shreds."

Fisting his hand that lay just over his heart, the alpha rolled back onto his knees and turned his face up at the Moon. He looked into Her round form, but just like all of the other times that he had prayed, She didn't answer.

He wondered if She had even heard him.

He said, "I have prayed to you and worshipped you all of my life. I have sacrificed so much for you; I have defended you countless of times. I have sent up thousands upon thousands of prayers to you, and not one has been answered. Not. One." Dillon felt his canines elongate with the emotion welling up from his chest. "I am starting to question if you are even real. After all, you claim to love your children. If you love us so much, then why is my daughter suffering? Why are the mothers' in my pack losing their pups before their even born? Why are the rogues in Nevada killing each other over useless territory?"

Coarse brown fur erupted along his arms as his wolf pushed forward, rumbling in the dark depths of his mind.

'Run. Run and kill.' His wolf growled.

Speaking through his large canines and shaking body, Dillon lifted his hand, tracing the crescent moons once again on his throat. "If you loved us so much, then my daughter will be alive for her eighteenth birthday. She'll be alive to meet her mate, and she'll be alive to lead this pack."

As quickly as he had said those words, fur took the place of skin, paws took the place of hands and feet, and a bushy tail sprouted from the base of his spine.

A massive brown wolf appeared as Dillon's human skin resided. The animal's head was held high and his body was tense, but his blue eyes were dull.

Instead of disappearing into the darkness that surrounded him, the large wolf sat back on his hunches, pressed his ears back, and tilted his muzzle up towards the stars above.

The howl built up in his chest- his heart. It was a song of pain and sadness, but just as the peak of the howl slipped through his throat, it turned into a chorus of determination and... love.

The chorus of wolves radiated throughout the territory, sending every nesting bird up into the sky.

Up and up, Dillon's howl grew stronger until it was nothing more than nature and emotion and instinct. The earth seemed to tremble under the power of the alpha... under the song of wild things.

When the howl died down into nothing more than a hum, the wolf lunged into a run. His rough paws propelled him forward into the darkness until all that was left was empty paw prints leading to nowhere.

????

Sasha Murphy stared out of the window, her golden eyes trailing after the heartbroken wolf. She had been asleep for some time before the howling had awakened her.

Rubbing her arms, Sasha watched as the southern alpha disappeared in the forest surrounding the mansion. Chills danced along her spine as the last of the howl finally died down, but even when it was done, her ears were still replying the melody. The howl had been chilling, even before the other wolves had joined in. It was pure emotion and instinct.

"What are you doing up?" Desmond's sleepy voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "Its three in the morning. You should be sleeping."

Sasha turned away from the window to face her mate. His eyes were half-lidded and his red hair was messy, but he was still stunning to her.

A gentle smile tugged up the corners of Desmond's lips. It was a smile that Sasha echoed back to him.

"I am humbled that you think that I am stunning," his voice was rough from just waking up, but it was taking on a sultry tone. "But I prefer handsome. Stunning is more suitable for you; but yet it doesn't cover it all. You are beautiful, stunning, exquisite, and any other synonym that you can come up with."

Coming up behind her, Desmond wrapped a muscular arm around her midsection and pulled her back into his chest. She felt him push all of her hair to one shoulder before he pressed his lips against her neck.

Sasha trembled in his hold as his tongue gently pressed against her flesh. "You're just saying that to get me into your bed." She hissed.

Desmond hummed against her skin as his large hand splayed across her stomach. "Is it working?"

'Yes. Yes, it is working.' Sasha thought, then cursed herself as her mate chuckled darkly.

"No, Desmond." She said, trying to keep her breathing under control. "We can't do this here. We're... We're guests." Gripping his muscular arm, Sasha dug her nails into his flesh, trying to get him to listen to her.

Desmond didn't listen to her, he didn't even acknowledge her as his teeth tugged on her earlobe. "We're a mated and married couple, Sasha. They'd think it was odd if we didn't, as you sometimes say, 'bump uglies."

Pulling her away from the window, Desmond turned her in his arms until she was facing him. His eyes were still half-lidded, but for a different reason.

Through the mate-bond, Desmond's wolf pushed forward, growling his need.

The howl had pushed his wolf forward, and the need to re-establish his claim on her was like a persistent pup constantly nipping at his heels.

"I need you," Desmond murmured just as his lips crashed down on hers in a possessive kiss.

As her sweet, red-headed wolf picked her up and wrapped her legs around his waist, Sasha knew that he wasn't the only one needing a connection.

When Desmond laid her down on the bed they had claimed, Sasha hoped for the umpteenth time that their love would join together in her womb.

But deep down, Sasha knew that she wasn't ready for pups. She had always wanted children, and Desmond dreamed of having his own, but she wasn't ready. She wanted to have a few more years of enjoying life before having children and the responsibilities that came with them.

Hours later, when they could do nothing more than hold each other, Sasha looked up into his beautiful, satisfied face. He smiled down at her, but in his eyes, she could see the sadness that lurked just beneath those green gems.

Sasha knew that he was aware of her hesitancy of having children, but seeing his sadness made her throat burn with guilt. Desmond wanted pups, desperately, but he understood that she just wasn't ready. Both of them weren't ready in their own ways, and Sasha thanked the gods above that they had respected her feelings.

When they did have pups, Sasha had no doubt that her mate would be the best father in the world. But until then, she was going to focus on being an oracle and freeing Adeline of her curse.