Chapter 2 – The Stranger

Julia POV.

PRESENT DAY.

“Are these your children?” asks the man with the long flowing white beard and silver hair. He stops his pickup truck as soon as he sees me crossing the dirt road in the middle of rocky terrain in No Man's Land.

“Yes, Sir,” I try to take a long hard look at the old stranger, courteous enough to let me cross by pulling over his truck. “We are walking to the mountain spring behind those rocks to get some water.”

“What are their names?” the old man asks in a gravelly voice as old and rickety as his truck.

“Damien and Pete,” I reply with suspicion. Never before has a stranger asked me the names of my sons. And we are in No Man’s Land, which basically means we are in the middle of nowhere.

“Good names,” the old man smiles and gets down from his truck. “But they are too small to make the trek up those rocks. The terrain is too hostile for little boys to cross.”

“Is that so?” I stop in my tracks. “Well, I had no idea. But we need to get to that mountain spring, Sir. Anyhow. We haven’t had a sip of water in the last 2 days.”

“In that case, allow me to help you,” he walks over to me, his silver hair swept aside by the wind, his sweat soaked shirt clinging to his lean torso like vines on a dry brick wall.

“If the boys cannot make it to the water, the water will come to the boys,” he tells me in his gravelly old voice. “Give me the bottles, I will bring you water from that spring.”

I look at him, perplexed by his generosity and suspicious of his intentions at the same time.

“I am Leander,” he extends his wrinkled hand towards me. “You can call me Lee. But once upon a time, I used to be known as Alpha Lee.”

Alpha Lee? I stare at him in bewilderment. Do I know him? Does he know me?

“I can see the mark on your neck,” he points to the mark made by Luke on our mating night years ago. “I can figure out that you are one of my species. I can only assume what happened to your pack. Must have met the same fate as mine.”

“And what fate is that?” I ask him in curiosity, even though I know the answer.

“Annihilation. What else? But you are lucky to be alive, especially with 2 young pups. What’s the secret?”

“None,” I retort sharply. “Just plain lucky, I guess. A lucky Luna.”

“A Luna?” his old eyes glisten and twinkle suddenly. “You are a Luna? Really?”

“Yes. Of the Antumbra pack. Why?” I ask.

“Then you must be the last Luna alive on the planet. Believe me, all the Lunas are dead. And so are their pups.”

I stare at the old Alpha in shock and despair. I was the last surviving Luna on the planet? Why? What happened to the others?

Are things worse than I thought they are?

“Your Alpha …” Lee speaks again after a brief pause, “... May I ask if he is still alive?”

“No,” I reply with a heavy sigh. “His name was Luke. He died in an attack 5 years ago. Packs of invaders raided our city one day and —”

“I know the story,” Lee interrupts me abruptly. “Every clan has the same story to tell. The same natural disasters. The same invasions. The same massacres. My pack was not spared either.”

“Which pack are you from?” I ask him in curiosity. I should have asked him sooner.

“The Penumbra,” he replies immediately. “One of the oldest wolfpacks on Earth. Lived and thrived for 300 years. Decimated and annihilated in 30 days. I went on the run to survive with a handful of loyal followers.”

“Me too,” I realize his past is the same as mine. “I had a dozen or so survivors left with me 5 years back. Now, it’s just me and my sons.”

“May I ask if your Alpha was your fated mate or not?” Lee asks in a sombre tone while taking the empty water jars from my hand.

“No, we had chosen each other,” I recollect fondly. “I had a long period of romance and courtship with him. I ignored everyone’s advice and refused to marry my fated mate in favor of Luke. I always prioritized choice over fate.”

“How did that work out for you?” Lee remarks with a hint of sarcasm that I find quite distasteful. Who is he to comment on my life choices? As he begins to climb the rocks to fetch water from the mountain spring, I respond with scorn and disdain.

“Who says fate is superior to choice? My fated mate might long be dead. I never bothered to check because I was busy surviving. But I am incredibly proud of the life I shared with Luke, however short it may have been.”

“I say,” he hollers from behind the rocks. He has disappeared from my sight by now. “I say that fate is final, not choice. That’s why you are still alive and not your husband.”

“What do you mean?” I scream and seethe in anger. This old man has started getting on my nerves now. And 5 years of incessant struggle against the elements and unforeseen dangers have made me less than forgiving to snide remarks and hostile strangers.

“You must have been born on a full moon night,” his voice now sounds from a distance. “Just like me. You are a Full Moon Luna. A Moon Wolf. You are blessed. You are fated to survive and lead.”

I stand speechless at the bottom of the rocks. How does he know that I was indeed born on a full moon?