The Lunar Child

By M.D. Butler

I am nothing and no one.

Such a Debbie Downer attitude, I know. My entire existence is one of mere survival within a pack that sees me as worthless. The alpha is ruthless, but he hasn't killed me yet. Small mercies, right? I've never known kindness, so what do I do when four guys show up with smiles and soft touches? Hide... for all of five minutes.
They're kind of insistent on getting to know me, and everything in me rebels at the thought of running from them. You see, there's this pull. A connection that snapped into place when we made eye contact. They're apparently my freaking mates. All four of them!
Krix, the unappointed leader.
Cashel, the jokester.
Denahi, the protector.
Mavrin, the peacemaker.
I've never heard of someone having four mates, but I don't want to deny myself this one good thing when all I've ever had was misery. I'm a shiftless wolf, so I wasn't supposed to have a mate at all!
My old pack isn't having it, though. The alpha doesn't want to release me, and the she-wolves are all in a tizzy over my sudden popularity with the male gender. Too bad because I refuse to stay when I've been given the answer to my prayers. The Mother of all must have finally opened her ears to me. She didn't make it easy, though. There are a few trials and tribulations headed our way.
Oh, and there's also this thing about a prophecy...

This is a full-length reverse harem novel with a cliffhanger ending. It has a male from every caliber, and a heroine that many can relate to. There are steamy scenes, and references to abuse that may not be suitable for some readers. It has been re-edited thanks to reader reviews, but feel free to comment if you notice any errors to help improve the book. This is book one in a trilogy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.D. Butler
• Release date: May 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005066543

M.D. Butler

M. D. Butler is a military spouse who has also served in the United States Navy Reserve. She has four little girls who each have a piece of her crazy personality and attitude, so her home is constant chaos. Yikes!Living in a house with all of those girls has inspired her to write books with strong female characters who have the sass and strength of her own girls, despite whatever life has thrown at them.She write stories that she dreams up when she can’t find a book to read that has the characteristics that she’s craving at the that time.Being in the military has given her a sailor’s mouth, and a dry humor with a side of vulgarity. Her books are not clean, so don’t open them up if you’re opposed to strong, mildly offensive language!She’s also a realist who understands that sex and passion are normal aspects within a relationship. Might have to keep an eye out for that as well!

Book preview

The Lunar Child

The Elemental Wolves

Book 1

M. D. Butler

Excerpt

It was a little hard to focus with his scent sitting in the air around me, making me want to lean towards him. Pine and soil. I never thought I’d love the smell of the woods, what with me being forced to live out there and all that.

I think I’m changing my stance on it.

I start gathering up my things as the bell rings at the end of chemistry. I don’t know what to make of Cashel. I guess he confirmed that the group of boys that I saw this morning are my mates, but I still find it hard to believe.

Four?

I’ve never heard of someone having multiple mates, but then again, I never thought I’d have a mate at all. He says that this is how it’s supposed to be for us, but I’m still not understanding what the hell that means.

Maybe it’s because there are less females than males. Could the Mother be trying to make sure that everyone has a chance to have a connection? Man, I’m starting to get a headache with all of the questions swirling in my brain now.

As much as I want to find out what’s going on, I can’t open myself up to this level of hope. I can’t open up to hope at all. The let-down hurts too much to risk it.

This book is dedicated to my four, beautiful little girls.

May you continue to grow into strong women, and keep every ounce of your sass.

Prologue

October 12, 1797

I watch as Odella slowly makes her way towards the Alpha’s den. Her body has become frail in her old age, but she has remained a loyal disciple. Her wolf will join me soon in the skies, but she has a final task that I need her to complete.

She sits down to pass the message on to the Alpha of the pack, as I contemplate the trials yet to come for many years. It may have been too soon to tell the oracle, but I want them to have all of the time they need to prepare.

My heart breaks as I think of my many children who will forsake me. I hurt for all of the lives that will be lost, but it is how it has to be.

I cannot save them all.

December 21, 2001

She is such a beautiful child. Her mates were also beautiful upon their births, but she will always be special to me. I wish that I could have placed her soul within another life, but this is the one that she must live.

It will strengthen her for what is to come.

As she takes her first breath of life, I reach out to the wolf pup spirit within her. She is already so strong, but I cannot allow her to be for the time being. She must stay bound and hidden until they come. Only her mates will be able to unlock her.

I pull away from her, my mission complete for now. I am reluctant to leave her, but it cannot be helped. She must go through this on her own, but it will not always be so.

She and her mates are the only ones who can change what is to come. I have given them all gifts that I had to take from my wolves so long ago. Gifts that they abused. These five can give me hope that my wolves can once again rise above.

But first, there will be pain. Losses on both sides. Blood will paint the ground red. Enemies and alliances will be made, but it is all necessary. The struggles will have to be suffered, for the end I saw cannot be allowed to come.

There needs to be a cleanse.

Chapter 1

Jahla

I lay in bed, wide awake, long before the sun is supposed to rise. My day doesn’t begin with the rising of the sun like a normal person. No, my day begins before the others because I’m the one who has the pleasure of making their wakeful moments easy.

Oh, joy!

My inner self is full of sarcasm, by the way.

I produce an epic sigh as I roll out of my cot in the tiny shack I call home. I’ve lived here for almost five years now. If I wasn’t a shifter, I’m sure I would’ve died ages ago. The draft alone would’ve taken out a regular human during one Colorado winter. Like, now! I have a few blankets that I’ve scavenged from the throwaway piles of the pack, though. I manage.

I have no choice.

I look around the tiny room while I pull on the first thing I see in the box where I keep my clothes. Baggy long sleeve shirt, and shapeless jeans with mismatched tube socks for the win! I wrap the oversized coat around my shoulders and put my wild mess of hair up in a ponytail to complete the look.

Like always. It’s the only way I can semi-tame it.

The shack has only one room. Cot, a chair that has a plank missing from the seat, my ratty backpack sitting on it, a kerosene lamp in the corner, one box of blankets, two boxes of clothes, a pair of shoes, and a door. That’s all that my home consists of, just a little shack out in the woods. I have an outhouse as a bathroom, so I don’t have to go out into the woods like an animal for that bit.

At least I get the peace and solitude from the pack.

See, I can be grateful.

Once I’m dressed, I grab my bag and leave to make my way down to the packhouse to cook breakfast for everyone there. Did you notice how I didn’t include breakfast for myself? That’s because I don’t get one. I don’t have any way of making my own food at home, so I eat the scraps left over from them.

If there are any. It doesn’t happen often enough to give me any type of sustenance. I think they do it on purpose, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m a fucking shifter, for Mother's sake. I can’t survive off of scraps, but it’s all I have when I’m here. I’d get my ass beat if I asked for more.

Facts, trust me.

Thank the Mother that I waitress at the little diner in town. I started working there as soon as I was legally able to by human standards. Before, I’d do little tasks for her, and she’d pay me with a meal or two. Now, I try to work there every day so I can get something to eat, and enough saved up to leave this town. Delores takes pity on me and pays me under the table when I go over my hours.

I guess she likes me in her own gruff way, but I have an issue with trust. We have a pretty nice relationship, though. I’m polite because it’s hard to hate someone who isn’t actively hurting you, but I can’t find it in me to trust someone. You never know when that person is going to turn on you, so I have my guard up at all times.

The pack has ways of making the humans in this town do what they want.

I’ve gotten into the habit of keeping out of the way. If I’m not there, people tend to forget that they have to deal with a burden at all.

That’s me, by the way. The orphaned little wolf that nobody wants around. You would think being an orphan would gain sympathy, but that’s not the case in my situation. My father was killed by the Alpha for a reason not disclosed to anyone when I was thirteen. He just slaughtered my father in front of everyone without saying why, and no one is allowed to ask.

Dumbass probably tried to challenge him. Wouldn’t surprise me, but I’ve stopped thinking about my parents. They weren’t well-liked in the pack towards the end, and I think the Alpha was waiting for a chance to get rid of them.

The Alpha is an asshole. Acts however he wants and does the bare minimum to keep the council off his tail. Killing someone in the pack simply because he felt like it is kind of the norm for him. He just makes up some explainable reason when he has to report their death.

Mostly just blames it on the rogues.

Did I forget to say how my mother died? Well, she had the misfortune of being my father’s true mate, meaning they shared a soul. It would be a lovely happily ever after type of story, but because he died, so did she. Usually, the surviving mate sometimes is able to live if they have children that they love to keep their spirit alive.

They didn’t love me. I was, and still am… loathed. So she died. Good riddance. I was their only child, but I wasn’t a boy. Apparently, that’s a sin to them.

There you have it, people. My parents hated me because I was born without a penis. Ain’t that some shit? I couldn’t carry on the family line and become an enforcer like dear old Dad. To make matters worse, my birth made it impossible for my mother to have any more children. Don’t ask me how. Just know it’s my fault.

Why am I hated by the pack? Well, part of it is because of my parents. If they hated me, something must be wrong with me. At least, that’s how it is in the eyes of this pack. I’ve never interacted with any shifters outside of my pack, so I don’t know what it’s like everywhere else. This is my normal.

Also, I haven’t shifted. They think I’m defective.

Most wolves shift during puberty thanks to those crazy hormones that help bring out their wild side. Literally. I didn’t. I’m almost eighteen, and I’m still practically human. Yeah, I have the slightly heightened senses, speed, and strength that shifters have in their human form, but I don’t shift into an actual wolf.

I can feel her. We interact with each other all the time, but she won’t come out. I know she will. She just doesn’t think that now is the time. Yeah, she’s in my head, but she doesn’t use words, just emotions and impressions that I’ve learned how to decipher. I can even hear her growls and stuff when she feels strongly enough.

For some reason, she’s waiting for something. I can feel her longing, but I don’t know what she wants. I don’t dare ask someone in the pack to help me figure it out because I refuse to tell them about her. They want to think I don’t have a wolf, so I let them.

Fuck them.

I think of these things every morning as I walk from my shack to the packhouse. Trust me, I have the time. I also need something to keep my mind off the cold. My feet have gone numb in my holey shoes as I’ve walked through the snow.

It’s not the most wonderful walk, but it’s my usual one.

The packhouse sits in the middle of a gated community smack dab in the center of the town of Lunar Mills, Colorado. All of the homes for the pack members surround the packhouse, and two miles’ worth of woods surround the neighborhood. The pack territory is all wrapped up within a tall metal fence to give it the appearance of being a gated community, but only the pack lives there.

No humans allowed.

My shack is outside the fence, but still in the woods on the property. It used to be an old guardhouse, but everything was updated a few years ago before I was put there. Now, they do patrols around the territory instead of only standing guard at different spots. Still have someone posted at the gates, but they don’t care about the one where I am since I’m out here.

Who cares if a rogue kills me? One less problem, and all that.

I sigh as the houses come into view. It’s still dark, but the streetlights illuminate my route. I’m glad I was kicked out of my parents’ house when they died. I know things would’ve been harder for me if I was in easy reach of the pack. More jeers and beatings, and who the hell wants that?

That house didn’t hold any sentimental memories for me, anyway.

As I reach the back steps of the packhouse, I lower my head. Don’t want to come across any early risers, and accidentally make eye contact. It’s taken as a challenge for a wolf shifter if you hold eye contact with another, but I’m not allowed to look above someone’s kneecaps.

I learned that lesson early on with my mother. I don’t know why, since I’ve never tried to challenge her on purpose. The only time I can remember looking her in the eye was when I was about seven. She had caught me off guard by stepping in front of me, so I’d looked up at her to ask what she needed. All I know is she became pissed off and beat me so badly that I didn’t heal enough to wake up until four days later.

Pretty bad beating for a wolf with super-fast healing. Mine is slower than most, though.

I shake the memory away as I close the door quietly behind me. Not seeing or hearing anyone moving about, I make a detour to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. I’m sneaky when I need to be. They don’t allow me to use their bathroom, but hygiene makes the risk a necessity.

I have to bathe in the creek in the woods at night. Imagine how delightful that is right now in the middle of winter. I actually have to break the freaking ice!

How have I not died yet?

Done with that, I walk into the kitchen and start pulling out the stuff for breakfast. Smelling the food cooking used to make my stomach rumble, but I’ve grown accustomed to it so it doesn’t bother me anymore.

Delores teaches me how to cook, which is why I’m here now. Benson saw me through the diner window a few months back and told his dad that I was cooking and serving the humans in town. The Luna can’t cook for shit, I guess. Maybe she’s just lazy. Either way, I’m now their glorified servant.

Without pay.

I get finished with the breakfast spread, which takes me about an hour and start taking everything to the dining room. Only the Alpha and beta families live here. The place is practically a mansion, but only the ranked families and visiting Alphas get to stay here. At least I don’t have to deal with too many people.

Small mercies.

The clock in the dining room says it’s about 6:45 now, so they’ll start coming down in a few minutes. I steel myself for the inevitable confrontation. Someone is going to fuck with me. It never fails. I think the offspring wake up early just so they can push me around to kick off their day with a pleasant start.

Hurting me is like their morning coffee fix.

On my way back to the kitchen after I take the final platter of bacon to the dining room, I almost run headfirst into Blythe.

Right on cue.

Watch yourself, freak bitch. Don’t know why Dad hasn’t killed you yet. Move.

She shoulder-checks me into the doorjamb hard as she passes. I’d be surprised if something isn’t at least fractured with the force of the hit. I keep my face blank and eyes down. Just let it happen. Any resistance is seen as a challenge with that particular crew. I’d rather get thrown around a little than have to go to school bloody again.

People would ask questions, and the pack would definitely kill me if I alert the humans to our paranormal existence. As I said, the Alpha tries to keep the council away as much as possible. Hard to lie when my body is the physical evidence.

Now, Blythe is a pretty girl. Tall and lean, with golden hair and blue eyes like her father. The perfect all-American girl next door, but the sneer that slices across her face whenever she looks at me takes her down a few notches. She says the same variation of bullshit every morning, nothing new or original.

I return to the kitchen to wash the dishes I used to cook. By the time I’m done with that, I wait around until I hear the scrape of chairs. It signals everyone’s departure from the table, and the need to clear their dishes.

I go into the dining room, but pause when I see one of The Sons still at the table. If Blythe is the HBIC of the She-Wolves, then her twin runs The Sons. The entire clique of them are just a bunch of hellhounds, if you ask me.

These are just the