“How are you feeling?” Iselyn asks, taking a seat beside me on the worn fallen tree trunk.
“I’m fine,” I nod while digging my bare feet deeper into the sand and rocks. Letting the whistling wind, splashing water and the chilling breeze coming off of it calm me down. “You?”
She looks up at the darkening sky and sighs. “It’s called a curse for a reason, Mal. We knew this day would come.”
“Still,” I shrug my shoulders, and let my gaze roam over the rolling waves. “Aren’t you worried?”
Tonight is the first time Iselyn and I will have to endure the full force of
the full moon… Without the help of wolfsbane. Which means tonight, we will have no control over our wolf selves.
“About what?”
“Being a ripper,” I clarify softly, almost not wanting to say it out loud.
“Well, true, I should be worried about that. With my hot temper and all,” she laughs and fans herself with her hand. “We’ll be okay. We’re way out here and if we turn far enough out it should be fine.”
“Yeah,” I nod. Ugh, here my little sister is, reassuring me. “Where’s
Gray and Bo?”
“Around,” she shrugs. “Getting everybody ready.”
“Should we head back?”
“In a minute,” she shakes her head. “It’s nice out here. Quiet.”
We sit in silence for a while, just watching as the white foam dissipates
on the shore a few yards in front of our feet.
The waves crash into the cliffs to the left in the distance in front of us,
reaching all the way around the cove that sits directly to our left. Like a
barricade, daring any other to reach the sandy cove below. The open ocean
sprawls out as far as the eye can see to our right. The water wafts the
overwhelmingly salty and fishy scent right at us.
We sit and listen to the roar of the sea until the darkening sky turns the
waves black.
I look up at the moon, trying to get an idea of how long we have left. I
have to watch and wait for a minute as the clouds slowly drift out from in
front of it. It won’t be long now.
“We should head in,” I tell her, startling myself at the volume of my
voice after so long of not talking.
She makes a face like I was about to bite her head off, but then just
laughs, and nods. She stands to her feet and dusts sand off of her, before
following me away from the beach and into the trees.
Luckily, our camp’s not too far away, so it only takes us about fifteen
minutes to get back. The fresh scent of wet dirt and bark, mixed with the
smell of burning wood and smoke envelop me as we step through the trees
into the campsite.
The space is lit up by lanterns as well as small campfires. A variety of a
dozen or so tents litter the small clearing.
A small group is gathered around a fire, far off to our right, on the edge
of the clearing, consisting of three Omegas Cody, David and Tony, and an
Elder, Alazaer. The Omegas are each holding a glass beer bottle and seem to
be taking turns trying to get Alazaer to laugh. However, each time, he just
raises a thick gray eyebrow at them with a blank and unamused expression on
his tan wrinkled face.
That is, until Corrine runs over, and just as Cody spins around to face
the young woman, she shoves him right into the fire. Cody screams, as he
falls, ass first, right onto the flames. His green eyes momentarily lit with fear.
Corrine just flicks her long dark hair with a bronze hand and prances off with
a grin on her face.
David, Tony and Alazaer burst into fits of laughter.
The Omegas, still laughing, help Cody out of the fire, who yanks off
his brown jacket and olive colored beanie, aggressively throwing them into
the dirt. When he’s standing again, Alazaer claps him on the shoulder.
“That’s the most I’ve laughed in twenty years, boy!” Alazaer tells him
with a smile.
“Glad I could be of service, Sir,” Cody nods respectfully while wincing
and runs a hand through his blonde hair.
I scan the rest of the clearing. The members of the pack are scattered
around, finishing off their beers, food and packing everything up for the long
night ahead.
Directly ahead of us, towards the back of the clearing, Gray, Bo and
Cordelia are standing just outside of Gray's tent, respectfully the biggest in
the camp.
Grayson and Bo are Iselyn and my fathers younger brothers. And even
though Grayson is the youngest of the three, it was he who took over as
Alpha when my father died. Usually it doesn't work that way. Usually that
title and responsibility would go to the eldest. But the situation in this case
was… complicated. Because it was Grayson who killed him.
It wasn't anger, hate or power that made Gray murder my father. But
my father himself. A mercy killing. My father was dying and didn't want to
die like that. He wanted to go out on his terms. As a warrior. So, he had
Uncle Gray challenge him. One on one, for the title. My father got what he
wanted. A noble death. A warrior's death. One fit for the Alpha and leader
he'd been his whole life. So, Grayson inherited the title. And us.
Bo would've been the obvious choice, seeing as he was next in line. But
at the time nobody knew where he was. He had taken a few years,
lone-wolfing it, running around the country in wolf form. He only caught
wind of what happened a few months later, from a witch in a bar, while he
was passing through Nebraska. He came straight home after that. Where he
and Gray raised Iselyn and I as their own.
You can tell Bo and Gray are brothers, with their similar features and
the same blue blue. At the same time a lot sets them apart, like any siblings.
Gray has a thick full head of dark hair, well at least a few months ago he did, now it's riddled with gray streaks that matches his thick facial hair. He’s also
taller than Bo and always smells earthy, like the forest, even at home. While
Bo has a shining white head free of even a single strand of hair and a short
thin
mostly gray
facial hair and smells like golden spice.
Gray is standing on the left side of a semicircle made up of him,
Cordelia and Bo, with cordelia being in the middle, a few yards just ahead of
us. Gray’s holding a long thick metal link chain in his hands, conversing with
the two. Iselyn and I stop a few feet away, just close enough to alert them to
our presence and hear the conversation.
“I can’t thank you enough for this right now, Delia,” Grayson says, his
voice deep and saddened. His bright blue eyes duller than they used to be,
and his dark hair much more gray than it was just a few weeks ago.
Everything has been taking such a toll on him. I inwardly sigh, wishing I
could do more to help him.
“Aw, you’ll find a way to make it up to me,” she purrs with a wink.
“Alpha.”
There’s always been rumors about the two of them being lovers, but
nobody really knows for sure. They seem to play it up in front of people. But
behind closed doors, who knows, though neither I nor Iselyn have seen them
so much as hug.
“Don’t I always?” he replies playfully, making a show of flexing his
biceps, the chains rattling in his hands as he does.
“Oh, love,” she says, something like playful pity in her voice. “You
think you’re the only one?”
“You wound me, Delia,” Gray chuckles.
She slaps his arm playfully, letting him know it's time to get serious. He
straightens up, as all signs of amusement snap from his face in a split second
and holds still while she goes to work on the chain in his hands. She places
both of her hands a few inches above the metal and whispers some
incantation until a low blue glow can be seen from underneath her palms.
When the glow fades she moves her warm copper brown hands and sighs.
“That should work, depending on how strong they are,” She says. “I
wish I could do more.”
“You’ve done more than enough,” Gray tells her. “I don’t know what
we’d do without you and your coven’s help.”
“Crash and burn,” she smiles.
She’s probably right. Every full moon, Cordelia and sometimes her
sister Claudia come out to help us and take care of the children that haven’t
turned yet. I don’t know what other packs that don’t have humans or witches
to help them do. Our alliance with Delia’s coven is the only reason we’ve
survived this long and we all know it.
“We should hurry this along,” Bo says, looking up at the sky.
Iselyn and I help Delia gather the children, while Gray, Bo and the
elders get to work setting everything and everyone into place before the
moon reaches its peak. When Delia and the children are gone and the rest of
the pack is chained to the trees, Gray and Bo take Iselyn and I a little farther
out than the rest.
“You’ll be okay,” Gray tells me, as he locks the thick metal clamp
around my neck.
I only nod in response. Much harder than I hope too.
“I can smell your fear,” he says. “It’s understandable, but don’t let it
control you. This is just like every other full moon, only more painful.”
“I know,” I nod. He and Bo have told me that a million times. But still,
I can’t help the terror that is flooding through me. More pain, more strength
but less control and stronger urges to kill everything and everyone in my path
besides other wolves. Oh yeah, this is gonna be a breeze.
I gulp and settle down against the tree, jerking against the chain to
make sure it’s in place. Gray crouches down beside me and puts a hand on
my shoulder.
“You are a wolf. That’s what you are. And whatever you do tonight is
just your animal instincts taking over for a moment,” he whispers sternly,
with a nod. “Aye?”
I nod.
He’s wrong though.
Sure, any moment of any day we can shift at will. But during the full
moon…It’s different. Pain, loss of control, blackouts. And that’s with
wolfsbane in our system. But without it. More pain, little control if any at all,
and guaranteed blackouts. He’s right. I am a wolf. Any other day of the
month, that is. But tonight, on a full moon with no wolfsbane to tame me, I’m
nothing more than a beast. A monster.
He pats my shoulder before getting up and moving over to where Iselyn
is, most likely to tell her the same thing.
I lean against the tree, trying to focus on nothing else but my breathing.
The final minutes tick by at an agonizingly slow rate, slowing more and more
with every passing second. The past three minutes have dragged on, making
it feel like hours, just waiting for the pain to consume my body and mind,
waiting for my wolf to devour me with rising animal instincts and hunger for
human flesh. I bang the back of my head against the tree truck, dreading the
moment I finally tear into a human being.
I peer out of the corner of my eye to the tree, fifteen or twenty yards
across from me to my right, where Iselyn is chained. Her head is bowed
down so I can’t get a full view of her face, but I can see her fidgeting and
rubbing her bare feet together, as if she’s playing footsies with herself.
As if sensing my eyes on her, she lifts her head. I can see the anxiety
coming off of her in low waves. Lowly humming, looking around and
chewing on the inside of her cheek.
“You know you’re gonna end up chewing a hole through your face if
you keep doing that,” I sigh, trying to get my mind off the obviously
impending nightmare awaiting us both.
“What do you suggest I do?” she asks. She stretches her neck and
shoulders uncomfortably. “This is taking hella long. I just want this night to
end.”
“I know.”
Then it begins.
An electrifying pain shoots through my brain as a blinding ringing fills
my ears. The electricity coats my head before bleeding downward, radiating
over my entire body. White hot pain rips and tears through me as every bone
in my body cracks, breaks and extends before jutting itself into place.
Screams and howls of pain fill the air, dulled only by the trees and my
own pain consuming me.
Canines lengthening and claws stretching out, and yet, still I can feel
my body is covered in something warm and wet. I sniff the air. Blood. So
much blood. Sweet, warm, red liquid copper.
Soon the pain dulls to warm rather than hot, and screams become howls
and growls in the distance. I join in, yanking and pulling at the chain until my
neck hurts so much I think my head might fall right off my shoulders. And
then, everything goes black.
