The Broken Luna and Her Playboy Mate

CHAPTER 5 - FIRST FRIEND - ETAMINA'S POV

I didn’t know where I was going, I just wanted to get away from Noah as fast as I could. As I turned the corner, I came across a bathroom and rushed in.

I could not believe my eyes. It was the biggest bathroom I’d ever seen at a school. Ten individual stalls lined the walls, the doors were a white marble with pearl handles. Ten marble basins lined the wall opposite the toilets with a long mirror hanging above them. There were five more doors at the end of the room with small signs saying 'Shower' and 'Sauna'

I made my way to one of the basins and looked in the mirror. I looked the same as I always had and yet I could not recognize myself anymore.

I had heard about the legend Noah had mentioned. Kathy had mentioned it when she was younger, only now I knew it wasn't a legend, it was reality, my reality, my past.

STORY

In 1554, a young woman called Etamina had moved to Mina’s new hometown with her young daughter and no husband.

Etamina bought a lot of land in town and had the manor built. However, while it was still being constructed, Etamina stayed at the local tavern where she met a man called Lucas. His father owned the tavern and was the newly appointed mayor of the town.

Everyone was quite taken with Etamina. She was extremely wealthy, kind and generous, but she was also very secretive. She would evade questions about her past or about where her husband was. She had told them he had been killed and that she had moved away shortly after his death to start a new life in America. Every so often she would disappear, leaving her daughter with her nurse maid, Jemison.

Etamina would always seem unusual when she returned home and Jemison started to notice strange things about her mistress. She came across a dress of Etamina’s one day whilst she was cleaning her room at the tavern and noticed it was covered in blood, but when she questioned Etamina about it, she simply said she’d been walking in the woods and cut her leg on a broken branch.

The town started whispering about her when a brave person plucked up the courage to ask her where she went and why she was always in the woods alone every day. Etamina laughed and said that she had to attend to her late husband’s business but wouldn’t tell anyone what that business was.

When Caroline was still a child, Etamina married Lucas and the whole town turned up at the manor to celebrate, though most of them were simply curious about the house.

One year after their marriage, Etamina was pregnant, this time with a boy, and two months after his birth, the town celebrated again when Lucas threw a party in his honor.

Every year at the same time, Lucas would throw a party and the entire town would come to join the festivities and the strange rumors about Etamina stopped when they saw how normal her life was. It wasn’t until Caroline’s eighteenth birthday party that everyone found out the terrible truth about Etamina.

Caroline was getting ready for her party when she began to feel ill. She broke out in a sweat and started to have unbearable pains throughout her entire body. Jemison tried to help her. She called for Etamina, but it was too late, Caroline began to scream in agony and transformed into a large black wolf. She killed Jemison and all the maids before she fled out the window. The only person left alive was her mother and one of the maids, who was near death.

When Lucas returned home with their son Etamina told him what had happened. Lucas gathered the men in the town and went searching for Caroline. He’d told the men that a crazed man had killed everyone and stolen his stepdaughter.

It was after sunrise when they found Caroline. She was naked and covered in blood but otherwise unharmed. Lucas took her home and together he and Etamina told Caroline that she was a Lycan.

Etamina promised her that she didn’t know she could pass on her curse. She told Caroline that she had been attacked by a Lycan when she was pregnant and that her family had sent it after her as punishment for running away with Caroline’s father. Caroline asked about her father but Etamina refused to speak about him and insisted that Lucas was the only father she needed to know about.

The maid that had survived had left the town out of fear, but not before telling the town’s people the truth about the deaths. They kept their distance from Etamina and her children after that and hired a hunter to come to the town to avenge the people Caroline had killed. He watched Etamina’s family closely, but they were careful not to draw any attention to themselves, and he soon lost interest.

He told the town’s people that there was no werewolf, and he left the town, but the rumors continued.

END OF STORY

I was so deep in my thoughts that I hadn’t noticed how late it was getting, but if you found out your ancestors were Lycan's you’d have a hard time concentrating too. I had always thought this story was just that, a story, but 4 months ago, when I’d turned eighteen, I discovered how true this particular tale was.

With great effort, I walked out of the bathroom and headed to orientation. Mom had told me that I had to be there at nine-thirty, and it was only minutes away.

I stepped quietly into the room which was full of students and teachers all talking excitedly. I noticed my mother at the very front of the teachers with a tall man, and they seemed to know each other from the smile on my mothers face.

Mom looked up and tapped her watch to let me know I was cutting it close and she was cross but I just rolled her eyes and snuck into the back row of seats and sat down, I rested my feet up on the back of the chair in front of me and just let my mind go blank.

I could still smell Noahs' scent as if he was right next to me, but I quickly pushed it out of my mind and closed my eyes.

''Is anyone sitting there?'' Came a girl’s friendly voice to the right of me.

I looked up and saw a pretty girl with fluffy sandy hair that was tied up in a loose plate at the back of her head. She had soft green eyes and a couple of tiny freckles on her nose, but they suited her face rather than diminished her in anyway, she had earrings up each of her ears, a sight my grandmother would have hated. The girl was pointing to the seat next to me.

''No,'' I said, despite my annoyance, there were a lot of other empty seats, ''Go for it.''

''I’m Tiane, but you can call me T, everybody does.'' She said in a cheerful voice as she sat down, dropping books on my lap as she did. I instantly felt my wolfs rage rush to the surface

''KILL!'' My wolf screamed in my mind.

I noticed my mom tense in her chair as she looked at my face.

''MINA!'' My mother's voice called out in my mind, another perk of being a wolf, my pack could communicate via a mind link. ''Stay calm!''

''Oh,'' Tiane stuttered, turning pink. ''Sorry, sorry.''

I tried to act normal, but my wolf was growling and scratching inside my head. I faked a smile and handed her books back, my hands shaking slightly.

''Don’t stress.'' I shrugged, taking a deep breath, somehow Noahs scent made my wolf retreat to the back of my mind and I calmed down once more, what the f*ck?

''And I’m Mina.''

''It’s nice to meet you.'' Tiane said and shook my hand.

''You two,'' I lied, ''Although next time you want me to hold your books you could ask rather than throw them at me.''

Tiane laughed and relaxed slightly and so did I. Her laughter seemed to put me at ease. How odd.

I saw my mom relax into her chair again. ''You ok?''

I nodded a response, I refused to talk through the link.

I could see my mom looking at me proudly. She thought I’d calmed myself down on my own, but I hadn’t, it was Noah’s scent. I was so confused, how could a human's scent make my wolf retreat. What was he?

''You’re new here?'' She said as the Dean began to speak.

''So are you?'' I said in confusion. I was only half paying attention to her.

Tiane laughed again. ''Yeah, I guess I am, but I meant to the town.''

''Oh,'' I said, shifting uncomfortably in my seat, ''Yeah, I am. We moved here from Australia. My mom’s a professor here.''

I gestured to Anna, who was now whispering with the same man as before. She had a slight blush to her cheeks as she looked at him.

''That’s my dad she’s speaking too.'' Tiane said, ''Your mother must be Anna, they used to know each other when they were young. He said she was coming back and was all excited because she used to be his girlfriend.''

''Girlfriend?'' I said in shock. My mom looked at me and blushed more before turning back to T’s dad.

Mum hadn’t mentioned him. Although she was good at keeping secrets, she had kept me in the dark for eighteen years about what I was, even going so far as to suppress my magic. She was still suppressing Anthony’s, until she thought he was ready.

I glared at her in frustration. For the past few months, I had kept feeling waves of hatred for her, followed by waves of guilt, and understanding, and then hatred again. I couldn’t decide upon a particular feeling, right now the hate was back.

''Didn’t you know?'' Tiane spoke in a hushed voice.

''What?'' I said in confusion. I’d forgotten what we’d been talking about.

Tiane looked at me in amusement, ''About our parents.''

''Oh, no, I didn’t.'' I shook my head as I spoke.

''Well, my dad’s been looking forward to seeing her ever since he found out she was coming home.'' Tiane giggled, ''He’s the mythology teacher here.''

''I’m taking that class.'' I told her conversationally, it was my aunt’s idea, she had insisted that I learn about these things.

FLASHBACK

''You're apart of the mythical world now, Mina.'' Kathy had said two days after we moved in, ''It’s best that you learn as much as you can.''

END OF FLASHBACK

I had never been interested in these kinds of things. Vampires and fairies belonged in kid’s stories, but it was a little different now that I knew I was a hybrid Lycan witch.

''Me too.'' Said happily and completely oblivious to my distraction. ''What else are you taking?''

We chatted over the next half an hour about classes and majors, it was easy to speak to Tiane, and despite the fact that I dodged any questions Tiane asked about me or my family, I knew that we would be good friends.

''Well, I can ask Allen if he’s got any vacancies.'' Tiane said as we left orientation to head to our first lecture.

I had explained about needing a car and how I was going to look for a job.

It turned out Tiane knew everybody in the town and what everyone was up to. She said that no one was looking for workers but that she worked at a café in the next town over and that they might need help.

''Thanks T.'' I said appreciatively as we entered their first class.

By sheer luck, we had nearly all the same classes except for track and science. Tiane preferred to do photography and drama instead of sport and chemicals.