The Magic of the Full Moon

Chapter 1

Birthdays. Why did they have to be so important? Everything revolved around how old you are, not whether you are ready for things to happen. Those thoughts kept rolling around in Amelia Emery’s head as she lay in bed. It was her eighteenth birthday, and much to her annoyance, she was awake before the sun had even considered rising.

“Whyyyy? Why am I awake?” Amelia groaned. “All I wanted was to sleep in on my birthday? That’s all I ever ask for, yet here I am awake.”

Amelia tossed the covers off her with a growl. As she got out of bed, she looked around the room to see if Blueberry was there, but she did not see him. She sighed as she left her room and went downstairs to the kitchen. Maybe a snack would help her go back to sleep.

When Amelia flipped on the kitchen light, she startled Blueberry, who was on the kitchen island eating a bunch of grapes he had stolen from the fruit bowl. That made the little dragon shriek, scaring Amelia and making her scream. The sudden fright made Amelia’s wolf, Lily, come forward and snarl, which made Blue skitter backward and fall off the counter as he continued to shriek.

“What is going on in here? Are you alright?” Tyson demanded as he came in with Olivia on his heels.

“I’m sorry,” Amelia sighed. “I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I came down to get a snack. When I turned on the light, it scared Blue, who was eating grapes on the counter. He shrieked, which scared me. I screamed, then Lily came forward, and that just went back and forth until he fell off the island, and you came in.”

“What in blazes did that little troublemaking dragon do this time?” Lucy grumbled as she entered the kitchen from her room at the back of the house.

“He was stealing grapes, and when the birthday girl came down for a snack because she couldn’t sleep, they scared the living daylights out of each other,” Olivia laughed as Blueberry shamelessly flapped his way back onto the island to continue his feast.

“Sounds perfectly normal for this house,” Lucy said as she shook her head. “What would you like for breakfast, Lia? It’s your birthday, so you get to pick.”

“I don’t know. I was just coming down to look for something to snack on. I hadn’t thought that far ahead,” Amelia shrugged.

“Well then, how about I make a breakfast buffet with a mix of your favorite things? We can have bacon, sausage, chicken fried steak, eggs, hashbrowns, gravy, biscuits, and triple chocolate chip muffins,” Lucy grinned. “I’ll start getting everything ready, and then I will call over to Nick and Emma's house and have them come and help. They both offered to help cook while they’re here. Until then, let’s find you a snack so maybe you can go back to sleep for a little while.”

“What is all the yelling about?” Logan, Amelia’s younger brother, grumbled as their little sister, Everly, followed him into the kitchen while yawning.

“I came down to get a snack, and Blueberry started it,” Amelia told him.

“That explains it,” Logan laughed as he sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen island, picked up an apple from the fruit bowl, and pointed at it. “Look at that! The little thief took a bite out of almost everything in the bowl. He is like a little kid who licks something to claim it as theirs.”

“That is why no one eats any of the fruit in that bowl. He has always done that,” Olivia shrugged.

“Wait…what? I eat the fruit in this bowl all the time. Why didn’t someone tell me?” Logan questioned.

“Son,” Tyson sighed as he rubbed his hand down over his face. “Last week, I watched you drop a slice of pizza on the ground, pick it up, then pick dirt off it before you ate it. If that didn’t make you sick, eating a piece of fruit that Blue has bitten won’t either.”

“It was the last slice, and I was still hungry!” Logan defended. “And that’s not the point. I don’t want to swap spit with him.”

Everly began picking through the fruit bowl and said, “Why are you so upset about it? It is way less spit than what you swapped with that girl you were kissing last night.”

“What, girl?” Olivia asked.

At the same time, Tyson asked, “Kissing?”

“Thanks, Everly,” Logan said, glaring at his sister before he turned to his parents. “Her name is Megan. She is a werewolf in the pack. We have known each other for years. We did kiss, and that was the only thing we did.”

“The same Megan who volunteers at the daycare when she doesn’t have school?” Olivia asked.

Logan answered, “Yes.”

“Oh, OK. She’s nice. Why are you upset that we found out?” Tyson asked.

“Because we are both seventeen. I don’t know if she’s my mate, and she is not a dragon. I’m only half-dragon as it is. If I take over Obisian, how would that work if she did turn out to be my mate?” Logan asked his father.

“It would work because you are the rightful heir to the clan. When I announced your mom as my mate, not a single resident of Obsidian said anything against it. They were happy I found her. Who knows, your mate might not be a werewolf or a dragon. You carry the same fairy magic as your mom and sisters, thanks to an ancestor from long ago. What if your mate is a fairy, a witch, or even a human? You will take over the Obsidian Clan no matter who or what your mate is if that is what you want,” Tyson told his children.

“Really?” Logan asked.

Olivia laughed, “Yes, really. We love you three with all our hearts. Our top priorities in life are that you are healthy and happy. If you want, you will have places in the Clan and at Emery Technologies. If you don't want that, we will support you with whatever you are led to do in life.”

“So when I formally refuse to be the Alpha of the Dark Moon Pack, you won’t be mad?” Amelia asked her parents.

“Never. We have already spoken with Nick. We all know how you feel about it, and we all expected that you would refuse the title. We are all on your side. Nick’s parents will be angry but have no say, so they will have to get over it,” Tyson told her.

Amelia lunged into her father’s arms as he enveloped her in a bear hug. Worrying about how they would take her refusing to be the Alpha, was one of the reasons she had awoken so early. She could feel her dad pulling her mom into the hug with them and her mom’s arm wrap around her in the group hug. That assurance was what she needed.

“Thank you,” Amelia said as Tyson released them. “I have never wanted that pack. It has never been home, and as I got older, I could tell that they all looked at me differently. I was afraid I would disappoint everyone when I said that today.”

“Not at all. What would disappoint us is if you took over the pack and were miserable because of it,” Olivia told her as she smoothed her daughter's hair.

“What if Ethan and Gwen make a scene?” Amelia questioned.

Logan smirked at Amelia and gently nudged Everly in the ribs. “Well, since the entire family will be there, I’m pretty sure we can handle them even if they try to cause a scene, can’t we, Sis?”

“Oh, yeah. I bet we can even get Blueberry and the other fey dragons in the clan to help,” Everly grinned.

Lucy began to chuckle from where she was mixing muffins, “I can just see that. It would be like that Alfred Hitchcock movie, only instead of birds, there would be fey dragons. Can you imagine a couple hundred of them screeching and spitting little fireballs at those two holier-than-thou wolves? I would almost pay to see that?”

That mental image made everyone in the kitchen laugh to the point they were wiping away tears and gasping for breath. Blueberry had even seemed to cackle at the idea. When the laughter died down, Lucy could finally ask an important question.

“Alright, Amelia, you came down here for a snack. Do you still want one?” Lucy asked.

“Yes, and from my brother’s disappointment about the apple, I think we all need one,” she answered.

“In that case, how would you all like chips and dip? You will find a nice assortment of all your favorites if you check the pantry. There are tortilla chips, assorted potato chips, cheese sauce, salsa, and there is French onion dip in the refrigerator. Help yourselves,” Lucy told them as she filled some muffin pans.

“Perfect!” Everly squealed as she ran past Lucy to the pantry. “Mom, Dad, do you want any?”

“I will take some plain potato chips as long as they are good and salty,” her mom called to her daughter while smiling at Tyson. “And I know your dad won’t turn down tortilla chips and the hottest, spiciest salsa in the panty.”

“I’ll help you, Ev,” Logan offered.

He hopped off the stool and hurried to the pantry to help his little sister gather everything for their morning munchies. Their arms were loaded when they stepped back into the kitchen. Everly paused to get a container of French onion dip for Amelia before unloading her arms on the island, forcing Blueberry to scoot over.

“Thank you,” Amelia said as she took a bag of chips and the tub of dip from her sister. “I doubt any of us will go back to sleep, so what do you want to do?”

Tyson grinned, “I am old, so your mother and I are going to take our goodies back to our room, where we will eat and then take a nap. The rest of you enjoy yourselves. Logan and Everly help Lucy if she needs it. Amelia, Happy Birthday, baby girl. You are to rest, relax, and let the rest of us dote on you today. Got it?”

“Got it,” his children replied in unison.

“Lucy, if you need help, you have two right here who can help and a third to distract Blue,” Olivia giggled.

“I relieve the children of their kitchen duties as long as they take that meddlesome little dragon with them. I will call Nick and Emma in a few minutes since they have already volunteered,” Lucy told her.

“That works for us,” Logan replied as he helped Everly and Amelia gather their food. Amelia then picked up Blue and perched him on her shoulder to keep him from tripping anyone. Logan bellowed, “To the living room! We have movies to watch!”