The Moon Goddess

Chapter Five

I didn’t know what I was doing. I should have been home, cleaning up my mess before my mother realized what I had done. She has been stricter now that my father was sick. Especially with me. I was the next-in-line Alpha, after all.

I had been cleaning the mess in the backyard after the all-nighter my friends and I had put together. It didn’t matter that it hadn’t been during the weekend, most of my friends were my age and they didn’t have early classes at their universities. Neither did I.

Even though we weren’t humans, we still studied at least until college. We still needed to be educated to lead the pack and when you lived in a small town, you needed to work so that others wouldn’t be suspicious of how you managed to live.

My father’s family had been an important asset to society, that is until my father married my mother and had me. After that, my parents distanced themselves from his family, apparently, they didn’t know about our secret.

They died without knowing about my existence, I had never met them. It was agreed that no human should ever know about our existence. Since werewolves were born, not made, there was no point in telling them about us. Not to mention that things were tense right now because of the war.

Thankfully, our pack wasn’t obliged to go. As if naturally, humans avoided us every chance they could. As if they felt intimidated by our presence. I didn’t mind, I liked the way things were and humans would only endanger us.

When I was a pup, my mother made sure to tell me the story of her journey to find an ancient witch called Morgan, and how she, along with my aunt and her closest friends, defeated the hunters who wanted to end us.

At first, I had thought it was made up but somehow, Queen Katherine showed me a vision by just touching my forehead. Since then, I had a newfound respect for my parents and my family. I was lucky to have been born in a pack that was stable and thriving. Yes, I enjoyed fooling around and be irresponsible, but I had no regrets.

My eyes widened when I realized I had walked deep into the woods; I was almost at the end of the Silver Moon Pack territory. My wolf kept on rumbling and I couldn’t understand why, his attention was directed at the path before us.

He was following something I couldn’t see. All I felt was jittery, I couldn’t understand what was happening nor why my wolf was adamant about going on without responding my questions.

My steps were careful and silent as I hurried through the woods, the sun was beginning to get lost behind the branches and I couldn’t help but look up. This was definitely not a part of the forest I had ever seen.

Suddenly, I heard a growl. It resonated from a great distance, but I was able to pick it up. It didn’t belong to anyone from my pack. We weren’t supposed to shift out of our territory. That meant, whoever this wolf was, was packless. And by the sound of it, he had probably found his next meal.

I considered shrugging it off and leaving the rouge alone but as soon as I felt waves of fear and panic roll of someone in the forest, my wolf took over and there was nothing I could do to stop him.

He lunged us forward and shifted in mid-air, not giving me a chance to take off my clothes. He didn’t seem to mind, he just rushed through the forest, wanting to get to the source of the fear. I had never run so fast in my life and I was too busy being amazed to question why my wolf was acting so strange.

Without a warning, he stopped abruptly, almost making us trip. We were hiding in the shadows, watching the scene in front of us from afar. My eyes widened when I saw a skinny, but big, wolf snarling at a young girl. I couldn’t see her face, but I could tell she was frightened.

My muscles began to stiffen as I saw the scrawny brown wolf begin to walk forward. Now that I was here, I wasn’t going to let an innocent girl die, not when I could stop it. I cursed myself internally for what I was about to do. My mother would kill me if she found out I had exposed myself in wolf form in front of a human.

But I had to do something, and my heart wasn’t going to let me walk away.

Without thinking twice, I growled menacingly and walked out of the darkness. I could see the girl’s back stiffen and she froze midway into taking a step back.

The rouge in front of her snarled back but I could tell it was beginning to doubt its next move. I was much bigger and healthy; he would die trying to fight for a meal. By the way, he stood uneasily, I could tell he wasn’t a high-ranked wolf either. My rank was higher, and I was glad, I wanted to avoid as much blood loss as I could.

So instead, I let out a growl and stood my ground as I stared at the wolf intently. My heavy gaze pierced into him and he began to wince as he felt my power rolling off me in waves. He didn’t want to submit, he was fighting it, but I was not backing down.

The seconds seemed to go by in slow motion. The brown wolf looked from me to the girl in front of me, debating on whether or not it was a good idea to be here any longer.

Finally, he submitted and quickly scattered back into the forest from where he had emerged. My muscles relaxed and I began to retreat into the darkness when I noticed the girl eyeing me with shock and amazement on her face. I froze and cursed at myself for not getting out of there fast enough.

But as soon as my eyes met the girl’s I knew there was no walking away. Somehow, someway, the human standing in front of me was my mate. I was sure of it. By the way, I could feel my heart accelerate, by the way every inch of my body came to life as electricity cursed through me, by the way I knew I would never forget her. Her light blue eyes, her long, wavy blonde hair that was scattered along her back. She was perfect. Gorgeous.

A mate. I never imagined I would find her like this, much less that she would be a human. Could humans feel the bond? I must be imagining things she cannot be my mate. No, that’s mad, I haven’t found my mate. And I am in no hurry on finding her, my mind echoed all of these thoughts in my mind as I tried to make sense of what was happening. I didn’t know if I wanted a mate, not yet. I was still young, and I didn’t know if I was ready.

But I knew how much mates meant to werewolves; I had seen it in my parents. How they acted as if they were in sync, the way they understood each other completely.

I gulped as doubt began to fill me. As I looked at the young woman who was staring at me, I suddenly felt small and vulnerable. How would I explain all this to her? Would she even understand? I didn’t know what would happen if she rejected me.

She wasn’t a werewolf and to humans, mates were only things out of fairytales. While the wariness was eating me alive, my wolf took over and began heading towards the stranger. To him, things were simple, she was his mate, our mate, and all he wanted to do was claim her and protect her from harm.

Before I could regain control, the girl whimpered and stepped back, her eyes wide. I could read the fear inside of them but somewhere in there was also something else. Intrigue, curiosity, amazement, I didn’t know. All I knew was that I wanted an opportunity to get to know her. There had to be a reason as to why the Moon Goddess had placed her in my path.

I was still lost in thought that I hadn’t realized my wolf was already close enough to touch her hand. Her body had stiffened visibly, and she was no longer breathing. My wolf let out a small whine before worry began to fill us and I growled at her, hoping it would make her react.

To my surprise, she did, but her body started to tremble, and I could smell the worry rolling off her in waves of discomfort. I was about to place my snout against her hand when I thought better of it. This wouldn’t do, I would have to ease her into the truth.

I sighed in defeat as I took control and pulled my wolf back. He growled at me inside my head and tried to restrain us in place, but I was adamant, and finally, he gave in. We walked back towards the tree line.

“Wait,” I heard the girl whisper behind me. I stiffened as I stopped in place, in that moment I realized I would do anything she asked of me and if she wanted me to stay, so be it.

Goddamit, I whispered in my mind as I slowly turned around to look at the girl. Her eyes were wide and the expression on her face was beyond terrified. She couldn’t quite comprehend why she asked me to stay. That much was clear.

She opened her mouth to say something but quickly closed it as she shook her head. “You’ve really lost it, Evangeline. Wolves can’t understand humans so why would you even bother to talk to one?” I heard her murmur to herself and I chuckled. The chuckle came out as a huff and I saw my mate stiffen and her eyes widen.

Disbelief was written all over her face. She slowly took a step back and without thinking twice, I walked forward and touched my snout to her hand. I noticed the shivers that ran over her body as I felt my own body vibrate in delight. It was the mate bond; I was sure of it. I had never felt something as intense before.

When she opened her eyes again after I stepped back and let the shivers subside, she turned to look at me and opened her mouth, but no words came out. We stared at each other for a couple of moments, time was relative when I got lost in her eyes, I could spend the whole day, even my whole life looking into them with amazement.

Suddenly, my mate winced and quickly put her hands on her forehead, I could see the pain evident on her face. Something was wrong. My wolf started to wince and growl, he didn’t know what was happening nor could he see where the danger was coming from. All we knew was that our mate wasn’t well and that worried us.

When the pain didn’t subside, my wolf became even more restless and I was about to shift in front of her but stopped myself only mere seconds before I tried. If I shifted now, it might make things worse and she wouldn’t probably want to get close to me.

So I stood my ground and waited for her to get better. Slowly, I began to take a couple of steps back and I noticed that her pain was starting to dissipate. My eyes widened and I took wider steps back until I was close to the tree line.

It was then when she straightened. She looked confused and startled, but at least she was okay now. I let out a sigh of relief and our eyes met for a moment. She titled her head to the side like a curious pup and smiled slightly.

Without a warning, her eyes rolled to the back of her head as her head titled back. She let out a gasp and then she was falling. I didn’t hesitate this time, I shifted quicker than I ever shifted and caught her just in time before her head hit the ground.

The sparks were easy to feel even if our skin wasn’t touching. I tried to ignore the tingles that filled me and focused on finding the source of her condition. But there was nothing. And my wolf was growing more and more restless by the second, the only thing keeping him at bay was the evident rise and fall of her chest as she breathed in.

We need to get her to my mother; I told my wolf and he quickly growled and shook his head. He knew that once we took her with us, there was no going back, she would know the truth abruptly and I wouldn’t be able to ease her into the truth.

It’s the only way, she’ll know what to do. I urged and my wolf finally sighed in defeat and nodded his head.

Gently, I took my mate in my arms and lifted her off the ground before leading her towards the tree line. I didn’t want to shift and accidentally drop her, so I decided to head home on foot.

Thankfully. I found my clothes quickly and put them on before continuing towards my pack. I was hurrying through the forest as many scenarios began to pop into my mind. It was all too much to take in, the pressure, the mate bond, my mother’s and pack’s inevitable reaction, the meaning behind my connection to this human.

Did that make me some sort of weak alpha? I asked myself but quickly shook the doubt away. I couldn’t think about that now, especially not when I was almost at my house.

Without a warning, I quickly burst into the two-story home and called out my mother. The desperation in my voice was probably what made her react so quickly, she was by my side in a second. She was eyeing the girl cautiously and by the expression on her face, I could tell she had already realized we weren’t dealing with a werewolf.

“Abraham, what happened? Why did you bring this girl here? Who is she? Why didn’t you take her to the hospital?” she asked quickly, her voice filled with authority, but I could hear the worry behind her words as she examined my mate closely before leading us into the living room and ordering me to place her down on the couch.

I did what I was told and stepped aside slightly so that my mother could work. Even though she wasn’t a doctor, she was a good healer, most of the pack came to her in aid when there was something to fix, which was why my siblings and I teased her and called her the pack doctor.

“Abraham, answer me,” my mother said after a couple of moments as she turned to look at me. Her eyes were filled with mixed emotions, she didn’t know if she should be more worried or angry about having a human here.

“I will explain everything later, mother. Just help her, please,” the desperation in my voice was clear and my unwavering eyes must have held the same level of worry because my mother didn’t pressure me and continued examining my mate.

“Mother, what is happening?” my younger brother asked as he popped his small head into the room. He was the youngest of the three, he already was 10 years old, but he still acted like a pup.

Our mother quickly raised her head and shook her head, “Not now Justin, go to your room and don’t come out until I say so.” My little brother’s eyes widened but he quickly ran out.

I could hear his rushed footsteps on the stairs as he ran to his room and quickly slammed the door shut after him. I flinched but my mother didn’t say anything, under normal circumstances she would probably scold him for being so rude but right now her attention was on something greater.

I had never felt so useless in my life, my mother didn’t seem to want my help and all I could do to keep from pacing was to keep my leg bouncing as if I were nervous. Which in fact, I was. From the corner of her eye, my mother glared at me but didn’t say anything. She kept on working with her herbs, ripping various of them apart and smashing them into a paste before placing them on different parts of my mate’s body. Then she took out a liquid that was in an amber bottle and dropped a few drops into the girl’s lips.

After a couple of minutes, she stopped what she was doing and straightened her back before sighing and looking at me. “What? Is she okay?” I quickly whispered. My heart was moving erratically in my chest.

“This is all I could do for her. The only thing we can do is wait,” she said with a shrug before turning her body to face me. I quickly stiffened, knowing what was going to come next. “Now, please explain what happened, son.”

I opened my mouth to respond when just then, there was a knock on the door. I could hear someone rush to open it and from the corner of my eye, I saw my little sister at the door. “Cole?” she asked in surprise and confusion.

Our cousin didn’t respond, he just rushed inside, looking around frantically. “Where is she?”

And then, my wolf lost it and before I had the chance to hold him back, he was already charging at Cole.