Thelma’s POV
There was the sound of the drums again and howling. Simon and other council members bowed their heads. I blushed over the introduction gesture. It was spectacular. I looked over at the Prefect, she was dressed in a black outfit just like Cynthia except that she had a black feather attached loosely to her hair. I believed the feather was a mark of status or something like that. My gaze fell upon my Alpha, who stood watching from behind. His smile was really captivating and it lifted my mood, graced it with happiness to an extent. I walked into the middle of the line made using the colour red. All the members of the council stood in a U-shaped stance while I stood in the middle alone. Others who aren’t members of the twelve stood outside the line, watching. I couldn’t find the drummers nor could I identify where the howling came from.
I guessed that the people drumming were close but doesn’t want to be seen.
“Packizens of the Blood moon, today marks a very important day in our history,” The Prefect said, her tone more sweet and refined. “It is the first day the pack would have a Luna of their own. Today would mark the day we all get to meet our mother and also get to know her. Today would mark the day we’ll have a new citizen in our midst and not just an ordinary citizen but one that is very important for the prosperity of our pack. I hereby present to you all, Thelma the daughter of Alpha Richards and the Luna of Alpha Drake Butcher, our own Alpha.”
There was a resounding howl again and chants from nearby, the members of the twelve joined in too. “In honour of this rare event, we will all call upon our wolves and return to the creature the moon goddess had made us be. We’ll all run on fours from here to the summit. We will do this individually and unaided as well. No help will be coming and in no circumstances should one be offered to the Luna. No one should interrupt anyone and no one should support anyone. Everyone to their tent. These are the rules. Failure to adhere to these circumstances would attract severe punishment, none ever witnessed before,” the Prefect said, her melodious voice echoing around perfectly for everyone to hear it properly. “On this note, I declare a work-free day for everyone the next day.” Chants came but didn’t last long. Slowly, it began to be replaced with howls. I looked, everyone had turned into their wolves. My eyes were particularly focused on my Alpha as he turned. He turned to a creature of beautiful gray luster, huge and well-muscled. I enjoyed the ecstatic view of his stature and the gray hairs that filled his rich skin. I gaped for a moment watching him howl. He settled his eyes on me, but this time they were looking pure green. I mean it was shining beautifully as though his eyes had been converted into a small torchlight used for seeing in the dark. Gosh. He was so fucking attractive. He drifted away with speed and his Beta, a gray wolf too but lighter in colour followed him up immediately.
If I understood correctly what the Prefect said about getting to the submit, she meant that I would need to find the summit myself. She didn’t mention where it was, to begin with. That might be part of the test too, I thought. At least, she didn’t make the time a key factor in the race anyway. Because if she had done so, then I would be devastated. I barely had enough energy to walk let alone run- though the full moon changed things a little to my advantage.
I inhaled a deep, long breath. I called upon my wolf, Brenna. I tried to turn but met an unseen resistance; a pulling force, like a string drawing me back, gauging me not to move. I tried again but it was the same result. Holy shit. I had never experienced this before. Now I knew Audrey had done something to me. I shouldn’t have taken that whiskey. I shouldn’t have tried to act tough. That was a great glimmer of foolishness I had displayed back there, I thought. She outsmarted me. But on the other hand, I couldn’t afford to fail. There was a lot involved. This had gone beyond my circle of influence. Today was supposed to be historical. The type of person the pack would see in me would be dependent on the action I would put out- in whichever case depends on the run.
I had the presence of mind to call upon my will again, putting up all effort I could muster. I inhaled once more, lifting my head to the sky, drawing energy from the moon, tightening my eyes. At last, I hit that spot somewhere, very close to my heart. It struck me, I noticed it. I knew it was there so I used it to my advantage. I turned into my wolf. I had already wasted a lot of time and there wasn’t much luxury of that left anyway. I picked up a race. I wasn’t sure if the Prefect thought that I would find it difficult to find the submit. If she did, then she was mistaken. I had already figured out a way to find it myself. I followed the Alpha’s fresh scent, it was still fresh, still new, still sexy. As I followed his scent, it got lonelier at a point and also very dark. I didn’t give a damn because I could still see even under that dark hue condition. Since it could be managed, I tried to run without stopping, enjoying every bit of fresh air that caressed the night.
But then, something hit me, shoved me on my shoulder, and raked in sharpened claws on my neck. It was painful. I lost my balance and found myself tumbling and rolling hard on the ground. For some few seconds, I couldn’t see what hit me. In fact, I couldn’t even see clearly but I sure as hell knew that what had just attacked me was something dangerous and it ran toward me with feral speed. I snarled and managed to stand up on my four feet. I spun around just about in time to meet a pure white wolf, dangerous teeth bared, furs standing disturbingly, fangs clustered on the floor. The white wolf ran toward my direction to launch in the second hit. I managed to roll on the floor but wasn’t very quick like my attacker. The fangs on the creature’s forelimbs scratched me on the back and I felt the pain instantly. I screeched and howled on the floor. I had used and burned more energy dodging the attacks than I thought would be necessary. I wished my attacker would be so kind to give me maybe one or perhaps two minutes to regain a little strength. But from what I had seen so far, it wasn’t practical at the moment.
I stood up immediately on my feet and faced my attacker. I wouldn’t want to be jumped on while still lying on the floor. I studied the pure white wolf in front of me, beasty eyes were settled on my face, long claws scratched the soft ground, tilling them out. I carefully took another quick glance at the creature. Another attack had almost been unleashed when I knew that the creature before me was Audrey.
“Audrey!” I snarled. She stopped in her tracks, popping out sand from the ground as she forced herself to stop. She regarded me for a while before we began communicating in our wolf voice.
“Think I told you,” she said. “Get out when you still can.”
“Maybe I’d forgotten you mentioned that,” I told her in-between hot breaths.
“Then you might be suffering from a brazen memory loss.”
I smiled inwardly. “So you poisoned the drink you gave me?”
“I am surprised you survived it.”
I would have laughed if I could. “Why? Why did you do it?” I asked. She was slowly circling me so I thought it would be wise if I did the same.
“Because I didn’t want it to get to this level it had gotten to. There wouldn’t be a need for this fight if you had just taken the drink and died peacefully. Didn’t know you were this smart.”
I growled and almost roared. This woman had a lot of gut. No shame. She didn’t even hide her intent and this was what made me mad. “You could have poisoned me even when I had done nothing wrong to you.”
“Not to me,” she said. “But to my adopted daughter, Bridget. I thought you were smart enough to have known that part too.”
“But it shouldn’t be enough reason for such a thoughtless action.”
She growled in protest and bared her teeth. “You are not a mother, so you shouldn’t have known how difficult it must be for a mother to see her child cry over a useless bitch.”
“No,” I said. “If you were truly a mother, you wouldn’t want to poison another woman’s daughter over something that it isn’t her fault. Alpha Drake and I love each other and I don’t see how that should be a problem for anyone, not even your daughter or you.” I wish we could keep talking, I was buying time to heal, to regain my breath. “Moreover, you just said that she was adopted. Therefore it means that she isn’t even your biological daughter.”
She got mad and screeched in protest. Maybe what I had just told her made her extremely mad or something, I thought. She placed her paw on the floor and rushed toward my direction, howling. I rolled on the floor and she jumped over me. Audrey didn’t know that I have had training too and it wasn’t part of my plan to go down without putting up a fight. She flipped her neck and rolled her red eyes on me, angry. She picked up another hot chase in my direction but this time, I didn’t wait for her to attack me, I went for it too. She approached me and jumped on me but I rolled on the floor and raised my claws, digging them deep under her stomach. She landed on her chest, dust billowing from the point of the intersection. I didn’t wait for her to regain her strength or to stand up. I moved in her direction, lodged in a thunderous blow on her head using my left paw. I watched her as she smashed her head on a stone stuffed inside the ground. She screeched again and screamed in pain. I had gotten her pretty bad and I knew it. I might as well had cracked her skull.
In between heavy panting, I managed to say, “You would have gotten out while you still can.” I borrowed from her words. “You wouldn’t have been under this pitiable condition, Mrs. Audrey.”
She changed back to her human form. She lay naked on the floor, her angry gaze on me. She began to giggle which I think she was using to cover up the writhing she was passing through. I changed back too, my body too heavy for my legs to carry. “You don’t understand how difficult it is to bear a child. Do you?” she said, breathing heavily. “Long time ago, the only mate who I thought would be by my side forever rejected me, leaving me nothing but hopelessness. I waited for years for another but the right person never came, so I adopted Bridget as at the time, and she became my all and all.” The giggling stopped and was gradually replaced by a soft sob. I pitied her. “She became my priority. I promised myself that there is nothing I would ever do for her. I promised myself that no child of mine will ever face rejection. It can never happen.”
My mood swung and I instantly became angry with myself for attacking her. Now I knew why she attacked me. I knew my father would never do something like that for me. For her to fight for Bridget even to the point of death showed she loved her. I didn’t stand to think of what I was going to do, I decided to walk closer to her and wipe away her tears. Having done so, I crouched down to her level and tried to hug her. I did, but then, I felt something dipped inside my stomach and then pierced my left rib cage. I screamed and dangled away from her, falling on the floor. I looked at her, she had used her long claws to pierce through my stomach. I cried and immediately closed the point where blood was gushing out with my hands. She laughed horribly at me, her action making me mad.
“You are weak,” she said. “This is another reason why you shouldn’t be with the Alpha. Bridget suits him more because she is stronger and can carry the responsibilities of the Luna herself.” She stood up, limping. She began to lean forward to me.
“The problem with people like you is, you do confuse meekness for weakness. You consider yourself a strong fellow while you are not. You are only blinded by hate and ignorance,” said.
I managed to stand up on my feet, my right hand firmly pressed on my stomach. It was so damn painful to walk around that moment. But I tried. I began to walk toward her, increasing my speed as I moved. I knew I couldn’t do much to her in my human form so I decided to change. I turned immediately into my wolf and jumped on her, baring all my teeth. I let my teeth sink inside her neck and then guzzled in her blood inside my mouth. She screamed and tried to push me away from her. I guess I was heavier than she thought I was. I didn’t allow her to get me off. My bite deepened until I felt her body no longer moving. I finally let her go, stood up, and found her breathless body lying in a pool of her own blood. I changed back and then fell back on the floor. I was panting and gushing out blood too. The only difference between my attacker and me was that I was the one breathing while she was the one dead. But the way I was gushing out blood, my rational mind told me that I was going to join her soon if care wasn’t taken. I was already losing too much blood. I lay flat on the floor and began to study the full moon. I wasn’t thinking, I wasn’t doing anything. I was just staring thoughtlessly at the sky. I didn’t know how long I stayed on the ground but I thought I heard loud footsteps and noises. I failed to take note of where the noises were coming from because the moon was too sweet to look at, too interesting to look away from.