What I saw made me freak out.
“Good morning,” Flora smiled at me, a cloud of light green swirling around her head.
I blinked three times but it was still there.
“Are you okay?” She asked.
“Y-Yes, totally okay.” I said quickly and followed her into the tiny kitchen. Even and Law were sitting at the square table, both eating omelettes but not talking.
They had colorful mist surrounding them, too.
I widened my eyes and couldn’t help but stare at them.
Even’s mist was colored royal blue while Law’s was a vibrant red.
I was definitely going crazy. . .
“Hazel?” Apparently, Even had been saying my name for a few seconds but I hadn’t been listening.
“Sorry, what?” I blinked, avoiding their gazes.
“You just look dazed. Everything okay?” Even said and all eyes were on me as I cleared my throat.
“Yeah.”
Just keep it in. Don’t say anything. They’ll think I’m crazy. Or making it up.
“What’s for breakfast? Omelettes?” I took a plate off the table and walked over to the stove.
“Help yourself,” Flora added, “I also have orange juice if you want some.”
I was picking up my omelette with a spatula when someone knocked on the door. Everyone froze.
I wasn’t expecting anyone.
“It’s Beta Abigail, don’t worry.” Flora soothed and we all relaxed. She walked over to answer the door while I sat down, ready to enjoy my omelette and orange juice.
“I found this rogue on your territory.”
I stood up and snapped my head in the direction of the door.
“Mila? What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming?”
Her arms were forced behind her back and her throat looked red, no doubt he tried to strangle her.
“I changed my mind.” Mila’s eyes flashed amber.
Abigail frowned, “Do you know her?”
“Yes, now let her go,” I said and he instantly let her go. She hissed at him and walked into the barn.
“Sorry, Moon Goddess,” Abigail apologized and I nodded.
Then paused. Abigail’s cloud of color was a bluish-green, like a cyan sort of shade. Mila’s was a shade of dark scarlet.
I shook my head and sat down, hoping it would just go away. . .
. . . But it didn’t.
All of the different colors were making my head want to barf. It just wouldn’t go away, like it was permanently etched onto their heads whenever I looked at someone.
I escaped outside to clear my head and breathe in the fresh air.
Instead of finding peace, I found Law and Mila trying to kill each other.
Law was on top of Mila, choking her so violently that his knuckles were white. She bit his arm but he didn’t let go of her throat.
Furious, I ran over and tried to rip him off her.
“What are you doing?” I screamed and they both flinched.
“Can I go a minute without someone trying to strangle me?” Mila coughed with his hands still on her throat.
“She started it.” Law spat in her face and she spat in his.
“Leave. Her. Alone.” I commanded strongly.
Law blinked and actually got off her. Mila relaxed and quickly stood up.
“Wow, I can’t believe that worked.” I laughed smugly.
“Did you just use an Alpha command on me?” Law asked in shock and I just stood there.
What was an Alpha command?
Alpha’s use them to control other wolves, Mila said in my head.
“Yes.” I answered hesitantly, wondering if this command was a perk of my powers. I hoped it was.
“Well. . . Why?” He looked dumbstruck and I couldn’t fathom why he was so surprised.
“Because I can.”
Mila smirked, “You should use it on him more often.”
“Now, why were you two trying to kill each other?” I asked curiously.
“He lied to me.” She huffed.
“She’s the liar.” He muttered.
“What did he lie about?” I ignored him.
“He said you moved away.”
Law defended himself, “We don’t need her.”
“Shut up.” I turned to him and back to her. “Then why did you come back?”
She shrugged, “I had a feeling he was lying.” I’m happy she had that feeling and came back.
“You,” I rounded on Law, angry that he drove her away, “Why did you tell her I was moving away? How does that help anyone?”
“She’s a rogue, Hazel, and rogues aren’t really known to be friendly with other wolves.”
I bristled at the word rogue. Why did everyone have a problem with them? They weren’t drastically different from others.
“Well, I’m telling you, be nice.” I warned and Law snorted.
Both of them glared at each other before walking in opposite directions.
I spent the rest of the afternoon alone until I ran into Abigail. I didn’t know a lot about him, other than that he was the Beta, so I sat down on the grass next to him.
He looked pretty sad but when he saw me, he instantly changed his facial expression.
“Moon Goddess,” He actually stood up and bowed.
“You don’t have to bow,” I said sheepishly but he shook his head.
“I don’t mind.”
I usually wasn’t the one to initiate conversations because I was scared I’d say the wrong thing. But I found that I didn’t really care if I said something wrong.
“How do you know Flora? Do you visit her a lot?” I wondered how Abigail, Law and Even knew her. Even said wolves used her place as a safe house but did that mean Abigail needed somewhere safe, too?
“I’ve known Flora since we were pups. She used to live at the castle but when her parents died, she moved out here. This was her parents’ farm, they didn’t really like the pack life.” Abigail explained.
“She’s very nice.”
“Yeah, she is. I always wished she was my mate, my mate’s probably dead.” He hung his head, picking the grass from its roots. “I’m twenty-six and I still haven’t found her yet.”
I wanted to say he would but I didn’t want to give him false hope.
“Some wolves just don’t find their mates.” It was cruel but true.
“I love Flora.” He blurted and I widened my eyes at him. “She doesn’t know. I’m good at shielding my thoughts.”
“Why haven’t you told her?” And why was he telling me this? Did he think I could help?
“What if she finds her mate? What if I find my mate? It’s pointless to have a relationship when you know it’s going to end.” He sounded miserable and I felt bad.
“You never know. You could spend your whole life keeping it a secret but by then, it’d be too late and you’d be stuck wondering what could have been.” I explained.
“When did you get to be so wise?” Abigail grinned and I shrugged.
“It’s what I would do. Take a chance.” A year ago, I’d never see myself coming out of my shell. But life was short and things could change in seconds. I learned that in the last few months.
“Should we go back? Flora’s making pies.” Abigail suggested and we started heading back to the barn.
When I walked into the kitchen, I was so overwhelmed by all of the different colors swirling around people’s heads that I blinked rapidly.
“Do you have something in your eye or something?” Law asked.
“No.” I said too quickly.
“Then why are you acting weird?”
“I’m not. This is normal for me.” I said and seriously thought something was wrong with my brain. I didn’t hit it by accident, did I?
“Hazel, there’s nothing wrong with your head.” Law rolled his eyes. I stared at him, wondering how he knew that. Oh, shoot, could they hear my thoughts?
“You’re seeing auras, aren’t you?” Even gave me a small smile.
“The colors around your heads? How’d you know?” I asked, confused.
“We knew all along.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything? I thought I was going crazy!” I slapped Law on the arm and he swore.
“What the hell did you do that for? Hit him!” He gestured to Even.
“Because no one told me.” I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair. “How’d you know anyways?”
“It was in the legends, the Moon Goddess can see auras. It’s how she matches wolves.” Even shrugged. “And yes, we can hear your thoughts. You opened your mind to us, remember?”
“I heard those legends, too. My parents used to tell me stories about how their auras reflected their souls. It’s what made the pairs so successful.” Abigail added.
But what did their auras say about their souls?
We talked about the symbolism of auras until the pies were ready.
Flora cooked one big apple pie and we split it five ways. When I bit into it, it was the tastiest pie I’d ever had. It was warm and sweet and melted in my mouth. The golden crusts were the perfect balance between crunchy and soft.
After that delicious pie, we just sat at the table talking about other werewolf legends. Even told me the one about the first female Alpha.
A door slammed shut and everyone turned their heads to see Mila looking pissed off.
“So you’re serious about being the Moon Goddess,” Mila shook her head, “I thought you were going to hide out here forever.”
“Why would I want to do that? I have to go back sometime.” I couldn’t ditch my parents or miss my graduation.
“Are you sure you still want to do this? They’re going to kill you.” Mila said bitterly.
“It does sound dangerous,” Flora added.
I stared down at the tiny dots on the table.
“You don’t know what it’s like to be needed. I’d never been needed before so it feels good to hear someone say they’re happy to have met me.”
I remembered Law’s mom and how grateful she was to meet me. I wanted to be of use to someone, I wanted to be needed. That’s all I ever wanted.
“Becoming the Moon Goddess is my chance to be someone people can look up to. So I’ll do it,” I met their enthralled stares, “I’ll be their Moon Goddess.”
*****
“Do you really feel that way?”
“Ohmygod!” I dropped my suitcase on my toes and looked over my shoulder to glare at Even.
“Feel what way?” Why did he always pop up in the most unexpected of places?
“What you said at dinner, that you wanted to be needed.” He came closer and helped me pick up my suitcase into the kitchen.
“Oh, that,” I blushed sheepishly, “Yeah, I really feel that way. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m not like most teenagers.”
“Which makes you an anomaly.” Was that good?
“You can just put it in there, I have everything,” I gestured to the closet with the iron board in it and he set my suitcase down easily.
Wait, wasn’t he injured just a few days ago?
“Wow, you’re all healed.” I said in shock, the previous gashes on his skin all healed. There were no signs of him getting beaten up.
“Told you we healed quickly.” I reached out and touched his face, seeing if there were any scars, but his face was flawless.
“But it looked so. . . bad. You healed in two days.” I pointed out and he leaned into my touch.
Why was my heart racing?
I let my hand drop to my side, wondering what had gotten into me.
We were so close. . . yet so far.