*Audra*
Leaving the pack house a little late, I took a look in the mirror. It was going to be a crazy day. But at least it was the last day that we would have to hide who and what we were. When Manic and I took this job we had absolutely no intentions of befriending an 18-year-old kid. We were over 100 years old. We had pups older than her. Little did I know it would be so easy to treat her like one of my daughters and watch over her. She craved a mother figure and friends, so I decided to go beyond the scope of my mission. My Alpha wasn’t happy with me about this at first, but the King and Queen seemed appreciative, so he let it go.
I’m the Beta of the Moonchild Pack, one of the largest in Faerl. Our pack has always been considered the Royal Wolves of Faerl, loyal to the King and Queen and the representative of all Wolves. Each species had a representative. I was proud to be a Moonchild.
I didn’t quite understand everything when I started out. This girl seemed so ordinary and plain. She tried to blend in with everyone around her and she never did much to make herself obviously outstanding. She just wanted to be simple. Maybe she was shy or extremely smart, but it worked for her. I put a letter in my glovebox, taking a deep breath. It had been delivered last night by a Fae messenger. I was to deliver it to Elentari today, starting her journey to her parents. I had no idea how she was going to take all of this but there was no way to turn back now.
I pulled onto the college campus, music blaring. I knew Elentari would be in math class, so Manic should be coming to the parking lot any time now. I spotted him across the way and honked. “Hey there handsome, looking for a good time?” I teased him. He leaned in my window and kissed me deeply. I loved this vampire of mine.
“How is today going? Has she changed at all?” I inquired. We had no idea at what point before, during, or after her changes would kick in, so we were on high alert.
“Not yet, still short, cute, and gothic,” I growled a little. I didn’t like him referring to another female as cute. I pulled his collar and smashed my lips against his. “I’m the only cute woman for you. Got it?” He grinned, knowing he would provoke me into a kiss by saying that.
“You know you’re my one and only. Always and forever my sexy she-wolf.” He kissed me again, deeply and passionately. My arousal was starting to rise and I pushed him back. “Someone’s feeling frisky…” This man never stopped teasing me.
“You know I’m always frisky. Now onto business, my sexy man of the night. A letter arrived while you were out last night. It’s to be given to Elentari tonight to start her awakening. Word was sent to the Witch Council to start the protection spells just before midnight. That way they are ready and anyone who might be on the lookout for her won’t notice her awakening. At least that’s the hope.” I had been excited about, and dreading, this day for the last four years.
“She’s still going by Silk, so Serenity hasn’t spilled the beans yet. She got pulled into her zone when I left her. I took the note to our homeroom so they would know what was up. It’s so weird hiding everything from the strongest supernatural on this whole damn campus. She thinks she’s so insignificant, but she’s about to be thrown into a world where she’s the most important person that exists. I don’t know how she’s going to handle it.” We shared the same worries. Elentari wasn’t attention-seeking or the type to put herself out there needlessly. “Hey, by the way, where have you been? Or did you just want to skip the bullshit and only show up for food?” My husband knew me so well.
“Of course, I just showed up for food. Today is the last day of this bloody assignment and I'm going to enjoy it. I’m also going to relish the fact that I hope, I will get to be best friends with the Princess of the Kingdom. Beta Audra of the Moonchild Pack and Best Friend to Her Highness Princess Elentari Tirisil, Lunar Guardian. It’s got a ring to it.”
Manic shook his head at me, “Well, you better get going, I need to make myself scarce for a bit if I’m going to be able to shadow her for a bit. Want to make sure she’s safe.” I kissed him one last time after I got out of my car. “You’re gonna be the death of me, babe, you need to go and I do too.” I just wanted to taste his lips more. Working over time hasn’t left us much time to ourselves. With our youngest being ten years old and my heat coming less frequently, I was feeling the hit of what we call the barren depression when a she-wolf passes the age for optimal child birthing. Some didn’t get depressed, some did. I was the one that was getting it.
I pouted, my mood shifting. “Don’t worry love, you're due for heat next month, and we’re going to the doctor at the end of the week. There still might be one or two more tiny terrors of our own running around here soon.” We knew well in advance we were chosen for this task, so we were told when our last child was born that I needed to go on birth control as well as monitor my heat, since birth control didn’t work in heat. Ten years of not being allowed to conceive. It was excruciating. But we needed to make sure our pups could take care of themselves and we didn’t give away that we weren’t high school students, or at the very least college kids that were totally unmotivated. It was an honor to be chosen, but it came at a great personal sacrifice.
I made my way to the cafeteria and received bows from various were-beings, some from my pack, some not. The vampires respected me as well since I was fated to the great-nephew of the King’s brother. Distant blood, but still respected. Our children were wolvampen, just like the King of Faerl. I picked our normal seat and put down my bag. The food here rocked. I was beyond a bottomless pit the month before and the month after my heat, so I knew Manic was tracking my heat correctly. I piled up three plates of food, paid for them, and sat down pulling out my laptop. I worked through the pack documents I needed to while I waited for Elentari to show up after her finals. There were financial reports, rogue attack reports, population reports, requests for aid, and meeting requests. So much to do and so little time. I don’t know how I'll get it all done.
Cracking my knuckles and a burger in hand, I attack the paperwork for the next two hours, getting as much done as I possibly can. All three dishes are clean as can be and my stomach still rumbles. Fucking heat. I’m going to need to let Yessenica out for a run more than a few times a day this month to burn all these calories. ‘Financial reports, done. Aid requests were responded to. Meeting requests responding to and appropriately scheduled. Rogue attack reports, sent to Gamma. Record time’, I think to myself.
‘You might want to put all that away, I can feel Lucinda coming.’ Yessenica spoke up, feeling the daughter of the Moon mother fast approaching. I quickly packed my things up and grabbed another plate to make it look like I had just gotten there. Looking back towards the door, I took a deep breath. It’s showtime, gotta act natural and not like her entire world is about to change in the blink of an eye. I can do this. Right?
*Elentari*I got to class just before the professor closed the door and locked it. He was strict about being on time. I missed a test that way. If I had missed this one I would have failed. That would have been awful. Serenity came forward as soon as the test was in hand. I watched through my eyes as my body did things without prompting. She understood things so much more than I did. It was almost as if she had years and years of math behind her. Sometimes I still feel awkward about it though. The test was done and turned in and I made my way to my English class. I needed to go turn in my paper and I’d be free of that class too. On my way there, one of the hellspawn came into view. I disliked my step-siblings almost as much as they disliked me. I didn’t bother using their names to address them the majority of the time, normally just calling them hellspawn or the terror twins. I paid him no mind, but one of the shadows took over and nimbly moved me around him. He had tried to “accide
*Elentari* “What was that about?” I asked her. She shook her head and mumbled something about it not being her place to talk about it. I nodded, confused, but set to planning our menu for the final. We were in groups of 10 and made a full three-course meal. We chose a traditional Italian menu. The only thing I did that wasn’t purely Italian was a spinach salad with walnuts and poppy seed dressing. I can’t eat Italian dressing. I’ve never understood why. Minestrone Soup or salad for the first course, stuffed shells with sweet Italian sausage for the main course, and tiramisu for the dessert accompanied by a cup of espresso. This used to be one of our favorite meals to make as a family before we gave up hope on mom coming back, or if she was even alive. I was 8 years old the last time I made it with dad. The step-witch didn’t let us make it. Our team took three hours to make the meal. We plate our presentation pieces and felt good about it. “Good job team!” I praise them. We could put
*Elentari POV* This was so much for me to take in. “Who is Elentari?” I asked them. Their looks were almost as if I had asked the most ridiculous question ever. “What??” I had no idea why they were being so weird. A sing-song voice came from my mirror image, “You’ve operated as me for so long you don’t even know your own name anymore.” She scuffed her foot against the ground. “We got some work to do, girls. She needs a crash course as shit is gonna get real, real soon. Step-witch will know she’s awakened. The stupid man bringing her into the house.” I’m in a daze listening to all this. I couldn’t believe it. “What about Audra and Manic?” I blurted out. My fuzzed brain was trying to slowly click things into place, and they had given me the note. “Manic is a vamp like me.” Silk says excitedly. I swallowed hard, backing away from her a bit. “Oh, good grief you’ve read too many fantasy novels if you’re scared of your own sprite.” “Audra is a wolf like me.” Stated Lucinda, almost a
*Audra POV* Tomorrow was going to be interesting. I left the college and started driving towards my pack house with Manic by my side. My nerves were getting the better of me. “I think we need to report to the King and Queen tonight. That way tomorrow can go a bit more flawlessly. Though I don’t know if anything about this can be considered flawless.” I ran my fingers through my hair nervously. “She’s not going to hate us once she finds out, is she?” “I know when we accepted this assignment we didn’t ever think we would befriend her. I mean she’s a good hundred years younger than us. But we both decided we liked her personality and wanted to be friends. Our friendship has always been genuine and a choice. As long as she can understand that we didn’t have to befriend her to finish out our mission, it’ll be okay. I don’t think she’s so unreasonable that she would not listen.” It didn’t take much to reassure me. I sighed softly, kissing the back of his hand. “This is why you’re the calm
*Elentari POV* Everything was so much to take in. I felt like my world was caving in second by second. I slipped from the zone out of shock and started to move to my bed. All I wanted was to go to sleep and for all of this to be a bad dream. Arashi’s voice echoed in my head as I attempted to lay down telling me I had to pack before resting. I was suddenly really happy I spent the money I got from the life insurance policy on an SUV instead of the cute Prius I had been looking at. Yes, it was blue. I also paid three years of car insurance on it. The rest of my money was split into my stock portfolio that my mom set up for me and my savings account. Dividends were transferred into savings automatically and $300 was transferred to my checking each month so I could pay my phone bill and put gas in the car. It made me laugh that I was seen as the bad kid when I was the one being responsible. The spawns got money and it was gone instantly with video games and trivial crap. I started to pac
*Elentari POV* “This tastes more refreshing than normal.” He comments and looks in the water bottle. “You remembered lemon and mint!” He kissed the top of my head. “You realize it's your birthday, Starlight. I should be spoiling you, not the other way around.” This simple exchange made me happier than anyone could imagine. He hadn’t remembered my birthday in years, no one did, I handed him a plate of food and he sat down to dig in. “Good morning family!” Lyssandra says in her fake sing-song voice, “Smells like someone beat me to making the birthday breakfast.” She looked around at everyone else sitting down, and seemed like she was pouting, “I had wanted to make you breakfast as a treat.” “Thank you for the thought.” I told her. My wheels turned wondering what she had up her sleeve. “I wanted to make dad’s and my favorite breakfast. It’s been so long since we’ve had it, and it’s been years since anyone has celebrated my birthday so I figured if I wanted to celebrate, I had to do
*Elentari POV* “Lunar Guardian? Me? I’m just a normal teenager with nothing special about me. I didn't even know this existed until today. I don’t understand, Selene is real?” As I spoke the twins looked at each other, as if having a mental conversation. Little to my knowledge they were doing just that. They spoke at the same time. “We want to go with you.” Turning towards my parents. My sister pushed the book towards my mother. “If we are magical, we need training. Even though that book is my birthright, I don't want to learn from it. I’d rather it was destroyed.” At this point, I saw my sister in a new light. Almost a light of admiration. “It is not yours yet!” Lyssandra screeched. “I am still alive. As long as I live it is mine!” She reached for the Grimoire as if her life depended on getting the old book back in her hands. Before she could get to it, despite the pain it caused him, my brother grabbed it and kept it from her reach. “The book is evidence. It cannot be destroye
*Alaric POV* Seeing my baby for the first time since she was born overwhelmed me. At that time the plan had already progressed to my wife and Scott’s pretend relationship ending. We only needed it long enough to conceal her birth and for no one to think I was the father. My wife came up with the plan and she was so convincing that I almost severed our fated bond over it. She didn’t warn me first to get the most genuine reaction she could get out of me. It took me a month after they “broke up” to hear her out. I almost missed my chance to hold my child, just once. Home is a magical place. It has a literal living, breathing magic essence that brings the rivers, trees, and all of nature to life. There were very few Fae, or magical beings, that didn’t prefer to live here. Humans tended to believe Fae meant fairy, or that what they deemed to be mythical beasts, weren’t magical. But Fae is all those that belong to the world of Selene and magic. Our architecture, for those that prefer build