Chapter 9 - Graduation Blues I quietly stand off to the side while wolves in their graduation gowns run around chattering away with their friends. The well wishes and ‘I’ll miss you’ sound around the room. Left alone, I realize that although no one caused me trouble here at school, I was left with no friends and spent my “golden” high school years as a lone wolf. The halls behind the gymnasium where graduation will take place buzz with an excited and nervous energy. “Geminie are you ready?” Mrs. Horris asks. The wolf with graying hair before me looks around the halls and smiles. As our Principal, she has been the wolf to have mentored me and helped me through many things since entering grade nine. She understood me right away the first day we met when she watched me faint my first day at school. As we sat in her office, my heart racing thinking that I would be in trouble, Mrs. Horris surprised me by handing me a warm meal and a glass of orange juice. H
Chapter 10 – Rejection Feels Like Death I sigh as I look at myself in the small mirror hanging from the wall. After the graduation ceremony I made my way to my small attic room to see all the bags I had packed gone and a large gift box sitting on the bare mattress. The smile I had on my face had not left after noticing the pale pink dress inside and a note from Alex to enjoy the party – a party all Omegas had to help set up from cooking all the food to setting all the decorations. Now showered and dressed in the flowy off the shoulder knee length dress with a simple pair of black flats on my dainty feet I sigh and look towards the open window behind me where the sounds of music drift in on the wind. The party is in full swing and whether or not I want to go I could use the last night as a pack member to just enjoy some form of normalcy. “Gemmie?” A soft knock on the door catches my attention as Alex pops his head inside, giving me a soft smile and stepp
Chapter 11 - Truth The days passed in a blurry haze as the slow rhythmic hum of the engine and light tunes from the radio soothe me in and out of sleep. Every now and then I hear the host announce what day it is when the burning in my body eases and I am conscious long enough to hear. Sometimes my skin feels like it is rippling, like the waves on the lake with a soft summer breeze. Sometimes, it feels like my bones would break with every bump Alex’s truck hits, only to realign without warning. Sometimes, I can smell the tang of blood in the air and wonder if it is from me or a poor animal hit on the side of the road. Sometimes a lullaby that is so familiar but hard to remember where I heard it from is sang to me and in my moments of consciousness and asking Alex about it, I learn that no one in the pack has ever sang it to me. I remember one night on the long drive the sound of a dying animal howling filled my ears, it wasn’t until Alex pleaded for me
Chapter 12 – A Shift in Life Morning came quicker than I thought as light streams in from the large window and into my eyes. After Ira’s last words to us, Alex and I concluded that no matter what, we would create our own pack. I will accept my birth father when I meet him and build a relationship with him and any family from either side of my mother and father, but the thought of joining another pack over being able to create my own brought a sense of unease. I never want to be under someone else’s power again. Looking towards Alex still fast asleep beside me, I smile and silently creep out of bed and tiptoe to the door and out into the hallway. My goal shift for the first time consciously and test my wolf form out. The halls of the Temple of the Goddess are a twist and turn, making it harder for me to find any exit and make my way outside where I can shift without worry of destroying something inside. Every time I try a new hallway after retracing my s
Chapter 13 – Time to Train "You know better then to run off." Alex growls out furiously, pacing the room in his anger. I just roll my eyes, focusing on drying my hair with the towel. After playing in the forest with the mysterious man, I returned to the temple covered in mud. I was lucky that a Temple Acolyte helped me to my room where I was met with a frantic Alex trying to find me. His lecture began then, mud dripping onto the floor below me as he goes on about me sneaking out in the morning without his knowledge until I managed to escape into the washroom where I promptly focused my energy into shifting into human form. I knew he would be waiting for me to exit, so after showering I took my sweet time running a bubble bath and enjoying hot water and endless time to myself for the first time ever. “Alex, I don’t get why you are mad. You needed sleep and I just had to see what my wolf was like.” I retort with, causing my brother to stop dead in his tra
Chapter 14 – A Place to Call Home I frown as my gaze focuses on the trees outside, staying close to the window and as far away from the others in the room. Alex sighs in frustration while my father sips his coffee awkwardly. Ira was called for an emergency after my shower, leaving an Acolyte to lead us to her office and wait for her return to discus a good position for my own pack to be built. Amberle, to my amusement, decided to curl up on the sofa to take a nap. You would think a strong Alpha would be more energetic but seeing as only a few years ago she was in my position as a Rogue I actually envy her ability to sleep when ever. “Gem, I just don’t understand why you do not want to go to your father’s pack.” Alex growls out, running a hand through his hair in frustration after a moment of silence causing me to close the book I was reading to glare at him. “You would be safer there and not have to worry about pack duties. There will b
Chapter 15 – A New Pack “See that trail just ahead of us?” Ira asks pointing to a barely touched trail to what I assume is for ATV use. “Yes.” I confirm, slowing down as I wait for her to continue. “Good, turn left onto it and keep driving till we reach a clearing.” She exclaims and I smile, switching my left turn signal on and slowly turning onto the barely there dirt path. I cringe as the tires to my precious car bounce on the bumpy terrain, Ira clinging onto the handle above the passenger window. Only one vehicle can fit, the bushes and grass brushing against the side of my car. Hopefully there will be no scratches by the time we reach our destination. [Remind me to get this god forsaken path cleared and properly paved.] Alex links and I chuckle. [Trust me, this will be priority number one when the pack is established.] I agree instantly. The final stretch is slow, the speed of our cars staying around t
Chapter 16 – Mother "Alpha are you in here?" A voice calls out, the sound distorted and dream like as I float in the moon pool. The silver water shimmers with the light of the full moon above me. It has been over two years since my rejection, two years since founding Silver Crystal Crescent Pack and two years of meeting my mother Lisandra for training in the dream scape. “Quiet, she is going to the dream scape to train with her mother.” Ariven warns as lowly while my eyes close and I let the magic surround me. My eyes open and I find myself gazing down at earth, the sky alight with stars as the galaxy shines above me. I am in the dream scape, a lush garden of moon flowers growing from moon stones surrounding me with the trickle of a small stream sounding from my left. "Gem you're late." The melodic voice of my mother reaches me and I smile as I rush to her arms and hold her tight. For the past two years I have gotten to