She spat the word Moonstone as if it were bile on her tongue like it was the most offensive word to ever exist
"What's Wrong?" Mihai asked, "Is it Ruwa?, Does she know something?"
"Yes, she says it's Moonstone" When I uttered the word it was like a stroke of lightning went through his body, his legs gave way and he fell slapping his hands against the table to keep him up while his body trembled
"Are you okay?!" I ran to his side, propping my shoulder under his arm for support. "I'll get one of the doctors to …"
"No, it's fine" he tried to stop me but this was not the time
"How can it be fine?!, You're having a stroke!"
"No, it's not me, it's Zaafi…." That's his Wolf
"What's wrong with him?!" I carried him to the nearest seater, letting him rest his back
"I don't know, he just went haywire when you said that word"
"What word, Moonstone?" When I repeated a shudder went through his body making him hunch over hugging his arms around him
Why was he reacting this way?!
"He'd be a fool if he didn't" she huffed, once again only giving bite-sized pieces of information, I need all of it!
"Calm yourself, child, I need time to prepare my mind, Moonstone is not something to be spoken of lightly…." She took a deep breath, I could feel a whirlwind of emotions crashing around inside us, but the most prominent, most palpable emotion was the one I never expected to feel coming off her at all, Fear
"... I've lived a very long time, child, seen many lifetimes, lived many lives, seen things your simple mind could never comprehend, of the many things I've seen the one I prayed with every fiber of every being I have inhabited to never again was Moonstone. Many years ago, I believe in ancient Rome was where I saw it for the first time, a dull blade no sharper than rock wielded by a disgraced gladiator, he lost a match and demanded it be done again, but when humans and wolves gathered at Colosseum colosseum to witness this rematch, the disgraced warrior came out with a dull blade with an oppressive Presence, the blade tore through the challenger like a fine blade through mutton, the warrior ran after plunging the knife in his heart, didn't even stay long enough to hear him be pronounced dead"
A truly terrifying retelling, what I don't understand is why Zaafi is reacting like this, I understand that Ruwa is much much older than most Wolves I have met, so it's shouldn't be surprising to see how much she knew, but as far as I'm concerned Zaafi was born in the early 1800s
"Even the younger wolves born much later know danger when they see it, and Moonstone is the most dangerous substance to wolves"
Is it because it causes great pain to the werewolf?
"Yes and no, Yes, the pain inflicted on the man will be felt by the wolf to is great degree but that is not the extent of it, Killing a man with a moonstone blade kills the wolf as well"
I staggered, the revelation heavy enough to knock the wind out of me, I looked at Mihai to find him still shivering with his head in his hands, Thank God he didn't hear anything she said, just mentioning moonstone put him in this condition, hearing any more of it would destroy him
"So, what do you plan to do as a child?"
How many wolves in this pack have lived as long as you? I asked her
"Not many, I know a breadmaker whose Wolf was born in the 1600s, a cobbler born around 1586, and a child whose Wolf was born in the 1300s, I believe that's the oldest Wolf of your pack"
They're you're packing too
"Don't insult me"
Glad to see being faced with a sudden calamity did nothing for her sense of kinship
So no other wolf but Ruwa knows about the moonstone
"Child, I have a feeling I know where you are going with this, and I assure you that you will regret it"
I ignored her, in the 6 years we've been together she had barely offered me any words of comfort much less advice, she doesn't care about my pack, she doesn't know what is best for them, but I do
"Mihai…" I placed my hand on his shoulder and he jumped
"Yes, Alpha?" He was drenched in sweat, his dark brown hair stuck to his face at odd angles and he looked to have aged 10 years "What did Ruwa say about the...the...M-m-m…" he couldn't even say it out loud
"No, she said she was wrong, that was a mistake on her part"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
what is best for my people! I snapped back at her, I could feel her pacing out in my mind, she always hated it when I talked to her like that, but I didn't care, she could be angry with me all she wanted, but I would do what I know is right
"It's not moonstone, yet a fair number of people could easily mistake it to be Moonstone because I don't want people panicking over nothing, that word does not leave this room do you understand me?"
He looked confused, I hated how easily he could see right through me
"But Alpha if they're similar enough to be confused for each other, isn't this Moonstone worth looking into?"
"You have your orders" I gave him no room to protest, I kept my house stern and my eyes firm using every part of me to convey that this conversation was over
He couldn't hold my gaze much longer and bowed his head
"Yes Alpha"
"Good.!!" He'll realize soon that I'm doing this for the good of the pack, and he'll understand "I'll be retiring to the pack house for today"
"Yes, Alpha what should I tell the doctors?"
"Tell them I will send for aid from our allies at the Stellarum pack, and as for the squad leader…." I chose my words well, if I didn't I could put the poor man in danger "... See you it that he doesn't worry needlessly over things he thinks, he saw"
His gaze was piercing, filled with disapproval he dared not voice, he bowed his head "Yes Alpha"
I turned and walked right out of the facility, ignoring the soldier's cries of agony, ignoring the trail of blood tracing a path from the entrance to the far end, I ignored the guilt stabbing me in the heart, I am doing this for them, they will thank me for it
The guard at the door scampered to hold it open for me muttering things I couldn't hear nor care to, right now the only thing I wanted was to get as far away from this hospital as physically possible
"So you run like a coward?!"
I paid her taunts no mind, I wouldn't expect a cruel selfish beast to understand anything!
She growled at the back of my mind shrinking further and further away from me till I could barely feel her at all, she does that whenever she's angry with me, when she doesn't want to speak with me or de with the 'nonsensical prattling' of lesser creatures, so she slinks away and cuts all access and power I get from her, even in dire situations I won't be able to transform without her and she doesn't care, she hides away in the corner of my mind and yet she has the nerve to call ME a coward, laughable!
The world around me and rs, my walking pace got faster and faster till I broke into a full-on sprint running through the streets my legs pumping with one destination in mind, my safe space, a bunker hidden under a canopy of trees
The moment the old steel doors of my solace came into view the tempest raging in my mind lulled, I am ashamed of the number of times I found myself coming back here over the years, I push the door open with a loud creak, and and the hinges protest, how they've survived for so long I wonder
I walked to that cot in the center of the bleak little room and curled myself into a ball, the same way I did for days after my Father's funeral, the same way I did after leading my first battle, the same way I did after leading every soldier under my command to their deaths, I way I do each night when the nightmares plagued me, I've spent more days in this coy than the Alpha's room when I close my eyes I can still see us cuddled against each other, breathing in the scent of him, feeling his arms around me, wondering where he is right now
"If you miss him so much you should've let me hunt him down"
Oh, so you're talking to me again? So soon?
"Stop being so childish" I could feel her rolling her eyes at me, it's times like this that bother me how I could feel with a scrutinizing clarity
I could see her in her my head so well she projected outwardly, right now I could see her standing in this small bunker like a solid figure, out I could even touch her
She is large, she takes up this entire bunker but when I transform into her we're a little under the size of a fully grown horse, give or take, her take was a poorly mixed combination of white, brown, and black splashed around like an avant-garde art piece, a swatch of brown over her face, a dash of gray right under it, her torso was that same odd mix of salt and better colors, one of her paws was white While the other three varied between gray and brown, she had a single black ring in the center of her tail, she was a massive pain in my side but she is a beauty
"Thank you," she said smugly
Get out of my head
"Trust me child I would if I could"
We sat side by side in silence, me cradled on the cot while she sat in the center of the bunker taking deep breaths trying to see if she could catch his scent, she's been more obsessed with this boy than I was, the day I met her she ripped through my mind like a migraine, when she found my memory of him she forcefully transformed me and jumped out the 3rd story window in the pack house and ran into the wood saying she had to find him, that he belonged to her
The nerve of her to not only come late but to try to take over my body and run off looking for a boy she could be woefully mistaken about if be lying if I said there wasn't a part of me that wanted to find him, but I chose to blame that irrational part of me on her and carry on with my life, I had a pack to rule, I had people that depended on me
"Do you think I'm doing the right thing?"
She scoffed, I asked Mihai if his wolf projected into the open to mock him as well and Mihai looked at me like I was crazy
"Now you want to hear what I have to say?"
"I take it back, go screw yourself"