Mother of the Moon - Chapter 125 - Cleo
Lunaya.
I walked next to Cleo’s wolf, a few steps behind Romeá. We were all silent. A few scattered howls echoed through the quiet forest, slowly getting louder as we got closer to the village.
“Are you not going to change back?” I asked Cleo. She looked up at me out of the corner of her eye and shook her large head.
“You prefer the form of your wolf” I said, not asking her, just stating the fact that I had noticed. Cleo has spent a lot of time in her wolf form. Coming down the mountain, at Lua Chei, around the village back at Luna Eclipse. She is almost always in her wolf form. She huffed and snorted and continued walking.
“You aren’t worried about not being able to change back? About becoming a Feral?” I asked looking down at her. She didn’t look at me or growl or huff or anything. After a moment she stopped walking and snapped her head back, then stood up on her human legs. She began walking again, coming in step with me.
“The wolf is who I am, not the human. The form of the wolf is free and wild, it is the way I prefer. I do not fear becoming what you call, a Feral” Cleo said as she looked ahead. I stared at the side of her face, wide eyed. I have never heard her speak so much before. I almost couldn't respond, almost.
“If you don’t call it Feral, what do you call it?” I questioned her,
“I call it natural. In my former pack, the wolves were our natural state, our usual form. We only changed to the human body to keep a hold on it. To ensure the change could still happen when called upon. More than half of the Weres that were born would go on to live permanently in their wolf skin”.
Wow, I had no idea that packs like this existed. In all my years of roaming, I had never come across one. What a terrifyingly beautiful way to exist. I watch Cleo walk with awe in my gaze.
“They weren’t violent or too wild?”
“No”
“Every Feral I have come across is rabid. Or at least overly aggressive”
“Not in my pack”
“But how?”
“We accepted our wolves. We understood that they were the natural way, the pristine predator. The human was weak and small. The wolf is more, in every way”
“I accept my wolf”
“No. You live with your wolf, tolerate it. You have not fully accepted that the wolf is the natural form”
“For me, it’s not, it is only half of who I am. I am human as well”
“And that is where we differ” Cleo spoke firmly and with the upmost conviction in her words. She truly believes in what she is saying. I am a strong woman, but even I have never felt as sure about something as Cleo is about this.
“Why did you leave? It sounds like you still want to live that way. So why would you give it up?” I asked her, watching over her facial expressions.
“I had no choice” she grunted,
“What do you mean?”
“Hunters killed my pack. Every wolf, every pup. The young, the old, all of them. All but me and my sister” she replied without hesitation. She held no emotion in her voice, no hint of grief or anger, just completely blank.
“I’m sorry” I said softly.
“I got my revenge in the end”
“And your sister?”
“She is gone now”.
“Cleo, I'm so sorry. I don’t know what else to say”.
She stopped walking and turned to glare at me. I stopped and faced her, watching her movements carefully. She stood rigid and tense, her hands by her side and her upper torso leaning towards me ever so slightly.
“I do not want your pity. I don't need it. I did what I had to do to avenge my family, and now you will do the same. I will help you to do the same”.
Avenge my family. A thought I have always had kept in the far back of my mind. For a long time, I longed to rage against the hunters, to take them on all alone. To destroy them as they did to me. But I never did. Or I never could. I hold too much love in my heart. I know that going to war with the hunters, all on my own, is never what Micha would have wanted. He would have wanted me to live, to move on. With or without my children.
“Thank you, Cleo. But revenge is not what I want any more. I did a long time ago, but I have let that part of me go. I just want my baby back, and I have that now” I said as I placed my hand on the side of her shoulder, to offer some kind of gratitude for her show of support.
“And if she wants to avenge them? If she wants to tear them down and take back what they took from her? Would you stand against her?”
“I don’t even know how much she knows of what happened, if anything at all. But I will never stand against the Goddess, or my child. If that is her wish, I will help her achieve it”
“Even if it is not what you want?”
“What I want is her. Her happiness, her prosperity, her life to be everything it was meant to be. I will do anything and everything to make that happen”.
Cleo tipped her head to the side. Her curious gaze searched my eyes. She watched me for a moment before shrugging and setting off walking again. I caught up to her and we both found Romeá waiting for us up ahead. The rest of the walk was silent. As we got to the village it had been cleared of nearly half the crowd. The mess was slowly being cleaned up by multiple Weres, male and female.
“I’ll go get something for you to wear” Romeá said over her shoulder before walking off through the tables and chairs. I looked around at the mess, and the disheveled appearance of a lot of the Weres. This party clearly didn’t turn out like they expected. I spotted Alyse and Venus helping with the cleanup, picking up chairs and rubbish.
“Alyse” I called out and waved to her. She looked up and smiled and waved for us to come over. I was walking across the clearing when the Were from the road, the Beta I presume, stepped in front of me.
“Where did you go?” he demanded, scowling at me.
“Excuse me?” I snapped back.
“Where did you go and where are the other two?” he asked again, raising his voice a little more.
“None of your business” I growled and went to sidestep around him. He stepped back in front of me and grabbed hold of my shoulder. I looked down at his firm grip and then back up to his hard eyes. Cleo stepped forward and growled. The sound echoed around us and filled the clearing. Everyone stopped working and turned their attention to us.
“Remove. Your. Hand!” Cleo growled at the Were, stepping right up to my side.
“Don’t forget where you are she-wolf. You have not been invited here and you can’t just go wandering around my pack as you please” he hissed, glowering at Cleo. I shoved off his hand and stood up tall and straight, pressing my inflated chest to his. We growled back and forth at each other, neither one making the first move to attack. His canines slowly extended as his lips curled back over his teeth.
“Where were you? Spying, sabotaging, planting something? Where!?” he yelled in my face.
“Cole, that is enough!” Romeá’s voice called as she came running over. She tried to push him away from me, but he shoved her off him and came back in my face baring his teeth and growling.
“They are trespassing” he hissed.
“They are here to protect the Goddess, now back off!” she snapped at him and tried again to pull him away. The Were, Cole, turned and raised his hand to her, but froze before he brought it down.
“Cole Thomas! Have you lost your damn mind?” Romeá screamed. She looked up at him with wide eyes, filled with sadness and confusion. He dropped his hand and took a step away from me. He blinked rapidly a few times while looking at Romeá.
“Cole” she whispered softly and reached out for his hand. He pulled away and hardened his gaze once again.
“Has this she-wolf told who you who she is?” he asked her, his voice hard and angry.
“She is from Luna Eclipse, they all are, and they’re here to offer their greetings to the Triple Goddess” Romeá answered.
“But has this one told you who she is?” he snapped pointing his finger at me.
Oh no. He is about to blow my secret wide open. I knew it wouldn’t stay secret for long, but I was hoping to have at least met my child before they all found out.
“What are you talking about Cole?” she asked sounding exasperated.
“Has this she-wolf told you who she claims to be?” he said again, turning to stand back in front of me. Romeá looked up at me in confusion. Her eyes darted back and forth between Cole and I.
“Who are you?” she asked me. But I didn’t answer. I glared at Cole and bared my teeth.
“Who the hell are you?!” she demanded.
“What’s all the yelling about and why is this one naked?” a tall brooding Were asked as he came to stand beside Romeá. I shot him a quick glance, it was the same man that was holding down the tattooed Were earlier. He is very tall and muscular, with a dark pink scar that ran along the side of his face. If it weren’t for the beard, I would say he looks just like my daughters Mate only older. He rested his hand on Romeá’s shoulder as he watched us. He must be the former Alpha, Gunner’s father. I turned my glare back at Cole and growled a warning.
“Cole, explain” he demanded. No, no, no. Please don’t.
Cole glared at me for a second, his eyes moving all over my face before staring back into my own. An evil smirk spread across his face. He is going to tell them. I pushed aside my pride and fury and pleaded with him through my eyes. I conveyed as much begging as I could, without speaking a word. His smirk slowly disappeared, and his gaze seemed to soften, the anger and pain on his face didn’t leave though. It stuck with him like a scar. From the moment I met this man, I hated him. But now, in this moment, with him examining my pleading face and the hurt written all across his own. I felt for him.
“It’s nothing” he grunted and quickly turned on his heel and stormed away. I expelled a harsh breath, my secret is safe for the moment.
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