Vanilla Moon: Awakening

by Airiel Hawkins

  It was the most... unbelievable, profound, exhilarating, and significant moment of my life.

  When I landed on the ground again, I transformed once more. I landed on four snowy paws and continued to run without restraint. Every muscle, ever fiber felt different. My powerful legs propelled me forward. The nails on my feet dug into the frozen earth, giving me traction, urging me onward with the others. Beside me was Wolfgang, a sheer black wolf. The wolf in my dreams. He grinned at me, panting, before we turned our noses to the sky and howled with the euphoria of the change and hunt. The others joined in our song and we serenaded the moon and stars.

  The pack continued to move as a unit. We ran deeper into the forest and farther away from the town. We were entering an area where humans hadn't touched. As we ran, branches spread out so that we weren't all in one giant group. The branches continued to break off until there were only a few wolves in every group. The whole time, Wolfgang never wavered from my side. I soon realized that Riley was with us as well. I didn't recognize him by sight at first since I had never seen him like this, but the smell coming from him was familiar to me in an instant.

  The scent of deer wafted toward us on a cold breeze. The moment my powerful nose picked up the smell of dinner, my feet followed it. We hunted the scent, hoping to find the deer soon. Our stomachs were empty. Our mouths were dry. It was a thirst that water would not be able to quench. Nothing but blood. Nothing but meat would suffice.

  That sweet, sweet scent guided us through the forest. We traveled faster as it got stronger. The wind at our noses told us we were going the right way. We were closing in. We were almost there. I could hear them now, in the distance. They huffed as they dug through the snow to find food. They didn't realize we were coming. They didn't know they were soon going to be our dinner. They didn't know that their deaths would sate us for the month to come until the moon was full once more.

  My mouth watered at the thought of the soft flesh and rich, hot blood I would soon be sinking my teeth into. I let out a whine because we weren't moving fast enough. I felt a hunger unlike anything I had ever felt before. Leaving my human shell behind in the world where my wolf lived when the moon wasn't full was taxing, despite how energized I now was. The amount of energy used and burned in the hunt famished me. I needed that deer.

  Then, out of nowhere, an acrid stench. It was pungent enough to make Riley and I stop as if we had hit something. Wolfgang stopped with us, recognizing a different scent on the wind. I turned my long face to him, scared of what the source of the smell could be. He looked between Riley and me before he nodded to Riley. The other wolf turned and ran the opposite direction, back to the rest of the pack. I heard his howl of distress before he was far from us.

  Wolfgang looked at me next. I knew that he wanted me to leave, but there was no way I was going to let him out of my sight. I shook my head. No matter what was on the other side of this scent, I would face it. I would not back down from this fight just because he wanted me to.

  I felt an urge to turn around and go back to the pack, but I fought it. I shook my head at him. I knew that the desire was coming from him. I knew that he was using his position as the Prince to try to force me to turn around.

  He had never tried to order me to do something before and didn't realize that I could refuse. I was his mate. I knew that I was his mate. Being so significant to him meant that I could refuse him. I was one of the few people in this pack who could say no.

  My denial made Wolfgang growl at me. Before he could force me to leave, I ran passed him, toward that burning scent. I followed it as I had the scent of the deer, forcing Wolfgang to either follow me or abandon me. The cold air burned my lungs. My breath formed clouds of mist as I exhaled. Hot blood coursed through my veins.

  I ran, pushing my legs harder, farther....

  And then I stopped. It was so sudden, that rocks, foliage, and snow sprayed out in front of me. Before me stood a silhouette of a man, and my heart raced at the sight of this familiar vision. He stepped toward me, showing me no fear even though I was predator and he the prey. "I knew you'd come," he said. He held his hand up and a bright blue ball of lightning formed at his palm. The lightning snaked up his fingers. His eyes locked on to me. I shrank down and let out a low, guttural growl. My hackles raised. My ears flattened against my head. My back legs tensed, ready to leap onto him or out of the way.

  It was in that moment that Wolfgang leaped over me and tackled the man, pinning him to the cold and frozen ground below. Wolfgang let out a loud snarl as his snout neared the man's face. His ears were back, his hackles also raised. Saliva dripped from his fangs and I knew that he was just as thirsty as I was for this Witch's blood. I waited for Wolfgang to sink his teeth into the man's throat, but it never happened. Instead, he stared down at the man, growling. No attack.

  The man started laughing. "You can't kill me," he said. "You won't kill me."

  That was when a blinding bright blue ball of electricity exploded between them. The blast threw Wolfgang away from the man, who seemed completely unharmed. He yelped as he hit a tree and I was furious. I lunged at the man as he stood up and knocked him back to the ground. I wasn't going to hesitate like my mate. I was going to make sure that this enemy would never hurt another of my pack again. I snarled at him as I moved to attack. Just before my mouth met his throat, he shoved something passed my teeth that burned me.

  I recoiled, coughing and working to get the offending metal out of my mouth. As I turned away, I saw the glint of something silver in the moonlight around his hand. I began to cough again, but it did nothing for me. I shook my head and bit at the snow. Nothing helped. I whimpered from the sudden, searing pain.

  The man stood tall as he let out a boisterous laugh. He spread his hands out wide at his side and two bright blue balls of electricity formed at his palms. From their glow, I could finally see what I was trying to ignore.

  Alan.

  He threw both balls. One launched toward me and the other soared toward Wolfgang. He was still trying to recover from his impact with the tree and the silver burn on my tongue had me too occupied to get out of the way. Witchfire hit us both. I felt as though I had shoved a knife into an electrical socket as an electrical charge coursed through my body. The only problem was that this wouldn't kill me. I knew that this was just a weapon to disable because my instinct told me it was. The Lycans of my line had known this fact about the Witches, which meant that I knew it too. That didn't make me feel any better as the world around me blackened....

  I regained consciousness at the impact of my body hitting a hard surface. I turned to look as I heard a heavy slam and the grinding sound of metal on metal. Wolfgang struggled to his feet and rushed to the door. He slammed his body against it. It didn't budge. He howled and all it did was fill the room we were in. He started to try to dig at the ground beneath the door, but it was stone and he couldn't get underneath it.

  I got to my feet and padded over to him. I nudged him with my nose and made him stop to look at me. We stared at each other for a moment before we looked at our only window. We howled in unison, hoping that someone would hear our mournful cry. What had been so exhilarating and joyous before had now become something opposite. Something tragic....

  After a while, we quieted and curled up with each other. I buried my face in my tail and Wolfgang wrapped himself around me. He lay his head over my shoulders and I let his weight and warmth lull me to sleep. There was nothing to do inside of this box. We had found ourselves trapped with no hint of escape. When we reached the point where there was an opening, we would take it, but until that time, the only thing we could do was rest and wait.

  I prayed to the gods of my ancestors that this captivating night would lead to a liberating morning, though I didn't hold my breath.

  Chapter 20 ~Ceres~

  When I woke, I did so naked in a cellar. Every inch of me was in agony. I could swear that I could even feel my hair hurting. Moving slow because of the pain, I eased every joint unti
l I felt like I could move without ripping myself apart. When I was sitting, I realized that I wasn't alone.

  Wolfgang had fallen asleep slumped against a wall. His hands were bloody, as was the floor under the door. I winced as I tried to move toward him without scratching up my knees on the concrete. "Wolfgang," I said as I reached him. I held his head in my hands and smoothed back is wild black hair. "Wolfie?" I whispered. He groaned in response to my voice. "Come on, Baby," I said. "Wake up."

  His head moved to the side and winced. He cleared his throat and opened his eyes. "What happened?" he whispered.

  I looked at his hands and then at the door. "I think we're trapped," I replied.

  "Thank you, Captain Obvious," he muttered. "I meant after that. I don't remember falling asleep...."

  "Um... I don't know," I muttered. "I remember finding Alan in the forest and us fighting, but after he hit us with the lightning stuff, I don't know what happened."

  "It's called Witchfire," Wolfgang informed me. He gasped as he moved. "It disables us. In human form, it can kill us, but not in wolf." Wolfgang sighed as he rested his head against the cement wall behind him. "They're going to perform the ritual tonight," he said. "Unless they just kill us instead. The only way we're going to be able to escape is if we can find an opening. Unfortunately, the odds of that happening, at least while they're this prepared, are next to nothing."

  "What about mating?" I asked, unsure of what his answer would be. I knew that his father didn't want us mating yet because it would leave me vulnerable, but I didn't see any other options. "You said that it makes us stronger, right?" I asked. "Shouldn't that help our odds of survival?"

  Wolfgang stared at me as if the thought had never occurred to him. "That might work," he whispered in surprise. "You remember what this means, right?" he asked. "Are you ready for that?"

  I sighed, but I didn't stop to think about it. "I will take the guarantee of a baby over the guarantee of my death any day," I said. "Whatever may happen, we can worry about it later."

  Wolfgang nodded. "I agree," he replied. "Although the setting is a bit of a mood-killer," he remarked with a chuckle as he looked around our bare cement cell.

  I chuckled. "We'll just have to make it work," I said. I moved in to kiss him. It wasn't the most romantic of situations, but it was better than dying. The cement was cold and unyielding. Rocks stabbed us no matter how we tried to position ourselves. There was also a question of exposure. It didn't matter that we were all alone in this tiny cell, we felt an incredible amount of publicity.

  We managed to get somewhere with me up against the wall. Wolfgang wrapped my legs around his waist and worked his magic on my body. He kissed me roughly with an urgency that was pure need. There was nothing innocent about him in this moment. The wolf was near. Both wolves were near. I could feel my other half inside of me, stirring as she realized what was happening. His wolf knew what was happening. They were just underneath the surface, almost as if we were nothing more than human shells over canine bodies. My wolf filled me to the brim and then Wolfgang was inside of me, filling me up even more, yet somehow preventing me from overflowing. He plunged inside of me and I held onto him because there was nothing else for me to grab. He was my lifeline. He was the only thing that mattered to me.

  It took us a while to get there. Being less than ideal circumstances, the last thing we wanted to do in this cell was mate. That meant that reaching the moment of climax was more difficult. Regardless, the friction between our bodies built up and brought us to that one great release.

  Wolfgang pulled me away from the wall in that moment and we bit down on each other, right where the neck and shoulder met on the left side. It was an intense pain, but in the midst of the climax, it was exquisite. I felt Wolfgang's hot, sweet blood coat my parched mouth. It quenched the thirst that had been threatening to overpower me. I felt as if we were dissolving into each other. It was almost the same as the feeling as the one I had when we shifted. It was more intense. There were so many more things happening here and now. We became one single being in that moment. His blood, my blood. His body, my body. His mind, my mind. We made a gradual separation from each other and came back into ourselves. I could still feel a piece of him in me and a piece of me in him. It was freeing and enlightening and I hoped that this feeling would never end.

  When it was over, when we were two people once more, we dropped to the floor and somehow managed to keep from hurting each other. Wolfgang sat on the cold cement floor and I sat on him with him still inside of me. Our chests heaved with our panting. My entire body hummed with energy and I felt like a limp noodle. I didn't want to move, and yet I felt as though I couldn't stay still.

  We separated from each other with care and Wolfgang started to laugh. "Wow," he said when he'd taken a breath. "I never knew it would be like that."

  I laughed with him. Soon enough, we were just like a couple of giggling schoolgirls. We weren't laughing at anything funny, but the energy inside of us needed a way out. Since we couldn't do anything in our cramped ten-by-ten cell, laughing was all we had.

  The sliding metal bolt on the door ground and creaked as it pulled open, silencing our laughter. Both Wolfgang and I stood up and scurried away from the door. Whatever, whoever, was on the other side, we wanted some distance before it reached us.

  The door swung outward and we heard the clacking sound of high heels on cement. In walked Abigail dressed in a way I had never imagined she could pull off, carrying a tray of sandwiches and water. At least our captors were kind enough not to starve us before they killed us.

  She gasped when she stepped inside. "You two?" she asked. She started laughing with abandon. "We had no idea who Daddy brought back!" she cried. "Oh, he's going to be so happy," she said with an odd gleam in her eyes. She set the tray down on the floor. "You're both so dead," she said as she shook her head.

  Wolfgang and I both started to growl at her. The act vibrated my entire body. Wolfgang maneuvered himself between Abigail and me, but I knew he didn't want to be there. I could feel his heartbeat pound against his chest. The emotions racing through him were so intense and confusing that it was the only way I knew they weren't mine. That was when it started to hit home to me. I could feel his emotions, which meant that he would also be able to feel mine. If one of us didn't stay calm and separate whose emotions were whose, we would lose it all.

  In this moment, I had to be that person.

  Abigail decided that she wasn't just going to drop the food off and leave. She sauntered up to Wolfgang, who pressed me back into the cement wall as far as I could go without breaking. She chuckled as she reached out to him. Wolfgang flinched when her fingers touched the side of his face. I could feel the fear inside of him overpower his rage. Once again, he was vulnerable. Once again, she was the one who held all the cards.

  She traced a line from his cheek to his chest. "I bet Daddy will let me have some fun with you one more time before you die," she said with a failed attempt at seduction. She moved her face close to his neck. Her eyes met mine as she took her time licking his body. I growled with a rage I had never known that I was capable of. I reached around Wolfgang and grabbed Abigail by her mousy brown hair. I yanked her head back and she cried out. Wolfgang didn't seem to know what to do, so I risked injuring myself to get out from behind him. I threw Abigail into the wall and felt a sick sense of satisfaction when I heard a bone snap.

  I stepped up to her and moved faster than I had ever moved before. Everything was different now. I picked her up by her hair and lifted her completely off the floor. I looked up at her with my head tilted to the side. Blood was dripping down from her nose and her arm hung at an odd angle. "You will not touch him again," I growled. "He is mine." I shoved her into the opposite wall with enough force that the wall fractured. I was there in an instant and picked her up before I slammed her head into the wall. I saw the consciousness leave her eyes as her eyelids drooped closed. She crumpled onto the floor and I smiled at the blood on the wall. Then
I looked back at Wolfgang. "I think we have our opening," I said.

  Wolfgang gaped at me. He nodded, silent, and I reached for his hand. "Focus," I said. The moment my fingers touched his, his eyes seemed to clear. He pulled me toward him and kissed me with fervor before he led me to the door. He looked out before he decided that the coast was clear and pulled me forward.

  We were in a basement. A hallway led to a staircase and three doors. One led to the cell Wolfgang and I had just passed through. Along the opposite wall was a closed door about halfway down. A little further and on the same wall as our cell was a third, open door. Wolfgang and I started to make our way toward the staircase. When we reached the third door, we could hear the doorknob turn at the top of the stairs and ducked into the open room.

  "Abby?" Alan called from the upper floor. "What's taking so long?"

  We waited with bated breath. When Abigail didn't answer, we heard Alan start walking down the stairs. "Abigail?" he called, louder this time. Wolfgang and I didn't dare move or breathe as he passed the open door. "Abigail!" he shouted, his voice filled with worry. When his steps stopped, we knew that he had reached the open door. He swore. "Abby!" he cried.

  We could hear him muttering something in a foreign language in the next room. After a few seconds, Abigail coughed, and I felt disappointed that she wasn't dead. "Daddy?" she asked, looking up at him. "What are you doing in town?"

  "Oh, Abby," Alan whispered. "What did those beasts do to you?"

  "Who?" Abigail asked. "What's going on? Ow! Make the pain stop, Daddy! Please?"

  Wolfgang and I exchanged surprised looks. It hadn't occurred to me that I might have done any damage to her mentally. I knew that I'd broken a few of her bones. Her nose and arm had broken, and it wouldn't surprise me if I'd fractured her skull. I figured she would wake up in a few hours in pain and furious, but with an intact memory... if she'd woken up at all.