Daughter of Luka (LGBT+)

Twenty-Three 🌑

It was my turn to say it, "I'm sorry." 

Luka waved his hand dismissively. 

"Is there any way that we can cure them?" I wondered. I couldn't help it. 

"Not to our knowledge. Did you enjoy it?" he asked, as he gestured to my empty plate. 

The empty plate should have been a dead giveaway. 

"I did. It was lovely, thank you," I said, with a kind smile. "I really should get home soon, before my father sends a search party out for me." 

Luka gave an understanding nod of his head and stood up at the same time as me. 

I then paused for a moment, in the knowledge that I couldn't leave just yet. 

"Luka, I thought I would warn you about something. My father has plans to hunt in these areas- just be careful," I said. 

He gave me an appreciative smile at that comment. 

"We always are," he said, "For the most part. I suppose you would be the exception to that rule." 

"I suppose so too," I replied. I was surprised by my ability to speak. I had been through so much in such a short space of time that I felt as though I had whiplash. 

Regardless, I managed to begin to make my way out of the cave with Luka. 

Accalia met me at the entrance. 

"Let me walk you home?" she asked. 

I felt as though something was making me want to move towards her any time she was around, like a force as strong as a gravitational pull. 

I nodded and Accalia smiled, visibly relieved.

The two of us then bid her father a kind farewell and made our way out of the cave. 

"I'll be honest, I'm worried about you. Are you going to be alright?" she asked me, with a sincerely compassionate expression. 

"I'm always alright," I said optimistically, with a happy smile. I was a little surprised, too, that I was still able to smile. I felt shell-shocked. I believed that was the best way of explaining how I felt at present. "Besides, I'm a wolf now, Accalia. That's like totally cool," I said, perfecting my Valley-girl impression once again. "It'll be fun. We'll be able to hang out without worrying so much about hidden secrets or anything like that." 

"This is true. And now you'll finally be able to show me your art work. I won't be so worried about us spending time together, because, well...we're very similar people" Accalia said with a fond smile. And yet worlds apart, I added silently. "I can understand if you're not completely alright, though. Be honest with me, are you okay?" she asked again. 

"This is all new to me- quite literally," I said. 

Accalia's expression became more thoughtful, as she considered my words. 

"I know," she said, "You're not in this alone, though. Trust me when I say that there's more of us around than you'd believe at first." 

"What are we, though?" I asked her, as we wandered closer to my home. 

Her eyes flickered with wonder. 

"Are we the good guys?" I added. 

"Yes," she said, "I believe so. We keep to our ways. We use our powers for good. We can't be all over the place and we have to keep to the plan- to make sure the humans don't find out about us. You're the exception, but then again, you're not completely human." The corner of her mouth twitched upwards again. 

"I feel like I'm in some weird superhero movie," I blurted. My eyes quickly glanced over Accalia as soon as I had said it, just to check that I hadn't offended her. 

"Sorry you didn't get a Full Moon Ceremony," she said. 

"That's alright," I replied, "I could have been a wolf at sixteen, had my mother not performed the magic on me. Is that why there's always a full moon here?" I added. 

"Yeah," Accalia admitted, "Where the wolves go, a full moon tends to follow." 

I nodded understandingly, as if all of this made sense. At the very least, it was a little less complicated than my last mathematics class, but only just. 

"I think tonight has given me a lot more ideas for my paintings," I blurted. 

Accalia released a small laugh. Any sound she made sounded so thoroughly musical. 

"You're the alpha female, right?" I asked her, as my thoughts drifted back to something she had mentioned earlier. 

We came to a stop outside my house. 

She nodded and her expression became more serious. 

"I am indeed. It's not a family thing. We have a main tribe leader- that's my father. Then there's the alpha-male- Uziel and then there's me, the alpha female. I've been the alpha female ever since I turned sixteen. Apparently my abilities are stronger than most female wolves my age, but I don't know so much about that. Also, as a side note, we always refer to ourselves as wolves and not werewolves, just because the term 'werewolf' comes with a whole host of negative connotations," Accalia explained. 

My mind began to think over all of this information. I wasn't sure how I was going to focus on anything that Mr. Z had to say in class tomorrow when I now knew all of this. My head had already been in the clouds for a long while. That was only about to get more intense. 

"In the past, Uziel was so sad when he first became an alpha. It's a common thing to become slightly solemn until you find your mate," Accalia informed me. 

"And how do you know when you've found your mate?" I asked her. 

"I'm not so sure. Apparently you just feel drawn to them. It takes a couple of weeks to truly know though. Plus, soulmates can change. Uma was Uziel's soulmate until he met Yara and the two of them got married." 

"They're married?" I asked. That might have just been one of the most surprising facts of the evening. 

Accalia released a soft laugh again, at my shocked expression.