Moon Goddess

CHAPTER THREE

The morning of the funeral an announcement in local newspaper delivered to everyone's door read:

''Today we mourn, tomorrow we celebrate' An interview with the future Alpha of Mood Goddess Pack.'

As Calliope awoke to the sound of church bells and the memory of the previous day surfaced. With a groan she sat up and heard soft steps before a knock on the door echoed.

She scrambled up putting the first thing to hand on herself and opened the door seeing the old woman standing there with a wooden tray containing a packed breakfast and the newspaper folder between the can of coke and glass of juice.

"You never came for dinner. So breakfast is coming to you, darling." She said, pushing her way into the room.

Calliope smiled. At the smell of a fresh meal her stomach growled and twisted.

"I hear your belly agrees with me. Now, eat." Laying the tray on the bed she turned to the girl.

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Don't thank me yet." After this she left this time closing the door behind.

'Very weird lady' Calliope thought to herself smiling at the breakfast in bed.

Reading the headline of the paper she flipped to the interview scanning through while nibbling at the food. To her surprise there were no pictures of the Alpha or his family featured in the article. But from what she read the pack asks to not attend the funeral and leave it for the close family and friends only. This news eased her nerves as the thought of seeing exAlpha's wife again made her stomach twist into a knot.

After breakfast Calliope went for a run in the woods where she met wolves. This sight was not usual to her. Honestly she had never seen another werewolf turned into their wolf self in real life. As a matter of fact she never met any werewolf at all being a werewolf in broad daylight. The sight gave her goosebumps as she came to a halt awed. Gawking at the magnificent beasts. The fur, the paws, the spout, the tail, it's ears perked up giving her less than a second of their attention and they kept running. Their paws thudding on the ground loud.

It really was a magnificent view. 'How is that possible?' She tought.

The rest of the day flew by as Calliope admired the scenery, exploring the new mountain side town. She found herself liking it more and more with every hour that passed. 'This could be a place to settle down for a while' she taught once or twice that day.

At the end of the day she joined the bonfire at one of the forest's clearings. Seemed like everyone had joined in. There were booths with food, drink, snacks, clothing and more scattered around the place. With a grand fire in the middle.

There were people singing folk songs with guitar strings plopped into a soft tune. Whistles coming from different directions and a dull beat of the drum dictating the paste of the songs and the fire warming up the creatures that surrounded it.

Calliope's eyes fixed on it. The fires tongues licking upward, pointing into the midnight sky. Until something small ran into her. A Quick childish apology was mumbled and a toothy grin looked up at her before the little one ran off to join its friends. She stepped closer towards the fire scanning everyone present in its ring of warmth. Then her eyes fell on the exAlphans wife. A ball forming in her throat and her mouth suddenly going dry like the desert. She sucked in a breath and looked for a place to sit and listen to her story that was just beginning.

"I am grateful for this family. For every single one of you present here today." Her eyes looked at certain individuals who had mirrored the love and affection back to her.

"Not many of us know that Matteo was my soulmate. A true soulmate." At these words a tear slowly glided down her cheek. "We were incredibly lucky to find each other. So as a last memory of our Alpha I will share the moment we met..." The flames eliminating her face full of sorrow.

"We met as our fathers were about to make a pack decades ago. At first we had no idea but the pull we felt was undeniable. It was like having a string connected that got shorter by the second forcing us together until a day later Mateo had marked me." At that she touched her neck reminiscing. ExAlphas wife kept talking but Calliope couldn't keep calm enough to stay and listen till the end. Instead she turned on her heel and walked to one of the stalls ending up at the drink section.

A sudden smell entered her nostrils. A sweet grapefruit mixed with the scent of pine needles, jasmine and sage. Assuming it's the drink,  she ordered one of the closest to her. She took a sip realising it was a regular hot wine. Slightly disappointed, she decided to walk on further into the woods for some peace.

Her body felt like there was someone staring at her. Trying very hard not to show her discomfort she slowly glanced up from the drink and behind her trying to locate the stalker.

'It's Him' she taught as their eyes met and her feet grew roots stopping immediately in the spot. Her creator stood there. Looking at her without as little as half a blink. The one that sunk his teeth into her neck five years ago cursing her with lycanthropy and she was staring back.

Enchanted.

(Word Count: 928)