Make yourself at home (on hold)

Family

This chapter is unfinnished and will still change a bit at the end.

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By the time I woke up it was dark outside and the moon shone into the room, it almost seemed to be calling me. I had always had an addiction for night time and a bright moon, like today. I could feel my leopard itching to get a run. But before I got up I listened to the sounds of the house, only when I was sure everything was quiet I got up and opened the window. It was a lot faster to go through the window even though my body was still aching, but it meant I didn’t have to sneak through the entire house like a thief and I could jump in more easily again. I was about to jump out of the window when I realised I was about to shred my clothing again. I took a quick glance out of the window to make sure no one was watching, then stripped my body and jumped out of the window. My paws landed lightly in the backyard and I took off without a second thought. Running freely made both me and my leopard happy, there was no fear and no reminders of it.

I found a bright light clearing some time after hunting. It had something magical and so I decided to rest. While my leopard started to clean herself I retreated from her consciousness as my mind started to travel.

 I thought about the past few days, the way my life had changed since I ran away from the wolves. I couldn’t help but to compare it to the life I had in the orphanages. It was clearly different from the way the people welcomed me from the start to how accepting they were with all the issues that I brought with me. Then again I had no idea for how long they could keep that manner. I had hope that the changes might last, but I wasn’t going to fool myself, they never did. Could a pack even accept someone like me as a Luna? What if they found out about where I truly came from? Would I be rejected for it?

 When my leopard growled loud and defensively I quickly snapped out of it and concentrated on my surroundings. There was a rustling not too far away from me and the hair on my leopards back stood on end. She was moving backwards tensely whilst the rustling came closer quickly and panic rose in me. My heartbeat increased steadily until I could hear paws on the damp ground. They seemed heavy but not heavy enough for a wolf and so my fear of it being the Alpha ceased into nothing.

 Seconds later a leopard reached the clearing. I still stood rigid as before, but only when he noticed me did he stop as well.

 Gordon stared for a second and then looked at me as if to say: What are you doing here? But nodded his head into one direction, like the first time we met. I started to move into the given direction without a second thought and followed him back to the fringe of trees. The houses looked calm and peaceful, only few lights were visible. The sky was dark but the waves were pitch black. We stopped and Gordon looked at me as if to say: Wait here. And I did while he went back into the forest to shift.

 “You shouldn’t shift just yet, I have someone bringing you clothing.” Gordon said when he returned, but I had no time to ponder his words for an elderly lady approached us.

 “Emilia! It’s nice to see you again, I heard you hardly leave the house anymore.” He called happily, but her reply was rather dull.

 “You called, I came. What for?” I was rather happy about the fact that she completely ignored me while staring Gordon down with her piercing eyes.

 “I will tell you in a minute. May I?” He got a hold of the clothing she had been carrying and turned to me. He went back into the forest again and I followed him this time.

 “She’s gone mad ages ago, but I think she could be important for you.” Gordon whispered shortly before he headed back to the lady called Emilia.

Gordon stood uncomfortable in front of Emilia (still staring at him) as I walked slowly towards them.

“Emilia I want you to meet Ava. She arrived a few days ago, but you weren’t at pack meeting.” Her eyes finally saw me and her scrutinising eyes gave me a well known chill. She did not look dangerous to me, but after looking at me clearly she seemed to look past and that was what set me of. She looked a lot deeper than I had expected and felt comfortable with, but didn’t dare to move.

“She’s way off balance with her leopard. Torn and burnt, it won’t be easy for you to train her.” She finally said to Gordon and he laughed aloud.

“I’m not asking for the easy way. All I ask is if you can help her.” He had said it rather teasing, but there seemed to be more than he was showing me. Emilia stared at Gordon for a while, they seemed to converse in their minds and then finally turned with a grunt.

She led the way through the fringe of the forest to a little house a bit away from the village. Gordon and I had been following silently, neither of us seemed to be very comfortable and I wished to go back to the beautifull clearing.

The air was thick as the three of us sat down in front of an old table and three steaming mugs of tea. Both Emilia and Gordon were looking at me.

"As a matter of fact, privacy is a privalige you don't get in this matter. I am guessing that you were never in contact with your leopard until recently, that is why you never really learnt to live with her, but also why you survived as long as you did. Now we want to see to your further survival, meaning you are going to have to change a lot. Tell me, how did you not know about your leopard for so long?" Emilia spoke increadibly fast for her age and it took me some time to realise just what she had said and asked for, then some more to answer her.

"I... I don't know for sure..." I said hesitating and remembering the night I had first shifted. It was heavy on my heart, shame and gilt weighing me down, but it reminded me of something.

"I used to wear a chain, that was said to have been mine ever since I was born. The night I shifted for the first time someone ripped it off my neck. Before that I had never taken it off." My voice trailed off into silence or at least to what felt like silence to me.

"Ava, this chain of yours what material was it?" Gordon asked intensly as if he had asked the same question before.

"I always thought it was silver, but it could just as well have been anything else." I had never made the effort to find out what exactly it was. One of the reasons for that was the risk of it being valuable enough to be taken away from me.

It was strange how Emilia all of a sudden seemed to see through me again, as if what i had said had thrown her into a memory of her own. I suddenly wondered if i looked the same everytime I disappeared into one of the horrors haunting me, but pushed the thought away quickly as not to risk it happening again in a hurry.

"Since when is your hair white with black strands?" Emilia had snapped back into reallity and fired the question so quickly that it made me jump.

"S - Since I remember"

A second after I answered Emilia held out one hand in front of me and said: "Give me your Hand."

I followed her command, but when i touched her skin something happened. It felt like something was forcing its way into my conscious. It hurt and I tried to pull away, but Emilia held my hand in place.

After a while the pain decreased.

It wasn't like with Alexander, not as deep going, but close too.

When our hands touched there seemed to be electricity exchanging between us and somehow it felt like something inside me started to finally heal. I felt a strong presence in my mind and welcomed it like I had been waiting for it my whole live.

Welcome to the pack, Ava. Said a voice of wich I realised that it belonged to Emilia. But  she wasnt the only one that was now in the back of my mind, all of a sudden there seemed to be many. Only few of which I could distinguish. There was Alexander and his family, Gordon, Nelly and her family.

All of it felt so overwhelming powerful that I could not do anything else but stare into my grandmothers eyes, our hands still touching.

This all must be very confusing for you. She said remaining mind linked, but that was just too much and my world went black.