Daughter of the Moon

The Death Keen

Pinks and reds painted the sky the bloody color and washed the already weary mourners with a new wave of grief. The wind swirled around the beach and we were disoriented by all the different, new overpowering smells. Women cried silent tears, for not being silent until the Death Keen was disrespectful to the departed, my loved ones.

Turning to face away from the wolves that gathered in twos or threes in the sand and on the slick rocks, I could taste my own blood inside my mouth. Hot and metallic, my bones burned for an instant and then the sensation died away just as suddenly as it came. I could feel the extra weight in my mouth, my teeth pushing at the insides of my mouth and down on my lip, nicking the inside of my bottom lip. I resisted the urge to spit the blood and to wipe mine own tears from my wind bitten face. I was supposed to stand strong, a proud and powerful figure, the legacy they left. A daughter of the Moon.

I was failing as miserably as I had two days prior.

Shaking my head as if shaking out my fur, the world went black as I closed my eyes. Immediately, I found her so very close to the surface. She was growling and whining and pacing within the confines of my mind. She wanted out, she needed to run. In my head, I leveled with my wolf, my primal counterpart (like I had a human side to me) and gave her a good mental shove into the recesses of my mind. This exercise was taught to me when I learned what the world was made up of, and who and what I was and will always be.

A werewolf, a shapeshifter, and most importantly a daughter of the Moon. Alpha blood, no matter what the sons and daughters shall forever lead and answer to no one except themselves. Maybe their mate, if they're talented enough to make them listen, but this problem is unusual for alpha blood pines for alpha blood.

Feeling the elongated teeth shrink to a much more suitable size, I opened my eyes to a violent sky. Indigos and maroons slashed above the black waves and signaled the death of the sun and the birth of the moon and Her domain.

I turned back towards the people I grew up with, fought with and adored. And here were the people that I would look after and protect with my life, and they would do the same after they accepted my dominance. Familiar faces seemed to blur into unrecognizable features from my higher vantage point. The children by this point, confused and unaware and tired, had begun to stir restlessly while the air grew chillier by the minute and the wind began to gust sporadically. The men were stiff backed, some just as mournful as their mates and dark smudges from restless nights marked their faces.

Glancing towards the sky once again, I searched for my signal to begin. The beach, even with the constant churning of the waves grew silent as I saw the first star shine out in the night sky. Chilled, I shuddered partially out of terror stricken grief and partially out of my insides crawling.

In a violent sudden jerk, my wolf, clear as day in my spirit and in my mind, took a deep breath, threw her head heavenward, and I howled.

The sound shot out from the middle of my belly and spouted out of my mouth, horrific, heart breaking, handsomely amplified. Seconds after echoes of others ' pain echoed around me and became lost at sea. We chorused together our love for my mother and father, their former Alphas and friend, teacher, and protector. MY former teachers, protectors and friends. We wailed our goodbyes and farewells as our lungs burned for oxygen and all together, we stopped like we had begun.

Time froze as the cries ringed through my ears still, not willing to give up and die. Every single being on the beach altogether seemed to take a slow long breath in and breathe out their weariness leaving their guts feeling empty.

And then, meekly by twos and threes as well, my pack started up the slippery steps and filed into the forest where you could smell the wild animal musk of handfuls of people shifting out of sight. Others, mainly the families with children, reached the elevated parking lot and calmly drove into the night.

Once almost everyone had left (and I mean almost everyone because a few wolves saw it their duty to see me escorted back home) I reached inside myself and I felt all my nerves tingle and grow taut, releasing an explosion of full body tremors. Not trusting my legs, I kneeled and let myself go slack while I felt my soul, my spirit, whatever it was located in the middle of my chest, blossom open like a monstrous Venus flytrap releasing a regal butterfly. The wolf inside paired in excitement while I twitched slightly from the overflowing ecstasy that radiated from my chest out.

She wanted out, she needed to run.

She wanted blood, THEIR blood.

She needed to hunt.