The Moon Pulls Me Towards Her

I. 1

We are sitting in a small clearing by the stream. Bryan found it years ago, and now it has become our place. A special place for the six of us: Oliver, Robert, Bryan, Joy, Anna and myself.

July has become August, and in a month we'll all be apart again. Robert is going to college, Bryan and Joy to boarding school and Anna is going back to her parents, and another school than Oliver and I. When September comes, I will be stuck in the Pack House with duties such as cleaning and cooking and all the other stuff that needs to be done in a large household. Annoyingly enough, Oliver, who is the only one of the others that will stay in the Pack House, never has to do anything. He has never done anything since he is the Alfa's son.

Today, it is not Oliver I envy, though. Bryan and Joy have just had their 18th birthday, and Joy - lucky young wolf - has found her mate... Robert. If they were not inseparable before, they sure are now. She is sitting between his legs, resting her back on him while we look at the stars. They look so happy.

I want to find that happiness too. But more than that, I want to find my wolf. I haven't. That is odd. Most wolves, werewolves, find their wolves when they are about 14 or 15 years old. Some can shift, change from their human form to their wolf form already on their 12th birthday. They feel their wolf, their instincts, all their teenage years, while others, who shift late, shift when they are 16 or 17. When one is 18 years old, you can feel the mating pull - what Joy and Robert feel toward each other now. That is the way of the Moon. She chooses a partner for each and everyone of us to be one's true love. One's mate.

All my friends have shifted, even Anna, and she is not even 15 yet! Robert is 19, the twins are 18, Oliver turned 17 in the spring. They all shifted at 15. I didn't. I'll be 17 in less than a month, and I haven't changed yet.

"Look, Isa!" Oliver points towards a shooting star, making its way across the sky. "Make a wish!" I laugh at him, sometimes he is childish and those days I find it hard to believe that he is one day going to be the Alfa of the Blue Moon pack. The rest of the time, he is the perfect heir and Alfa-to-be. No matter his mood, I will defend him with my life. I look at the shooting star, before turning my attention towards the moon. I do make a wish though.

Dear Moon, let me shift.

This summer night is warm. It must be at least 11pm, but none of us freeze. The air is damp, and my light grey t-shirt clings to my upper body. The woods smell like fresh herbs, and it must be intoxicating, for everyone has lost their sense of time. Even the birds. They are still singing.

I take a deep breath, inhaling the night air. It might be my last chance to do so for days. A storm is coming. I look around at my friends. I am happy to call them so. They have been by my side for years, and they still are, even though I haven't shifted. Many wolves in the pack think that I never will, and some of them avoid me. No one dares to say that out loud. That might be because of my brother, Alexander, who is the mate of Oliver’s older sister, Maia, and he is one of the pack's best fighters too. But my friends have been with me, always, every day since the day I came here.

I was 14 then, I had lost my mother a few months before, and had lived with Alec in the woods since. I didn't know anyone, and I was afraid of what might happen to us. Then Oliver had come. He was the one who helped me settle in and become one of the Pack. He introduced me to Joy and Bryan, and the three of them became my friends before the first day at the Pack House had passed. Less than a week later, Robert came to the Pack House to celebrate the new year, and four friends became five.

For more than a year, it was the five of us, and then when Anna started coming to the pack house during summertime, she became one of us too.

It is Anna who has caught my attention today. She shifted a week ago, and she is already looking forward to finding a mate, and is dressing up as if she was out to charm one. Today she wears a floral dress, the tiny blue forget-me-nots perfectly matching her eyes and yellow-blond hair. I smile. She walks around, and suddenly stops and gasps as she points towards the sky. Several lines cross the sky, as many shooting stars fly past the earth. This is what we have been waiting for.

We sit in the woods for about half an hour, when Robert rises and offers a hand to Joy. "I'll see you all tomorrow," he says, and starts running towards the pack house, pulling a laughing Joy after him. Bryan looks offended for a moment, but then rolls his eyes at the couple. Anna is blushing. "I should go too. Mother will get worried," she says, and leaves me with Bryan and Oliver. We sit in silence for a few minutes, then all three of us burst out laughing. When we can't laugh anymore, I rise to my feet.

"It's getting late," I say, stretching and yawning. "We should head back."

"Yeah," says Oliver. "But I want to go to the lake first. It's so hot out!"

"Last wolf in, is more chicken than wolf," Bryan chimes in, and starts running upstream towards the lake. Oliver follows, and I know that even though I am a fast runner, I'll never catch up to the two of them if they have got a head start. So, I take my time, running the few hundred yards to the lake, remembering to put on a sore face when I arrive. Oliver makes clucking sounds, so I put one hand in the lake and splashes water on him. It doesn't matter a lot; he is soaked through already. I sigh.

Bryan hears it first. Or he smells it. Or whatever he does. He grows silent, listens, and then hushes on both of us. He looks serious. I don’t have to ask, for Oliver senses it too. "Rogues" he say.

I can't sense the rogues, but I know my friends. I try to signal to Bryan with my hands, that he has to mind-link someone in the house. He understands and concentrates for a moment, and then he turns pale. Oliver does to. I look from one to the other, not being able to mind-link.

Large. Attack. Many. Rogues. Bryan shapes the words with his mouth. I nod. Unlike the boys, I am not in the water, so I look around for something to use as a weapon. I settle upon a large, almost straight, branch lying on the ground. It is slightly longer than I am tall. I could use it as a fighting staff. I position myself towards the lake, looking into the trees on the other side of the stream. Bryan and Oliver shift. The two massive, and rather wet, wolves position themselves next to me. And then, we wait.

Two or three minutes pass before we hear howling in the distance. Oliver nods to us and points his head towards the trees in the direction of the Pack House. Then we move, as stealthily as we can, but still at a fast pace. We are too young to be out here, or so Alfa Lucas would say, if he hears of it.

We have made it about half of the way to the Pack House, when we halt. This time we all sense it. Something is wrong. Then the wolf appears. It runs past us, not 20 yards ahead. Then the second rogue appears out of nowhere, 4 or 5 yards in front of Oliver. This one sees us, and turns to attack.

Oliver is faster, but the rogue is almost as big as he is, and he has to dodge to the side to avoid a strike from a clawed paw. More wolves appear, and soon Oliver, Bryan and I find ourselves in the middle of a battle. I use the stick as best as I can. It is a wonderful weapon for defense, and for injuring one's opponent, but it is not as effective as claws or teeth, if one needs to either get out fast or outright kill one's enemy.

I am fighting one rouge, when studently another rogue, attacks the one I was fighting. I look over my right shoulder to see Oliver in the same situation, while all three rogues around Bryan seem to be working as a team. I don't get to think long, as I am hit by something and fall to the ground. I feel a sharp pain in my left shoulder as claws dig into my flesh. I scream and kick at the wolf's scrotum, hitting my spot. He makes a yelp, and moves enough for me, to get myself and the staff out of his grasp. I hit him hard on the back of his head, and he drops to the ground. He is not going to be trouble anymore. I turn towards the next rogue, praying that I will be strong enough to fight my way out with a wounded shoulder.

The fight goes on. I have lost sense of time, when one of the rogues shifts to human form in front of me. He is wearing no clothes, and I try not to focus on that. He is taller and stronger than I, and probably dark in color. I can't tell in the night. He grabs the staff, and tries to turn it out of my hands. I kick him, but I can feel my energy draining. I must have lost a lot of blood, my t-shirt is soaked with red. I see another wolf coming towards us. Then I don't see any more that night. I just pray that Oliver and Bryan make it out of the fight.