CLAIMED BY MOONLIGHT: THE ALPHA’s CURSE

Aveline The marketplace reeked of desperation and fear. I weaved through the crowd with a basket pressed to my chest. Vendors were shouting, carts creaked and rolled away. The sun hadn’t set yet, but the streets were emptying out. No one stays after dark on a full moon, not if they want to stay alive. “Do you have any leftovers for me?” I asked the woman who was already closing up her shop. She stopped, her eyes roaming around my body. I shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. I knew I looked shabby and unkempt. Which was a good thing. People pity girls like me. “Here you go.” She said, shoving two loaves into my basket. “Take it and run girl, you have just Ten minutes or maybe less. “Thank you.” I muttered and took off down the alleyway. My basket light in my hands. I had just two loaves, a bruised apple and a wrapped piece of dry cheese. It was all I could get today. Tomorrow, if there was a tomorrow, I will figure out the rest. People were already shuttering their windows. Mothers called for their children. Soldiers paraded the market, forcing people to close up. I walked through the alleyway cutting behind an abandoned blacksmith’s shop. My bare feet slapped against cobblestone but I didn’t slow down. A priest and his followers were setting up their camp. I ignored him as I passed. They never stayed here when he came, just like everyone else they are scared of the werewolves. Prayer never kept him away. Only silence did. I walked until my legs ached. Sweat trickled down my spine. I was getting close to home, the streets were empty now. Nobody comes to this part of town. This was for the orphans who were not allowed to live with the others. I got home just in time to hear the first bell ring, signifying it was a few minutes to the full moon. The door creaked as I opened it. “I am back.” Nyra sat up from the straw mattress she was laying on. “You’re late.” “I know, Nyra. I am sorry.” I smiled and crossed the room setting the basket down. “Did you get anything?” She asked, obviously hungry. I hadn’t given her anything to eat today. “Yes.” I opened the basket and took out the two loaves and the apple. She took the apple from me and started munching it. At seven, Nyra was too smart for her age. I wish things weren’t like this for us. I would have loved to see her attend school like girls of her age. I stood up to close the windows and make sure the doors were locked. The full moon mantra playing in my head. Lock your doors. Put off all the lights. Stay still and pray the wolves don’t come for you. The world outside was quiet. The wind whistled through the cold night skin. The windows were locked but I knew the full moon was out. I sat beside Nyra in the dark, a loaf in my hand as I took a bite. “Tell me a story.” Nyra whispered. She might not know what’s going on, but she knew to keep quiet on nights like this. “How about the Princess and the dwarfs?” “No.” She murmured. “I want one of the wolves.” I hesitated. It wasn’t a story people told anymore. The town feared the memory of it. But Nyra’s eyes were pleading. Maybe if she knew the truth, she’d understand why the fear was deep in our blood. I tucked the blanket around her shoulders and began. “A long time ago,” I whispered, “before the walls dividing us and the silence. The world was ruled by two kinds of beings, men and wolves. Then, it was said we lived in peace. The wolves were more superior because of their abilities but that didn’t soil the relationship they had with men, until..” A gust of wind rattled at the window but I continued. “Until a human betrayed the wolves.” “What did he do?” Her eyes peered at me. I thought for a second. “No one really remembers the original tale. Humans who lived then are all dead. But they say, the betrayal was so strong that the Alpha wolf lost his mate because of it.” “The Alpha wolf?” I nodded. “They said he went mad. He never moved on. He banished the humans and we had to dwell in this empty land. So every full moon he hunts the town. Some say he’s looking for his mate who he believes was reborn, some say he does it for fun. No one truly knows.” “Why can’t he just..move on?” Nyra asked a question that had once plagued my mind. “It’s not that he doesn’t want to. He just can’t. Wolves only have one mate for life. They feel incomplete without their mate.” “That’s sad,” she said. “I didn’t tell you this story to feel pity for him. He’s bad and kills without hesitation.” “That's why no one goes out during the full moon,” I finished. “Because Alpha doesn’t care who you are. He only knows you aren’t her.” “And what happens,” Nyra asked slowly, “If he finds the wrong person?” I stared into the dark, the loaf long forgotten. “They don’t live to tell the tale.”