Beastless

The muted light of yet another day and the birds chirping excitedly outside of my window eventually woke me up. I lay with my hand across my eyes, shielding them from the sun's rays. Something tried to break into my consciousness; a thought, the events of the day, maybe. I moaned and rolled to my side, remembering it was another school day. And then another event of the day flooded back into my awareness. "Oh!" I sat up so fast it made my head spin. The day I had been anticipating was finally here. Tonight was the night of the feral moon, a celestial event that only occurred once every two years. And lucky for me, it happened to fall just two weeks after my 18th birthday. For the first time in a while, things felt like they were finally going my way. I brushed my teeth and ran down the stairs. "Peyton, you don't have to run down the stairs," my mother's sweet voice came from the kitchen. "you could slip." "Sorry Mother, I'm just too excited for today to remain still," I took an apple from the fruit basket in the kitchen and dug my teeth into the poor delicious fruit, "you remember what today is, don't you?" "Yes, Peyton, it's the Feral Moon today. How could I forget when you wouldn't stop talking about it? You didn't shower, did you?" "Of course, I didn't, Mother, you think I'd forget no one's supposed to shower if they're going under the feral moon?" Was she seriously asking me that? I watched her expression change and I braced myself for whatever negativity she was about to throw at me. "Sweetie, are you certain you want to go under the moon today?" "Yes, mother, I'm very certain. Now can you please not bring one of your negative energies today, you're going to jinx the whole thing." "Honey, I'm not being negative I just want to make sure you know what you're about to do." "Mother, this is the only chance I've got at not being latent anymore. Sure it might be a little risky because we're not part of a pack anymore and once I turn feral we need a werewolf strong enough to hold me down in case I get out of control – " "Honey, this is more than just risky, it's almost illegal and possibly against werewolf law. What if other pack Alphas find out? What if Robert finds out?" Robert was the Alpha that chucked me and my Mom out of the Pack right after my Dad died because his stupid seer told him I'd be his downfall. "Mother, you forget why we're not part of a pack anymore, why Robert banished us. You forget why I'm bullied everywhere I go. You forget all of this is because I'm a stupid latent Omega who doesn't even have a father. I'm scared shitless every time I leave the house because I don't know what they're going to say or do to me. I wouldn't say you don't understand or that you do because you're not a latent mother, I am and it sure as hell sucks." I saw a tear roll down her right eye and she quickly ran the back of her palm at it. "But you're not even sure that you're latent. You just turned eighteen." "Mother, anyone born into the Crimson Pack wolfs at sixteen. You did, Dad did, and so did the other kids two years ago. Believe it or not, I am latent and that's why I need that moon." "I just don't want anything bad to happen to you. You don't have to do anything dangerous so anyone can accept you." "I get you, Mother, I do. But I need you to think positive thoughts so you don't jinx anything and everything goes fine." I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. "I'm a worried mother, Peyton!" she half-yelled. "You can be a worried mother with positive thoughts," I left the house without waiting for a reply. Once at school, I made my way to my locker, trying to block out images of my mother's sad face. There would be no room for negativity today. Before I got to my locker, I heard familiar chatter. So I stopped and ducked behind a row of lockers. Then slowly, I brought my head to the side of the wall, and there he was, Ramson, the future Alpha of the obnoxious pack that took pleasure in tormenting me more than anyone else. That peep squeak and his goons had nothing more important to do but to wait by my locker. Checking for him had been my daily routine. Some days I got lucky and avoided him and some days I didn't get lucky. I wanted today to be one of those lucky days, so I hid and waited, hoping he would leave soon. His presence was enough to make me late for whatever classes I had in this werewolf school. Ten minutes later when he did leave, I made my way to class. The wolf anatomy and physiology teacher, Mr. Omar, had already started the class. I had forgotten about the early lessons he said we would be having today. "You're late, Miss Solage," he said in a disparaging tone. "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't know we would be having early lessons today," I lied. "Sit down, and don't lie," Yes, my teachers hated me too. I know Alpha Robert had something to do with it. I just couldn't prove it. I flushed and hurried to my seat. "It's very awful to have you sitting right in front of me latent," someone whispered in my ear. "I don't understand why you even attend Mr. Omar's classes. How could you understand the attributes of werewolves when you're a stupid latent?" That was George, one of my lame-ass bullies, only he wasn't as terrible as Ramson. George would never hit me and he could easily be ignored. I was feeling good today, so I wasn't going to ignore him. I turned my head to face him and I could see the surprise set on his nasty face. "Sorry, Georgie, not today," I told him. "Miss Solage, one more word out of you, and you will teach the rest of the lesson," Mr. Omar warned. It's not surprising that he wouldn't say anything to George, just the latent. I survived 92% percent of the school day without being bullied. I had one more class and it was my favorite, Lunar History. All I had to do was get a few things from my locker and head to the class. I made a turn to my right where to get to my locker, and instead of the usual excited chatter of annoying students, there were whispers. Each person I passed bent over to whisper in another person's ear. My steps wavered. Their stares followed me like dark clouds on a gloomy day. I realized I had stopped walking. I couldn't understand why, but something was off. I took a few measured steps and stopped in front of my locker, but before I could open it, someone slammed their hand on the locker causing me to jump in fear.