Gifts of the Moon Goddess

Ch. 20

After getting dressed, I left the room (albeit reluctantly) and met up with aunt Alice, just outside the packhouse. I was greeted by many pack members on my way to the door, though some were much more wary of me than others. I tried not to let it bother me too much. After all, not too long ago I had killed one of their own. I hadn’t forgotten about that and apparently some of them hadn’t either. I certainly couldn’t blame them.

Out front, my aunt was waiting for me with two other friends. Both women also had styled and dyed hair, so the three of them together seemed to make up the rainbow.

They were introduced to me as Rachelle and Solana.

We hopped into Rachelle’s little sports car and drove out to a mall in human territory. The place was huge - like many stories tall - and packed with humans. According to Solana, I wouldn’t find as large of a selection of stores anywhere else in wolf or neutral territory. I had to just take her word for it, since I haven’t actually been around the territories too much. Though, I did recall Christian saying he wanted to take me to the neutral territory to show me around.

We spent some time jumping from clothing store to clothing store to try on various outfits. The girls had a blast dressing me up in every style under the moon, from more risque outfits to soft and simple. I was already feeling socially taxed by the end of that, but we swung by the food court and got big pretzels with cheese to eat on the go, before wandering around more. There was a video game store and a bookstore that interested me, so the girls took me in, but they seemed rather bored in both places, so I let them drag me to a few jewelry stores and a salon where I got my hair trimmed and done up instead.

After hitting a few more random stores here and there, we returned to the food court for some ‘real food’. By this point, I was exhausted and wanted to return home. I guess socializing just wasn’t really my thing. But, I was truly grateful that Alice got me out of the house. Maybe I just needed to find people who were more into the same things I was. You know, books, comics, games, stuff like that.

“So, I heard we are actually participating in the ball this year?” Solana asked, barely containing the excitement in her voice.

The word ‘ball’ piqued my curiosity, so I tuned back in to their conversation.

These three had apparently been friends for years and years, so I felt a little lost in their conversations most of the time, even though aunt Alice did her best to include me. Like, all of them were around 40 and had all met in elementary school or something.

“Yeah, Alistair wanted White River to go this time so he’s RSVP’d.” Alice grinned. “Should be a blast.”

“And you know all of the attention will be on us since we haven't attended in years.” Rachelle squealed.

Alice seemed to catch the look on my face because she turned more towards me and started to explain.

“This year’s Lunar ball will be held soon. It’s a party where unmated shifters can go to find partners - whether that be a gifted mate or a chosen mate.”

“Yeah, it’s this massive party and everyone gets really dressed up for it. I’m talking floor-length gowns, glitter, hair done.” Solana gestured with both of her hands to her hair. “The whole shabang.”

“The ball is actually held three times a year. First it’ll be held here on the West Coast by the Lycans, then two weeks later by the Fae, and finally another two weeks later by the Sirens on the East Coast. All shifter types are invited, though it's primarily held for wolf shifters. But, you’ll likely see fox shifters, those from the cat families like lions, not to mention bears and, of course, the bird shifters.” Alice continued.

“If we’re really lucky, we might even see a dragon shifter.” Rachelle giggled.

“Oh, please. There are so few of them left, do you really think a dragon is going to show up at this party in particular? We don’t even know if any are in the U.S.” Solana gave her a look.

I just sort of stared dumbly at the three of them. Both Solana and Alice were teasing Rachelle, who was swearing up and down that she had a good feeling about a dragon showing up at the ball and apparently whisking her away to be his queen. They insisted she was nuts.

“Uhm…dragons are real?” I finally blurted out. “I thought they were only in, like, myths and stuff.”

“Definitely real!” Rachelle beamed excitedly.

“Extremely rare, though.” Alice chuckled. “Dragon hunters are more vicious than the kinds of hunters who go after shifters like us. We don’t know how many dragons are left nor where they live, but we know they were hunted to near extinction a long time ago. Those that survived went into hiding and kept a low profile. Every so often you’ll hear rumors about a dragon shifter showing up at an Alpha or Luna ceremony or a shifter party of some sort around the world, snatching a man or woman to be their mate, never to be seen again.” Alice rolls her eyes. “Though I don’t know how much of that is true.”

I nodded a bit to show I was following her.

“How come the ball is held by three different races?” I asked, turning the conversation back to the ball.

“Well, Lycans, Fae, and Sirens are three of the most neutral races in our world. They each have only one kingdom in the U.S. and only one territory. The Lycans’ territory is the West Coast, Fae’s are central, so on.” Alice put her palms up. “If I had a map I could show you more specifically, since it's not actually as clear cut as that, but I won’t bother confusing you too much with it right now. Basically, they hold the three balls to ensure that all shifters have a chance to attend without having to travel super far. Plus, if the neutral kingdoms hold the ball, those that show must abide by their laws, which also helps to keep large fights from breaking out or nefarious plots from being carried out.”

“I’ve heard Bryce mention Lycans in passing before but he didn’t really clarify what exactly they are to me.” I said, pausing briefly on his name. It was still difficult for me to get past everything that happened and even just mentioning his name right now made me feel ill.

“Oh!” Alice leaned forward in her chair a bit. “Have you ever read those stories about werewolves? And I mean the whole ‘shifting under the full moon into a large bipedal wolf-like creature’ kind of werewolf, not what we are.”

“I read a couple, I guess.” I said, a bit scared of where this was going.

“Well, all those tales originate from true Lycans.” Alice says

“True Lycans?”

“Lycans are different from us in many ways. For starters, they don’t have a ‘wolf spirit’ like us. There’s no little voice in their head or any other presence within them.”

“Basically, they are both man and beast, just one singular entity with two forms.” Solana chimed in.

I made an ‘oh’ face.

“Of course, contrary to the stories you read, Lycans can shift at will. They don’t have to wait for the full moon.” Alice explained “They also live for thousands of years compared to our measly 200-300 years.”

“They’re also much stronger than us and don’t have to run in packs. Hence, why they have a monarchy here in the states instead.” Solana said, bouncing in her seat a bit. “And oh my Goddess, they are hot. Like, their genes are just out of this world. I swear every time I see a Lycan they look like a supermodel or a god, or a supermodel god.”

“Okay Sol, wipe the drool off your face before you get it everywhere.” Rachelle snickered. “She’s right, though. Lycans are truly something else.”

“Just remember they don’t take mates outside of their own.” Alice teased Solana.

“Hey! Just because I can’t touch doesn’t mean I can’t look.” Solana pouted.

All the girls laughed together and I cracked a smile, but something was starting to bother me. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it but a strange feeling settled into the pit of my stomach. Even my wolves were starting to become more alert and on edge. Not like the ‘danger’ kind of edge, but like there was something we needed to go do or see. Like there was a very pressing matter we needed to tend to immediately. Just that anxiety like you’ve procrastinated something important and now you only have a few minutes to get it done.

The feeling intensified until I just couldn’t focus at all on the rest of the conversation. It evolved into a pull, a deep-rooted pull, and I could tell a little more clearly now that there was someone near-ish and we needed to find them, we needed to seek them out.