Falling Under The Lunar Eclipse

Chance Encounter

Have you ever seen someone that takes your breath away? I never had known what it was like to feel a crash of emotions until that day when I met this strange looking woman. Like a knife that sliced through the heart—hands tightly around my throat. I could barely breathe when my eyes met those dark, amber eyes.

--

The sun had started to set, when a young woman named Hazel entered a little café that typically stayed empty. Most of the customers were locals, because the outside looked so rough due to the owner having poor taste in advertising, but the food was to die for. All the young woman wanted to do after a long day of going to college classes was to get a burger and go home to pass out.

Once she received her burger, she settled herself into a booth against a window and sighed as she shuffled her heavy bag off her shoulder into the seat next to her. The relief her shoulder was immediate since her bag was like twenty pounds.

Okay, maybe it's not that heavy, but goodness, I think I’m taking too many classes. Hazel rolled her eyes thinking to herself. As her eyes rolled, that’s when it happened. She didn’t know how she had missed choosing a booth that had a person sitting directly in the next booth over. Normally, she would have made a more anti-social decision and sat far, far away from everyone. But here she was, facing directly towards another woman from the next booth.

Hazel’s eyes widened when her eyes wandered over the other woman, curiosity taking over, because the woman looked so strange to her in a way that she had never seen before. Immediately catching her eyes was the hair style—the other woman had half her head shaved, but the other side of her head had this curly, long black hair that framed her long face. With her eyes traveling down the woman’s face, she noticed from the contrast of the dark tan the woman’s skin glowed with in the sun light, she had a bright rainbow tattoo that looked like it splashed the right side of her neck. Hazel swallowed as she noticed from the long, elegant neck the woman had, was contrasted with very toned muscular shoulders and arms that were resting on the booth with a drink in one hand. This strange woman had tattoos and her ears pierced, and everything that Hazel didn’t have.

She didn’t realize she was staring until she noticed the other woman was looking back at her, sipping her drink and had waved at her.

Oh my god.

The other woman just waved at me.

Hazel gasped and ripped her eyes down at her burger, shame filling her face and ears. The heat she felt sent her back to the reality that she was just caught gawking, checking out some other woman.

Crap, I think she noticed I was staring! I just need to keep looking at my food until this awkward moment passes. . . Hazel took a big bite of her burger, and the joy that she normally felt eating the food in this café was overpowered by embarrassment. Humiliating embarrassment. The young pale woman heard rustling across from her, and she just knew that the other woman was probably upset for getting stared at and was leaving.

Oh, how embarrassing. . . I stared at her like a piece of meat, Hazel thought in total disgust with her behavior.

“Did you see something you like?” A silky deep voice asked.

Dead silence followed, and a mortified Hazel looked up and saw the woman had moved herself to the closer booth seat, perching her strong arms on the back of the booth into Hazel’s, closing the distance between them. The dark-skinned woman had a relaxed smile and her eyes. . . Her eyes sent an electric shock that made Hazel gasp as she got lost in those amber eyes.

W-Why is my heart racing. . ?! Over a stranger. . . Over a woman? Goodness, was this strange woman waiting for an actual answer for why she was staring?

More humiliation flooded the young, fair skinned woman and panic dictated her next actions. She had to escape!

Hazel slammed her hands against the booth as she shot up to her feet. Her heart beating so rapidly, she turned towards the café door and ran out as fast as her feet could go. Hopefully, she could look back on this incident years from now and laugh back on it.

Right? Maybe a decade. . . Hazel thought.

---

A full day’s work in the shop had tired out the older woman. Her jeans were covered in dirt and oil from the ground of the mechanic shop, and her aching feet couldn’t help but stop at this strange, raggedy looking café. Surprisingly, her food tasted delicious, and a mental note was made to definitely be coming back to it again.

As she was finishing up her drink, she immediately noticed a young woman settling herself and sitting directly across from her booth. She couldn’t help but notice, because she was flooded with an intense scent that filled her nostrils, and an electric feeling nagging in the back of her head.

‘Our mate! Jac, the lunar goddess has blessed us finally!’ A voice almost screamed through her head, causing the dark-skinned woman to immediately take note. . . Was this young woman staring at her? She noticed the other woman’s eyes roaming over her, that sent a curl of heat through her abdomen.

Most people stared at Jacqueline. She knew she looked different, not the normal standard for a human woman in society. But she was not human, and she definitely did not want to catch the eyes of a human male. But this woman? She definitely would want to catch her attention.

The younger looking woman had fair skin that glowed amongst the light shining through the window from the setting sun. Her hair was long, extremely long, the older woman noted and a light auburn color that almost matched her luscious lips that had a pink tint that were screaming to be kissed. She also noticed her eyes were different colors—the right being green, and the left being blue. The black-haired woman took a sip of her drink and waved her hand at the other girl.

She almost spit her drink out wanting to laugh when she saw the young girl gasp and her face filled with a heavy blush.

‘Go talk to her.’ The voice in the back of her head commanded, and she agreed with it. The intoxicating scent was unlike any Jacqueline had ever smelled. The young woman smelled of a sweet nectar, with a hint of a floral gardenia undertone—accented with little pops of a particular wood that Jacqueline couldn’t quite place yet. . .

The embarrassment must have been too much for the auburn-haired woman, because her head rapidly aimed towards her food and all the active attention stopped. Jacqueline would have felt disappointment if she were a human, but she was blessed with a gift that allowed her to hear quite excellent. And the heart beating across from her was going so fast that it pumped up her own adrenaline. This was good, she thought. It meant she was still receiving this fair woman’s passive attention.

Jacqueline knew that girl was attracted to her. The Lunar Goddess wouldn’t just bless someone with a bond if they both didn’t feel attracted to each other, right?

The dark-haired woman stood up and stepped into the other seat, closer to the other woman and got on her knees in the booth so she could see her. Jacqueline licked her dry lips and felt her own heart pick up its pace.

“Did you see something you like?” Jacqueline asked and saw the girl’s beautiful colored eyes widen and shoot up to meet hers. Her eyes were filled with so much emotions, that Jacqueline almost swore she saw fear in her eyes. The fair skinned woman’s full lips parted slightly, and the sounds of intense heart beating pounded in Jacqueline’s ears. Her inner voice was almost frantic in the back of her head, screaming at her to claim this woman. And just like that, time felt like it stopped for her. Even though this woman was a human, could she feel this bond too. . ?

A sudden loud noise slammed against the table, and the young woman stood up rapidly and ran off.

Well, that’s definitely a negative on feeling that bond, Jac sighed.

The dark-haired woman felt a pain in her chest, and in the back of her head—she heard that inner voice start demanding her to intervene in this fold of events.

‘Go chase her, Jac! She’s leaving—that's our mate!’

‘I can’t, Jacqueline. She’s a human, she doesn’t feel this bond.’

‘Well, make her feel it.’ The wolf in her growled, but Jac knew that life in human society didn’t work like that. Her wolf was a strong, ancient one, but she did not pay attention to human affairs. The only reason she even paid attention to this human being, was because the Lunar Goddess had shown them and blessed them with their soul mate.

But. . . For the mate to be a human. That puts a bind on things. Jac thought with her brow furrowing. She ran her rough hand against the shaved side of her head, but not all was lost. She noticed the girl had left her burger, and she raised herself up even more when the color of teal caught her attention out of the corner of her eyes.

A bag?

A chance.

‘Jac, we can find her!’ The wolf contently noted, and Jacqueline got off the booth and walked towards the bag. A werewolf’s sense of smell could easily find where this long-haired woman resided.

Jacqueline looked around and seeing as the café was completely empty of any customers, she candidly picked up the bag and walked out of the restaurant hastily, nodding to the chef with a mumble of thanks for the delicious meal. Out, so she could be out of sight, and try to find out more about this woman.

The sun was setting and the dark crept through the skies. Not a soul was outside and Jac put the bag to her face and inhaled deeply. Her skin pricked and shivered when that intoxicating smell overloaded her senses. That wood smell that she could smell earlier was heavier on the bag, and even though she wanted to focus on the woman’s smell—she was on a mission. Jac had to find a scent that could place this woman in a socially acceptable setting.

Hmm. . . It smells like laminates. . . This bag goes on multiple surfaces. . . I smell paper, and that wood—its pencils! I think she’s a student that goes to a school.

And there it was. Jacqueline knew she could find her and bump into her at her school. There was only one college in this town, and since it was closest to the café, Jac knew the young woman had to go there.

‘Let’s go get her!’ The wolf whined, but Jac shook her head.

‘We have to be patient, Jacqueline. Humans are easily frightened, and if I showed up out of the blue—we will spook her and officially be labeled a creep to humanity and alone.’

‘Alone?’ The wolf questioned.

‘Mate less.’ Jac finished and a silent, sulky acceptance finally let Jac know the wolf inside was calmed.

For now.