Lavender

“Lavender, let’s go!” Lavender’s Mom, Arianna, called up to her. Lavender rolled over in her bed and groaned. It was 7 in the morning, according to the clock on her bedside table. “I’m up!” She called back to prevent her Mom from rushing upstairs and forcibly getting her out of bed. Even though she was almost an adult now at 17 years old, she knew better than to keep her Mom waiting. With a little sigh, she climbed out from under the covers and started stretching to shake the rest of the sleep from her bones. She knew she should not have stayed up that late the night before, but with this being their last day in Romania, she couldn’t resist the temptation of allowing her wolf one more night in the beautiful forests. Her wolf, Lilac, snorted in her head before crawling back up to sleep. Okay – the run was for her as much as it was for her wolf. She had been in Romania, with her family, for almost a year. They don’t usually stay in one area for so long but this pack was special to her Father. Her Father, Aaron, was a renowned doctor, specifically for werewolves, and traveled frequently for his job. The Romanian pack they had been invited too was located in the area commonly known as Transylvania, near the Carpathian mountains in Romania. The Alpha of this pack, Andrei, had called my father here to help his mate, the pack’s Luna, Alina. She had presented with symptoms similar to a vampire’s bite but, despite all of their efforts, she was not responding to any treatment. To make the situation more complicated, Alina was pregnant when the symptoms started. Thanks to my Father, and a few select healers from the pack, they had been able to determine that it was a vampire’s bite affecting the Luna. However, the vampire had been working closely with a witch, whose spell repelled all typical remedies for a vampire’s bite. In most cases Lavender had seen, a vampire’s bite was not fatal to werewolves – especially higher ranked wolves with a mate, such as Luna Alina. The wolves inside of us are able to repel the venom and heal any damage it may have caused. Since the witches spell was not allowing Alina’s wolf to repel the venom, her father had recommended blood transfusions and small doses of his special form of Wolfsbane. While Alpha Andrei was not eager to inject his pregnant mate with Wolfsbane, after several hours of heated arguments, my father was able to persuade him, based off of previous cases he had worked where his Wolfsbane had successfully cured various venoms/poisons. My father uses a form of Wolfsbane he created himself for these situations, which is non-harmful to the wolf but instead acts as a “cleaner” of sorts and vaporizes any foreign materials in the wolves body or blood. His Wolfsbane is one of the reasons why packs call on him for medical emergencies – his medical and chemical knowledge of all things werewolves has made him legendary. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Lavender started the shower and walked back to her closet to grab the one outfit she had left unpacked. Seeing all of her things in suitcases and boxes, ready to be shipped to their next destination, left a bittersweet feeling in her heart. Despite all of her efforts, she did get a little attached to this pack. The Alpha was beyond grateful when his mate started to recover and completely ecstatic when she was back to her normal self within two weeks of starting my father’s prescribed treatments – their pup was healthy and active according to all ultrasounds. He had told her father that they were welcome to stay in the pack for as long as they’d like, which, to her father, is usually no longer than a few months. However, her father saw the promise of staying in the Transylvania pack and absorbing as much knowledge as he can – along with being able to monitor the rest of the Luna’s pregnancy. The lineages of most wolves here in this pack are ancient – they have knowledge that other wolves would not be able to begin to comprehend. Another reason he wanted to stay here was to investigate the relationships between different species. Our home pack in Washington did not have much experience with other supernatural beings. In Transylvania, it was a normal day to come across vampires, witches and at least one dragon. Most members of the Transylvania pack kept their distance from these other beings, but they had peace treaties and would call upon each other if needed. This allowed her father to interact with and learn from these beings and would only benefit him in the long run. As Lavender got out of the shower and started with her normal routine, she was mentally preparing herself for the “goodbyes” that she had become so accustomed too. She was sad to be leaving all of these pack members she had gotten to know but was also a little anxious to return to their home pack. They belonged to the White Moon pack of Washington, located near the border of Canada. It’s highly unusual for a pack wolf to spend so much time away from their pack but our Alpha, Alpha Damien, understands my father’s work and would not prevent him from going to save lives. The only stipulation our Alpha has is that we return after each mission and before starting another, so that my father can report any new findings and we can reacclimate with the pack, the Alpha and our Goddess – after all, a werewolves main connection to the Moon Goddess is through their pack and Alpha. Lilac stirred a little in my head, probably eager to return to the pack and our home. Thankfully, we would be arriving just in time for the Full Moon ceremony. I finished with my routine of taming my long, dark hair and started throwing on my outfit. I quickly applied some basic make-up, just a little bit of mascara and lip gloss and checked my reflection in my floor-length mirror. My brown-ish, black hair fell wavy down my back to my waist and my bright blue/green eyes were accentuated by the mascara. I had chosen a simple tight, white t-shirt, blue jeans with a few small tears, my white Nike’s and a cute teal cardigan that almost matched my eye color. At 5’ 3”, I was on the shorter side of average for most wolves but I was also blessed with a curvier body. Despite all of my hours put into training while visiting the various packs my father has taken to me too, I never lost my curves. Probably because I can eat as much as my Dad. I smiled at that thought and quickly threw my essentials into my small, glittery backpack. I double-checked that everything was packed and ready to be sent home before I grabbed my pack and started down the stairs. “…just not sure if this is the right decision. They really didn’t provide me with a lot of information…” I heard my father trail off as he was talking to my mother. I bounded into the kitchen, laid my purse on the counter and gave my Mom a quick hug and peck on the cheek. “It’s about time, Lavender! I was just going to head up there and see what was taking you so long!” My mother said endearingly. I didn’t want to mention my night-time run, even though I’m sure they both suspected why I had trouble getting up this morning. Usually, I’m an early riser and sometimes up before them. “I’m sorry Mom, all of my things are ready and packed. I’m starving!” My eyes glanced around the kitchen until they settled on the food, already prepared on the table. I took my seat on my father’s side, after giving him a quick kiss as well, and immediately started loading up my plate. My parents watched with amusement, as my mother joined us at the table. “As you know, Lavender” My father started, “we are heading back to White Moon today. After we’re finished eating, we will go to the Alpha Andrei’s home to say our goodbyes. The Full Moon ceremony is 2 days from now – we should arrive back tomorrow, which will give us a little bit of time to rest. I have already received an invitation from another pack.” My father paused to eat a few bites of food, as I waited for him to continue. I glanced at my mother, who smiled back at me. “This invitation is different from most others I have received. It doesn’t appear they are calling on my for a pack member who is ill, but rather it’s an invitation to learn from them.” He looked up at me and held my gaze for a few moments before continuing. “Your mother and I have been talking and we know this lifestyle has not made it easy for you sometimes. Being that you will be 18 soon, we want you to really think about how you see your future. If you would rather stay behind in White Moon while your mother and I travel, I am sure Alpha Damien would be happy to look after you.” He grabbed my hand as he finished and I could tell this was something he and my mom had discussed frequently. I finished chewing the food in my mouth as I contemplated what they were offering. It was true that the lifestyle of a traveling doctor made me miss certain things that kids look forward too – I missed going to school with my packmates, shifting and running for the first time with my pack and numerous other little things. When I turned 16 and shifted for the first time, we had just arrived in Romania. Due to the circumstances with the Alpha’s mate, we could not delay travelling here. While I did feel a pang of sadness, having some many other experienced wolves, who welcomed our family with open arms, to help me through my first shift was a blessing in disguise. In a lot of ways, that’s how my childhood was. Even though I missed out on “typical” milestones, I wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything in the world. Being with my family and experiencing my father’s skills first-hand, along with the knowledge I picked up for myself along the way, has made me into the werewolf that I am today. I smiled at my parents as I’m sure they already knew the answer, but wanted to offer me a choice anyway. “I wouldn’t trade my life for anyone else’s.” I assured my parents first. “I may not say it enough but, I love you guys so much and you did the best job raising me. The experiences and knowledge I gained are going to help me when I do decide to go out on my own. I may not know what my future holds but I will think about it, meditate on it and let you know before the Full Moon ceremony.” I smiled at my parents and reached over to grab my mom’s hand as well. They both nodded and grabbed each other’s hand so we were all connected. “Let’s save this conversation for when we return home. For now, let’s focus on saying our goodbyes and preparing for the chaos of returning to our pack.” My mom winked at me and we all chuckled a little. It was always hectic when we returned to White Moon – since this was one of the longest times we have stayed away AND I’ve shifted since we were last back, our homecoming this time was sure to be even more crazy. “What if we find our mate when we go home?!” My wolf asked and suddenly started to get even more anxious about returning. I giggled at little at her. “You never know babe, but I never got any feelings towards the males when we were home before…” I trailed off in my thoughts. Sometimes wolves who knew each other before coming of age would have small tell-tale signs that they were destined to be together – the feelings that you have with your true mate but muted and not as apparent. It wasn’t a for sure way to tell but almost always happened with mates who were from the same pack. “You’re right.” My wolf pouted in my head. “Maybe it’s because we never spent a lot of time at home though.” I didn’t respond to her – I figured I would let her keep some hope that we would be returning to a mate.