The Wolf Within

The Shocking Truth

** Lia’s POV **

Oh my gosh, that felt amazing. Her body against mine, even for just those two seconds sent sparks across my entire body. She so perfectly fits in my arms. I could have stood holding her like that forever if she had let me. I hovered close by as I was reluctant to let her go.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“Never better,” She answered, with a playful grin. Her voice held a lower tone but it was so expressive: like when Al was confusing her earlier it was distinctly higher. On the whole it was such a smooth sound, like a finely aged whiskey poured over ice. Wait, did she just say “literally falling for her, huh?” under her breath?! It was quiet, sure, and I was so lost in her voice that I almost missed it but my wolf ears were fully tuned in so I said “what was that, I didn’t hear it?” to be sure. To my disappointment she said “nothing!”

With that, she began walking toward the edge of the forest. I was thankful for this new view of her. Her body was like that of a Grecian goddess; curves in all the best places and chiseled to perfection. Goddess help me. I was doing everything in my power not to spin her around and kiss her right there. The wind wafting her strong and delicious scent to me every two seconds didn’t help. Goddess why are you teasing me?

As we neared the forest line, I could see her pace slow, she walked tentatively forward, closer to where she had stopped last night and let out a small sigh.

“Well, this is it.” She said, her voice held a tinge of sadness. “This is where I saw that wolf.”

I wasn’t sure what I expected to happen, given that she had shooed me away that night, but I had no idea how to proceed really. She was acting like she didn’t recognize me as that same wolf. I couldn’t be the only one feeling this tension, this magnetism, this intense desire, could I? Why does she sound sad right now? I decided to just stick with the ranger façade until I had more information.

“Can you give me a description of it?” I asked as I made my way to the paw prints, trying my best to play the part.

“Sure, it was a female, the largest female I’ve ever seen.” Her voice drifted off for a moment.

I looked back over my shoulder to her to see if she was alright and caught her staring at me. I couldn’t help but smirk. “Go on,” I coaxed, relieved to see her give me that beautiful blush of hers again before looking down.

“Um, it’s fur was almost black, with streaks of a deep red, almost burgundy through it. It was a thick fluffy coat, the kind of fur you just want to stick your face in, just like your hair—” She stopped immediately then, her face and ears burned red. She likes my fur. I thought to myself as I felt myself blushing hard. I coughed slightly and went back to measuring the paw prints.

I hesitated for a moment, thinking of something else to ask. I really didn’t know how to do this, but I didn’t want our interaction to end. The thought of her shooing me away popped into my head again and my heart sank a little bit. “Did it look threatening or scary to you?” I inquired, worried about the response, but I wanted to know.

“Not at all,” she replied quickly. “As a matter of fact, it looked sweet enough to bring home.” She trailed off again, “Of course, I know that wolves are wild creatures, not to be brought home, no matter how cute and fluffy they look.” She smiled at me as I looked back to her, happy to hear that I hadn’t frightened her. Still, I was more confused than ever, so I remained silent trying to think of what to ask next.

“What WAS scary was the army of wolf howls I had heard earlier in the night.” She continued. “I had no idea there was such a high wolf population here. My family has had this cabin for decades and I can easily say I’ve never experienced anything like that before.”

That’s probably because we didn’t start to invite all of the neighboring clans to rituals until a few years back. “I see.” I replied. Her response to that reminded me of her weird behavior with her wolf last night. I closed my eyes for a moment as I pretended to measure the gait of my wolf, and focused on reaching out to hers.

As I did so, I pulled on the line her wolf and I tried to establish the night before. I felt a small tug back before I heard Dakota take a few steps closer. I looked up to her and saw her watching me. “I didn’t know Rangers kept such detailed notes.” She smiled as she continued to watch me pretend to measure my own wolf’s data.

“We have to,” I replied. I tried to think of something else to say, I didn’t want her to know just how bad I was at this whole Ranger-Data-Gatherer-Thing. Besides, I wanted to talk about her wolf and maybe why she hadn’t wanted to show it to me last night. She seemed totally clueless though. How could I bring that up naturally? She hadn’t made one comment about this being her territory, or asking us what Pack we were from, or even mentioning that I was the same wolf from yesterday. Something was really off here in that regard.

“You know, not many people realize this, but wolves, especially here, are more than just animals. They are considered sacred.” I said, hoping this would be the step I needed to get my questions answered.

“Oh?” She asked, kneeling down, our eyes now level.

“Yes.” I replied, putting down my tools and turning my gaze to meet hers. Her eyes were so entrancing, they were a grey blue, and looked like a sea just before a storm. Waves growing higher, the sky darkening; power and beauty all wrapped up together in one scene. I could get lost in those eyes.

I cleared my throat and continued, “Long ago, a few settlers who had come over during the times of the pilgrims, settled here. These settlers, however, held a secret.” I paused for a moment, trying to read her expression to see if I should go on.

“What secret?” She inquired, seemly genuinely intrigued.

“Well,” I paused, “It is said, the group had descended from a small town of Stregas, or witches, in Italy who had made a deal with the Moon Goddess. This deal allowed them to protect the forests that bordered their homes from people who had lost respect for it; but as the new world had been found, a few members of that small village decided to move here to find new territories. Needless to say, once they came here, they found this forest and it’s said that they have protected it and these lands ever since.”

“How did they protect it? What was the deal?” Dakota asked. I had her full attention and I was absolutely basking in it, despite being unsure why it was we were dancing around the werewolf topic.

“In their promise to the Moon Goddess they vowed to guard her forests and its creatures with their lives, in return the Moon Goddess gave them the power of her favorite creatures, the wolf. You see, the Moon Goddess had been so appreciative of the people’s devotion to her that she allowed them the ability to become wolves when they needed to protect the land and each other. She also gifted them with a much longer life.” I stopped, remembering the promise my distant grandmother had made to the Moon Goddess: the promise it was now my responsibility to keep.

“I’ve always loved werewolf stories; it sounds crazy but I would totally be one if I could.” Dakota responded. “I’ve always loved wolves and I’ve always felt a connection to them,” she looked sad for a moment as her sentence drifted off. “Too bad it’s all just myths and lore.” She shrugged.

She doesn’t know. My heart dropped instantly. How could she not know she was one of the Moon Goddess’s beloved? I could feel the wolf inside her. How had she never been taught about her heritage and who she was? I could feel my mouth open, ready to say something, but I had nothing yet to say.

Her eyes came back to mine, “Would you want to have the abilities of those majestic creatures if you could? I mean dreaming about that is a hard thing to give up. Even when you’re twenty-seven.” She laughed. “Anyway, it’s pretty hot out here, would you like to go back in the cabin? I can get you a fresh glass of lemonade.” Hope jumped back into her eyes as she waited for my answer.

“I would love one.” I smiled, as I began packing up my things. I followed her back to the cabin, all the while wondering how in the world my mate didn’t know she was one of us. I feel like I had far more questions than answers and now I needed to figure out how I could make our interaction last so I could keep figuring this out with her.

Oh, Moon Goddess… what have you done?