The Tribrid's mate

The Awakening

Lexa POV:

"Hello...is anyone there?", I said

The dark room echoed my voice as I wandered bare feet in what seemed like a long hall way.

Was that the sound of water dripping I heard? Why did it get so cold all of a sudden?

I kept on walking and tried to call out for help again. "Please, I'm lost...is anyone here?" I said.

My own voice echoed back to and I realized I was indeed alone...how did I get here? I couldn't remember but somehow something in my head told me I knew where I was.

Before long, I found the source of the sound..water or so I thought dripping from a tap. maybe? I was parched... my throat ached like i had been wondering in the desert's hot sun for days...

The sound was closer now, I could swear..it was to my left and so I bent to look harder...something wet touched my palm. Alas! I had found water! Quickly I took some in my palm to my mouth..it tasted sweet maybe even delicious, it made me think of mother's freshly baked cinnamon rolls...whatever this was, it wasn't water at all.

I kept gulping down as much as my palm could fetch me...till suddenly I looked around and I was outside with the moon shining bright overhead and was that wet sand I felt under my feet?

I was scared...something was wrong. It had to be. I knew for sure when the voices came....

It started in whispers...until they became loud chants..."Blood!" "Moon!" "Earth!"

I blocked my ears and begged for them to stop...i looked around frantically for who they were and slowly I began to see their faces. I think I saw the hatred first..the look of disgust, disdain but also fear.. why would they be afraid of me? I saw my mother first!

But how could this be...this was my family! my pack! The people staring back at me were the ones I had known all my life!

I panicked and stepped back as they seemed to be closing in on me....I held my hands up to show them it was me...Lexa! The little wolf who had never shifted to wolf form..who was too meek to speak up for herself, let alone fight.

But instead I saw that my hands were covered in blood...WAIT!!! Where did this come from? No No No....It couldn't be. What did i just drink?

That's when my surroundings registered...I was in a pool of blood!

The voices grew louder and then I felt hands on my shoulders.

"Lexa, you'll be late for the preparation"..I jumped out of bed to see my mother smiling at me.

These dreams were getting worse as the months passed.

My mother's face fell as she took in the sheets as I got up...I had been sweating so much and she immediately pulled me towards her to check if I had a fever.

I was burning up but I knew it was no illness, it was the dream I just had...similar to all the others I had in the past few months.

However, every time I tried to remember or recount the dream to my mother or anyone, I got tongue-tied for no good reason.

Mother soon realized that I was okay and shooed me into my bathroom to get ready for today's preparation.

Right. The preparation. I had almost forgotten.

The Festival of the Moon was only two nights away...where all the werewolves in neighboring areas would celebrate together with other packs the blessings of the Moon Goddess.

It was often said, people who found their mates on such nights were specially blessed by the Moon Goddess herself.

Coincidentally, I was turning 21 on that very day. I thought to myself as I started the bath and undressed.

Would I find a mate this time? Everyone my age were already with at least one pup or pregnant happily mated to the love of their lives.. but here I was still with my parents and there was still the issue of me never shifting to my wolf form.

I was worried, I don't know why no one else seemed to be.

As I hung my pajamas and stepped into the bath. Something caught my eye!

A few spots on the sleeve of my pajamas. No it couldn't be.

BLOOD.

The more I looked at my recently discarded clothes, the more I knew it was blood.

Immediately I rushed out of the tub and reached out to get my pajamas, I had to know for sure. I was so scared, I was sure I had to be losing my mind. There's no way there would have been blood on my pajamas, specifically on the sleeve! As I reached out to confirm, a flash of my dream came back and I saw myself in the same pajamas.

What was wrong with me? Before I could register what happened next, I saw that I already had the pajamas in hand.

But I didn't grab it. It seemed like it came to me.

"No..No..Lexa, you are losing it!", I said aloud.

I threw the pajamas on the bathroom floor, suddenly I had a resounding headache.

I washed up as fast as I could before Mother would come have my head. I got back into my room to meet new sheets on my bed.

Why would mother do that? In fact she's done this a number of times in the past months...now that I thought about it.

Something inside me was restless, my wolf. She said "Don't. Trust. Danger."

I hardly hear my wolf talk to me, she seems to be locked away somewhere in my mind, which explains why I had never shifted.

Mother would always say "Not every wolf has to shift" and smile at me anytime I casually aired my worries.

Was something more going on? More importantly, why was i second guessing everything all of a sudden?

I heard my wolf say again "Because it is time".

Time for what? I was so confused. I needed to go find mother. So I got dressed and headed down from my room to find her, she always knew what to say. Everything would be alright!

As I got closer to the stairwell final landing..I could hear voices in the walls.

I pressed my ears to the wall as I neared the final landing of the stairwell.

"Something's wrong", "She is beginning to remember her dreams, the spell we cast on her is losing it's effect. We have to do something and fast. Her birthday is almost here, she turns 21..the time has come", Mother said.

Who was she speaking to? As if on cue, I heard the response...Father!

"We should have seen this coming, the average wolf becomes one with the wolf at 18, we thought it would be the same but it just might be 21 for her kind". "We need to do what we have long been preparing for, it's time to perform the ritual on Lexa", Father said.

What ritual? My kind? What was that about an average wolf?

I panicked and rushed back to my room, my breathing was fast and heavy as though I had run a marathon.

Suddenly Mother called for me and asked if I was ready, I responded as calm as i could. "Yes, Mother".

She then asked that I came downstairs...I did. Cautiously.

She looked at me bemused and asked why I was taking my precious time. I looked at her and all I could see what my sweet mother smiling at me and before long I almost felt i had imagined the last few minutes.

However, my wolf didn't agree with me! "When the time comes, we run". Run? To where? I have never been outside the Kala Moon Pack, even my school were within its boundaries.

Being the only child of my parents, the Alpha & Luna of the pack. I never had many friends, in fact no one wanted to be socially involved with me so I kept to myself and that helped my bond with mother,

The Kala Moon Pack was not the biggest or most feared pack, we were more like the diplomats. Never really wanted a fight. This had to do with Father than anything else, he didn't believe violence and territory marking was all there was to being a wolf. Mother, however, was of the opinion that nature has its plans for its children and wolves had their fate already mapped out.

Mark your territory. Find a mate. These were all fated event, according to her.

As I pondered through all that had happened earlier on, I and Mother walked out together to join the other women get ready for the festival.

As soon as we arrived, the group went quiet. I went about my business but I couldn't quite shake off the feeling that I was being watched or stared at. True to my instincts, I caught a number of the women watching me and whispering..Mother also looked at me funny for a minute as well.

After about an hour and half, she quickly moved me to a nearby lake. My favorite place. She asked me to rest. But I wasn't tired? She gave me the look that said I had better shut it.

Utterly confused, I turned to the clear lake and started to throw stones. I caught my reflection in the water and saw what had changed.

My eyes.

My clear blue eyes now looked different. 

I couldn't place what it was . I leaned closer to my reflection and then I saw what it was. My eyes were no longer clear blue...they both now had a dash of blood shot red!! Quite faint actually but if you knew me, you would know I was the only girl in the pack with eyes as blue as the night sky but now they looked like they were tainted.

With something red. 

Again that voice in my head..the one that spoke to me in the hall way in my dream, the one that led me to the sound of water dripping, the one that encouraged me to drink said "Lexa, that is our blood". 

I froze. In that moment I realized I was alone. The women had left. Not even Mother was in sight.

Where had they gone?