Warm Moments and Cold Encounters
1284 Words
Empress stood in the middle of the sacred stone circle deep inside the woods.
It was a few hours to the full moon ceremony where the pack gathered to honor the moon goddess and her position as the alpha could be rightfully challenged under the law.
She closed her eyes, then dragged air deep into her lungs. She could feel the power of the full moon throbbing through her veins.
“Lucas.” She breathed softly, sensing him from deep within before even seeing him.
“I came to check if you are alright.” He stated softly, but she sensed rather than heard the anger in his voice.
“You are angry.” Empress moved closer to him, and Lucas moved closer as well.
He chuckled softly and pushed his hand through his hair. “It's crazy, you know, this thing we have between us.”
“What thing?” She asked and raised her face to him as they came so close that their bodies touched.
“This...this connection. The emotions. Everything. When I am with you or close to you, everything changes, becomes more colorful and even electrifying.”
As he talked, his head pulled down until their lips were a few inches apart.
“Is it a good thing?” Empress breathed against his lips.
“I don't know, but I know that I like the way I feel, even with everything that is going on.”
“Yeah, back to that. Why are you angry?”
“I am not welcome here, and I hate being treated like a burden. It makes me so angry I want to react, but I have to keep my cool.”
“I think that's a good idea.”
Lucas moved closer and brushed his hand down her arm, then smiled when she shivered.
“You make me go crazy, you gorgeous alpha. You make me go crazy with want. I am so drawn to you, and I always want to be close to you.”
Empress felt as if her heart and ears would explode alongside the loud thumping of her heart.
This man standing in front of her was making her feel all kinds of emotions.
She stood on her tippy toes and said. “I like what you do to me.”
Lucas softly brushed his lips against hers, and she sighed in contentment.
They were about to go deeper when they heard someone clearing his throat loudly. They jumped apart as if stung.
“I just thought to inform you that pack members have started gathering in the outer circle, and I also came to look for Lucas. He's obviously not lost again.” Jason finished with a sneer.
Lucas cleared his throat. “Yeah, yeah, I'll uhmm…I'll just go.” Then he turned towards Empress. “I have to go now, but we'll talk later.”
Lucas left them, and an uncomfortable silence remained.
Empress cleared her throat and made to move past Jason. “Thank you for the information, Jason.”
“Tonight is the full moon ceremony, and we can already feel the crackle of defiance in the pack from Rachel. Fear is spreading because some wolves are whispering about Rachel's claim that Lucas is cursed. This is not how you want to be seen with Lucas. It will call for a vote of no confidence.”
Empress took a deep breath and continued walking; She had a consultation ritual to perform with May, who was also the pack priestess.
“With all due respect, Empress, do you think that's a wise decision?”
Empress stopped, then turned and looked at him with a deep frown. “Going to the outer circle to meet Maya?”
“No! I am talking about what I just witnessed between you and Lucas.”
“It wasn't anything.”
“That was obviously something, Empress. You keep choosing him. What I saw a few minutes ago was reckless. Imagine it was Rachel or one of the pack elders who saw you two. I mean no disrespect, but I am just concerned for you.”
“I know that, Jason. That's why I haven't attacked you. I can condone Rachel because of what she represents, but that's all the disrespect I can take.”
She moved towards the exit door but stopped in her tracks when she heard his next words.
“You have to end it before it starts, Empress.”
“What are you going on about?”
“Whatever I just saw, it has to end. For the pack's sake. For my sake.”
Jason knew that she was getting angry already, but he didn't care at that moment.
He was almost going mad with jealousy because he had loved her for a very long time and even imagined a future with her, but all of that is being threatened by the appearance of Lucas.
Empress' eyes brightened in anger, and her teeth flared, but she forced herself to become calm when she heard her name from the entrance.
“Alpha Empress, it's time.” Maya called from the entrance, and she turned and followed her.
It was customary to perform the consultation ritual, where she consulted an ancient text just before the ceremony started, to determine the fate of the pack until the next full moon ceremony.
She followed Maya to the ritual cave, where the elders awaited, then pulled on her long, ceremonial cloak of dark fur and knelt before the altar.
Maya lit up the four elemental fires, then knelt beside her and took her hand.
Everyone grew silent with glowing eyes, knowing that it was more than a ritual.
Behind them, the ancient wolf drums began to beat, and a bright glow started from the back of the altar until it engulfed Empress and Maya.
During the rituals, it was a norm to see different futuristic activities, but all they could see was an ancient text written in golden flames.
They absorbed the prophecy glow for a while before the light went dim, and they fell backwards, breathing hard.
“What did you see, Priestess?” One of the elders asked curiously. The ritual had never been that intense.
Breathing hard, Maya replied. “An ancient text which read ‘the heir of the forgotten moon shall awaken at the rise of bloodlight tonight'.
“The heir?” Rachel repeated and then rushed out of the ritual cave.
She already had a suspicion of who the heir was, so she had to put an end to him before he became more powerful and a threat.
She had seen the way the stranger looked at Alpha Empress, and a union between both of them would make her untouchable.
Rachel rushed to her chambers and, on her way, sent a message to a group of rogue wolves who would do her bidding. She brought out a potion she had buried deep within the earth because of its power and its ban.
It was forbidden to use magic that suppressed werewolf abilities.
After unearthing the potion, she secretly made her way to Jason's quarters and waited behind a huge tree until she saw Lucas leaving the house, probably heading for the ceremony, which had started already.
She silently chased after him and smeared the potion when she got closer, grateful that it was nighttime so she could easily slip back into the woods and he would be too powerless to do anything.
Then she gave an ‘’attack signal’ to the rougues who had arrived.
Lucas’ scream filled the air, it was piercing, and soon pack members raced towards the noise with Empress at the fore.
- Writer
