Sweet Charity

Charity: Chapter 2: The Truth Revealed

"I will start with this," she speaks while seating herself in the grass. I lie beside her and put my large head into her lap. She strokes my ears as she speaks more. "I am the Moon Goddess. You are my creation. Your birth name is Charity, which is the name you answer to in your human form. However, your name is also Layla in your wolf form."

I blink to signify my understanding. I can't use my words now since I have a muzzle instead of a human mouth. I realize then I am still capable of human thought. I nod my head at her and she continues.

"Your wolf parents were Alpha and Luna of the Diamond Moon pack, which is roughly thirty miles from here. They were killed the day you were born." I whimper in understanding. "I took you away to your human parents. They've known what you are and who you are from the start. They have agreed to keep you safe and unaware until your first shift. Aspects of life you've never questioned worked well in this." I pointed my muzzle toward the moving boxes still in the living room.

She looks where I've indicated. "Yes, sweetie. The reason you've recently moved is I have told them that other wolves were coming for you. It will take them longer to find you, but I've also moved you closer to your pack." She continues to stroke my ears. I can feel my body getting very comfortable with her and I become sleepy.

I can't help myself and I start to doze off on her lap. I feel her move my head gently from her lap to my paws. She chuckles at my sleeping form. "Every first shift wears a pup out."

"I see she's shifted," my dad's voice breaks in my dreams, but I am so comfortable and tired that I don't eve nmove or open my eyes.

"Will she be ok like that?" my mom asks, concern etching her voice.

"Yes, darling. She will shift back to human form just before sunrise. "Be here for her when she wakes. She will have questions for you. I know she will have questions for me. I will return to her in the next evening." I feel a slight breeze fluff my fur, which I can surmise is the Moon Goddess taking her leave.

I hear my parents talking quietly between the two of them. I simply cannot make myself wake up to eavesdrop. I roll over onto my side and let my tongue loll out of my mouth. I sleep so deeply that I have no dreams. It's a rare occurence I sleep so soundly.

***The next morning***

The birds are chirping when I wake up. I stretch. I look at my body. I look human again. Was I dreaming? I try to remember some things I read about werewolves and the Moon Goddess. They were made up, weren't they? Most of the books I read, the character shifted between sixteen and eighteen years of age. Those with Alpha blood sometimes shift sooner. That seems plausible.

I shuffle into the house and make a beeline for the kitchen. I am famished. My mom is standing at the stove cooking biscuits and gravy. My dad is at the table sipping coffee and reading his phone.

"So," I begin. "What's my story?"

My dad puts down his phone and blinks at me as though I've grown a second head. Realization dawns on his face that he knows what I am asking him. He motions my mom to sit down. She serves the food in the middle of the table before she sits down. Dad is on my amber side while mom is on my purple side. Mom reaches out to touch the dark streak of color in my hair.

"This is a protection spell."

Wait, what? This answers nothing just brings more questions to the front of my mind. I pretend to understand what she is saying. I nod at her as I shovel a forkful of food into my mouth.

"JoAnna, you have to elaborate for her."

"It's hard, dear," my mother says on a sigh. "I was hoping she'd be older before this happened."

"Some of this is hard to say, but it's going to be said. Your mom and I are part of the Shadow Moon Coven of witches. Yes, witches get a bad name because of movies and old wives' tales. There are witches who practice the bad side of magic and those, like us, who practice good. Three days before you were born, your mother came to our coven seeking help. It's not rare for werewolves and vampires to seek out witches for some spell or other. However, it is rare for a Luna to seek us out."

"In werewolf society, Alphas and Lunas are pretty strong and mostly capable of caring for their pack. I say mostly because occasionally a werewolf is bitten by a vampire. This creates a Lycan. They're nasty beasts who kill just for thrills," my mom breaks in my dad's explanation. "Because werewolf and vampire are mixed in a Lycan, they're stronger than werewolves."

I nod along as they're talking to me about werewolves and vampires. By now I have abandoned my breakfast after only a few bites. Is this really true? I look between the two and I don't see any signs of joking or making up stories like they did when I was younger. It has to be true! They look so somber.

"Well, anyways, the Luna came to us while the Moon Goddess was in our coven. She helps our spells last by binding them to the coven that cast them and by her own magic," my dad picks up the story at his dropping point. "Your hair is the color it is for three reasons; one, the Moon Goddess took special interest in you because of who the Alpha and Luna were to her. Two, the amber color was for your mother. Her wolf was a beautiful amber wolf with flecks of white fur. Her wolf name was Amber. Three, the dark patch is what binds you to our coven."

"You will have that dark patch until every member in the Moon Shadow Coven dies. You will always be protected to the best of our collective abilities. The amber patch you will have until you die," she stops speaking to wipe a tear that escapes down her cheek.