The Ghost Lioness of Phantom Moon

Chapter 3 -Secret Revealed

Five years later, Nova had become close friends with all the women and the children all loved her. After a year of observations, she had made the decision that none of the humans were hunters. A few of the men seemed a bit shady, but not hunter shady. She kept up an ongoing investigation on the men, just for her own state of mind. She left her house unlocked so the children could visit her whenever they wanted, day or night. She made weekly reports to Alpha Jonothan on the humans. He left her house in the pack lands the way it was when she moved into the village, just in case she needed to return. Sasha’s daughter, Sofia was her best friend in the village. Sofia had encouraged the other children to at least meet Nova. After having met her, the other children quickly became her friends. The mothers often asked Nova to watch over them since some of the mothers also wanted to get jobs in the town. The children were more than happy to spend their days with Nova. She was happy to watch over them. She never charged the mothers, but once they started earning money from their jobs, they started paying her. The first few times, she refused payment, but found that to be futile. She would often find envelopes with cash that had been set on a small table just inside of her door. None of the humans had any idea about her being a shifter or the wolf pack nearby. That was the first thing she investigated.

She was walking through the village with Sofia and Cody, her next door neighbor’s son. They wanted to go for a walk into the forest a bit. Nova went with them to watch out for wild animals. After several minutes of walking, the kids stopped and sat on a fallen tree. Sofia was looking up into the canopy and smiling at the different shades of green as the sun filtered through the leaves. Cody had his eyes closed as he tilted his face toward the canopy. Nova heard a rustling nearby and sniffed the air. Her eyes widened in horror. It was a wolf, but they didn’t belong to the pack. They didn’t belong to any pack, it was a rogue wolf. The rustling got louder and the kids noticed. They gathered behind Nova and were shaking. She stood her ground, glaring into the bushes near them. The wolf emerged and snarled at the group. Sofia screamed and clenched Nova’s shirt. Cody’s mouth was open in a scream, but no sound came from him.

“Cody, can you be brave for me? I need you to do something really important. Can you get Sofia out of here and back to my house?” Nova asked in a low voice loud enough for the boy to hear. He looked at her with wide eyes full of fear and worry.

“Don’t worry about me, I know how to fight wild animals. I’ll be able to focus if I know you and Sofia are back in my house where it’s safe. Can you do that for me, big man?” she asked. He looked to Sofia, then to the rogue, then back to Nova. He swallowed hard, then steeled himself. He nodded and gripped Sofia’s hand in his. She looked at him, then to Nova.

“I need you to go with Cody, okay? I can’t fight this wolf if you’re here. I’ll be too worried about you getting hurt.” Nova said to the girl. She nodded and turned to face Cody, who turned and ran with her out the way they came in. Nova listened to their retreating footsteps until she knew they were far enough away. She glared at the wolf and shifted. The wolf stumbled a bit at the large white lioness standing before him. He c****d his head to the side briefly, giving Nova enough time to lunge at him and sink her teeth into his neck. He moved his front paw and swiped his claws down Nova’s chest, making her release him and roar out in pain. The wolf fell to the ground, bleeding out from the neck. She heard footsteps running toward her and turned to see Sofia pulling Cody with her. Sofia’s eyes widened and stopped dead in her tracks. Cody ran into her and fell to the ground next to her. He looked up and gasped when he saw Nova in her lion form. Sofia took a few steps forward and stopped in front of the large lioness. She raised her hand and touched the bloodied fur, making Nova hiss and step back.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. You’re Nova, aren’t you?” Sofia asked. Her question snapped Cody out of his shock. He stood and moved to stand next to Sofia. He stared at Nova.

“It is you. You were the only other one out here. It has to be. How though? How does a person turn into a lion?” Cody asked. Nova stepped closer to the kids and used her paw to guide their hands to the fur at her sides.

“You want us to hold onto your fur?” Sofia asked. Nova nodded. Once their hands gripped her fur, she walked slowly toward her house. The rogue had died from blood loss a few minutes prior. She thanked the goddess that the kids were so focused on her that they didn’t see the corpse. Nova nudged Sofia to see if there was anyone around. Once she said the coast was clear, Nova rushed to the front of her house where Sofia was waiting with the door opened. After she and Cody were inside, Nova gently shook his hand loose and went to her bedroom to shift back and get dressed. The kids flinched and winced at the sounds of bones cracking and breaking. Once she was dressed, Nova returned to her living room and gestured for the kids to sit on her couch while she sat on the chair across the coffee table from them. Nova’s face held no emotion, but her eyes showed her fear.

“I’m sure you both have questions. I’m ready for them. Fire away.” Nova said.

“How does a person turn into a big lion?” Cody repeated his earlier question.

“I need you both to swear absolute secrecy that you will tell not a single living soul. There are people who would want to kill me just because of what I am.” Nova replied. Sofia and Cody both swore on their lives that they would never breathe a word. Nova nodded and explained that she was a shifter. She was born a shifter, but didn’t meet her lioness until she was sixteen. Different species of shifters got their animal sides earlier or later in life, only by a couple years. She told them that in her lioness form, her name is Aya. Ech shifter has their given name from their families, and their animal sides have their own names given to them by the goddess.

“Can you tell Aya that I think she’s beautiful?” Sofia asked. Nova chuckled and said,

“She can hear you. She says thank you and that you were very brave to not be afraid of her. She says thank you for being her friend too.” Nova smiled. Sofia and Cody smiled at Nova and hugged her before going to their own homes for the night.

A few hours later, after full dark, Nova went to the forest where she left the rogue’s body. She pulled him to the border of the pack land and waited for a guard.

“Nova, what can I help you with?” the guard asked as he approached.

“Jeremy, I killed this rogue earlier in the day. I was with a couple kids from the village. I don’t have any way of disposing of his body without the humans asking too many questions.” Nova explained. Jeremy nodded and his eyes glazed over as he linked for a couple wolves to carry the body away. Once they arrived, Nova nodded to them and returned to her house. She collapsed on her bed and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

She found herself on a dirt path in a deep forest. She knew it wasn’t the forest near the wolf pack, there were more trees and she could hear different animals in the trees. She followed the path to a clearing. There was a crystal clear pond and a large stump next to the pond. A woman was sitting on the stump, staring into the pond, like she was watching something. She had long flowing hair that glowed like moonlight. Nova realized who she was and moved to stand next to her. The woman looked out the corner of her eye at Nova and smiled.

“My child. Thank you for meeting me here. I have needed to talk to you for a while, but each time I tried, something interrupted me. I’m so glad that you followed when I guided you to move into this little human village. I have big plans for them in the future, and they needed you here to enact the first steps of my plan for them. Your being revealed to those children was part of my plan. You must reveal yourself to all the children and their mothers. I must apologize for how you were treated when you shifted for the first time. You were never meant to be forced from your pride. You were meant to leave on your own to find your mate.” Nova’s heart clenched at the memory of her mate. The goddess wiped a tear that was forming in the corner of Nova’s eye.

“He was meant to be your mate, but he wasn’t meant to be taken from you so soon. I’m so sorry for the way his family pushed you away.” The goddess said. Nova looked at her and asked,

“Goddess, why did my pride abandon me? No one answered my questions on why. I understand why my mate’s family pushed me away. I would have pushed myself away, too.” The Goddess sighed and said,

“The reason you age so much slower than the others is because you have fae blood in your family. Many generations ago, one of your ancestors was a fae shapeshifter, and they were also albino. The albinism showed itself in tiny amounts over the centuries, but Aya is the first full albino since your ancestor. Your fae blood is also why the children took such a fast liking to you. Have I answered your questions?”

“That explains why Aya is albino, but not why my pride abandoned me.” Nova said.

“I’m not sure why, honestly. I thought they might have held you in higher regard than other lionesses, because of the albinism, but that is what happens with free will. Many times it works for the best, but sometimes it does not. I truly am sorry for how your family treated you after you shifted. I am working on making it up to you. It’s time for you to wake for the day, my child. Continue on the path I have for you.” The Goddess said as she faded from Nova’s vision. Once she was gone, Nova closed her eyes briefly and opened them to find herself in her bed.

“We’re fae, Aya. Maybe we were meant to watch over the wolf pack and the human village for several centuries. At least until the village is ready for what the Goddess has planned for them.” Nova said.

“I had no idea. Not about the fae blood, or the albino thing. I thought I was just the black sheep of the family.” Aya replied. Nova chucked at her play on words. In a way, they were like the black sheep of the family.