By moonlight's shadow

Chapter 50

My mind is so much like the ocean I watch for the incoming ship, calm on the surface with so many deep under currents, all of them with their own purpose. Being a "watcher" is the perfect job for a daydreamer like me and if I must suffer cold feet and numb fingers through the winter months it's a price worth paying.

They think I'm a fool to wait like I do every chance I get: eyes set to the horizon, arms resting on the cold metal rail. But the way I see it they're missing the greatest mysteries of life as they chase the mundane and trip over the details of existence. Waiting here gives me time to let my mind escape the boundaries of the ordinary, to think beyond the offerings of modern media. I ponder the threads that bind one person to another and the wounds that separate. I think about the origins of goodness and what "humanity" really is. Waiting here while others do important things is such a gift, a blessing of time. I would give up an eternity of tedium to simply solve a great mystery, to think as the masters of antiquity once did.

But now that I was sitting here, waiting for my Alpha to speak to me I felt like that I could have been at sea, or even in the strongest tempest, being tossed and turned in the middle of the sea that would have been more welcome to his silence. I could not even think of waiting for his verdict as I stood there before him with my head bowed. I know my father had taught me to never before anyone else except your Alpha and today I was proverbially doing just that.

“Alpha,” said I,” Please Alpha…I beg of you…please listen to me…I have never ever in my life thought about Rhea in any way other than my sister but this is nothing I can do about Alpha…tell me anything Alpha, punish me if you have to but please  look at me!!!”

Alpha Lukas looked up at me with pain in his eyes as well. It was not only me that was suffering from the uncertainty and confusion but he was suffering the same anguish as me. I had promised him that we would be brothers in every single thing and today, it might become true with the blessings of the Moon Goddess.

“It is not you Charlie who worries me. I know that you are a very happy person with a good soul which resides in your body and your wolf is one of the most loyal wolves of my pack and I trust you implicitly Charlie. But Rhea, she is not the usual normal wolf, and you should know every single about her before you leap in without thinking. I am glad that it is you Charlie, so that I can talk to you. If it was someone else then might have been things would have been so different. But it is you, my Beta, that is the reason I can speak my mind,” said Lukas as he looked up at me with a sad smile playing on his lips.

I could not understand what was it which had the Alpha so much worried. But I could not shake off this feeling that there was some kind of spirit hanging around this house. Was that what he was going to tell me? That the spirit of Credence still resided here, that he was being plagued by that??? Could that be why he and rhea had been behaving so strangely the past few days???

“What is it Alpha? Tell me,” said I, with his tone almost reverent.

“Rhea is not a complete Wolf Charlie. She is part Druid from the side of her mother and we have come to find that a few days back. She has been very tensed about it and I have been acting out since I could not tell this to anyone at all,” said Lukas and tried to gauge the expression of his Beta. He continued saying,” We are supposed to uphold the tradition of becoming the Wolf of God, as pure bred wolves but that is the truth which was kept from us. And you know that. When my father had brought Rhea from the woods and named her matching with our mother we thought might be she was the mother but the child came from different father whom my father had killed and no one rectified our thoughts. It was only a few days earlier that it has been brought to our attention that Rhea, has got a part to her which is the reason why she can grasp knowledge so much and so faster. She is much intelligent than other wolves of her class because she is unique. I have always known that my baby sister was special but now that Gilda told that you were the destined mate for her I thought that you should be made aware of the same.”

I did not know what to say for the first time in my life. I was not a man of much words but I definitely was not a dimwit either but what Alpha told me stopped me in my tracks. I staggered towards the nearest chair I could see. He looked at me expectantly with a sign of resignation on his face.

There is a kind of waiting that feels like gentle onshore breezes kissing salty stones. It isn't warm but there is a sense of calm, of nature, of things expected. Then there is the kind that feels like the head of a medieval mace is loose in my guts and my head has taken a beating with a hefty plank of wood. This was that kind of waiting, and the beating inside my head did not stop even for a moment. Finally after some time that noise stopped and I knew what I had to do. I knew what I would do, what I would say to my Alpha.

“Does Rhea know of this?” I asked as Alpha nodded at me saying yes.

“Right now, she has gone to join the classes of the Druid Academy so that she can graduate early this year. Moreover they have asked her to be a part of their Council of teachers as the youngest teacher in the centuries,” said Lukas, with a hint of pride in his voice.

“What???” I asked in shock. I had no idea that Rhea had left the school that we have for the children of the pack in her ninth year and then she had joined the druids for the purpose of finishing her education.

“Why does it seem as a shock to you? Rhea has been brought up as a wolf through and through and she is much ahead of her class which has left her dissatisfied with the entire education process. It is high time that she comes to know about another part of the rich heritage and culture to which she belongs. If she is getting the proper education there then it is only good that she can be taken care and looked after well there when it comes to matter of knowledge,” said Lukas, as he looked at my face.

I desperately wanted to protest to what he was saying but I knew that it was going to fall on deaf ears. Moreover I knew that he would say that for me it was the mate pull talking and I knew that it was true to a great extent. I wanted to keep her close, I wanted to keep Rhea in my sight at all the times. It was like as if I would see her and then my inner peace would return and the turmoil would subside, but then again I was being selfish.

“Alpha Lukas, it is a matter of great honour to me that I can proudly say that my mate is the only one of her kind, that she is unique. I know that I am going to respect her, love her and cherish her and protect her with my life if you allow me that chance. I am never going to let you or Rhea down. And you can have my word on that. I know my father has taught me that it is not by birth that a person becomes a person that he or she is fated to be but rather it is through his or her actions that they reach there. And I know that rhea is destined for great things. You can have my word that I am never going to come in the way of impeding her happiness in any way. I shall step back if it means that she needs me to be behind her and not beside her. I can promise you that I am never going to be a source of pain or sorrow for her sake. If that happens then I shall die by my own hands,” I said as I closed my eyes and Rhea’s face flashed before me.

“You need not be so depressing and morose Charlie. I don’t want to lose my Second in command just because his mate is my little sister. If you decide that even after knowing the truth about Rhea you are going to be bold and brave and accept her for who she is then trust me, I am going to have no problem in giving her hand in yours in the Bonding ceremony. But Rhea, also has to realize that you are her mate and has to accept you such, only after which this might be able to happen. You have my nod, beta. Now all you can do is wait and give Rhea the time and care and attention she needs in order to realize that you are the one for her,” said Lukas as I sighed at his words. This was something that I had never expected in a million years, but only dreamed that the Alpha would accept me as the brother I have always been to him. The pack is a family but the ties in between the families are the only things which makes us stronger.

“You don’t know Alpha, how happy I am this moment. I know that this is tough for you to accept that your sister has now a mate but trust me I am never going to tear her away from her only family. And you are going to have one more member to your existing family. I hope you will not mind if I come to dinner sometimes like I used to do when Mrs. M was still here,” I said as Lukas looked at me with a sad smile once more.

“You don’t need any kind of permission to ask if you want to come for dinner or any food but lately we have been living off sandwiches and juice. It is like none of us has the mind to sit down together and have a decent meal but you are right. We should be having proper dinner, I am not taking care of any one of us. I am trying to deal with everything but loss of your parents is not something you can easily cope with and you know that…if there is anyone who can understand that then it is you Charlie,” said Alpha Lukas and my eyes stung with the unshed tears at the mention of my parents.