Obscure Nights: Rogue Moon

II. Those That Howl in Secret

“Ella, Ella, wait!”, behind her, the exhausted voice of Mattheus Windfaire did its best to reach her. Luscziella did not pause in her steps in the slightest–strange, how it felt like she was now a blistering hurricane. Now, she was the most beautiful force of nature; voluminous chocolate locks free to the wind, framing a beautiful and perfect doll-like face, topaz eyes brilliant with unshed tears, as men from the halls of Moonheart Hotel eyed the red laden beauty currently stalking her way out of the hotel the fastest her kitten heels could take her. Alas, she reaches the reception and the sight of the gates feels like a relief from this whole fiasco as she finally calmed her steps and gracefully walked out of the hotel.

The crisp and fierce nightwinds of Eterlune City immediately greets her but she welcomes it nonetheless, a distraction from the turmoil and chaos that was still threatening to bleed and shatter within her like the birth of a neutron star would feel.

“Ella!”, Mattheus seemed to have followed her all the way downstairs and she finally chances to look at the Beta with an eyebrow raised, “Matt. How sweet of you to join me in this lovely night. Are you sure it’s alright for you to leave your Alpha dearest and your Pack in such an important event?”

Mattheus finally paused in his steps, not the least exhausted that he had followed the now heavily breathing woman before him and easily opens his arms when Luscziella finally breaks and sobs on his chest, staining his three piece suit with tears. She looked every bit of the hellioness that he believes her to be; the strongest, fiercest and most beautiful woman he had ever known and he highly believes her best friend is afforded these tears for all the storm that brewed that happened,

“I’m so sorry, Ella…I swear, I also didn’t know…It’s why I followed you out here, honest to goodness I’m still abyss-damned confused and dismayed as you are…no”, Matt gently ran his hands on his best friend’s chocolate colored waves, “I surely cannot even comprehend what you’re feeling right now, dearie. But I need you to smile for me and tell me that you can still do it. Just a bit more, okay? We need to get you out of here first. You know, prying eyes and all that since Moonheart Hotel is owned by the Whitewells”

Fighting not to let the pity show in his face, Mattheus watched as Luscziella nods against his suit and easily takes a step back, taking two wipes at her eyes with the back of her hand and nodded. Goodness, when will the world or the Moon Goddess ever give this wonderful woman a break? How could she not be breaking down and letting her heart bleed? Luscziella plops her hair and blinks some more; strangely the tear streaks in her face did not diminish the beauty of her moonbeam streaked, hazel eyes in the slightest and she nods once more, “Okay. Sorry for that, let’s go?”

“Silly girl, you don’t have to apologize to me. If anything the whole world has to apologize…no, grovel to you for all the shitshow that just went down a while ago. Anyways, yeah, let’s go. I know a place where you can be safe for the time being. You can take your time to make your decision there.”, Mattheus nodded as he immediately approached the nearby valet and asked them to hail them a taxi. Luscziella frowned, suddenly frantic at her best friend’s words, her hazel eyes burning a stare behind Mattheus’ tousled, raven hair, “Decision? Mattheus, what do you mean?”

Mattheus paused, nodding at the valet and thanking them for their service before biting his lips…seemingly using all of the time that he can to give the woman before him some time before he says his next words. He feels guilty of reminding her of the grim situation but she deserves to know, “It means that you need to leave the Queensley Clan, Ella. Maybe even the Whitewell Pack altogether. With the stunt that f*****g bastard—”, Luscziella pitied Mattheus for the struggle in putting those words out, and not for the first time cursed the limits and traditions they have to follow all for the sake of conforming to an unfair life predetermined by them.

Her eyes narrowed however, at Mattheus’ words, “You don’t understand, Matt. I already knew I had to go, if anything, I want to go…I should’ve long known that I never really had a place here in the first place…But…, for once, I’m actually unsure on what I’m doing, Matty…,” deflating, Luscziella whispered the words, that have been hauntingly echoing in her mind. The turmoil within her heart, and the simmering wrath and vengeance that her Wolf Spirit has been salivating for…, hungering for something that she did not understand. At those very moments, she realized how much she feared herself and everything that was happening around her and within her. Beat, skip and once again, she found herself struggling to put air in her lungs, tears falling down her eyes,

“I feel like I never knew myself at all, like I didn’t live my life at all and that all this time…I can’t…I’m so hurt, angry…, I hate that I feel like I lost everything…I feel like I’m still so powerless to stop it! They did this to me, Mattheus! My own family, the people I was forced to love…that man! That damn man I was forced to devote myself to just because some…thing they call a goddess told them that I’m meant for him. What did I ever do all my life for, then!?” chaos, spread in her veins like a storm and before she knew it, her hazel eyes are now a glowing, lupine topaz, a snarl ripping from her throat, “I’m nothing now, Matt! I’m nobody and nothing without anyone to cling to and I hate that I have to be like this all the time—!”

“Then don’t be.”, the deep, smooth and saccharine baritone dropped like the devil’s whisper amidst the madness in heaven, everything seemed to stop. A chuckle, and Luscziella’s Wolf snarls in defiance…, challenge…awe. That someone would dare to cross raging rivers, the two best friends watched as a tall figure, shrouded by the night and the lack of lights approached them like a predatory specter, “And please, princess. If you have woes in life and you are so keen to saving face, I suggest you stop blathering in front of a public place. I admit, it is quite entertaining to watch…though that is mostly the case with you puppy dogs, isn’t?”

“How dare you…do you even know who I am? Who are you to judge the way I feel and speak!?”, Luscziella sneers at the stranger, her fingers curled like talons ready to swipe. Anyone knew that it was a suicide mission to rile an already angered Wolf any further but this man seemed to have held no regard for his own well being. The man laughs again, homing in a point, and its rich, deep, melodious sound resonates something within her…bidding her to calm down, but to the abyss with everything trying to control her today. Today, she just wanted to lose control, to be free—to run wild and sink her teeth in something that would bleed and fight feebly against her maws—,

“I don’t. And frankly, I didn’t really have the point to care until dear Mattheus here phoned me. Consider yourselves lucky…’tis rare that I owe someone. In this case, thank your lover boy, Mattheus. Is this the hellioness you so fondly speak of all the time?”, there is a rip of husky, quiet, cold authority in this man’s tone. Challenging the beautiful, liberating, violence brewing inside of her. Like a neutron star finally collided and realized that for all its core and vacuum, that she could only ever realize how vast the blackest night, the dark space holding everything is.

Mattheus gulped, before nodding, “Yes, sir. Will she…, will she be safe in your hands, sir? Just until she can find her footings again, please”, Luscziella bristled at the reverent way that Mattheus regarded this man, as if the Beta was speaking to his Alpha…, but this man wasn’t anything like the man that broke her heart…he was something else. An Alpha from another Clan? Another Pack? Right in that moment, however, she could care less. All she knows is that she wants to tear this newcomer to shreds, who crosses his arms, every motion easily exuding languid, effortless grace. If it weren’t for the rampaging Wolf within her, she’d have been inclined to believe that the man was royalty,

“But of course, Mattheus. I do not know how much your dearling boyfriend tells you, but I assure you that I do not go back on my word. If you need me to shelter a hellioness whilst she roars, then so be it. I’ve enough a menagerie to tame her”, the man smirked, holding up his fingers and wriggling them in mocking temptation, “Here, little puppy”

With no other thought left, and Mattheus’ horrified last shout of her name, Luscziella Morgana Queensley loses herself to her Wolf Spirit for the first time in her twenty two years in life, and lunges.