Obscure Nights: Rogue Moon

III. Stranger Danger

Nothing. Emptiness, all but a liberating and endless void. There was nothing to hear, to see, to perceive and to think. There was nothing to feel and that felt most liberating of all…, until the first thought rang hollow within her heart, an emotion that threatened to swallow all that she has ever known and come to love. Like a great vacuum force that pushed, pulled and threatened to wrench her on both sides, and she realized that it wasn't even any emotion at all.

The first thought that came to be is realizing that she felt like there was a gaping hole inside of her. Like someone took a whole chunk of her internal being and now she couldn't find anything that would fill that void for her. Within this gaping emptiness, she felt miserable…alone, until…there was someone with her. A familiar presence that would never part with her, that will always be a part of who she is.

Her Wolf Spirit.

She was a beautiful thing, sitting on her haunches, observing her with full majesty in her completely snow white coat and glowing topaz eyes. All of a sudden, she can feel herself with hands and she does her best to step closer…to comfort her and pull her into her embrace for all the things that they have been through together. Goddess, what had she done to be betrayed this much by the life she worked so hard to build? Now, she had nothing, nobody–, the heartbreak of such thoughts makes her finally reach out to comfort the majestic, giant wolf before her…the Luna of the Whitewell’s Pack…or that was what she was supposed to be anyways.

As if to emphasize the thought, her Wolf Spirit nudges her with its snout, a big thing she is, really. Beautiful, regal and a force of nature altogether and she would have been evermore majestic…if not for the shackles that are placed upon its ankles. Biting her lip, Luscziella reaches out for the biggest shackle placed upon her Wolf Spirit, feeling the invisible chain connected to the intricately patterned, metallic and heavy collar placed upon the spirit’s neck. If she focuses enough, she can imagine it interconnected with a series of chains, and she bites her lip. How could she have ever known? How could she have ever stopped them?

The memories rear its ugly head in her mind and she shakes her head. She refuses to recognize the sway of the chains, the venomous whisper that tells her that she feels like chaos incarnate at those very moments because she lost the man she loves to someone else. We were bonded, betrothed under a Sacred Rote that he will be the Alpha and I will be his Luna, I loved him yet why did he choose someone else? Why did he choose her sister over her? What did Lyzelotte have that she didn’t? She spent years learning and forcing herself to accept that she loved that man, that they will be the ending and the finale and yet—,

“Again, sweetheart. I’m going to have to stop you there”

Luscziella blinks, and she realizes that she was currently braced against Mattheus’ arms, and her hands…claws had torn marks on his suit. She shakes her head to clarity and realizes that she had lost herself in the Rage, only to return back because…of this stranger. The very person that riled up the wolf in her. Stabilizing herself, she thanked Mattheus carefully, who watched her with worried amber eyes as she stood up and finally faced the stranger in full…, and immediately felt her breath taken away from her.

The man was nothing short of immaculate, bearing not even the charisma of a king but a godly handsomeness that would make anyone both grovel at his feet for attention or tremble in fear for his overwhelming presence. He stood tall and broad, with the looks of an angel with his platinum blonde hair shining against the moonlight and ultramarine, electric azure eyes in an aristocratic, perfectly chiseled face…truly, never has Luscziella seen a man so beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Even now, her mind simply couldn’t stop singing litanies as she now absorbed how divine this man looked. Nonetheless, she remembered her bearings and continuously soothed her riled up and wary Wolf Spirit before clearing her throat, “May I ask who’s speaking?”

The man smiled enigmatically, a soft smile slowly curving on those supple, princely lips, “I’m afraid I cannot divulge such details until you’ve made a decision, my sweet. To even out, I shan’t ask for your name either…, ah, Mattheus. Will you be alright returning to your Alpha?”, crystalline blue eyes arched slightly to gaze on her best friend, who smiled and shook his head, “You’re too kind, sir. I can manage”

“Kind? That’s the first time you or anyone described me with such. Perhaps I should spend more time with you, if your Mate would allow it”, jovial, the man bantered with Mattheus with ease and Luscziella did not miss a moment to observe the man and catalog him on her mind.

With some clarity returning to her after her Rage, she felt herself returning to her usual composure as she pulls down her skirt and smooths her dress as much as she can, before roaming her topaz eyes on that simply divine looking face. That, and as she subtly turns her eyes down where Mattheus was gentlemanly in holding her…, she did not miss the subtle quiver in his hold whenever the man spoke, nor did she miss the way that her best friend, bound and enslaved by a millennium long tradition of the Caste to only follow the Alpha they were meant to serve, and yet here is this stranger easily exuding a natural charisma to make a bound Beta and even her, a Luna chosen by the Rote of the Moon Goddess to follow his voice.

Just who is this man? And how does Mattheus know him…no, I also missed the fact that Mattheus has been mated all this time…I’ve been trained before as the supposed Future Luna to know the ins, outs and everything about my future subjects…, with a little hurt in her heart, she realized she felt a bit disappointed that her very own best friend withheld such important information and yet knowing Mattheus Windfaire, she was quite sure that her best friend had done so out of the goodness of his heart and the stability of everything he cared about. Secrets may have been kept but Luscziella trusts with her whole life that though the world may betray her, her best friend never would.

More questions however, made their way to Luscziella’s mind, but she knew now was not the time to question anything. Something big was happening and it involves her; from the Whitewell’s decision to reject her as their Luna, to these power struggles currently happening. For now, she needed to find succor and a safe place to hide while she evaluated her next steps. As though the two men before her have sensed her determination, the immaculate and divine looking stranger chuckled, “So fiery and determined, indeed, no wonder Mattheus here speaks so highly of you, hellioness. But let’s leave the gratifications I feel upon your presence for another time, as I said, we may have already caught attention. I will get you out of here soonest possible.”

“Matt?”, Luscziella calls out, and for a moment she is at a loss for words on what to say. Deep inside, something tells her that she’s diving into something big and unknown, and that she will have to go through this alone without Mattheus this time, so she smiles and sweeps all of her worries under the rug. Something tells her that her own strength would be what would comfort Mattheus at these very moments, “Will you be alright?”

Mattheus was caught off guard in silence, before those amber eyes shone jovially and he returns her own smile with his own reassuring one. No one knows what will happen from here on forwards, and they both know that they have a lot of unaddressed things to talk about but nonetheless he nods, “Yeah, I’ll be alright…trust me?”

Luscziella smiled, “Always. Well then,”, she faced the stranger, not quite sure what to say but she clenches her fists, “Lead the way, Sir.”

The stranger studies her, those arctic blue eyes seemingly probing her very soul and something tells her that he could see her at her barest; her soul and her Wolf Spirit alike. Chuckling to himself, a slow smile makes its way to his lips, “Of course, lovely. I assure you…you shan’t regret this.”