A Luna Scorned

“Hey, Kyrie!” My mom came frantically running up to the side of my truck. “Mom? What's wrong?” “Just where do you think you’re going?” “To the auction. Cattle don’t sell themselves” The sun had barely risen over the tops of the surrounding pine trees. Our pack lived in the deep pines of Arizona. A lot of people don’t realize that Arizona also has a lot of forest land. Not all of the state is arid desert. It’s actually a very beautiful state, even if it has scorpions and deadly snakes. To make money, our pack ran cattle. We lived on a beautiful ranch deep in the northern Arizona forest. It’s quite funny to think that a pack of wolves would essentially be cattle ranchers, but we were. It was mainly my family, the beta and his boys, and a few other men around the pack. About 4 years ago, our pack found itself in a very precarious position. We were poor, we were small, and we were weak. Our last alpha squandered all of the money the pack had . He had a large gambling problem and didn’t really have the funds to back it up. He neglected his pack and a lot of the members went rogue and joined new packs. Most other packs knew about our situation and took in anyone who wanted to leave. My father rounded up the remaining men in our pack and overthrew the alpha. He didn’t deserve to be a leader and was running our pack into the ground. He never wanted to be Alpha. His father had led as long as he physically was able to. He knew his only child didn’t want to take over. He tried hard to make him a good leader. But it fell on deaf ears. “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”, as the saying goes. His son definitely didn’t drink the teachings. My father ended up banishing the alpha and was made alpha of the pack. He didn’t really want the job of alpha, and that wasn’t his motivation for overthrowing the alpha. He had been born and raised in this pack, as his father before him. He remembered when this pack was strong. When our reputation was good and when we had alliances. Every pack we aligned with had pulled away from us. No one wanted to be associated with a failing pack, and honestly, who can blame them. The remaining pack members voted for the new alpha, and my father was chosen. He hadn’t submitted his name, but was unanimously chosen to lead. The other members had seen his authority and ability to take charge and had decided he was the best choice. He was made Alpha that same day. That same year, I left to attend college in Texas where horses and cattle were everything. I spent a year in Texas, and learned a lot about ranching and horse training. When I came to visit for the summer, I was shocked to see that not much had improved. The pack members had taken odd jobs here and there to try to bring money into the pack so we could repair the ruined buildings and get the pack house back to decent living conditions. We lived 10 years under that terrible Alpha. 10 years watching our pack numbers diminish, 10 years watching our homes and buildings decay, 10 years struggling to feed our remaining members, to say it was time for a change was an understatement. We need to make money just like humans do. The world runs on money, and we are no different. To buy food, groceries, pay electric and water bills. We may be wolves, but no one knows it. To everyone else, we are human. We look human, we act human, we sound human. A few of our pack members worked as mechanics, some worked construction and some of the women worked in banks and grocery stores. It made ends meet, but it wasn’t enough to fund the pack. If the pack was out working all of the time, we never had time to train. Although, no one cared enough about our pack to attack us. We didn’t have anything worthy of putting forth the effort of attacking us. I suggested ranching to my father a few weeks after being home from my first year of college. He wasn’t too crazy about the idea, but I managed to convince him to give me a year. If it wasn’t as successful as I hoped after that first year, we would dissolve it and try something else. I worked through college as a ranch hand on a large cattle farm. I took money from my life savings and purchased a truck and trailer and a couple horses. My father took the lumber that he had been saving to repair the pack house with, and he built me a small three stall barn, and we fenced in some land for a corral. I purchased three horses and five cattle from the sale barn and that's what we started with. I taught my dad and brothers how to ride and rope and we managed the cattle on our land. Ranchers up here have what they call, “Wild Cattle”. They're the cattle that break off from their herds and become wild. They are a nuisance to the ranchers are they are mean, and hard to round up. I made a deal with a couple of ranchers in the area and they allowed me to round up their wild cows for free. By the end of the first year, we had a herd of 102 cattle. It was work, but it was worth it. I gave up going back to college to stay home and help build the ranch. I couldn’t leave my family when I knew about the state of the pack. It was my pack too. My family. I had to help them succeed. We got a good price for the cattle at the auction that first year. Enough to purchase another hundred and fifty head and we were able to build a new pack house. We had a pack meeting and decided together that we would build a new pack house first. It would have a kitchen, bathrooms, laundry room, common areas and enough rooms for every member of the pack. We would all stay in the pack house together and slowly work on building new houses for the members. After the pack house was built we demolished the old pack house and the rundown houses the pack families lived in. We took the good wood and built a beautiful, spacious barn. Even using reclaimed wood, that barn could have rivaled some of the major ranch barns. It was absolutely beautiful. A fresh coat of white paint and trimmed with a deep, forest green had done wonders for the old wood. Both ends had large double sliding doors. Above the doors we painted a large, green “W”. It stood for “Whiteriver”. We were known as the Whiteriver pack and decided to proudly display it on the front of the barn. One side of the barn had 8 stalls, complete with large attached corrals. Across the isle were four additional stalls, a washroom, and a feed room. Up above the stalls was the loft where we stored the hay. Since the packhouse and the barn were complete, we threw all of our extra funds into building homes for the families. It took four years, but we finally had houses for every family and then some. The pack house now only housed the alpha and his family, the beta and his family, and the gamma and his family. Most of the pack members were able to quit their jobs and remain at the ranch. We trained hard and often sent recruiting parties out into the country to recruit rogues to help build our numbers. In four years, we went from the remaining members which were less than twenty, to now 83 members. It was quite the achievement. We were able to pay for some members to attend college, which resulted in two pack doctors. We had re-established our pack and had now turned our attention to gaining our allies back. “Did you forget about today?” “No.” I said as I racked my brain to remember what I had forgotten. “Your brother is taking over as alpha today! You cannot miss the ceremony!” My brother turned twenty five this year. He and his mate were set to take over the pack. Our father had only led the pack for a short four years, but like I said before, he never wanted the job. He trained my brother hard to prepare him for taking over. Now that he had rebuilt the pack, he was ready to step down. My brother was more than ready to lead. He was a born leader, and happily accepted the challenge. He is a kind, gentle soul, and is fair in his dealings. The pack loved him, and were more than excited to see him promoted to leader. “Mom, I didn’t forget. I will be here. I’m just going to drop the cattle at the sale barn and I'll be home. I won't miss a thing”. “Do you have a dress? I never saw you go to town for a new dress”. “Of course I have a dress”. I lied through my teeth. I never lied. I didn’t want to be lied to, so I tried never to lie to anyone. However, I knew how hard my mother had been working at making sure this ceremony went off without a hitch. She was stressed, and I didn’t want to add to that by letting her know I hadn’t yet picked out a dress for tonight. I would stop by town on my way home and get an outfit. “Okay honey. Be safe, and don’t be late!” “I won't, I promise.” She slapped the side of the truck as I started down the driveway. * * * * * “A dress, where do I find a dress?” I had finished at the sale barn and had twenty minutes to find a dress for tonight. It definitely took longer than I thought to get the cattle sold. The sale barn was the most packed I had seen in a while. After the last cow had been sold I collected our money and booked it into town. I rarely went shopping. I had too much to do at home and if I needed new clothes, I usually went to the feed store for jeans and t-shirts. I doubted they would carry evening gowns. My mother had spent months getting invitations ready to send to different packs. There were about six packs who had agreed to come, not only for the ceremony, but to meet together and hopefully build an alliance. A solid alliance was the last thing our pack needed to do to become solid in the wolf community. Word had gotten out about our rebuilding and the overthrow of our alpha. I believed that other packs were ready to see how far we have come and decide if we are worthy to be aligned with them. “Bingo!” I exclaimed as I strolled past a small boutique. The front window had the most beautiful display with a stunning metallic gold, floor length gown with the deepest plunging neck I had ever seen. As stunning as the dress was, it wasn’t for me, but the store looked promising. I shuffled around the store sorting through racks until my eye caught the most gorgeous, teal green color I had ever seen. Green was my favorite color. I think because my eyes were the most beautiful shade of bright green I had ever seen. I grabbed the dress and headed toward the dressing room. “That dress is absolutely stunning on you, and I’m not just saying that because I work here”. I turned to see a petite blonde rushing to my side. She grabbed and tugged at the dress to get a proper fit. I looked in the mirror to see the skin tight dress had hugged my curves nicely. I wasn’t blessed in the bust, but had been blessed in the booty, and the dress definitely drew attention to my now accentuated rear end. I was tall for a girl, 5’8” to be exact. Growing up, I had always wanted to be one of those cute, short girls. In high school they were the ones who always got all the boys’ attention. I got teased for being tall and thin. I was still tall and thin, but hard work on the ranch had helped me build muscle, which made my thin frame look toned and fit. “Do you think so?” The dress was a tight, floor length gown with a slit up to my mid thigh. The top was an elegant sweetheart with small cap sleeves and a cinched waist. It was definitely elegant, mom would approve. “Absolutely. You definitely fill it out in all the right places.” “Thank you.” I blushed.” “OH!” She scurried around the boutique and came back with a beautiful set of long diamond earrings and a pair of black strappy sandal high heeled shoes. “These would go perfectly with this dress!” She held the earrings and shoes out to me with the biggest grin I had ever seen on a person before. “I’ll take it all”. “Perfect!” She exclaimed as she bounced back to the cash register. “What size shoe do you wear?” She hollard as I changed back into my jeans and boots. “8.5” I emerged from the dressing room with the dress draped over my arm. “So, what’s the occasion?” She asked as she rang up my outfit. “My brother, um... got a promotion, and we’re celebrating. I hesitated a little. I knew she wasn’t a wolf and couldn't tell her the real reason. “Must be quite the promotion! Congratulations to him”. She was so perky. “How are you doing your hair? Because I was thinking, if you don’t mind my advice, that with your beautiful dark brown hair you should wear it down. Between the color of this dress, and those luscious curls, it would absolutely make your eyes POP!” She waved her fingers around the air symbolizing fireworks. I laughed at her enthusiasm. She was such a sweet soul and definitely a friendly person. I like to surround myself with positivity and she absolutely fit the bill. “I definitely will. Thank you for all of your help. I’m so lost when it comes to outfits like this.” “Oh, my pleasure!” She passed the neatly packed bag across the counter. “Have fun at your party!” I waved back to her as I rushed out the door. I had exactly 2 hours to get ready for the ceremony and I still had a half hour drive home. * * * * “Oh good! You’re home! I was worried you wouldn’t make it!” My mom was already ready for the ceremony. She had on a gorgeous metallic silver, floor length, modest gown. Looking every part a worthy luna. Her brown hair was piled on top of her head trying to cover the fact that her brown was transforming into a shimmering grey. She hated her grey hair, but was tired of having it colored every couple of weeks. My father convinced her she was beautiful as she was and that he loved her grey hair. He begged her to keep it, saying that aging was a beautiful thing. Something that should be celebrated, not hidden. “Is that your dress? I had a feeling you weren’t being honest with me this morning.” “Sorry mom. I just didn’t want you to worry about me and my dress. Please excuse me. I have exactly an hour to get ready for this shindig.” I rushed past her and up the two flights of stairs to my room. I quickly showered and wrapped my hair in a towel to dry as I did my make up. Removing the towel, I shook out my wavy hair. I hated it as a child. It wasn’t curly enough to be cute and easy. It had just enough wave to it to look messy and unkempt. As I got older I learned how to properly care for my waves and was able to embrace them. I hit my hair with a blow dryer, curled a few sections, touched up my makeup and slipped into my dress and heels, topping it all off with the beautiful long, diamond earrings. I assessed myself in the mirror and decided to sweep my hair to one side. “Complete”. I said to my reflection. I definitely cleaned up nicely. My assessment was interrupted by a quick rasp on my bedroom door. “Honey? Are you decent?” “Yes mom.” I opened the door and was quickly greeted by a look of shock. “Oh, Kyrie, honey, you look absolutely stunning! There is no way you won’t find your mate this evening.” I had turned 22 this year and had yet to find my mate. In my defense, I spent a lot of time at the ranch and the sale barn. I was always being asked out by the cowboys at the barn. But I didn’t have time for that. I really wasn’t interested in dating. Plus, the cowboys were all human, and though it was harmless to date them, I knew it would never evolve into something permanent, so why risk falling in love with someone I couldn’t have? “An independent woman like Kyrie doesn’t need a mate.” My dad’s soothing voice drifted from down the hall. “Daddy!” I said as I emerged from my doorway. “Wow, Ky, you look breathtaking. I do have to agree with your mom this time. If you don’t find your mate tonight, I’ll be shocked.” ‘I don’t think my looks have much to do with whether I find a mate or not. Plus, I’m not ready to leave this place. We still have a lot to do to strengthen our pack and I’m just not ready to give all of this up yet.” I planned on staying as far away from the crowd and boys as I could. I still had a lot of plans for this place and if I found my mate now, I'd have to leave. I just wasn’t ready for that yet. “Well, ladies”. My father extended an arm out toward both my mother and I. “Shall we go?” My mother and I each took one of my fathers arms and made our way to the party.