Luna, Make a Wish

Oh...

Werewolves are strong. Werewolves are majestic. Werewolves sometimes have superpowers. Werewolves are fast.

Werewolves are not, however, immune to lightning.

This was something I was exceptionally well aware of and doing my absolute best to avoid. My hands were clutched tightly around the plastic grip of the umbrella, careful not to touch any of the metal pieces... just in case. Who makes umbrellas out of metal anyway?! I felt like I was carrying a big lightning rod and the cover had 'strike me!' written across the top of it.

"Goddess let me get there in one pie--Eek!" I didn't mean to, but I shrieked as a blinding flash ripped across the sky followed by the booming thunder shortly after. "This day is cursed Serla! We should have stayed in bed!"

My wolf sighed, and in my mind's eye I could see her shaking her head at me. It was as if you're remembering something. How you can picture it in your head, even while you're looking at something in front of you. It was difficult to get used to at first, but over time just became natural. "We can't stay home. You know this. We've been over this. We have this same conversation each year."

I had all but tuned her out for the moment as I made a mad dash from the cover of a*****e awning to a row of trees that led up the main house driveway.

"You know that Lightning loves trees because they're the tallest thing around, don't you?" Serla spoke in a very smug tone. I'd swear there was a laugh under it also.

"Thanks..." I grumble, continuing my fearful game of darting from one form of cover to the next. "Still. I'm positive the Alpha doesn't even look at us while we're there. Always his nose stuck in his pristine little clipboard." I took a moment's breath under the cover of one of the trees. At least it wasn't metal, I thought to myself as another streak of light bolted across the sky.

"It's just for a headcount. The census is quick, and your letter group is small. You'll be home before lunch." Serla was attempting to assuage my disdain for large groups.

Through and through, I was an introvert. Always had been, even before I had met my wolf and received my powers. As I stepped up the driveway sticking close to the trunks of the trees, I rolled my eyes at the thought. Powers. Some wolves were granted the ability of super strength, more so than we already possessed. Others were granted the ability to persuade people to their whim, or speak with forest animals, or even heal others.

I was one of the pack members that became gifted, though I used the term rather loosely. For my gift, was completely, and utterly useless. It was more curse than gift. I could feel what those around me were feeling, as if I were feeling and experiencing it myself. Sometimes, at a birthday party? It was great. I felt wonderful, people were laughing, having fun. Imagine that power at a funeral? Yeah... It wasn't very fun at all.

I hadn't found a way to turn it off either. Other wolves could use their powers selectively at will. With mine it felt like someone had jammed the off button with super glue so that it couldn't be used. The girl at the market buying ice-cream because her mate rejected her? Ho boy. I had learned to handle a few of these at a time, but honestly it was simply exhausting. Being in large crowds meant being absolutely drained at the end of the night and needing at least two days to recover.

Lost within my own thoughts I had somehow made it to the Main house front porch. I hardly remember getting there beyond the tree line. They had a fancy sign made of some type of dark wood and lined in gold filigree. I couldn't say what type of wood it was, but I was sure that this little sign costed more than my apartment rent.

[Silvermane]

The house was admittedly beautiful. An old Victorian style home with that dreamy wrap around porch and the tall pillars. Three stories high with one of those princess towers looking rooms that I had always convinced myself was a library where someone like me could hide away and watch the outside world. Inside the home was just as gorgeous. Porcelain busts of past Alpha's and portraits of their families lined the entry room. The furniture was mostly Mahogany and red velvet. I'd been here once a year, every year of my life. Still, the beauty of it was something I'd never get used to.

The further in the house I walked, the more I could sense the bristling feelings of the others inside the dining hall. This is where we would stand as the Omega's mate came around with one clipboard, asking our names and how many were in our families. The Alpha would sit at the head seat of the table with his face shoved into a different clipboard, likely comparing numbers.

A census was logical. It helped determine if more pack houses needed to be built, or more playgrounds needed to be added. It let the main house determine how many crops needed to be planted or if some cattle were going to live longer than others. Logical, yes... but incredibly boring.

"It saves the main house time from going door to door." Serla interrupted my thoughts to add her tidbit of fact. I knew this... didn't mean I had to like it.

Hurry, boredom, anxiousness, worry, all flooded over me as I stepped inside the dining hall. It was hard to tell which feelings came from which individuals. I assumed some of the worry and anxiousness came from a few of the families with young pups that were begging to go touch the Alpha. Boredom from a few of the bachelor wolves, and a bit of giddy glee from the unmated females giggling over Alpha Darren.

Alpha Darren had taken up the mantle as a younger wolf in his early 20's after his father's cliff accident. It happened on a hunting trip and left his mother too heartbroken to try to lead on her own. I imagine something like that made you grow up quickly. All those responsibilities. I always wondered if he never bothered to find his mate because he was simply too busy to do so. Our pack seemed to do okay without a Luna. Though part of that I'm sure is because his mother still did her best to step in where she could.

I glanced at the Alpha as he sat in his chair, stoic as ever and just as I expected. His head looking down at the pile of papers strapped to his clipboard, fountain pen in hand and looking dapper as ever. Admittedly, he was a good-looking man, though I was pretty sure that was a requirement to be an Alpha in any pack. Or maybe it was a lineage thing? I'd never know and didn't plan to spend much time thinking on it.

Darren had this dirty sandy blonde colored hair that looked brown in the shadows but blonde in the sunlight. I'd never really gotten close enough to see his eye color, but it was rumored that it was a mix between hazel and brown. I never understood that, as I always had thought hazel was a type of brown mixture anyway.

His physique was one most wolves carried. Lean and athletic, though he wasn't over muscular as some of the males were. Just enough so, I thought to myself, remembering the one whole time I caught a glimpse of him shirtless down at the lake. I snickered to myself and Serla snapped her teeth to bring me back to attention.

"Lightsong?" The Beta's mate, Lenna was one of those naturally pretty types. A little mouse-ish, but pretty. She stood there looking at me, and I realized she'd probably called my name more than once.

I could feel a flush of heat rising into my cheeks and my heart racing with a panicked need to escape when I could feel the eyes of the room boring into my soul. At least... That's what it felt like. "Y-yes, Sorry. Just me." I could hear a few of the younger girls down the room chuckle at what I was sure was my expense, making my urge to escape that much stronger.

Lenna offered me a sympathetic smile and nodded her thanks to me as she moved down the line to the next family. She had been standing directly in front of me, and I was trying to look her in the eyes to be respectful. The moment she moved I had a direct, uninterrupted line of vision to Alpha Darren. He too had been staring at me when Lenna had to grab my attention it seemed. With Lenna gone, our eyes had accidentally met.

I stood, completely frozen as his gaze was completely locked on mine. Was I breathing? Did the room around me disappear? I couldn't tell you anything else in that moment other than the overwhelming sensation that washed over me the instant our field of view clashed.

Oh… s**t.