Page 6 of Rejecting the Future Moon Goddess

Between my exhaustion, tears, and pain in my heart and body, my sobs soon turn into sniffles, the little energy I have left leaving me even more weak. I hate this feeling. The feeling of weakness and helplessness. My life revolved around this feeling since that day eleven years ago.

“Feel better?” Lizaria asks, worry still evident in her voice. All I manage is a nod, her calming scent wrapping around me, making me drowsy. I felt safe in her arms, something akin to motherly love from her.

“Come on, Geminie. Let’s get you into the hot springs to heal, Little Wolf.” She sighs, pulling away and giving me a soft smile. She helps me to my feet, her arms wrapping around me while I lean on her six-foot frame for support. The hot springs located fifteen metres away from the entrance are surrounded by moonflowers, the magic within a welcoming warmth. Lizaria frowns as she helps me to undress, leaving only my undergarments on and the multitude of bruises and scars littering my worn-out body in her view. She stays silent, her forest-green eyes giving me a once-over before helping me crawl into the shallow basin and laying me down gently.

A comfortable feeling washes through every pore of my body as the healing effects of the water take hold quickly. Myprism-coloured hair floats out around me as I stare at the silver-white moon above. I did not heal the same as normal wolves. Being unable to shift when I turned sixteen effectively left me as a strong human, an even more disappointment in the pack. I have no wolf form, meaning the quick healing every wolf is born with never took effect for me, leaving my curvy body littered with bruising and scarring that took days, sometimes weeks or months, to heal. If I could get to Lizaria and the hot springs, then my body would be blemish-free. Sometimes that took days or weeks to happen if my punishment was severe.

“Gem, when will you leave the pack? We both know you’re not safe there, Little Wolf.” I look to Lizaria, her statement filled with sadness and her eyes shining with unshed tears for me. At three-thousand-and-some-odd-years-old, Lizaria looks no older than thirty. Her lithe body is filled with muscle meant for fighting, and long hair that splayed out around her made many envious. If it weren’t for her long pointed ears, she could be a model in human society.

“My high school graduation and my eighteenth birthday are tomorrow. If I find my mate then, I’ll stay. If not, then I… I will leave.” Lizaria is right, I have spent eleven years being abused for a situation out of my control. One of these days, I’ll end up dead without knowing how. The problem is leaving Lizaria and the Unicorns behind. It’s the only reason I was hesitant to leave in the past. But once I graduate, I have no more ties keeping me here. Alex already stated he would leave, and so would Lilly and Misbah. If I could convince Lizaria, then we could find a place to settle down outside pack territory, where the Unicorns will be safe.

“I wish I could watch you walk across that stage tomorrow, Gem, but I have to stay here and protect the Unicorns.” Lizaria sighs, holding out a towel forme. I smile at my friend and accept the towel, wrapping it around my body and sitting on the edge of the hot spring as we stare up at the moon.

“If it weren’t for the school being shut down for renovations after exams back in June, I would have walked across the stage already.” I chuckle. Lizaria will be busy with both protecting the unicorns as well as dealing with the magic the Harvest Moon will provide. Even if I asked my friend to join me for my graduation, being isolated from the world for hundreds of years and returning to the outside world would be a huge culture shock for her. After an hour of chatting and Lizaria promising me a graduation gift tomorrow, we watch as the moon floats across the sky.

When two hours have passed, I dress in my black clothing with a sigh and bid farewell to Lizaria and the unicorns before making my way back to the pack house so that no one notices my disappearance.

?Chapter 8 - Planning a Departure?

I glare as the small device on my side table rings shrilly in the quiet morning, my alarm clock is one I cannot wait to throw away. With only four hours of sleep after training and talking to Lizaria, I want nothing more than to sleep in, but I have duties as an Omega to perform.

Slamming my fist onto the alarm clock and turning it off, I take in the time of six o’clock in the morning and groan. Today is my day to cook breakfast for the pack, and with only an hour and a half to have the meal ready and on the table or face punishment from Beta Bastian, I will have to quickly get ready and make it downstairs within the next fifteen minutes. I look outside the window and notice the sky is still dark outside causing me to groan with frustration and fling the comforter off of my body, shivering with the cold fall air.

Today is graduation day, with many of the wolves preparing to walk across the stage at noon. Chores will be delegated to the Omegas twenty years or older, meaning I will have most of the morning to myself after making breakfast. I can use this time to prepare to leave.

My talk with Lizaria last night opened my eyes to needing to leave, being free and allowing myself to fully accept the power a Beta wolf should have. I feel especially trapped and suffocated today of all days and the feeling of something bad about to happen sinks into me.

Another sigh escapes my lips while I take out a simple pair of leggings and green T-shirt from my dresser then head towardsthe shower, thinking about what I will need to leave this place and be on my own.

The lukewarm water falls harshly onto my body, leaving me shivering as soon as I finish washing off and wrap myself in a thin old towel. I only have to make it through today, and once everyone is too preoccupied from the graduation party tonight, I’ll escape.

???

The ringing in my left ear is persistent as I curl into a ball, my hands over my head protecting myself from any damage this beating will cause. I want nothing more than to look up and glare at Beta Bastian as he towers over me, rage radiating off of him in waves in my direction.

“You filthy bitch! I told you to have breakfast ready at exactly seven-thirty!” He screams at me, drops of what I can only assume to be spittle from his mouth landing on my exposed skin. Disgust creeps into me at his treatment, cementing my decision to leave tonight. A foot collides with my arms, his boot directing a blow to my head, making me thankful that I was quick enough to roll into a ball after the punch he threw my way moments ago that left me on the floor.

“Do you know what I saw instead when I came downstairs, you filthy excuse of an Omega?” He continues but I know better than to answer. Answering his rhetorical question will lead to a whipping with the silver-tipped whip. My silence must have pleased him as the kicks stopped, replaced by a hand grabbing my hair and pulling me up into a sitting position, making a whimper of pain escape my lips.

I notice a crowdforming in the dining hall. The food is already placed on the buffet table and ready to be devoured by the pack, but everyone here would rather watch this spectacle.

“I saw you placing the last dish at seven thirty-five!” Beta Bastian screams in reply to his own question, more spittle landing this time on my cheeks. I want to argue that I was actually refilling the bacon that had already been devoured by the pack members who arrived earlier, now sitting by the windows with a smug smile as they enjoyed the show, but they would call me a liar. This pack has little respect for anyone deemed an Omega since Bastian and Jasmine took over as temporary leaders. Its worse for me as I am the disowned daughter of the Betas. I am nothing but garbage in their eyes, so my treatment is worse than what the others get.

My body is flung backwards, and the back of my head collides with the wall behind me, bringing me from my thoughts. Stars shoot across my vision before the all-to-familiar feeling of a boot colliding with my stomach has me curling into a ball of pain once more. I can hear a few snickers and comments about how pathetic I am, these words fueling my rage that I have no other choice but to restrain.

“Geminie, get out of my sight and go make yourself useful to the pack.” A final kick is thrown my way after Beta Bastian dismisses me. When I hear his footsteps fade away, I push myself off the ground and use the wall as support to stand. Even through the overwhelming pain, I can feel everyone watching me either openly with a mocking smile or subtly, waiting for another show. I finally realize why Lizaria always mentioned that I should leave as I stare at each and every wolf in the room.

Only a few cared about me in this pack, and the hope of one day becoming a Beta again has long been crushed. I have no other reason to stay here with Hidden Claws.

With a slight limp, I walk out of the dining room, refusing to show weakness and refusing to cry anymore. My mind is now made up. Making my way outside into the garden, I sit and take a deep breath of the crisp fall air. The trees surrounding the pack lands are starting to turn red and yellow with the changing seasons, and a slight chill is on the wind, breathing a fire inside me I thought I had given up.

Since I could not shift into a wolf, my next step would be leading a life as a human, maybe in a large city like Toronto, Ottawa or Mississauga. Perhaps even a smaller town like Bolton or Barrie would be comfortable. I’d love to be anywhere but here, along the Hudson Bay.

“Gems?” A small smile curls the edges of my lips and I turn to see Alex holding a plate piled with food in one hand and a gift bag in the other. A look of concern plays on my brother’s face as he takes a seat across from me at the stone picnic table. Setting the plate before me, I eye the bag in his hands as my own automatically reaches out so I can devour the pancakes before me.

“What’s that?” I ask, nodding towards the bag he sets on the floor just before he steals the fork from my hand and takes a bite of pancake.

"Food," My brother chuckles, handing the fork back to me and leaning back in the chair as I stab at another piece of fluffy goodness covered in maple syrup.

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