Page 2 of Violet Moon
“Yes.They seemed quite intent on finding you, too.Something about maybe starting a new task at the bakery.”
“Oh, that’s exciting.”Sera felt like Parisa was trying to read her, and she was probably succeeding.Sera did an awful job at hiding how she felt.She cared for Jo as their newest pack member, but being around them dug up a lot of things she’d rather leave buried.
“Sometimes I wish the pack approached me like they do you, but it’s best to leave some traditions intact.An Alpha is meant to lead the pack.A bit of distance helps with that.It’s my darling Beta’s job to be the bridge.”She smiled.
“A job I hope I do well,” Sera replied, tone lighter than she felt as that insecurity she always carried with her started growing.
“You know you do.”
Sera shrank at the compliment.She was grateful when Parisa steered the conversation elsewhere and Sera could focus on eating a fig tartlet and drinking coffee instead of the weird feeling in her chest or the weight of the news she had yet to share.
Parisa sank into her plush office chair at her large oak desk.Her room was dark from all the wood, but Parisa did her best to lighten it with art she’d collected over the years.“What’s the report from Crooked Creek?”she asked, tone serious with none of the levity from before.
“A new Alpha presented in their pack a few days after the last full moon.”
“Are congratulations in order?”Not every Alpha presentation was a cause for celebration.Stories of “failed Alphas,” a terrible but pervasive term, were whispered about in every werewolf circle.
“That’s where Alpha Clyde is unsure.Do you remember Jason?A thin sort of man, like taffy that’s been pulled too long?I couldn’t remember him well until I saw him.A really mousy guy.Rarely spoke with any of us when we visited for the full moon.Well, apparently a lot of that has changed.”
“As to be expected.Every Alpha experiences changes when they emerge.”
She chose her words carefully.“Yes, but Alpha Clyde has concerns about his aggressive tendencies.”
Parisa leaned forward, placing her elbows on her desk and tenting her fingers.“Every new Alpha struggles with aggression.Clyde should know that.”
“He does understand that, but Jason seems to get worse every day, not better.And he’s only in his eleventh year of being a wolf.”
“That early?”Parisa’s eyes widened.“I can see why there’s concern now.It will be an uphill battle for him to fight the Alpha within and win when he’s still so inexperienced.He could easily lose himself to the wolf.”
Sera winced.
“Not like your situation, of course,” Parisa said.
She pulled her lips into a tight, thin line and nodded.
“No one can ever blame you for reacting how you did after a forced transformation.”
Staring at her hands, Sera nodded again.
“And don’t forget you found yourself again.You won.”Parisa was silent for a long moment.“Did he seem lost when you saw him?”
Sera took a deep breath and shook her head.“He’s bulked up considerably and he was baring his teeth when I passed, but nothing seemed too out of the ordinary for the short time I did see him.Alpha Clyde has seen more of who he is now.”
“I have no doubts that he has a deeper grasp of the situation than us, but if Jason appeared fine to you in those short moments, let's cling to that as something to be hopeful about.If there is humanity left in him still, then there is humanity in him to save.”
Sera smiled.“That’s what I thought, too.”
two
Whilesnackingonbitsof a leftover pear tartlet she grabbed from the bakery last night, Sera sorted through her sparse wardrobe of mostly neutral colors and threw together a simple outfit of trousers, a button-down, and a plaid vest with minimal effort, savoring these last few peaceful moments as the afternoon sun pierced the clouds and shined through her curtains.
Sera kept typical werewolf hours, starting her day in the afternoon and ending it well into the night.Werewolves could exist in daylight, unlike their vampire neighbors, but it was more draining.
She shuffled around her bedroom in fluffy socks while humming to herself and looking for the watering can and mister she’d left somewhere yesterday afternoon.She tended to wake up almost too late to water her plants, but it was necessary that she gave her numerous plants the love and attention they deserved.They dotted every surface in her room and vines were strung across the wall near the ceiling.Living with all thirteen wolves of the Pitch Mountain Pack, this was her small oasis, and she loved caring for her plant children and getting her hands dirty whenever she needed to repot one or propagate new plants so she could watch them grow, too.
The rest of her room might be a mess with clothes strewn about and too many dusty trinkets collected over the years on every surface that didn’t have something green, but her plants were in pristine condition.
Content that everyone was taken care of, Sera took a second to check her appearance in the mirror, her amber wolf’s eyes staring back at her.Unlike other werewolves, hers never shifted back to whatever color they had been before her forced change.It was just another thing she’d lost that she couldn’t remember.She’d retained a few memories from her former life — her name, some blurry images of her family and home — but most of it was gone.
