“How fucking dare you ask what’s wrong? Like you weren’t just getting into Aurora’s face? How could you? You know how much I care about her.” He came forward, and she slid her hand into his, her fingers of her second hand tapping the back of his.
“What?” I shook my head and looked back at Cass, but she just shook her head in disbelief. “Dad? What the hell did you just say?”
“What? I love her Aim, and you will just have to get over it.” My dad smiled down at Aurora, who snuggled into his arm.
“See. I told you I would be the next Luna of this pack.”
My eyes shot between their faces, looking for any hint of recognition on my father’s face for what he was saying. Anything that would snap him back to the here and now. “Dad?”
I watched as his eyes shifted from his normal blue to the gold of Loki and then back. Like his two sides were fighting until he screamed and partially shifted. Aurora screamed and backed away from my partially shifted father, with his claws and fur rippling down his arms. “What is going on?” Loki’s voice ripped through our minds and the hallway, making all of us wince.
“Alpha?” Aurora’s timid voice rang out, but Loki just turned and growled at her.
“I would leave. Quickly.” I called out to her while I slowly started toward my father’s side. Aurora tried to sidle back up to his side, but Loki and Nix both growled loudly and she turned with a shriek and was running down the stairs. “Dad, calm yourself.” I inched closer and rubbed his arm.
“Do you know what she is doing to us yet, pup?” Loki finally turned and focused on me, but I could only shake my head.
“I’m new to this stuff. I haven’t even figured out how to connect to nature yet.” I softly admitted, and Loki just snorted.
“What do you mean you do not know how to connect to nature? You are a wolf, born of nature, raised in nature. Our very fiber is nature. You just have to open yourself up to your animal to see that.”
“I am open with my animal.”
“Obviously not, if you can’t feel nature. Nature should have come easily to you if you were.”
Iwaited until my father left me alone in the clearing before I dropped to the grass and closed my eyes. I reached deep inside myself and did the only thing I could think of. “Grandmother, I need your help.” I waited in the silence of the clearing until I felt a chill run down my neck. I opened my eyes to see her sinking down in front of me.
Her silver and black hair hung in a braid over her shoulder, swinging in my face and she lowered herself and I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out to brush the strands, but I felt nothing. “I’m not truly here, Amy. I send my spirit to you when I sense your need. But you cannot touch the spirit world, as I cannot touch the living. I don’t feel the ground we sit upon, or the wind that blows through your hair.”
“But you seem so…” I trailed off.
“Alive?” My Gran laughed. “Because I am, it’s just not the same way as you. Who is to say earth is the only life we live?” She gave a secret smile and a wink. “But that is not for you to worry about right now. Now why have you called me here? I have given you the only guidance the moon Goddess will allow.” She trailed her fingers through the grass, but I finally noticed that none were moving.
“I know.” I worried and bit my lip for a moment.
“Stop.” She raised her hand before my face and I swear I could feel the heat of her skin. “Talk to me, little one. What have you been so anxious about?”
“Dad…”
“What has he done now?” She settled back and turned her face to the early morning sun.
“Something is wrong with him.”
“What do you mean?” She tilted her face back further.
“When he is alone, he’s fine. He remembers everything, he’s alert, he’s not warring with Loki-“
Her head snapped down. “Warring with Loki? What?” Her brows furrowed, and she sat up. “Stop beating around the bush and explain.”
“There is a wolf. Her name is Aurora. She says she is going to be the next Luna.”
My grandmother laughed. “Your father is devoted to your mom.”
“My mom has been gone for almost seventeen years now, grandma.”
“WHAT?” she screamed.
“Okay, a little bit of back story is needed. Dad came back from his first life and changed it. By pretending to cheat on my mother.”
“I know that foolish girl. I’m the one who told him to.”
“What, why? Wait. He said you were long gone before then.”
“And I was, but just like you, he called on me, and I gave him advice.” She rubbed her face. “But he was supposed to tell her the truth once he found out the culprit and bring her home.” I watched, and she stood up and paced. “Maybe he still hasn’t figured it out? But it has been seventeen years. What is going on?” She whirled back to me and motioned me with her hands to continue.
“So when Aurora isn’t around, he’s fine, but when she is, his eyes cloud over and he says he loves her.” I stood and made my way to where she was pacing in a circle. “Just yesterday, he yelled at me, saying that he loved her and then he and Loki fought for control. Loki won, but barely.” I reached out for her, but my arm passed through her and she looked down at my hand. “I know nothing about magic. But something isn’t right.”
She rubbed her face and turned to face me. “You won’t be able to do anything until you connect to nature.” She pointed me to the ground, and I huffed, but obeyed. Once I dropped to the ground, she settled on her knees in front of me. “You still need to focus on this, but once you’re done with your day. I need you to sneak away from your pack. Do you know the old gazebo in the far back corner of the yard?”
“Yeah. I used to play on it when I was younger.”
“Under it, there is a doorway. Find a way in and follow the path. It will lead you underground for about a mile. When you come up, follow the trail to my old cabin.”
“Under the gazebo?”
“Listen, pup. In my cabin, there will be a fireplace made of old black and white stones. The fifth black stone from the left will be heavy, but liftable. Under it is a book. Grab it. You will find answers there.”
“A book? How is a book going to help me?”
She laughed. “Amy. You called your hundred year dead grandmother to a clearing, for advice. Why wouldn’t a book
have answers?” She leaned in and kissed the air in front of my forehead, and I swore I could feel her lips. “Get the book, find your answers.” Then she was gone.
“Let’s go ladies.” I called out, watching the girls move faster than I had seen this month. Cassie, in particular, was moving a lot faster. Once the girls finished their laps, I had them circle up. “Congratulations ladies. We are finally moving like wolves. Now we can up the ante.”
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