Unveiled Intentions

Furious, I slammed the cup down on the counter and stormed back into my room. The time had come to depart. I wasn't certain when the magic barrier would permit my exit, but I had no intention of lingering here. My educated guess was that I could probably venture out sometime after moonrise, but I couldn't afford to wait around. Any head start was better than none.

 

Swiftly, I assembled a peanut butter sandwich and collected an assortment of snacks to sustain me over the next few days, just in case the journey to Wolf Bay took longer than expected.

 

One more bitter aspect of this place gnawed at me: the lack of geographical knowledge. Though aware that we were situated in the United States, with temperate winters and scorching summers occasionally dusted with snow, the specifics remained a mystery. A hotel might be days away, or I might stumble upon a bustling city. But no matter how many adults I prodded, the truth remained elusive.

I had reached my limit with the secrets and the magic. The time had arrived to find my way out and embrace the simple, uneventful life of a normal human.

 

As I stepped outside my door, I was met with the presence of three all-too-familiar figures. Ray, flanked by his trusty henchmen, Julian and Billy, awaited me right in front of my trailer.

"How am I supposed to evade you when you show up at my doorstep?" I demanded. "I'm not in the mood for any of your games, Ray."

"I had a hunch you might take this route. You're planning to run," Ray remarked.

"I already told you I was going to run. That's been my plan from the start. You knew that. You're the one who advised me to do it," I shot back, my glare fixed on Ray. His perplexing behavior and sudden appearance had me seething. What was going through his mind? He was the one who urged me to escape this place, to steer clear of him. Yet here he stood, on the doorstep of my trailer, on the very morning of the First Moon Ceremony.

The confusion escalated with every interaction I had with Ray.

"My dad insists that everyone must attend the ceremony, or it'll displease the gods. I'm here to ensure you're present," Ray stated, a begrudging participant in this errand. It seemed his friends weren't sharing his reluctance; their grins and tense posture made it clear they anticipated a possible confrontation.

Staring at my options, I realized there were only two: fight an uphill battle against all three of them and suffer defeat, or acquiesce and play along. If I agreed, there might still be a chance to make a break for it when they weren't watching over me.

"Fine," I conceded, stepping back to put some distance between us.

"I'm tasked with bringing you tonight. You're the one who might disrupt the proceedings," Ray informed me, his expression a mix of seriousness and reluctance.

"After a week of you warning me to stay away, suddenly you're eager to spend more time together? What's the story, Ray?" It might have been wiser to keep my thoughts to myself, but then again, my mind had already left this place. The opportunity to escape was the only thing on my mind.

"What's she talking about, Ty?" Julian's query suggested confusion.

"Keeping me at bay from your friends too. What's the real deal, Ray? Is this all about your dad?" My voice held an edge. The situation had taken a bizarre turn.

"Don't push me, Elisa," Ray growled.

"Ray, show her some manners," Julian chimed in, inching closer. I sensed his wolf's agitation, a realization that startled me. The others could communicate with the pack in ways I couldn't. They could sense emotions, establish connections beyond human capacity. But not me. That avenue had always remained shut.

Shaking my head, I tried to dispel the perplexing notion. It had to be a figment of my imagination.

"If she's unconscious, she can't participate. My dad emphasized her presence. All the new wolves are required to be there," Ray explained.

"She's not a wolf. She's not even a human. She's an abomination who shouldn't have been spared," Julian's words echoed sentiments I'd grown up hearing. Today, however, they stung more acutely. Escape was within grasp, and this was the very reason I craved it. The animosity hurled my way often fueled me, but today, it was an unwelcome reminder of the past.

"I've told you, she still has ties to the pack," Ray interjected. "My dad insists she can't be killed before the ceremony—it might jeopardize the pack."

Confusion creased my brow. Tragedies had befallen our pack before. A few years back, some school seniors drowned in the swimming hole. I knew them, though we weren't friends. Their deaths, mere months before their first moon ceremony, stirred discussions about their fate. People believed that if they had bonded with their wolves, the outcome might have been different.

Ray was feeding me lies. They never needed the entire pack for this ceremony. Moreover, only two of us were undergoing the shift this month. Besides me, only one other classmate, who coincidentally shared a May birthday, would turn nineteen under tonight's full moon. But I knew her well enough to understand that she wouldn't care whether or not I showed up; she'd likely relish the spotlight for herself.

Something was amiss, and my instinct screamed that I had to escape before whatever scheme was in motion unfurled.

"Alright. I'll stick around here and meet you at the barn at dusk. Does that work for you?" I proposed.

"Sure." Ray sauntered over to a dilapidated porch swing stationed in the dirt, adjacent to a collection of forsaken pots that once housed flowers before my mom's unraveling. He settled onto the swing. "We'll wait."

"You've got to be kidding me," I scoffed, incredulity dripping from my words. Then realization dawned that if he stationed himself here, I might slip out the back door unnoticed. "You know what? Not my problem. I'm going to catch a nap. You jerks have all the fun you want."

Retreating into the trailer, I cast a glance toward my mom's room. The door remained closed, and there was no sign of her registering my conversation with Ray outside. A roll of my eyes followed. What did I really expect? Our somewhat coherent interaction earlier was the most substantial exchange we'd engaged in for years.

Ensuring my bag was securely situated on my back, I moved toward the back door, easing it open with care. The hinges groaned, and I winced at the noise. However, I barely had a foot outside when I discerned Julian's presence, standing outside and eyeing me intently.

"Unless you're stepping out here to offer me some kind of favor, there's no way I'm letting you leave this place," Julian growled.

My upper lip curled in distaste at the very notion of engaging in anything remotely intimate with him. Julian was undoubtedly attractive. With his long brown hair, warm complexion, and deep amber eyes, he was the kind of guy most school girls would do almost anything for—especially after he'd undergone his shift. 

The crescent-shaped tattoo marking him as a protector, one of the highest-ranking wolves in our pack, had appeared on his shoulder after his inaugural shift. Julian would undoubtedly be part of Ray's inner circle once Ray assumed the mantle of alpha; he might even become Ray's beta someday. Julian had taken pride in displaying his mark to anyone who'd look after his shift, aiming to impress even people like me, who he considered nobodies.

The display had only ceased following the subsequent full moon, the very one when Ray had experienced his first shift. Julian was first, then Ray. It was widely anticipated that Ray would receive the mark of an alpha. While he never confirmed its presence or absence, he stopped flaunting anything related to the mark after his own ceremony. It had been something I'd pried Ray about initially, despite enduring a few beatings in the process. 

But it was worth it to uncover the truth. Ray, poised to ascend to the alpha role, hadn't been chosen by the gods. If he had been, he'd have proudly displayed his moon and star tattoo—a mark that signaled the selection of an alpha. Not every alpha received it, but the mark held more weight than that of an alpha without one.

This revelation suggested that another shifter could acquire the mark and rise to take Ray's position as pack leader. A marked alpha wouldn't even need to fight to the death; they would simply assume the role, demoting the previous alpha.

In my lifetime, I had never witnessed this mark. I was relatively certain Ray's father didn't possess it either. I used to wish for someone to challenge him so Ray's status could diminish, but that hope had long dissipated. It was no longer my concern. By the time someone did challenge Ray, I would be long gone.