“What are you going to do now?” Tyler asks me as we are finishing our meal. “I was planning on unpacking. I’m not sure what I will do after that,” I reply. “Okay. Why don’t you get started on that while I take these trays back down to the kitchen,” he offers. “The boxes with your things in them should be in your room.” “Alright,” I say. I stand up from the couch I was seated on and walk over to the door that leads to my room. I turn the handle and the door swings open. I cast a precursory glance over the room. The walls are dark blue, to match the accents of Tyler’s room. The bed had a light gray comforter. The small side couch and window curtains were also gray. The furniture was made of a dark reddish brown wood. Sitting at the end of my new bed are the boxes. One by one, I cut the tape that secures the flaps down. I check the contents of each box and sort them into piles. When I finish, there are four piles. One is bedroom items, another is bathroom
I open my eyes and find myself sitting in a flower field. Green grass and little purple wildflowers wave around me. I stare up at the blue sky and blink away the tears in my eyes. I know where this is. I know what is going to happen. “Arielle,” a female voice calls. A man and woman walk out of the trees surrounding the meadow. They are carrying picnic supplies. I start to cry harder. “Don’t come over here!” I shout at them. My warning falls on deaf ears. Just like every time this happens. My nightmare. I am forced to watch as my parents set up and enjoy the picnic lunch with me. The wolves show up right when they are supposed to. Five rogues rush towards my parents who shift to fight them. “Stop!” I yell. “Don’t fight them! Just run!” I cry as my parents don’t respond. I can’t even move to fight with them. I am helpless. My mother is killed before my eyes once more. I watch, sobbing, as my dad kills the last of the rogues only to die shortly after. “Arielle,
As days passed, Tyler and I found ourselves sleeping together every night. Some nights, I couldn’t fall asleep. Other nights, he couldn’t fall asleep. Two weeks after I moved into the pack house, Tyler suggested that I move into his room with him. I informed him that I would move in with him when I was officially declared Luna to the pack. Tyler thought that was agreeable and began to prepare for the ceremony. Throughout my stay at the pack, I gradually met more of the pack members so the ceremony was more for show than an actual introduction. Tyler set the date for a month after I moved in. That morning I woke up in Tyler’s arms, as per usual. He had joined me in my bed last night, having been unable to fall asleep on his own. I start to wiggle my way down and out of his arms. I am only able to move a couple of inches before Tyler’s arms tighten around me, forcing me to stop moving. I peer up at him and catch him grinning down at me. “This is the last time we will be
A loud growl rings in my ears as Tyler expresses his displeasure at the she-wolf’s disrespect towards me. “Warriors–” Tyler begins to shout, but falls silent when I raise my hand. I watch as the men who responded to his call stop moving and look at me. I wait until the crowd falls silent before responding. I stare straight into the she-wolf’s eyes as I speak. “I accept your challenge.” Chaos erupts as I finish my statement. All of the pack members are talking loudly amongst themselves. I feel a hand grab my arm and swing me around until I am face to face with Tyler, who looks angry. “What are you doing?” he growls in a whisper. “You can’t fight. You could get hurt and then I will lose you.” I study his face and notice his eyes growing glassy. “It’s alright,” I tell him, pulling him into a hug. “I can’t lose you again,” he mumbles as he cries into my shoulder. “You won’t lose me,” I reassure him as I gently rub his back. “Besides, I couldn’t turn down her
My paws pound against the concrete underneath me as I run to the center of the cage. I notice Kira running towards me and halt my approach about ten feet from her. She does the same. For a few tense minutes we circle each other, trying to judge what the other’s weakness was. Kira breaks the tension and makes the first move. She dashes straight at me. Upon reaching my snout, she begins to drop lower. Noticing her intentions of sliding underneath me, I jump over her. I land several feet away from her and growl furiously. That move is very dangerous. The attacker slides underneath their opponent and slices open their stomach. While this move can be used to simply threaten your opponent, a careless swipe of your claws can easily kill them. Why that little-, Enar begins. Enough. I’m angry, too. That move is not meant to be used to test someone’s skill, but that doesn’t mean you get to kill her for it, I tell Enar. I will win this fight and show Kira her mistake. F
I step out of the bathroom and spot Tyler sitting on the edge of his bed with his elbows on his thighs. The party ended an hour ago. Tyler left to get ready for bed shortly after it finished. I decided to stay a little longer to wrap up my conversation with Kira and Stella. Tyler was ready for bed by the time I made it up to his room. Sorry. Our room. As of this morning, I am officially sharing a room with Tyler. “We need to talk,” Tyler says as I walk closer to him. “Why is your wolf so big and how are you so good at fighting?” I sigh and take a seat on the bed next to him. “My wolf is actually standard size for a lycan,” I remark. “A lycan?” Tyler asks. “I thought lycans were just legends.” “I certainly hope I am not a legend,” I joke before growing serious. I flop back onto the bed as I explain. “Both of my parents were lycans. The last two of their kind, as far as I know. They were searching for an acceptable werewolf pack to join, but couldn’t find one.
The gym falls silent as Tyler and I walk in. On our way here, Tyler explained to me what they do for training. All wolves meet in the same gym where I fought Kira before training starts. The lead trainers and alpha give them instructions as to what they will be doing. Then the wolves are split into groups and sent to train. Tyler leads me over to an older man, probably in his late thirties or early forties. “This is Eric. He is the lead trainer and is in charge of creating training plans,” Tyler explains. “Nice to meet you, Luna,” Eric says, bowing his head slightly. “It’s nice to meet you as well,” I respectfully reply. “I came to see Moonfang’s training regimen, and to train with a sparring partner.” “I don’t think you will have any trouble completing the workouts,” Eric replies. “Especially if you perform as well as you did during your welcoming ceremony. Now if you will excuse me, I need to get today’s training started.” Eric walks away from us and towa
I hold my pace steady as I run around the track. Even though I finished my twenty laps, I don’t stop. I keep running, feeling each movement of my muscles. I notice Tyler walk over to the sidelines and sit down. He seems to be done. I can feel him watching me as I run. One by one, the other runners finish their twenty laps. I wait until the last runner is seated before joining the group. “Did you enjoy your run?” Tyler asks. “Yeah. I usually run twice that far, but it was a nice warmup,” I reply. Tyler looks surprised. He opens his mouth to speak, but closes it when the instructor starts talking first. “Your next station is core. Meet your core instructor in the smallest weight room within the next fifteen minutes,” he instructs. Our group gathers together before walking there. It looks like we will be staying with the two groups that joined ours. The smallest weight room is located along the far side of the training facility. In order to get there, we had to
“Be careful, Kyle!” I call to my eldest as he runs out the back door of the packhouse and into the yard full of people. His younger brothers, Tate and Noah, chase after him. The three boys run through the large tent set up in the backyard as I chuckle at their antics. After defeating the Grim Ire pack and Emira, Tyler and I were finally able to settle down. A year later, Kyle was born. We waited a couple of years to let Kyle grow up before having Tate and Noah. Today, the whole pack is celebrating Kyle’s ninth birthday. “Grandma Claire is here!” Claire announces as she enters the backyard. I chuckle as the boys run over to greet her. Claire was ecstatic when Tyler and I asked her to be a grandmother to our children. She knows that she will never replace my mother, but she still treats me like a daughter. “Alright boys! Let Grandma talk to Mom for a bit. There will be plenty of time to play with her later,” I tell them as they cling to Claire’s hands, trying to pull her
I become aware of many voices around me as my consciousness slowly returns. My fingers twitch to the side and bump against something. The thing moves and then a hand grasps mine. The pleasant tingles that shoot up my arm are all the information that I need to know that the hand holding mine is Tyler’s. “She’s awake,” I hear him cry and several other voices respond. Memories of being locked up in the lab flash through my head and I quickly cast a protective barrier around myself and Tyler. Shouting erupts on the outside of the barrier and I reach up with my free hand to rub my eyes. “Arielle?” Tyler asks. I squint my eyes at the bright overhead lights. All I can make out is a dark figure standing over me. Reflexingly, my fist flies up to remove the threat. It misses the figure and is caught by a warm hand that causes tingles to fly up my arm. “Arielle, look at me,” Tyler commands. I blink several more times, trying to adjust to the lights. My eyes slide around unt
The green lights shoot around the room like little glowing rockets. They crash into my shields and fizzle out. I manage to see a green projectile heading towards the scientists despite the light show happening around me. I quickly throw up a shield around them. They will need to explain any information they have learned and then be judged for their involvement in this at a later time. “Nooo!” Emira shrieks as the green orb collides with the shield and harmlessly fizzles out. “This can’t be possible! I’ve always been stronger than the others!” “Others? What others?!” I question her. “The other lycans!” she wails. I glance at Tyler and notice that he is watching me. We share a look and he nods. “What do you mean ‘the other lycans’?” I shout back. “Did you think you were the first?” Emira lets out a vicious laugh as another round of green bullets collide with my shields. “There have been several before you. My father has been studying your kind for years. E
“So if someone is cursed to sleep, what spell would you use to counter the curse?” I ask Aunt Shanna. “Ah!” she exclaims after pausing to think. “I know just the spell.” She begins to flip through the pages. Words fly past in rapid succession, but I manage to read a few. They mean guard, bind, and dispel. After flipping through half of the book, Shanna stops and points to a page. The explanation of the spell is short and merely states that the spell will wake up the recipient. The magic word is ‘izuzzu’ which means ‘arise’ in the language of magic. This is written at the center of the magic circle and is surrounded by lines that form the shape of z’s. Shanna seems to be watching me because when I glance up at her, she is staring back at me. “How do you end a spell? You said that you end a curse by casting it twice,” I question, looking away from her penetrating stare and back to the book. “Great question!” she cries. “Spells are normally negated by casting the opp
The top half of the page is covered by an intricate design. The center of the design is a small square with a circle surrounding it. Around the circle are letters. Then several concentric rings surround the letters, each one larger than the last. Some are made up of circles connected together. Others are made of octagons and other shapes. The circles end and triangles form yet another circle around the design. In each triangle is a number and each number is different. Finally, there is one last circle that surrounds the entire design and connects the point of each triangle together. I am surprised to find that I can read the letters and numbers even though they are not written in any language that I can recognize. The numbers are in the same order as a clock and the letters at the bottom spell out ‘sleep’ over and over again. Below the design is a short explanation about the spell and how to cast it. “This is a sleep spell,” Aunt Shanna says, interrupting my thoughts.
My nightmare repeats itself over and over again and each time I am younger than before. My helplessness is driving me crazy as I am forced to watch my parents die, unable to help. I wake up for the seventh time and my room is different from how I remember it. The walls are painted purple, but I only remember them being light green. My bed is also smaller. It suits my small, five year old body better than my normal twin size bed. I decide to lie in bed and think about my options. I have tried practically all of them without success. During the third round, I pretended to be sick the whole day, forcing my parents to stay home with me in hopes of avoiding the wolves. This ultimately failed when the rogue wolves broke into our house and killed them. Then I tried going into the city, going to another country, and even visiting the top floor of a skyscraper. Nothing worked. Each time the wolves came without fail. “Good morning, Sleepyhead,” a voice says. I roll my head to t
My eyes open slowly, and I realize that I had fallen asleep on the couch. I sit up, ready to clean up my dishes from dinner, but freeze when I see the room around me. It is smaller than the bedroom in my house, but just as familiar. "Arielle, it's time for breakfast!" voice calls up the stairs to me. "Oh, no. Not this," I whisper as I slowly slide out of bed. The hardwood floor is cold against my feet as I plod down the hallway and into the bathroom. My head barely reaches halfway up the mirror, and my hunch is confirmed. I am the same height as when I was twelve, and I bet today is also my birthday. "Arielle!" The feminine voice calls again. "I'm getting done!" I yell out the open bathroom door. Clanging noises echo upstairs from the kitchen as I shut the door. I get done quickly and rush downstairs. It is hard to believe my eyes when I enter the kitchen. My mom stands in front of the stove, stirring something in a pan while my dad sits at the table reading t
Beep. Beep. Beep. A loud noise awakens me, but disappears as soon as I open my eyes. My vision remains blurry and I swear that I can see a lab room with doctors bustling about surrounding me. My limbs feel heavy and weak. Then I blink and am back in the same bed I woke up in yesterday. I sit up, rubbing my eyes. Nothing has changed when I open them again. I am still sitting in bed covered by my navy blue comforter. My desk stands opposite my bed in the right corner of the room. Both my closet door and bathroom door hang open the way that I usually leave them. I slide off my bed and wait until my feet are buried in the soft, plush carpet before standing up. Then I spot it. My keys are on my desk along with my wallet. I know for sure that I left them hanging up in the hallway as I always do before going to bed yesterday. Perhaps, the day is repeating itself the same as yesterday. If that is true, then I may be in a nightmare. Upon realizing this, my mood immediately improves.
I open my eyes, slowly becoming conscious. The soft fabric surrounding me and lack of pain have me confused. Where am I? Wasn’t I trapped in the lab? How did I get here? Looking around, the room seems familiar. I sit up on the bed and it dawns on me. I’m back home. Not the packhouse, but my old home. Why am I here though? I moved into the packhouse a while ago. I need to go talk to Tyler. He should know. I launch myself out of bed and get dressed as fast as possible. Grabbing my wallet and keys from where they lay on my desk, I practically sprint to my car. I definitely break several driving laws on my way to the packhouse. At one point, I took a turn so hard I nearly flipped my car. My tires squeal as I skid to a stop in front of the large mansion. I don’t even take the time to shut my car door before running into the building and up the stairs to Tyler’s office. The door flies open as I enter the room, accidentally using too much force. A loud gasp echoes in my ears a