How very ironic that I’d see the hellish creature on my perfect little mating day. The Goddess hates me indeed.
The brutish beast has held eyes with me for several minutes now. The mass of him alone is frightening. I should be scared. He looks like a pet of the devil himself. And yet, all I do is hold his glaring gaze.
Neither of us move.
Then, as if tiring of our game, his front paw motions forward, and a puff of dirt billows around his fur where he dares take a step into the line of fading sunlight.
The fucking audacity of this bitch. Is the thing a lunatic to step a single paw onto my pack’s turf?
I storm across the room, and I’m flinging open the window at once.
“Are you challenging me?” I scream into the wind.
I do love a good challenge, if I’m being totally honest.
Barrley, the old neighbor lady, stops dead in her tracks. She and my mother often play cards together on Sundays when they’re both feeling up to it. A wicker basket of daisies hangs limply in her frail hand. Her big brown eyes widen while her jaw rears back so far she gives herself several chins, and none of them are pretty.
The young girl at her side whispers beneath her breath, but I hear her quietness.
Crazy, she tells her mother.
“Are you…alright, Cersia?” Barrley asks with a voice that sounds like it’s walking on eggshells to even address the crazy woman barking out the window like a feral dog giving a taunting squirrel a good ass-chewing.
Dry words die on my lips. My attention shifts from the hesitant woman to the tree line.
But the wolf is gone. Nothing but swaying tree limbs and rustling leaves peer back at me.
And maybe…just maybe I really am the village crazy bitch.
TWO
A SIMPLE CHOICE
The heavinessof the moon presses down on me when my eyes open to the shadowy room. I can’t say when I finally gave up the constant dread and let my mind rest, but it seems to have happened. Sleep and a bit of calm found me.
It just didn’t last long enough.
Dim lighting dances across the smooth white walls, and the sound of the mating chanting sways in rhythm with the flickering light of the flames that are awaiting me outside.
It’s almost time.
In just under an hour, I’ll walk out to the highest ground beneath our Goddess Moon, and mate with the one man I’ll look to for guidance from now until forever. Well, that’s not entirely true. Eventually, I suppose I’ll die.
Sounds real fucking romantic, doesn’t it?
At the simple thought of living a long empty life of lies, my heart pounds harder against my chest. The air caught in my throat fights to fill my lungs. I can’t breathe.
You’ll be safe though… He’ll keep you safe…
Maybe I should leave.
I should…
I—
A slamming of rattling glass shakes through my anxiety.
I’m on my feet, and the beast inside me is baring its teeth against my lips before I can bite back its snarl. My canines are on full display when I lock gazes with the palest green eyes just outside the window.
