Moonspell

The shadows were slowly swallowing the silver disk of the moon and her arrival could be sensed in the air.

She was calling.

As much as Erik desired, he could not ignore the summoning. Every cell of his body was urging him to answer it.

It was the chant of the mistress that was governing all their existences, the Moon Goddess.

A growl escaped his chest. He could not suppress it any longer.

It was not just any night, but a very particular one, the night of the Blood Moon, an event that took place once every hundred years.

Humans were calling it in their ignorance ‘total lunar eclipse’, but it was more than that, it was that night in which the Goddess was descending to earth.

He ripped his shirt open and shifted into his beast form. It didn’t hurt, it felt like the energy of the universe was flowing through him in those moments.

Emotions could influence the shifting, when he felt danger or anger the shifting happened like an explosion, hurting slightly.

Not that time, that time it was neither of these, but the chant of the Goddess obliging him and every other wolf in the world to answer her call.

The winds in the woods and on the peaks of the Caucasus were merciless, but through his thick, black pelt he could barely feel the cold. The only feature that retained something of his human form, were his eyes, deep green with black specks, the color of the European fir forests, of the wildness of the continent, a color that could not be seen in regular wolves.

Another grey-brown wolf came running to his right. Michael, his Beta, gave an acknowledging howl. More and more wolves were gathering, moving together to the destination, a clearing in the forest where she was waiting for them.

Emerging from the lake, she lit up the deep darkness of the forest and gave the water a silver shimmer. Her unearthly beautiful features were making Erik shiver. Her skin was pale and glowing, her hair silver, only her eyes were dark blue and profound like the infinity of the cosmos, and just as frightening.

Her ethereal figure sat down on a white stone on the shore of the lake.

All the packs were present.

She extended her arm and a snow-white wolf with striking blue eyes emerged from the crowd and laid down at her feet. Kiril.

Erik could not help to bare his fangs when he saw him.

The Goddess extended her other arm towards him. He clenched his jaws and dug his claws into the ground trying to resist the summoning, but it was his very nature he was fighting.

She stood up and started walking towards him, every step of hers resonated with his heartbeat. He could smell her, the smell of night flowers, darkness, and unearthly desire, that intoxicating smell that was tearing at his willpower.

“Oh, Erik!” she said, touching his snout, forcing him to shift back into his human body.

“Your Highness,” he said curtly.

Her hand moved over his muscular chest.

“Why are you fighting it, Erik? You know you cannot win,” she said with a small smile on her lips.

She proceeded to touch his jaw and then moved her thumb over his lower lip. He growled and his eyes lit up. His wolf wanted her, the primal animal inside him was answering her and he could not suppress it any longer.

“This honor is granted once in a hundred years, Erik.”

It was indeed an honor to be chosen to be that night the mate of the Moon Goddess. She was powerful and she could grant wishes, but she could also be vile as all gods are, and selfish, and it was known that she enjoyed playing with mortal lives.

“How long has it been, Erik? Eighty years?”

“Yes.”

She pressed her body against his, her skin was cold but her smell was enslaving him.

Her wet tongue went over his lips and he ultimately lost control of the beast, pulling her head back letting his tongue invade her mouth.

“Good boy,” she said smiling maliciously.

He growled and turned her around pressing her down on the damp grass, making her moan in satisfaction.

It was feral, the type of mating Erik did not experience in eighty years since his Luna, Katharina, died.

She was enjoying feeling his struggle, seeing him lose the fight. For somebody that experienced eternity, it was one of the most delicious feelings to see once again how it felt to break someone’s will.

She snapped her fingers and they were suddenly alone while still enjoying the afterglow.

“You did not disappoint, Erik. But all this anger, all this resistance, oh so delicious, but so very futile. What do you desire? Tell me.”

“Nothing, your Highness.”

He knew better than to make any demand.

“That is a lie. You know that there is no mortal heart without desire.”

She was right about that, but he knew very well that the wishes he had could not be granted, so he buried them deep inside his soul.

“If you do not name something, I will decide myself.”

“I want prosperity for my pack,” he said, thinking it would end the debate.

“But that is not a desire you have for yourself, and that is what I asked,” she said standing up on top of him, making him enter her again. In a fluent move, she laid down touching his face with her hands and darting her gaze into his.

Those eyes were like two pits of darkness that swallowed Erik and bared his mind to her, trashing all barriers.

“I will grant you the wish you are trying to hide, even from yourself. You have been lonely for too long,” she said kissing him while they melted away.

Erik woke up alone beside the lake. He shifted into his wolf form again and started running down the mountain. He could still feel her grip on his mind and it made him shiver.

She was powerful enough to make him lose control, something that only an immortal being could, and he was frightened of her and of what she might have seen in his thoughts.

Our subconsciousness can be our greatest enemy because some things are suppressed for a reason.

Erik was afraid.