Moonlight Calls (Demon's Call Series Book 1) (31 page)

We trekked
through the hills for hours in the soft sunshine, Christian pausing here and
there to point out a plant or creature of interest.  I was puffing and flushed
with exertion by the time we neared our destination.  Christian took an
exaggerated look at my red face and laughed.  His breathing hadn’t even changed
and he looked as comfortable as he would in an air-conditioned building.

I plopped down
on a fallen log and sighed, then drank the last of my bottled water.  Christian
looked at the landmarks around us and nodded.  “This is close enough,” he said
glancing at the wooded area.  I looked up at him as I shrugged off my backpack. 
He shed his t-shirt and handed it to me so I could stuff it into the backpack. 
My hands shook slightly, I was so nervous.

Christian saw my
apprehension and stepped close, taking my hands.  He wore only his pants,
having discarded shoes and socks before we set off.  He placed my hand on his
warm chest.  “Don’t be so nervous, darling,” he said cajolingly.  “You are not
the first human to be invited to a moon ceremony, though it is something of an
honor.”

He shed his
pants, completely comfortable being stark-ass naked in the woods.  I slipped
back into the backpack.  One of the wolf customs was that everything that was
brought to the ceremony was natural.  I wore no make-up or jewelry, and the few
sparse items of clothing I was allowed were made of natural fibers.  I spared
another moment of worry about the weather.  The warm sunshine felt glorious on
my bare arms, but it would probably get pretty cold at night.  Christian was
allowing me to bring a small fur throw that he had given me, on the grounds that
it was real fur and therefore acceptable.  I hoped it wouldn’t rain.  I wasn’t
immune to illness and cold like a wolf.

“It will be a
wonder if I’m able to walk by the time we get there,” I said grimacing down at
my bare feet.

Christian
laughed.  “I will try to pick out a soft path for you, just watch where you
step.”  Christian would be going in wolf form, as was customary.  He shimmered
and changed to wolf and I marveled again at his beauty.  I had almost forgotten
how big and glorious his wolf was.

I ran a hand
over his long, silky coat and he nipped at my hand playfully.  He turned and
started off toward the glade where the celebration was to be held and I
followed meekly in his wake, feeling like some wild forest nymph.

We reached the
glade shortly, passing a few other wolves as we went.  The gathering was  being
held in a small clearing near the center of the woods.  I was relieved to feel
the soft grass beneath my feet instead of the rough sticks and leaves I had
been picking my way through. Christian paused as we entered the clearing, and I
drew up next to him, resting my hand on his back for reassurance.

I felt like I
had stepped into a fairytale of some sort.  Wolves of all sizes and colors
rollicked around on the grass, some wrestling playfully, some dozing in the
warm sunshine. Others were in human form, lounging on the soft grass or fur
throws like mine- clothing optional.  I blushed as I realized that there were
several couples making love with open abandonment.

Christian padded
to an available spot a little apart from the others, under the shelter of a
large pine tree and at the top of a gentle slope.  It would give him a view of
the whole clearing, while still offering some privacy.  I spread my fur throw
over a small grassy spot and flopped down to rest, enjoying the fragrant tang
of the pine needles that we had crushed underfoot.

Christian sat on
the grass next to me, still in wolf form, and gazed around the clearing.  He
was taller than me now that I was sitting, and it was a little intimidating.  I
rose up on my knees next to him, idly trailing my fingers over one of his
massive paws, and looked about the clearing to see what he was watching.

Several wolves
were making their way toward us at a lope.  Apparently, Christian had been
looking for them.  He showed no sign of surprise, merely cocking his ears
forward as they approached.  The first wolf, a huge gray/brow beast, reached us
and slowed to a walk.  When he neared Christian, he knelt down on his front
legs with his rump in the air as if bowing.  Christian stood and nipped the
other wolf about the neck after which the strange wolf stood and moved to the
side.  This process was repeated by the second wolf, a reddish-brown one with a
black tail.

The third wolf
was much smaller than the first two, and I realized belatedly that she was a
female.  Her fur was silvery gray with a white stripe on her muzzle that made
her look almost domestic.  I let out a sigh of relief.  It wasn’t Camilla, I
would recognize her wolf anywhere.  This wolf was carrying a wad of clothes in
her mouth, which she dropped at my side.  She dropped to her haunches in front
of Christian and rolled over, showing her belly and exposing her neck.  She lay
still as Christian nuzzled her throat.  I watched this whole process in
fascination.  There was so much I didn’t understand.  I realized now why
Christian thought a culture lesson might be needed.

Christian sat
back and the female wolf rolled to her feet.  She shook out her fur briefly
before shimmering and taking on human form.  I stared at her in surprise as she
knelt before me.  I studied the heart-shaped face and the almond-shaped blue
eyes with some fascination, before turning my gaze to Christian.  She could
have been my twin, but for the lighter shade of her hair and delicate, slender
frame.  He lifted his shoulders in a shrug and I smiled at the humanness of the
gesture, wondering wryly if he had chosen me because I resembled her, or the
other way around.

The woman knelt
in front of me now and bowed her head briefly before taking my hands.  “I’m so
glad to meet you Mya,” she bubbled enthusiastically.  “Christian asked me if I
would show you around this morning while he does business.  My name is Lucy.” 
I couldn’t help but smile back at her.  The formalities thus attended to,
Christian stood and loped off, followed by the other wolves.

“Who were
they?”  I stared after the trio curiously.  I tried with all my might to keep
my eyes above chest level.  Man this was weird.  Smiling at my discomfort, Lucy
began pulling on the shorts and t-shirt her wolf had carried.

“Oh, Alex and
Stuart are the second and third in our pack,” she said off-hand.  “They help
Christian monitor the pack, and make minor decisions for him when the need
arises.”  I nodded, wondering at how little I knew about Christian’s life.

“Are you
hungry?”  Lucy startled me out of my thoughts.  “Christian said that I should
show you how to find food, since you don’t hunt.”  I nodded reluctantly.  I
supposed I was going to have to learn, I was certainly getting hungry.

Lucy stood and
pulled me to my feet and we headed off into the woods as she chatted merrily. 
She had a warm, open personality that put me instantly at ease.  It also helped
that she was so welcoming.  It made me feel less like an outsider.  And at
least I wasn’t the only one on two legs strutting around the woods.  I felt
like I had just stepped into some sort of cult/nudist colony.  If someone
started handing out punch, I was out of here.

I snapped off a
long piece of wild grass as we ambled along.  My thoughts swirled as I twirled
the slender stalk between my fingers.  Lucy eyed me with frank appraisal. 
“You’re overwhelmed.”  It was a statement, not a question.

I nodded. 
“Sometimes I feel like I’ve known Christian forever, like he’s just always been
part of my life.”  I gestured to the forest at large.  “But then something like
this happens and I realize I don’t know anything about his world- not really.”

Lucy laughed. 
“I understand.  I wasn’t born a wolf.  I’m one of the few in the pack that was
turned.  It’s pretty rare.”  She frowned, thinking.  “Although I think our pack
has more former humans than most.”

I took that in. 
It made sense that Christian would help me connect with someone like Lucy who
had at least been human at one point.  “Can you tell me more about the pack?  I
mean, I know Christian is an alpha.  I guess he’s your leader.  But I don’t
know anything about what that means, exactly.”

Lucy directed me
toward some wicked looking bushes.  They were overflowing with berries.  “Well,
it’s not like he’s purposely shutting you out or anything.”  She smiled at me
warmly.  “He brought you here, after all.”  She picked a berry and popped it
into her mouth. “Werewolves have a distinct culture.  It’s kind of an
unofficial rule that this club is members only.”

I raised my
eyebrows.  So it
was
a big deal that I was here.  “So if you tell me,
you’ll have to kill me, huh?”

She laughed. 
“Of course not.  By brining you here, Christian is kind of giving us permission
to accept you.”

“So, I know
Christian is the leader of this pack,” I said slowly, “but what about Henry-
he’s like your king?”

Lucy pursed her
lips, searching for a good way to explain.  “Kind of.  We don’t really have a
human hierarchy.  There are packs spread out all over the continent.  They each
have their own alpha male.  The alphas make the decisions for the pack, kind of
like a judge or a sheriff.  He keeps everyone in line and makes sure all their
needs are met.  Without that order, there would be a lot of fighting and we’d
have rogue wolves running rampant, attacking humans and ruining it for the rest
of us.”  She shrugged.

“So Christian is
the ruler of this pack.  But Henry is the Father Alpha….”

Lucy shook her
head.  “The Father Alpha is the oldest wolf in the world.  The other alphas
keep their individual packs in order, but Henry keeps the alphas in order. 
Christian is in a special position.  He has to follow his father’s orders, but
at the same time he has more power and freedom than any of the other alphas. 
If Henry is the King, then Christian is the prince.”

I nodded, it
made sense.  “I get the feeling Christian doesn’t like his father.”

I tried some of
the berries, closing my eyes for a moment in appreciation.  Wonderful.

Lucy plopped
down on a nearby rock.  “Well first off, he’s been telling Christian what to do
for about a thousand years or so.”  She glanced at me apprehensively, but I
just waved her on.  Christian has already shared his age with me.  “And for
another, Christian will take his place someday.”

I almost choked
on my raspberry, but I said nothing.  Of course the prince would take over the
kingdom eventually.  I felt a little light headed.  Just who was I involved
with?

“So what’s with
the other wolves that came to see Christian this morning?”

Lucy stood and
stretched.  Her eyes wandered toward the edge of the woods with a touch of
longing.  It must be miserable to be ordered to babysit the human while the
others got to go play.

“Ivan and Alex
are the pack’s second and third in command.  Every wolf has a sort of
unofficial ranking.  They help to keep order and make decisions in Christian’s
place.  One day one of them will be alpha.”

“What about the
women?”  I asked curiously.

Lucy’s focus
sharpened and she seemed to pull herself back to the here and now.  “Camilla?”

I winced.  “That
too.”

She laughed. 
“Women in the wolf pack don’t typically have a rank.  It’s not that we are
treated poorly or anything like that, the opposite is true really.  Females are
treasured.”  She frowned.  “But Camilla is Christian’s alpha mate.  It’s a
position of honor.  She has more power and influence than the other women,
simply because she belongs to Christian.”

I clenched my
teeth and kept quiet, but Lucy clearly saw my expression.  “I know how you
feel,” she said wryly.  “That woman is like swallowing something sharp.”

We returned some
time later with purple fingers and red lips, stained from the raspberries and
wild strawberries that Lucy had helped me find.  I carried a double handful
with me, placing them near our tree for later.  Christian had returned and was
sitting on our blanket, still in wolf form.  Lucy bowed her head to him and
waved to me before making off toward the woods in wolf form, probably to do
some hunting of her own.

I stretched out
on my back and soaked up the dappled sun shining through the tree branches.  I
had gotten over feeling self-conscious, after all I wasn’t the only one walking
around naked and the wolves had all been very accepting so far.

We had been
sitting in companionable silence for about a quarter of an hour or so when
wolves began to come to us in human form.  They came in groups of two or three,
bowing to Christian before turning their attention to me.  Most merely welcomed
me, and wished me well.  But a few brought me gifts.  After a couple of hours
of this behavior, the flow of visitors started to ebb, and I was left with a
large pile of edible plants, berries, furs, and a pretty necklace woven from
some sort of natural fiber, with a striped feather for a pendant.  I stroked the
soft feather and glanced at Christian. 

His voice
entered my thoughts. 
Woodpecker.

I smiled. 
“What’s with all the gifts, anyway?”

They are
welcoming you.  Paying tribute to you because you are my mate.