Forbidden Luna

The Cottage

I watch the trees zip by me and inhale the crisp autumn air. Soon it'll be winter and the snow will be my camouflage. I race the moon from moon rise to set. I feel the grass below my feet and the hard rocks that try to penetrate my paws.

I run into the wee hours of the morning. Just before light crests the mountains. I manage to make it home before Nukumi wakes up for the morning chores. I shift back and nestle into bed for the few hours of sleep I get. We have this deal, as long as I am safe on my runs and back in bed before the sun, she does the morning chores and I make breakfast before ten. Four gorgeous hours of not so peaceful slumber.

Recently my sleep has been interrupted by dreams of other wolves. Hunters chasing me and killing off the others one by one. Though I really don't know another wolf but myself. See when I was but a few days old, Nukumi found me at her doorstep. She's a medicine woman for the Yakima tribe here in Washington. She took me in and has spent her time tending to the village and me.

I was an odd child growing up. Nukumi has long, dark hair even in her old age. Her dark eyes are complemented by her tan complexion. Just like everyone else, but me. Ever since she found me, I have this unnaturally white hair with eyes of different colors. One darker than night and the other is almost as light as my hair. Nukumi calls me álxayx por-sa which means Moon Kiss. She says I was a gift from the moon goddess herself.

Funny enough, I wasn't teased about the way I looked. I stand a mere 5'2" and obviously look abnormal to everyone around me. Instead, I was seen as the village blessing. Now, I am seen as just another face. The older I got, the more they saw me as a normal human being except they do not know about my wolf.

N: "Wake up álxayx por-sa. The horses got spooked. I need your help bright one."

A: "Yeah yeah I know. Wolf too close to horses. I'm coming."

We tend to the local horses who are mature and too old for hunts. We keep them until they pass peacefully of old age. She prefers it that way. I don't argue, they make great listeners.

I slip on my clothes for the day and boots before meeting Nukumi at the corral. They had managed to bust down the wood planks and run free. This is odd because they tend to bust open the gate like they know how to open it. I've never seen them break down the corral to escape.

I see a dapple grey one just at the tree line. I quickly lead it back before she makes another run for it. But once I start going through the tree line, I notice blood. A lot of blood. I track the sent and blood trail to a nearby cave. There lays my favorite of the horses, a gorgeous red roan mare. She looks as though a wolf much larger than myself or maybe a bear had torn into her. I check the surrounding and see if I can smell anything out of ordinary.

In the back of the deep cave lies another horse, Nukumi's personal baydun colt. This was the only one of young age that we used to get around. He was wild at heart but a great horse. And there he was, lying dead at my feet. Torn to shreds. The air shifts and I catch a whiff of a wolf. It's an old scent. About two hours old. I must have barely missed the creature after returning home.

I manage to make my way back where I see she had found the twin blue roan mares. Both look utterly shaken. One has a deep gash along her back that almost resembles a claw mark.

N: "Where are the others?"

A: "I tracked them to the cave at the base of the mountain. About a mile from here. Both torn up. I'm sorry but they are gone."

N: "What could have done this?!"

She's now looking at the wooden planks that also have giant gouge marks in them.

A: "I believe it's a wolf, like me. Whatever did this was massive. Too big to be a normal wolf from the mountains."

She dropped her head.

N: "I was afraid of this. I think it is time you and I talk álxayx por-sa."

I replace the wood into their rightful places. I quickly feed and water the horses before making my way inside. There Nukumi is sitting with hot herbal tea at our dinning room table.

N: "Have a seat moon child. I think it is time I tell you how we met."

I sit and take the cup of tea she offers me.

N: "You see, I lied to you when you asked all those years ago about how I found you. Just before the eve of the new year, a wolf crawled its way to my doorstep. I noticed the markings on the poor thing. It had looked like it had been attacked by a much larger predator. I tried mending to it but it was no use. I made a fire and stayed out all night so it wouldn't be alone when its soul passed.

Just as the sun crested the mountain peaks, it changed into a she. Her body was mangled and her voice was raw. She told me of a young pup she had left just inside the very cave you found the horses at. She told me to hide you and entrusted that the moon goddess led her here to me for this very reason. Shortly after, I held her hand as she passed on.

I found you swaddled in a nest of furs. You did not cry but you looked at me like you knew who I was. So, I brought you home. I talked to the late Chief Koda. He knew of your kind from stories told as a young boy. There was a settlement two hundred miles from here. I do not know if it is still there but it might be. He believed her tribal marking came from that village.

Their alpha was known to be cruel to his women. Kept many around at all times. He worked his people till they fell ill. It was said that they died off. No one really knows of this for sure. We decided to keep you secrete as much as we could but you are so unique from your hair to your eyes. We knew one day someone would notice that you were unlike the others."

Silent tears rolled down my cheeks. A new fear ran through me to my very bones. I could be the reason for the sudden threat on our home.

N: "One last thing, you do have another name but we never called you that so you would stay hidden. Your mother called you Ky."

A: "Ky? Mom? I don't understand. Why did she bring me to you?"

She took a slow sip from her cup. I couldn't help by stare waiting for her answer.

N: "I do not know. I felt as though she ran away to protect you. A mother's love knows no bounds. I do not know if she came to me because she couldn't go anymore or if she felt she could trust me after I tended to her. I am unsure of that. If you say a wolf was here then we must keep a watchful eye. Please, no more running at night. Not until we know you are safe."