The Black Sheep

The Calling of the Goddess

Miss Francis stood at the head of the large theater-style classroom. A gentle smile graced her lips, mature eyes scanning the full room or nearly filled room. Her gaze fell on the empty seat she had reserved for her most...difficult student. And as expected, Sasha was once again late! No worries though, she expected as much and took precautions.

Clapping her hands to silence the low chatter, she gained the attention of the young boys and girls in the room, all of who were over, Just turned, or nearly 18.

"Today, as you know, we'll be discussing an important topic, The Calling of the Moon Goddess Lunmenessa" She kept her composer as the mumbles of excitement filled the room, the smile on her lips a little less rehearse and more genuine as she took in their excitement. For a moment she remembered being young again. With a sigh and a raise of the hand, she was back to the present and order returned to the room.

" For some of you, this will be your first and hopefully, your last. In that case, I recommend you pay close attention to today's lesson as it may prove useful. As for the repeaters, don't assume this isn't for you, self-reflection is key to a successful-"

Just then, the door was pushed open, the heavy proceed wood knocking against the wall as, Bruce, a warrior that was as much up in age and Miss Francis herself, walked into the room dragging a resentful Sasha. 

The tall omega struggled uselessly against the muscular retiree.

"Helen" Bruce greeted her with a short wave of his free hand, the other firmly clenched around Sasha's shirt collar.

"Bruce found our fugitive I see"

"Took me a while, he's getting good at avoiding detection " Bruce commented with a half laugh, shoving the Omega not too kindly into the empty seat at the very front of the room.

The person in question allowed himself to drop gracelessly into the chair. Arms crossed over his chest, completely comfortable in his dirty and ripped jeans and stretched out t-shirt.

"Please, do try not to sound too impressed" Helen sighed, her gaze fixed on the sloppy bun that sat on top of Sasha's head, covered in leaves and broken twigs. She only hoped he didn't gain yet another scar from his most recent 'adventure'.

"No promises" Bruce called after himself as he shut the door, leaving the room in a new kind of silence, one where Sasha was at the center of attention.

"Now" Miss Francis clapped her hand once. "As I was saying, The calling of the goddess. An event that takes place once a year in June. It lasts 30 days exactly, where you-" She gestured to the room. "_are the guests of honor and will be playing host to thousands, even millions of wolves, high in rankers and others. Dance, talk, charm, build connections and have fun but not too much fun, because it all leads up to The Ceremony of Lunmesia also called the Omega's mating ceremony, as for about 2 hours on the 30th day, you'll be able to sense your mate. Now- Yes?" Miss Francis paused her lecture to attend to a raised hand.

"What happens after we sense our mate? Will the realization of the mating just vanish when the two hours are up?"

"Interesting question, If-when you sense your mate, you're bound will immediately be formed, after the formation, you'll be permanently aware of your relationship. No one-"

"Arggg" Ash grumbled and he let his head fall unto his desk with a loud slam.

"Not interested in my class Sasha?"

Ash peaked up at her, his head not leaving the desk.

"No offense Hellen-"

"Miss! Francis!"

"-but I've heard it all before"

"Then you wouldn't mind answering the questions for your peers. Since you know everything"

"I'm not-"

"Yes, Janice what is your question" Miss Francis gestured to another raised hand, this time calling the student by name.

"Why does the Calling of the Goddess last a whole month? Why not just a few days or a week at most?" Janice, a petite female with snow-white hair and skin two shades darker.

"Good question, Sasha?"

"Because the higher up are bored and needed an excuse to drink, eat and sexually harassed us before we're officially off the market." Helen narrowed her eyes at him and he signed. "Also..." He cautiously added "It gives us the time to converse and create a more intellectual bound with our potential mates, it makes going home with a stranger less frightening" Helen nod at him.

For the next 10 minutes, the class continued as such, Ash answering for Helen who was calling out names of curious omegas. Questions he'd heard all before, some he remembered asking himself, it was almost nostalgic.

"I have a question?" Ash internally groan as he recognized the voice.

"Yes, Val" Helen called.

"What happens when we don't find our mate?"

"Then you try again next year" Ash responded with none of his dark humor presented earlier.

"And what if we still don't find our mate then, or the year after that or after that, until, let's say we're 25? What then?" Val persisted, Ash could almost hear the smirk in his words. The rest of the room, however, had grown numb, some silenced by the horror of being so 'old' and mateless, other recognizing that Val was personally attacking him. Helen registered the later, but she catered to the former.

"The probability of that occurring is very low, in all of history, there have been only 5 documented cases in where an omega failed to find their mate by age of 25 and only 2 never found their mates. And that was in the late 1600's where, The Calling of the Goddess was not yet established, since then there have been no-"

"But there is a procedure in case it does happen." Val pushed and Miss Francis frowned. The top right corner of her lips twitched, she only did that when she was losing patience. And as suggested her words sounded more forced as she responded or tried to.

"Well, yes but you don't need to-"

"If you fail to find your mate by 25-" Ash stepped in, deciding to put her out of her misery. That, and he didn't want to let Val thing that he'd gotten under his skin. " -One will be appointed to you. They say that many things are taken into account in the choice but basically, you become the trophy for some retired general or the mistress of some widowed Alpha" The room was cold.

"Can I leave now?" Ash asked, already off his seat and heading for the door before Helen could respond with a:

"Huh? Hmm, yes, you may be excused"

So he was 25, newly turned as of 48 hours ago, this summer was his last Calling of the Goddess, his last chance to find a mate. So what?

He wasn't a little child, he could take care of himself, and he wasn't so self-destructive to think that he couldn't live by himself, without some mate to pamper him.

What he wanted, what he always wanted was to throw away his title, to simply be a wolf and live his life however he saw fit!

But maturity taught him that you don't always get what you wanted, more times than not, you end up but a pawn to your own destiny. So he accepted that he'd forever be someone else's. A student in this institute for Omegas. A Lover to a mate, or, most likely, a mistress to some rich bastard! No matter the result, after this summer his life will be ending.

Ash walked to the open window, they were on the first floor, overlooking the dense forest that separated the building from the rest of the world.

He places a stable hand on the windowsill and jumped out, rolling upon landing and sprinting to the trees, stripping at the border of man and wild before shifting.

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