Cupcakes Book 02 Ch. 01

She knew she must be dreaming but it wasn't quite a dream. There was a dream like quality but it was just a bit more solid than any lucid dream she'd ever had. She wandered along a stream, deep in a tranquil forest, everything calm and peaceful. Georgia sat on a large rock and waited. She couldn't be sure but it felt like something was about to happen. A rustle in the underbrush drew her attention.

A wolf stepped out into the clearing around the stream. She was fluffy and white with bright blue eyes.

"Oh." Georgia breathed, "It's nice to finally meet you."

What's the protocol for meeting a mystical, hidden part of yourself you only recently found out wasn't a fairytale?

She sat still and relaxed, trying to breathe slowly and quietly. The white wolf approached her slowly but confidently. It didn't seem scared and it occurred to Georgia it was moving cautiously for her sake.

"I really am glad to meet you, you know. I was really scared of this whole concept," she rolled her hand in an expansive, all this gesture, "but I'm ready now. At some point I guess my desire to move forward overwhelmed my anxiety. Like let's just get things moving already." She chuckled softly and the wolf cocked its head.

"Come on then." Georgia reached out her hand, palm up. The wolf, her wolf, sniffed her palm, then nuzzled her hand.

She slid off the rock, sinking to her knees as she ran her hands through the dense coat of her wolf. It was strong, she could feel the muscle in its body, and it's eyes were sharp with intelligence.

"You aren't one to be messed with are you?" Georgia asked reverently. This fierce, beautiful creature was a part of her.

Her wolf huffed, it sounded like confirmation. It leaned its head forward and pressed its forehead to hers. Georgia closed her eyes and felt energy humming between and around them as their breathing sync, their hearts beat in time.

She'd had no idea what to expect of this transition but from the dire warnings the Alpha's had given her she anticipated some amount of struggle and violence. This however didn't feel violent or scary in any way, it felt like a momentous and sacred moment and she found herself trembling with awe.

"You are beautiful." her voice was barely more than a whisper, here in this moment it felt like nothing should break the spell.

The world tilted, inside her head she saw two perspectives, her looking at the wolf, the wolf looking at her. Instinctually she knew they shouldn't be seperate, they should share a perspective. She focused on the two images and willed them together. Slowly but surely they moved, overlapping and melding until they were one image, her and her wolf, sitting together and at peace. She could hear a single heartbeat, stronger than her own by itself but it was hers now. Each breath she took she shared, as if her lung capacity had expanded but not divided.

A joyful and melodious laugh filled the clearing, sudden but not startling. Georgia opened her eyes and looked around. A woman stood watching them, her hands clasped above her heart, her face glowing with unfettered joy.

Her wolf moved to her side, standing under her arm, quietly and calmly regarding the woman. Georgia could sense no fear or anger from her wolf and understood that this meant she was unlikely in any danger. She grinned, glancing down at the wolf's head, she had her own personal people screener now.

"It's been so long." The woman spoke, her voice deep and resonant with a slight echo.

"This isn't a dream is it?" Her own voice didn't carry far.

"No, not exactly a dream, though it's in the dreamscape." The woman walked toward them with a graceful, gliding movement. She was tall, statuesque. Her skin was the color of night, Georgia felt like she'd see stars in it if she concentrated. Her hair was moonlight, moving around her of its own accord. She glowed softly as moonbeams.

"Are you," Georgia hesitated, feeling a bit ridiculous. But the whole situation was ridiculous, why hesitate now? "Are you Luna?"

"Yes." the single word hummed and echoed slightly.

Georgia sat with the thought for a moment. Noone had mentioned this in their stories about mating and transformations. In fact as much as they cited Luna as the reason for the way they did things she'd gotten the impression that she was a vague concept, an indifferent god.

"I wasn't expecting to meet you."

Luna's gentle laugh was tinged with sadness and she shook her head "No. You wouldn't be expecting it. I haven't spoken directly to anyone in a very long time."

She had no idea how to process that information, she was wholly unprepared for this entire interaction.

Luna sat casually on the grass before them, settling herself as if they had much to discuss. "Ask. I've heard you ask it already. Ask me directly. Ask me the question I've been waiting for someone to finally voice."

Georgia knew the question, she'd voiced it to Rig not long ago. "Why? Why is a culture with a mother goddess so violently patriarchal?"

Luna's glow flared and she smiled her approval. "Why indeed?" She regarded Georgia and her wolf for a moment, no hurry or impatience in her manner.

"The dreamscape is malleable, we will go and see. It can be a bit disorienting for humans who are unused to all this. Will you trust me to guide you?"

It was all happening so fast, but it felt like she'd been waiting for this. There was an excited feeling of finally fluttering in her chest. Georgia nodded and stood with Luna, reaching out to take her offered hand. It felt soft and cool but otherwise ordinary.

"Let me first show you how it was, so long ago now that very few know about it. The memory of these times have been maliciously buried and purposely forgotten." She sounded stern and disappointed as she led them through the trees.

They stepped out into an ancient and sunbaked landscape. It was a grassland with a huge sky overhead, and a village around them of mud huts circling a clearing. The central clearing was full of people, their dark skin painted with symbols, their language completely foreign to Georgia's ears. Raised up on a platform was a man and a woman who all eyes were focused on.

The man was huge and stern, his well muscled arms crossed over his chest as he surveyed the crowd. The woman was tall and built much like Rig's mother and sisters, fit and strong. She wore an elaborate headdress and was speaking animatedly to the crowd. Georgia got the impression from their upturned, rapt expressions that she had authority here. She raised her arms into the air triumphantly and the crowd howled.

"They are a pack." She observed as many in the crowd shifted and left together.

"Yes. They are the Alpha pair." Luna gestured to the man and woman.

Several people had not shifted and run with the pack and now waited to gain an audience with the pair. The woman came down from the dias, the man shadowing her like a bodyguard. She interacted with the small crowd that remained. Despite not understanding the language Georgia could clearly see she settled a dispute between two men, then called a couple women to aid an injured man. Finally she laid her hand on the swollen belly of a young woman and smiled. The woman and what looked to be her mate had worried expressions that smoothed and relaxed as she spoke with them.

Finally the crowd dissipated. The woman turned toward her mate and he gathered her in his arms, kissing her forehead and supporting her as she sagged. She was clearly exhausted by her efforts and he easily scooped her up and carried her into a large hut.

"I don't understand all of what I've just seen but this looked like she was in charge."

"From the beginning the women of the pack were powerful and wise. They were healers and oracles. They spoke directly with me," she gestured around them, "like this in the dreamscape. The men were blessed with strength and used it to protect and support their pack."

"A matriarchy?"

"Not exactly, they shared, everyone was appreciated for what they had to offer. Each pack member was in the position that used their talents best. But the sacredness of women was esteemed."

She pulled Georgia back toward the trees, but the clearing with the stream wasn't waiting on the other side. Instead they stepped into what looked like a medieval village. Luna led her to a small, thatched roof hut that might as well have had a sign saying "WITCH" over the door. They stepped inside to find a woman sitting at a table where a bowl of herbs burned, the smoke curling around her. A couple sat across from her, anxiously clutching each other's hands.

The woman's eyes were closed but Georgia could see them moving rapidly behind her lids. It looked like she was actively dreaming. After a moment her head came up and she opened her eyes halfway, regarding the couple across from her.

"In consideration of both your mates having been lost, and in recognition of the love you've found with each other, your union has Luna's blessing." She smiled sleepily as the couple breathed a collective sigh of relief and embraced. "You will have many children and long lives, go and be happy."

They couple thanked her profusely and laid a small bag on the table before leaving hand in hand.

"I know I haven't known about werewolves long, and I don't even pretend to know much about their spirituality, but I've never heard of anyone speaking directly with you." Georgia observed as Luna again led her toward the screen of trees.

"The ability was lost around this time." She gestured behind them toward the medieval village they were walking away from.

"This is when they started burning witches."

Luna nodded solemnly. She paused at the tree line.

"I think you are clever enough to grasp the scope of what happened without witnessing it all. A glimpse of the ugliness will no doubt be enough. This is difficult to witness but necessary if you are going to continue." She sighed, "I am giving you a chance to stop now and go back to your life with a vague memory of this as a dream. I will understand."

Georgia gave it a moment of thought, she didn't have the full picture yet of what Luna wanted but it would without doubt be difficult. She felt though, without any real basis for her certainty, that this was what she'd been waiting for. In those quiet, waiting moments, when her life felt too small and she'd wanted something more. This was that thing. She was Harry breaking the wax seal on an envelope, Lucy pushing aside coats in a wardrobe, Alice peering into a hole after a rabbit. This was her moment and she felt a surge of determination that it would not pass her by.

"No." She started firmly, "I do not want to go back. Whatever is coming I want to be a part of it."

Luna nodded. She squared her shoulders and moved in to the trees.

They walked out of the trees and into a room. Georgia flinched as anguished screams assaulted them.

A woman was being held down by a brute of a man, his form enormous and hulking over her.

"You and your wolf will submit to me! You are my mate and you will submit to my will!"

He raped her as she struggled against him, no match for his strength, his hand closed around her throat and her fighting weakened. Finally with her last bit of consciousness she relented and nodded.

He howled triumphantly as something inside her faded, Georgia could clearly see a light die in her eyes. Her mate partially shifted and bit into her shoulder, tearing into her flesh and making her scream in agony. He sat back, licking his lips and regarding her as she curled into a fetal position.

"Now everyone will see my mark and know you've submitted to me."

The woman lay still, clutching her bleeding shoulder. No tears, no fight was left in her. Something had been irreparably damaged.

Georgia lifted her tear stained face to find Luna was also weeping.

"Those who refused to submit were burned as witches, those that did submit were unable to come into their full power. They could no longer fully bond with their wolf and they could no longer communicate with me."

They turned from the horrible sight of the triumphant male glowering over the mate he should have cherished and protected.

"Why?" Georgia sobbed, barely able to stand, "How could he?"

"Greed. Greed for power." Luna's voice was tight with anger.

Georgia shook her head and stumbled after her as they moved away. To her relief the clearing and stream greeted them and she sunk to the ground to be comforted by her waiting wolf. She buried her face in the wolf's thick coat.

Luna sat on the boulder and waited in silence as Georgia grieved for all those women who had lost their wolves, who had lost their goddess, who had lost their lives.

When she had spent her tears and lifted her head she found Luna regarding her with a look of deep sorrow.

"I have carried this burden alone for so long, I'm sorry to have set it on your young shoulders."

"What can I do?"

The goddess smiled, "That is exactly what I hoped you would ask." She moved to sit beside Georgia and her wolf on the grass.

"Georgia I have been unable to communicate directly with anyone for so long because it has become the norm for women to be dominated and their spirits to be crushed. Noone even remembers anymore that I can come to them in this way. I have tried to let them know I am unhappy, I've sent symbolic dreams and nightmares, I've stopped blessing their fertility, but they are so sure of the rightness of their ways that they don't perceive my message."

Georgia felt like someone had flipped a lightswitch in her brain, "That's why birth rates are declining?" She stared off for a moment, the puzzle pieces fitting together, "And why Rig's family is so prolific. They don't destroy their women."

"Claudia lost her ability to come fully in to her power, but Ray prayed and asked for forgiveness because he recognized the wrong that he'd participated in. I blessed their union. Now they've given me the chance to build a pack with women who can come in to their full power. Their daughters have not been subjugated. They can come into their power if they only know that it's possible."

She was quiet while Georgia assimilated everything she was telling her.

"So why did you come to me instead of one of their mated daughters?"

"Their ideas of me are tainted and they aren't able to accept me yet. They need to learn about the old ways, the way things are supposed to be. You had no beliefs about me, you were an unwritten page, open and ready."

Georgia sighed "This is so much to take in. I want to do something, I'm on board, but I'm unclear what it is you need me to do."

"I will be here to communicate with you and guide you along the way. I want to be involved with my people, I miss them. The world has changed dramatically, and modern packs have almost completely lost their connection to the spiritual. But the knowledge is out there. Humans have preserved and practiced what was labeled as witchcraft. They are unable to connect fully with anything divine, but they can touch it and there are those that know the way."

"You want me to learn witchcraft? Couldn't you just tell me what to do?"

Luna took her hand and looked directly in her eyes, "I'm not being obtuse Georgia, I will tell you what to do. But I want you to be able to teach others. You will be my harbinger. I'm encouraging you to study and learn, reconnect with the old knowledge. I will always be nearby to confirm and amplify your knowledge."

"Are we in danger?" She sounded impossibly fragile.

"Not at this moment, but when you begin opening the doorways and welcoming me back there will be resistance. There are powerful men who will not want to relinquish their power. And there are weak men who will not want to face the damage they have unwittingly done."

"Will we be ok?"

Luna chuckled, "The power of a fully bonded female is unknown in this time, and the power of her properly balanced and blessed mate is beyond anything these heretics have experienced. The road will have it's bumps but ultimately yes you will all be ok."