Kiss of the Moon Ch. 07

Alanna took the offered bear. Just as she brought it to her body the right eye popped off. She went pale.

"I've been meaning to fix that," Wolfgang told her, he slowly stood having seen her spook around fast movements. He walked back to the chest and returned with a sewing box. He sat on the coffee table and gently picked the eye up. He gestured for the bear back. He organised needle and thread and deftly reattached the eye, then smiled at his handy work and offered her back the bear.

"There, all better," he said as Alanna took the bear.

Amy tried not to smirk at the well loved toy Wolfgang had given Alanna.

"Thank you. He…he threw my bear into the fire," she told him, she turned her head into Amy's neck and cried. Amy pulled her close and hugged her.

Wolfgang moved behind her and held her creating an Alanna sandwich. Alanna struggled for a moment but Wolfgang's hug wasn't painful, nor was it sexual, it was no strings comfort. She closed her eyes and for some reason she relaxed. She could barely remember a time when she felt safe, but she knew she was safe, and more importantly her Wolf knew it.

Weeks of sleeping lightly or not at all caught up with her and she fell asleep clutching the teddy and Amy.

"When the Alphas leave I want you to have the room down the hall. We'll be your foster parents. If you want," Wolfgang added, he didn't want to come off as demanding.

Amy smiled at him. She's asleep.

Wolfgang gently released her, together they got Alanna to lay on the couch. Wolfgang went and got her a pillow and tore some blankets from the bed as Amy removed her shoes and loosened her belt. Amy tucked the pillow under her head as Wolfgang tucked her in. Amy made sure the teddy was secure. Wolfgang wrote a note explaining that she could come here whenever she wanted, where they would be and that she was allowed to interrupt if there was a problem, even his offer to be her foster father.

Wolfgang gathered the plates. You shower, it's almost time for the meeting.

Amy nodded and went to have a shower as Wolfgang finished tidying the lunch plates but left one made up for Alanna. He took them to the kitchen and returned a few minutes later. Amy was already out of her shower and dressing. She slid on some shoes and they left together. Wolfgang grabbed Gillian.

"No one goes into my rooms, if you see Alanna vacate the rooms you let her back in but no one else," Wolfgang told him.

Gillian nodded.

They walked out of the house and towards the amphitheatre. Roberto intercepted them.

"How is she?" he asked.

"Alanna is fine, she's sleeping in our rooms," Amy told him.

"Did you know she's not even sixteen yet?" Wolfgang asked.

Roberto turned to them surprised, "You got her to talk."

"Amy did," Wolfgang answered.

"That changes everything…" Roberto started to say.

"It changes nothing, we're fostering her, she feels safe with us, she even let Wolfgang hold her," Amy told him, "If you tear her away from us we'll loose her completely just leave her," Amy glared at him.

Roberto stepped back from Amy. "I'll leave it, it's just several of my men were hoping to come and try to court her. I'll tell them she's off limits," Roberto told her. "Sixteen, I should have made his death more painful," Roberto told himself off.

They made it to the amphitheatre. Everyone was waiting for them. Bob sat with Shia and Grey-hawk.

Grey-hawk stood and went to Amy, "Is she better?" he asked.

Amy nodded, "She's fine."

Grey-hawk smiled and went back to his seat. Amy walked onto the platform with Wolfgang.

"So tell us why the Ancients are involving themselves in our packs and prides," A man with an Australian accent asked.

"I didn't know when I was involving myself with Wolfgang that I was adopted, or that I was part Ancient," Amy explained.

"Doesn't explain her," The same Australian commented.

"I'm her mother," Rhiannon told him.

He turned to her, "You forfeited you parental rights the moment Amy was put up for adoption."

Amy stepped forward, "No she didn't…technically I haven't been born yet."

Everyone turned to Amy.

"I wont be born for another 900 years," Amy paused, "When I first found that out I wondered why I was brought back to live through this time. I still don't quite understand but I have a feeling I was brought back to this time to grow up not knowing my heritage for a reason. A reason I learnt of a little under two weeks ago. Wolfgang calls it a worst case scenario, I call it a blood bath," Amy paused again.

No one spoke they just waited for Amy, they all knew of the worst case scenario, it was why they were so careful around humans, never wanting to inflame racial hate that would cause as Amy named it a blood bath of human death. They knew what would happen if humans were to be wiped out, they would loose some of their genetic diversity and they would in a way loose themselves, they would revert back to their more animal instincts and no one wanted that.

"I experienced what Rhiannon told me was a time hop, I hopped four months forward from this day. But by that date it is far too late to stop the war, to stop the loss of lives on both sides, but we win and they loose," Amy told them, "That's why Rhiannon is here, that is why The President is here. To stop this…"

"How much did you learn of the events leading up to it?" Shia asked curious as to Amy's abilities.

"Not only did I pick Wolfgang's mind I picked Bob's," Amy told them.

"Okay what do we need to do?" A woman called out.

****

Amy was guarding her plate as she ate the next day, someone had taken her last plate when she had neglected it for several moments to chat. Bastion had organized a large barbeque for lunch, lots of meat and salads to give his kitchen a rest. Amy nibbled at a chop. Alanna ran up to Amy and leant down to whisper.

"Quickly Susanna is freaking out, a man was talking to Electra," she said hoarsely.

Amy stuffed the last bit of meat in her mouth and ran following Alanna. There was a scream. Roberto joined them as they rounded the side of the manor that fronted the ponds. Sienna was desperately trying to stem the flow of blood from Susanna's neck.

"Where's Electra?" Amy asked knowing Susanna never left her daughter.

Sienna turned, "Someone took her, I didn't recognize him but he tore Susanna's throat out when she…"

Amy turned and ran off shifting into her were form, tearing clothes. Hoping to get to Electra before anything more happened to her.

She moved quickly following the scent of fear and blood. She barreled into the man and Electra sending them both to the ground. From nowhere a Panther and Wolf joined her taking care of the man who had taken Electra. Amy approached Electra and started to purr. She gently rubbed her face against the woman who was clearly panicked at not being able to see what was going on around her.

Calm down Electra, Amy told her.

"My mother…I smelt blood," Electra said.

Climb on my back I'll get you back to her but when I left it wasn't a pretty sight, Amy warned her.

"If she dies I want to be there for her last breaths," Electra told her as she felt her way up onto Amy's back.

I wont move unless you promise me you will do nothing to kill yourself, Amy told her firmly.

"If she dies she did so to protect me, I won't insult her," Electra said, before she could finish Amy was off bounding back the way she went following her own scent. Within a minute Electra was back at her mother's side. Wolfgang was holding Alanna.

Electra slid from Amy's back and into the pool of blood that was around her mother. Susanna drew a laboured breath.

Amy shifted back into her human form and watched Electra.

Electra said nothing; she just held her mother's hand.

Amy; protect her, Susanna demanded.

With my life, Amy told her.

Susanna drew her last breath as Roberto and an Arabic man named Izmir walked the man who had killed Susanna back. Shia went red as he recognized one of his own pride members. Amy pulled Electra into her arms and held her as she cried.

Your mother has entrusted you to me. Does that bother you? Amy asked her silently drawing her from her grief slightly.

No…you got Alanna to talk. Maybe you can help me to see, Electra answered.

Amy nodded and stood pulling Electra away. Amy walked Electra to Wolfgang and Alanna. Amy transferred Electra to Wolfgang's arms and went to hit the man who had killed Susanna.

Shia beat her to it. He grabbed the man's throat. "Barry…I used to have a good opinion of you, I even let slide your aggressiveness. Everything you own is now Electra's," he snapped the man's neck and let his body crumble to the ground.

Bob jerked shocked as he witnessed the quick and deadly justice.

Grey-hawk turned to him, "We act very quickly. He killed Electra's mother, her only family, he tried to take her after everyone was told to leave her and the others alone. So everything he owned will be sold and the money put into an account for her use and he was killed, life for a life is one of our laws, Susanna was killed without provocation, his life was forfeited for his actions."

Bob nodded seeing that the quick dolling out of justice and restitution protected their races as a good thing, they knew he was guilty; they had caught him in the act. They didn't jail their grievous lawbreakers they killed them to prevent other people picking up the bad habit and passing them on. Rapists, pedophiles, drug dealers, murderers and physical abusers were killed and the ones they had abused were watched and retrained to break the cycles to stop it going further and polluting the next generation with undesirable traits.

Electra's head was gently pressed against Wolfgang's chest. Wolfgang held her carefully, with only enough pressure to reassure her he was there but not enough to restrain her.

Shia turned to them, "Forgive me Wolfgang, I thought Barry was good man, I'll make sure the team he was in is questioned and removed from your land," Shia told them bowing his head in shame over the actions of one of his pride.

Izmir gripped Shia's shoulder, "You are not responsible for the actions of your members only your own."

"I brought him here. My fault," Shia said angrily and walked off. Izmir and Roberto followed him.

Amy shivered as a cold wind brushed her skin. Grey-hawk offered her his coat. Amy wrapped herself in it and followed Wolfgang into the house. Nathanael, Sienna and Anna would take care of the preparations for burning Susanna's body. Several Alphas picked up Barry's body to take it back into the woodlands, they would take care of his body, burying it or hiding it under rocks.

****

Electra leant her head against Amy's shoulder. It had taken several hours of work to build the funeral mound. Susanna's body was wrapped in simple white cloth and placed upon the wooden stand. Everyone was there. Bob watched, he was both saddened and fascinated by what he was seeing, of the care everyone had taken in building the mound of wood, in wrapping her body, in the way they carefully moved her, treating her with a dignity that had been denied her by the man who was her mate.

He never would have guessed half the things that he now knew, the compassion they had for those who had been abused, their patience with those same women as they fought to overcome what had been done to them. He had never witnessed before such quick justice and how they treated their dead, those who committed crimes were left to rot, those who hadn't were burned to release their spirits so they could be reborn.

An elder stood forward and started the eulogy Amy had hastily written for this.

"Do not mourn my passing,

For I am free.

Do not shed a single tear,

Because I will not.

I know no regret in my passing,

Or anger, or fear,

In life I was trapped,

In death I am free.

Do not stop for me,

Live for me and I will live.

Remember me,

For we will meet again."

The elder finished, when he first read this eulogy he had been surprised, Amy had summed up Susanna's life well and in a few words told her daughter to live. He would keep this eulogy, it was fitting, it was simple, it was…he couldn't really explain it but he would keep a copy of it, this one had to be burned with the body as it was tradition.

"Remember we will," everyone recited.

The elder grabbed a lit torch and went to hand it to Electra. Amy grabbed her hand and wrapped it around the torch, together they walked around the mound three times; during the fourth rotation Amy helped Electra put the torch to the mound at intervals to help the fire catch quickly. Amy helped her toss the torch onto the mound. Amy pulled her back and hugged her.

Electra couldn't watch the fire take hold, but she heard the flames lap at the dry wood. She knew the moment the flames had consumed the mound by the intense heat and the collapsing of the mound. She breathed through her mouth so she couldn't smell the burning of flesh.

Wolfgang gently touched her. She tensed slightly but the afternoon spent with Wolfgang had her used to his touch, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple.

"Come on, it's time to let her go," Wolfgang told her.

Electra nodded. They turned her and walked her away. Everyone turned away except for a few elders who would stay and tend the fire throughout the rest of the day, night and until the same time the next day, then they would let the fire die naturally, the ashes gathered, pounded into a fine powder and thrown to the wind at the rise of the next day after the fire dies.

Bob went to offer Electra his condolences. Sienna grabbed him and dragged him away before he had the chance.

"I was just going to offer my condolences," he protested quietly.

"Look around Bob, is anyone offering her sympathy," Sienna told him just as quietly.

He looked around, no one was offering sympathy; they were simply standing near her.

"No," he answered her.

Sienna sighed, "Once the fire starts we ignore the death, we stop mourning, we offer support to the family by standing with them, we do not remind them, we simply allow them comfort by being together as one. We believe in reincarnation Bob, how can we mourn someone who is not dead, she is simply not here," Sienna explained.

"Oh," Bob said suddenly knowing Sienna had just averted a large social blunder for him.

****

Amy jerked awake and squinted at the body near her, it wasn't Wolfgang, Becky or Sienna her normal bed partners. She blinked and her eyes focused on a face, the eyes were covered with a heavy piece of black cloth. Electra, Amy said to herself, she pulled Electra closer and closed her eyes. Wolfgang crawled onto the bed and over Amy.

"Amy…come on, up," he told her.

"I can't do this for much longer Wolfgang," Amy said quietly as she slid away from Electra.

Wolfgang nodded, "I know but only the elders can tell us when we no longer need to mate in public," Amy dressed simply in a tight halter neck dress that left her back exposed. Amy sighed and rested her face against his chest.

Amy nodded, she knew, they had to carve their names into the collars then place them around their neck, then Amy would finally be able to shift into her Were form, she didn't know if she could shift into a human hybrid but it didn't really matter what shape she took as long as she took it, three days of this was enough on her human body

Wolfgang led her from their room. "So Amy does it bother you being a guardian to Alanna and Electra?" Wolfgang asked, as they hadn't been alone for a while.

"I'm Alanna's guardian, I'm Electra's protection, she doesn't need a guardian, she's twenty two," Amy retorted.

"She may be twenty two Amy but she is really just a little girl, she never got to grow up. She doesn't know how to act because what little experience she has is tarnished by violent acts, now we have to re-teach her, show her how life should be, of what is unacceptable," Wolfgang paused, "Susanna entrusted you with her daughter, to give her life."

Amy nodded, she knew, "I can't be her mother, but I can be her friend."

Wolfgang nodded and kissed her forehead. They left the house and walked the familiar route to the clearing and the stone alter. They walked to the altar, Amy started to strip, as did Wolfgang. Before Wolfgang could lift Amy onto the altar two elders stepped forward. They had been going around the Alphas over the last two days, checking to see who was left to taste or smell Amy and Wolfgang. The Alpha's had been downright keen to get a good whiff of Amy three sessions had been enough for all of them.

Amy sighed her relief and stood beside Wolfgang. The first Elder, a stately old woman held nothing, the other, an old man, held a cushion that was draped with silver silk in similar shade to the silk Amy had worn the first night.

Wolfgang had explained to Amy that each pack had a group of Elders. The Elders were similar to spiritual leaders only they were also leaders in their own right. Some Elders preferred to stick more to the spiritual side, overseeing matings and other ceremonies, others preferred leadership in their own way. In the absence of Wolfgang and Gillian the Elders were the ones the pack turned to for leadership. Elders could also judge and sentence pack criminals.

The woman removed the silk, what Amy had thought was a complete square of cloth was in fact one narrow length that had been carefully laid so that it appeared to be a single piece of cloth. She gently folded the length in half making sure the silk didn't touch the ground. She laid the folded length evenly across both forearms.

With the silk gone it exposed two very special collars. One was made of gold, the other was made of white gold. Both collars were designed to be match copies of the other, the choice of the metal used was the prerogative of the mate. The design of the collars was the choice of the elders who designed the basic piece, no matched pairs of collars were the same, and of the capabilities of the jeweler who would embellish that design within their own capabilities.

Both collars were made to appear like a lasso rope, needed because of the size of both of them when they shifted. The excess length just slid through the eye to create a larger loop, they had decided to use Wolfgang's measurements and added a few inches just for good measure because they didn't know if Amy's neck was bigger, smaller or the same as Wolfgang's. Magic in the collar would ensure that the collar hugged the neck nicely in either form.

The white gold one was three quarters of an inch thick with a long length thread through the loop, at the end of that length was a monkey's fist, an acknowledgement of Wolfgang's strength and leadership and to prevent the end sliding free and the collar coming loose. The gold one was slightly thinner at half an inch thick but of equal length to the heavier one, instead of a monkey fist because of Amy's ancestry it was a figure eight that would never come undone.

The elder tied the two ends of silk one to each collar; this ceremony was basically a marriage ceremony. The next day they would sign marriage papers to appease the human legal system. By tying the two collars together it created a visual of what the Elders were going to do. The two collars were already connected to each other through magic. The Elders were taking that magic deeper, into Amy and Wolfgang.

Wolfgang dropped to his knees the moment the elder picked up the heavier collar. She stepped up to Wolfgang and adjusted the loop so it would easily slide over his head. The moment it was rested on his shoulders the elder pricked his neck and touched the blood to the monkey fist the collar glowed for a moment after the blood touched the collar. She muttered a few words sealing the collar to him, never to come free or loose. The collar moved and became tighter until it hugged his neck tight enough to remind him of it's presence and what it meant to him. Wolfgang flexed his neck as he wasn't used to it's presence.