Calliope's Mate - Book 2
Chapter 10

Calliope lay in the soft grass on the Great Hill. The sun was setting behind her, but the full Moon had yet to rise in the night sky. She sighed to herself. For three years, she had distanced herself from Caleb at his requests. She has only seen him twice since that day.

She thought about that day often: how he yelled at her, how her heart shattered. She wished she could have explained it to him, explain everything to him. But then, she feared he would only hate her more.

She wished she could distance her feelings for him as he had done her. But she was weak to the pull of the mate bond. She loved him, even though she knew it was not mutual. She cared for him, his soul, his well-being.

She looked up at the stars. She watched as they twinkled in the dark sky. Though he didn’t want to see her, she still looked through his eyes. She still watched him train, watched him hunt, watched him grow.

She saw him a few months back at the last moon festival. He had grown so tall. He was probably a head taller than her, and she expected him to grow even taller. And on his face, she remembered the stubble she saw. She smiled, thinking about how Theo never grew out his beard. But Caleb seems as though he might.

It would suit him, she thought to herself.

She propped herself on her elbows as she saw the Moon peaking over the trees. She smiled at the Moon, as if it were an old friend. She laid back, arms spread, waiting to feel her embrace. But then, she felt something else. The air felt heavy. The energy all around felt electrified.

She sat up and looked around but saw nothing. She moved her hand slowly through the air. She could feel the static building, ready to explode.

“Caleb!” She yelled aloud. He was going to shift. She could feel it.

Ladies! We need to get the Great Alpha! He shall shift soon! She yelled over mind link.

She shifted into Giizis and began to run east, only pausing once she was at the border. She waited until two wolves approached. It was Lea and Paige. In the six years since Calliope’s sight returned, she approached Paige about joining the Royal Moon Pack.

Usually, advisors belonged to other packs, traveling across the territories on behalf of the Greats. But Paige was too valuable an asset to let her leave. So even though she was still an advisor, Paige was more like a secondary companion alongside Lea.

For days, the wolves ran east. They would only stop for a few hours each night to rest. Calliope could still feel the energy building. She was relieved he had not shifted yet. She wanted to be there, to witness the event.

Calliope stayed in her wolf form as they walked through the town. It had grown since she last saw it three years ago. But if there were more people, she couldn’t tell. No one was outside as she walked through the streets. She stopped in front of the pack house.

Alpha Bennett stood outside with Caleb, Waylon, and Edwyn, Caleb’s fake father. Bennett approached Calliope.

“You were told never to come back here,” he scowled.

Giizis took offense to Bennett. She wanted to kill him, but she only held back for Caleb. Instead, her aura intensified and weighed heavy on Bennett. It caused him to fall to his knees in front of her. He tried to fight it, but he couldn’t. He was trapped beneath Calliope’s energy.

Caleb walked over, his face hardened with anger. Only then did Calliope shift. She walked past Bennett and looked at Caleb.

“Leave,” Caleb growled to her.

“I will,” she replied firmly. “But you are coming with me.”

“Like hell I am,” he argued. He looked over and saw that Bennett was still on his knees, unable to move. “Let my Alpha go.”

“I will when he can show me respect. I am the Great Luna. I am nearly four times his age, four times his power. When he can learn how to speak to me, I will release him.”

“Release him, then leave. I’m not going with you.” Caleb quipped.

“You are leaving because you are shifting...soon. Most likely tonight.”

“How can you tell?” He questioned.

“I can feel the static in the air, ready to pop with your shifting,” she explained as she held a hand out, waving it slowly through the air. “But I know you can feel it. I know you woke up this morning in pain. I know it was hard for you to move. And I know that standing near me also lessens the pain.”

“How did you know I was in pain?” Caleb asked as his eyes went wide. He didn’t understand how she felt it- how she knew.

“I’m your mate,” She explained. “I can feel what you feel.”

Caleb stood there, looking into her eyes. Those pools of blue, they drew him in even when he tried to pull away. Of course, she could feel his pain; it made sense. He could not deny that he felt the pain, that he awoke drenched in sweat. But why was the pain subsiding next to her? Why did the mate bond force him to have to be near her? He hated that he needed her.

“Fine, I’ll go,” he said, defeated. “But let Alpha Bennett go."

Calliope didn’t even look at Bennett; she relaxed, and her aura subsided. Bennett got up and walked to stand beside Caleb. His face looked angry, but he didn’t speak. He didn’t want to push his luck.

“Go pack your things. Whatever you want to take. Alpha Bennett, can you see that his things are transported back to the Royal Moon pack?”

“Yes,” Bennett mumbled. He looked at Caleb. “Go pack. Tell your mother.”

Caleb nodded and left. But as he walked away from Calliope, he could feel the pain returned. He gritted his teeth as he bore it. Calliope looked at Bennett.

“I will be waiting outside the town, on the rocky ridge. I will return when he is just about to shift. Make sure his companion is ready to go. He can now shift, yes?”

“Yes, Waylon turned 18 a few weeks back. He can follow in wolf form.”

“Good,” Calliope replied. She turned away and shifted. Her, Lea, and Paige trekked the rocky path up to the top of the ridge.

She lay there, remaining in wolf form. She could sense the sun wolf population had risen. She suspects that more of them came to join this pack. In two years, Caleb will be 18 and they will be preparing to take over her territories. Which means she only had two years to sway Caleb into not killing her. Two years.

While she waited on the rocky ridge, Caleb sat in his room. He stared at the empty trunk at his feet. His father, Aaron, had brought it in some time ago. But he didn’t have the energy to pack. He hurt beyond compare. Yet he didn’t want his family to know. He tried to look strong and stoic in front of them. He didn’t want them to worry that he would falter.

With a grunt, he lifted himself off the bed. He packed his clothes and a few items. Once his room was nearly empty of his things, he sat back down. His eyes caught sight of a specific wooden plank. He winced as he walked over to the board. He lifted it and looked at the items that were hidden away.

It was his white, stuffed wolf and the cloak she had made him. The cloak was pristine, having rarely been worn. He slipped it under his packed clothes in the bottom of the trunk.

He then sat down as he held the wolf. He sniffed it. The smell of lemongrass and sage lingered on it. He had kept it stored away for so long. It had been years since he last held it. Smelling the wolf temporarily helped with his pain.

“Why?” He asked the toy. “Why do I need her? Why does the Moon Goddess curse me?”

He laid back on his bed and closed his eyes. Just a few minutes, he thought to himself as he held the wolf close. He wanted the pain to go away, and he wanted to feel energetic again. Maybe I will just sleep for a few minutes.

For hours, Calliope laid on the ridge, watching the town below. Only a few stepped outside, but no one stayed out for long. She watched for a while until her eyes spotted Caleb. He was moving slowly, hurting from his body readying to shift.

She wanted to go down, to go help him, to take away his pain. But Giizis refused to move. She watched him walk up the ridge, struggling to lift himself onto the flat . Once he was a few feet from Calliope, he groaned in relief. His body relaxed being near her. Giizis shifted, allowing Calliope to speak to him.

“Why did you make me walk all the way up here if you knew I was in pain?” He scowled. He sat up, looking at her. His eyes were still angry, still distant.

“I’m not allowed in your town, remember? Those were your words.”

“And yet you are here anyways.” He scoffed.

“You have a duty as the Great Alpha,” she replied with a shrug. She didn’t look at him. She continued to watch the town below.

“What if I don’t want it?” He asked angrily. “What if I reject you?”

“Then do it!” She snapped as she looked at him. She was calling his bluff; she knew he wouldn’t do it. He would be a disappointment to his family. “Do it.”

Caleb looked away from her, not wanting to meet her gaze. He sat there, feeling the pain dull within him. He was able to breathe freely now. He glanced over at Calliope. She wasn’t looking at him anymore.

Something in him wanted to reach over, to touch her hand. But he held back. As his pain subsided, so did his anger. He gave a heavy sigh.

“What is shifting like?” He asked gently.

“It will hurt at first,” she explained. “It breaks and reshapes your bones. But the pain is only for a few seconds. It'll feel natural once you are shifted, and you get a feel for how it is being in wolf form. It'll feel as if you’ve been a wolf your whole life.”

“I saw you were up here in your wolf form all morning. How long can you stay like that? As a wolf?”

“Years,” she whispered. “But is that normal? No. The average person can only be in their wolf form for a few days at most.”

“Years? What do you mean years?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she replied, looking to the ground.

“What’s the longest you were in wolf form?” He asked as he moved closer.

She could feel his heat, the sparks that wanted to explode when they touched. It sent a shiver up her spine.

“Seven years is the longest I spent in my wolf form,” she murmured.

Caleb looked at her in shock. Seven years, never walking, never talking, nothing. He wanted to ask more questions, but he didn’t. He felt deep down the reason involved her first mate’s death. He wondered if he would retreat within his wolf when she died.

If... his wolf, Altan, whispered. Caleb sighed. His wolf felt both his anger and his forced attraction to her. It’s like he would split into two wolves, playing for both sides- fighting both sides.

As the sun began to set, Caleb and Calliope made their way back into town. She wanted him to shift in front of everyone. So they could see his wolf, his size, his power.

A lot of people gathered in front of the packhouse. Calliope stood several hundred feet away. She watched as Caleb hugged his mother and little sister goodbye. He shook the hands of others who had helped train and teach him. After a few minutes, steam began seeping from the pores of his skin. He stepped away from everyone and faced Calliope.

This made her think of Theo and how he had done the exact same thing to her. She closed her eyes, hoping for things to improve.

Two years. She thought to herself.

She opened her eyes and looked at Caleb. He was ready; his wolf was ready.

“Shift!” She called out to him.

Caleb yelled as static began pulsating from him. His bones began to break, and the hair on his body changed to fur. His yells soon became howls. He had shifted. His wolf awed those around.

Just as Calliope had seen years before, his wolf had an interesting speckled pattern. His face and legs were solid black, but whites and grays dotted his fur across the rest of his body.

As Caleb approached her, she shifted. Giizis was larger than Altan by at least half a foot. This could be because she was older and previously mated. But Altan didn’t seem fazed by this. He rubbed under Giizis’ neck. She gave a low, gentle growl to him.

Caleb looked back to his family. He gave them one last look before leaving with Giizis and to join the Royal Moon pack.

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