Calliope's Mate - Book 2
Chapter 3

A few weeks go by, and Calliope finds herself pacing the halls. For a while, it seemed as though she was getting better. But now, her mind is clouded with anxiety. Anxiety over what Giizis had done and what the Moon Goddess had told her years ago.

When she was blind, she thought she had fixed the Goddess’ mistake. Driving out the sun wolves and forgiving the rogues that surrendered should have fixed the problems. But now, Calliope wondered if she wasn’t done.

She worried about Caleb, over what trauma he would have to face. Whether he, too, would have to die for her to right the wrongs. Or would she need to die, and he fix everything? The cycle of violence just seemed to continue in her thoughts.

Calliope found that she could look through Caleb’s eyes longer now. It didn’t cause her as much pain or fatigue. She would watch through his eyes when she felt the anxiety was too much for her—watching him play, helping his parents with chores, or just staring at nature. Just watching what he saw relaxed her. Listening to his laugh made her smile.

She would constantly ask for updates on the integration of the rogue packs. Everyone was patient with her questioning, understanding her need to find him. The delegates would relay messages daily to her, ensuring she knew everything that went on. Making sure she knew everyone they encountered.

One day, she was outside, watching the young pups of her pack do some hand-to-hand training. She watched and smiled as they trained. She thought about how she had a second chance to have a child—to make a family. While lost in her thoughts, someone came running up to her, but she didn’t notice them. When they touched her arm, she jumped out of fear. It was Beta Blake.

“Goddess, why did you scare me?!” she snapped at him. She clutched her hand to her chest, feeling her heart race erratically.

“I’m sorry, Great Luna,” he said apologetically. “But I insist you come inside. Paige ran all through the night with some information.”

Calliope quickly stood and hurried inside with Blake. Paige, though she was an advisor for Calliope, was not a member of her pack and could not communicate with her over mind link. Any communication between the two had to be in person or through letters. Once inside, she found Paige trying to catch her breath. Paige held out papers to Calliope. Calliope took them and read them over.

Circled in red ink was the name Caleb. He was ten years old. His parents were Edwyn and Maya. Calliope looked over at Paige.

“Where?”

“Out east,” Paige answered between breaths. “Their village was at the edge of the Windless Rise Mountains. Barren, lots of rocks, little to no vegetation, just as you have seen.”

Calliope continued to read over the report. His father, Edwyn, had no other relatives listed. Maya, though, had her mother listed. She was another member of this potential pack, Lilia. She was listed as 76 years of age. Calliope furrowed her brows as she looked at the paper. She began to laugh hysterically. Everyone in the room stared at her, confused about what she found funny.

“The Moon Goddess must have a twisted sense of humor,” Calliope laughed.

“What do you mean?” Lea questioned. Calliope handed the page to Lea.

“Do you recognize his grandmother’s name?” Calliope quizzed.

Lea looked at it, but it wasn’t familiar to her. She passed the paper to Briana and then to Ginny. No one recognized the name. It was not familiar to them.

“Lilia,” Calliope said as she leaned against a table. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach. She had to take a deep breath before she spoke again. “She was a survivor of the brief war. Specifically, she was Jaxson’s great-grandchild. The eldest of the great-grandchildren.”

“Are you sure?” Ginny asked. “That was so long ago. How can you even remember her name?”

“Look at her age, she is currently 76. When I found her on the road, she was 14 years old.” Calliope answered. She sighed heavily. “I had her and her younger brothers live at the Blood Stone pack, with Alpha Hayes. He gave me yearly updates on them.”

“Why did he send you updates on them?”

“Because I asked for them!” She snapped. She shook her head as thoughts of Jaxson washed over her. “I wanted to ensure they wouldn’t continue the eye-for-an-eye cycle. But at age 18, she left. Her brothers left when they, too, came of age. The last he saw of them was that they entered the outer territories. I assumed it was to get back with the sun wolves.”

“Well, the village they are in were all moon wolves,” Paige interjected. “I didn’t see any sun wolves at all.”

Calliope looked back at the paperwork. Sixty-seven people were listed on the form. She knew this was a lie. She had seen more than sixty-seven people when looking through Caleb’s eyes. Which means sun wolves were living there, hiding.

“We may have another problem,” Calliope finally said. “I can almost guarantee you there are sun wolves there. This document doesn’t list the number of people I have seen.”

Calliope finally sat down in a chair and rubbed her temple. Lea walked over and gently rubbed the sides of Calliope’s arms.

“Perhaps we go out and look at the pack first?” she suggests to Calliope. “Get a sense of their actual numbers, and see if there are indeed sun wolves out there?”

“I was thinking the same thing,” Calliope nodded. “But you are staying here.”

Lea opened her mouth to argue, but Calliope quickly shot her a stern glance. Lea looked down and stepped back. Calliope turned her attention to Paige.

“You rest tonight. In the morning, you, Briana, and a few warriors will journey with me to get a look at the pack.” Calliope said as she stood from her chair.

As she went to leave the room, she took Lea’s hand and pulled her with her. Once they were far from the others, she turned to look at Lea.

“You’re not allowed to leave here,” Calliope commanded. She didn’t want to risk Lea sneaking off after them.

“But why? I’m supposed to accompany you, always.” Lea said with a tear falling down her cheek.

Calliope reached up and wiped it with her thumb. She then placed her hands on Lea’s very swollen belly.

“If something were to happen, my focus would be on you, and I can’t have that. You also shouldn’t shift when pregnant. So you have no way to defend yourself or your pup. I need you here, resting, growing this beautiful thing within you.”

Calliope placed a hand on the back of Lea’s neck. She pressed their foreheads together.

“I’ll do as you command,” Lea whispered.

“Good,” Calliope sighed. “Now, you need to go rest. You look tired.”

Lea nodded her head in agreement. As she walked off, Calliope watched her. It was going to be hard for Calliope to be separated from Lea. It’ll even be hard to be away from Ginny. Calliope has not been away from her companions for any length of time for many, many years. They are her friends, her support system, and her loved ones.

She went upstairs to her room to pack a bag for the trip. It was going to be a long night for her. This was the first real lead on Caleb. Just thinking about seeing him for the first time gave her goosebumps.

At dawn, Calliope was outside, waiting. She was preparing to shift for the first time since her sight returned. She wanted Giizis to have a long rest after all the years of being her eyes.

Steam emitted from her body. Static rippled from Calliope. All of this energy that had gone unused was ready to be set free. Giizis was ready to be back.

With a howl, Calliope shifted into her wolf form. Giizis stretched her legs as she adjusted to being back out.

Paige approached in her wolf form. She was a large, beige wolf. She should have been a Luna, but her elder brother took the Alpha position at the River Bed pack. That meant she either needed to be mated to an alpha or be appointed to a pack. Neither of which has happened. Her mate is a Delta, a warrior wolf. And she prefers being Calliope’s advisor to being a Luna, ruling over a pack.

Briana and a few other warriors were not far behind. A young wolf was put in charge of the wagon with their supplies. He had left earlier in the morning since the wolves moved quicker than the horses.

Giizis snorted to Paige and motioned east with her head. Since they could not communicate via mind link, they had to make do with motions. Giizis wanted Paige to take the lead on this trip since she knew where she was going.

Without wasting any more time, the group made their way east. They traveled through several packs in Calliope’s territory. At dark, they’d stop at a packhouse and sleep through the night before heading back out at dawn. They weren’t in a rush for where they were going. Caleb wasn’t going anywhere, and there wasn’t a risk of fighting, at least for the moment.

They traveled for a day and a half through the outer territory. A vast desert separated her territory border in the east to where some of the rogue groups were.

At the desert’s edge was a forest with large trees. Giizis gave a sniff of the air. Sun wolves. She could smell them, but only barely. She shifted into her human form.

“There are definitely sun wolves here,” Calliope said as she looked at Paige. “I can smell them.”

Paige sniffed the air, as did everyone else. They shook their heads.

“I’m sorry, Great Luna,” Paige replied. “I can’t smell them.”

“It’s ok. You’ve probably never smelled one. I’ve smelled hundreds. I’ve smelled their blood, their death. Paige, can you draw a map in the sand of the groups between here and Caleb?”

Paige nodded and drew in the sand with her finger. In the woods was the first rogue group. The woods weren’t extensive, only a few miles deep. Then there was a small river. Going south from the river was the second group. Then, east from there was the Windless Rise Mountain range. That’s where Caleb was. Calliope watched and then looked to a warrior.

“Go out to these three groups. Let them know I will visit each of them to talk to them. Once you visit the third group, return directly to us. I don’t want my visit to surprise them.”

“But you said there are sun wolves,” Briana said hesitantly.

“Yes, and I want them to hide when we visit,” Calliope responded. “I don’t want them to think I know. I’d rather them hide when we are visiting. I don’t want to fight or start another war, not while Caleb is out there. And I don’t want to scare them into leaving the area, either. We play dumb, understood?”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Finding Caleb and keeping him safe was the most essential part of this trip. A warrior shifted back to his wolf form and headed into the woods.

Calliope and her group waited for a few days. They remained hidden in their human forms on the edge of the woods. They didn’t want to alert others they were there. Not yet. Only when the warrior returned did she finally shift again. It was time to head to Caleb.

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