by Cara Wylde
Warden Green
I did everything in my power to speed up the construction of the cell in the woods. It wasn’t a cell, though, it was more like a small house made up of one bedroom, a bathroom with a tub, and a dining space. It had windows, of course, even though the Administration had specifically said we couldn’t put the Omega in a place with windows, seeing how if the Wolf Spirit decided to reemerge, the windows would be the weakest points. But the beast seemed to be dormant. I, for one, was convinced that if we took care of its host, if we treated her well, fed her, and made sure she was happy, the Wolf Spirit would have no intention to make an appearance. And since the host was the love of my life, keeping her safe and comfortable was easy. It was my duty and my calling.
When Alaric, Garrett, and I moved Sierra into the new house, away from the prison and away from civilization, her belly was big and round. I knew that the bigger it grew, the stronger the pups inside. She was glowing, smiling all the time, and eating for four. I was forced to hire a cook to prepare her fresh meals three times a day, plus snacks and dessert. But forced was the wrong word… I was delighted to hire a cook just for her. I wanted to offer her the best, and it killed me that her situation didn’t allow me. The Wolf Spirit needed to go.
So, one day, I brought in an old relative of mine. Aunt Jasmine was a member of the Green Pack, which was currently under the leadership of one of my brothers. Aunt Jasmine was one of the elders who still worshipped the Wolf Spirit, prayed to it, and brought it small, symbolic sacrifices of food and flowers. She’d been the one to teach me about the Spirit when I was a pup. And for a while, I was dedicated to the beast, too. The greatest sacrifice I brought to it was getting a tattoo of it on my back. Then, as time passed and I matured, little by little, my interest shifted to other things, and I distanced myself from the beliefs of the old females of my pack. As an adult Alpha, I eventually turned into someone who could respect all beliefs and religions but didn’t feel the need to dedicate myself to any of them. But my tattoo remained, and my connection to the old, heathen belief in the spirit remained too, even if I wasn’t entirely aware of it. Now, I was faced with the beast itself. It lived inside my Omega, hidden in the depths of her body and mind.
Aunt Jasmine arrived at Dark Moon Prison after breakfast, and I immediately took her to see Sierra in the woods. The prison was back to normal, Roz had a new cellmate, and Officer Bough had gotten a raise. At least, from the outside, it looked like we were doing great. Like we’d all fallen on our feet. And it was true to some extent. Separating the beast from my Omega was the only thing that still needed to be done, so we could all enjoy our proverbial happily-ever-after. Aunt Jasmine and I found Sierra reading by the window.
“Oh my, you’re huge!” Aunt Jasmine wasn’t the kind of person who cared about people’s feelings. She said exactly what she thought. “Let me see you, beautiful.”
Sierra looked at me with fearful eyes.
“It’s okay, my love. This is Aunt Jasmine of the Green Pack. She taught me about the Wolf Spirit, and I wanted her to take a look at you. Maybe she can help.”
Sierra smiled, stood up, and allowed the old woman to do as she pleased. Aunt Jasmine touched her belly and gasped when she felt the pups kick.
“Strong. Confident. Stubborn. They will be a handful when they come.”
“I can’t wait,” whispered Sierra.
The aunt examined her for a few more minutes, touching her face, checking her eyes, her mouth, taking her pulse with her trembling fingers. She was old and wrinkled. In her youth, she’d been beautiful, with long black hair, and big brown eyes. Now, her hair was as white as snow, and she’d had to cut it short so it wouldn’t get tangled. She was too old to take care of herself as she had in the past. If she walked too fast, she couldn’t breathe right anymore, and it pained me to see her like this, but it was what it was. Time wasn’t kind to werewolves, just as it wasn’t kind to humans. Aunt Jasmine hadn’t been able to shift in years, her bones too frail and her muscles too atrophied to change shape ever again.
“You’re healthy,” she finally concluded. “You will bring the pups to term, and you will give birth under a full moon. Your babies will be blessed, my dear.”
Sierra nodded. She took the old woman’s hands in hers and looked her in the eyes. “Is it true that the Wolf Spirit will attach to one of my babies?”
Aunt Jasmine sighed. “It is possible, but we cannot know for sure. The Wolf Spirit will do as it pleases, dear. It has a strong will, and it does not operate by our rules and values.”
“I want it out,” the Omega whispered. Immediately, she added: “I mean no disrespect. My mother told me the legends, and I’ve always had a connection with the Spirit. But I want to set it free, so then I can be free.”
“I understand.”
I stepped closer to the Omega and placed my hand on her shoulder.
“This is why Aunt Jasmine is here. There might be something she can do.”
Sierra looked at the crone with hope in her eyes. Aunt Jasmine nodded.
“Yes. I wanted to check that you and your pups are strong and healthy first. There is a ritual I can perform. We can do it tonight since it’s a full moon.”
“Ritual…”
The Omega tensed up. The last time she’d participated in a ritual, the Wolf Spirit had taken possession of her and her pack had been obliterated.
“This will be different,” Aunt Jasmine said quickly. I had told her everything about Sierra and how we’d all gotten to where we were. “It won’t be a ritual like Alpha Carmine tried. This will only consist of prayers. No sacrifices, and no strange concoctions to drink. It will be safe, I promise. And it will just be the two of us. The Wolf Spirit reacts better to females and innocent pups.”
“Okay.”
I left them alone after Aunt Jasmine reassured me that she was fine and she wasn’t afraid that the beast might come out in her presence. I went back to the prison. I was still the warden, and it was still my duty to be there every day and make sure everything ran smoothly. As usual, Alaric was at his post. Garrett didn’t work here anymore. Another priest had come to serve in the chapel, while Rivera had given up priesthood and had taken a job as a researcher. He spent most of his days in town, at the library. We each visited Sierra every day. Personally, I saw her at least in the morning and in the evening, but I was the only one who actually lived near the prison. Alaric lived in town, in a one-room apartment, and Rivera lived in town, too. Quite often, Alaric would go live with his pack for a few days, as he was the only one who was on good terms with his family. What all three of us wanted more than anything was to move in with our Omega, but it just wasn’t possible. I’d ignored the Administration when they’d imposed a lack of windows to her cell, but I couldn’t ignore them entirely. It was safer if Sierra lived and slept alone. It didn’t mean that we weren’t there for her. We were. She had a phone, and she could contact us at any hour in case she needed something. The sooner Aunt Jasmine got the beast out of her, the sooner we could build a normal life together – the four of us, and the three pups.
I locked myself in my office, made a few phone calls, then informed Alaric and Garrett about what was going to happen tonight. We weren’t invited to the ritual, so we had to stay away. It was scary, but we all had to trust Aunt Jasmine. She knew what she was doing. She’d promised the ritual would only consist of prayers. Prayers never hurt anyone.
That night, as the full moon rose in the sky, I left my office and went to sit on a bench in the courtyard. I didn’t feel like going home when I knew I couldn’t see Sierra. And anyway, it was better to keep out of the woods and not interfere at all. Half an hour later, Alaric joined me.
“Are you sure about this?”
I could sense his uncertainty. I could smell his fear of putting the Omega in danger again. But she wasn’t in danger. Not with Aunt Jasmine, who had practically raised me when my mother was too busy with my other siblings.
“Yes. We have to try.”
“Will we succeed?”
“We must. Sierra deserves to be free.”
He nodded. We spent the night sitting in silence, staring at the full moon, thinking of all the things we were going to do once our Omega was released from the burden of the Wolf Spirit.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Wisteria
I was nervous. Tonight, I wasn’t going to see my mates. Tonight, I was going to be out in the woods, under the moonlight, with Aunt Jasmine and the Wolf Spirit. We were both going to pray for my future family, for my future pack, for freedom.
Aunt Jasmine made me take a long herbal bath first. She helped me into the tub, soaked leaves and petals into the hot water, and sang an old ballad she must have learned in her youth. It told the story of how the Spirit had come to be. I closed my eyes and listened to her beautiful voice. She washed me gently, then placed her hands on my head and sang the ballad again. By the time we were done with the bath, she’d sung it on repeat at least a dozen times, and the words were stuck in my head, the chorus like a mantra. She helped me out, dried me with a big, fluffy towel, then helped me put on a long, flowy dress. We got out of the house and walked deep into the forest until we found a good spot in a clearing. We were both barefoot. The night was dark, but the temperature was pleasant – not too cold, and not too warm. The moon was full in the sky, surrounded by millions of stars as it sat on its throne of dark blue ink.
“Let’s just sit here, dear.”
Aunt Jasmine sat down with a sigh. Her joins cracked as she settled as comfortably as she could on the ground. I sat right in front of her, and we joined hands.
“Aren’t we going to make a fire?” I asked, suddenly remembering the ritual my father had done, and how the strange woman who worked for the Council had mentioned that for her ritual she needed to be out in the open and build a fire.
“Nah. We got all the light and warmth we need.” She looked up at the full moon.
I smiled. “This is a very unusual ritual.”
“What is a ritual, my dear? It’s a ceremony consisting of actions done in a prescribed order. But who decides the actions? Who chooses the order?”
She waited for me to answer, but I was at a loss. I shook my head.
“The one performing the ritual. Not the deity it’s intended for. Deities don’t care about the logic of mortals. So, this is our ritual, dear. We decide the actions and the order. And I say… the simpler, the better. We’re just going to sit here tonight, gaze upon the moon, and gently ask the Wolf Spirit to leave you and be free again. And we will gently ask, gently ask… until we feel like the Spirit agrees it will be done.”
“That seems… vague,” I said. I was suddenly not very convinced this woman knew what she was doing. I trusted Callum, of course, and if he trusted her… Oh well. I was doing it, then. “How will we know?”
“You will know.” She squeezed my hands reassuringly. “And when you know, you will tell me. And then we’ll both know.”
She wasn’t making much sense, was she? But the night was lovely, the forest smelled fresh and wild, and the moon was beautiful. If nothing else, I was going to enjoy these unique moments of peace and nature.
Aunt Jasmine started humming softly. She squeezed my fingers to encourage me to hum with her. After a few minutes of that, I realized it felt oddly soothing.
“Think about the Wolf Spirit,” she said as I continued humming. “Direct your attention within and address the Spirit with your thoughts. Remember how you felt when it was in control, remember how its thoughts sounded in your mind. From this moment on, focus on the Wolf Spirit alone.”
I nodded. She resumed humming. She’d said this ritual would mostly consist of prayers, but so far, we weren’t praying. I tried to put it out of my mind. Too many questions, and they weren’t leading anywhere. I tried to do what she’d asked. I turned within, my eyes closed and my brows furrowed, and focused on that little drawer in my consciousness where I knew the Spirit must have been hidden. I couldn’t exactly place it, as it wasn’t really a drawer, and the space it was in wasn’t really a space, but that was the image I got when I thought about finding the Wolf Spirit. I tried to coax it out. I tried to make it listen to me, pay attention to me.
Aunt Jasmine must have felt something because she stopped humming and started addressing the Spirit directly.
“Ancient One, hear me. Leave this body and reclaim your freedom. You came here to right all wrongs, and right all wrongs you did. It is time for you to return to the universe.”
Right all wrongs… I wasn’t so sure about that. But I couldn’t question Aunt Jasmine now, and I couldn’t have any doubts. I pushed these thoughts away and turned within again. The more I searched for the beast, the more I felt like I was getting close, like it was soon going to allow me to address it directly. The old woman continued with the same prayer over and over, only changing some words here and there. Soon, I started murmuring the words after her. We ended up chanting as we rocked gently back and forth. It was more to release the pain in our joints than anything, but I found it did help to direct my thoughts and intention.
Hours must have passed. I lost all sense of time. All I could feel was the warm breeze on my face, Aunt Jasmine’s bony hands in mine, and hear the whisper of the trees. I went deeper and deeper, searching for the Wolf Spirit. I chanted and hummed, and I soon felt like I’d fallen into a trance. I was safe, though. And I felt brave, because I knew I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I knew that I was only asking for something that was going to be good for both myself and the beast. It had used me as a host long enough. It was time for it to go home, so I could go home myself.
“Please,” I whispered. “My pups deserve to be free. Thank you for protecting me, thank you for sparing my mates. Now it’s time for you to go. Go, and I will forever keep you in my heart. I will tell my children about you, and my children’s children.”
The moon moved in the sky, crossing it from east to west. The sky grew dark, as it always did before dawn. When the first ray of sunlight shot over the forest, both Aunt Jasmine and I had been silent for some time. I was half asleep. My back hurt, my knees, my ankles. Aunt Jasmine pulled her hands free from mine and poked me in the shoulder. I opened my eyes. She looked exhausted and like she’d aged ten years, but she was smiling.
“Well?”
I took a deep breath, released it slowly, and tried to put the message I’d received from the Wolf Spirit into words. It was more like a feeling, and I had to translate it to understand it myself.
“I believe it will leave when it is convinced that my body doesn’t belong to it anymore. I guess I’ve never loved myself enough, never felt at ease in my own body, never had the confidence that I was good enough and exactly as I was supposed to be. This is what might have made me susceptible in the first place. I was an easy host to inhabit.”
The aunt nodded. “Then I know exactly what you have to do.”
“Tell me.”
“Go to your mates and let them claim you. Over and over, until they own your body completely, until they own you, mind and soul. And then, the Wolf Spirit will leave, because there will be no place for it anymore. It will know you belong to your mates and to your pups. By belonging to them, you belong to yourself. Because you’re doing what you’ve been put here to do, Omega: please your mates and offer them pups.”
My heart was beating wildly. She was right. This was it. I felt it in my bones, I felt it in my very core. This was it.
“Thank you, Aunt Jasmine.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Wisteria
I spent the day in bed. At nine in the morning, I vaguely heard someone enter my cell. I turned on my side, sleepily sniffed the air, and Callum’s scent invaded my nostrils, along with the rich smell of bacon and pancakes. He’d brought me breakfast. I was too tired to move, though. He came to my bed and stroked my hair.
“Are you awake?”
“Mmm
… barely. We were in the woods all night.” I yawned. “Could you please… come later? And bring Alaric and Garrett.”
“Okay, precious. I will.” He ran his fingers over my cheek. “How did it go?”
I smiled. I was already half asleep. “Mmm… Everything will be fine. Just come see me later. Bring dinner.”
He nodded, kissed my forehead, and left. When the door clicked shut, I was already in the land of dreams.
I woke up hours later, ate my cold breakfast for lunch, then spent the day bathing, napping, and getting ready for my three Alphas. I brushed my hair until it fell straight and smooth down my back, rubbed moisturizer into my skin, and shaved my legs, my arms, and my armpits. I would’ve shaved down there too, but my belly was too round to allow me to bend that way. With a sigh, I reminded myself that my Alphas didn’t care, anyway. They’d claimed me a dozen times when I wasn’t shaved at all, let alone very clean. We were werewolves. Body hair was natural, and we didn’t consider it unsexy, like most humans did. But I wanted to surprise them tonight. Too bad I was simply too fat to manage. “Haha! Too fat.” I rubbed my belly. I smiled when my pups kicked. “You made momma fat, did you hear that? But I love you, your fathers love you, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.” I put on the same dress I’d worn the night before. It was comfortable and feminine. I skipped the lingerie entirely. When Callum, Alaric, and Garrett came to bring me dinner in the evening, I discovered I wasn’t hungry at all. Or more like… I was hungry, but not for food. I was hungry for them.
Alaric left his weapons by the door. He sighed as he removed the heavy belt he had to wear all day on the job. He unbuttoned his uniform shirt and plopped into an armchair, exhausted. I smiled and went to get him a drink. I had a small fridge in my room, and I kept beer in it, although I never drank it. I popped a can open and offered it to him. He grinned up at me, grabbed my hand, pulled me close, and placed a sloppy kiss in the corner of my mouth. I giggled. I’d never seen Alaric Stone so happy and relaxed. He’d finally cut his hair and shaved, and he looked cleaner than ever. When I first met him, he’d looked rough and been rough to me. He wasn’t exactly a puppy now, but he felt at ease with me and the other two Alphas, and it showed.
