The Moon Wolf

Chapter 30 (1st Draft)

* The media pic is of the Moon wolf.

Nordin looked thoughtful as he examined Anex. He had no idea the Master at Arms was such a history junkie. Only someone with a deep love of wolf genealogy would know anything about the Moon Wolf nowadays. She had become an obscure part of their creation story after the passage of thousands of years and the dawn of the post-modern age.

"It would explain much," Ruuni offered soberly.

Alpha Troy pulled his eyes from Penn, a very difficult task having never seen a vision as spellbinding as this in his life, and turned to Nordin and Ruuni with an uncomfortable feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. "What would it explain exactly?" he asked them with a strained and almost angry look on his face.

Ruuni and Nordin exchanged a look and Ruuni nodded to Nordin to continue. He glanced at Penn for a moment more. She was oblivious to their conversation as she eagerly awaited the pups' arrival. How would this news affect her? Would she welcome it? Would she accept it?

He looked back at Alpha Troy and knew he was going to have a difficult time accepting such news. Nordin sighed, feeling uncertain about whether to continue or not. His heart sank a little for the wonderful young man, who he knew was half in love with the extraordinary she-wolf. If she truly was the Moon Wolf, which Nordin was almost certain she must be, this would not end happily for Troy. Nordin's heart grew heavy as he contemplated the Alpha's future without Penn. But, denying the truth would serve no one, least of all Penn herself. So, Nordin exhaled a pensive breath before continuing to expound on his knowledge of the Moon Wolf.

"The Moon Wolf, according to our creation story, was the Moon goddess' faithful friend and companion. She was subject to no one but the Moon goddess herself. The Moon goddess, grateful for such a fierce and faithful companion, blessed the Moon Wolf with a litter of pups, whom the moon wolf raised here on earth in the light of the moon." Nordin paused a moment to gauge how Alpha Troy was responding to this mini creation lesson.

From somewhere behind him Anex spoke up and said, "I read somewhere that we are all the descendants of the pups she bore."

"That would make the Moon Wolf the first Alpha wolf among us," Alpha Troy offered sagely.

Anex let out a low whistle and grinned half in awe and half in pleasure from the thought of it. "That alone explains so much about her, doesn't it?" he offered enthusiastically.

Of all the people standing around that night, Anex was the only wolf who had seen and observed Penn in her birth pack. He knew more of her story than anyone else, and understood the injustice she had suffered. He also had been easily won over by her from almost the beginning because he'd felt there was something regal and powerful about the she wolf. He'd become her biggest advocate (and dare one say fan) in the pack almost from the very start.

Anex, practically bursting with excitement, continued. "It explains why Penn had been an outcast from the beginning in her birth-pack. The Moon Wolf is the Moon goddess' messenger. She's not subject to any wolf, Alpha or not."