Beneath Midnight's Moon
Chap. 2
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He
blinked, “M-Mother?”
“That’s
right. That woman who pushed you out of
her womb eighteen years ago after nine weeks of carrying you and your other
four siblings around. That
woman. It’s a shame none of the other
four survived, maybe they could have taught you common sense.
“What?!”
which was one of the reasons why he lived with his aunt and uncle a few miles
just outside of the dreaded concrete prison.
His mother lived there and accepted no visitors who were not first
summoned.
Midnight
smirked, “Learn to take a joke. She’ll
meet you at her log cabin three miles from here.”
Not
bothering to say anything more to the wolf, Eclipse took off at a run towards
his mother’s house. After his father
Quentin had left on some family-appointed task, Harmony Rouvel hadn’t been the
same. Eclipse’s father had left before
he’d been born, and Eclipse had first seen his mother when he’d been six.
soon as he could, but another loup garou clan attempting the same task
had intercepted him. No one knew
anything more, and if they did, they weren’t talking.
Melody, her husband Tom, and their son Drew, who’d been born two weeks
later. She’d wanted solitude after
having lost her husband, her Mate.
Eclipse
didn’t hold anything against her, though.
He liked his human relatives, even though they didn’t understand him at
times. Still, the point was that they
tried and that they’d taken him in. He’d
first Changed in their basement when he was six, and when Aunt Melody had found
him, he had been surprised that she’d accepted it so quickly.
thereafter. It had been twelve years
since he’d seen his mother, and he wondered what his eighteenth birthday had to
do with it. Had his father come home to
celebrate with them? Should his father
be present when his only son — only child — became an adult?
Rouvel clan without being scoffed at.
Not that he wanted that sort of responsibility, but the fact was that he
could.
Stopping
ten feet from the cabin’s door, Eclipse knew better than to raise false hopes,
but it would be the best present his mother could ever give him.
coming up behind him. It wasn’t hard; a
human could have heard it. Knocking
softly, mindful of his mother’s hearing, which was as acute as his own, Eclipse
entered at his mother’s quiet beckoning.
Harmony
Rouvel sat facing him in an old leather armchair, her curly blonde hair pulled
back with a silver and sapphire pin that her Mate had given to her as an
engagement present. She wore a simple
lavender dress devoid of any pattern or style.
Her blue eyes regarded him with surprise, whether at how quickly he’d
arrived, or how much he’d grown over the past twelve years he wasn’t sure.
She
nodded in acknowledgment, “Eclipse.”
“Mother.”
shudder at his given name.
“Happy
birthday, Son,” she smiled, the gesture not reaching her eyes, “thank you for
answering my summons so quickly.”
“It
is my pleasure to finally see you again.”
She
motioned for him to sit, which he politely declined, “All right, but I think
you’ll wish to sit when I tell you what I’ve arranged to give you as your
gift. I’ll admit that it probably isn’t
the best gift I could give you, but you are of age.”
“And
what might that be?” He asked, finally
sitting down on an adjacent leather couch as his mother had asked him.
“The
Rouvel werewolves have long been thought of as the dominating werewolf family,
and they are... out of the families that are known.
werewolves born to the Rouvel line, and very few of the Rouvel’s Mates have had
to be turned, as I was. There is,
however, a werewolf family that is older and purer of blood than even we
Rouvel. They bear no last name, for the
only names they have are their first names, and those are selected later on in
their lives. They bear the names of
ancient gods and goddesses, so names are selected at about age five or six,
about the same year they Change for the first time.
choose to keep their name or be given a name by the Alpha male.
Greek god of the north wind, and Aurora, named for the Roman goddess of dawn.
as you know from your own great-grandparents, they are older than your
great-grandfather, Julien Rouvel.”
He
nodded, “What does this have to do with me being eighteen?”
“Lady
Harmony,” Midnight began, “please, if your gift is what I think it is, I beg you
to alter your choice of where it comes from.”
“Nonsense.
Eclipse
felt a twinge of worry at the back of his mind, for Midnight’s voice rarely
shook, “Go on, Mother.”
“Thank
you, Eclipse,” Harmony said as she folded her hands in her lap, “Boreas and
Aurora had a daughter named Nina, after the Babylonian goddess of the watery
deep. Nina married Cyrus, son of Cicero
and Bianca. Together they had Tyr, Thor,
and Helios. Tyr, Norse god of sky and
war. Thor, Norse god of thunder and from
which we got Thursday. And Helios, Greek
god of the sun. The eldest and middle
never married; Helios, though, it’s funny how Greek god of the sun married the
Greek goddess of the moon, Selene.
Selene’s sister is Ara, named for the Greek goddess of destruction,
retribution, and vengeance. Believe me,
it shows when it comes to her sister’s children, seeing as how she has no
children of her own. Finally, Selene and
Helios bore three children. I do not
know the name of the eldest, but the second is Ra, named for the Egyptian god
of the sun. The youngest is Iris, Roman
goddess of rainbows.”
“Why
do you not know the name of the eldest?”
“Her
family does not speak of her.”
Midnight
snorted, “She’s practically banished, just like Tyr’s twin brother Balder,
named for the Norse god of light. She
isn’t banished completely because of the power she holds over her family.
“And
what else do you know of Helios and Selene’s eldest?”
eyes meeting his puppy-blue ones, for his hadn’t changed to the usual
yellow-brown.
He
shrugged, “I’ll tell if you call the whole thing off.”
“Who
are you to bargain with me?”
“My
apologies,” Midnight bowed, seeming to remember something valuable, “when she
was seven, the eldest of Selene’s children was promised to marry one Lord
Falcon, who was five years her senior.
After finding out her family and Lord Falcon’s intentions, she Changed
for the last time. She burned her
clothes, buried her jewels, and pierced her body, which was a serious offense
then. Afterward, she Changed, never to
be seen in human shape again. No one
knows where she ran to, but rumor has it that she went to live with her
long-forgotten, banished Uncle Balder.
No one’s really checked to make sure, however.
Harmony’s
expression was unreadable as she spoke, “Eclipse, you will go find this Balder
and find out where his niece went.”
“Could
you enlighten me as to why we suddenly care so much about another pack’s
problems?”
“Because
the eldest daughter of Helios and Selene, named for the Greek deities of sun
and moon, is to be your wife, Eclipse.”