noun ~ one's family or ethnic descent

I blinked, the room falling silent as I stared into her strange eye. This was not the first time I have been called by my wolf by someone who didn't know me. In fact, it was becoming a regular thing.

Cel? I wondered.

I feel like I know her... She all but shrugged.

I licked my lips nervously, looking to Aldren who gave nothing away.

"Oh, you must not remember me. It was a few lifetimes ago now." She all but laughed.

Lifetimes?

"I'm sorry, lifetimes?" I asked, confused.

She removed her hands from my body, a chill breaking out on my skin. She walked around the counter, bending down to search for something. Despite her lack of sight, she navigated well around her little store.

"Yes, lovely, I know your wolf rather well." She smiled, pulling an old book from under the counter.

The book was encased in leather, the smell of dust hitting my nose as she brushed her hand over the cover. She sighed before pulling it open, fingers tracing the edges of the pages until she paused at one. She pulled the pages to the side and I stepped closer in curiosity. Despite the yellowing of the page and the smudging of the ink, there was one word at the top of the page that stood out to me the most.

Celimene.

"I don't understand," I mumbled, looking between the two of them.

Pollux, you better get in here. I called to him.

On way.

Arden had his arms folded in front of him, a frown on his face. "Angela, you're not making much sense."

She tutted, waving her hand in the air. "I will be in a moment children."

We both frowned this time but she did nothing but sit in her chair and spin the book around. Her face lifted to me, staring right where I am as her frail finger pointed to the name on the page.

"This book dates back to five hundred years ago." She began. "It is one of the oldest books I have."

"What is it for?" I spoke softly, gazing down at the hard to read penmanship.

I still wasn't so great with new fonts, having only little exposure to different texts and reading styles meant the cursive was way too confusing.

"It is a checking book." She smiled. "When I first opened this shop, it was not in this village. It was further down the mountain, in your home."

I paused, studying her and the book in waiting. The door opened and the old woman, Angela, barely looked up as Charlie and Pollux came to stand beside me.

"Ah, the twin..." She mumbled.

"Pollux." He nodded.

"Dion." She chimed.

He froze, looking at me with the same confused, and awed expression that I had. We waited, and she laughed before she spoke.

"This book is nothing really, nothing but a signature of receipt of something. Celimene was your grandmother's name." She explained and my eyes widened with surprise. "When I had my sight, I had a gut instinct that caused me to flee to the mountains. There I met your grandmother. She was young, barely sixteen and hardly clothed. She had no idea where she was, or what was going on, other than a message from the Moon Goddess.

"I took her into my home, glad both of my sights lead me to her. She stayed with me for a while until she was better, and that was when I saw her turn into a large beast. She stood on two legs, fur encased her body and her face grew a snout and ears. Her fur was pitch black, eyes as green as fresh grass." She paused, shuddering. "I was terrified, never such a creature was created. As she shifted, she had remembered her reasoning for being here. That she was created to find something, whatever that was. I travelled with her for many years, her instinct was guiding her. We were close friends."

"We came across a few other lone comrades, and eventually we found your grandfather, Dion. He was alone, but he was strong and as soon as they set eyes on each other... It was amazing, like some kind of cosmic attraction. I had thought perhaps, she was just crazy, but when they met... I have never understood soulmates more than that." She smiled brightly.

"What happened after that?" Pollux asked, intrigued.

She studied him, in her way, her nose crinkling as she smiled at him. He shuffled on his feet, his hands clenching at his sides as his arm brushed against mine.

"A lot of things happened. We travelled the world as a group before we eventually found the other four Lycan's. Our instinct had all brought us to this mountain, and we decided to go our separate ways and create a home here." She chuckled. "I stayed with your grandmother, deciding to live my life out on top of this mountain. Some decades since I met her, was when she became blessed with a child. Your uncle, Elon."

"Elon?" I asked.

Aldren swallowed, noticeable from where I stood. "He doesn't stay around much. Tends to travel a lot. You probably won't meet him; he tends to avoid the mountains at wintertime."

I hummed, lulling over the fact that there was more family than I thought. "What happened to my grandparents?"

"Well, when they discovered they were living for a long time, they had Avani about ninety years later, and then Isobella twenty years after that." She sighed. "Such beautiful babies, I am so sorry about your mother and father."

"Did you know them well?" I wondered.

She nodded, hand running down the length of the book before her. "I was a nanny for them as a child. Elon was always one for travelling, went out in search of his life goal around fifty years old... Both your mother's stayed close to home, they were not ones for leaving."

"What was she like?" I found myself asking.

She licked her lips, a soft smile gracing her aged features. "Your mother was headstrong. She was the youngest, and she sure as hell didn't want people to know that. Very motherly, looking out for everyone. Avani often got into trouble, even as an adult and your mother was always there to set it right."

I smiled at the thought, liking that my mother was as caring as I hoped she'd be.

"She met your father when she was young. The Lycan packs often got together every few years since they all inhabited the same mountain. They had an instant attraction, but they never acted upon it. Your father was a bumbling fool, and your mother would not fall for it." She guffawed. "Took him sixty years to win her over."

I laughed with her, my heartwarming with the little information.

"You two came along pretty quickly. It was nice to have twins, but I knew the moment you were born, something big was to happen. I have my gifts for a reason, and as soon as you were born it showed me a vision of you being used for blood." She mumbled and we awkwardly fell silent.

"May I ask, how did you lose your eye?" Pollux wondered.

She sighed. "I lost my sight trying to protect your grandparents."

"Protect them?"

She nodded wearily. "The night you were born, I received a horrific vision. There was to be a great fire at the bottom of the mountain, and it was uncertain on the many paths your lives were to go... Everyone... So much death...So much pain. I pleaded with them, begged with them to let me see... And they did... but in return, they took my sight."

"How did they die?" I swallowed, nervously.

"Vampire attack. By the time I had recovered from losing my sight, it was too late." She mumbled sadly. "It is a regret I hold dearly; I was so selfish to know the outcomes that I didn't help to protect them. Then when I heard that your parents had perished not even four years later... I moved up here to be with Avani, Elon does not come back anymore, and she was the only friendly face I have."

Aldren smiled, his hand moving to the older woman's shoulder. "You got me too."

She laughed at his attempt to lighten her mood. "That I do. You two are very similar."

She pointed to me and I frowned. "Me?"

"Yes, you and Aldren both have the gift of sight."

"How did you know?" I wondered, knowing I had not told her.

"I can sense it within you." She smiled. "It is most likely due to the fact you have your grandmother's wolf."

"My grandmother's wolf..." I repeated, my head still whirling from the overload of information. "Does that mean... Pollux, you have grandfather's wolf?"

He shrugged, narrowed eyes back on the older woman.

"Yes, it does." Angela smiled. "When they passed, it would've happened to them. I am not sure when... I had warned them, the day you were born that there was a large threat in your lives, but then the night vision came and it was never discussed more."

"So do you reckon they bargained with the Goddess?" I wondered, starting between the two before me. "That does not explain how my mother had my grandmother's wolf..."

"There is more... Your mother... How do I explain this..." She mumbled. "She had a wolf, before Celimene. She was kidnapped by hunters as a teenager, and her wolf never came back. They drained her, bled her dry before your father, Samson and I saved her. It is one of the reasons she became so protective and headstrong; it was her way of coping. I believe, when your Grandmother passed...Celimene must've seen the same vision as I, and her choice was to gift her wolf to her daughter. Dion must've passed it to you, Pollux, being as you are the only heir of his wolf. Then when your mother passed, she pleaded it on to you."

"You say wolf, like the whole wolf?" Charlie spoke, his voice finally filling the air.

"Wolf's soul, yes. The wolf does not remember, it's merely...reincarnated if you will."

Celimene grumbled and I embraced her grit. "She still has instincts when it comes to people. But lately, she is becoming confused."

She hummed. "Maybe she just needs a refreshment or a nap."

Celimene snorted, tail swishing in my mind. Before I could even retort, the older woman laughed.

"I had a feeling she would not like that." She chuckled. "As boisterous as your grandmother. Now, are you going to browse my store or do I need to put a pot of tea on?"

***
Hey everyone how was your weekend? I had no kids today for the first time since covid/my youngest was born. I went out with my sister and it was reeeelllly weird being "free" haha

I am in the process of making a family tree so you don't get confused!! More things will transpire over the next couple chapters!
Hopefully will be up tomorrow 😝

Question of the Day:
You want to decompress your mind and body from the long day, what do you do?

Wc : 1804

Finding Luna © 2021 XDeafening_SilenceX on W a t t p a d